Into the Deep

Chapter 19

Content warning! Violence, blood, and mentions of gore and torture!! Please proceed with caution!!

    As Eclipse slipped through the hallways of the underground lab, he couldn't help but feel paranoid when he failed to encounter any more guards. Despite knowing why they weren't here, he still couldn't help but feel wary of the lack of security. After all, this was AFTON we were talking about! The Boss of this place! Wouldn't one suspect that the Boss would have all of the guards by his side to keep him safe, no matter what happened elsewhere in the Sanctuary? Unless...Afton had something prepared.

    Eclipse paused at the thought, growing unsure before shaking his head and continuing on. If he didn't do this, if he didn't confront that thing then his poor Heart would suffer for it. They had already suffered too much as it is...He had to finish this. As quickly and quietly as a snake preparing to strike he wound his way through the halls, taking out any cameras he saw as he went. However, the more time that went on and the longer Eclipse continued on, the more frightened he became of what was awaiting him. After all, he knew what that sicko was like. He had experienced that thing's cruelty firsthand, in fact, he had it to thank for all of his mental and physical scars.

    He had never been left in the dark when it came to how he got there or what happened to his family, least of all who ordered it. His memories from when he was younger were mostly fuzzy as they were hidden under layers of painful memories, yet somehow his mind held on to this one memory like a vice. He remembered waking up that first time in his too-small prison, looking out into the lab waiting beyond the glass to find a few humans and that thing. He remembered how frightened he was when he lay eyes on those horrid, cruel eyes before he was made aware of what became of his family. That thing had been so proud of what it had done...It smiled the entire time that it told him of their fate before it started shocking him with electricity, that smile never leaving its face as Eclipse writhed in pain.

    Almost every day, Eclipse had been subjected to many, many inhumane tests, all for the sake of keeping that thing alive. He had been burned, electrocuted, cut, and broken, all to steal the magic that came naturally to his body whenever he tried to heal himself because his healing magic was more potent than most as it was his specialty. In the beginning, he tried to fight it. He tried to use his magic and tail to blast through the glass and somehow escape, but due to the strain of the tests, he was often left with too little magic to do much other than maybe create a flash of light. The only thing he could do on most days was pray no more tests would be called for that night and, if there were more, that he could remain unconscious for them so that he wouldn't have to be subjected to any more horror than he already had been through that day.

    The one and only time he had ever come close to escaping had been not long before he had met you. Thanks to his old human friend whose name was lost to time he was able to understand the human language and, through this, he was able to learn a lot as he watched his captors. He learned of his captors' weaknesses, strengths, the cameras, and the guards, which people were in when and when the guards changed their rounds...He learned all that he could and used this knowledge to try and find a way out of this nightmarish place.

    Through his observation, he was able to find out the two moments in which he had the highest chance of escape...And that was when he was being fed and when that thing, their Boss, was in to visit the lab. He knew that the window of time he had was small, but he was desperate to get out of there and be free once more and if it was up to him, he'd rather attempt to escape and die trying rather than just lay down and accept his fate of endless torture by doing nothing at all. It took a few weeks though before the next visit came and in that time Eclipse prepared his escape. He started to act extra friendly towards his captors so that they would lower their guard, he stopped fighting whenever he was brought in for tests and even did little tricks like the dogs that sometimes came into the lab for them. Despite the embarrassment it brought him, he kept going as his freedom was far more important than keeping his pride.