I wished that I had trusted my gut and tried harder to dissuade Niji.

Just as he had instructed, I had hidden myself behind the boat shed by the western dock, and even from there I could hear the chaos.

The robotic yells of soldiers, the sounds of holes being blown through buildings. The ground shook and swayed, Germa becoming a battle zone once more, just like it had when the pirates had attacked.

Except this time, they were up against somebody they knew all too well.

"WHAT ARE THE ORDERS?!"

"SHOOT ON SIGHT!"

"BUT HE'S IMMUNE TO BULLETS?!"

"ANYTHING TO SLOW HIM DOWN! SPARKING, WINCH AND POISON WILL TAKE HIM DOWN!"

Niji...why did you have to be so reckless?!

I wanted to run, to try and find him, but I knew I would likely be as good as dead myself if I moved from my hiding place. I couldn't even allow myself to pace, lest I brought attention to myself.

Thousands against one. It wasn't fair, but nothing in war really was fair, was it? And war was what Niji had started, by attacking his father. I didn't know whether he had managed to get the job done or not, but I was riddled with doubt.

The loud thud of something dropping next to me nearly made me cry out, but a hand over my mouth muffled it. Before I even managed to focus, I could smell the metallic scent of blood, and began to taste it on my lips.

Niji was panting heavily, and I had never seen him so dishevelled. No, that wasn't the word. Wounded. His casual clothing had been torn and stained, revealing fresh cuts and gashes. His hair hardly resembled an ocean wave anymore, tangled and sticking to his sweat-slicked skin. His eyes, at least the one I could see through the shattered lenses of his goggles, was bloodshot and bruised.

"R..Run...We need...to run..." He spoke between heavy breaths, not giving me any time to speak before he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a sprint I could barely keep up with.

What had happened to him? The soldiers wouldn't have been able to do that much damage, so it must have been his siblings. Just picturing them with the intent to kill their own brother broke my heart.

"Niji...Niji, you're hurt..!" I whisper shouted, stumbling over my own feet as he dragged me along, trying to stay in the shadows. "What happened?!" He didn't look back at me, but I could feel his pulse hammering through the connection of our hands.

"I fucked up! I went for the heart instead of t..the throat and couldn't shut him up in time! Just run!" We were growing closer to the edge of Germa, and I panicked, praying that Niji wasn't going to throw us into the water. I couldn't swim, and he knew that, but I was sure he wasn't thinking rationally in this moment.

Suddenly, he jerked me hard to the side, and a blinding flash of red tore right through where we had been. Shoving me behind his back, Niji stood his ground, though it was clear he wasn't doing well. At all.

"You know, I never liked you. Ever since we were kids, you were always such a selfish, entitled brat." Ichiji ran a hand through his hair, speaking in a hauntingly calm manner. He hardly had a scratch on him, and my throat grew dry.

You were all entitled brats...

"But treason? Trying to murder our own father? The man who made us what we are today? Frankly, I'm shocked, Niji." Feigning hurt, Ichiji just stood there, not making any moves yet. Reiju approached and stopped a little ways off to his side, lips set in a thin, taut line.

"Why did you have to go and do something so stupid? You realise we can't let you go, right?" Unlike her brother, Reiju seemed genuinely upset, and I understood why. She couldn't disobey Judge's orders, even if she wanted to.

Niji readjusted his stance, trying to keep me as shielded as possible.
"I hope the soulless cunt has bled out already..." He snarled through grit teeth, barely flinching as a squadron of troops swarmed in to surround us.

We're done for.

I clung to his back, praying for an impossible escape. There was no getting out of this, so if he was going to fight, then I'd fight too, no matter how useless I was.
"I see you cowering behind him, sweetheart. If you're a good girl and apologise, I'll pretend you weren't involved."

I hated the sickly sweet lilt to Ichiji's voice as he addressed me, expecting me to roll over for him with my tail between my legs. I was done with that. I knew that no matter how things could have panned out, he would have always stayed a cold, vile excuse for a man.

"Fuck you, Ichiji." I was shocked at how stable my voice sounded when it came out, but my blood ran cold as ice when I saw the Prince's expression twist. Pure fury, that was what it was, whilst Reiju just shook her head in disappointment.

"That's...a real pity." Ichiji rolled his shoulders, preparing to do what he came there for, and Niji took a step back, knocking me a little.
"Run. There's a boat, just up ahead. I'll hold them off as long as I can-"

"No." I cut him off, knowing full well what he meant by it. Save myself and leave him to die. "I'm not leaving you behind." It was stupid. I was completely helpless in a fight, especially up against the Vinsmokes, but he was all I had left. I wasn't abandoning him. Too many people had already.

Again, I was abruptly knocked out of the way, right before a streak of red hit, but Niji remained, facing it head on. He was sent back fifty metres or so, but stayed upright, his arms up blocking Ichiji's leg from caving his face in.

"You're an idiot." I jumped when Reiju spoke from directly beside me, though she didn't seem like she was on the offensive. Not towards me, at least. "I warned you, both of you, so many times, but neither of you listened! You're lucky I haven't been ordered to kill you too! Not yet..."

She looked disgusted with herself as she turned and sprung towards her battling brothers, and I instinctively shut my eyes when I heard the slam of her knee against some part of the man I loved.

Feeling tension around my neck and shoulders, I realised that one of the soldiers had seized me by the scruff of my sweater, ensuring I couldn't escape. I hadn't planned on it, but it made me feel all the more helpless.

Niji really did try to fight his brother and sister, with his all, but two against one just wasn't fair, and he was too wounded to keep up. I knew how hard it was to cause the Vinsmoke children any injuries, so seeing the splatters of his blood streaking the ground was even more horrifying.

Over and over, they struck him, cut him, gouged and tore. He was running on spirit alone by the end of it, but even that was petering out. Falling to his knees, he was a mess of blood and bruises, spitting red and swaying back and forth.

"I wish I could capture this moment! The traitor, in his last moments!" Ichiji laughed, placing his hands on his hips, staring down at his own flesh and blood like he was nothing. "You threw away everything! I knew you were an idiot, but seriously?!"

Adrenaline took over all common sense, and I flailed around in the soldier's grip, slipping down and managing to wrestle myself out of my sweater, the chill of the night on my bare arms nothing to to burning fear that was overcoming me as I rushed to where Niji was knelt, about to be sent to his end.

Throwing my arms out to my sides, I stopped between him and his siblings, his executioners, prepared to do whatever it took, even if it only gave him mere moments more to live.
"There's nothing you can do. Move, or you're done." Reiju sighed, the coldness of her voice wavering ever so slightly.

Ichiji, however, just appeared more amused, looking me up and down before his smirk grew.
"No, let her try. He can watch me tear her open and know that it's all his fault. A little extra fuck you for his last moments." He wasn't bluffing. I knew he'd follow through with his threat, but I didn't budge, shielding Niji as though I was able to protect him.

"Don't..." Niji's voice was a cracked whisper when he spoke, his hand limply reaching to grab hold of the back of my singlet. "...Please, don't..." No matter what he said, I wasn't going to move. This was just as much my fault as it was his, in my mind. I hadn't tried to stop him hard enough, and I'd gone along with it, knowing very well how likely it was that it would turn out this way.

"You...You're a pathetic excuse for a man, Vinsmoke Ichiji..." I hissed, repositioning my stance, preparing for the worst. If I was going to die, then I'd go out in style. Hacking loudly, I spat directly into his face, my saliva dripping down and following the ever-growing curve of his enraged snarl.

"You rotten little bitch..!" My eyes squeezed shut as I braced myself for unimaginable agony, and I heard the impact, though there was no pain to follow. All I felt was a strong gust, then bothing. Confused, and unsure whether it had hit me so hard that I had died instantly, I cracked an eye open.

Black. Green and black. Broad and tall before me, like a great wall. It took me a few moments, but I suddenly placed that slick of green hair.
"Y..Yon..ji..." His name came out in fragments, because I was in complete shock. Was he insane? No good could come to him for doing this.

"Not you, too..." Reiju almost groaned, sounding completely done with everything whilst Ichiji picked himself up off the ground, his lip split from his youngest brother's strike.
"You fucking traitor..!"

What is he doing?! He's giving himself a death sentence too!

"Hey, (Y/N), I wanna thank you for comin' into my life. Better late than never, right?" Yonji didn't turn when he spoke to me, keeping his eyes on his siblings. "I've never been good with words, but I can for sure show you just how much you mean to me."

I listened closely, over the hammering of my heart, and was washed with another wave of dread. What was he saying? Did he mean what I thought he meant?
"Y..Yonji, wait...You can't-"

"Hey, bro. Y'still have some gas in the tank, yeah?" The man turned his head slightly, a tense smile on his face, and something that terrified me behind those deep blue eyes. "I don't ever wanna see either of your faces again, got it?"

I didn't have the chance to react before I felt hands around my waist, and I reached out as they began to drag me away.
"W..Wait..! No, Yonji, don't you dare..! Please, don't do this..! Yonji..?!"

He just smiled at me as Niji held me tight, kicking off the ground into an air walk, his breath heavy and rasping. Ichiji made a move to rush after us, but Yonji wasn't going to let him without a fight.

He's going to die!

Reiju looked between us and her youngest brother over and over before her fists balled, and she rushed to fight alongside Ichiji. All the while I struggled, uncaring that we were now over the ocean, and if I were to fall, I'd drown.

"No! Why isn't she coming after us?! Yonji! Y..Yonji, come with us..! Please..!" My voice was already starting to crackle and sting when I screamed out, but Niji just held onto me, skywalking as fast as he could.

"Her orders...were to eliminate her traitorous brother...Judge didn't refer to me by name..." He spoke through his teeth, fingers almost bruising my ribs, even as I stilled, realising what he meant.
"H..He's committing sui..suici..." I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Don't look..." Niji didn't try to block my line of sight, but he didn't have to. I couldn't bear to watch, even as Germa became a blur in the distance. "I'm sorry. I'm so s..sorry..."

No. No, this was Judge's fault. Everything bad to ever happen to any of you...was his fault...

I could feel Niji's blood seeping into my own clothes, hot and sticky, along with my continuous tears, and I tried to focus on his pulse over the drumming of my own. It was thready, and his breathing wasn't much better.
"You...you need to stop...Niji, you're seriously hu-"

"Not until you're s..safe..." He insisted, spluttering and spitting out some blood, which fell to dye the sea below. "We can't s..stop running now...E..Even if Judge dies...Ichiji won't let up..."

I knew he was right, but he couldn't keep going like this. Aside from significant blood loss, there was no way he didn't have broken bones, or other internal injuries. Up against anybody else, he likely would have been unscathed, but he had been taken down by actual monsters, designed the same way he had been.

"Please...As soon as there's land, you need to stop..." I begged him, pressing my face into his shoulder, uncaring that his ever-tightening grip on me would bruise my skin. "Please..."

Niji hissed as he kicked up his speed, kicking at the air as fast as his body would allow him to. There was no way he wasn't in extreme pain, and I didn't want him to push himself to the point of passing out. He'd drown too.

"Yeah...As soon as there's land...I promise..."

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***This didn't turn out like I wanted it to but meh. I might come back and edit it when I have a chance.

Next Time: Shattered***