Apologies in advance for this chapter guys. It's really bad. I started writing it a bit ago, and then came back to it and sort of died... oops.

Joao was itching to move. He'd been sat in the same place for at least the last half an hour while he watched everyone else run forwards to do the thing they'd come for. He felt bad for wanting to go, but at this point in time, he was prepared to leave Matthew where he was and go find someone to fight. His sword lay at his feet. It hadn't moved for at least a century, probably more. He hadn't been near it for at least a century. The suspense was killing him, but all he could do at the present was sit against the wall next to Matthew and try to calm him down. Matthew didn't exactly look good. He was drawing in huge, shaky breaths that rattled in his chest and his eyes were wide, staring at the floor as though it was something to be scared of. Maybe it was. Arthur had passed them on his way in and had a short conversation with Joao in which he'd diagnosed Matthew's situation as Post Traumatic Stress, or a panic attack, or something of the sort, and instructed Joao to look after him. Joao had felt a little abandoned and distressed at that.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked Matthew for at least the tenth time.

Matthew nodded weakly and put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get like this. I thought I'd be alright, or that I wouldn't freak out. I'll... I'll be fine."

"You sure?" he certainly didn't look it.

Matthew nodded again and stood up slowly.

"It's fine" Joao got him to sit down again. "There's no point in moving if we're going to go slowly. We may as well sit here and be less of a target, with less chance of being spotted, than get up and move about. It'd be easier too."

That was another reason why he wanted to move. Anyone could find them here, and with Matthew's current state, they'd be in trouble. He didn't want it to come to that at all.

But they still sat against the wall, in the exact same place as they had been in before. It could have been worse - they could have been sat in the middle of a main corridor or something, and he didn't suppose that any of the counterparts would end up fleeing from the building through the door which was to their right, but it was still a possibility.

Joao was still thinking about the possible consequences and watching the door when it slid open. He inhaled quickly and pressed himself back against the wall as though hoping to reduce being seen, pulling Matthew back too. Part of him was hoping it was simply late reinforcements, one of whom could look after Matthew while he went off, but he knew it wasn't. The two that walked through the door were vaguely familiar, but not so that he could instantly recognise them. One was dressed in a purple shirt with light coloured hair and a square shaped curl. The other was dressed in a black robe with orange hair and a crossed curl.

"Serafino's a dick" the one in black shouted down the corridors, her face completely blank and emotionless.

"Luisa's cursed by hell" the one in purple, Serafino, snickered, rolling his eyes and then frowning at the quietness. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know?" the other, Luisa, snapped. "Why should I know?"

They went around the corner, somehow missing Joao and Matthew, their voices echoing down the hall until they disappeared.

"Should we move?" Matthew whispered. "I don't think this is the best place at the moment."

"Neither" Joao slowly stood and turned around the give Matthew a hand up. "Come on. It's probably less safe to walk around, but at least then we can react to things I guess." He strapped his sword to his belt and peered around the corner, seeing nothing. "Okay."

They crept down the corridor, freezing at every sound, raised voice or creaky floorboard, barely breathing, as though the simple disturbance of air could tell anyone else where they were. It took them a while to get down the first hallway, even though Matthew ended up being able to walk faster than Joao had expected, being calmer and less shaky now. When they did finally reach the end, Joao leapt back and pinned himself against the wall again.

"What?" Matthew mouthed.

"They're there" Joao gestured towards the end of the hall and then loosened himself from the wall a little to peer around again.

He was met with a knife.

"I thought it was a little too quiet round here" Luisa raised an eyebrow at him, jamming her knife into the wall. In another situation, Joao might have commented on it. It was something to admire really: a well sharpened, gleaming blade that curved a little at the top encased by a golden handle with a small cross encrusted in it by red jewels. He was half tempted to say something, but was slightly put off by the fact that it was pointed at his neck.

"You didn't really think you could launch an attack on us and win did you?" Serafino frowned and shook his head. "Dear me. You're not thinking this through very well are you?"

Joao just stayed where he was, trying to think. There was no way they were going to escape this situation. There was no way that both of them were going to successfully fight. Matthew, however much he had recovered, was not going to be able to fight properly. The two counterparts in front of him looked about as dangerous as they come, and now he had a closer look at them, he could see that they both came equipped with at least three small throwing knives and another two for hand to hand combat. Although they seemed fairly slow, dazed and dopey, Antonio had mentioned that that had been what Andres had seemed like from the beginning. And of course after that assumption, his little brother had been killed.

He was broke out of his thoughts by a small movement from Luisa, which he sidestepped away from. The knife broke the air were his head had been as he barrelled into Matthew, only just staying on his feet, the latter being less fortunate. Joao didn't exactly notice though, just focused on the two in front of him, slowly backing down the hall from which they'd just come with his hand out behind him, indicating to Matthew, once he'd gotten back up, to move back. It only occurred to him after they'd got a few metres down the corridor that he had his sword on him. He unsheathed it and held it out in front of him, everything coming back to him as he did so. He hadn't touched it for centuries - of course he was going to be a little rusty.

After a moment, Matthew got the hint to carefully retreat, turned, and ran for the other end of the corridor. Serafino didn't seem to really notice, but, still watching Joao, picked up one of his smaller throwing knives and threw it. Joao heard it hit something, and heard a small squeak from Matthew, but it wasn't exactly a painful sounding one, or one that indicated his life could be ending soon, so he put it to the back of his mind for a while. It'd be fine.

For the time being though...

Joao blocked an attack from Luisa, and then one straight after from Serafino, plenty coming in straight after each other. After a moment, he chanced a look over his shoulder at Matthew. He seemed fine, just holding onto the wall to keep himself up. The knife Serafino had thrown had hit the top of his left leg. It was a painful place to hit, but not somewhere that could ever issue fatalities, so he'd be fine. In his small distraction and lack of concentration, Luisa and Serafino took advantage and Joao found himself staggering backwards as far away from them as he could on three large steps. He'd barely been looking away for a minute, yet still, they'd both managed to embed a couple of knives in his flesh - one in a leg, two in the same arm, not his sword arm, and one in his side. Joao coughed, took another step backwards and then lunged forwards, sword pointed out, striking the centre of Serafino's chest. Serafino clearly hadn't been expecting anything of that idea from him, and his shocked look froze on his face, coughing a small amount of blood into Joao's face before falling over forwards as the sword was retracted.

Luisa's face darkened. She didn't say anything, but Joao was fairly certain she didn't need to. She threw a knife aiming for his head, which he only just narrowly avoided, sending it in the other direction with his sword and taking another step forwards. Joao swiped his sword at her, which Luisa sidestepped, then threw another attack his way.

The sound of metal on metal filled the corridor.

Joao was becoming slower, his energy waning, not helped by the consistent loss of blood and the knowledge that he couldn't fail, because Matthew was behind him, and had dropped his weapon somewhere where no one could find it, somehow. Plus, his concentration was drifting a little. Every time he thought he had it, something would catch his eye, whether it was an odd patch of paint on the wall, a painting, or Serafino's body. Every time, Luisa would somehow know and would get a hit in. The last one had been directed at his neck but had only just clipped the side of it, leaving a gash that could have been mistaken for an accident with a cooking utensil. It was only when he glanced past her down the hall on seeing someone walk past that she actually tried to kill him in his concentration drain. Luisa threw one of the few knives she had left at his head. He only noticed it coming at the last second, not having time to dodge properly or bring his sword up to block it. It sliced a trench in the side of his head, shaving through hair, skin and flesh and leaving a cut in his skull. Although he had fought many times in his life and seen many bones in his life, Joao had never actually touched one, let alone his own. It was hard and powdery at the same time, and could probably have been dry and cracked if it hadn't been coated it blood. 

He winced and stepped backwards, nearly overbalancing. Luisa just stood where she was, counting her remaining knives. Three. She had three left. The others were either behind him, in him, or there was the one in Matthew.

Matthew

Who hadn't spoken, or done anything for the entirety of the fight.

In one flash movement, Luisa threw two of the remaining at him, one missing, the other being deflected to behind him. He heard it hit somewhere, but couldn't quite figure where. Luisa wasn't looking as confident anymore, nerves clearly shown on her face. She came at him once more with the last knife. Every move hurt now. Every block, dodge or thrust sent waves of pain racking through him to the point where he considered just giving up.

Maybe if Arthur hadn't had stopped and told him to look after Matthew, he might have done.

Another slip of concentration.

Luisa threw the last knife. Joao only noticed it at the last second and sidestepped it. For a second, Luisa didn't move from where she was, then, she slowly backed up before running. Joao yanked out one of the knives from his arm and threw it at the back of her head, watching as it went through her skull and she crumpled, still twitching.

"We're good" Joao laughed weakly as blood from his head dripped into one of his eyes. He started to pull the weapons still in him out and glanced behind him at Matthew. He froze.

Matthew was lying face down on the floor, the knife in his leg now pushed all the way through so it poked out the other side. Another was embedded in his back, a third in the back of his head. Joao didn't need to think about it to know that they were the ones he'd deflected. He finished pulling out the knives and limped over, kneeling down next to the body.

"Hey... I... uh..." he started, not especially wanting to touch it, but not really knowing what else to do apart from talk, but then again, what was the point in talking to someone who was dead.

Someone who, realistically, you'd killed.

Joao shook his head, tears filling up his eyes and threatening to spill. "I... I'm sorry Matthew." Shakily, he got to his feet, not really expecting to be able to hold up his own body weight for much longer.  He took a couple of steps away before his legs gave way and he sank to his knees, flopping forwards like an abandoned rag doll. "I'm sorry."

Hello!!
Okay, so I've sorta said to myself that I'd involve every country, but then I realised that that makes over three hundred characters!! I still want to involve as many as possible, so are there any specific countries, or continents, or anything that people would say it's okay to miss out? Or any that you definitely want involved? I don't want to offend anyone by not involving their country, or anything like that.
Please comment and tell me!
MiddleEarth4eva