Johannes stared in shock at the person standing with a knife dripping in blood, while his father lay motionless on the ground. There was blood spilling out of his open mouth and neck, bruises following. There's no mistaking he's already dead.

The scene was traumatizing to Johannes, the scenario that he feared to happen became true.

"...Jonathan? What have you done!?" Johannes yelled in anger and in fear.

Jonathan grinned at Johannes as he cackled. "What have I done? I simply killed the pest in our life—it's my turn to repay for all the things that you have done to keep Father away from me."

"Did you not like my payment?" he asked, his dark blue eyes eyeing Johannes.

Johannes widened his eyes. "—Of course not! Murder is an inhumane doing! Why did you do—this!?" Johannes awed as Jonathan started to walk towards him.

Every time Jonathan took a step forward, Johannes stepped away from him. "An eye for an eye, a leg for a leg, and a life for a life. A simple rule. Do you not understand it?" Jonathan asked with caution.

"It's still wrong to murder people! Do you not know the consequences?!" Johannes shouted at him.

Jonathan laughed madly, once more. "Oh? And who said that? Your fictional book that always lies to people? Your beliefs don't apply to me, brother! You always say, "God has a plan!" But, who cares?! Nothing has changed after all the years that have passed! You've suffered and been used all this time!" Jonathan snapped at Johannes.

"You were nothing to the eyes of our father other than being his puppet that he can easily manipulate! You sacrificed everything just for him! How idiotic are you!?" Jonathan continued.

"I—I—" Johannes was speechless, no words came out of his mouth.

But before Jonathan could respond, James started to talk in a weak voice. "I'm sorry... sons."

"Father! You're—you're alive!" Johannes shouted as he tried to rush to his bloody father, however, he was stopped by Jonathan who grabbed him by the collar.

Jonathan dragged his brother away from getting any closer to their father.

"Oh? You're still alive? Such a miracle!" Jonathan exclaimed sarcastically, "You can even speak! Did you beg to your so-called "God" to help you?" he said laughing as he approached to his father

Jonathan kneeled down to his father's height and grabbed his chin with one hand, forcing James to look at him while his other hand held a knife just right under his neck. "The last person you would be begging for mercy is me." The tone that Jonathan spoke in sent shivers down James' spine.

But before Jonathan could take out his knife, Johannes grabbed him by the wrist. Unfortunately, Jonathan was much stronger than Johannes, physically, making Johannes accidentally let go of him.

This angered Jonathan as he let go of James and got up from his knees. He glared at Johannes for trying to stop him from finishing James' life.

"Are you actually willing to put your life on the line for this disgusting creature!?" Jonathan asked Johannes, anger filling up inside him.

Johannes knew he messed up big time, but before he could open his mouth to respond, Jonathan threw the knife he had to Johannes.

Everything went black for Johannes.

~~~

"Oh my god."

"You're awake—are you alright?" Royce asked suddenly.

Johannes woke up with a pain in his chest, his heart beating rapidly, and cold sweat dripping down his forehead and under his armpits.

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He'd had a horrific nightmare—which felt far too real. He thought that Jonathan had gotten back to his past self, making Johannes sigh in relief.

Johannes was sitting up now, in his bed, beside Royce. He looked at Royce, loving how adorable he looked with his bedhead.

"I had this nightmare," Johannes stated.

But when Johannes was about to explain his dream, he paused. If he explained how Jonathan acted in his dream, Royce would start fearing Jonathan, so he changed the "Jonathan" parts to a stranger when he explained it to Royce.

Royce didn't respond, though. He just gave Johannes a big bear hug from the side. "I'm sorry," Royce mumbled into Johannes' shoulder, even though his nightmare wasn't reality.

"Do you want to eat something to feel better?" Royce asked Johannes.

Johannes nodded, making Royce smile slightly as he started getting off Johannes' bed. "I think I still have some extra snacks in the refrigerator. My snacks have names written on them, don't worry," Johannes said.

Royce nodded and walked out of the room to get some snacks for Johannes.

---

Royce went downstairs, remembering where the kitchen was since he had already been around. But it had been a while since he went to Johannes' house, and boy was it hard to navigate his way around the mansion.

Royce wandered around to find the kitchen, it took a while until he finally found it.

The kitchen looked pretty simple but it sure looked expensive—no doubt, it was—almost everything was made out of white marble, the big counter and even some part of the walls. The handles were made out of brass giving out the gold-coloured look.

The kitchen itself just called Royce poor in ten different languages.

Royce approached what he guessed was the refrigerator. The refrigerator was also white too, and was much taller than him, the refrigerator also has two doors.

Royce opened the refrigerator and started looking for the food with Johannes' name on it. He took some of it that he guessed to be enough for Johannes.

After grabbing them, he closed the door with his foot and went back upstairs.

"What're you doing?" Royce asked immediately when he saw Johannes trying to get up from bed in a struggle. He almost dropped the food as he rushed to Johannes' side.

"I need something," Johannes explained.

"Er—you could've asked me," Royce insisted as he nearly forced Johannes back onto the bed. "What do you need?"

"Charger," he replied.

Royce was very close to facepalming right then and there. Royce nodded, remembering that his boyfriend-maybe-not-boyfriend-yet was sick. "Where can I find it?"

Johannes pointed to his slightly cluttered desk and over to a white little IPhone charger.

Royce approached it and grabbed it to give it to Johannes.

"Here," he said while handing it to Johannes.

Johannes thanked him and took it from Royce's hand. He plugged in his charger to the outlet next to his bed.

~~~

"James? James? Jamesssss!" Nathaniel said, repeating James' name over and over trying to wake him up.

James woke up, finding himself inside Nathaniel's car. "What happened?" James asked as he took off his glasses and started rubbing his eyes.

"You fell asleep and started having nightmares—again—gosh, you never grow up," Nathaniel chuckled, teasing him. "I bet you're having nightmares about Jonathan again," Nathaniel added.

"...Yeah," James responded.

Nathaniel chuckled again. "I assure you that Jonathan would never do that type of thing again, it's been a while ever since he lost control. Jonathan doesn't remember a thing about what happened when he was in elementary school. With Richard at his side, he's good at handling emotions now because of him," Nathaniel assured.

Nathaniel sat back in his seat. "No one even remembers it. Except for Johannes. But Johannes knows the consequences of what happens to Jonathan if he does reveal it. He loves his brother a lot."

"Your plan of homeschooling them for a while until Jonathan calms down worked pretty well, however, Jonathan kind of developed anxiety talking with other people, but hey, he's slowly learning to talk again."

James was still in shock of what he dreamed about—what if it actually happens? Nathaniel knows nothing about what James actually has done to his kids. His assurance didn't make James feel any better because of it.

"You're right...," James lied.

Nathaniel smiled. "See? Jonathan is normal now, so don't worry about anything."

"I stopped by a dessert shop before we got to your workplace," Nathaniel said as James looked at the window beside him.

"What do you want? I can buy it for you," Nathaniel said.

James shook his head. "I don't want anything."

Nathaniel suddenly grabbed James' wrist and moved it around, "You're as skinny as a stick, James. You never decline when desserts are involved," Nathaniel said, mumbling the last part.

"I'm not a kid anymore," James protested as he retracted his hand, making Nathaniel let go.

"Whatever," Nathaniel grumbled as he started doing something on the car screen.

"I'll be right back," he said as he finished and got out of his car, closing the door behind him.

Curious, James looked at the screen to see what Nathaniel inputted on it.

"My owner will be back soon. Don't worry, the A/C is on," James read out loud.

He blinked a few times until he realized what mode Nathaniel enabled his car to.

"Dog mode!?" James exclaimed as he looked out the window to find Nathaniel smiling proudly as he waved goodbye to James before going inside the shop.

"Curse that man," James mumbled as he sat back in his seat and then crossed his arms.