What is it that you see?

Wolfgang had felt his heart stop when he heard Eva’s ragged breathing behind him. She wasn’t directly behind his back, but it still felt as if her breath was creeping down his neck like an icy mist. He whirled around to face the Ultimate Mathlete, only to barely dodge the steel rolling pin aimed directly for his head.

“Ms. Tsunaka! What are you doing?!” he yelled in horror. He met her gaze, and was quick to realize the glazed look shrouding her eyes. Even though she was glaring in his direction, her full consciousness wasn’t there. His words seemed to agitate her more, her breathing growing shorter and bloodthirst radiating off her every movement.

“I-I have to do this… I can’t give up… I won’t let anyone kill me… I WON’T LET YOU KILL ME!”

She let out a thunderous scream, charging at him again. Knowing what was coming for him, he was able to react faster, and dodged a bit earlier. His legs had trouble catching up with his movement, and he felt his balance wobble as he struggled to keep himself upright. He didn’t even have time to adjust his position before the steel rolling pin came swinging towards him once again. Wolfgang scrambled to get away, but was just a bit too slow. A cry of pain escaped him as he felt the pin smash into his left arm, right around his elbow, with a sickening crack. The rush of pain made his vision blur, and he half-blindly stumbled once more as Eva sought to strike him. It went on repeat, over and over again, the seconds becoming minutes, and the minutes, hours. Charge. Dodge. Charge. Dodge. Charge. Hit. Charge. Trip. Punch. Swerve. Claw. Shove. Charge. Hit. Charge. Grab. Rip. Fall. Scramble. Charge-

He finally backed into the door, his body slamming against the metal, wincing as his shoulder screamed in protest. Violet locked onto glazed blue as he blindly fumbled with the door knob, but it wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t even get it to turn properly. Wolfgang didn’t have time to investigate why, as he narrowly avoided getting the top of his head bashed in once again. The steel clanged against it, the piercing sound setting shaking him to his core. He dashed towards the far backside of the boiler room platform and without hesitation, he reached into his blazer and pulled out the knife. His hands were shaking, breathing ragged and worn, yet he held the knife in front of him. This object was the only thing that could protect him, the only thing that could-

His thoughts abruptly paused as it dawned on him. Wolfgang needed to defend himself, but was he ready to face the consequences of that? Was he willing to stab Eva Tsunaka? Fight back, Wolf, or die like a Sheep on the altar. His eyes darted back at his aggressor who turned back around with a wobble, her anger morphing into mania. Her thousand mile stare was bathed in desperation and despair. Even if she was trying to kill him, something told him that she was fighting more with herself than she was looking for his blood. Yet, that didn’t change the fact his life was actively in danger. He shook his head, tears running down his face. What the hell was he doing caring about shit like that when death loomed in front of him? Do you think yourself a hero, Two-Faced Prosecutor? He desperately wanted to live, but even that desire couldn’t overshadow his stupid moral compass. Wolfgang choked back a sob, gritting his teeth in frustration.

I… I can’t do it. God, I’m such a fool, but I just can’t. If I did, I’d be no better than him. I’d be failing her again. Even if Ms. Tsunaka is guilty of planning this crime, she’s not completely cold-blooded. Her reaction says as much. Besides, if I used the knife, the chances of accidentally killing her is way too high considering how volatile she is. I need to figure out how to disarm her instead , he reasoned to himself. Even if he disagreed with Eva’s opinions and decisions, Wolfgang was in no way looking for bloodshed. He could solve this without senseless violence. However, before he could throw the knife away from the both of them, the mathlete pounced at him again. Without hesitation, his arm moved forward in a thrusting motion, swerving to the side to avoid Eva’s strike. The blade brushed against her, leaving a sizable cut that trailed from her left forearm to her elbow. She let out a hiss of pain, stumbling backwards with a grimace on her face, teeth clenched tightly. Wolfgang nearly fell over himself, the knife falling with a clang, splashing more of Eva’s blood on the floor. He could feel the color drain from his face as he stared down at his trembling hand, a hand that held a knife, a hand that had automatically tried to stab someone.

He felt like he was choking. Was he hyperventilating? He couldn’t tell. Every muscle in his body was straining under his tension, his limbs aching from bruises and possible broken bones. The stress of it all swirled violently in his head, sending batch after batch of adrenaline rushes to his entire being. Shakily, he tried to bring his focus back up to Eva, who was now frozen in place, blankly staring at her bloody arm, watching it drip down and off her fingers. He was terrified she’d suddenly lurch back into aggression, yet instead, he watched her expression morph. The sides of her lips slowly curved upward into an unnaturally large smile, and her hisses of agony turned to unfettered laughter. It was like he was there.

Wolfgang Akire had seen many types of people in his years as a lawyer. While his clients were selected carefully through his own judgment of the facts, that didn’t mean he hadn’t seen deranged individuals. He had seen many clients from the prosecutor’s side behave in all sorts of ways. Some were calm and level headed, not a shred of regret in their eyes, others would snivel and cry, and then some would yell profanities, rage painting their faces. Yet, there were only a handful of cases he could remember where the culprits laughed gleefully, grinning with twisted delight and pride in their crime. Eva’s maniacal laughter set off millions of fight or flight responses throughout him. He wanted to run, yet he also felt ready to stab Eva just to escape the shrill sound grating his ears like nails on a chalkboard.

“Hahaha! It really doesn’t matter in the end, huh? Even if I kill you, or you kill me, or neither of us kill—no matter what I do, I’ll die regardless,” Eva exclaimed aloud, the laughter beginning to trail off. “I was never meant to get out of here alive, was I?”

She shifted her gaze upwards towards the security camera, her expression unreadable. “Isn’t that right, Tozu? You targeted me and you knew I’d die no matter if I committed the murder or not! Stupid Eva: smart enough to create an elaborate murder scheme, yet was actually just an easy to manipulate fool…!”

With what little willpower that remained in his frightened shell of a body, Wolfgang slowly crept forward as Eva continued to yell profanities towards the camera, both at Tozu and herself. Each inch that he got closer to her, he felt his legs grow stiffer. Every fiber of his being was trying to pull him back to safety, as if a chain was trying to drag him towards the other side of the room. He shouldn’t be approaching an unstable, armed individual who wasn’t fully aware of anything she was doing. He could already hear the voice of the old investigator he worked with in his earlier days barking that Wolfgang Akire was asking to get killed. Yet, even if his actions seemed naive, he knew this was his only chance to turn this struggle in his favor. If he wanted to keep himself and Eva alive and safe, he couldn’t waste this moment. So, he continued to push through the barrier of his instincts, filtering out his raw terror with four three simple words: I’ll be your savior protect you.

By the time he reached Eva’s side, the girl had fallen silent. Her hands limply grasped the steel rolling pin, and taking his chance, he stepped in front of her and gently took it out of her hands. With his attacker finally disarmed, he ensured that her weapon of choice was rolled far away from the both of them, and felt a tiny bit lighter as he heard it gently plop into the water behind him. Eva's hands tried grabbing the air weakly, confusion at where the missing weight was. She shifted her empty gaze back to him, and he felt a pang of guilt in his heart as he saw the girl’s frail, trembling smile. Silent tears were streaming down her face, her distant, glazed eyes full of the same emotions churning inside himself. She was just like him.

“I will always be… hated… just a weak, pathetic idiot…” she rasped, fragility permeating her voice. “But, if I’m just going to die… at least let me try to live… just a little longer…!”

Before she could even stick her hand in her blazer to grab god-knows-what, Wolfgang lurched forward and grabbed both her wrists, making sure to keep her hands away from her pockets. It felt like every neuron in his brain was firing with how close he was to her, as if the black haired girl was the reaper itself. However, he had to hold on. If let go of this chance, the two of them would go back to their lethal dance until either Eva ran out of energy, or Wolfgang’s final breath left his lungs. His grip tightened as she slowly began to acknowledge his touch. Her eyes furrowed slightly with contemplative confusion. Yet, within a few seconds, her eyes shot wide open, breathing growing ragged and not long after, the screams erupted. Her visceral terror and wails made his mind go numb, with every cry piercing his ears like a million needles. He gritted his teeth and forced her towards the wall near the boiler room door. With her arms securely pinned above her, he let out a small sigh of relief.  It wouldn’t do much, but it was better than her charging around and accidentally falling into the water. Keeping Eva in one would give him something to help keep her still.

Unfortunately for him, doing such a task was not as easy as it seemed. Despite her small frame and spindly arms, the Ultimate Mathlete was rather strong, as his myriad of bruises and welts proved. Wolfgang grunted out in pain as she flailed and kicked at him, utilizing every muscle in her body to try to break free from his grip. His already battered body seemed to creak and groan, his knees threatening to buckle under him. There was too much adrenaline coursing through either one of them to fully process the injuries they had inflicted on one another, but he understood that he was physically approaching his limit.

His brain was going a hundred miles a second trying to figure out how he could solve this issue before he ran out of strength. There was no way he could just bring Eva upstairs like this. Everyone would be alerted to her screams, and they would immediately assume he was attacking her. Or… would they end up assuming the worst of Eva instead and ignore everything he had done? Her sobs rang clearly in his ears, her words a slurred, jumbled mess, yet he could tell she was repeating the same phrases over and over again. I don’t deserve this; I’m scared. Make it stop; Just kill me already. They were broken up by the occasional yell for him to let go of her, which would lead her to thrashing, and then once again going back to her withering state of despair. It made his heart ache, a small seed of doubt sprouting. You didn’t need to be a genius to know that Eva picked him specifically as her target for two reasons: his talent was a hindrance to her, and her hatred for him. Wolfgang still believed himself to be in the right, and he could still feel his distaste for her prior actions regarding her talent and opinions on trust. She’s just a filthy liar. Yet, if this is where that path took him, what step did he take that was wrong? Were these consequences his fault? Of course not He didn’t even know at that point. His fellow classmates followed his words with pure faith and trust in him, and being a leader didn’t bother him in the slightest. However, he wondered if he had let that role go to his head. In such a cruel life or death situation, people clung to words of hope as a lifeline. He preached that no one would kill, that working together and trusting each other was the right answer. Wolfgang had only solidified that stance among the others due to his vocal admonition of Eva and Damon’s viewpoints, and disdain at her lie. He made them seem suspicious to the others, and they would easily think ill of them before they considered Wolfgang himself. Even if he disagreed with her, bringing Eva up there in this state to then be put on the spot in front of people she viewed were against her would just be cruel, especially when she was this distressed. Holding her down forever wasn’t going to solve the issue either. He could try knocking her out, then bringing her upstairs while dodging questions from the others. He’d eventually have to tell everyone the truth, but he could still wait until-

“Eva! Please, answer me! What’s wrong?!”

The lawyer nearly jumped out of his skin at the muffled, shaky voice of Diana Venicia. He hadn’t even heard her come down towards the boiler room, much less expected anyone else to be down here. How long had she been here? Did he not even process her speaking over his own thoughts? He shook his head quickly. He didn’t understand why she was down here, nor had the time to think about such things. As he heard her struggling to turn the door knob, Wolfgang shouted back at her.

“Don’t come in, Ms. Venicia! It’s not safe right now!”

“W-Wolfgang? Why are you here?!”

“I don’t have time to-Ms. Tsunaka, it’ll be okay. Try to take some deep breaths with-ugh!” he grunted as he felt a hard impact on his shin. “Ms. Tsunaka… please wake up!”

His arms felt like jelly, quivering aggressively as he leaned all his body weight forward. It was the only support he had to ensure he was holding Eva securely enough. With every thrash, he could feel her getting closer to pushing him back. Wolfgang didn’t have a clue as to what she’d do once she was free, but he had an inkling that whatever she had tried to pull out of her blazer would come rushing towards him. He didn’t have the time or energy to restrain Eva and protect Diana. If she came in here, she was practically asking to get killed. He had to deal with this on his own.

“Ms. Venicia, just go upstairs and get the others. I can handle this for now, and afterwards, I’ll explain everything!” he shouted in reply. Wolfgang expected Diana to just say okay and then hear her dash off. He didn’t actually think she’d get back in time. He just didn’t want her to get caught in Eva’s rampage. That’s what was supposed to happen and yet…

“… n-no.”

“Ms. Venicia! Now’s not the time to argue with-!”

“No!” she yelled at him. “I-I’m not leaving you here alone!”

“Knock it off trying to be a fucking hero!” he practically snarled back. What a hypocrite. On a normal day, he’d feel awful for snapping like that. However, there was too much tension in him to care. “I’ll be fine! Stop wasting time and go!”

“No! Just let… let me help you! You don’t need to protect me. I’m not that weak! I can handle this. Just tell me exactly what to do, and I’ll do it. I promise to be careful. Just please… let me help Eva!” Diana begged, her fist hitting the door with a soft thud.

His gaze shifted between the door and the struggling form of Eva. He wasn’t anticipating the cosmetologist to be this stubborn about helping. It was evident she cared deeply about others and tried to be proactive about being kind, but this was a dangerous situation. This sort of kindness wasn’t what either of them needed. They needed more people to help take care of this, to be able to hold Eva back and treat both of their wounds. That’s all they needed, and yet, despite the risk, he felt compelled to say accept it. The Ultimate Mathlete was already such a mess, and every time he so much as twitched, she’d kick him. He didn’t want Diana to get injured alongside him, but he couldn’t deny that she would have a high chance of getting the girl to calm down. Besides, his voice was probably causing her more anxiety, and that could just end up being compounded by more people arriving, putting everyone in danger. It annoyed him that he couldn’t keep others out of it, but it was either suck down his protectiveness and Eva to snap out of it, or watch her break free and strangle him. This was probably the last chance he was getting. If he didn’t give it a shot, his probable death would become even more likely, and then the group would have to witness two people die.

With a deep, reluctant sigh, he called back. “Alright, but be sure to follow my directions exactly as I say.”

“Of course,” the cosmetologist replied eagerly, relief fully audible. “What do you need me to do?”

“Slowly open the door, and make sure to do so quietly. Be sure to keep it open. Don’t react loudly in any way, even if you’re scared or shocked by what you see.”

He was straining his voice trying to talk over Eva’s wails of fear, especially since his emotions were going haywire at the moment. However, he did his best to keep his voice steady, and in turn, calm himself down. If Diana panicked, Eva would most likely pick up on it and start fighting even harder than she already was. There’d be no holding her back after that. So, with his trembling hands managing to still firmly grip Eva’s wrists down, Wolfgang turned his gaze over to his left as he saw the door crack open. It was embarrassing to admit, but he felt a wash of unbridled solace as the familiar back of the Ultimate Cosmetologist peeked in as she tried her best to shimmy through the small gap. Part of him had originally tried to rationalize that he was simply hallucinating Diana’s voice, the blurry fuzz in his brain distorting his perceptions of reality. After all, it felt too good to be true that someone just happened to arrive downstairs who could help. However, all his fears were dispelled as he felt thost joy he had ever experienced in his life just by seeing a familiar color, her magenta hair seeming like a shining beacon cutting through fog.

It took a few more adjustments, but with one final push, Diana Venicia popped into the boiler room, nearly stumbling headfirst onto the floor. As per request of Wolfgang, despite her letting out a yelp as she tried to regain balance, her voice was kept at nearly a whisper. She sounded more like a small mouse that got startled. Though it wasn’t what he should’ve been focusing on, a small smile formed on his face. It was certainly one way to defuse his tension.

It was short lived, however. Reality came crashing back as Eva let out a predatory growl, her voice hitching part way through as she choked down a sob. His eyes darted back to the problem at hand as he began to struggle to hold her down. She had begun pushing her arms against his hold, straining her hands to bend forward so she could dig her nails into Wolfgang’s forearms to try to pry him off. He let out a hiss at the sharp stinging sensation, simply hoping that the girl wouldn’t draw any more blood. Diana shot her gaze over to where the two of them were struggling against each other, and he felt pang of confliction at the sound of her small, horrified gasp.

“Ms. Venicia,” he managed to choke out through the growing strain. “I need you to… come closer… and try to speak gently to Ms. Tsunaka. Do not try to touch… her yet, however. She’s far too on edge for that… to work right now.”

“O-Okay! I’ll loop around to your right side, alright?”

All he could do was muster up a nod of approval. The gentle clops of Diana’s heels slowly circled around behind him, and soon enough, Diana had wiggled her way underneath his arms, partially blocking his view of Eva. She couldn’t have been in the boiler room for more than a minute, yet the makeup artist looked like she was already on the verge of tears. Her gaze sadly settled on Eva, who seemed to have realized there was another person in the room. She didn’t fully relax, but she at least stopped clawing at him. Her vocal wails turned to softer whimpers, almost as if she was waiting to hear who had arrived. Wolfgang didn’t understand the human conscience all that well, but he was surprised at the fact that Eva Tsunaka was showing so much awareness, despite the vacancy in her eyes.

Bit by bit, Diana’s soft speaking started to work. At first, Eva nearly went back to violently flailing, but she practically froze in place when the cosmetologist wrapped her in a careful hug. He almost shouted at her for ignoring what he said. However, he immediately stopped himself as he felt the mathlete’s arms begin to go limp, his eyes widening in shock. She continued to murmur things into the black haired girl’s right ear, a melancholy smile forming on her face. Though he couldn’t hear what Diana was saying, he was just relieved Eva was responding to it positively. The seconds passed by, then minutes, until finally his aggressor stopped resisting, her quivering arms slipping from his hands and wrapping around her roommate in reciprocation, weakly gripping at the girl’s sweater as if to ground herself.

“That’s it,” Diana softly spoke, slowly bringing the both of them to a sitting position. Her voice trembled, but she did well to mask it with her warm tone. “You’re safe, Eva. You’re not alone. I’ll help you through this.”

The Ultimate Mathlete’s mouth opened in a reply, but Wolfgang couldn’t hear any of it over the ringing in his ears. His legs finally gave up as he unceremoniously fell on his behind, not even feeling whatever bruise he possibly made by doing so. All the lawyer could focus on was the sound of his heart beat and the growing aches in his body, proof that he somehow survived that torturous nightmare. He allowed the rest of himself to collapse onto the ground, his vision beginning to blur as the physical and mental exhaustion started to overtake him. Faintly through the haze, he could see Diana’s face hovering above him, a misplaced red blur vertically streaked across her face. He hadn’t even noticed she was bleeding. When did that even happen? He wanted to reach out to her and ask, but his mouth refused to move. As his vision became more dotted, he thought he could see Diana speaking, but he couldn’t hear a word of what she was saying. She was probably worried, however, there wasn’t anything he could do. His eyes forcefully fluttered shut, and everything descended into a peaceful dark, silence.