"I'm going with you!" Ben insisted angrily.
"NO!" Everyone yelled at him at once, Ben rolled his eyes and grabbed Damian by his sleeve, stopping him, Atticus stopped and turned, his eyes filled with fury as he stared Damian down.
"Ben, you aren't going. You, you're taking me." Atticus spoke first to Ben then simply turned to Damian.
"That's the plan." He nodded to Atticus.
"Hell no!" Ben fought.
"Ben, you're injured, critically. You need to rest." Damian spoke softly to him trying to get through to Ben's head. Ben only put his good arm on his hip and pursed his lips as he looked at Damian.
"You can't do this without me. You know that and you think Atticus is going to listen to anything you have to say?"
"Hey." Atticus simply spoke up, clearly offended,
"Were you really going to have him lead?"
"...Ah...No."
"See! Let me go with, I know how to do everything! This!" Ben paused and pointed to his injured arm, "Is nothing! Let me come with!"
Damian let out a sigh as he wiped his brow, he seemed to be thinking deeply, before finally throwing his arms up in defeat.
"Alright. Fine. But the moment you screw up, you go and sit in the car, we can't afford a causality. We leave in thirty minutes, go get what you need."
"Thank you!" With that, Ben rushed upstairs.
"Are you serious!?" Atticus seethed out as he glared at Damian, he noted the other angry looks he was getting from everyone right now. Sighing out, Damian only slapped his hands to his sides in an irritated matter before rubbing his forehead.
"Are you trying to get him killed?!" Barnabas snapped.
Damian then just smirked and put his fist under his chin in a cocky way as he looked at everyone.
"Calm down. I know what I'm doing. I got the building layout, the only way to get inside is to scale to the second floor. There's no way he'll be willing to do that." Damian chuckled softly.
"Couldn't just tell him that and save him the humiliation?" Atticus asked and Damian just shrugged,
"Nope. That's not really my style."
Guinevere then spoke up, her eyes narrowed,
"Hey, not to change the subject, but, where's Jackson?"
Everyone quickly looked around for the small three-year-old,
"I got the bathroom!" Atticus offered as he turned and walked towards the restroom,
"I got my room!" Guinevere responded, the others yelled out as well, but Atticus didn't pay much attention as he found Jackson playing with Damian's backpack that was simply chilling outside of the bathroom door. It wasn't the one with all the medical supplies he stole, no, this one was his real backpack.
"Ah, no you don't." Atticus chuckled as he leaned down and picked up Jackson, placing the boy on his hip. Atticus looked down at the bag, the pocket in the middle of it was wide open and a glimmer of white caught his eye. Looking behind him, he made sure he was alone before leaning down and opening the pocket. Grabbing what caught his eye, he felt his eyes narrow.
"Oh...I knew it.."
"There you are," Vita spoke up as she grabbed her toddler, who was running straight for her.
Damian smiled softly, however, the moment he saw Atticus out of the corner of his eye, he knew something wasn't right. He almost turned, but quickly had to step back as Atticus threw something at him. Just barely missing him, Damian heard the sound of multiple items hitting the floor. Looking towards what Atticus had thrown at him, Damian turned pale when he realized he was looking at all of his fake ID's
"I knew it! I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T TRUST YOU!" Atticus roared in anger.
"Whoa! Whoa! You see fake ID's and you think I'm the bad guy here? Kinda hypocritical, don't you think?"
Ben came downstairs in a heartbeat.
"What's going on?" He asked the two as he leaned against the railing to the stairs, cradling his injured arm.
"Bryan Ritter, Jacob Benshoff, Jose Rivera! Those are just a few names I found in that mountain of ID's you have. You change your name whenever you get bored with your recent identity. To me, that's way too suspicious."
Ben was quick to actually go past Damian and bend down to collect the ids.
"Ben-"
"How many of these...You told me your real name was Damian!" Ben yelled at him, clearly hurt by the discovery.
"It is!"
"It's not," Atticus spoke once more, he then flashed two ids between his fingers.
"The Damian one is fake. Here's his real name."
Damian was quick to try and snatch both ID's away from Atticus but he was stopped the moment Atticus put a hand on his throat.
"Josh. His real name is Joshua Newlands." Atticus spat out as he then tossed the card to Ben, who caught it with his good hand.
"How do you know that's not a fake?" Damian fought as he struggled out of Atticus's grasp.
"You said it yourself. I'm a hypocrite. I do this stuff too. I make ids for myself. But here's the difference, I do it when I HAVE to, you? You clearly don't."
"Look!" Damian finally yelled, his face visibly furious now. "We can sit here and argue about my stupid name, or we can save YOUR dragon! It's your choice!"
"...He's right. We still have a dragon to save." Ben muttered softly.
Atticus crossed his arms and sighed out softly in defeat.
"Right. Lead the way, Josh."
"Anybody calls me Josh again, I swear to Christ I'll break their fingers. Give me those." Damian snapped snatching the ID's out of Ben's hand.
In a huff, Damian turned and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him as he did so.
"Wow...I don't think I've ever seen him that mad." Ben blinked slightly. Atticus crossed his arms and shifted his weight onto his left side as he stared at the door.
"He's hiding something. It's the only reason he's so angry about me finding that. Look, I really don't want you coming with us." Atticus spoke to Ben, who shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but I'm coming."
"Ben, Josh told me-"
There was a loud blaring noise from outside as Damian was now angrily honking the horn, and not laying off of it.
"Come on, let's not piss him off anymore, and please, don't call him Josh. Respect that, I did with you, Orrick." Ben winked as he started towards the car.
"Wait, wait...Here." Atticus took off his jacket and cradled Ben's arm in it for a moment before using the sleeves to tie around Ben's neck to make a sling.
"Why is it whenever we meet again, there's something wrong with my arm?" Ben laughed softly and Atticus opened his mouth to retort but Damian started rhythmically honking his horn.
"WE'RE COMING!" Atticus roared out suddenly and Ben chuckled in response.
"I don't think he can hear you."
"I'm going to tell him! Damn jackass!" Atticus seethed as he stormed outside to give Damian a piece of his mind.
"Don't go!" Guinevere finally cried out once Ben was alone.
"Guin-"
"NO!" She yelled out tears spilling down her cheeks as she sobbed softly. "You're injured! Please don't go! I don't want them to come back saying you've been killed! Don't go!"
"Guinevere. I'm not dumb, I know I'm injured and I know the risk is great, but understand something-"
"WHAT!? WHAT SHOULD I UNDERSTAND RIGHT NOW!?" She screamed out as she still continued to cry.
"That Atticus needs me right now. Guin, what friend would I be if I left him to do this alone with Damian? One of them is going to wind up dead. Money's on Damian if I'm being honest." Ben then went quiet and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Atticus does everything he can for me. It's only fair that I am with him now...Besides-"
Damian started laying on the horn once more and it was Ben's turn to yell out,
"I'M COMING! KEEP YOUR DAMN PANTS ON!"
"Yeah, I-I don't think he heard you." Guinevere.
"I better go, he'll leave without me. Don't worry, I'm coming back." Ben told them gently, backing away he quickly grabbed his bag by the door and rushed out the door. Running over to Damian's car, he hopped into the back seat next to Atticus. Being mindful of the wrappers on the floor of the car, Ben looked over at his friend with a smile.
"Not sitting up front?" Ben asked with a smile.
"If I sit next to him, I'll probably wind up mauling him," Atticus told him simply. Atticus then sneered as he kicked the mountain of wrappers by his feet. Damian rolled his eyes as he backed his car out, thankfully, Oliver had already moved his car from behind Damian so he was able to leave freely.
Everyone sat in awkward silence for a while, Ben only occasionally letting out a few gasps of pain as his arm continued to sting and burn dully. Atticus gave him a few looks of concern but said nothing, Damian looked at Ben through the rearview mirror but said nothing.
"So..I accidently left Twigleg at home." Ben finally said to no one.
"That's fine, honestly, if he were with us he'd just yell the whole time, and..." Damian paused and turned the review mirror to look at Atticus, who sneered at him in response, "I feel like there's going to be enough of that now." Atticus rolled his eyes and gave Damian the finger before turning away bitterly.
"Ok. I'm stepping in." Ben finally sighed out, sucking in a deep breath he proceeded to hit Atticus upside the head before doing to same to Damian, causing both of them to curse at him and yelp in surprise.
"Dammit! What was that for?!" Damian demanded as he continued to drive along the road.
"Ben! What the hell!?" Atticus snapped at his friend.
"You two need to knock this off. Atticus, you are eight hundred years old, act like it! I know Damian may be shady at times but dammit if he isn't looking out for you here. He's taking you to make sure your dragon makes it. He could have just ignored the message and let Kuriana die. Damian, you need to stop antagonizing Atticus. Your attitude towards him is just making things even tenser than they are! Now both of you, behave!" Ben huffed out as he sat back down and cradled his injured arm once more.
Damian looked at Ben through the rearview mirror once more before focusing on the road.
It was like that for a while, nobody speaking or saying anything. Damian occasionally looking at his phone to make sure he was going the right way. Atticus looking almost nervous, which was rather odd for Ben to see. Atticus always seemed cool and confident even when he was posing a stoner he had this confidence about him that he always carried around, but now...He seemed almost lost as he stared blankly out the window watching the world pass him by. Of course, after a minute or two, Atticus noticed that Ben's reflection staring at him and he just smiled slightly at before going back to look out the window. After a while, Damian drove off the road and into the woods causing everyone to tense up as he finally put the car in park.
"Where are we?"
"According to my phone, the university that has Kuriana should be just a mile up ahead."
"A mile?! You couldn't have parked closer?" Atticus asked and Ben just patted his friend's shoulder.
"A mile is the safest distance. Most people don't know you're out here until it's too late." Ben explained as he got out of the car, the cold air hitting his face, causing him to sniffle slightly. Rubbing his nose, he gave Damian a smile and Damian just looked on his phone, as he got out as well, putting the keys in his back pocket.
"Ok, good news is that there's a way in, bad news, we have to scale the building to get to the only opening." Damian spoke without looking up and Ben let out a bitter tsk,
"Of course."
"So, it's probably best if you stay-"
"No, don't even try that with me. I'll find another way in if I have to. You aren't sticking me in this car, you got me?" Ben snarled as he jabbed a finger in Damian's direction causing Damian to throw his hands up slightly.
"I'm thinking about your safety here."
"I can handle myself. Atticus, back me up." Ben brought his friend in as Atticus pulled his backpack out of the backseat of the car. The man then came up and lightly rasped his nails against the hood of the car slightly as he stared at Ben.
"Ben, I'm not saying you can't handle yourself, but...You have to see it from our viewpoint here. You're currently crippled and in pain and bleeding, I can smell it, but, I digress...Ben, I understand why you came, I do, but please...Stay in the car." Atticus gestured to the car and Ben only sighed out and allowed his shoulders to slump in defeat.
"Fine." He muttered as he sat in the front seat.
"Huh...I figured you...You know, put up much more of a fight?" Damian muttered as he looked at Ben through the window, Ben just looked at him and smirked slightly.
"What Atticus says, goes. I'm not gonna fight with him." Ben told him simply that smirk never leaving his face as Damian only raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, Alright..."
"Wait." Ben finally said as he stood up and with no warning he hugged Damian, causing the other to suddenly tense up at the hug. "Just bring him back safe." Ben ordered softly as he sat back down in the front seat. Damian nodded a bit before ushering Atticus away, Atticus giving Ben a slightly confused look before walking along with Damian. Ben waited till they were out of sight before he simply brought his right hand up, Damian's key ring on his index finger. He lightly twirled them around his finger hearing the keys jingle slightly he smirked once more before grabbing the last key on the ring.
"Alright 'Damian' Let's see who you really are." Ben muttered as he stuck the key into the locked glove box and turned it hearing a click, Ben only smirked and clicked his tongue triumphantly, "I still got it."
Damian and Atticus walked through the woods, their footsteps the only sound between the two of them as they heard the leaves crunch loudly under them.
Damian suddenly stopped and patted his back pocket.
" 'Sup?" Atticus asked as he stopped.
"Where are my keys?" Damian asked sounding slightly panicked as he frantically patted all of his pockets.
"Maybe you left them by the car? C'mon lets keep going."
"I remember putting them in my pocket...Dammit Ben!" Damian snarled out as he slightly turned back to where they started.
"Ok one, you fell for the oldest trick in the book. Two, never trust a pickpocket, three, what's the big deal? He's not going to leave us, he probably wanted the key's for heat. It's cold."
"Yeah, but if we run out of gas-"
"We'll be fine. Let's just keep going."
Damian frowned before sighing out and walking forward with Atticus. After a few moments of silence, Damian just shook his head and threw his arms up angrily,
"I can't believe he did that! Pickpocketing me! Bah!"
"I said it once, I'll say it again. Never trust a pickpocket, also, you pissed him off it was clear."
"Oh and you didn't?"
"He's mad at me, but you purposely embarrassed him."
For a few heartbeats, there was nothing between the two of them before Atticus finally spoke up.
"So, I noticed all of those wrappers in your car."
"Yeah? What of it?" Damian questioned slightly as he raised an eyebrow at Atticus.
"Just...How are you not fat?"
"Ok, one, Rude. Two, those are from months ago...Which honestly doesn't help anything. Look, I'm a slob, I'm not going to sugarcoat it."
"You really are an American." Atticus smirked as he laughed softly.
"Rude again." Damian chuckled along with Atticus as he stepped over a fallen log. Holding on to his backpack strap, Damian smiled as he walked with Atticus for a moment feeling like maybe him and the deranged vampire could possibly be friends. After a bit of walking for what felt like too long, Damian pulled Atticus to the side behind a tree as he spotted the building just off in the distance.
"That's it..." Damian muttered and Atticus rolled his eyes,
"Really? The only gigantic building that can be seen for miles is our destination? I never would have guessed." He quipped back at Damian who just glared at him before shaking his head slightly with a tsk.
"C'mon lets get closer..."
With that, the two of them quieted down their steps as they walked along now tip-toeing their best in the forest. Damian then suddenly grabbed Atticus's arm and broke out into a full on run.
"This is the opposite of quiet." Atticus pointed out as they rushed towards the back of the building their feet crunching the dead leaves more and loudly.
"Behind that tree, hurry." Damian urged him towards the giant tree around the back of the building. Atticus almost slipped and fell as they both hid behind it catching their breath. Damian put a hand on his chest, Atticus only stood there, lips pursed to the side.
"What the he-" Before he could finish his question, Damian cut him off and cupped his hand around Atticus's mouth.
"Shhh...You hear it?"
After a few moments of a silence, Atticus could hear it, people talking.
"...A beauty! I tell you! Only god knows how old that beast really is!"
"Shame, I'm only a secretary. I'd love to see it..."
Peeking from behind the tree, the two of them saw a man and a woman walking along the building, the male clearly a scientist, dressed in black slacks and a blue collar shirt with a white lab coat on. There was a still-burning cigarette in his hand. While the female was dressed in a pencil skirt and crisp white shirt her hair up in a high bun.
"I'm sure James would allow you to see it any day now." The male comforted her.
Damian clamped harder on Atticus's mouth, causing some discomfort to Atticus as he heard Damian growl bitterly.
"Lets hope you don't lose this dragon like you did with the black dragon." The female muttered softly.
"Nonsense, that Dragon couldn't fly we found that one in a heartbeat. I still want to know how it got out.."
"I thought it burnt it's way out."
"...No...The glass holding it was fireproof and completely intact...But the wall was burnt and there was blood on the floor. James said he got a DNA sample from it. It's only a matter of time till whoever freed gets what coming to them."
With that the male snubbed his cigarette out and walked inside with the woman, both of them using Keycards to get in through the back door.
"Shit!" Damian snarled out the moment the door shut. Letting go of Atticus's mouth Damian through his hands up in rage. "There was blood on the floor! I FORGOT HE WAS BLEEDING!" Damian roared.
"Keep your voice down! It'll be-"
"It won't be fine! They're hunting him down because of me! If I would have just seen that dragon was going to attack none of this would have happened!" Damian let out a string of colorful curses before punching the tree in anger. Atticus saw him instantly regret his discussion as Damian eyes suddenly went wide and he sucked in a deep breath.
"...Fuck...That...That really hurt..." Damian grumbled out as he rubbed his now sore knuckles.
"Good job. Now are we breaking in there or are you going to break your other hand?"
"Right..." Damian looked around making sure it was clear before taking off his backpack. "Let's get this done with.."
Ben puffed out his cheeks as he pushed the glove compartment back up. Sighing out slightly he leaned back into his seat and twirled the keys around his finger. He really wished he had Twigleg with him right now.
Hearing a noise, he perked up slightly and stopped twirling the keys. Listening more intently he heard the noise again, it was soft crunching like someone was on their way over to him from outside. Damian must have found out he had his keys. Looking for the source of the noise, he got out of the car and looked around outside the noise abruptly stopped and Ben bit his lip as he clutched the keys tighter. Without moving, he darted his eyes towards the trunk of the car. He knew Damian liked to hide weapons back there, the question was did Damian take all of them?
Holding his injured arm slightly, Ben bit his lip as a twig snapped in the distance. Breathing heavily, he could feel his heart beat rapidly in his chest as the crunching suddenly continued at a faster rate. Throwing all caution to the wind, Ben bolted for the trunk. Fumbling with the keys in his hands, he tried the first one, no go it was the car key. In his panic he didn't think as he tried the second key. It was the key to the glove compartment. Finally he found the right one, seeing how it was last on the list. Popping the trunk he opened just as someone grabbed his shoulders. Panicking even more now, before the person could pull him back, Ben grabbed something from the trunk. It was long and slender and felt like it was made of steel. Without thinking he turned and swung with all of his might.
There was a loud 'thunk' as his weapon hit his attacker in the head. Ben watched as a bald adult man fell down to the ground, he was wearing what looked like a security uniform from the university. The man was out cold a bruise on his temple from where Ben had hit him. Leaning down, Ben took, what looked like, a card key off of the guy and looked around frantically.
Looking at the weapon he saw it was just a wrench. Breathing out heavily. Ben looked around even more frantically as more crunching sounds came his way. Shutting the trunk. He realized something horrible.
This was a trap.
Rushing forward, he shut the front door and pocketed the keys. He needed to warn Damian and Atticus.
Running off towards the forest, Ben only hoped he wasn't too late.
Damian grunted as he used his upper body strength to hold onto the windowsill his feet dangling above two stories of nothingness.
"Hurry up! My arms can't hold me up forever!" Damian growled as he waited for Atticus who had just now gotten into the window. Atticus was almost like one of those Assassins Creed protagonists getting to the window. Damian tried to give him a rope but he refused and suddenly scaled the building like a professional mountain climber. Damian followed along and now he was dangling horribly in the air honestly a little scared.
"God, you're weak." Atticus commented as he grabbed onto Damian's hands and pulled him up to the window.
"Sorry, I didn't train for over a century like you." Damian huffed out as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. He then leaned down and put his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his fleeting breath.
"It's all those snacks you eat." Atticus commented with a shrug.
"Oh, bite me. So I like trans fat."
"I would bite you, But I'm sure I'll get diabetes. Now hush." Atticus peeked out the door. Atticus heard the soft sound of a wrapper unwrapping and he turned to Damian. Damian had a Twinkie in his hands he had the wrapper halfway open before he paused and looked up at Atticus.
"..."
"Damian, where the hell did you get the Twinkie?!" Atticus half whispered to Damian.
Damian opened the wrapper fully and ate half the Twinkie in one bite.
"I remember I had it," Damian answered with his mouth full. Atticus groaned out with an eye roll before going back to look out the door.
"It's clear. Let's go." With that, Atticus grabbed Damian's wrist and pulled the other male along with him.
"Mmmm hey!" Damian yelped out as he stuffed the rest of the treat into his mouth before dumping the wrapper on the ground and rushing along with Atticus, together the two of the pressed themselves up against a nearby wall and Damian got to swallow his food before breathing out heavily.
"Where do we go from here?" Atticus asked and Damian took out his phone quickly, Atticus watched as he scrolled through his phone for a good minute and a half before nodding to himself.
"There's a flight of stairs...So...in order to get to Kuriana, we go...Down the stairs, turn right, then left, then go straight, then down again-"
"Just tell me along the way, alright-"
"Atticus...I have to tell you now."
"What?"
"...In case something happens, bro, I have to tell you, I do it all the time with Ben."
Atticus rolled his eyes once more and just shook his head.
"Fine. Down, right, left, and down again. What else."
"...It's actually Down, right, left, straight, then down. But after that, it's just going right and you should be there."
"Anything else?"
"Nope."
"You sure."
"Yep."
Atticus rolled his eyes for the third time in less than ten minutes and just shook his head. Unaware of the frown on Damian's face as Damian silently wrung his shirt in his hands. With a heavy sigh he looked down at his phone as Atticus scanned the area some more, Info-guy had texted him only moments before with only three words that made Damian's blood turn cold,
He is here.
"Let's go."
Putting his phone in his pocket, Damian hurried behind Atticus as the two of them kept close to the shadows. Getting to the first flight of stairs without a hitch, they did their best to stay quiet as they rushed down. They instantly turned right, and then went left, only for Atticus to suddenly stop in the middle of the hallway.
"This isn't right...There are no people here...I haven't seen one person...This is a university right?" Atticus asked as he raised his arms a bit. When Damian didn't answer right away, Atticus turned to the first door and opened it, when he did so he looked in and saw it was empty completely empty.
"HELLO?!" Atticus screamed out, nothing but his own voice echoed around. Instantly he turned to Damian. "This isn't right...Even you have to know-"
Damian rushed forward and grabbed Atticus by the mouth once more silencing him.
"I know I heard something..." A voice spoke to people, a lot of them by the sound of it, started to go down the hallway, Damian felt his heart speed up as he gritted his teeth. He knew that voice all too well.
"Go." With that, he pushed Atticus.
"Get Kuriana and get the fuck outta here. Before they come. Hurry."
"Damian."
"AHHHHHHHHHHH." With a loud scream, Damian gave his position away, forcing Atticus to take off towards where Kuriana was. Shutting his eyes, Damian held his hand to his chest softly as he heard the voice speak to him directly,
"Always playing the hero, I see."
Ben knew something wasn't right when he just waltzed into the main office with the keycard in his hand. There was nobody around causing his eyes to narrow. Walking forward, the only sound he heard was his own feet against the carpeted ground. Feeling every hair on his neck stand up, Ben shuffled towards the elevator feeling more like a scared house cat than a confident dragon saver.
Getting closer to the elevator, Ben got the key card ready.
He then practically jumped out of his skin when a phone, somewhere, started to ring loudly breaking the silence. Putting a hand on his heart, he only stood there and just shook his head. Keeping the elevator in site, he hurried a bit more towards it. That was when suddenly the phone stopped ringing and then rang out again, narrowing his eyes, Ben turned.
Looking for the phone, he walked around looking for it. He found the culprit at the desk. He only let it go and stood there, waiting with his eyes still narrowed. Like last time, it went quiet for a few heartbeats then it started up again. Shakily, and probably stupidly, he picked it up off of the receiver and put the phone to his ear,
"Hello?"
Atticus darted down the hallway as fast as he could, if his heart was still beating it probably would have been beating so fast. Breathing he paused slightly as he went down the stairs for hopefully the final time. Practically jumping passed the first four steps, Atticus landed on the fifth step and jogged on from there, he only paused when he reached the bottom to catch his breath.
As much as he distrusted Damian, he did hope that the guy was okay.
Catching his breath, Atticus turned right only to suddenly collide with someone else, without thinking, he threw the other person to the ground with little effort.
"OW! JESUS!"
Atticus instantly regretted it as he looked down at Ben.
Ben was on his knees hissing out in pain as he cradled his injured arm close, it was apparent that Atticus had thrown him on top of his injury which didn't help things a bit.
"Sorry...How did you get here?"
"Long story," Ben answered between a hiss of pain. Ben got to his feet and cringed as he held his arm close. "This way." Ben breathed out painfully as he then rushed forward, Atticus decided to not question his friend at the moment as he followed along with Ben. Together they got to an intersecting four-way hallway. Before either of them could turn left there was a loud sound of running feet and Damian suddenly came skidding to a halt in front of them from the left.
He looked disheveled as he nervously ran his hands through his wild blue hair, his clothes were sloppy, well, sloppier than before, like he was in a rush to put them on, his coat lopsided actually showing his undershirt which was a stained white buttoned up shirt that was buttoned off, every single button was in the wrong hole. Damian was breathing heavily before he smiled at them.
"I...I out ran those..." He couldn't even finish his sentence as he laughed softly still trying to catch his breath.
Atticus looked over at Ben, his friend seemed to be examining every inch of Damian like it was the first time he was looking at him.
"This way." Ben finally spoke rather disdainfully before turning down the right hallway. Atticus and Damian followed him together they stopped in front of a door, a large door.
Ben walked up to it and presented the card key, the door beeped and opened allowing them to go in.
The first thing Atticus smelled was blood. It wasn't human blood. Instantly he sprinted towards the smell, causing Ben and Damian to do the same thing.
After centuries of not seeing the dragon that cared for him as much as Zenith did, the site that Atticus was greeted with was not the one he ever wanted.
Kuriana was on her side, strapped down by some sort of metal contraption. Her beautiful purple wings both twisted rendering her immobile as they were clearly purposely broken. Her mighty paws declawed like she was a cat and still freshly bleeding from her wounds, but that wasn't the worse of it. No. Her stomach...They cut her stomach open probably to look at her internal organs. However, Atticus noticed the most sickening thing.
She was still alive.
Rushing towards her mouth he stopped and collapsed to his knees, Kuriana looked at him, her eyes fogged over.
"...The...Vampire...Returns..." She breathed out. Instantly he touched her snout.
"Don't talk, we're going to get you out of here..." He breathed out as he turned to look at Ben and Damian. Damian was at a computer typing in something, hopefully, the code to release her. Ben, however, walked up to him and gently placed a hand on Atticus's shoulder.
"Ah...You're quest...Completed..." She heaved as she turned to look at Ben. "...Orrick...You must leave..." She whispered out.
"Not without you!" Atticus yelled out almost instantly, tears forming in his eyes.
"...I have lived...For...Too long...At...Least I get to see you...Before I die..."
"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE!" Atticus screamed out as he sobbed out, he sounded more like his fourteen-year-old self than now. Tears now cascading down his face, he couldn't contain his sobs, his body shook horribly. He felt Ben's hand remove from his shoulder, he couldn't even look at his friend now as he cried.
"Please don't go. You can't..." He sniffled.
"Come closer..." Kuriana beckoned him. Crawling onto his knees closer to her, he rested his head on her cheek as she leaned her mouth towards his ear.
"Listen...To...My...Final...Words...Don't trust...The blue haired one...He is not what he seems..." She whispered ever so softly to him she then let out a low breath. "Zenith...Would be proud of the man you...have...become..." She said out loud. Atticus looked into her eyes and watched as she slowly closed them and her whole body went limp.
"KURIANA!?" He yelled out as he shook her head.
"Atticus-" Ben tried to reach out to touch him, but for the very first time, Atticus slapped Ben's hand away.
"NO! NO! SHE CAN'T BE GONE! I CAN'T LOSE...I CAN'T LOSE HER TOO!" He screamed out finally looking at Ben, he could see that Ben was crying as well, clearly not as hard as Atticus was, but the tears were still there. Turning away from Ben, Atticus buried his face into Kuriana's cold scales as he sobbed onto her.
"She can't be...She just can't be...It's..." He sniffled as he then used most of his strength to punch the floor below him. "IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR! WHY AM I THE ONE WHO HAS TO LOSE EVERYHTING!? WHY! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS GOD DAMN LIFE!"
"Atticus...That's not true..." Gently Ben got to his knees, like before, he went to touch him, but Atticus scooted away.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Atticus demanded with a hiss. "YOU DON'T KNOW HALF THE SHIT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! SO DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME ANYTHING RIGHT NOW! YOU STILL HAVE YOUR DRAGON! YOU'RE BEST FRIEND AND COMPANION ARE STILL ALIVE! AND SO IS YOUR FATHER! YOUR ACTUAL FATHER AND YOU JUST THREW THAT ALL AWAY! SO YOU DON'T GET TO SAY SHIT RIGHT NOW!"
He didn't really mean to be so cruel to Ben, honestly, the words came out before he could even think about what he was saying, but he didn't care, that didn't matter to him. Ben backed up his face unnaturally scared as he shuffled away.
"I'm sorry...But we have to leave." Ben sniffled softly.
"I'm not leaving her." Atticus put firmly.
"Atticus-"
"I'M NOT LEAVING HER!" He snarled out firmly as he buried his face into her scales once more. "If they kill me with her then so be it!"
"Then...I'm sorry that I have to do this."
Atticus saw Ben's hand move towards his neck and instantly he grabbed it and managed to stand up as he fought with Ben. He saw the syringe in Ben's hand and instantly felt betrayal and rage fuel his whole body.
For once in his lifetime,
Atticus saw bright red.
"You were going to drug me!?"
Before Atticus could stop himself, he threw Ben to the ground with very little effort, causing Ben to land on his bad arm once more.
"Atti-"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!?"
"I am." Ben breathed out, tears in those damned eyes of his. "We have to go, Atti, I'm not leaving you behind."
"IF IT WAS FIREDRAKE THIS WOULD BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!" Atticus suddenly grabbed Ben by both of his arms, causing Ben to cry out loudly as Atticus clutched tightly to Ben's bad arm. "I NEEDED YOU AND YOU GO AND TRY TO DRUG ME! I'VE ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU!" Atticus snarled as he shook Ben back and forth. His rage getting the best of him, it didn't subside until he heard Ben cry and sob out one simple phrase that put Atticus in check.
"Please, I'm sorry...Orrick, you're hurting me..."
The strong smell of blood hit him once more and he looked down at Ben's arm, Atticus had somehow tore through his makeshift sling for Ben and clutched Ben's arm so tightly that Ben's wound reopened and started to bleed through the bandage and onto Atticus's own hand. Looking down at his blood-smeared hand shakily, Atticus realized just what he had down and let go of Ben and slowly backed away.
"I...I...Oh god..." Looking down at his hands Atticus shut his eyes tightly and clenched his fist.
"...Let's go...Let's just...Go.." He muttered.
It almost seemed like Damian materialized next to him, the man being silent through the whole ordeal.
"Don't. Say. A. Word." Atticus growled to Damian as he looked away from Ben, not wanting to look his friend in the face after what just happened.
"I won't. I just wished I had some popcorn, that was quite a show." With that, Damian almost happily danced forward.
If the first car ride was awkward, then this one was beyond awkward. Damian was driving while Ben sat curled up in the front seat looking like he was asleep, Atticus sat in the back looking at his bloodied hand still. The blood was dried and encrusted at this point, but still, it was there.
How could he lose control like that? He caused physical harm to Ben, a person he sworn to protect. Not only that but the things he shouted at his friend...Oh god. Ben probably hated him now and never want to talk to him again.
There was a moment of silence as Ben suddenly shifted up, out of his hiding positon and yawned out loudly.
"Damian. I think we should stop for the night. There's a motel up the road." Ben spoke softly, a little too softly.
"...The Greenbloom's home is a little under forty-five minutes." Damian spoke coldly.
"I know. But. you've always said it's best if we avoid them, especially after what just happened back there. We could get caught. You know that. Let's just stop for the night. Besides..." Ben paused and his tone suddenly changed to be more accusatory than anything. "I know you must be exhausted."
There was a moment of silence before Damian finally nodded,
"Yeah, alright."
And just like that, Damian turned into the nearest motel. Together the three of them walked into main office and Damian instantly started doing all the talking.
"We need a room for the three-"
"Two," Ben spoke plainly.
"Eh?"
"I really don't want to be in a room with him right now," Ben said bitterly pointing his thumb at Atticus, who just looked down shamefully at Ben's voice towards him. Fighting back tears, Atticus shut his eyes.
"Good point. Two rooms, one for us and one for him."
Damian paid for the rooms and they got their keys. Atticus wasted no time locking himself away in his motel room. Sitting on his bed he stared up at his ceiling.
Three of his most trusted friends, he lost.
Zenith, Kuriana, and Ben.
All caused by him in some way.
He killed Zenith.
He wasn't fast enough for Kuriana.
and He betrayed and harmed Ben.
Balling up his hands Atticus let out an unholy scream as all his rage build up inside of him. Grabbing the nearest object, which was a lamp, he flung it at the wall, not even bothering to unplug it. The lamp hit the wall hard enough for him to dent the wall, but that wasn't enough for him right now. Being so engulfed in rage and grief he got to work on redecorating the whole room.