It was early when Eli woke up. The office was still dark as he sat up, yawning. Quietly, he opened the door and peeked out. He could already smell the breakfast from the kitchen cooking. There was no sound from the bathroom or the bedroom, so Aesop was probably still asleep. He wanted very much to go in and check on the male, but decided against it.
The towels were all still in the same places as he stepped into the bathroom. Locking the door behind him, he hoped nobody would mind him helping himself to a shower. The water was cold on his warm skin as he stood under the gushing water. He was wondering how the other executives were since they were alive, according to Jack. He turned off the shower and dried himself with the towel before putting on the white long-sleeved shirt and black pants he wore under his coat.
As he was straightening his tie, he heard Aesop's bedroom door open. He watched as the man stood by the door for a moment as he stretched.
"Good morning Aesop."
"Mm... Hm?!"
It seems he had forgotten Eli was there. In two steps he crossed the area between them and stopped in front of the shorter male. He grabbed him by the tie and pulled him closer, eyes narrowing. Eli could feel his hand wandering to the blindfold and tugging slightly. As much as he felt uncomfortable with having his blindfold off in front of people, Aesop probably has every right to know and see.
"What happened to your eye?"
The blindfold slid down. Eli looked up at him, amber eyes meeting his one greyish blue eye and his other blind eye. It was milky white, almost looking like an entire white orb. Aesop leaned closer, almost inches away from Eli's face. The sound of heels appeared behind them as Rosa walked up the stairs.
"Ah, you're awake. Am I uh... Interrupting something?"
Just as quickly Aesop let go of Eli's tie. The other male tilted his head down as he fixed the blindfold behind his head. They went down to the dining room in silence, Rosa going outside to tend to the yellow roses in the yard. Everything seemed like the past, but more... Different. It was more tensed, quiet. Aesop seemed distracted as he ate, constantly looking over at Eli.
"Now that everyone is here, Eli, please begin..."
"Well..."
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Found anything, Joseph?"
Naib looked over at the male, who was looking around the other offices on the top floor. He shook his head. They'd found a staircase at the end of the corridor downstairs that hadn't been destroyed and climbed up to the top floors, where they were now looking around.
"If his body isn't here... What if the Abyss..."
"Do you think they came back for his body?"
Naib shrugged, still looking around. He headed for Aesop's office, where the door was already torn off its hinges. The once beautiful and lush carpet now covered with scorch marks and dark stains that had to be dried blood. He grimaced, trying not to imagine what could have possibly happened. As he was looking down at the carpet, he noticed something strange. The burn marks were more concentrated in the area around Aesop's desk, and they seemed to extend sideway rather than to the front. He looked out of the shattered window.
Suppose it blew up sideways, as long as Eli wasn't standing by the window he'd be fine, right?
He continued around the office, now paying closer attention to the carpet. Without realising, he reached the far corner of the room. Halfway up on the wall was, obviously, a dark patch of dried blood. There wasn't any stains like this on that wall, and the only possibility was that Eli survived and, as Naib recalled Jack saying he had a bullet in his back, crawled over to this corner and stayed, probably leaning against the wall.
But then where the hell was his body?
In the end the two had to call it a day before it started getting too dark. Naib had called Jack to tell him nothing had been found, and it was uncertain whether Eli survived or not since his body wasn't there.
-------------------------------------------------
"So you did survive. But how did you get out?"
Jack asked. They were all gathered around Aesop's living room. All the executives, Joseph as well as Aesop's parents. Eli felt nervous being around this many people for once, especially because their focus would be on him, not like usual company meetings where Aesop spoke.
"It's a little complicated, but I'll explain everything."
He sighed before beginning.
------------------------------------------------
"God's sake I told him so many times Dooooonn't take that bomb take the ooooother one but noooo... Nobody ever listens."
Eli looked up from where he was sitting. There was a soft, female voice. She seemed to be getting closer to the office, and Eli made to reach for his gun, but it was pointless. There was a chance she was armed anyway to be here all alone.
"Stupid things stupid times...ha... Either way..."
She stepped through the door. She looked quite small, but the way she dressed said otherwise. She had a small black hat on top of her head and was wearing a black tailcoat with long black pants. Her face was red from being out of breath, having climbed all the way up. She looked around the office for a bit before noticing Eli.
"GYAAHH!! Who are you?!"
Eli grimaced at the loud noise.
"Calm down... It's not like I'm gonna shoot you or anything...Plus, kh- Shouldn't I be the one asking who you are?"
The female cautiously approached him.
"My name is Tracy. Tracy Reznik. Ew what the hell happened to you?-"
She grimaced at the blood around him and on his face.
"Sir your eye..."
Eli slowly reached up to his eye. He'd realised that his ability to see seemed slightly limited when he regained consciousness.
"Thank god he took the wrong bomb then, sir. Ya would've been dead by now otherwise."
Tracy reached over and extended a hand. Eli looked at it skeptically, but if he had to choose between dying like this or getting help from someone who worked in the Abyss, the second choice would probably be better. Turns out Tracy knew a little knowledge on stopping too much bleeding and helped him down the stairs.
"You gotta go on an ambulance ride yourself buddy. I still have stuff to retrieve."
Eli nodded, but still had one last question as they reached the gates.
"I'd expected you to kill me right there. Why didn't you? Don't the Abyss aim for total destruction of their enemies?"
Tracy shrugged and rolled her eyes.
"I'm only there for the unlimited resources to create stuff. That bomb that went off, yea, that one was something I was still fixing. It wasn't supposed to go sideways, so consider yourself lucky."
----------------------------------------------
"So you're saying that the bomb was the wrong one?"
Jack asked. Aesop was holding his head in his hands.
"I suppose that's correct. I am grateful for Ms Reznik's help, or else I would've bled to my death in there."
