Aphmau POV

Me and Max have never got along. Not when we all hung out together as kids and not now. He has never trusted me, saying that I'm up to something that could get them all killed. He won't even look at me so how do you think I felt when we were both told to go on a private mission together?

I was scared.

He wouldn't even talk to me as we walked through the forest and towards one of the rivers that are near the base. We need to kill all of the squids and make sure it's deserted before we can pour a potion into the river that Ross made. It prevents the squids from teleporting to the lake.

"Max, please talk to me! It's so boring." I complain to him as we keep walking. I've been trying to get him to talk for about two hours now and he's starting to get angry. "Max!" I shout at him. Suddenly, I am pushed into a tree next to me with great force, my wrists burning from the hard grip of Max. Did I mention his hands are on fire?

"Jess, I don't care about how you feel. I don't care about how you act. I don't care about what you even do! But I will never trust you. I know that you are up to something bad. I can sense that dark aura around you, it may be faint but I can feel it. You can do what you want as long as you don't hurt any of my friends! I suggest you crawl back into the nether portal you came from." He let's go after making sure I understood what he said and he continues walking, leaving me to slowly fall to my knees and rub my raw red wrists that are covered in blisters. I ignore the salty tears falling down my face and slowly stand up before taking small steps towards the direction that Max went into.

"I'm sorry the Shadow Lord was my father Max. It's not my fault." I mumble to myself. Suddenly, I hear a shout. Max is in trouble! I summon my angel wings and my Irene sword before flying as fast as I can towards the sound. Max doesn't know about my wings. Only the other guys do but I haven't been hiding them from him, it's just that he never bothered to look at me. Soon, I arrive at the river where there are over 20 squids standing around while more come out of the river to help hold Max down.

"Keep him alive. He would be a good prisoner for information." One of the squids say. Max jumps out of the way of the squids before they could grab him. Stupid squids, not knowing they have to knock him out first. I slash my sword down and close my wings in so my strike becomes more powerful and cut the squid in front of Max before it could grab him, killing it instantly.

"Max, are you okay?" I ask him. He just nods, shocked before going back to killing the squids. I watch as he is about to get caught by one of the squids but before he could, I push him out of the way and get caught by all of the tentacles, instantly getting squeezed so I cannot breathe.

"Everybody retreat! The girl is enough." I start to choke as they drag me down into the river.

"Jessica!" Max shouts as he tries to get to me but it's too late. The last thing I could do was throw the potion at him that he nearly drops. This is when I fall unconscious.

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I wake up to my wrists being chained to the ceiling together while my ankles are hanging down and chained to the floor. In other words, it's uncomfortable. I try to pull my hands out but it just makes the pain on my wrists worse. If only Max didn't burn my wrists...

"I see you are awake. That's good because we can now start the questioning." A squid walks in with two others who push in two trays cornered in cloth. The main squid takes the cloth off of the first one to show throwing knives. Lots of them.

"I will never tell you anything!" I shout at him, giving him a glare. He just smirks.

"More fun for me." He says before taking one of the throwing knives. "So where is the Sky Army located?" He asks. I keep my mouth shut. "You won't be quiet for long." He throws the knife at me.

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Three months. I haven't talked for three months. They have been constantly torturing me because I won't tell them anything. Right now, I have a knife in my stomach and leg but it doesn't compare to all of the whip slashed or cuts on my body. Yet, I won't let my friends down. They need to save the world more then I get my freedom so I will keep silent, just for them. I thank my mothers magic for letting me live so long.

"Hello there prisoner. Ready to talk yet?" The squid pulls out a whip. I just give him a blank stare like I have been doing for three months. They have basically taken all of my emotions away by the drugs they have been sneaking into my food. It's stupid because that helps me keep my mouth shut. "I guess you need to be tortured again." He gets the whip ready. I'm losing lots of blood so I can't concentrate on anything properly.

"Jess!" I hear somebody shout and a door slam open, making the squid look away from me. I just stay looking down though as fire is shot at the squid, making it burn to a crisp. "Jess, are you okay?" I slowly look up with my dead eyes to see Max burning the chains off of me and picking me up bridal style. "Guys I found her!" He shouts down the hall while running towards Jin who has a portal gun set up and aimed at the wall. Max jumps through it with me in his arms and we appear out into the infirmary where Jin quickly pulls the knifes out. I don't scream though as I watch him pull it out. They both give me a weird look as Jin starts to bandage me up. My healing magic works along with his bandages.

"Is she normally so... emotionless?" Max asks, looking at me.

"No. The three months of torture must have turned her like this. Jess, can you say something?" Jin asks me. I open my mouth but no words come out so I close it again.

"Why isn't she speaking?" Max asks him, making Jin sigh.

"When she doesn't want to say anything, she will stop talking. They must have been torturing her for information." Jin says before packing up the bandages. "Stay here while I inform Sky of her return." Jin leaves the room, leaving me with Max who takes my hand.

"I am so sorry about this Jess. If I hadn't been so careless then you would still be safe. It's all my fault." Is all he says before walking to the the chair at the corner of the room. I close my eyes and let sleep control me.

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Max hasn't left my side at all since I have come back. I can see the guilt in his eyes but never said anything because I can't. My voice hasn't come back to me, even though I'm fully healed. It's just my mental, emotionless mind now that prevents me. Max helps me out of my bed.

"Let's go relax in your room now. I think it would be best." He grabs my hand and leads me towards my room before shutting the door and letting go of my hand. I sit on my office chair before turning my laptop on. He sits on the chair next to me that he brought in. "I wish you could talk. It's all my fault that you can't. I swear that I will be your friend and protect you myself. But that's only if you let me." He looks at me with eyes full of hope and sincerely.

"Okay... Mad Max." I smile at him.