Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 92: Back In My Arms

After a tiring five minutes of Mallix sprinting faster than he had ever ran before in order to keep up with his youthful guide, finally the end goal was in sight. Luckily for them, they had been able to easily maneuver themselves past the scarce number of Hounds roaming the halls.

As Mallix turned a corner he could hear a faint noise coming from the direction they were headed. Not one that seemed dangerous but one that seemed scared. The closer he ran the louder and clearer the yelling became. Before he knew it his heart was pounding hard enough to melt its way out of his chest when he could make out their scared cries, "LET ME OUT!"

'Kaila...' he picked up his own pace getting ahead of his guide. Letting Kaila's cries guide him, Mallix managed to find the source of the noise. He threw his mask off desperately pressing his ear against the door he had come to. Inside he could hear his baby girl sobbing hard. He wanted to get her out of the room immediately but after realizing the door was locked he growled lowly.

"Kaila, baby! Daddy's here!" He shouted into the room as he backed up loosening his tense body. Getting a running start he slammed his entire body weight into the door. Rather than then door falling all he was left with was Kaila sobbing even harder and a sore arm.

Trying again he backed up against the opposite side of the hall, getting into position he was about to charge again before the masked figure stepped in front of him with their arms stretched out. "What are you thinking?! Are you insane?! I could hear you from a mile away! Your going to draw attention to us if you try that again!"

"I can hear her inside!" He protested about to prove his point further until his guide just took a step closer to him with their hands on their hip.

"If you had waited, I would have been able to tell you that I.Have.The.KEY!" They announces holding a cluster of keys dangling in front of his face.

Mallix threw his hands up in annoyance knowing he was in the wrong. Using this time to wipe the sweat from off of his forehead he eagerly waited for Alex's contact to finish fumbling through their keys trying to find the right one. After a long three tries Mallix heard the lock click and slowly cracked the door open.

Looking into the room Mallix felt a flame in him ignite again. In the far corner of the room Kaila was sat up against the wall with her knees to her chest bawling her eyes out. As both men began to enter, Mallix held his hand up stopping the masked figure. "Just...just give me a minute."

As the contact went to protest against this waste of time Mallix just gave them a look to silence their worry. Just nodding they exited the room shutting the door behind them to give them their space.

Slowly approaching Kaila, Mallix kneeled down in front of her. "Kaila..." he gently said unsure of how well his little girl was doing. He placed his hand on her knee but was heartbroken when she pulled away crying harder. "Precious, it's daddy." He tried again this time louder so the little girl could hear him from behind her tears.

Watching her head lift up slowly he almost fell backward when she forcefully threw herself into his embrace immediately digging her face into the crook of his neck. Using this as a welcome he wrapped his arms around her noticeably smaller figure holding her close.

"Y-you...c-came!" She hiccuped into his neck squeezing her grip on him. The small statement nearly crushed Mallix. The fact that Kaila could even think he wouldn't show up was hurtful.

"Of course I came. I'm sorry it took so long."  He reassuringly said rubbing small circles on her back. Pushing her so he could see her face he kissed her pink cheeks repeatedly. One thing that he was surely happy about was that he was beyond thankful not to see any noticeable marks left on her body. "What did these monsters do to you?"

Immediately after he asked Kaila's demeanor  changed. She got more reserved and tensed thinking back to all the horrific encounters she had during her short time here. Without her even knowing it her cries had become so hard she was coughing. Mallix rocked them side to side trying to provide some comfort to his darling girl.

"Shh, precious you're okay. Look whatever they did to you is never, and I mean never, going to happen again. Me and mommy are here to protect you now." Kaila leant into his body not wanting to be separated, which Mallix completely understood.

"Promise?" She asked looking up at his blue eyes.

"I promise you. Nothing will ever hurt you again." He pressed his lips against her forehead rubbing her arm.

Kaila appeared to be calming down in the moment, but before Mallix knew it her bottom lip was trembling and she looked as if she had something to say. "What is it honey?" He wiped his thumb against her flushed cheek.

"I-is...i-is..." there was an audible gulp as she looked down gripping tightly onto the hem of his uniform, "...i-is m-mommy s-safe?"

He just smiled nodding his head. Seeing the relief on Kaila's face was priceless, the way her body relaxed and to see a smile on her face was a sight he dearly missed. "She's with Uncle Alex waiting for us outside."

"Can we go to her?" Kaila asked both wanting desperately to see Lain again, but also because she eagerly wanted to get out of this place and forget about her entire experience here.

"Of course we can." As Mallix stood he repositioned Kaila comfortably on his hip. Pushing back the stray hairs covering her face he pressed a quick kiss onto her cheek again.

As he walked out and shut the door behind him, the masked figure just stared at them. "Take us home." Mallix broke the silence but the figure didn't look away. For another minute they stayed staring at the duo, mainly at Kaila, but also how she appeared in his arms.

Snapping them out of their trance they nervously looked around before leading the newly reunited duo to the exit. Unbeknownst to Mallix, while he had his reunion with Kaila, Alex's contact had figured out a different and quite frankly faster route to an escape.

At this point Mallix didn't care if anyone saw him without a mask or not, he was providing his little girl comfort allowing her to see his face, and he wasn't about to take that away from her. Running through the white labyrinth once again they were approaching a singular door at the end of a very long stretched hall.

So far everything was going according to plan. But it was just that. Everything was going according to plan...
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Let me know what you think about their reunion. Thanks Lexx signing off