A loud crash brought Jacobi back to his senses. His eyes slowly split open and he forced the dizziness from his mind. It was dark and cold, it certainly wasn’t what he had imagined the afterlife would be like. Not to mention the wave of pain that ripped through his muscles as he sat up.
The sound of crackling fire was faint but unmistakable. Had he actually survived? Jacobi looked around but found that he couldn’t see anything.
Had the impact rendered him blind?
“You’re not blind,” The voice of reason said in a flat yet somehow comforting voice. “It’s just very dark, you’d barely be able to see your fingers if you wave them in front of your face.”
Jacobi brought his hand up and could feel his eyes strain in the darkness. Sure enough he was able to make out five fingers wiggling in the dark.
A quick mental sweep told Jacobi that, surprisingly, he was hardly hurt at all.
If he was fine, then what about...
“Sara?”
No response.
“Sara?” He called out again.
His heart seized up and his throat seemed to dry out.
“S-Sara?” He clumsily crawled forward, searching in the darkness.
Another loud crash erupted from behind him and Jacobi slowly moved forward. From what he could tell by the echo of his voice and the low temperature despite the fire just outside, the ceiling had fallen and created an enclosure around him. But what about Sara?
Tears welled up in his eyes and he could feel the warm liquid rolling down his cheeks.
“She’s okay…” He silently told himself. “She’s probably just unconscious…”
“Sara?” His voice cracked and tears began to fall freely from his eyes.
He moved forward, sweeping in front of him as he went. His heart skipped a beat when his fingers connected with a piece of damp cloth. “Sara!” He found her hand and took it into his own.
She was cold. Freezing cold.
Jacobi fell to the ground weeping, Sara’s cold hand still clenched in his grip.
In the end he had failed to save her.
A third crash came from behind him but Jacobi ignored it. He barely noticed the light as it poured into the enclosure. Heat quickly followed the light and lastly a man appeared through the hole in the wall.
“Anybody home?” The loud voice caught Jacobi’s attention and he turned his tear filled eyes to the man. A large rock lay at the man’s bare feet. His scorched jeans were all he wore and his bright orange-red hair, standing on end, greatly resembled the fire burning just outside the enclosure. His gleaming amber eyes fell to Jacobi and their eyes connected. “Who the Hell're you?”
Jacobi was speechless as he stared up at the man who he had last seen tied to a chair and blind folded.
Charles’ gaze left Jacobi and found Sara. His eyes grew wide, his jaw set, his fists curled and he ran forward, knocking Jacobi to the side.
“What did you do to her?” His voice was filled with rage.
Jacobi returned to his senses and got to his feet. “I- I didn’t do anything. The ceiling collapsed and-” He looked around.
“This isn’t the ceiling…” Jacobi’s voice was filled with wonder. “It’s all ice…”
Charles knelt down and put his ear to his sister’s chest.
Jacobi waited for Charles to realize that Sara was no longer of this world and to take his rage out on him, but he didn’t. Instead Charles threw his head back and laughed.
“Wh- what’s so funny?”
Charles’ booming laugh echoed in the small enclosure. “You had me worried there for a second, guy.”
“I don’t understand…”
“She’s sleeping.” Charles wiped a tear from his eye and stood. “So who are you? Sara made sure that you were inside this barrier, I take it you must know her somehow.”
“Sleeping? But she’s stone cold.”
“Ah, she’s always like that. So anyway, you two must be down here to save me right?”
“I don’t get it… she’s alive?”
Charles huffed impatiently and snapped his fingers twice in rapid succession. “Look here guy,” He waited for Jacobi’s eyes to meet his. “Sara is alive and well. Now I want you to answer my questions: who are you and what are the two of you doing down here?”
“I’m Jacobi,” He held his hand out. Charles didn’t take it. “Jacobi Myles. Sara came to me for help. We’re here to break you out and get us all off of Titan.”
Charles’ eyes lit up. “Off of Titan you say?” He reached for Jacobi’s out-stretched hand, but hesitated. “You got a ship?” Jacobi nodded and Charles shook his hand. “Well why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Before Jacobi could reply Sara stirred. She really was alive!
Charles dropped into a crouch and lowered his lips to Sara’s ear. “Sara,” He crooned. “it’s time for breakfast. I’ll eat all the hotcakes if you don’t get up.”
At this she stirred again.
Jacobi felt a weight lift from his shoulders and he smiled.
When Sara still didn’t wake from her slumber Charles’ face twisted in thought. Then suddenly a devious smile spread across his lips.
He looked up at Jacobi. “Jacobi, right?”
Jacobi nodded.
“Sara,” He crooned in the same soft voice. “y’better get up and get some clothes on, Jacobi’s here to see you.”
Sara’s eyes shot open and she threw her arms around herself.
She looked around, still not quite awake. When she realized what was going on her face turned beet red. “Ch-Charles!”
He threw his head back and laughed again. “So that’s how it is.”
“No it’s not!” She shouted. She looked at Jacobi and timidly added: “N-not exactly…”
Jacobi wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about, but that last line sent his heart a-flutter and he felt his face start to turn red. He turned around. “We should probably get going as soon as possible.” He patted his pockets and was dismayed to find that his P-COM was missing. He quickly removed the bag from his back and started rummaging through its contents.
Charles stood and offered his sister a hand. “Can you stand?”
She nodded and accepted his help.
“Hey guy, do you know the way out of here?”
Jacobi pulled the hard drive from the bag and held it to his chest. Even without his P-COM he would have more than enough evidence to bring down Gabgoblin with the information stored on the small device he now held. He slipped the hard drive’s lanyard around his neck and smiled. “You can just call me Jacobi.” He climbed out of the hole made by Charles. “It looks like our way out has been blocked, but I think I can get us out of here easy enough.”
He stepped back and let Charles leap through the hole.
Charles turned and held Sara's hand as she passed through the crude portal.
The hard drive was important, this was true, but even more important than the hard drive was the object that started Sara and Charles' journey. The object that Gillian had found so precious that he didn't turn it over to Gabgoblin: “Sara do you still have the orb?”
She reached into her coat and brought out the small metal ball. There wasn't a scratch on it.
Jacobi sighed. Now that he knew that Sara was safe, Charles was alive and their evidence against Gabgoblin was still intact Jacobi's mind started to clear.
“But don't you wonder...” The voice of reason proposed. “Don't you wonder where all of that ice came from? Don't you wonder how Charles survived that firestorm?”
He did and with good reason too. There's no way that their situation could possibly be so fortuitous.
He turned to Sara and she must have seen the curiosity in his eyes because she shook her head. “Now's not the time.”
Charles looked at her, confused.
“I know you have questions and I know that we have answers, but right now we need to escape.”
How could he possib
ly argue with that?
He smiled. “Right,” Gabgoblin's men would be swarming the sewers any minute and knowing Gabgoblin, they were probably ordered to shoot first and ask questions later. “Let's go. Are you able to run?”
When the siblings both replied affirmatively Jacobi took off in a brisk jog. He wove his way through the destruction that was once the sewers of Titan City. Everything that could burn was on fire, the walls were scorched and the blackened ceiling seemed to be struggling to stay up.
He skirted around the remains of what was probably a giant sewer rat and glanced over his shoulder. Sara and Charles were both keeping up with him, which was good. If they stayed in the area much longer they'd be dead even if Gabgoblin's men didn't show up.
The smoke was thick and Jacobi struggled to breathe as he continued to trek through the ruined tunnels. He hoped that the electrical service tunnel that had come to mind would still be accessible when they found it.