The Dancing of Bears and Flowers

The Betrayal of Nikolai Belinski

The zombies fell beneath gun and sword and shield, but they continued to march onwards, driven to destroy their targets by the will of their Demonic Summoner, whomever it was. They had the hard decision of splitting up to activate and retrieve pieces from the Groph Modules, Nikolai going with Richtofen, Takeo with Dempsey.

Nikolai felt a gentle sadness settle over him as he watched Takeo disappear into a building, but he knew it was just possessiveness making him feel that. He shook his head and sat with the Doctor by the Dragon Station, wondering what the German was thinking. Richtofens' head was a complex maze of things, more enigmatic than Takeos', and definitely twisted.

Richtofens' green eyes darted sideways, staring at Nikolai, and the other quickly looked away. Richtofen smiled in a knowing way, turning to face Nikolai. Nikolai felt a blush cross his face and an unsettling feeling in his chest as he faced Richtofen and his smile and all-knowing green eyes. Richtofens' laughed in his head as he studied the look of Nikolais' embarrassment.

"Nikolai, vhy zo embarrassed?" he quizzed.

"Het, I am not!"

Richtofen chuckled. "Iz it because you know ve know?"

"Know what, Richtofen? Do not puzzle me."

"You and Takeo."

There was silence and a face that went redder than a tomato surface - it said it all. Richtofens' smile remained, understanding and kind. He looked out into the cloudy sky, ignoring the stare of anger from Nikolai, until his thoughts were distracted by a Groph Module needing to be activated again.

"Ve have to keep going, Nikolai."

As Richtofen stood and began to walk towards the Yellow Station, Nikolai grabbed his wrist. He blinked at the hand, then looked up at Nikolai.

"When did you know?"

"My poor, naive Nikolai" Richtofen shook his head, smiling. "I knew vhen you two vhere asleep in your bed~"

With that, Richtofen slipped loose of Nikolai and quickly walked off, the other completely baffled. Nikolai couldn't not follow, but his feet wanted to stay where they were, so he stumbled along after the Doctor. Questions and worries bit his tongue, but Nikolai couldn't utter any of them, and he never had too: Richtofen did not care for Nikolai or Takeos' partnership, for he had sights similar. Besides, what is the point of making an enemy when you need friends and allies?

Walking into the building, the duo cleared the area with Ray Gun and machine gun, before activating the controls. They raced up the ramp to watch the Module fall, but their path was suddenly blocked by a hulking figure belonging to a Russian Mangler. With a wicked grin, it blasted them backwards. The duo fell off the balcony and landed hard on the ground, the creature laughing and beginning to walk away.

Too bad its' prey had survived.

Takeo dodged zombie after zombie, desperate for a new gun that only the Mystery Box could provide. He managed to get away to the building housing the Box, stopping at the door to breath. Only then, did he hear the clank of a Russian Mangler to his left. He ducked inside, staying silent and still, until the clanks were far away.

With a soft sigh, Takeo carefully stood and walked towards the next doorway, but stopped when he heard some soft noises. Careful to not make a sound, Takeo stood by the Box, peering around the staircase and spied Nikolai, but this was not what shocked him.

What shocked him was that Nikolai was laying on top of Richtofen. Adding to this shock, Nikolai was kissing Richtofen!

There was a painful burning in Takeos' chest as he stared at the pair, before he tore his eyes away and ran, all cares and sense fled. He ran on, until he was out of breath, little knowing or caring where he was, but he sat down and curled up, thoughts rampaging, new emotions surfacing like unwanted weeds.

Takeo was not perfect, not yet, but now... now it would be so hard to get back what he gave up.

Nikolai pulled away as Richtofen gasped for air, coughing and writhing in pain, alive once more. Nikolai carefully got off him, looking around for any rotten corpses, thankful to find none. He cursed the Mangler that had come to kill them, its' blast knocking them from the balcony. Nikolai himself had nearly died, fortunately, his fall had been broken by Richtofen, who had all the air knocked from his body, but it was the blast that stopped his heart. It was alright now, though, there was no Mangler, dead Doctor or Takeo to see him give Richtofen breath.

"Richtofen, you alright now, da?" he asked.

Richtofen coughed, voice weak and croaky. "Ja... We... have... to go..."

"Not until you can breathe."

The German heaved in breath, unable to fight for his way in any case. Nikolai watched over him, until he covered, then, he dashed off to kill the Mangler, ridding his comrades of it's deadly self, but he could not seem to find it. He found a perilous amount of crawlers in Dempseys' company at the Control Centre, chasing him up and down stairs as the American chuckled like a child. Other than that, no Mangler could be found. Come to think of, he thought with worry. I have not seen Takeo either.

"Dempsey" he called from the door. "Have you see Takeo?"

"Nope" Dempsey replied, panting and smiling. "I haven't see your boyfriend~"

"Is not funny, Dempsey."

Nikolai huffed and turned, heading back towards the store, searching for both Mangler and Takeo. He was annoyed that everyone knew of his partner, that the Mangler had turned up and that he could not find Takeo to confide in. He walked in a huff, looking left and right, until he got to the place they started from. There was not many places to hide, if Takeo was hiding at all, but he guessed it would be the pipe and headed for it.