Unchained Bonds: Sense of Safety

Unchained Bonds Arc

Sense of Safety

From his view in the sky, Haru could confirm what he was seeing was indeed true. Nodding his head in confirmation and then to Blakeley, he made the announcement to those on foot below him.

"Hey! Blanco, you guys, I found them!" he shouted. "They're down by that pile of red rocks, and by the looks of it they don't seem to be moving!"

"Right! Close in on them, we're right behind you!" Blanco responded. True enough, the two adversaries lay a distance apart from each other by a pile of rubble. Alejandro was splayed out on his back with his eyes closed, his long blue hair freed from its tie. Both his arms looked battered, but if one looked closely they would be able to see that his right arm was the limb that was truly broken.

Gia's injuries were a different story. Unlike her opponent, she lay on her stomach with her arms stretched out above her. Nonetheless, they were both bruised, bloody and unconscious from overuse of their powers.

"Tch, what an idiot." Axel cursed under his breath as he picked Gia up and scanning her injuries. "They were really fighting to the death huh?"

"Well, that's my brother for you," Blakeley awkwardly laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "He's a "my way or highway" kind of guy. I knew this wouldn't be an easy fight for either of them, and dare I say it looks like they had fun."

"Oh my god!" screamed Sienna. Instantly, everyone rushed over to where she stood and gasped in horror.

"Its-!" Ethos stammered.

"A-Abraham..." Blanco finished, trying to hide his grief behind his poker face. Naturally, he knew he was failing when he felt cool tears stream down his face. He fell to his knees beside his best friend and sobbed.

"Okay, everyone make some room!" Blakeley quickly commanded, pushing herself to the corpse. Placing her hands over his heart, she pumped some of her healing magic into him to at least bring it a beat. After a few attempts, she leaned down to his chest to see if anything had changed. Suddenly, she gasped and gave her allies a thumbs up.

"He's going to be okay! But he should still be taken to a hospital." She explained, panting. "I healed him enough for his heart to beat once more, but there's no telling if he'll actually wake up!"

"Y-Yes! Thank you!" Blanco stammered, wiping his tears away. Putting on a brave face, he pulled out his mobile lacrima from his pocket to call headquarters.

"Hello, this is General Blanco Quinten on the line." He introduced. "I have three injured personnel here that need immediate care, please hurry! I don't know how long they'll last...Yes, I'll send you the coordinates immediately...Thank you!"

"You can't be serious!" Axel cried out, mortified. "You're actually gonna help this guy?! Need I remind you he tried to kill all of us and wipe out the entire continent merely hours ago?!"

"I know full well what he's done, I haven't forgiven him either." Blanco said flatly as he punched in the coordinates into his mobile lacrima. "But I do know that if we just leave him here he won't be able to tell us who and where him and his goons came from, but most importantly who they came for."

"But what if he tries to kill us again once he's back at 100%?" Ethos rationalized, hauling Abraham over his shoulder. "Who'll stop him then?"

"Trust me," Blanco said, slapping large handcuffs onto Alejandro's wrists. "He'll want to tell us everything he knows."

A rustle came from the hospital bed and soon after came an irritated grunt.

"General Quinten! He's awake." the nurse called to him from down the hall.

"Thank you miss." Blanco politely thanked the woman, who blushed as she walked away. Blanco, Sienna, Ethos and Axel all stood up and entered the room. Blanco motioned for his squadron to sit far from the bed as he closed the door and moved to be a few inches from the bed.

"Glad to see you're finally awake," Blanco greeted, smirking at the rustling noises. "Alejandro."

"Tch!" he snarled, sitting up. "My damn head hurts...what happened? And why the hell am I in these stupid ass handcuffs?!"

"You and Gia almost fought to the death, remember?" Axel spat bitterly, memories of the demon slamming his wife into a wall still fresh in his mind. "And she kicked your ass. That was seven days ago."

"Okay, so why am I still here and not out in that field?" Alejandro asked. Suddenly, he flashed a smirk. "Didja think I'd turn a new leaf 'cuz you saved me from death? You're dreamin'!"

"No," Blanco shot him down. "We'd like you to answer some questions for us, Cross."

"I dunno, I'm not in an interviewing mood." the man in question said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I ain't a snitch. Why don't you go ask your half-breed buddy and she'll tell you what happened."

"I don't think you have a choice here," Blanco stood up, pressed a button on his large cuffs. In an instant, the handcuffs turned red and then green and then finally settled on grey.

"Interesting, why do you think that?" Alejandro said, unamused and disinterested.

"These handcuffs are for investigative purposes only, so we save them for our sneakiest criminals." Blanco began. "If you tell us anything but the truth, they'll send powerful shockwaves through your body. Since you're not even close to being back at one-hundred percent power, you wouldn't want to sully your chances of recovery now would you?"

Alejandro paused, anger settling on his face. Clearly, he was thinking about his current predicament. Suddenly, the tension fled his face and he looked up at his interregator.

"What happens if I really don't know the answer?" he questioned.

"The cuffs will turn grey, symbolizing your neutralism to the question or subject at hand." Blanco explained. "Why so curious? Ready to spill the beans?"

"Shut up." Alejandro snarled. "Don't ruin your chances with me. So whaddya wanna know?"