Happy #LeaveMeFriday everybody! I'm on time this week; you're welcome. lol. Just a warning, I'll be on a cruise this time next week so I will not be posting. You might need a small break after this chapter anyway. 

*TRIGGER WARNINGS* for violence. I'll put a little recap at the bottom as always. Take care of yourselves. Enjoy xo

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"Time's up," Marcus purred, all dark joy and power and Louis heard the thick thud of the gun against the nightstand.

Louis whimpered that time but didn't pull off. He wasn't giving up that easily. He tightened his lips and purposefully gagged himself, throat tightening sporadically. Liam yelled and arched off the bed and shot down Louis's throat with a reluctant groan.

He didn't swallow; instead, Louis sat up and turned around on his knees to face Marcus, opening his mouth to show Liam's cum pooled on his tongue. Marcus leaned in, slipped a finger into the mess and watched with darkened eyes as Louis closed his lips around the finger and sucked.

"You did well," Marcus cooed, but it was less kindness and more mischief. "Maybe you haven't lost your touch. I've been trying to get him to come for days and you managed it in five minutes."

Marcus pulled his thumb out and Louis swallowed the load in his mouth before answering. "Thank you, sir."

"Well..." Marcus halted and tilted his head in thought. "Not actually in five minutes."

Louis felt his heart sink. "I was so close. I can do better," he promised.

Marcus hummed, seeming to consider it as he shut the recording off on his phone. He got up and went to where Liam's clothes were hanging off a chair and slid the phone into the slave's pocket. "For your Master," he spat and came back to the bed. "I know you tried," he told Louis, "both of you," he added and eyed Liam, who cowered from the gaze. "So, I've decided to leave the choice up to you." He reached over and untied one of Liam's hands, who stayed perfectly still until Marcus backed away again.

The Master grabbed the gun he'd laid on the nightstand and placed it on the bed between Liam and Louis, making sure Liam could reach. "Only one of you gets to leave here, go back to your sniveling Masters and tell them what you've done. You decide who gets to go home."

Liam and Louis both looked to the gun, then to each other. Liam shook his head in shock. "I won't."

Louis starred at him. "You have to."

"Oh, one more thing," Marcus added lightly before opening the drawer of the side table and taking out another gun, which he held firmly in his own hand. "You have one minute to decide or I kill you both instead."

"Fucking hell, Liam," Louis grit out. "Take the gun."

Liam was still shaking his head. "I won't."

"If you don't, we both die," Louis urged and saw tears collecting at Liam's waterline.

Liam tried to sit up more but was caught by the rope around his ankles. "I'm not shooting you, Louis. I can't."

Louis growled and picked up the gun, making Liam's eyes go wide, but then he took Liam's limp hand and slapped the gun into it, curling his numb fingers around the grip and trigger. "You have to. I promised Zayn I would get you home."

Marcus's condescending laugh interrupted them. "You don't even belong to him anymore and you're still trying to make him happy. How pathetic."

Louis tried to ignore him, to focus on Liam. He scooted forward and picked Liam's hand up by the wrist, pushing the barrel of the gun to his own forehead. "Do it, Liam."

Liam tried to pull away but Louis held him firm. "Louis, stop it!"

"Do it, Liam!" Louis shouted back.

"Twenty seconds," Marcus cued and Louis clenched his eyes shut.

He saw his entire life flash before his eyes: left as a young boy to roam the streets, being found by Marcus's men and taken back to be trained, meeting Zayn and lying to him; his first night with Niall and Harry. 

Louis smiled despite himself. Niall's bright blue eyes. Harry's wide, pure smile. The two most perfect people in the world and they somehow loved him.

"Ten seconds."

Liam's hand was shaking so badly Louis was sure he'd missed even at point blank if Louis didn't have a hold on it. The blue-eyed slave pressed his forehead harder against the barrel and murmured, "I love you, Niall. I love you, Harry." He opened his eyes again to see Liam crying, dense tears tracking down his cheeks. His gaze pleaded with Liam to do it; he was ready. Liam shook his head weakly but Louis could tell his resolve was broken.

"Three."

Louis nodded and Liam sobbed.

"Two."

Liam flicked the safety off and whispered, just for them, "I'm sorry."

"One."

The gun went off and Louis's head snapped back with the force of the bullet. Liam dropped the weapon instantly, letting it land beside his hip, and brought his shaking hand to cover his scream. Louis hit the mattress with a dull thud before crimson began to seep into the fabric, painting Liam's entire world with red.

Marcus hummed. "I didn't think you'd actually do it. I thought I'd have to kill you both." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm impressed."

Rage boiled up in Liam's chest. Impressed. All of Liam's muscles tensed with righteous hate. His teeth ground together and his vision dimmed to just the arrogant gleam in Marcus's eyes. Liam snatched up the gun on the bed and fired two shots before he'd even really aimed. One missed but the second landed in Marcus's ribs, making him sink to the ground on his knees.

It felt like justice delivered by a higher power how that happened to line Marcus's now shocked face directly up with the hot metal end of the barrel. Liam felt the feral smile that split his face just a second before he pulled the trigger again and watched as blood splattered out the back of the dead Master's head.

It could've been hours that passed with Liam sitting on the bloodied bed in frozen despair. Louis's face looked serene, almost like he was blissfully asleep minus the gaping wound in his skull. Liam couldn't look at him but he also couldn't not look at him. He couldn't stay here; he couldn't go home.

How would he tell Niall and Harry what he did? They would never forgive him. Would Zayn even want him back after this? He was having a hard time even remembering why he came back to this city in the first place. Was it even worth it? How could Louis's life be worth less than his own desires?

He let his head sink and covered his face with his free hand as he sobbed openly for his own misfortune and the loss of an innocent life. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm so sorry." It seemed all he had to offer, the only thing he could think to say. "I'm so sorry, Louis."

I promised Zayn I would get you home.

Zayn, Liam thought and sighed. He needed to see Zayn. There was nothing else in the world he needed besides that. Nothing else mattered anymore. He didn't care what kind of life he led as long as it was led by Zayn.

He gathered his wits and shook off the debilitating numbness enough to untie his other hand and rubbed the soreness away as best he could. His feet were still tied but Louis had fallen against one of his legs and he couldn't quite deal with that yet so he untied his unhindered leg before scooting closer to his fellow slave.

"Forgive me, Lou," he whispered and shifted Louis's stiff body off of him. His leg was drenched in red, some of it already dried to his skin. The rope was tinged pink but he did his best to ignore it and undid the knot. "We have to get out of here," he told Louis as he moved to get off the bed, but he was stopped by his pants, still pulled down around his thighs.

Oh, god. That was something he couldn't stand to think about right now.

He went to the other side of the room and quickly slid his clothes on. He couldn't find his shoes but it didn't matter. Liam stepped over Marcus, just narrowly kept himself from stepping all over him out of spite, and took the gun from Marcus's hand- not the one he'd used to...he couldn't- and shoved it into his waistband before he went to Louis. "Time to go, Lou."

He moved through the room like oil through water, in the midst but not a part of. He wasn't kidnapped, raped; Louis wasn't dead. Those things couldn't be real or he'd never get his feet under him. They just needed to get home. He heaved Louis onto his shoulder and valiantly ignored the smear of warm, wet blood he got across his neck for it. Louis had stopped bleeding, but the sheer amount of it on his clothes and in his hair was enough to make Liam's stomach roll.

None of it mattered. They needed to get away.

Liam made his way through the large house, trying to remember how he got there on that first night. Finally, he found the front door and wrenched it open to see that the sun was just barely beginning to color the horizon. It was still bright enough to make Liam wince after nothing but synthetic light or darkness for who knew how long.

The front gate seemed to be across the world from them. Their way out was all the way over there and guarded by a single man in all black. Liam skirted towards the trees that lined the fence and came up behind the guard. He wasn't quiet with a body over his shoulder but it didn't matter because he got close enough to pull the gun from his jeans and get a shot off, dropping the guard where he stood.

He'd have to come to terms with his ability to kill under pressure later.

Liam shifted Louis more sturdily onto his shoulder and they exited of the same gate Louis had come through the night before. Zayn's car was still there, still sitting serenely under the shade of a tree. Liam could've cried when he saw it.He dug into Louis's pockets and sent up a prayer just before he felt the small lump in his pocket. 

Liam unlocked the car and opened the back door. Laying Louis down was harder than picking him up and almost dropping the other slave was just one more thing he'd never tell a soul. Liam hovered over his body in the back seat and took just a moment to really look at him. Louis was beautiful. Sharp and ethereal. Good.

Liam pressed his forehead to Louis's cheek and felt silent tears drip from his face onto Louis's skin. "I'm so sorry."

With one last light-as-air peck to his cheek, Liam got into the driver's seat and started the car. He was still having trouble seeing straight and his head felt like it was going to explode, but he put the car in gear and took off down the road. 

***

Welp, in case you skipped...Louis's dead. Like dead dead. Yep, I know, I'm terrible and honestly it hurt to write. Louis is my fave so it wasn't easy. When they didn't make it within the five minutes, Marcus gave them a choice for one of them to kill the other or Marcus would kill them both. Louis convinced Liam to shoot him. But Liam then shot Marcus because he's the BOMB and Liam escaped with Louis's body. 

Phew. Everyone take a breath. It's only a fic. I really sad, disturbing one but hey. Let me know what you're thinking/feeling. Drop a comment. I'll see you in two weeks. Mwah! Xoxo, Jess