chapter 4

Silius and Rile were walking toward their class, still bickering lightly about something neither of them would remember later, when they noticed people running — not walking, running — toward the school grounds. Conversations around them died mid-sentence as more students turned and hurried in the same direction, drawn by something neither Silius nor Rile could see yet.

They exchanged a confused glance, slowing their pace, unsure what exactly was pulling half the courtyard toward one spot. Before either of them could ask, someone broke off from the moving crowd and sprinted straight toward them, stopping directly in front of Silius, chest heaving.

"Thank God, I finally found you," the boy panted, one hand pressed to his knee as he tried to catch his breath.

"Wh... what is going on here?" Silius asked, glancing between the stranger and the direction he'd just come from. "What's with all the commotion?"

"It's Mathew," the boy said, straightening up just enough to meet Silius's eyes. "He's at it again."

Silius felt something in his stomach drop, cold and immediate, even before the boy finished his sentence.

"He's beating up someone at the ground," the boy continued, voice tight with urgency. "Please come with me before it gets out of hand."

"I... I don't—" Silius started, the refusal instinctive, automatic, the kind of thing he said before he even had time to think it through.

"Please," the boy cut in, and there was something almost desperate in the way he said it. "He'll only listen to you."

Silius didn't answer. He didn't need to. His silence was answer enough, and the boy seemed to understand that, already turning and leading the way before Silius had fully decided to follow.

He did anyway.

They walked together toward the school grounds, where a crowd had already formed into a thick, restless ring. The murmurs among the students died the moment Silius and the stranger arrived, the air around them growing tense enough to feel against his skin.

In the center of it all, a brutal scene was unfolding — a fight so vicious that even the school's usual troublemakers, the ones who normally thrived on chaos like this, had backed away, keeping their distance. No one stepped forward. No one even flinched toward the center. Everyone standing there seemed to understand one unspoken rule without needing to be told: you didn't interfere in Mathew's business. Not if you valued your own safety.

Silius let out a slow breath, his shoulders dropping under the weight of something painfully familiar. This wasn't new. It had never been new, not with Mathew. And yet no amount of familiarity made the sight in front of him any easier to look at.

His eyes drifted to the boy pinned beneath him on the ground, and his stomach twisted violently at what he saw. Blood stained the boy's nose and lip, his face already swollen past recognition, features blurred into something that barely looked human anymore. It was brutal — too brutal, far beyond anything that could be excused as a simple schoolyard scuffle. A silent ache bloomed in Silius's chest, sharp and unwelcome.

*He never needs a reason,* Silius thought bitterly, watching the scene unfold. *He'll beat up anyone who dares to look at him the wrong way. Anyone who steps a little too close. Anyone who simply breathes in his direction when he's not in the mood.*

And somehow — impossibly — people still worshipped him for it, treating him like he was untouchable, like violence was simply another part of his charm rather than something to fear.

Silius's gaze finally settled on Mathew himself, who stood there in the aftermath like a storm that had only just passed through — calm on the surface, quiet, and undeniably dangerous. Blood coated his knuckles, dark and wet, dripping slightly onto the pavement below. There was no trace of guilt anywhere on his face. He didn't even flinch at the damage in front of him.

"Mathew," Silius said, low and even, testing the water before committing to anything further.

He began walking closer, cautious, his steps slow but steady, refusing to let the fear crawling up his spine show on his face. He called out Mathew's name again, louder this time, but Mathew didn't hear him. Didn't even flinch at the sound of his own name.

He was too far gone.

His eyes — normally cold, sharp, calculating in that unsettling way that made people avoid his gaze entirely — were now bloodshot, wild, burning with something far more dangerous than simple anger. Rage. Pure, undiluted rage, the kind that stripped away every ounce of restraint a person usually carried.

His fists moved in a blur, striking again and again, pounding into the boy beneath him, who had stopped fighting back entirely now, reduced to weak jerks and muffled whimpers with each new hit. His face was already unrecognizable, and still Mathew didn't stop.

Silius walked closer, close enough now that he could feel the heat radiating off Mathew's fury, and grabbed his hand before he could think better of it.

"Mathew... stop, creating—"

He didn't get to finish the sentence.

Mathew's arm snapped back — fast, unthinking, brutal in its speed — before Silius could pull away. His elbow collided directly with Silius's face, and a sickening crack rang out, louder than any shout that had echoed across the courtyard until now.

"Aah—" Silius gasped, stumbling backward, both hands flying up to hold his nose as pain exploded across his face.

He stumbled further back, clutching at his nose as blood began pouring freely between his fingers. The metallic scent hit him almost instantly, sharp and nauseating, filling his senses in a way that made his stomach lurch.

*Shit... it's bleeding,* he thought, trying uselessly to wipe the blood away with the back of his hand, only smearing more of it across his skin.

Mathew froze.

Finally.

His head turned, slowly, and his eyes — still wild, still edged with the remnants of that terrible rage — landed on Silius. On the blood. On the way Silius stood there, swaying slightly, one hand still cupped protectively over his own face.

Something shifted behind Mathew's expression, quick and unreadable, gone almost as fast as it appeared. His grip on the other boy's collar loosened, fingers uncurling one by one until the boy slumped fully against the pavement, no longer held upright by anything but his own barely-conscious limbs.

Mathew didn't move to help him. He didn't even look at him again.

His eyes stayed locked on Silius instead, wide and unblinking, something raw and unfamiliar flickering across his face for the first time since the fight had started.

"...." was all that came out — no apology, no explanation, just silence stretching between them, heavy and unbearable, while the crowd around them held its collective breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

Silius stood there too, blood still dripping slowly between his fingers, staring back at the boy who had just hurt him without even meaning to — and found, despite everything, that he couldn't bring himself to look away either.