A Dangerous Game

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Mayah Playah

"I encouraged it," Charlotte suddenly said. She noticed Daniel's subtle defense, but just as what happened in the pit, she wasn't going to leave him alone to suffer. "I could have stopped it from happening, but I didn't. I could have ran off and gotten you much sooner, but I wanted to fight Decius to help aid my side of the challenge."

"I don't give a damn who started it," Fredrich snapped. His stare was intense, as if he could tell what happened. "What I want to know is why you let it happen in the first place! Sibling rivalry? Is that your only reason behind this? Both of your prides got so swollen that you figured breaking and entering and massacring Decius's creations would settle it? Or did you both intend to fight Decius and see who stays alive?" His voice rose at the end, enough to rattle both their ears. He paused to calm himself.
"You are both adults," he said in a steady tone. "But what I saw today was childish! Do you have any idea what your mother and I went through when I got your call and heard only your muffled shouts against a chainsaw? Or were we just your Get Out of Jail card?! I trained you both to be proud assassins, but after what just happened I think your mother's right, none of you should pursue it. None of you should carry the Nightingale's proud name!!"

 

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Although it brought pride to Ellery to hear that he was right for once, this wasn't what he wanted. Sighing, he set a hand on Fredrich's arm, silent for once, his silence begging the much larger man to calm down before he said something he regretted. That is, before Daniel spoke again.
"I was afraid," admitted Daniel, now looking at the ground. "Julian said we would be safe, but the second it fell to ruin, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't assess the situation like you taught me to. He was so much faster and stronger than us, and he was going to kill Charlotte, so I did the only thing I could think of and called you. And you're right, I shouldn't carry the name." He looked to his sister, eyes for once soft. "Charlotte should. I dragged her into this, and you shouldn't punish her for the stupid thing I did."
Ellery paused, then stepped up to them. "Wait, Decius was going to kill Charlotte, but you had time to call your father? You were fighting him off?" he asked.
The teen looked a little confused by the question, then nodded. "We both were."
The man paused, then leaned closer to his husband to whisper. "Fredrich, the closest any other person's gotten to surviving that long was you. This is the first time they've ever worked together."

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"No, I'm just as to blame as you are," Charlotte insisted, giving him a gentle look herself. "I knew the risks but went along anyway. If I had refused then this wouldn't have happened, and if I had run off like you had told me to then I would have been able to stop Decius before he got to you. You handled him far better than I did, you should have the Nightingale's name."

Fredrich briefly glanced at Ellery when he whispered to him, then at his kids, which seemed to have lesser tension between them. He noticed this, but his anger was still far too strong to let him think rationally.
"I don't care if it's a world record, or if you've two become best friends out of this. The fact of the matter is you both broke into Decius's lab full well knowing the problems that entailed. You didn't research, you didn't think, you only thought about who would win this frivolous sibling war of yours!"
He sighed, running his gloved fingers through his hair. "Go to your rooms," he finally said. "You're both grounded for three months."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Not wanting to make things worse, Daniel nodded and started for the stairs, walking up them in silence. He looked to his sister, offering a small smile to her. "Mom's right; this is the first time we've ever worked together." He paused, looking down at his feet. "I'm sorry for being a brat all this time, Char. I guess I've always been a little jealous that you've got the Waltz blood in you. I won't even have the name until I turn eighteen. That's probably why I worked so hard to try and surpass you."

Ellery stood by Fredrich's side, watching their children go upstairs before turning to his husband. "Let's go to bed, baby," he said, using his sweetest term of endearment, something he only ever called Fredrich when they were both in private and he wanted the man to calm down. "You're still recovering, you need your rest." He insisted, eyes drawn to the area where Fredrich had previously been shot.

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Before entering her room, Charlotte heard Daniel's confession and turned to face him. She was surprised to hear just how much he envied her blood relation to their father, and a wave of relief and comfort seemed to wash over her as she learned her brother's true feelings.
"No, I may have his blood but you spent more time with him. You even got to spend time with him while he was with someone he loved, whereas I was an unwanted product. I always worked myself to the bone to be like him because it was the only way I could show him that my life was worth keeping. I'm always scared that he let me stay here out of pity and nothing more. You, though. He raised you because he loves you. You're just like him, too. That's why I was so cold towards you all these years. I guess that, in the middle of my tries to appeal to Father, I was intimidated by how strong and adaptable you were."

Fredrich could feel the eyes on his body, but he didn't make any attempt to show it. "Yeah," he sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced upward, noticing that he hadn't heard the doors closing yet. Whatever they were doing, he'd give them some time.
"I'm going to get a snack first," he said while moving to the kitchen. "I'll give Cameron a call, too, and see how his family's doing."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Daniel was definitely taken aback by his sister's confession, having never guessed once that she felt this way. He smiled a little at her. "Char, Dad loves you just as much as he loves me. The only reason they adopted me was because Mom talked him into killing my stepdad and then took me in despite Dad's protests. Truthfully, neither of us were expected, but he's proud of us both." Leaning in a little, he grinned. "Besides, at least Mom makes up for his lack of displays of affection. Did you know he had your birth mom send him all your baby pictures and made four scrapbooks out of them?" He laughed, a little happy that he himself only had enough baby pictures for three scrapbooks.

"That reminds me; we need to talk about what we're going to do about all of this," said, Ellery, following a little but stopping at the entrance to the kitchen. "I love Daniel and I want him to be happy, but I think it's time we separated the boys. They've only been together a short while, but already they've been through too much. I don't them on the run like we were. Maybe when Charlotte goes back to school, we should send Daniel with her."

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A wave of relief loosened the ropes of tension binding the two together, and for once Charlotte smiled warmly at her brother. "It seems we both developed Father's lack of recognizing emotions," she joked lightly. She turned and opened the door to her room, then paused and looked back at Daniel. "Goodnight, Daniel," she said before going into her room.

Fredrich reached into a locked cabinet as Ellery talked, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and two small glasses, his version of a snack. He moved to the table and poured both glasses, handing one to his husband.
"Yes, you're right," he agreed, a comment he was afraid would become regular in their conversations. "Those two are attracting far too much trouble, and I don't think it will take a short amount of time for them to get it all out of their system. Daniel needs to start looking into college, anyway."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Daniel nodded, waving a little to his sister before opening the door to his own room. "Night, Char," he said, walking inside and shutting the door.

Suppressing the pleasure of being right, Ellery took the glass and sipped only a little, having not had a strong drink in ages and still needing a little time to readjust. "Daniel's been looking into colleges since he was eight years old, Fredrich. He's already applied to several. I think he wants to attend a state school with Julian, although Charlotte's school has already expressed interest in adding another Waltz to their alumni."

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"Exactly," said Fredrich. "He's been looking into schools that Julian's also been looking into. We need to get him to go to one where that boy won't follow." He took a moment to drink, considering the school Charlotte went to. It was a prestigious one with only the finest teachers. It would be a great environment for Daniel to go to, and with enough persuading he was sure the school would give him a full ride.

As soon as Daniel got into his room, his phone rang, Julian's ID on the screen. It stopped ringing with a hang up, but after a few seconds it rang again.

 

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"I'm certain the Dean would love to have lunch with us," said Ellery, leaning on the doorway and looking at his husband. "Sometime in the next few weeks, too. Then, on Daniel's birthday, we surprise him and tell him what we did. He'll feel so obligated to us, of course he'll go. It's our parental duty to guilt him into doing what we want."

Daniel glanced over to his cell phone, picking it up after it began to ring a second time. "Hello?" he answered.

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Fredrich stared at his drink in silence for a while. Part of him wanted to object to the idea, knowing that Daniel would gloomily agree and be miserable. He had to remind himself that whatever Daniel was going through was just puppy dog love, it wouldn't last. Those two were best friends, yes, but they were bound to part ways. Daniel would get a proper education, and he'd live a better, independent life.
Assured with the reasoning, Fredrich finished the last of his drink before taking it to the sink. "I'll give him a call after talking to Cameron tomorrow, but if he stares at you for too long like last time then I'll make Daniel look for another school."

There was silence for a minute. After a second, there was a quiet, "Hey." Julian was nervous on the other line. He did, after all, ruin everything. "Umm, how are you? My grandpa didn't hurt you too bad, did he?" His parents told him what had happened when he came to. He was almost glad he didn't see Daniel go crazy.

 

[Mayah Playah]

The man managed to finish off the drink, feeling just a little woozy, and followed to place the glass into the sink. "He wasn't staring, he was just holding prolonged eye contact," he insisted, before pausing. "For two hours. Okay, I see your point. It's weird, because I was certain he was going to be like the rest of the world and fall all over himself for you."

Daniel moved to the window, glancing downward. He paused, hearing his parents through the open kitchen window. He couldn't hear much, just enough to understand that they weren't going to let him stay with Julian much longer. "I'm fine, but we have bigger problems," he said, shutting his window and moving to his bed. "Can you sneak out?" he asked.

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"Half of the time they're scared I'll do something to them," Fredrich insisted. He walked over to the designer and placed his gloved hand on his head, ruffling his hair. "You're easier to approach, and you're cute." He leaned down to give him a quick kiss then walked to the bedroom.

Julian made a confused noise. "Uh... Yeah, I think so. The rooftop?"

 

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Ellery paused, growing an involuntary blush as he was kissed and complimented. After a minute, he rushed after Fredrich, a smile on his face. "You think I'm still cute~" he giggled, shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah," he said, waiting for his parents to enter their room before sliding open the back window. All he had to do was wait for his mother to start giggling, and then he could go.

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Julian Rieux

About fifteen minutes had passed before Julian himself was able to escape. His parents had him under tight security ever since what happened. Once they started having an argument (or foreplay. At this point he couldn't tell which was which) he hurried off to the rooftops he and Daniel would meet at. What was wrong? Why did he need to meet up so quickly? Julian supposed he should've been glad. It wasn't like Daniel immediately hung up or anything, so at least he wasn't pissed about what happened. Unless... that was what the meeting was about?