Disclaimer: I do, as much I own Alexander and Hephaestion. ((Sigh))

Always.

"Oww …" A young boys' voice whimpered as he tried vainly to suppress the scream that threatened to come out.

"It'll be okay, Yuriy …" another voice spoke up, his tone calm and soothing.

"Kai?" Yuriy's icy-blue eyes looked over at him through half lidded eyes. The pain of the punishment caused his injured body to shudder every time Kai's cold hands made contact with his scarred and bleeding back. Whatever he was about to say was interrupted and he bit his lip against crying out.

"It'll be over soon, Yuriy," Kai shushed him, his hands squeezed the access water from the cloth in his hands and he began gently dabbing the red sores on his friends back. He sighed and looked over at the blue basin that sat on the side table, the clear water had now been dyed red, like Yuriy's hair … it was Yuriy's blood.

Yuriy lay on his stomach, his head rested on his folded arms in front of his face. He was naked from the waist up and baring to the world, the horrific injuries he had received at the hands of Balkov and his whip. It was punishment for allowing himself to be beaten by Boris. Well … he hadn't exactly been beaten by Boris; it was a tie in a way. But his blade had stopped spinning half a second before Boris' but to Balkov, that result was unacceptable.

"Kai … it hurts …" Yuriy said quietly, his attention turned away from Kai.

"I know, Yuriy. I know …" Kai studied his injured back sadly. He knew very well how much it hurt, for he had been in the same predicament as Yuriy, many times before … all of them had. They had learned to live with it from day to day, but there were times when the pain felt worse by ten folds. He had been through that also, and Yuriy had been there with him every step of the way. Now … it was his turn to be there for him.

In the Abbey, they received no treatment for the injuries. Balkov believed that greatness comes with hardship and pain, and did not allow any medical attention to be brought to the boys, unless their condition was severe enough. Like this one time, they were about ten years old.

Yuriy had been punished again for not reaching up to Balkov's expectations. The next day, when the Kai had gone to his room to fetch him for breakfast, he found him sound asleep. He looked peaceful in the beginning Kai was torn between waking him up and letting him sleep, but remembering how Balkov reacts to tardiness, he decided on the first. He shook Yuriy's shoulders gently at first, but the boy didn't respond. Kai thought nothing off it; Yuriy had been pretty exhausted for the past few days, so he just repeated the action, this time a little harder.

But when Yuriy still didn't respond, he became a little more worried. He called the name of his friend, but it still did not arouse a response. After a few more tries with fail, he ran out to get help. Yuriy had been promptly been rushed to the hospital. He had stayed there for about a month. Balkov had refused to divulge them as to the condition of Yuriy, but Kai and the rest of the future Demolition Boys had their ways to find out what they needed. It was revealed that Yuriy has suffered some major internal injuries and a concussion. The fact that he had fallen asleep without getting treated for the head injury had resulted in him ending up in a coma for almost three weeks. The last week, doctors had insisted he stay for observation.

Ever since that incident, Kai, Boris, Ivan and Sergei had vowed that they would watch over one another, especially after one of them had been through Balkov's punishments. They did not want another incident as such to repeat it self. So, here Kai found himself, watching over the sleeping form of Yuriy, his best friend. The others were his friends too, but Yuriy held a special place in his heart.

He exhaled quietly and stood up before walking over to the sink to discard the bloody water.

"Kai …"

Kai turned his head back to meet the childlike gaze of Yuriy's, "I'm just going to throw the water," he said, assuring his friend that he wasn't leaving.

Yuriy just stayed silent as he watched Kai dump the water in the sink and walked back to him. He took a seat on the bed next to Yuriy and ran his fingers gently through his hair. Yuriy just shut his eyes, feeling himself lost in the soft touch of the slate haired boy, "Kai …"

"Yeah?" Kai tilted his head to the side slightly to look straight at the boy who lay in bed.

"Please stay with me tonight."

Kai gave him a shadow of a smile and pulled up the covers of the bed. He crawled slowly in next to Yuriy, careful as to not aggravate his injuries more. He reached his right arm under Yuriy and gently pulled him closer to his chest, letting the redhead use his chest as a pillow. He pulled himself up slightly, so he was in a half laying, half sitting position. He grasped the back of Yuriy's head with his hand and slowly caressed his soft red hair and he whispered assurance into his ears.

"Everything is going to be all right, Yuriy. I'm here for you, now … always."

The End.