"Cole! Cole!" I faintly hear as I start to gain consciousness.
I look around and see Lloyd leaning over me.
"Lloyd? What are you doing?" I ask sitting up.
"The overlord is gone! We need to try and make our escape while he's away."
I hop to my feet and grab my head as pain rushes there. Lloyd looks at me worriedly, but I just brush it off.
"So, how do you propose we escape?" I ask looking around.
"That vent! We climb up the wires, get the cover off, crawl through there, and escape!" Lloyd says starting to climb one of the wires.
"Do you really think this will work?" I say following up after him.
"We're about to find out." Lloyd says trying to figure out a way to get the cover off.
I feel around in my pockets. I know I have my Swiss Army knife (Y/N) got me in one of them, but I'm not sure if the Overlord confiscated it when he trapped us in here. I finally find it in my hoodie pocket and hug it to me as if my life depends on it. If I never get out of here, this is all I have left of her. I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear Lloyd say something above me.
"What?" I ask clearing my thoughts
"Are you ok, Cole?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Here's my knife. See if it can help you with that vent." I say tossing it up to him.
He is able to get the vent off, and crawls into it. I follow the rest of the way up and crawl in after Lloyd. There is no way to reattach the cover, so if the overlord comes in, he will know exactly the way we escaped. There is only one way to go, so we follow that, and hope it won't lead us to our doom. Lloyd looks out the other opening, and he turns around to me with a smile on his face.
"It leads outside!" He says flipping to his back.
He kicks the cover and it goes flying off. Lloyd slides out as I flip to my back and follow. As I look around, I notice we're in a forest with numerous places to hide. Lloyd tosses me my knife before running in a random direction, and I quickly follow him.
"How do you know which way to go? I've never seen this before?" I say as Lloyd stops to take in his surroundings.
Lloyd looks at me with confidence, but I look away from the sight in front of me. I still cringe every time I see the blood stain on his side, and now I see the scratch across his cheek, that hopefully won't scar. I thought I got it bad with the broken ribs, and cracked shoulder blade. Lloyd puts his hand on my shoulder, causing me to look up into his eyes.
"I don't. I'm just hoping to find something familiar, and put as much distance between me, and that place." Lloyd says taking off again.
I follow after him, and before long, we come upon a stream. Neither of us have had anything to drink since our time here, and quite frankly, we're thirsty. Not long into our drink break, we hear a screech from behind us.
"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!" He yells, and we take off running without a second thought.
Lloyd keeps switching directions, in hopes that he won't catch up, and will lose us. Our escape soon ends when the overlord appears in front of us.
"You can not escape me!" He says closing in on us.
"That's what you think!" Lloyd says and blasts him with his energy ball. It distracts him enough that we are able to make an escape else where.
I think we're doing good, until the ground falls out from underneath me, and I land in a pit of barbs. The pain soars through me, and I scream out.
"Cole!" I hear Lloyd yell, and see him standing up above me.
I know the overlord heard my scream, and he's on his way over here as we speak.
"Lloyd... please go! Just leave me... please!" I say through all the pain.
"No, I'm not leaving you. No ninja left behind!" He says trying to find a way into the hole without getting stuck by barbs.
"Lloyd please! Go!"
"No!"
"Lloyd, (Y/N) can't lose both of us. She needs you!" I plea hoping he'll leave before the overlord catches up.
"You're her boyfriend though! She'll never forgive me if I abandon you!" He says as I watch the tears fall down his face.
"Please Lloyd! (Y/N) needs you!" I say desperate at this point.
Lloyd hesitates and looks at me, desperately trying to change my mind. "She needs you too."
"I know... but please, Lloyd! Go back to her! You can show (Y/N) where to find me." I say as tears start falling down my face.
Lloyd looks at me one last time before saying, "I'm sorry Cole," and running away.
I don't care that he abandoned me. He didn't want to, but I wanted him to. (Y/N) deserves her brother at least, and I don't think I'm getting out of this trap until the overlord finds me. At least I was able to get a drink, and see the outside world one last time. I finally see the overlord above me, and I'm lifted out of the pit. Excruciating pain courses through my body as the barbs come out.
"I see my trap has worked. Where is the child?" He asks tightening his grip on me.
I grimace in pain as he presses on one of the puncture wounds on my arm. I'm just glad it didn't get my head, because that would've been really bad.
"I don't know! We separated." I lie
"I know you are lying. Where is he?"
"I don't know." I say again. It's not a complete lie.
"I think we need to teach you a lesson!" He says dragging me back to that abandoned building.
This time, he drops me into a room from the ceiling, and once he does that, the gap closes. This new cell looks like an asylum, and it's barely 25 square feet (about 2.3 sq. meters)
and there's nothing in here. It's just plain, besides the overly bright light above me.
"Enjoy the new cell." The overlord says from somewhere.
I'm lonely now, there's nothing to look at, and, there's barely enough room for me to lay down. I'm just glad Lloyd was able to escape, and I hope he makes it back to (Y/N) in time. I start to cry as the adrenaline wears off, and all the pain hits at once.
"I'm sorry (Y/N)." I say as I cry harder.
I think of all our fun times together, as I curl up in a ball, and try to sleep. But sleep never comes.
Lloyd's POV
As I run, I think about if I made the right decision. He wanted me to, but I feel really guilty. After running for awhile, I start to recognize my surroundings, so I quicken my pace to the monastery. My legs and feet are killing me, but I refuse to stop until I get to the comfort and security of the monastery. What will sis think when I tell her what happened? Will she be mad at me? Hate me? Disown me? I don't know, but I hope she is understanding.
I never thought I'd see the monastery again, but here it is right in front of me. I quickly run inside, ignoring the stares and shouts from the guys, and run straight to (Y/N) in her room. She has her head in her hands, and doesn't look up when I enter. The adrenaline is starting to wear off, and I'm feeling every little pain I received during our escape. She finally looks up, and her eyes grow to the size of saucers when she realizes I'm here.
"Lloyd!" She shouts and envelops me in a hug.
I hug back and collapse into her. I feel her quickly shift her feet, so we don't fall. I feel her tears soak through my tattered shirt, as I let my own tears fall down onto her. She hugs me tighter to her, and I know she has that question that I dread answering, burning in her mind.
"I thought I'd never see you again! Lloyd I was so worried!" She says looking up at me.
"I know. It's ok. I'm here now." I say giving a small smile.
"Where's Cole? Is he downstairs?" She asks smiling back.
Crap. I have to tell the truth, but I wish she didn't ask that. I don't want to hurt her. I look down at the ground avoiding eye contact. She looks at me puzzled, and I take a deep breath, preparing for her response.
"The overlord still has him."
"What? You... you left him?" She says pushing me off and glaring at me angrily.
"Sis, please listen."
"Why should I? There's not much to tell, now is there?" She says glaring at me with tears falling down her face.
"(Y/N) listen to me! It wasn't my choice!"
"Everyone has a choice Lloyd." She says looking like she's ready to punch me.
"He asked me to leave him! I didn't want to, but–"
"You did anyways!" She spit
"He pointed out that you can't lose both of us."
"I'm starting to think the wrong person got caught." She says crossing her arms.
"Ouch. I see where I stand." I joke
"There better be a better reason that you left him." She says with a glare that can burn right through me.
"He also pointed out I can help show you where he's held captive at."
Silence falls between us as (Y/N)'s face softens. I see the tears start to fall from her face as she processes what I said. She hugs me tight to her, and I hug her back.
"Lloyd, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things, you were only trying to help, and do what you thought was best. Please help me get Cole back." She says looking up at me with tears in her eyes.
I wipe the tears away and say, "Of course! What's a brother for?"
"Thanks, Lloyd. You're the best." She says smiling at me again.
"I know."