Pleased with seeing Sebastian wearing Maltese clothes, he took his PDA and within few clicks a holographic-record showed up. Shadow locked and pushed the PDA on the table towards Sebastian, without saying anything.
When Shadowwalker and Hunter met each other in person on the record, Shadow stood up silently and proceeded towards the edge of the floor where he sat down, showing Sebastian his back and leaning back using his arms to support his back.
After the part where they reached the bridge, Shadow put his glasses down and looked at the Cardamine fields which were bathing in the sun-rise light. Not really listening to anything Sebastian said, as he wanted him to watch the playback.
The rest of the record Shadow kept silent, just looking at his Storta in far. When the video ended, he put his glasses back on, stood up and walked back to the sofa to sit down and lean back.
Sunrays began to emerge from behind his ship, aswell as the delicious smell of cooked meat comming from the house. Maid's footsteps could be heard as she was bringing two plates full of cooked meat, glass of water, rheinland beer and a bottle of gallic wine.
The young Rheinlander took in the video in near silence. The first look of Hunter on the security footage, walking around and talking, brought Sebastian's hands up to his face, and the boy sobbed. He missed his brother desperately. They had always been close, and the idea that he'd never see Hunter again was unimaginable. Even through his tears, though, Sebastian took in every word, every action. When the video finished, he pushed the PDA away hard, almost enough to knock it off the table. Only a small rim at the edge of the surface stopped it from ending up on the ground.
Sebastian stared at the ground for a few minutes, silent. He just took it all in. "My brother was going to overthrow Corin Frei," Sebastian said aloud. "And you were going to help him." The tone of the young man's second sentence was harsh and rough, whether because of his tears or the feelings he felt. He stood up suddenly, his hands balling to fists, and he snarled the words in anger as he stalked toward Shadowwalker. "He trusted you! You should have helped him! You should have protected him!"
As he screamed and raged, Sebastian slammed his fists against Shadowwalker's chest. His small frame and inexperience fighting meant it wouldn't hurt. The boy vented and pounded on the Maltese man's chest and stomach as he let out every feeling bottled up inside him. There was nowhere else for the feelings to go.
When he finished, Sebastian's anger lingered. He wiped his eyes on the back of his new jacket, and stared at Shadowwalker. His jaw tensed. "I will have revenge, Shadowwalker. I will make them pay for taking my brother away from me." The boy had absolutely no clue where to even start, and his expression showed it. Looking lost, he stared out over the nearby fields, sniffling slightly. "I need a ship. A fighter. I need to find people to help me. Do you know anyone that Hunter was in contact with, other than you? Maybe they can help me."
As Sebastian struck Shadow several times into his chest and stomach, so he let his head lower down and looked on the floor, while leaving his arms hanging as if without a life while Sebastian's fists were hitting him. He never raised his head, and his long hair was all over his face. As his sunglasses were falling on the ground, with an immense speed he punched Sebastian's stomach with his right hand, and for a fraction of a second Sebastian could notice Shadow's right eye's pupil reminding snake's.
Shadow's punch caused Sebastian to bend forward. But for Shadow it was not enough, using his elbow to hit Sebastian's back, further forcing him to go down. But then, as Sebastian was falling down, Shadow used his knee to elevate the young human into air and forcing him to completely exhale, then letting the body fall on the ground with several ribs broken.
When Sebastian fell on the ground, he could see Shadow's broken sunglasses in front of his face, and Shadow's standing figure reflecting in them.
Maid was looking at them the entire time, and as she tried to say something, Shadow put the hair away from his face and looked at her with his uncovered eyes. She got scared and ran back into the house with all the food spilled on the floor.
As he let him struggle to breath on the ground, Shadow put his right knee close to Sebastian's head and began speaking with higher pitched evil silenced voice which would make anyone feel his goosebumps.
"Humans are so fragile *chuckles*. Your life will be forfeit if you fill yourself with anger."
He pronounced those words, touching Sebastian's neck and stopping the blood flow from one of his arteries to let him pass out and thought "His actions, albeit heroic, remind me Hunter. Yet, he's no longer among the living."
"Take him to the infirmary."
Then he picked his broken sunglasses from the floor and stood up while looking at the maid hiding behind the pillar.
Thomas and Emilia had woken not long after Sebastian disappeared into the hallway. No matter how exhausted a person was, eventually the other basic needs - relieving oneself and food - would interrupt sleep. They both noticed Sebastian missing from the space, and it was a brief conversation to decide what to do about it.
"Stay here, Mrs. Wolff," Thomas said. The dark-haired boy was 18, two years Sebastian's senior, and was very protective of his boyfriend. Emilia was also protective but was a bit more out of her element. She nodded agreement as Thomas walked out the door to the large rooms and into the hallway. He had adapted to the breathing apparatus over his mouth and nose faster than the Wolff family, and it didn't bother him at all.
Without the guidance of the computer, Thomas had to fumble around. He took several wrong passageways or ended up at doors that were locked and couldn't be countered. Eventually, he did manage his way to the carrier's airlock. However, the passage of time had not been on his side. He wasn't comfortable without knowing where Sebastian was, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He didn't care about the view, and ignored it as he stepped out of the ship and down toward the private residence below.
Walking around one corner of the house, Thomas's eyes settled on Shadowwalker and Sebastian just as the last kick was thrown. Horror filled Thomas's face as he watched Sebastian crumple to the ground like all his bones had collapsed simultaneously. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled angrily. Stopped in place across the large expanse of the back yard, Thomas's eyes looked around for the first dangerous object he could find. He was used to fighting - he'd caused plenty of trouble on Leipheim - and would defend Sebastian.
Eventually managing to find some Maltese equivalent of a garden tool with sharp points on one end, he wielded it as carefully as possible as he moved toward Shadowwalker and his downed boyfriend. "You...he trusted you!" Thomas yelled. He held out the weapon, pointing it in Shadowwalker's direction, as he leaned down next to Sebastian. Thomas was much stronger emotionally than the blonde, and he didn't cry at the sight, no matter what his heart told him. He was a man of action.
"You're going to call Emilia out here, and then we're going to a hospital. Now. And then we're leaving this awful planet," Thomas growled out. His eyes darted between Shadowwalker above him and Sebastian on the ground at his side. "NOW!" Thomas demanded again.
Shadow was suprised someone got there so silently without him noticing it. He turned back and saw his boyfriend pointing a sharp weapon towards him.
"Do you have any idea what happened? Your friend wanted to walk in his brother's dead footsteps, WOULD YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO GET HIM KILLED?"
He paused for a second just to invite him up there and see the reason of Shadow's actions.
"If you want to know why this happened, come up here and take this PDA to watch the holo-record of his brother from my ship. Only then you should decide."
Shadow hoped Thomas would go up to see the record no matter what. He would not let him leave before watching it and understanding his boyfriend would end up the same way.
Thomas couldn't believe Shadowwalker's words. To justify such an attack was unimaginable. The dark-haired man moved his own body so that it sat in between Sebastian's and Shadowwalker, preventing further injury. "I don't care about his brother, Shadowwalker. I can't save his brother. I can save him. And right now, it seems you're the one I need to save him from."
Thomas brought himself to his feet, ignoring the PDA, still pointing the weapon and unwilling to drop it. "A hospital. Now. I have no idea how badly you've hurt Sebastian, but I want him treated. Right now!" Thomas's voice rose again. Just as he was about to speak once more, a shrill shriek echoed through the yard. Emilia had found her way out of the cruiser, and seen her son's body lying on the ground.
Screaming incoherently, Emilia ran over to Sebastian. She did her best to tend to her broken son. She felt his chest and face, and knew it wasn't safe to move him. Tears filled her eyes and she sobbed. Thomas did his best to ignore her, still staring daggers at Shadowwalker. "Medical care. Now." Thomas shoved the weapon forward toward Shadowwalker. It was nowhere near the man yet, but he hoped it would get his point across.
Watching his mother running to Sebastian, reallizing there's no way out. He might loose them, but he had to act. Unknown to them, he closed his eyes for few seconds just to come up with the right words even if this situation was nowhere near under his control.
"Very well. It shall be done then. Miss Emilia, i have to ask you to leave Sebastian, neither of you know what he has broken, and more pressure will only pierce his organs."
Then he looked at Thomas, knowing he could disarm the man. Yet he decided to use words rather than violence this time.
"Thomas, allow me to take Sebastian on my hands. I have attended medicine, i know what to do. Besides, i'm currently the only one here to help him."
Nodding his head slowly as he looked directly into Thomas's eyes, awaiting his answer.
Every inclination that Thomas had told him Shadowwalker was not to be trusted. Emilia's sobs had gone mostly quiet, but her body was still wracked with them. She wasn't leaning against Sebastian, but more hovering over him. She wiped at his face as her tears fell and stained the Maltese jacket he was wearing. She already knew Hunter was gone, and the idea of losing Sebastian as well was unconscionable. She had no focus on what was happening behind her, ignoring the two standing men; She was just worried about her little boy.
Thomas narrowed his eyes, never breaking Shadowwalker's gaze. "If you hurt him again, I will kill you." They really had no choice. They were on a foreign planet with no resources except a transport that was far from where they were. Thomas kept the hoe-like tool in his hand, but lowered the points away from Shadowwalker. He stepped backward, gripping Emilia's shoulder, and gently guided the woman away from Sebastian's body. "I mean it, Shadowwalker. I will end you." The threat was real.
The 18-year-old wrapped one arm around the still-crying Emilia, trying to comfort his boyfriend's mother, as he held the weapon parallel to his body. They both moved away from Sebastian, but only a couple steps, to allow Shadowwalker to proceed.
A relief it was knowing Thomas would let Shadow take Sebastian. And he did so, carefully turning him to lay on his back and taking his jacket off to assess the damage he was already aware of after thousands of hours of training. Being silent for a while, Shadow saw what he expected, and used his fingers to run through Sebastians ribs to assure himself the damage was minimal.
Then using two of his fingers to feel Sebastain's pulse, after it was rythmic and safe, he used his right hand to hold his legs and left to hold his back. As he brought him up and walked the stairs into one of the rooms, he told one of the maids to bring the necesarry chemicals and drugs.
Putting him on one of the beds, Shadow was given syringes from maids to put Sebastian into artificial sleep, instead of what happened before.
It would take six weeks before Sebastian's ribs are healed. So he had one more thing to do, to check his spine for damage. He looked at Thomas and asked him to leave the room
"Thomas, please stay out of the room. I want to check his spine for any kind of damage"
Thomas and Emilia stood nearby, watching Shadowwalker work. The color of Sebastian's skin on his chest and stomach had gone angry shades of red, blue and purple. It renewed his mother's crying, while Thomas gripped the pole of the hoe hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Neither one of them moved more than a couple feet away from the two on the ground, and eventually Emilia even moved to stand on Sebastian's opposite side so she could see everything.
They followed Shadowwalker up the stairs and into the bedroom, never far behind him. Emilia stayed behind Thomas, and still the young Rheinlander wouldn't let go of the weapon. His brow was covered in sweat and his entire body was tense, ready to pounce the instant something went wrong. When Shadowwalker made his request, Thomas brandished the hoe again, turning the points at the Maltese. "Hell no. I'm not leaving you alone with him ever again," Thomas insisted. "Whatever you're going to do, I am staying."
Emilia looked just as adamant. The woman may have been upset, but Sebastian was the last of her family. Even as much as she might hate seeing him suffer, she wasn't going to abandon Sebastian either. She walked up to the side of the bed, gently stroking the back of the young blonde's head as he slept on the bed. She stared down at him as tears rolled off her cheeks and onto her blouse. "I'm not leaving my son, either." Then, she turned to Shadowwalker, anger replacing sadness. "And I will never forgive you for hurting my child."