"Hey, kid. Wake up."
Now, maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but I hate dark places. Loathe them. It's where I live, the very description of me, but I hate it.
When I opened my eyes, it was dark. I heard Mifune grunt next to me when I tried to stand up.
"Don't bother. We're chained." I strained my eyes through the darkness, and saw that there were shackles around me. I seemed to be chained in a... cage? I heard a few other distant moans, but ignored them. My head felt... numb.
"You alright kid? You took quite the hit."
"Not kid. My name's Soul." I turned to look at him and made out his eyes- they looked grim. "Where are we?"
"Some black market auction," Mifune said wryly. "and it appears that we're two of the items being auctioned off."
I groaned when the numbness in my head became pain, and wondered how a mere escape could have gone downhill so quickly. "What happened?"
"Someone hit you. A man." Mifune paused heavily, and then went on. "I didn't see his face. Medusa was right there when I turned around..."
Oh. Oh. That meant that he had been trying to protect me... Damn. Could I go anywhere without dragging someone down with me? I opened my mouth to say something, but there was a sudden thunk, and the cage gave a groan.
"What the fuck?" I snarled, struggling against the chains. There was a chuckle as we began to move.
"A large, well-built man," A rough voice mused. "and an unusual looking boy. Red eyes, and white hair... are you albino, boy?" The cage moved through a door of some sort, and a dim light cast a glow on our surroundings.
There were two men in dark suits carrying the cage. Walking alongside it was a short, round man with a puffy red face. His hair almost gave the impression that he had horns, and his eyes were small and beady. I attempted to flip him off and failed rather valiantly, settling for the death glare instead.
"You better not show attitude in front of the buyers, boy! The consequences will be dire." He chuckled, and walked ahead.
Mifune and I sat in silence, listening to the steady beat of the feet of the men carrying the cage. There was a dimly lit hall, and then we veered through several corners, finally coming onto a small, slightly better lit stage. The man with the red face gave a little happy sigh, and the small audience of about thirty people immediately quieted.
Thus started the auctions.
Words flowed from the man's mouth naturally (but how could something that stupid be natural?) and smoothly as I heard the numbers increase to insanely large. Almost all the buyers were either large and charismatic or pale and ghostly. Each wore expensive, designer brands meant to preen with. It pissed me off.
And then, for some reason, I let out a short, loud laugh. It sounded more like a bark to me. The oddly quiet buyers started murmuring. Those who had raised their numbers faltered, unsure. "You bastards," The words were out of my mouth before I knew what was going on. "the lot of you, sick, rich fat asses-"
Suddenly, an intense pain shot through me, spreading in an instant from my neck to the rest of my body. It felt like my skin was burning, peeling... my organs were on fire...
I slumped to the bottom of the cage, barely conscious.
"I apologize for that," The man at the podium said, sounding amused. "We can assure you that this will not happen again."
"Soul," Mifune growled lowly. "You idiot!"
"How was I supposed to know that they had put a shock collar on me?" My words sounded weak and throaty. (And despite the situation, I couldn't help but be glad Maka wasn't here to watch this.)
"Don't do anything else stupid." Mifune ignored my comment. "It's our good luck that they're selling us as a pair- we distract more easily. Our best chance to escape is once the transaction is complete and the collars are removed..." His face darkened. "If they're removed, that is."
"And sold to the beautiful young lady in the far right corner!"The man pounded down, and we began to be moved once again.
"And if they don't?" I murmured. My head was still spinning, and the thought of failure to escape burned in my mind. I think I already knew the answer before Mifune turned to me.
"We die."
"Where the hell is she- ow!" I was cut off when a small shock emanated from the collar. I rubbed my arm irritably.
"Do not talk unless addressed," The man attending to us spoke monotonously, as if dealing with the situation all the time.
"Why bother doing things halfway?" I knew the hard way that they were capable of producing a much, much stronger shock. "Ow!" I was shocked again.
"We must not show physical evidence of damaging our goods," The man droned. I bit down on my tongue to keep from retorting (I was an item now?!), and saw Mifune nod almost infinitesimally as we moved into a smaller, better lit room that was lavishly furnished. Mifune and I were pushed out roughly and chained to a large, iron hook on the wall.
"The items have been locked down," The man spoke into a phone. He snapped it shut and appraised us for a moment, clearly dubious.
"This man..." The man pointed at Mifune. "Is very well built. He should make an excellent slave or bodyguard. You however," The finger swung to me. "seem rather useless. Perhaps the lady will gouge out your eyes and sell them? They glow vividly like rubies." I tried to lunge forward at him, but stopped short, losing my footing and falling. At that moment, the door swung open.
A tall, lanky woman with jet black hair walked in, wearing a tight (but not at all flattering) dress. She glanced at my state as I struggled to get up.
"My, my," She said softly. Her voice was scratchy yet confident (though I had no idea in hell why). "You didn't hit him down, did you?"
"No, ma'am. They're all yours. I shall unchain them at your command." Even though his words were polite, the man still sounded extremely bored. She glanced at Mifune and me, and then smiled gently.
"I heard his words," she said. "but I must disagree. Your skill as a fighter is not yet on par with this man... but you are a diamond in the rough."
"Sure, sure," I snorted. "and you're not a bitch."
A gun pressed against my head. I didn't let my glare waver. I saw amusement flicker in her dark eyes as she moved closer to us.
"One must always wait if they wish to achieve good things," she murmured. "I have stayed motionless for a long time, watching, learning, feeling. I feel through experience that you can be shaped into a more..." There was a pause, one that I felt was more for theatrical purposes than unintentional. "Hardened, refined soul."
"My ass," I hissed. Mifune sent me yet another warning glance that I ignored, as the gun pressed to my head cocked.
"My most sincere apologies, ma'am," The man said, not at all apologetic.
"Don't worry," She laughed thinly. "I have seen fit to complete our transaction."
"Thank you, ma'am."
Her laugh felt me leaving like the most hollow, lifeless, and cold I'd ever been. It was as if she had sucked all the blood out of me. I took a shaky breath as the woman talked to the guard about the price, and gave Mifune a ready nod. The man took us off the hook, shoving us along, and we walked as four to yet another room. This one was much larger, less lavish, and seemed to have an open exit somewhere- I took a deep breath as cold air hit my face, inhaling the scents of cement, grass, and rain.
"Your vehicle, ma'am?"
"Parked right around the corner."
Shit. They were putting us in the car first. Well, shoulda known. I frowned, feeling Mifune's irritation, which was on the same level as mine. I turned my head- he glared icily at the ground, looked at me, and nodded almost imperceptibly.
One.
I tightened my muscles.
Two.
I nodded back right before we reached the car.
Three.
WHAM! I knocked the collar remote out of the guard's hand, diving to pick it up and make a break for it. At the same time, Mifune kneed the guard where it hurts the most (I have to admit, even if it was poorly done, I winced) and used the confusion to swing the woman back against the car with a loud thump that I could almost swear broke her spine. They both slumped as Mifune and I ran...
A bloodcurdling shriek that chilled my bones pierced the air. But that was the thing- I couldn't feel my bones anymore. I fell to the ground, still screaming as the collar shocked me. The remote clattered out of my hand onto the ground- I think my eyes rolled into the back of my head- and I shuddered violently, twitching. Through the dim fogginess, I saw Mifune give a start, and I used the last of my strength to scream at him to go.
I'd forgotten that we had separate collars, neglected the second remote. But Mifune would escape. It was the least I could do.
As I struggled to get up, I saw that something about the place we had almost escaped seemed familiar. Had I been here before? I wasn't able to elaborate on that thought, though, as my strength gave out and I collapsed to the ground.
I managed the smallest smile at Mifune's disappearing back as I drifted into darkness.
Maka Albarn smiled slightly at the little girl in front of her, wondering exactly what Soul was doing at the moment.
It had been rather easy to convince her parents to let the girl stay. Spirit, who had recently seemed concerned since the meeting with Soul, seemed relieved that Angela didn't seem in any way related to the boy. It was easy going from there, as Maka knew she had her father wrapped around her little finger. Her mother had been a tad harder, but a few delighted laughs from Angela and a brief explanation (she was the younger sister of a friend that was currently out of town), and it was a done deal as well. Maka knew that her parents never bothered much with what she did; she had always been well behaved, and did not attend school merely for the reason that she didn't need schooling. Besides occasional tutoring, Maka had so much free time that it was hard to decide how to fill it up.
"Maka?" Angela looked up from the toys Maka had used as a child, a little delicate frown on her face. Carefully, Maka picked up the girl.
"Yeah?"
"When's Mifune coming back?"
Mifune, as Angela had explained, was her uncle. Her parents had died in an accident, along with his wife. She didn't know much about them, and loved Mifune as much as she would a father, though. ('My big teddy bear', she had put it.)
"I... I don't know." Again, Maka's thoughts drifted to Soul. Angela, who was in fact quite a smart little girl, did not let the sudden emotional climate change escape her attention.
"Hey, hey! Was that guy with Mifune your boyfriend?" She asked. Maka choked on her own spit twice, coughed to clear her throat, and choked again.
"Of...of course not!" Maka silently cursed herself, as the denial had sounded overly exaggerated and flustered.
"Maka has a boyfriend!" Angela sang, hopping out of Maka's arms and dancing around the room.
"Angela!" Maka groaned, running to silence the little girl. The small, tattered book that she always carried around caught her eye, sitting on a table. She thought of Soul once more (as well as the multiple times the book made contact with his head), before brushing aside the thoughts, and gently tackling the girl to the ground.
"How about I read you a story?"
-
–
It'd been three weeks.
Life is hell. No, let me rephrase that. Normal life is fantasies of love, living, and happiness. Reality is hell. I hadn't expected the woman to live. I hadn't expected most of what happened to me after my re-capture.
Her name was Lady Arachne.
(And no, it's not her name that's surprising. But it sure sounded stupid.)
I got a room to myself. No windows, but just as lavish as the auction place had been. (It really had seemed familiar somehow...)
As expected, the place was heavily guarded. At least I didn't have a shock collar anymore. That was a surprise, too.
I was fed well. I mean, really well. That was weird. I only saw occasional glimpses of other (I flinched at the thought) slaves during my stay. There was one who tended to me personally occasionally; Ox. He seemed like a geek, not very strong, but he was nice and we got along. He didn't ask how I got here; I didn't either.
But even that wasn't the weirdest thing.
I was being trained.
Not some kind of waiter or labor training. No, it was phys ed, fighting, perception, strategies, you name it. And that still wasn't the real surprise. I wasn't being trained by one of the beefed up guards or some random master. Hell, even the guard dogs would have seemed normal compared to who was training me.
Arachne herself.
Contrary to her pale, lanky form, she fought gracefully and smoothly. Her speed far exceeded Maka, hell, even Kid. Probably Medusa. One second she was there, the next she wasn't. Boom. The first time she decided to spar, I almost died. It took me five days to recover, and it was fast only because I was fueled on spite and vengeance.
How was I supposed to deny the lessons when I was being offered the chance to grow so quickly? I brightened slightly only at that prospect- if I could beat Kid, then I could finally get down to the real reason I had joined the gang in the first place.
I'd thought the first week had been hard, but as the days progressed, I realized that the woman always stepped it up a notch as I improved, staying ahead of me. The advice and pointers she gave were meaningful, and despite my callings of 'bitch' and 'hag', she continued. I improved. We moved on. It was a vicious cycle, one that I wasn't particularly unhappy about.
It was on the 24th day that something changed.
"Soul, wake up already! Lady Arachne awaits you!" I shot out of the bed at the sound of her name, glanced at the clock, and glared at Ox.
"It's too damn early! Why the hell did you wake me up?" I hissed, glaring at Ox. He was used to my growls now, and didn't flinch or cower as I towered over him (I had to be at least nine inches taller... well, fine, on my tip toes).
"It's as I said. Lady Arachne awaits you."
I got dressed quickly, and followed him into the hallway, up flights of stairs, and finally to a large, grand entrance to what seemed important. Probably her bedroom or something.
"Well, go in," He said, gesturing at the door. I hesitated a moment, and then swung open the door.
I was right.
Arachne sat in a large, leather chair in the corner of the room, which was bright in contrast to the other rooms. The room was decked in onyx and royal red; she had silk comforters and dark, mahogany furniture. Her bed was queen sized- the room emanated a sensual, feminine feel (only she was the exact opposite, so the effect was completely lost).
"Soul," she said. "It has come to my attention that you have reached... a sufficient level. You had progressed well enough over the past few days that I wish to congratulate you."
"That's nice," I drawled out. "If that's it, can I go back to bed?" I eyed her carefully. "Or, actually, could you please set me free?"
There wasn't any tension in the air as I had expected. Arachne only chuckled and nodded. "As you wish."
I froze.
My mouth tried to work, and only opened once or twice, like a fish (dang, if only Black Star were here). "Are you... serious?"
"Yes," She said, bowing her head slightly and making me immediately suspicious. High authority never bows to lower ones.
"What about the money you spent?" I demanded. "Why did you bother? Even though Mif- the other guy escaped, you were never given anything as an apology. You must have spent millions!"
"650 million, if you wish to know the truth of it. Quite a deal for two," Arachne murmured. Her eyes glimmered slightly as she looked up at me once more. "Why do you insist on questioning what you so vied for?"
"Because you're a bitch and there has to be some sort of a drawback," I immediately spoke. Her pale lips pressed together ever so slightly.
"The only thing I wish of you is to use what I have taught you. As far as I have heard, you have a larger purpose than many have supposed. Am I right?"
"Who told you?" I asked warily. Did everyone know about me?
"No matter. Go."
"Tell me."
"Unless you wish for me to draw back my offer, leave now."
With a snarl, I turned and stormed out. Ox, who had been waiting outside the thick doors, was obviously confused. I grabbed onto his arm, dragging him with me.
"Soul! What are you doing?" He asked, voice high. "Stop that this instant! It hurts!"
I let go, allowing him to rub the sore spot, and turned to him.
"I'm leaving. You're going with me." I could see his eyes widen behind his glasses.
"But-but- the Lady!"
"Has given me permission."
"For me, as well?" He sounded dubious.
"No. Don't care." I started for the main level, listening for his following steps, but they never came. He stood, still and aglow from the flames of the candles that lit the halls. It was a rather old-fashioned home.
"Soul, calm down," Ox chastised, stepping back a little. "You're letting your anger start to control you. Think about what you're doing!"
"You don't want to leave?" I was genuinely surprised.
"I... I can't," He said awkwardly, looking to the side. I frowned.
"Sure you could. I can. I don't see why you can't."
There was thick silence in the hall in which we stood. I allowed myself to calm down, and saw a little reason in his voice- he was right. I was pretty sore about the whole slave situation. But that didn't change a thing; I was still leaving with him. I opened my mouth at the same time he did.
"I think-"
"You see-"
We stopped, paused. I met his level gaze with my own.
"You see," He said softly. "I have a reason for staying. I would love to leave this hell, but... I can't."
"You have nothing to be afraid of!" I cried, exasperated. I was willing to bet I could even take out a guard or two, if they were surprised. But he didn't need to know that.
"That's not it, Soul." He looked up, and his glasses slipped down his nose a little. For the first time, I saw his eyes the way the were- clear, honest, sure. He had no qualms with himself. I paused enough to let him continue. "There's someone here..."
"This person is enough to make you stay?" I was confused. Friendship over freedom? I was never given the first choice, and the second seemed logical, anyhow.
"She is." He straightened his back. "Her name is Kim. I can't just leave her here. Do you understand?"
"I can't take the two of you out," I cautioned. "It's your head." There was no way I could cover all of our backs.
"That's fine. I..." He blushed. "I love her."
Love.
Deja vu hit me, strong and clear. Emotions never to be felt, unnecessary ties... I couldn't afford friendship; I would lose it completely under love.
Somehow, Maka made her way into my mind.
"All right," I turned away. "If you say so..."
"Thanks." He sighed as I left. I almost turned around. I almost lost my temper, almost knocked him out and dragged him away with me.
"That's real cool of you, Soul."
I didn't cry.
Maka finished the last page of the book, which they had read in sections, and smiled down at little Angela, who smiled back lazily and drifted off into a nap. The second her eyes closed, however, Maka allowed her face drift down into a frown.
Soul.
It'd been how many days now? She'd lost count. Where was he? Her mind spun with worry.
"I'm sure he's okay," She said to herself, but she couldn't be sure. A pigtail drooped slightly- she tied it back into place.
"NO!"
Maka gave a sudden jump, and then realized that the shout had been her fathers. Not entirely willing, she untangled herself from Angela's sleeping form, leaving her on the couch, and made her way to the main entryway, where she saw her father slamming the door shut.
"What's going on?" She glared. "Why did you do that? The door isn't unbreakable."
"There's this man with long hair that insists he needs to see you," Spirit sounded disgusted. "he knocked out all the guards! He's dangerous. There's no way you know him-"
Maka shoved her way past her father and opened the door.
"Oh, Mifune," She breathed out. Wounds covered his arms- he was dirty and had bags under his eyes, yet still stood tall.
"Mifune?" Angela's groggy voice rang through the large room. "Mifune!" The girl launched herself into the man's arms, nuzzling him affectionately. Mifune took a moment to say hello before turning to glance at Spirit, and then Maka.
"Soul's in trouble."
I was stopped the second I left the premises.
"Sorry I'm late, Soul."
A/N: Sorry for the late release. Internet was down for a while, and I couldn't post anything.
Thanks to:
1wingedangelX
RinSohma
Mizora
ToraHimeSama
DearlyBeloved-13
Cuna99
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