in the mike lives and rescues jesse from the neo nazi compound au, mike pulls the tarp off the cage and barely recognizes the figure huddled in the corner of the pit; for a moment, he isn’t even sure it’s jesse and worries that he’s too late. then the figure looks up through the grate and mike sees those giant blue eyes, drained of their light. there’s no glimmer of recognition or relief in his eyes: he just stares up at mike, unmoving, unbelieving. even though he’s locked up in a pit, there are shackles on his ankles and wrists. trying to remain totally calm, mike unlocks the grate, lowers the ladder, and carefully climbs down, glad he washed the blood off his boots. “its safe now” he says when he’s down at the bottom. it may not be the right thing to say, but mike needs to say something. jesse just keeps looking at him, silent. mike removes his shackles, not lingering on the chemical burns on his fingers or the abrasions encircling his too-skinny wrists or the unwashed, tangled shock of hair (inexplicably, he thinks of matty’s body when the coroner pulled him out of that silver drawer and how his usually neat hair was a mess), but jesse doesn’t stand up when the chains are gone. its as if the thought doesn’t even occur to him. finally, mike just gingerly takes the kid’s shoulders in either hand and urges him up; he swoons a little, but manages to stand. they make their way up the ladder with some difficulty and when they’re out of the pit, the first thing jesse sees is the trail of bloody footprints connecting the compound to their current spot. mike kind of awkwardly pats his shoulder and says “they’re all gone”, which jesse passively accepts with a tired nod. they walk across the sand to the gates of the compound, mike thinking about what the fuck he’s going to do next and how he’s going to get the kid to safety and where they’ll go next, and he suddenly realizes that jesse isn’t with him anymore. he stopped right at the gate, right at the threshold, frozen, tense. a broken horse doesn’t leave when you open the stable gate. mike swallows (nacho froze for a second, just a second, before he grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger), then says “come on, kid. let’s go” in an inviting voice. his kaylee voice. shaking, jesse obliges and steps out of the compound, over the threshold, at which point he just immediately breaks down crying, shucking his numbness like his chains. his tears are easier to accept than his blank expression, and mike silently slips a sturdy arm around him and starts to walk him to his car. tears are a sign of being alive.
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