Chapter 10: Redemption

 

       Lucifer grunted from his efforts on trying to break the chains that bound him. He had waited for what seemed to be about fifteen minutes to see if Haven would show up, but so far there wasn't any sign of him. His hopes of the younger male coming to help him have dwindled until he just gave up on waiting. It seemed Marcus was right. Haven wouldn't come. He really must have ran off on his own.

       The black-haired man sighed as he thought about it for a couple moments before beginning to tug on the chains with all his might, desperately trying to free himself. He despised the fact that he was alone down here in the pitch blackness. It was too silent. It was too dark. It was too lonely. Lucifer's knuckles turned white as he gripped tightly onto the chains that were on his wrists, yanking whenever he mustered up enough to do so. With the blood slowly leaking out of the wounds that were on his back, he could feel his strength decreasing as time passed.

       Suddenly, Lucifer heard a faint click. He froze in place before he heard the sound of water pouring into the chamber a few seconds later. It wasn't long until he could feel the water surrounding his boots. His eyes widened as he knew what was happening; Marcus was going to flood the room to make him drown. Not wanting to die when he was so close to reaching the docks, Lucifer began yanking on the chains with all his might.

 

       Haven let the strong, swift current carry him all the way down to the forest. He crashed into the rocky bottom numerous times, barely able to keep a grunt from escaping his mouth as he did so. When he felt that he was far enough in the forest, the boy somewhat weakly scrambled to the rocky bank. His body ached from the beating it took as he was swept downstream, but Haven tried to ignore it to the best of his ability.

       The youth grabbed onto a somewhat large rock. He held his other hand so that the chain would be on the ground before he began hammering away at the chain to try to get it to break. Unfortunately, the chain seemed to be pretty sturdy, so it would probably take a good length of time to break it. Haven tried to pick up the pace a little, but after about five minutes, the chain still didn't seem to be weakening any. A sigh escaped his mouth as he tossed the rock to the side and slowly got to his feet.

       Not wanting to waste anymore time, Haven broke into a run in the direction of where he was certain Lucifer would be. However, when he got there, the man wasn't anywhere in sight. The only thing that was left of their stay last night were the ashes from the campfire, which were scattered about a little. Haven looked around, trying to figure out where Lucifer might have went. Unfortunately, the forest was fairly large, so it would be difficult to find someone—it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

       The thought of something bad happening to Lucifer soon popped into his mind. His eyes widened a little at the thought of it before he figured he shouldn't be wasting his time standing around here. He looked around a little before deciding to head southwest, hoping that he was going in the right direction.

 

       About forty-five minutes had passed since the water began filling in the chamber, but it felt like an entire day to Lucifer. The water was up to his chin by now and it slowly continued to rise. Lucifer continued to yank on the chains, not wanting to give up so easily. It was much harder to do so though with the water slowing down his motions, but he hoped the chains would break soon.

       Another five minutes passed and the water rose to cover Lucifer's nose, which was pointed up in the air to try to keep water from getting into it as he tried to breathe. Right before it covered his nose though, Lucifer took a deep breath before tilting his head back downwards so he was looking straight ahead. He continued to yank at the chains as time passed, though he still didn't have much luck.

       It wasn't too long until Lucifer's lungs began to strain. His brain yelled at him to open his mouth, but Lucifer resisted the urge to try to breathe, knowing that it wouldn't end well if he tried to do so. After several more seconds, Lucifer became glad when he felt the chains that were around his wrists break. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Lucifer quickly began tugging at the chains around his ankles with his hands while trying to pull with his ankles too. With the added support from his upper body strength too, it didn't take long until Lucifer had managed to pull the chains loose from the cement pillars.

       Upon freeing himself, his lungs screamed at him for air. Fortunately, there was just enough space to allow him to stick his mouth up out of the water if he tilted his head back. He did this and quickly gasped for air. When he finally got his fill, the water filled up the chamber completely. Lucifer tried to push open the hatch, but it wouldn't budge. His eyes widened at this and his hope began to shatter. He tried to push harder on the hatch, but his efforts were futile.

       Lucifer spent the next couple of minutes desperately trying to bust the hatch open with all his might, but, no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't open. By then his lungs began screaming at him for air and his mouth threatened to open against Lucifer's will. A couple seconds later, Lucifer took in a mouth full of water and drifted into unconsciousness.

 

       About fifty minutes passed since Haven left the area him and Lucifer camped in the previous night. He had been running the majority of the time so he could search the forest much more quickly. However, he was forced to walk every couple of minutes to allow himself to catch his breath. As soon as his breathing was calmed for the most part, Haven would force himself into another run.

       It was only about another two minutes when Haven noticed something in the distance. Hope filled him a little as he made himself pick up the pace a little more. When he was a few yards away, he noticed that it was a somewhat small cabin. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing, Haven saw the door opening and he quickly hid behind a wide tree trunk. He gingerly peered around it to see a few mercenaries walking out of it.

       Haven was almost certain of who could possibly be in there. When the mercenaries were far out of the clearing, the brown-haired boy quietly ran over to a window at the front of the cabin. He peered into it from the side of it, and, seeing that there was no one in there, Haven quickly rushed into the cabin. Once inside, he looked around a little more, but there was no sign of Lucifer. However, there was a stack of fairly big objects in the center of the room and there seemed to be something underneath it, but it definitely didn't look like ordinary flooring.

       Not wanting to waste any time, Haven quickly started to throw the objects to the side until he reached a crate that went up to his waist. Grunting and veins popping out of his neck from the effort, the boy slowly scooted the crate to the side to reveal a hatch. Haven quickly bent down and pulled the handle to lift it up to see Lucifer engulfed in water.

       The brown-haired boy hurriedly got into the water and helped Lucifer out, struggling a little due to Lucifer's size and weight. When they were both out of the water-filled chamber, Haven quickly began to do CPR. After the second breath was given to him, Lucifer jerked up into a sitting position before coughing up water. Haven sighed out of relief as he sat back. When the pint or so of water was finally out of Lucifer's system, the male drowsily looked over towards Haven, weakly smiling.

       “What do you know, you came for me after all,” he said.

       “Of course I did,” replied Haven before smirking a little. “And I think this makes us even since I just saved your life.”

       “Yeah, I guess it does.”

       Haven then looked Lucifer over to see the wounds on his back – which were still leaking blood – and the bruises that covered his arms.

       “Let me heal you,” he told him.

       “No, I'm fine for now,” said Lucifer. “Let's hurry and get out of here before anyone shows up.”

       Lucifer stood up, grimacing a little from the pain. Haven noticed this and a look of concern washed onto his face as he also rose to his feet.

       “Are you sure?” asked Haven.

       “Yeah, I'm positive,” replied Lucifer, giving a weak reassuring smile.

       The older male began to walk, letting the chains drag on the floor behind him, and Haven followed him until they reached the door. Upon exiting the messy cabin though, they saw Marcus and a few mercenaries standing there. Haven quickly reacted by folding his hands in front of him and just below his mouth.

       “O Holy Spirit, blind mine enemy—ow!” Haven began before two throwing knives that a couple mercenaries threw lodged themselves into both of his biceps.

       “You b******s!” yelled Lucifer as he tried to throw a chain at one of the mercenaries when they charged towards him. The mercenary was hit in the face and he stumbled backwards a little. As the chain came towards a second one, he reacted in time by grabbing onto it. Upon doing so though, Lucifer yanked on the chain to make the mercenary come flying towards him to get a face full of boot.

       When the mercenary landed on the ground, Lucifer noticed that there were a few keys on his waist. He quickly took them before stuffing them into his pocket. Right afterwards, he looked to the side to see a third mercenary swinging his sword at him. Lucifer tried to step out of the way to avoid it, but his reaction time was just too sluggish due to him being drowsy after nearly drowning and he ended up getting a fairly deep gash on his left arm. Marcus closed in the distance by then and slashed at Lucifer a few times; none of the slashes were lethal, but the cuts they left were deep enough to ooze quite a bit of blood.

       Right afterwards though, Haven managed to use Flash. The mercenaries stumbled a little as they shielded their eyes from the light. They all started to swing their swords about, hoping to hit Lucifer, but instead ended up hitting their own allies a couple times. While the spell was still in effect, the two friends quickly ran out of the area. About five seconds later, Marcus and the mercenaries looked to see that they were gone.

Reviews

[Eidolon Michael]

Yay! Great chapter! That was awesome! I'm so glad Haven found him in time. I can't wait to read what happens next ^_^