You know when you get a wild idea in your head and it just won't go away? Yep.

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Yuri forced himself to breathe as he pressed his back against the cold metal wall of the hallway. He was fairly certain he would never get used to how . . . empty it always felt out here. He tried to make his mind feel clear like the echoing hallway they were currently huddled up in, and pushed his mind out into the next corridor. There were two men, but heading away from the direction Yuuri had gestured towards a moment ago.

Now that he knew the way ahead was clear, Yuri turned back and nodded at the two men behind him. Yuuri still had the same nervous but determined look on his face as he had since they'd managed to slip out of their cell a few minutes ago. Victor, if anything, seemed worse than he had the last time Yuri had looked at him. All this skittering about, dodging crew members and hunkering against walls was clearly not doing his injuries any favors.

Both of them managed to return Yuri's nod, though, so he slid around the corner, carefully keeping his senses extended outwards on the lookout. As they approached the next intersection, Yuri paused as he felt someone coming towards them. He reached out and carefully pushed the other two against the wall with his forearm.

Shifting his concentration from trying to sense nearby minds, Yuri began projecting a sense of calm normalcy. The rough looking character that rounded the corner strode past the three of them hunkered down along the wall without a glance. Once he had disappeared, Yuri released his projection with an exhausted sigh and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.

Yuuri caught his eye and pointed ahead.

"There. Down that hallway are the escape pods."

Almost there, then. Good. Yuri hadn't used his telepathy this much in his entire life, and it was taking a toll. He nodded and checked again to make sure none of their captors were nearby. When he felt the surrounding area was clear, he stepped away from the wall and edged himself toward the corridor Yuuri had pointed out.

A quick peak around the corner revealed a short hallway with two doors on either side, and one at the end. No crew members in sight. Yuri waved the other two up and stepped into the hallway. At a gesture from the dark-haired companion, Yuri shifted Victor onto his shoulder.

Apparently it was pure bad luck that Victor was the only one their captors been willing to injure. Apparently Yuuri's claim of being a well-known dancer was not exaggerated, since several of the shady crew members had recognized him on sight. That just left Yuuri and Victor. After much debate, they decided to limit their 'curiosity' to just one of them in case anything too permanent happened so that they would still have one piece of pristine merchandise. The leader had decided that Yuri being younger might make him more valuable.

Yuri wasn't sure if Victor's wings would ever fully recover.

Yuuri opened the control panel on the nearest doorway and quickly began tapping away at the strange interface. He seemed pretty familiar with it, which was good, since Yuri still couldn't comprehend anything of the strange language and technology here. Of course, Yuuri was from around here, and even piloted a ship of a smaller but similar design.

It wasn't until Yuri realized that his vision was starting to blur that he realized that he hadn't been checking for any approaching minds. When he did so now, he cursed under his breath just as Yuuri managed to get the door open.

Yuri shoved Victor into the human's arms, mentally wincing as he felt his arm brush against Victor's wounded wing.

"There's a bunch of them coming. They're onto us. Get the old man out of here, I'll distract them."

Yuuri frowned in confusion, "What? No! We can't-hurry up! "

Yuri rolled his eyes and blew his blonde bangs out of his face, "Hurry, piglet!"

With a shove, the two older men landed in a heap inside the small escape pod's floor. A moment later the door shut automatically. Yuri waved his hands to either side of him, conjuring an illusion of each of his companions behind him, giving them each a blaster like their captors carried around all the time. Yuuri's face appeared in the small window of the pod's door, his face torn between anger and fear as he apparently tried yelling at Yuri through what proved to be a soundproof door.

Yuri gave him a firm nod, and turned to the end of the hallway just as a handful of men came into view. Yuri heard a slight click, and what sounded like a puff of air. A quick glance out the little window showed the pod floating away, nothing but black and stars behind it. With a frown, Yuri flicked a finger towards the window, throwing up the image of an empty pod.

Turning back to his approaching captors, Yuri noticed how hard it was getting to keep his illusions up. He hadn't realized it, but in order to do so he was no longer able to maintain the slight link that he used to translate the strange human language that Yurri called 'Basic'. The leader of the pirate crew that had been holding them prisoner for several days now was speaking, but Yuri could no longer tell what he was saying.

Yuri, and consequently the illusions of his two companions, slowly began backing away from the men pointing their blasters at him. The leader, Yuri thought his name was something like J, was still babbling at him. Yuri stumbled as a wave of exhaustion swept over him. To much use of his powers. He couldn't keep this up much longer, but he had to buy as much time as he could for Yuuri and Victor to get away.

The men opposite him suddenly had strangely confused looks on their faces, but before Yuri could even wonder why, he felt his back press against the end of the hallway. He winced as he glanced to the side to see a scowling and armed Victor standing halfway through the wall.

"Well, crap," he thought. Then he saw his illusion flicker into nothingness before he felt himself start to fall and everything turned black.