Chapter Text
Nina Fortner knew this day would come, eventually. This exhausting game of cat and mouse, as entertaining as Johann Liebert probably thought it was, will never be enough. One day, her twin brother will stop going easy on her.
He will stop being teasing and charitable. And she knew that now was the time, now that he found out.
She knew he did, and she couldn’t even be surprised. Johann knew everything, nothing escaped him for too long. That particular piece of information he craved, only her had it, and he found out, sadly for her.
He would be coming for her eventually, to get it, by force if necessary.
As soon as this self-evident fact had struck her, painfully hard, Nina made sure to isolate herself, not to drag Dieter into this mess, nor Dr. Tenma, who already hunted her brother for his part.
It was her problem, her battle, and she would not accept that other people - especially people she cared about - fight and risk their safety at her place.
Yet, she was not suicidal: she had worked hard to ensure her own safety, as well. Being aware of her brother’s power didn’t mean she was just going to quietly wait for the wolf to devour her, without fighting back.
One of her favorite ideas was the little gun that she had taped up around her upper thigh, hidden under her long black skirt. Always there, ready to be drawn. The cold, constant contact of the gun against her skin didn’t appease her, though.
She knew what Johann wanted - the exact localization of Franz Bonaparta - but she didn’t know what to expect: would he, someday, wait for her inside her own apartment, pointing a gun at her face while smiling at her like the gentle brother he had never truly been? Would he send her some letters, first, writing some sweet words that would barely mask the threat underneath?
And what could she do? She was armed, great, but could she use her gun against him, once again? Could she just tell him what he wanted to know, to be done with it? No. Johann couldn’t know where Franz Bonaparta was, even though the young woman didn’t feel any sympathy for this man.
If Johann knew, he would bring destruction and pain to the whole village.
At some point, she almost wanted Johann to hurry and try something. Attack her, kidnap her, threaten her, leave some dead rats in her postbox, anything! At least, if things like this happened, she would get something, and then, with those new elements, she could come up with a plan to… survive.
Well, she understood that she had to be careful with what she wished for. Her desire came true, one day, as she was sitting on her favorite terrasse, drinking a cup of coffee.
She had chosen this specific terrace to drink her coffee every morning, because it was never crowded, and placed on a large square, where she could have eyes on everyone.
Which was why she quickly noticed the two mysterious men in suits that sat down near her own table, cross-legged, at the same time. Neither of them shared the same table, but they were close enough to speak to her.
They both wore sunglasses that hid their eyes, but Nina could tell that they were looking at her. The menu had been brought to them, but none of them glanced at the wine list.
Nina slowly sipped her coffee to put up a front. In truth, a cold fear was gnawing at her belly, and her heart was beating very loudly in her ribcage. She was terrified.
She knew they were her brother’s men.
“Who sent you here?” she asked them without even glancing up. She was careful not to speak too loudly. She had to look natural, to stay unnoticed.
They didn’t answer for a while. Was it important, anyway? Nina already knew the answer: Johann sent them, probably to kidnap her. That truth increased her panic even more, and something locked onto her throat like a vice.
Being a sister’s criminal was already frightening in itself, but being at his mercy? It was another level. She had no idea if the evident fondness Johann felt for her - once - would slow him down, make him a bit more charitable or… worse.
“The resemblance is uncanny…” one of the men whispered to her.
That was it, the confirmation. Her chest hurt, and her hands shook a bit around the mug.
“Yeah, we’re twins, dipshit, that’s kind of the whole point.” she groaned. Despite her mocking tone, she didn’t feel confident at all. She was trapped.
This is it.
She stared at the two men in suits, one after the other, with more attention. Both of them were muscular and imposing, with broad shoulders and big hands. She couldn’t see their eyes, hidden by the thick glasses of their sunglasses, but their face was serious.
Could she fight them? Stand up suddenly, and twist their arms or wrists before they could react? If she picked hand-to-hand combat, she could knock one down - if she was lucky - but she would quickly be outnumbered. She would lose, and they could hurt her to restrain her and keep her in check…
Draw her gun to shoot them, then? No. She didn’t want them dead, and besides, there were other people around, walking by, going to the market, going to work. She couldn’t bring them into this.
None of those hypotheses sounded good. Besides, she needed to be in good shape if she wanted to fight Johann.
The two men stayed motionless, like real statues. She sniggered faintly. God, they weren’t chatty, no wonder they worked for Johann. Her brother hated talkative people.
“So…” she said, faking a smile. “He sent little minions to get the job done…” her smile widened, becoming a bit more real and more smug. “Does he wet himself at the idea of getting out of his room to kidnap me himself?”
She knew it was kind of childish, but she couldn’t help it. Every one of her nerves were restless, and she wanted to poke them, too. Her clear disdain and lack of respect didn’t please the men, but it didn’t push them over the edge.
One of them pulled himself together and softly chucked. “He assumed you would be more… inclined to follow us quietly, if he weren’t here in person…”
Nina had trouble swallowing her coffee. She looked down and dared to whisper. “What if I refuse?”
The two men didn’t seem surprised by her lack of cooperation. Johann had probably warned them about her rebellious nature… One of the men sighed rather gently, as if it pained him to have this role.
“It would be unwise, Ms. Fortner…” he calmly said, and for emphasis, he pushed back the right tail of his jacket, revealing a shining gun hidden, to the belt, ready for use.
Nina glanced at the weapon boringly, and this time, she didn’t even have to fake her confidence. “You won’t shoot me,” she said firmly. “He won’t allow it…”
She truly believed in that, that was perhaps the only thing she was sure of.
Johann could torment her, consider her his little toy, even, but he would never let pitiful and irrelevant men shoot her. If he wanted to kill her, which she wasn’t sure he ever thought of that possibility, he would want to do it himself.
The two men glanced at each other.
“It is true…” one of them admitted while nodding, but Nina didn’t have the time to be relieved.
The man turned around a bit, to look at some passers-by. He shrugged, and Nina knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.
“Shooting a poor citizen who has the misfortune of walking down this very street, though… That, we can do… That would tame you, or at least, that is what he said…”
Nina glared at them. She had no idea if he was bluffing, if his gun was even loaded, but to be fair, she didn’t want to tempt him or Johann. Too many people have died already, and she would not bear seeing an innocent person die because of her.
Too big of a risk.
And of course, Johann knew it. He knew her by heart, each of her strengths and weaknesses, which was as frightening as flattering. Had their lives been different, Johann would have been a very considerate big brother, fussing and available, always aware of her problems and hassles before she even confessed them.
“What must I do?” she asked reluctantly.
The two men seemed satisfied by the question. When they answered, their voice sounded a bit more gentle. “Stand up, pay for your coffee. Follow us, quietly, and you won’t be hurt… No one will… We have parked a few blocks away. You will get in the car, and then, we will cover your eyes for the entire drive…”
She looked down, and stopped listening at some point. She knew she had lost. She had to cooperate, for now.
“Can I at least finish drinking my coffee?” she whispered.
One of them nodded.
“Of course…”
They both held their word: they sat a bit more comfortably, pressing their back against the back of the chair, patiently waiting for her to be ready. She didn’t even feel relieved. She just wanted to buy some time.
“Thank you.”
She drank the last, precious drops of her coffee slowly. She actually forced herself to savor the delicious taste of sugar tickling her tongue, eyes closed, while she felt the warm light of the sun caressing her face.
She had no idea what she would endure, as Johann’s prisoner.
Would she… stave? Be thirty? Never see the light of the sun ever again? Would she be… hurt? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t run now, or she would put others' lives in danger.
It didn’t mean she won’t struggle, though. She just had to choose the right time to strike.
Once her cup was empty, she stood up slowly, ignoring how her legs shook, put some cash on the table to pay for her drink, and she followed them.
OoO
When Nina regained consciousness, she immediately wished she had stayed knocked out. Her whole body hurt, from her head to the tip of her fingers. She didn’t even open her eyes right away: she tried to move her body a bit, but she found out that her movements were restrained.
Her arms were tied up behind her back. Shit.
Attacking the two men right after they got out of the car wasn’t the best idea she had. She had wanted to wait til they arrived at the place they had planned to keep her, to knock them out, draw her weapon, get into the house to find where Johann was, and… put an end to this.
Sadly, she had underestimated them. She had just managed to hit one man’s nose, before being knocked out from behind. She didn’t know which weapon the other man had used to strike her with, but she felt like a real fire was burning inside her skull.
She moaned in pain. She felt panic squeeze her lungs, but she forced herself to think straight. She had to stay calm, and analyze the situation, otherwise she was already dead.
She focused. She was in a sitting position. Okay, so, she was tied up, sitting on a chair. She was not gagged. Could she call out for help? She doubted it, and it would alert her captors that she was awake…
Where was she, anyway?
She opened her eyes, only to be a bit disappointed by what she saw. She was alone, in an empty, gray garage, smaller than she expected. It was dark inside, so she had to squint to see anything, the chair being the only furniture.
She had imagined a less… random place. It was stupid, but she had expected a… different kind of welcome, from Johann.
She almost laughed at that thought. What did she expect? A fucking candlelit dinner?
She pricked up her ears. She heard nothing, not even footsteps coming closer and closer. Just her fast heartbeats.
It didn’t reassure her, though. Here, she felt crushed by her powerless loneliness. She was about to look around, searching for a sharp tool she could use to untie her hands, when a sudden, muffled voice from outside made her stop breathing.
“I know you asked for no restriction…”
This voice belonged to one of the men that kidnapped her. Who was he talking to? She heard quick footsteps getting closer and closer to the front door.
Nina lowered her head, and clenched her fists. Shit, not now!
“But we had no choice!” That voice belonged to the other man that kidnapped her, and he sounded way more pissed off. “She attacked us right when we got out of the car! Damn, my nose…”
Before she could smirk proudly at that mention, the door suddenly opened, and someone pressed the switch. All the ceiling lights casted subdued lighting. Nina squinted to protect her eyes, before looking up.
Her heart stopped beating.
Johann was standing in front of her, hands behind his back. The two men walking behind him closed the door of the garage, and stayed by his side. Nina wanted to look down, run away, or spit at his feet, but she was frozen, too speechless to do anything but stare.
He still looked the same, the same as her. He looked a bit taller, though, and his cheeks were hollow. He still had his blonder hair perfectly kept, his piercing blue eyes that seemed to hold the whole world in them, his usual fake and tiny smile glued to his lips.
She wondered what he thought while he stared at her. His expression stayed unreadable, but she knew that his mind was racing, just like hers.
He slowly approached her after some time. This sudden walk, followed by no speaking, almost made her jump. She sank back into the chair, to try to keep some distance between them, but it was useless.
He knelt down in front of her, which was such a disturbing sight that she couldn’t help but frown.
She thought that she had been brought on this chair to be dominated, but he went down to her level immediately.
She looked away. It felt surreal, to have him this close to her. She almost wanted to reach out to touch his face, to check if he was real.
He didn’t hold any weapon, or knife. It was something.
Seeing his calm face this close to hers, even in the corner of her eyes, felt like a punch in her stomach, blocking all air inside her lungs. She had thought that she would be tough enough to insult him, but she ended up frozen and helpless, like a newborn baby.
Paralyzed by her terror, and by the sudden tsunami of emotions hitting her full force that she didn’t think she would feel. She was not only terrified, nor furious.
She felt… sad, so sad and tired. Why? Why was he, her twin brother, like that? Why couldn’t they be normal twins? Like they used to be? Well, like she thought they used to be?
She glared at him, and his smile widened, and finally, some life was introduced in this smile. It felt a bit warmer. Real.
“Welcome back, my dear sister…” Johann said, warmly, as if she wasn’t tied to a fucking chair. He glanced at the two men who stayed by his side, and chuckled slowly. “I apologize for their lack of decorum…”
What was he referring to, exactly? The kidnapping, the threats, the hit behind her head, the fact that they tied her arms behind her back?
She clenched her jaw, and her entire body began to shake, but not out of fear. She was so angry, right now, that it swept away any sadness or regret she might have felt before.
Now that her brain got used to his presence, she wanted to stand up, jump on him and tear his face apart, to wipe that satisfied smile off his face. She couldn’t, though.
Perhaps those two men were right to tie her up.
“I’ll kill you,” she just whispered, and even though they were simple words, she meant each syllable, from the bottom of her heart.
Johann kept smiling quietly, as if she had just shared a fun little anecdote about her studies, and he slowly nodded.
“I hope so…” he answered, simply. “Sadly, now is not the time… We have so much to talk about… ” his tone didn’t sound dangerous. In fact, his voice sounded soft, light and fawning, like a big brother happy to gossip with his twin sister.
Nina knew what that meant, though. She knew why she had been brought here, in the first place. She didn’t answer. Instead, she pressed her lips together while glaring at him, to make him understand that she won’t open her mouth that easily.
“We checked,” one of the men said. “She has no weapon…”
She forced herself not to react. Amateurs. Of course, she was armed.
Johann didn’t even spare him a glance. His eyes stayed on her face the whole time, scanning each of her micro expressions. She struggled to keep her face smooth.
Suddenly, Johann smiled, slowly.
“Oh, is that so…?” he asked, calmly. His eyes turned more piercing as he watched her, as if he was waiting for her answer, a confession perhaps, but she stayed stubbornly silent.
He couldn’t know about the gun hidden under her skirt, right?
As no one in the garage answered, he suddenly looked down, and brought his right hand - such a cold hand - on her right knee. He didn’t squeeze her knee painfully, nor dig his nails in her skin.
He just… put his hand on it.
She held her breath and froze completely.
When they were little, they were both very touchy-feely. They would hug a lot, sleep in the same bed, play with their locks of hair for hours, but now, that simple touch made her heart jump into her throat.
She clenched her jaw so hard that her teeth grinded. Slowly, oh so slowly, his thumb stroked the soft skin, and his hand went up, slipping under her skirt. His fingers brushed against the inner skin of her thigh, covering a large area, before going closer and closer to her knickers.
No.
She tried to close her legs, or kick him away, but her restrained position prevented her from finding a balance. She was helpless, and that thought killed her. Her heart raced, ready to explode out of her chest.
He was deliberately slow, the bastard, to make her panic even more. It worked.
She cracked.
“Stop!” she gasped weakly, squirming. “What are you doing?!”
He didn’t answer, and kept moving his hand closer and closer to her private part. He… he would never do that, right? He was a cruel murderer and manipulator, but… but he wasn’t a rapist… right?
When he was a kid, he had never looked at her weirdly. He had never touched her in an inappropriate place…
His fingers didn’t reach her knickers or her vulva, though. They stopped exploring as soon as they fell on the little gun that she had taped up around her upper thigh.
Once he felt what he had been looking for since the beginning, his smile widened, victorious. Nina felt her cheeks burn as he gently patted the gun.
“Now, now,” he teased. What are you hiding down here, little devil?”
She didn’t know if he was angry, deep inside, or if he was truly amused by her attempt.
She should have been panicked that the only weapon she had managed to hide was discovered that quickly, but she only thought of his hand between her legs. She wanted this hand to go away, now!
“No… Nothing…” she whispered weakly when she understood that Johann wanted a clear answer, but she didn’t have the strength to lie properly.
Her obvious lie made it worse. Johan kept his hand on her inner thigh, and he stroked her skin with the tip of his fingers, slowly, never stopping looking at her.
It was too much.
“Please, Johann…” she begged, the first tears streaming down her face. “Don’t do that, not that… anything but that…”
The two men next to them didn’t do anything. They looked down, face serious and cold.
Johan blinked, and suddenly, he removed his hand. Relief hit her full force, and she breathed in and out immediately. Yet, she kept sobbing weakly. He had managed to reduce her to a weeping mess in a matter of seconds…
He stood up, slipped his finger under her chin to make her look up. When she looked at his face, he smiled gently at her.
“Please, I am not that depraved.”
She didn’t answer, and he probably didn’t wait for one. He let go of her face, turned around to face the two men and ordered them. “Untie her. Binding her is completely useless, for now.”
For now...
She shuddered, but another thing bothered her: he had found the gun hidden, but didn’t remove it from her thigh. Why? Before she could think of more, one of the men walked behind her, and cut the thin ropes binding her hands.
She immediately breathed easier, and stroked the red skin of her wrists. She kept sitting on the chair, though. She was too terrified to try anything, and her whole body was still trembling out of shock and terror, alarmed by the… touches.
Johan nodded as soon as she was free.
“Now that your hands are free, little sister, you can remove the gun from your thigh yourself, slowly. Once you have it in your hands, unload it, and give it to me.”
She frowned. He wanted her to do it, herself… Was it his own way of being generous? Probably.
“If you refuse…” Johann’s smile turned colder. “Then, I will tie you up again, and I will do it myself. Your choice…”
It felt like a round of electroshock. She didn’t waste any time.
“I’ll do it!”
“A wise decision.”
Nina quickly noticed that the two men tensed up, ready to draw their weapon if they spotted a single suspicious move. They didn’t like her being free to move, it seemed...
Johann stayed calm, on the other hand. He just raised an eyebrow when she stayed motionless like an idiot for too long.
She cleared her throat. She had to do it. She was trapped, once again.
She spread her legs, bent over and caught the gun taped up around her thigh. She removed it from her thigh, brought it in front of her for everyone to see, and unloaded it, watching as all the bullets fell down.
Another chance of being able to defend herself… gone.
Then, she unceremoniously dropped the gun to the ground, at Johann’s feet, instead of handing it.
It was her little, pathetic victory.
The whole time, Johann kept watching her almost boringly, as if he was watching a useless expository scene in an action movie. He wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, which was humiliating.
Once she dropped the gun provocatively at his feet, he smiled, like you would smile at a petty child who teased you by kicking away a little cup you asked them to pick up.
“Very well…” he said, satisfied. He seemed to decide not to punish her for her insolence. He clapped softly. “Now that this is done, please… Follow me…”
She stood up, while the men opened the door of the garage, but she kept her distance, hugging herself.
Where did he want her to go?
Johann smiled gently at her clear hesitation that he probably found cute, and held out his hand. “I won’t let my little sister freeze in this mediocre garage…”
Nina swallowed, but she started to walk towards him. She refused to take his hand, though. She almost wanted to give him a shoulder bump, but she refrained from doing so at the last second.
She was not restrained right now, but if she rebelled too much, she could be… Besides, she didn’t want to tease him too much.
She had to be patient. And besides, she didn’t want to stay in that ugly garage either.
Maybe she will have her candlelit dinner, after all…
Once she stepped outside, she looked at Johan who was quietly walking near her. She held his gaze, and she said seriously. “I won’t tell you anything, Johann…” her eyes hardened. “You’re losing your time…”
Johann slowly chuckled.
“We’ll see…”