This chapter is brought to you by Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy.

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"He's doing it again."

Quin crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of the alley entrance. He stared, unimpressed by the way Belwyn Monttevi had once again approached Toby.

"Unworthy."

His twin, Juno, who was perched on the wall, mirrored his expression.

They had worked with Belwyn on missions before and knew the Monttevis were not as bad as some Calypto loyalists described them to be.

Quin and his brother worked best in team missions, which was unlike the Calypto's system which specialized in solo assassinations in the dark.

Upon joining the Calypto mercenaries, they became a part of the unit that was sent out to aid the Imperial Military as a strike force.

This unit was designated to work with the Monttevis, who specialized in traditional warfare.

That was all to say that Quin and his brother held little prejudice for the Monttevis, despite having joined the numerous brawls between the Calyptos and the Monttevis.

Though they were not Calyptos by blood, Toby was theirs, first. They did not like it when those of the Monttevi House insulted their older brother.

Quin was unafraid to fight. Toby's honor was on the line, and as his brother, he would defend him to his last breath.

Monttevi dogs were unworthy of being within Toby's presence.

Alongside them were those other nameless men and women who believed themselves suitors, demanding he look at them and dance with them.

They did not deserve an ounce of Toby's attention, yet they took it as if it were their right.

By starting brawls, by challenging him to a duel, by requesting he help them--every one of those bastards wanted something.

The Calyptos, at the very least, knew who Toby belonged to. They rarely bothered him.

But the Monttevis?

Look at the way they stared at Toby, as if he was their rival. As if they were worthy of being his rival.

Tch.

Annoying pests.

"Who the fuck is that?" Quin demanded, glowering at a man dressed in a House color he had never seen before approaching Toby with a smug grin.

---

Juno stood from his perch and jumped down the wall to stand behind his brother.

He, too, watched as a man they had never seen before approached Toby and Belwyn.

Though he looked arrogantly confident, Juno noted a weakness in his steps.

Hah.

Unworthy.

All of them knew Toby was pretty.

It wasn't the first time their older brother had been invited into someone's bed.

There were offers back when they were living in The Arena.

Those of them who had been older knew what they wanted.

Toby was beautiful and had many mouths to feed.

As an executioner, he was a killer, not a child.

Those people hounded him over and over, relentlessly pursuing him with their unwanted advances... until they went too far and ended up in The Arena with Toby as their reaper.

In Vesna, it was better.

There was hardly anyone who looked at Toby and thought he should be put in a cage.

Yet, the eyes of the people here had expectations of their own.

He was a weapon in their eyes, an emotionless killer doll controlled by House Calypto.

Juno believed it was better than those disgusting eyes and unwanted touches.

But then, Toby turned eighteen and the gazes of all the Houses turned to ones of desire.

His older brother was a prize of some sort and they had to have him.

Unworthy.

No one was worth his time and focus.

How dare they think they could take him away?

Who did they think they were, believing they were allowed to be in his company?!

"Lord Arcadia," the unworthy man called.

Juno wished him a violent death.

Toby turned to him with clear disinterest in his eyes.

The man drew his sword.

The city square went quiet.

Juno noted the narrowing of Belwyn's eyes as his hand went to his claymore.

All the while, Toby stared at the man and tilted his head with what seemed to be confusion.

"Who are you?"

---

Otto had to restrain Sept from jumping the man.

The two of them were sitting at the fountain edge with the cats, acting as discreet guards while Belwyn tried once more to woo Toby with another silly gift.

The man seemed to have figured out Toby loved puzzles.

Honestly, he thanked the gods that both of them were so oblivious. No one liked Belwyn, but Otto believed he and Mercury were at least good enough to be Toby's friends.

Sept and the others were siblings. They didn't count.

Toby needed more friends and less "kittens" and cats.

Belwyn better thank his lucky stars that their younger siblings were accompanying Jovette. Duri and the others absolutely despised the man with all their hearts.

Otto was alright with him, as long he stayed in his lane and knew his place.

"That motherfucking cunt," Sept swore, his piercing gaze sharp enough to kill.

The scene that was unfolding before them was a nonsense farce.

Who was this random person and why was he pulling out his sword in front of Toby?

Did he have a death wish?

"A duel," the random man said, "I challenge you here. If I win, I get a date."

Again, Otto had to restrain Sept.

In the corner of his eye, he saw two familiar red shadows coming closer and he recognized them as Quin and Juno.

The glint of blades at their wrists made him internally panic.

If they started a brawl here, no one would escape Toby's beating.

Hungry meowed and stared up at him.

"Please?" Otto pleaded.

Hungry made a noise that sounded too cute to be an unimpressed snort and made his way over with some of the other cats.

They didn't give the twins a chance before they plopped themselves at their feet.

There.

Now they weren't allowed to move. The cats have chosen their feet as acceptable pillows.

Crisis one averted, crisis two--the dumbass man who just challenged Toby--not so much...

What the fuck did he mean by a date?

Was he unaware that Toby was unavailable for such nonsense?

Irritation flared at the back of Otto's mind.

This was no seduction mission where the target would die at the end of the day.

The man would live, regardless of what Toby does to him.

"I refuse," Toby responded.

The man stepped closer and Otto could hear multiple weapons exiting from their sheaths and coats.

Monttevis, Calyptos, Quin, Sept, Juno, and even Otto himself found themselves with their blades drawn.

Belwyn was the only one who kept his claymore in its sheath, though his white-knuckled grip on the handle could be seen by many in the square.

"He said no. Leave us."

The man raised his chin, stubborn to the end. "I was not talking to you, mongrel," he sneered.

There was silence.

And then...

"... What did you call him?"

Toby slowly asked, emerald green eyes flashing in a way that reeked of danger and death.

The man looked tongue-tied for a moment, put off by the reaction, yet unwilling to back down.

Toby stepped closer, and he took a step back. Toby took another step, and he stepped back once more.

"Repeat what you said. I don't think I heard you correctly."

Otto felt the tension in his body loosened.

He saw many put their weapons away as the man started to quake in his shoes, sweating with nerve as Toby put his full attention on him.

Twin daggers flashed.

"Oh shit," Otto heard Belwyn say.

His blue eyes were on Toby, wide with awe.

Otto clicked his tongue.

---

"Do you have a death wish?"

Toby's voice was crystal clear in the crowded city square.

Everyone was watching, and how could they not? The prized nephew of the Calypto House was about to start his first brawl to protect the honor of House Monttevi's Heir Protector.

Sept frowned as he heard the whispers, discreet, but not discreet enough.

He never liked crowds.

People often gawked at him and his siblings, and while Sept tried hard to ignore them, it was difficult when so many eyes were on them.

How did Toby do it?

Even when they lived in the village, the attention of the other adults and their praises for him must have felt like burdens upon his shoulders.

In Vesna, it was no better.

People thought Toby was a prodigious genius, and they weren't exactly wrong.

But before The Arena and Vesna, Sept remembered Toby as simply the village mouser. A skilled older boy with nimble fingers and a clever head.

When the village burned, Toby took on the responsibility of their caregiver.

He was their older brother, sister, mother, and father, and life was so easy when there was someone else taking care of you.

What about Toby?

All the unspeakable things he needed to do to make sure they survived...

There was a time when Sept resented his older brother. When Ten died, he remembered secretly blaming Toby. If not for Toby being an executioner, perhaps their little sister would have lived. A few of them thought it was Toby's fault. Then they grew up, and they realized they had survived a tragedy that could have ended worse if not for Toby sheltering them from the worst. Ten's death... it was another tragedy that was outside of Toby's control.

Sept would never tell Toby about meeting in secret with the other former mousers to grieve without him. It would surely break his heart, and Sept couldn't bear it if Toby found out. His big brother would break, and Sept would rather kill himself than let that happen.

Sept tucked his needles away and curled against the fountain edge as Toby coldly stared at the stupid man who challenged him.

A date? Sept mocked. The man was delusional.

---

[Present]

Did this man just call Belwyn a mongrel?

Nine was not one to initiate violence unless he was breaking up brawls, but teaching a man a lesson when they crossed a line also fell under "good reasons for violence."

He, too, had a temper, no matter how many believed he did not.

The man should have known his place in the hierarchy, it was certainly not one where he could approach him with a sword and demand a duel.

No, he would not give this unworthy thing a duel.

He would beat him to the ground until he was left bloody and write an apology letter.

Some things were worth going through the trouble of writing an apology, and at this moment, when he insulted his colleague, he was happy to pay the price for it.

"I will give you five seconds. Then I will hunt you down. You will not die, but you can choose how you wish to be beaten. One..." he started to count.

The man froze like a rabbit in the wild, and Nine found his lips curled with a smile

"Two..."

The man turned quickly.

"Three..."

He bolted.

"Four... Five..."

Nine scaled up the nearest wall and began his hunt.

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End of Part IV

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The author has something to say:

I was rushing slightly for this chapter and I'm not completely satisfied by the povs. Maybe I'll flesh it out during future revisions, but here's the bare bone of it. I hope the personalities are shown well, here. The next part is the main storyline of the original story.