The Danish Slaughterhouse by: IntraSule

Chapter 13: The Buck

Berwald can't do it anymore. He can't hide anymore; he can't wait around in the dark corners of the basement as his husband and son, his family that he raised, are out there unprotected with that psychotic killer running rampant with nothing but murder on the mind. If Berwald knew anything about Mathias, he knew that even if Mathias had given up his barbaric ways as a Viking, there was still a bit of that bloodthirsty fighter inside him that was merciless towards anyone and everyone if set off, and he can guess that it was steadily grew, feeding off Mathias's sanity until none was left to withhold that demonic nature.

Berwald wanted to kick himself; a while ago, he sensed that something was off, yet definitely familiar, about Mathias's current behavior. He saw the calculating sneer on Mathias's face, as if the man had some secret plan and was playing nice and naive until the secret can finally come to fruition. Why didn't he mention this to anyone? Why didn't he mention the emotionless glint that Mathias gets in his eyes only when he truly wants to enact some sort of bloody vengeance? It was because of his inability to stop giving out the benefit of the doubt, the hope that maybe they all have recovered from such a way of living and have moved on to a more civilized and moral lifestyle. Maybe he shouldn't have expected progress from a man who could turn from docile and goofy to raging and violent in one swift second (quicker if he had some alcohol in his system) even if a majority of his citizens have progressed.

I should've killed him when I had the chance...

He ground his teeth into each other as pained screaming echoed so loudly that it seemed to shake the entire mansion. Or maybe it shook Berwald, with his recognizing the voice that cried out in torment. He didn't know which was worse: knowing that if he addressed his suspicions earlier he probably could've put a stop to this before it started, or the fact that no matter how much every cell in his body wanted to run upstairs and fight Mathias to save his husband he remained squatting in the basement, hiding in the dark so that he doesn't have to face the torture of those damned microscopic things Mathias snuck down their throats. Berwald kicked himself mentally over and over again; how could such little toys that he couldn't even see cause him so much fear at the fiery electrical currents they produced? Hadn't he suffered worse? Maybe it was the way that Mathias had control of those little robots and, overall their entire bodies, that filled Berwald with too much fear to act out on his protective urge...

"No," Berwald hissed to himself, shaking his head so rapidly that his glasses almost slipped off. He needed to stop analyzing; analyzing every single detail of the situation meant that he was getting ready to panic, and he can't panic, not now, not when he has to participate in this psychotic game in order to survive and make a tremendous effort to not go sprinting towards his screaming husband, both wearing away at his mental health and making him nauseous.

"No, don't!" Berwald heard Tino cry. He clenched his jaw and his fists. I can't go...

"Stop, please!"

"Oh, shut the hell up, already!" Mathias...panted? Berwald scrunched his eyebrows together. Why is Mathias panting...?

"Get off of me! No!"

"Shut up, I'm almost finished!"

Is he...?! Oh, God, no!

"No, please, stop!"

I can't go up there, Berwald said as his body involuntarily charged forward and through the doors of the basement. I can't go up there. He'll just kill us both.

His mind repeatedly told him to not go upstairs because that'll just make everything worse; Mathias will set off that shock collar thing and then what? Both Berwald and Tino with be tortured by the tool, paralyzing Berwald so much that he could do no more than lie there and watch his husband be both raped and electrocuted until they both die, with only the hope that Lukas and Emil can stay alive and protect Peter.