Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabble 39 - 1

"Go!" Hisaki pushed Danny out of the balcony as the inner door broke, shattering into splinters. Metal feet stormed in, echoing on the stone floor. Blades slashed as the two sides fought in the tiny space. Hisaki's snarls of effort were easily distinguishable. 

Danny flattered himself to the outside wall.  Someone stumbled through the balcony and slipped off the edge. He needed to move. He needed to run and escape. No one else could do this; everyone was trapped and fighting. His legs didn't move. Below, the dim of more fighting left him surrounded and at the mercy of his fear. He pressed to the side of the castle, the sounds overwhelming. The weight of gold under his armour choked him.

That weight pulled him out of the daze, and movement returned. There was a ledge. A small ledge, small enough that a 12-year-old could slip over and older men couldn't follow. It was a better plan than waiting to die.

He shuffled across the ledge, fingers aching from his grip. Stones shifted under his grasp, and salt covered his cheeks, but he made it across. He fell to his knees and out of sight of anyone watching. He crawled into the different part of the castle. The fight hadn't reached this section yet. The countdown to his next jump ticked on. Everything would be fine if he could stay hidden long enough. The county would be defeated, and the friends he's made possibly killed, but the mad one wouldn't gain control of the world. 

Assuming Danny made the jump. And never tried to return. 

"Where is it?"

The floor shook, and stone rattled under his hands as the force blasted against resistance. The Mad One's power challenged the natural order. Danny didn't know how to fight against that - none of them did. 

He crawled further into the castle and out of sight of the sky. The Mad One knew Danny was a world jumper. Danny knew enough to avoid the titan adding too many variables together. He dragged himself back to his feet when another wave of force hit. The air sizzled under the heat of the anger. The metal of his shoulder armour burned, and water nearby turned to steam. The world started to burn with his anger.

Sparks clicked under his fingernails; it wouldn't be long until reality let him pass. He stumbled along, avoiding touching the stonework as he climbed to the next story, cries of pain echoing in the tight space. Allies and enemies alike grasping at their armour, trying to pull it off. Danny hated that they wouldn't make plate armour for someone his age. That saved him from being cooked alive in the thing designed to keep him safe. 

His throat swelled. A body lay on the ground as he reached the next floor. They weren't breathing. He didn't check to see who it was, focusing on moving forward. If he stopped, if he hesitated, the mad one would find him. He hadn't found a place to hide yet. 

"Where is the bug?" demanded the world. The room shifted. Danny landed wedged between the wall and the floor as part of the stonework collapsed into the room below. "I know he's here. He has my amulet. Where is he?"

More of the stonework crumbled. Anymore and Danny would be trapped. He wriggled and slid over the thin patch of stonework left. It burned his hands. A dribble of blood dripped down his chin as he bit his lip to focus. It hurt. His hands burned raw red from the heat. His legs didn't want to stand. The electricity buzzing under his fingertips grew. The magic was not quite ready for a jump, but soon. Wiping the blood from the blood of his mouth, he climbed and fled further in, locking the door behind him and ascending to the tower's roof.

Smog covered the air, and dust and soot blocked the sky as the castle and kingdom burned. An armoured dragon flew across the sky, raining destruction on the land. He curled against the door, hiding in the draft curtain. 

Soon, it would be soon. 

"Bug! I can smell you stink. Reveal yourself!"

Breathing hurt, his chest tightened from the pressure. The hot stones seared against his back. He kept his head low, hands clutching at the amulet. He counted slowly, every second stretched as he waited for the jump. 

The Mad One materialised in front of him. 

The creature broke through the stone bricks. Muscles hard and sweat dripping down him. Every heartbeat echoed in Danny's ears. Blood smeared over his skin, and horns flickering in and out of existence. The closest thing the Mad One looked like was not a God but a demon. Another heartbeat and spike of power pounded against him. The grin widened, his teeth too sharp and intent dark.

"Found you."

The Mad One's tongue snapped out, tasting the air. A clawed hand stretched out and grabbed the curtain, throwing it off the tower and into the dim below. Danny couldn't feel his hands anymore. 

"Poor little bug," said the Mad One, words rumbling against Danny's skin and cutting his cheek. "You didn't stand a chance, did you?"

The hiss of magic surrounded his wrists and ran up his arms to his shoulders. Freedom existed for those willing to take it.  

"Don't you dare, little bug. I won't show you mercy if you try. " Red eyes locked him into place. Dark magic licked across his back, trying to attack the astral magic clinging to his arms and over his shoulders. 

"You killed them," Danny croaked. "You'll kill my family too."

"I'll find a way to find you with or without the amulet."

"Then you don't need me or it," Danny bowed his head and fell forward. He let the magic overwhelm him. A roar echoed in his eyes as the world shifted. 

The heat of hell didn't fade from his skin as he landed home, the cold winter air steaming as it met his burns. He sat, unable to move or look away from the spot where the Mad One had been facing him in the other world. His next jump wouldn't happen. He would never jump again if he took the right actions. His hands burned worse in the cold air; his injuries hit harder.

He screamed. 

-x-

Danny had been gone for two months. Most of his jumps had been for a few hours, but the Mad One's magic must have distorted the timelines. Everyone had been so worried and upset. His burns and scars didn't help. The hospital gave the police a long list of his injuries during that time. They questioned him about everyone. From the scars he gained while learning to swordfight to the marks that the Mad One's magic left seared into his skin. They curled over his back and shoulders like he'd been whipped. 

His parents begged him to tell them who had kidnapped and hurt him. Who had left his young body scarred and bones close to fracturing? Speaking the truth might get put away in a mental hospital, but his answer to avoid that did not work any better.

Mutism. No lies, no horrific truths, but the screams of his nightmares broke his silence. It started as an act, but then his voice stopped coming. The nightmares got worse. 

When they let him home, Danny hid the amulet in a shoebox in the back of his closet. The time for the next jump came and went with no build-up of power, no burst of electricity over his arms. Danny refused to let the circumstances of a jump happen. He stayed close to his parents, and the world moved on. 

The Mad One's influence was limited to Danny's memories and the crisscross of scars on his back. Therapy helped. The guy thought the world he'd cooked up was a suppression device for what happened. He didn't judge or call him childish for sleeping with a light. Little things from his two months stuck around longer than they had any right to, but the need for a nightlight seemed to insult his parents personally. His father wanted to take it away, but his mother let him have what he needed. 

Slowly, bit by bit, the memories faded. The nightmares stopped occurring every night, and the scars faded. He started speaking more often; he went back to school and caught up on what he had missed. 

After a few years, the nagging knowledge to keep the amulet safe and hidden became the one thing that kept the jumps and the world real, not a dream. He locked it away. He would be a functioning member of society and a son to be proud of.

Time moved on in both worlds. 

The Mad One plotted.