InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Road to Remembrance ❯ Betrayal and Azkaban ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 17

Inuyasha moaned and opened his eyes, his head pounding and body shivering. He was in a cold, stone cell with rusting metal bars for walls. There were others around him, most frail, dirty, and wasted, babbling to themselves or lying stock still. There was only one emotion he could truly feel at the moment—despair. Inuyasha's ears flattened themselves to his head as he took in his surroundings.

Oh God, he was in Azkaban. But why? What had he done? All he knew was that he would never be happy again, he was sure of it.

Inuyasha shook his head. It was just the dementors making him think that; he could get out of there. He growled and stood. Those bars were just metal; he could break them in a heart beat. He took one step towards busting out of there when a wave of hopelessness washed over him. It grew, intermingling with fear, as he heard the faint screams of his family as they were murdered over sixty years ago.

“No, no, not again,” he mumbled, falling to his knees. He heard heavy boots approaching and the jingling of keys. It was the guard.

“So you're awake, are you?” He grouched, looking down coldly at the half-breed.

“I—yes. Why am I here?” Inuyasha asked, opting not to stand up incase another dementor came near.

“Lord Canis ordered it.” The man replied, “You're here for life, kid. We will be keeping at least one dementor nearby to prevent you from escaping.”

“Canis! But...why would he—? I thought...”

The guard turned and left, not interest in hearing another sob story.

Inuyasha sat still on the frigid, stone ground, his breath coming out in shallow puffs as he stared strait ahead of himself in shock. Canis sent him here...

He tried to feel anger at hearing this—and he did—but it wasn't the same he would have felt for Naraku. Hell, it wasn't even the same he felt for Kikyo when she first pinned him to the tree. He could only feel hurt and betrayed. He gave that man his trust; he did a favor for him, and this is how he is repaid?

He shook his head of those thoughts. He wouldn't become bitter, not for that man. He was determined not to. He already spent too many tears on the human race as it was.

He sat there for hours contemplating his situation. Every time his thoughts drifted to the new Black heir he would forcibly remind himself of his departure from Berchin. He would remember how he shook hands and was kissed and how everyone said they would miss him. One man may have brought him to his knees, but an entire town had lifted his spirits.

He would survive this. He promised Shippo that he would return, and he would.

0o0o0o

He didn't know how many months he spent there—or had it been years?—locked away, reliving the worst of the worst. His appetite had left him not and he had long since stopped eating what little food they fed him. The majority of his time was spent locked in painful memories or just being unconscious, but there were a few precious times when the dementors were far enough from his cell that he could think clearly.

It was in these times he would watch the other prisoners come and go—either physically or mentally. He would watch them snap, finally reaching their limit, and submit to insanity. Sometimes they would cry for hours on end, beating the walls and screaming. And some, or one for that matter, would just sit there, like he hadn't a care in the world. That man was in the cell directly next to him, picking at his slop of a meal and humming a familiar tune.

“E-excuse me...” Inuyasha rasped his voice hoarse from lack of use. He crawled closer to the bars that separated them, eager to get out a conversation before the dementors came back. The old man looked up and smiled at him, showing off a rack of yellow, decaying teeth.

“Conscious are you, lad?” He grinned. There was something familiar about his voice.

“Do I know you?” Inuyasha asked, squinting. The man was older, probably in his seventies, with a balding white head and dull blue eyes.

“I can't say you do.”

“I j-just...well I was wondering...how do you...?”

The man smiled again, “Why don't the dementors affect me? Well they affect me boy; the only reason I can smile right now is because they have decided to take leave from this area for the time being.”

“Well, I know but—”

“Occlumency,” The man interrupted, scraping the rest of his food into his mouth, “The shielding of the mind.”

“Occlumency...” Inuyasha mumbled, trying out the word. He vaguely remembered his grandfather mentioning it before. He looked up at the man who was now rubbing his semi-full tummy contently.

“Can you teach me?” He asked, his voice running a bit smoother. The man put down his plate and gazed at him.

“I'm not sure you'd be up to it boy. Frustrating stuff it is. You need to have a strong mind and practice constantly.”

“I can do it!” Inuyasha rasped out, “Anything! Please! I don't know how much more I can take of this.”

The man closed his eyes in resignation.

“Very well. It's been years since I've had a pupil, but I can tell you're innocent, so I will help ease your suffering.”

“Thank you,” Inuyasha breathed, closing his eyes.

The man smiled “The name's Dante and you have met me before. I was the one who directed you to the Black Estate.”

Inuyasha froze; his eyes wide as he remembered the strangely cloaked wizard who spoke with him when he first entered Scotland. He was about to comment on that when the air chilled more than usual, his breath becoming visible.

“Our first lesson will commence...once they leave,” Dante said with a wink.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, letting out a puppy whine, as his mind was assaulted by his tragic past.

0o0o0o0o

A deep sadness...that was all he could feel anymore. No more haunting memories or screams to fill his mind...just a deep, profound sadness. Occlumency had spared him from the eternal torture he was damned to, taking about three months to learn under Dante's tutelage. However, the previous months had still left their mark on his psyche.

He was now quite prone to spacing out for long periods of time, or sometimes tremors would rack his body for a half hour or so. Little unexplainable ticks that seemed to have permanently damaged his mind. But despite it all, he didn't feel any hate or anger to those who had done this to him. All he wanted was to feel happiness again. He would give anything to feel happiness again.

A racking cough drew his attention to the cell next to him.

“How are you doing?” Inuyasha asked softly. Dante had been sick for some time now, his human body suffering under the unsanitary conditions of Azkaban. It was quite apparent that he had little days left in him. Maybe less.

“Splendid,” the man muttered, closing his eyes. He had not been able to lift himself from the floor for days now and the sickness prevented him from being able to hold any food or water. Loud shouts and bright lights drew their attention to the hall.

“What...” Dante struggled to lift his head, “is...going on?”

“I don't know...” Inuyasha trailed, crawling over to the door of his cell to get a better look.

“Stop him!”

“Stupify!”

“What the hell?” Inuyasha muttered at hearing the shouts in the hall. A cloaked figure ran down the corridor and stopped in front of his cell, panting hard. Despite the rank smell surrounding the area, he recognized the scent immediately.

“Nicholas!”

The man pulled back his hood to reveal that it was indeed Nicholas Flamel.

“I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get you out of here, my friend. Reducto!”

The door of his cell blew off ensuing in his freedom. With Nicholas's help, he managed to stand on weak, shaky legs.

“Wait,” Inuyasha said, stopping at the door, “Dante...”

He looked over to the man who was lying flat on his back among the filth and grunge. His eyes were closed and his breathing had slowed considerably.

“My time is over...” Dante rasped, “...I will only serve to slow you down. Go.”

“No...Dante...” but even as Inuyasha spoke he could see the life draining from his old friend's face.

“Occlude your mind...” a slow breath of air escaped his cracked lips as his soul departed from his body.

“I...” Inuyasha swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared at his friend's body, “I never asked what he was brought here for.”

Nicholas nodded solemnly, “Perhaps it would have been better that you did not. Now hold on to me.”

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut as the unpleasant vacuum feeling of apperating took hold of his body.

“There now, that wasn't so bad now was it?” Nicholas said pleasantly when Inuyasha refused to weaken his grip on his arm. He frowned as he looked over the young man. Inuyasha was pale and thin, the rags he wore nearly hung off his bones. His once beautiful, long silver hair was matted to his head with grime and his eyes were dull and sunken in.

Sighing, Nicholas reached up and rubbed one of the drooping puppy ears, catching Inuyasha's attention.

“Where do you want to go, my friend?” he asked quietly. Inuyasha squinted up at him, not used to being under the sun.

“Africa,” he mumbled in a subdued and quiet manner, “I don't care where, just some where on the western coast.”

“Africa it is then,” Nicholas nodded.

“Nicholas...” Inuyasha said, “How long was I gone for?”

Nicholas sighed and looked at Inuyasha sadly, “fourteen months.”

“Oh,” Inuyasha said passively, “Okay then...”

The boy then passed out, whether from starvation or exhaustion, Nicholas didn't know. He picked the boy up, preparing to apperate once more. It just so happened he knew a delightful African family in Sinu who owed him a small favor.

0o0o0o0o