Chapter Text
The soldier was not sure where the maze came from or why it was made. All that mattered was that he was in it. One moment he was walking outside on a mission and another moment he woke up amongst the chipped walls of the maze. He was used to waking up in places he did not remember falling asleep in. He was usually cold when he woke up. This was no different. Well, except for the lack of mission, the absence of his gear, and lack of clothes. Unusual.
The first hour, he waited where he woke. Looked. Saw the walls that stretched up high beyond his view, the odd mist that hid the sky (if there was a sky up there), and the ropey plants that clung to the walls. The walls were rough stone and the ground was untrod dirt. Listened. A faint whistling wind rushed across the tops of the walls hidden by the mist.Distant howls, scuttling, and crunching came from over the walls.
The first day, he slowly walked up and down the lane of the maze he woke in. He turned a few corners, only to realize in those moments the maze was just that.And from then on, he thought of it as the maze. He found a sharp stone along the lane and scratched a giant X on the wall where he woke. It looked faint against the rough stone, disappearing in and out of the cracks.
The first week,he chose to leave the place he woke. There was no door, no ceiling shaft, no strange tube to indicate how he was deposited there. So, no reason to stay. He chose a random direction and went that way. Every corner, every split path, he marked an arrow along the wall to tell himself which way he went. And beside it, a number to indicate where his increasing number of arrows began. When he reached arrow 50, he wondered if he would reach 1,000 before he found his way out. It was near arrow 100 that he met the first monster. A boar-like creature with a snout, twisting tusks, and wild eyes. It snorted and shrieked, charging him. He dodged the first assault, and the next, but on the third dodge he misstepped on a stone and the creature’s shoulder smashed into chest, flinging him to the side. He managed to arise before it turned around. His initial alarm at encountering a living creature in the maze had faded. The next time it charged he leapt onto its back, taking his metal arm and shoving it through the creature’s eye. He tore it out. It took some time and more punches, but the creature slowed and collapsed. He found a new sharp stone and carried on with his journey.
The first month, he encountered more monsters. Snarling dogs with squashed snouts and spiked tails, giant spiders that ambushed from above, the boars with tusks of varying shapes, and a tentacled creature that sprang out of the water in a large lake he found in the midst of his journey. He also found ghostly trees, leafless and hard as stone,but they burned well enough. Their branches served well for the spears he created after the first boar. He learned the boars could be eaten and taste almost normal, the dogs were too bitter, and the spiders he did not care to try.
The first year, he created a routine. His wall arrows and numbers led him in circles. The maze was vast, the paths endless. Every turn, every split path he came across already had his marked arrows and numbers. There had to be a path he missed. He spent every waking hour walking the maze. When he was exhausted, he found a corner to fortify and rest in.
He did not feel fear on missions. This was not a mission though. At least, that is what he had begun to suspect. He had been dropped into the maze and forgotten. So the unfamiliar sensation of gnawing alarm began in his stomach. He tried to settle it by adding new markers. He noted the path to the lake, to various patches of trees, and to areas that seemed to nest the dogs and boars. He began to memorize these routes.
It was during another aggravating walk through the maze that he came across the cave. Near the lake,perhaps too close to the tentacled creature, there was a split in the wall. He squeezed himself through, hoping for a secret path,and instead found a cave. It made no sense to him. The cave’s size did not match his understanding of the width of the wall, yet it was clearly there. He found himself returning to the cave when he exhausted himself in his searching. At first, he treated it merely as a safe place to sleep. However, the longer his searching resulted in nothing, the more he decided to create something.
The boars he killed, cooked, and ate he would bring back to the cave. He used their pelts to create a makeshift bed. He used their tusks to devise new weapons.The parts he was unsure of he tossed to the lake creature. It was still a rather bare shelter, and it was the closest thing to a home he had had in a long time.
He had not given up on escaping. He wandered the maze endlessly. He fought countless monsters. He lost track of days after the first year. He stopped wondering how long it had been. Yet he wandered. He was not content. Yet, he found a strange calmness to the routine, even while the alarm gnawing at his stomach turned into an aching dread.
He would never leave this place.
***
The soldier heard the stranger's arrival rather than saw. The wind’s quiet howling was disrupted by a sudden whooshing, followed by crackling, and finally a thump. He had been wandering the maze, more out of habit than an attempt to leave. He stopped when he heard the noises. He waited. The maze returned to its regular soundscape. He waited. Nothing.
He was not entirely certain of the location of the noise, but he walked in the general direction. He changed course when he saw a spider along his original route. He would have handled a boar or dog, but he did not care for the spiders. He was not scared. He wanted to find the source of the noise without delay. He could hear the scuttling legs as the spider climbed up the wall. He had not found their nests yet. He assumed it was on top of the walls, above the mist. He rounded a corner and froze.
The stranger lay on the ground, much like the soldier had when he first arrived. He approached cautiously. The stranger was tall and muscular with golden brown hair. He saw no scratches, bruises, or marks that would indicate assault before being dumped in the maze. Much like his original arrival, the stranger arrived naked.
He let his eyes peruse the stranger’s form. He had not seen another person in over a year. He told himself his extended observation was calculated, defensive. He had to know this new addition to his environment to better fight it. He told himself that even as his eyes dragged along the stranger’s body and stayed longer than necessary for calculation near the pelvis. He snapped back to himself when the stranger stirred, groaning softly.
The soldier was back and around the corner of the maze before the stranger fully inhaled and opened his eyes. The soldier listened, imagining the stranger gazing up at the walls that disappeared into the mist and hearing the howls of the monsters. He decided to leave when he heard the rustling of feet on earth and the crunch of footsteps. The soldier did not think to worry about if the stranger heard his own footsteps during his swift departure. When he made it back to his cave he sat and waited. He saw no one.
He could have stayed. He could have demanded answers. He could have also been harmed if the stranger was sent to kill him. Maybe the maze was supposed to have killed him by now, or driven him mad. He sat frozen in his cave. He had not seen another human in so long. The stranger was, based on his viewings, formidable. Yet he had not seen someone in such a long time. It made him feel strange. He moved further into his cave where for the first time in ages he grasped himself and stroked until finishing.
***
The stranger did not fare as well traveling through the maze.Despite all the arrows and numbering left by the soldier, he could hear the frustrated running and grunts when encountering the monsters. When the soldier carefully made his own way through the maze he found the corpses of the monsters, and some blood that seemed to be from the stranger. He felt a strange thrill whenever he wandered, knowing that any turn could bring him face-to-face with the stranger. However, the other man was louder in his movements and the soldier could hear where he was over each wall.
The soldier knew that he was only delaying their inevitable encounter. He would have to deal with the stranger while he still had the advantage of surprise.After four sleeps, he decided it was time to handle it. He left his cave grasping a spear.
He settled into a sense of calm, familiar from life before. This was what he was trained for and what he knew best. The lake rippled as he passed, the tentacled creature's head poked out of the water. He did not let it distract him. He entered the maze and began his search.
The stranger was not being loud. Perhaps he slept; a dangerous activity amidst the wandering monsters. It made the search harder, but the soldier was good at challenges. He wandered, creeping past a path with dogs and skirting a wall where a spider scuttled close to the mist. Every crunch of dirt he paused and waited, continuing on when the sound stopped.
He found the stranger in the same path where they had both first arrived. The stranger lay flat against the earth, staring upward at the mist, a frown carved into his face. The soldier watched the sharp intake of breath, muscles shifting in his chest and abdomen, as the stranger sat up. He did not rise to stand, but clasped his hands around his knees and stared at the ground. The stranger closed his eyes, breathing slowly.
The soldier watched and waited around the corner, but the stranger remained seated. The soldier considered the huddled form for a few minutes. The stranger had failed to find the lake through the maze, so if he had been sent to kill the soldier, he was not given a map. Perhaps he had been dumped here, like the soldier, after his usefulness was through. It had been some time since he had to decide the purpose of a mission for himself. The soldier changed his mind when the stranger breathed in deeply again, muscles shifting. He had to decide how this mission would end.
It had been such a long time since he had seen another person.
The stranger’s head shot up when he heard the rapidly approaching feet, but the soldier was on top of him before he could react, shoving him backwards, mounting his torso. The stranger grunted when his back hit the dirt, arms coming up defensively. The soldier had the point of the spear against his throat, so the arms cautiously came down.
They stared at each other. The stranger’s eyes widened, mouth opening with a small gasp; recognition.
“Bucky?”
The soldier’s grip tightened on the spear. The sound of another human voice swept through him, like a warm tide. He did not recognize the sound uttered as a name until the stranger said it again.
“Bucky.”
It pressed against his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, shaking his head before coming back. The stranger gazed at him intently, in a way so familiar it alarmed him. The stranger moved to sit up, but the soldier grunted, pushing the spear into his skin until blood trickled. The stranger lay back down, concern sweeping across his face.
“Do you know me, Buck?”
The soldier did not like hearing that word. It felt like fingers pressing into his brain, digging through and around his skull. He made a strained sound, a growl, a contorted yell. The stranger quieted. The soldier’s breathing had grown heavy, a sweat forming on his brow. Something was wrong. The stranger had poisoned him or triggered a reaction through his words. The soldier considered just stabbing through the flesh of his throat, but the delicate flush of pink that creeped along the stranger’s neck and face caught his attention. A flush so full of life and…
The soldier leaned his pelvis back, brushing against something hard. The stranger groaned, the flush in his face deepening.
“Buck, I…it’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”
It had been so long since the soldier had seen another human. It had been so long since he had been with another human. Could he even recall the last time? He cast that thought aside, pressing his pelvis against the hard flesh, making the stranger grunt. He liked the way the stranger’s control was lost when he rocked against him.
The soldier changed his mission. He set his spear aside, grasping the stranger’s throat with his metal hand to keep him down. He leaned back against the stranger’s stiffness, pleased by the sharp gasp that escaped below him. The stranger’s eyes were wide. The soldier repositioned himself, reaching behind himself to grab the stranger and help himself settle down.
“Bucky, you don’t have–”
The soldier slid down, suddenly, feeling the pain that comes without prepping himself properly. He grunted at the pain and the fullness of the stranger inside him. He was satisfied to see the flush that spread along the stranger’s face and chest. His eyes were half closed, mouth slightly agape. The soldier liked that.
He tested it more. He lifted up and sank down, liking the way it felt, liking the way the stranger gasped and shifted below him.
“Buck–”
The soldier did not like it when he talked,when he said that name. So, the soldier started rocking up and down, earning the moans that followed. He could feel something building in his abdomen, a tightness he knew from his time pleasuring himself alone. He found himself grunting along to the gasps of the stranger.
He was so lost in the motion and rhythm that he did not even care that the stranger’s hands came up to grasp his thighs, squeezing tightly, helping push him back down. He did not care that he could hear howls from the monsters drawing closer. He did not care that he was trapped in a maze. He did not care, did not care, did not care—
His grunt turned into a shuddering breath as the tension peaked and he released, letting the sensation wash over him. The stranger groaned, shuddering under him, skin flushed brightly with life.
Neither of them moved immediately. The sound of their breath, gasping and soft filled the silence. The stranger’s hands still held the soldier’s thighs, the thumbs absently stroking skin. The soldier liked that. The stranger–the man–looked up at him with something like adoration. The soldier had liked it, but he could not meet that gaze. No one had ever looked at the soldier like that before.
He rose then, stiffly and unsteadily, backing away from the man. He stared at him for a moment longer, the exhilaration of the moment seeping away with each step. The man sat up reaching for him.
“Bucky, wait–”
But the soldier was already around the corner of the maze. He was dashing past his carved arrows and numbers, snaking through the familiar path he knew all too well after the lonely days of wandering. The wind above the walls howled unusually loud, as if screaming in pursuit. A pack of dogs saw his hurried escape, barking and leaping forward. He kept going. He leapt over the tentacle that lay across the rocks of the lake, reaching his cave. He tucked himself against the wall, breath rasping out of him. He had not been cautious on his run back, the man could have followed.
He waited. Rasps turning into shallow, panicked sips of air. However, the man never appeared by the lake. There was no sound around the corner leading to this part of the maze. His breathing slowed. He strained to hear anything that could indicate he had been followed. He heard the faint sound of barks. Maybe the dogs had delayed the man. Maybe the man did not pursue him.
The soldier’s body ached. That was to be expected. However, he felt a strange twinge in his chest that unsettled him. He could not recall a time his chest–his heart–had failed him on a mission. Was his body failing now that he had been left here, instead of on ice?
He crept farther into his cave, to his pile of fur pelts. He lay there, not sleeping, eyes intent on the cave’s opening, his human hand pressed to his chest.