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Chains

Chapter 3: Escape

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know anymore. Thought I had, thought I had it under control. Hear my voice. Here it goes. Hear it louder than most. Here it goes. Here it―one, two, three, four! It's not worth it. It's not working. You wanted it to be picture perfect. It's not over. You don't have to throw it away. So….

"Scream if you wanna. Shout if you need. Just let it go. (Take it out on me.) Fight if you need to. Smash if it helps you get control. (Take it out on me.) Scream if you wanna. Shout if you need. Just let it go. (Take it out on me.) Fight if you need to. Smash if it helps you get control."

―"Take It Out On Me" by Thousand Foot Krutch (Tribute to Kanda Yuu, requested by MaxAngelOfDeath)

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Four months later…

I jolt awake when I hear a scream. Sitting up, I glance around the pile of sleeping kids in the dim dawn light. Next to me, Kanda held Road, who was crying and trembling. I release a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, relieved it wasn't Tyki getting more entertainment.

"Is she alright?" I ask. Kanda nods, but he doesn't look at me. "Just a nightmare. She'll be fine."

I nod. It had gotten a bit warmer the last few days, but it rained through the night. A shiver crawls up my spine.

Kanda glances at me before he lifts the blanket draped over him and Road. I shake my head. "You barely have enough covering you as it is―"

"Shut up and get closer. You might scare away a cold."

I sigh, but I don't argue. As I curl up against his side and get under the smelly, damp blanket, I whisper, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me until we find a way out of this hole." He grabs my hand and slides it under his tattered shirt. It felt like I was cuddling a giant heating pad; that's how hot his skin was. I ask, "Doesn't this bother you?"

"Sex trafficking? Yes."

"Not that. I mean…me touching you…or anyone touching you."

He paused. "You're touching me to keep warm, not because you want to bend me over and listen to me scream. I trust you with my body."

After a moment, I move my hand to his chest and trace the scars curiously. The jagged rips in his skin had healed, but deep valleys still marred the left side of his chest and shoulder. He lets out a deep breath, and I retract my hand. "Sorry."

"I don't mind. It feels weird for someone to touch me there so gently."

"One day, we'll get out of here. All of us. And you'll find an amazing girl who won't care about your scars." I rest my head on his shoulder. "I know you will."

"Well, not that I've had much to base it on, but I'm rather sure I'm gay."

"An amazing boy then."

"I don't need a boyfriend to be happy. I just want to keep my family together."

"We'll stay together."

"No, we won't," Kanda says. "I've learned several things over the years, and one of those things is the way they'll separate us. Even if the cops break in here tomorrow and save us, Kanda, Marie, and I will go to one place, you and Daisya to another, Road somewhere else, and then the rest of the girls."

"That's stupid," I mutter.

"But it's better than this."

"I know…but you can't just split up a family like that. It's…it's horrible."

Kanda combed his fingers through my now shaggy, knotted hair. "Go to sleep. You had a long night."

"You did, too."

"I'm older, so shut up and sleep."

I roll my eyes. Then they drift shut, my mind lulled by his steady breathing and body heat. "Idiot…."

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

"So why are you, me, and Lavi the only ones who don't work a morning shift now?" I ask as I shake out a blanket. During the winter and fall, business slowed, according to Lenalee, but it picked back up in the spring and summer, so more of us worked the day shift, too.

While Lavi sleeps in the corner, exhausted from his night watch as usual, Kanda lays out his blanket in the corner under the barred window, the corner where everyone slept. "Because we're on the watch list. Tyki doesn't trust us to work a corner, so he gives us the days off."

I glance at the sleeping boy on the other side of our prison. "Lavi tried once?"

"As far as I know, he got about as far as you did. Why do you think he wears that strip of cloth over his right eye?"

"In all honesty, I never thought about it." I shake out another ripped blanket, filled with holes.

"Allen."

"Hm?" I glance at him. Sapphire eyes are glued to the window. I follow his gaze and see nothing out of the ordinary. "What is it?"

Kanda walks over to the window and stands on his tiptoes, his fingers barely brushing the thin, rusting metal. "Come here for a second."

I move to stand beside him. "I'm still confused here."

"If I hold you up, can you try to break those bars?" He points to the last three bars. I nod. "Yeah, but it's metal."

"I'm aware of that," Kanda says. "What you don't know is that the edge of the concrete is raised up so water doesn't drain down here. There's strategically placed moss around the bars to make them rust more quickly."

"How long has it been there?"

"Four years maybe. I test it occasionally, and the last time, one of the bottoms cracked."

My eyes widen. "We could―"

He nods. "When I set that up, everyone here at the time agreed that we would risk it." He crouches down. "On my shoulders before I decide you're too heavy."

Slightly uneasy, I climb onto his shoulders, my rear not happy with its new seat. I reach out to touch the wall while he grabs my thighs and slowly stands, my hands walking up the wall until they reach the bars.

After only a little wiggling, all three bars broke off from the bottom.

"Now bend them forward."

That took more effort, but when my fingers brushed the overgrown grass next to the cinderblock wall, my heart leaped out of my chest. "Okay. I got it."

"Will you fit?"

"Yeah. There's a little wiggle room, too."

"Good. Now use it."

I was suddenly very glad for the long grass. Kanda pushed my feet while I dug my fingers into the soil and dragged myself out. Concrete scraped my bruised knees, and the bars' edges cut my back. By the time I cleared the window, I was bleeding in several places, and my hips were hurting more than they did before.

Cigarette smoke and the musty smell of the prison lingered in the air, but over it were honeysuckles, morning dew, and spring. I take a deep breath and smiled for the first time in months.

"You good?" Kanda asked. I crawl back towards the window. "Yeah. You coming next?"

"In just a second."

He walked away from the window, and I had to stick my nose between bars to see him as he crouched beside Lavi and shook his shoulder. How did he not wake up through that?

"Lavi, you have to take care of them for me," Kanda said. I couldn't see the redhead's reaction until he stood up. "I will."

"Make sure you massage Lena's back every night, or else she gets irritable."

"Okay."

"Road gets scared if no one holds her while she sleeps, so keep her in someone's arms."

"Okay."

"Don't let Daisya kick off his blankets in his sleep. He gets cold really easily."

"Okay."

Kanda pauses for a moment before he throws his arms around Lavi. "Keep them safe. I'll be back for all of you if it's the last thing I do."

"Kanda, I never want to see your face here again. When we get out of here, you'd better be waiting with the police."

"I will."

I pull away as Lavi boosts Kanda up. I grab his hands and help pull him up, which made his journey much easier than mine. Once he was out, we bent the bars back into place to the point where no one would notice they were ever moved.

"Stay safe. Don't get picked up again," Lavi said.

Kanda nodded. "Don't let Road or Daisya take the blame for this. They're too young to understand."

"They're going to come after me. Don't worry about it."

And from there, we ran. Kanda and I had no idea where we were, just in the middle of a forest. We wove around oaks and maples. We tripped over dozens of rocks. My legs burned with exertion, and our feet left bloodstains on the fallen leaves. Briars wrapped around our legs, but we didn't stop, letting them tear us apart. My pelvis could have shattered. Tears ran down my cheeks.

After what felt like hours, we slowed to a walk. More like dragging our feet.

"How much…farther…?" I pant. Kanda shakes his head. "Don't…know…."

While we trudge through the forest, I ask, "What are we going to do? We're in the middle of nowhere with no money, no food, and no water."

"We're going to be optimistic and hope we find a road." Kanda stopped and held out his arm, halting my steps. He tilts his head. "Hear that?"

I pause. The sound of moving water. "A stream?"

We continue to walk, a hill in sight. From the top of it, we could see a slow-moving river. Kanda says, "Well, at least now we have water and a bath."

I was already on my knees on a smooth stone jutted out into the river, cupping my hands to bring the icy, fresh water to my lips. The bluenette followed.

After a few minutes, I pull away from the river, certain that if I jumped, I could hear the water slosh around in my stomach. I close my eyes with a deep breath. The setting sun warmed my skin for the first time in months, and the air was easily seventy-five degrees, but in a free way, not the stuffy, humid way.

When I opened my eyes, a very wet and very naked Kanda sat in the smooth-bottomed river. He glanced at me. "You going to stare all day or are you getting in?"

"I'm getting in, thank you very much!" I say and pull off my shirt. Well, crop top, since the bottom got torn off. Once my shorts joined the pile of fabric we called clothing, I stepped into the cool stream. I sit and splash water over my chest and mismatched arms, the water now tinged brown. "It feels so nice to bathe."

Kanda nods. "I got to go to a hot springs once back home. I remember being so nervous because I was really modest before they got me."

"Do you have any family?" I ask as I move his hair over his shoulder and begin to wash his grime-covered back.

"No. The orphanage I stayed at didn't really look after their kids, so we pretty much came and went as we pleased. I doubt the adults noticed I was missing." He switches with me and starts on my back. "What about you?"

"I don't really know anymore. My…my dad was in a bad car accident, and it put him in a coma with little chance of recovery. We needed money to pay for the hospital bills, but no one would hire me because I was too young. That's when the guy showed up, told me I could get money working for him." I feel tears prick my eyes. "I don't know if he's even still alive…."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah…me, too…."

Large hands caress my torso, and for once, I didn't mind. I didn't mind that someone was touching my disfigured arm. I didn't mind that I was naked. I didn't mind that I was sitting in a river in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't in a dirty, humid basement waiting to "serve" pedophiles, and that's what mattered to me.

"Are they going to be okay?" I ask as I move my gaze to Kanda's. He focuses on rubbing my shoulders. "I don't know. For all I know, we may starve out here, but I think we can make it out. We'll find some place to stay and we'll get them out. It won't be immediate, but we can do it."

I ask, "Why can't we go straight to the police?"

"I told you about the time I ran away on the day shift. All the police did was arrest me for prostitution and let Tyki bail me out."

"But―"

"Allen," Kanda interrupts. His hands drop to the water along with his gaze. "I know you want to believe that the police are the good guys, but just because they're supposed to be doesn't mean they are. There's a man that Marie sees regularly, and he wears a badge. It doesn't mean anything."

I nod, but I still didn't understand. If we can't trust the police, who do we turn to? Anybody on the street could be part of the trafficking business. Anybody could grab and rape us because we're too weak to stop it.

"Stop thinking," Kanda says. I glance up at him, but his eyes were fixed on the horizon. After a moment, I ask, "Would we be safer just in the woods?"

Silence. Then he finally answered, "Probably. But everyone else won't be."

That's when I realized why he was staring off in the distance. Because if he doesn't look at me, he doesn't have to admit there are tears slipping down his cheeks. I splash some water on his back to give my hands something to do. "What are you thinking?"

Blue eyes close. "Road wanted me to sing a lullaby for her tonight. I promised I would."

"Then sing a lullaby for her."

"It's not the same."

"Then imagine where we'll be in ten years."

"What do you mean?" Kanda asks. I pause. "Think about it: we'll all be together again. We'll be in school and some of us will have jobs so we can live in a small house. Instead of beds, our living room will have several mattresses pushed together so we can still sleep in a pile. No bruises or hurting hips, and no giving Lenalee massages because of back pain. Our stomachs will be full. We won't smell like wet dogs that rolled in manure. And you'll be able sing lullabies every night without your voice cracking."

Kanda didn't reply for a long time. When he did, he opened his eyes. "You've only been in the trade for seven months and you already find that to be the perfect world."

"Anything's better than sex trafficking."

Kanda nodded and stood, pulling me open with him. "Come on. Let's get some sleep and start walking again when it's darker. We're too far for them to find us right now."

"Okay."

We settled between the roots of a massive willow tree. Through the long tresses, stars and a half moon smiled at me for the first time in seven months. The sky faded from pink to purple and eventually to dark blue. I couldn't remember the last time I felt this at ease, even if it was only a tiny bit. Lying naked with a boy two years old than me under the night sky, protected by said boy and a willow tree. Soon, we'll all be together again. Lavi, Lenalee, Road, Daisya, Marie, Miranda, Fou, Kanda, and me. We'll be free one day. We'll be damaged goods, but we won't be forced into prostitution, starving, or dirty.

The world really is messed up, isn't it?

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

"She says, 'We've gotta hold on to what we've got. It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.' We've got each other, and that's a lot for love. We'll give it a shot.

"Oh, we're halfway there. Oh, livin' on a prayer! Take my hand; we'll make it I swear. Oh, livin' on a prayer."

―"Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi

Author Note: Well, I put this story on hold, but I guess I'll change it to "one update every couple of months". I should get the next chapter out soon. Thank you guys for putting up with my gaps between updates! I love you bunches, and please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW!