Chapter 34…

The ceiling above Asher's head wasn't very entertaining to look at; the dark concrete was decorated with spider web like cracks and the occasional dark spot of moisture. Unfortunately for the grey eyed boy… what else was there to do but stare?

Or seethe? Or scream? Or cry hot tears?

This was his world now after all… Verdant had confessed to killing his team and was going to do the exact same thing to him once he had what he wanted.

Maybe this was all just an awful dream… it had to be a dream! In a few moments he would wake up in the dorm with Mauve wrapped around his chest...

Asher squeezed his blood-caked eyes shut and imagined this fantasy. But when he opened them again he was still looking at the ceiling of the tiny room. The light from the overhead lamp made his eyes blurry and he quickly looked away, focusing on the heavy steel door that blocked his view of the outside world.

Or wherever he was…

Asher rattled out an uneven breath, feeling tears drip down from his eyes and pool in the large gash on his left cheek; it was a new "souvenir" he had been gifted by the guards for running his mouth. The salty tears aggravated the wound and without aura to heal it the flesh festered and stung.

Was this it? Was this where he was destined to die? He wasn't really sure whether or not he believed in destiny… but he didn't know much of anything right now…

Asher scanned the shadowy corners of the room out of pure desperation.

His heart froze in place when a pair of glowing amber eyes glared at him from the darkness. The owner had a fairly femenine body shape but was concealed by the shadows… and there was only one girl Asher knew who had amber eyes like that…

"Mauve?" Asher rasped out weakly, feeling his cheeks fill up with hot tears again. "Is- is that you?"

The figure said nothing, letting Asher babble on.

"I was so worried," Asher gasped, struggling against his restraints. "Verdant lied to me… he said he killed you… but that's not true because you're here! Rust and Sage must be here too! Please help me…"

Asher could now make out the dimensions of Mauve's face, but she said nothing. Her amber eyes glowed with an unsettling intensity, nothing like what he was used to.

"Mauve?" Asher pleaded. "Are you going to help? Please…?"

Mauve slowly shook her head side to side and melted into the shadows, her amber gaze disappearing from view. Asher wailed in terror and continued to struggle against his bonds.

"Mauve, wait!" Asher pleaded and roared. "Please don't leave me!"

High up in the clouds of Atlas…

Sage rubbed the back of his neck and swallowed nervously as the bullhead hit another patch of rough turbulence. The lights in the cabin flickered and machinery whirred as the flying vessel righted itself and continued on its way.

Although his view of the outside world was limited, a peek into the cockpit confirmed his suspicions. They were in the middle of a snowstorm, if the heavy flakes smashing into the cockpit window was any indication; the sky was as black as fresh ink.

Sage closed his eyes as the bullhead continued to sputter, trying his best to remember the plan he and his uncle had formulated. He knew the designation of the ventilation shaft by heart… but finding it in the middle of a gigantic blizzard would certainly complicate things.

This entire plan was a shitshow… Sage couldn't believe that his uncle was still going through with it.

Who can you trust? Do you have any real friends?

"Don't cry about your little animal bitch, you look pathetic," a deep voice sneered, prompting Asher to whip his head around to find the source.

His father was in the room with him now? This couldn't be possible…

Slate was leaning against the dingy wall, partially concealed by the shadows. He was dressed in his combat uniform, a gleaming set of plate armor coloured in dark reds and greys. The ivory hilt of the family sword protruded from its scabbard and jutted above his belt.

"Dad?" Asher whispered, his voice warbling with confusion. "Wha-?"

Asher yelped when Slate burst off the wall and delivered a harsh slap to Asher's wounded cheek, making his vision dance with black spots.

"Don't use a word that no longer applies…" Slate snarled, pacing in a circle around a weeping Asher. "And don't go blubbering because the animal bitch left you…"

"Fuck you asshole," Asher seethed under his breath. "Don't you call her that…"

"Gonna cry some more? You know why she left and didn't help? It's because you have nothing else to offer her… she's off to find another boy that'll give her treats."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Asher roared. "Why are you here? What the hell do you want?"

"Why am I here?" Slate asked, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "Good question! Why am I in a room with my failure of a son that I booted from the family? The son who turned out to be a limp-wristed little shit who wouldn't stand up for his race! The son who fraternized and slept around with humanity's enemy! The son who refused to follow in his family's footsteps and refused to use the family sword!"

Slate separated each sentence with a harsh slap that made Asher scream in pain. ; he bent down and spat in Asher's face. "Why am I in here with you?"

"Just go then…" Asher sobbed. "Leave…"

"I won't even hesitate…" Slate straightened his back and dusted off his breastplate. "When Verdant comes back he's going to kill you… and I would shake his hand…"

And with that Slate was gone…

In the bullhead…

"Two minutes till were there!" The pilot shouted from the cockpit, shaking Sage out of his trance.

The wolf boy's stomach was filled with fluttering butterflies as the implication of the man's words set in. Two minutes until he was scaling the roof of the labs in the middle of a blizzard, two minutes until he was stealing a priceless valuable… two minutes until his crazy plan came to fruition.

Sage's foot idly kicked the backpack at his feet, the many high-tech contents rattling around in response.

Did your father ever care about you? What about your "friends?"

"Fuck you, Slate!" Asher roared at the four grey walls of the room. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuc-"

Asher coughed and wheezed up spittle, his throat was dry and hoarse.

"Well well well…" A familiar voice spoke, Asher weakly looked up into the eyes of Sage. His teammate was standing about a foot from him, his hands shoved into the pockets of his green pants.

"Sage!" Asher managed to gasp out with a weak smile. "Oh am I glad to see you! Help me… I think there's still time to save Mauve and Rust!"

Sage said nothing… were his blue eyes always that cold and calculating?

"Still time?" Sage whispered, looking confused. "Mauve and Rust are two charred corpses sitting in a morgue… Verdant killed them and left them to burn."

"No…!" Asher snarled in disbelief. "I saw Mauve! She was right in the corner over there!"

Asher jerked his head frantically over to where he had seen Mauve's eyes. Sage followed the prompt and frowned.

"I don't think you're all there right now…" Sage muttered. Asher hissed with rage and wiggled against his bonds. "Asher… are you crazy or something?"

"I'm not crazy!" Asher snarled. "She was right there! Why are we even talking about this? Help me!"

"Not crazy?" Sage cocked his head in curiosity. "What about all those weird dreams you've been having... and the stranger? Isn't that crazy? Or how about when you died on that hospital bed and somehow came back to life? That's a little nuts…"

"How do you know all that?" Asher muttered under his breath. "Not even M-"

"Mauve doesn't know?" Sage chuckled, his cold blue eyes burrowing into Asher's own. "Why wouldn't you tell her the full truth about what's going on with you? It seems a little disrespectful to keep her out of the loop…"

"I didn't want to worry her even more…"

"It doesn't matter now… she died ignorant to what was going on with you, now she'll never know…"

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Mauve isn't dead!" Asher weakly insisted, feeling fresh tears of frustration well up in his eyes.

Sage snorted and stood up, leaning against the door of the cell. In the darkness his eyes glowed and reflected like diamonds, making Asher's spine shiver.

"You know what your problem is?" Sage mused. "You're just so tight-lipped…"

"Wha-"

"The night we settled our differences… you talked to Mauve in secret because you didn't want to tell us you were once a bully," Sage muttered. "We had to pry out information about your parents because you wouldn't tell us, you were never keen to share your opinion on anything that mattered... when you and Mauve had that spat after the Yang's incident in the tournament… you just scowled and refused to talk out your problems with her-"

"What the fuck is this!?" Asher roared. "Let me out!"

"NO!" Sage roared back. "Even six months after the fall… you've kept secrets from the people who cared about you and neglected your friends! Mauve had to trap you in the bathroom so you would tell her what was going on! Even when you saw that I was terrified… you shut your mouth and stayed silent… you waited around until things were irreparable between us."

"Sage-" Asher whispered, his vision blurry with tears.

"You're pathetic…" Sage whispered under his breath, slowly shaking his head from side to side. "You need help…"

"Sage!" Asher gasped. "Then help me!"

Sage chuckled humorlessly. "I can't help you… you can only help yourself. Either that or you could let it fester… let it rot… wait around and see what it's like to be truly alone."

With his piece said, Sage melted into the shadows and disappeared.

One last wail of fury escaped Asher's lips… and then he fell limp.

On the roof of the labs…

While the snowstorm concealed the bullhead he was riding in, it denied Sage the spectacular view of Atlas's skyline. The gleaming white skyscrapers were a hazy blur in the distance, the lights in the windows being the only indication of their existence.

Sage made sure the rappel line was tight, grimacing as the cold wind cut into the fabric of his clothes.

"I'll be waiting nearby," the pilot's voice nattered through Sage's earpiece. "Remember to give the signal so I can catch you in time…"

"Got it," Sage yelled back, seeing a thumbs up from the man in the cockpit.

Taking a long and deep breath of the night air, Sage gripped the rope and relaxed his legs, his weight carrying him down to the roof of the labs. He detached the rope as soon as he was touching the concrete and looked up to observe the bullhead disappearing into the snow squalls.

He was on his own now… he had a job to do…

Sage reached up and pulled down the pair of goggles he had requested for himself, fitting them over his eyes. His powerful faunus vision allowed him to see the outline of the building's rooftop infrastructure and he navigated by pressing his hand against the side of the building.

Through the gloom and snow he could make out the rough outline of a large box… what might have been his target. His suspicions were confirmed when he came within five feet, he narrowed his eyes to read the vent number.

It was his entrance…

Sage shrugged off his pack and stuck his hand in the mouth to retrieve a screwdriver kit. He fumbled with tools for a moment, slipping off his gloves to manipulate them. Sage's hand was feeling colder and colder as he removed the screws that held the vent in place.

In a few minutes the vent was devoid of screws and Sage tore it off it's frozen support. He took a moment to pack up his bag again and slip on his gloves before considering his next move.

The vent was gone… revealing a dark crawl space that was just wide enough to fit him. Sage sighed and shrugged off his pack so that he could drag it along behind him.

What a crazy situation to be in…

What was even crazier was his new plan…

Look at you… pathetic…

'Interesting sensation isn't it? Being trapped in your own body… in your own head…"

Asher's limp body stirred.

'I know that feeling better than anyone or anything… trapped all alone for… however long it's been since I walked Remnant."

Asher's dry lips parted, he struggled to open his eyes.

'I'm sorry for putting you through that, it was never my intention to make you see those things… even if it was all in your head. I'm not sure what I'm doing right now… I've never tried this… never had anyone else to try it on; but I need to make it work…

"Who?" Asher weakly rasped out. "Who is talking? Hello?"

'If you die here and now… I'll be alone again… and that's an outcome I must prevent at all costs… get ready…"

Asher wretched as his body was suddenly kicked into overdrive, as if someone had jabbed a vial of pure adrenaline into his arm. His arms and legs spasmed roughly against his restraints and his fresh wounds burned in indescribable agony.

Asher blinked through the tears and broke his gaze away from the ceiling. For the first time in… however long it had been since the warehouse… his mind felt startlingly clear. The grey eyed boy looked down at his arms and gasped out in shock.

A ghostly smoke had manifested around him, seemingly binding his wounds together... just like…

...just like the night at the precinct.

'Can you hear me?' A gravelly voice sounded. Asher whipped his head around to find the source but was unsuccessful. 'Don't bother, I'm not in the room with you…'

"Who?" Asher huffed out. "What?"

'If I remembered my name I would tell you it,' the voice groused. 'I don't know how much time we have… I need you to listen carefully to my instructions.'

"How are you talking to me? Is this a dream?"

'Quiet!' The voice stranger's voice snapped. 'Listen carefully… if you die here then I'll be alone again… and there is still a lot for you to learn. You and I are busting out of here… I'm going to help you get revenge…'

"Verdant," Asher snarled under his breath, a clear image of the man's question flashing through his mind. "He's here?"

'I honestly can't say… I'm bound to you,' the stranger huffed. 'But whether he is here or not… neither of us are going to be spending any more time in this cage. Are you ready to listen?'

"What do you need me to do?"

'Focus on the sound of my voice… imagine a door in front of you.'

Asher squeezed his eyes shut. "Alright…"

'Good… now squeeze the handle with all your might and imagine yourself walking through it…"

Asher did exactly as the stranger suggested, a vision of the cell door filling his mind. He imagined himself wrapping his hand around the handle hard enough to dent it; with a colossal pull he flung the door open and strolled through.

"Okay… I did exac-" Asher began, but he was cut off at the end.

At that exact moment Asher disappeared from Remnant, the restraints around his now-empty chair loosened and his anti-aura collar clattered to the floor.