Shira's Cryin'

Chapter 26

'There's just so much more that I want to do with her.' Diego let his more passionate emotions run wild as if his life was ending right then. Ever since he's known the truth, he's been looking at everything differently now. Who knows what she went through when she was trapped in that cave full of hostile sabers? There didn't seem to be an end to her suffering.

'I promise, Shira, it will end.'

And not just her suffering, but his as well. Though he knew that her pain will probably last an eternity. His mental scars have yet to heal and are bound to never heal in any case. It made him question how she was able to handle it and keep herself from going insane.

'That's all I've got. All I've got is insane.'

Agony. Suffering. Death. He had the strangest feeling that he hasn't seen anything, yet. There just seemed to still be something that he still didn't know. Something so important, as if it would piece all of these events together.

'And end them as well.'

Soon, his surroundings began to feel familiar. The places that he had known since he was a cub. The same river that he had spent hours down by during his cub days. That strange boulder that seems as though it could plummet into the ocean at any second. That tall and wide oak tree that stood out much more dominate than any other tree in the forest. It seems to be the little things that caught his attention the most.

It was only a few more minutes until he recognized the strange object sticking out of the ground. He walks over to it, having Blake follow behind him.

A bundle of sticks tied together with tree vines to form a cross like shape stood by, accompanied by a few variety of flowers. The vines dangled down, frost covering the greenish layers almost to the point where they weren't green anymore. The cold and hard wind pushed the vines to such an extent that the cross looked like it was only seconds away from collapsing.

"I can't believe it's still here." Diego spoke up.

"Ya..." Blake walked up to it and placed his paw on the softer ground in front of the cross, "At least he was able to taste freedom."

Diego could almost see Blake's eyes beginning to tear up.

"And I can feel that soon, I'll reunite with him."

Diego wanted to say something, but almost didn't realize what he meant by that. Should the time arrive, he wasn't going to look at it as a sad event.

"We should get going. We're just about there." Blake suddenly cleared his throat and began to turn back around. He never would have made it the full way around before he was shoved from behind and collided with a small boulder in the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Diego, now just turning around, sees Blake on the ground with blood leaking out of him while another saber stood looking at him.

"What the hell do you think you're-

Before he was able to respond, he felt himself pinned down. He looked up to see two sabers grabbing each of his forelegs. He tried everything to get out of their grip, but to no avail.

The side of his face was pressed down into the earth. He tried calling out to Blake who was passed out a few feet to his left.

"He won't be of any use for much longer, I'm afraid."

Diego didn't recognize that voice at first, yet the second he turned his head to look at the saber, the name was suddenly drilled into his head.

He spiked a jolt of resistance, trying to get out of the two saber's grasp as he began to breathe heavily, his eyes seeping out a death stare.

"Soto..."

The saber got closer to him and knelt down next to him.

"You know, I admire you're efforts to travel all the way out here just to save her," Soto began, getting closer to his face. Diego could do nothing but continue to heavily breathe, his teeth gritting with anger.

"But... You should have known that you weren't... going... to get... anywhere."

"WHERE IS SHE, YOU BASTARD?!" Diego roared into his face, getting Soto to nearly jump away in fear. He shook his head and lightly laughed.

"Well, you're no fun at all, are you?" He taunted. Diego just continued to look at him, his anger beginning to seem uncontrollable.

"Whatever... Sweet dreams Softie... Oh, and welcome to the tribe."

The last words that Diego heard before he felt his vision go black.

He woke up. All he could taste were tree vines and blood. He felt his body aching in multiple areas. His vision was still blurry, having just woke up. He tried lifting his paws up to rub his eyes, only to find himself constrained by a tightly secured and thick vine.

'Oh no... Damn it, what the hell is going on?'

It only felt like minutes ago when he was still traveling with Blake through the forest. He was so close to finding her.

He was still half unconscious, not remembering the part where he was knocked out.

'I remember going past all of those areas that felt familiar. I saw Shulk's burial. Damn it, I can't seem to remember anything else.'

Yet, the obvious question was screaming at him: How the hell did he get here?

His vision became clearer than before. He was in a cave. A secluded cave, not seeming to have any daylight or moonlight in it. The only source of light that he saw was the small campfire that was on the other side of the room. He spotted an exit, though it didn't have the view of the outside world, but instead seemed to be a tunnel, possibly to a different room.

'Looks like some kind of death chamber.'

It was just then that his mind kicked back in and reminded him how he ended up here in the first place.

It was also then he realized that if he even tried to get out of this place, it wouldn't be easy. His legs were also tightly tied together the same way his forelegs and paws were. The vines around his mouth were probably even tighter, as they were nearly cutting away through the sides of his mouth.

The pain in his entire body was driving him crazy. He wasn't sure why his body hurt so badly

When he felt as though his current state couldn't get any worse, he heard a noise. A voice. It sounded more like a moan or whimper, though. It made his heart nearly stop. He recognized that voice. In this desperate hour, there wasn't any other sound that he'd rather hear. He went through so much, both with and without her. It seemed only fair that in the end, he'd be in a place that he was finally happy with. But right now, it didn't appear to look that way. Not yet, anyways.

His eyes grew wider as he laid them on another pair staring back at him. Those same crystal blue eyes that he's always come to love and adore.

His heart began pumping at an insane rate. His eyes began to tear up, knowing that he got to see her again. Though, the light from the fire wasn't great enough to light the whole room, therefore he couldn't see anything but the blue sparkles from her eyes.

He tried calling out to her. He tried yelling her name. He couldn't. With his mouth sealed shut, there wasn't really much he could do.

He could hear her begin to cry, which he couldn't help but let himself do the same. He could tell that her mouth was tied as well. She would've gone right over to him. Because of this, Diego knew that she must have been in a similar state as him. Tied down and defenseless.

Diego began inching his way towards her, his body still horridly aching. While he was doing this, he heard her try to speak.

"I'm scared, Diego." She whimpered.

Diego wanted to promise her that he'd never let anything happen to her. Yet, he's told her that countless times before and it only seemed like that was never a promise to be kept.

In his current state, and the results of it, he wasn't confident that he'd be able to protect her anyways.

He kept working his way towards, so badly wanting to lay up beside her and telling her that everything was going to be okay. He wouldn't let anything hurt her.

He was about half way across the room when he felt another presence enter the room. He looked at the exit, already seeing where all of this was leading up to and what exactly he had gotten himself into.

"You fucking bastard, leave her the fuck alone! Leave her alone!"

He growled at the saber's face, even though it was difficult to say anything clearly because of his enveloped state.

Soto seemed to ignore everything that Diego said. He knew that it wasn't going to do anything. He bent down next to him, lightly rubbing his forehead, feeling the adrenaline build up inside of Diego.

"I'm sorry if my boys were a little... rough on you while you were knocked out." He taunted him, giving Diego all the more reason to bellow his hatred at him.

Soto just continued to circle around him, defenseless by his own will. All the while, Shira was only able to cry in agony.

Soto then took a claw and cut right through the vine that was wrapped around Diego's mouth.

Diego looked up at him, his mouth mildly ripped open on the sides.

"Also... I assume that Blake gave you enough warning for what you were getting yourself into. You should have just ignored everything. You should have known not to go near anything that's not yours.

"She is mine..." Diego began, his forehead starting to sweat as he panted heavily.

"I'm sorry?" Soto leaned closer to him, a smirk making it's way across his face.

"She's mine and I'm hers. You're... nothing."

The second he said that, he felts his face lifted from the ground and was then slammed into the floor, hearing the side of his face crack. He could hear her screaming in fear, begging for Soto to stop as he only picked up his head again and repeated the process.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO HER?!" Diego roared at Soto, making him stop. He just held his shoulders down, slowly digging his claws into them. He kept pressing harder and harder, causing Diego to yelp in pain. Soto then leaned up to his ear.

"What ever I wanted to." He said followed by a chuckle.

Getting the mental picture in his head made Diego's rage spike as he tried with all the strength he had to rip free from his tied up prison. But he couldn't. There wasn't enough room for his muscles to give out force. In fact, it was so tight that he could feel the circulation being cut off.

"Ya, keep trying that. See how far it'll get you. Not that you would know." Soto continued to taunt.

Diego collapsed to the floor, sensing Soto's presence fading.

"You don't... know... what you're doing." Diego panted, seeing Soto try to rub Shira's neck affectionately, only to get a snarl from her in response. He looked back over at him, casting a glance for a second before reaching down at Shira and grabbing her by the scruff. She tried squirming and kicking, but like Diego, there wasn't much that she could do.

Diego just laid there, his eyes flooding like a tsunami, as he watched Soto bring Shira over to him.

'What's he up to?'

Soto threw her down next to him. She lifted her head, her face covered in dirt, and looked into his eyes.

He almost forgot how amazing it was looking into those orbs. He was so suddenly lost in them and couldn't help but bring the smallest of smiles to his face. If only for a few moments.

"Okay, then..." Soto cut off his fantasy, "If you really want her so badly, then tell her."

Diego just looked back at her, not really knowing how to go about this. He's been through so much just to see her again. Isn't that suppose to be enough? He's told her everything he's needed to tell her. He knows that she remembers. Every secret he's whispered in her ear. Every confession that he's accidentally let out to her. He's said it all. He didn't have to say anything else.

"I don't have to say anything. You'd never understand." Diego said back to Soto.

Shira tried looking away from both of them, periodically biting on the vines that strapped to her mouth.

"Really?" Soto said sarcastically.

"You don't know what she went through. When you were about to execute Shulk." Diego felt Soto freeze in his tracks.

"Where did you hear that name?" He asked almost out of fear.

"I knew him. You were going to kill him because he had a disease that you assumed was spreadable. Blake and Shira took him away from your tribe, but they were caught by a pack of savage sabers. Blake and Sulk escaped, but Shira..." He paused to look at her who was crying miserably, "I don't want to know what happened to her. And you sure as hell aren't helping in anyway."

Again, so suddenly, Diego felt Soto's fist come in contact with his face, knocking him to the ground and nearly knocked out.

"You know what, I've had enough of this bullshit." Soto began as he got up to Shira and ran his tongue along her neck, which she was guilty enough to purr because of.

"I'm going to do something that I should have done when I first found you with her in that cave."

Diego wasn't exactly sure what he was getting at, but by the sound of his voice, it wasn't anything good.

"Shira, lay down."