Tristam and Rogue only lived together for a short time yet they were like brothers to each other, shared their darkest secrets. Both were nothing special, no one famous, just useless in the eyes of the government since Leo and Joel had no jobs and basically lived in a small, damaged house at the outskirts of the city.

But what no one even had a hunch of, was, that the two weren't as normal as they seemed to be.

"Hey Leo, did you find something?"

Joel searched in the piles of trash for things that looked interesting and helpful. After a little while Tristam shouted back: "Not really. Just wood and tons of garbage, nothing new."

The sky was gray and it looked like it would break down at any second. "We should head home, I don't want to get wet and freeze my ass off."

"Okay, hurry up then."

The older one agreed as they met up at the entrance and walked back. Silence went around but it was okay since they understood each other without words. Suddenly Leo stopped in his tracks and scanned the area. The latter stopped too and glanced at his partner weirdly but soon knew why Tristam behaved like this. He too eyed the surroundings carefully. "Something doesn't feel right about this atmosphere."

Leo only nodded silently and started walking again. When they got home Rogue immediately made a fire to get them warm. "Sad that we didn't find any food today. Maybe tomorrow we'll have better chances."

Joel tried to cheer the younger one up but that what happened earlier still bugged Leandré. The latter sighed and stared tiredly at the small yet lively fire in front of his eyes which got heavier until he decided to go to sleep. He yawned and said, "I'm gonna get some rest now, you should too."

Again the only response he got was a hum and with that they both went to a corner to lie down and hugged each other to share warmth since that small fire wasn't enough.

The next day Rogue woke up alone and instantly noticed a paper next to him, saying:

We have your little friend, I'm sure you want him back. If you do, then get here as soon as your reading this or his body will be cold tomorrow.

It was written in a messy style. The latter ran to the address that stood at the bottom of the note he got, which was barely readable. When he arrived he was greeted by a group of four people. The tallest one seemed to be the leader, the other two rather his little pets and the last one looked like Tristam who was totally beaten up and could hardly stand. His clothes were ripped apart, face had cuts and bruises and rope was wrapped around his body to hinder him from running away. As Leo looked up a cloth was stuffed in his mouth and he was dragged into the building, out of Joel's sight which made him anxious. "What do you want from us?!"

The taller one just laughed and his deep voice grumbled. "Easy, we want to be known and our name shall be feared by everyone. And how do you achieve that? By killing innocent people in a violent way so it'll reach the media, radio, TV and such, y'know. And you're a lucky winner, you get to see your precious friend die horribly in front of you!"

With that the male grabbed Joel by his hair and pulled him into the building. The smaller one struggled against it but failed in the end. Once dragged into house, the leader eyed his two pets who already bound Tristam to an iron pole and told them something that Joel couldn't understand. Everything that happened from then on seemed like speed up or slowed down.

"Don't touch him!"

Rogue screamed in panic when he saw the leader pull out a dagger and slowly walked towards Tristam. The things he wanted to do to that asshole but reality was a bitch.

Two men held the older one on place and Joel had to witness one of his nightmares he didn't want to come true.

Cold metal slowly penetrated the warm skin of Leo whose screams of pain got muffled by the dirty cloth stuffed in his mouth. Tears escaped his eyes and he tried to run away but tight ropes prevented it. He squirmed in pure agony as his left side massively hurt, then Tristam just slumped down, body seeming lifeless, hair dangling in front of his face. "No! Leo!"

Joel wildly pushed and pulled around and finally got free. The latter sprinted to the male that badly wounded his friend, took the knife and violently stabbed him. The leader's eyes widened and he gasped slightly for air until he fell on the floor. Dead.

"J-Joel..."

Tristam whispered, then coughed up blood that trickled down at the side of his bruised and swollen lips. Quickly Rogue cut the fabric which captivated Leo, caught him as he fell and hugged Leandré. "Are you alright?"

No answer. "Leo, please talk to me. I don't want you to kick the bucket yet."

The latter began to cry when he still got no response and his grip tightened around the colder getting body. Guilt, anger and sadness haunted the twentythree year old's mind now.

It's all my fault.

I could have prevented it.

I don't want to lose him, I'll be all alone again and maybe I'll die this way too. Sad and lonely.

These sentences kept on circling in his head and it drove him crazy. So many, too many thoughts flew around that they formed a chaos storm. Most of them were the possibilities of what could happen. Joel had to act quick now or Leo would slip out of his grasp to save the younger one's fragile life. "J-Joel..."

Leo looked up with half lidded eyes and weakly reached for Rogue's face. "Don't worry a-about me. I'll.. make it. I pro-"

His words got interrupted by Rogue who cried more, eyes red and sniffing uncontrollably. "Don't say these cliché things that you promise but can't hold!"

"Wow, didn't think that I'd find so much today!"

Exclaimed Rogue proudly to himself . He took everything with him from the garbage place and walked back home. Joel had no one else with him right now so he had to carried all things under his arms.

"Hi!"

With a rather happy greeting he entered the small room and placed the things in a nearby corner. In another one a sleeping body started moving and grumbled a tired hello. "And, how are you? Feelin' better?"

The latter sat down next to the figure and started a fire for warmth an some decent light."Yeah, feeling better than yesterday. It just burns a little."

Tristam glanced up at Joel and then to the new things at the other side of the room. "Ah, so you found some stuff. What about medicine?"

The latter searched in a bag around and pulled out bandages and antiseptic. "Well then, lets get it over with."

Both sighed at the same time and Leandré exposed his left stomach side, hissing when Rogue took off the old bandages. The older one scrunched his face at the sight of the big scar stretching out over half of the abdomen and a little further up. Leo's hands balled into fists and he cursed under his breath, wincing every now and then when he felt the burning sensation. "AH! Goddamnit... I wanna punch you but I still need to rest before I can move again but it won't take that long anymore."

A smile made its way across Tristam's lips but his face quickly contorted in discomfort at the sudden wave of pain. Joel hummed in agreement, then gave a small, soft tap on the back as a sign that Leo needs to lift up his body so that the older one could drape the clean cloth around to secure the wound. With some groans Tristam leaned up, arms shaking slightly under his own weight.

"And... there you go. All cleaned up and a new bandage. You hungry?"

Leandré sat against the wall behind him and rested shortly before yawning a tired yes. He barely ate the last days since the younger one slept day in and day out. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Tristam got something to chew on. It wasn't very much but at least a few bites of meat and potatoes.

It slowly got darker and both just quietly watched the fire crackle in front of them. No one said a word since they were comfortable with silence taking over. After a while the smaller one broke it. "When I'm fit again I'll repay it to you but for now I'm going to sleep."

Tristam lied down and sighed in comfort. "Oh, and thank you for saving me back then."

Rogue laughed a little and lied himself next to his friend that snored lightly.