CHAPTER 2 - RUN
ALEXI
4 MONTHS EARLIER

"You know, once, just once, I'd like to actually make a class on time," Alexi snapped as he almost ran down the school corridor.

"Well maybe if you got out of bed earlier Sacha, you'd get here on time." Dimitri observed calmly, striding along his side.

"I get out of bed at a perfectly reasonable time," Alexi snapped. "If I was any other kid I'd get here on time."

"If you were any other kid you'd get up later and still be late," Dimitri remarked, a small smile on his lips. "Sacha, for all you love to blame us for slowing you down in the morning, if you didn't have to go through checks in the morning, you'd just get up later and be late as normal."

"I'd like to try," Alexi said grimly.

Dimitri grinned fully as Alexi shot him a dark look.

"Face it, you wouldn't want to be a normal kid anyway," He observed. "And for all you say that you don't want a tutor and you want a taste of normalcy, you're really just doing this to be awkward and to get away from your brother."

Alexi skidded to a stop to glare at him. Dimitri stopped calmly, smiling slightly still. Dimitri was not exactly the person you'd expect to see in a school corridor, what with being 6 foot 2, built like a barn door and with a Russian accent. He was surprisingly young, mid-twenties with a sharp face, narrow nose, grey eyes and his dark hair shaved short until it was merely a shadow on his scalp. He also looked surprisingly casual, a black t-shirt over blue jeans and black boots, a navy jacket over the shirt, casually left open.

And then there was Alexi, a gangly teenage boy with a rumpled mess of hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes, his school shirt untucked, blazer over one arm, school tie halfway down his chest... there couldn't've been more of a difference between Alexi and his bodyguard. Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to stand there and glare at me, or are you going to hurry up and get into class?" He asked mildly.

"I hate you," Alexi said moodily, walking again.

"That's not what you said yesterday when I covered for you," Dimitri observed, amused.

Alexi sighed.

"Sorry Dimka. It's just," He gave a wave that seemed to encompass 'everything' and his bodyguard just nodded.

"It's fine," Dimitri opened the classroom door, doing his customary sweep, then stepping back to allow Alexi in. "Come on."

The French teacher looked up with a disapproving cluck.

"Late again Alex? Tuck your shirt in, do your tie up and sit down."

"Sorry," he muttered, falling into his usual seat, fiddling with his tie.

Alexi tried not to let his attention wander too much during the French lesson, but he was constantly aware of the presence of Dimitri, lounging calmly against the back wall, doing a much better job of looking interested. He glanced around to see a class that looked about as bored as he did, and sighed. Dimitri was right, he did do this purely to annoy his parents and to get away from his brother, but how else was he supposed to get any measure of independence otherwise?

The door slammed open, and Dimitri was up and alert in a split second, Alexi spinning around to see 4 men burst in... Jonas, his other bodyguard on the floor at their feet, a pool of blood haloing his head...

Dimitri didn't hesitate, running towards Alexi to shield him, drawing his gun. As the class screamed and hit the floor, the first man drew his own gun and aimed at Dimitri. He didn't even get the chance to fire before Dimitri had already put a bullet between his eyes, grabbing Alexi by the collar and forcing him down and out of the way of the crossfire. The second man fired, but Dimitri ducked and the bullet went stray, blowing a hole in the window, then he too was down.

Then the window behind them exploded, and Dimitri gave a strange cry, a dark stain rapidly spreading across the back of his jacket around several bulletholes...

"DIMKA!" Alexi yelled, catching onto Dimitri as his bodyguard crashed to the floor.

He stared, stunned, at his immobile form as the world seemed to slow, his heart and breathing loud in his ears. He slid over to Dimitri...

Then cursed as one of men caught him by the upper arm, brandishing his gun. They were all dressed the same in ski masks and black from head to toe, all armed. Alexi acted on the training that Dimitri had drilled into him since he was 5. His elbow crashed into the man's stomach, his left fist whipping around, colliding with man's head with all the power he could throw into it. The man crashed to the floor, unconscious, and Alexi turned to the last remaining man... who raised his gun...

And fell back in an explosion of blood. Alexi stared back at Dimitri, who was ice-pale, but grimly holding onto his gun.

"Run!" He commanded, grey eyes flashing...

And Alexi sprinted away, heading towards reception, but there were men in the stairwell and as he spun around, another man came up behind him. Alexi's leg slammed out, the push-kick knocking the man off balance. Using the brief moment of time he'd bought, Alexi used the only escape route he could see.  He sprinted towards the window and hurled himself towards it.

The glass shattered, and for a moment he was weightless as he fell, then the grass playing field rushed up to meet him.

"Fuck!"

He twisted, swinging himself around so he rolled with the momentum and forced himself up. His body already ached, but he started running towards the car park. Bullets clipped at his heels and he forced himself to run faster. The gunfire cut off with yells from behind him.

"Not him you fucking idiot!" some-one yelled. "We need him alive!"

Alexi would have cursed if he'd had the breath, how the hell did they know?! He saw the chain-link fence that separated him from the car-park and escape and managed to force himself up a gear. He was beginning to flag, muscles screaming, but Dimiti's voice was in his head, telling him to run through the pain, and he leapt onto the chain link, fingers locking through the mesh, hauling himself up...

A hand fisted around his ankle. Alexi kicked out with the other leg, certain his foot made contact with the man's nose and scrambled over the fence, dropping down inelegantly on the other side...

To come face to face with Hsiu Mei Chen. The Chinese bodyguard had always unsettled Alexi a little, but now he'd never been happier to see any-one. Her face was smooth and plain, her long black hair twirled up into a bun and she looked like she'd be more in place behind a desk than as a bodyguard, pin neat in her dark purple suit... only now, her usually emotionless face was smiling... and it wasn't a nice smile. Before that thought had even had time to reach his brain, the heel of her hand had slammed into his chest, sending him staggering back, and knocking the wind out of him.

He collided with the fence, gasping for breath as she calmly walked forwards, heels clicking on the concrete. He stared at her, dumbfounded, and she shrugged.

"I've never liked you much," She observed, and her leg whipped around, heel cracking against his temple.

He collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath, stars dancing in front of his eyes, but he fought to get back up, he couldn't just lie here, he had to get away...

Then some-one stepped on his back and he crunched down to meet the concrete, all the strength ebbing out of him. His arms were wrenched up behind him, and there were metallic clicks as a pair of handcuffs snapped around his wrists.

"Get him up and out of here," Chen ordered coldly. "God, you lot call yourselves professionals?"

There was the sound of heels clicking away as she walked away, and Alexi felt hands close around his upper arms as they hauled him up off the floor.

"Sweet dreams Crown Prince," One snarled as Alexi passed out.