Someone was doing demolition work right inside Aether's skull, there was no other explanation for the atrocious pounding echoing in his brain. His whole body was in pain. He was probably covered in bruises and he still had trouble breathing. But he was alive. Or at least he felt like he was alive but how? That he had no idea, everything was such a blur. He remembered the ambush, he remembered the voice, a man? But then, nothing.

“How long is it gonna take for him to wake up?”

That voice! Ouch, ouaw, okay no yelling brain. It was him, the stranger that... saved him?

“I can't tell Jade, he lost a lot of blood, got at least two concussions, three broken ribs and a broken ankle, and don't get me started on the bullet wounds. I'm honestly not even sure how he's still alive. One more minute in that alley there probably would've been nothing we could've done to save him,” a second voice, another one that Aether didn't know, answered the first.

Aether was trying so hard to open his eyes, to make a move, any move, but his eyelids were weighing at least a thousand pounds right now and he couldn't even feel his fingers. No matter how many mental kicks he gave himself his body was simply just not responding.

“I know... And I know you're worried that I brought him here but I promise it's gonna be okay. They won't find us here, they won't even suspect it's us who saved him, we're gonna be okay.”

“I trust you Jade, we all do, but it's the Void we're talking about here. If they wanted that guy dead they wouldn't stop there, they may not know we're the one who rescued him but it's only a matter of time before they find out we're the ones who have him and you know we're no match for them, if they find us, we're all dead.”

“I know Fir, trust me I know, but I won't let anything happen to any of you you know that. And I'm truly sorry I involved you all in this, you know the last thing I want is to get you guys in even more trouble than we're usually but I need to know who this guy is, I need to know what happened.”

“Hey we all signed up for this, we're with you, by your side no matter what. If you're involved, we're involved, always. And we all know how important this is for you, and we've got your back.”

“I know. Thank you.”

“Anytime, now come on, it's my time to cook dinner tonight and I don't want the others to start eating the furniture because they're starving.”

The first voice scoffed in reply then a sliding door opened and closed and the room fell into silence.

Alone again Aether tried to put all he had just heard together but this puzzle was way above the capacities of his aching brain at the moment and he ended up passing out again.

When he regained consciousness again, Aether's eyes finally agreed to open. His brain was still pounding inside his skull and his whole body was completely numb, but at least he could see. Even though, to be honest, sight wasn't of much help at the moment, he still had no idea where he was. It was a bedroom, that much he could tell, and not a hospital, no beeping machines or white walls, which was more or less good news, the Void would have no trouble finding him and finishing him in a hospital, here they probably wouldn't find him that fast, but it also meant he had no idea if there was any escape nearby which could be a problem if it came down to having to escape from whoever rescued him. There was a glass of water and a small bottle of painkillers sitted on the bedside table. Aether eyed them for a while, he could've really used something to tame the pain a bit, but he decided against it, never too careful, and simply continued scanning the room. The wall on the right was a huge patio door that opened into a balcony just as huge with a view on an extremely dense forest. And that wasn't good. There was no forest near the city, they were probably quite far from where Aether had been found and from any of his usual landmarks. Coming up with an escape plan might be a little bit tricky in those conditions. And that was without mentioning the splint on his right ankle, his broken ribs and the bullet wound in his chest.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Aether's mind slowly wandered around and the events of the last night came rushing in. How could something like that have happened? How the people he trusted the least in this world had managed to trap and betray him and almost get him killed like that? How could there have been no signs? Aether always knew they would try to get rid of him eventually, he knew too much, but he never expected it to be so sudden and out of nowhere. No matter how hard he thought about it, no one had let any single sign show that they wanted him gone now. What had happened? Could it be...?

“Well would you look at that! The marmot's finally awake!”

Aether's whole body started at the voice, sending a shiver of pain from the root of his hair to his toes.

“Ah sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You've been out for two days already, we were starting to wonder what we were gonna do with you,”

T- Two days?! Could it really get any worse?

“I heard he's awake,” a now familiar voice intervened.

It was him, the guy that had saved him. And now that Aether could actually see him he was grateful he was lying on a bed so his legs couldn't just give out under him. Someone could have warned him that he had been saved by a literal Greek god. Wait. Not the point. Back on track please.

“Where am I?” Aether finally asked, internally letting out a sigh of relief his voice didn't come out shaky but just horse.

“That's something you may get to know after you've answered my questions,” mister greek god answered sternly, his sapphire eyes meeting blankly with Aether's green ones.

Obviously, it wasn't gonna be that easy.

* * * *

Aether had no idea how much time had passed since he had woken up but his bladder was beginning to uncomfortably beg to be emptied and he was pretty sure the bed's mattress had permanently taken the shape of his body.

The first guy had left almost as soon as the second one arrived and now Aether and the latter had been staring stonily at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity.

“You didn't take your pain killers,” greek god guy suddenly said, making Aether startle a little.

It was way more a comment to himself than a question but Aether still felt the need to answer.

“I don't usually take pills from people I don't know in places I don't know.”

“If we wanted to poison you, you wouldn't be awake right now,” the stranger smirked.

And he had a point, but Aether would rather die than admit that.

“Well suit yourself, I’m just trying to make this less painful for you.”

“This?” Aether asked, forcing his face to remain as blank as possible.

Which he apparently bluntly failed considering the growing smirk on the other man’s face.

“Relax kitty cat, I'm not planning on torturing you, yet.” the stranger commented with a predatory smile. “I just have a few questions to ask you, and I expect perfectly honest answers from you. I’ll know if you’re lying.”

His face had suddenly completely changed, all traces of a smile had left his face and he was looking at Aether as if he was ready to slice his throat if he even dared to lie.

The more he looked at it the more the situation seemed desperate for Aether. He caught himself suddenly wondering if he hadn’t rather died in that alleyway.