Rishid hadn't dared go home since he'd learned Malik had been attacked. In a way--a way which shamed him and disgusted him--he was glad, because finally there were no family members left for Shadow to hurt. It was easier to protect people he wasn't co-dependant on; it was easier to protect those he could keep in his own home.

He didn't know if Diabound would have taken care to clean the apartment after the blood-splatter, or if the thief would have stayed at the hospital...he hoped for the latter, even though he was coming to the apartment to see him. If Diabound wasn't home, he'd just go home and try to find something to distract himself until he was calm enough to go to the hospital. Last he'd heard, Malik was still unconscious.... He knocked on the door lightly.

Diabound had been forcibly removed from first Malik's room for refusing to leave so Malik could be treated, and then from the waiting room for being too loud and shouting at anyone who talked to him. Having stormed out of the hospital, barely able to restrain himself from throwing anything in his path out of the way with the Ring, Diabound had gone back to his apartment, at a loss for where else to go.

He was now forcibly destroying anything and everything that made him mad - already a table he'd bumped into and a light that hadn't turned on right were in pieces. At the sudden noise of knocking at the door, Diabound, breathing harshly, didn't spare a moment in wrenching it open. "What the fuck do you want?!"

Rishid remained unshakeably calm...though there was a cold sharpness in his eyes that hadn't been there the last time he had spoken to Diabound. It's your fault. He didn't have to say it out loud. "I came to look at a few things." He didn't ask to come in, but he restrained himself enough that he didn't push his way inside.

Diabound's eyes burned with a hatred that had now focused on Rishid. Where had the self-proclaimed brother of Malik been when Shadow had shown up? Why hadn't he been there? Why did this have to happen to Malik? he questioned in a silent whisper, both hands gripping doorframe and door and blocking any entrance inside. "Look at what," he snarled, barely restraining contempt.

At the accusation in Diabound's eyes, Rishid stiffened. His fingers twitched, almost straying to the knife at his side. "At evidence," he said quietly, acrimony lacing every syllable. "But I'll be certain to stay out of your way as you," his gaze flicked over Diabound's shoulder at the destruction there, and back. "go about your business.”

Diabound's lips curled into an unpleasant scowl - he could feel his own accusations burning right back at him in Rishid's voice, and he hated it. "I don't have to let you into my house," he said, attempting to restrain himself a bit and failing rather miserably.

Rishid hated the thought that he was being so weak as to give in to the rancor and loathing he felt, but...this was Malik. No one failed Malik. "You can't stop me," Rishid growled. "Nor would you want to, if you have a shred of gray matter in your skull. I am doing this to help Malik. Believe me, I would not have come here for you."

Rishid's hand was instantly on his knife. It wouldn't help against the darkness, but he would tear Diabound's intestines out before he went down. "And what excuse do you have, jealous, pathetic little thief? I stayed away so there wouldn't be any tension between my brother and you. You live with him! For Ra's sake, did you sleep through the whole attack, or did you just not care? Did you not listen when I told you not to leave him alone?!" It was as close to yelling as he had ever come. It was much, much louder than he was proud to admit.

Diabound snarled sharply, trying not to let Rishid's words get to him. "And where were you, you self-righteous, pretentious little child? Off saving the world with your pathetic little ego-trip? If you honestly cared about tension between Malik and I, you wouldn't have shown up in the first place!"

He flinched. "Where was I? Trusting you to be able to handle yourself, to help Malik, against my better judgment! Why do you think I asked you to help me train him in the first place?" He advanced a step. "And yes, I should abandon Malik because you are too possessive and insecure to allow him anyone else in his life! I should stay away because you are so weak as to let everything he says make you turn your back on him! He gets angry, and you walk away. I should have known then how fickle you are...I should have known before that, but you made him happy and I thought that was all that matters."

Diabound faltered, Rishid's words causing his breath to stop in his chest, choking him. He'd been trying to deny it, trying to blame others, but...but it was...everything that had happened, from the other Malik onward, had driven him to the point where he'd prevented Malik from being in contact with anyone else, and ultimately, that had... In one motion, he swung his fist at Rishid's jaw, as if out of instinct. "How dare you..." he hissed.

Rishid's hand came up to parry it, a fraction of a second later than if he'd just been calm...it clipped his jaw, and Rishid immediately retalliated by using that same arm to elbow Diabound in the ribs.

Diabound felt the wind shoved from his body, reaction time severely slowed by the confusion and anger tearing him up inside. He shook, fighting to remain steady on his feet as he coughed forcefully. The instant he felt some ounce of strength return to him, he tried to drive his own fist into Rishid's gut, but his vision was shaking, and somehow, he wasn't even sure Rishid was in front of him anymore.

Rishid turned outside the blow, grabbed Diabound's arm, and twisted it behind him. He wanted to hurt him, he wanted to break something, but.... ...He hadn't elbowed him that hard, had he? He kicked the back of Diabound's knees to force him down, so as to better restrain him. And then he hesitated, again. "...Are you giving up so soon?" It was the most polite thing he could conjure in his mind.

Diabound fell as he was twisted and kicked, silently hating himself as each blow landed. This was one of the reasons he'd lost his temper that night - Rishid clearly knew what he was doing, while Diabound had spent most of his thieving days relying on his mind, strength and ka, rather than fighting technique. He shook under Rishid's hands, relaxing so as not to hurt himself further, but he turned his head to glare at Rishid, hatred still clear. "Is that the best you have?"

There was that sneer--the one Malik had.... "Unfortunately, I'm not that creative. Why don't you start telling me what you want broken first?"

Diabound growled, twisting slightly before he tried to use his body weight to roll and forcibly throw Rishid off of him. "You, for starters!"

Rishid was jerked forward, thrown off balance. He tried to keep hold of Diabound's wrist but couldn't, not if he wanted to protect himself on the fall. He let the thief go and rolled on his shoulder to lessen the impact of the ground. He came to his feet, knife out, drawn from pure instinct.

Diabound was crouching and then on his feet in an instant, scowling and breathing heavily. "Come on, then! What are you waiting for?" he called, spreading his arms in open mockery of Rishid. "Come and get me!"

Rishid smirked. "Make it worth my while, thief king." He threw the knife low, aiming for the edge of Diabound's left calf; he used the diversion as a cover to advance, aiming a backfist at Diabound's gut.

Diabound's instincts screamed at him to move, muscles tense as if to do so, when a sudden feeling of...of something collapsed in on him. He let his hands fall, body relaxing as if to accept every blow, full-force. He fell back at the force of the fist in his gut, leg moving only slightly out of habit to keep his leg from getting more than sliced shallowly. He felt defeated before defeat had even fallen upon him, but he continued to sneer as he pushed himself up again. "What was that, a tickle?"

"Is this how you won all your battles?" Rishid snarled, belting Diabound full force across the jaw. "You drop your defenses and then incense your opponent into beating you senseless?"

Diabound fell silent as his head snapped to the side from the blow. His anger had faded to a festering self-loathing, Rishid's words having hit him harder than he'd admit. Every hit of Rishid's silently whispered in Diabound's mind, I deserve this... Never before had Diabound felt such guilt as he felt now, and it seemed to threaten to overwhelm him.

Rishid had never fought like this. For one thing, he had never been angry--not like this--before. And Diabound just.... Rishid stopped, briefly. Then he grabbed Diabound and knocked him over, straddling his stomach and pinning the other man's wrists under his knees. "If you think I'm going to be an instrument of your self-punishment you are sorely mistaken. But you are going to answer my questions. Why did you leave my brother alone? Revenge? Did you stop caring what happened to him? Why?"

Diabound refused to meet Rishid's eyes, gazing off almost vacantly as he breathed heavily. He could taste blood, feel it trickling from his lip due to the punch, but he made no move to wipe it away. "I went to get food so we wouldn't starve," Diabound said at last, voice a steady murmur. "Malik said he didn't want to come, insisted he would be fine for five minutes...and that's all. I was a fool. That's all. That's all."

"You will pay for that." Rishid's hands were still wrapped tight through Diabound's shirt. He wanted so badly to shake the thief until he quit breathing...but the anger and loathing were gone, replaced by what he saw in Diabound's eyes. "...But so will I." He sighed, softly. "Now stop 'looking like a wounded puppy' and tell me that I can let you get up. Shadow is still out there, and he has Malik's blood on his hands."

Diabound smirked faintly at the use of his own phrase against him, but the life in his eyes was fleeting. "Might as well be on my hands," he whispered. "You were right. I should have been there. I have been pushing everyone away and then I..."

"Yes. You should have been there. You should have listened when I told you not to leave him alone." Rishid glared at him, but it was nowhere near as accusative. He jerked Diabound slightly with one hand, to get his attention more properly. "But I shouldn't have thought that your feelings were more important than Malik. I shouldn't have left Malik alone here in Domino at all. I should have killed Shadow when I had the chance...I was the first person to wound him, and it is because of me that he has been so much more violent in these other attacks. Your mistake would never have come to be if I had simply refused to hesitate."

Diabound turned his eyes to Rishid's slowly, focusing as if seeing him there for the first time. Slowly, a small smirk found his lips. "You've never killed anyone before," he said. "I'm not surprised you hesitated." Diabound turned his eyes to the ceiling before he chuckled breathily. "And if you'd never left him alone, he never would have met me. Who knows, maybe things would have been easier, that way."

"Most likely, they would have been," Rishid agreed quietly. His voice was calm, but there was more...life to it than he normally allowed. He couldn't seem to make himself go back to the way he'd been just yesterday. "But Malik would never have accepted an 'easier' life." He didn't say anything after that, but sat watching nothing, lost in thought.

Diabound eased his hand free from where it was pinned to rest the back of it against his forehead. "Neither would I," he said after a moment's silence. Closing his eyes, he exhaled softly. "I'm going to kill him."

Rishid only then remembered he still had Diabound pinned. He rocked back on his heels, and then moved so he was sitting next to the other man. "I expect you to make it hurt." Rishid said simply.

"I expect to bleed him to death," Diabound said, voice calm and steady once more. He glanced at Rishid. "Will you try and strike a blow?"

Rishid arched an eyebrow. "On Shadow, or on you?"

"Shadow. I think you've already made your mark on me," Diabound said with a breathy chuckle, touching his abused jaw lightly.

"Yes." Rishid's throat tightened as he thought of it... "...I need to strike four." He leaned over Diabound's legs to scoop up his fallen knife, which he cleaned on his shirt and replaced in its sheath. He exhaled, too darkly to be a sigh. "...I am sorry, for what I did. I don't think Malik will find it very amusing."

"I'll tell him I hit it on something," Diabound said simply, moving to sit up. "No reason to form a rift between you two over my stupidity."

Rishid stood after him, trying to ignore the hollow ache that went through him when he thought of someone being able to form a rift between himself and Malik. "I doubt he will believe you." He looked aside at the blood stains on the carpet and wall and moved over to inspect them.

"Rishid," Diabound said as he slowly rose to his feet, eyes on the other man. "What do I have to do to prove myself to you?"

The words startled him. Rishid looked back at Diabound, gold-green eyes searching. No one had ever asked anything of the sort...Rishid was a servant. "I...don't understand."

Diabound gazed back at Rishid steadily, hair falling over his eyes a bit. "The way I see it, you don't trust Malik with me anymore. The last thing I need is to fight you everytime I see you, so what can I do to prove myself?"

I don't want you to, Rishid thought, unfairly. He shoved the thought away, along with all the implications it insisted upon. He didn't answer because for a few moments he wondered if the words would choke him...but finally, he said, "You have to take care of my brother. You have to earn his trust. You have to deserve his trust, and then you have to never so much as slip when you hold it. He lov...cares very much about you, and no...I don't think you deserve it. But I love Malik, more than I think you can imagine. It is worth living in constant fear to see him happy." He kept Diabound's gaze, unwavering even for a heartbeat. "Never turn away from him. I know he pushes buttons. He knows he pushes buttons. He has done it to me, he has hit me, but I will never turn from him, and I will never leave him. He at least will always know that." He swallowed. "If you can't do that, and more, you will never prove yourself to me. But you don't need my approval. You have Malik's."

Diabound smirked faintly. "You don't watch much TV, if you think that. The zealous boyfriend always has to have family approval, otherwise he never lasts." He slipped his hands into his pockets. "Everything you've said goes without question. I'm not as patient as you, and will probably fight with Malik again, but I'll never leave his side."

"Hn...Malik will do as he pleases, and if he wants it to work, it will." Rishid studied the bloodstains, spending too long at each to actually be prossessing anything about them.

"I think you give him too much credit as far as the control he has in this relationship." Diabound chuckled softly, moving to stand beside Rishid. "And you don't keep any for yourself. Really, if you hated me and told Malik to leave me, you don't think he'd listen to you?"

Rishid looked at him, suddenly uncertain. It was an...odd change, considering this was the same person who had been throwing knives and exchanging blows with Diabound not twenty minutes earlier. "In a word? ...No." He looked away, off to the side, at the floor, and back to Diabound. "If he did leave you because I asked him to, he would resent me for it later."

Diabound chuckled. "You kidding? He'd resent me for pissing you off." He leaned against the wall, smirking at Rishid. "You're a strange guy, Rishid."

"Strange?" Rishid echoed softly, watching Diabound. "I'm not sure how to take that..."

Diabound shrugged. "However you like. You're just...strange. Maybe it's just because I've never met someone so devoted to one person..."

He looked back down, hiding a small smile. "Ah, yes, I've...been told it's unhealthy." He swallowed and blanked the expression away, giving Diabound a curious look.

Diabound blinked at the look, arching an eyebrow. "What?"

He took a breath to speak, thought better of it, and shook his head. "Why do you let Malik goad you into fights you've likely already fought?"

"Because I do the same thing to him." Diabound shrugged. "We fight a lot. We sleep together a lot. It's how we are."

"Hm," Rishid said, chuckling quietly. "Whatever works, I suppose." And now he was reading the blood stains, eyes narrowed as he examined the difference between each.

Diabound glanced at Rishid's fingers. "Something wrong?"

"I am trying to see how badly Shadow was hurt...if he might have been hurt before the fight, and where Malik injured him." A gesture. "And where Shadow injured Malik." It was hard on carpet...Rishid doubted he'd be able to find anything of use, but it had been worth a shot.

"I think Malik mentioned Shadow was pretty badly hurt. At this rate, he doesn't stand a chance."

Rishid gave up and leaned against the sofa. "Do you still think it is the pharaoh?"

"At this point, I don't know what to think anymore." Diabound ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "None of the pieces are fitting."

Diabound had been less than concrete with his theory the last time they spoke, but it had been more solid than this. "Which pieces no longer fit?"

"Height, voice, victims, motive, actions. My last guess was just a shot in the dark, but none of Shadow's attributes seem to target anyone."

He nodded slowly. "We will find out." He blinked. "You will find out."

Diabound chuckled. "Two heads are better than one. Any thoughts?"

Rishid smiled. "The other Malik got him in the stomach. His wrist will be easily rebroken...it's the left. He doesn't guard his neck very well, and he is quick to reach for weapons."

"Got it." Diabound nodded slightly. "Though, I don't plan to do much hand-to-hand combat. I fight using other means, anyway." He touched his chest lightly for the metal beneath, frowning.

"Then don't give him a chance to speak. Don't hesitate." Rishid paused. "And be careful."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried," Diabound said half-teasingly, giving Rishid an amused smirk.

Rishid returned the smirk. "Ah, no, of course not.... ...But don't give me a reason to worry."

"Like I would." Diabound chuckled softly before he sighed. "I should go back to the hospital."

Rishid nodded. "I need to check on Isis before I go to see him."

Diabound straightened and nodded. "Guess I'll be seeing you there, then."

"Indeed." He eyed the bruise, which was just starting to darken. "...What are you going to hit 'yourself' with...?"

Diabound touched his jaw tentatively, wondering how bad it looked. "I'll just say I hit a tree branch and the tree branch hit back."

Malik would probably be drugged enough that he wouldn't question it. Rishid hated lying, but.... He straightened. "Tell him that I'll be coming along later, when you get there."

"Got it." Diabound followed Rishid's movements, and he exhaled. "This has been...interesting."

Rishid's expression became wry and a little...bashful, almost. "At least we didn't do this at dinner...."

"It would have been classic, if we had." Diabound smirked, moving over to tap his knuckles lightly on Rishid's forehead. "Try not to worry too much."

He smiled, and was a little surprised at himself. "I'll do my best. But still...don't hesitate."

"I never do." Diabound led Rishid to the door, over the mess he was leaving behind.

Rishid followed and would have said more well-wishes, or cautionary statements, but he stopped himself. He had said he wouldn't. "I hope our next meeting goes better."

"Yeah, maybe without the tree branch." Diabound smirked, touching his jaw lightly. "See you soon."

Rishid nodded formally as he usually did--but then he, uncertainly, waved and headed back down the stairs.