Here's the next chapter everyone. I'll have the poll up by the time that this is published so go ahead and vote while you can. The pole will close on march 31!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation and I do not profit from this or any story involving it.

Chapter 22: The Rescue

Times seemed so much simpler when he was traveling alongside his friends on their journey. As dangerous and annoying as things may have been a part of Hiro wished that he could go back to those times. Another part of him wished that he never left his village in the first place. Maybe then his life wouldn't be the hell it became. Perhaps if he hadn't met anyone there, he'd be safer; on the other hand, he would never have seen much of anything beyond his sheltered village. He wouldn't have built what could potentially be lasting bonds. Those bonds were also the reason that he was captured and being brutally tortured by a madman.

Maa stepped closer to the injured sorcerer, he leaned over and grasped his chin. "Well, Hiroshi, do I have your decision?"

Hiro glared at his captor with intense hatred. As much pain as he was in and as much as he'd love to get free, was betraying his friends worth it? Should he go on living as a traitor just for his freedom or should he potentially lose his life just to protect those he loved? Either way, no good with come from either—Or so he thought.

"Hiro, Hiro are you okay?!" a voice called from the other side. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of there!"

'I know that voice…' Hiro thought to himself. He knew that voice all too well. It was the voice of a man that he met during his travels, the voice of a man that he had come to love overtime. Hearing that voice brought him a great deal of relief but at the same time, it made the decision to run against his friends even harder. The fact that K and possibly Shuichi and Prince Eiri not only noticed that he was in danger, but even came to rescue him made him realize that the friendships that he developed in the past year were indeed genuine. Hiro's decision was made then and there.

"Yeah, I've made my choice." Hiro answered has he found the strength to stand upright. He then looked Maa dead in the eyes without so much as flinching and gave Maa a clear message. "You can go to hell and give the devil my regards." Boom! The sorcerer conjures a miniature explosion just large enough to blast Maa all the way to other side of the dungeon where he hit's a nearby wall, knocking him unconscious. Now that he was free, Hiro had just one thing he had to do, find his way out of the dirty dungeon.

From the other side of the filthy, unpleasant dungeon K and Taki heard the small explosion. Taki, being a sorcerer knew all too well that it was caused by magic. If that was the case, then the unlikely duo had no time to waste if they were going to save him. He turned to K and nodded his head as a signal that they should burst in. But before they could do that, they would be approached by Shuichi and Prince Eiri. From that point on, things would only go downhill—at least for Taki.

"You!"

The very second that Eiri saw the sorcerer, his eyes filled with hatred and murderous rage. The blond man charged at him with inhuman speed, ready to attack while Shuichi attempted to restrain him. Eiri pinned Taki down with all of his strength and brought his fist down on the sorcerer's face only to be blown back by a weak blast of wind. Taki then got back on his feet and raised his staff at the Prince, ready to strike back only for K to step in and restrain him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" K shouted. "We're supposed to be saving Hiro not fighting!" EIri charged at Taki again but was pulled back by what appeared to be ropes made of magic energy. This clearly didn't sit well with the Edenian prince. He struggled against the supernatural restraints while yelling at the one who used them.

"Let me go, you damned brat!"

"Eiri, please stop!" Shuichi Pleaded. "Lord Taki isn't our enemy, well, not anymore!"

"Have you forgotten what this bastard has done to us?" Eiri retorted angrily, glaring at his enemy. Taki had gotten used to Eiri's glares so he was unfazed. Although he was rather annoyed about being attacked out of the blue.

"I know what I've done, but I was simply following orders." He replied. He managed to get out of K's grasp and still had the staff raised at Eiri. Taki was not one to fight needlessly but if he felt that he had to defend himself with magic, he would do so in a heartbeat. In the time he was held back by the former guard, he charged up a spell just in case the prince charged at him again. Shuichi was not about to let the fight continue; not on his watch.

"Lord Taki, put the staff down please, I won't let Eiri attack you again." Shuichi said. Taki paused for a moment with the spell still charged and ready to fire. On the one hand, as much of a goofball as the newfound prince could be, he was always true to his word. On the other hand, he knew that if Eiri did attack him again, it would break the new alliance he had with Shuichi and K, even if it was only temporary. The sorcerer reluctantly lowered his staff, and in return, Shuichi loosened the energy ropes he tied his lover with. Eiri did not attack his former enemy again, but he had nagging doubts as to if he and the gang should trust Taki after all that he'd done. Of course, him expressing those doubts would have to wait until after they rescued their friend.

Boom! Without warning, an energy shot was fired. Shuichi, Eiri and K all turned to a destroyed door and Taki with his staff aiming at said destroyed door.

"Are you fools gonna just stand there are we going in?" He called.

"Don't get your robe in a knot, ma'am!" K spat back. Shuichi had more than enough of the back and forth verbal and almost physical fights at that point. He elbowed K as they walked into the dark, filthy dungeon. It was a rather large dungeon in size and lord only knew whom or what could have been lurking within. All four of them got the instinct that splitting up from the group would be a terrible Idea. they reluctantly stayed together as a group.

Meanwhile, Hiro was wandering the dungeon using what little magic he had left to navigate his way through the prison. Although he was fatigued both physically and mentally and injured, he knew he had to get out of that horrible place before Maa woke up and sent the guards after him. He knew that if it came down to that, there was no chance he would make it through alive. As he struggled to limp around the dungeon he sensed another source of magic, then he sensed another. He knew one of those sources of magic belonged to Shuichi and the other one was Taki's but what surprised him was that the two magic sources were not only in the room, but in the same general area. They've worked together before, but even then, Hiro had next to no trust left for Taki after putting a spell on his friends and having evil spirits possess them just so he could kill Shuichi. The redhead believed that If Taki was in the dungeon, it was to impede the others from saving him, not help them. The wizard followed the magic that he sensed but made sure to keep himself hidden. He knew using magic in his current state was hazardous to his health but if he was going to stay alive, he knew an invisibility spell was the only way to keep himself hidden. It was then that he saw Shuichi, Eiri, K and Taki heading where Hiro was coming from. He couldn't believe his eyes! Taki wasn't impeding on their saving him like he thought but was helping them! Many questions were going though Hiro's mind as he made his way closer to them. He wanted to know three things: when, how and why Taki is with them now? Unfortunately for the sorcerer, the last of his magic was slipping away and he began to reappear and disappear at an erratic rate.

"Damn it! Not now!" he cursed out loud. That did it. His magic finally gave out and he was visible again. With his magic depleted, Hiro had to rely on his stealth to get past the guards. That turned out to be easier than he thought since the guards in front of the other cells were less than attentive. The foursome on the other hand had next to no trouble from those same guards mostly because of Taki's presence. Since Eiri was able to sense Hiro's presence with his psychic abilities, he lead the way—much to Taki's dismay.

"I know this prison better than anyone here! I should be the one leading us to Hiroshi! "If not for me, you bastards wouldn't have gotten in here nor would you be safe from these incompetent guards his majesty hired."

"You're also part of the reason we're going through this crap in the first place!" K snapped.

"I had nothing to do with your lover being kidnapped! "Taki then tuned to Shuichi. "Shindou, back me up here, please. "

"I'm sorry, Lord Taki, but K has a point, a lot of this does have to do with you." Shuichi said regrettably. This caused the sorcerer to turn away in disgust. He knew they were right, and he knew that if he was going to keep the alliance going, he would have to earn their trust and respect. A task that would prove to be an uphill battle.

As much as it pained the boy to say it he knew that K was right. Plus, although he didn't want to admit it, Shuichi did not fully trust the former advisor. Sure, he was helping them now, but how d id he know that Taki wouldn't eventually turn on them? How could he know if his new ally would remain an ally even after the ordeal ended? The question on whether to trust him or not would have to wait until after they found Hiro. Shuichi didn't realize it, but like Hiro, he could also sense if a source of magic was nearby. Oh, would that ability come in handy.!

"He's over there!" the teen called out. "He's just two meters ahead of us!" then, without thinking, Shuichi ran towards the direction that he was pointing to with the others wearily following him.

Taki rolled his eyes as he attempted to keep up with the new prince. "Does he always have to run off like that?"

"He does this a lot. You'll get used to it." K replied.

Hiro had stopped to regain any aorta of strength that he could. His injuries for the most part may not have been very serious but him exhausting his magic and dodging the guards left him extremely fatigued and his vision blurred. He could barely see a figure running towards him. As worn out as he was, Hiro attempted one last time to use his magic when the figure called out to him.

"Hiro!"

He knew that voice all too well. "M-Master…Shuichi…" he struggled to call out. His balance worsened and his vision blurred even more. 'Am I…. hallucinating…' he thought.

"Hiro! Hang in there!" Shuichi cried out again. He finally reached his companion while he was still semi-conscious. The pink haired teen reached out and held his exhausted friend. All Hiro could really make out was that someone was holding him and there appeared to be tears falling down this person's face.

"M-M-Master…Shuichi…It is you…" he whispered as he tried to pull himself closer to the boy. It was right then and there that the last of his strength gave out as did his will to remain conscious. He collapsed into Shuichi's arms much to the other teen's horror. His eyes widened in fear as he held Hiro's motionless body

'Who could have done this to him?' Shuichi thought to himself. Eiri and the others were not far behind him. They managed to catch up to him when they saw him holding the injured, tired sorcerer. K couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man he loved was in his friend's arms unconscious and his body was riddled with whip marks, cuts, burns and various abrasions. The worst part was, this happened while he was fighting Taki and being captured.

'No, not again, why do bad things always happen to the ones I love?' K thought as he went to Hiro's side.

"Take him to the healing chambers, quickly!" Eiri demanded.

"There isn't enough time, the healing chambers is too far away from here, I'll heal him here!" Taki argued.

"There is no way in hell we're letting you near him!" K shouted. "We're taking him to the healer and that's that. Shuichi, teleport us there!"

Taki scoffed. "You're going to let an amateur like Shindou use a teleportation spell? There's no telling where you fool will end up if you let him do it."

"It's better than letting you do god knows what!"

"I'm going to heal him here!"

"Why should we trust you to heal him?!"

The other two men were growing tired of the back and forth shouting match between K and Taki. Shuichi in particular, was very sick of it. "Guys, knock it off, this isn't the time to be fighting!"

"BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Eiri shouted. K and Taki immediately stopped their bickering after Prince Eiri's outburst. "Nakano's external Injuries aren't that bad, at least not enough for him to go to the healing chambers but it seems like he drove himself too hard with his magic. Let's just take him to his room and let Lord Taki heal him there."

K took a step towards the blond prince in protest. "Y-your highness, with all due respect, you cannot be serious! You're going to let this bastard be alone with Hiroshi after he poisoned him?!"

"Who said I was leaving them alone together? I'll be in there watching him." Eiri added while he glared at the king's former advisor. "Teleport us to Nakano's room, now!"

The wizard knew that if he was going to get back at the king for betraying him, he had to work with them and do as they said. It was far from the ideal way that he wanted to have his revenge but if he was going to get it, he had to work with his enemies. With a flash of light from his staff, Taki was able to teleport the gang to Hiro's room. Healing required light magic, something Taki had little experience with, but since Hiro's external injuries were relatively minor, that little experience would be all he needed.

"Alright, K, Shindou, get out of here. "he ordered. K was about to start yelling at him again but Shuichi quickly reprimanded the former soldier and led him out of the room. One thing they both knew was that if Taki did attempt to do anything suspicious to Hiro while healing him, it would never get past Eiri's watchful eye or telepathy. That said they both still had their doubts about the sorcerer.

"K, do you think I made the right choice freeing Lord Taki?" Shuichi asked.

"I wanna say that you made a terrible mistake, but since he has been helping us, I don't know what to say. "the former soldier replied. "What I want to know is this, Shuichi. Do you think he can really trust this guy after all he did to you? I mean he did try to kill you a bunch of times. And then well, there was this morning."

"I know but maybe he really does want to redeem himself. Part of me believes that he really has turned around for the better."

"Well, okay but, what do we do if Lord Taki decides to double cross us?"

"Simple, we kill him. At least I'll kill him."

K's eyes popped out in shock. He expected an answer like that from Prince Eiri or K, but not Shuichi. He knew Shuichi was the type to try to see the good in other people. On the other hand, it seemed like the newfound prince didn't forget the events of the past either and likely wouldn't hesitate to make good on what he said.

a/n: and that was chapter 23 everyone. I hope you all enjoyed and the poll will be up soon. You have until march 31 to vote so you may as well do so. Thank you for reading, please review and I'll see you all next time. Bye bye.