On Wednesday morning, John ran into the main building of the college. His steps, heavy as an anvil, echoed through the empty halls as he aimed toward the medic office. Sterile white walls were passed in an instant, running at the room in the far back, the room where a certain black haired man would sit in.

He pulled open the door and gasped for air. "Aar-...Dennis," he shouted. "Was Matt with you last night? He didn't show up at my place."

Aaron, undercover as Dennis, sat in astonishment on his small chair. After just having poured some hot water into his cup, his appetite swiftly faded away. "Nathan." He stood up. "You probably didn't hear did you?"

Like a puppy, John's eyes widened, overcome by feelings that he couldn't grasp. He closed the door behind him. "What happened?"

As Aaron reached for a black plastic bag on his desk, he tried to calmly talk to him. "Last night, there was a shooting in the garden. The girls ran from their dorm to the staff and we had the police come investigate. Apparently they heard gunshots and even screams."

"What is in that bag?" John asks as it is handed to him.

"We found bullets and a blade. I am sure you can tell by just one look what kind of blade it is."

Just as predicted, John needed merely one look to ascertain the long claw-like blade, one that could only have been from Matt. "Where is he," John huffed.

"We found a lot of blood on the scene."

"I asked, where he is," his tone got louder.

"We do not know. We didn't find a corpse," Aaron slowly sunk his head.

Bewildered by the assessment of his friend, John stepped forward and pulled him by the white coat. Sniffling his nose, the blonde man stared him in the eyes. "How could you speak about this so easily? Matt is our partner!"

"That wasn't my intention John, but you need to cool your head for a second." He grabbed him by the arms and shook him.

"How am I supposed to be calm in this situation? Matt was shot because he worked for me! This is my fault, damn it!" he yelled.

"John! If you let your emotions pull through like that, you won't be able to keep up with your mission and possibly lose the chance at saving him. As I said, we didn't find a body, meaning he was kidnapped. He must be alive, understand?"

Wrinkles formed around John's squinted eyes as he steps back and turns to the door before slamming it open. "Aaron! Should we find the one behind this then I cannot assure that I won't accidentally kill him."

With heavy steps, he slowly left the building, leaving behind Aaron who rested his head against the wall. "You wouldn't honestly kill someone, John? Right?"

Lessons were cancelled for today due to last night's incident. Thus the lead footed student wanted to spend his day in the sports hall, fencing. Upon entering, he was met by a familiar voice of a brown haired boy.

"Mornin' there Nathan! You may not remember me but I was the referee for your fight with Ewin yesterday."

Not even moving a muscle to look at the boy, John merely had an eye on all the students who were already training. "I see. Well, could you get me a toothpick and an opponent? I kind off need to blow off some steam."

Startled, the boy shook his head. "You shouldn't use this to get rid of your anger, plus you should wear a protection suit too!"

Suddenly an icy breeze ran down his spine together with cold sweat from his forehead as he saw the piercing eyes John gave him, covered by hair and shadow, which merely gave off a subtle gleam from the light's reflection.

About an hour later, Ewin entered the hall and was shocked by the sight. His fellow classmates sat on the floor with their suits all torn by one cut at the chest. Wondering what went on, he noticed the ongoing fight. A rapid step forward launched the longhaired swordsman at his opponent, barely dodging the foil's strike he performed a loud vertical cut. Tearing through the suits chest, he was declared the winner while the opponent walked off with his shoulders low.

"What is he doing?" Ewin asked the brown haired boy, who had also sustained a cut at his chest.

"Well he barged in and asked for a fight. Needless to say he is really strong and dodges with utmost precision but he reminds me too much of your brother. Using brute force to defeat his foes and not even paying respect by protecting himself. He beat out everyone's enthusiasm."

"Hey Ewin! Sorry but I will be taking a break for now, you can train without me can't you?" John shouted as he dried his sweaty hair with a towel after his last fight.

"Nathan! Stop bringing such egoistic thoughts into our sports hall!" he yelled.

Not having expected that sudden reaction, John stood still in an attempt to comprehend.

"These are your classmates, you are supposed to train with them and learn together, not crush their motivation by not even taking them serious enough to wear protection! That is reckless and hot-headed even by your standards."

Clicking his tongue John walked past him, heading outside. "I get it, you don't want me here. Fine then, don't worry I will take my leave," he waved his right hand at them. "Bye!"

As the door closed behind him, Ewin felt a rush of responsibility and ran after the swordsman. "Wait up!" Having left the hall, he looked at the back covered by a white towel.

"Wait! Nathan, stop already!"

"What is it?" he halted and turned his head around.

"What happened? Why are you suddenly like this, everything was fine yesterday but suddenly you seem like a different person," Ewin wondered

"Did you hear about the incident in the garden?"

"Not much, no."

"One of my friends, a boy was attacked by a gunner and was kidnapped too. So forgive me for being more than just a bit angry."

"So that's why class is cancelled for today...," Ewin thought.

"Well, if that's all then I will just go take a shower now," he said, taking a step forward but halting after hearing Ewin mumble.

"I really hope he's fine. I know how it feels to suddenly lose someone, you know?"

"Who did you lose?" John asked, feeling the sudden need to show interest.

The air seemed to get thicker around them as both didn't know what to say, and what not to say.

"My brother. He was the best swordsman of this school, no, of the region but he was kidnapped together with the others. I just hope you can save him."

At first speechless, John turned his face to Ewin and caught a glance of him sweeping at his eyes.

"Look! Calm down and do your job! You are here to help us right? If you do that, then I am sure you can save your friend too," Ewin yelled and walked back inside the hall.

Although John had the urge to run after him, to apologize for his behaviour, to say "I will bring them back!", he was simply too stunned. His legs were petrified by how serious everything became overnight. To wash off his heavy mind he ran straight for his dorm room, which was about five minutes away but was instead cooled down by a sudden change of weather. The clouds darkened and clumped together as he felt a cold drop hit his nose.

He held open his hands to check for rain and they quickly filled with water. "Rain? You have got to be kidding me. That's not quite what I imagined by 'shower'."

"Joh- Nathan?" a female voice sounded as he passed by a few people. "Nathan wait up!"

Taking a look behind him, he saw it was Kimberly with a rose red umbrella held above her head. "Are you crying, Nathan?" she flicked her wrist at her friends to signal them that they should move on without her.

"What, me? No it's raining, that's all," John said but was not sure if he had cried without noticing it.

"Get over here then and we can walk together, you'll catch a cold if you run in the rain."

"Uh sure, but I wanted to go to my dorm room which is the opposite way from yours... so.."

"Or, you could come to my room and get dry while you drink a warm cup of tea, how about it?" Kimberly said, spinning the umbrella with her hand.

As much as he wanted to refuse, she held the umbrella. "Alright, thanks."

By the time they arrived at her dorm room they were already soaked from the rain. She lent him a pair of sports trousers and a shirt and sent him into her bathroom with a towel to get changed while she did the same in her room. Once he was done changing, he knocked on the door, waiting for a sign to come in. About a minute later, she knocked on the door, "Are you done?" "Yes, and you?" he replied.

Kimberly opened the door in her red sports outfit, the exact same one that John wore, and nodded "Sure I am, want a cup of tea?"

While he sat down at the small kitchen table, she poured him some green tea as steam rose from the porcelain cup. "So, tell me why you ran earlier. Surely it wasn't just because of the rain, right?"

As he went to pick up his tea, he instead punched his leg lightly. "I had a fight with Aaron and Ewin, the leader of the fencing class."

Instead of sitting down, she went to the bathroom, "So what was the subject? Just typical men being stupid?"

"No, I wish. Matt came with us to act as a spy but he wasn't at my dorm last night so I rushed over to Aaron, only to be told that the kid's gone missing and fought someone with a gun."

A dropping noise came from the bathroom, "Everything alright?" John yelled. When she came out, she had a hairbrush in her hand, "Yes, sorry to hear that. How come you argued with Ewin too?"

"Let's just say I was not being respectful because of my anger...," he felt a pull on his hair. "Hey, wait what are you doing?"

"I am just trying to brush your hair, if I don't then it will dry with knots."

"Then why not give me the brush? I hate having people touch my hair."

"Just relax, I am a woman. I know how valuable hair is so you can trust me to do this properly, or," she pulled tightly on his hair, making him lose a slight scream for a moment.

"Fine! Just stop pulling already!"

With a large grin on her face she continued, "Anyway, back to topic. I still don't understand why you were angry with Aaron, I mean he made sure to tell you the truth."

"It's just the way he said it, it seemed like he didn't care about Matt at all. When we first took him in he was against it too, so maybe-" a harsh pain went through his neck, which made him flinch like a dog.

"You idiot!" she yelled, pulling down on his hair. "He stayed up the entire night to find evidence, hell he even made the police force look like slaves!"

In pain, he clapped against her hand to make her let go, "How would you know about it?"

"Because the entire girl's dorm was out there last night together with the teachers. Since the garden was so close to us that we could hear the screams and noises. It is also the reason why there is no class today, everybody is completely exhausted!" she shouted, letting go of his hair.

"Then why did he not tell me that? Why didn't he tell me that he did all that?"

"Probably because he didn't want to make his work seem like the greater problem, but if you argued with him... he must feel abandoned. He told me last night that he really wants you to find Matt, he needs his vice cook back, he said."

"I-I didn't know. All that went through my mind was the glimmer of hope that Matt was alright, I didn't pay attention to Aaron, not at all."

In rage he smacked his hands against the table, spilling the tea all over it, "I am sorry, I have to go apologize to Aaron. Thank you for your help," he yelled as he ran out of the room.

"Wait!" she yelled after him but he was out of reach already. "You forgot your clothes."

As she picked them up, she felt something heavy in his blue trousers. Out of curiosity, she put her hand into the pocket but shrieked as she was hurt by something inside. "What is this?" Carefully shaking them, a knife fell onto the ground. "But why did he... of course, he can't carry his sword in school."

As if a horde of wild horses was running after him, John ran through the icy rain to the main building, and up the stairs. Tripping with his wet slippers with nearly every step, he finally reached the doctor's office but was overrun by a dozen nurses coming his way. With fear written all over their faces, they ran past John. Only one cared to tap his shoulder, "Run boy! Some weird man in a black suit and a rapier broke through the window and is holding Mr. Dennis hostage. We need to hurry to the police!"

His legs shivered, he had no idea what was going on but he knew he couldn't leave Aaron behind, not after all of this. "Sorry, but I can't." A frown signed his forehead as he ran down the hallway to his friend's office, though shocked to see Aaron thrown over the black haired swordsman's shoulder.

Hearing the heavy breathing coming from behind him the swordsman took a look at John, "What do you want, kid? Go run with the others, this one is coming with me."

"Jo- Nathan! Why are you here? Don't even think about playing the hero, just run!"

"What are you planning to do with our doc?" John hoped to buy time while he was trying to find the knife in his pocket.

"He turned out to be undercover with an annoying detective, so I have to take him with me. Plus, we needed a doctor," the man said whilst he flailed his rapier.

Furiously tapping at his trousers, he noticed that he left the knife in his other trousers, which were with Kimberly. "Just go Nathan. It is for the better, just promise you will find 'us'," Aaron mumbled.

"I won't let this jerk take away our doctor!" John screamed.

With a strong step he thrusted forward to try and land a punch but within a blink of the eye the rapier had pierced through his right shoulder, halting the young man. "Don't even try it, kid. I won't stand down, even if you are just a brat."

"Just do as he says Nathan, it will be fine as long as you can find 'us' later-" The swordsman hit Aaron with the hilt of the sword, knocking him unconscious. "That's enough out of you. See ya, kid!"

Kneeling down, holding his blood dripping shoulder, all he could do was watch the kidnapper jump out of the shattered window behind him together with John's partner on his shoulder. In curiosity, he looked down the window to see where he jumped to but there was no trace of anyone left.

As he leaned against a nearby desk, his vision became blurry and his shoulder stung. "Is there a bandage here?" he thought as he tried standing up. To his luck he needed to merely open up a few cupboards of the desk to find a bandage roll which he could tie around his shoulder with his left hand and teeth to finish it off with a crude knot.

Suddenly screams, came from outside and he heard a loud rattling noise. Believing he knew what it was, he carefully headed outside toward the source of the noise, which was the sports hall. It was the same one in which Ewin would be to fence.

By the time he entered the sports hall his head was already very light and he had to tap the walls to gently lean against them. The tumult hadn't calmed down but his heart overtoned the moans of pain coming from the injured students. Holes decorated the walls and the floor was stained in a faint red and black. John's eyes were open and yet empty as he walked down the middle of the hall, tripping on a few metallic objects, which he knew were bullet shells. "What the hell even happened here?" he mumbled to himself.

"Ewin," the judge from earlier today spoke up. "A long haired man in a black suit barged in here with a gun. Ewin tried to fight him but... "

"What happened to him?" John demanded, his eyes shaking with tears.

"He wasn't hurt, but that jerk knocked him out and carried him away. However most of us were injured by the stray bullets."

"So Ewin lost...," John had trouble understanding the enemy's objective. "Now what..."

John laid down, trying to calm his head but noticed something soft below him. As he took it out from underneath him, he saw a black shirt with a familiar knit on the bottom of it.

"That is Ewins, he used it as a faint," the young man mumbled. "But it didn't pay out."

While John was still trying to digest everything that had happened, another student came into the hall and yelled, "Don't go outside, a man with a sword is out there and he is attacking everyone in his reach!"

The description alerted the detective, "Did that man carry someone around?"

"Yes, he held a girl by the throat and seemed to use her as a hostage. Why?"

"Damn! It's not Aaron, but it is still an innocent girl. Then again... what am I even supposed to do in the condition I am in?" he thought to himself.

"I will go take a look," John said as he staggered forward. It was impossible to miss the large crowd, which had gathered around the kidnapper.

"Is that Kimberly?" "This girl is in my class." "Why does he have Kim?"

He heard the crowd's reactions and couldn't believe that she too was being kidnapped.

"Let me through! Move it!" he shouted as he pushed aside the crowd.

Just as he reached the front row, an explosion, followed by a smoke screen, shook the crowd. The irritating ring in his ear along with his dizziness made it hard to concentrate but he could make out a blonde haired girl dressed in red, carried in the arms of a dark silhouette. After a few seconds, the sound dissipated and he could hear a female scream.

"Nathan! Are you alright?"

It took him a second to orientate the voice but he was then able to focus on the girl. She was indeed Kimberly. "Damn it, why is she checking for my safety when she is the one in danger here? Stupid girl!"

"I will-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that his attempt to stand back up was futile. Every bone and fibre of his body shook in pain and shock, his feet constantly slipping on the wet ground beneath him.

"Oh it's you again, kid. Seems you were able to help yourself. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't have said 'see ya', right?" the swordsman laughed.

"Let her go...," John tried to force his last bit of strength inside him out. "Why would you need her?"

"Why would I not? Her father is one of the most powerful men in this country, she is worth more than you could count."

"But she is just a girl."

"She, is just a girl who owns enough money to buy this school. You really have no sense of reality, right? Anyway, clock's tickin'. Farewell, kid, and this time for a longer period of time!"

A small round of explosions detonated around the swordsman, and with the next glimpse, they already disappeared, leaving John behind. Scraping his fingers along the muddy ground, he moaned in agonizing disappointment. His mind was on the brink of bursting from regret. "How can I even call myself a detective if I treat my friends like this? Not only did I ignore Aaron's situation but I also lost my temper with Ewin. Last but not least, I even got Kimberly involved into this and wasn't even able to save a single one. I'm just bloody pathetic!" he grumbled to himself, hitting his head against the ground.

Soon, every student was evacuated by the teachers and the nurses and doctors returned to their jobs to treat the injured. Though, for him it didn't matter. There was nothing that would be able to treat his past mistakes or calm the hatred boiling within him.

"Sorry Aaron, I can honestly not assure that I won't kill them..."