Redemption (Midas x Reader)

• XXIX •

I had to blink the tears away every few seconds just so I could focus on the golden gun in front of me, my gun, which thankfully now resided in my own hands rather than in the hands that had stained it.

Those hands, belonging to the man imprisoned for treason, the one who'd had every opportunity to take advantage of the situation, the one who could've at any moment ended his incarceration, or my very life......those hands, the ones that didn't even need to hold a weapon since they were one themselves, had simply just......handed it over.

A quick flick of the wrist as he'd raised it, and the barrel of the gun had flipped around to point at him, the newly gilded grip extended through the bars in my direction. I'd simply stood there petrified, unable to comprehend his actions, unable to speak due to my heart still being firmly lodged in my throat, where it had leapt when I'd realized what he was holding.

"Take it," he'd said upon seeing that I was making exactly zero effort to do so.

But I couldn't, because it didn't make any sense......WHY would he voluntarily give up his only ticket out of this place? It had to be a trick, an attempt to get me close to the bars so he could grab me and get the key from my pocket. He knew how dumb I was, how much power he held over me. He probably thought it would be easy. It was the only logical explanation.

Yet there he was, bending at the knees as he slowly lowered the gun to the floor just outside the bars, laying it gently on the ground with an almost exasperated sigh at my complete lack of trust and cognitive function.

"I said take it, Y/N," he'd spoken a bit more sternly as he once again rose to his full intimidating height, "you need to be able to protect yourself while I'm in here......while I'm unable to keep you safe."

But he didn't have to be in here. Thanks to me, he had everything he needed to just walk out. And despite that, he backed away from the bars to give me a wide enough berth to safely approach the cell and reclaim his means of escape.

I had bolted forward and snatched the gun off the ground with a shaky hand, and immediately turned away without once looking up at him.

Now I couldn't tear my eyes away from the shiny metal barrel, the sharp glint of the hall lights upon it blurred by my tears. My mind was screaming at me to run, but I was unable to manage more than a brisk, unsteady walk as I headed down the hall away from Midas' cell.

The bottom of my left foot kept sticking to the floor, and I suddenly realized that I had stepped in his cum in the hallway when I'd gone for the gun, each step a gut-wrenching reminder of everything I'd done as I trailed his seed in my wake. Even though he was still secure in his cell I knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was no getting away from him.

I broke, the nervous ball of energy within me shattering into a million pieces as sobs wracked my body, not knowing how far I'd walked nor caring if he could hear me. My forward progress ground to a halt as I doubled over, hands on my knees to try to still my hyperventilating breaths, the gun barely dangling between two fingers, almost forgotten.

Unfortunately my precarious hold on the gun proved detrimental when it clattered to the floor at the very moment my body was wrenched sideways. The clang my head made when it connected with the nearby bars pealed like a bell, my senses overcome by the ringing in my skull.

In my hysteria I had apparently wandered too close to another cell, within arm's length of one of the dangerous prisoners Skye had warned me about. And now they had me by the throat.

I couldn't breathe, the arm wrapped around my neck firmly holding my back against the bars, slowly choking the life out of me. I clawed at their forearm helplessly as I frantically tried to loosen their grip, but it was no use. They were stronger than me, and squeezing as though it were personal.