Twist of fate

Escape

Ava held onto her sister Eris, her life depending on it. But she was so weak from lack of food and rest that it was hard, all she wanted to do was sleep. Her stomach grumbled loudly and Eris and Artemis froze in place looking at her.
She looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry." She croaked out through dry lips.
The beautiful Artemis shook her pretty red head, her electric green eyes showing pity. "You can't help it Ava." She looked to Eris. "I'm gonna run ahead and make sure the coast is clear. Do you remember the directions I gave you?"
Eris nodded grimly. "Two rights, up three flights of stairs, take a left, a right and it will be room 104."
  Artemis nodded. "I'll have the machine prepped and ready to go when you get there. It will take a couple minutes for it to charge, so we have to be fast. There should be air tanks and protective suits already in the room. Get them on ASAP, and then we will huddle in the sides of the machine. We only have a twenty minute window thanks to Kuzan, let's not waist it."
  Ava felt her eyes shutting, weariness and apprehension making her shake.
  Eris held her a little tighter. "We got this!"
Artemis turned away, determined to get them out. If not for herself then for Ava and Eris. "I'll see you in a minute." She took off down the hall and a quick sprint.
Eris started at a brisk walk, her long legs eating up the ground beneath her feet. "You okay Lightning bug?" She asked with a false cheer.
Ava curled into Eris's arms burrowing herself into her sisters chest. "I want to sleep Cay. I'm so hungry and tired."
"I need you to hold on a little longer Bug. Can you do that for me?"
Ava nodded to tired to talk anymore.
Eris had promised that she would get them out of this government facility a month ago. Promised that Ava would no longer be a prisoner and that Artemis would help them.
Ava hadn't believed it, Eris had been promising escape for five, very long, years.
Everyone she'd met since coming here had promised, if she'd just listened and obeyed, she could be free, she could be with her sister.
They had all lied.
Five years of being starved, beaten, and ridiculed by Akainu and Kizaru. Five long years of being poked and prodded by staff. Five long years of being scared and terrorized, all because their father had been caught selling stuff he shouldn't to other country's and black market dealers. Five years of being deprived of sunlight. She'd thought she would die here, stuck in a lonely little room with just a bed and toilet. She'd only been let out once a month to shower and see her sister for two hours. The only reason she was still alive at this point was because of the nanos, they forced her body to keep going. But it was painful.
It's all Ava had ever known since she was five.
  The day they had been taken into custody, their mother had tried to protect them, getting herself killed in the process. Ava barely remembered her, but Eris would tell her story's. It was the only reason she knew who the woman was.
  Every step Eris took rocked her, making it hard to stay awake, but she kept her heavy eyes cracked open. A shiver ran through her, the ragged shirt she had on, even though big, wasn't much protection against the cold that swept through the halls.
  "Almost there Lightning Bug!"
  Doors opened and closed, echoing off the empty walls, Eris's hurried footsteps ringing in the air.
  Ava's eye lids got heavier.
  Alarms went off, pulling her out of her half sleep state.
  Another door opened, shutting with a clack.
  "Good you made it. Get these on quickly!" Artemis yelled over the sirens.
  "I'm going to put you down now, okay?"
  Ava nodded.
  Her feet hit the icy cold floor and she winced as her weak legs knocked together, threatening to give out. She watched as Eris dressed in the grey full body safety suit Artemis had handed her. 
  She shut her eyes to focus on staying up right.
  "Baby, I need you to lift your leg for me!" Eris said coming back into view.
  Ava did as asked, hanging on to Eris's shoulders, at the same time Artemis forced a breathing mask over her head.
  A tap on her leg had her dropping her foot and lifting the other.
  She began to feel claustrophobic as the mask settled over her mouth and nose, the band tightening around her lower face and head. Her arms where shoved into the suit, the air tank attached to the little belt on the side.
  Her legs gave out at the added weight.
  Eris picked her up carrying her into the machine. Her eyes closed because the bright lights hurt her.
"Eris, are you okay?" Artemis asked as her brows furrowed.
Ava looked up.
Eris looked pail, sweat beading on her brow, her lip trembled. "I think this last batch worked Artie, did you get those suppressants?"
Artemis nodded and patted her chest,
  The door to the room flung open hitting the wall, they all fell deathly quiet.
  The alarm continued to blare outside the door.
  They all held their breath, hoping the machine would start up.
  Ava burrowed into her sister, her face smashed against Eris's neck causing Eris to shift.
  "Whoever's there needs to come out right now"
  Eris and Artemis tensed up at the sound of Athena's voice, Ava clinging to Eris tighter.
  She didn't want to go back, not to that bleak room, not to Akainu's interrogations, or not eating. At that moment an intense rage filled her little body. She hated this world, hated the people in it for letting this horrific thing happen to her and Eris.
   A few seconds passed by with nothing.
  Ava squeezed her eyes shut, praying for something to happen.
  Finally, the machine roared to life, flattening her into Eris's chest with an unseen force.
  She didn't bother to look when something hit her back, but she cried out in pain, the sound being swallowed up by the machines loud whirling.
  The lights inside the contraption got brighter, blinding Ava even though her eyes where shut.
  She felt herself being ripped away from Eris, an insane pressure making her feel like her body was going to explode from the inside out.
  Her eyes opened grasping at empty air where his sister had once been.
  She screamed, this wasn't supposed to happen, her sister was supposed to be with her.
  Next thing she knew she was falling the dark portal closing up before her eyes, the sun blinding her as she fell.
  She forced her weakened body to sprout wings the back of her suit ripping open thanks to the metal tipped feathers.
  Ava flailed around, trying to straighten herself. Her ears popped as air rushed by her, her screams no longer for her sister, but of terror in hitting the ground she seen rolling closer every time she flipped.
  She flapped her wings hard during her next roll, adrenaline giving her the strength to push them.
  Her arms tangled with the tube leading to her mask.
  She ripped the oxygen tank from her side tossing it. The tube pulled away from it yanking her head to the side.
2000 feet until impact. The voice in her head said.
  Horror lanced through her, heartbeat slamming against her chest. Is this how she died?
  She didn't want to die, she hadn't even lived.
  She'd spent five of her ten years of life as a prisoner. Never knowing anything but the walls of the building she'd been housed in. She'd never gotten to play with toys, never knew a caring hand but her sisters. This is not how she wanted to go out.
  Ava flapped her wings harder, the large appendage beating at the air sailing past.
  She yanked the aluminum encrusted tube from her mask, tired of it wiping around her.
1500 feet until impact.
  Shut up you stupid idiot.
  Would you like to turn off the automated voice system for a short time and switch to readouts?
  Yes
  Confirmed, automated voice system shutting down.
  Thank god
  Numbers and words popped into sight, the numbers counting down.
  A vast forest of trees crept closer as she fell.
Nonononono.
  Her wings finally caught air and she straightened with a jerk right before she hit the tree line.
  She flapped her wings backwards, slowing her decent enough to miss the trees. She sailed through them narrowly missing the branches that reached out for her.
  Ava crashed to the forest floor, her wings tucking around her body as she skidded through a path that seemingly opened up just for her.
  She came to a stop, breathing hard, her body hurting.
  She forced her wings to open as she flipped to her back, splaying them wide.
She sent feelers out in search of her sister, their GPS trackers connected so they would always know where the other was.
A negative came back.
  She didn't know how long she laid there, but she knew she had started to drift off. Her weak and tired body telling her to sleep and heal. She didn't want to, worried about her sisters lack of a presence, but her eyes started to close.
  Her stomach cramped waking her enough to hear the whispers around her.
  Who was talking?
  The voices where coming from every direction, scaring her.
  Footsteps alerted her to someone coming, but her heavy eyes refused to open.
  "It has to be around here somewhere!" A male voice said, reaching her ears.
She wanted to move but every time she tried pain and tiredness shot through her.
Biting her lip, she forced her wings to rolled her to her side as she pulled the breathing mask over her head.
She dug her fingers into the ground and started to push up on shaky arms.
They gave out on her and she fell into the dirt with a cry that echoed around her.
The footsteps turned into a run, growing closer, and Ava started to cry.
She tried again with the same results.
"There you are!" The man called out.
Ava started to army crawl as her tears fell. She didn't want to be found, she wanted her sister, she wanted her freedom.
"Oh, no you don't."
The footsteps stopped beside her and her left wing was lifted.
It threw her off balance and she face planted into the dirt. She curled into herself, unable to stop the sobs that ripped from her throat. "Please... please don't hurt...m-me!"
"You're just a child!" The man's said shocked.
She peeked up at the man through her tears.
A pair of neon pink eyes looked back.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Please... I.... I j-j-just... want my... s-sister!" Ava cried.
Her stomach gurgled, a wave of dizziness hitting her. She hadn't eaten in two days.
"Sounds and looks like you need food" the man said gruffly, throwing her wing to the side, forcing her to land on her back.
"I.. I.. just.. w-want m-m-m-my... sister.... ple..hic..ase." Ava sobbed as she flailed her wings.
He was a muscular man, and tall. His hair was a light purple, bangs stopping just short of his eyes. A long, baguette-like bun sat on top of his head, long strands sat on both side in back, sparking like fire crackers. A very large scar going horizontally from hair line down over his right eye, marring his handsome face. He was shirtless and was wearing a kilt with decorative biscuits looking things adorning it as well as shin length brown boots on his lower half. On his right shoulder was a large brightly colored metal shoulder armor piece, a pink polka dot cape attached to it.
A big disconcerting smile took up his face as he looked down at her. He didn't look much older then her sister. But it didn't mean she could trust him.
She continued to try and pick herself up terrified of the large man.