Ash felt a cool hand on his face. He opened his eyes and found Eiji sitting on the bed next to him. Eiji looked down at Ash and smiled.
"Eiji," Ash smiled sleepily. "What are you doing here?"
Eiji smiled, his laughter like warm sunshine, "I'm not here, Ash. You're dreaming."
Ash laughed and reached for his hand, but his fingers passed through Eiji's skin like a mirage.
Ash looked up at Eiji and tilted his head in confusion, the smile fading from his lips.
Eiji smiled sadly and shook his head, "I told you, I'm not here."
"But I need you to be," Ash said, reaching for him again.
His fingers passed through Eiji's skin and Eiji screamed in pain. Blood ran down his arm in red rivers and he sobbed as his body wracked in pain.
Eiji smiled, the curtains behind him dancing in the gentle wind that came in through the open window. His eyes twinkled like Ash shared an inside joke.
Ash's mind heaved slowly through the thick molasses of a sweet dream, struggling to get back to reality.
Blood seeped down Eiji's forehead and he laughed as he ran his fingers through his hair the way he did when he was flustered or embarrassed.
He looked at Ash and smiled, a blush coming over his cheeks, but the illusion was shattering now. Chains bound his wrists, his body covered with bruises and scars.
Strapped and bound to an operating table, Eiji screamed and wept as Fox pushed the needle of a syringe into his vein.
The rat screamed in its cage, tearing at its own flesh in a blind rage.
Eiji's eyes flew open, bloodshot and tinged with drugged madness. He saw Ash and screamed in fear and rage as he grabbed a knife and lunged.
"Eiji!" Ash gasped.
Ash's hand caught his wrist as the knife came at him. His instincts kicked in and he hurled him to the floor, pinning his knee against his throat.
He looked down with a glare as Blanca's wide eyes blinked up at him in surprise.
Ash looked around, disoriented. He was no longer in the pit but in a small room; bare and abandoned, the sole window looked almost like it belonged in a church and there was a small bed in the corner with a pillow stained with Ash's blood. His body hurt and there was a constant ringing in his right ear.
Eiji was gone.
Ash looked down as Blanca's hands slipped on his knee, trying to relieve the pressure crushing his throat.
"Ash! Stop!" Alex and Skip rushed forward and pulled Ash off of Blanca.
Blanca scrambled to his knees as he clutched at his throat, gasping and coughing.
As Skip and Alex tackled him back, Ash grabbed Alex's pistol and leveled it at the assassin.
Alex flinched back, knowing better than to get between Ash and his prey.
"Ash, stop!" Skip cried, trying to pull Ash's arm back. "Blanca's the one who brought you here. He saved you."
Ash pushed him off and rose to his feet, his gun trained on Blanca.
"Where is Eiji?" Ash growled.
Blanca couldn't hold his gaze and looked away. Ash fired the pistol and the bullet whizzed by Blanca's ear close enough for him to feel the wind.
Blanca kept his eyes lowered. "I had to leave him."
A bullet chipped the floor where Blanca knelt.
"Ash, I had no choice."
The next bullet sent splinters flying.
Blanca looked up with a glare. "Shoot me if you want, but it won't change what happened."
Ash's voice was low as his finger pulled back on the trigger. "It'll stop you from betraying us again."
Blanca's eyes met his coldly. "It won't help save him."
Ash's eyes narrowed.
"I deserve to be shot after all I've done," Blanca said. "But let me help you first. Let me help you save him."
"Why would I trust you?" Ash growled.
Blanca glanced at Ash's gun and then rose slowly to his feet. "You know me well enough to know when I'm lying, Ash."
Ash's eyes narrowed. He pulled the trigger.
Skip and Alex jumped back as the gun fired.
Blanca blinked. He reached a hand slowly up to his cheek and pulled away a thin red stain where the bullet had grazed him. He looked up and met Ash's glare.
Ash tossed the gun back to Alex and sat heavily on the bed, wincing in pain. Skip let out a breath and glanced at Alex nervously. Alex looked just as tense and shook his head.
Ash touched the side of his head tenderly and felt the missing flesh beneath the bandage. He looked up at Blanca. "Why did you get me out and not him?"
"They let you go," Blanca answered. "But Dino isn't going to let go of Eiji again."
"That doesn't make any sense," Alex said. "Why would they let Ash go?"
Blanca studied Ash who glared at the floor. "They made a deal with you, didn't they? In exchange for Eiji's life?"
Ash nodded quietly.
"Fox or Dino?"
"Fox," Ash said. "In exchange for killing Dino and giving Fox his empire."
"With you to run it, no doubt," Blanca said grimly.
Skip looked between them. "That doesn't sound so bad. You kill Dino, get Eiji, nice promotion…"
Blanca's eyes were dark. "Fox is not someone you want to side with. He takes pleasure in the domination and destruction of others. If you make a deal with him, you'll be little better than his puppet and his slave."
Skip looked up, worry flashing in his eyes. "What about Eiji? Will he kill him?"
Blanca shook his head, "No. For now Fox is still following Dino's orders. And he'll keep Eiji alive as leverage against Ash. But there are worse things than death."
Skip's hands closed into fists and he looked at Ash. "What do we do?"
Ash picked up a gun and stood. He looked at Blanca, a dark understanding shared in their eyes.
Ash slammed the round into the chamber of the gun.
"We go hunting."