A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 32: My knight in shining armor.

"MUGI, KIREN, GO GET ARI, ME AND SHARLET WILL TAKE CARE OF MAVERICK AND... WHOEVER THE FUCK THIS FREAK IS-!" Maverick felt himself being lifted up. He slowly opened his eyes, looking around in a panic.

"What happened-?" He whispered.

"I have no idea, but that guy was about to do some pretty weird shit to you, I'm glad we got here in time," Sugar explained, glancing over her shoulder.

Sharlet grabbed Lawrence and threw him over her shoulder, following Sugar out of the room. Maverick was weak and limp, he mumbled something under his breath and shut his eyes tightly.

"VINCENT, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM, JUST GET MAVERICK-!" Vivien demanded and recited a spell. Ink shot up from the floor and began blasting Kiren and Mugi with force. Mugi raised his hands high into the air. The floor began to crack and break, the stone flew up and hit Vivien over and over again. Mugi motioned towards Ari, who stared in utter shock. Kiren nodded and ran over to him, untying him. He ripped the tape off of his mouth and helped him up.

"WHERE'S MAVERICK-?" He yelled in a panic, his eyes darting to the door.

"Sugar's got him, don't worry-!" Kiren explained. Ari nodded quickly and turned to Vivien. He gritted his teeth and electrocuted her over and over again. She screamed as she fell to the floor, her body falling weak. When she fell, Kiren said a spell, causing her body to be ignited in flames. She jolted around wildly, begging for help, but nobody came. After a few moments, she fell silent, and it was evident that she had passed.

"Come on, we need to help Sugar and Sharlet," instructed Mugi as he ran swiftly out of the viewing room. They ran down the hallway where they heard screams coming from. The two of them had taken care of Vincent as well. His head had been bashed against the wall; his body mangled. Ari locked eyes with Maverick, tears welling up in his sockets.

"ARI-!" He screamed, scrambling out of Sugar's arms. Ari picked him up and hugged him tightly, spinning him around in joy.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't save you..." he whispered as he sobbed on Maverick. He fell to the floor, still hugging Maverick tightly.

"It wasn't your fault, Ari, I promise..." he stared up at him with a smile. He was just overjoyed to see him.

"I wish I could've been there, I'm just- I feel so weak for losing to those two..." He sniffled, pulling the rim of his hat over his eyes.

Maverick shook his head, gently placing his hand on the side of Ari's face, "You aren't weak, you're the strongest person I know, okay...? I'm here now, and I'm alive, so you don't have to worry. I'm not going anywhere; I'll be with you until death comes knocking on your door..." He hugged him again. Ari sobbed and rested his chin on his shoulder, shutting his eyes. "I love you, Ari, more than anything in the world..." he whispered.

"I love you too, Maverick..." He still felt so guilty because Maverick had to go through the torture. He wished he had been able to help him sooner, but it was over now. They've been reunited and nothing was going to tear them apart.

Sugar kicked Vincent's corpse, "Yep, he's dead for sure." She nodded and glanced back at Sharlet, Kiren, and Mugi. "Let's go back to the main room, take everything you can, alright?" She instructed. They nodded and began walking back. "I'll let you... three... have your alone time." She glanced down at Lawrence, who was too stunned to do anything but stare in horror.

Ari gently sat Maverick on the floor and stood up, walking over to him. They were similar in height, but Ari was most definitely bigger in size and muscle.

"So... this is the guy I've heard all about, hm?" He narrowed his eyes, staring at him. Lawrence opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He couldn't talk at all. Ari grabbed his wrist and gripped it so tight; Lawrence was sure it'd break. "You're lucky I don't have time to make your death as slow as possible," he whispered and threw him to the ground. He raised his hands into the air and said a spell. Lawrence's body began to twitch and jolt as the electricity coursed through his skin. Ari electrocuted him for minutes straight until he finally shut his eyes, taking his last breath. Ari stood over his corpse, "Well... he's gone now, Maverick. You don't have to worry anymore." He walked over to Maverick and gently lifted him off of the ground, holding him tightly.

The two walked slowly back to the main room, finding the others looting the area. Ari stood in front of the computer from before, setting Maverick down onto the desk that the computer sat on. He booted it up and grabbed a few wires before opening Maverick's control panel.

"When you wake up, you'll feel a lot better, alright?" He said softly. Maverick nodded and let Ari shut him off. Once he did, he connected him to the computer. Several memory files popped onto the screen. "Oh, Maverick..." he said softly, small tears welling up in his eyes.

"Ari."

A memory file that contained every moment together, Ari watched some back, his smile soft and genuine. Despite Maverick being just a robot, Ari had taught him how to feel a range of human emotions, the main one being genuine love. He sniffled and exited out of the file.

After a few minutes of clicking around, he found out that he wasn't able to delete files. Though, he did figure out that he could delete some of the programming that Lawrence booted into him. He got rid of the feature that made him so gullible and deleted all of his files that had to do with anything erotic. He unplugged him from the computer and picked him up once again, exchanging glances with everyone.

"You guys ready?" Asked Sugar as she picked her backpack up off of the ground.

"Yeah." Sharlet nodded.

"Alright... let's find our way out of this maze, then." She walked out of the main room and into the labyrinth-like hallways, guiding the others through the maze.

Everyone was tired, especially Mugi. He wasn't sure why he felt so weak, considering he didn't say very many spells. He pressed his index and middle finger up against his wrist, feeling his own pulse. His heart was beating abnormally slowly, which wasn't a very good sign. Though, he didn't tell anyone as he thought it may not mean anything harmful.

They made their way out of the maze and back up the ladder.

"I'm so glad to be out of there..." Kiren murmured and glanced around. It was dark outside, presumably in the middle of the night.

Sugar nodded in agreement and looked down at Mugi, "You okay? You don't look too good..." she said softly and placed a hand on his forehead. He winced and swatted her hand away, the flowers being more sensitive to touch than before.

"I'm alright, just tired," he muttered and looked down at the grass. He shifted his feet to ease his balance, he felt awfully dizzy.

"If you say so..." She sighed. She could tell something was wrong but didn't want to bother him about it too much.

They walked into the forest and tried to find a decent spot to sleep. Mugi reached into his backpack and took out his sleeping bag, flattening it out on the grass. He climbed into it and stared up at the inky sky. Tears welled up in his eyes as he thought of all of the things that had happened over the past few weeks. Ebony died, so did Malcolm. He knew who was next, but he was just glad it wasn't anyone else. He wished that he wasn't so rude to everyone, he regretted his actions greatly. Though, when he felt his throat tighten up, he knew what was going to happen. Sugar heard him coughing, but it wasn't like any of the other gags he's had before. It was more urgent, as if he was choking.

She ran over to him, "Mugi, are you okay-? Seriously, you sound really sick..." she asked frantically. Mugi climbed out of his sleeping bag and coughed dozens of flowers out onto the grass. The others ran over to try and help, but it was no use.

After all, all flowers wilt eventually.