Chapter 18

A warm cognac, brown glowed within the room, dusting away shadows to its far corners. Andy roused from the bed with a groan. He tugged the blanket off his neck, gagging slightly at its tightly bound cloth, and sauntered off the bed. He instantly pulled the blanket over his shoulders as his teeth chattered. He grimaced at the white puffs pluming from his lips and forced his self out of the bed.

The glint of the pocket watch caught his eye as he rose, bringing Andy to reluctantly pick up it up. The cold metal thrummed against his hand with each tick it released until Andy slipped it into the pocket of the nightgown. The thrumming resonated against his thigh as Andy wrapped the blanket around him and stepped out of the room.

He padded down the hallway into the kitchen behind the main room and poked his head around the corner. The room laid barren as it had the night before, save for the lone mug resting on the table. Andy moved to the table, glancing down at the mug with furrowed brows. He brought the mug closer to him and felt his nose wrinkle at the sour liquor splashing in the mug.

The frown on his brows traveled to his lips, for the mug was still full. Andy wandered out to the main room, then the cupboard; the back rooms once more, and sagged against the wall.

"Otto!" Andy called, sweeping through the tavern again. "Jurij!"

He sighed exasperatedly, trudging over to the coat rack beside the door. He shrugged into the oversized coat and forced his hand over the doorknob. The door creaked inward, allowing snow to fall into the doorway, and a bitter chill whirl through the tavern.

"I'm going to regret this," Andy hissed, stepping outside with the door, albeit fighting against the wayward snow that fell in, closing behind. "So going to regret this."

His boots crunched through the white mounds that blanketed the streets. Flakes of snow idly swept past his cheeks as he walked, the sound of his echoing footsteps gnawing at his senses. Andy eyed the wooden planks barred against windows and doors throughout the city and frowned.

Where is everybody?

The lone howl of the wind was his only answer. He continued walking down the street when a low clap of voices faintly hummed by his ears. Andy squinted at the silhouettes of people racing down the street and followed. The voices clashed into shouting as Andy entered the city square, just in front of the metal works shop, where hoards of people huddled around a slab of metal. Andy felt shoulders shove him forward into the crowd until he was in the center.

He looked up at the slab to find several members of the Patrol stood. A man with a scar running down his temple shot a scowl out across the audience, rallying their cries more. He turned another member and nodded. The other member, this one with a dark red beard devouring his mouth, stomped to the edge of the slab.

"People of Alcadria," he boomed over the crowd, "We have been held prisoner in this mausoleum for more than a century. And for what? Chasing after our own tails while our so called leaders pick us off like insects when our real enemy," he pointed up over the colossal wall towering overhead, "is out there."

"Is this what our people fought for all those years ago? Half of us slaughtered to be put in a cage and the last of us butchered by rats…I think not." He pounded a fist on his chest. "We are a blood not to be meddled with. A body who knows when it has been infected. It's time we uproot this infestation that has degraded us right where it came in."

The man jerked his head to the side, motioning for the other men to come up onto the slab. Two men stepped onto the slab, dragging a body by its arms and tossed it onto the icy metal. The man they tossed down struggled to prop his self on his elbows when the speaker's boot slammed down on his head. The speaker kneeled down to yank the man's head up and Andy felt his stomach shrivel.

It was Peder.

Or what looked like him anyway.

Dark, almost black, blood trickled down his forehead, falling into gaps and tears along his flesh. A ragged line creased through his cheeks while his skin lied bare for the crowd to see. His gray flesh hung loosely on flabby muscles and tattered cloth, his bloodshot eyes staring at anything and everything. Andy gulped heavily.

"Here is a perfect example of the trash we've let ruin us!" The man proclaimed bitterly. His eyes swept across the crowd with a dark glint, relishing in the glares mirrored in their gaze. "And it's time for these rats to feel the pain we've been feeling for far too long!"

His nails dug into Peder's scalp as he held out his hand. The man with the scar stepped forward with a bottle in his hands while the speaker yanked Peder's head up. Peder's eyes widened, his body trembling violently as he jerked weakly in the speaker's hands. Peder's pleas were drowned out by the crowd's roaring, their fists punching the air as if to snatch the bottle from the man's hand themselves. The speaker hooked his gloved fingers in Peder's mouth and propped his jaw open.

Peder's blunt, black canines chewed at the speaker's fingers in vain as the man popped the bottle open. Andy watched as the Patrol man shoved the bottle down the writhing man's throat, clear droplets of the liquid cascading down his convulsing throat. Peder yanked his arms against the vice like grip of the speaker as his bloodshot eyes widened with red bleeding across the whites of his eyes, devouring the pupil as well. His arms jerked in painful angles that would have snapped his bones while his sickly gray skin grew darker and darker.

Peder's screams drowned in the liquid bubbling in his mouth until the man dropped the bottle aside. The glass crashed with Peder's body following, jerking and writhing all the while until his body tensed, then fell still. Thick black ooze seeped out of the corner of Peder's mouth, his red yolked eyes blindly staring out into the crowd.

As the crowd roared at the dead body, the man with the scar kicked it out over the slab where people in front pounced upon it. Andy was pushed and shoved aside like a doll as they gathered further towards the front of the slab. The speaker's words fell into a vibrant hum with the rest of the crowd's bustling outbursts, falling in sync with the speaker as he punched his fist in the air. The boy felt a numb buzz through his limbs, his feet moving back from the crowd. Andy kept backing up until his back hit against something. He whirled around to find a Patrol man glowering down at him with dark eyes.

"S-sorry," Andy choked out, not noticing the lump in his throat. He skittered back to move around the man. "I was just-"

The boy yelped as a hand gripped his arm roughly. The man yanked Andy towards him.

"Going back." He finished coldly, shoving him forward. Andy stumbled back, eyeing the man warily who merely returned a glower. Andy glanced over his shoulder at the crowd tearing apart crates rolled out from the metal works shop and back at the man. The man stepped closer to Andy, his fleshy lips cracking into a snarl. "Now!"

The scrape of metal across the ground flickered in Andy's eardrums as the man reached out for him. Yet a hand clasped around the man's shoulder.

"Hold it Armine," Andy blinked up at the warm smile Gostav ironed across his face. "This one's with me."

Armine growled, grumbling something at the back of his throat before storming off into the crowd. Gostav smirked at his back and looked down at Andy.

"Did you like the show?" Andy's skin crawled at the giddy grin on the man's face. Gostav snorted, "Of course you did!" He grabbed Andy's arm in his, pulling him down the street. "We have business elsewhere unfortunately from the fun."

"Elsewhere?" Andy squeaked, scrambling on his feet to keep up with Gostav's steps.

The man yanked Andy around the corner to the inner part of the city, where a large building gleaming in white bricks stood. Andy gawked at the boarded windows, desperately shooting his gaze everywhere but the crimson on the front steps, and let Gostav haul him inside. Patrol men saluted Gostav with a nod as he dragged Andy behind him up the winding staircase of the watch tower. Gostav came to a halt in front of a door on the highest floor of the tower and nudged it open. He popped his head in for a moment before shooing Andy inside.

Andy stumbled into the room as the door slammed shut behind him. His eyes shot wildly around the room, where a lonesome desk and chairs sat scattered through the creaking orifice.

"I was going to wake you." Andy jumped at the voice cutting into the silence. He whipped his head behind him. Jurij lounged back in a chair, plumped with feathers, with his boots propped up on top of the desk, twining his fingers on his abdomen. He glanced over at Andy's jittery frame. "But you didn't seem to be in a listening mood lately."

Andy forced his arms beside his sides with a firm frown. "Wonder why."

"Come on. Don't act like that." Jurij snorted lightly. He snatched a marble from the desk, idly staring at the glassy swirls within. "You see the execution?"

Andy's shoulders slumped. "Yeah."

"If I had it my way he'd still be choking on death."

Andy's stared at him for a moment, his brows hovering over his eyes before he mumbled, "Is that what the Onwu was for?" Jurij froze, blinking at the marble with a frown as he set it down. Andy's hand curled into fists.

"It was necessary."

"For who? The Wall? Or was it just so you could rub elbows with the people you've hated for god knows how long?"

Jurij slid his feet onto the floor with a thump as he rose from the chair. The chair screeched along the floor, causing Andy to flinch back at Jurij's scrunched expression.

"Where is this coming from?" A cold laugh fell from Jurji's lips as he rounded around the desk, eyeing Andy like prey. "It's not like you to be so forward."

Andy choked on the knot in his throat and folded his hands behind his back.

"You'd be surprised of how much practice I've had." He mumbled.

Jurij nodded with a wry smirk that fell. He ran his hands down his face and scrutinized the ceiling overhead. His fingers rapped against the desk's edge when a loud crash echoed outside. Andy flinched, catching a glimmer of smoke beginning to rise over the windows.

"Hey," Jurij said. "Be honest with me for a second. Really honest." He flicked his gaze at Andy. "Did you run away from where you lived?"

Andy tensed, stumbling over his words, "N-not exactly."

"But in a way you did though?"

Andy frowned, his nails digging into his palms as he muttered with a heavy heart, "Yeah. I guess I did."

"Then it's okay then."

Andy's brows furrowed. He looked up at bright amethyst eyes and a giddy smile. Jurij strode over to Andy and grasped his shoulders. Andy fought against the wincing at the fingers burying themselves through his coat.

"It's okay for you to stay here then." Andy gawked at the man as he went on. "You could stay here-be my apprentice until you can rise to second-in-command. You don't have to use your real name of course, but think about it! Think how far we could go in this new era!"

"Jurij," Andy frowned. "You said so yourself, there's no life for you here in-"

"Who said anything about a Wall."

Andy blinked at him quizzically just as an explosion rocked the walls of the tower. Andy clung onto Jurij, his legs trembling with the ripples of the explosion until they came to a rest and another one resounded. Jurij grinned wickedly.

"They can't keep lions in a cage forever you know."

Andy shook his head, pushing back from Jurij. He fell to the floor as the next explosion erupted by the Wall. He scrambled back from Jurij into a corner of the room.

"I," Andy searched for his voice-any voice he had left. "I can't…I don't…"

Jurij tilted his head at the boy and merely shrugged, "Fine." He slid up a chair behind the desk and propped his feet up onto the desk again. Andy stared at him bewilderedly as the man sighed, "Unless I'm called out for duty, you're going to sit here until you change your mind."

Andy's heart sank and curled his legs up into his chest. Hours of explosions past, shaking the tower walls idly until smog thickened into a fog across the sky; blocking out even the stars' light from shining through. Andy rested his head against the wall, fighting against his heavy lids dying to close. The rumbling of the walls shook Andy out of his daze. He turned towards the other side of the room where Jurij sat at the desk still, tossing a marble up into the air.

Andy rubbed his lips together, murmuring, "Where's Otto?"

"Doesn't matter." Jurij muttered. "He wouldn't see things like we do. But you will."

"And what am I supposed to see?"

"The future. Us taking the world by storm, never again to be caged in confines like this." Jurij sighed. "That's why I need you. You're the only one who won't walk out on me. Not like Da." His grip tightened around the marble. "And not like her."

Andy blinked and forced his self up. His knees wobbled, numb from sleep, yet he shuffled closer to the desk. He tentatively rested a hand on the edge of the black weaving through ivory desk.

"Jurij," he sighed. "I'm not Odell. You know that."

Jurij tensed, begrudgingly forcing his gaze on the boy as he tossed the marble in the air again.

"I know." He mumbled. "God believe me, I know. But you're…you're better. You're what she should have been."

Andy arched an eyebrow. "That's a bit harsh don't you think. She just wanted a life outside of this like you-"

"Yeah." Jurij snapped, throwing the marble harder until it clacked against the ceiling. "She died trying too."

Andy froze, staggering back from the desk as if it had scalded him.

"What?"

Jurij sat straight up from the desk, setting the marble aside.

"I was exaggerating. It's not that big of a-"

"You said she ran away."

"And plans don't always work out. Can we just drop this?"

"No." Jurij straightened his shoulders at the boy's tone. Andy took a step back from the desk, trying to keep his voice steady. "How'd she die?"

Jurij pressed his lips together and dragged his hands down his face.

"Found her body in a lake not to far from here. Her neck was completely throttled." Jurij spat. "Probably that bastard she ran away with that did her in."

"Did she love Peder?" Andy asked quietly.

"Hell no! Do we need to talk about this? Point is she's gone. Da and I needed provisions and we had to tell everyone she was just sick. That's it." Jurij's voice cracked into a fiery spat.

Andy felt sweat pool in his palms as he wiped them on the side of his coat. Jurij frowned, groaning as he rose from the desk to walk towards Andy. The boy's back thumped against the wall, a small array of faux arms jingling beside him. Jurij stood in front of Andy and rested his hands on his shoulders.

"Just stay here. We can do so much, I can feel it." Jurij said softly, his hands slowly traveling up to Andy's neck. "You can trust me." Andy's breath hitched at the back of his throat as Jurij's fingers brushed against his cheeks. "You know…you actually look better as a girl."

Andy shook him off with a grimace. He swallowed the sting Jurij's last words left, croaking, "How am I supposed to trust you, if you aren't trusting me?"

"Hey…"

Andy shook his hands off with more force. "That night with Peder…and that alley…he said something about paying for Odell. What did he mean by that?"

"It doesn't matter-"

"What did he mean!" Jurij flinched back at Andy's sharp snap. "You were low on provisions. You needed anything to get by."

"I didn't say that."

"You wouldn't have lied about it." Jurij fell silent again, looking away from the boy as Andy bit out, "And from you told me about her, she wouldn't have gone that low to get by even for you. So what did he…"

Andy trailed off, his eyes widening as he stared at Jurij. The man cast his eyes to the side with a frown settled deep on his mouth, leaving Andy's heart to skip a beat.

"God no." Jurij looked back at Andy, reaching out for him as Andy shrunk back further against the wall. "You didn't…you couldn't…"

Jurij flicked his gaze down at the floor. Andy gripped his stomach that began to burn. He flinched away from Jurij's touch.

"I didn't mean for it to get that far." Jurij said.

Andy held a hand to his mouth, blinking through the heat welling in his eyes as he ogled the man.

"That far?" Andy gaped. "You sold her. Then when she said no you…" Andy felt his stomach lurch violently against his side. "Oh god."

Jurij caught Andy before he crumbled to the floor. He propped him up against the wall and ran his hand through his mucky hair. He pressed his fingertips onto his cheeks, gently shushing him as wayward tears sneaked down the boy's face.

"Hey, that's all in the past now." Jurij said through the boy's breathless gasps. He strained to keep a small smile on his face that was quickly crumbling. "Things can be different. You don't have to live the life you ran from and neither do I. I was lost, and she…she just wanted to avoid it all together. I did what I had to do, and I don't regret it. And soon, neither will you." His breath tickled Andy's face; the scent of iron-raw, human iron-made his stomach coil. "Devour the flame. Devour the spark. We are the nightmare. We are the dark."

Andy's heart froze against his chest, pulling his face away from Jurij's to stare at him with wide eyes.

"Where did you hear that?" He asked breathlessly, his voice shriveling into nothing.

"It's just a saying our new leaders told us." Jurij murmured, winding his arms around Andy's waist. His lips still lingered near Andy's as the boy's fingers absentmindedly wrapped around a handle in the faux coat of arms case.

"Jurij." The man hummed, nuzzling the boy's neck. "It's nice. Not regretting anything." Jurij pulled his face up to look up at Andy. His brows puckered into a frown at the glassy gaze staring at him. "But I still do."

Andy yanked his arm up from the case with a wicker blade in his hand and smashed it against Jurij's head. The man cried out, rearing back from Andy with his hands clawing at his face. The air strangled Andy's lungs as he watched blood stream down the gash hacked down Jurij's right eye, a small hunk of skin clinging to the edges of his face. Blinking through red tears, Jurij watched as the boy scrambled towards the door and shoved his way down the stairwell.

"No, wait!" Jurij cried through his gasps, clenching his eye as its throbs pierced through the rest of his body.

Andy's blood roared in his ears as he took three stairs at a time and burst through the doors of the tower. He gagged on the thick smoke that filled his lungs and wrapped the collar of his coat around his mouth. He stumbled through the mounds of snow on the street, explosions popping in his ears with screams punctuating each ripple.

Andy glanced over his shoulder to find a rally of people racing down the street. Before the boy could move, a hundred shoulders and elbows shoved past him. Andy yelped as the air left him with each blow until he felt the ground fall from under him. He toppled back through a hole, crashing down onto wooden planks. The harsh crunch that followed sent Andy scrambling up, looking down at the shattered pieces of glass and wood of the window.

A shout pierced through Andy as he ducked down under the remaining flanks of the wall. Snow and smoke flurried through the broken room he fell into, blanketing the torn floorboards with a gray, white film. Blood curdling screams fell short with every boom of the explosions coming from the Wall, leaving Andy's ears to pop and mold with the chaos around him. The boy pressed his ear to the wall, listening to the footsteps tear through the streets until one remained. Andy's breathing froze as the lone footsteps crunched closer to the building he was in. He buried his teeth into the coat's collar, whimpering ever so quietly when a flickering shadow casted over the broken window.

He held his breath as a figure leered into the building. Andy's eyes widened at the scythe in the other's hands, clacking against the wall with a low purr. The figure twisted its arm to the side, landing the blade and inch from Andy's neck. The scythe's clanking orchestrated Andy's heartbeat the closer it inched towards him. The boy sucked in a sharp breath and the figure jerked its head over to him.

Andy could only see black soot paint the figure's face while an eerie snarl laced across its mouth. It jerked the scythe up with a flick of its wrist only to drop it entirely. Andy ogled the weapon as it clattered onto the floor with the figure slumping over into the building. The boy looked up at the window to find a man leaning over the uprooted shards of the window.

He spat next to the figure's sagging frame and turned towards Andy. His mouth tugged down into a familiar frown.

"Damn boy," the gruff grunt sent a wave of relief rolling down Andy's spine. He squinted up at the stubbly jaw and eternal frown creased along Otto's brows.

The boy let out a voiceless cry, throwing his arms around the man's neck. Otto made an irritated cluck at the back of his throat as he pulled back with Andy crawling over the window. The boy winced at the pricks of the remaining glass while Otto shook him off. Andy opened his mouth only for Otto to yank him by the arm.

"Move!" Otto barked, shoving him down the street. Andy wordlessly followed after the man, the clatter of metal and cries trailing behind them. The two raced through the streets, snow whipping across their faces mercilessly, as they trudged over thick mounds that littered the gravel. Andy tripped, nearly toppling over, when Otto yanked him by the collar. "Don't look down!"

Andy felt a sour metallic taste gurgle at the back of his mouth. The splayed limbs mushed under the snow he caught at the corner of his eye kept his gaze forward.

The two turned around the corner where the tavern sat, its sign battering against the wall nimbly. The windows and wood barring them were smashed along with the door that swung ajar. Otto cursed under his breath, pulling Andy in tow with him as they entered the tavern. The man closed the door behind them while Andy scanned the remnants of the main room.

Andy's boots crunched on top of the glass and wood splinters across the floor, his eyes widening at the dark liquid seeping through the smashed counter and liquor cabinet. Otto patted Andy's shoulder as he jerked his head to the back of the tavern. The boy followed close behind him through the dark halls, feeling his way against the walls, until they reached the cellar. Otto heaved the latch up as Andy quickly grabbed the lantern they left beside it. He handed the lit flask to Otto and climbed down into the musky haven. Wet earth mingled with aging liquor tingled Andy's nose the further they ventured through, the rumbling of the world above them growing into a faint murmur.

"Just like them," Otto grumbled. "Only going for what they see. Bunch of half brained bastards!" Andy furrowed his brows as the man came to an end of the cellar, where a bushel of barrels sat. He handed the lantern back to Andy and shoved the barrels away from the wall. "Boy, if there's anything you do in life," he grunted, the barrel scraping across the ground with a groan, "look. Before anything else look!"

Andy blinked as the last barrel was shoved aside, leaving a burrowed door in the wall's wake. Otto sat back against a barrel, watching Andy gawked at the door then at Otto. The sighed heavily, hauling his self up. He curled his fingers through the rail of the door and nudged it forward. The door shuddered as it swung in, tendrils of roots falling over its ridge. Otto jerked his head towards the door, yet Andy remained still.

Otto sighed again, opening his mouth to chastise the boy when Andy murmured, "Aren't you going?"

The man shrugged, scratching at his chin. "No." He mumbled. "Caged beasts should stay caged."

Andy bit his lip, thoughts trying to formulate into words when a crash bristled overhead. Footsteps thundered through the tavern, growing louder and louder as they entered the hall. Otto pushed Andy through the doorway.

"Go, now!" The muddy ceiling trembled with a dull purr. "The tunnel won't last long with these explosions!"

Andy hesitated until Otto clapped his hand on his shoulder. Urgency and pain glided through Otto's eyes, leaving Andy breathless. His furrowed brows cupped the upper crescents of his eyes, a tinged dark violet that Andy noticed for the first time. Otto squeezed the boy's shoulder, murmuring ever so gently, "Run son."

Andy felt his heart swell and break all at once; a flicker of another man's face-of another life-taking place of Otto's. He took a step back. Then another. And a final step with Otto's expression searing into his memories before darting into the tunnel.

His boots tore across the dirt, echoing around him in the tunnel. Andy's teeth dug into his lip; the trembling in his lip held at bay for the moment. Andy slowed his running to a jog, watching puff after puff of his breath grow into a white bloom. As his heartbeat fell in tune with his breathing, he squeezed the tears from his eyes. He sucked in a shaky breath, ready to come to a halt when a low roar rumbled along the tunnel's walls.

Dirt and mud trembled from the roof in large clumps, slamming on the ground with loud thumps. Tears silently trekked down Andy's cheeks as he took off. The boy ducked and stumbled over thick rocks that rumbled down overhead. The tunnel quaked with each explosion; the roaring of rocks caving in growing into a faint whir amidst Andy's thundering heart. Dirt began clumping onto his shoulders the narrower the tunnel became as he blindly stumbled through the cavern.

He squinted through the darkness and dust prying at his vision when the faintest gleam of light shone through a miniscule crack up ahead. Andy pushed his arms out toward the light, scrambling to the ground. He bit back a hiss at the sharp sting the rocks greeted him with his fall. He arched his back only to meet the roof of the tunnel with a thump.

Andy swallowed down a whimper as he crawled on, his knees nipping and scraping along the rocks. The air grew thick with sulfur mingling underground, gripping the boy's lungs mercilessly. He coughed roughly into the earth and looked up at the light ahead that shook with the explosion. His fingers grazed over the fading beam as the tunnel collapsed with a growl ringing in Andy's ears, snatching the last fragments of freedom with it.


White fractals of ice grazed over the wind, sweeping up the ash and smog that lingered in the air. The light snowfall dusted splinters of wood and brick scattered across the blackened earth and the crumbled blocks that once stood around it; wistfully guiding gray clouds and smoke to another day. In the silent graveyard being blanketed by snow, a low grumble fell from the far end of the blocks on the outskirts of the city. The uprooted pile of dirt lying in clumps where the blocks sat shifted.

The gravelly dirt trembled, breaking apart from the snowflakes pinching it together as an arm bloomed out of the ground. Just as the arm scrambled along the ground, mud caked fingers wriggling to grasp onto a spare block, another arm sprouted from the ground with it. The arms heaved a body up with it as the rising boy gasped for air. He scrambled forward, rolling out of the hole and onto the ground. He wheezed, flints of dirt flying from his mouth as he coughed into the burnt grass. His stomach folded into itself eagerly, spewing dark, maple mud onto the ground. His shoulders quaked with his trembling frame until the coughing stopped.

Andy blankly stared out over his pool of vomit at the smoke lingering on the fallen city. He bit his lip, ignoring the sour bile burning his tongue, feeling a foreign heat cascade down his cheeks. The boy shuddered with a sob rocking him back and forth. He hiccupped over the burnt weeds pressed into his cheek when a soft crunch met his ears.

He choked on a plea as fingers brushed by in front of him. He blinked at the sparsely clean fingers and followed the arm of the one reaching out for him. The wind blew across the man's outstretched arm, casting his onyx, black hair from his face. Icy, blue eyes stared down at Andy with his lips pressed together in a firm line. He shook his hand out for Andy as the boy's face crumbled with tears streaking down his cheeks, merely spreading the dirt caked into his skin.

The man said nothing as he kneeled down, hooking his arms under Andy's. He threw one of Andy's arms across his shoulders and gently heaved him to his feet. Andy felt his legs drag under him, his muscles numb as if they weren't there at all. He pressed his face against the white clad shoulder of the man, burying his teeth into his bottom lip.

"Go ahead." Andy flinched at the soft voice. The man stared straight ahead, hauling more of the boy's weight on his side. "It hurts more when you don't."

The man's feathery, black hair dusted Andy's nose as he pressed his face deeper into the crook of the man's neck. A sob broke through the constraints of Andy's tightened throat, vocal chords breaking aside instantly. He wheezed and coughed onto the man's shoulder with each streak of tears pouring from his eyes, squeezing his arms around the other. As they moved further away from the city's rubble, Andy fell in and out of consciousness-tears falling even then-until his breathing finally evened in time with his cries.

After the smoke of the city was long gone from his senses, Andy jolted awake. The taste of copper and ash burned his tongue as he gagged for breath. He swallowed thickly, his heart crept back into his chest as he blinked in his surroundings. Golden, orange flickered along rocky walls that towered over him. Stalactites crept down from the cave overhead like teeth, water glistening down its sides as it dripped into pools. Andy jerked his head around the cavern, glancing down to find a blanket draped over him and his nightgown. He sighed heavily and gripped the side of his head.

"So Sleeping Beauty's finally up." Andy jumped. He turned his gaze around to find the man standing over him with a bucket in one hand. He kneeled down to Andy, setting the bucket beside him. His eyes stared at Andy for a moment longer when he asked, "Hungry?"

Andy opened his mouth as a mangled croak fell from his lips. He clamped his mouth shut and turned away, shaking his head. The man sighed, sliding the bucket closer to him and nodded his head down to it. Andy glanced down at the water sloshing about in the bucket, steam curling up over the rim.

"Would you mind if I…"

Andy's shoulders slumped, fiddling with the edges of the blanket until he reluctantly nodded. The man shuffled behind the boy and began fiddling with the buttons running down the nightgown. The buttons merely crumbled from their cracks as he slid the dirt speckled gown off his shoulders. Andy shuddered at the clammy air greeting his flesh. The blanket was quickly shoved aside, leaving the nightgown pooling around his waist. The man tore a piece of cloth from the blanket and dipped it into the water.

Heat radiated off the cloth as he brought it to the back of Andy's neck. He dragged the cloth down the dried mud clinging to Andy's back, eliciting a hiss from the boy. The mud scraped down his flesh, refusing to release the skin beneath it until the man tipped the bucket over. Andy screeched between gritted teeth as the steaming water poured down his back. He blinked a wayward tear from his eyes. The boiling water was one thing, yet the prying of the dirt from his back was entirely something else.

The man scrubbed Andy's back roughly until a spot of pink flesh bloomed from the field of black dirt. The boy groaned into his fist as the filth clinging to him crumbled away. The air around him seemed cooler on his freed clean; it was only then when his back was cleansed and the front slowly being etched of the dirt did he feel bare. Andy's fingers itched to pool the nightgown up over his chest as the man broke through the walls of dirt.

"No need to be bashful now." Andy flinched at the light smirk in his voice. He pressed his palms into his lap, tilting his chin up as the man began scrubbing down his neck. Andy croaked, thirsting for his own voice instead of the trembling one. He reached his hand back to grasp the other's only for it to be swatted way.

"You could barely wake yourself up on your own." The man clucked his tongue, moving the cloth to Andy's cheek. "You can clean yourself down there after I'm done."

Andy grumbled under his breath as the cloth wiped across his face. The man leaned back at the bright, pink flesh still buzzing from the boiling water.

"Better." He raised up on his knees with the bucket in his hands, carefully tilting it over Andy's head.

The boy hissed at the water crashing down on him, leaving thick, dirty strands of hair dripping down his face. The man began raking his fingers through his hair, roughly scratching his scalp, and trailed down to edge of his back. He pulled back Andy's hair and wrung the muddy water from red, gold locks. Andy sat in silence until he felt his hair flop back against the top of his back.

The man moved back from the boy, smiling at his half cleansed self. The smile slowly melted into a meek press of his lips. Andy stared at the point of the cavern with its array of pointed teeth silently. The man sighed, turning to pour out the last of the fire off the side of the slab they sat on. He turned to the small fire in the middle of the cavern, feeding it spare twigs off the side when Andy flicked his gaze on him.

"How?"

The man glanced at the boy over his shoulder. He sat back against the wall, chuckling lightly, "He finally talks." The man propped his arms on his knees, sighing, "Your father owed me a favor."

He gently rolled, "father," yet the word stung nonetheless. Andy grimaced, dropping his head tiredly.

"He wanted to do it." The man said. "He thought you were worth it."

Andy folded his knees up to rest his chin on them. He murmured, "Did you know this would happen?"

"No." The man scratched the back of his neck. "Just a hunch. The rats have been infesting everything on this side of the mountain lately."

"Rats? But they…"

"Were accusing others of being them." The man shook his head. "The truth is all of that breaking down the wall was just an excuse for mindless slaughter. A game of sorts for the real rats behind the 'lion revolt' in order to gain another playing card."

The Draguen. Andy grinded his teeth, his blood bubbling deep in his veins. "How long?"

"Forever I guess." He shrugged. "They take what they can get here in the North."

Andy's heart skipped a beat. He shot his head, staring at the man with wide eyes.

"The North?" Andy said breathlessly. "Where are we now?"

"In the mid part of the mountains."

"How close are we to the northern kingdom?"

The man's brows furrowed. "Not far I suppose if you have a death wish."

Andy's breath hitched at the back of his throat, swelling into a knot as he threw his self to the ground. The man ogled the boy with his forehead pressed on the ground and filthy nightgown clinging to his backside.

"Thank you," Andy said. "Thank you for saving me again, but I'm begging you-please take me to the northern kingdom."

The man blinked, his slack mouth swaying between a smirk and line. Andy's cheeks burned the longer he pressed his face to the ground. His heartbeat rang in his ears anew, twisted between shame and desperation until the man murmured something quietly. Andy brought his head up.

"What?" Andy asked.

The man's face was expressionless. He leaned forward, grasping the boy's chin in his hand. Andy shivered under the heavy weight burning beneath his icy eyes as he whispered, "Who do you want me to be?"

Andy's mouth went dry, locked by the man's gaze. He pressed his lips together and sighed.

"I don't know." He dropped his eyes to the ground. "Honestly…just someone who won't try to kill me in the next two seconds."

The man's black bangs fell over his eyes as a thick silence draped over them. The boy barely felt the ghost like touch of the man brushing his thumb against his chin as he pulled away. Andy stared up at the man, chewing the side of his cheek.

"Egil." The man sighed and chuckled at the same time. Andy blinked at him quizzically. "You can call me Egil." The man ran a hand through his messy hair and cracked a smile at him. He reached out his hand towards Andy's. "And what do I call you?"

Andy's heart sighed in his chest as he grasped Egil's hand. As their hands shook, a tremor of ice shot through Andy's body, almost as if the iciness was tugging at something at the back of his mind to move closer to the other man. He shook his head, squeezing Egil's hand with a newfound conviction.

For Arendelle. For Alcadria. For Otto. For Jurij. Andy's jaw set firmly, the pocket watch burning against his thigh. I won't let the Draguen ruin anyone else ever again!

"My name is Anders of Arendelle, second in line to the seer kingdom of the nine realms. And I have a mission I need to finish."


A/N: Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think Andy will do to complete his renewed mission.