"-- think you doing! Get off him!"

Januar awakened with a gasp, greedily sucking air into his lungs. He pressed his hands on his chest as he shivered fiercely. Tears dripped from his eyes again, Januar felt like he was being cooked from the inside out as if lava rushed through his veins. He fell over while hugging himself tightly, hoping for the cool floor to lessen his agony.

Coughing and grunting because of a pain that didn't even exist. Tasting copper and wanting to throw up.

"Sh*t! You have to calm down! Everything's alright, Jan! Jan!"

Januar heard a familiar voice, reaching towards it with one hand, begging for a thing to hold on to in the sea of fire that threatened to drown him.

As soon as he felt the cool touch of the other person, tears of relief replaced his tears of pain.

He was still alive!

Slowly the panic and heat inside him dispersed, only a faint aching in his heart was left.

Januar then opened his eyes, although his sight was still blurry he instantly recognized the silver tracksuit with red stripes.

"Kay?"

Finally realizing that his ears were working again, Januar sobbed.

"I missed your voice so much, I was so lonely..."

Kay remained silent while listening to Januar's rambling, he just held his hand and patted his back, hoping to comfort Januar even a little bit.

But if Kay was the one holding Januar's hand and patting his back, then who's arms were wrapped around his stomach?

A bad feeling flooded his heart, almost too scared to turn around.

Januar was petrified.

Ink stood behind him, showing an extremely sad expression.

Using every ounce of his strength, Januar broke free from this embrace, scrambling away from that person, horrified.

Why was he here?!

"What's wrong?"

Januar heard Kay's worried voice. He pointed at the boy.

"He killed me, he's dangerous!"

Kay's attitude changed instantly, meeting the other with great hostility.

"I knew there was something off about you! I will personally end you if come any closer!"

Ink only sneered at Kay's threat, pain flashing through his eyes when he saw Januar avoiding him like the plague. He steadily walked over to them.

"Stop, before I make you!" Kay stated with a cold light in his eyes.

"You forgot this, I only wanted to return it to you," answered Ink while curling his lips into a mocking smile.

"You-"

Kay stopped mid-sentence when he saw the thing in Ink's hand. He hastily snatched it from him, after looking at the picture on top of the card, Kay flashed Ink an additional glare but ultimately decided to hand it over to Januar first. Watching Ink's every move with a murderous gaze.

Januar received the card from Kay, it took only a short glance at the picture for Januar's heart to feel like it had been pierced yet again.

 

 

Januar was appalled when he realized that the traitor, formerly known as Ink, had become his second 'Card-Ability'.

"Go back into your card, I don't want you here."

Never had Januar spoken in such a freezing voice before, even to Frederic and his companions. But the feeling of betrayal and fear mixed into a vicious emotion called hate.

"Are you sure you don't want my help even in this situation?" Finally being able to hear Ink's, no Constantine's voice made Januar shudder in anger.

"Why would we need your help? We can manage just fine," Kay hissed back on Januar's behalf.

"Do you really think you will be able to overpower your kidnapper? One Jan, against an unknown number of people who could very well be armed? I don't think that is a feasible method," Constantine shot back with a provocative smile on his face.

Januar's expression darkened when he heard the other calling his name. What made it even worse was the fact that he had a point.

Who knows how many people the other side had, without a plan the situation could easily go south. Januar didn't even know any combat techniques yet.

Also, Januar didn't consider himself (or even Kay) to be the planning type.

Put more bluntly, Januar wasn't that smart and he was aware of this fact.

"I swear I just want to help you, I have no bad intentions."

Constantine spoke again, ignoring Kay and staring directly at Januar.

"You expect us to trust you?! After you killed him?!" If it was his intention to anger Kay, Constantine had certainly succeeded.

But the other party didn't care about Kay's rage, focusing only on Januar.

"Trust me this once, I promise not even one hair on your head will be harmed."

Januar stared at the boy, after a while he whispered through gritted teeth.

"Fine, but it's not because I trust you, your just our only choice."

A bright smile appeared on Constantine's face as he heard these words. Kay shot Januar a shocked glance, but after seeing his twisted expression Kay didn't say anymore, just grumbling something under his breath.

***

Januar stepped out of the cellar with a complicated expression.

Just as Constantine had promised, not a single hair on him was harmed. But the two kidnappers lay unconscious in the cellar.

A shiver ran down his spine only thinking about what had transpired down there until very recently. He locked the cellar door behind him. Even though Constantine assured him that they wouldn't wake up for quite some time, he was rather safe than sorry until the local Extermination Group showed up.

But before that, he had to get out of the building, and with it, the influence radius of their communication blocking device.

Kay and Constantine trailed behind Januar, constantly arguing with each other.

 

 

Theather:

Author: Everyone come here, I will draw portraits of you! 

Constantine: Why portraits? Didn't you want to add pictures to the card ability sheets? 

Author: ...

Author: Anyway, sit down!

Kay: ...

Author: running away at full speed

 

Thank you for reading!!