Um, Hey, second chapter and all. So far I think I have one reviewer… Well here is you MOAR~! Once again, it is only a small chapter, the longer ones to come soon enough.
WARNING::: Implications of rape.
Breakaway ~ Kelly Clarkson
Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I'd just stare out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I'd end up happy
I would pray
Trying hard to reach out
But when I tried to speak out
Felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I prayed
I could breakaway
I'll spread my wings
And I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Want to feel the warm breeze
Sleeping under palm trees
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get onboard a fast train
Travel on a jet plane
Far away
And breakaway
Buildings with a hundred floors
Spinning round revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but
Gotta keep moving on
Moving on
Fly away
Breakaway
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy
To tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Breakaway
Breakaway
:::
It was unbelievably hot today. Hotter than it ever had been in the young man's life. Even if the locals were used to it and he was just a silly Northern Man who had decided to live there, he had a right to complain on this day, for the local desert folk were complaining too.
But he didn't complain. Because no matter how stifling the heat was, more and more people were coming to his small stall to by cool sweet drinks and the filling yet re-hydrating broth.
For all its plainness, as it was north broth instead of the tangy desert broths, it was quite tasty. Which meant people always came back for more. Which meant his business was good and he good live a comfortable life… if he weren't saving every piece of bronze, gold and silver to return home.
He hadn't actually decided to make his home in the desert. His home had been ransacked and young children were taken to become slaves. They had marched them all the way to the desert, underneath the great pyramids and sphinx, and sold them to people in the shanty city to work. Many children had died from the heat or malnutrition as there had been a great famine when they arrived.
Out of eight children, one had escaped and run into the Sahara, left for the vultures, and two remained alive. One was a small girl that had been captured after he was. She was sent to learn how to dance and sing to entertain at festivals. He however was sent to work as a slave at the palace carved into the sphinx many years ago.
He'd been picked on by all the masters he had worked for and even the other slaves turned the heads from their work if only to jeer at him.
The previous year, as he had been walking down a long marble corridor and celebrating his sixteenth birthday to himself, the head of the family he was working for at the time gagged and bound him and took him to a private room with chains and knives.
He had a rite to be scared. Especially when the man said that he celebrated the coming of age with all the slaves.
For one week he had gone without work, but he had been put through the worst torture of his life.
After exactly seven days, he was taken out of the dark room and thrown back into the slaves quarters. They had been eating their daily rations when they turned to look at him.
They had been heartless and shameless.
Still bruised and bloodied and still with hot substance running down his legs, he was 'shared' around with the rest of the slaves while in his weakened state. The jeers always on their lips. They said, for how else could we gain gratification and he was such a woman with the way he did things, so why not invoke their lust on him.
At the end of the day, all the slaves went to bed and forgot about him. He lay aching and trembling, covered in filth, curled up in a dark corner, sobbing, though quietly for fear that one would return to keep him 'quiet'.
He almost screamed when he felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder and he spun around, pressing his back to the stone wall behind him to move away from the three men.
One in the middle stepped forward and knelt in front of him and proceeded to clean him with a towel.
He didn't move. He couldn't. He was too scared and was watching all three with jittery fleeting glances.
"Shh, it's aright. " The one cleaning him said as he rubbed a stain off of his cheek. "I am Gupter… These are my friends, Heracles and Sadiq… We are escaping tonight… You will come with us…"
"I-I'm not coming to be a traveling whore."
"If you stay here my friend, then you will only be put through the same lament day after day." Sadiq said. "Well… until they get bored of you… ask Heracles here. He has been through the same."
Heracles nodded silently and knowingly. But he looked like he had accepted it. He simply looked tired. "It is either escape and forget or stay and learn to live with it…" He said with a slight Greek accent.
"What is your answer…?" Gupter asked, holding his chin gently to look into his eyes. Tino couldn't speak. But somehow… Gupter could. "He says yes."
"I-I did…"
"Yeah… trust Gupter to see into people's minds." Sadiq said with a small smile. "Have you heard of the Shadow King and the Savior…?"
He nodded once. He knew who they were and he kind of guessed where these three were going with their escape plan. Heracles completed the explanation.
"We've been hearing rumors… That the Shadow King is the righteous one… that he and the Savior have been mixed up with their roles. People say he's evil because right after a village is burnt down or a family brutally murdered, he is always there. But what if he is always there due to accident… what if he is there looking for the one who did it?"
"And you are…?"
"We are going to go and join him righteous or not… The people here worship the Savior and follow his words and orders without hesitance. Would someone sent to save us request slaves…?"
"… No…" He looked down at the tattered clothes that only just covered him. "I'll come…"
There were no more words between them as the four stole out using a key Sadiq had stolen from the guard. They ran to a window at the end of the corridor he had been gagged and bound in. He shivered at the memories.
When they were at the window, Gupter pulled out a rope from a nearby wicker basket and tied it tightly to a heavy bronze statue.
And then one by one, they free fell down the wall of the palace, which was technically the sphinx. Because he was too weak, he rode on Sadiq's back, clinging to the Turk as the ground came ever closer. He screwed his eyes shut so he wouldn't panic and fall to his death.
But then all of a sudden there was a hearty laughter and he was pulled off of Sadiq's back. He went to scream but there was a warm hand on his mouth and it muffled his sobs.
But then his feet were set on solid ground. He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times and apologized for being so silly.
Heracles giggled, smiling for the first time he had met him. He looked somewhat cute as he blushed and his after-giggle expression reminded him somewhat of a strong young lion… or some other great cat in well content.
"What is your name…?" The Greek asked.
"Um… Tino… My names Tino… I was taken from my home in Finland."
"Alright Tino…" Sadiq smiled and patted him on the back. "Are you up for an adventure…?"
"If it gets me out of here then…" Tino took a step forward but collapsed onto his knees and threw up. "Ugh… What's wrong with me…?" He whimpered and wiped the bile from the back of his mouth with a groan.
"It must be the trauma catching up to you…" Gupter said. "We can't take you with us if you are unwell… you won't survive the journey across the Sahara."
"But… I…"
"Don't worry." Heracles smiled and held out his hand. "We know of someone who harbors fugitives skillfully. Her name is Katuyasha. She will house you and clothe you and feed you until we send someone to collect you once you are well."
Tino stiffened for a moment before relaxing with a yawn and nod and took Heracles' hand. When he was on his feet, Sadiq scooped him up in his arms and before he could say anything, he was drifting off to sleep.
When he woke up, he was in a soft bed and being served fruit for breakfast by a tearful woman. Gupter, Sadiq and Heracles had already left. They said that within the year they would send someone to collect him and bring him to the Shadow King before he could make his way home to Finland.
The plan was good. The next couple of days while he had been in bed had been rough, a couple of palace guards had charged in on him. If it weren't for Katuyasha running in and saying that he was her son, visiting from the north, then he would have been dragged back to the palace and sentenced to death.
So for eleven and a half months he had been claiming to be the crying lady's son. And he was really excited on this particularly hot day because he had received a note the previous week, notifying him that his escorts to the Shadow King were arriving on this day to take him.
Half of the money he had saved, was to pay the men for their trouble, even though Gupter had assured him in plain hieroglyph that they didn't care for money, and the other half would be going to Miss Katuyasha, for her efforts for him.
And it was when he was pouring broth with a big hospitable smile that he immediately picked out the two who had come to take him away.
He had been told that the one in charge was the taller one with blonde hair and blue eyes. Ludwig Weilderschmidt. He was the younger brother by a year but highly responsible and would take care of him well. Apparently he was a strategist.
The second Weilderschmidt brother was Gilbert. He had white hair and bloody red and was shorter than his younger sibling. He was a bit reckless but very trust worthy and hated failing at things because according to him, it was so not awesome to fail. Unless it was EPIC fail in which there is a kick ass battle and tons of bloodshed.
And despite Ludwig's stiff exterior and Gilbert's obnoxiousness, both brother's were really nice and wouldn't dare hurt him or touch him in a way that he wasn't comfortable with.
He smiled and waved when he saw the two Germans approach. For the start of the day, they would be acting as customers, checking the place out. For the second half of the day they would all go back to Katuyasha's house and spend the night there before rising before the city in the early pre-dawn and leaving, beginning a three day trek across the Sahara to an oasis where there would be a caravan of camels waiting with his three distant friends to take him on an old dock forgotten by the world where they would board a small ship and sail for England. There he would meet the Shadow King, rest and make his way home to Finland.
"How you going… Tino? Is it…?"
Tino nodded as the albino sat on a stool attached to his booth. Ludwig sat beside him, assessing their surroundings.
"Can I get you something to eat or drink? You must have had a long journey…" The Fin smiled and they both went to answer when there was a whistling sound and an arrow landed in the wood of the booth's counter top, perfectly between the two brothers.
All three looked up to the roof tops where they were met with a cold gaze. Approaching them on their left was a guy with a Gilbert style grin, wielding a large axe and on their right was a small male with platinum hair and a clip holding back his fringe.
He was wearing something similar to knuckle busters, except long thin sharp blades protruded from his knuckles.
"How are we going to get out of this one bruder…?" Gilbert grinned and the blonde mimicked the expression.
They were prepared for their fate.
:::
Yeeeah… You love me and I know it… better yet, you know it too…. Bahahahahaha!
Um, so I guess that is the second chapter. Things get a little longer from here… hopefully…
Luvluv…!
~~~PM~~~
Oh, PS, Sweden's "wife and child" that I murdered in the first chapter are just two randoms. So sorry if that was confusing.