DANE

It was precisely 5:37, and Natasha was wearing tight leggings, and a white top. Her hair was in a slicked, high ponytail, and I was wearing shorts and a black tank top. Niklaus was standing in front of us, eagerly smiling.
"Excited?" He said.
"No." Natasha scoffed. "This is just stupid."
There was an arena, and multiple punching bags.
"So who's gonna fight me first? Natasha?" He laughed.
I whispered into Natasha's ear, "I'll take the fall for you-" and then I looked over to Niklaus, "no. I will."
"Really Dane! I'm honoured. Come!" He smiled. He walked on over to the fighting area, and he already had his right forearm against him, and his left in front of him; he was ready to fight. "Easy mode or hard mode?" He laughed.
"Hard mode." I said, Natasha was standing on the side, holding one of her against her side. She gave a small chuckle to reassure me. I already knew that next morning I would wake up with a black eye and multiple bruises against my body. But it's fine. I've wanted to kill this guy for ages; this'll be the closest thing to that.
I got into my fighting stance. "Who's throwing the first punch?"
Niklaus attempted to punch my liver, but I dodged it, and shook it off. It was incredibly fast; he knew how to fight. Me on the other hand; I had absolutely no idea. So my first option was to try and defend and dodge his moves and use it against him. He threw another punch, and I used my forearm to block his move. We started moving around eachother in circles; no one was hurt yet. Niklaus's punches started getting more frequent, and I couldn't just prolong dodging them for long, I had to throw one eventually. I aimed for his lower stomach, and I missed.
"That was horrible, Dane." He laughed. Through my peripheral vision I looked over to Natasha.

Aaaand that was a huge mistake. Lesson #1 don't look anywhere else except for your opponents face. Being unfocused for .005 seconds lead to the right side of my face have a mark after the shape of Niklaus's knuckles. His punch was so rapid it knocked me down on the ground. Of course he had to punch my face. I was on the ground for a few seconds, because I really did not want to get up from that embarrassment. I already predicted that I would get up looking like an imbecile after this. Niklaus was leaning over my body from the ground.
"Aw, do you need some ice, cupcake?" He laughed. "I went easy on you because I pitied you and somehow you still ended up on the ground."
"Fuck off Niklaus." I stood up, breathless. "Again. Let's go again."
"Really? Fine by me." He grinned, as he went into his stance again.
"Dane, don't." Natasha said, "come on we're going."
She grabbed my arm, and we went to the foyer.

"Are you okay?" She chuckled, "he hit you pretty hard."
"No I'm fine, probably just a concussion." I laughed.
"Seriously Dane are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I said, as I felt immense amount of blood rush into the side of my face. It was so bad, the pulsing on my face was like a second heartbeat. Probably not a great time to develop a massive bruise on the side of your face; the wedding, of course.
"Whatever you say Dane." She sighed, "don't ever do that again."
"No pain, no gain, am I right?" I laughed, "I'm totally gonna fight that asshole again."
"Do you want another bruise?"
"Yes, as long as I give him one back."

After all of that, we never actually got to train, it just ended up with me being on the ground. Maybe it humbled me a bit.
"Natasha?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that Niklaus kidnapped us just so that he could wed us together; considering our parents' fate."
"Elaborate?"
"You know- my dad was the Don, and he was in love with your mum."
"Oh."
"Yeah, and he got super mad at her for fleeing across the country and then kidnapped your brother who has now grown up to be a pain in the ass, so he could get back at your mum for leaving; or whatever."
"Right."
"So, do you think Niklaus is doing this for approval from my dad?"
She raised her eyebrows. "Oh my god. You're onto something."
"But it's weird. Your brother doesn't work for my Dad anymore, he's the Don now."
"Yeah, great thinking Sherlock Holmes."
"I've gotten that about 1000 times by now." I laughed.
"It's gotten worse." She said.
"What's gotten worse?"
"Your bruise." She giggled, "you sure you don't want some ice?"
"No it's fine, it'll be a reminder of how stupid I was to look away from him."

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

Niklaus was sitting on the couch, with a cigarette in his mouth.
"how's your face cupcake?" He chuckled.
I crossed my arms together clenching them. I wanted answers to what was going on.
"What are you doing Niklaus."
"What am I doing?"
"Why did you bring us here? Torture me and throw me into the bush already for fucks sake."
"I thought you wouldn't mind marrying my sister, eh?"
"That's not what I'm saying; why are we here. Seriously."
"Entertainment purposes."
I tilted my head. "Entertainment purposes?"
"-and for your dad; I guess." He said, sticking the cigarette back into his mouth. He ran his fingers into his thick black hair, and leaned back, spreading his legs on the couch.
"For my dad? Why?"
"Ah, you already know the reason cupcake."
"You've called me cupcake twice in this conversation."
"Cant help it cupcake, you're too cute"
I blinked my eyes out of disbelief. "Tell me why anyway."
"For your dad; I've already said that."
"He's not your boss anymore Niklaus; there's more to it."
"There really isn't any other reason smartass." He scoffed, "you should be happy I'm giving you a free wedding."
"I'm not happy that you're the one hosting it."
"Okay look, just so you leave me alone; I'll tell you alright?" He sighed, "blahblahblah that whole story. When I was 19, that's when your Dad left. He told me to find you and Natasha and-you know-yeah. So even though he isn't my boss anymore, I'm doing it for him. That's why he's here; to see the wedding. And if your wondering-because for fucks sake I don't want you interrupting my session again-no, I didn't kidnap your dad, or your mum,they just agreed on coming along, but they still got reported missing because otherwise, yeah. You get the whole point."
"So you've been looking for us for the past 6 years?"
"Oh, nonono, I found you years back. I just had to wait for the right time. Natasha's breakup, and that whole thing made it so much easier for me." He chuckled, "so yeah, I'm doing everything your father wanted to do."
"Okay yeah I get it Niklaus you don't need to keep boasting on about this shit."
"You don't talk to me like that, Dane." He stood up from the coach, approaching closer to me, the smoke from his cigarette blowing onto my face. "This is your Dad we're talking about. You should be lucky I'm keeping his legacy going."
I laughed. "But yet it's still his blood that runs in my veins." I murmured rolling my eyes, "and I hate it"
"Blood doesn't equal family my friend" he pats my back, his sunken eyes staring into mine. "He was more of a father figure to me than his own biological son."
This is what I don't get; my dad loving other people's son's except for his own. Two examples could be two of the worst people I've met; although on different levels of bad; is Ian and Niklaus. Ian was the type of bad to emotionally hurt someone, and Niklaus was both. Emotionally and physically, as seen with this developing bruise on the right side of my face. I was surprised my jaw wasn't knocked out of its place with that punch.
"You're father never loved you; and never will-"
"That's enough Niklaus. I'm leaving. Thanks for the all of this useless information." I said, while I left the room in a state of confusion and ponder. I learn new things about my father each day. It doesn't make it much better that Natasha said Niklaus told her my dad used to be; and still his occasionally called "The Mangler" because he mangled peoples bodies to kill them. Right now infact, I want to mangle Niklaus's body. I want to pull his fingers off and watch them dissolve in his own stomach acid. Maybe I should follow in my father's footsteps. But this has me wondering where my current mother comes under. Is she just a normal civilian, or does she have a questionable backstory as well?