Unwanted Elements

Chapter Thirteen

The noise of footsteps slamming heavily against the dirt signaled that the soldier who had escorted us to this cell was leaving. I could barely do anything aside from lay here on the ground, my nose dripping crimson blood into the brown dirt floor. Beside me, my brothers were moving away from where we'd been thrown in, scooting across the ground getting their clothing dirty.

Silence came over us for the first time in a while, and it felt unnerving. None of us spoke, as if we were all processing what had just happened. We split up to explore different areas of this facility, and as a result of our careful carelessness, we were now prisoners probably far into the deepest depths, considering we'd just passed a lava chamber.

At last, Choromatsu's voice broke into the uncomfortable silence. "Oi, Jyushimatsu." he said, his voice soft. I glanced over at Osomatsu, who seemed to just be... actually, what was he doing? His eyes were closed, as if in concentration. He kept flexing his fingers, and his expression implied he was lost in thought. Not really thinking much of it, I turned my attention to my little brother, who was pressed against the right wall, his back a straight line.

Todomatsu grumbled from his new spot against the left wall. "This is ridiculous. We fucking failed. Looks like we get the joy of rotting away!" he griped, and cast a look at the rest of us, as if he was expecting a reaction. Not getting any outburst, he mumbled something under his breath and shoved his chin back into the dirt. "Good, you do that, then." Karamatsu replied hastily, and Todomatsu shot daggers at him with his aqua eyes.

For a moment, his eyes locked with mine, and I couldn't get into his emotional cocoon, which was offputting. Me, him and Jyushimatsu were used to being able to really tell how the other two felt, and I guess that it was only the three of us who could use that and get as close as we were, as it didn't appear as though my older brothers had that ability with each other. I've always wondered if it was because me, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu make up the younger trio, and we're expected to be... less defensive or something because we're the younger sextuplets?

Jyushimatsu's sapphire gaze seemed to lock up, his eyes clouding over. "Yeah, Choromatsu-niisan?" he asked, his ever-present smile having crawled back onto his lips. There just was no tearing that smile from him. Choromatsu cleared his throat, and glanced back in Jyushimatsu's direction. "What exactly happened? How did they get you?" he asked, his green eyes obviously chalked up with worry.

"Well.." Jyushimatsu began, his eyes snapping back into focus. I snuck another glance over at Osomatsu. Nothing had really changed, apart from his expression hardening into a more quizzical one, as if he were mentally asking himself something. I looked back at Todomatsu, who was still clearly annoyed. I whipped my head back around to face Jyushimatsu, who seemed lost in his thoughts.

"I wasn't doing much, just doing stretches because of how much I'd walked!" he began, reeling in the memories of last night. "I was just about to head back when I realized there were more footsteps behind me!

We were in the park, and it was practically deserted, since the sun was setting! So I assumed whoever was behind me was leaving, too, so I got curious. I turned around to ask why they were there so late, but nobody was there. Th-"

My brother was cut off by a loud "Aha!", which had come from Osomatsu's general direction. We all snapped our attention to him, and he stood, spreading his arms to his sides as a silver liquid trickled down his wrists, dripping into the dirt with a lengthy hiss. "Whoa, did you melt the handcuffs?" Todomatsu exclaimed, sitting up and nearly avoiding clipping his head into the suspended bench. "Yeah...?" Osomatsu said, arching an eyebrow as if he expected us to figure that out right away.

"Can you melt ours?" I asked without thinking, then hurriedly added "Preferably without burning us in the process?" while my eyes widened to the size of a coin's. He grinned, an unknown light source casting a small gleam off his teeth. "I can try," he sighed, and knelt beside Karamatsu, holding his wrists. Sparking a tiny flame at the tip of his index finger, he carefully traced it alongside the handcuff's chain and one of the cuffs itself, the metal leaking into a stream of silver as it rushed down my brother's wrist.