The only person he saw was Stibnite - and only to drop off his meals. At least they still fed him - even if it was what went for food here in Negaspace. He’d tried to just sleep through it - but after awhile, sleep lost its allure. He’d begun to pace then, wearing a groove in the floor with his polished boots as he counted down the hours between Stibnite’s visits. What was worse - she didn’t say a word.
He could have handled it if she’d yelled - or chewed him out - or anything other than the dead silence she’d been giving him. It was unnerving - which he supposed was the point. Oddly enough, he wondered if Piy was alright. Neither of them took well to being caged up - but she more so than he. The last thing he needed was for her to have a mental break before they could work out a way to escape this bullshit.
They couldn’t punish them for doing their duty… could they?
***
It was next to impossible to count the amount of time that pass while locked in this makeshift cell. At first, Piy had attempted escaping. She had tried the small hole used for a window and found it barred. She had tried the door and found that her nails could only be used for carving for so long. Then she had tried foolishly to jump Stibnite when she came with a meal.
That had left her bloodied once more.
Over and over she had called to her cousin. How could she let Leucite do this. Why didn’t see help them. But the only response she got was a level, pointed stare before the door was shut behind the woman. Stibnite had written her off.
Curled onto the cot in the room, Piy had started to find herself lost in thought. She was thinking back on everything. On her parents, how happy they must be for her to be gone. On her play things, moving on to others. Of Wardite.
There was no love between them. Only lust. The problem was when that lust was met with cold hard metal or the swift cuff of someone’s jacket to the back of the head, it began to lose appeal. What replaced it was anger. Rage at the man who locked her away and threw away the key. Piy was not a bird to be changed to the wall. She was a free spirit and this was torture. But it meant it gave her time to plot. If only she had the chance.
Now, Piy just wanted one thing...a chance to rip Leucite’s d**k off.
---
The sound of boots clicking along the tile outside of the room was the only warning Wardite got, before the door flung open, and the tall, imposing shadow of Leucite’s shape loomed over his pacing. There was no warning as the pack was flung at him, a hiking backpack of some description. He didn’t need to be told to shoulder it, as the general moved out of the doorway to allow the young man entry into the hallway.
Wardite wasn’t about to risk losing his chance, so he quickly shouldered the pack and moved out of the room, his pace moving briskly as he tried to break ahead of the general - hopefully to duck down some side hallway and out a door. It was his one and only break for escape…
… It lasted for all of ten seconds as he skidded to a rough halt, inches from the uniformed torso of Leucite, forced to crane his head up to the sudden realization that Leucite wasn’t even looking at him as the hand gripped around his throat.
“You are being granted a small reprieve,” Leucite hissed, his fingers oh so gently tightening around the young man’s neck. “Do not ******** it up.”
Then the hand relaxed and the General stepped aside, allowing Wardite to continue down the hallway.
They soon reached another door, which Leucite unlocked and swung wide open, second pack in hand as he waited for the occupant of the room to try and make a break for it.
---
Piy’s eyes flickered upward as the lock on the door clicked. She had been sitting on the cot, knees pulled to her chest in her normal ‘i swear I’m not doing anything’ position she had been taking. According to her mental count, it was too early for Stibnite to be returning. Frankly it was too heavy to be female either.
That left one person.
Grabbing the knife left over from breakfast, Pipiyte pulled back and threw it right where she would picture a man’s groin being as the door flicked open.
Nothing was said. She didn’t even move as her eyes latched onto the man who would be their executioner. He wanted her to run. Wanted her to attack.
Instead all he got was the fire of hell in her eyes.
---
The knife clattered against the far wall, Leucite having stayed well out of the way of the doorway to give the girl ample time to run, or lash out as she felt was needed. Once he was relatively assured that nothing else was going to be thrown in his direction, he dropped the back in front of the door.
“Come on,” He said, his voice flat and cold. “You have been granted a reprieve, I would advise you not to balk at it.” He looked pointedly down at the backpack. “I’ll explain on the way.”
Wardite knew better than to speak up for now, but once he and Piy were able to get together, they might be able to figure out a way to slip away from their singular warden, perhaps even knock him out of the game for a good long while so they could completely make a break for it - at least until they were able to find someone with a lick of sanity that would reward them for doing what they were put out to do, and be willing to turn a blind eye to the hows.
But that would have to wait until they found out exactly what their warden’s plan was.
Leucite stood with his arms crossed, just outside of the light of the doorway, waiting to see what Piy would choose. He had no qualms executing them both - but he’d already decided to give them one last chance. If he could be absolved of guilt - then perhaps they too would survive the crucible.
---
Piy didn’t move. She only sat there on her bed as if glaring at someone could kill them. It it had the ability to, there would have been a larger line of bodies behind her by this point. Without physically moving, her eyes flickered over to Wardite as he stood there, holding a similar pack. Two against one had already proving useless.
Growling as she rose, Piy crossed the ground, grabbed the pack and slung it over her back. The look she shot Wardite was deadly. But Piy was no fool. As long as Leucite was in this form, she couldn’t touch him…
She needed him human.
---
Wardite had the grace to meet Piy’s gaze without flinching. Personally he didn’t understand why she was angry at HIM about any of this. It wasn’t his fault they got caught and had been dragged into this farce. If anything it was Leucite’s fault for being so overzealous about family. So what if the people they had killed had been his cousin’s parents? They had just been doing their sworn duties as officers of the Negaverse - it was Leucite’s fault for not taking better care of them.
Still, he knew better than to try and rebuild rapport with Piy when she was in a glary mood - he’d have better luck buttering up stibs. But she’d sort out - or he’d sort her out when the first opportunity arose - depending on how things went. So he fell in behind her, not even trying to hide the fact that he had no intentions of bolting at this point. After all - he was fairly certain Lecuite would have some other card up his sleeve, so it was better to just play along until they could escape.
Leucite had no illusions that Piy hated him now more than ever - nor did he care. As far as he was concerned, these two were better off in the ground - but his honor and righteousness forced him to give them one final test to see if they were redeemable. He doubted they could be saved - but he had faced this crucible - and so too would they. He had come out of it a better, more balanced individual, he could only hope and pray it did the same for them.
He and Stibnite had fought about it - no, fought wasn’t the right term. Stibnite thought they should be dead - full stop. There was no coming back from wanton murder - once a dog went bad you had to put it down. And Leucite knew - in his heart of hearts he knew she was right - but he had to give them one final chance. If they snapped and broke… well - at least he’d tried.
Once they were out of the barracks - Leucite summoned Iudicael to his side, and the youma stuck close to the two prisoners, watching them for any sign of attempted escape. It was a silent message that he was not above rooting them in place and leaving them to die if needed. He escorted them to the Hall of Shadows, leading them through the breach into the Rift proper. Once they were within, he pointed out towards the deeper, less traveled portions of the alternate dimension.
“Seven days,” he said, cooly. “Ration your water - there really isn’t any here and if you run out I’m not giving you any of mine.”
With that, he put a boot in the back of both Lieutenants, and roughly kicked them forward toward the path leading out into the crystal badlands.
---
Piy had barely looked up as they walked. She said nothing nor did she even try to glance towards Wardite as they marched through the Rift. She could feel the beings on either side. A sort of warning of what was to come.
Of course she had never been into the Rift herself. What sort of fool’s errand would that have been? The idea was to remain the hunter...not become the hunted. A notion clearly she must have forgot in her time as an agent.
“If you wanted to kill us, when why not do it? Why make us go on a nature hike and get eaten? Coward?” Piy asked, her voice low as she stumbled forward but continued to walk. Silence wasn’t good. Silence meant uncertainty. Uncertainty put her at risk.
---
“Because I went through this hellscape and came out the other end of it a better, stronger, human,” Leucite said darkly. “Call it a trial by fire if you want - or trial by Rift, even - but to put it bluntly. You are being given - ONE - chance.”
“Succeed, and I will consider you absolved of your sin - and hopefully the lesson you learned from here will make you better for it. Fail… Well, I don’t think I have to tell you what happens if you fail.” Leucite added with a cool finality to his voice.
“Oh, and if you think that you can try to run away - or kill me in my sleep…” He ran a hand along the top of Iudicael’s head, and the youma turned to look at the to of them with a low snarling growl. “He will not hesitate to tear out your throat in my defense, or chase you down and bite into your hamstring until you can no longer walk. The Rift is a cruel, almost hellish, place - it would be best if you minded your surroundings and focused on survival.”
Wardite frowned, he didn’t like the sound of this one final chance they were being offered. It sounded like a bum game. Though he was sure that Leucite wasn’t lying - the man tended to be too moral for that. That wasn’t to say that their little - stunt - hadn’t broken something deep inside of him. Revenge did funny things to people.
“Why seven days though? Why not like - five - or three? I don’t get the time frame.” Wardite finally spoke up, eying his cousin with curiosity and a bit of trepidation. He did not like this - not one bit.
“Seven days was how long I survived in the Rift. If I can make it that long, then you must make it that long.” Leucite said firmly. “Now come - there’s no day or night here - so we’d best press on, and I hope you both have strong internal clocks.” The General said as he summoned his spear, using it as a walking stick - and a prod - to move the two Lieutenants forward into the twilight of the RIft.
---
“Well aren’t you special.” Piypite growled at the response about Leucite going about it. Of course the crazy one did it and came back out even crazier! So now he expected them to do it? Oh gods why didn’t he just let her die back then.
But it wasn’t until he mentioned the word ‘sin’ that Piypite felt her spine snap straight. Jerking herself around, she gazed back at the General with eyes as wide as dinner plates. “SIN?!?” She spat out as she cast the youma a look of annoyance. “How the ******** is what we did a sin and what you and little Ms. I’m too good to be here do everyday any different? So we targeted the rich. What’s the difference? They are just as evil as those low lifes you justify killing.”
When she saw him move with his spear, she turned slightly at it, keeping that point in view. “Your hands are covered in far more blood than ours.”
---
“I’ve already sought absolution for my sins, what blood I might have on my hands is righteous,” Leucite said - his tone flat and to the point. “My prey are those that cause harm to others - in the most insidious ways possible, directly. They violate the law and are not welcome in the new world which we will create.”
“Your prey, regardless of what evils they might have done, for the most part adhered to the law - but the two that you are being punished for, I know for a fact have committed no crime, or evil aside from being questionable parents.”
“It is those two lives that you must absolve yourselves for - not the others.”
Just as Wardite thought, revenge. At least he was being honest about it now. Still, he found this rather stupid. Better to have just killed them than contrive some sort of mental gymnastics so that if they died he wouldn’t have been their killer. It was probably for the paperwork he was sure. He wanted to stay squeaky clean - well then…
“Piy’s right tho - you’re not any different from us.” He said, cooly. “You just hide behind your ‘righteousness’ and call it good. At least we admit what we do is murder. At least we’re honest.”
“An honest monster is still a monster,” Leucite said cooly, eyeing them both as he motioned for them to move, Iudiceal moving to flank the two.
“Yeah I know I’m a monster, what does that make you?” Wardite said with a grin, edging backward a bit, knowing he’d gotten under the bigger man’s armor.
Leucite did not acknowledge the statement with a reply.
---
“Clearly a monster with a conscience Ward. All that translates to is he sucks at his job so he gets rid of the monsters not afraid to do what is needed.” Piy responded, her eyes only flickering to the General as she glanced towards her partner. Having him chime in as well made this all the more interesting.
“We killed two people who clearly meant something to him. Instead of seeing it for what it is ‘a sacrifice of war’ to this Holy God of his, we suddenly became rabid dogs that need to be put down.”
“After all, the law is only as strong as those who made it….or see how to break it.”
---
There was silence from Leucite, but not from Iudicael, the hound youma growled and started to snap at Piypite’s heels, close enough so that she would feel the wind of its teeth near her leg, a warning at this point. The metal butt of the spear clanked hard against the rock with each step, as he gave them both a warning look.
“I believe we’ve struck a tender nerve, Piy,” Wardite grinned, still moving backward to keep a good eye on the spear just in case it ended up turned on him and he had to jump away. “It seems he doesn’t like being confronted with the truth.”
Lecuite narrowed his eyes more at Wardite. He should have done this one at a time he realized - but oh well - too late to back out now. Best to just get it over with.
---
Piy jerked onto her toes as she growled back at the youma. “Oh down you filthy beast. I’m not touching your master. Look…” She held up her hands. “No touching! And he’s the one with the stick anyway.”
Piy looked away, going quiet for a moment with a sly smile on her face before she glanced towards Wardite. “But you have to admit. That was one hell of a party.”
---
Wardite returned the grin. “Oh it definitely was, and who’d of thought that they didn’t even think twice about us being there - I mean granted we had been playing staff up to a point but…”
Lecuite let out a silent sigh, and with a single look at Iudicael, the youma returned to his side, but both were watching the two as they walked.
This was going to be an insufferable trial for him.
---
Torvil
