The headache did not come as a surprise.

Lucius had required a moment of consciousness to remember why that was, but as the scent of grass and dirt was mixed with smoke, it came back to him.

And he managed a smile.

Because it was over.

He inhaled a relieved breath and allowed his aching body to relax in the soft, cold moss underneath him. After everything that had happened the past months it felt good to just breathe. While the plan had not gone so smoothly as planned, he was certain things could have gone so much worse. It still seemed impossible that he had pulled it off in the end.

He opened his eyes, and was met with a heartwarming sight.

"Anthony," he croaked, reaching his good hand out to touch the resting man's knee. He had sat down next to Lucius, leaning against an old, partially scraped tree trunk with closed eyes and the same worried eyebrow wrinkle as always.

Lucius had to assume by then that it was a permanent feature.

Anthony's eyes opened as well, and he turned his head to look down at Lucius with a relieved sigh.

"How are you feeling?"

"I..." Lucius grimaced, now having to acknowledge all the aching parts of his body. "... You know, considering the circumstances, it could definitely have been worse. Took a hit to the head I think, and some sore parts I suppose."

"You've got a twig in your leg too." Anthony pointed down at Lucius' calf, where a thin yet sharp twig had pierced through it.

Lucius looked away with lips pressed tightly together.

"... Would you look at that."

In an attempt to not panic over his impaled leg, he paid attention to Anthony's appearance instead. It puzzled him. Anthony had blood smeared across his face and hands. His clothes being torn were one thing, because he'd without a doubt been caught in the explosion, but why would his wounds not heal?

"You're... Hurt?" he therefore asked, but Anthony ignored it.

"I couldn't find any serious injuries on you when I looked, but can you feel if there's anything broken?"

Lucius shook his head. His shoulder was already broken, but Anthony didn't need to know that. It would just call unnecessary attention to it.

"No. Honestly I think I had a very fortunate fall, what with my usual luck."

Anthony sighed again with a slow nod.

"Good."

Then he punched Lucius hard in the face.

Lucius wasn't sure what to focus on first. The unexpected pain that burned through his face, or the disbelief in that Anthony had punched him at all. Regardless, frustration grew from both parts, and he inhaled a deep breath to give Anthony a piece of his mind.

But Anthony went first.

"What in the whole, archon-forsaken Waste possessed you to do something like that!?"

"I told you my head hurt!" was the first thing Lucius could exclaim. "Did you seriously just punch me!?"

"Do you even realise what you've just done?" Anthony's voice trembled as he gestured back in the direction of the BBT mansion, or at least what Lucius assumed was left of it. "Do you know how many people were inside that building?"

"Of course I do, I made the list," Lucius hissed, averting his gaze as Anthony stared at him in horror.

"How... Could you do something like that? Just how low—"

"You don't get it." Lucius growled, still refusing to look at him. "You go on and on about how I can't understand the horror of immortality, but limited lifespans aren't so bloody great either, and I'm not gonna sit around and watch when monstrous vermin try to take it away from me. Not again. I had to put an end to it, and this was the only way to do it."

Anthony shook his head, still mortified.

"There were plenty in there who'd done nothing."

"They would have become a problem sooner or later," Lucius snapped. "They're all the same, and if I don't get rid of all the weed, it's just gonna grow back!"

An unexpected look of despair took over Anthony's face, and he squeezed his eyes together before pressing his hands around his head.

"It's going to grow back no matter what you do. How can you not get that? The roots of a system like this go deeper than just a group of people. The town itself is built on it."

"Well I'm the town now." Lucius curled his lip. "It's mine, and I get to make the changes. This was a necessary, grand start, and if others attempt to ruin things again, I'll handle that as well. The greatest threats are already gone."

Anthony looked at him for a good moment, and Lucius couldn't help but waver briefly as disdain burned his skin.

"Ethan told me what you did. That you asked him to get my portrait out of there and leave the others."

Lucius' eyes narrowed. He would not be reprimanded for what happened.

"Your father was evil. Even Ethan said so. That he'd finally given up on him after what he did to you, and that his death would be the best for everyone."

"Perhaps," Anthony said, voice dry and eerily similar to Damien's. "But Ethan, much like you, doesn't know what he's talking about. Neither of you have been around long enough to understand just what has happened in the past. You know mere glimpses at best."

He looked over his shoulder, up at the smoke filled sky that Lucius hadn't paid attention to before.

"But at the very least, I would have expected you to figure out that no eternal being would ever leave the source of their immortality for all to see, or harm."

Lucius blinked, unable to understand the words spoken at first, only for his blood to freeze in his veins once he did.

"Wh... What? No," he still whispered, body suddenly heavy again. "You— You said the paintings were the source. You said—"

"Regular paintings exist." Anthony's face didn't move a muscle. "Meant to be displayed, and without the ability to control someone's fate."

Lucius' gaze flickered skywards again, limbs numbing as the undesirable reality dawned on him.

"S—So..."

"So if I were you, I would get out of here very quickly," Anthony said. "And I would hide."

With that, it seemed as though all light and sounds had been banished from the forest, leaving behind nothing but blurred shadows of spindly trees and withering foliage. All Lucius' senses could discern properly was the breeze of smoke and ashes from the ruins.

Or from a person.

"... No, I killed him." Lucius' frail voice trembled while his heart wished to stop beating. "He— He's dead."

Anthony gave him another scornful look.

"You can't kill Damien. Not in a way that matters. He always comes back."

The cold air grew increasingly hard to breathe, and Lucius convulsed as nausea claimed his throat.

"No. No, I— I..." He shook his head, struggling to focus his gaze on one point. "I was done... I won. He s—saw me. He knew who I was, but— But it didn't matter, because I'd already beaten him."

Anthony looked down at the ground, face grave as he sucked in a breath.

"He'll be looking for you. You have to realise that. He will come for you, and whatever mercy he's shown in the past will not be there anymore."

Lucius' shoulders tensed up as the darkening forest suddenly seemed to be closing in around him. Suffocating him.

"No. No, there's gotta be a way!" He shook his head rapidly. "He can still die! You— You must know where the actual paintings are!"

Anthony's face scrunched up, eyes still fixed on the moss.

"I don't."

"How can you not!?" Lucius threw out his good hand. "You gotta kno—"

"Do you think I'd still be here if I did!?" Anthony's voice broke, and he pressed his hands against his head. "If I'd known where my painting was, I would have destroyed it long ago!"

Lucius paused in his panic to stare.

"... Destroy? But... You'd die. For real."

"Yes, I would," Anthony whispered through a trembling breath. "Finally."

"Anthony, why... Why would you want that?" Lucius' mind was in turmoil. "I— I know you're unhappy with how your life is going right now, but... Isn't it better to get rid of Damien instead? So you can be happy?"

Anthony laughed wryly.

"I can't be happy. The more I enjoy life, the worse it gets later. It's all misery in the end."

"But— But you have me, and— And Tom and Richard, and Ethan," Lucius tried, attempting a comforting smile that was immediately drowned by anxiety. "We don't... Last forever, but it's a lifetime if nothing else."

"And I have infinite lifetimes to come," Anthony said through gritted teeth. "Everyone's gonna die before me, no matter how many I grow close to. I'll suffer the loss of all of them."

He gave Lucius an anguished look.

"I'm already tired, Lucius. It's only been three hundred years, but I'm tired. I don't want an eternity of this miserable life."

"But why..." Then Lucius remembered Damien's words about keeping Anthony alive. "... Wait, is... Is he keeping it from you? Like with Cyril?"

Anthony wrapped his arms around his dirt covered knees.

"That's why I've been staying. I can never die without his permission. It may be a pointless attempt, but it's the one option I have."

"But I..." Lucius swallowed, body growing heavier by the second. "... I don't want you to die. I want to be with you."

"How fortunate for you that I cannot reach my painting then." Anthony looked away again with a wrinkled nose. "Not that me staying will matter once he finds you."

"So— So what do we do?" Lucius' gaze darted around, with the threat of Damien hitting him again. "He can't find me, but... I can't leave this town. Not now. Not after all I've done for it."

"Well... I'm sure you'll think of something." Anthony slowly stood up from the ground. "Best be quick about it though."

"Wait, I... I can't move that well," Lucius said as Anthony began walking. "My legs—"

"Find townspeople. Give them a sob story and use them to not be alone." Anthony barely looked back at him over his shoulder. "I'm returning to the mansion."

"You— What!?" Lucius tried to go after him only to tumble over immediately. "You can't leave me here!"

Anthony balled his fists.

"You destroyed the mansion I've lived in for over a century. You've ruined hundreds of years of work, and killed several people I was fond of. Not perfect people, but at least some who tried." He sent a glare in Lucius' direction. "If your plan had worked out you would have killed Catherine, despite the help she's given you."

"Anthony, you can't be serious—"

"How is it surprising that I am!?" Anthony's look made a drastic turn into fury. "There were other ways! You could have talked to me, but instead you went and destroyed the one constant in my life! And you think I want to stay and help you!?"

"He's made you miserable!" Lucius' entire body trembled. "I was doing it for us!"

"For you." Anthony pointed at him. "If you had been doing it for us, you would have talked to me, and actually asked what I wanted."

"There was no other way!" To Lucius' remorse, tears were blurring his vision and his voice had grown thick. "He wanted me dead, and you know he would have succeeded eventually! His death is the only way for us to be together!"

Anthony's chilling look wouldn't budge.

"But he's not dead, and he can never be. So... Perhaps there is no way, then."

Lucius let out a weak breath as the tears escaped his eyes.

"But, I— I love you. I told you. It can't end like this. We'll find his painting and get rid of him, so we can be happy."

Anthony stood in silence at first, but then his concerned frown reappeared and he turned around to walk back with a sigh.

"Then... Let me ask you something." He crouched down in front of Lucius, with a grave, almost sad expression. "If the painting you saved from the explosion had actually been mine... Would you have given it to me, knowing what you know now?"

Lucius was dumbstruck at first, opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to find words. He hadn't given much thought to what would happen to the painting later, but he hadn't considered it a problem either.

"But you— You don't have to de—" His dry mouth made him cough. "You don't have to destroy it. You don't need it. We'll hide it away, keep it safe somewhere, and we will think of something. You can be happy. There's a way, I—I know there is... Somehow, and I promise, I'll do anything to make it happen."

Anthony smiled, letting out a soft laugh before wiping a tear from Lucius' cheek.

"Then how are you any different from him?"

Lucius sat paralyzed as Anthony got up to walk away, this time unable to call out to him. His heart pounded enough for it to hurt, and his body tried to remind him of the other parts of him in pain, but he couldn't feel it.

It was just like always. Even after everything he'd done. After everything he'd sacrificed and everything he'd fought for, he'd still lost.

But you didn't lose. You have your town now, and if those persistent vermin try anything, we'll find a way to dispose of them. You don't need anyone else to be happy. You just need this.

Lucius wrapped his arms around himself as hopelessness engulfed him.

"No, not this," he whispered, gaze sinking to the mossy ground. "Not without him."