Follows In Preparation
How long had it been? An hour? Two? Had he fallen asleep? Had it been days? He was both hungry and nauseous. Every part of his body felt like it was in pain, but also numb. It was difficult to breathe. The blindfold made it impossible to see. Whatever they’d shoved in his mouth to gag him tasted metallic. Or maybe that was just his blood.
Percy twisted his shaky hands behind him again. His wrists were so raw that he couldn’t tell the difference between sweat and blood any more.
Maybe Marius hadn’t been able to get to Alastor. Maybe he was stuck in hiding somewhere with Celyn. Or maybe they couldn’t get ahold of Devyn. Maybe they couldn’t get a message to Serge. Percy hated that he couldn’t break free on his own. If it had been his husband or brother, he was positive they would have gotten out of these bindings already.
He twisted his wrists again, trying to loosen the ropes enough to slide his hand out. He would dislocate his thumbs if he could get the angle right. If that’s what it took. He was already marred with various cuts and bruises, a little more wouldn’t make a difference. His ribs felt like they had definitely been fractured. He didn’t know how many times he’d caught the sharp edge of a blade, be it his arms or legs, but he could also tell they intended on keeping him alive.
For now.
There were voices around him, but it sounded like he was underwater. At first he couldn’t make anything out, as if slowly surfacing from being smothered for too long. Things eventually started to sound clearer.
“What do you mean you weren’t able to find them? They’re two kids, how could they have escaped so easily?”
“There’s tons of secret tunnels, you know that--”
“You should have been able to track them, either way. What about the other students? Those old farts on the Council?”
“They all went into lockdown, but we’ve got eyes on the exits.”
“Found one, boss!”
Percy felt his heart leap out of his chest. They found one of the boys? No-- was it Marius? Celyn? Someone sobbed with fright as they were dragged into the room and Percy could hear as they were tossed onto the floor.
“You idiot, that’s not one of the kids we were looking for--”
“Got any better ideas? He won’t let this kid die either.”
“We gonna test that?”
“What?? P-please don’t hurt me, I’m just a student here!”
“Shut up!” the man yelled and Percy could feel the movement of the other kid being kicked, and the yelp of pain that followed.
Percy yelled against his gag in his mouth and jerked against the chair he’d been tied to.
“Oh, see? That got his attention. You awake again, Sessrumnir?”
The blindfold was roughly ripped off his eyes. At his feet the young man whimpered and cried, clearly terrified. Percy could feel his heart breaking, and glared at the group around him.
He’d been brought to the entrance of the vault. It was the place in Sessrumnir where centuries of secrets had been guarded and protected by the Knight. The door itself was huge and made of solid, impenetrable metal. But that was mostly for show, since it was locked and guarded by a unique magic as well.
Without the Knight of Sessrumnir, no one could get into the vault. Even if a Senshi or Knight could unlock their particular vault, getting in through the main door was something only Sessrumnir could do.
This was one of the reasons why he was made a Knight: to protect these secrets Sessrumnir had been entrusted with.
And because the position had been made vacant when the last Knight refused to allow access.
“We’ll give you one more chance to open the door. If you don’t, we’ll kill the kid,” the man in charge of the little group said while the others laughed and the kid sobbed.
The gag was finally removed and Percy coughed and spit out the blood that had been pooling in his mouth. He wished he had his necklace, but powering up suddenly meant that the necklace connecting him to Devyn was safely out of reach of these people.
But even if Devyn wasn’t there, Percy wished he could feel his heart beat against his chest, giving him courage.
“Well?” the man asked as one of his minions hoisted the student to his feet, although he looked ready to pass out regardless, tears and snot covering his terrified face. His eyes were pleading and he whimpered helplessly.
What if this had been Marius? Celyn? Anyone he knew? It didn’t matter who. Percy didn’t want anyone to get hurt, much less die.
In front of him, behind the vault door, were secrets kept protected for centuries. Maps to treasure -- treasure itself! Unique blueprints, diagrams on weaknesses in defense for Worlds and Wonders, lists of resources and how to locate and refine them, sacred documents that were brought there because of political turmoil putting them at risk. Jewelry, books, hopes, dreams, chances for worlds to rise from the ashes should they fall.
How many lives was that worth to protect? Was he going to be forced to decide?
He glanced at the young student. He didn’t know his name, but he’d seen him studying with his friends in the atrium before. He was just a kid, maybe only a few years older than Marius.
“Okay,” he agreed, teeth gnashed together as he glared at the people in black and masks. He felt weak. Whatever they did to him had his head spinning, and he doubted he would be able to stand for long, if at all.
“I need my hands,” he growled with irritation, although the laughter from the others made it obvious that they weren’t intimidated by a relatively young Knight of slighter stature. Despite knowing he’d caused a few of them some serious injuries with his weapon before, when he was trying to let Marius and Celyn escape.
It was also obvious that they didn’t think he was likely to escape, because they didn’t seem to think twice about untying the bloodied ropes. Percy wanted to hold his wrists, to soothe them somehow, but he was afraid touching the wounds would just cause more injury.
Shakily, he willed himself to stand. The room immediately began spinning so he closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them again, he took a step forward towards the vault door.
What would Devyn do in this situation? He wouldn’t have been captured in the first place, for one. He certainly wouldn’t just give up.
Percy wished he could see him. If he closed his eyes, he could see his smile, hear his laughter. He wanted to make sure Marius was okay. He wanted to see all of his family and friends again. He didn’t know what the chances were of getting out of this alive once these people had what they wanted.
The young student was still quietly sobbing. Percy wanted him to get back to his family and friends too. There were so many things that he wanted. Maybe selfishly so.
Sessrumnir chose him as its Knight for a reason.
In an instant, while the men around him sneered at how he could barely stand, and how the student kept crying, Percy lunged at the man with Princess’s fang. He didn’t have his weapon -- they’d taken the broken pieces and chain away from him earlier. But if he could just get his hand on that fang, it would be all over.
He just needed Princess to tear them to shreds. He just needed a little more time--
The man shouted in anger and shoved at Percy, trying to keep him away from his pocket. Percy dug his nails into anywhere he could reach, latching on and grappling for his one chance at turning the tides.
Something heavy hit him from behind. Before he could even crumple to the ground, or get enough air in his lungs to shout in pain, there were more hands grabbing hold of him and shoving him up against the vault door, hitting his head hard enough against it that his ears rang.
“You little b***h,” the man in charge snarled, pressing a hand against the scratches across his face from Percy’s nails while his henchmen held Percy up against the door. He couldn’t even touch the floor with how they’d lifted him up, making it harder for him to kick and struggle, although he definitely tried.
“You’ll never get what you want,” Percy hissed, his eyes raging like the storm they were colored.
The man clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and shook his head.
“I’m disappointed in you, Sessrumnir. I thought you cared. I thought you were different.”
Percy didn’t have time to yell for him to stop. The man took a knife and stabbed the student, who cried out in pain before collapsing to the floor.
“How could you??” Percy sobbed with rage, only to receive a swift strike across his face that took the breath from his lungs and left him gasping for air. It felt like the world was spinning.
“Find another one. We’ll kill them all if that’s what it takes.”
Percy was released then, collapsing to the ground as darkness flooded his vision.
