Rose knelt beside Lucian, cradling his still, blood-soaked body, her face streaked with tears. Her arms tightened around him as she heard footsteps approaching, and the cruel voice of the gunman echoed in her ears, mocking her grief.
“Damn it,” the man’s partner hissed, glaring at the first gunman. “I told you to shoot the girl, not the boy. Now look at the mess you’ve made.” He shook his head, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. “If he’s dead, we’re in for it. This could bring a hell of a lot of trouble.”
The gunman shrugged, dismissive, rubbing his shoulder where the slap had landed. “What was I supposed to do? Kid just threw himself in the line of fire. Not my fault he’s got a hero complex.” He stepped closer to Lucian and Rose, his eyes cold and calculating as he took in the motionless body of the boy.
“Well, go check on him then,” the second man snapped, crossing his arms impatiently. “If he’s still alive, maybe we can salvage this mess.”
The gunman grumbled but did as he was told. He moved toward Lucian and Rose, clearly irritated as he stepped forward, his hand resting casually on his gun, which he’d shoved into the waistband of his pants. He stopped a foot away from Rose, who sat hunched over Lucian, her body blocking any attempt he made to get a closer look.
“Hey, kid,” he sneered, “step aside. Gotta see if your little hero here still has a pulse.” His tone dripped with mockery, as if the entire scene before him was no more than a slight inconvenience. He reached out to nudge her away.
But Rose didn’t budge. Instead, she looked up, her eyes fierce and bloodshot, a raw fury blazing behind her tears. “Don’t even think about touching him,” she hissed, her voice low but filled with such venom that even the gunman hesitated. She gripped Lucian’s body tighter, as if her hold alone could shield him from further harm.
The gunman smirked, unimpressed. “Look, kid, your brother here? He’s likely dead. Just move aside and let me check.” He reached forward, ignoring her defiance, ready to shove her out of the way.
“Help me out here,” he called back to his partner, who rolled his eyes but finally moved to assist, clearly exasperated by the delay. He set his gun aside, confident that the boy posed no threat, and stepped forward, gripping Rose’s arms firmly to pry her away.
“Let me go!” Rose screamed, kicking and struggling, her voice hoarse with desperation. “Don’t touch him! Don’t you dare!” But the man’s grip was unyielding, and he wrenched her back, pulling her away from Lucian’s body. She thrashed against him, her strength no match for his, but her heart burned with a helpless rage.
As Rose was dragged away, the first man crouched beside Lucian, his expression dismissive. “Let’s see if there’s any life left in you,” he muttered, reaching two fingers down to Lucian’s neck to feel for a pulse. Rose watched in horror, her heart pounding, her breaths coming in ragged gasps as she fought against the man’s hold.
The gunman pressed his fingers to Lucian’s neck, half-expecting nothing. But as he felt for a pulse, something strange happened a subtle shift in the boy’s body. Lucian’s eyelids fluttered, his gaze snapping open, and a glint of something fierce and sharp flickered in his eyes.
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Before the gunman could react, a glint of steel appeared in Lucian’s hand, seemingly out of thin air. A sleek, black katana had materialized in his grip, its blade as sharp and deadly as vengeance itself. Lucian’s expression was one of quiet fury, his eyes never leaving the man’s face.
The gunman’s mouth opened, his eyes widening in shock. “Y-you…” But he never finished his sentence.
With a swift, precise motion, Lucian swung the katana, the blade slicing cleanly through the man’s neck. The man’s eyes bulged, his expression frozen in a mixture of shock and horror as his head separated from his body, tumbling to the floor with a sickening thud.
Blood sprayed from his severed neck, painting the walls and drenching Lucian in a torrent of crimson, the once-spotless white of his shirt now soaked in blood.
For a split second, time seemed to stand still. Rose and the other man could only stare, stunned into silence as the lifeless body of the gunman collapsed to the floor beside his severed head. The remaining man loosened his grip on Rose, momentarily paralyzed by the sight before him, disbelief etched into every line of his face.
In that split second of shock, Rose felt the grip around her loosen as the man who had been holding her seemed frozen, his entire body stiff with disbelief. His eyes were wide, staring at Lucian with something between horror and confusion, as if he couldn’t process what he’d just witnessed. How was this possible? How could a boy, barely thirteen, still be standing after taking multiple bullets?
And that katana where had it come from? It gleamed darkly in Lucian’s hand, sharp and menacing, an impossible weapon in an impossible moment.
Rose felt her own terror rising, gripping her tighter than the man’s hands ever had. She staggered back, breaking free from his loose grasp as her mind struggled to catch up. Blood spattered across the walls, staining everything in a macabre red. The gunman’s severed head lay just feet from her, his vacant eyes still staring at the ceiling, mouth slightly open as if in a final gasp.
The gruesome sight assaulted her senses. It was more than she could bear. Her legs trembled, feeling as weak as they did in her worst nightmares, but this was no nightmare she could wake up from.
A dizzying wave of nausea hit her, bile rising in her throat as she stumbled back, her feet tangling as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the blood-drenched scene as possible. Her pulse pounded loudly, every thump echoing her panic. She didn’t make it far before her knees gave out, her legs collapsing under her.
Rose sank to the ground, too stunned to even cry out, her body trembling as her back pressed against the cold wall behind her. She felt small and fragile, like a child cowering in a thunderstorm, seeking any corner of safety in the room that felt like it was closing in on her.
Her mind swirled, struggling to grasp what was happening. She couldn’t shake the image of Lucian, standing amidst the blood, his face splattered with red, his hands clutching that strange katana that seemed to gleam with a deadly light. How could her little brother her annoying, innocent, brave little brother have done something so brutal, so incomprehensible? And how was he even alive?
He’d been motionless just moments ago, limp in her arms, and she’d thought she’d lost him. The tears she had shed over him were barely dry on her cheeks. Yet here he was, alive no, more than alive. He was… different.
Rose’s heart raced as the reality of the scene sank deeper into her mind. Her thoughts fractured, scattering like shards of glass, each one reflecting another piece of horror.
The sight of the head rolling away, the lifeless expression forever fixed in a moment of shock, the blood pouring from the man’s neck like a dark, sickening fountain all of it kept replaying in her mind, each replay magnifying her fear. She hugged her knees tightly, pressing herself into the corner, desperate to make herself small, invisible.
Her body shook uncontrollably, her breaths coming out in short, ragged gasps as if the air itself was thick with fear.
The remaining man in black was just as shocked, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to make sense of the gruesome turn of events. He took a stumbling step backward, his gaze darting between Lucian, standing there with cold determination in his bloodied eyes, and Rose, cowering in the corner. It was clear he had never anticipated this. None of them had.
Lucian, meanwhile, stood still, his chest rising and falling with labored breaths. His gaze was fixed on the other man, his posture unwavering, even though his body bore the brutal evidence of the gunshots. The katana in his grip was steady, as if it had always belonged there. The look in his eyes held an intensity Rose had never seen before something fierce, protective, and utterly terrifying.
Her mind drifted back to her last memory of him just moments ago, his small body lying in her arms, his words soft and full of warmth despite his pain: “I… I kept you safe… that’s all that matters.” The shift from that vulnerable, selfless boy to the blood-streaked figure holding a deadly weapon was too much for her to process.
It was as if she were looking at two different people, one familiar and the other a stranger, standing side by side within the same body.
Unable to bear it any longer, she shut her eyes tightly, hoping, praying that when she opened them again, this nightmare would disappear. But even in the darkness behind her eyelids, the images remained vivid the head, the blood, her brother’s calm, almost otherworldly gaze.
Rose’s mind spun, and her body went limp against the wall as her heart waged a desperate fight between horror and relief. Her little brother had saved her, yet in a way she could never have imagined or wanted.
She couldn’t shake the image of his blood-splattered face, nor the sickening realization that a piece of their childhood innocence had been torn away, leaving behind a void filled with fear and sorrow.
The sound of the second man’s horrified gasp pulled her back to the present. Rose opened her eyes, her gaze blurry and unfocused, watching as the man stumbled further back, his expression a mix of terror and disbelief as he kept his eyes locked on Lucian.
“I… I…what you are,” he muttered, his voice trembling as he edged toward the door, panic evident in every step. “You… you’re just a kid. How… how is this possible?”
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sorry guys days are going and me only posting one chapter…i really wanna give more just busy at assignments… apologies
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