I rushed into the hallway, fear adding speed to my run. It didn't matter that Jasper was only ten feet ahead of me and running away down the hall. All that mattered was Alex's body, crumpled on the floor.
A pain so sharp it felt as though I too had been stabbed, shot through my heart, and I threw myself down by him, turning him over onto his back. He cried out in pain, and I looked down at his stomach where his hands were desperately clutching. Dark blood covered his hands, flowing out of the wound at an alarming rate.
The knife was gone. He was bleeding out and I had to stop it or there was no way he would live. I ripped off my suit jacket, folded it as best as I could with my shaking hands, and tried to put it on his stomach. His hands were still there, and I tried to move them away gently, but he whimpered, and held them in place.
"Baby, please. I've got you. Move your hands for me."
I don't know if he even registered what I said, and I forced his hands away as gently as I could in my hurry. He was still losing blood. I covered the wound with my jacket, applying as much pressure as I could. He screamed in pain, and I wanted to pull away, to stop hurting him more, but this was his life. I couldn't let him bleed out like this.
"Tommy, please—please stop." He whimpered, bloody hands grabbing desperately at my hands, trying to make me pull away.
I looked at his face for the first time, and i felt my heart twist painfully. Tears coursed down his cheek, pain twisting his features.
"I can't. You're bleeding too much." I tried to make him understand. Tried to keep back my own tears as he writhed in pain beneath my hands.
"It hurts." I didn't answer, couldn't form words around the ache in my throat. "Please stop." His voice was getting softer now, but his hands moved around, frantically trying to find something to hold onto during his pain.
Tears slipped from my eyes as I pulled one of my hands away for a moment to guide his hands to my sleeve. He clutched at it, holding my arm so tightly that it stung.
I had heard feet rushing by us, and looked up. People were running by, but I couldn't make out any faces, tears blurring my vision. Unable to wipe them away, I called out to people I hoped were there.
Someone came rushing towards me. As they drew closer I knew it was Mark. He knelt down on the other side of Alex.
"Someone is getting doctors right now." I barely heard him, looking back down at Alex, and the blood still seeping into the fabric of my coat.
I saw Mark's hands next to mine, and I looked up at him, a question forming on my lips.
"I've got this. He needs you." I moved my hands away from the fabric, watching as Mark's hands replaced mine, applying pressure in the hopes that it would help.
I took Alex's hands in mine, both slippery from blood, but still he clung to me. I moved until I was closer to his head, lifting it off the ground gently and cradling it in my lap.
"I'm—I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry." Tears we're still pouring from his eyes, and he gasped between his words, like even breathing was becoming hard for him.
"Shh, you're okay, love. You're okay. Don't be sorry. There's nothing to be sorry about."
"I—I didn't stay wh-here you..." He was struggling to speak, and I brushed my hand through his hair. It was sweaty, my hands were covered in blood, but I needed to be close to him. As close as I could.
"Its okay. You're gonna be okay." I kissed his forehead, his cheek, anything to distract him from the excruciating pain he was in.
"I was s-so mad. I-i thought..." His breath hitched, and a spasm shot through his body. "You we-re just being too protective. I'm so s-sorry."
"Baby, that's over now. It's okay."
Pain shot though his body again, and he arched his back, holding my hand even tighter.
"Try to keep still, Alex. Please. The doctors are coming soon. They'll make the pain go away."
I brushed the hair back from his forehead, blowing cold air onto his sweaty brow. His face relaxed for a few second, and he closed his eyes.
"Stay with me, baby. They'll be here soon."
He blinked slowly, the first sign of him beginning to fade already in his eyes.
"I'm so tired, Tommy." His voice was quieter. So much quieter.
"I know, love, and you can sleep soon. But not yet."
He blinked again, confusion creasing his brow.
"Not yet?"
I held back my sob. His grip was loosening, and I laced my fingers through his, squeezing them gently. The gently pressure of him squeezing back was reassuring.
"Not yet. I need to tell you something, and I can't do that if you are sleeping."
He blinked again, slower this time, but he was trying. I knew he was trying.
"What?" I kept running my hand through his hair, trying to keep him here with me.
"Something I've been meaning to tell you for so long, but I can't wait anymore." Because you might not....my mind wouldn't let me finish that thought.
Alex sighed, shifting his head in my lap to look up at me better.
"You and your damn foreplay." He tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead. His whole body shook, but it was almost as if he wasn't in pain anymore, because his face remained calm.
"Did the coughing hurt, love? Does it still hurt?" If he wasn't in pain then it could only be worse. He looked like he was trying to register what I had said. It took him a a few seconds to summon up his answer.
"It doesn't hurt anymore. I just want to sleep." I looked up at Mark, who met my frightened eyes before looking away quickly.
He closed his eyes, and let out a peaceful breath. My heart almost stopped for a second, and I shook him gently to get him to open his eyes. When he did, it was only with great difficulty.
"You can't sleep. You can't. I love you, Alex." He had to know. He had to understand what he meant to me.
"I..." His voice trailed off, and he looked like he was going to close his eyes again. I squeezed his hands again, and he looked back up at me with the smallest of glares.
"I was gonna say that first." I tried to laugh, but all that came out was the sob I had been trying to hold back this whole time.
He slipped one of his hands out of mine, and brought it up slowly to my face, caressing my cheek gently.
"I love you, Thomas." He whispered, the effort to speak almost too much now.
"You can't leave me now. You can't."
He frowned, a look of pain crossing his face.
"I—I don't want to...to leave you. I'm just..." He closed his eyes again, and shook him, harder this time.
"Stay with me, angel. I love you, okay? I love you, and I need to you stay alive." I leaned down and kissed him softly, holding him as close to me as I could.
"I love you." I felt his lips move against mine as he spoke, but I could barely hear him. He closed his eyes again, his hand no longer holding onto mine.
I tried to shake him, but he didn't open his eyes. And then there were hands all around me, moving me away, moving him. I saw Mark stepping away from, and heard him telling me it was the doctors.
Yes, he needed doctors, but I needed to know if he was still alive. I tried to push them away, but they continued to pry my hands off of his. And then they were lifting him away, and I was left kneeling in the floor without him in my lap.
I didn't fight them off. I knew he needed them. Mark had a tight grip on my arm. Maybe he was trying to keep my grounded. My head felt light, too light.
I was covered in blood. His life blood.
There was a commotion behind me. The sound of a struggle, and of someone yelling. I knew that voice. I was shaking. Shaking beyond control.
Raymond's POV
I ran past Thomas, who had fallen to the ground next to Alex. I wanted to stay, to make sure he was okay, but Thomas was there. And Jasper was still in plain sight. He wasn't going to get away.
I ran after him down the hall. I think he was trying to throw me off by rubbing through as many rooms as he could, but that only slowed him down as he had to open each new door. I could hear guards running behind me.
"Be careful, your highness." One of them called out, probably trying to keep the royal injuries down to as few as possible.
Careful, my ass.
He was right in front of me, and I sped up, running into him with all of my momentum. We fell to the ground, and I looked around for the knife. There was a struggle for a few seconds before I had his arms pinned at his sides.
I let the guards take over from there, and they pulled him up from the ground, forcing him to walk back the way we had come.
It took a lot longer on the way back, Jasper was resisting every step of the way, and had started to yell and curse at the guards who held him. I ignored him as he yelled insults at my back. It was good for him to get used to not getting what he wanted.
Jasper was still yelling when we reached the hallways just outside the courtroom. Alex was no where in sight, and I could see Thomas still on the ground where he had been. Mark was next to him, but neither one of them were saying anything. And there was blood all over the floor in front of them.
Thomas looked up as we approached, and as he slowly stood, there was a look in his eyes that could been seen even from the distance that separated us. He wasn't looking at me, but I flinched at the fierceness of his gaze. He looked crazed, his hands and shirt covered in dark blood, and his eyes gleaming with an inhuman light.
Then he was rushing past me, straight towards Jasper and the guards that held him. I think even the castle guards had never been as frightened as they were then, and they both stepped away from Jasper, letting him stand there along for a split second.
With his first blow, he had Jasper on the ground. The he was on top of him, landing blow after blow on Jasper's face. He wasn't yelling, wasn't saying anything.
Was Alex dead? I looked around, noticed the blood again, saw the bloody suit jacketMark still held in his hands, and saw the determined set of Mark's own face. Whatever Jasper has done to him, he wasn't going to be the one to intercede for him. None of the guards seemed to know what to do. I didn't want to stop him, but what if he went too far? Would he care afterwards?
"No!"
I whipped my head around at the sound of the yell. Jonathan rushed in from the courtroom, heading straight towards his father and Thomas, who hadn't let up at all, even though Jasper was obviously unconscious.
Jonathan pushed Thomas off of the body of his father, anger coursing through every vein of his body.
"He can't die!" Thomas stood up quickly, the dangerous light no longer in his eyes, but he looked just as angry as Jonathan. His face was covered in tears, and he was breathing heavily.
"None of this was supposed to happen. No one was supposed to get hurt! He needs to stay alive to pay for everything he's done."
"He's the one who made this happen. And Alex...Alex is..." He struggled to complete his sentence, and my heart fell. Could it be possible that Alex was really dead?
"Jordan is dead." Jonathan stared so calmly that we all turned to look at him. "Whether Alex survives or not remains to be seen. Guards, take him away. Lock him up somewhere, but make sure a doctor comes to check on him."
The guards obeyed, and quickly carried Jasper from the room.
"Mark." Jonathan called the secretary's name, but he was still staring at where Jasper had been moments before. Jonathan repeated his name, and he blinked quickly, turning to look at him.
"See that the car with Elliot still is leaving. We need to get him out of here. Are you going with him?" He asked me, and I looked again at Thomas. If Alex was near death, than Thomas might want me here, but Elliot would need someone there...
"Go ahead." Thomas nodded at me, understanding my dilemma.
"Keep me posted." He nodded vaguely, rubbing his hands through his sweaty hair.
I didn't want to leave them there like that. Jonathan had just lost his brother, Alex was apparently close to death, and nothing had gone how it was supposed to today. I made sure to compose my face before going out to join Elliot in the car. He didn't need to know just yet what had happened.
All he needed to know was that he was free.