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Lucius slowly became aware of the sensation of cold wood against his cheek. He had landed face down on the floor when Goo Goo's blow hit him, and his head was pounding both from the initial strike, as well as from landing hard on the wooden surface. A crippling fear was raging inside his gut, where was Clara? Surely they must have found her and taken her? They had had one job, Marcus and him, guard Clara, keep her safe, and they had failed. He had failed, unable to stop Goo Goo, unable to shoot the man when he had been there right in front of him.
Lucius couldn't see much, his glasses had slipped off his nose when he fell, landing somewhere on the floor, and his eyesight was more than a little impaired without them. He felt the floor around him with his hand, looking for them. Somewhere on his right, Lucius heard someone groan faintly. Marcus? Had his brother been hit to? Was he ok? Frantically searching the floor for his glasses he finally found them. 'Oh perfect!' they where broken.. Now he would have to get a new pair, an expensive new pair, and until he got them, his eyesight would be reduced to whathever the cracked glass allowed him to see. 'Just perfect!'.
"My glasses broke!" Lucius exclaimed towards Marcus, whom he assumed had also just woken up after a blow to the head.
"Lucius?"
Marcus' voice sounded wrong. Weak and filled with pain. Quickly putting his broken glasses on, Lucius gazed towards the far end of the room, where he thought to have heard his brother's voice. Marcus was sitting on the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him, his back leaned up against the wall. He was pale, dangerously pale, breathing in short gasps, looking up at Lucius with desperation in his eyes. A deep and desperate fear took hold of Lucius' insides. 'NO!' He hurried towards his brother, kneeling beside him on the floor. The pain in his head had suddenly gone, adrenaline flooding his system.
"Marcus?! Marcus?!" He tried assessing his brothers condition, eyeing him up and down to look for.. what?! And there it was. Marcus' hand was clasped to his midsection, blood seeping out between his fingers. Lucius' stomach turned, this could not be happening. He tried prying Marcus' hand away, he needed to see the wound, see how bad it was. Marcus winced.
"Leave it" he groaned weakly, a begging look towards Lucius.
"Uh, stop the bleeding" Lucius gasped, getting to his feet, searching desperately for something he could use to stop the bloodflow. He had to help, had to find something that would fix this. If he hadn't hesitated, if he had shot Goo Goo when he had the chance, this would never have happened..
"Stay with me" Marcus begged weakly, his face clammy and white as a sheet.
"I need to stop the bleeding"
Lucius pulled out his handkerchief and pressed it firmly to Marcus' wound. A groan slipped past Marcus' lips.
"You're all right, Marcus, you're all right" he said, to Marcus, to himself, to God even, if he was listening. Marcus had to be fine!
"Hmm" Marcus replied in a voice so weak it was barely audible.
"We need to get you help! Can you stand?!"
Marcus gave an almost unnoticable nod.
Carefully, Lucius lifted Marcus' left arm and put it around his own shoulders. He nodded towards the handkerchief that was quickly turning red from the blood still leaking from his brother's belly.
"Keep pressure on it!" he instructed, hoping that Marcus would somehow be able to muster the strenght to do so. He placed his right arm around Marcus' waist.
"Ready?" he asked softly, knowing that moving Marcus was certainly going to cause his brother a fair amount of pain. There was no reply.
"Marcus?!"
"Hmm..right.."
As soon as they started moving, the skin at Marcus' side stretched, sending a blast of red hot agony through the right side of his body.
"Ngaaah..stop!" he groaned, gasping for air, trying to cope with the sudden flare of pain.
"I..can't..!" he croaked apologetically.
Lucius was panicking now, he felt sick to his stomach but he had to do something, he had to get help!
"I'll get someone, I'll call someone..an ambulance!" he tried, freeing himself from Marcus' arms.
"No..stay..s-stay with me..!" Marcus' voice was a coarse whisper. He tried grasping at Lucius' sleeve but his hands where to weak, falling to his sides.
"Aaaargh.." A wave of pain washed over Marcus, making him grimace as his head fell back against the wall behind him.
Lucius sat down beside his brother, desperation and panic threatening to drown him completely. This was his fault, he had caused this by being a weak coward! Marcus had always been the strong one, the brave one, protecting Lucius from whatever he needed protecting from. Now he had failed Marcus, unable to protect him even this once.
"Don't leave me" Lucius' voice was thick and hoarse. He leaned his head on Marcus' shoulder, sobbing miserably. What would he do, what the hell would he be without Marcus. The thought was impossible, unimaginable!
A large pool of blood was forming on the floor where Marcus sat. He was loosing to much blood, to fast. Lucius knew there was no hope, nothing that could be done.
"I know now what my dream meant.." Marcus' voice was so quiet he wouldn't have been able to hear it had his head not been leaned against his brother's shoulder " She's waiting for me Lucius.."
Lucius' heart sank. 'She's waiting' Their mother, their late mother, ready to great her son. A son who had practically been murdered by his own brother's weakness.
"Please don't leave me Marcus" he begged, sinking back against the wall. Marcus leaned his body against Lucius' chest, closing his weary eyes. It was lying like this that Marcus drew his final, ragged breath, reducing Lucius' world to a pit of darkness and agony.