Chapter 29 - Machiavellian : Part 3

The sun sank below the horizon as a pair of Vergessene brothers emerged from a dense forest. Axel fixed his white cap and brushed off some leaves that managed to fall on his shoulders.

When the young murderer looked up, he immediately froze in his place. His mouth hung open loosely, trying to take the huge white building in front of him.

The building was tall, but not too tall to overcome the looming trees around it. The wall was clean and had no cracks. One of the windows was patched up, it was as if someone broke down the window lately.

Despite for the fact that the building looking neat and new, it was still empty and looked abandoned. There was a dread feeling lingering in Axel's throat as he watched. Something in the back of his mind was screaming for something dangerous, but he quickly brushed it off.

Kiaran grinned behind his mask upon seeing Axel's surprised eyes. Spreading his hand, he turned around and faced his little brother.

"Welcome to the mad scientist's hideout, my dear brother. Make yourself at home."

The mercenary spun around waving his hands to the air magnificently as he opened the front door with a single kick. He put both of his hands into his trench coat's pockets afterward.

Axel followed him from behind, quietly observing his surrounding. Despite how big the place was, the inside was empty. It felt like an abandoned building but being kept clean.

The dim lights flicker a little when a woman in a lab coat appeared from the corridor. She was holding some papers in her left hand while she adjusted her lab glasses with her right hand.

Her shag haircuts bounced around as she walked. The clanking of her heels was loud when the woman in her late thirties that looked too young to be her own age came closer to the two criminals.

Her black pupils met with Axel's and she raised both of her eyebrows. The woman diverted her gaze to the mercenary, motioning her head to the mute murderer.

"That's your murderer?"

"Yes. I'm here to show him.... things." Kiaran's blue eyes glinted with something Axel couldn't quite tell as he answered the scientist.

The older teen walked past the scientist with Axel on his tail. The mercenary and the woman's eyes glanced at each other for a moment, speaking in an unspoken language between their eyes when they passed each other.

"Now if you'll excuse me, old lady. I need to go with him somewhere." The mercenary's eyes formed a crescent moon shape as he smiled knowingly behind his mask.

The scientist's curtain bangs waved a little as the woman looked over to the back of the two criminals. "Don't touch anything, mercenary." She shouted sternly.

"I won't," Kiaran answered without looking back, holding a hand up as an assurance.

When they were far enough from the scientist, he silently whispered, "maybe."

The mercenary kicked open an iron door that led to the basement. Axel perked up at the sudden change of atmosphere. The eerie feeling was haunting the surroundings as they walked down the stairs.

Their footsteps echoed down the empty hallway, the oddly empty hallway. Axel could not help but feel that something was wrong. Really really wrong.

"You know, Axel. There is a man named Niccolo Machiavelli. He wrote a book with the title 'The Prince'." The older brother began as they walked in a hallway that felt so long, too long for Axel.

"My favorite part of the book is when Machiavelli said that the ends always justify the means—no matter how cruel, calculating, or immoral those means might be."

The lights flickered again in the seemed like an endless hallway. Axel kept his gaze at his brother, locking the blue eyes onto the back of the mercenary's head.

"Unlike the noble princes portrayed in some sweet fairy tales, a successful ruler of a principality, as described in his writings, is brutal, calculating and, when necessary, utterly immoral." He went on, walking ahead of Axel as the boy tried to keep up.

"That's how a Machiavellian is born. By that book, by the exiled of Nicollo Machiavelli, by people's eyes."

"Because Axel," The mercenary stopped in his track as they arrived at the end of the hallway. He turned around and faced Axel down. "People are quick to change their nature when they imagine they can improve their lot."

"Everyone sees what you appear to be," Kiaran put a hand on Axel's shoulder, tilting his head to the side. "Few really know what you are."

"You are just a boy who's still in high school when in reality, you are a deadly murderer." He continued before sliding open the door behind him and revealing more longer hallway with a bunch of rooms on the side of it.

"In the world's eyes, leaders have to be clean, morally good, and kind." Kiaran's deadly eyes caught the wondering blue ones. "So they tend to lie to be perfect."

The windows of the rooms were dark. Axel could not catch what's behind them. Though, he could almost see something moving behind them. Either that, or he was just imagining things.

"You see, being a Machiavellian doesn't always have to have an actual position as a leader," Kiaran said, opening the only room that didn't have a dark window.

"Because a Machiavellian is always a leader, isn't he?"

Axel hesitantly nodded even though he did not quite understand what his brother was talking about. His eyes moved around the narrowed room. The room was filled with so many explosives. A big map was glued on the wall with some sketches around it.

"Yeah, I thought so." Satisfied with Axel's agreement, Kiaran let his little brother get in the room.

"By the way, you can talk, Axel. I know you have many questions in that little head of yours." Kiaran said as closed the door behind him quietly.

There were indeed so many questions in the boy's head. Like what's with this place, who's that scientist, why are we here, what's a Machiavellian, or just a simple why any of this happening.

But instead of asking those questions, Axel asked, "where are we?"

Kiaran traced his hand over the map, eyes glinting with a dark spark in between the dim lights. "We are in a place that you can call-" He paused, eyes catching his little brother's innocent ones. "-a fuel."

"A fuel for a burning world." The teen continued with a dusky tone.

Axel frowned in confusion at his brother's unanswered answer. But he decided to brush it off because if he thought about it too much, he would have a headache. So he just decided to ask the most obvious question.

"Kiaran, are those bombs?" He pointed at the pile of explosives that were too many to have around.

"Yup." The mercenary easily answered, taking one of the bombs and tossing it in the air like it was some kind of a toy.

Axel tilted his head back slightly. "What for?"

"A little spice for the big surprise I have." The mercenary put down the explosive on a nearby table.

He brushed his black messy hair back from his forehead as his two blue ocean eyes filled with insanity little by little. Kiaran took a remote on the table and fiddled with the buttons.

"You see, I've been- I've been gathering some people for the past week." He began as he opened the door and went to the hallway again.

His dark boots clanked in the hallway when he walked further down. Axel closed the door from the room they were in and quickly caught up with the taller teen.

The mercenary suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, making the down part of his black trench coat wave around. He brought up his black-gloved hand that was holding a remote and let his thumb brush the red button.

"When I said people, I mean, not people- people." The black-haired teen specified, grinning in madness. He madly widened his blue eyes that were full of insanity as he pushed the button.

The dark windows from around the rooms were turning visible slowly. Axel did not know why his heart was thumping loudly as he waited for what was behind the previously dark windows.

When the young murderer finally saw what's inside of them, his heart stopped for a moment.

Kiaran looked around as his grin turned a shade darker, like a wolf getting a scent of blood. "I meant those people."

There were people with red eyes, banging their hands and heads on the window. They had dark lines over their skins, rotting away and eating them slowly. Their eyes were empty yet full of hunger.

Hunger for blood to spill, hunger for bodies to rip apart, hunger for freedom.

"This-" Axel stumbled back as he tried to speak within the overwhelming information he just got. "-this is mad, Kiaran!"

"What?" Kiaran chuckled a little, voice tinted with darkness. "An apocalypse would be beautifully poetic, isn't it?"

He spread both of his hands as if he was on a play. His eyes were opened wide with craziness while getting surrounded by the humans who already turned into a monster- a demon.

"A hoard of mindless wannabe demons roaming in the street, showing how helpless and hopeless this country's leaders are." The mercenary proclaimed, falling deeper into the madness.

He looked down into Axel's terrified eyes and smiled. "It's really poetic, don't you think so, Axel?"

The boy's breath caught in his throat as he tried to reason with his older brother. "You can't- you can't just kill the whole city! This is madness, Kiaran."

Axel tried to calm himself. He gave it all to ignore the mindless demons around him. He closed his eyes for a while before finally looking at the eyes full of insanity in front of him.

"You are mad," Axel stated harshly.

Kiaran was taken aback by his little brother's statement. The insanity that was etched on his face was replaced by amusement. He raised both of his eyebrows at Axel who was trying his best to not fall into a sea of panic attacks.

"Oh, Axel." The mercenary cooed. His gaze softened, eyes looking at him with overly sweet honeyed eyes.

His boots echoed with the floor as Kiaran made his way to the fluffy-haired boy. "My dear, dear, foolish and naive brother."

Kiaran stood in front of the frozen boy, looming over him as he bent down and leaned over Axel's right shoulder. His breath brushed of the boy's neck when he put his mouth beside Axel's right ear, sending a chill down the mute murderer's back.

"I never kill, remember?" He whispered almost softly, yet the dangerous tone was tied down with his voice.

"I only whisper," Kiaran continued. Axel almost could hear his smirk as he froze in his place.

"-and you are the one who pulls the trigger." Kiaran formed a crazy grin again behind his black mask.

The mercenary chuckled a little before getting up and leaving the trembling boy alone. He turned his back on him, pressing the button again to make the window's glasses go dark.

Axel just watched his brother's back in a numbed horror. He was too overwhelmed to move. He felt imprisoned by his own fear as the blood drained from his face.

Kiaran looked back at Axel once again with his demented blue eyes. "Oh don't worry, I know I am mad. I am aware of that obvious fact, little brother." He stated as he put both of his hands on Axel's ears.

"But you should look at the mirror and tell me what you see." Kiaran moved Axel's head to the window who had become dark and saw both of their reflections.

"Did you see a normal boy or a murderer?"

The young murderer stared at his reflection. The guns in his pockets were tucked out a little and he could point out the knives hidden between his pants. When he looked at his own eyes, he saw the mute murderer.

Not a normal boy.

"You are mad too, Axel." Kiaran easily pointed out as he let go of his brother's head. "We are brothers, after all."

"Though this time... I'm being kind to you." Said the mercenary as he put a hand on a doorknob that contained the made-up demons behind the door.

Axel took a step back slowly, backing away from the door. He put a hand on his gun, trying to anticipate the worst.

Kiaran turned the doorknob slowly, looking at Axel with smiling eyes. "I'll let them do your job for you, isn't that nice, brother?"

"Now you can whisper with me as we watch the world burn."