Chapter 10

I open my eyes slightly and I see the concrete that I'm currently lying on almost lifelessly. I see a lot of red too but that's probably expected; it just means that I'm bleeding and that my heart is still beating. Wow, what a weird way to think at a time like this. Everything is blurry but I see someone sitting next to me. It's not the guy that visited me before in the black cloak but a familiar face.

"J… Jake?"

He hears me and he looks at me with a look that I didn't think he was really capable of. He appeared to be sad.

"So you're still alive… that's good."

"W… where… am I?" I barely manage to ask. My voice sounds airy and weak… that's kind of how I feel in this moment.

Jake doesn't respond but rather he sighs. He must really think I'm not going to make it. He has that hopeless look in his eyes that I used to have when… actually let's not go down that path again. I can't move, I want to so I can prove to him that I'm not going to die. Jake already knows that I can't.

"It'll be okay. I'm here to stay. You may not want me around but just know that whatever happens I'm nearby… alright?"

I can only slip back into unconsciousness as his words linger in my dazed mind.

XXX

I wake up with a start as I feel something prick my left arm. I don't move but I glance at my arm to see that Cecil is giving me a shot from a syringe. Now if you've met me you know that I'm scared of needles, I've always have been. Anything that deals with doctors or needles I just freak out. No amount of reason seems to reach me whenever I'm near needles. This is one of those moments when I realize what's going on but I don't dare move in fear of the needle breaking and it being stuck in my arm.

Cecil notices my discomfort and removes the syringe, "Sorry."

There aren't enough words in the world to express what I'm currently thinking about doing to Cecil for giving me a shot without my consent… then again I probably would've refused to get a shot in the first place so… maybe it was for the best. I take in a deep breath and sigh.

"No… it's fine. What was the shot for?"

"It was morphine. You acted like you were in a lot of pain when you were sleeping so I thought I would give you morphine to treat the pain."

Now that he explains the reason for putting that syringe anywhere near me I kind of feel better about the situation. I definitely don't feel any pain right now. I look around and I ask, "Cecil… can you put me in the wheel chair please?"

"Sure… why do you want to be in your wheel chair?"

"I want to look around this place. It feels like I've been here for so long and I don't even know anything about the layout of this place."

"When you word it like that it's as though you want to plan an escape."

I raise my eyebrows at this, "My right arm is broken, I can't really move on my own. How the hell would I escape?"

Cecil gives me a frustrated look.

"I don't know…"

"Could you at least show me where you keep Mary and anyone else you capture? Just so I know that I'm safe from Mary."

The scientist doesn't seem convinced that I wouldn't try to escape but he sees my logic in why that seems like a stupid suspicion… or at least I hope he does. He carefully moves me to the wheel chair and starts moving me towards the door that takes us into the large hallway I went down to get out of the place to begin with. The hallway seems a lot longer than I remember but then again that's from my new perspective. About halfway down the hall we come across an elevator… how did I miss that the first time coming down this hallway?

Cecil presses the button to go down… I sense we're going into a medieval dungeon or something as he pushes me into the elevator and presses a series of buttons. The doors close and I feel the movement of the elevator making a downward movement. I usually feel light headed or claustrophobic in elevators because they move and I'm not used to it but this time I find it's easy to ignore those sensations when sitting down. Maybe it's the morphine? I don't really know, nor do I care. When the doors open the idea that this is a medieval dungeon disappears as the floors are a strange checkered linoleum design and instead of jail cells there are actual individual rooms.

He rolls me down a short way and points to a door on my right.

"That's where Mary is being kept," Cecil states briefly.

"What are the rooms like?"

The scientist pushes me towards another room and opens the door and I see that on the inside of the door is a jail door that needs a code to open but that isn't required. On the inside I see that the rooms are padded so no one can injure themselves, there are no windows, and… there's someone in the corner of the room. I glance up at Cecil with curious eyes.

"Who's in there?"

"What? What are you talking about Sen?"

I point towards the corner and he sees the figure move.

"Oh…"

He falls silent and he watches me as the figure looks up. His hair is long and dark, and he's wearing a cloak that's torn… Jake! I know my memory fails me sometimes but I know that face when I see it. He approaches the door and I can tell he's been hit a few times. If I could move I probably would punch Cecil right now for keeping this a secret. In fact…

"Cecil. What the hell is this?" I ask in a deadpan voice.

"… I might've lied about someone being with you…"

"Are there any more secrets you've been keeping from me?"

Cecil seems guilty and is about to pull me away when I object rather loudly, "Let me stay here! I might as well stay here since you're treating me as though I'm a pawn!"

Jake is at the door by now and he blinks. He glares at Cecil and the scientist realizes just how bad of an idea this is.

"C-come on now… Sen-"

"You've lost the privilege to call me that!" I yell angrily at him.

The scientist is about to say something else to have me see reason when I hear the cold voice of the director, "Throw her in there with him then. Let's see how long she lasts without any medications."

"Edward you can't be serious!"

"I am. Let's have her see what it's like to be a real prisoner."

Jake by now has grasped the situation and he kicks the jail door with what I assume are steel toed boots. They're combat boots but they're black. He's starting to get annoyed and angry… or at least that's what I think he feels. The kick does nothing to the door and Cecil is trying to reason with Edward. I already know where this is going and I just look at Jake. He looks like he wants his shotgun back… I don't blame him.

I feel Cecil pushing my chair towards the jail door and he takes out a Taser, "Step away from the door."

I've seen some pretty stupid things in my time; right now Cecil stands at about 5'6" in height while Jake appears to stand much taller than him. Oddly enough though Jake steps away from the door and allows Cecil to punch in the code that opens the door. When Jake hears the door click he dashes towards the door; I still see the Taser in Cecil's hand. I bite my lip, knowing this is going to hurt me more than anyone in the room. I move my right arm and slam it into the scientist, knocking the Taser out of his hand. Jake spots it and picks it up and glances at me. He uses it on Cecil and before he is able to use the Taser on the director Edward's already out of sight. I watch as Cecil twitches on the floor. Honestly I feel sorry that I did that but he was going to fucking lock me up. Plus he hurt my friend. No one gets away with that. Unknown to me at that moment I start laughing hysterically at that.

Jake blinks, "Uh… Sen? Are you okay?"

I'm still laughing and pointing at Cecil, I can't even feel my right arm but I bet it would hurt a lot. I guess I'm laughing because I can't feel anything. "Thank you morphine," I giggle.

Jake lifts me so I'm on his back as though he's going to give me a piggy back ride, "Come on."

I stop laughing and whisper, "Wait… can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Punch Mary in the face."

Jake is looking at me as though I've lost my mind and he appears to be very confused, "Who the hell is Mary?"

"She's my half-sister that tried to kill me recently."

He stays silent for a long time and he sighs, "Not now. We need to get out of here," he tells me.

I pout like a little kid, "Aww… not even a little jab at her nose?"

Jake just shakes his head and starts taking off in a mad dash, I watch as the "homely" cells disappear as we exit and go into the elevator. He puts me down on my feet but sees I fall the moment he does.

"Sorry," he says as he lifts me so he's supporting me.

Even though I'm drugged with morphine I feel the dull pain travelling up and down my back, "It… feels funny."

"You sound drunk."

I start laughing again. Maybe the morphine is acting a little too well.

"Drunk, drunk, Archelous was drunk too," I giggle.

"Who's Archelous?"

"My husband," I state before I frown, "Wait… sorry. He's Anwen's husband."

Jake really looks annoyed by now and just lifts me so he can carry me again, "Never mind."

The elevator doors open and the first thing we see are guards that are prepared to open fire at us. The director is behind the guards and slowly I start to giggle.

"We can take 'em!" I laugh. "They think they're so tough, with their bulletproof armor and what not."

Jake doesn't pay attention to my laughter and he looks serious as he's trying to find a way out of this. I feel happy despite the situation and for a while the situation doesn't look that serious… at least until I hear one of the guns fire. But it wasn't at us.

One of the guys that are armored shot the nearest person in the head, point blank and is starting to fire at the rest towards their arms and head, anything to disarm or kill them. Jake looks confused but then he smirks. At this point my eyes are wide and I'm starting to cower because of the gunfire. I watch as this guy moves around as though he's a professional and when his gun needs to be reloaded he ditches the gun and takes out a knife. The director backs away and starts running.

The guards, there's about four, are lying on the ground. Whether or not they're alive I don't know… or really care. Jake walks up to the remaining guard and smirks, "How did I know you'd find a way as a guard?"

The helmet that the guard is wearing comes off and Jesse is standing before us. I squeal, "Jesse! Long time no see."

There's a sort of bang as though a metal just hit metal. I look up and tilt my head.

"What was that?" Jesse asks.

Jesse makes a signal to stop us from talking. Jake puts me down on the ground and supports me so I can at least try to walk. Jesse leads us, still wielding the knife but picking up the sniper rifle from one of the guards. We're walking slowly just in case what I heard was actually part of reality or part of the morphine… high I guess? What do you call that? Would it be a high or something else?

Despite the morphine I can feel that familiar pain going up and down my spine and I feel disoriented as a result. Of course there are moments when I start giggling for no reason and those are the times when Jesse and Jake stop moving and keep watch. After a while of walking down the hall I cough.

Jesse seems too focused on what's ahead to really pay attention but Jake hears it. He glances at me and I just smile. He shakes his head and keeps moving.

"Jesse where's the exit?"

"What? We're not going to kill Higgins?"

Jake frowns, "That's not part of the plan."

"Well it wasn't part of the plan to rescue Sen this early," Jesse remarks as he keeps leading. "No offense Sen."

I pout, "Whatever."

Jesse stops and looks at me, "Are you drunk?"

I laugh at this and I grin, "Nah, I ain't drunk."

Jake and Jesse both give me weird looks at this point, "Did you just say ain't?"

I nod, "Yep."

Jesse sighs, "Let's kill them then we'll leave."

"Isn't it weird we're not seeing any more guards?" I pipe up. I may feel happy and carefree but there is a time when I start to get paranoid of the darkened halls that we're walking through.

Jesse and Jake both nod in unison.

"What if there's a trap ahead?"

"We'll tackle that when we get to that point," Jake states. "I wish I had my shotgun though."

Jesse tosses Jake a knife, "Shank them to death if anything. We'll get you your shotgun back."

Jake doesn't look too pleased but at least he can fight if Jesse needs back up. He puts it in his pocket and he moves my hood so it's down. I didn't even realize it was still up after all this time. I look up at him and grin. They really are like big brothers if anything and I still have that mind set when eventually we've made our way closer to where the director and Cecil are. I frown and I stop.

The duo notice and stop too.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think we should try to kill the… director and the other guy," my memory slips on me and instead of giggling at my mistake I frown. "I mean… we should get out of here before anything happens."

Jesse places his hands on my shoulder, "We're professionals, and we're not going to get killed."

"But you'll get hurt."

Jake sighs, "We need to get our hands on the sword."

"Sword… that's what Archelous was after too," I whisper.

Jesse tilts his head, "Who's-"

"Don't bother asking. She was injected with morphine; she probably made up the name or something."

I glare at Jake, "I didn't make him up!"

Jake raises his hands up in fake surrender and I look at the door that's a few feet away. For the first time since I left the wheelchair I shove Jake and stumble before finding my balance by holding onto the wall. They watch me as I move slowly towards the door. The pain is starting to add up and my head is starting to feel like it's cracking into many pieces. I stop and turn towards them, casting a smile.

"Let me go first."

"Sen, are you crazy?"

I bite my lip gently and look at them with sad eyes, "Please… just leave."

"Listen, Higgins wanted you dead too. Not just Jake."

I blink in confusion, "What?"

Jesse looks dead serious now and I'm scared of who I'm dealing with. He seems to be so many different people that sometimes he's too complex to talk to but I listen to what he says because he's usually right… usually.

"Higgins ordered the guards to kill not only Jake but you. So what did you do to piss them off?"

I shake my head, "I don't know…"

All at once I remember a series of important things: I was never a part of Templar and no one knew I gave permission to Cecil to look deeper in my past… he must've found out. I gulp and bite my lip more nervously than before. They both notice my reaction.

"Sen?"

"I messed up," I say with honesty. "We can't go in there. We need to get out."

"What did you do?"

"… I'll tell you if we all make it out of here."

Just as the words escape my mouth an alarm screams into the hallway. The loudness throws me off and before I can process what's going on I'm grasping onto Jake as he lifts me and we're off towards the exit. I have a bad feeling lingering in the pit of my stomach and I bury my face into Jake's back. We pass the door that leads to the cells and I know we're halfway there. As we pass I notice something watching us and my eyes widen as I see a malicious grin.

"JAKE!"

"What?"

A few seconds later I feel Jake starting to fall after Mary slams into him. I hear him collide with the ground and I get off of him only to have Mary come at me. She is on top of me with what I can only guess is a handmade knife and I'm grasping her arms and preventing her from coming any closer to me with the weapon. There are times when adrenaline helps save the day… in this case it's keeping me from being shanked by Mary. I'm glad the morphine is still in my system to numb any sort of pain, by now my arms would be stinging. Actually I'm glad the director and scientist put my right arm in one of those casts that only go up to your elbow.

"A little help here please," I say as Mary is starting to go through my weak attempt at defending myself.

I hear a shot and the weapon drops to the ground. I glance over towards Jesse and smile, "Thanks."

He salutes and it's the one we used to do whenever we practiced karate back at college. I grin and look at Mary to see that she's holding her hand. She's calling me every worse possible name in the book and I don't feel obliged to recall any of those names. Before she decides to do anything worse to me Jake is up and grabs Mary by the collar of her shirt.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," Jake simply responds as he slams his fist into her face. He drops her and I start to panic when I see a large amount of blood and see that Mary isn't moving. "Was that the girl you were telling me to punch?"

I slowly nod, the color draining out of my face. Jake smirks, "Well that's one thing accomplished on my to do list."

He lifts me and I look at Mary. I should feel something like anger that he hurt my sister but how can I? I never met her until now and she tried to kill me. I think that's justified enough for me to not give any f-

We hear the alarms still blaring and I notice that Jesse and Jake are making a mad dash for the exit. I'm actually a little nervous but then I think I see why they are running so quickly. Where the exit is there is a large metal door that's closing vertically. They're going to trap us in here!

I bury my face into Jake's back, not wanting to know the outcome of this. Stupid Jake, this whole situation would've been avoided if he didn't decide to be stubborn and escape. Then again at least I know to trust my dreams from now on. I hear the loudness that is the door shutting and when I look I see that we're on the other side of the door. We're not trapped! We're saved!

"We did it! We made it!" I squeal happily. Now that I squeal I do sound drunk… damn they were right.

Jesse and Jake both smirk and they open the door that will lead… straight into the director, more guards and some guy that has a cloth bag over his head. Are you fucking kidding me? No! This is bull-

"Well… fuck," is all Jake has the nerves to say.

Jesse aims the sniper rifle at the director and I slightly tighten my grip on Jake. The guards follow suit and aim at all of us.

"Now, now let's be sensible here gentlemen," E…E… Edward says calmly. Look at that smug grin. What I would do to wipe it off his face. "Surely you wouldn't risk the lives of your own would you?" he asks as he removes the cloth bag and instantly my heart stops.

"Jesse… please put down the gun," I tell him, hoping he listens.

Jesse glances at me and sees the look on my face. Right now he would probably tell me not to show any emotion but in real life with that person in front of me at risk I ditch that rule. He lowers the sniper rifle and I can feel him glowering at me.

I avert my attention to the young man before the three of us that is in danger of being killed. His dark eyes look restless and his short black hair is in a tangled mess; but he's dressed in a blue cloak that is stained with red on the sleeves. The thing though that really makes my heart break is that there's nothing I can do to save him. After all the times he's been there for me and this is the one time he really needs my help.

"Sen?" he looks so surprised to see me.

"John," the name escapes my mouth and the director smirks.

"So you know each other? Wonderful, now I have a proposition that will keep everyone alive. Hand over the girl and we'll just lock you up in the cells."

Jesse and Jake look at each other. They don't want to go back to the place they've escaped… well Jake escaped. As I look at John though, I recall the childhood that I lived through and how he was the rational one of our group. He was self-sacrificing... I wonder if he saved anyone in the process of getting caught or if he was just caught. I frown.

"Don't hurt them."

Jesse gives me a look that is hate; then again I don't know which person I'm looking at. I don't know if it really is Jesse or just another form of him. I rather not ask.

"Put me down," I whisper to Jake.

"Are you crazy?" he asks when he sees that I'm being serious. The morphine isn't affecting my judgment.

"You guys will get to live."

Jake glares, "Do you know how long I was waiting for the chance to get out of there? I'm not going back!"

I understand Jake's frustration; he doesn't like the idea any more than I do. No one likes the idea. I feel my cheeks becoming wet… I'm crying. Great, this is just great. There are some things you would do for your friends but there are lengths that you would go for your childhood friends. John is one of those people that I would do anything for. If something happened to him… I rather not think of what exactly I would do. The tears are falling faster and my vision is blurry; I don't like this decision but it's pretty much been made for us.

"Do you think I like the idea that you get to be locked up and I won't see you? Do you honestly believe that I'm making the decision?"

Jake puts me down and watches as I fall. My hands sting and I see there's some snow on the ground. I glance up at him and see he's furious. He yells, "Well? Go. If you really believe that's the right decision then just do it."

He's saying this as though this is my choice. It's either no one dies or everyone dies. Then what would the point of that be? I lift myself and try to keep my balance as I walk towards the director. I stumble and trip a few times and I'm starting to get annoyed at myself. I make it to where the director and John are. I don't even look John's way and I stare down at my feet. They turned red from the coldness of the snow.

"Let them live."

Edward smirks and orders the guards to take Jesse and Jake down to the cells. It's then that I realize my friends' names all begin with the letter 'J'. I just realized that and now I feel stupid. So many 'J' names; there's Jesse, Jake, Jordan, John... My attention goes to John, why haven't the guards taken John to the cells? And that's when I see a startling thing. Those dark eyes I thought I saw were actual gray… just like-

I feel something poke me and I glance down at my stomach to see a Taser there. Cecil is the one who was John. John was never captured. We were tricked. I turn my head to see Jake and Jesse. They're struggling against the guards and I scream, "I'M SORRY!"

There's a moment when I think Jesse and Jake understand something is wrong. I don't get to see if they struggle harder as a result. I only feel the Taser shock me and everything disappears.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it. Like I said before I'm off to college on the 19th so it may be a while before I release chapter 11. I'll try to release it on time but this is just a warning it may be late.

I'll skip the promoting section of the Author's Note so yea...

See ya.