Chapter 4: Black Water

Author's Notes: My apologies for the delay, everyone, but I couldn't type for a while. I got this weird tightening feeling on my wrist and it made it kind of painful to type, but I can manage to type this next chapter out. Just don't expect the next chapter to be up too soon.

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Marx: I thought you may like it. :3 I'm pretty good with twists.

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This story doesn't seem to be all that successful, but I'll keep writing, just in case there will be future fans.

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I blinked, slowly bringing my eyes into focus. The hard floor underneath me made it really hard to get comfortable, and for some reason my body was not responding to what I wanted it to do. My eyesight finally managed to focus enough so that I could notice the laser beams extending down from the ceiling and towards the floor, forming bars. I was confused why were there bars? …What was I even doing? Let's see, the last thing I remember was entering the mission, lots of sentinels, pill, then…

"Oh yeah," I mumbled, finally remembering. "We were captured…" We… I tried to quickly sit up, but then regretted it almost immediately as my muscles screaming in agony. "Argh!!" I yelled, my voice echoing off the metallic walls… "God…my body…"

"Bear?" a female voice asked. It took me a bit, but I finally recognized the voice.

"Orchid…?" I groaned, slowly moving to a wall for sitting support.

"Bear! Are you alright?" she asked. I looked towards my side and sure enough she was in the cell in front of mine. I groaned.

"Just dandy," I muttered, only one eye open. I felt like utter crap… I heard her sighed. It seemed as though she had been worried…which was a first. Orchid was always pretty distant from the rest of us…it was strange to see her worried…

"So, can you shape shift?" she asked. She looked a little nervous. I shook my head.

"My body's shot from taking a stamina pill. I won't be able to shift for awhile…" Which really pissed me off. Right now I felt like ripping the metallic cell to pieces. "Why can't you use your plants to get us out of here?" She shook her head and pointed to two holes in the ceiling above her.

"They told me that if I tried anything funny they'd set my plants on fire. I can't risk it, especially in such a small cell, y'know?" I nodded. Would be much too dangerous if she did anything. Wait…fire…

"Cinders?" I called out. Were we all in the same hall? I received an exasperated sigh as an answer.

"It's not use!" I heard her cry. "Every time I try to form a simple flame this cell cools down too fast! I can't keep the flame up long enough…" I heard what sounded like a bang and figured it must have been her punching the wall.

"Mockingbird?" I called out.

"Present," she replied in Cinders' voice.

"Can't you use your voice to get us out of here?" There was a pause.

"I can, but…I can't risk it…" I noticed that when she was speaking there seemed to be an echo. "These walls are all made out of this weird material that makes my voice fluctuate. It seems as though the farther it travels the louder it gets."

"Isn't that good?" I asked. My mind couldn't keep up right now. All my body wanted was for me to get back to sleep.

"If I tried to scramble the circuitry I'd probably end up killing you all in the process. I have no control over my volume…" Another tired sigh. Seems like everyone was keeping up hope…

"Damn it!" I screamed, punching the wall. My knuckles immediately began aching. My whole body was useless. "If only I could shift! Damn this body, damn it!!" I slammed my fist against the metallic floor and more pain shot through my body. There was utter silence. "All that training," I muttered, yet I knew everyone could hear me. "All that training and for what? For us to get caught… If only I were stronger… If only I wasn't so weak!!" I stared down at my red hands, never feeling more pathetic in my entire life, and then something strange happened… My shadow began forming hands and arms and it stretched out to place its hands on my own. There was a sudden cooling sensation that soothed some of my aches and pains and for some reason I wasn't scared. In fact, I had seen it somewhere bef-

"Mi-!!" I was quickly caught off by the shadow hand covering my mouth. Midnight, I thought. I had forgotten all about him.

My shadow slowly separated from me and took the form of Midnight's incredibly tall body. I had forgotten that Midnight was able to hide himself in other people's shadows. He placed a finger to his lips, telling me to be silent, before turning into darkness again. The shadow crawled along the floor and into the floor close to the laser bars. A few seconds later all of our bars were disabled and everyone was shocked.

"What the…"

The black shadow came out from the floor again like liquid and then grew back into Midnight's extremely tall figure. There was a small smile on his face.

"Daddy!!" Mockingbird squealed with joy, running up to hug him. It was a Hallmark moment as he hugged his daughter to him, having to kneel down due to his tall body and her small one. Hard to believe she was my age, and I don't think I could ever get used to having Cinder's voice come from her…

The alarm hadn't gone off yet, but I could tell it wouldn't be long before they found out we had escaped. Everyone started leaving quickly, but as I tried to stand up I realized that there was no way I'd be able to keep up with everyone… My legs shook dangerously underneath my weight to the point where I could easily see them shake. If I let go of the wall there was no doubt in my mind that I would fall.

"Damn it," I muttered. They were all going to have to go without me…not that they really noticed since they were gone already.

"Bear?" A low male voice asked. I noticed it was Midnight's voice. I let out a small laugh as he appeared in front of me, small frown on his face.

"Hey, bud," I muttered my legs finally giving way, but luckily Midnight caught me before my knees crashed against the cold metal floor. I chuckled. "I'm in some really bad shape…"

"How are you going to get out?" he asked, but he knew what I was going to say before I even said it.

"You're going to have to leave me behind." There was silence for a few moments before the alarm started blaring throughout the entire base, but we still stayed there looking at each other. I was going to have to stay behind…or find someway to sneak out before discovered, but there was no way I would be able to-

"No." Midnight's statement was firm. It was obvious he wasn't going to budge from it. I sighed.

"What do you suggest we do…?"

"There is one way." Midnight turned into a shadow again before melting into the floor. The shadow puddle then crawled below me and before I knew it I was starting to get sucked in by the shadows. The coldness that started covering and pulling me into it was frightening, but this was Midnight… Midnight would never harm me.

As my upper body was slowly being taken into the darkness I began to calm down. I thought the more I would go into darkness the more frightened I would get, but the coolness felt calming…secure, and by the time my head had submerged into the darkness I had welcomed it.

What happened next was odd. For a second all I saw was darkness. It was silent. Normally this would be the point where I would find out I was out of breath because I had been screaming but wouldn't know it 'cause I wouldn't hear myself with all the darkness that had consumed me, like in one of those scary movies, but this felt different. I felt nice. Instead of frightening it felt safe, like nothing could touch me. …It felt powerful.

Open your eyes, a voice told me and, not knowing before that I had my eyes closed, I opened them. What I saw next will forever stay in my mind as the most amazing, yet awkward, experience in my life.

I was in water…or what felt like water. I saw my body, floating and my arms moving around, my body extremely light like I was in a pool, but I could breathe…and what I saw was not what you would find if you opened your eyes in regular water. What I was seeing shifted, yes, but I was still inside the prison cell, except…

There was no color, everything was in black and white, and I was looking as if from the floor. I was seeing it as if I was right there, but the happiness seemed to have been sucked out of everything. There was only silence and serenity…

Then, I started moving, out of the cell, and I became slightly frightened, but then the voice began talking again.

So strange… We've been talking all this time, and yet it's only now that I find out what you look like, Lex… You look much different than what I had initially thought.

That voice. I knew I heard it before, but my thoughts were interrupted as footsteps of human soldiers came closer, closer, stepped over me, and kept walking.

I'm sorry, the voice continued. I have yet to explain. This is my world, Lex, the world of darkness, but you don't have to worry. It's me. It's Midnight.

My eyes widened. Midnight?! I thought, and then I was shocked again. I had meant to say it, not think it. Where…are you?

I'm everywhere. I was not going to just leave you there, Lex. You mean too much to me, to us, you're too important, so I pulled you into the shadow realm, but don't worry; it's nothing like in those Yu-Gi-Oh shows you kids used to watch. This is safe, at least my version is.

So what's going on then, Midnight? I began asking. Why are soldiers walking over us? How are we escaping without being caught? Why can't I hear anything, why is everything looking so lifeless, yet I don't feel scared?

We were already outside of the complex and not one person seemed to have noticed us, but we were still going

I'll have to explain later, but right now, I have to focus on getting us back. Just relax, Lex. I have this under control. The others have escaped already. We're going home.

The stress of everything that had happened in such little time must have pushed my already weakened body far beyond it's limits because just then I started falling asleep.

Are you sure…things will be okay? I asked, trying to hold on just a little bit longer to this peaceful world.

Shh, he insisted. Just rest. We'll be home soon. We'll be home…

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Okay, this chapter sort of ended at an odd, note, I know, and I won't make up an excuse, just hope you enjoy it and don't kill me for the tardiness. :3