Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 21 - Man of Pride

The interrogation goes on for hours and it feels like an abyssal eternity of suffering to Ash. His ribs creak with every breath, the fractures splintering into a sharp pain in his chest that makes him shudder.

Beneath the remains of his dress shirt, torn in bloody cuts in a scatter of unrelenting torture from his arms, hips, and collabones, there's imprints of Giovanni's fists that spread and ache into shades of violet and crimson alongside them. His hair is out in ways, leaving his face to glow beneath the dim lights. There's a cut above his brow, bottom lip split, the wound on his cheek dried with the sanguine trails that once trickled down his jaw.

He wouldn't admit it, but the chains to the wall are the only thing keeping him upright as his head hangs, letting him see the floor below in a blurred haze, droplets of his own blood seeping and staining into the wooden grain.

"I'll ask you again. Who is your military contact?"

His voice comes muffled to him addled brain that's swirling in pain. His consciousness is somewhere else, at the time before the Demons left to agree to the swap, like an echo that keeps him tethered to his purpose.

"Ash, you're certain about this?"

Ash had glared at Cilan without words, rolling his sleeve up as a needle is pressed into his forearm while the others waited outside for his orders. Cilan doesn't question him again, the resolve on his face unshakeable along with something else that burns in his eyes, letting him know that Ash has changed and that Serena was the catalyst.

"We're saving her, Cilan. Worry about me after."

Cilan opened his mouth to speak again, because he needs to know for certain. "You-"

Ash answered him before he has the chance to ask. "I do."

Even in this myriad agony, his mind never wavers. Whether they make it in time or not, his answer to Cilan wouldn't change. He only wishes he could tell Serena now and hopes she knows, anyway.

He responds to Giovanni's questions on instinct, his rage still flickering in a flame that refuses to be doused. He knows what comes after but that hasn't stopped him.

"Get on with it."

To his surprise, the pressure around his wrists come loose, but with little reprieve as he clatters to the floor, unable to hold back the hiss in his throat as his fragile ribcage slams against the surface. Giovanni's boot comes full force into his solar plexus, not once or twice, but at least three times — he's coughing and choking over his pained gasps far too much to keep count. Giovanni gives him another for good measure and Ash tastes a flood of iron on his tongue.

"Your pride will only make this worse for you, son, but it's clear to me that you're useless as you always have been," Giovanni says, gazing down on a fallen Ash with a disappointed frown. Hours and hours of torture and pain, and Ash had not said a word — his fierce spirit and sharp tongue the only thing he got in response. "This has been a waste of time."

Ash's vision comes into focus when he hears the unmistakable click of a safety. He takes the deepest breath he can muster and looks up at Giovanni, no traces of fear to be found in his eyes.

"I will have everything with or without your help, son," Giovanni taunts, pointing the gun downwards.

Ash laughs without sound as he rolls onto his back. Where he finds the fire to remain ever defiant, Giovanni will never understand.

It's then the world tilts in Ash's favor once again and there's an explosion outside that rattles the foundation of the building. The guards at the door are startled, looking around wildly for the source, their hands tensing over their weapons. Several more explosions follow like a symphony of destruction, with faint shouts of anguish and the rhythm of bullets being fired in all directions through the static of their ear pieces that Ash can hear.

"Enough of this. What the hell is going on?" Giovanni demands, whipping around to one of the guards for an explanation.

"We're trying, sir! There's no response from the outside!"

Ash chuckles this time and it makes Giovanni look down at him again wildly, hearing him sound purely delighted despite his ragged state. Ash doesn't look at him as he stares at the ceiling, a wide grin on his face as he feels the storm they bring to their front door. It brings the same calm like Serena's presence and coffee on a rainy morning.

There's a familiar roar in the hallways and it should make a grown man shudder because Serena's ferocity is as thunderous as a devil's war cry.

Instead, Ash relaxes and his gaze then falls to Giovanni's panicked eyes, his grin waning to a victorious smirk.

"They're here."