Character Aesthetic by Cloudsfloating

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"-las."

Atlas sat on the couch beside Hope, with his head low in his hands. Slowly, his head slipped out of his grasp, forcing him to readjust. He had been too antsy to fall back asleep the night before. The events of the memory were constantly replaying behind his eyes.

"Atlas!" He could hear the woman calling to him once more. The woman with the red hair. Who was she? She needed his help.

"Atlas! Are you even listening to me?" A hard thump sounded through his head. He lifted it with a confused look. His hand went up in an automatic response to the assault. This was the fastest his tired body had moved since waking up. Hope had flicked him in his daze.

He rubbed the side of his head, "What was that for?" he turned towards his partner.

Observing Hope's features, he noticed that she was concerned.

Is she worried about me?

"Are you okay? I have been trying to talk to you for five minutes." She inched her hand towards his, but stopped just before they touched, "What's bothering you?"

"I just didn't sleep well that's all," Atlas had decided earlier he would tell Hope about his dream. If it really was a memory he didn't want to freak her out. The boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and jumped to his feet, knowing that he would have to keep busy to stay awake.

"Okay." Hope dropped the subject and gave him a soft smile. It was the kind of smile that said she was not convinced but wouldn't push him anymore. Atlas stared into her big eyes.

The woman looked so much like her.

The thought invaded his mind with flashes of the 'older Hope'. The images raced across his vision at lightning speed. He doubled over as a pain shot through him. It was so intense and blinding that it brought him to his knees.

Hope rushed to kneel beside him. "Atlas!"

The shock in her voice was evident. He felt the warmth of her hand on his back as the pain coursed through him. It came in hot pulses, each one a few seconds apart. His body obeyed the waves of agony and twitched and crumpled with each one. His body felt impossibly cold. He could hear the rapid tick of a clock as the pulses continued. And he was terrified.

Just as fast as it had come, it stopped. Atlas blinked and took a deep breath. He felt a dull throb radiating from his neck. He fought the urge to touch it as nausea whipped through him. He remained on his knees for another minute until he heard Hope speak again through the muffled pain.

"What was that?"

Great question.

He suppressed the response and decided to give her a more tangible answer. "Nothing, I-... I just need to use the bathroom."

Hope looked away to give him privacy when he announced his issue. Standing up, Atlas took one of the couch cushions and headed to the corner. They had a designated corner to use. Each room, so far, had an item of bedding they could use as cover. Atlas did just that as he walked over and hid behind the large cushion. Once he had finished he left the cushion against the wall to conceal everything.

He made his way over to Hope. When she heard his footsteps, she turned to look at him. In the past, she had been embarrassed when he walked back over, but they had grown used to each other the past week or so. She wasn't even fazed when he sat beside her on the other remaining cushion.

"Feel better?"

He nodded and looked away from her. He would have to be careful. He didn't want to lie to her, but the truth would probably hurt her more.

"Now what's really going on?" Atlas winced at the sternness in her voice. She was getting testy. He could tell that she wanted answers.

"It was my dream, okay?" Atlas revealed a partial truth. "I had a bad dream and the memory of it scares me."

Hope's face softened and she sighed. "Fine. You don't have to tell me right now, but mark my words, if you lie to me again, I will stab you with my scissors." To add some weight to her words, Hope pulled out her scissors and glared at him menacingly.

Atlas shook his head and smiled at the fiery woman. He admired her spirit. He looked back up at her and attempted to get out of the uncomfortable situation. "What were you saying earlier?"

Hope sheathed her blade and straightened back up. "I was trying to come up with an escape plan. I said we would probably have to go down a floor. There is nothing in here we could use."

Atlas agreed. The pair went to work solving the puzzle, following the routine once more, with Atlas breaking the glass coffee table. The fatigue had caught up to him again and he groggily caught the card as Hope threw it his way. He placed the card in the safe and walked across the room to join hope.

This time, since they were moving down once more, Hope was leaning against the wall outside the elevator. She adjusted her bag and listened as the elevator shifted.

The doors burst open to show a shiny metal interior. It was so reflective that they could see their reflections all around them. Hope was the first to step inside. She looked around the box curiously and walked towards a shiny wall. Carefully, she knocked on its surface. The clang of metal could be heard echoing around them.

"Steel," Hope said as she examined the walls. She turned to Atlas as he joined her in the elevator. " I know a few ways to bust through this."

As soon as the words left her mouth, her brows furrowed. She seemed confused as if she had no clue why she had said that. Atlas raised his eyebrows as he watched her and pressed the button to move them down to level -3.

As the elevator made its rough descent, Hope turned to Atlas, "Remember that they are watching. When we start preparing to escape, we can't make it look like we are trying to escape."

"Of course. We can pretend that we are searching for the next puzzle."

Hope nodded. They both turned to see the room as the door parted. Except they couldn't see anything. It was completely dark except for the light pouring from the elevator. Even that barely allowed them to see very far.

Atlas stepped out into the darkness and moved his hands in front of him to feel the room.

"This is perfect. If we can find what we need then we can put it together in the elevator. They won't even see it coming." Hope snickered at her own joke.

Atlas felt hopelessly lost as he stumbled over objects in the room. He could hear Hope following behind him. She had one hand attached to his shirt and, judging by her wobbly steps, had the other stretched out to feel around. Atlas shuffled his way across the room and bumped into a solid object. The unknown object came to Atlas' mid-thigh. He almost fell over it as he moved. This motion caused Hope to bump into him from behind.

"Sorry," he muttered as he felt around the object, "It's a table." He let his hands glide over the smooth surface and to the legs. Coming back up to the flat and smooth top. He whisked his hand around the surface. His hands hit something cold, threatening to knock it over, He quickly reached out to grasp the solid object. He picked it up only for it to whack him in the head.

"Ouch!" he rubbed his head and held the object away from him.

"What?" asked Hope eagerly. She was still clinging onto the back of his shirt. Her body heat was radiating off of her as she waited for him to explain.

"It's-" he felt the object again, this time from a safe distance- "a lamp."

From behind him, he felt Hope's grip tighten on his shirt. "Does it have a cord? Or is it cordless?"

Feeling around the base of the lamp he confirmed that there was a cord.

Hope's grip tightened once again and he could practically feel her heart beating through her shirt. When she spoke, her voice was full of barely controlled excitement. "I know how we can escape."