Ethan Desmond Moretz:

The silver steel doors close behind us with an ominous clank.

And it's dark.
Pitch dark everywhere.
I can't see a thing,not even my own hands carrying Saira.

But I feel the Ravens coming closer,their footsteps a synchronized rhythmic beat.

Bracing myself for an attack,I have already decided to go on an offense attack when lights start to flicker from somewhere in the sides of the ceiling,one by one.

I look up to see soft dim lights on the ceiling,stationed there with a difference of only one feet,a 30 cm difference.

You would think these soft yellow fairy like lights would give one the impression of comfort,home but no.
Not in the Cube.
The Hall is huge.It's so huge you can't even see the end,it stretches endlessly.

But there are doors on both sides, right and left.
I know the Cube's architecture well enough.
Yet there aren't anything mortifying or fear inducing in this entrance hall.
It's just barren land.
But that also makes it terrifying,does it not?
Lavinco has intentionally made the entrance this spacious,this wide and this empty.
Rows of wooden doors on the far sides of the hallway,there is a long path you need to take to reach the Dictator's office.
If only you survive,of course.

And those twinkling lights hovering over your head doesn't help at all.
It makes you feel like you are in a haunted house of some sort, waiting for some unfortunate incident to occur.

Now,I look around to see the Ravens have surrounded us.
Masked men are bound around us like a tightly coiled rope,in the shape of a circle.

I sigh."Gentlemen, aren't we all friends here? This isn't the first time I have come here.Must you really do this?"

Silence.

Slowly,what feels like the barrel of a gun touches my back and a robotic voice says,
"Walk."

Rolling my eyes,I mutter,"The older batch was more fun.At least they knew how to treat a trillionaire right."

We start walking and I look down on Saira's sleeping face and hope she doesn't open her eyes at this moment because she would probably break a tooth or two.

But I have to admit,I wouldn't mind some company.
Especially of someone who happens to
be my partner in crime,quite literally.

I don't get to ponder too much about Saira because the barrel touches my back again and I stop, waiting for one of these corpses to speak.

"Leave Saira here now.Master Ruth has asked to see you."

Damn it.
This was the part I was afraid of.
But I can't show any more restraints.Or else,they will suspect me even any more or worse,what if they use Saira as leverage for me?

Turning back,I look at the masked man and push the gun back to him,away from Saira's body.

"Any chance I could escort my lady to her prison?",I ask lazily.

"No.Instructions clearly state that you hand her over to us.Now."

I smile."Okay."

Taking one step closer to this blasted soldier,I slowly hand Saira over to him and watch as another Raven places a wheelchair beside him.The man places Saira there,her head angling on one side,hair covering her face.

I watch as he takes her away.
As he opens one of the identical looking doors,pushes Saira in and shuts it with a bang.
I watch all of it with my lips sealed shut,because I am certain,all the hidden cameras are angled at me right at this moment and Lavinco's enjoying watching my reaction and Rudy's just waiting for me to break.
But I won't.

I turn back,my eyes void of any expressions like the Ravens and announce clearly,
"Well,now I can at least move my arms."

We move along and I notice a shift in the guards around us.They move away from me now,giving me space to breathe,which they didn't,when Saira was with me.

An involuntary scoff comes out of me.

Did they think the bigger threat was Saira in her sleeping form?

Because they're damn right.

___________________________________________

The Ravens just left me in Lavinco's cave aka office all alone and we are back to being teleported into darkness.

That's right.

The guards walked me into gigantic sharp doors,told me to stay here,backed off, locked the door from the outside and just left.

But I am not worried about any of that.

Darkness has been as close as my shadow since my teenage years.

But I wonder how Saira's doing.
They wouldn't hurt her,would they?
Just the bare thought of the notion makes me want to break the doors open and reach her.
But I can't just do that.
I must abide by the plans.
The mission should run successfully.
Yes.
We must outsmart these monsters,make sure we are one step ahead.

I grit my teeth in annoyance,

Then why are you still thinking about her,you dimwit?

Whatever.
Today will mark an end to the atrocity and I will have my revenge and we will part ways.
Of course,we will.
Since when did Saira ever say she would keep in touch?
She never did.
But she does like Rosie a lot though.

Look at you,Ethan.Already finding ways to keep her with you?

I shake my head,this really isn't the place for this silliness.
Later.I will think about this fierce red headed girl later.
And this time,I decide with full surety,I will respect her choices like any gentlemen would.I won't argue with her,I won't tell her she's wrong or right.I will listen to her.

But the grim thought occurs what if she said,she never wants to see me again.

There's no way she would say that.
After everything we have been through-

Or would she?

"Lost in a trance,Moretz?"

The lights turn on instantly right after this sentence and I have to blink a little,my eyes gotten used to the darkness.
As expected,I am in the smaller cave.
Not everyone has the privilege to be invited into the mad man's den.

I stand up straight and an easy laidback smile forms in my face as I turn back to see the dictator with his signature red
mask and a velvet blood red cloak hiding his entire body.

Lavinco Ruth.

And his eternal sidekick,Rudy beside him.

Cracking my knuckles behind me to control the growing anger in me,I smirk,
"Just merely thinking how old age really has been turning you into a sloth."

Lavinco lets out a greasy chuckle and his voice is a slow whisper,laced with taunts when he murmurs,
"At least better than a lovesick fool."

Rudy lets out a booming laugh after hearing that and I have to restrain myself from punching this man into a pulp.

And as he's laughing,an image flashes by in my mind,as quick as an eagle's wings flying by in a storm.

Big Dawn.
Barely able to move.
On the ground.
The blood slowly spreads like a growing puddle.
My hands... they're so bloody...my brother's blood...on my hands... it's a stain that will stay...forever...

And all because of these two men.

"What is it now,trillionaire? Blanked out again?"

Rudy's taunting voice shakes me and pulls me out of that dark night.

And as I look into his eyes as black as ink splotched in paper,I smile,knowing that,oh there will be blood spilled on these marble walls and tiled floors.

So much blood.

I clap my hands,partly to shake myself out of this deranged state,this is definitely not the time for a quick assassination.
And partly to show how relaxed I am with two psychopathic murderers.

"Please,Master Ruth."I bow down on one knee and look up to him,"Why not sit somewhere and talk freely after so long?"

___________________________________________

Saira SwitzJefferson:

Groaning,I shuffle around until my back hits the walls again and all I feel is the thumping in my head and muscles in my body aching so much I can barely move.

"What's... what's going...on?",I murmur as I open my eyes and find myself in a sitting position with my legs stretched in front of me and... nothing.

It's completely barren and I seem to have landed on some sort of dungeon...again.

The walls are made of stones and for a dreadful second,the horrible realization dawns on me that my eyes can't detect a window or a door.
It seems like I am locked in a box with no escape.
Frantically,my eyes zoom in to the four walls,certain there must be a door or else how could they have dragged me here in the first place?

There.

A very slightly visible outline of a door.
The wall in front of me has a door right on the corner left,it seems.
But my body cannot handle my weight right at this moment so I don't stand up.
They won't be so stupid that they wouldn't lock the door because after all,they are Lavinco's men.

Yes.Things are starting to come back to me again.
The plan.
The Ravens surrounding us.
And wait.
Someone shot me.

Someone shot me and it was none other than our trillionaire.

Does he have an obsession with shooting me or something?
First,it was at the programme where I cosplayed for Merida and now it's this.
He certainly has a flair for dramatics.

"Let me just get out of this dungeon and I will strangle him until he begs for my forgiveness on his knees."I spit out and curling my legs,I stand up,my hand shooting up to brace against the wall to support my weight.

That asshole used a stun gun on me.

I arch my neck a bit and push myself off from the wall and go straight to the thin outline of a door.
This time,I am going out of here.

We need to stick to the plan.

Things need to be on time or else we won't be able to succeed and then it's back to square one.

I scrutinise the wall attentively and touch the vague outline of an escape door only to see that there are no keyholes where a key can be dug into for the door to close or open.
Bending down,I tilt my head sideways to see if there's any open space under the door but no,a rough and grey picture of a stone wall greets me with it's solemn bleakness.

I stand up again,my eyebrows forming a as frown as I ponder how would the stationed guards would open this cage.

Rumours have always circulated about the mysterious and quite ghastly way Lavinco Ruth did things in the Cube, especially how he controlled the Ravens and how they had to pay in blood and swear loyalty to him,going to the extent of calling him Master.

And after that long chat with the trillionaire,the things that he told me about what he has seen and how unnatural it felt,I wouldn't be surprised if they left me in a cage where you will need to cut one of your limbs off to unlock it.

For some of the entrances need the Ravens' blood to be activated.There is a ritual one had to perform in order to be assigned as a Raven and these men had sacrificed more than their blood to become these cold+blooded men of Lavinco's.
They were drugged three times a day to become the puppets I see hanging around Rudy.

Letting out a sigh,I rest my head on the wall and close my eyes,if only for a minute.

How am I supposed to get out of here?

With closed eyes and a tight scowl on my face,I mutter,"It's all because of the trillionaire who-"

Beep.
Access granted for open passage.
Door unlocked.

That's unexpected.

I reel back a little,my shoulders and knees arched in a fighting stance just waiting for the Ravens to show their faces so I can make my escape when the stone wall door does open,is pushed aside and a Raven does greet me,donning a crimson mask and a cloak that hides his entire body, covering even his head and torso but I don't hit the cloaked soldier because he's a Raven nor do I hit him to make my own escape.
No.
I hit him with all of my might because his electrifying blue eyes are familiar to me and because he shot me and had me locked up in a damn prison cell twice.

So when Ethan Desmond Moretz lets out a muffled yell behind the mask and clutches his stomach while bending over,I pass by him and whistle impressively at the dark view that greets me.

"Lavinco certainly knows how to train wild animals to be loyal to him,I will give him that."

Getting no response,I turn to Ethan,now rubbing the spot where I hit him but facing me with a straight back.

I roll my eyes,
"I didn't hit you that hard.Now,come on.We have to go."

Ethan lets out a scoff,"I am almost regretting letting you out of your prison cell,you know."

Narrowing my eyes,I say,
"I will kill you once we are done with this mess,I am not even joking."

His chuckles reverberate through the emtpy and grim hallway as his footsteps sound closer and closer as he comes to stand beside me and murmur,

"Oh,how I have missed your dire threats and that fiery look in your eyes."

"Have you forgotten,perhaps,that we have a mission to complete and that if we fail,it could very well result into a catastrophe with a million deaths?",I ask him incredulously.

"Well, you are here to remind me off that, aren't you?"

And with that bold statement,he whips out handcuffs from his bellowing cloak and even with that mask on,I can hear the amusement sneaking in his voice as he remarks,

"You came here as a prisoner so you will have to act like one."

Gritting my teeth,I grab the handcuffs from him and start putting it around my wrists when he bends down and whips out leg shackles from under his cloak and shoves it in front of my face,dangling from his long fingers.

I take one look at his highly pretentious apologetic face and annoyance gets the best of me.

I might really end up killing him.

___________________________________________

A/N:

Isn't Ethan being absolutely lovely?

My dear readers.
Feel free to curse Ethan all you want.
I give you the permission.

But on another note,
The story is so close to it's end and it's just so so bittersweet to me.
You have made this whole journey very enjoyable for me.
Thank you.
And I hope you got to enjoy this book too.
I really really hope you enjoyed.
Because that would mean,as a writer,I have succeeded.

The next chapter might become a veryyy looong one so buckle up!

And let's make sure Saira gets a worthy ending,shall we?

Again,yall,
I hope you are having a good day and that you are taking care of yourselves to the very best of your ability and let's end this year with a positive note.
Let's do our very best to be happy.
I am cheering you on.

Now,if you enjoyed,feel free to vote.
Share your thoughts,
I would absolutely love to know.