Slow
James could feel his heart thumping too hard in his ears, he’d been running too long, he could feel his throat already burning with the feeling of vomit in it and finally he stopped, keeling over as he threw up into the grass. Peter was over to him in seconds pulling off his sweaty grey hoodie for him.
“James you can’t keep overworking yourself, I may be your coach but I’m your friend to, so listen to me when I tell you that you can’t keep pushing yourself to the brink of collapse or your going to mess yourself up badly mate,” Peter says and then passes James a bottle of water. This isn’t the first time this has happened.
“But you say it yourself I’m so close, I’m the second fastest runner in Britain, I don’t want to be known as the back up, I want to break all the records and I’m close, I’m the youngest runner at the Olympics and if I push myself I’ll be the fastest,” he tells him and stands up.
“You know I’m here for you through thick and thin, always there to mend you if you get hurt but if your physically and emotionally draining yourself I can’t watch that happen, your going to take the rest of the week off alright, I don’t even want to hear a single word of you running, I’ll be checking in with Sirius to make sure,” Peter orders and James rolls his eyes and nods.
He’s known Peter since birth, their parents were friends and they went to every school together and even now they are friends. Peter could always tell when he was overworked and that's what made him a good coach and friend too. Peter went to med school which meant he could technically be a doctor but he didn’t like the stress and decided to only treat athletes, most especially James. The bond between them was inseparable as if there was no way of tearing them apart.
Speaking of inseparable he would have to say he felt the same with Sirius, his current roommate. They had been attached at the hip since year seven and James and Peter’s once duo became a trio.
James walked into Sirius’s garage shop to find his friend fixing a motorcycle, he looked up and raised an irritated eyebrow at James. Pete was a snitch. Sirius stood up and wiped the oil from his hands onto the apron he wore.
“Heard Pete told you off,” he said nonchalantly.
“Yeah,” James said, deciding to sit on a desk.’
“Good, you can’t be stupid like that,” Sirius told him and pulled an all too familiar expression.
“You're pulling the face my mother pulls when she’s mad,” James tells him and he rolls his eyes but chuckles a little.
Sirius was a lively spirit, still with the same energy he had eleven years ago, but now at twenty-two there were parts of him he still hadn’t opened up about, mostly his family. James understood he had a rocky relationship with his parents and that was about it and once Sirius finished GCSEs he ran away from home and he and James have lived together since.
James didn’t mind the secrets, he had his own too but he knew he could trust Sirius because he trusted him.
Sirius then looked at something behind James, “I’ll be with you in a moment,” he called and James didn’t turn presuming as Sirius had that it had been a customer but then someone was grabbing his face and before he could even comprehend what was happening, his head was slammed against a wall.
He fell to the ground, his eyes blurry. Did his glasses fall off? Who was that? What the hell is happening? He could barely comprehend it and couldn’t even push himself off the ground as he felt blood fall down the side of his face, he could make out a blur in front of him falling to the floor, Sirius? Or the attacker? He didn’t know and soon enough his eyes were closing and he was swallowed by the darkness.
⋆✦⋆
When he opened his eyes he was sure for a second they hadn’t opened but he let his head move around to find that in the distance of wherever he was there was a light so they must be open.
He realised quickly that he was tied to a chair with ropes. He let his foot travel around the surrounding area till he hit something, someone else's foot.
“Hello?” he questioned though it came out more like a squeak, this did not happen to people, this was something he would see in a movie or nightmare, he was ready to wake up now.
“Who are you?” a voice hissed but it was not from whoever was next to him, they must be unconscious still.
“I’m James, who are you?” he asked but there was no response, only the sound of them moving until the sound of ropes falling came.
James didn’t even hear the person come up to him until they were behind him, their cool breath against his neck and hands untying his rope as he spoke. “We go towards the light and find a way out,” the voice spoke, it was calming, much less fearful then James was.
James felt the ropes around his release and he stood. “Wait there’s someone else here, they're still unconscious,” he told the man.
“Well dragging an unconscious body won’t help us in any way, we can find a way out then come back for them come on,” the man practically growled and found James’ hand in the darkness and began pulling him towards the light.
Only as they walked did James feel the weight against his left side and he let his hand feel for what it was and realisation hit fast, it- it was a gun. He’d only seen one whilst on holiday, here they weren’t common, the weight of it strapped to his side was sickening, he was sure if he hadn’t thrown up his breakfast this morning he would have done it now.
“Do- do you have a gun too?” he questioned.
“Yes but I don’t plan on finding out what it’s for,” the man responded and finally they reached the light.
James looked around and saw the walls around him, they looked like a mix of wood and metal and so he came to the conclusion that he was in a warehouse. He then looked at the man. He had black short curls atop his head and pale blue eyes and his cheekbones were sharp. He wore dark clothing and a selection of silver rings and even though he was half a head shorter than James he still felt like the man was looking down at him.
“Shit they really hit you,” the man said.
“How were you taken?” James asked.
“Injected with something in the neck,” the man responded. He was currently looking around for an escape when a slamming of a door came and then yelled.
People were running at them, holding weapons and he watched as the curly haired man pulled out his gun and shot at one of them. James was frozen until someone was behind him, arm around his neck, strangling him and he turned round and punched them square in the face and watched them fall back.
James used his hands to fight whilst the man used his weapon. James couldn’t bear the thought of taking a life without as much as flinching but he knew at the same time if this man hadn’t done this they would be as good as dead by now.
The room quietened and James turned to the man quite breathless, his head hurt and he was just so tired.
"Who are you?" He questions the man and he turns towards him, the gun that had just been used to kill the bleeding people around them raised at his head and James is sure he was going to be shot in the head until the man points to something behind him and shoots.
James feels the blood trickling down his ear and the ringing seems to be endless. He turns to see there was a man with a knife less than a metre from him and he turns back to the man who has just saved his life.
"I'm Regulus," the man smirks.
"You bloody almost killed him," yells a familiar voice and James eyes dart and finds Sirius, behind the man looking at James, he must have been the other man in the dark.
"Sirius," James breathes with a mix of confusion and exhaustion but also relief. James now saw that Sirius was sporting a bruise on his cheek and a cut on his lip. He was by his side looking like a frantic mother as he checked his ear and then he finally looked up at the man as if a demon and finally realised who it was.
"You," he splutters, his annoyance dissipating with shock.
But before something that seemed to be an inevitable reveal to James could occur the door opened again, he was ready to fight again but the soft click of heels stopped him from doing so, this didn't seem to be a threat but not at all someone to be trusted.
It was a woman, with dark skin and black curly hair. She wore a black dress with black heels. There was a smile on her face but it didn’t seem to be portraying her full feelings.
“Congratulations you three, you were the slowest group,” she told them.
“Who the hell are you?” Sirius barked and James had a feeling that this was not the Sirius he knew talking.
“My names Mary, it’s so great to finally meet you three in person, now the others are waiting, come along,” she told them and she turned and began to walk.
A part of him wondered if Regulus might shoot her but he holstered the gun and began to follow and he turned to Sirius who just took his arm and they began to follow.