The four younger brothers stood in a line off to the side as Heine and Gabriel faced each other. After a small bow, the two engaged in a surprisingly even match.
For every attack Heine made, Gabriel countered and vice versa. The height difference made no appearance in the duel as they were too evenly matched, Gabriel not having much to prove (more so not wanting to give anything away) started to act as if he were losing stamina. Almost as if Heine could sense he no longer wished to participate, he called the duel off.
The princes, however, were in awe at their brother and sensei. Unbeknown to anyone outside, even Viktor had watched the duel with high regard for his son. No one actually knew Gabriel could fight that well, and if they knew what Heine and Viktor had noticed... they may have gone into shock. The adults quickly grew suspicious of Gabriel's activities though, he could fight respectably well and came home with injuries more often than not. Something was amiss with the young adult.
"Now, Prince Kai and Prince Bruno?" Heine requested.
Kai simply put his sword back, no longer wanting to fight. While Bruno lowered his head he done the same thing. It was almost pointless making the two younger one's spar. Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
"Since we're here," he smirked, Bruno and Kai recognising the look on his face, "we ought to teach you something."
With a glance at Heine that seemed awfully menacing, Gabriel rounded on his brothers.
"Leo, Licht! Straighten your posture, fighting stance!" Gabriel ordered and the two hurriedly replied by stuttering and getting into a terrible fighting pose.
"Leo, broaden your stance, yes like that. Licht hold the handle with two hands, it will be easier to balance that way," Gabriel took over the lesson.
Heine quietly went to Kai and Bruno who were hoping to remain invisible.
"What's with the personality switch?" Heine muttered.
"Nii-Sama enjoyed duels, he was the best at the Academy," Kai informed quietly.
"He was able to beat most people, but he's progressed since then," Bruno added.
Heine nodded at watched as he set his younger brothers up with perfect beginning stances for holding a sword correctly. Suddenly, Gabriel made a hard swipe to the right before quickly kicking up the old sword he first tested. As he tightly held it in his left and, now dual wielding swords, the left one was brought in front of his chest before it splintered. With two more odd swipes, Gabriel dropped both swords in such a way he could pull something from the broken wood before hurling it towards the palace wall. With an echoing tink, something was hit before there was the sound of ripping material and someone in a white cloak fleed back over the wall by using what seemed to be daggers as footholds.
Guards raced after the person while Gabriel slowly turned and picked up a dagger from one of the swords he dropped. A small droplet of blood trickled from his left arm before he dusted himself off, splinters of wood falling to the ground as everyone looked at him in total awe.
"Y-You just deflected d-daggers with wooden swords," Bruno assessed.
"Indeed," answered Gabriel who seemed totally unphased whereas everyone minus Heine looked rather frightened.
"It's okay now though, no one was hurt but the attacker escaped," Gabriel frowned.
"Your arms bleeding though!" Leonhard cried out and he jumped from foot to foot.
Just as Gabriel was about to deflect the statement, Kai picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Clearly with the intent to see a doctor.
"Kai, I'm fine! Please just put me down!" Gabriel cried out.
Kai wasn't having any of it and Gabriel grew increasingly annoyed. Heine was following the two, instructing all of the princes to head inside just to be safe. Licht and Leonhard complained and awed over Gabriel all the way inside until they met Viktor at the door. He looked incredibly annoyed.
"Gabriel, you have some explaining to do after you are tended to," Viktor snapped, his eyes narrowed before walking away.
The brothers had hardly seen their father that mad, and judging by the look on Gabriel's face, he didn't expect such a scolding either.
"What did you do Gabe-Nii?" Licht quietly asked.
"Kai put me down," Gabriel said with a tone so cold it took everyone back.
Kai immediately put Gabriel down who with a quick pivot, walked away down the halls. Gabriel held such a cold look on his face even the maid stumbled back from him as he passed. He went straight to his room and slammed the door shut, no longer caring. He had bigger things to damn well worry about compared to how he looked to others.
He threw the dagger he had taken, it landed with a thud in the wall above his desk. He reached into his drawers and pulled out the odd bit of paper before reaching for a key hidden in a drawer and unlocking the one lockable drawer the desk had. He pulled out a small notebook and flipped to a folded tab. The page had a sketch of a man in a white coat with an odd porcelain mask. This was the man that had attacked him on his way to visit the Strauss household, the now very dead man.
The attacker today had on an incredibly similar cloak and Gabriel would recognise the sound of one of those masks cracking anywhere, he's cracked enough in his time. There was no doubt, his identity had been compromised and he was now to high ranking target for whoever these annoying people worked for. Two attacks in two days. Both locations he was known to go to as a civilian and naturally as a prince.
I'm caught... and I believe Father is onto me as well, Gabriel thought, worry and stress drowning his cold expression into one of terror.
Before Gabriel had much of a chance at composing himself, there was a knock at his door. Pure fear ran rough Gabriel's body. He felt as if he was left in a freezer he was so cold, bumps ran across his skin and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He hadn't felt this type of terror since he looked down the barrel of a gun and almost died all those years ago.
"Gabriel," Viktor's voiced seemed to echo as he opened the door with a frown plastered over his face.
He dimly noticed Heine in the doorway, somewhat giving the two some form of privacy, all Gabriel saw was an exit blocked.
"Where do I begin?" Viktor sighed, his son had grown so far from him that he was putting himself in danger now.
Gabriel remained silent, noticing that he has all the evidence he had collected sitting in an unlocked drawer and half spread over the desk. If he made any moves to hide anything both his Father and Heine would notice.
"So, I might have made a mistake of sorts," Gabriel started, but Viktor held up and hand to silence him.
"Not a bad cut you say as a maid finds your shit coated in blood with a massive gash in it," Viktor starts, "Show me the wound."
"What?" Gabriel felt his brow quirk in a sharp motion.
"You heard me," Viktor's gaze held no fatherly warmth. He was in 'King Mode'.
Slowly, and quietly, Gabriel took his jacket off before unbuttoning the cuff of his shirt and pulled the sleeve up to show blood-stained gauze. He glanced at his father one more time who was still unrelenting. Gabriel pulled the bandages and the gauze fell to the ground, the gash in his arm on full display with ripped stitches and fresh blood oozing out and slowly down his arm.
"Now I ask you, what actually happened, Gabriel?" Viktor hid the worry in his eyes from his son who had lost his composure.
"I was attacked on the way to a friends house," Gabriel's voice was hardly above a whisper.
"What happened to the attacker? Was it the same one from today?" Viktor pressed.
"No, the attacker is... Today's one was different," Gabriel turned his head to the side hiding his face.
"So you killed yesterdays attacker?" Viktor asked, a very annoyed glint in his eyes.
"I- No, I'm not- he-" Gabriel couldn't lie, he didn't want to admit to killing he didn't like it in the least yet here he was unable to defend himself under the almost hostile gaze in his Father's eyes.
"I see, I'll have someone come to tend to that cut. You are not to leave this room, do you understand?" Viktor's tone had dropped several octaves and what he said next crushed Gabriel into the darkest corner of his mind.
"I'm disappointed in you, Gabriel."
Gabriel stayed rigidly still until the door clicked shut behind his Father. He could scream his heart felt like it was being squeezed, he felt like he had lost his entire family, his life. He could hear shattering he didn't even notice it was him throwing the dagger at a mirror in the room with deadly precision. The shards of glass fell from the frame and clattered to the ground, some of the fragments lay stuck in the frame where Gabriel finally looked up to see his broken reflection.
"How ironic," He sighed and sat against his desk, "I do hope these assholes don't decide to attack the Strauss family, Dieter still sucks with a gun."
Gabriel tilted his head back and groaned. A tear ran down his face, his thoughts were stained in the darkest thoughts that had crossed his mind. For a prince who wanted no part of being a royal, he loved his family too damn much to simply vanish. Those currently shattering bonds may well be the only thing keeping him sane but that could all be gone shortly.
Who knew what Heine and his Father were going to do with the knowledge, they didn't even care about the notes and information he had in plain sight so the attackers clearly didn't matter to them.
Oh how Gabriel wanted the comfort of his dear Dieter, the teen would scold him but resolve the dispute with a light slap on the head before hugging him. A warm Dieter hug sounded like pure bliss right now. But, he supposed he would stay on house arrest if he was ever allowed outside of the palace again would be a different story. He might even be sent away from the Kingdom to be 'reformed' or something. It was unlikely since Father did love his family, but with the knowledge that Gabriel could and would kill on a whim, it probably was just enough to bypass that love.
There was another knock on the door before a man called out,
"Prince Gabriel, I'm here to treat your wound!"
"Leave," Gabriel groaned.
"E-Excuse me, You Majesty ordered this though!" The man complained.
"Then tell him I told you to leave, Sir," Gabriel growled as he opened the door a fraction to reveal his annoyed expression.
Like his father, his serious and angry expression sent shivers down people's spines. The man almost dropped his bag of supplies before hightailing it down the hall. As he turned a corner, Gabriel caught sight of all four brothers peaking around a wall at him. They seemed rather shocked to see him look so sullen and annoyed.
From their memories, Gabriel was fun, he liked to tease them about stupid things and wouldn't let them live anything silly down. He would teach them as he had earlier, he would guide them when he could. But who was guiding him? It seemed Gabriel had run himself into a dead end and was not looking for anyone help to aid him.
Leonhard whimpered slightly as the sight of his big brother, this wasn't the Gabriel he loved. This was someone who resembled the harsh Eins too much.
"He reminds me of Eins-Nii now," Leonhard whispered.
Bruno shot Kai a look who looked at the elder brother in worry. Kai's grip on the wall tightened before he swiftly turned away and vanished from sight, leaving three very confused brothers in his wake.
Meanwhile, Heine was witnessing Viktor on the verge of a mental breakdown. Though it was just his worry and stress dramatised.