The question that couldn't purge from both prisoners minds: Where am I, and who is that? For the past few minutes, awkward looks and minimal speaking had occurred. They had a mutual understanding both of them wanted to escape and in order to do so, they had to communicate. Still, it seemed to be a difficult task.
"I'm sorry, but you're a what now?" The pyromaniac asked slowly once more just to make sure he hadn't closed his ears for the short moment the other was talking. He had more of an ability to move around in place than his cellmate, but it was for naught if he couldn't stay awake.
"Vampire." Nico repeated in the disdain tone towards him he's been using since he regained consciousness.
It made sense now to the fire wielder, but in all honesty ,he had thought Nico was some ghost that didn't like the sun much. Being a vampire put things into a whole new perspective he hadn't thought of.
"Do you sparkle in the sun?" Leo wheezed.
"I burn, you pyro." The pale, small framed, boy snarled. His sharp fangs in his mouth came out for a brief moment, before retracting like claws on a tiger. He looked over his skull ring on the right hand, thankful that the captors left him with that much. He had on tough cotton, light grey pants and a shirt- the type of style he's seen American hospital nurses wear without any pockets. The same for the unpleasant converser right by him.
"My name is Leo."
"Unnecessary formality." His tone declaring that he didn't care.
"You told me your name." He reasoned. Looking around once more, Leo felt like he was drowning out of water. He felt like a goldfish suffocating in its own fish bowl.
The duo sat, fitted chains on their wrists and ankles. They were side by side, the translucent glass around them more taunting than metal bars in a prison. Almost as if their captors intended to watch them like scientists- studying their every move and their reactions to different tests. The thought made Leo shiver. The technology of the chains, Leo knew, were modeled after the original Prometheus chains, adjusting to limit any user by the touch.
High tech quality only his father would be able to create.
Leo slouched down as close as he could before the chains pained him with little oxygen around him. While Nico, on the other hand, hid in the corner right by Leo- barely touching silver cuffs pinning his joints.
"We can...work together…" Leo fought to inhale for the next breath. The limited oxygen would surely kill him before his captors even got the chance.
This wasn't the first time Nico was locked up, and it wouldn't be the last, but there was something about the place that felt familiar to him.
He shrugged off the thoughts of assured health, but the thought occurred again-
He didn't feel hungry or thirsty.
It seemed the people who caught him needed to keep him in mint condition or were decent humans. As if mortals were decent. He thought bitterly.
How did one of them catch him this time? They even took his shoes and it felt like they had cleaned and dolled him up while he was sedated... but they left the ring.
"For someone who can't wield the strength to breathe, I'd suggest you save your breath."The remark was met with Nico's own sufferings, clenching his teeth.
Ding.
He held in a scream as the pure silver cuffs tightened on his wrists and ankles, the chains drawing back to the walls small openings. The renounced son of Hades could only look over at the sides of his shoulders where his arms were held in place,his skin sizzling an aroma of blood. From each cuff came a line of smoke visible from the pyrokinetics point of view.
The distinguished flame of a jokester closed his eyes tight with a sharp intake of breath and held a loose smile on his face as he bobbed his head and lowered his chin,locking eyes on the wisp of smoke.
"So vampires burn?"
It sounded like a mockery to Nico's conditions. He threatened his cellmate with only his eyes, lowering his gaze.
Leo rocked both his calloused pointer fingers back and forth like he was conducting a song, causing the smoke to fall back down to the chains it had come from. Nico followed the movement of his cellmates finger, trailing back to the knitting smoke on his right arms restriction- it hurt- but the surprise of his cellmates power...
He's never met a pyro who could control fire not produced by their body, and yet here he was- here they were. Together. A rarity in itself.
He kicked his feet and curled his toes at the pain, biting his lip as he forced himself to keep his ankles touching the metal.
"Swish...swash…" Those weren't the right words to describe fire, but to the sleepy boy, the smoke crashed back and forth- knitting itself in and out of the chains like waves on a beach-thickening on every chain as time passed. Nico gritted his teeth.
"Burn... vampire…just a little more.." He pleaded. Leo's forehead was beading with sweat, his body shaking all over.
"I'm trying."He groaned. The physical pain was a rusty concept he hadn't had in years. The recurring feeling was not welcomed in his almost indestructible immune system.
There was a sudden clink sound before the chains on Nico's right handcuff became a limp hanging on the wall.
The death toll of an alarm sounded off around them.
Like pulling off a band-aid, he tried not to think about the sensation of his body in harm and ripped the rest of the metal off of him. He knew he would heal, and quickly stood up- free.
"You won't drink my blood, right?" A small voice whispered. It would have been inaudible if Nico didn't have excellent hearing.
Nico could feel the vibration beneath his feet, which were bare and touching the cold tiles. He didn't know how long he had been there. People were marching. Lighter than anticipated. Offbeat.
The freed cellmate was met with pressure on his hands as if being crushed, but he couldn't leave the guy behind. He could feel the hairs behind his neck stand.
Once his hands got on to the chains they were relatively easy to pull off as they were made of steel, but the fire user stayed where he sat- taking in deep breaths.
''You've got to be kidding me. Kid, get up." He expected him to stand up after the chains broke. To run and find an opening. That is, of course, what Nico would've done.
A silver arrow whizzed past his left ear. He didn't think anyone carried them around nowadays. He looked behind him- the translucent glass that divided the rooms were now distinguishable by the holes the arrow left. He followed the trail of twenty broken holes in the glass with his sharp sight.
A girl with silky black hair with her nose scrunched up in concentration, not even a teenager, wearing the infamous Hunter of Artemis logo on her black jacket. There was a lethal silver aura around her as she brought her eyes back up to meet his. She was reloading. His sister.
She missed on purpose.
"I can't … walk. Not without my braces." The curly haired brunette scrunched his hair with one hand, coughing as he took his first intake of breath. A heat wave passed over the both of them for a moment before it settled back in to Leo's body.
Another arrow nicked Nico's arm, landing right above Leo's head.
Nico looked down at the boy before making a last minute decision, grabbing Leo by the arm as everything made more sense. He tucked himself under his shoulder, pushing Leo up on his back.
"You're pretty hot on my back," Nico commented in discomfort. He didn't know pyro's body temperatures were a polar opposite to his.
"Cold is the lack of heat. You're not used to someone like me, but we can arrange that." Leo replied with a little smirk followed by a new concern,"What are we going to do?"
He clung on to Nico's shoulders and Nico was surprised by the fierce tone and body strength Leo lacked.
Cold is the lack of heat, darkness is the lack of light…but shadows move where light can touch.
An idea clicked. "Make a big light, kid."
It would cause a distraction- not only would the shooters not be able to hit him without second guessing- but he could possibly travel out of the site if the shadows cast from the fire were big enough.
"Fire? I heard fire." The pyromaniac now had his head up, with enough oxygen intake to his lungs, his eyes searched around frantically. Leo felt dizzy still, but with one hand holding on to Nico, the other was held up as if he was pulling something heavy down.
"Can you handle the heat?"
"Just make the frickin' fire, kid." Nico's voice was tight, commanding.
Leo did as he was told. Not that he was some servant who takes commands, but because burning bright fire is what he does best.
Another arrow, it had struck Leo's left leg, missing Nico slightly. The wound caught Leo's concentration in a knot and shocked him, but it didn't keep him from doing what he had in mind.
"I got shot!" Leo cried out.
"As if I don't already know."Nico panicked. He should have moved faster.
"No, you skeleton-" Leo kicked his left leg up. Gripping onto the arrow lodged right by his Tibia, blood dripping,"-stand close to the glass."
"It's too close." He dodged another one with a consideration of the glass shards beneath his feet."If I go they'll have a direct aim on us."
"Great." He broke off half the arrow and smeared blood drippings on to it. As soon as it was thrown it erupted into flames. It was small until the pyro brought the inner ceiling above and around the glass they were closest to down with it ablaze, wires dangling. It was more than enough darkness Nico needed as the lightbulbs sparked into flames with smoke like whips killing it, no longer casting the light that kept fewer shadows and engulfed the glass cells in a minor blackout.
"Hope you're not craving blood, Nico. That enough light for ya'?" He teased.
"Plenty." Nico hadn't had the need to use the shadows in years, but as he pulled his hands up to command it, it felt like pulling on silk robes over his body. There was a sudden hush and cool stillness as time only slowed for him through the shades, the physical world slipping away. It made him feel less human than he already was and he knew once long ago these powers made him feel comfortable.
They emerged in the shadows of an alleyway in daylight. Leo yanked himself off Nico's back and landed on his behind and sourly rubbed it. He put out the fire on his shoulders, which pierced tiny holes and made soot marks on his sleeves.
"I don't know what just happened, but I'm not a fan of it,"Leo commented as the ringing resonated in his ears. He rubbed his ears. "That siren was irritating."
The ruddy red brick buildings they had landed between were roughly twenty feet away from each other with the middle of the road dipping down and hidden from the sun where the duo had materialized. From the first floor down both buildings were littered with graffiti, but the rest didn't matter. Broken windows for broken homes, rusted metal for old memories. A busy street could be seen in front of them involving taxi's moving at a slow pace, people walking quickly with bicyclists ringing their bells as they crossed paths between sidewalks and roads. A busy street for a busy city.
"Travelling" Nico answered, "And let me help. Your leg's hurt." The shadow traveler knelt down by his side to aid but stopped himself immediately. Silver, even worse- the silver his sister used to shoot. "Never mind. Do it yourself."
"When your legs don't work like they used to before-." Leo flinched at a sudden headache and a feeling of heavy jet lag. He had blood still trickling from his leg, the shaft sticking out from behind, but it seemed that fate had blessed him it happened at the right time.
Nico looked down at his hands. The third-degree burns ceased to have any trace on his cold skin, the skull ring still intact. His feet didn't have any protection either, but he knew he could find some somewhere. He got up from his position from the ground, dusting himself off. He felt tired, like he could lay down and take a nap.
"Where are you going?" Leo winced,"We just survived some kidnapping, and you're just going to leave?" His heart sunk a little as he realized his mother- she must've been worried sick since he left.
"I'm not leaving, kid-"
"My name is Leo. L-E-O. Not kid. I'm the same age as you...right? We look the same age, though I must admit- I look more appealing."
"Leo, just shut up for one second."
Nico stopped listening to the boy and stepped over him to focus on the graffiti on the walls. If he used his shadow traveling one more time, there was a chance he'd have to sleep. A risk he wasn't yet willing to take.
"I'll just have to do what I usually do." The black haired boy mused quietly to himself.
After Leo ripped both sleeves off his prison uniform, he breathed in and out a couple of times before he worked up enough to not think. With one quick motion and a scream that had a few passerbys tilt their head, the wound was rid of a broken arrow. Nico scowled and it certainly did the trick to keep others from stopping to ask questions.
"Are you trying to get us caught?" He turned away from looking over the graffiti on the walls.
"I need help. Wrap this over my leg tight. Please." Leo instructed, but also politely. For reasons, whenever he thought about his mom he made sure to be a little more respectful to Yankees.
Nico picked up the sleeves and ripped them quickly into halves until there were a total of 16 strips. He knelt down for a short moment and knotted them together, pressing it on to Leo's wound before more blood could spill, wrapping it with a lot of pressure with the bunny ears as a final touch.
He remembered being taught to tie his shoes- 'Make the bunny ears' was what she had said. Nico shook the thought away.
"There,"Nico muttered. Leo tightened his smile and used his hands to move his legs over. The one was swollen, and difficult to move constantly. Nico studied Leo, his eyebrows knitting together.
The wounded seemed fragile, but Nico knew the facade was only the first layer. Knowing the people his sister works for, they didn't take in just anyone. It seemed a little more than shallow to have kidnapped someone who couldn't fight back fairly, but how was he sure the kid didn't fight back? The bigger surprise was that he had survived to tell the story.
"Thank you." Leo expressed. It sounded more than just a thank you for helping him wrap his wound. To save the both of them from troubling embarrassment, Nico shrugged.
"Whatever. Can you walk on that leg?"
Leo shook his head, "Without my leg braces I can't walk on either, but I can still get around." He demonstrated his claim and did a dead leg plank crawl to the wall- well, before catching himself fall once a pain jolted up. Nico looked over at the leg and Leo's calloused hands, now able to understand.
"I've got a pair of lame legs,"Leo admitted.
The black haired boy walked over to the lame-legged sitting with his back against the wall. "They'll find us soon if we can't find the entrance."
"You know who they are?"Leo asked a bit in surprise,"The ones who took me?"
"Ruthless girls," Nico commented as he traced his finger over the artwork and sloppy vulgarity. "Workers of Artemis."
"The goddess?"
"The one and only." Nico revealed, "She's been looking for the rest of them."
"Them as in fire users like me?" Leo asked.
"You're the only pyro I've met with that ability." He admitted, "All the creeps like yourself never wanted up top, are locked up in their own world." Nico's cynical smile escaped as he pointed down,"you catch one, you find two. You catch two, you find a whole nation."
"I don't know which part of your statement I should pick at. Your compliment or the insult."
"I was stating facts."
Leo thought about it. He'd met goddesses, he'd met the inventor of the chicken nuggets ghost, but he'd never met others truly like him. Only frauds who pretend to be like him for entertainment in circuses and television shows. Then again, his mom told him it was unnecessary to meet others, it would get messy. Their small family of two didn't consist of messy people. Most of the time.
The firebender nodded his head at the answers given to his questions. Though, he kept thinking of his mom and how she'd be concerned. She didn't know where he was, and the thought of being late for dinner with a flying chancla, or worse, a bolt if she just got off of work behind that door concerned him.
"Hey" He called out,"Do you know if I can get home from here? Or find a landline?"
There, smaller than Nico had hoped, the symbol appeared in the middle of a small white rose spray painted- hidden amongst others. Nico pressed his hand on a triangle, Δ, the letter Delta in Greek. A glowing green flashed brightly before it had subsided. The brick cracked beneath his hands as it crumbled to rubble lying by his feet until the small hole formed a large, perfect arc above their heads.
Leo spat out the dust and residue off his lips before noticing the shady hole in the wall.
"Where exactly do you think here is?"
"Are we going in there?"Leo seemed slightly appalled but more so concerned - the hole in the wall didn't lead to the dirty,dusty apartment that they broke into,but an abyss of darkness. Leo looked in both directions and considered making a crawl for it. "Look, I'm glad we shared a loving memory of almost dying, but I just want to get back home to Texas-"
Nico hoisted him up on to his back and carried him piggyback style.
"Shut up about home already. Wherever home is, they probably already have it on lockdown. They'll know stupid people like you would try to go back to where you came from." He looked down at his skull ring and sighed. A small eyeball peeked through the skull- a tracker.
" We have to start moving."
"Can I at least know where we're going?"Leo asked, the sudden joking turning to anxiety.
Nico stepped through the hole. Unlike the cold and cracked riddled street they were once on, the granite floors under his feet felt warm.
"Welcome to the labyrinth, kid."
BETA-NOTE: Hey guys! *Waves* Don't know if you know me, but I'm SG2000. This story is fabulous and if you could click the review button below and leave input on the story it would be awesome. Luv ya all. :) xoxox -SG2000
A/N: I felt like if I don't post now, I won't post for another few months. The concept of this story came up after reading a couple "no mist" fanfic stories and thought I should put a hand in it. Why not dabble and try out new storylines? I also decided to try a hand in writing a story. Don't worry if things don't make sense now, they will make sense later.
Huge thank you to my lovely beta-reader SG2000, without them, this story would not have come out.