... No introduction here. ;) Just enjoy as always!

Chapter Four: Escape

Pain… it was all he could think about, all he could feel. It pulsed through his body and ran across his mind. Even as he was finally drawn back into the world of consciousness, the horrible, numbing pain was all the boy knew as the aches shot through every corner of his frame, all the way down to his legs and shooting up his spine. The agony crept through every limb and nerve in him, and his eyes slowly, painfully, blinked open as he tried to see past the torment and figure out just where he was.

He was dimly aware of the massive, empty silence around him, yet his attention first became to find the source of the pain- and while barbs of the ache shot up and down his spine at his every moment, he was able to trace its source to a tightening around his wrists and ankles. Calming himself as best as he could, groggily still awakening from unconsciousness, the youth tilted his head to the side, trying to get a glimpse of just what was gripping so tightly onto his arms and legs.

A blackened, metallic cuff was shackled firmly against his left wrist, tightly crushing his light-green sleeve against his skin, and he noted how it was lifted upwards, above his head, chained solidly to the wall which his back was up against. A quick look on the other side confirmed it- his right arm was also bound by the cold, unforgiving metallic chain, tightly stuck to the stone wall behind him. It was only his long-sleeved, pine-tinted shirt that kept the metal from digging into his wrist and drawing blood. He didn't even need to look a third or fourth time- he knew, with a creeping feeling of horror in the pits of his stomach, what was wrapped around each of his ankles, pinning them to the wall along with as his arms.

Where… where in the heck was he? As the feeling set in, the knowledge that he was chained… imprisoned… his mind was fully awakened, and he shook his head once or twice to clear the rest of the cobwebs out so he could think. His confused, blue eyes blinked a few times as he looked from side to side, taking in his surroundings. His earlier thoughts, based on the fact that he was chained up, were correct- he was in a dark, damp prison chamber. Against his back was a stone wall, and the other three walls which served as his cell were lined with thick, iron bars- one of which held a strong, locked door.

Okay… Let's keep calm, here… I'm obviously in some sort of prison. And not a very nice one, from the looks of it… How in the heck did I get into this sort of situation? Closing his eyes tight, the boy began to wrack his brain, his memories, as if trying to figure out what had happened which had put him in this sort of puzzle. He hadn't done anything wrong, not that he could remember… He wasn't some sort of a criminal. Why was he locked up in this strange place?

Reaching back into the furthest corners of his mind, the boy searched frantically for any piece of information which might be helpful in figuring things out. Again, he made sure to keep himself calm as he did so, despite his obviously troubling situation- and yet, as the seconds ticked by, a different sort of pain began to ricochet through his body. A pain much different than the kind caused by the shackles on each of his limbs… But also one far much worse.

A cold chill ran through his heart, and he found himself unable to breathe, his eyes wide open.

I… I don't remember… I don't have the faintest clue of where I am, or how I got here, or… or…

It was then that he began to realize, not only were those answers nowhere in his mind… but something else was missing, as well. Something even more important than just where he was or how he had gotten there. And though he was unaware of it, his heart had all but stopped as he mentally asked himself a question… a simple question, yet he horrifyingly knew he couldn't answer…

… Who… who am I…?

Slowly, he resumed breathing- slow, shallow and choppy breaths, as he tried to keep himself from panicking. However, his now frantic eyes continued to dart around his cell, desperate and panicked. How… how in the world could he not know who he was?-! What had happened to him?-!

Hey… hey! Calm down! His thoughts snapped at him, and his narrowed eyes darted down to the ground. You're not gonna get anywhere freaking out, so just calm the heck down, and think things through. Look around you. Maybe there's something or someone here that'll help you remember things. You probably just got banged on the head, or something… So keep your cool and just figure things out.

His eyes had closed, and he had forced himself to relax both mentally and physically. Alright… he'd do just that. Nevermind about what he couldn't remember, that wasn't that important right now- what was important was getting the heck out of there. With a quietly restored confidence, he lifted his head upwards and set about looking across the entity of his cell and those surrounding it, hoping he could find something- anything- to help him get out of this mess.

But before he could so much as take a sweeping glance- a sudden voice spoke quietly and calmly across the silence, and his eyes instantly jumped to the side, settling on the form of a small child, chained up against the wall in a cell opposite his own.

"So… you're finally awake, are you?"

The boy blinked a few times in confusion as he looked at his fellow cell-mate. While they were separated by a single, iron-bar wall, he could still clearly see the other who had spoken to him. He was young- perhaps even the same age as he was- and sort of oddly dressed, the shadows blending in with his purple garb and making him almost seem as black as the wall he was chained up against. And yet, most curiously, were his calm blue eyes as they stared back at the other, awaiting a response.

"Um… yeah, I guess…" What in the world was he to say? The other chained boy was looking patiently at him, as if waiting for the other to talk. Shaking his head and gathering his courage, the first boy spoke aloud to the other, his voice slightly shaky, "Do… do you know where we are, by any chance?"

There was another silence between the two boys, where the one in purple calmly turned his head, looking to the side of them- where, outside the cells, a table, chair, and staircase led out of the chambers. Glancing back at the other, he replied in his simple and steady voice, "I would assume some sort of prison. Being that we're both chained up together, it's quite likely that we were also imprisoned together."

The first boy blinked in quiet surprise at the other's calculated, calm words. It was as if he was hardly afraid or worried about their situation at all. Yet, he noticed oddly, it wasn't quite his tone which caught his attention- but what he'd said.

"You mean… you don't remember being chained up, either?" he pressed, his eyes slightly wide in curiosity. Was it even possible? Could he not remember anything, either?

Again, the silence was split between the two as the other carefully thought out his words, looking out towards the stairs once more. Finally, he looked back at the other and nodded simply. "Ah… I thought you might be experiencing it, as well," he said simply, though sighed rather dejectedly and shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I can't remember much of anything at all, either," he muttered, his eyes slightly narrowing in frustration and looking down towards the damp, cold stone floor.

Before the first could reply, he continued as he shook his head, his light blonde locks of hair shaking idly over his forehead, "It seems we're both experiencing amnesia, then. Especially troubling, given our current circumstances…" Frowning, he looked back towards the stairs, as if quietly angered. "I've already tried multiple times to loosen the chains, or find a way to make them malfunction. Nothing's yet succeeded."

As soon as the first part of his speech had finished, the first boy, chained on the opposite side of the wall as the one clothed in purple, almost found himself lost in his own thoughts. …Amnesia? Is that what he said? What in the world's going on here? …Who is he? And just who the heck am I?-! He glanced back towards the other as he finished talking about a possible escape. Following the other's glance, his eyes settled upon the opposite side of the cell, towards a small opening which connected each of their cells and met with an upwards-leading staircase. It was the only way out, but…

At the base of the staircases, however, something glistened and caught his eye- and as he turned to look towards the table, he blinked in light surprise. Two swords, unmanned, were lying on top of the table. Their blades were silver, and sharp- and their handles glistened with gold. Who would leave two swords simply lying around, by the dungeons, even? However, before he could think more on it, his thoughts chided him and he returned to the more pressing matter at hand- getting out of his chains.

Grunting in effort, he pulled his arm as hard as he could, looking upwards at it in his desperate attempt to free his arm from the chains.

"It's no use," the other boy spoke, shaking his head a bit sadly- yet his voice was still as calm and composed as ever. "Nothing but a guard's key will open those chains."

"A guard's key, huh?" the first responded with a grim smile, relaxing as he realized it was true- no use wasting his energy trying to force open the chains. They were too strong. His gaze returned towards the table- maybe a lazy guard had left his set of keys lying around somewhere, perhaps within reach.

No dice- the only thing on that table were those two strange swords. Huh. His smile turned into a grim frown as his mind began to race, trying to formulate a plan. Whatever the circumstances were, however odd they may be… he wasn't going to simply hang around all day. (Wow, even in a life or death situation I'm making puns, he thought dryly.) He'd plan a way out- he had to.

However, before he could even set his mind on the appointed task of figuring out some sort of escape route, a loud banging noise suddenly blew through the chambers, and both boys, snapped out of their thoughts, looked towards the stairs. The metal door at the top of the stairs must have been opened- and soon enough, heavy footsteps were heard slamming down each step, growing louder and stronger with each approaching step. A guard was on his way to check on the two imprisoned children.

And yet, through the sounds of his massive footsteps growing closer and closer… as the first boy began to panic, something instead caught the other one's attention. The unmistakable sound… of keys clinking together.

He grinned.

"Hey!" he hissed quietly, yet urgently, to the other boy, garbed in green, who turned and looked at him upon being addressed. Grinning, the prisoner in purple continued. "I have a plan, alright? Follow my lead!"

The other boy wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but he nodded simply back. What did he have in store? He hadn't thought about it earlier, but as the boy had been quiet most of the time, maybe he'd been using his time to formulate a plan… smart… he mentally kicked himself for not doing that earlier.

But before his mind could go any further than that, the footsteps stopped, and he looked sharply to the side, with wide eyes, at the side of his cell. Standing on the opposite side of both cells, stood an armored, muscled brute. He… didn't know what else to call it, other than a brute or some sort of monster- it looked like an animal, similar to a pig, but stood on two legs and wore battle armor, carrying behind it a large, rusted axe. He also noticed a large ring of silver keys dangling on the blade of the axe…

However, his eyes, and attention, were suddenly diverted elsewhere than the keys as, in an instant, another, harsh sound began to ring across his ears. His eyes widened in small panic as he realized, looking over at the other, just what those sounds were.

Coughing, hacking, wheezing, and nearly retching, the boy who had spoken to him only moments before was suddenly seized by illness as his head hung limply between his shoulders, his back arching forward as if he were suddenly going to be sick. He coughed and coughed, repetitively and almost annoyingly, as the first began to panic.

Was he okay? How had he gotten sick? What was the guard going to do?

And yet… As he looked at the other, a small pause came in his coughs… and, through his hanging-over bangs, he could've sworn he saw the other smile, his eyes glinting mischievously. So… this was his plan? The first nodded seriously, understanding where he was going, and ready to play along.

Instantly, he returned to his coughing and choking, and it had just the effect he desired- the pig-guard, snarling and sneering in contempt, walked over to the door of the other's cell. It grumbled and snorted some inarticulate words the boy couldn't understand, but he could clearly tell from its face that he was not pleased with the other boy's feigned illness. Reaching behind him, the guard picked the ring of keys off his axe and inserted one into the door. A soft click followed, and the door swung open, the guard replacing the ring of keys back on the blade of his axe, slung over his shoulder. The door slammed shut behind him.

Snorting, the hulking pig hobbled over to the kid, grunting and snarling as it continued to growl at the boy. It leaned in closer to the other, its monstrous yellow eyes narrowing as it peered past the kid's bangs, getting close to his face…

And in an instant, the boy jerked his head back up- and grinned.

Suddenly, lifting one of his legs free of its chains- the first boy stared, slack-jawed and bug-eyed (how did he get free of that?-! He wondered incredulously) - the prisoner bent his knee and, with all his strength, kicked his foot out at the guard. The result was instantaneous- the breath was knocked out of him and he was effectively caught off-guard, stumbling backwards. But what was more important was what went sailing through the air as a result of the kick- the glistening, round ring of silver keys flew off the axe's blade, passing easily through the iron-barred wall which separated the two dungeons- and landed with a small clink, sliding an inch or two only to stop right at the other prisoner's feet.

The silent, split second which followed after the keys fell felt like an eternity, as all sets of eyes were focused on the keys. But even it would soon come to pass- and the second which followed exploded with noise and motion.

Roaring in fury at having been attacked and deceived, the pig-beast growled and snarled as it whirled around- now trapped in the other's cell- and ran towards the separating wall of iron bars. It didn't get far, however, before it suddenly bellowed as it fell face-flat on the stone. The boy's leg had darted out once again and tripped the other, and his face was fraught with pain as he stretched his leg out as far as he could, trying to keep the guard detained.

"H-Hey! The keys! Get the keys!" he shouted angrily as his leg shook and sweat beaded down the side of his face.

"But, my chains!" the other protested just as quickly and worriedly as he looked down at the ring of keys lying so perfectly by his feet. He grunted as he continued to pull and jerk at his ankle. How the hell did that other kid get it off?-!

"Nggh! Twist and pull!" the other shouted back as he continued to struggle with holding back the guard, who was now turning around and fighting back with the other, trying to push the kid's leg off of him.

Taking the other's instructions, the first boy quickly and effectively did as he was told- and, his eyes wide, watched as the leather of his boots rubbed against the side of the shackle's switch, effectively snapping it open with the motion. It seemed the leg shackles were different than the arms… mentally, he cursed himself. Why had he not noticed this before?

No time for that! Get the keys! Help him! His thoughts shouted at him, and, reaching forward, quickly hooked the toe of his boots over the ring of keys. He couldn't pay attention to what was happening in the other cell- in all the noise and confusion, he only hoped the other kid was okay as he raised the keyring up to his shoulder, and took the first key he could get a hold of in between his teeth.

How he eventually managed it, he'd never know… apparently, luck was on his side… but as soon as he heard the satisfying click of the key sliding in the lock of his arm, he swung his free wrist outwards, not wasting another second before grabbing the key in his free hand and using it to unlock his other arm.

The chaos in the other cell was growing in intensity and volume, and, before he could even think about his newfound freedom, it was all the boy could do to stumble towards the cell door (after having unhooked his other ankle free) and shove the key into the door's keyhole. As he did so, however, he couldn't help his eyes from wandering up, towards that same glint from before…

The guard in the other cell finally got the upper hand in the short, yet violent fight, as, snarling and pulling back his lips to expose grotesque, twisted tusks protruding from his mouth, the guard whirled around and, jumping up, slammed his fist across the other's chest. Gasping, the first boy slumped against the wall, his freed leg no longer having the strength to keep the guard at bay. He looked up weakly, with wide eyes and gritted teeth, as the guard raised its axe one last time, this time aimed much higher than just his chest…

And in an instant, everything stopped. The chained boy watched with wide eyes as a sudden slicing sound rang through his ears, and a silvery blade shot out from behind the guard, thrusting clean through the pig's center. The blade impaled the guard straight through him, and, its eyes wide, was suddenly still and silent. As the blade was quickly withdrawn, his strength and life gone from him, the pig stumbled backwards once, before succumbing to his injury and falling harshly back on the stone tile.

Having moved away from the fallen guard, and still panting from the excursion, the freed boy in emerald garb looked down upon the pig, his hand slightly shaking as it held up the blade used to stab through the guard. As his breathing returned to normal, he slowly calmed himself, kneeling down to set the sword lightly on the ground and turning towards the other, giving him a grim smile.

"Thank you," the chained boy said with a small, also grim smile of his own as the other lifted the keys, using them to unlock the two chains on his arms.

"Why are you thanking me?" the first asked, laughing once and sending a smile his way, having finished and taking a step back. "You were the one with the plan." Looking down at his feet, he noticed the blade he'd used to kill the guard on the ground… and, bending down once more, picked it up. Strange… he hadn't taken the time to look at it before, but now that he did, held firmly in his grasp, it almost felt… right, somehow. The dull, yet still delicately-carved green emerald, set in the sword's hilt, stared strangely back up at him…

The other, now freed from his chains, rubbed his slightly red wrists as he walked around the fallen guard. "You know how to use a sword, then?" he asked idly, raising an eyebrow at the other.

"Um… I guess?" The boy in green gave a weak grin, looking away from the sword. Shrugging, he looked back towards the open door, and the other sword on the table. Exiting the cell and picking the spare sword up with his right hand- (Wait, so I'm left-handed, too? He thought to himself, slightly surprised, as he looked at the blade he'd used in his left hand. Huh. Weird. ) – he turned around and lightly tossed it to the other.

The newly freed boy easily caught the other, similar sword in his left hand and swung it outwards, keeping the blade from cutting him. And, in one swift motion, giving the blade a single twirl, he sheathed it in a sword's sheath that was slung around his back. The one who'd tossed the sword wasn't the only one surprised- but even the catcher looked, with slightly wide eyes, at what he'd instinctively done. However, brushing it off, he simply shrugged and looked back towards the other. "Looks like I do, as well," he stated with a short, curt laugh.

This was almost too strange… but, he knew he couldn't dwell on that any longer, and the boy in green shook his head. Looking around him and turning towards the stairs, he sighed as he said, "Well, looks like we were able to get out of the cell." Looking over his shoulder and smiling at the other, he continued, "We should team up to try and get out of here altogether. Who knows what's above those stairs?"

In response, the other nodded, crossing his arms. "That sounds like a reasonable plan," he commented with a small shrug. Smiling, he added with a small hint of a grin, "After all, us two kids were able to get past one bumbling idiot of a guard. What's a few more, really?"

The other boy grinned in response. "That's the spirit," he said with another laugh, sheathing his own sword behind his back. Though he found it strange, as well, that he even had a sheath on his back… this was not the time to wonder about that. Instead, he nodded once more towards his new friend, and together, the two began to walk towards the stairs.

And as the two new friends headed up the stairs, their voices echoing and bouncing off the dark, damp walls surrounding them, one spoke in dry humor to the other, and the other replied in a similar, amused voice.

"By the way… what is your name?"

"No idea. What's yours?"

"Not a clue."

"… Fan-tastic."

-grin-

If you think THAT wasn't enough...

;) Keep reading...!

Enjoy Chapter 5, Onset!