An angry, frustrated groan echoed through the police station, followed by loud crashing noises from random flying objects. The skeleton ghost marched in angry steps towards the holding room where he found two empty cells. One of which Thomas knew was standing open in an almost mocking way.

"No!" The words vibrated through the empty police station. "Where is she?!" The skeleton ghost yelled, clearly not giving a care of how loud he was being.

Was he so certain about his play that he didn't care about being found out? Somehow that made Thomas' nerves prickle even more.

He was trying not to move in his hiding place behind one of the desks, but his fear was not working along with that plan. His hands were trembling and his heart was racing, making him feel uncomfortable and jumpy. So, keeping still was getting harder by the minute. He pulled his knees against his chest and tried to breath through his nose and mouth, the way his father taught him during their self defence lessons.

On the other hand, his blood was boiling to dangerous temperatures. The man he had been hating for the past month was standing right there. Right there! What was he waiting for?

He didn't know, something kept him from taking action. Maybe it was the fear, although he wasn't sure it was. That fear only seemed to spike the adrenaline that coursed through his veins.

Another series of objects smacking against the ground made Thomas shriek in surprise. Just in time, he covered his mouth, but nonetheless he made a muffled sound.

The skeleton ghost went quiet. Thomas realised he was suddenly standing much closer to him than before. Only one desk stood between him and that hellish character. For a single moment he contemplated running away, saving himself from probable doom. That moment lasted only so long as it took his mind to form an image of Esmeralda laying dead on their floor, in a puddle of her own blood.

Thomas jumped from behind his desk and grabbed the first object he could find there. When he realised that he couldn't do anything useful with a stapler in a fight, he simply threw it to his opponent's head.

Still in surprise, the masked man reacted too slowly and got hit by it. The skeleton ghost rubbed his shoulder, to then look up at Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas didn't seem to be the best thrower in stressful situations.

The black holes in the mask sent chills through Thomas. Everything about this man kept throwing him back into the past, to that one moment that changed his life so completely. Seeing this figure from his nightmares standing in front of him, caused him to feel everything once again. His chest seemed to cave in, his mind came to a halt as the faded image of that day became clearer once more. He remembered details that he hadn't before. His breath hitched.

The skeleton ghost slid over the now clean desk and with angry steps he walked over to where Thomas was standing. His fist already preparing to strike.

The closing danger was like a cold bucket of water poured over Thomas' head, his mind cleared from emotions and his attention funnelled in on his opponent. His head felt more clear than it had in weeks.

This wasn't the first time he experienced this kind of inner calmness. He used to get it during training sessions with his father after school. It was his dad that taught him that in a fight, there could only be one thing on your mind: the fight. Everything else was background noise that distracted you from your goal. All his feelings of anger and pain and revenge didn't matter anymore. It was simply about winning this fight and getting out of there safely.

The masked man attacked with a right cross going in the direction of Thomas's jaw. Without heaving his hands in a defensive position, he took a step backwards. Once the masked man's fist passed his face, he took a step forwards and hit his opponents open flank. The man stumbled backwards because of the force behind the punch.

It went on like that for a few more tries. Thomas always stayed right out of his distance, while the skeleton ghost kept trying to land a punch. Unfortunately, Thomas could only land one more hit, and they didn't seem to harm the skeleton ghost too much.

The skeleton ghost, boiling in anger and frustration, pulled out a glowing red dagger. Letting his previous failure go, he launched forward yet again. The blade missed Thomas' side just barely. Before Thomas knew what was happening an elbow hit him in the face, making him see little stars. He stumbled backwards. He didn't have time to recover before another blow crashed in his face. And then another. And another.

Before yet another fist could hit his face, the skeleton ghost crashed into one of the desks on his right side.

Thomas coughed before wincing in pain. His lip was bleeding just like another nasty cut right above his eye. He looked up at his saviour, only to meet annoyed heterochromia eyes.

"You really can't do anything, can you?" She sighed while shaking her head.

Thomas grinned in relief, she could throw any kind of criticism his way, but that wouldn't change anything about the fact that she was here. And he was glad for it.

With renewed energy, Thomas extended his back and moved his head around to loosen a bit of the tension that had built up in his shoulders and neck.

Mykayla's cranked face disappeared as a devilish grin took its place. She was going to enjoy this. Somehow, her eagerness hyped him up as well.

Without waiting any longer, the girl attacked with an iron chain bound around her fingers. Not totally unexpected, the masked man blocked her arm. As a counter attack he kicked her knee backwards, making the brunette wince in pain. It didn't stop her from attacking a second later. This one hitting the mask with full power.

"HOLY F-," Mykayla shrieked in pain, grabbing her wrist in her hand.

While their opponent seemed to be disorientated for a second, Thomas reached for Mykayla, who pulled away and inclined her head with an angry frown towards the skeleton ghost.

Right, of course she didn't want any sympathy from him.

Thomas, who had kept himself out of the fight until now, saw an opportunity now that the skeleton ghost was still searching for his centre point, and took it. With a nice high kick he hit an unexpecting skeleton ghost yet again at the exact same place. This time leaving a vertical crack across the skull mask.

"Hit him again!" Mykayla's battle cry echoed through the room.

Thomas was mid-strike, when he noticed Mykayla reaching forward with fear-stricken eyes. He hadn't noticed the masked man drawing the glowing dagger before, but it was too late now. He couldn't stop his attack anymore, and stumbled over Mykayla's crouched body.

For a moment, everything was a disorienting mix of limbs and groans. Then a cry so loud and sharp that every hair of his body stood up to the heavens echoed through the empty station.

When Thomas looked up, he saw the skeleton ghost tower over Mykayla's defenceless body. His knife raised in the air, ready to strike again. He seemed to be so focused on Mykayla that he left his back open for Thomas to attack.

"Take this, asshole!"

A heavy binder hit the skeleton ghost on the side of his face. He wobbled backwards, falling into a desk chair that rolled backwards, hitting one of the desks. His hands reached for his face. When they came back down, so did the mask made of skull. Or at least part of it.

Thomas's body turned cold at the sight, and it was as if his world had stopped turning. The binder fell out of his hand and on the ground with a loud thud. His eyes were huge and his lips separated from each other to let out a wheeze of disbelief.

"Mario?"

It was an uncertain whisper. The air he breathed in afterwards felt colder than before.

The older Latino's eyes just looked at him without emotion.

Thomas was having a hard time wrapping his mind around this reveal. How could this be?

"But-," Thomas spoke again, this time a little bit louder. His head shook in disbelief. "Why?"

Mario grunted when he moved.

"Thomas, give me the girl," he sighed, his finger pointing at the brunette on the ground.

Only now, the sound of groaning and superficial gasping broke through Thomas' bubble. The shock retreated like water during ebb. The world started to turn again and time unfroze.

Mykayla laid on her side, clutching her upper arm. Underneath he could see that the knife had cut through her black leather jacket. But most frightening was the sight of Mykayla so defenceless and weak. Her usual lively flush had turned into the colour of a corpse, and her eyes were squeezed so tight that Thomas could almost feel her pain.

"Are you serious right now?" Thomas asked in disbelief, his voice a lot louder and angrier than he had ever sounded. "I'm not going to give a serial killer his next victim. What is wrong with you?"

Mario sighed in annoyance and anger. None of his usual warmth was present, as if this man before him was a completely different person.

"Just stay out of this Thomas, go back to your dead fiancée at the graveyard," he said indifferently and coldly.

Those words coming out of his mouth lit a fire inside of Thomas that he didn't even try to control. His fist clenched together and his shoulders tensed.

"What did you say?" He growled through his grinding teeth.

"I said: GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Mario looked done. He wasn't here for a chat, and that only made Thomas angrier.

"No. You killed Esme! MY. Esme."

Thomas was livid. Did that asshole think he would step aside so easily?

Mario sighed again.

"If you don't step out of my way, I'll just remove you." Mario pushed himself out of the desk chair, and let the mask hit the ground. "Don't worry, Thomas, I won't kill you. Not yet, at least. That's a plan for later, when Esmeralda can watch."

The two boys ran towards each other. Each punching the other time again and again, until both were barely standing. Blood trickled down their faces.

"Now, let me finish this for you."

With the handle of his knife, Mario launched in the direction of an unguarded Thomas, who's eyes turned big, knowing exactly the moment he had made the wrong movement.

Knowing you'll lose before it happens and knowing you can't do anything about it, is the most painful, his father used to say.

The seconds seemed to lengthen. Thomas' brain seemed to work faster, yet his body didn't. The realisation of his defeat fell like a bag of brick stones down on him and all he could do was wait for the moment to arrive.

Mykayla clearly saw it coming too. She had pushed herself up in a half sit, her non-injured arm was reaching out in the direction of the attacking Mario. It was almost beautiful to experience; an attack in slow-motion. The bubble exploded when sound breached it. Time switched from very slow to very quick in a single moment.

"ENOUGH!" Mykayla screamed.

An invisible force hit Mario, making him fly across the room. With a loud crack his body crashed against the wall, leaving broken tiles behind. He pushed himself to his feet with grunts and groans. With a surprised, but mainly hateful frown, he burst through the front doors and into the night. And gone he was again.

The brunette trembled before she collapsed again. Thomas launched forward to catch her. A cold chill ran through Thomas' body when he caught her. Not that he paid attention to it, there were a lot more things going on.

"Are you okay? How did you-?"

His head was going to explode from all these surprises.

"I don't know," Mykaya groaned, tired. Her eyes were pressed closed and the rest of her face was contracted in pain.

"Well, whatever you did. It was awesome," Thomas said with a big proud smile on his face.

Mykayla puffed out something between a groan and a chuckle. A tired smile crept up her face, it was faint, but nonetheless there. Thomas even got a soft poke between his ribs. The world was still not out of surprises it seemed.

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

With Mykayla's arm draped around his shoulder, they walked out of the police station, this time through the front doors.