Forever Caged

Disclaimer: I don't own Ai No Kusabi nor do I make any money from this fanfic. However, I do own all the original peeps I've chosen to invade the AnK world.


Rating: NC-17


Pairings: Iason/Riki, Raoul/Katze, original characters and novel character pairings.


Parts: 103 of  ?





**Sorry for the delay! Here's a nice long chapter for you (*^^*)**



~~**Forever Caged**~~




Riki felt eyes staring from the shadows the moment he stepped into Ceres, only this time, unlike the last with V, Sky, and Rio, no one dared to stop and confront him. Lilly walked confidently beside him. The pet’s beauty more than likely intimidating many of the mongrels hiding in the shadows. After all, with someone as lovely as Lilly, it was only logical to assume he had a partner, and one strong enough to protect him. And they would be right if they thought that—if they hadn’t seen Lilly’s Blondie the night he came to ‘fetch’ the pet. Mikhale was more than strong; the fucker was a just as much of a force of nature as Iason was.





“Why did Jade not come with us?” Lilly asked as they neared a seemingly abandoned building.





Riki’s lip curled at the mongrel guarding the doors they needed to enter. “Jade will be joining us in a bit,” Riki replied. “Gideon’s still a little tiffed at me for my comment earlier—“





“The one you made about how he must like you, since he’s sleeping with a part of you?” Lilly laughingly asked.





Chuckling, Riki shrugged. “More or less,” he said. “Thankfully, Gideon’s demand that he be the one to deposit Jade to my side in Ceres benefits us. You and Sky’s Blondies appearance the first night shocked one gang, but this time all of the main gangs will meet a high ranking Elite. And Gideon will cement the fact that I have the Blondies of Tanagura by my side.”





“It’ll also help that Sir Gideon is visually the strongest of all the Blondies,” Lilly commented.





“That crossed my mind too.” Gideon was one buff dude. The fucker’s biceps were bigger than his head, and Riki planned on using the Elite’s physique to his advantage.





“What if he refuses to bring Jade after viewing the conditions of this place—“





“He won’t,” Riki replied. “Iason ordered his obedience.” Their conversation ended the second they stood in front of the guard.





“And you are?” the mongrel cockily asked, leering disgustingly at them.





“Your priest who’s going to give you your last rites, if you don’t get out of my fucking way,” Riki growled.





“Look, motherfucker—“


“We were invited,” Lilly silkily interrupted.





Riki held his breath as a sweet scent floated passed him, and encircled the guard.





“So,” Lilly continued sweetly, “may we enter? I would hate it if we were late.”





“Go on in.” The guard stupidly grinned, fumbling to open the door for them.





Riki glared at the guard.





“Save your strength for the fight inside,” Lilly wisely advised him.





Grunting, Riki entered the building. Opening one of Iason’s pricey bottles of wine would have taken more energy from him than it getting in a scuffle with the mongrel. Displays of power was never something you held back from doing in the Slums. But, the mongrel was too low on the totem pole to help him reestablish himself as top dog.





Walking into the center of what might have once been a lobby of a hotel, Riki stared down the four gangs standing in their respective corners.





“Riki,” one of the Ceres gang leaders sneered, swaggering his way toward him. “My, my…don’t you look pretty in your fancy clothing. You know, some of my men thinks you’ve grown soft living in that Elite palace up in Tanagura, as a Blondie’s whore.”





Riki grinned. “Oh yeah?” Closing the distance between them until they were chest to chest, Riki said, “So what? You think you can take me now that I’ve grown soft in my plush living?” Riki brushed the dust from the scared mongrel’s shoulder. “After all, that’s the only way a bottom feeder like you can defeat someone, right?”





Feinting to the left, Riki dodged the mongrel’s blow and caught the second jab meant for his gut. Twisting the guy’s arm behind his back, Riki viciously yanked the dude’s wrist up and dislocated the fucker’s shoulder. When he screamed in pain and stupidly took another swing at him, Riki casually broke the prick’s other arm, and kicked the mongrel to the ground.





“Anyone else wanna be stupid? Or have you come to the wise conclusion that Riki the Black is not to be fucked with? Because if you still think I’ve grown weak just because of my new address, I’m more than happy to prove to anyone of you how wrong you are,” Riki shouted, standing over the groaning mongrel’s writhing form. Yeah, some part of him had grown weak living with Iason, but other parts of him had been homed in the fires of hell and torment making him stronger than any trial a mongrel could learn in the Slums.





“Riki the Black?” Lilly grinned.





“Please do not repeat the fact that I referred to myself in the third person,” Riki replied quietly. The last thing he needed was his gang teasing him, or worse, begin referring to themselves in the third person.





Lilly softly laughed, unknowingly making the outsiders looking on fear and respect him, thinking he was laughing at the mongrel under Riki’s heel. A man such as him—someone so beautiful—laughing at a man’s pain, was not a man to underestimate.





“Why am I not surprised to see you under these conditions,” a voice sneered from the doorway.





Turning, Riki grinned. “Hey Gideon,” he drawled. “I see you took as much liking to the guard as I did.”





The giant Blondie glared at him, before flicking the mongrel guard he held by the throat across the full length of the room as if the guard was nothing but a pesky bug. “To find I have anything in common with you—“





“Just proves how strong our alliance is with one another,” Jade announced, stepping from behind the Blondie. “Is that not right, my lord?”





Riki grinned evilly at Gideon as Jade blinked innocently up at the Elite. For a moment the Blondie appeared to visibly restrain himself from whatever it was he wanted to say, before smiling gently down at Jade. “That would be correct.”





Taking Jade’s hand, Gideon delivered him to Riki’s side. “Do you require my continued presence?” Gideon asked Riki.





Riki snickered as more than one mongrel looked to him for help; none of the mongrels wanted the Elite to stay. Not that Riki could blame them for their fear. “Nah,” Riki replied. “You can go back to your duties. I got everything under control here.”





Gideon nodded, but instead of turning to leave he stepped forward and said, “Nothing would give me more pleasure than eradicating all of you were you stand. Be thankful you are all under Riki’s protection. However, should my pairing partner—”Gideon drew Jade forward—“be harmed while under your supervision, I will be most displeased. Do I make myself clear?”





Riki was sure more than one mongrel just pissed themselves from the looks on their faces. “If they don’t understand,” Riki said. “I’ll be sure to drill it into their heads. No one will touch Jade under my care, and should someone be stupid enough to try…” Riki shrugged. “Well, I’ll make sure to call you, so that you can help me decide what suitable punishment they should receive for daring to touch what is ours.”





Gideon stared at him before bowing his head respectfully. Taking Jade’s hand in his, the Blondie kissed Jade’s palm before saying, “He is not ours, Riki. He’s mine,” as he turned and walked away.





Riki glowered at the Blondie’s retreating back.





“That is as much of a truce as you are going to get from him,” Lilly said standing next to him.





“Please take it,” Jade said, taking the empty spot at his side.





There was no reason to accept any peace offering from the Blondie, because Riki was never really at war with the Elite. Yeah, he loved pissing Gideon off, and yeah, the fucker annoyed him to the point that his temper gets away from him. But, as long as Gideon treated Jade with love and respect Riki had no beef with the Blondie.





“Riki?” Jade worryingly stared at him.





“I got no problem with Gideon,” Riki said, bring a glad smile to Jade’s lips. “But I will if he kills a mongrel because you had let your guard down.” Jade’s smile disappeared. Riki grunted. Let the kid chew on that for a bit.





“I think they have been waiting long enough,” Lilly whispered. “Let us get this over with, shall we?”





Nodding curtly, Riki—with Lilly and Jade flanking his back—advanced toward the waiting gangs.

oOoOoOo




Ignoring the shocked gasps of Midasians as he and his twin stepped over the invisible line into Ceres, Sky checked the small device in his palm that showed him the general location of where Niko could be.





“So, what do you think V did to not have shown up on time?” Fidget asked, skipping alongside him.





“You know V,” Sky said, “The dude probably was getting his sex on with that Blondie of his. Kinda like, a good-bye screw before the big mission.”





Fidget grinned. “We both know V doesn’t like releasing any kind of pressure before doing a job. You think Riki told V about what to do first and didn’t tell us because it’s a secret?”





“No!” Sky cursing silently at how quickly he disagreed with his twin. He didn’t know why Riki had told V the plan before any of them. Maybe Riki had anticipated V getting into trouble, and had decided to lay it all out beforehand to the mongrel, just in case. Sky just hated hearing the word. Secret. And the last thing he wanted was for his brother to think he wasn’t worthy enough to be a confidant of Riki’s. He needed his brother to be carefree and irresponsible. Because if Keita wasn’t, he would begin to reminisce about all the secrets he’d once been responsible in keeping…and that was something Sky wanted to prevent.





“V went to fetch Rio,” Sky said. “Any manner of things could have happened when Riki gave that fool the task. He should have made me do it.”





Fidget tsked. “Nope. That wouldn’t have been a good idea. Knowing you, brother mine, you might have tried to kill him, while V would have just tried to kick Rio’s ass again.”





“I would not.” Sky frowned. “I generally feel no ill will toward Rio. If you think about it, he did a real good job of getting one over us. We all knew how much of a greedy bastard he was, and I probably would have done the same as he if I were in the same situation.”





Fidget happy smile dimed. “You would seriously betray our friends?”





“We don’t have friends, Keita,” Sky said absentmindedly, glancing down at the tracker. The blinking dot was moving erratically on the device.





“What about V? Riki? Or Lilly and Jade?” Fidget softly asked.





Sky blinked at his twin. “They’re not our friends. They’re family.” Sky glanced back down at the device. “I had my doubts about Lilly and Jade at first, but they’ve proven themselves to me—” Sky hissed in pain when his brother slapped him hard on the back.





Fidget giggled and danced away when Sky tried to grab him. “I’m happy you’ve thawed your heart out a little bit, baby brother.” Fidget smiled gently.





Sky’s heart clinched. His twin had not called him his baby brother since their Guardian days, and while Sky had missed hearing the sibling endearment, it was a time in their lives he did not want Keita thinking back on. Because thinking back too closely meant his beloved twin could regress to what he once was.





They walked in silence, following the faint deeps of the tracking device. Sky wanted to say something, wanted to respond to Keita about his ‘thawed heart’ comment but didn’t know how. It was times like these that he wished V was with them. V always knew what to say to get Keita from dangerously slipping into the past.





He and his brother had an unbreakable bond, but V and Keita had just as close of a relationship. Where he failed to connect with his brother, V was the bridge that helped him get cross the chasm that sometimes formed between him and Keita.





Like now…





He didn’t know what to say to his brother after his last comment, and the silence between them was becoming deafening. For Keita to think his heart was cold hurt, but it was not far from the truth. He trusted few, hated deeply, and loved—





“I think Aisha is the reason why you’ve mellowed out some,” Fidget said so softly Sky almost missed it. “You smile when he enters the room. You even moved in front of him when you though he was going to be in danger, you know, when Niko’s Blondie came charging in to pop V’s head off from his shoulders.”





“I smile because I think he is a fool,” Sky said firmly. “And I moved in front of him, because if he had stepped in—what could have been an epic fight—between Orphe and Gabriel, and been mortally wounded, I potentially could have been cast out from Eos. I could not take that chance of being separated from you.”





“Really?” Fidget asked in a suspiciously sneaky tone. “Are you telling me you have no feelings for Aisha? None whatsoever? I saw how you smiled when you looked at him the morning after you popped his Blondie cherry.”





“That was weeks ago,” Sky said, baffled as to why his brother was bring it up. “And, yeah, I may have smiled at him, but that was only because he let me tie—” Sky stopped short.





“Because he let you do what?” Fidget asked.





Sky’s eyes narrowed. “Shh,” he said. “We’re here.” The device chimed insistently in his hand.





Fidget tsked, and muttered, “So close… Never going to win the bet at this rate,” before he looked around them. “Correction. We’re nowhere.” They had long past entered the ghost town in Ceres. “I think we passed the busted pub that that dude knifed me in.”





Red hot fury coursed through Sky at the thought of his brother being harmed. The image of his twin’s bleeding body in the rubble alone… Once they found Niko he was damn sure was going on another hunting trip to find the fucker that hurt his brother, and—“Win the bet?”





Fidget sheepishly circled the dirt with the tip of his boot.





“What bet, Keita?” Sky turned the alarm off on the device to stop its annoying beeping.





“You really have been closemouthed about your first time with Aisha,” Fidget muttered. “Me and V just thought it was strange, that’s all, and we bet who would be the first to find out what you thought it was like sleeping with Aisha.”





“I’ve never given you details about what I do to those I take to my bed,” Sky said, unsure as to why they were having this discussion.





“Yeah, but you’ve never not said anything about it,” Fidget somberly replied. “You’re my brother, so I really don’t want to know the nitty gritty details of your sex life, but you’ve always made some kind of comment before. Are you so into Aisha that you want to keep him to yourself?”





Yes!





Sky shook his head, shocked at his immediate answer to his brother’s question. He liked fucking Aisha, he did, but to want to keep the intimate details of their rumps all to himself? He wasn’t the possessive sort. He found a toy that interested him, that’s all. The Blondie meant nothing to him beyond the bedroom. “Let’s talk about this after we get back to Eos,” Sky said instead. “We need to focus on finding Niko.”





“Why are you getting angry?” Fidget asked quietly.





“I’m not angry!” Sky all but yelled. “I just want to find Niko. Can we please just do that?”





For the first time in his life, Ketia looked at him without affection—as if he were a stranger. “Sure, brother. It was stupid to bring this up now,” he said with alarming seriousness.





“Ketia—“





“I don’t think we’ll find him here, obviously,” Fidget continued. “This place is just as it’s named, a ghost town. His hideout probably is underground—in the abandoned tunnels. We should check those out.”





“Ketia!” Sky cursed when his twin ignored his shout and jogged ahead of him. Sky took off after Keita, yelling obscenities at his brother’s back as Keita continued to pick up speed so that he was always in front of him, catching up only when they reached the large and ominously dark entryway to the drainage system.





“Do you want to call Aisha before we go in?” Fidget testily asked.





Pissed, Sky growled, “Only if you want to call your precious Marcus first.”





Smiling rather cruelly, Fidget replied, “I’ve always been open to you about my feelings about Marcus. I like the Blondie. Never hid the fact that I did. I’ve liked him since the very day I straddled him in the restroom of that café we were pretending to be waiters. Unlike you.”





“I am hiding nothing!” They never fought before, never. And to think they were arguing over something so stupid only pissed Sky off further.





“But you are!” Fidget shouted back, anger shining from eyes identical to his own. “You’re keeping your feelings for him a secret from me! Maybe you’re denying it, but if so you’re still keeping the fact that you could be from me. Hiding things from me just like when we were children! I’m not a child anymore, Keito. Stop protecting me from shit. I’m the older brother. I’m the one that should be protecting you, not the other way around. I’m not scared of the dark anymore, brother. I’m not.”





But he was… and his twin did still need protecting. The fact that Keita was trying to confront his demons made Sky proud, but it didn’t stop the truth. His beloved brother was broken, and might never be fixed. And Keita’s reaction to what he may or may not feel for Aisha was just another example; the first being the morning he returned after Aisha fucked him. The cold shattered look in his brother’s eyes had made him instantly reject Aisha to stand next to his twin. Everything he and V did now was to keep the pieces of Ketia’s sanity together, and as long as nothing too serious triggered and episode that unrivaled all of their work, his brother would remain carefree and…well, sane.





“You’ve protected me enough,” Sky whispered. And it was what his brother had become while protecting him as a kid that scared Sky beyond reason, and the reason why he did not want his brother to feel the need to take on that responsibility again. “I just want you to be happy.”





“Whether I’m happy or not doesn’t depend on you, brother. Not anymore.” Fidget smiled. Spreading his arms, he backed into the waiting darkness. “You need to start treating me as your equal, and not a broken toy that needs fixing.”





Sighing, Sky could do nothing but follow.

oOoOoOo




“Cock sucking, motherfucker,” V muttered, glaring at the tourists as he and Rio stalked through the crowded sidewalk.





“I could be sucking cock right now,” Rio grumbled. “If I wasn’t so happy about getting out of that place, I’d retaliate by punching you in the face as many times as you did to mine.”





“Of all the stupid fucking things you could have done,” V continued as if Rio hadn’t said anything, “why in the hell did you announce the shit you did to Orphe? If it wasn’t for the other Blondie, he would have gutted you with his bare hands.”





“Oh pul-ease,” Rio said, rolling his eyes. “Your Blondie’s eyes were all on you, not me. I never saw a man fawn all over someone as much as he did with you.”





“He fucking shattered my shoulder trying to dodge that monster punch of his, which would have been your fucking head if I hadn’t shoved your sorry ass out of the way!” V yelled, startling tourists and earning him disgusted glances from Midaians passing by.





“Bitch, bitch, bitch. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be locked in their little detention center; falsely accused of murdering that poor, annoying, guard I offed.” Rio smiled and shrugged. “You can thank me later.”





“Oh my fucking God!” V choked the air with his hands, wishing Rio’s neck was between them. “Because of you we’re hours, fucking hours, late in helping search for Niko.”





“Whose fault is that?” Rio sighed. “I’m not the one that had to be rushed to the emergency room, thus delaying our trip.”





“Aghh!” V never before felt like bashing his head against a wall talking to someone, not even when he listened to Fidget’s insane prattle. “It was your fault, asshole! You’re the reason why we’re off to a late start!”





“Dude.” Rio frowned and him, shaking his head in disapproval. “We’re in privileged company. Think of their sensitive sensibilities, man. Show some class. Lower your voice.”





V fingered the hilt of the blade hidden in his waistband. “Rio,” V growled.





The blond sighed. “Yeah okay.”





“Yeah okay, what?” V said through clenched teeth.





“My bad, alright? So stop pressuring me for more,” Rio hissed. “I’m already sexually frustrated, twitchy from boredom, and pissed from my mother’s betrayal enough as it is! I don’t need you to keep yelling at me for getting excited and stupidly blurting out information that I should have kept to myself. I’m ashamed of myself, okay? Isn’t that enough for you to forgive me?”





V felt bad… for a moment. “You know, I would have believed you if you hadn’t said you were ashamed. You’re not ashamed of anything you do.”





“True.” Rio grinned. “Look, V. That Blondie of yours would have found out about me eventually. I’m fucking a permanent resident of Eos, thanks to my damn mother and my grandmother. I’m not going anywhere, and the longer I’m in Eos and he sees me—‘cause you fucking know I’ll be chillin’ with Jared around you fools—the worse it would have been if he discovered my crime—” Rio made air quotes above his head—“thus making it worse on you for having kept it a secret from him.”





V hated when Rio’s random acts of stupidity were actually well thought out plans. “Fine,” he said. “I accept your apology.”





“I didn’t apologize,” Rio corrected. “I said it was my bad. That’s all.”





“It’s the same damn thing—” V stopped short. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” Jogging across the street, V rounded the corner. “Let’s just get going…” Trailing off, V narrowed his eyes. Just a few feet away he watched as someone from the thong of people venture away, and down the alley he and Rio had been heading toward. The alley that would lead them straight into the Slums.





 V ran after the stranger. “Excuse me!” he shouted, waving his arms moronically. “You’re entering forbidden territory. If you go any farther, you’ll end up in Ceres!” V skidded to a halt as the stranger turned around. V stared at the man as Rio brushed pass him to stand behind the stranger.





“Do I know you?” V asked. The man was…perfect. He face was pale, plain as day, and unassuming, but perfect nonetheless. He wasn’t a tourist—how V knew this, he didn’t know—and clearly a more than a rich Midasian bigwig.





The stranger—the kid—gave V a panicked look before bolting.





“Grab him!” V shouted to Rio, pointing to the pale kid that dashed pass the assassin. “Why the hell are you standing there!? Go after him, asshole!”





Rio gave V a drool look before turning, revealing a knife hidden in his boot, and flinging it at the boy’s retreating back.





V cringed at the kid’s scream as the knife imbedded itself in his leg, but did not slow him down at all. V gave chase, but as fast it took for V to strip a target of all their valuables, the plain-faced kid was long gone. Fast little fucker. Leaning against the wall of some building to catch his breath, V glared at Rio as he slowly jogged up to him.





“What the fuck, asshole?” V panted. “Why the hell didn’t you grab him?”





One of Rio’s shoulders hiked up. “Ah, ‘cause I didn’t wanna waste my time with pointless struggling or even more pointless questioning. Trust me when I say it’s faster this way.”





Wiping the sweat off his brow, V said, “Yeah? How so?”





Rio winked at him. “Son, the best thing you can do on a hunt is wound your prey. Beating the shit out of him for information is fun and all, but when you’re strapped for time the last thing you want is to waste it.” Kneeling, Rio touched the ground then held up his hand, showing V the blood on the tips of his fingers. “All you need to do, my temperamental friend, is cut um’ up a little and then set them free. They’ll run straight to their little den, leaving a trail of bread crumbs for you to follow.”





V laughed. “Man, you may come off as a dumb-ass, but you’re pretty damn smart. Oh, and don’t ever call me son again or you’ll be one-nut-shy of being a real man.”





“I love it when you get all violent with me, V. Makes me feel like I’m back home.” Rio gave him another annoying wink before trotting off, following his psycho version of ‘bread crumbs’. It didn’t take them very long before the trail ended, pooled around a covered manhole leading to the underground tunnels.





“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rio muttered after they heaved the blood smeared metal lid out of the way, and stared into the black abyss they need to climb down into. “Anything could be waiting for us down there.”





Retrieving the tracking device from his back pocket, V showed the screen to Rio. “Well, Niko’s running around in there. So, unless you wanna bitch out and run crying for help, down there is where we are going.”





Rio stared warily at the manhole. “Isn’t calling for help one of the things we were supposed to do?”





“Nothing we can do about that now,” V murmured. Unsheathing his blade from his waistband, V held the knife between his teeth as he placed his foot on the first bar of the metal ladder.





“Just to let you know, I think bitching out and run crying for help is something we should be doing.” V ignored him and continued to climb down.





Rio sighed. “If we get ganked down there, I’m going to hold it over your head for the rest of your life.”





V rolled his eyes.

oOoOoOo




“Where are we?” Niko panted, trying to keep from passing out. Fearing that if he did, his two companions wouldn’t be able to find him in the darkness. Or worse, walk over him and continue on their way. Clustered together, they’d been wandering around in the dark for hours… Well, it felt like hours. For all Niko knew only ten or so minutes had past.





“If we knew that, little pet, we would have already gotten out of this endless pit,” Julius whispered.





“Shut-up, both of you,” Bob growled. “Just because we broke free doesn’t mean that nut-job of a doctor isn’t looking for us. So, please, shut the fuck up, because I don’t want to get my throat slit because of your stupidity.”





“Bundle of positivity, isn’t he,” Niko muttered, tripping over something wet and squishy—that he did not want to identify—and would have landed on his face if Julius had not caught him. Niko bit his cheek until he tasted blood, trying to contain his scream of pain to himself from Julius’s helpful touch.





“I know I’m hurting you, little pet, and I’m sorry,” Julius whispered sympathetically.





Niko shook his head. “I’m good,” he rasped. “I’m fine.”





“We won’t be if you both keep on fucking talking,” Bob hissed.





Niko could barely make out Julius’s face in the dark—whose arm brushed his periodically as they walked—but he knew the tall mongrel was making faces at Bob. Niko fought to keep his laughter in, not just out of fear for being discovered, but because he was scared that if he did, he wouldn’t stop—that his laughter would turn into uncontrollable sobs. He wanted this nightmare to end. He wanted to go home. He wanted—





Niko gasped. “Is… Is that light?” he whispered. A speck of brightness ahead. A beacon of hope. “Is it?”





“It is,” Bob whispered, breaking his no talking rule. “Oh my fucking God, it is!”





Their stealth-like stride abandoned, they ran down the puddle filled tunnel to the light. Pain forgotten, Niko shoved his way to the front. His body strengthening as his thoughts filled with the thought of seeing Gabriel’s face, and feeling his Blondie’s perverted touch. However, the closer they came to the source of their hope, the slower their enthusiasm of reaching it.





“That’s not an exit,” Bob panted, grabbing Niko and holding his arm out to stop Julius.





A lantern… Nothing but a lantern. Niko pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, stifling a sob.





“No, it is not,” an amused voice said stepping into the light.





Every bruise. Every wound on Niko’s body ached and burned as the Platinum Elite smiled kindly at him.


                                        

                                                                              


 “Did you really think I had forgotten to put the restraints back on you?” Landon asked.





“Kinda, yeah…” Niko whispered, slowly retreating.





The Elite tsked. “No, little one, you are my bit of cheese to get the mice to come nibble on. You are the Havarti, in which the rats will hunt for, dear Niko.”





Niko’s lower lip trembled. The Platinum couldn’t mean what Niko was thinking he meant. “What?” Please, Niko prayed. Please tell me it’s not true!





Landon’s kind smile faded from his lips. “I allowed you, and your new friends, to run free through my maze for one purpose, and one purpose only. My success with you made me wonder what would happen if I had more test subjects just like you.”





“No…”





“And I have to thank you for bring them to me.”





No! Oh sweet Jupiter, no! Niko stared at the Elite in horror.





“Run, Niko.” Julius pulled at his arm, but Niko couldn’t move. His feet frozen in their spot; his eyes unable to look away from the Elite.





“He can run all he likes, but he’ll never be free,” Landon said in a crazed sing-song voice. “This is my Kingdom, and everything within this underground domain is mine. I’m the ruler.”





Niko whimpered.





“Just as you are mine.” Landon smiled, extinguishing the light. Plunging them all into darkness.





TBC…