Return

10

Two long months is how long I was caged inside a jail cell inside Blakk's citadel. He had put a kind of collar on me that was able for me to maintain my altered form. Every day, Twist would come to see me to make jokes, or try and get me to do some stupid circus tricks. I completely despised being held captive, and treated like some animal. I had already planned an escape route, but my plan could only be executed at the right time. 

One the first day of the third month, something that I hadn't expected happened. The door that led down to the hall of prison cells, population being just me, was kicked open. Running footsteps advanced on my lonely cell and I caught sight of a familiar orange and yellow slug. I cautiously peeked through the bars that kept me bound from the outside world and confirmed my happiness. 

"Burpy," I whispered hoarsely, "over here." The orange slug chirped frantically, pointing at me and hopping.  

"Did you find her, buddy?" an all too familiar voice asked excitedly. Burpy hopped more and nodded. Sure enough, Eli came into view in one of the uniforms that Blakk's guards wore. He pulled off the mask that covered the top half of his face, revealing his crystal blue eyes that were filled with happiness. "Astrus!" 

"Eli," I slowly lifted myself up, using the cell bars to stand, "You found me." 

"I'm sorry it took so long," he said while punching the keys for the lock, "Blakk has a lot of prisons under his depots and such, so it took a while to find your exact location." He smiled and unlocked the cell causing me to fall onto the floor. He winced, "Sorry, I thought you could stand." 

"It's fine," I replied as he helped me to stand up. I balanced my weight onto his shoulder and smiled weakly, "So, what now?" 

"Well..." he mused looking at the Infurnus slug that hopped onto his shoulder, per usual. "How about we say that I was ordered to take you to Stalagmite 16 to have tests done one you? That seems believeable, right?" I nodded as he hooked a chain-like leash onto the collar that glowed and eerie crimson. "You're okay though, aren't you? They didn't hurt you in anyway?" 

"Eli, everyone here referrs to me as Monster, and the occasional Freak from Twist. Other than that, I'm fine." 

"They didn't try to inject you with anything, did they?" I shook my head and he sighed, "That's a relief. I dunno what I'd do if they had hurt you." 

"Nothing that I couldn't accomplish on my own, Shane." I smirked ad she put his mask back on and gently tugged on the chain. 

"You'll need to act like you hate me, okay?" 

"Geez, what is this, twenty questions?" The glare I recived from the midnight haired slugslinger said he was being serious. I rolled my eyes, "Can do, Shane." He nodded and we headed up towards where the main entrence was, which ultimately was swimming with guards everywhere. Each one directed disapproving glares and sneers at me as we passed. I snarled at them, bearing my fangs, hoping to scare the hell out of a few. Which totally worked. However, one guard was brave enough, or stupid enough, to walk towards us, eyeing me suspicously. 

"What're you doing with the monster?" he asked gruffly. 

"I had direct orders from Dr. Blakk to take her to Stalagmite 16 for research and testing purposes." 

"That's strange, he didn't alert anyone else of a prisoner relocation......" 

"He figured it would be better if only a few people knew about the relocation, less room for a fuck-up along the way. Or worse. Did you know the Shane Gane is after her?" the guard shook his head. "Reall? You didn't know? Well, apparently she's the Shane boy's girlfriend. From wha t I heard, he's going nuts trying to find her." 

"She's really that valuble?" 

"Yes." 

"Now I understand why this was on the downlow." The guard nodded towards the door, "You better be off on your way before something goes wrong. Good luck with that..." he eyed me yet again, "monstrosity."  

Eli nodded, "Will do. See you around sometime." The guard didn't respond and simply walked away. When we were out of earshot from anyone else, Eli looked over at me, concern on his face. "You okay? He said some pretty nasty things?" 

"I'm fine, E. It's not like I haven't heard it all before." I started walking ahead of him, practically pulling him along. The collar began digging into my flesh causing the skin to burn a bit.  

"H-hang on a second, Astrus," he said stopping. I kept my back to him, not wanting to look him in the eyes. "What do you mean you've heard it all before?" 

"Eli..." I trailed off. 

"Yeah?" 

"Do you think I'm a monster?" instinctively, my left hand clasped onto my right arm, in an attempt to quell my racing thoughts. He remained silent, but I could hear his footsteps getting closer to where I was standing. Two strong arms wrapped around my middle as he rested his head on my shoulder and pulled me into his embrace.  

"You know I'd never think of you as a monster, Astrus." He gently kissed my cheek. "Love you." 

I smiled, "Love you too, Eli."