Dreams of Capture (Catch 22) (Or, what I wrote during third hour today)
Dreams of Capture
Darkness surrounds him… It is silent except for the far away sounds of policemen, baying and crowing their delight and rage like hunting dogs.
Ruby red flash of light, what was it? Wait for a second, fingers hovering over the elaborate necklace. Nothing….
Glance around, looking for the enemy. Pause. Good, he’s not here, don’t have to hurt little blue hair. Don’t want to hurt him, knows him too well….
Have to grab the necklace, avoid capture, be safe, get home, be at a safe place, soon…
(Twisting, he murmurs softly, unintelligible words. Metal clinks gently against metal as he moves...)
The jewel necklace is safe now, the Lucid Jewel, hidden in the thick feathers of his wings. Won’t hurt anyone else…
Look around again; they’re still chasing the other him, the true daemon… Pause as sounds of police stop. Must have given them the slip…
Smirk. They never learn, never will. He’s too good, the best thief of his family….
(He whimpers, long hands twitching, still caught in the dream-memory-nightmare, unable to awaken. Unable to make it stop…
Hubris, pride, that was his downfall, his pride, his sin…)
“I found him!”
Sudden shout, the scramble of many bodies.
“What?!” Eyes wide with shock, he glances back. It’s not blue hair, not even the Inspector. It’s gray uniforms, and shine of shattered moonlight on metal.
Handcuffs.
He begins running, avoiding the traps easily, but they’re still chasing him.
(Fine boned features warp into a manic snarl of fear and sudden anger. Can’t catch him, won’t get him!)
Many shouts echo through the closed halls, ecstatic cries.
“We’ve got him now, men!”
No, they don’t have him yet, even though a slow panic is rising, mixing with fear and the adrenaline rushing through his veins.
They’ve cut off almost every escape, except one…
Need to get to the roof, need to get away…
Flash of light catches his eye. There, open door! Freedom!
Jump through the door, NO, wait it’s a trap, stumble backwards, try to stop, get away, it’s a trap, getawayfromme!
(Curled into a ball now, he can’t move anymore, can barely breathe; the chains are too tight, cutting him as the memory-nightmare continues…)
Hands grab him, violent hands, eager to catch hold and tear, rip off the glamour that protects him… Something wraps around his throat, cold metal, a collar, cutting through his magic…
Pain shoots through him, making him scream an inhuman shriek… His wings are burning away… Black feathers fall in flaming scraps of angeldown, the magic that sustained them gone…
A ruby red jewel chimes as it hits the gravel covered roof….
“This is the real one, Inspector…” A dark shadow speaks, turns away. “I expect you know what to do with him…?”
(Please, let this be but a dream…)
Can’tgetawayhavetorunhavetohidehavetodosomething-!
Memory sparks, giving him a way to get out, to get free; warnings, many many warnings, too dire, and too repeated for him to ignore at this point…
‘Reach for the vial…Reach for the vial…’
He reaches, fingers tangling with the slender cord around his neck, lifts the tiny vial to his lips, swallows the bittersweet liquid, keeps trying to fight off the waves of agony and hands….
Hears a gray blur shout, panicked, “Inspector! He swallowed something!!”
Can’t hear the answer, heart is pounding too fast, body throbbing in time… He’s burning as his wings burned, growing hotter and hotter, the magic in his blood and DNA igniting, setting him on fire even as he floated away…
Can’t hear the answer, but feels something pry his mouth open, fingers being shoved down his throat to make the liquid come up, preventing him from dying.
Too weak to fight anymore, he’s forced down, down to his knees, head bent forward by a brutal hand gripping his hair, not letting go as acid burns his esophagus, the fires raging in his body dying as abruptly as they began…
(Please...)
Handcuffs clink into place around his wrists. Cloth is wrapped around his body to keep him from escaping as he shivers in reaction to the sudden cold. He vaguely realizes that he’d be hypothermic for a while, wonders if his captors know that…
Victorious cheers split the night air.
“We got him! We caught Koku Yoku!”
Barely conscious, almost completely blind from pain and tears, he simply lies where he fell as the officers around his prone form celebrate. Thoughts echo in his mind, faces, facts, random memories tumbling through him.
“I’m sorry...” He whispers to the faces, just before he falls into the blackness completely. “I’m so, so sorry...”
From the shadows, someone watches as the thief collapses, tears spilling from the closed eyes.
Lips twitching in anticipation, the shadow murmurs, “Soon, Koku Yoku, I will have you...”
(Abruptly, the dreams stop, leaving the captive thief peaceful for a rare moment... Before they start again, with no end in sight...)
EDITED January 10, 2007 @ 11: 39
This is the final version, currently posted on FF.Net as a teaser for Catch 22/Double Bind/Whatever I'm calling it now..