To be Free
-Star Driver-
-TbF-
A spider skittered over Takuto's foot, heading back to its bed after a late night escapade. The red head watched it go with lazy eyes. Before he fell into this place the arachnid would have scared him, if it had crawled over his foot then he would have kicked it half way across the room. Now he was practically immune to it. Being surrounded by webs – and waking up with them clinging to his legs – did that to him.
He looked around the room. It had become a ritual over the last month. The boy scanned the chipped, mucky walls, with their bricks jutting out but not loose and the dripping water. Then he moved his gaze to the other chains hanging from the wall; they were the same chains that Takuto hung from. The carried the same muck that hung from the walls, but they were also chaffed with blood that the walls had been long rinsed of. People were once attached to these chains, but they had been stolen away.
Those men had frightened Takuto.
They had been driven insane by the isolation of this place. He couldn't tell how long they had been down in the cells for, neither of them could carry a conversation. They spent most their time talking to the walls, or trying to attack Takuto.
It made him glad that they were chained. Takuto, being one of the captured, couldn't run away or defend himself. During these mad rages that the other prisoners launched into, he had curled himself tight into a ball, trying to stay out of their reach.
Once one of them, a woman, pulled her out of place to get to Takuto. She had launched across the cell with an ear splitting yowl. Her teeth bite down on Takuto's foot before the red head could react. He had been forced to kick her away, but she had been clamped down hard so when she flew back a chunk of his flesh went with her.
Now he glanced down at his foot. Even in the dark he could see how the remaining skin around his wound had turned the gross, black-green colour of infection. He also could no longer move his foot comfortable; he could barely move it at all.
Light flooded the room. "Does it hurt, boy?"
Takuto frowned up at the shadow as it walked closer, only halting several inches away. It's foot pressed down on his ankle. Takuto screamed.
-TbF-
Sugata eyed the dilapidated building. The old facility sat three stories high with the beginnings of a basement peeking out over the ground. Inside that building was an unfamiliar layout and dangerous people.
And Takuto.
He squeezed at his arm as he stepped over the buildings perimeter.
Inside the facility it was grimy and dead. The building, or at the the entrance and branching halls, looked as if they hadn't been used in years. It gave Sugata a sinking feeling. He knew that people were here. A month of searching hadn't turned up nothing beyond wild guesses. The further he went, however, the less he turned up. The more he advanced the darker it got. Removing the flashlight from his pocket, he flicked it on, shinning it down the hall.
The minute he did so, his stomach sank. He had found the people.
Bodies were scattered across the hallway like discarded papers. There weren't many, but enough to cause an unbearable stench. Not that they were heavily decayed, there skin was still whole and the first signs of decomposers could be seen eating away at the dead flesh.
"Damn it, Takuto! You better be alright." Sugata gripped the flashlight tighter – his knuckles turned white.
Then he started running. It was all he could do to avoid the scattered, sprawled leg or arm that jutted in his path. Room doors where left open, allowing Sugata to see inside without having to stop. When he passed a new door he would slow his pace to grant himself enough time to process what was inside.
A moan pierced the air then. It was low and in pain.
Sugata turned toward the sound, his eyes resting on the sight of a man clawing at the wall, trying to stand but failing. The blue headed boy made his way quickly over to him, catching him as he fell.
"What happened here?" he demanded quickly. He'd focus on getting the injured man out of here after, right now Takuto was in danger and he needed answer as soon as possible.
The man wrapped a hand in Sugata's shirt pulling him closer. From that distance, Sugata could smell the blood and see into a wound on his neck. It was shallow, the man would live. He was just weak from shock and it made the boy's job easier.
"It was... the boss, he went mad. He just started slicing people up. First the prisoners and then us. We didn't do nothing! We didn't do-"
"All the prisoners?" he interrupted. The man shook his head. "How many are left? Do you know?"
"Just the one. His favourite. It was that little red one headed one."
Sugata's heart sank. Takuto was still alive, or had been the last time this man had checked. But the truth may not be true for much longer. "Where is he?"
"Down in the basement. Straight down the hall."
He nodded, rising to his feet.
"W-wait! You're not going to leave me are you!"
Sugata didn't give him a second glance as he ran down the hall.
-TbF-
When the man, the shadow, lifted his foot he was smiling from ear to ear. Puss and blood made a steady stream down Takuto's leg, while pain contorted his face.
"Aren't you cute," the man snarled. His voice carried nothing but disdain. "Ever since you came here I've had people screaming in my ear. Kill. Kill! KILL! Do you see my arms? My chest?" Takuto did so he swallowed and nodded. They were covered in blood.
"This belonged to my friends. They didn't do anything wrong. But the voices insisted that I do it." He gripped Takuto's hair, smashing his head against the wall, and holding it there. "I slit there throats. One by miserable one they fell, all trying to get to the door." He licked a line up Takuto's throat. The boy whimpered at the touched, squeezing one eye shut. His hands where pulled back at an uncomfortable angle but he struggled against the binds anyway. To no avail.
"Their lives are on your head."
"Liar!"
The man drew back in shock. His hand was still entwined in Takuto's hair, dragging it from his skull. "What did you say to me, you little punk?"
"It's – ugh," he snarled, as the man pulled harder, daring him to continue. "It's not my fault. You're just crazy. It's not-" Takuto let out a sharp cry as the jailer sent his skull to the floor.
The heel of the man's foot pressed down on his head, keeping it there. "You were the one who brought the voices. You did. Not me."
"I-I didn't ask to be brought here!" Takuto cried. He wanted to squirm, he did squirm, but the quiet shink on a knife froze him. The man's weight shifted on top of him and the pressure on his head increased to nigh bone-crushing level. It was all the red head could do to keep another cry in. The cool press of steel could be felt on the flesh of his throat.
"Don't," he whispered. His red eyes were brought wide, trying to see, to catch the smallest glimpse, of the blade.
"Why not? You didn't spare me."
The blade pressed down harder, he felt the trickle of blood as it ghost over his flesh. A cold sweat broke out along his forehead, the blade dug dangerously deeper-
The door smashed off the wall, hard. It called the man's attention, and his knife, away from his victim, pulling it toward the pull haired man standing in the doorway. His breath came out in short bursts and the arm bracing him against the doorway was taught under the weight of his body.
"Sugat-"
"Has the little maggot got a guardian angel?" the man mocked. He gave the boy's head a single, strong press before lifting completely off of him to face the new threat. Takuto could feel another trickle of blood sweeping down his temple and face.
With much effort, Takuto pulled himself back into a sitting position. His head throbbed to the beat of his heart, which fluttered irregularly. Looking out between his captors legs, he could see Sugata frowning. The other rolled his shoulders, steadying his breath.
"Who are you? How did you find this place?" the jailer demanded. Sugata said nothing. He just started walking toward the man, brows furrowed in rage.
"Did the voices tell you to come here?" Sugata quirked an eyebrow, but didn't stop walking. "They did! Get the hell out of my face!"
He slung the blade wildly across the room. It struck the wall behind Sugata with a dull clack that spurred the boy into action. Blue hair made a line across the room, until Sugata paused, jamming hit foot into the ground. The momentum carried him high, his knee drilling into the man's jaw with a sickening crack.
Without any hesitation, Sugata spun on Takuto, attempting to wrench the manacles open. When that didn't work he started pulling at the base.
"You came..." Takuto whispered. It was the first time he realized just how hoarse his voice had become over the past month.
"Of course I did." Sugata reassured. With one final tug the rusted metal gave way and the two of the them collapsed to the floor.
Sugata helped them both to their feet. Takuto's hand were still bond behind his back but it felt good tro be standing, even if his legs felt like jello from the length of time he had been sitting, and his foot was week from the infected wound that he knew Sugata had noticed. The other was observant like -
A low moan wafted up from the floor and the red head turned with wide, fearful eyes. The man was dragging himself to his feet, his jaw was bent out of sorts and several teeth were left behind on the floor.
He didn't bother with words, just launched himself at the two boys with the horrible yell of a man with nothing to lose. Takuto ducked under him, but Sugata was clipped on the shoulder and sent rolling across the floor. Instantly, Takuto's captor rose, making a mad dash toward the Sugata. The blue headed boy dodged quickly, countering with a swift kick to the ribs.
Then they ran; the two bolting outside with the mad man close on the heels.
Takuto felt something tug at his chain and he was dragged back into the man's arms. The knife had reappeared in his hand. The metal glinted out of sight under his chin. Takuto snarled, pushed back against the man, and slipped under the knife. Without stopping, he brought the back of his head down onto the man.
He felt the knife graze against his skin.
He felt the knife sink into the that wasn't his.
Then Sugata was pulling him away, bringing himself between Takuto and the man. The red head glance over his friends shoulders. He caught sight of the blood pooling around the man's head and the sight of a knife sticking out unevenly from the man's neck.
Sugata pulled him away. He slipped an arm around the red head's shoulders. "Come on, let's go home." Takuto nodded, suddenly feeling so very tired. He smiled in spit of himself.
A/N: Just something I came up with yesterday (I think. It's 1am here and I'm a little confused.) I wrote it in pretty much one go.
And sorry. I like torturing anything cute like Takuto ^^" I'm an evil soul. But he got a happy ending :) Right?
Also, I didn't read this over and there are probably a million typo's. So I apologize for that. Again, its 1 in the morning and I reeeeally want to upload this.
So tell me what you think? :)