After the count had sent them away, the three were roughly tossed into a detention cell. Soon the ropes around their wrists were replaced with shackles and their ankles were chained to the wall.
"What should we do about this thing?" asked one of the men.
They crowded round Slaine, analyzing his tracking anklet.
"We turned it off so it should be fine, right?" said another.
"Maybe we should cut it off in case…"
After some arguing amongst themselves, they departed and the cell was quiet once more. The boys both went straight to Yuki's side, as far as their chains would allow. They moved her to a more comfortable position, and checked her pulse and the place where she had hit her head. Once they had confirmed that she was alright, Slaine turned to Inaho.
"You should be resting," he said as he gave him a light shove.
Inaho sank back into a seated position and leaned against the cell wall. Meanwhile, Slaine kneeled in front of him.
"Where are you bleeding?" he asked, scanning Inaho's body quickly with his eyes. There was so much blood coating his skin, both dried and fresh, that it was hard to tell where it was all coming from. There was just a sticky mess.
"Nothing major," Inaho brushed it off, "I'm feeling ok now, don't worry about it."
Slaine frowned. "Stop hiding things from me. Where are you hurt?" he repeated more adamantly.
"I…" Inaho hesitated. Those azure eyes looked at him with an intensity he had not seen in a long time. It was the same assertive gaze he had encountered both times they had met face-to-face during the war. And both times Slaine had also been pointing a gun at him.
Well, he obviously meant business. Slaine looked like he might pounce on him with physical force if he didn't spill the truth.
"Mostly… here," he lifted an arm that had been clamped against his side. There was a deep gash about midway down that cut to the bone. Blood was dripping out of it and there was a bit of white that looked like the surface of a rib.
"Shit." Slaine cringed and leaned to examine it.
"Watch your lang– ow! What are you doing?" Inaho pulled away.
"I'm trying to get the sand out. This is gross. Can't they at least let you clean up?"
Inaho looked down at the blonde head that hovered over his chest. "I'm pretty sure they don't care," he said dryly. "Anyway, it's not as bad as it looks."
He tried to return his arm to his side but Slaine stopped him, pinning it back against the wall. The chain clanked across his chest and pulled his other hand up with it.
"How is this not bad?" objected Slaine, "I can see bone."
This boy had never liked him. They had been enemies for years, and now they were only associated because of Asseylum. He was well aware that Slaine would most likely never accept him, even if he somehow found happiness one day. It was never his intention to be part of that – his job was simply to get Slaine to that point. So why? Why was this person fussing over him so much? Now, and back when he had been sick, too…
He watched Slaine pull off his own shirt and begin to tear it into wide strips. It was all he could do to bite back the pain when his wound was gently cleaned with the extra scraps of fabric. The agony must have shown on his face, because Slaine apologized more than once. After he had finished tying the makeshift bandage tightly over the injury, he sat back on his heels.
"Anywhere else?"
Inaho shook his head. "The rest are just minor cuts. He wasn't trying to kill me."
Slaine seemed to believe him this time, and crawled around to sit next to him against the wall.
"I wish you hadn't taken off your sweater…" he said out of nowhere.
Inaho glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Why?"
"You're freezing, aren't you?"
Yeah. Between the chilly air, his light clothing, the blood loss, and his natural intolerance to low temperatures, he was so cold he felt like he might really freeze to death given enough time. It was that kind of deep chill that even shivering gives up on. Slaine's warm arm against his felt nice, at least. A desperate part of him wanted to tackle the boy and absorb all of his heat.
"So… have any ideas?" asked Slaine after a few minutes of silence.
Inaho tried to focus on some kind of escape plan, but all he could think about was how cold he was. He pulled his knees up to his chest and locked his arms around them in an attempt to conserve warmth. Yuki and Slaine on either side of him helped a little, but the partial relief was almost painfully tantalizing.
Slaine sighed audibly. "Lean forward a little," he said, giving Inaho's shoulder a nudge. Inaho numbly complied and Slaine slipped an arm behind him, pulling him closer against his side. His wound ached less as his muscles relaxed against Slaine's warmth. He reveled in the pleasant sensation for a moment before focusing on the situation at hand. As he put his mind to work, out of habit he put a hand to the place where his left eye had once been.
"These people… Seylum-san mentioned to me that a rogue count had formed some kind of shady group, like bandits."
"Space pirates?!"
"Something like that. I'm going to assume these are the same people. And if that's the case, it's going to be difficult to get out of here. Apparently they're nearly impossible to catch due to some unique capability of their spacecraft."
Slaine thought for a moment. "Whatever it is, if we can shut it down maybe there's a chance."
"It's no good if there's no one out there to pick us up. I wonder if there's some way to contact Seylum-san."
"There's most likely a communication room somewhere on this vessel. But he probably intends for her to know about this anyway. It's pointless if she can't find us. And anyway, he may take it as an opportunity to kill you in front of her. That's what this is all leading up to, right?"
Inaho pressed his forehead against his knees. "Who knows."
"We could take command of the craft," suggested Slaine.
"That might be better… but how many people are we dealing with? The fact that we're not in separate cells probably means this is a small craft."
"There are at least four," he looked down at the exhausted brunette. "You're not really in any condition to be fighting, though. I can't take them all on by myself without a weapon."
"You've got a decent weapon right there," Inaho pointed to his shackles, "and Yuki-nee is pretty good. She could probably handle one on her own with just that."
"Oh?" Slaine raised an eyebrow. "Maybe there's a chance then. But there could be a lot more on board than we know about, and it won't be much of a fight if they have guns. We can't mess this up, or it'll be Yuki-san who gets hurt."
Inaho sighed. "I know."
"No, you have no idea." He could feel Slaine's muscles tense against his own. "These scars… I received them from a Martian count. One arguably kinder than this psychopath."
"Why w –" Inaho started to ask, but then caught himself. That was none of his business.
Slaine leaned his head back against the metal wall. "It's fine, I'll tell you. Since you're partly to blame, after all."
Inaho lifted his head up. "Hey, that's not pos-"
"Remember when we first met, after that fight against Femianne? You turned on me, and later I was retrieved by Count Cruhteo," his tone was almost indifferent, "and then tortured for hours. Well, I don't really know how long it was. It felt like days. He wanted to know why I had helped you, but I wasn't sure if I could trust him with the information that the Princess was alive. Anyway, this man already said he wants to use Yuki-san to control you. There's no telling what he would do to her if we provoke him. These people see us as sub-human."
Silence hung between them as Inaho processed what he had just heard. He had never imagined that, however indirectly, those scars had anything to do with him. He tilted his head to look at the boy beside him. The darkened lines that tore across that porcelain skin looked worse to him now. It almost hurt to see them. The pendant he always wore, somehow still intact, rested on his slim chest as though guarding his heart, rising and falling with each breath. His gaze wandered to the soft, fair hair that fell over dark lidded eyes and curled around the nape of his neck. He should probably trim it for him when they got home. Yeah, they were definitely going home. There was no way he was going to let these two die here. They were dear to him… both of them. And he would always protect those he loved, no matter the cost.
Inaho shifted his weight, nestling closer to the one beside him.
"Sorry," he said, hardly above a whisper.
Slaine chuckled faintly, "I guess we're even."
For a little while, only their breathing could be heard in the dim room, and the occasional clink of chains.
"If only you had kept that eye," mused Slaine after some time, his thumb tapping distractedly on Inaho's opposite shoulder.
"Well, considering that it was taking over my brain, I'm sort of glad I didn't. But I do see your point."
"Your eye and my Tharsis… I guess we're just ordinary, now. I've kind of forgotten how to fight like this. But, I'm glad this time we're not…"
"Enemies?"
He felt Slaine nod, his cheek pressing lightly against the side of his head.
"Wow, what a douche," said Yuki as she sat up and rubbed her head. "Bet that guy's never had a date."
"Yuki-nee!" exclaimed both boys in unison.
"Have you two tactical geniuses come up with a plan yet?" She raised an eyebrow at their seating arrangement but said nothing about it. Instead, she huddled up against Inaho's other side. "Geez what's with the refrigeration in here. They do realize we're not dead yet, right?"
The boys spent the next few minutes filling Yuki in.
"I say we go for sabotage," she advised when they had finished, "there are too many factors that need to align properly for a rescue to work, and splitting up is probably a bad idea."
Inaho nodded. "Mm, I agree."
After more deliberations, the they all decided that if Inaho could deactivate the Aldnoah drive for a little while, there would be enough chaos on board to allow them a chance to take over. They would stick together and watch each other's backs.
Slaine glanced at the barred door. "We just need to get out of here, then."
"Do you think I could seduce them?" asked Yuki with a perfectly straight face. She peeked down at her bosom with an analytical eye.
"There's no way I'm letting you do that, Yuki-nee," Inaho answered flatly.
"This is life-or-death!"
"Absolutely not."
"Maybe Slaine-kun, then… I mean you never know which way they swing."
"Eh?!"
Inaho rubbed his temples. "No one is seducing anyone. We'll wait for them to come get us and, as much as I'd like to have a solid plan, we're just going to have to improvise from there."
"You always improvise, Nao-kun. But that's fine, I trust your gut." Yuki smiled at him, and then took a deep breath. "Ok! Now to wait. We can do this. I did not survive a war to die on vacation."
Hours passed. There was little said between them, and Inaho dozed off a few times.
Then, finally, footsteps approached. There was a click of a lock, and the door swung open.
a/n: (how does one portray genius characters when one is not a genius? ;u;)