Zen knew this was a stupid idea, the stupidest one he's had so far. Obi had, on many occasions, warned him not to do this. Zen often did this when he was training with Obi in the forest, as in he makes a mad dash for the most obvious escape in the noisiest way possible. When they had found – Obi found it then told Zen a day later – an abandoned armory, Zen was able to convince Obi to teach how to escape from a room. What he is about to do now, is the first thing Obi told him not to do. Now how exactly did Zen get to where he is, standing in front of the window facing the door, ready to run and force his weight against the door and push through like an idiot would do?
He was able to unbind his ankles, and by some miracle got the rope around his knees undone. From there he maneuvered his body so that he was kneeling with his head on the bed, using the position to force his face down further into the bed and slide down it, pushing the blindfold up and eventually off his forehead. The gag would not come out, and after a minute or so of trying to take the gag out the same way as the blindfold, Zen gave up and turned his focus to the room around him.
The room is old, not having been used for a long time, if the dust is anything to go by. There is a portrait with a decrepit and rusty silver frame, but it is impossible to tell who it is a portrait of, because the canvas is almost completely shredded – He's still hasn't figure out how to distinguish what kind of blade can do what kind of damage to objects, Obi told him a few times, but Zen had been a little distracted – and the only thing he knows for sure, or at least he thinks he knows, is that it is a portrait of a woman with black hair. Zen thinks that she might have golden eyes but he thinks it's a play of the light coming in through the window. Speaking of the window, it's wide open. Zen realizes that he was so absorbed with fear when he woke up that he didn't feel the breeze floating in. He had approached it, but it was not an option for escape. He thinks he's on the sixth floor, but the ground looks like it's ten floors down. There are heavy clouds over head, but no thunder or rain. The building, from what Zen can see, is an old castle or fortress, but Zen thinks against it because of how small and poorly decorated the room he is trapped in is, it looks like a commoner's room, Zen meaning no offence to commoners. Then there's the forest. Zen is surprised he didn't notice it first, because he can't take his eyes off of it when he looks at it, it paralyzes him where he stands. A few miles around the building is black from a long past fire, some trees closer to the stone building are spared, but they don't look all to healthy. Zen is only able to turn his face away when he looks to the edge of the trees and sees what looks to be the corpse of a horse, still wearing it's battle armor, with two spears sticking out from between the cracks of it's metal dress. There is a more human corpse sprawled out atop a dark stain on the ground near what is left of the horse, but the head is missing. Zen only completely retreats back into the room when his gaze, avoiding the corpses below, look skyward and see more corpses dangling a foot or so above the very window the Prince is standing at. Zen could count how many corpses are there on one hand, but he doesn't because the corpses above are staring at him since their chins are tucked into their bony chests, the ropes around their necks worn but still strong enough to hold them up. One of them still has it's eyes, open and looking straight at Zen, it's pupils blown wide and pale along with the irises. Another one of them has a dark red stained skull where the face is supposed to be, probably having been horribly broken, but Zen doesn't want to look down to see if there are fragments of the skull below, he just stumbles backwards until he's sitting on the bed again.
He doesn't know how long he sits there, wide eyes towards the window, where he can now only see the far most edge of the burnt forest and the lush green behind it, even a mountain with snow on the top, but it is not enough to calm him down. He's shaking, Zen realizes when he can think again, but it isn't a tiny shiver, he's shaking a lot and his palms along with his forehead are cold but sweaty.
"I'm having another panic attack."
Zen tries desperately to calm himself, to stop the shaking, but he can only suppress it down to a slight trembling that makes him wobble on his feet when he stands again. He goes straight to the door, stopping a little before it to find his feet again when he almost collapses.
"Why can't I walk?"
He turns around, not looking at the window, and gently falls against the door. The wood creaks, he pauses for a moment when he hears something on the other side of the door, but he decides that he's hearing things in his panicked state. He bends down a bit in order to get his folded hands on the door knob, a round one that has to be turned in order to open, which is hard to do with tied hands. Zen can't get a firm grip on the knob either, he can barely feel his hands and he is still trembling so his fingers are undoubtedly fidgeting, but he still doesn't stop for what feels like a long while.
It's at this point that he realizes that he doesn't care if he's making a lot of noise, he's just desperate to get out and as far away from the window as possible. He already knows that there's bound to be more bodies around the building, and Zen almost collapses at the thought of a corpse waiting on the side of this door. It's out of desperation to escape that makes him walk back to the window, but not too close, and to turn around to face the door.
He takes a few seconds to prepare himself, not wanting to trip over his own feet or to just collapse on his weak legs before he can even reach the door. In some part of his mind, he has an interesting thought.
"I'll prove to Obi that I can escape without his help… but it would be nice if he were here, I could use one of his hugs about now."
Zen shakes his head, letting a deep huff of breath exit through his nose. Zen has to escape, he can't rely on Obi to always be there when he needs help, when any of his friends need help, even if he does show up just before they realize that they need his assistance. Zen must figure out how to get out on his own, he needs to. Finding all the courage he needs, Zen dashes at the door, he only has to take a few steps to get near it when running. He starts to turn slightly just before he reaches the door, when suddenly it opens, revealing a figure dressed in black and earthly colors. Zen lets out a surprised noise and tries to stop, but his left foot trips on his right ankle and before he knows it, he's pressed up against the figures chest. He tries to move away but the figures arms come up and wrap around him, gently grabbing his biceps. He squirms a bit more, not caring about the sounds that escape him, but he stops when the figure speaks.
"Master…" it's just a little louder than a whisper, but Zen hears it loud and clear, recognizing the flow and tone of the voice.
Zen turns his head where it is just above the figure's left shoulder, and tilts his head up a little in order to make eye contact with cat like amber. Obi is looking at him with an expression that should scare him more than he already is, but Zen knows that that death stare is not for him, it's Obi's resting face, the one he wears when he thinks no one is paying attention to him. Zen doesn't care about what facial expression Obi has on right now, he's just relieved to be able to feel the solid and warm expanse if Obi's chest through both of their plain shirts, He feels safe again with Obi's strong arms around him holding him up, because Zen's legs have finally given up.
Zen thinks that he could continue to look into Obi's golden eyes forever, the same kind of gold as the portrait woman's eyes when the light hit it, but Obi's gaze moves to his cheek, and suddenly, one of Obi's arms is moving up his spine. A gloved had comes up to the back of Zen's head, fingers gripping at the knot where the gag is tied. Zen continues to look at Obi's eyes, which are now looking at the shredded portrait, while Obi single handedly undoes the knot. Finally free of the cloth, Zen takes in a breath as drool leaks down his chin, the gag prevented him from swallowing any spit. He feels a little bad for doing it, but Zen gets the sense that Obi doesn't care when Zen rubs his chin on the former assassin's shoulder, resting his head there while Obi single handedly undoes the rope around Zen's arms.
"It's alright Master, I'm here, so please stop crying."
Zen didn't even realize he was crying, but opening his eyes, not remembering closing them in the first place, he realizes that his vision is a little blurry. He also notes that he's still trembling, a lot less though, thanks to Obi.
"… Thank you…" Zen is not at all surprised by how rough his own voice is, he hadn't properly used it in a while and he is still sniffling into Obi's shoulder. He knows that his cheeks are bright red, but he hopes Obi thinks of it as being caused by his crying. The rope around Zen's arms are loose and fall off of him, landing on the floor and making a soft thud. Zen remembers that Obi had once said that it was better to remove the ropes around the arms first, so that when the wrists are free, none of the nerves in the arms are pressed when the hands move away from the position they were tied in, which causes slight turning in the biceps. The rope around Zen's wrists still feel heavy and uncomfortably tight, and Obi grips the binding, but Zen isn't paying attention to that, too busy listening to the soothing rhythm of Obi's heartbeat, which is very calm compared to Zen's erratic yet steadying one. Obi barely starts undoing the rope when Zen feels the former assassin slightly tense. Zen is about to look up at Obi in question when Obi suddenly yanks him out into the corridor and against the wall near the door.
"Obi, Wha…?!" Obi puts his hand – the hand that was originally undoing the rope – over Zen's mouth.
Zen should be irritated about Obi's sudden action and for covering his mouth, but decides it best to stay quiet when a something shiny flies out of the door that Obi pulled him out of. Turning his head so he can see behind him – Obi has his back on the wall, Zen's back facing the other wall – and sees a black kunai sticking out of the wall across from the door.
"Someone's attacking us!"
Zen unconsciously starts trembling again. Even if his kidnapper didn't do much to him, only talking about Obi and sniffing him, Zen is already… terrified? That can't be right, Zen is supposed to be the brave and fearless Prince, he can't be afraid of someone after only one encounter.
Obi tightens his arm around Zen, the other fiddling with something in his small, almost hidden pouch. Zen turns to look at him just in time to watch Obi take one of his own kunai out and throw it down the hall to the right – Zen's left – and only realizes why when he sees a shadow dart across the perpendicular corridor at the end of the one that Zen and Obi occupy. The Kunai hits the wall, missing his target, and before he can even gasp in shock at the shadow that he saw, Obi has him in his arms, princess style. Zen thinks he should either be angry at Obi for doing so or be blushing madly for reasons other than embarrassment, but his cheeks only bare a tint of pink, still to shocked and scared from the whole situation to react to how Obi is holding him.
"Tuck your chin in, Master," comes Obi's monotone voice.
Zen does as he's told instantly, because Obi tends to act before he gets a response. Zen is not wrong in doing so, because in the next moment, they're out a window and falling to the ground.