Page 51 of Repossess My Heart

“I’ll shut her door, but I need you to fucking climb. When you come to the end of the duct, do not go right, go left. Do you understand me, Reverie?”

“Y-yes but-“

“Take this and keep it close.” The handle of my plasma blade is warm from where it was pressed against his skin. It feels just as wrong and heavy as ever.

“You had this the whole time?” The words leave my mouth despite me not wanting them to. My heart jolts as he grips the opening, hauling himself up enough to slam his mouth into mine. His kiss is shattering, consuming and desperate…

That’s the part that… scares me?

Am I scared?

“It was enough to take me out. Figured it’d be worth keeping.” He smirks.

Fucking hell, he’s insane.

“Almost enough-“ my words end in a yelp as the door crashes open, snarls and brays filling the room as Nine is slammed back to the ground. Half hybrid dogs coming at him from all sides.

“Go!” He pants, his words compounded by yelps as he shoves and tosses the large metal dogs back. The broken edges of the escape hatch he made for me dig painfully into a body that shouldn’t be operational. I’m assuming he either injected or force fed me pills while I was out. My grip tightens as I hear my mom’s door being slid shut, followed by squelching flesh. When the need to know whose flesh is damaged becomes too strong, I brace myself on the opening leaning down to peek out.

The scream that leaves me I don’t recognize as my own, the violent snap of serrated metal teeth meet me more than halfway. The hound’s putrid hot breath assaulting every pore in my face. Its paws hook on the inside of the hole as I scramble backwards in the darkness. The sound of gunfire racks my eardrums until loud bands and my own rapid breath is all I can hear. My hand fumbles around in the dark as the hound’s head pops into the hole, still snapping and snarling indiscriminately. Blood and bits of flesh coat its shaggy dark fur and just when I’m convinced it won’t fit…

It does.

Ripping itself open to make it through.Suddenly I’m screaming again when its large hunkered form forces its way towards me. There’s no otherness now, no modified ability to help me as I swing down, the light of the plasma blade filling the small duct before it makes contact with the hound’s muzzle. Its lack of reaction is almost as startling as my sudden will to live. My boots scramble for traction as I shove myself back further into the cramped space. The metal of the duct dents each time the hound forces its way closer. The bright orange glow of my blade creates a disorienting strobe effect as I force it forward rapidly, in and out of the hound’s chest, neck, and head. My arms’ mobility in the tight space only allowing for shallow thrusts, even then the force of the blade hitting metal within the creature creates a bone deep vibration that makes my fingers fall numb. Breath leaves me in pants and grunts as my back slams into the end of the duct, the hound's teeth ripping the fabric of my pants. If it got flesh, I’m grateful I can’t feel it. My arm burns as I jolt it forward and up into the open mouth, crying out as the tips of its teeth poke my wrist and hand. When it sags it takes my knife with it, the blade powering off as it sinks to the hilt into the hound's skull. The tight confides allowing me just enough time to remove my hand before its jaw closes fully.

I’m plunged into darkness, the effect furthered by the remnants of my braid plastered to the sweat on my face. The sound of fighting from below doesn’t stop when Nine’s muffled voice finds me. “You’d better not be fucking dead!”

“I-I’m not!” I call back, second guessing if I just lied or not. My chest constricts as I scoot down, using my legs to push the hound further away from me. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, as if that’ll be the thing to convince me the walls aren’t shrinking around me. My chest doesn’t tighten when the edge of panic becomes a full-blown freak out. I’m gasping into the dark, whimpering even when I finally work myself around enough to pry open the jaws, ignoring the burn in my throat as the rank smell of its open mouth hits me again. By the time I’ve pried and wrenched the blade free, the inside of the duct has become slick with gore.

At least it’s easier to move in.

My chest is aching, my muscles trembling beneath bloody flesh, and I want nothing else but to escape the confined space. The feeling of fear might very well reach down to my core if I wasn’t so worried about Nine. I train my eyes on the dark endless looking tunnel that I started in, weighing if listening to him is even worth it. Desperately wanting to tell him I’d managed to feelsomething…

The fear he needed from me is here.

He can do it now.

A bubble of excitement pools in my gut as I roll to my left. Even knocking my head against the roof of the duct doesn’t kill my excitement as I inch my way down the narrow path. My elbows are raw as they drag along the metal casket, but I don’t mind a bit.

“I’m scared.” My laughter rips out of me violently as a peek of light finally hits my eyes, making me squint despite it being less than a pinprick. By the time I’m at the end of the tunnel, the last half having gone straight upwards I’m covered in my own sweat and… reluctant to leave. I laugh again when my fingers curl around the locked grate looking upward towards the sky.

If you can call it that.

The underside of floating ads and plumes of toxic smoke. I heard if you could see past the smoke, it's nothing but pipes and wires, the underside of the Above. My legs shake as I adjust my brace on the wall. The exposed skin on my open back is the main thing keeping me wedged here. I’m too grimy and too worn out to move. I glance down at myself and the meager light lets me know I look like a fucking mess. Soot, blood and sweat cover every ich of my bronze skin. It smells terrible. It’s so tight, way worse than the tube ever was.

I giggle again, my lips pulling up at the sound as my fingers find my own face. As if I could tell by touching the delicate space around my eyes if they’ve changed. They have to-

They did. They aren’t wrong now, I can feel it.

I’m so lost in my own musings I barely hear the pounding boots on the gravelly roof. Only the crunch of metal on metal pulls me from myself. My head snaps up so fast the tight space manages to pivot on itself. One of my own boots slips down the wall, sending me forward. My hands fly out to catch myself, my heart pounding in my chest when he catches me.

Damn.

Why’d you do that?

I don’t need to see him to know it’s his hands hauling me out of the duct. When a frustrated yell leaves me, Nine pauses, allowing the perfect opening as my head connects roughly with the side of his face. When that pressure returns to my eyes, I know he’s taken it from me.

Because now I know he’s okay. He’s safe…

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