Taken For Granted

Mitch threw himself onto the Lounge couch. Exhausted and drained, he groaned as Adam walked into the room.

The vampire turned to him and raised his eyebrow. "Yeah. Nice to see you, too, Mitch," Adam chuckled.

"God, I'm so tired."

Adam furrowed his eyebrows in concern. He sat himself down on the couch as well, cuddling closer to Mitch.

Mitch looked down at the supernatural in alarm. "Adam, what the hell are you doing?" He asked quickly.

"I'm cuddling with you."

"Adam, that's weird. No."

"It's okay. We can do this. Jerome isn't here."

"And just what the hell are you implying by that?!"

Adam put a finger to Mitch's lips and shushed him. "Talk to me, buddy. What happened on the mission?"

Mitch hesitated before removing Adam's finger and awkwardly placed his hand on the vampire's shoulder. "Um, well, I was in Belladonna Kingdom."

"Mm-hmm. Yes. Interesting."

Mitch rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah. Right."

Adam shot up and quickly said, "Wait! No! Mitch, I'm sorry! What happened?"

Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose. It was okay. He could trust Adam. If he couldn't trust Adam, then there was no hope for him the world. He took a deep breath. "I was assigned to be the lead escort for King Thome and get him to Wane Kingdom...through Hell's Forest."

Adam's eyes widened in shock. "What?! There's no way in hell James would make you go through that damn forest on a mission, an escort mission especially!"

"No!" Mitch replied quickly. "It wasn't him. It was the king who made us go."

"The king?!" Adam growled. "He has no say! You were the lead escort!"

"Adam, you know that's not how it works. I was in his territory. He's the king. I'm nothing compared to him. I am basically a slave to him."

"That's not fair," Adam snarled. "You didn't deserve to go in that fucking forest." The story hadn't even reached the middle, yet Adam knew how it was going to end.

Hell's Forest was named based on the fact that the forest was basically hell on earth. Demons, monsters, and hellish creatures lurked in the shadows. It was on the brink of impossible to exit that forest alive. It was almost impossible to last five minutes with all the supernaturals trying to eat people's flesh and drink blood!

"May I finish?" Mitch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Never said you could stop, but okay."

Mitch smiled oh-so-slightly. He would've laughed, but he was in too much shock to even attempt it. "Of course, I wasn't the only one on the mission. The king's soldiers were there, too." Mitch took a shuddering breath as he remembered his temporary team members...very temporary.

"Adam, the soldiers...are orphans."

Adam's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" He wasn't mad at Mitch, no, he was pissed at the king.

"You were...alone in Belladonna when you were younger, right?"

Adam wanted to smile in appreciation at Mitch for not saying "abandoned", but he was too angry to do so. The vampire nodded stiffly.

"Well, you were...I can't even say it without sounding rude."

"Just say it." Adam sighed. He was here for Mitch, not the other way around. Mitch shouldn't be worried about offending him. "I won't be offended."

"You were...'lucky', I guess..." Mitch replied quietly.

Adam's eye began to twitch. Everyone on the team knew what it was like to be abandoned, and none of them would say they were lucky for it unless they were dealing with something worse than lack of companionship or constant abuse.

"What do you mean?"

"If an orphan was ever found by King Thome's men, they would be forced to join the knights. They didn't have a choice, and they had to stay there until they died."

"So you were traveling with a terrible king and tortured orphans?" Adam questioned in disbelief.

"...Yeah. I was. That's not all though. We were forced to go through Hell's Forest, even though I argued against it, saying that that was not what General Grey wanted. Therefore, because I wasn't responding to orders, he used...other methods to get me to cooperate." Mitch used his free hand to hold his abdomen.

Adam looked down at Mitch's torso, which looked stiff. "Mitch, what did he do?"

"He used a whip against me until I caved in."

Adam sat up in fury. "He what?! Mitch, you just got off bed rest a week ago after the Alayliths and he whips you?! That's insane! What did General Grey do?!"

Mitch sighed. "Well, the general is refusing to send us to help King Thome unless he sets the orphans free, stops enslaving children, and resorts to non-violent actions to get others to cooperate with him. But I don't care about me or King Thome, I just want to finish this story."

Adam frowned, but he let Mitch go on.

Mitch took a deep breath. "So, my coworkers were orphans, forced into slavery. They were kids, Adam! The oldest one was maybe fifteen! I'm nineteen, just a few years older than them! I watched them, and I argued with King Thome. I didn't want to bring those children into Hell's Forest. I knew they would die. I wanted to avoid all that, but King Thome wouldn't budge. Having no other way of changing Thome's mind, I allowed him to get into his carriage.

"I was the one in front, the one who was supposed to keep track of the route we were going on, and I nominated myself to be the main fighter as well. I didn't want younger children to have to fight. I guess I should've thought differently when I was already injured."

Adam cuddled closer to Mitch, careful not to hurt him. "Go on."

Mitch closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was supposed to have memorized Hell's Forest, but because it's been so long since I've gone, I barely remembered the safest route. I was leading them the only way I remembered, starting safe, slowly becoming dangerous, but then becoming safe again. Adam, you've never been in that forest, I don't think, right?"

Adam shook his head. "No, but it's close enough to Belladonna that I could hear the creatures in there."

Mitch began to massage away the forming headache. "Okay, well, you do know that even a minute in that forest, and you will be torn to pieces?"

"Yeah. I do know that."

"We were there for two hours."

"Oh, no."

"Yeah. As soon as we hit the danger route, Apateónes attacked us."

"What are Apateónes?" Adam asked. "They sound...foreign…"

Mitch grinned, opening his eyes and looking at Adam. "They are. The word is Greek. Translate it to English and you get the word 'deceivers'. They take the form of young children to trick you before turning into their real form when they have you in their grasp. Their real form is kinda like a human-bat hybrid. Not really horrifying but not pretty either. The children were scared though. The Apateónes knew I was from a group of supernaturals, they smelled it on me, and they took their real form. The kids panicked and tried to run away, but King Thome yelled at them to stay from the safety of his carriage." At the last few sentences, Mitch grew angrier and angrier the more he spoke about the stupid king.

"The Apateónes attacked them, didn't they?" Adam whispered softly.

Mitch sighed angrily. "They did. Before my very eyes, I watched as the children were slaughtered. When I tried to help, an Apateón attacked me. Their main weakness is fire, but I, for some stupid reason, didn't have a lighter. I would've burned the whole forest down to save those kids, even if it meant unleashing hordes of several demons from their homes." Mitch turned silent for a moment.

Adam glanced at him. "Mitch, you okay?" He questioned softly.

Mitch didn't even answer the question. "So, by the time I finished on the Apateón that had attacked me, the other Apateónes were finishing off the last drops of blood and pieces of meat from the kids. It was horrible, Adam. God…"

"Mitch, I...I really do wish I was there to help you. I'm sorry."

Mitch covered his eyes. "They were just kids…"

Adam hugged Mitch for a while, holding the teen as he cried. It seemed like forever, but Adam didn't mind at all. To watch young children die like that...that must've been horrible. To just be so suddenly unprepared when you thought you had everything that you needed...It sucked on so many levels.

"I got King Thome to Wane Kingdom, but it didn't seem worth it after that. When we reached the Wane Kingdom, I asked him, 'Are you proud of yourself?' He just glared at me and said, 'You don't have the right to criticize me. You just added unnecessary damage to the mission. Blame yourself for your failure, not me.' Then he just walked off."

"How did you get him there if the horses were eaten?"

Mitch looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"How did you get Thome to Wane Kingdom in the carriage if the horses were killed?"

"Adam...there were no horses."

"What?!"

"Yeah. The carriage was pulled by the children. I pulled it the rest of the way. It was heavy as hell, too."

Adam's eyes narrowed in absolute anger and fury. "So King Thome is still in Wane Kingdom, right?"

"Adam, you're not going anywhere."

"Mitch, this one time-"

"No."

Adam sighed. "Fine." There was silence for a moment. "How's your torso feeling?"

"I mean, it hurts like hell, but I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow. "I can get you something."

Mitch shook his head. "No. It's fine. Grey's med team wasn't happy to see me back again so soon, but when I told them why, they understood and helped me the best they could."

"So you're sure you don't want anything? A drink? Food?"

"Not really in the mood for it after what I just witnessed." The room went silent once more. "It makes me realize how lucky I am."

Adam looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I know I almost pulled off suicide a few weeks ago, but I realize how blessed I am to have friends, a family. General Grey is an amazing person to know as well. I just feel bad for the kids that died today, in the past, and maybe the future. They aren't lucky enough to have the friendships I have and that just sucks, you know?"

Adam nodded and looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I know. When I was a kid growing up alone, I saw a lot of things I shouldn't have. Drugs, murders in alleyways...Things a child shouldn't have seen. Then I stumbled across you guys, and my life has never been better. I remember a few kids I had seen before who were just like me, ones who I knew would never have the future I'm living now."

"I didn't have the best childhood growing up, but at least I was stranded alone to fend for myself. Looking at those who were...for lack of a better word, abandoned, I realize that I was just another spoiled kid who didn't know what he had," Mitch said.

Adam pursed his lips. "You and I come from different paths, but I've never thought of you as some brat who had everything he wanted or else you would have turned out differently."

"And I never thought of you as what my stepfather used to call the homeless. It's something I don't prefer to say, but just know that it's bad. I respect you and the team so much."

Adam chuckled. "Thanks for not repeating it. I'm pretty sure I've heard enough of it just a few years back."

"I'm sorry, Adam, that you grew up the way you did."

Adam shrugged. "There's nothing we can do but just focus on the future we have ahead of us, right?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah. Right."

The two teens fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. With Mitch laying on top of Adam and Adam laying on the couch, the two couldn't be more relaxed. They didn't care if they looked stupid, they were comfy.

...Until Jerome walked in.

"MITCH! I THOUGHT WE WERE A COUPLE!"

"JEROME, I CAN EXPLAIN!"

"SHUT UP, ADAM!"

Mitch smiled. Yep. Things were perfectly fine.

And that was Day Two of Updating Week! Hope you guys enjoyed! If you did, please leave a review. Until then, stay safe, take care, love you, God bless, and...DARKSOMEONE41 SIGNING OUT! SEE YA!