And If only I could, I’d make a deal with god.

He used to be a real looker, back in the day. 

The man in that cell. 

He would date around quite a bit; popular with  men and women alike, allegedly. He had a few special suitors many moons ago. 

He would take them out to the beach and dance with them in the moonlight, looking deep into their eyes with a wide smile that warmed hearts. He would hold their hands, and spend hours and hours with them; singing, dancing, talking. He was like a songbird; vibrant, eccentric, and free.

But he was free no more. 

His arms are now bound to his chest, tied together with straps of thick cotton. A thick helmet, secured firmly onto his head, is bashed and battered, covered in dents. A muzzle of sorts covered his mouth, leather dipping under his nose to allow him to breathe, while the rest of the device was strapped over and around his head under the helmet. But, despite all of this, he still sang songs. 

The songs of banshees. 

His voice was an agonizing, pained scream, that was nearly constant had the electrodes in his skull not shocked him every other minute. It would occasionally stop, maybe for an hour or more, and be replaced instead with heavy sobbing and loud banging as he would slam his head against the concrete wall. 

It never did much. 

Currently, the man was sobbing heavily in the left corner of his cell. A wall made of transparent acrylic separated him from the hallway that ran through the cells, with the inmates across from him refusing to look his way. He wasn’t angry at them for it. If he could ignore himself, he would too.

-

Fuck. What happened? Where did he end up this time?

A demon, with bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair, rubbed his head as he groaned. He didn’t recall being here- only that he opened a rift, and then…

What had happened next?

He was being carried along by something- no, someone. He opened his eye, and glanced up at who was carrying him; but his vision was blurred, and he was confused enough as it was. 

Then he heard it. 

The gut-wrenching sobbing. 

The demon didn’t move, not yet. He was in some sort of trouble, in some sort of way, in some kind of place. He had to think; how can he get out of this?

As he was carried, the crying only got louder. It was familiar, somehow; but he had also never heard anything quite like it. He didn’t want to get any closer to it. There was something so uneasy about it; something he couldn’t explain. 

Alright. It’s now or never. 

His hands went from warm, to hot, to scorching. Bright blue veins glowed underneath his skin, as his vision slowly came back into focus. He didn’t care who was carrying him- and he didn’t care what he was being carried to. He snarled, and pressed his hands onto the man who held him, wrapping one hand around his throat, and the other around the man’s arm. Whoever was holding him let out a cry of agony, dropping the demon almost instantly. He swerved around, and glanced at the space around him. 

Cells; so many cells. Acrylic walls separated them from the freedom that the rest of the building had to offer, and the blonde could peer into each cell, glancing around at the prisoners quickly, before letting his hands cool down so that he could pin down the man who was transporting him. The man was gasping, tears stinging at his eyes as the demon’s face softened, and then twisted into a frown. This was-

“Orion?” The scientist gasped, and nodded, chest heaving up and down. 

“F-Fuck…” the blonde got off of the injured man, and began to panic. 

“Oh my god, I-“ Orion wheezed before the demon could continue, struggling to claw his way off of the floor. 

“Sammi…” The demon rushed over, helping the scientist to his feet. 

“Stop- I’m so sorry- hold on-!” The blonde gently placed his left hand on the burn wound, and took a deep breath, before the skin and tissue began to repair itself. The scientist gasped for breath, his skin soft, as if it had never been burned in the first place. He slammed against a wall, and sunk down onto the floor, breathing deeply. 

“Arche…” Sammi grew confused, and glanced around to ensure that they were alone. They were. He turned back to Orion, and bit the inside of his cheek. 

“What about him? Is he okay?” The scientist shook his head quietly, as he pointed over towards the source of the heavy sobbing. It hadn’t gone away, or faded; not even a bit. 

“You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive,” Orion hissed. 

“I had to convince everyone to not shoot you, or vivisect you, or…” he sighed, and pat Sammi on the shoulder gently. 

“… It doesn’t matter. I have a job for you.” Sammi opened his mouth to speak, but the sobs had turned to violent screams. The demon looked mortified.

“That’s not… That’s not him, is it?” Orion took a deep breath. 

“You rifted here; whether it was on purpose or on accident, I don’t know. I can corrupt most of the video footage we have- but I need this situation to look… Realistic.” Sammi was trying his best not to tremble or quiver, but the entire situation had shaken him to his core. 

“I need to get Arche out of here,” the demon pleaded. 

“Please- he’s been missing, and we thought he was dead-“

“That’s why you’re here,” Orion mumbled. 

“This entire thing has been very lucky so far; you survived in the first place, the fact that you landed here of all places, and the fact that I was assigned to you. So we can’t ruin this opportunity,” he explained quietly. 

“I know what you’re capable of, Sammi- well, even if you hadn’t demonstrated your abilities to me, I’ve… Heard a lot about you.” The demon cringed as the screaming continued, and nodded. 

“What do you need me to do..?” The scientist bit the inside of his cheek. 

“… Alright. I’ll put you in a cell- you’ll need to break out of it. The inside walls are made of cement- so focus on the acrylic wall in the front. It melts at 160 degrees- Celsius, of course- use that to your advantage. Once you break out, I need you to attack me.” Sammi’s eye widened. 

“That’s- no! Why would I do that?!” The scientist continued. 

“This needs to look realistic, or my son and I are dead. You can’t hold back when you attack me. Do you understand?” The demon bit the inside of his cheek, but nodded. 

“… Yeah. But- what if I kill you?” The man chuckled. 

“You won’t. I’ll shoot at you- and miss, until you incapacitate me. Then, get Arche, and rift out of here. Don’t check to see if I’m okay after you get me, alright? Focus on him. The alarms will start to sound, so when you grab him, move quickly.” The scientist took a deep breath, and exhaled. 

“… Alright. Got all of that?” Sammi nodded. 

“I, uh… Yeah. You promise that I won’t kill you?” Orion nodded. 

“I swear. Follow me.”

The scientist and the demon made their way closer to the screaming, until they were standing outside of the cell next to it. Orion looked at Sammi, and nodded. The show was about to begin. 

The blonde entered the cell, with the taller man closing and sealing the room. The acrylic wall fell down into position, as Orion backed away, and held his wrist close to his chest. A hologram projected from it, of a type of keyboard, where he began typing. 

Alright. 

Go time. 

The screams of Arche only fueled Sammi further. He snarled, the veins in his hands beginning to glow a bright, vibrant blue. His horns lit up with light, as he shouted, punching straight through the wall. Acrylic dripped from the hole Sammi had created, as Orion sloppily fell back, and removed a pistol from his lab coat. He began to shoot.

Bullets whizzed past Sammi- too close for comfort, but not touching him even once. The screaming had stopped now; the sound of gunfire and shouting was all that could be heard. Other prisoners stared at the fight as Sammi tackled Orion to the ground, driving his claws into the man’s arm, causing him to drop the gun. Sammi kicked it away, and hesitated for a moment, before Orion snarled at him. He had to do this. It was the only way. 

Sammi raised his claws up, and started slashing. Once wasn’t enough. He slashed Orion on the throat lightly- but mainly tore into his chest. The scientist’s eyes widened- he wasn’t acting anymore. He was in real, excruciating pain. The demon felt guilty- but he couldn’t stop until Orion couldn’t fight back. 

And he didn’t. 

Sirens blared as Sammi got off of the man, who was gasping for breath and bleeding everywhere. He turned his attention to Arche’s cell- but not before quickly glancing back at Orion. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. This was the worst thing he had ever done. 

He balled his hands into fists once more, and ran towards the cell. Arche’s eyes widened in horror and hope, as Sammi forced his way through the acrylic as if it were butter. 

Arche stared at the demon, silent, as Sammi did the same. 

Sammi looked healthy, and strong. He was powerful, and capable. Arche had never been more proud, with his mouth twisting into a smile that wasn’t visible. He laughed, and tears stung at his cheeks. 

The demon, however, was horrified. This was the man that helped to raise him- he was like a father to him, in a way. And he looked horrible. Thin, sickly, bound, and defiled; stripped of everything he had ever had. Sammi had never felt more guilty in his life. 

As the two stared at each other, the sirens continued to blare, with heavy footsteps starting to run towards the cell. Sammi snapped out of spiraling, and whipped his head around. A pair of guards opened fire, and the demon didn’t wait any longer. He grabbed Arche, and opened a portal. 

-

They held each other for a long time. It must have been at least a half of an hour, the two hugging each other tightly. Neither of them had spoken to the other; nothing either could say would change anything. There was a mutual understanding between the two, the bond of a father and son, where they speak to each other without a word being said. The smell of bleach, medicine, and sanitizer wafted through the air as Sammi slowly let go of Arche. The man sunk back into the hospital bed he was lying in, and smiled gently to Sammi. The demon returned the smile, although he was uneasy, and filled with doubt. Without all of the restraints, and torture devices, the man looked even more like a corpse. His eye sockets were sunken into his skull, his eyes bulging out. The right side of his face had a thick wound that had become infected, with the man’s skull having been caved in and then re-shaped once again. Metal prongs stuck out of his head, with a thick set of stitches running down his scalp. He was bald now, his head likely having been shaved to implant the prongs in his skull. They were electrodes, from what Sammi could gather, that had been used for shock therapy. Therapy was an interesting word to avoid the fact that it was a torture method. 

Arche stretched, his arms as thin as twigs. Well, he as a person was as thin as a twig. It was hard to describe how horrible he looked, but if Sammi could use any word for it, he would pick ‘deceased’.

Doctors had been in and out of the room routinely, plugging things into the wall, sticking chords into the man. He would try to protest each time, but Sammi had been able to soothe him and coax him into treatment. 

The man that had fought so hard to stay alive was now able to rest, as he closed his eyes, and nodded off into sleep. He still had his hand in Sammi’s as he did so, with the demon closing his own eye. He didn’t sleep; not yet, at least; but he did take a deep breath, and relax. 

There was only one way to go from here. 

Up.