Song of the Chapter: Aura - Soulero (Electro)

(Tristam's POV)

"I think it's been more than a few minutes," Monstercat says timidly beside me. He sounds small and afraid.

"It's going to be okay. I'm sure he'll come back soon," I answer. I'm just as terrified as he is. I don't know what to do know. I got us in alright, but Monstercat was right. We only got caught, and that's not going to save Braken.

"Soon as in a few minutes?" my alien friend asks. "It's been almost four hours. I think ... we're going to be stuck here for a long time."

"We'll be okay," I insist, but I'm starting to doubt myself. What have I done? I might've just killed us. Four hours is a long time to think. I've been thinking, thinking about how stupid I am. I let my fear and my so-called courage blind my common sense. Monstercat was the only one who saw that, really. Instead of listening to him, I dragged him along with me.

We stopped trying to free ourselves a while ago. It was pointless and we were just hurting each other. I shift again, bringing a stab of pain to my shoulders and elbows. I wish Jensen had just tied my wrists together, because then I wouldn't hurt as much. Instead, he was smart. He had them tape my forearms together - my wrists to my elbows. It wasn't too bad at first, but laying helpless on the floor, unable to move, makes them hurt pretty bad. It doesn't help that the office is uncomfortably hot, and my clothes and hair are damp with sweat. The sweat on my arms starts to rub them raw.

I hear Monstercat shift, too, and grunt in pain. "I'm going to try and sit up, okay?" he says.

"Alright. Is there a wall behind us?"

"Yeah, right here."

I hear a thud and a muffled "ow".

"I'm going to try, too," I say.

The collar around my neck suddenly pulls painfully and I yelp. Monstercat lands back down with a thump and a muttered apology. "We'll have to do it together. On three. One, two, three - "

I throw myself forward, trying to use my legs to propel me, but the tape pulls at the hair on the back of my neck and I swear loudly in pain, falling backward again. Monstercat joins me back on the floor and I wonder how much the tape is pulling his fur. I feel my face get hot as I realize that I probably freaked out over nothing compared to his pain.

"Again?" he asks.

I grit my teeth and brace myself. "Again."

"One, two, three - "

We try again, and I manage to stay upright. My collar pulls a little, but then Monstercat sighs in relief.

"I made it. You up?" he asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay, the wall's back here, just scoot over."

Together, we manage to inch across the floor until my back is resting against the wall. We both sigh softly and relax a little.

Then Monstercat says, "Hey, Leo? What was Braken like before ... before this mess?"

I pause and think for a moment. I don't know what to say, and I don't know if he'd even want me to tell. "He was always quiet, until he was comfortable enough with you and you got on a topic he knew about. Then he'd talk and talk and he wouldn't shut up. He came to live with us when he was about sixteen, and for the first couple weeks, he was traumatized. He broke a glass cup the second day and started crying because he thought he'd be punished, like he would have been back with his father."

"He was ... a victim of child abuse. That's right. I remember now."

"Yes. That's why he's so ... so different." I sigh and lean my head back against the wall, wincing at the tug on my neck. "But then, one day, something clicked, like a switch or something, and he flew down the stairs as happy as can be, and stayed happy for weeks, months. We made music together, messed around like teenagers do, and he made more friends at school. Life was great. But ... one day, he just stopped laughing. Since that day, I haven't heard him laugh, except for that one day he forgot. He has the best laugh ... " My voice cracks and I take a deep breath. "All giggly and childish. He'd get depressed at night again, and then it melted back into days and days on end, but you know what? He got kinder, nicer. Whenever someone was sad or hurt, he was the first to help and comfort. He knew exactly how they felt and he didn't want them to feel the same way he did. And then he stopped smiling with his teeth, and then, just before this mess, he stopped smiling all together. But the crazy thing - He told me about dreams he had about having big black wings. And in real life, he always looked ready to spread a pair of wings and fly away, perched on a chair or running down the street. I don't ... I just miss him. The old him. The Braken that smiled and laughed. And now I'm afraid that I'll never get that Braken back."

Monstercat is quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I wish I could promise that he'd be okay, but I just don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait. I think he'll be alright, even though he's different."

I snort through my nose. "Sounds like wishful thinking."

"It's called hope, Leo. Rebellions are built on hope."

It's quiet for another minute, and then I take a deep breath, feeling the urge to apologize. "Monstercat?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not okay." My voice cracks again and I take another deep breath. "This is all my fault. You were right. I should've listened to you. I wasn't thinking ... I was being selfish. I do love Braken, as my best friend, but I'm so desperate to get him back because ... I'm afraid. I'm afraid of him. The longer Jensen has him, the more I'm afraid for myself. And you guys. He'll kill us all, and I guess I'm just - "

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Monstercat cuts me off. "You? Selfish? Leo, you're probably the most selfless person I know. You've taken the responsibility of protecting everyone - You shouldn't have to do that alone. You're constantly worried about someone else, and you call that selfish? It wasn't your fault that Braken got caught. It wasn't your fault that he took your place as a Flight experiment. The things that happened in his past aren't your fault, either. It's not your fault that we're here. Okay, maybe it is a little your fault, but it's also mine. I should've stopped you."

"But I shouldn't've - "

"Just stop right there. Stop beating yourself up over something that was completely out of your control. We're in this together - literally." He laughs a little. "You know, since we're tied together and all."

I try to laugh, too, but it turns into a frightened squeak as I hear the door open.

"Oh, good," Jensen says. "You're still here." He turns on the lights and the only thing I can see - a mass of black - turns into a mass of dark orange. He suddenly yanks the blindfold off of me and I wince in the bright light. "Hello, Leo. Comfortable?"

I don't say anything. Instead, I shift a little and glance at Monstercat. He's still blindfolded.

"No? Just let me know. My perfect little pet deserves the best captive experience, doesn't he?" He laughs and strokes my hair happily. I try to duck my head, but the tape yanks again and I hiss in pain. "Oh, is something hurting you?" he asks, talking to me like I'm a dog or a little kid.

"Yes, sir," I mutter.

"Where?"

I don't know what he's doing, and figure I don't have much to lose, so I mumble, "The back of my neck - "

Before I can even finish my sentence, he rips the tape off and I let out a shriek. Monstercat flinches and shakes his head, trying to see what's going on.

"Better?" Jensen asks.

I don't answer. I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the stinging to go away.

"Is that better?" he growls, his palm hitting my forehead and slamming me against the wall.

"Yes, sir," I whisper.

"Anything else?"

"M-my arms kind of hurt ... "

He pushes me over and grabs my trapped arms, pulling me up to one knee, since my legs are still tied ankle-to-knee. I cry out again at the sudden, jerky movement, and Monstercat hisses under his breath as our collars tug.

"Your arms?" Jensen says. He presses a knife against the tape by my elbow and cuts through it. The blade catches my arms every inch or so, making me twitch. "Better?"

I drop my arms to my sides and breathe a sigh of relief. "Yes, sir." My shoulders ache, but it feels good to stretch them a little. I bring my hands in front of me, but don't dare free my legs.

Jensen watches me closely as I stretch, then releases the wire on my collar and Monstercat's. "Alright, break time is over," he says. He clips the wire back onto the back of my collar and attaches it to a loop in the wall, trapping me mostly in place. He holds out a piece of prickly rope and smiles as I lean back a little. "Hold still or I'll make your position a lot more painful."

I'm too afraid to resist as he cuts the tape from my ankle and knee, and then ties both my ankles together as I'm kneeling. He ties another piece around my thighs, uncomfortably high up, and then yanks my arms back behind me, the same way they were before. The rope digs in my skin again, stinging and burning, but I bite my lip again to keep the sounds of pain in. Then he puts a long piece in my mouth as a gag and ties it around my forearms and then down to my ankles, tipping my head up. Every time I move forward, the rope cuts into the sides of my mouth. I'm almost perfectly straight up, and I know my back will start to hurt after a while. I try to say something, but the rope tight between my teeth muffles my words, and I start to shake from fear.

Jensen laughs, noticing the terror in my eyes. "Poor Leo. Don't worry. You'll be taken care of in here." He pets my hair again and I flinch. He chuckles and traces his finger down my forehead and the bridge of my nose, over and over, like I'm some animal, some ... pet.

"Welcome home, my new pets."

Jensen is completely insane.

A loud thump and a quiet yelp bring me out of my thoughts. I glance over at Monstercat - but he's not there. Jensen turns around and I see that he'd blindly rolled himself across the room while we were distracted, and only stopped when he hit a chair - the metal chair I've been in twice before. That seems like so long ago.

"Now that - " Jensen points at him. "That's a bad kitty." He starts to laugh again, hysterically, as if he's the funniest guy in the world. I remember the podcasts and feel a lump of emotion in my throat. I want those old days back, when the only thing I had to worry about was my next release date or paying rent or keeping Braken out of the fridge. When he wanted to eat, that kid sure had an appetite.

"Leo?" Monstercat whimpers as Jensen grabs his bound arms. "Leo? Where are you?"

I try to answer, but the rope makes it sound like a grunt of pain.

"What did they do to you?" he cries. "Please, answer me, Leo. I'm scared ..."

"Hush, little kitty." Jensen strokes the top of his head and he ducks. "Leo is perfectly fine over there. You'll join him, soon. But first ... I want to take another blood test, just in case."

"You're crazy, Jensen!"

"Soldiers, take him to the lab and have the scientists run a few tests. Bring him back when they're finished." They walk out and Jensen turns to me again. "My beautiful, perfect little Leo. I knew we'd finally catch you. You're too loyal for your own good." He strokes the side of my face, but I can't move away without the rope cutting me. I can't even protest. He sighs happily as he plays with my face and hair, his smile ever widening. "I almost forgot how perfect you are. We should try Flight on you very soon, before anything else happens. I have something to show you first."

He stands up and pulls out a laptop from a drawer in his desk. He hums a little song to himself as he searches for something, and I recognize the song as Crave - my song. I pull at the ropes around my wrists, but I only cut myself. My heart beats frighteningly fast, and it's a miracle he can't hear it.

"Here we are," he says. "This is a video on the security cam of your friend."

The black and white video is broken a little by static and it's silent, but I can see a person against the wall, wings trapped in place. Even though there's no color, I can see dark blotches on his white shirt and realize that it's blood. He's covered in blood.

"Braken," I whisper into my rope gag.

There's another person - a soldier in front of him, pointing a rifle at his chest. My heart almost skips a beat. They've already killed him. I'm too late.

Braken suddenly rips himself free and attacks the soldier. He darts across the room and up into the rafters, hiding, and then he shoots down like a missile and slashes his feathers across the soldier's chest. I catch my breath in fear and disbelief as he corners the dying soldier, his deadly wings spreading around him. He looks ... evil. That's the only way to describe it. He looks pure evil, and I'm afraid.

"That's not Braken," I try to say, but the words are muffled.

Jensen strokes my hair again, laughing softly. "Of course it isn't. That's F2-06. Braken is gone, Leo. You're too late."

So that's it. I've failed him again. I was never enough.

Jensen smiles, and I start to cry.