second try [sxf x child! reader]

⋆ ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ ⋆

"What...?" Lux stiffened, blinking at him. "Akira?"

Akira gritted his teeth. "I said what I said."

"I know what you said," Lux eyed him carefully. "But why?"

Akira glanced at the others in their bunks, peaceful expressions written all over their faces. 

"I can't do this," he pointed at them. "I can't be like them."

Lux turned to look at the photo in his hand, his mouth pressed into a hard line. "I know how to get out." He scowled when Akira's face lit up. "But it's dangerous."

"I don't care," Akira supplied helpfully.

Lux frowned, "It doesn't matter. There's guards everywhere, Akira. And you need they keys! Where would you get that?"

Akira slipped his hands into his pocket and pulled out a mass of metal. "I suppose this'll do."

Lux's mouth hung wide open. "What? Where did you- Akira!"

"Shh," Akira hushed, glancing behind him again and at the closed dormitory door. Someone snorted loudly in their sleep but otherwise it was silent.

"Did you take it from Kai? How stupid are you!?" Lux demanded, his face bright red in the darkness. "He's going to kill you!"

"He already said he would," Akira fired back. "There's no harm in trying for me. I'll die either way."

Lux struggled to meet his eyes, still focused on the photo in his hand and Akira spotted a young girl with black hair smiling at the camera, cheeks rosy pink and eyes clear as the summer sky.

"Please," Akira added softly. "There are people I miss too."

Lux let out a long breath, leaning back so his head rested against the tattered walls before nodding. "Fine, but I'm coming with you..." he hesitated. "When?"

"Right now," Akira grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets. "He's going to kill me tomorrow."

"Why would he do that?" Lux protested. "And tonight? I can't-"

Akira interrupted, "You can."

Lux shook his head, "Dude... I don't know... this is crazy. We're going to get punished for sure!"

"Then just tell me how to get out," Akira suggested, growing impatient. Midnight was nearing. "I can do it myself. I've lived my whole life by myself."

Except... 

"Alright," Lux huffed, standing up and brushing at his shoulders. His face was firm, like he'd decided already. "Come with me."

They slipped through the silent tunnels of Ketsueki, footsteps quiet as they turned corner after corner.

Guards, Lux mouthed, up ahead.

Akira nodded. They crept along the shadows, backs pressed hard against the walls. Luckily, the guards weren't used to prison breaks so they were chatting merrily, drinking heavily from bottles of beer.

"And I said," one of them cackled, "she don't deserve me!"

"Ya right!" The others agreed, laughing and shoving at each other.

Lux breathed out softly and nodded at Akira, motioning for him to follow. The guards continued to chatter, knocking glasses of beer against each other and the two slipped away unseen.

Akira nudged Lux with one finger, tilting his head. "How much farther?" He whispered, risking a look behind him and only seeing the shadows.

Lux shrugged, "Just a bit more. Down the next hallway and there's a heavy metal door." He paused, listening for sounds, before continuing. "We'll need your key," he explained, lowering his voice and pointing at Akira's pockets. "But once it opens, the guards will get an alert. They'll know something is up. It'll lead immediately outside... we're going to have to hurry."

"Nothing new," Akira mumbled under his breath as they crept down the last hall before making a sharp turn. A large door stood alone in the center of the room, dark tape crawling across the surface and red buttons beeping everywhere.

"Where the hell does the key go?" Akira grumbled, shoving both hands into his pocket and pulling out the small piece of metal, trying not to make it jingle.

Lux pointed at a small dark box near the door. "We're going to have to be quick. There's a guard that rounds this corner every two minutes."

Akira nodded and once he gave the signal, he hurried into the pale light of the room, the cold air crawling along his spine and arms. He threw open the box and stuck the key inside, twisting until there was a loud click.

"Hey!" Came a high-pitched voice. "Stop that!"

"Shit," Lux muttered.

Akira turned around as the door begin to slowly open, creaking against the floor. Michael stood in the center of the room, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted into a grin. 

"Guards!" He shouted, brandishing his finger at Akira. 

There was a scraping of metal as one Ketsueki guard rushed into the room, eyes wide as he scanned the surroundings.

"Go, go!" Lux scrambled to push open the door and Akira watched his disappear into the darkness.

Michael screamed and threw himself at Akira, tackling him to the ground and started punching him in the face, spitting out curses.

Akira grunted and shoved him off, staggering to his feet.

"Stop!" The guard shouted, raising a gun and pointing at Akira.

Akira froze, struggling to comprehend the situation. Hadn't the escape been going perfectly just a few seconds before?

Michael grinned at him, his eyes flickering with something close to insanity. "I got you back," he hissed.

Akira took a step back and the guard cocked the gun. "Stop!" 

Michael struggled to his feet, ignoring the warnings and took a running leap at Akira. There was a loud bang and Akira ducked, rolling away from Michael as the bullet hit the other boy in the back. Blood exploded everywhere, onto everything. A shriek erupted from the him and he tried to grab at Akira one last time, missing horribly, and collapsed to the ground as another bullet slammed into his chest, throwing his body forward in another spray of blood.

Akira staggered to his feet and bolted for the door, feeling pain slice through his arm as something hit him hard. He slammed the door closed behind him and gasped, staggering into the ground.

Lux, who was hiding in one of the bushes near the door, stumbled forward. "Akira!"

"I'm fine," Akira mumbled. "Let's go." He took Lux's hand and began to limp towards the fading lights in the distance, grasping at his bleeding arm.

I'm coming. Just wait.