He tapped the floor with his foot, leaning with his back against the wall. He knew that he was a reject… Deep down he knew. He knew that his brother was the only one left that loved him… Quincy… That was the name that he had learned to love. Even if he hated the word… “love” … To Quinzel, the word meant hell. It meant that he had gone too far. It meant that he did something that he wasn’t supposed to do… He did what the word implied.

He fell in love…

He had a brotherly love for his brother, nothing more… He knew he could hurt his brother at any time; he had the ability to. He knew he had some strange strength… Quincy knew that Quinzel could easily slam his head into the cement, and sometimes Quinzel wished he could… Just to see the pink mass of his brain splatter with red trimming every crevice and displacement sends a shudder down his spine. However, if he did what he wanted… No one would be there for him anymore, and his dark shadow would follow him until he finally bit the dust.

He wished… he wished he could be normal for once. Be back to how he was. To have a family; to enjoy the meaning and word of love. But he had no more. He was too far… A small laugh rumbled from his chest. Yes, …he was too far. He couldn’t turn away now, his insanity was already calling him again. His hand itched to hold a knife. To stab it into something, however… Yes… He heaved a heavy sigh, letting out another fit of laughter as he stared up at the single light on the ceiling. The shadow of malice placed its hand on his shoulder, and he felt it bleed into him again. It started out as a hot, burning pain then settled into a subtle numbness in his body. He felt nothing… No remorse…

Only the urge to laugh his brains out… He enjoyed the feeling of not being able to feel anything… He heard the door open and he turned his head, the grin spreading across his face as he saw his brother walk in. Quinzel flicked his wrist and phantoms shut the door behind Quincy. “No visitors this time?” He said, his voice coming out as a growl then became light.

“N-no visitors…” Quinzel could tell by the gray in Quincy’s eyes that he was scared. It came back anytime he…

A laugh came out of his throat again, and the older brother shook. “Quit looking scared. I said quit! You know what fear does to me. It only makes things worse for you.” He grabbed his head, wrapping his fingers in his dark brown hair. He was taller than his siblings, despite him being the youngest, but he loved the way they would look up at him. The fear… The quiet pleads in their eyes… Oh! It was almost too much!

In one movement Quincy’s head made contact with the concrete wall, and he let out a hurt cry, grabbing Quinzel’s wrist. “P-please… Q-Quinzel… D-don’t do this…”

Quinzel drew his fist back and slammed it into the boy’s face. Quincy’s nose cracked and he cried out, his hand flying to cover it. “If you would just let me hurt somebody… You wouldn’t be going through with this. I hate having to do this to you… I hate it… I hate it… I hate having to hurt you… You understand, don’t you?” Quincy kept his nose covered, whimpering and crying. Blood dripped from his hands, and Quinzel felt terrible… Whatever part of him that was left felt terrible.

In this state, he was unable to feel any simple emotions. Only those of extreme complications, and ones that were difficult to explain… He knew why he would get this way. He knew what was making him this way and it was hard to push it out of him. It was hard to simply yell the words “stop” because the man possessing him was giving him what he wanted. He wanted to be able to hurt people. He wanted to be able to show others that even though he was the youngest he could still be a tough man. Too bad that it cost him the one thing he really needed in life.

He needed reassurance…

Quinzel let go of his brother, and he fell to the floor in a sobbing mass of blood. “W…We have to get him out of you…” Quincy uttered, moving his hand away from his nose, wiping his hand on the floor. Blood smeared against the dirty floor, and he cracked his nose into place, wincing. Quinzel had broken Quincy’s nose several times before, but it still hurt him. No matter how many times he did it. It didn’t matter… It always hurt him…

“Why?” Quinzel asked. “Why do you want me to be weak again? I thought you wanted me to be strong like you. So, that you wouldn’t have to watch me every time I got hurt…”

The malice put its dark hand over Quinzel’s mouth, shutting him up completely. It threatened him that if he spoke anymore he would instantly regret it. He knew what was telling him to shut up… It was that bastard that took over him. The one thing that made him regret ever taking the deal…

The man was a man of deals. He could instantly change your mind with simple words. Quinzel didn’t change his mind at first, but mentally he did. The deal was already done. Extra strength with the cost of his own sanity. Like you needed it anyway… He remembered the voice saying. He wanted his sanity back. He didn’t want to be some insane freak that no one could trust. He wanted Quincy to trust him so that he could go to him whenever he felt upset… He wanted…

Quincy’s eyes widened as if something was pouring out of the thing he was looking at. When Quinzel turned, he saw the malice taking the shape of the General that forever fucked up every chance of them being able to have any normal relationship… He felt the madness claw at his throat to scream at him as all numbness left him. He could feel again. Oh, how good it felt to feel despite his previous feelings…

Quinzel took a protective stance in front of his brother. The man slowly approached them, and he had this ugly grin on his face that reminded Quinzel so much of himself. “Why do you always question? Quincy and Quinn were supposed to question and you were supposed to sit there and receive the answers like the little snot you are!”

“You’re the one who proposed the deal. I simply took it… But this?! You hurting me? You hurting my brother? That wasn’t part of the deal! And you know it wasn’t part of it!” Quinzel growled and the monster grinned.

“I had to make sure everything was planted in your head correctly. To make sure that you wouldn’t try this...” He looked angry after he spoke… “But it turns out that nothing was in your head correctly, and it seems as though you can exit your insanity with that brother of yours… Why do you stay with him? He’s pathetic. He’s had to be reset so many countless times but yet, you stay with him.”

“I don’t care what has happened to him, he’s my brother! He’s the only family I have left!” Quinzel felt his body shake as he yelled, and he realized what he was doing.

“What about Quinn?”

“Quinn… She means nothing to me. She tore the family apart. You and her together.”

“No. No, you respect her! You’re a filthy traitor!” Quinzel held his breath, and the General grabbed him by the hair, slamming his head into the concrete floor.

“Ow! Fuck, what the hell is wrong with you?! I don’t respect her!” Quinzel was barely phased and he got up, throwing a punch to General’s gut. He recovered easily from the blow...

“Heishi! Stop! You can still get through this! You don’t have to be like this! You can change! You can really change!” Quincy tried to make him forget that Quinzel was there, and focus his attention on Quincy himself.

“I can’t change. It’s too late for me. So… You know you can grab your little fucking ass and hop on out of here… We both know what you and your little boyfriend do. Unless that’s Onyx I’m thinking of. Oh, well… You’ve suffered so much worse than what I’ve put you through. You of all people would know that.

“You’ve been reset countless times, Quincy… And each memory hits you hard, does it not?” Phantoms poured from his hands, pinning Quinzel to the wall so he couldn’t move.

“Why would I tell you anything?” Quinzel could tell what Quincy was thinking… Don’t… don’t do it…

“Because. It’s being respectful. Especially of me! You should always be respectful of me! No matter what!”

“Why the fuck would I respect you? You know very well why I wouldn’t… But here you are. Pretending that I did in the first place. What kind of fucking monster are you?!”

Heishi let out a hellish scream and latched his hands around Quincy’s throat. “No! No, let him go!”

“I would… if he hadn’t insulted me… Do you have a death wish, Quincy? Because maybe you don’t fear death like you should…” He unsheathed a knife from his belt and sank it into Quincy’s neck. A short-lived choke and cry left his throat, and with a twist of the blade, it instantly killed him. His eyes fogged over…

The phantoms let go of Quinzel and he fell to the ground. He got up and threw a punch to Heishi’s skull. His fist connected with metal and Heishi dropped the dead brother. Blood spilled from the wound on Quincy and the wound on Heishi, but the only difference was that Heishi wasn’t dead…

“Bring back my brother, you son of a bitch!”

“Why should I Quinzel… He disrespected your only power source… He disrespected me. He fucking disrespected me…” Heishi was beyond pissed off as far as Quinzel could tell. Heishi turned around, backhanding Quinzel so hard he hit the wall. F…fuck…ow… He slid down the wall, his lip busted and bleeding everywhere. When his back hit the wall, he became paralyzed in shock… He couldn’t move. He could move if he didn’t hit the wall so hard…

He took a glance at Quincy as the General took several large steps towards him. “Give…me back…my brother…” Quinzel panted, his vision blurring. Stay awake...

“Do you really think I’ll give him back to you?”

Quinzel felt the burning feeling overwhelm his body, and he felt a laugh bubble from his chest. “You should…” With that, Quinzel got up, his bones cracking and popping as an unholy horror turned him into a monster. His teeth were sharp, eyes huge and bloodshot, his whole body morphed into something that a kid would see in their nightmares. “GIVE…ME…MY BROTHER!!!” As if in some kind of reflex, Heishi was gone, and Quincy was coughing…

He’s waking- FUCK!! It took all of his will-power to calm himself down, and even then, it was a close call. By the time his frame went back to normal, Quincy was looking in his direction. “Q…Quinzel…?” He looked at his, now normal, brother. “Wh…where’d Heishi go?”

I made him go away… No, that was a lie. He’d be back… He’d be back to deliver a brutal beating soon. “I… I think I set off his mental alarm. I don’t really know, but he left for the moment…”

Quincy’s eyes watered and he began to cry. “I thought he was finally dead… Why can’t he just die? I want him dead and gone… Out of my life… Out of our lives!”

I’m sorry, Quincy… I dragged you into this… I wish I could get you out of this now but… I’m so sorry… I can’t apologize enough. It’s impossible to express how sorry I am…

I wish I could find a way to make it up to you.

But it’s hard when the world hates me.

They don’t like me being with you.

I guess that’s karma.

I’m so sorry…

So very sorry.

As if reading his mind, Quincy took his brother by the face and kissed his forehead. “I forgive you, Quinzel… Besides, we have something he doesn’t… Reckless insanity.”

Quinzel looked at his brother confused and tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“We have insanity.”

“Quinzel’s Insanity.”