"Alex." I began when Zaki'd gone. My brother turned and looked at me coldly.

"Well, what did you expect?" I said as if answering an unspoken question.

"You think I'm just going to cooperate that easily?"

He looked down, shaking his head. "No. I guess not. But I didn't think you'd respond to a man's attention this quickly." He looked a little puzzled and scratched his chin. "The training must be working faster than I anticipated."

My eye began to twitch in annoyance.
"You think I'm that easily broken, then?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"No. No. It could be the way you were trained under Xavier, to be a good soldier. To obey orders without question. I'm sure the professor taught you using some behavior modification." He turned away for a minute as I scowled at his back. * Good little soldier. Good little slave *. Well, I wasn't going to be that easy to break. I still had some will left. I'd get the hell out of

here at the first opportunity. With or without Alex. "

Just then Alex turned back with a smirk. "Or maybe you just have a crush on Neil."

"Zaki." I replied immediately without thinking. "His name is Zaki, Alex."

Alex broke into a grin. "You do have a crush on him!" His eyes widened in surprise at his revelation and he muttered to himself looking to the side. "This won't help."

That was it. Bad enough to have to endure all this 'training'. Bad enough to have my inhibitions torn apart and my mind reprogrammed like Pavlov's dog.

Even worse to be tormented by the penile device and forced to suck cock. But now for Alex to mock me, childishly, like I was a high school kid, all raging hormones and silly little infatuations. I flew at him, taking him unaware and knocking him across the floor. And just like in those days before the orphanage, before the plane exploded shattering my life afterward, we were
two brothers tussling around on the ground, arms and legs flailing. And just like the brothers we'd been, Alex was laughing pushing at me halfheartedly and I was all seriousness, getting even angrier at his laughter. He use to be very good at pushing my buttons and loved to see just how hard he could push. It was all really silly, and I wasn't trying very hard to hurt Alex. The
slaves around us, sensing the release of pent-up emotions, gathered to watch, cheering on one or the other.

But then it turned ugly. So many days of this torment. So many days of being forced to do things I'd never have agreed to. Never would have wanted. The anxiety of what was coming. The anger I held at my own helplessness and Alex's unwillingness to fight with me, to at least try to escape. All this came boiling up to the surface and when I found myself on top of him with my
hands around his throat I began to squeeze. Harder and harder. He grabbed my arms trying to pull them away. But the rage I felt made me stronger. His lips came together tight in terror. His eyes bulged, then he gasped trying to say something. But I couldn't see his face through the haze of anger. The collar was pushed up roughly against his chin and a small gash appeared where a jagged part cut deeply into the flesh of his jaw line.

Some of the slaves, realizing suddenly how deadly the fight had turned, grabbed at me. It took several moments and more men joining in, but finally they were able to pull me off my brother. I flung a few of them off me, my fists coming up to connect with one or two jaws. I chopped down on one poor fellow almost crushing his throat. My mind was in a haze of anger. I barely
saw Alex come up on one elbow heaving and retching. One of the men knelt down next to him offering support and whispering something to him, looking at me as I fought the men restraining me, intent on finishing what I had started. More slaves came to aid the others and finally seven of them had me down on the floor, arms and legs pressed roughly into the carpet, one of the men sitting squarely on my chest.

"No!" He rasped and held an arm up, waving a hand at me. "Just hold him!"
After he'd caught his breath, Alex stood up wiping the blood from his chin and approached me warily. I was still struggling, still furious. It crossed my mind briefly if this was how Logan felt in one of his berserker rages. But then Alex bent over me and slapped me hard across the face deflating my fury.
I blinked and lay back quietly.

"I'm sorry, Scott." Alex spoke first, quickly, knowing I'd blame myself for my loss of control. "I shouldn't have said what I said."

"No." I agreed. "You really know how to piss me off sometimes." He smiled slightly with a chuckle. "But I almost killed you. I wanted to..." I continued for a moment then stopped, hanging my head. This still wasn't his fault. None of this. He didn't deserve to die.

He motioned to the slaves holding me down and they got to their feet taking me with them. Two of the stronger men continued to hold my arms, not trusting me to stay calm. No one said anything for a long moment, then Alex spoke, quietly, "I don't think I would have minded that much."

I looked up at him in shock and horror. "Shut up!" I yelled. I pulled against the men still holding me. "You shut up! Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare leave me here alone!" He stepped back in surprise at my vehemence. Then he took a step forward and pulled me into his arms.

"Okay." He whispered. "Okay, Scotty." I could feel his tears on my cheek and I pulled him tighter to me, clinging to him as if my life depended on it, ignoring the pain in my groin as I pressed against him.

"We're in this together." I whispered back. "We'll find a way..." Then he was kissing me forcefully, desperately, and I responded to his pain. I know, looking back on it, he didn't want me to finish my sentence. He needed me there, but he didn't want my hope. He'd been down that road. Now all that was left to him was his acceptance and my presence. Nothing else.
In that moment, I began to see a purpose in all of this ordeal. I was here to protect Alex. I could never have bore his death, especially if he'd taken his own life. So I'd stay and we'd help each other survive. And maybe we'd find a way out together.

Next chapter