Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a dark and stormy night. Felix felt his body being pushed by the harsh wind a bit, but he stood his ground. He was standing on the veranda of a home, staring out to the wet street. He wasn't exactly thinking about anything in particular as he needed to be on guard.

"Why are you still out here?" The voice of his mother suddenly asked.

"Watching the rain." He stated calmly and tilted his head. The man sighed and cracked his knuckles, trying his best to ignore the figure. "Does it still make you sick?" She asked as if she was mocking him. Felix turned around to glance at the house he stood before and chuckled a bit. "I've learned to handle it." He said coldly, a slight smirk gracing his lips, and walked past the woman into the house before the apparition could speak anymore.

You haven't learned to handle it. Liar. Idiot. How could you lie to your mother? You are a bad son. You let her die and now you lie to her. The brunette shook his head a few times trying to ignore the voice in his ears. It wasn't real. He knew it wasn't real.

She wasn't real.

He walked deeper into the house and as he entered the living room he scanned it. Blood was still on the walls and floor. For a moment he was brought back in time to the hallway of his own childhood home before quickly snapping out of it. "Felix, you're going to have to help us here." Chris sighed deeply, snapping the other man back to reality. The mentioned man looked at his partners in crime, slightly tilting his head. "What do I need to do? I already did my part. You said you'd handle the cleaning." He spoke, slightly annoyed that he'd have to do something that included the dead bodies more.

He had already killed the family and the other two had offered to do the cleaning this time, knowing the effect doing stuff like this had on their friend. At least they would be paid good money for this.

Chris sighed and stood up from beside the corpse, opening his mouth but before he could, the third of their group spoke up. "Get the gasoline from the car if anything, please?" Daniel requested in a similarly annoyed tone that he had just spoken in. Felix sighed but nodded his head. "If I get blown away by the wind, I'll blame you." He joked lightly. The other two were a little cold at times, and jokes like these were sometimes appreciated in order to lighten the mood.

Felix turned back around and walked out of the door, the figure of his long-dead mother now gone. He covered his head with his hands as he moved down from the porch, ignoring the gut-wrenching feeling in his stomach. The man strutted his way to the car and opened the trunk, pulling out the canister filled to the brim with gasoline.

It was a shame to burn such a nice house down, honestly, but it was impossible to clean it within a few hours and they couldn't leave any evidence behind. As Felix was making his way back inside, lighting struck, making the man freeze a bit. "Calm down Zeus." He muttered and then hurried back inside to not get completely soaked by the falling rain.

"Here." The freckled individual set down the gasoline canister toward the man who had requested it. "Thanks," Daniel said under his breath bluntly and took it into his hands. Within seconds he started splashing the fire hazardous liquid around the house.

In the meantime, Chris walked over to Felix who was eyeing the dead family. He grabbed the younger's upper arm, squeezing it gently. "Are you okay?" The blonde inquired, only earning a bleak nod from the other man. "It's whatever." He mumbled back with a shake of his head. "Let's go to the car. Daniel will come when he's done here.." Felix continued before his partner could continue further, brushing aside the topic of his mental well-being.

Of course, he wasn't "okay". He was seeing hallucinations, again, for Pete's sake. Not that Chris or Daniel either knew that the pesky things had returned. That's what you get from being off of your medication.

Chris nodded his head in defeat and pat the other's shoulder. Felix glanced at the corpses for the last time and his blood ran cold when one of them was staring back at him with a smirk pasted onto its lips, haunting the poor brunette. "..Ix-- Felix!" The man was snapped out of it and turned to Chris, who had his eyebrows furrowed.

The older glanced back at the gasoline-soaked corpses, staring at them for a moment before turning back with a now concerned look. 

The freckled man didn't let the other say anything and rushed out of the house, goosebumps all over his body. Chris followed the other and grabbed his arm. "Why didn't you tell me that.." "Because I can deal with it!" Felix interrupted the man and ripped his arm free. He cursed under his breath softly, closing his eyes for a few seconds in order to attempt the image of the corpse with his eyes open from his mind. Fucking hell. "Yeah? The last time you said that I had to talk you down from the edge of a roof!" Chris argued back.

"Stop yelling," Daniel stated as he walked out of the house trailing a line of gasoline on the ground. The two men turned to the other one who was digging out a pack of matches from the depths of his jacket pocket. "You'll get us caught like that. Talk about it at home." The man scoffed next and lit up a few matches. "Hopefully the rain won't kill the fire." Chris sighed and Felix just observed in silence as Daniel dropped the matches into the trail of gasoline.

The house was soon up in flames, lighting up the dark night. "Let's go before anyone shows up," Daniel spoke and walked to the car. The man got into the driver's seat, followed by the other two who took their places in the back.

"Felix. Do you need your prescription again?" Daniel spoke up after they had traveled in silence for maybe thirty minutes. Felix knew the other two cared but he couldn't put his own needs before theirs. "It's fine. I know we're tight on cash.." The youngest of the three muttered, keeping his gaze strictly on the passing sceneries. "I'm getting it anyway. Otherwise, I won't let you work. You clearly can't handle it." Felix knew he couldn't argue against the driver so he just stayed quiet.

Despite their occupation being very much twisted, Felix loved doing it. Call it trauma, but being a hitman felt right for him. And if Daniel was to rip it away from him, he seriously would go insane; apart from his hallucinations. Felix felt Chris grab his hand. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Honey... I'm just worried." The blonde man said softly. The youngest pouted, knowing the blonde man was disappointed. "I know.."

Daniel glanced at the two men through the rear mirror and sighed, shaking his head a bit. Felix wasn't fit for the job in a way, but it was probably hard to decline a homeless kid who wasn't in his right mind. But they knew he was getting better. If only he would get out of his 'I'm fine' headspace.

Felix himself knew he needed to get better.

Police cars and firetrucks drove past them, sirens blasting. "They came fast this time," Chris stated the obvious whilst looking out of the back window. "Those bastards better pay us well. Killing a whole family is a god damn chore."

Felix only sat in silence listening to the other two, while staring out of the window. The only thing on his mind was the stare the corpse had given him. He couldn't erase it.

He was truly holding onto his last strings of sanity.