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Zachary nodded. Of course they would. No one would get away with this. Not after Nix and Halm killed someone for doing it to Cas. He… Well, knew knew why the condoms were there, but he had thought Nix had known. But… Halm hadn't told him. Oh, fuck no. There was no getting away with that.
Nix hiccuped weakly, his ears flattened back on his head. "I-I just… I thought I could trust him…" He sobbed, curling his tail tightly around himself. "What we had was so great, b-but I can't… I c-can't look at him the same way anymore…" Cas held Nix close, still gently petting him. "That's totally understandable, Nix… we're not going to let him get away with this. I promise he'll regret this if he doesn't already."
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Zachary wanted to give Nix some words of comfort, even if he wasn't the biggest fan of the cat, but he couldn't. Because of Halm. He held both Cas and Nix close, rubbing Cas's back gently.
Halm would regret this. Even if Zachary couldn't do anything in this state, he knew Cas would.
"We care about you, okay? You mean so much. He has no right to treat you that way. You're not just a pet now. You're a person. Your feelings and your emotions are all totally valid and you deserve to feel better." Cas murmured, scratching behind Nix's ears to calm him down. Nix continued sobbing quietly until he inevitably passed out in Cas's arms.
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Zachary kept quiet as Cas comforted Nix. When the cat passed out, he motioned with one arm for Cas to lay him down. No matter how much he wanted to see Halm beaten, Cas would need to go alone. Zachary needed to stay back and watch over Nix.
"Take care of him, Zachary…" Cas murmured softly as he kissed Zachary's forehead. "I'll be back after I beat Halm's ass." He slipped out of the bed and headed down the hall into Halm's room, banging hard on the bathroom door with his fist when he noticed Halm was in there. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! How dare you do that to him, Halm?! Open this damn door!"
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Halm looked up at the door with dead eyes. He opened it slowly, not even bothering to get up. He been sobbing before, but now there was nothing.
"What were you thinking?!" Cas gripped the collar of Halm's shirt and pulled him up to glare into his eyes with a fury and fire that Halm had never seen from him before. "You know how he feels about sex and you knowingly deceived him! He ran into our room sobbing because of you, Halm. You broke him. You broke what you two had. You don't deserve someone like him."
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Halm still had tears in his eyes, and he wasn't able to focus on Cas. He stayed quiet, letting Cas do whatever he decided to. He deserved it, after all. Cas was right- he didn't deserve anyone like Nix. Anyone at all, really.
"I understand why you killed my ex now." Cas growled, kneeing Halm hard in the jaw and then the chest, still holding him still. "I thought you were better than this, Halm." He slapped Halm hard across the face, clearly not afraid of him at all. His height meant nothing to him. "Nix loved you so much. He trusted you. You took that from him."
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Halm let out a pained grunt, but he didn't try to fight back. He started crying again at Cas's words, because they were true. He'd hurt Nix so much, and nothing could change that.
"No matter what happens, he'll never be able to look at you the same way again. He'll never feel fully safe around you again. I know how that feels. I've been raped, Halm." Furious tears stung Cas's eyes as he kept kneeing Halm hard on the jaw and chest.
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Halm refused to look at Cas now, limp. Everything was crashing around him, and it was all his fault. Cas was right. Nothing would ever be okay again. It would be better if Halm just… Just disappeared.
"How could you ever think that what you did was okay?! You knew that he didn't know what you were doing to him, and you know full well that he's terrified of sex! He had to watch me get raped, Halm! I can't believe you, honestly." Cas kicked Halm in the chest and left, still fuming.
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Halm fell to the floor, not moving. He was crying softly still, and a small trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth. He didn't even try to move, too broken.
Nix was still out cold by the time Cas returned to the bedroom. He huddled up in Zachary's lap, sobbing quietly into the other's chest.
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Zachary looked up when Cas came back in. He wrapped his arms securely around Cas, rubbing his back gently. He let out a soft sound, keeping Cas close and rocking him a little.
Cas clung to Zachary for dear life, trembling violently. "I-I'm sorry, I'm just— thinking about— w-when I g… g-got… y-you know…" He managed to choke out.
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Zachary nodded, giving a soft hum of comfort. Of course this situation would make Cas think about that. He tightened his grip on Cas, doing all he could to help him calm down. Just… Rub his back and rock him.
"I y-yelled at Halm… and… and I hit him…" Cas whispered shakily. "As best as I could, anyway… he didn't fight back."
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Zachary nodded, letting out a soft sound of acceptance. Halm seemed to have given up. He was glad he hadn't fought back. He knew… He knew several other gods who would have just killed Cas for trying to hit them.
(cough cough Derlik cough cough)
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(Him and Astral and Mother and all of the Earthly gods)
"I think he feels guilty. He should. I can't believe he'd do that to Nix… he disgusts me." Cas buried his face in Zachary's shoulder.
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Zachary raised one hand to Cas's head, turning to kiss his head gently. Halm was disgusting. Nix wasn't an animal anymore, just like Zachary, and Halm shouldn't have ever done something so horrible.
"And Nix is so innocent too… he just… h-he had no idea what he was doing and Halm took advantage of him. That's sick and horrible and I just… I can't believe he'd actually do that… I don't know what to believe anymore…"
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Zachary looked at the passed out Nix, nodding a bit. Everything was being turned on it's head. Halm, who'd been rightfully known as the nicest, gentlest god among all of them, had raped someone, and murdered someone else. Zachary, he couldn't even function properly because of him.
"Y-You've known Halm a lot longer than I have, Zachary… does… does he have a history with kind of thing?" He asked weakly. "Is he just pretending to be nice?"
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Zachary shook his head. No, Halm had no history of this. He was- well, used to be, at least- a good man. He let out a soft breath, hiding Cas a bit closer.
"Then… then what went wrong? People don't suddenly go around raping and murdering other people for now reason…" He hiccuped a bit, holding tighter to Zachary.
