Escape (Part 1)

Darkness

Total darkness

That was what Meijia felt.

It was a very sickening and surprisingly empty feeling. One that she didn't like in the slightest. It also felt heavy.

 'How can darkness be heavy?' she questioned herself and chuckled at her ridiculousness. She must be dreaming again... yeah this is another crazy dream she was having. She'll wake up soon.

 'I'll wake up so...'

Her thought process was disrupted when she felt heavy motion on her body and a vaguely familiar voice calling out to her.

 'Great, this idiot is the one trying to ruin my sleep' She grumbled when she kept hearing Mathéo's voice calling her to wake up. 'wait...what is this idiot doing in my room? and why is my bed so hard?' Meijia frowned and tried opening her eyes only to shut them back because of the brightness of her surrounding.

 'I thought i was asleep? why the hell is it so bright?'

She forced her eyes open one more time to look at her surroundings.

This wasn't her familiar room. The face looking at her with concern was familiar though.

 "Mathéo? What's going on? Where are we?" Meijia asked the only other person she could see around. She immediately cringed at her own voice. She sounded almost.... dead.

Mathéo looked at her with pity in his eyes and sorrow in his heart. She was such a bright girl.

He couldn't bring himself to tell her the news of the capital's fall. 

For 2 weeks he had watched Midgard take over the entire of central city, he only dared to sneak out at night to bring supplies and change of clothes for the both them. Now he's faced with another problem. Meijia had woken up and she'll need answers.

 "Papa....." Meijia mumbled with her eyes misting up

She finally remembered.

**************************

TWO WEEKS AGO

On the night of the invite.

The space around Mr. Ogawa's office distorted like the very fabric of reality was getting erased from existence. The space rippled and light poured into from seemingly nowhere filling up the room.

With a flash of light, two figures dropped into the office room with a thud. Those two were naturally Mathéo and, an unconscious Meijia. 

Slightly shaken from the strange and sudden change in scenery, Mathéo's head spun as he looked around to get his bearings. After a couple seconds of grogginess, he finally recognized the room they were in.

 'Isn't this the office of the president of Rave Corp? how the hell did we get here?' he questioned internally. 

He got up to check on Meijia. Seeing that she's ok and just passed out, he eased up a little. 

All of a sudden his ears picked up sounds of uniform stomping coming from the hallways outside the door. seems they're not alone even though it's past closing hours already.

'Thud thud"

The sounds were getting closer. Meijia was still unconscious, in no condition to care for herself. But Mathéo would rather die than abandon her and escape.

He looked around and took note of his surrounding. Anything that might be of help to them escaping in one piece was taken note of just as those footsteps reached the door. With no time to waste, he sprinted towards the office table situated before the floor to ceiling window and grabbed the remote that was arranged neatly on it.

At the precise moment the door handle turned, Mathéo pressed a button on the small remote control. The door that was about to be opened from outside instantly became as hard as a boulder.

 "huh...why wouldn't the door open" 

 "hey you're wasting time. Open up the door. we have a lot more ground to cover"

 "I'm trying to open it it just won't budge"

 "just leave it, it's the President's office after all. It would have been weird if it wasn't locked. let's go check somewhere else."

Mathéo listened with hastened breathing as those soldiers talked and walked off to another location. He finally breathed in relief at the time that he had bought both himself and his friend.

He slowly slid down exhausted and spent. He had expended a lot more energy in those few seconds than in the last week. He was so exhausted that he could fall asleep at that moment, but he knew that they were not out of it yet.

 'The entire building is probably teeming with Midgard's soldiers. we can't stay here at all.' Mathéo reasoned and got up to check out the available options for their escape.

 'The only place that is unguarded will be the President's personal elevator, as they can't access it yet.' Mathéo weighed his options carefully. There was no space for error. A single mistake could cost them their freedom and probably their lives too.

 It was surprising how well Mathéo had adapted to the situation and even thought of a temporary solution to avoid the soldiers. Most of the credit was probably due to him being under duress, and the constant fear of death. While the rest was due to him being a Guerin. All children of the Guerin family as from the age of seven would start to get involved with the affairs of the military. They were taught to think under pressure and make split seconds decision. That was how they were able to take charge of the military power of Central city. 

 All these were the reason that enabled him to quickly analyze their situation and choose the best and most effective action that also guaranteed their safety.

 Going back to where Meijia was, Mathéo bent to pick her up for him to carry. After making sure that she was comfortable, he headed towards the only other double door in the suite.

 The Elevator.

********************

Back to the present.

 Mathéo looked at Meijia again unsure of what exactly to tell her. He could risk it all and tell her what exactly happened, but he was one hundred percent sure that this would break her. She was attached to her Father too much. Or he could keep it to himself and gradually expose her to the truth. This could ensure that she wouldn't break, but Meijia has never been a girl to stay still. He was sure that she would soon start seeking answers by herself. That would be worse, he knew that.

 "Mathéo... what happened to my father?" Meijia asked tentatively. Her eyes appealing to him to tell her something entirely different from the images that has been permanently imprinted in her memory.

Deep down she knew, knew that her father will not be able to make it out of that ordeal alive. He could have just run away. He could have just teleported with her and left safely.

"Meijia..... i...." Mathéo began but seemed to have lost his voice before he could say anything. He looked down in shame and reproach. He was smart, so he must have realized that Mr. Ogawa must have sacrificed himself to save him.

'Why?'

'why did he have to save him?'

'why didn't he think of himself?'

These were the questions that were being asked by Mathéo as he thought of the best way to tell Meijia that her father's situation was not optimistic. 

 "Meijia" he began again and slowly explained their situation to her. Sure enough her expression got more broken as she heard more. Before long she bent her head down with her shoulders heaving up and down. She was taking it harder than he thought. It won't be long before she erupts and that is not what he wants right now. He needs her at her calmest, if they're going to have any chance of surviving.

He was about to tell her to calm down, when he heard multiple rattling noises. That was the signal he had set up to know when someone came into their hideout. 

 'Shit' was the only word Mathéo could think about. He could no longer calm down, much less calming Meijia down The enforcers came early. He had run out of options for them to escape. Things weren't looking good.

They could only wait for their capture at this moment.

 "Mej, I'm sorry" Mathéo whispered as they sat awaiting their impending doom.