Fantasizing a war - A Sanders Sides Trilogy

Fair Warning

Virgil hid in the blankets, hearing the door open. Five men in grey armour entered, holding a tray of steaming food. One slid it through the bars but Virgil didn't react. The sooner they were gone, the better. But they didn't leave.

"Do you think they're asleep?" Said one of them, staring at Virgil with caution.

Another snorted. "What's the matter, Jasper? You scared that one matured in a cage is gonna take down all five of us?"

Jasper shook his head rapidly, "No, 'f course not! It's just, I heard you lot 'ave been talking to Kai too."

The men fell silent and Virgil listened curiously.

"What about Kai?" Asked one of the men slowly, moving to shut the door silently.

Jasper smiled slowly. "So you know what I'm talking about. I wasn't sure who was safe."

Another nodded. "We know what you're talking about, Jasper. Ryan told us that you'd been swung to our side."

"This will be the first mutiny ever..." Mumbled one, picking up a notebook on the table before dropping it with uninterest. "An unprecedented action against the King's' closest men..."

Virgil stiffened in his blankets, catching the men's' attention. In a panic, he desperately thought for a reaction. Breathing in sharply, he let off a small fake sneeze.

"I think they're awake." Hissed Jasper.

"People can sneeze in their sleep." A man dismissed, clouting Jasper around the head with a rolled-up piece of paper.

Jasper spun around, punching the man hard on the shoulder. "Touch me again, Josh, and I'll make sure everyone thinks the mutiny's your idea when it goes wrong!"

Josh grunted, shoving Jasper back. "The mutiny won't go wrong. Remy and Emile are idiots, they'll never know what hit them!"

Jasper scowled, backing down as he stared absently into the cage. "Does the matured have a name?"

"This notebook is Emile's'," Said one, "And it has 'Anxiety' written in it a lot. A few other weird stuff too."

"Do they sound dangerous?" One asked.

The man who was holding the notebook shook his head. "Nah, Emile's' just written loads of reactions to different nicknames in here."

"He's such an idiot!" Snorted Jasper. "Do you know he tried to get his sister to join the expedition last year?"

That caused a peal of laughter to rise from the men. "Women can't join expeditions! They're almost as stupid as that coffee addict." Said Josh, leaning against the door. "Remy spends all his time flirting with Emile, I think he's actually forgotten about his job."

"Probably has. He managed to get that winged thing to like him, though." Another commented.

"Sheer, dumb luck," Jasper shrugged, crossing his arms, "Those two are incompetent!"

One of the smaller men, who hadn't spoken up yet, hesitated in the laughter. "But... They don't deserve to die in this mutiny, right?" The others swung around to look at him and he probably paled behind the visor. "I-I mean, surely we could just get them fired, right? We don't have to kill them!"

"Alex, I understand that you are new to this, but we have to kill them. We've tried peaceful methods and if they ever did get fired, they'd be straight at our King's' side." Another said.

Alex looked down at the ground. "I guess... We have to kill them..."

Jasper put his hand on Alex's' shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. Remy and Emile will die and then it won't be brought up again. Our King will find new men and we won't even be harmed."

The small one nodded. A small buzz made the men all jump and they started to walk out. Jasper was the last to leave and he glanced back into the room.

"No windows, one door. I'll tell Kai this'll be the spot..." He whispered aloud.

The moment the door echoed shut, Virgil was out of his cage. He paced the room in a panic. He'd just overheard a mutiny. And he had suspicions.

He didn't know their names. They'd told him, once, but he'd forgotten it completely. Now he was panicking. Virgil heard their voices approaching the door and he jumped from his blanket to the edge of his cage. The one who drank the brown liquid hated it when he was out his cage when they came in. This is the closest he could get without scaring them.

The nice one entered first and his eyes widened upon seeing Virgil up already. "Hey, kiddo, you're moving early!"

Virgil hesitated, the sudden warm feeling of friendship filling his veins, but he had to be scared. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Virgil commanded, "Shut the door, now!"

.:*:.

Remy looked at Emile and Emile looked at him. Anxiety was spooked, obviously, but he had the power in his voice that he possessed before they discovered calling him 'Kiddo' could change that. The prisoner glared at them when they didn't shut the door and it slammed shut by itself.

"What's going on, kiddo?" Emile tried.

Anxiety shook his head again. "Don't call me that, you can't call me that right now!"

Remy moved to his usual seat, spinning it around so he could lean forwards on the backrest.

"I need to know your names! Please, I don't know when they're gonna do it!" Anxiety was saying rapidly.

"W-We've told you our names, kid-Anxiety!"

"I forgot, tell me again!"

Remy cleared his throat. "My name's Remy and he's Emile. Why do you wanna know?"

This news did not calm down the prisoner. If anything, it made him worse. Anxiety appeared out of the cage instantly and began pacing. "Oh, damn. Oh, damn." He said to himself repetitively.

"What's going on, Anxiety?" Emile asked, moving to the pacing prisoner with his hands held forwards calmingly.

"They want to kill you! They're going to try to kill you!" Anxiety said desperately, pausing in his pacing to grab Emile's' forearms. "They're gonna kill you in here!"

Remy was standing in an instant. "Who's going to try kill us? What the hell is happening?"

"The men! The grey ones! Jasper! Mutiny! Kill you!" Breathed the prisoner fearfully. "They were talking about Kai and Ryan and Alex and Jasper and killing you!"

Emile tried to keep track of the names, frowning. "They've been none to not like us. A-Are you sure they said mutiny?"

Anxiety appeared at the desk, sitting on top of it as he held his head by his temples. "They were having a whole conversation about it! They wanna kill you!"

Remy turned to Emile with an open jaw. "I always knew Kai was rebellious but this is... a whole new level!"

"Mhm!" Emile's' voice cracked as he tried to agree. "At lease we've been given a bit of a warning!" Remy locked eyes with Emile and the smaller man just sagged with fear. "We're gonna die..."