Jailhouse Blues

Dimitri could nearly hear the words of wisdom that had been given to him for this quest. That in times of great panic, remember to breathe before you remember to panic. It had been somewhat helpful for him, he found himself on his toes, ready for anything, rather than shaken. He didn't blame Dominika and Lia for remaining passive, but he was surprised. Dominika and Niko seemed like they were supposed to be around each other all day every day, and Lia wasn't the type to leave anyone, not even the most vile of humans, if it was her choice. It appeared that Lia and Dominika had taken the threats seriously. He wasn't angry at them, they did the right thing to trust that him and Niko could get out on their own.

Christian was officially getting ready to accept fate at this point. Lennie had continued the mission, and he was relieved that she was looking out for everyone before sacrificing them for him. But the fact of the matter was clear, that his painkillers were gone and Christian only had so many hours before the effects of withdrawal would kick in. If he was going to do anything, it was going to have to be now. The trio was being pushed rapidly, and all Christian could do was listen. He could hear seven sets of feet walking on padded dirt.

Then, quickly, a loud metal creeking could be heard from in front of them. Then Christian could feel a sharp push from behind, and started to fall. He couldn't see and couldn't catch himself, but the fall ended short some 18 feet. Christian quickly came to his knees, bringing his bound arms over his head and yanking the blindfold from his head. The other two boys followed quickly, into what was a massive pit, with other men in it, who didn't look too happy.

Originally when he had been asked by Dominika to go on this quest he thought it was risky and that perhaps someone else should go or someone else should do the quest entirely. He didn't want anything to get between their dream, but at the same time they had decided to step up and try going to camp for a year for once. There had still been a feeling inside of him from the start that told him it probably wouldn't be good for them to go, but she wanted to do it and he respected her choice on that. At first his thoughts were that maybe he could just decline and she would take someone else, but the thought of not being there for her when she needed him had finally won him over and he confirmed with the blonde girl that he would indeed go with her.

The whole time with being in the presence of the Amazons Niko was slightly enraged, but not enough to let it get the best of him. He kept thinking of ways that he could get out of their situation, but none of them could work. The blindfold was probably smart thinking on their part because if Niko could see, he could have iced over some of the people in the room, but it was too hard to tell where everyone was with the blindfold. The Russian stayed relatively quiet the whole time not letting out a word or even a sound, he didn't know what he was dealing with and he heard the conversation before they were taken away. Part of his heart sank though, knowing that Dominika didn't try harder to get them back, and that they would be stuck here, but at the same time he understood.

When he fell onto the ground he just stayed there for a few seconds before taking his blindfold off and looking over to Dimitri and the other boy before quickly noticing they were not alone in the pit. Maybe that would be a good sign, that those guys would be taken first, maybe the did the whole first in first out thing, but it was hard to tell with these people, Niko had absolutely no information on them besides half of their stuff now belonged to them. "At least they didn't take the clothes off our backs, I suppose." The son of Khione said make a light joke about a very bleak situation. He didn't have the most well timed sense of humour, but at least he was keeping it together for the moment.

By the time Christian had gotten his blindfold off he could see everyone on the other side of the pit eyeing them. There were whispers, which changed to words, some people even began yelling. It didn't take long before the joke the one boy made had gone sour, though Christian wasn't about to laugh at it either way, given the situation they were in. He felt a world of anger at the world for putting him here without his painkillers, surrounded by people on borrowed time. He knew they would use him and the others for anything if it meant they had a chance at living through this.

One man had come over at a fast pace, and he looked like he'd been here for over a week. His clothes were tattered and he looked absolutely feral. Christian struggled at his binds, but they just weren't going to come off that quick. He weaved away from the man charging, who he'd only noticed was even barefoot in this cell of stone and pebble. When the man ran passed him into the wall, Christian did the only thing he could think of and use the binds as a means of defense. Christian threw his arms over the head of the man and used all the force he could to place the binds around his neck. He began chocking him out, but the second he had the height advantage, Christian used his body to force the man's head hastily into the stone wall, which instantly lowered the resistance Christian was getting.

Dimitri had just finished forcing his binds off while he watched the scene unfold in front of him. "Nikolai, we gotta get him." Dimitri didn't exactly like the idea of it, but he also knew what was right in this situation.

Everything had moved quickly down in the pit. It was hard to wrap your brain around it. All of Niko's senses were going crazy with hearing the whispers and the words to seeing the cobblestone around them. It was almost as if it were a sensory overload, he had began to try to free his hands, and in that moment was when the other boy who had been thrown in with them had been charged by another male down in the pit and at this point there was a fight going on. Niko had never been to jail, but based on the things that he had heard it sure seemed like something you would see in a jail movie or something of the sort.

The moment Niko heard the southern accent, he knew it was Dimitri speaking. Niko wasn't sure exactly what to do, but anything was better than just standing still and watching. "Hey!" Niko called out as he began to make his way over to where the one guy had been. "I don't think we should be fighting each other right now, we could be using this energy to focus on getting out." The son of Khione said as he began to try and break up the fight between the two.

Christian could feel his better judgement slipping from his fingers as he continued on the path he'd chosen. He felt sharp rage cut through him like sharpened steel through flesh. Anger at the situation he'd found himself in, and how unfair it was, like it always was. Whether it was that Christian had to face the reality of the situation, or that he'd finally hit his limit, was just an irrelevant piece of the circumstance. Christian kept the man's weight held up by his neck and slammed his head against the stony wall once again. This time blood could be seen coming from his head.

Christian still didn't feel done with him, despite the low moan coming from the body that wasn't even resisting anymore. Christian lifted the body up again. All he could hear in his ears were the remnants of sound-waves behind the ringing in his ears. Then Christian felt the hand on his shoulder, and Christian swatted it away by throwing his shoulder away as tough as he could.

Christian had finally gathered his bearings, back to where he had lost them. He could feel the grooves in the man's neck from the bindings holding it up. There was hardly any life emitting from the man's body at all, and Christian hardly made it a priority to look back at the two he was thrown in with before he removed his arms from around the man's neck, where the body dropped, still breathing. "Friends, or enemies?" Christian asked.

It was almost heart breaking to watch the scene. The guy who had decided to charge and put himself in the situation that he was currently in had given up his fight fairly soon in, the guy didn't seem to have even tried, in a lot of ways Niko could feel himself begin to regret deciding to come, to know that this is what it would have all came down to, but he knew if he wanted anyone to be in here out of the group, he'd rather it be him than Dominika or even Lia. Lia was far too nice to be in a place like this, so he would gladly take her place any day.

As the guy fell to ground Nikolai watched as the guy who had been behind the one that dropped had been asking if they were friends or enemies, and honestly Niko was fairly sure he would want to be on his better side than his worst side. Not that he thought he would lose to a fight with the guy, but it would be better for everyone involved if people could just get along.

"Friends." Niko said simply and didn't elaborate or say anything more. He didn't need to and he didn't need to explain his choice to the guy, he would if the question came up, but for now it was just going to be short and sweet answers, he was pretty much taking a page out of Dominika's book, he had remembered the first time they had met. She used very short answers and cold words, often times the word 'whatever' had came up.

Christian hated looking at what had happened. He didn't regret it because how could he know how far the man would have gone to get him? But the manner was brutal, and clearly Christian hadn't had to go as far as he did. Christian reached for his face and when he withdrew his hand there was blood on it, which meant that the man was going to have some serious damage done to him. Christian stepped back, giving a look to the other two. There wasn't much he could do to fix it.

"Christian Moreau, legionnaire of the Fifth Cohort of the Roman Legion." He hadn't even bothered to look at the two he was talking about, his view was instead fixed on the man who wasn't moving anymore. "Who're y-" Christian started to talk, before a sharp female voice was heard from above.

"Clear the opening, now!" She demanded. Christian and Dimitri looked up, and there must have been half a dozen women with spears. Of course Christian had to recognize one of them as one of his pilums. They stood by the opening that they had been thrown in, and Christian took it upon himself to resist. He took a step forward, but then a hand hit his shoulder again.

"Hey." Dimitri tried to usher the attention of Nikolai and the Roman. "We all need to follow their orders. We gotta." He told them, before tilting his head back to the others in the pit. "They need us. They'll die without us."

Niko had respect for Dimitri and his values, but it didn't mean that he always agreed with them. Sure they should follow the orders of the women up above, but where would it get them in the end? Killed most likely. Once they were used for every last bit that they were needed for they would be tossed to the side like they were the unwanted food on the plate.

The boy looked around at everyone in the pit, it seemed like there were a variety of people in there and a variety of what they looked like in terms of cleanliness and upkeep. Niko just wanted to figure out a plan to get them out of there, but the between the legionnaire and Dimitri now before extending his hand out to Christian.

"Nikolai Kazanov, son of Khione." The Greeks didn't have all the fancy titles like the Romans did, that was for sure nor did they have the dividing up into different cohorts, it was just by your god parent. Niko had always been interested in learning more about the Roman system and sometimes wondered if he would be better suited off there.

The pit cleared back, Christian was in particular observant of how obedient the other men were. They were either this obedient from the start, or something happened to each one that made them decide they wouldn't break the rules again. All Christian and Dimitri could do was watch what was unfolding by the entrance they were thrown in from, where the man Christian attacked still layed, absolutely bloody and droopy.

The entrance swung open, and a small line of spears came through the openings in the bars by it. Two women came down, and Christian took note that none of the men tried to charge her. Everyone remained still, while the two lifted the limp man up and handed him back up to the surface, then they climbed up with some help, and the entrance closed and no words were said at all during the abduction.

"Dimitri Midnight." Dimitri offered to the Roman. Who gave the two who had introduced themselves a nod. Now wasn't the time for handshakes, though Dimitri felt time was all they had.

"Okay, Dimitri, Nikolai. These people clearly have been conditioned to not fight back. So, they question is, how do they do it, and how do we stop it from happening to us?"

Watching how everything played out made it almost seem like clockwork to Niko. All the men in the pit had just obeyed without batting an eyelash. How was it that someone would just obey every word? What happened if you stepped out of line? Niko was wondering if they knew what would happen or if it were speculation and fear tactics that women above them were using. It seemed like such a surreal thing to even imagine that something like this had existed. When the area closed up again and everyone was free to move he looked to the other two.

"We just need to be very careful I guess, and watch each others backs? Maybe we can get some information out of them." Niko offered as he spoke quietly. He wasn't sure how long they would survive and how long they would be lasting in this pit, it was hard to say. Some people looked like they had been here for quite some time.

The way that the men looked in regards to the females almost reminded him of the way Dominika had been looking at him recently. Just cold and reserved, but a small hint of fear and just wanting to drop dead. It was a scary realization that his mind clicked the two together.

"Do we have any idea on if we could maybe get out or not?"

Dimitri listened to Nikolai's input, but Christian was quick to shrug it off. He didn't know anything about them, but he wasn't sure they were the type to be in a prison pit.

"I don't think they're gonna want to talk to me." Christian gave a haphazard response in reference to what happened earlier. That was to say, he didn't know the culture of the place. For all he knew these people were split up into groups or gangs, and what he did was a favor to someone in there. But Christian wasn't ready to start asking questions. He did begin to feel brief sweat from his head, and his chest dropped a mile. He was running out of time.

"You two ask around, see what you can get." Christian didn't bother to look at them. He wasn't stupid. They came and took that man once he was useless, and when Christian began to go through the deep symptoms, he'd be next. "We'll do it my way after that." He said, solemnly.

Niko didn't feel completely comfortable in the situation that they were in or even period. He felt like everyone was just in spite or dead inside at this point, well except for Dimitri. Dimitri was the only person he felt somewhat comfortable with. He didn't know the guy super well, but he was nice enough from what he knew. Christian was beginning to say that they could do it his way after that, but Niko looked between him and Dimitri.

"Well, what's your way?" He asked the Roman. Nikolai wasn't entirely sure on what his deal was and what he had wanted to accomplish. He just knew that they should at least all work together or maybe that was just what he had been used to with his career choice of having to constantly work with someone.

"We should stick together."

Christian just looked at his hand, which hand blood from the man's neck on it, before flashing it to the two Greeks. He didn't want to say it was his way, especially if anyone heard it. "If it's us or them, then, it's us." Christian just gave a shrug, leaving it at that. It was an ugly situation.

"It isn't." Dimitri replied. "It ain't us or them. It can be all of us." He argued. "They're here, same way we are, right?" He said sharply. "Besides, we gotta get out and find Dominika and Aurelia. They need us. We need you too." Dimitri insisted to him.

Christian just gave a nod; there was no feeling in it. Christian knew that he was already on borrowed time. Worse, it wasn't even worth explaining. Even if they made it out of this, without the painkillers Christian would still die out here. He didn't see a real way out. Not for him.

"Okay." He said. "We should question people. Can you two do that for me?" Christian simply asked.

Niko was now in one of the most awkward situations. He could understand Christian's points but he could also understand Dimitri's and he didn't know what to say or do at this point. It was a hard choice to make on which to go with, but it all eventually leveled itself out either way. Christian told them to go question people and he'd do something else.

The son of Khione looked over to the other boy, and it just seemed like something was off. He didn't know Christian at all, and not even personally, but something just didn't feel right, but he wasn't going to push it. They all had a stressful time these last few hours and pushing someone to their limits wasn't going to do anything for anyone. He looked back over to Dimitri and shrugged his shoulders.

"We should get going on the asking." He said.

Dimitri gave Nikolai a nod and walked off. There were a sizeable amount of men around, and it wasn't exactly easy to just pick one. So Dimitri approached one sat back at a stony wall.

"You wanna get outta here?" Dimitri asked him, before he looked up.

"Not gonna happen." The voice said solemnly.

"We can try." Dimitri insisted. "Let us try for you, just answer some things for me, please." Dimitri pleaded.

"We're all going to die. You're wasting your effort." He plainly said.

"It's only wastin' if it's spent doin' nothin'." Dimitri insisted. "What'dya have to lose?"

The man looked up to him, giving a disappointed shake of his head. "Okay." He said, clearly out of patience. "Ask. Ask and be so disappointed when you don't like what you hear."

"Well, those people, they came down to take that man. D'ya think it was to take care of him?"

"No." The voice shot back. "If you leave, you don't come back. You're gone, for good. The only men that have been come back had a needle jammed in them, and-" The angry voice halted. "You're gonna die, kid. I'm gonna die.

"Do they blindfold the ones that have gone up?" Christian asked, which had several angry looks go his way.

"No." He answered back. "But they always go next. The only one left is Mark." He gestured at a man sitting solemnly in a corner. "He's dead soon."

Niko was about to go off and ask someone else some questions while Dimitri was asking this one guy, but after overhearing the conversation about what happened and how low on life the guy seemed to be, he wasn't too sure about it. It didn't sound good. But at least maybe they could get the information out of the other guy on what happened if he was even willing to speak.

The Russian walked about to the guy that was named Mark and crouched down beside him. "Your name is Mark right?" He asked before looking over to the others. "What can you tell us about what's up there?" He asked the guy in front of him, and honestly he wasn't even sure if he'd be getting an answer at any point.

"I can tell you I'm dead." The guy simply replied. His hands covered the sides of his head. He couldn't even begin to process that this was the end. "The stuck a needle in me, and the only reason I'm alive right now is because they took the guy your guy almost killed. Now I'm next." He said, shakily.

Christian and Dimitri followed suite and approached the man. "Did'ya see what's up there? We can get'cha outta this, but we need to know everything we can."

"There's a guard tower and gate right outside this pit, a stock room, a pavilion, and some other buildings." He was shaky still, but he clearly wanted to live, and if this gave him even a chance, he wanted to take it. "They brought me out to the pavilion and stuck a needle in me and dragged me back. I saw the redheaded lady leaving with some others and another man from here. But- the gates run on a crank, they only open and close with someone at the controls. And the walls are straight, there's no scaling them." He had a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"Is there a pond? A lake?" Dimitri asked him.

"I- I don't think so- I saw a well! Just south of this cell." He said.

"Do you know how to use water?" Christian asked.

"I do." Dimitri smiled at Christian placing a hand on Christian's shoulder, before approaching Nikolai. "We work together on this, we can get out of this pit next time one of them comes to get one've us." Dimitri announced to the pit.

Christian could feel his hands beginning to shake involuntary. It wasn't something that was unmanageable for the moment, but he knew the bulk of it was coming. He'd felt withdrawal before, and worry consumed him as he could feel the sweat begin to pile on his brow despite the cold air of the north.

"I'll cut you a deal." Christian announced. "We all work on getting out of here, I'll hold the crank, get everyone out of here." Christian said. "Those pills you heard about were mine. I'm already on borrowed time. Even if I made it out, I'm just dead weight out there anyway. Lennie and your people need you. There's nothing more important than the Moon Chariot."

It took Niko awhile to process exactly what was meant by the needle being stuck in them. It seemed odd that someone would be so shaken by it, but when he realized he felt a heavy weight in his heart. No one should have to go through that. To know that you got taken, got the needle, and got thrown back until it was time for you to go and never come back. He only assumed that they got killed or something.

When they started to devise a plan to get out of the place, Niko looked over to Christian. "You are not dead weight. I can pull the crank, I can try and hold it in place with some ice and we can all get out. Every single one of us." He said looking around the room before he landed back on Christian. He wasn't going to let him stay here, even if he was going to have withdrawal. You don't leave any man behind.

"Thanks, comrade." Christian tried to be light-hearted. He pretended he was talking to Lauren, but it only felt bittersweet. He thought about the fact that he'd never hear Lauren playfully tease him again. "You don't get what withdrawal is like. It's the most painful thing you can go through. And Mark doesn't even know where their infirmary is, so it has to be far from the gate. Besides, they-"

"Hey stop, you don't know what you're talkin' 'bout, we can beat this-" Dimitri cut Christian off. He was with Nikolai. They made it here together and they needed to leave here together.

"I don't want to die." Christian's voice carried in a stern tone. "I want to live. There's people I want to see. Things I want to say. Problems I want to solve. But none of that is going to happen." He was angry at the world for the situation he was in. "In an hour I won't be able to walk. All I'll be capable of is screaming in pain while a bunch of tall warrior women wander through the woods looking for us. Then you'll have to leave me anyway"

"I've never had a chance to do anything worthwhile. Save anyone who needed it, participate in anything worth it. I've spent all my years in the legion being threatened to be kicked out by my Centurions. I only got sent on this quest by chance." Christian lied, it was one of his best talents, and he'd gone so long without needing it. "The more time we waste up there, every second, is another one in here that's dead. Because they outnumber us, big time. In gear and people. And all of these people have families. Parents. Siblings. Children. I have none of those things."

"This is my only chance to do anything worthwhile. For anyone to look up to me. If I don't do it now, I die out there, and I died without doing anything worth remembering. I won't let you rob me of that." Christian declared. His skin was already beginning to turn pale. He could feel his eyes becoming heavy. "And if the Moon Chariot isn't back soon, that's it, that's millions of people dead as a result. It's easy for us to die together thinking we should die trying. It's hard to do the right thing. So go. Go because we don't have a choice. Go because our people are up there and need you." He pleaded.

"If you want to help, find me paper. Anything to say goodbye to the few people worth saying it to."

The whole feeling of the room had shifted from hopelessness to some hope to just gloom. It seemed so glum and that there wasn't much to do. The words that Christian had shared, struck a chord in his heart a bit to know that you had a problem with addiction so much that now you knew the withdrawals you'd have would be detrimental to your well being. He had a mixture of feelings through the whole thing. He didn't know what to say or what to do in the exact moment. Just listening to him and thinking about his own life. He never gave thought to life being that way, he knew he himself would have things he felt were left unsaid, and he could sympathize with him on some degree.

"You can pull the crank." He stated finally. He didn't want to rob Christian of his moment. He seemed like he just needed this one piece of sanity opposed to everything else that was around. Niko was about to look around in the jail to see if he could find any paper as per his request, but before he did he stopped in his tracks still. "You can do what you need to, but I am going to do what I want to do too. I am going to be waiting outside of that gate for you no matter what. You cannot stop me. I trust my partner to get that chariot, but yours will need you. I will do whatever it takes and you are not changing my mind. I will find your paper though." Niko said as he began to walk away and search what he could for some paper.

Christian gave a solemn head shake to Nikolai. "I've always thought I was afraid to die." Christian said. "But, if that was true, what the hell would I be doing out here? Y'know? I think I'm just scared of dying for nothing. And this is my only chance to die for something." He got out. "I'm not coming, Nikolai." Christian held back tears that were coming out of his tired eyes.

"Hey, there's gotta be another way-" Dimitri nearly pleaded with him. He hated everything about this situation. How could it come to this? Leaving an ally behind to die?

"There's not, Dimitri." Christian looked at him pleadingly. "You don't know what it's like to spend your whole life addicted to something, and always looking for something to take it's place. Then finding that there's nothing." Christian was holding back tears by this point. He tried to step back, but Dimitri embraced him. Christian didn't know him, or anything about him. But here he was, alone. Everyone he loved was days away, except for one who was probably having as hard a time as him, so he accepted the embrace and returned it. It felt real.

"That won't be necessary." A man said to Nikolai, before turning to Christian. "I don't think this is going to work." The man admitted. He held a hand out of old parchment to Christian. "Me and my dad came out looking to document this forest a week ago. I don't have a pen, but, I can give this. If it gives me even a chance of telling my mom what happened, it's worth it."

"I wouldn't be able to hold a pen straight anyway, so..." Christian let out a shrug. "Thank you for this." Christian let the rest of it go to that. He took the sheets of old dusty parchment from the man, before finding his way to a wall and falling off of his feet. His legs felt so good not supporting his weight. He wondered if this is what dying itself felt like. His head felt dizzy until he was finally sitting against the cold, stony wall, which felt good against his back.

"Just give me five minutes to say what I need, then we do this." Christian said. Everyone watched him like he was crazy. Maybe they thought he was about to write with his blood or something. Christian was thankful, for once, of Mercury, and this one gift he had. Christian placed his index paper and began whispering. He could feel the energy sap out of him far more than usual, but this meant everything. He was going to keep going until there was no more parchment left.

Christian just seemed really dull at this point and felt like there no hope for him. Niko didn't agree with that and clearly neither did Dimitri. He wanted to do something to help, but he already said what he had promised, he was going to be there no matter what and Christian couldn't tell him differently. That just the fact. He wasn't leaving him behind. Even if it meant they both died, it wasn't happening and he made his mind up right then and there.

"Dimitri, we should do something about this." He whispered over to the other Greek as Christian was over doing up his letters.

"What if they can't get the chariot without us?" Dimitri finally proposed. He was ashamed of himself, but had commited to making this point. No matter how much of a painful thing it was to do. "What if you and I are just that final piece've man power that's needed to finish it? What if that's true, and we stay here, just so we don't have to feel guilty?" Dimitri told him with a conflicted look.

"Then the Moon Chariot is gone, and we run outta light. Run outta ways to see the monsters, then maybe everyone dies. Not just Dominika and Lia and us, but everyone who isn't in Camp right now. And you did this all for her." Dimitri reminded Nikolai. "She might not have the moon tomorrow night without us." Dimitri finished.

Christian rose to his feet, which was incredibly difficult. He'd even said in his letter to Rowan that the thought of standing on his own two feet terrified him. He'd managed by using a wall for support, but he was on the edge of everything. He didn't have much time left to be useful, and so he forced himself to stand with so support. He held other the letters inbetween the two. "Will you give these to Lennie? She'll be with your people. She'll know who to give these to."