"Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word." (Georges R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones)

This Akhenaton guy - yes, Fayez secretly nicknamed him Akhenaton-guy, because it made the guy look less intimidating. Plus, there was no way Fayez would call him Master Akhenaton, prefect or not. He had done nothing to deserve such a title.

This Akhenaton-guy was a real fuckin' sadist.

Since his threat from earlier, he had tested most of the new recruits, but Fayez was still waiting for his turn.

Don't get him wrong - he was still confident that he could do better than most of his team members. After all, he had been barely able to hide his amusement when some of the other new recruits had started crying and had begged to be released very shortly after Akhenaton had started testing them.

Some people really can't handle pain, Fayez thought, with a hint of contempt.

Yet, although he didn't doubt his own ability to endure mental suffering, this long wait was starting to get on his nerves, and he had a feeling that Akhenaton was perfectly aware of that. The asshole was doing it on purpose, mentally torturing one person after the other, while deliberatly ignoring Fayez.

He didn't know anything about Zephyr and Ashur, but they didn't look half as wicked as their third lover. How they could bear with Akhenaton enough to want to spend some quality time with him was beyond Fayez's understanding.

"Alright, newbie, this is it"

Feeling suddenly nervous with having Akhenaton standing so close to him, Fayez took a quick look at his surroundings, to find out that most of his fellows were lying on the ground, a pained expression on their exhausted faces. Even those who were still standing looked like they were on the verge of passing out.

"Is all of this really necessary?" Fayez couldn't help but ask, making the prefect frowns.

"Where do you think you are?" he snorted. "In a kindergarten? Those who are not well-prepared enough are twice as likely to die on their very first expedition outside of the castle's walls"

Now, it was Fayez's turn to frown. Dying? Some students could die during their time at the ISB? What kind of sick joke was that?

However, deep down Fayez didn't think that Akhenaton was joking.

Heck, the guy probably hadn't say one funny thing in his whole life. He looked like the kind of person who would even look bored at their own wedding.

But.... Dying ? Here? How? Why?

Clearly, Fayez still had a lot of things to learn about this place and so far, nothing lead him to believe that his future discoveries would be very pleasant.

"Oy! If you're done daydreaming, let's get this over with."

Fayez turned his attention to the scarred brunet standing in front of him. He knew he should be wary of the guy - and he obviously wasn't feeling so relaxed around him anyway - yet he had the feeling that 'Ake' wasn't cruel enough to kill him on his very first day at the ISB.

After all, he was a prefect, and prefects were supposed to be reasonable, right? Being reasonable didn't imply killing the students before they even had a chance to prove themselves useful.

Right?

"I'm ready, Akhenaton"

"It's Master Akhenaton for you, newbie. And I don't think you're ready, but let's see" was all Akhenaton replied, with a sick smile on his handsome face, before Fayez started feeling a light but quickly growing headache.

Shit. Provoking him in such circumstances really was a bad idea.

For the first two minutes, Fayez felt a bit relieved - the pain was bad, no doubt about it, but not to the point where it was unbearable. He was also glad because the fact that a few minutes had passed meant that he had already done better than most of his fellows.

He was almost about to suggest to Akhenaton "not to go too easy on him", when a burning feeling suddenly started to develop in his whole body, especially in his chest.

He gasped, tears quickly gathering in his eyes as he started wheezing.

He knew that there couldn't be a real fire inside of him, but it sure did feel like it.

This was no longer training. This was torture. He couldn't believe that a prefect would deliberatly inflict so much pain on a student.

With great difficulty, he opened his eyes and let out a surprise cry when his eyes met Akhenaton's.

The unsufferable prefect didn't look much better than Fayez. Perspiration was rolling down his temples and he was abnormally pale.

What the hell is happening, thought Fayez, as he kept looking at the other guy. I don't think this is normal. I think even Akhenaton isn't completely in control.

At this point, he knew he should just give up and ask Akhenaton to stop. After all, he was pretty sure none had lasted as long as he had. Continuing this little 'game' much longer wouldn't be wise at all.

Yet, he didn't feel like losing to a guy like Akhenaton. A guy who had indirectly told him he was a priviledged brat, who wasn't half as tough as he looked.

For some reason, these words had hurted more than they should have, and Fayez was determined to prove Akhenaton wrong.

So, all he could hope for was that the prefect wasn't as stubborn as him, or he probably wouldn't survive his first day of training.

Hurt, hurt, hurt.

He didn't though he could suffer more, yet the pain was still growing, until even his face started to feel like it was burning.

I'm going to combust.

Die, die, die.

Some people were yelling, and he thought he recognized Zephyr's voice, but he couldn't be sure, not when his consciousness was slipping.

I'm not weak.

I'm used to pain.

Yes, but - I'm dying.

This voice definitely belonged to Zephyr.

"STOP"!

Suddenly, the burning sensation disappeared, and Fayez would have collapse, if a hand hadn't firmly grabbed him by the arm.

Zephyr. The blondie was stronger than he looked.

"What the hell was that?"

The shorter man looked beyond furious, but Fayez quickly realized that his anger wasn't directed toward him but toward his lover.

"Ake, just wait until Ashur hear about this! I promise this time I won't plead for your guilty ass" Zephyr shouted, an outraged expression on his beautiful face.

"Shut up, Zeph, my head hurts so bad" Akhenaton groaned, souding a bit pitiful.

"Good. Look at this poor guy. He could as well be on the verge of dying."

"He won't. Move, Zephyr"

There were some protests, then Zephyr let go of Fayez with what seemed to be great reluctancy, but not before forcing him to sit on the ground.

Someone else was now kneeling in front of him, and Fayez knew, even with his eyes closed, that it was Akhenaton.

"Look at me, newbie"

He didn't open his eyes.

"Do it now, Fayez"

This time, he obeyed, not just because it was hard to disobey someone who had taken such an authoritative tone, but also because this was the first time Akhenaton had called him by his name.

He looked at the face of the guy standing in front of him, wondering if he was going to finish him off and put an end to his misery.

No. That would require too much kindness from him, and so far it was still to be proven that Akhenaton even had a heart.

Plus, Akhenaton didn't look murderous. He looked exhausted - although probably not half as exhausted as Fayez felt- and there was an expression on his face that Fayez had never seen the guy arboring before.

What was it? Guilt? Pity? Worry? A bit of all of these feelings?

"I'm going to touch you now, is it alright with you?"

Fayez didn't like the idea very much, as he was the complete opposite of a touchy person. However, he was feeling so bad anyway that he doubt Akhenaton's touch could make things much worse, so he just nodded.

Cold fingers lightly touched his temples, before gently sliding across his cheeks.

"That's it", Akhenaton whispered in a soothing voice. "Calm down and take deep breaths for me"

So soft, Fayez thought, as the pain started to slowly disolve, letting place to a sort of - longing? Was it longing, this bittersweet ache just behind his eyelids?

Akhenaton's touch was everything the guy wasn't.

Soft, caring and protective.

Finally, after what felt like ages but which was still way too short for Fayez's liking, Akhenaton let go of him, helping him standing up before turning to the rest of the team.

Fayez was about to thank him, but before he even had time to open his month, the prefect was already adressing the rest of the Section.

"I know you all think that what your comrade did here was impressive." he started, an impassive expression on his face, which didn't give Fayez much reasons to hope for sweet words.

Akhenaton was silent for a few seconds, as if he wanted to make sure that he had everyone's attention. That wasn't necessary, though - the guy was a natural born leader, and everyone was hanging on every word he said.

"Don't let this little display of bravado fool you. This isn't strenght. This is plain masochism, and such behaviours can't be tolerated under my watch. You are here to learn how to fight, not to let your personal problems dictate your behaviour. Now, you can all dismiss. Most of you have done well, on their first day of training. Get some rest, and see you tomorrow"

The recruits left, chatting and bantering happily, but Fayez didn't look at them or tried to join one of the groups that had already started forming - how did people manage to socialise so easily with each others?

He just stood there motionless, looking at nothing in particular, something icy stuck in his throat. How had he managed to make a fool out of himself so quickly? All he had wanted was to do his best at training and gain everyone's respect.

"When was the last time you fed, vampire?"

Akhenaton, again. Fayez couldn't even look at him. He hated him so much. He had never hated anyone as much as he did.

"Your eyes are bright red. You can't take part in the training if you don't have all of your energy."

"Where am I supposed to get blood?" Fayez muttered, in the most rude manner he could think of, but this time Akhenaton didn't scold him.

"Blood is served on a daily basis in the refectory"

"I don't drink human blood, I -"

"I don't care about your reasons" Akhenaton interrupted him. "The next training starts tomorrow at 7. If you haven't fed by then, you won't take part in it. And if you miss the second day of training, then you'll be forced to leave the ISB"

"But I haven't seen much animals here and I don't think I have enough strenght left to hunt" Fayez exclaimed, some of the despair he felt slipping through his voice.

"Like I said, I couldn't care less" Akhenaton just shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow"

With these last oh so kind words, he turned his heels and started walking toward Zephyr and Ashur, who were looking at him from afar, a severe expression on their faces.

Fayez really hoped that it would be just like Zephyr had said, and that Akhenaton would be severly punished for putting one of the student's life at risk.

He had never seen any of these three men in an intimate setting, but he was really curious about it. Just as he had thought that there could be some kindness in Akhenaton, the guy had proved him wrong.

Now that he was alone again, he closed his eyes, fighting an irrepressive urge to cry.

He could lie to himself all he wanted, but he knew that deep down, he had took this training too far because he had wanted to impress Akhenaton, which was stupid, because the guy didn't give a flying fuck about him.

What do I do now? he thought, before almost jumping in surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What's going on, Fayez?"