“I’m alright. Maybe a little sore but nothing terrible…” Arria mumbled, resting his head back against Carter’s shoulder, “What about you? Are you hurt in anyway?” He had to fight to keep his eyes open, eventually just letting them fall shut.
“I don’t think so, what happened?” He asked, still tugging at the ropes. An irritated rope burn appear and his wrist and the other place the ropes rubbed again his skin, but he need to get out.
“You were captured and put in the van. I couldn’t… wouldn’t let them take you so I fought back. With not much luck it seems.” Arria sighed and pulled a little at the ropes only to wince at the pain that shot through him.
Shoot… “Lemme try to get you a potion…” Hopefully no one’s seen him yet… Carter craned his neck down, grabbing the cork of a bottle with his teeth. He pulled it out of the bag carefully, “Mrrrggh,” He made a noise, twisting his neck to touch the bottle to Arria’s shoulder.
Arria grabbed the bottle with his teeth before leaning over to place the bottle in his lap. He brought his tail up a little, which took a lot of effort and held the bottle between his chest and it as he pulled the cork out and spat it to the side. He lifted his head back with the bottle and swallowed, letting the bottle fall to the ground, "Crap… do you have a spare pair of shorts?"
“Uhhh… shoot…” Carter innerly cursed himself. He should’ve been more prepared… He tugged open his bag a little bit more with his teeth, praying he brought something. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the pair of old shorts, he had probably stuffed them in there a while ago. He tugged them out with his teeth, twisting his head to pass them over to Arria.
Arria leaned his head back and grabbed the shorts with his teeth. He pulled his legs to his chest and somehow managed to get the shorts to his feet. Maneuvering himself so he could pull the shorts on, he did so as quickly as he could with his hands tied, "Thanks…"
Carter started trying to pull at the ropes again, but a door opened from the other side of the room. Three men walked in, one of them smirking to see that they were awake. Carter glared, but none paid it any attention.
“Do we want to take ‘em both out? Or one at a time?” One of them asked another.
“I think we’d make more dollars with a package deal, besides, we could get rid of ‘em across the border faster if they went together.” The other man grunted, and Carter went rigid. What the heck? Human trafficking? Nononononononononono……
Arria went stiff and looked over his shoulder at Carter, “W-What are they going to do?” He asked quietly, hoping the men didn’t hear him.
Carter opened his mouth to respond, but with a click, two of the men held up guns, one pressing against Carter’s temple and the other pressing against Arria’s. The third man bent out and started cutting the ropes. Carter didn’t dare move, in fear of Arria getting shot. Once the ropes were loose, the man dropped them to the floor and the man holding the gun to Carter’s head hauled him to his feet with a vice grip. The last man mirrored it with Arria, and they started to drag them out the door. Carter didn’t dare try to fight.
Arria tried not to show fear, didn;t struggled against the men as Carter wasn’t. Whatever was going to happen he hoped it would happen soon, or not at all. Bad luck, they always seemed to have bad luck whenever they go out and today was no exception apparently.
They dragged the two of them down the hall, and finally into a room with a curtain wall. The third, unoccupied man left, closing the door and locking them in. Carter could hear voices beyond the curtain, murmuring amongst themselves. Carter had a terrible feeling settle in his gut.
The curtains opened to reveal a crowd, all wearing masks. A man in a suit stepped out, a mask of his own, “Hello there, hello there, I’m so happy to see you all here today. We have something special for you, a package deal in fact. These two, healthy, young men.” The man in the suit walked a little bit closer, “Each are healthy and strong, very hard working I’m sure, I’m sure they can be of great service to any of you,” Some hungry grins appeared in the audience, “Now shall the bidding commence? Let’s start it off at a thousand.”
Nonononononononono! Fear soaked Carter, enough so that he reached over and grabbed Arria’s hand. Someone bid. Then another one. Then another one. Hands seemed to go up as the panic swelled in Carter’s chest, and he gave a fearful look at Arria.
Arria returned the look, squeezing Carter’s hand. He tried to suppress his fear but it didn’t work. If the portion wore off at any point then his cover would be blown and they’d be in even deeper trouble then they were currently. He doubted Carter had another potion on him which gave Arria over an hour until his tail came back.
He looked down at his legs then back to Carter, hoping he knew what he was thinking.
Carter nodded, glancing down at Arria’s temporary legs as well. Too-temporary. The bids rocketed higher, and Carter gulped. He didn’t know where they’d end up, how he was supposed to save Arria from this. He at least needed to get Arria out of this. But suddenly, a bid rang out that was higher than the rest of them, higher than what everyone else could ever pay. The bidders went silent, and Carter’s heart stopped. “Going once, going twice, sold!” The man in the suit called, and Carter and Arria were dragged off the stage together. Carter’s hands shook slightly, fear pounding in his chest. I need to get Arria out, need to get him out now.
Arria kept hold of Carter’s hand as the were dragged off stage. He let go suddenly and out of fear and the want to get Carter to safety, whirled on the nearest man and punched him hard in the face.
The man stumbled back with surprise, the other man lifting his gun up and getting ready to shoot- “Wait! WAIT!” Carter took the moment where the men were distracted and grabbed Arria, turning and running toward something the curtained room and the crowd. Only to bump into another person. It was a woman with many curves and a too-revealing silk outfit, but she was wearing a mask of her own. She was the one who had ‘bought’ them. And she already had a guard of her own grabbing Carter and shoving him against the wall.
"NO! Don't hurt him!" Arria was ready to do whatever it takes to get Carter out, "I'll do whatever you want just let him go." He'd use himself as a bargaining chip as long as his fiance was safe. Even though he'd probably be killed as soon as his tail came back. Or put on show.
“No, let him go!” Carter struggled, but the man pressed him harder against the wall. He clipped handcuffs on his wrists while he was at it. The woman let out a laugh, looking Carter up and down, then looking at Arria. The guard watched her for instruction.
“Let’s get him to the car, I really only bought them for him,” The woman gestured at Carter, a glint of hunger in her eyes, “And him…” She studied Arria for a moment, “Well, he’ll be good leverage, it looks like.” The woman turned on her heel, walking down the hall. The man hauled Carter up, forcing him to walk and follow. But hope glimmered in his chest, because Arria wasn’t being shackled or forced, and he could have a chance to run. Carter prayed he took the chance.
Arria glared at the back of the woman's head and the guard that was pulling Carter away from him. he wasn't going to let them take his Carter away, not after the same thing had happened but in reverse not too long ago. He knew his tail was going to return extremely soon but… Carter came first. So he followed.
The woman took them out into the brisk cold night air, only looking back once to see Arria was following. A confident, knowing look came on her face, Carter could see it beneath the mask, and he cursed himself over and over again. I should’ve found a better way to keep Arria safe, I should’ve packed more potions, I should’ve, I should’ve, I should’ve. Carter clenched his fists, pulling at the handcuffs to no avail. A limo pulled up, and the woman slipped inside. The guard shoved Carter in ahead of him, sitting him down across from the woman and locking him in with the seatbelt. The guard sat beside the woman, leaving a spot open for Arria beside Carter.
Arria slipped inside the limo shortly after the guard and sat down next to Carter. He put his hands in his lap, fiddling with them before he looked over at Carter. Not much time left, his tail was going to come back and then he wouldn't be able to help Carter. Gosh he wished he could do more, he was so useless.
The door closed and the limo started moving, and Carter was only half angry at Arria for not running. The other, selfish half was immensely grateful.
“So,” The woman drawled, taking off her mask. She had thin lips and a pointed nose, a look of greed in her eyes, “I suppose it’s time to introduce ourselves. My name is Maria.” She crossed her legs, leaning back, but- Her unusual emerald eyes always seemed to always be looking at Carter, only glancing at Arria every now and then. Carter was feeling more uncomfortable every second, “I suppose you both are confused?”
"You suppose? We've been kidnapped and sold off, of course we're confused." Arria said, trying to keep a cool on his anger. Half an hour until his tail came back. His violet eyes stared directly at Maria, trying to not glare at her but failing miserably.
Maria had the audacity to smirk at Arria, “You’re too cute. Now, I’m just going to go ahead and assume that you two didn’t know about the underground -er- pleasure sales, and-“
“What?” Carter demanded with a snarl, eyes wide with anger as he tried to jumped out of his seat, but the seatbelt held him down. I have to get Arria out of here, now, now, now-
"Carter…" Arria placed a hand on his arm to calm him even if it was just a little, "Pleasure sales? That's why you… bought us?" Nononononononononono….
“Not quite. Well, yeah, a little bit of course,” Maria explained, laughing a little bit. Carter hated that laugh already. “But I buy for different reasons. You see, my family -well, mostly me- run drugs from my home country to yours. And though I just love enslaving my own people, it’s a lot easier for your people to sneak across the border.” She waved a hand through the air, “So I buy across the border too. And I just got two new hires, although I only plan for one of you to be a runner.” She gave Carter a look.
Rage flickered in his gut, yanking against the handcuffs and wishing he could defend Arria better, to put himself in Maria’s way. “You are not raping him.” He snarled, and Maria only laughed again. He wanted to strangle her.
“Please, he’s going to be the runner. I prefer blondes.”
"You're not raping him either," Arria glared at her, utter rage and fear pounding through him. Curse him for not being able to do anything to stop her. Curse him for being a bloody merman and not human. Twenty minutes left and there was nothing he could do stop the change. They were screwed and Arria was so utterly useless he couldn't do anything to get Carter away from her.
Carter’s mouth parted in shock for a second, making Maria only laugh again. She opened her mouth to say something else but the car came to a halt, a knock on the door. “Looks like we’re at the border, loves,” Maria explained with a grin as the guard opened the door and both of them stepped out to talk with some people, but the door closed before Carter could catch any words.
He looked with wild, fearful eyes at Arria, “We need to get you out, as soon as they open that door run and don’t look back, it might be your only chance before you turn.”
"There's no point, Carter…" Arria shook his head a little, "I don't know where we are and all that's going to happen is I'm going to get my tail back in the middle of who knows where… I have just over five minutes I'm not sure…" He rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, "And I'm not leaving you."
“No… I’ll be fine, I’ll find a way out, just please, Arria… You know they’ll do so much worse if you change in front of them.” Carter protested (autocorrect oof), then tried to yank against his handcuffs, against the seat belt, against everything. He needed to get out, he needed to get Arria out. He needed to try to ignore what Maria had said …I only plan for one of you to be the runner… I prefer blondes… Carter didn’t realize he started crying until a tear dripped off his face.