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Chapter Twenty: Serendipity

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The night had passed by slowly. Each minute was long; the seconds were longer. Traveling and searching were obstacles that were soon replaced with anxiety and impatience. Zack was not a patient man, and his faltering eyesight and restlessness in the waiting and searching was soon getting the better of him. His mind would continue to travel back to the incident that left Cloud unhinged, and he felt more rushed to just find Mejia and get it over with so he could return to the boy and tell him that everything was finally going to be okay.

He felt like he was so close to finding him and ending it all.

But Reno seemed tired, although the Turk would have vehemently denied that it was true, so Zack reluctantly stopped to rest. His eyesight had gradually began to clear, but in the darkness of the cave, it might as well have not changed at all. The moonlight from above would filter in between the cracks in the ceiling, but as they went deeper into the cave, those cracks became few and far between. They relied on careful footing, instinct, and Reno's cigarette lighter for certain areas, such as narrow tunnels and little dead ends that someone could be tucked away in. And the sparks from Reno's EMR when fighting off the occasional monster would help light the way as well.

"What time do you think it is?" Reno said, and it sounded as if he was fiddling with his cellphone to see if it would turn on.

"I'd say about three or four." Zack fought back a yawn as he felt his way around a group of boulders and took a seat on one. Perhaps he was tired as well.

Reno cursed a few times, and Zack could hear the snap of the phone being closed. "Yo, mind if I get some shut-eye for a bit?"

"Yes I mind. We have a mission to carry out. We can't stop for very long."

"What if the guy ain't even here? What if he's behind us in the marsh, or already out the other end of the cave? This would all be for nothin', yo."

Zack paused for a moment, looking around their surroundings, as if he could actually see them clearly. He had done well with his footing throughout their journey since the marsh, and had only stumbled a few times. He had his SOLDIER senses to thank for that. And it helped that Reno was leading most of the way when it became too dark. "He's here, I know it. They had reports saying that he was headed this way."

"That don't mean shit. Ya realize that most of the info that comes back to Shin-Ra is from the army dudes sent out as scouts, yo. More than half of 'em don't know their ass from a hole in the ground."

"That still leaves the other half that do know the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground."

"I don't like them odds, yo."

"Fifty-fifty?"

"Yup. I like one hundred percent."

Zack frowned at him, and especially when his nose picked up the scent of smoke. "Are you smoking right now?"

"What?"

"You don't smell that?"

Reno was quiet, and Zack could hear him sniffing the surrounding air. "No, I don't smell nothin'," he finally said.

"It smells like a campfire."

"Sure it ain't just us stinkin' from the marsh? I know I could use a shower right abo-"

Zack hushed him, and they both fell silent for quite some time. Reno could sense that Zack had stood up, even though he had not made a single noise when he had. When a few moments passed, he strained his sight to search for Zack's form in front of him in the dark. He then realized that Zack was gone.


~*~*~
A soft orange glow was flickering against the surface of the rocks, lighting up the mythril within them like thousands of fireflies that swarmed Gongaga during the summer nights. At least, that's what it looked like to Zack with his hazy vision. He could see a dark form sitting idly in front of a small campfire in a larger void deeper into the cave. The figure was tucked against what looked like a cluster of boulders in an upright position, and Zack at this point couldn't tell if the person was asleep or not.

Zack cursed under his breath as he was forced to step out of the tunnel he was in to try and get a little closer to see more clearly. His heartbeat began to increase from anticipation, and the muscles in his body trembled with each silent step. He was thankful that there was enough light from the fire to light his way as he neared.

Soft snoring came from the form, and a slight stir as the person unfolded their arms across their chest and let them fall to their lap below.

Zack unsheathed his sword quietly, and the blade reflected the light from the fire on its surface. He couldn't walk behind the man, as he was leaning against large rocks, so his only option was coming in from the front. He concentrated on the pattern of the person's breathing. It was slow; it was even.

He could see that the form was of a young man with tan skin. His arms were well sculpted, chest large and prominent. His facial features were sharp – structured chin and jaw, thin nose. His hair was shaved down, though. Zack remembered it had been a bit shaggy, and hung into his eyes. But Zack had not seen him much without his SOLDIER helmet.

It was the man who almost took Cloud's innocence away. It was the man who shattered his mind, stripped him of the credence in himself and those around him. It was the man who made Cloud cry.

It was Mejia.

Zack calmly brought his sword down, aiming the tip inches away from the man's throat. "Mejia, wake up!"

Dark eyes shot open, and a gasp followed. He began to scurry back, only to find himself pressed against the rocks behind him, and with the sword tip still dangerously close to his throat. He stammered incoherently, his eyes glancing from the weapon in front of him, to the SOLDIER behind it.

"Get up. You're coming back to Shin-Ra to face your punishment."

"What are you talking about?" he said, his voice choking out in such a cowardly tone that it made Zack blink in brief surprise.

"I said to get up. Otherwise you won't have any legs to stand on."

"P-please don't hurt me!" He winced, turning his head away from the weapon.

"Slick!"

Zack turned his head as Reno called out to him quickly.

Mejia took that moment to begin to dive off to the side in an attempt to scramble away from the SOLDIER, but Zack moved with him, driving his massive sword into the boulders to stop him from escaping, coming inches from his face.

"What did I tell you, Angels?"

"Angels?" Mejia said, shaking his head rapidly, sweat streaming down his face. "I'm not Angels."

"What?" Zack squatted down, coming nose to nose with the man. "But you look like him."

"That's my brother!"

Zack just stared dubiously for several moments, not moving away from him. Reno hurried over.

"Slick, if your eyesight was any better, you'd know that that wasn't him."

"...How so?"

"Because Angels ain't missin' his left hand, yo."

Zack peered down to the man's hands. The left was a simple nub. He raised his head again, their noses connecting once more. "It could be a trick."

"Slick, back off."

Zack stood, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Well what the hell is this guy doing here? You're supposed to be your brother!"

The man finally relaxed, and he swallowed a few times to compose himself before finally speaking. "We look alike, with the exception of the hand. Our family is from Kalm. I'm just a simple mythril miner. I was just here to continue mining for a little extra cash, honest."

Zack was clenching his teeth, and it must have showed as the man shrunk into himself and continued to stammer more explanations.

"Our parents own the three main shops in town, and I'm in charge of getting materials for the weapons we have forged. I have nothing to do with Shin-Ra."

"How'd you lose the hand?" Reno bent down and lit a cigarette with the small fire beside them. Zack's eagerness and anxiety was stressing him out, so he took a nice long drag on it, then shuddered a content sigh afterwards, despite it tasting like marsh water.

"Mining accident. It got crushed when the ceiling caved in – look, is my brother in some sort of trouble? He wandered into town a week ago and said that he was on a leave."

"You could say that," Zack muttered and removed his sword from the rock. "Where is he now?"

"He said he was leaving town again the morning of the festival. I don't know where he's going from there, honest. I assumed it was just back to Midgar."

Zack looked back to Reno, throwing his hands up in the air. "So this whole time we've been following the wrong guy?"

"I told ya, asses and holes in the ground can look a lot alike to them army dudes, yo."

"I knew he was in some sort of trouble. The Shin-Ra army came by not too long ago looking for him, and he hid down in our storage room below the shops. He told us not to say anything to them, so we didn't."

Zack pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a very long breath. "How far are we from the end of the cave?"

"A few miles."

"Fuck," Zack muttered, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. His hands were shaking, and he was trying to calm himself from either punching one of the boulders, Mejia's brother, Reno or himself. He wanted to punch something. "Dammit, no signal!"

"Duh, dude, you're the one who said there wouldn't be any."

"Cloud is in Kalm!" Zack said, looking back to Reno who only gave him a confused wag of his head and raised eyebrows. "N-never mind." He shoved his phone back into his pocket and looked around, frustrated. "You said he probably left before the festival, right?"

The man nodded a few times, giving him a similar look that Reno was still holding.

"Reno, let's go. We need to get back to Midgar as soon as possible," Zack said, already turning and walking away before he was done speaking.

Reno sighed and handed the rest of his cigarette to the man, who gladly took it and began sucking on it nervously. "Good, 'cuz I'm all outta smokes."


~*~*~
The cold chill of the gun against his back dictated each of his moves, each of his thoughts. He was told to enter the alleyway behind, so he did. He was told to drop his weapons on the ground, so he did. He was told to remove his helmet, so he did. The cold gun was now at the base of his head. He no longer could tell his legs what to do, and his arms refused to move, or even swing as he walked. Each muscle was taut.

He found himself entering a storage room behind a heavy wooden door tucked away in the alley that he was patrolling in front of. Even though he was obeying the man with the gun, he was still shoved roughly into the room, and he stumbled, knocking into a stack of wooden crates.

"Better not break anythin'. You break it – you buy it."

The heavy door shut behind with a sickening creak, and the lock was engaged.

Cloud's blood ran cold as a light was switched on overhead as he turned, and Mejia stood in front of him, slipping a key into his pocket with a smile.

"Did you miss me?"

He couldn't speak; he couldn't breathe, and Mejia seemed to react to that quite joyously.

"You know, I was gonna leave town this morning, but my ma convinced me to stay one more night. Fuckin' sure glad I did. I was just coming down to the storage to take down some crates, and what do I see when I went into the alley? It's hard to mistake that ass of yours."

Cloud hadn't realized that Mejia had approached him, and was already reaching up to touch him. His legs couldn't move.

"My little fuck," Mejia muttered, reaching up to brush his hand against Cloud's face.

The touch was surreal. It sent a massive tremor through each fiber in his body, bringing back flooding emotions and nightmares in an instant. He began to feel lightheaded.

"No words for me? Hmm?"

Cloud found his mouth moving, his bottom lip trembling as he spoke, and he could see Mejia's eyes watching his mouth with a perverse gaze. "W-what do you want?" He blinked, the voice that flowed from him sounding foreign.

"Just a little fuck, of course."

Anger coursed across Cloud's face as he finally was able to gain control of his body, as if those words fueled his muscles to finally awaken from their resistance. But once he moved, the gun once again took over his actions, and he froze.

A silenced 9mm was raised to his chest fluidly, without an ounce of hesitation, or remorse. Mejia only smiled.

Cloud looked up from the gleaming weapon up to the man's twisted face, where an intense gaze burrowed into his shaking bravery. The gaze were from eyes like that of a crow – dark, unpredictable, and soulless. The smile on his face was frigid, and matching the eyes above.

But that unnerving gaze left him suddenly, and Mejia lowered the gun to step around him arrogantly. "I forgot I left this down." He walked over to an attic ladder that was folded down from the ceiling. "Wouldn't want you climbing up into the shop and escaping, now would we?" He folded it into itself and pushed it up into the closed hatch door above. "With the festival going on outside, no one should be able to hear us. Such amazing luck, really." He tossed the the pull string up, trying to get it to catch itself on the ladder, so Cloud couldn't reach it to pull it back down.

Cloud would be damned if this happened again.

Movements were distressed, but determination was strong as Cloud lunged at Mejia as his back was turned. He ran forward, stretching his arm out as they connected, tackling the SOLDIER to the hard ground. Adrenaline fueled his actions, and he saw nothing but a cloud of rage encircling his vision, spotlighting the image of his fist striking Mejia in the face numerous times. He watched in his own shock as his hands began fumbling around the man's body for the key to the door. He had to escape.

Mejia was laughing, nary an ounce of upset in his face, despite the wounds inflicted. He almost seemed to be enjoying the physical assault Cloud brought upon him. "You're so fuckin' cute when you're pissed." He spit a wad of blood off to the side from his mouth, and made no attempt to stop Cloud from finding the key in his blind fury. He allowed him to scramble up from on top of him and run to the door.

Cloud slammed up against it, his hands shaking, causing the tip of the key to scrape the keyhole in a disturbing sound that all the while reminded him of the situation. But he stopped moving as that cold gun was pressed against the back of his head.

"Let's have some fun."

He dropped the key to the ground as he found his body being hoisted back.

"Wouldn't be wise to get me mad, you know." Mejia dragged him to the other side of the small storage room by his muffler, and he slammed him up against the brick wall.

Cloud ignored the pain in his head when it connected with the wall. He hadn't the thought to consider any physical injury to himself at that moment, because he knew what was to come would be far more agonizing than any injury would possibly be to him. He sucked in a sharp breath and tried to dart around Mejia as he reached for him.

Mejia reacted quickly, raising his hand up to bring the butt of the gun against the side of Cloud's face. But he grunted as the boy growled, catching his wrist with his hand, stopping him. Cloud began pushing back against the man, wedging one of his feet against the junction between the wall and the ground, attempting to push Mejia into a brief moment of imbalance.

The man took several steps back and grunted quietly as that horrid smile returned to his face once again. "You're not as weak as you look, little fuck, but you forget that I'm SOLDIER."

"You were SOLDIER," Cloud said between barred teeth, his hand twisted rigidly around the man's wrist. His arms were quaking, drawing forth his energy into the muscles that fought back the gun that tried to aim towards him.

"You can take away the title, but left behind is still the man with that SOLDIER strength." He laughed and took one step forward. That small movement held a force that easily pushed back against Cloud.

Cloud stumbled, fighting for his footing. His mind was racing with every piece of training he received in the army, and even what he learned as a young boy during his rebellious stage. He couldn't decide what to do, it was happening too fast. The adrenaline was causing each impulse in his brain and body into a frenzy, and singling out one coherent thought was proving to be impossible. He felt as if his instinct was failing him.

"The look on your face is fuckin' priceless, Strife. You think you look intimidating, but really, it's nothing more than the look of a grumpy kitten."

"Fuck you."

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't bottom. It'll be me that will fuck you." Mejia watched as Cloud opened his mouth to protest, but nothing but a shocked sound mustered forth. "You have a poor choice of words. But it doesn't fuckin' matter, your mouth won't be able to say much of anything soon."

Time itself seemed to slow as a bright spark of light erupted in the palm of Mejia's free hand. Cloud could only watch in fear as the light streaked outwards like white tree branches, reaching out to his body and engulfing him in its grasp.

He felt an immense heat instantly rip through every inch of his body, and every muscle began to spasm, squeezing each of his joints in a paralyzing grip. The force from the spell knocked him back into the wall, and he fell to the ground in a convulsing heap.

"That should hold you still for a while."

Cloud felt as if each of his organs except for his brain had shut down. He couldn't move, he couldn't find the rhythm to breathe. All he could do was process the image of the man in front of him as he reached down and picked him up from the ground.

"You're lucky it was only Thundara. Anythin' stronger and you'd be cooked. Then what use would I have for you?" Mejia propped Cloud's lifeless body upright against the wall, holding up his head as it began to slump off to the side. "Keep your head up."

Even if he could, he wouldn't have obeyed.

What little patience the man had slipped away, and he gripped Cloud's jaw in his hands and twisted his head up. "Head up, little fuck," he said, his voice beginning to rise in frustration. When Cloud's head fell to the side again, the gun was revealed once more, and he pried Cloud's jaw open with his fingers, and slipped the silencer into his mouth. He pressed in deep with the weapon to the back of his throat, and Cloud finally managed to sputter.

"You're making this too easy for me, Strife," he said, lowering his head into Cloud's neck as he still held the gun in his mouth. He passed his tongue up heated flesh slowly, enjoying the boy's unique taste. And when Cloud had finally uttered a small whimper, he began to slide the gun in and out of his mouth slowly. "As much as I want to fuck your ass, I'm going to do this right, seeing as no one can get in here to stop us this time."

Cloud began to weakly shake his head around the gun, and tears of anger and pain brimmed his eyes.

Mejia's free hand began to fumble blindly with his jeans as he had his eyes locked on the silencer that was moving between his lips. "That pretty little mouth of yours would look great sucking my cock." He reached into his pants and released his member with a pleased grunt.

Shaking hands began to rise up from Cloud's sides. He couldn't tell if his inability to move was from fear, the attack, or the pain that tore through his body at that moment. He knew he couldn't let this happen. He managed to reach up and awkwardly grip Mejia's hand on the butt of the gun, and his other just fell back down to the ground weakly. He tried to struggle.

"You know what this is fucking your mouth, right?" Mejia shook Cloud's hand off of his, and forced the weapon into his mouth even further, cutting off his airway. "It's a fuckin' silencer, you stupid fuck. I pull the trigger, your brains get blown out just like Elici's, and no one will hear a thing."

Cloud felt as if the adrenaline was coursing through his body once more, masking over the damage from the magic and allowing movement once more. He was able to utter what sounded like a growl, but came out more like a choking sound as his head began to toss, attempting to shake the gun from his throat. His legs began to respond to his inward screaming, and they shuffled against the ground, as if trying to stand.

"That's right, Strife," he said, and simply pressed his knees down onto Cloud's legs to hold him. He could feel Cloud's muscles convulsing. "I blew his brains out all over the place. Little pieces of that fuck's skull were all over the snow." He watched as Cloud's eyes widened, rapidly glossing over with tears. "Have you ever seen what brain matter looks like? It's nasty as shit. Stained my uniform."

He could do nothing but shake his head, as if trying to dismiss the truth.

"That's right, it was this gun, too," Mejia said, tearing his gaze away from Cloud's face as he looked at the weapon thoughtfully. "The same gun that was pressed against your friend's terrified face before I pulled the trigger."

He could do nothing but cry.

"You're fuckin' beautiful, you know that?" He laughed, astonished. "I've always had a thing for Zack, but you...you're something different. It's like," he said, leaning in to lick the tears off of Cloud's face, "being able to fuck innocence itself."

Cloud was allowed for a brief gasp of air as the gun was finally removed. He savored that breath, and his lungs absorbed the oxygen quickly and greedily. But as his mouth opened again to take in another gasp, it was soon filled.

Mejia slid himself into Cloud's mouth, not allowing him that second breath of air, and he watched as he gagged and began to thrash weakly. "That's right, gag on it." He caused Cloud to gag several more times as he began to move into his mouth roughly. He eased up after several moments, but only to allow Cloud to be able to catch his breath.

They don't know where I am. No one can save me now. Cloud watched with dazed eyes as the body in front of him continued, and with each thrust the man's member would hit the back of his throat, causing the muscles in his abdomen to constrict as he gagged. No one, not even Zack. His teeth began to bite down.

Mejia hissed in pain, the sharp feeling of the boy's teeth digging into his flesh. He quickly pulled out and struck Cloud in the face with the butt of his gun. "Are you fuckin' stupid!?" He waved it about in front of him, and Cloud's eyes just lazily trailed it. "Want me to shove this gun up your ass and fire?"

Cloud slowly straightened against the wall, and he ignored the searing pain in his face. He was still for a moment, only his gaze would move between the gun, and the man's erection. He willingly opened his mouth.

A sick purr filled the air between them, and the tip of Mejia's member was once again brought to Cloud's waiting mouth. "You little slut, you like it, don't you?" He passed the tip across Cloud's cheek, using it to brush the angry tears and blood away from his face. "Is it bigger than Zack's?" he said softly, almost sweetly. He waited for Cloud to answer, but the boy remained inanimate. "Answer me!"

A brief moment passed, and Cloud slowly began to answer. "N-"

Cloud's voice was cut off by the man entering his mouth again as it opened. He wrapped the longest part of Cloud's hair on the top of his head around his hand and tugged harshly, causing more tears of pain to fall from the boy's eyes. Cloud released a startled noise from his chest as his head was shoved deep into the man's groin.

"I knew you guys were fucking all along," he said, and grunted as he pushed in and out of the boy's hot throat. He smiled as Cloud gagged around him again. "Zack is only with you because you're a good lay."

No, Zack – he cares about me.

More rough thrusting into his mouth, more gagging.

"You're only good for fucking, my little slut."

Cloud's hands weakly pried themselves between them and pressed against Mejia's hips. He needed to breathe, this was too much.

Mejia seemed to understand, and he quickly pulled out, watching with a twisted grin as the boy sputtered and gaped for air.

"W-we haven't..."

"What's that?" Mejia reached down, wiping saliva away from Cloud's chin with his hand. He brought his fingers up to his own mouth and lapped it up.

Cloud repeated himself, almost regretting having said anything, as it disrupted his breathing he was trying to desperately gain control of once more.

"A guy like that," Mejia said, shaking his head with a scoff, "won't be so fuckin' patient for a prude. He's the type that likes to keep his bed warm, and his dick even warmer." He entered Cloud's mouth once more after yanking his head back by the hair.

But...he said he'd wait for me.

"Better start puttin' out, little fuck, because the longer you make him wait – the faster he'll lose interest."

Would...he?

"And when your ass is no longer tight, he'll get rid of you."

I...don't want to lose him.

"You're fuckin' worthless, Strife."

...Am I?

Cloud didn't know if he should be thankful for his thoughts. They were bittersweet for him, as he knew if he wasn't able to focus on them, he would continue to hear Mejia's voice spouting off a combination of derogatory remarks and filthy noises. But now those thoughts were doing nothing but tearing him down; he could feel himself beginning to break.

Zack...

Mejia grunted, suddenly pulling himself out and stroking himself quickly. "Now, you better swallow this, little fuck."

Cloud weakly shook his head, trying to find some sort of pattern in his breathing. It was as if that was the only thing he knew how to do at that moment. He wanted to hold onto that last bit of fraying instinct, fearing he'd lose everything if he were to forget.

"Would you rather swallow a bullet?"

Once again he shook his head.

"Tell me you want it."

"No," Cloud whispered between labored breaths.

The gun was waved around in his face as an undeniable reminder.

"No."

It was pressed to his forehead, and was cocked. The sound struck through him, erasing any ounce of pain he had gripping his body at that moment; he felt numb. He could see nothing but the man's finger caressing the trigger of the gun, and could see nothing but his own fear reflected in the space between.

Is this how Elici felt before he died?

"Let's go, little fuck, I'm gonna need that answer."

Would Zack be in the same pain as I was, if I were to die like Elici?

"Tell me you want it!" His head was violently shaken by the hair.

Zack...

"I...I wa..."

...I'm sorry.

"...I want...I want i-"

His head was shoved back before he could finish speaking, and the erection was once again stuffed into his mouth to finish violating. He could taste it – it tasted just like Zack's, and yet, it was filled with the taste of immorality. It mixed with his shame as he held it, afraid to absorb it into his own being in fear of it diluting what little dignity he had left, if any at all.

"Swallow it," he muttered, watching as Cloud began to convulse around the organ, trying to fight the inevitable.

He retched, he sputtered, he did what he could to try and hold off, but with each uncontrollable gag, Mejia seemed to relish his suffering all the more.

"Better not waste one drop. Now swallow," Mejia said, pulling out of Cloud's mouth, the gun once again meeting him, touching his lips in a kiss of malice.

And once again, he shook his head, shuddering at the hot feeling of the semen settling in his mouth, and the cold feeling of the silencer caressing his lips simultaneously.

"There's only two ways out of this. You either swallow it, and I lower the gun, or you don't, and I fire the gun."

Cloud swallowed.

The man was groaning with pleasure, watching as Cloud sucked in a long, sickly breath when the gun was finally lowered. The tears were streaming down his face, mingling with the blood on his swollen cheek where he had struck him with the weapon. Each second he was stricken with a spasm of pain and grief as he sat there, trying to hold up his body against the wall behind him in the most pathetic way. He really did look so beautiful.

"Fuck, Strife, you make me so hard," he said, revealing an insatiable arousal. "I thought I would need a few minutes, but all that gagging..." He shook his head in his own disbelief. "I think I can actually fuck you, now."

Cloud finally was able to release a sob that he had been holding the entire time. He was finally able to gain a little bit of instinct back that he feared he might have lost, even if it was degrading.

Zack...will you still call me 'Angel'?


~*~*~
Kunsel had moved through the crowd quickly. Something was wrong. He was unable to contact any member of his team through the radio for quite some time. Ratcliff had never reported back in from his break, Zabalza and Kumpf were unresponsive, Haskin was busy dealing with a small situation between two arguing people, and Strife...

He figured that Zabalza and Kumpf were most likely getting into some sort of stupor, whether it was gorging, drunken, or otherwise, and he would be sure to punish them if that were the case later. But Ratcliff and Cloud – this was very unlike the both of them. He decided to look for Ratcliff first, as he was patrolling the center with him, but he had combed through every inch of the main strip, and he was no where to be found.

At first he thought that perhaps there was something wrong with their radio frequency, but when he was able to contact Haskin, an unsettled feeling washed over him very quickly. He had seen Cloud not fifteen minutes before, standing at the base of the steps looking rather bored and tired. He was a bit worried about him since the previous day during the hand-to-hand, as he seemed distracted, albeit the boy usually projected an aura of uncertainty often, somehow it was a bit different.

He reached Cloud's post and glanced around. Nothing but happy people walking past, laughing as they enjoyed themselves.

The alleyway. Something drew him to it, and at first he wasn't sure what it was, but as he drew near, he could make out faint sounds flowing from deep within it. He blocked out the noises around him in his mind as he walked through the darken space, straining his hearing to try and focus on the noise that caught his attention. And as he moved slowly, his hand running along the wall to guide him through the darkness, his foot connected with an object on the ground with a short metallic scrape.

He stopped cold, his eyes slowly lowering down to see what looked like the forms of a pair of discarded guns, and a helmet lying on the ground.

It was that noise again, but now he realized it wasn't so much a noise, as it was a voice that he had heard.

The surface – it felt different against his hand.

A wooden door?

That voice – it was familiar.

Mejia.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


...To be continued in Chapter Twenty-One: Catch-22.