The Haunting: Destiny (FF)

Chapter 42

Mia's POV:

Lying on the cold wall, I scrape stones against the iron bars that surround me. It makes a screech as I indent a shallow slice into it. A couple of times guards have turned the corner to yell at me or punch me, but I continued.

Continuing my dig as I hear a door slam open, multiple foot steps start irregularly descending down the stairs, peering through the small gap I spot two guards dragging Grayson along. Struggling to get him to comply, they unlock the cell next to me and throw him in, producing a painful gasp before the bars are once again locked.

He's clutching his leg which is crudely patched, the dodgy stitching is slightly hidden by the blood stained bandage wrapping around it. Propping himself up he undid the casing then re-wraps it, nearly squeezing the life out of his leg and resisting yelps of pain after it's done. Then he rests with a bloodied nose that's dry and uncleaned.

"Still alive?" I jokingly ask, hoping to lighten the mood.

He looks around, catching my eyes before sighing, "Nope." He chuckles, voice horse.

There's silence, as the world seems to slow down, "I might die from an infection." Grayson states, "Wouldn't that just piss him off?" He softly laughs, looking down at the partially visible wound there's areas of puss and other substances that previously lingered on the ground.

"Yeah, he's probably the only man I know who'd be upset at someone dying in the wrong way." I comment, lightly scraping the bars.

"Make that two people, I bet you anything he has something to do with this."

"Probably, maybe that's why Drake had another headache then..." he nods, "Did you see that gem around his neck? And the way Armen looked at it?"

"Ah yes, I saw it perfectly as my world was starting to blur and darkness crept closer." Still got his sarcasm, "Though I would be surprised if that gem was one of those."

"Those? Do you mean- the diamonds at the magical library?" he nods his head, "It could explain why it was cracked." he perks his head up, "It seemed to be shattered, multiple pieces roughly stuck together." 

"That..." he coughs a bit, placing his hand on his chest, "Why would he have it?" 

"Beats me but if I see him again I'm ripping it right off his neck." I confidently announce, gaining a chuckle. 

Then there's silence again as I watch Grayson prop himself up, he really needs to get that checked out, then again, guess he only needs to live so long... that's a horrible way to think of it, we can't be doomed. I sit there twiddling my thumbs and moving my feet in repetitive circles as I think through ideas, I was kept in the Eastern Empire, Grayson was in the Western Empires, this Empire.

"Did you get a good look around?" I ask, he shakes his head as he tries to stay awake.

"I passed out pretty quickly..." he looks up and down the hall, "The layout seems the same, just a different coating." He murmurs.

"Then would you know where they put the bags?"

...

"OH SHIT-" he jolts forwards, instinctively clutching his leg, "The egg! They've got the egg, they have it and- and I couldn't... I couldn't..." his voice goes horse as he starts to cough, "I couldn't keep my promise... I failed them..."

"You haven't, we can still get it back." I reassure but it's met with a sad chuckle.

"If we're not dead from the execution, I'll die from an infection, even if I don't- how are we going to escape when I'm like this?" his voice sounds depleted as he refuses to look at me.

"We've both escaped the empire's clutch before, we sure as hell can do it again." I say trying to lift his spirits up.

"But what did we loose? What would we loose this time?" His voice is cold and slow. My eyes widen as I forget to breath, memories of the past flood my mind- Elvanor...

My heart is in my throat as I try to stop tears from flowing, "Well," I say hoarsely, "Let's make  sure we don't loose anything this time." As I spout my words tears start to go down my cheeks, wiping them away I look outwards, the dirty walls cut off round a corner into an abyss of darkness... is that? I see a flash of light reflecting off of something... or someone-

"Grayson." I whisper, "I think someone's around that corner." I keep my voice low, waiting for a response... nothing.

"Grayson?" I turn around and see him lying there, leaning in the corner. Panic invades my mind but as I reach to him he slightly moves, his chest is going up and staying down for a longer than I'd like, but it always comes up again. His eyes are shut but tears still mark his face as he sleeps. Thank Notch he finally got some sleep, I should probably do the same but I can't risk it.

Slumping against the wall, I keep my eye on the external corner, trying to see if someone's actually there. All there seems to be are more cells that suddenly stop at another wall. No one's in them... my mind starts to drift again... drifting back to Elvanor... I hope Freya's okay...

~~~~~~

"Hey..."

...

"Hey."

Who...?

"HEY!"

I jolt forward as my eyes shoot open, only to quickly close, a bright light shines towards me, illuminating this area whilst the rest lay in darkness. As my eyes adjust the light slightly dims, a person outside the cell is holding a lantern, nervously checking the area. It's a small blonde kid with blue eyes and a scar across his cheek.

"Don't you realise how bad it is to sleep whilst captured?" He comments.

"Well I'm sorry kid." I sarcastically reply.

"Good, at least you know for next time-" guess he didn't catch that, "Anyway, wake up the thief."

I look to my side, Grayson's still fast asleep, now lying on the floor his wounds seem to be worse.

"Why should I?" I glare back at him.

"I need to talk to him, it's urgent."

"In the dead of night?!" He quickly shushes me.

"Yes, In the dead of night. It's the only time others aren't around." he's rubbing his neck whilst his eyes still jot around the place and back onto Grayson.

"Only if you do something for us-"

"What is it?"

"Well- um-" I didn't expect him to answer that quickly, "Get a first aid kit. They did a shit job of his leg, and it's just going to get worse." I declare.

He looks scared, maybe worried as he looks around once again, "I can't get it right now, but I will... they were supposed to do a better job..." he mutters the last bit

Still a bit hesitant I wait. Honestly, he doesn't seem bad... but I can't be sure as to what he's going to do... what other options do I have? If I just don't he won't get the kit, but if I do it might be a trick... taking a deep breath, I gently shake Grayson. It takes a few tries but he eventually rocks awake. Blinking a bit and shielding his eyes he winces as he sits upright. Finally lowering his hand his eyes go wide.

"Markus?" He whispers in shock.

"Tell me the truth... no lies..." he lowers the light, looking around one more time, "Who are you?"