Mission: Retrieval
by Autumn Win-Dow
(AoGA House Cup. Words: 1248)
The horrific screeching of the metal door does not faze the prisoner.
She is dragged by two bulky guards of the castle, and her shackles constantly scrape against her wrists and the back of her lower legs. The guards' grips on her thin arms are unnecessarily tight, and the sharp rocks on the path leading to the royal dungeons pierce the skin and flesh of the soles of her feet. The icy wind whistles through the barred windows, and it nips at her bare face. A gash on her upper arm continues to bleed after a guard cut her with his sword just a moment before she was captured, and the men holding her now have no concern about it.
Despite all this, Hotaru Imai remains silent and stone faced.
They reach an empty cell at the end of the hall, and one of the men grabs her other arm while the other unlocks the cell gate. As soon as it is open, the man with his grip on her unceremoniously throws her in – leading to her body skidding against the small pebbles and the cold rock surface. She feels the sharp rocks tear at her skin, and she loses her cool – Hotaru snarls at the pain radiating through her body, and she can barely hear the laughs of the guards before the cell gate closes with a resonant clang.
"Don't you think about trying to escape, little girl," One of the men taunted her through the bars – now confident that there was no way that she could attack him, "Or else, those small rocks won't be the only thing tearing your skin."
The men roar in laughter as they casually walk away from the cell, and she hears the faint jingling of the keys fading away with their voices.
Hotaru sits up and looks down at her arm – her pale skin is scathed – trails of blood and spots of flesh were visible. She decides that it is barely a scratch – and it is; it is nothing close to the gash on her other arm – and leans her head on the cold stone wall, in rest.
She considers the prospect of finally getting sleep after three endless days of escape, and even though she had failed in doing so, she hopes that perhaps a quick rest can keep her at ease, even for a short moment.
However, after she attempts to sleep for two hours, she finds that she cannot. The fright she felt when the kingdom's guards surrounded her – swords ready for action – replays time and time again in her mind, and she softly blows a strand of dark hair off her face.
Hotaru Imai was a bandit – a thief, of whom stole from the rich and (sometimes) gave to the poor. Nevertheless, the peasants loved her, and the elites only wished for her downfall. By day, she was a popular merchant, and by night, she was the one returning the taxes to the people.
She knows that she is the type of person who would keep all the stolen riches to herself – if only it wasn't for two factors – the peasants were barely surviving from her contributions, and she probably wouldn't have become a thief in better circumstances.
Days pass as if life is on fast forward, but Hotaru does not move from her position on the ground. She simply watches the same spot on the ground – each day, a small loaf and a metal bowl of watery porridge is tossed unceremoniously onto that spot, and the cold soup splatters all over the dirty ground.
Hotaru decided that it is not worth eating, and she remains unmovable.
A part of her hopes that she would eventually be saved – preferably by Ruka, since her best friend Mikan would probably create more chaos and get jailed herself – despite her loss of motivation to do so herself.
Hotaru has no weapon, no defence, no energy.
She finds the concept of saving herself completely impossible.
But despite her depletion of energy and motivation, she is sure about one particular thing.
If she were to be saved, she would have rather wanted to escape the dungeons in secret.
Hotaru was saved eventually, but not in the way which she had hoped – she had eventually escaped the stone walls with a bang.
The back wall of her cell completely crumbles after an ear-piercing explosion, and Hotaru stumbles forward and her back painfully strikes the solid bars of the gate. After she recovers from the shock, she is unable to retain her bewilderment – for the first time in weeks, she sees something but cold rock and metal restraints.
She sees the world outside.
But even the blow of cool air on her bloodied face and the vibrant green of the forests cannot compare to the movement which she senses from nearby – a figure, crawling into the hole with much difficulty.
Hotaru focuses her eyes on the figure, and realises that it is a man with sandy hair and slanted eyes, heaving himself into her cell. She keeps her back against the bars, and her hand grips the metal tightly.
She scans him with a suspicious look as soon as his feet are on solid ground – she finds him somewhat familiar, but she is unable to place a finger on it. "Who the hell are you?" She eventually asks the mystery man.
Upon hearing her voice, his head snaps up, and he grins – as if his stunt hadn't been executed only a minute prior.
"Hayate Matsudaira. Pleased to be of service, Cool Blue Sky," He majestically speaks, while bowing to her as if she were a duchess, "I am here to be of service."
Hotaru flinches at his use of her alter ego name – not only because it was the reason why she was in the cell in the first place, but of how childish it sounds from his voice, as it was created by Mikan while she was on a sugar high and a superhero fad.
"What in the world are you doing, blowing up a dungeon wall?!" Hotaru asks him, as she starts to lose her cool from the shock.
Hayate only smirks wider as he walks closer and holds out a hand for her to grab on to, before answering, "I'm here to save the princess from this dungeon."
Hotaru huffs at his enthusiastic role play, noticing his dirty and simple clothing, "We just met, and already I'm not thinking very highly of you… and how could I trust someone I just met with my life?" She questions him, unmoving in the corner of the room.
He quietly laughs, and they both hear the approaching sound of the soldiers. He signalled to his own hand once again.
"I've met you before, Cool Blue Sky. You can trust me, because you've saved my life once. I'm here in order to repay the favour."
If there was one thing she believed in and one talent she had, they both eventually apply to her as she hears his words at that moment.
She can see the genuine expression in his eyes, and she is the type of lady who believes in the return of favours.
"Intruder! Intruder!"
The voice of one of the guards resonates in the dungeons, and in a split second decision, she grabs his hand firmly and pulls herself up.
She does not flinch when she feel his hand grasp her thin waist, but she glares at him.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She growls when she sees no rope, no beast - absolutely nothing to help them escape.
"We're going to jump." He explains, as he pulls her closer into his chest.
Hotaru's eyes widen when she looks down - the tower is one of the highest prison chambers in the kingdom, and she had never once thought about jumping off it.
"That's ridiculous! We're going to die!" Hotaru does not bother in keeping calm.
That is the reason why Hayate looks at her - straight into her eyes - with a determined expression.
"Cool Blue Sky, I trusted you once- hell, I still trust you. So I'm here to return the favor. You can trust me."
Hotaru hears the footsteps of the soldiers, and knows that they are due to arrive in a few split seconds.
In an instant, she uses these last seconds to say something. "Jump."
A/N: I don't really mind the HayatexHotaru pairing, but for some reason I really wanted to write this. Right now, I've written three medieval themed fics. I don't know why.