Young Writers Society

"You could always sedate them!" the guard called out. "That's what everyone else does!"

Kazimir could feel his face growing hot with rage as the guards casually discussed their fates and roughed Apophis around. He pulled against the bonds on his wrists but they wouldn't budge.

"Why the f*** are they torturing us?" Kazimir spat, trying to muster up the strength to fight again, even though his body ached.

"Because it was decided that solitary wasn't enough of a punishment for you and your friend acting out," he said. He kept his voice cold as he tugged Apophis and Kazimir further down the hallway. There was the high probability of both Kazimir and Apophis trying to fight back against him as he led them around; he had to stay alert.

He could predict it now - Kazimir was going to be furious at his comment. The death of a friend was far more than enough of a punishment for a justifiable crime, and no one would ever be excited about the prospect of being tortured.

But even though he desperately wanted to comfort Kazimir and admit the truth, he knew couldn't. The guard was too close by, and there was still the chance that both Kazimir and Apophis would act suspiciously once they learned that they were being helped by their supposedly dead friend. One might even slip up and use his name, and that was something he simply couldn't risk.

I'm sorry, he thought, knowing that thinking something like that was utterly useless.

Apophis spat, the venom landing at Leo's feet and hissing as it ate away at the metal - that was a warning shot and it was plain the next would be headed for him if her haughty countenance was anything to judge by. Her eyes were glowing and she still jerked against her bonds even though all three of them knew it was futile.

Kazimir bit down on his lip with so much pressure that he drew blood and could taste it in his mouth. His knuckles turned white as he formed fists, but he knew he had to save his strength. Rage boiled within him and he knew he had to save it and wait for the right time to attack. Fighting with the other guard so near would leave him and Apophis outnumbered, so he simply snarled.

He managed to lead them a far enough distance away from the guard to avoid being overheard in a relatively short period of time; this was probably because he was so anxious about the situation. The moment he got them down the right hallway, he headed to the room that he had changed guises in earlier. He peeked up and down the hallway, opened the door and then shoved both Kazimir and Apophis into the room. Then he slipped in as well, gently shutting the door behind him.

He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to say in a situation like this, so he settled with the first thing he could think of.

"Please don't kill me."

Kazimir turned around to the guard with a fire in his eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry," he said in a low, sinister tone. "All I heard was kill me."

He jumped, bringing his bound wrists beneath him like a jump rope, and then he swung his arms to go over the guard's head and choke him.

Maahes gave a startled cry as Kazimir suddenly tried to attack him. He had suspected that something like that would happen, but he hadn't anticipated it right after he had brought them to a place that clearly wasn't a torture chamber. He just barely managed to duck out of the way from Kazimir's attack.

He jumped up in front of the door. He knew he was limiting his options if his friend attacked him again, but he couldn't risk either one of them trying to leave. But even if they did avoid that, the noise was bound to bring someone coming - he needed to come up with something-

Oh.

He hadn't used magic like that in a long time, but the ability was there inside of his essence. He thought long and hard on conjuring it into existence, but it started to manifest. A wave of magic swept across the room, enveloping it in a Bulb of Silence. No sound would be leaving it anytime in the near future.

"Kaz," he said, pressing up against the door. "Apophis. It's me, Maahes-"

Oh.

Oh no.

They knew him as Leo.

"I don't know who that is, mother******!" Kazimir growled as he came at Maahes again, reaching for Maahes's neck.

Maahes gave another startled cry, but found that he couldn't move away. Doing so meant risking the two trying to leave the room and getting caught, but staying where he was meant that Kaz was going to try strangling him.

"Please don't kill me, Kaz!" he shouted. He settled with ducking down to avoid the attack; he was still in front of the door as a result. "I used the wrong name! I'm just really terrible with explaining things when under pressure and I think almost getting strangled by you counts as being under a lot of pressure. And look at this room! It's not a torture chamber, right? It's just a storage room that doesn't have cameras. And I'm sorry for not telling you two about my plan but I got it spur of the moment so I couldn't explain it when we were right in front of the guards and I'm really really sorry."

Kaz was swift to move down as Maahes ducked, and after wrangling his arms around, finally got Maahes's throat in his vice-like grasp. Heat rose to his face and he stared into the panicked guard's wide eyes with an overcoming rage and he held him against the door. The guard was trying to reason with him?

He squeezed tighter.

Why in the world would the guard want to reason with him? Why was he trying to explain himself? What did he mean he had a plan?

In a brief moment of restraint, he let up his grip just enough for Maahes to speak. With his lip twitching, he gritted his teeth and spat in Maahes's face.

"You've got five seconds to make your case or I'll choke you 'til your face turns blue and then I'll bash your head in for extra measure," he growled.

He felt the spit slide down his guise's cheek.

"You-You can't choke me," Maahes hurriedly said. "It'd be really bad if you could, but I don't have lungs and technically don't even need to breath so-"

He caught himself mid-sentence, realizing that he was doing absolutely nothing to help the current state of things by going off on a tangent about his biology compared to a human's. He needed to focus! If he didn't, Kaz was going to continue trying to attack him, and Apophis would probably join in, too. They'd never be able to escape at this rate!

"The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated?" he hesitantly said. He tried his best to wiggle out of Kaz's grip, but it was stronger than he had anticipated. "I mean, it hurt getting hit so many times, but I, uh, don't have human vital signs. So when they went to check my body, all I had to do was pretend to stop breathing. And I'm really, really sorry for not telling you! I know you're probably really mad at me right now, but if I had said something then the guards would have figured out what was going on!"

Maahes's five seconds had run out before he'd finished but Kazimir's mind was reeling as soon as the guard said the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. In the past tense of all things, as if he'd already died. What was that supposed to mean? He didn't have normal vital signs? He didn't have lungs? So what, he wasn't human or human-like, then? He was an alien? But Maahes was talking about more than just that.

It almost... it almost sounded like Maahes was Leo. But that wouldn't make any sense. As his thoughts were spinning his grip loosened slightly. When he only landed on more confusion it tightened again and he brought his face close to Maahes's, looking him in the eyes.

"If Maahes ain't the right name then who the hell are you?"

"Well, uh, it is my real name," Maahes quietly said, wishing he was anywhere but here right now. He tried looking away from Kaz's face, but it was difficult when he was being propped up by him. "But you don't know that, and I said it because I panicked and-"

He took a big gulp of air - something that was a little hard with Kaz trying his best to crush his nonexistent windpipe. "I'm Leo!" he finally managed to get out, his voice little more than a squeak.

Kazimir stared at him with wide eyes, frozen in place.

"You're who now?" he whispered harshly.

Apophis froze, staring at him. "What?"