Sacrifice and Awakening (part three)

"Please help me find my son," It had been three months since Shun had gone missing and Joyce was sure she was losing it. She had gone out every day after his disappearance posting flyers and begging others to help with the search, but nothing seemed to work as others simply passed her by ignoring her. She began to feel helpless and alone. Eventually, she saw no more use in searching, even the police gave up no long calling or caring about the case. Still, she went out begging others to help her find Shun, and still, it felt wrong as if she were asking for the impossible, an unachievable child's dream.

Once Joyce went home she made her way into her kitchen. she felt as if she could still hear her son's voice as they joked. 'Where'd you go Shun,' she thought praying that he'd answer or make some silly joke. "Why am I always the one left behind," falling to her knees the repressed tear and grief spilled over as if a dam had broken. "Why am I the only one left, first my husband, now my son, the only joy I had left." looking towards the sky Joyce felt a pain in her chest that she had never felt before, a feeling of deep unending sorrow that she felt consuming her. "What more could you take from me, WHAT DO I HAVE LEFT FOR YOU TO STEAL!!!" she shouted but was met with silence.

Standing Joyce slowly made her way toward her bedroom, falling on the bed she stared at her ceiling, she felt as if her chest might implode and her thoughts filled with her son and husband who had left her behind. She opened the top drawer on her nightstand and took the black pistol from under her nicely folded clothes. The black framing and elegant design weren't lost on her as she placed the barrel to her head. "I will join you soon my loves," she said as she pulled the trigger.

-******-

Shun couldn't think straight, his head was fuzzy and his body hurt. Every day for the past few months he had been tortured, first with mental abuse such as threats and even drugs that made focusing hard, then with physical torture such as being beaten within an inch of his life or simulated drowning and even cutting off some of his fingers. After a month of torture and abuse, he still couldn't figure out what they were after.

"It hurts," were the only words he'd speak after a while, they had utterly broken the kid.

"SOOOO, how long do you plan to hide here kid?" a man said from the shadows. once more Shun had found himself in the first place he wound up, and the man was hiding in the shadows. But though the man would talk to Shun it'd be rare for him to receive a response, instead, he stayed at the center of the room in the fetal position.

The way Shun was acting always infuriated the man, but he'd tried to be patient since he was a kid and was suffering through such torment. Today though, the man had had enough of Shuns neverending pity party. Walking towards the child he grabbed him by his throat lifting him high into the air. Shun gripped the man's arm trying his best to break free, but his struggle lasted only a moment as he was tossed across the room like a toy doll.

"HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND TO RUN!" the man shouted as he marched over to Shun who tried to scramble away. "WHAT ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF? IS THAT TINY BIT OF PAIN SERIOUSLY TOO MUCH FOR YOU? WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"

Shun stopped, 'he knows nothing about me, i am just a single person, they cut off my fingers, burned me, and shocked me, what more does he expect from me,' the man grabbed shun again tossing him back towards the center of the room. "It hurts," Shun whispered turning to lie on his back.

"Does it?" the man asked kicking shun in his stomach before stomping on his head. "Is that why you chose to be a coward and hide here." Shuns eyes lit up for a second. "How long do you intend to hide from your pain, do you expect pity, or sympathy, if so you're in the wrong place." Taking his foot off Shuns head, he grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him into the air.

"I'm too weak," Shun couldn't look the man in the eye, somehow the man made him feel ashamed. "I can't beat them, I can't beat anyone." tears began to fall from shuns eyes but he'd cried so much lately that he hardly noticed anymore.

"If you need strength I'll lend you mine," the man placed Shun down and looked him in the eye. "I'll give you power but in exchange, you have to face any trial from here on out head-on, no more running, now you go and fight."

-********-

Opening his eyes Shun stood on his own two feet for the first time in months. Lifting his hand, he could tell the pact was successful. "it was in here." a loud man's voice sounded from outside a thick metal door. Looking around Shun could see fairly well despite the darkness surrounding him, he was locked in an empty stone room that reminded him of the dungeons from old storybooks he used to read as a kid.

Walking towards the door, Shun could tell there were multiple people on the other side of the door, normally he'd be scared out of his mind, and yet he felt calm. 'I will face this head on I swear it.' he thought as the door opened.

the first man to enter stopped almost instantly. "Who ar-" the man began to ask but shuns fist smashed into his face causing the man to fly backward into a wall taking out two others along the way and creating several deep cracks into it. Exiting the room Shun stepped over the bodies of the passed-out men and began looking for an exit.

"It's time to go home, Arturious."