Un-Chain

Dread settled in Uteu's stomach at Harvet's words. He was so sure that they were going to use Uti to against him. He never would have thought that Uti had been the actual target the entire time.

That dream, the one where he had followed Harvet, he had followed the conversation and had truly believed they would be after him. So why, why was it Uti?

He was the one that had offended the Syndicate wasn't he? The one that stole Grello from Undel was also him... While Uti... Uti was normal, she had nothing to do with Links and Chains.

A slip of information, something he had buried in the back of his head made itself known. The white whistle. Hadn't Julie mentioned something about Psyches being able to activate the whistle? He had completely disregarded that Uti would have needed magic to activate her whistle.

This wasn't how he thought it would go. She should have been normal. None of his siblings should have ever been exposed to something like this. Desperation crawled up Uteu's throat.

He rudely pushed the dove aside as he approached Harvet. He couldn't stop his hands from grabbing onto Harvet's shirt as he yelled at her.

"Tell me everything!"

Harvet stared at him emotionlessly. She had closed herself off once again and Uteu hated it. He had let this woman distract him and lower his guard. He had let her divert his attention and for the first time he truly hated that he was a Chained One.

Would he have ever let a stranger become so close to him otherwise? The fact that he had given her a chance at all, spoke of how much the bonds and connections were affecting his mindset. Like some type of primal urge that he could not control.

Uteu's face stiffened and blanked as he continued to stare at the woman. His hands began to tremble as he reached the limit of his patience. Pulling back his dominant hand, he punched Harvet in the face. Disgust settled over Uteu's face as he watched her hit the ground hard. The small bits of light still clinging to her form completely fizzled out and Uteu's vision was darkened once again.

"Sir, let me."

Uteu tried to stop his hands from shaking. He rubbed his knuckles to soothe them, surly enough hitting a Thew with b.a.r.e hands would have broken his bones without Grello's buffs. He nodded at the dove and took a few steps away from the cave and Harvet. It wouldn't do to set off any explosives by accident while he couldn't see.

He could hear the dove question Harvet and a few smacks that increased in strength when she didn't give any responses. Clenching his fists, he completely zoned out on whatever methods the dove used on Harvet. Uteu cringed at the desperate and unnatural need to save the woman. These fake feelings were truly bothersome.

Uteu shook his hair out of his face and took a deep breath. He couldn't judge the time and it was still far too dark to see anything.

He wasn't alone though was he?

"I can't see in the dark, do you have something that can help me see?" He asked the dove right as a grunt came from Harvet. He couldn't see Harvet's current state and was glad for it.

"Of course." The dove said as she walked over to him, her feet hardly made a sound despite her swift movements. She put a flash light into his hands before turning back to Harvet. He was quick to turn it on. He aimed it away from Harvet and observed the cave.

It was a very relatively small cave and the scratch marks and tracks around it hinted towards a bear. From what he could tell, it looked like it was used temporary and not as a permanent home.

He carefully went around the freshly dug holes and approached the mouth of the cave. The flashlight made the small dirt mounds incredibly obvious to the eye. Still, it would be very easy for him to slip up and accidentally set one off if he wasn't careful.

Vines wrapped around the side of the cliff that the cave was dug out of. They covered the entrance, preventing Uteu from seeing inside. As he got closer, a foul stench of stale sweat and rotting flesh hit his nose.

Uteu wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Uti was here at some point no matter how short and his heart ached again for her. Why did she have to go through this? He should have stayed with them. He could have... he could have done something.

Uteu heard a groan from the cave and a weak male voice once again called out for his sister. Anger once again clouded Uteu's judgement as he called out to Harvet.

With the coldest voice he could muster, "If you don't tell me everything, we could just set off the cave."

Uteu could hear a choked cry before Harvet furiously yelled back, "Don't you dare!"

"Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g speak! You were willing earlier! Why are you clamming up now!" Uteu angrily spat out as he aimed the flashlight at Harvet.

"I really... don't know. They told me to capture one of the twins, the girl. The... the Guild promised that my little brother would be let go if I did."

Uteu glared at Harvet and she shivered, "That was my mission! That's it!"

The dove gave Uteu a look, waiting for him to decide how to proceed. He stared coldly at the woman on the ground, one of Harvet's eyelids was swollen shut. The other eye, that one hazel eye, stared at him in desperation. He turned away to prevent himself from looking closer at her quickly forming bruises.

"Pick her up, let's go see inside of the cave first."

The dove nodded and she roughly pulled Harvet up. The woman wobbled for a second but gritted her teeth in determination. To Uteu, he felt she must care deeply for her little brother.

But... to give up Uti for her brother. He didn't know if he could forgive that. The dove shoved her forward and with another flashlight, the dove navigated through to the cave.

Uteu watched as they both wrinkled their noses at the smell, but they continued onwards without saying anything.

Harvet's face looked increasingly worried and elated at the same time. Uteu lifted the vines for the both of them and flashed the light inside.

All three of them gasped at the sight.

There was a small slope of a path downwards and then the cave rounded out to an uneven oval. There were plenty of scratch marks of a wild animal all over the walls. A pile of dried, rotten leaves sat on the right corner of the cave.

On the pile of dried leaves however, was a small shivering mass of flesh.

N.a.k.e.d with both dried and fresh blood running down his back. His skin was thin and dirty, pulled taut over bruised and misaligned ribs. He was clearly starved.

The cracked skin on his back looked heavily infected with puss oozing from many of the nearly black or swollen red wounds and cuts. A mop of tangled, filthy dark hair covered his face from view. He g.r.o.a.n.e.d and shivered weakly. His legs wavered back and forth weakly as if he were trying to get up.

Harvet sobbed and tried to scramble to his side but was stopped by the other woman.

Uteu gulped heavily. For six years the Liquidation Guild had free reign over this boy, was this what Uti's would end up like?

He waved at the dove to let go of Harvet. She carefully made her way over to her brother, mindful of the explosives.

Meekly she called out to him, since she was still bound she could not touch him.

"Jaren?"

The mass of flesh shuddered and rasped out, "Big... sister?"

"Yeah, it's me!" Despite her one swollen eye, tears dripped down from both of her eyes, and onto the dirt on the ground.

"We got out. We got out, Jaren... I finally saved you!"

He seemed almost oblivious to her words he wheezed weakly and tried to lift his head.

"There... there was a little girl."

Uteu and Harvet both froze when they heard his words. His hazel eyes were squinting into the light Uteu had flashed onto him as if unused to seeing something so bright.

Uteu subconsciously moved it away.

"She had... the prettiest green eyes. I could feel her Psyche too. Its strong, prem.a.t.u.r.e maybe. But... stronger than mine. She asked if I was going to be alright. She said... she said her brother Uteu was coming and that he'd save us all." Jaren had to take many breaks between his words as he sobbed.

"She... she took my place." His entire frame shook as he sobbed uncontrollably. The sound shook Uteu to his core. Why couldn't these two siblings make it easy for him to hate them?

He felt sympathy for these two.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" He found himself saying. He blinked, surprised at himself.

The dove looked hesitant. She glanced back at Harvet and Jaren. They looked oblivious as to what Uteu had just said.

The dove looked quite helpless and whispered that she would see what she could do. A sense of relief pinched at Uteu's sides.

And yet...

"How do I get to the Guild."

Just as he spoke, a bright light lit up the entire cave. The light was so blinding that Uteu had to close his eyes and cover them with his arm.

The dove cried out, "Teleportation array! Sir you need to get out!"

How? Uteu couldn't even open his eyes let alone see enough to navigate back outside the cave.

"Can't work without something equal." He could hear Jaren weak croaking voice. "Don't let him go, please big sister! Don't let what happened to us... never again."

He felt someone bump into him, nearly knocking him down.

"Ah... how fitting, a Drelden for a Drelden." Was the last thing he heard before he felt his entire body float and shift at high speeds.

While Uteu felt disoriented and could see many colors blurring before him, he couldn't help but feel that the voice sounded familiar somehow.