For a brief moment, Phelan was completely stuck in place, unsure what to do—-but just like his out of the blue instinct before, Phelan felt the urge to intervene with the guard and Kazimir. He wanted to jump down and run to the corridor to spot them—to see where they were despite the fact a new guard had been patrolling the area and was armed... Plus, Kazimir and the guard who had caught him and taken him away were probably long gone by now, off to a different sector in the prison.

Without thinking too much about what was going on around him, Phelan started to lean forward as if he was going to jump out of the opening in the ceiling and back into the cell—--Dante and Lucifer had to grab onto him to keep him from falling into the other guard's line of sight.

"Whoa, whoa, hold it," Lucifer told Phelan. "Slow it, dude."

Dante then began to speak in a much more soothing voice to Phelan than Lucifer had been just a few moments prior. "We'll help him when we can, but at the moment... Doing something as risky as bursting in there with no form of protection at all is not an option." His hand shifted upwards to rest on Phelan's shoulder, squeezing it. "We need to get out of here before they lock this place down. We'll regroup elsewhere, get the supplies and allies that we need and then we'll come back for him. Okay?"

Phelan exhaled, slowly. "...Okay."

Espio raised his head with a groan, clearly in pain from how he had been laid in the cell and from being tossed earlier. "...What in the hell is going on here? ...does anyone want to explain that to me? Hm?"

"He rescued us," Lucifer said, gesturing to Dante. "...which I am hoping is not a trap to lead us to Anoketo personally."

Dante raised a hand in surrender. "No trap here. Just an honest mole in their organization." He paused and introduced, "I'm Dante Graye."

"Well, Dante Graye, tell us, where exactly do you plan to take us?" Lucifer asked, arms crossed with an eyebrow raised.

"It's top secret... I wouldn't want the name to get out... Not until we're out of here and in a more secure location, that is," Dante explained.

Lucifer gave Espio a look, to which Espio returned—--a look of suspicion... One of distrust for Dante and his words.

"Look," Dante said, "it's a community... A safe haven that Arcon's leaders and Anoketo himself don't know about. I can't tell you exactly what right now."

Espio scowled. "So you can't tell us where exactly you're planning to take us, but we're supposed to, what?" He laughed, bitterly. "...Trust you with our lives?"

Dante replied, "Well, I saved you didn't I?"

Espio in response to Dante's comment flipped the bird at him.

Dante rolled his eyes before taking the lead and beckoning the group along. "This way... Come on."

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

Dante continued to lead Espio, Lucifer, and Phelan through the air ducts of the prison.

At some point, that Phelan hadn't noticed, they had made it through into a series of underground passageways.

Finally, Dante stopped, nearly making Espio, who was right behind him, trip. "Drop down there," Dante said, pointing to the dark mouth in the ground of the tunnel.

"What the fuck is that?" Espio questioned looking down. "I can't see the ground. How far is that drop?"

Lucifer then cast a glance to Dante. "Yeah, how far is it? Are you trying to kill us? ...Did Anoketo tell you to do this? Is he adding another five grand to your salary for this?"

Dante sighed, annoyed. "No," he said, shortly. "He's not. ...And you can either trust me and do what I say, or wait in the tunnels and possibly be found by Anoketo's men... Be my guest."

"Well, there's always a chance we won't be found if we waited here," Espio commented.

"Yeah, as if that would be pleasant," Dante scoffed.

Espio huffed. "What's so bad about waiting in place if they don't find us, huh? I can handle a few spiders."

Lucifer added, "Well, besides the fact you'll be a hermit and have no supplies? You'll probably die of dehydration within the first month."

Dante nodded. "Exactly my point." He paused. "Now are you two gonna keep bitching or are you gonna go through?"

Espio grumbled under his breath, most likely cussing Dante out. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go." Espio took a deep breath before jumping through.

Lucifer called after him, "Are you dead?"

"Nope!" Espio called back.

Lucifer took a moment to steady herself before following Espio.

Phelan's gaze remained trained on the dark crevice. He gulped.

Dante noticed the other man's unease. "Trust me, okay? You jump down there, nothing bad will happen to you. I'll be right behind you. I promise."

"Okay," Phelan murmured, softly with a gentle nod. "I trust you." Then, he jumped.

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

When he landed, Phelan just barely landed right on his feet.

Dante came down beside him. "You okay?"

Phelan nodded. "Yeah," he faked a grin. "Never better."

Dante shook his head. "No you're not. I can see you perfectly. You're shaking..."

Phelan swallowed and confessed. "It's just that, all my life, I've always been this sort of 'goody-two-shoes'... But now, I broke a law—--"

"More like ten," Espio butt-in.

Lucifer gave him a glare. "Not helping."

Espio shrugged. "I wasn't trying to."

Dante sighed and gently pat Phelan's back to calm him. "Better?"

Phelan inhaled. "Yeah... Better." But Phelan wasn't even convinced by the response he gave Dante.

"Phelan?" a familiar voice called out, confused.

Phelan turned as soon as he heard the words calling to him only to see Collin Askins. "Collin? ...what?" He began to stammer. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I uh," Collin started to say with a shrug. "I live down here."

"And where is here exactly?" Lucifer asked.

Collin replied, "Bloodwall... A stronghold growing deep within Arcon without Anoketo's knowledge."

Phelan blinked a few times in disbelief. "I thought you lived in Etoria!"

Collin laughed at that notion. "Seriously? Do I look that rich to you?"

"Every time I saw you, your eyes were lilac, Collin," Phelan said.

Collin chuckled. "Okay, yeah—-guilty as charged... I um... Used to live in Etoria... But a little birdy told me about Bloodwall and the moment I got here, I was able to wash all of my woes away." He gave a glance to Dante. "Dante," he greeted. "These are?"

"Lucifer Shado and Espio Kev," Phelan answered for his companions who gave him a grateful glance for not telling their real names to people they didn't quite trust yet.

"Lucifer, eh?" Collin replied. "Named after the devil himself, I see. You pick the name or did someone else?"

"None of your business," Lucifer growled.

Collin laughed once more. "...On the surface, I have this mask I put on... I pretend to enjoy the pain of others... But down here in Bloodwall I can truly unwind—--truly be myself... I hope you all can find the same solace in this place that I and Dante have." He paused, "Now who would like a tour of our humble, little community?"

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

After the tour, Lucifer had headed off to talk to some of the girls that lived there to scope out this place and figure out if she could really trust these people or not, while Collin and Espio tagged along—--much to her disdain.

Phelan had made his way to the bunk where he could live until everything washed over and they could go about the rest of their plan... Whatever the plan was.

At last, Phelan sat down on a drab, red bed and he fidgeted with the sheets.

Bloodwall reminded him of Saint Pentagram—--dark... sad... lonely... desperate.

He sighed as he laid down and looked at the ceiling.

Phelan thought about everything that had happened to him in the past few days and sighed. The capture, the fleeing, the bullets shot at them—--it was all too much for Phelan to bear. The sorrow boiled up inside until it overflowed and spilt out. Phelan hid his head in the pillow, forcing back tears... which, unfortunately for him, wasn't very successful.

Dante, who was passing by, stepped into the room. He knocked on the doorframe. "Phelan?"

Phelan's head jerked up and he looked over to Dante.

"Sorry," Dante began, making his way over to the bed and sitting down beside him. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just wanted to see how you were settling in."

"I'm fine," Phelan began, biting his fears back. "Everything's fine. You really didn't need to check on me, you know..."

Dante sat there for a moment before saying, "I know that I didn't technically need to check on you, but I did anyway... And really, I'm glad I did because you were almost in tears."

Phelan wiped his eyes with an awkward laugh.

"Seriously though," Dante said. "You almost soaked that pillow."

"I'm okay," Phelan said. "I'll cope."

"If you're sure..." Dante paused. "You know Phelan, it feels like I know you. ...the real you."

Phelan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Dante tried to explain, "Like I've got... Eons of memories just of you."

"What?" Phelan replied, confused at Dante's words.

"What I mean is... I remember you... From my childhood," Dante said. "We... used to go to school together, before my family worked their way up in the ranks and got us relocated to Etoria... We'd play for hours. Recite the Jay Avenue pride chant..." Dante paused. "And in hindsight, it wasn't great... It should've told us that we lived in a dictatorship... But, I guess, when you're seven, you don't exactly think of things like that."

Phelan then asked, "What was the name of the dog I always wanted? The one I made perfectly with my imagination?"

Dante smiled. "Pharaoh. He was a Siberian husky. He had a green eye and an amber one."

"I—-" Phelan choked on his words. Memories of him and Dante from their childhood trickled into Phelan's mind.

Dante looked Phelan in the eyes. "...mind if I do something really quick?"

"Not at all," Phelan murmured, softly, in awe of all of the memories.

Dante then leaned in and kissed him.