Alexander

Brave

It had been three days since he had supposedly raped Lily. All three of those days had been hell. His father had been so angry with him that he had received no real medical care for the damage that Nicholas had inflicted. Alexander assumed that was because Nicholas's lie would fall apart the moment anybody really examined his wounds and realized that they didn't match the story.

So, in the musty cellar he stayed, praying against infection. He also had nightly visits with Nicholas, down by the brook where the bloody evidence had been erased by a good night of rain. These weren't as bad as the first night, Nicholas knew that his luck had to run out sometime, but one thing that Alexander quickly discovered was that Nicholas was a fan of experimenting, especially on his favorite rat. He also learned that for Nicholas, empty threats didn't exist.

As he waited for the creaking of the wooden planks above his head to stop (his cue for making his way to the brook), his brain dragged him off and away to that first awful night. It still came in snapshots, and some of it he didn't fully understand, but he clamped his eyes shut tight, though it did nothing to ward off the memories.

"Scratch him or I kill him." Nicholas to Lily. "Get off of me!" Lily to Nicholas. "Help me! Alex!" That one was self explanatory. Those snippets he could place. But there were others...

"He's yours, Walter. Please, believe that."

"Alexandria... I do believe you, I do... please, don't leave me."

A light chuckle. "I don't really have a choice."

A baby began to cry in the background, and a father sobbed in the forefront. The mother's voice was no more.

These ones he couldn't explain.

The creaking was still ever present, so he closed his eyes again. This time, it was last night's talk with Nicholas.

"You're going to tell Josiah that you're fine, and that I'm leaving you alone." It wasn't a question, it wasn't up for debate. Alexander wasn't arguing, but just to make sure he'd thrown in, "Or I'll kill him."

Fine. Dandy. Telling Josiah had done a lot of good anyhow. 

It was getting late, it had to be. Someone was pacing above him. He stood up, his heart pounding in his chest. If he was late, Nicholas would...

He rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time until he reached the top, then he did his best to move silently. He slipped through the door and made a break for the front, but then someone tapped his shoulder. He whirled around, expecting it to be Elizabeth, or Father, or even Josiah... but not Lily. He bit back a scream.

"Hey," Lily said softly.

"You're going to get me in trouble, Lily," he scolded, flitting his eyes from corner to corner, door to door, but no one was there except for them.

"I know," Lily sighed deeply, the air hitching in her throat. "I just..." the tears began to fall. "I'm just really sorry, Alex. He said he'd kill you if I didn't..."

Alexander reached a finger up to her lips on an instinct to shush her and she stilled. "This isn't your fault, Lily. It's mine. What he did to you, it's not okay. I should be being brave, trying to avenge you, but I'm not, and you know that." A pause. "You really should hate me. I don't know why you're here."

"Because I don't hate you, Alex. I know he does worse to you every night than he did to me, and I just can't take it anymore!" She stomped her foot in frustration, and Alexander slunk back, away from her. She looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"He's going to kill me anyway, Lily. It'd be in your best interest to just stay away."

"Okay, I understand," she whispered. "Just one more thing.." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him tenderly on the lips, taking him back to a world he'd never known. Real romance, true love. Alexander pulled her closer and she obliged, their kissing becoming more passionate, untameable. Her hands were the first to explore, but they didn't crave to take and to harm like Nicholas's did when he touched him in these same places. Hers were gentle, seeking to please him. Her boldness gave him permission to try things of his owns, and he got a jolt of pleasure every time she hummed appreciatively. He was three seconds from ripping her clothes off of her body when he forced himself to step away. The distance between them hurt worse than anything Nicholas had ever done to him, but this wasn't fair to her. She appeared lost and confused, and she tried to approach him again, but he stopped her before the rest of his will failed him.

"I can't," Alexander said, and he turned to go down to the brook where his brother dearest would be waiting for him. Somehow, tonight was worse than all the other nights put together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josiah didn't believe Alexander for one moment about Nicholas suddenly deciding not to bother him. He saw the way that he looked at Nicholas in fear, and surrendered to his every will and whim. Elizabeth was being a beast as well, but seemed alright with keeping her distance unless called on by Nick. Josiah knew that Alexander's message was probably given to protect the both of them, but life couldn't get much worse for the kid, and Josiah had all but thrown himself to the wind.

He had stopped writing every little thing to Lydia, knowing that she couldn't do anything anyway. It was just perplexing her, which wasn't fair. She offered to come down, but Josiah knew from experience that it was never good to be on the general's bad side. Besides that, he was home for the month, and during that time, he was trying to impregnate Lydia. No, Josiah would do this on his own. Somehow.

He saw Alexander walking across the courtyard to where Elizabeth was standing, and Josiah moved in to get closer. She was smiling a little too wide for his taste, and Josiah decided that he'd had enough. This had to stop.

But then Alexander shot a warning look at him and shook his head. Stop. Confused, Josiah did. Elizabeth smirked at him, and then towed off her little sibling prodigy. Josiah mentally kicked himself. Why would he listen like that? Damn orders! Damn the orders! He set off after them again, but they were gone. He chuckled humorlessly. He had to hand it to the kid, he was brave, but he was also running out of time. It had been a week. One more to go before everyone dispersed again, and he had a feeling that Nicholas wouldn't leave his fun unhad.