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3:45 P.M
– Castle's Lockup –
Rehan's body was wet through, drenched, the very opposite of his insides, dry and parched. He felt like his body was running low on water to produce as sweat through his pores, and therefore, he was impossibly heating up even more. Kazuo was also in discomfort, but he was handling it a lot better. Zen was staring to get annoyed by each second, sitting with his legs stretched before him and head thrown back, brows furrowed and jaw tense. It's like he was holding back the urge to wreck havoc.
The more they stayed in here, the more stuffy the room got. The intensity of the heart wave that constantly rose, seemed to be at its highest and even increasing more if possible. Rehan's eyes felt tired. His body begged for sleep as well as hydration, but he didn't let his eyes shut for two whole days and the third day was almost over. He was extremely exhausted, but his restlessness always managed to fight away the exhaustion. Kazuo's head was throbbing, a headache assuaging his strength. He felt pain in every slight movement he made from the wound, but it was healing thankfully. Zen's head also burned from the constant waves of pain traveling through it and all the way to the insides of his eye. The lack of caffeine was having an effect on his body and he felt great irritation.
Strong footsteps were heard and the same sign of someone approaching came closer. Kazuo looked up in time to see the same beast that visited the cell a while ago. Rehan swallowed thickly at the sight of him before he glanced worriedly at the raven head, who was frowning at E.A.
"What's up? Did you guys miss me?"
Zen opened his eyes once the voice entered his ears and they rolled his at the sight of the annoying creature. Oh, how he despised him. Everything was as awful as it could be, and now he makes it even worse. The redhead brought his legs closer to his chest and looked away out of spite. The creature chuckled in an eerie way.
"I know for a fact I missed you," He walked over to Zen, who gritted his teeth in annoyance and looked up to face the creature with displeasure.
"Get the fuck away from me," Zen muttered as he shifted backwards until his back was met with a heated wall. It slightly itched and fevered his back, but as long as he was a good distance away from the bastard, all was good.
"You have a pretty face and mouth, why does such vulgarity come out from it then?" E.A crouched down and watched as a look of shock came over the red head, but he quickly replaced it with anger. Zen's lips were tightened as he gulped. The creature stared back at him as he waited for the redhead to bite back.
Rehan felt his heart rushing and his heartbeat was getting louder. He tried to calm himslef as much as he could. The ash blond kept glancing at Kazuo. Surely, he knew what to do, right? The raven head was collected, strong and barely showed any fear. He knew what to do. Rehan was getting restlessness. What if Kazuo didn't know what to do? What if the raven head was just as scared as he was?
Rehan didn't realize he was staring at Kazuo in worry until a pair of scarlet eyes were looking back at him. He quickly looked away and gnawed at his lips. Kazuo kept his gaze at the nervous blond.
"It's better if we stay out of this," Kazuo whispered to Rehan, as if reading his thoughts.
Rehan didn't look at him, but only nodded hesitantly, his terrified eyes fixed on E.A.
"You trust me, right?"
Rehan looked at Kazuo, "O-Of course. I..I mean—it's just—"
"Then don't doubt me," Kazuo cut him off and went back to looking at the creature, "I'm not scared," He told Rehan, "So don't doubt me."
"Sorry. I thought you were afraid. I..I don't know what to do."
"You don't have to do anything," Kazuo said. E.A was only leaning closer to Zen and the raven head's jaw clenched, "It'll worsen the situation. We stay out of it and wait until a good time."
Rehan nodded, "But he's...he's gonna hurt him," He said, voice shaky.
"Zen's strong, he will handle it. Also, that creature looks like he took an interest in Zen, so I say the chances have dropped by a few pitches. It's only a matter of time, for all that. So, we still have to be on the look out," Kazuo replied, voice monotone and as quiet as ever.
Rehan felt a tiny wave of relief drip over him. Only a tiny amount, though. Kazuo did know what to, after all. They just needed to wait for a good time. However, when will that good time come? And what did Kazuo even mean by that? Rehan decided to ask him later.
'If we stay alive, obviously,' Rehan thought to himslef.
"Come closer and I'll let your disfigured face have it," Zen hissed as he gripped the fabric over his knees harder. E.A ignored his words and replied with a smirk as leaned in a challenging manner.
They were breaths apart and Zen knocked the said thing out of E.A by sending him a powerful punch. As powerful as he could muster. The red head huffed and stood up, slowly swaying as his head pounded and he leaned on the wall for support. The creature's head was moved to the side by a bit. Like Zen didn't even punch him with all the strength he had left in him, but just lightly relocated it. This made him mad, furious, and annoyed, but still a small amount of apprehension prickled in the pit of his stomach as he stared at E.A.
"Now you've done it," E.A growled as he got up, body towering over Zen's smaller one. He glared at the redhead before grabbing his arm and pulling him closer, "You're coming with me."
Zen obstinately tried to pull his arm back as his other hand layed flat on the wall for support. He almost tumbled over from a certain harsh pull from the creature.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Zen shouted as he used his other hand to strongly grip on E.A arm. He dug his nails as hard as he could into E.A skin. It turned out to be a futile attempt when the creature didn't withdraw, but only brought his other arm behind Zen's knees. The redhead put up a fight as much as he could. Still, his strength was sucked out of him in the past days and E.A was no match for him. With his muscular body and inhuman strength, this was like child's play for him.
E.A pulled the redhead and Zen felt his feet lose contact with the floor and his body twisted in a way that had E.A carrying him bridal style. Nothing about this could relate to a wedding, however, as the redhead kicked and kicked, almost all of them landing on the creature's face. Zen's efforts were put to waste when E.A tightly gripped both of his legs with one hand. One hand! He wasn't even using his arm, but only his huge five fingers. It was insane.
"W-Where are you taking him?" Rehan spoke, he couldn't completely abide by the agreement between him and Kazuo. This was like a sense of déjà vu. Like the last time he asked Cesal the same question when he was taking Jiryu. The distinction here was that he felt much smaller and weaker. Unable to do anything to save Zen and practically useless.
"Stay out of it," E.A shot Rehan a look and Kazuo glared at him.
Kazuo wanted to fight and retort to violence or use his words, but it would make things worse. It could madden this creature and who knows what he's capable of. All the power and strength that he has portrayed and is displaying right now is no joke.
Zen looked pained. The vigor E.A was putting onto him was too much. His body felt sore with all the futile fighting and strong counter back, "Put me down, you fucker!"
E.A clicked his toungue repeatedly in disapproval, "I'm gonna have to do something about that dirty mouth of yours, don't I?" He chuckled when he saw the annoyed look of Zen's face.
The redhead tried freeing his arms, but they just as immobilized as his legs, "Let me go! Fuck—Let me go!"
E.A only grinned at the harmless efforts before he walked out the cell. Rehan unconsciously got up, but Kazuo pulled him back down by his wrist.
Rehan looked at him, eyes wide and brows drawn together. Confusion, fear, anger, surprise, it was all on his face.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Rehan almost shouted.
Kazuo closed his eyes for a moment, hearing the cell door lock before turning to Rehan, "No, what do you think you're doing?" Kazuo asked, repeating Rehan's words, but his came out more calm and not as distressed.
"I don't understand what you mean, seriously! Why do we have to stay out of it? Do you have an actual plan or are you just scared?" Rehan asked with slightly squinted eyes.
"Don't be a hypocrite, Rehan. You were planning to run after them, but what good will that really do?" Kazuo leaned in towards the blond, toning down his voice, and face as steady as ever. The change in aura put the screws on Rehan to focus on his face, "Do you have an actual plan or are you just scared? Ask yourself that question and you will realize that you don't have a plan and you are in fact, scared."
Rehan gulped as he took in what the raven head said. He was right. He did make sense, but Rehan still didn't understand what Kazuo was aiming for by sitting down and doing nothing. Rehan wasn't an idiot. He'd already went over the possible plans, but they all never made sense.
'Was Kazuo planning to attack at the different time? Will that different time be a time where he actually had some sort of weapon? That creature would still have his power. So, what was Kazuo really aiming for? There must be a deeper meaning to this.' Rehan frowned.
"What about you? Are you not scared?" Rehan's voice softened.
"For my life? Not at all. From them? No. For you guys? Yes, obviously," Kazuo paused and thought for a second, "I know you're dying to know what I'm planning to do, but I don't really want to give false hope."
Rehan tugged on Kazuo's shirt, "I'm not a dumb blond, okay? I will understand."
Kazuo cocked a brow, "I never said that," He shook his head, "Nevermind. I'm planning to ask Zen what the outside is like, that's considering if he manages to go upstairs. I know we're underground, judging from the weather and the surroundings. I'm sure that the creature will take Zen upstairs, since there seems like there isn't much downstairs. No rooms or any chambers. I'm also thinking about the royal family. I mean, there can't be one heir to the throne, I'm sure there must be a princess or another prince that's younger. The queen or king? They all might not be aware of Prince Veldra's actions and if they do find out, they might be strongly against it. That gives us more alliances, but like I said, don't get false hope. This all a piece of what I'm thinking and not the truth. We would be very lucky if it was true." Kazuo explained.
Rehan nodded. So, Kazuo was acting based on a mere hypothesis, "What are you going to do on the fifth day?"
"Im quite troubled about that, actually. I was thinking of settling on decisions for you and Zen after we get a little information. But, I do not plan to give up my spirit. That prince is not trustworthy, how can we believe what he says after everything he's done? Even if he might be telling the truth, I know half of it is sugarcoated lies. You guys on the other hand, should do whatever it takes to save your lives and I'll try my best at helping with that."
"Why are you taking like you'd sacrifice your life for us? You know that I won't allow you to be so selfless," Rehan told him, a frown on his face.
Kazuo shrugged, "It's not if you allow me or not. It's if I want to or not."
"We'll see about that," Rehan said.
———
Every mighty step upwards sent a surge of dulling pain to his head. Zen groaned when E.A tightly held him closer.
"Fuck you. I hope you trip, break all of your teeth, choke on the top of the handrail, get trapped in the balusters, hit your head so hard that you get a concussion, and finally die," Zen grumbled and E.A laughed.
"You'll go down with me, though," E.A said and Zen scowled at him.
"I don't care. As long as you die in the end."
"You're funny."
"And you're disgusting."
"I'll have fun breaking you," E.A said and Zen scoffed. The redhead decided to block him out and observe his surroundings. They were currently going up a flight of strairs that was covered in a red carpet after entering this floor through an elevator. The small hall that led to the place was a brownish gold color. It led to a bigger place with a poilished floor with beige and dark brown tiles. To the left, there seemed to be another, more huge hall, but it was left unseen as E.A had turned right. A huge flower vase was placed on the corner between the stairs and table that resembled a fancy reception. After they went up the stairs, there was a hallway to the left and nothing to the right. Instead of going right, E.A went up another flight of stairs. It was more narrow and didn't have a red carpet like the previous one. There were three n shaped frames, decorated nicely and added an amazing view. Guessing from the change of floor, Zen knew they were upstairs.
At the end of the strairs, there was a narrow hallway. Fake leaves and trees decorated it. It led to another huge hall. There was a room to the right and E.A entered it. He closed the door behind him and set Zen down on the floor. The redhead grunted before he quickly got up on his feet. He swayed to the sides before standing steady, a bit wobbly.
Zen scoffed, "Not even handcuffs? How fucking stuck up are you?"
E.A looked down at him, "I'm gonna need you to be silenced, dumb, and hushed. Only sit there, look broken and pretty," He held the side of Zen's face. The teen looked at him in utter confusion and disgust. Getting the drift of what E.A planned to do wasn't hard, shown that Zen quickly yanked his hand away and stepped back.
"In your fucking dreams," Zen spat. He didn't like the way E.A was looking at him. His ease masked as defiance was beginning to get sick.
"Yeah? Well then I guess my dreams have come true."
A strong force enveloped most of his neck space. Zen was alert of the hand around his throat, his eyes widened. Both of the redhead's hands found their way tightly gripping on the source of force that was laboring his breath, it was just as futile as trying to bring back the pieces of a broken plate. He wouldn't budge.
"Shhh," E.A said and pushed Zen backwards, hand still wrapped around his neck, slamming him onto the wall to which he released a low sound of pain. Was going to die like this? In the hands of some creature? No one would care either ways. Well, Kazuo and Rehan might cry a bit. They've been good friends. His family won't give any cares in the worlds, his dad might feel a bit down, though.
Then, why was he scared to die? Going back to D.I.M 1. He wanted his sister to know that he loved her. Maybe it was because he didn't see Cicero, yet. Because he didn't get to say goodbye or because he didn't tell him how he really felt. He didn't want to leave on such a short notice. He wanted the green head to come back to house uninvited and eat all the sweet food. He wanted to laugh at the dumbest things that happened with him, help that dumbass learn Japanese slang, for him to improve his English with him, hear the green head's laugh, his stuipd flirty remarks even though he pretended to hate it, his sarcastic attitude, annoying face and smirk that made him feel something, his sleeping face in class, his ability to solve and exceed in school without effort, insulting each other, and most importantly, their hideout. The sea, the cliff, spotless sand, sunrise, sunset, a bathroom that Cicero convinced his dad to lend him money to get built, Zen still doesn't know how he managed to do that, and of course Cicero's dumb teasing about Zen's fear of heights.
That idiot, why does he have to be the last thing that Zen thinks of during a critical time where death is supposed to be expected? All of what he mentioned won't happen, repeat itself, or continue. Not when he was trapped in a dark dimension with a creature on his throat. Literally. Not when E.A was looking down on him with a scary expression.
Zen's train of thoughts crashed, the rail rack twisting and bending, and thrusting that train to the side. It was abrupt, sudden. The redhead wished that this was a bad dream, a nightmare. That he was only imagining it.
——