Astra would’ve been content to stay in prison.
He had only arrived about two weeks before, and a week ago Rubio had joined him in the tiny cell.
He would’ve escaped at some point; he just wanted a little rest.
Just to stay there for a month, lazing around, without a care in the world.
But of course, some flashy Fish Girl just had to ruin everything.
She was tall, taller than both him and Rubio, which was a bit surprising considering Rubio was a literal Tallman.
Her short hair reached just under her chin in a bob that had the right side longer than the left.
It was colored a pale pastel blue, mixing in with her light greenish-blue skin color.
There were fins on her arms, near her wrists and on her calves for easier swimming.
Her teeth were sharp, and her eyes were slitted, akin to a cat’s.
She had three gills on each side of her neck, and her hands were webbed.
When she traipsed into the cell, she wore a lazy smirk, not befitting someone who had just been sent to prison.
She was wearing a black tank top vest with tan shorts just below it.
A purple scarf hung around her neck, her knees and elbows were covered with safety pads, and her black boots had thick, grippable soles.
It wasn’t even a day’s worth of time before she was suggesting breaking out.
He would’ve been fine on his own, thank you, maybe just a few weeks more, and then he would’ve been out one way or another.
But no, she had to escape now and rope him and Rubio in as well.
Whatever, he could deal with that.
Besides, the faster he got out, the faster he could…well, it’s not like it matters much.
But it turns out the damned Shark Face couldn’t even get the guards’ attention.
Now he had to do everything himself.
He used one of his talons to slash at Rubio’s leg.
It was the only thing he could think of in the moment, and it wasn’t like it was deep enough to really be an issue; he didn’t know why Rubio was so pissy about it; wasn’t he supposed to be a Pirate?
Who knew Pirates were so weak?
Running through the halls, they managed to hide behind some boxes.
But then the Head Guard showed up, and Thalia got pummeled.
Thankfully, he managed to grab the key while he was distracted, knocking the Head Guard to the ground.
They made a run for it.
They were still booking it, following Rubio as he turned down hallway after hallway.
Astra could only hope he knew where he was going.
That’s not even mentioning the fact that the guards had gotten their act together and were currently trying to pincer them off.
The prisoners in the cells cheered for them as they passed.
Thankfully, the guards didn’t seem too strong, and more often than not they could breeze past them with just a few shoves.
When they arrived at the next staircase, however, Thalia apparently wasn’t paying any attention.
She ripped the key from his hands and bounded forward, only to run face-first into six guards lying in wait at the top.
She fell backward onto him and Rubio, and all three of them went sprawling down the stairs with a grunt.
“Can you look where you’re going?
This isn’t a playground!” He scolds, flapping his wings to extricate himself from their heap.
“I don’t want to hear it.” She groans, leaping up from the pile.
Rolling his eyes, he tries to refocus on the plan.
They could try and go around the guards; it would be no problem.
It was better to save their energy after all.
Of course, the stupid Seaweed Slurper just had to start fighting with them.
She didn’t even go after all the guards, just the one in the middle, which left him to clean up this entire mess, as Rubio sure wasn’t going to be able to do much with his leg.
Sighing, he followed her up the stairs just as the first guard approached.
Their fist swung over him, and he swung a leg up, catching their arm between his talons and throwing them into the guard approaching for a sneak attack from behind.
Another one tries to kick his side, but he slashes across her chest with his talons.
One sneaks up on him and grabs him under the shoulders, trying to pin him down, but his legs are too strong, so he jabs the guy in the stomach over and over until he lets go.
The last one grabs at his wings, and he squawks in alarm, puffing them out, which startles the guy enough that he lets go, and his talons catch him in the throat.
Panting a bit from exertion, he finds that Thalia is just about finished with her fight and takes a moment to fix up his wings.
Thankfully, the guard didn’t rip out any feathers, and a few were only slightly displaced.
He didn’t even get a chance to rest, however, before Thalia was pushing them forward again.
“Wait, wait, wait!
Can’t we take a short break?
I’m exhausted over here.” He squawks, slapping her hand away from his back.
“Also, I’m sure I’ve said this before, but don’t touch me.”
“You said it yourself; we need to keep moving before more guards come.” She chirps.
“But we’ve been running and fighting nonstop for ages; Rubio looks like he’s going to pass out.” He protests.
Sure enough, the man is panting, sweat running down his face and hair clinging to his forehead.
“No…no…let’s- hah!
-keep going.
She’s right.” He gasps, looking close to passing out.
“Right…” Astra eyes him warily, but reluctantly continues following behind them as they trek down the halls.
As they twist through more and more hallways, however, Rubio begins to fall behind.
Astra finds himself checking on the man now and again, because even though he doesn’t care, the man is still vital to them escaping, and he wasn’t going to abandon him now after all the help he’s given navigating them this far.
Thalia didn’t know where she was going, but Rubio still gave them occasional instructions from behind.
Astra could feel the stairs getting closer; they’d been running for so long now that if they weren’t close, then Rubio had just been leading them in circles and they were doomed.
And then he turned the corner and saw them, the third staircase; only three left after this, they were halfway done.
He scrambled toward it, an odd feeling of hope in his chest at being halfway done with this awful cardio nightmare.
That hope was dashed when he felt a hand on his back again, this time shoving him into a hallway.
He fell on top of Thalia, their limbs entangling.
“What was that for?” He questioned the perpetrator, Rubio, who was crouching at the hallway entrance.
“We can’t keep going like this.
I’m exhausted, and this place is huge.
We need to be stealthy now, figure out a way to walk out of here without drawing any attention to ourselves.” Rubio explains.
“I can carry you if I need to.
I say we keep going as is; we don’t have time for another plan.” Thalia argues.
“Guards are littering the halls looking for us.
Even if you have better stamina than us, even you’ll get exhausted fighting so many guards, coupled with all the sprinting.
We still have to find a way off the island once we’re out of the prison.
No point in running ourselves to the ground now.” Rubio shakes his head in disagreement.
“So,” He reaches down and grabs Astra’s leg.
He squawks and tries to pull it away, but Rubio’s grip is surprisingly firm, and he watches helplessly, astounded as Rubio starts drawing a map on the stone ground with one of his talons.
It was a map of the prison, or at least the Level they were on.
Square in shape with little pathways running throughout.
Dots were placed in random corners, and there was a marking for the stairs leading upward.
When Rubio was done, he yanked his leg back, shooting the man a glare he didn’t seem to catch.
“If we go through these hallways,” Rubio says, pointing to a few pathways devoid of little dots, “Then we can avoid the monitoring system.
But these are where the guard rooms are, so they’re going to be teeming with activity.” He explains.
“We need a way to avoid the guards going after us then.” Thalia surmises.
“Ah, yes, how about I just snap my fingers and teleport us out of prison as well?” He says sarcastically.
“You have absolutely no imagination.” Thalia deadpans.
“I already have a plan forming up here while you waste your creativity on petty insults.” She mocks.
“Let’s hear your genius idea then.
The last few have gone just perfectly.” He puts on a sickeningly sweet voice.
Thalia jabs him in the side; he glares at her and moves to do the same, but she’s already speaking, and he figures it’s better to listen.
“We’re going to steal the guards’ uniform.” She states confidently, eyes closed to bask in the cheers she seems certain are going to happen.
There’s a beat of silence.
“What?”
“That’s your plan?!
That’s barely even an idea!
Plus, our faces have been plastered all over the monitoring system; they’ll figure it out in a second!” He shouts incredulously.
“The plan is that we jump a few guards and steal their uniform; there doesn’t need to be much more elaboration than that.
Or are you too idiotic to follow logical lines of thinking?
Is your brain as hollow as your bones?” She sneers.
“Oh, you did not!
You-!” He starts to speak, but is interrupted when Rubio shoves a hand over his mouth.
“Last time you two argued like this, we got ambushed by the Head Guard; let’s keep the volume down.” Astra nods guiltily when he sees the hard look in the man’s eyes.
“Thalia, your plan might work, not like we have any better ideas.
But let’s do it in a hallway without a monitoring system; that way they won’t see us change.” She nods in agreement, and just like that, everything is settled.
Luckily for them, they only need to walk through a few hallways before reaching their destination.
Rubio was right; quite a few guards were loitering in the hallway.
They didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry as the other ones they ran into, so Astra assumes they’re either on their breaks or just getting off.
It doesn’t really matter, though, because Thalia steps out into the middle of the hallway, startling them out of soft conversation.
There were five guards in total, and each of them fumbled to grab their batons from the belt on their waist.
Astra chuckled a little at their misfortune.
Hah!
“Why, hello there!
I didn’t expect to run into you guys on my way out.” She greets the guards enthusiastically enough that they pause in confusion, not daring to move forward.
They all stare at Thalia, hands hovering over their weapons.
“I have to say, really lovely prison you have here.
I mean, just the design of the place alone…” She starts gushing about the architecture.
He’s pretty sure he hears some word-for-word sentences from Rubio; judging by the man’s frown, he’s probably correct.
At one point, she nods them along, and the two start snaking toward the guards.
The full plan that they had finalized on the way over was that Thalia would use her Charm as a Siren to keep the guards in place as they stole their clothes.
That way they wouldn’t need to fight and could steal the uniform right off their backs, and they’d be none the wiser until they were long gone.
Her Charm was a bit…weird, though.
When people explained the ability, or he’d seen it in use, it’d always been in the form of a beautiful song.
Not somebody boring them to death with a monologue; there wasn’t anything fun or beautiful about that.
So forgive him if he had a few worries about the success of her Charm.
Thankfully, the guard’s eyes slide right over them as they continue to watch Thalia in shock.
They go completely slack; their hands fall to their sides, and their eyes glaze over.
He lets out a small sigh of relief.
They pick out three guards who roughly fit their sizes and grab their jackets and pants.
Astra slides the pants over his own and rips up the back of the jacket a bit to fit his wings through.
Overall, it doesn’t look too bad.
Rubio slides his on, and they toss the third pair to Thalia.
Once all three of them are changed, they turn to scramble away before the guards regain their senses.
He’s just turning the corner when a crashing sound draws his attention.
“Oomph!” Turning to look behind him, he spots Rubio with his face pressed into the stone floor.
Astra could even see the tips of his ears growing red with embarrassment.
The guards seem to shake at the noise, a shudder running through each of them.
“Oh crap, they’re waking up.
We have to go.” Thalia mumbles.
In a rare moment of solidarity, they both glance at each other and nod.
Working in tandem, they run back and bend down at the same time, scooping Rubio up with Thalia grabbing his legs and Astra grabbing his arms.
“W-What are you doing?!
Put me down!” He shrieks.
“No time, should’ve thought of that before you tripped.” Thalia cackles.
“Wha-!
That-!
It wasn’t my fault!
It felt like something was there, but when I looked again, it was gone.” He splutters, face pulled into an embarrassed pout.
Oops
“So, what was that with the guards earlier?” Switching topics, he asks Thalia a question.
“Hm?” She hums, but it’s obvious she knows exactly what he’s talking about.
“Spill it.” He narrows his eyes at her, and she caves.
“Okay, fine, I can Charm people, but I’m pretty horrible at it; I never really got the chance to learn.
Also, I can’t sing.” She shrugs, but doesn’t elaborate.
They round a corner, and then another, and are finally met with the stairs.
Racing up them, he doesn’t stop as he grabs the Rune key from where Thalia shoved it in her pocket.
The barrier opens just before they crash into it.
Once they’re on the other side, Astra and Thalia drop Rubio onto the ground, leaning against the wall to take a break.
“Please don’t carry me like that again; I think I’ll be sick,” Rubio says, a hand to his mouth.
“Maybe we wouldn’t have to if you didn’t trip over nothing.” Thalia mumbles.
“I’m telling you, that wasn’t my fault!” His voice rises a bit, and he shoots a glare at Thalia.
“That wasn’t my fault.” She mocks, putting her hand up to mime him speaking.
He inhales, an affronted expression on his face.
“What, don’t get mad at me because you have two left feet.” She smirks.
“I do not have two left feet!
Fine, you know what, if it happens again, you can mock me all you want, but I swear on my life that something caused me to trip.” He exclaims.
“Oh my Seas,” Astra grumbles, running a hand down his face in exhaustion.
“Would you two shut up?
You’re acting like children.” He hisses.
“I do not want to hear it from you when this entire time both of you have been bickering like toddlers,” Rubio says, crossing his arms with an icy stare.
“Let’s just stop arguing and go; we shouldn’t have to worry about the guards or monitoring system anymore,” Thalia says, walking away from them.
Of course she would try to leave after getting the last word.
He doesn’t try to argue, though, just scowls and follows behind as Rubio powerwalks to get ahead of her.
It feels like they’re never going to get out of here.