"They're...really wonderful. I think they would make wonderful vessels don't you think? Look at them, aren't they perfect? What they could grow to be, what they could become. It's almost limitless to think off if they weren't so similar to him." Wicked, wicked words. The cynicism of that sole critic in the lost audience that he wanted so badly to have the attention off. So cruel, as he reviewed the two bumbling actors on the small screen, the buttons and lights flickering alongside the edges. He didn't understand the consoles, but he rested his hand gently upon the panel of knobs and buttons, leaning closer to the smooth glass screen, the bright resolution burning at his retina as the two actors danced from one screen to the next. All eyes focused on them from every lighting, every angle, every perspective. He couldn't stand it, they were perfect. 

  "Flawless." His breath fogged the screen, "So strong, so whole." 

  [I]What of me?[/I]
 
  A laugh, the critic condescending with his words, "What of you, my sweet one? My broken, my burned.." Fingers, across the skin, the sensation disappearing momentarily where it trailed across his arm, then once more over his torso; places that couldn't feel anymore. Over the bandages, solid under his fingertips where the nanites were set to work healing, the skin would never be the same there, so many sacrifices just to keep one's cruel laughter to himself, "You? I should abandon you, do you not want me to be happy? Tell me now, are you being selfish because you want me or is this just another attempt to 'spare' your offspring? Such weakness. There is even more reason to leave this broken body, especially when such...delicious treats lay before me. Are you weak, my wonderful knight? Is it true? All the rumors? What's been said? Are you weak? Shall I leave you to your stage, alone?" 

  [I] No, I don't care. I don't care, as long as you stay with me. No one else matters, they're nothing.[/I] Impassioned pleas. 

  "Prove it to me then, my wonderful knight," His hand trailed across a lever embedded in the wall, enclosing around the smooth rubber encasing it's handle. It clicked, "Prove it. If I shall never need another, then these burdens are useless. Threatening. There is no more need for them whatsoever. Prove you want of only me, my vessel. One pull and let us be rid of temptation." His own voice and his own eyes as his gaze flickered over to the clear screen where [b]they[/b] staged their performance. These petulant actors, foolish..youthful..perfect replicas and remnants of...life. And then he glanced back at the lever, one simple flicker and it would end all of that. One simple closed circuit in the monstrous machine and by some imagination, he'd end it all, right here, right now. 

  "They'd suffer, you know? There is no slow dying in a place like this." He's whispering, urging, hurrying. It's not a reminder, it's a sweetly worded demand. And his eyes flicker back to the screen, his lungs no longer function enough to draw breath. And his mind, his mind is long gone as he stares fixedly at the screen and licks his lips. He didn't think he was capable of trembling anymore, but his hand is shaking on the lever as he watches them. Can't hear them, can't feel them. Just sees them. Sees their eyes, so alike to him, the only ones that'll ever look like his. He remembers them bright with fear before they went completely blank. He remembers and his skin prickles, "They're threats, useless...are you going to let them live? Are you going to be weak? Shall I leave you my darling?" 

  [I] Leave, don't leave[/I] The world spins, god forbid his heart skips and the lever clicks as it swings downward. His eyes are closed. 
.
.
.
.
.

"Ahah...Hahaha," Laughing, bubbling from his lips, his eyes smoldering, "Did you? Did you honestly think that would kill them so easily?" The room is dark, but the screen is still bright and alive and they're just the same. Alive. Moving. They, the ones he thought he'd- "You really though it didn't you? You really believed you were killing them, didn't you?"
 
  "Monster, hah," He pants, sighs, watches them play on the screen. Them, them with his eyes, the ones he fought for, bled for, died for. Them, his, theirs. Children, their children. And he wanted to kill them. He had thought he killed them. He believed he had. [I]Monster[/I]

  "My loyal eternal." His voice shakes, he can't help it, he can only stare at his children. Slumped over the control panel, the screen stares back at him, almost accusingly at his head hurts, clears a moment as he sits there motionlessly, turns his gaze once, twice to the screen where one's lying down, already torn up. And he realizes, it's the first time it's on his hands. And the buttons were twisted red, the lever streaked with the same color all the way down to his hands, shaking. It's her blood. It's her heart beat that's gone, it's her thoughts that have died. It's hers, it's hers and now it's not there anymore and she's gone and what's left of him is gone. It's all gone, he's fucked up. 

  He. Fucked. Up. 
 
  And now it's all gone. It's just him. And..
 
  "Sweet lier." It creeps up onto him, it's sweet, admiration, attention of his audience and the lights turn back onto him. 

  "Show time." 
[hr]
   The ground is much harder than he imagines. It scrapes across his skin and makes him whimper as they tumble across the ground. He clings onto his brother as they finally come to a stop, staring up at his brother in pure shock. There's nothing to do, but to hold onto each other, because everyone's that's ever tried to protect them has gone away. Daddy was gone away, Leo was gone, Papa was gone, all of them were gone and now they only had each other. He didn't want to lose his brother too. This quiet moment was interrupted though as Skylark clung to him tightly and pressed their foreheads together and his vision filled with Daddy's and his ears rang with his brother's shrieking voice. And he was crying because Skylark was crying and he was holding him close because he was being held and screaming along with him, "I don't know! I don't know!" 

  "Leo, where's Leo?! Where's Daddy? Where's papa?" He screamed back at him because he wanted to know, he had to know. This wasn't supposed to be like this.