Note to self: Worst.Day.Ever.

Sabriel nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I promise I'll be back soon." With that, the thirteen year old stood up, and walked over to one of the darker shadows in the room. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly, seeming to just melt away into the shadow. He reappeared outside, and slowly opened his eyes to look around. He turned to look at the building; it wasn't very big, only two floors at most. The place looked like a dump from the outside as well, and was probably really bad on the inside as well. He didn't know which floor Anya was on, but that didn't matter.

He chose a random direction and started running in it, hoping he would return in time to keep his friend from getting hurt.

The young man nodded in agreement. "Right," he said. "I'll take care of it by myself." Once the two were outside of the academy, he helped her into the car and got inside as well, beginning to drive to the address where Anya and Sabriel were being kept.

Sabriel continued running as fast as he possibly could. Even when he was running out of breath, he kept running, knowing that no matter what he had to get Anya out of there. He saw a familiar car coming closer, and slowed down just a tiny bit, wondering if it was who he thought it was.

Nicolas blinked when he saw his brother, and immediately stopped the car. "Hang on," he said, and got out of the car, running to Sabriel. He grabbed his little brother and helped him into the back seat of the car, not noticing his arm for the time being. He was just glad that his brother was alive and in one piece.

"We've gotta get Anya out, she's still in there, I came to get help and..." He paused, having to stop to catch his breath. "The place isn't far from here. I don't know what story of the building it is, though."

The older male nodded and stepped on the gas pedal. He was probably going over the speed limit, but this was an emergency! How could he not go faster than allowed?

"Just tell me when you see the building," he said.

"Hi Mery," Sabriel said, returning her greeting. "Alright, well, we were in the forbidden area, and this guy just whacked us over the head and when we woke up we were in this room with no windows, just a door that he always kept locked. He put a knife to Anya's throat and shot a bullet at both of us. My arm's hurt, but she's ok."

"You shouldn't have been in that part of the grounds," Nicolas said in a fatherly tone. "But whatever. Are you hurt badly?"

Sabriel shook his head and looked down, ashamed for breaking the school rules. But if he hadn't been there, Anya may have had to go through all of this by herself.

The kidnapper decided to go toy around with Sabriel and Anya. He walked into the room they were in, leaving the door open, and blinked when he only saw Anya. Rage immediately showed on his face, and he stood in the door way to keep her from getting away as well. "Where's your little friend?" he growled, expecting an honest answer from her.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed. Oh, no... he was getting help, and he was gone, too. What if he got less money now? He quickly left and shut the door behind him, forgetting to lock, and taking a few deep breaths. He couldn't kill Anya, even if he wanted to. If he did, he wouldn't get the money.

Sabriel nodded. "Right there! Hurry!"

Nicolas did so. He stopped the car once in the buildings parking lot, and looked at the building. "I'll be back once I have Anya." And, with that, he went to the building and walked inside. Luckily, Anya and the kidnapper were on the first floor.

"Let her go," Nicolas said once he saw the kidnapper. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was him, seeing as how he was the only person in this building aside from Anya and himself.

"Why should I?" he snarled. "You got the money?"

"Listen, I said let her go. Do it." Anger showed in his bright golden eyes as he waited. He knew this guy might get violent, but he refused to do so as well. He would never raise his hand to another person, ever.

The man raised his gun. "Get out of here. Don't come back until you have the money!"

The two continued with their argument, neither of them giving in to the other.

The man's volume began to raise, and after a moment, he finally shot his gun.

Nicolas blinked as the bullet went straight through his stomach. No sign of pain crossed his face, and he merely stared at the rather large wound, perplexed. "Violence isn't the answer, my friend," he said calmly to the kidnapper. Blood began to seep through his clothing, and the only thing he felt from the entire ordeal was the stickiness of the crimson liquid.

The gunman's eyes went completely wide and he took a few steps back. "You... how... HOW?!" He fired five more times at Nicolas, and a few times at Anya as well.

All but two of the bullets hit the young man. One went through his right shoulder, one through the left side of his ribs, and another one went through his stomach. His clothes were entirely stained with red now, and he bit the inside of his lip, knowing that this really wasn't good. "You people never learn..."

~

Sabriel nodded. After hearing the gunshots, he hurried out of the car and grabbed Mery's wrist, pulling her toward the building, standing in front of her. If anything was fired at them, he wanted to be the one hit instead of her. "Nikki...?" he said, his eyes going wide when he saw his brother bleeding like that. It brought back memories he didn't want to have. He started shaking, beginning to think about how mutilated and bloody his parents had been when he and Nicolas saw the bodies. "NICOLAS!"

~

"Would you shut up, Sabe? You're loud enough to wake the dead." The young man shook his head and walked over to Anya now, seeing as how the kidnapper was reloading his gun, and taking a rather long time to do so at that.