*(Is this all we see?)*

~*Chapter 53*~

Two heartbeats. He could hear and feel two heartbeats. But he wasn't home.

He wanted to be home. Desperately he wanted to be home.

He wanted to be in his bed, comfortable with his arms clean and his blanket tucked up to his chest. Comfortable with his family. And his friends. Kurt, Nick, Noah. The heartbeats got louder. An echoed breath. His? No. Someone he knew? Yes. But who?

"I wonder why you left." The first voice sounded soothing, stress lay beneath but he hoped this--whatever it was--wasn't caused by him. Did he cause stress already? How long had he been gone to cause any stress? Hours. Days. Weeks. Had it been months? The last thing he remembered was being chained back to the cold black wall. Which still smelt of blood. Had he been asleep any longer?

"I know." A different more quiet voice replied to the first. "I didn't leave. At least I didn't try to." The source of the second words sighed. "It's a complicated story."

"Then tell me." The first one demanded. "Please?"

Blank.

Blank?

The breathing stopped. Who was that? What was that? The breaths had dropped into the ground; or into the bottom of wherever he was. Maybe not even dropped, maybe absorbed. Because now it was an empty sound.

Midnight couldn't speak, hardly knew if he was breathing, anything.

And the beats were gone.

~~~~~~~~

He was awake now; Midnight was sure of that. The smell of blood and wet metal still remained in his nose. His arms remained sore, still chained to the wall. He knew where he was, it was real. Even if he hoped it was a nightmare or a future vision, it wasn't. It was all real.

"He'll be waking soon enough." Zara spoke from a close room. "Then we'll train him with some close contact weapons."

"Close contact?" Another similar voice replied in question. The voice was close to Zara's so he assumed it was Sara. Her daughter. He wondered if she had ever felt like he did. A Guinea pig of sorts. He had heard that is what Zara used her for. "He wouldn't be ready for that. It's only been a day."

"Yes, well, plans change. And the quicker the training the faster we can get him to work with us."

"How do you know he will?"

"He's an assassin. He doesn't have much of a choice in the matter." Midnight could hear the sound of scratching and tapping metal. "Hm." More metal clanked sounds. "These will do. Now go off. You have plenty to do."

"But—"

"Shush. I train him not you."

Sara grumbled in annoyance at her mother's wishes. He then heard whorls of her vanishing. 'Is she jealous?' He wondered.

The hard taps of boots entered his room. Or whatever he was in. A box? The chains on his hands release. Again the feeling of his blood rushing back to his hands was back. The tip of her boot flicked his knee. "Up."

He finally opened his eyes, bringing his head up to look at her. Leather clothes, green eyes. Long ponytail. Yep this was real. He brought his hands to his chest. "What's the schedule for today?" Midnight stood with minimal struggle.

While he stretched she started to explain. "Today is close combat. We will be training with weapons."

"Not bow and arrows?"

"You're- yes we're not working with them. Anyway, we're working with knives and swords today." She reached into her pockets, out of them she took out two small shiny knives. They were tiny, as if the blade was just peaking out of her hands. She put them in one palm, holding them out. "Now." She clutched his arm. "Let's train."