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From the moment the ERC accused Riko of holding him back, Kevin's days were numbered.
They were set against each other and Kevin made sure Riko won, but it wasn't enough. It could never be enough, because the most foundational rule to their partnership had been broken. Riko was the best, and Kevin was second, except apparently not, and Riko snapped.
The fact he even waited long enough for the Master to leave was an impressive display of self-control. Not that Kevin could appreciate it, with his heart racing so fast he thought he might pass out.
It was just the perfect court in the locker room, Riko and Kevin and Jean, no one to temper Riko's rage. Instead, the full force of it was channelled into the fist he smashed into Kevin's face, hitting a locker door with a mighty bang. Kevin's vision flickered, and Riko was attacking again before he could recover, forcing Kevin's head against metal again and again until he could feel blood running down his neck. Riko released him and Kevin collapsed to the ground, balance a distant concept.
At Riko's feet had never been a safe place to be. He kicked Kevin's abdomen, making him wheeze for breath, and moved on to pummeling his sides and ribs. Everything was alight with pain, ribs turning from bone to molten lava, and it was all Kevin could do to try and shield his head.
Riko was angry. So, so angry. That alone made Kevin's throat close up.
But he could handle Riko's rage. He had many times. It hurt so much that time started to lose meaning, but Kevin could handle it.
Except that Riko didn't stop. He drew blood with the sheer brutality of his blows and it didn't even slow him down, almost making him more incensed. There was so much blood dripping down Kevin's face that he could only see out of one eye, and yet Riko's red, bruised fists were in full focus.
When Kevin's hand pressed against the floor, sliding in the puddle of iron, he realised that Riko was going to fucking kill him.
He wasn't going to stop. He was going to keep going until Kevin didn't have any blood left to circulate, until he didn't have any air in his lungs, until he hit Kevin's head a bit too hard and he never woke up.
Kevin choked on panic as he tried and failed to block Riko's hit. Kevin didn't want to die, he didn't want to end it here, pathetically gasping for breath, and-
Jean was pressed against the corner of the room, eyes distant. If Kevin died here Jean would too, he knew. Maybe not tonight, but he'd slit his own wrists soon enough.
"Riko!" Kevin barely recognised his own voice, rough and weak and desperate. "Stop! You-You're gonna kill me!"
Maybe Riko heard or maybe he didn't, but either way he kept going. So Kevin begged, over and over, in english and japanese, begged Riko to stop, losing coherence as he went.
And then, because Kevin never could solve his own problems, he begged Jean for help. In english, at first, and then french.
Kevin had never seen Riko more angry than he was tonight. It seemed impossible for his expression to hold any more contempt than it had. And maybe it was, because Riko's face became calmer, which was far worse.
Riko hadn't known what he was doing, not truly. That was what Kevin had thought as he nearly killed him. But maybe he had, because he definitely did now, kneeling and pinning Kevin's hand to the floor with a control honed over years of practices.
"Riko-"
Riko snapped Kevin's first finger back. He heard the sound before he felt it, and yelled out in terror as much as pain.
He could heal from bruises and cuts and concussions. He could play exy again. But Riko's face told him he had no intention of letting that happen.
"Please-"
Riko snapped the next finger and Kevin was going to be sick, he could feel bile crawling up his throat-
Maybe Riko had the angle wrong or maybe he didn't have the grip right, because the next finger wasn't quick. Kevin could feel it bending back, more and more strained until it broke, some sickening relief in the end to a horrible build-up.
Kevin was crying, tears blurring his vision and clogging his throat. He couldn't remember the last time he'd sobbed like this, pain and terror and devastation too much to bear.
He almost couldn't feel the last finger snap, the rest of his hand already taking up all the nerve signals his body has to offer. Riko stood up, and Kevin thought for a moment he was done, before his foot came down on Kevin's hand, grinding broken bone against bone.
Kevin was sick then, gagging onto the floor. He felt rather than saw Riko looking down at him, not saying a word, before leaving the room.
Kevin didn't look at his hand. He could already feel how bad it was. He pressed his eyes shut, trying to ride out the waves of agony it was sending him.
Though his heart was still beating, Riko had killed Kevin in every way that mattered.