Fayth was shivering with exhaustion. It's been about 20 minutes, and she could no longer balance the stool so that her neck isn't pressing against the wire. She had tensed her muscles for too long, to the point where she could no longer hold out.

Her breathing came out shallow and slow. Her mind reaching out to Anthony, who lay without moving. She couldn't even focus long enough to see if his chest was rising and falling. Her eyelids wouldn't stay open, instead they were begging her to fall into deep sleep.

She heard grumbling. Her heart began beating with hope and excitement. He's awake. He woke up. She began to slowly open her eyes, but they jolted open as she watched Kurt stand to his feet. He lost his balance, and fell back down. Swearing, he held onto the wall and stood back up.

Then with very uneven steps, he made his way over to Fayth.

"The kid's a fighter. He's dead, in case you were wondering. He's not breathing anymore."

"Nmmm." Fayth mumbled. No. No. No. No. No.

Kurt fell to his knees and began pulling another wooden board from under her stool. "Your neck looks like a murder scene already. I can tell we're in for a good ride."

The song Kurt was listening to played in his head, and as he pulled the board, all he could think about was the tone. Nothing here really mattered. Nothing made sense other than the fact that it was fun, entertaining, good. The actuality of what he was doing, on the other hand, was muted, not even that. It was like white noise. An endless thought of white noise that made him feel something else: energy unexplained.

His drunken state had become much worse, and the board seemed to not move with him like he wanted it too.

"I just want you to know something..." He looked up at Fayth. "I was destined to murder you. I thought about it too much, planned for it too long, to just waste all of that without doing anything about it. It'd be stupid. Useless."

Fayth couldn't pay attention to him anymore. She was too much in her own misery to care. Her mind was numb at this point. Too hurt to function.

"In case you were wondering about the rich, powerful monsters that were there. In the past three years, I've used some of my dad's savings and hired professional hitmen. Five of those monsters are gone, one of them, the mastermind behind dad's death, was able to hide. I tried getting him three years ago but he fled. The other two, I found out they had kids my age. Charles and Lexis. I decided to make videos of me splitting their kids' bodies in halves first, make them watch those videos before doing the same thing to them. Your father, I could never figure out who it was. I tried getting you to tell me, but you never answered."

Three years ago... fled... mastermind...

Fayth's brain was a little more awake now.

It was him. It was my father. The time he had brought me to my uncle, and what happened six months after that, it was all my father. It was all... Kurt.

Outside the warehouse, Lexis could see the light coming from the door. He parked his car inches away from it, and left the car. Music was blaring out of the SUV parked nearby. He hurried to the doorway and walked in.

His eyes were immediately stricken by the sight of Fayth's tortured body.

Others may feel something, a big emotion of pain and anger, shock and disbelief... But Lexis? It was more of an empty feeling that overcame him.

A shortage of humanity, or whatever comes with it.

Kurt, who was still disorderly attempting to remove the board under the stool, didn't realize they he had another person in the room. He simply resumed what he was doing and humming a tone while doing so.

Lexis' eyes darted towards Anthony's body...

....

It was rapid. Unexplainable. Another shortage.

He walked over to Anthony, and placed his fingers on his neck to check for a pulse. A surge of relief overcame him when he felt the strong beats. He turned his little brother over and looked over his face, opened his eyes and shone his phone's flashlight into them. Another rush of relief flowed through him when he saw that his pupils were equal.

At Lexis' touch, Anthony began to move, and he was soon conscious.

"You're here." He said, a sweet smile appearing on his pale exhausted face. "You're here..."

Lexis nodded once. He stood back up and sent a quick message on his phone, then turned around and looked at the humming bastard.

Fayth watched as Lexis came in and checked on Anthony. She could die a happy person now that she saw him move, breathe, live.

Lexis studied the wire running down from the ceiling, all the way down until his eyes locked with Fayth's. She stared back at him, relieved.

Ashamed.

He quickly looked away, releasing her from the discomfort of his gaze. He began walking towards Kurt and avoided looking at Fayth, at her body, knowing fully well how much it bothered her. All she could do was stare at his face as he looked at Kurt, at his eyes that were the devils spirit, his breathing, that was as steady as a controlled machine. She wondered why he was so calm, how he managed to be this emotionally restrained.

Not calm. He's dead. He's a dead man in flesh, walking towards the cause of his death.

Kurt looked back up at Fayth, and he right away noticed her focused vision. He stood up and turned around.

And like a hammer, Lexis swung his arm and smashed his fist against Kurt's head. The impact had Kurt stumble more than five steps to the side, and drop against the concrete, rubbing raw the skin off his palm.

Ignoring him, Lexis wrapped one arm around the stool's legs and lifted Fayth up, then unhooked the wire from the chain hanging from the ceiling, and put her back down.

"Fayth!" Anthony barely crawled over, happy to see her alive still.

Quietly, Lexis handed him one of his knives that were in his pocket, and Anthony knew what he had to do. He knelt before her and began cutting the ropes off.

Kurt, who was struggling to find even ground in his mind, looked at Lexis and Fayth. "I am so happy. I can't even fathom..."

Lexis began walking towards him.

"Both of you are here." He was finally able to stand up.

And Lexis met Kurt's straight posture with another blow, taking him back to the ground.

Fayth began to worry as she watched Lexis. He was too quiet. Too calm.

He stood over Kurt, his head tipping to the side as he studied his expression. Kurt closed his eyes, breathing heavily, then like he was suddenly informed of a hilarious joke, he began to chuckle.

Lexis wasn't fazed. His expression, his eyes, were not a bit moved by the unexpected manic action.

Lexis... Fayth stared at him, suddenly fearful. Not for him, not for Kurt, but for Anthony's eyes. For what he might see from his brother, his role model.

Lexis raised his foot and brought it down full force, digging the heel of it into Kurt's stomach.

Kurt crouched and turned to his side, his chuckles now becoming obnoxious laughter.

Anthony finished cutting all the ropes, and he began to help Fayth out of the sharp metal noose around her neck. Fayth looked into his eyes as he masked them with bravery. Don't worry, I can see this. I'm man enough to handle the sight–they said.

"You're alive." It hurt to say those words, but she looked at him and held back the sobbing that threatened to take over her. He looked so pale, so fragile. Hurt and exhausted.

He pulled at the wires until he was able to unwind them. It took a lot of effort, but he was finally able to remove it from around her neck.

Her head fell on his shoulder, and he held her there, wrapped his shaking arms around her wounded body.

"I'm sorry." She said, closing her eyes in comfort. "You got hurt because of me. I'm so sorry Anthony."

He gritted his teeth.

"I would give you every organ in my body." She whispered. "I'd give you my life. Just don't get hurt again, okay?"

He breathed in. Breathed out. Looked at Lexis. Kill him. Cut him up until he's the size of atoms.

When Fayth reopened her eyes, and saw the expression on Anthony's face, her heart dropped. She saw the change. She saw the undergoing of a broken angry soul. She had gone through it before. He was suddenly a mini Lexis and Fayth in the making. A person who could easily put a void to all tolerable logic in exchange for fulfillment.

She looked over at Lexis. He took out another knife from his pocket and dropped to his knees, then took ahold of Kurt's jaw and pushed it up, revealing his neck.

I EFFIN LOVE YOU GUYS. OMG. :')