the call hit like a blade slipped between ribs. they need someone to id the body. no-- not a body not to him.
levi hirsch wasn’t just anybody. levi hirsch was cassius’ underboss, a confidant, his brother. and yet the voice on the other end faded into nothing, drowned out by a memory he hadn’t thought about in years. he rose out of bed, unsteady as the memory flooded him.
two kids, restless harlem summer, sweat clinging to the back of cassius’ neck. levi grinning wide, dragging him up creaking stairs to some dimly lit room that smelled of candle wax and dust. a fortune teller. a scam. cassius swore, he cursed the whole way shoved bills back into levi’s hands, muttering, you don’t pay people to tell you lies.
but levi, stubborn as ever, had sat anyway, had given her his time of birth like it meant something.
2:15.
the mark of his beginning — the mark of his end.
the woman’s eyes had gone cloudy when she spoke:
“i see a song of past romance. i see the sacrifice of man. i see portrayals of betrayal… and a brother’s final stand. you were born beneath a cursed clock, boy. trouble will always find you. wrong place, wrong time it will claim you in the end.”
levi had laughed, flicked cassius’ arm. see? i’m cursed. always told you.
but then her gaze slid to cassius, sharp as broken glass,
“i see you on the brink of death. i see you draw your final breath. i see a man who gets to make it home alive… but it is no longer you. your hands, boy — they will be forever stained with blood. that is the only way you’ll take hold of the life you want.”
cassius had scoffed, waved it off. bullshit. a persons life wasnt weaved by the fates of some ordained destiny. it was carved out by will, with power, skill of the mind and forethought. he'd left that day still believing it. even to this day. but had the soothsayer and levi been right, had his friends life really been cursed from the start?
his chest constricted until he gasped, clutching the ache like it might split him in two. no tears came — they never did but the hollow carved itself deeper with every thought of val, their trio broken. of irina, levi’s girl, who deserved more than being chained to a family that didn't know her worth. of oz, had he been worth it in the end? cassius wouldn’t the only one gutted tonight. but he was the only one who could answer it.
violence was never indulgence to him. it was a tool, a lever, the last word in the language of power. and this? this demanded blood. a sin met with equal weight.
the veil had been circling pentavita , their obsession deliberate, their provocations calculated. waving red cloth before the bull, daring him to charge. maybe they hadn’t struck the blow that ended levi. maybe they were just basking in the smoke. it didn’t matter. they’d made themselves part of it. they wanted cassius’ attention.
now they had it.
by the time he rasped, “i’ll be there,” already dressed and walking down the path; of his destruction or theirs ; the vow was already carved behind his ribs. there would be no going back not when cassius put his mind in motion, words into action. the veil wasn’t an enemy anymore. the veil was a sentence. and cassius kingsley would carry it out with his own two hands.
2:15.
the minute levi was born. the minute levi died. and the moment cassius who had never believed in fate… would now enforce it. he didn’t need omens to see the future . he would write it in flesh and fire. his hands would be stained with blood—veil blood and he would make damn sure they understood the cost of pulling the bull into the ring.
they thought they’d shown him a warning. all they’d done was beg for slaughter.
SOLO: Ozzy DeGomez
Location: His apartment.
Setting: After receiving the devastating news of Levi's passing.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
Unfortunately, the person you are trying to reach, 'Levi Hirsch' is unavailable.
"Answer the phone... answer the fucking phone! Answer it, you piece of shit!" Please.
The room reeked of burnt spoons and Tequila. Ozzy sat hunched into his divan, eyes glazed with heated agony. Streams of uncontrollable crystals stained his cheeks, his trembling thumb hitting redial over, and over, and over again, until Levi's voice was embedded into the catacombs of his mind.
"Don't you fucking do this to me… Don't leave me when we've finally-" His words slurred, his chest heaving as if the entire consequence of the world was pulverizing his reality. His device clatters to the ground, digits slipping into onyx locks, cruelly tearing at his hair. Ozzy's dominant hand releases his coils, only to slam his palm maliciously against his face multiple times.
"GOD!" The resounding exclamation viciously crashed along the walls, vibrating the floorboards beneath his feet. It was a blasphemous hymn. A cursing of the depravity and wrathful ways of a deity who'd never illustrated compassion or grace. Was this vindication? Retaliation for what he'd done to Levi? He'd caused him torment and suffering, and it was finally Oscar's turn to be haunted by his first love endlessly.
"I FUCKING DESPISE YOU! I HATE YOU! You're fucking useless and selfish! And-" An arm extends, sweeping the contents of the table, colliding with the foundation. Their mighty Lord and Saviour had never done a damn thing for him. As a child, he allowed Oz to suffer. To be nothing more than a punching bag for an unloving father. And now? When he was ultimately finding happiness. Closure. He stole something unreplaceable to him.
How was Ozzy expected to love Grayson properly? The way he deserved? When the one person he'd ever tried to love was now lying lifeless in a freezer? How could he move forward if this was the fate that awaited Gray? The kid didn't merit the devotion of a shattered being incapable of giving him all he was worthy of.
Releasing a guttural scream, Ozzy jumped from his spot, fingers balling into tight fists as he stormed towards the brink wall, mapping his blacked out windows.
White knuckled fists collide with stone with all his might. Once, twice, again, and again, until his flesh is shredded, pools of rubies flowing down his forearms.
His stomach kinks in disgust and misery as he stumbled, legs carrying him to the bottle on the sofa, snatching up his cellphone as he blundered his way to the bathroom, slamming to the tiled floor. The bottle clatters, his bloody hands reaching for the toilet seat to pull himself up. Acidic vile projected into the bowl like an endless rivulet of heartache.
After what felt like hours of continuous torture, his head slips to the floor, sweat beading his features, melting into the everlasting tears he was incapable of containing.
The bottle finds his lips once again, the sting of alcohol inflaming his destroyed throat.
Reaching for his cell, it takes him several times to flick through his contacts until he's found his target.
Ring, Ring, Ring. The moment the call connected, a violent sob escaped as he croaked, "I need you, Gray."
