Waning: Lots more angst. Lots and lots of more angst.
AN: Hope you're enjoying so far! Today I'm feeling happy, happy, happy, so here's a treat for you:
MURDOCK'S P.O.V.!
This one's for you, Murdockians...
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GUNNAR'S P.O.V.
I covered my ears. I couldn't listen to it anymore.
I recognized the howl, I had felt the howl inside of me. It reminded me of when I was young and in the middle of an unknown war, howling because I knew that no one heard me. Howling because I knew, the very government that I worked for, they didn't care. That was the first time I had been faced with an unimaginably cruel death at the hands of my captors.
I knew exactly what the howling man was feeling, I had felt it before. Your body feels so exhausted and in pain to the extent that you can't move. Your soul is so tired and weary, you just need to let go. You don't want to feel anymore. That's where your inner animal comes out, and you howl. Long and hard.
Then, after the howl, you escape somewhere deep inside of yourself. You can't feel anymore, you can't hurt anymore. You become unattached from the world, and you become just a shell of someone. The feeling is both glorious and scary at the same time.
Sometimes, you'll sing songs to yourself. Sometimes you'll recite poems that you learned in third grade, or you'll live in your past.
Then, if you ever become rescued, you'll have to undergo multiple psychiatric evaluations and you must recuperate. But, once you let that animal become uncaged, it's hard to shove it down again. If I wasn't recruited into this Team, I know I would've gone off the deep end.
The sun had become to come up over the horizon, and I could make out the silhouette of the howling man. He was kneeling on the ground, his face to the sky, and he was unleashing his animal. It was almost horrific to see, but at the same time, I was happy for the man. He had suffered more than any of us.
A hand grasped my shoulder, and I flinched but removed my hands from my ears. "What?"
Lee, who was behind me, smirked. "Relax. I just wanted to say, that if they take me out to the compound today, keep an eye on Barney. Make sure he eats, and clean his wounds every once in a while."
I nodded, the howl of the man creeping into my skull. "Alright."
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MURDOCK'S P.O.V.
I hurt all over. Pain was the only reality. I couldn't make sense, and although that was pretty normal for me, this was worse.
Way worse.
A thick mud seemed to coat the inside of my head. I couldn't focus.
I sucked in a breath and let it out in a howl, and when I finished that one, I paused.
I could just barely make out the sun coming up over the horizon. I knew that when it did come out, I would be scorched.
I turned my head away from the bright lights of the compound, I could hear them coming towards me. They wanted to stop me from venting, they wanted to break me.
Can't break something that was never whole in the first place.
Another howl, this one getting cut off as someone grabbed me and tied a gag tightly around my mouth, making it impossible to speak or howl.
The captors disappeared back inside the compound, and I allowed myself to hang limply against the ropes that held me to the pole. As much as it hurt, I had no energy to hold myself up.
I turned to the cage that held my friends, my Team. I knew they would be watching me, but what I didn't expect was the look that Face gave me.
It was a pain filled look, tortured and broken. He looked like he was pleading with me, his gaze held more emotion than I could handle.
Something snapped inside me, and I felt myself fill up with an unexplanable energy. I tried to stop it, but it took over everything- my senses, my mind.
An unquenchable anger. I wanted more than anything to rip free of my bonds. I wanted to let everyone free.
And I wanted to kill.
