Chapter Text
“Truth hurts, huh?” A familiarly snarky voice sounded from behind Ethan, now missing the distinct mask the radio provided.
Ethan turned around and pointed his gun at the final lord, ready to shoot as many holes in his face as he had to if it meant all this shit would be over.
“Cool your jets, Papa, I just want to talk,” Heisenberg said, putting his hands up and grinning as Ethan slowly lowered his gun.
“Why the hell would you want to talk? ” The blonde spat.
“I was getting to that, if you’d let me talk,” Heisenberg mocked in response, “Listen… You’re being played, Ethan.” he announced, sounding far too cheery for Ethan to take him seriously, considering the kind of day he’s had.
The blonde chuckled dryly, humourlessly, “You think this is a game, you sick fuck?” He spat, “My daughter’s in pieces, and you’re saying this is a fucking game—“
He was cut off by the sound of an engine revving below him, the lord stomping towards a grate next to them, opening it and yelling at whatever was down there. “Shut your damn hole, I’m talking up here!” He barked, his composure coming back like it never even left him. “Sorry about that,” Heisenberg picked a rickety chair up from behind him and placed it in front of the open grate. “Take a seat.”
Ethan didn’t move from where he stood.
“Let me guess: you’re thinking, take me out like the others, then you get to kill Miranda and save Rose, right?” Heisenberg began staring intently at the previously covered board of truth , “You’ve got this all wrong, Ethan.” At that he turned again, looking towards the empty chair and glaring at Ethan before taking him by the shoulder and slamming him down into the chair. “I said sit!”
They stared at each other for another moment, before the lord stepped backwards and outstretched his hand, a knife darting into his hand from seemingly nowhere. “Lady… super-sized bitch,” the knife went through the portrait of Lady Dimitrescu, “Donna and her ugly ass doll,” then through the portrait of Beneviento and Angie, “and fish boy,” and through the portrait of Moreau.
Somehow Heisenberg looked… nervous. “Can’t you see it, Ethan? Miranda’s using us as a test, to see if you’re strong enough to become part of her family,” he spat, panting slightly, “Well fuck that!” The large portrait of Mother Miranda tore in half.
Ethan was left speechless for a long moment, looking towards the last remaining lord. He couldn’t shake how anxious he seemed to be, his breathing ever so slightly laboured, how the metal in the room began to tremble like the lord’s hands. “I don’t–”
“I never asked for any of this… this… this bullshit family, this fucking Cadou , these fucking… powers!” Scrap sheets of metal surrounding the two of them lifted into the air before crashing down with a deafening clank. “You think I wanted any of this? D’you think I asked Miranda myself to… tear me away from my family when I was young, strap me down to a table and rip my heart out of my chest?!” Heisenberg took a deep breath before continuing again. “I-I want her dead just as much as you do, Ethan. Y- your kid, she’s- she’s powerful, Miranda’s terrified of her.”
The blonde stared in disbelief at the lord, his brows furrowed in concern. Is he okay? Ethan thought, observing how the metal chair beneath him continued to rattle, how everything else made of metal in the room began to rattle alongside it. Heisenberg pulled those round sunglasses from his face and Ethan could see in his amber coloured eyes how genuinely panicked he was.
“Join me, Ethan. Work with me and we can use Rose, and grind Miranda into paste!”
A freezing drop of clarifying anger dripped down Ethan’s back. “Fuck you, my daughter is not a weapon,” he spat, the look of heartbroken anxiety on Heisenberg’s face making him falter for a moment. “I’ve gotten through your three fucked up siblings on my own, not to mention your stupid game you put me through. I don’t—” he paused again, looking into the lord’s steel blue eyes; did they change colour? “I don’t give a damn about your personal issues; I’m fixing my daughter with or without you.”
What Ethan expected was for the lord to kick the chair out from under him, give him a last chance : but what he didn’t expect was for Heisenberg to completely deflate, the colour to drain from his face completely, and for those eyes to turn from steel to a naturally beautiful blue. “W-wait, Ethan, we can work this out– We can get out of this, we can- we can–”
The blonde spoke up, the rattling of metal getting louder and louder, “I’ll take my chances in the hole.”
The grate slammed shut before Ethan could jump through it. Everything in the room started to shake uncontrollably, hell, the room itself seemed to shake, and the blonde took a deep breath, cocked his gun and prepared for Heisenberg to attack.
Except he didn’t.
“Please help me.” Ethan heard from behind him, the sound forced, almost like a pained whimper.
The blonde chuckled humorlessly, and began to speak as he turned to face the lord again. “For the last time, my daughter is not a weapon, and I–”
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the lord again, his gun slipping from his fingers when he saw the tears streaming down Heisenberg’s face. His breathing was laboured, deep intakes of breath with short, sharp exhales: He’s having a panic attack, Ethan realised.
“Hey hey hey, what’s going on?” He whispered gently, taking a soft step forward.
“I don’t- kn- know–” Was the lord’s forced response.
Ethan took off into action nearly immediately, dropping his bag and soaking wet coat to the floor with a muted flump and stepped towards Heisenberg hurriedly. “It’s alright, Heis,” he whispered, wondering where in the hell the nickname came from, “I think you’re having a panic attack, I’ve got you, though. It’ll be alright.”
The lord hardly acknowledged Ethan’s voice, the metal everywhere continuing its deafening rattle. Ethan put his hands on Heisenberg’s shoulders, rubbing and squeezing slightly before pulling the large trench off of the man. Heisenberg’s hands went to his throat and chest the second his coat was removed.
“Have you ever had a panic attack before?” Ethan asked quietly.
“N- n-no-“ Was the lord’s response.
Ethan nodded and led Heisenberg and himself to sit down against the wall. “It’s alright, it won’t last very long. You’re alright, you’re safe.” He said, watching Heisenberg nod as they adjusted and sat down, Ethan sitting down next to him.
“Uh, when I have panic attacks I like being left alone,” the blonde whispered, looking Heisenberg in the eyes and cocking his head to the side, “would you rather me leave or stay here with you?”
The lord grabbed hold of Ethan’s arm and pulled it towards himself. “Alright, I’ll stay then, Heis,” he paused for a moment, thinking over the onslaught of voices in his head and making a decision. “Do you, uhm, do you want a hug?”
Heisenberg nodded again, and practically threw himself into Ethan’s arms. They adjusted for a moment, ending with the lord’s arms wrapped around Ethan’s waist, his head resting on his shoulder, and with one the blonde’s hands resting on Heisenberg’s head playing with his hair, and his maimed one rubbing soothing circles into his back.
“You need to take some deep breaths, that’ll help with the lightheadedness. Just focus on my breathing and try to replicate it, okay?” Ethan whispered gently.
Heisenberg tried as hard as he could, but he couldn’t keep up with it, still in such an anxious and panicked state. “I- I’m- sor-ry—” he breathed, repeating it again and again.
“Hey, it’s alright Heis, it’s alright,” Ethan began, lifting the lord’s head so their eyes could meet. “It takes time, that’s alright. You’re okay, take all the time you need. Go at your own pace, I’m here.”
Heisenberg nodded and cried harder and harder while Ethan whispered sweet nothings to him, rubbing circles into his back and running his fingers through his hair.
“Would it help if I breathed with you?” Ethan asked quietly.
“M- may-be-“ the lord whispered back.
“Okay. Just focus on my voice and on my breathing, alright?” Heisenberg nodded. “Perfect. Now, take a deep breath in ,” the blonde said, inhaling deeply, “try and hold it, then breathe out ,” and then exhaling noisily.
The lord’s next breath was a little more steady. “There you go, that’s better, yeah?” Heisenberg nodded again. “Want me to keep going? You’re doing great.” Ethan mumbled, scratching at Heisenberg’s scalp when the man nodded once more.
They continued like that for a few moments, breathing steadily with a few hiccups in between. As Heisenberg began to relax more and more, Ethan thought again about his deal. Working with someone else would definitely make killing Miranda and putting Rose back together much easier. It was using Rose that put him off.
With just Ethan and Heisenberg together, they could defeat Miranda and keep his daughter safe and out of the equation. Duke had said Heisenberg was the most dangerous of them all , so who’s to say that together alone they couldn’t take the bitch down?
Ethan was brought out of his thoughts when Heisenberg lifted his head from his shoulder. “Uh- sorry about that, Ethan. I, uhm- I’ve no clue what happened there and I’m—“
“You don’t need to apologise, it’s fine, really,” Ethan interjected, “I have panic attacks a lot, I know how shitty they are, especially when you aren’t used to them.”
“Huh,” the lord huffed, looking away from the blonde (why were his hands still on him?), “Why do they happen?” Heisenberg mumbled, embarrassed.
Ethan hummed and drummed his fingers on the lord’s back. “Well,” he sighed, “Usually, they flare up when I’m overwhelmed. When I wake up from nightmares or when I can’t stop thinking about… Dulvey. A trauma response,” Heisenberg quirked a brow and looked Ethan in the eye; Ethan looked away this time. “They happen for different reasons really, it might’ve been different for you. For me it’s just when I get overwhelmed or if I’m… reliving trauma.”
“I think… I think it might’ve been both of those that set it off for me,” Heisenberg muttered, hesitantly placing his head back on the blonde’s shoulder. “Miranda took me from my parents when I was seven, back in… Jesus, back in ‘84. Been stuck in this shithole ever since, I finally saw a way to get out when you came along and when it came down to asking for help I just…”
“Panicked?” Ethan finished.
“Bingo.” Heisenberg chuckled, “I’ve been building an army of sorts for years now, it’s what this whole place is for. I want out of here, and you want your daughter back in one piece; I figured if we worked together, with the help of my army and Sturm, we could kill Miranda like that, ” he snapped his fingers, “ Then I found out how powerful your kid is, and figured she could get the job done much faster.”
Ethan sighed as he slumped further against the wall. “Even if it’d be easier, I’m not putting my daughter in danger like that. Plus she’s not even a year old, jackass, she can’t even talk yet,” he paused for a few moments, his tiredness finally seeping into his bones. “I’ll take your original deal, though. I’m fucking exhauseted, give me a place to sleep and I’m all good to help you murder your sad excuse for a mother.”
Heisenberg chuckled softly, shutting his eyes tiredly and unknowingly nuzzling into Ethan’s shoulder; neither of them seemed to mind.
“Do you have a place I could shut my eyes for a second, Heis?” Ethan murmured, sounding worn out and beaten down.
The lord reluctantly moved away from the blonde, standing up slowly and grunting at his knee’s protest, “Indeed I do, if you don’t mind sleeping in my personal quarters,” he reached a hand down to Ethan to pull him up, which the man accepted; he idly noticed that Karl's eyes had changed to a beautiful bright green. “And you can call me Karl; thanks for… helping me out there. I needed that.”
Ethan stood steadily with the lord’s help, leaning on his shoulder, “Yeah, don’t mention it,” he didn’t sound quite… there.
“You feeling alright, Papa?” Heisenberg quirked his brow again, sounding concerned.
“Yeah! Yeah, I’m- I’m fine, really,” Ethan slurred, “just… not feeling great.”
He attempted to stride forward, about to ask what the plan was before he stumbled, nearly falling to the ground if it weren’t for Karl catching him. The lord slung one of his arms underneath Ethan’s shoulder, helping keep him upright.
“…maybe I’m… not fine,” Ethan chuckled, eyes falling shut, his head falling to rest on Karl’s shoulder.
Karl sighed and smiled in amusement, “Alright, Papa, let’s get you to bed.”