Cross Ange: The Knight of Hilda

Chapter 8: Bait and Switch

The shock of the cold water splashing over her yanked Ange back to consciousness and she flopped sputtering on the hard stone floor. Her eyes opened and she found herself in another prison cell. What happened? she wondered. The last thing she remembered was walking up to Jill and Salia on the beach. She had a long list of questions for the Commander but before she could ask, something had struck her in the stomach and everything went black.

"Are you awake now?" a familiar voice asked. On the other sides of the bars; Salia, Vivian, Ersha, Rosalie, and Chris stood with expressions ranging from contempt to disappointment. Only Vivian showed any sign of being happy to see her. Someone coughed beside her and Ange looked up to see Hilda lying next to her. Her long red hair hung loose and she had been stripped naked. A sudden chill caressed her skin and Ange gave a tiny cry as she realized she was also naked.

"Hey," Vivian said, "welcome back you two!"

"Vivian!" Salia scolded. Immediately, the overly energetic pilot pulled herself back as the Captain of First Squad held up the clipboard in her hand. "I will now read your punishment notice."

"Where's Momoka?" Ange demanded.

"Ange and Hilda," Salia continued, "for deserting your squad you will spend one week in confinement. Additionally, all of your assets and possessions have been confiscated, including your respective Para-mails AND the servant you purchased, the latter of which has been reassigned to the guest house."

"Oh, is that all?" Hilda asked. "Guess I'll just have to buy it all back later." From her place by Chris's side, Rosalie's face suddenly twisted in rage and she flung herself against the bars.

"Do you think this is a joke?" she yelled. "Because of you we've all been benched! All the other squads are making money and we're stuck on standby!" Rosalie bit her lip and her expression softened a bit. "Why didn't you talk to us? We would have helped you."

"Oh come on!" Chris scoffed. "We both know she never once saw us as friends." Rosalie looked to Chris in shock.

"You got it," Hilda smirked. "You two were just a means to an end. I only put up with you as way of making my life here just a little less miserable." Rosalie's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open when Chris suddenly pushed her aside and spit onto Hilda's face.

"It would have been better if you had just died," she growled. "Oh, and I bought back all of Captain Zola's stuff while you were away. You're not allowed anywhere near it." Christ stormed away and Rosalie gave one last sorrowful look at Hilda before she followed after.

"I just don't understand," Ersha said. Ange looked up to her and the pinkette's eyes were barely holding back tears. "Why did you two run away? All of us...we've been in here our entire lives. We don't know the outside world or any of our families. There's nothing for us out there. So why?" Ersha's eyes were so full of sorrow and hurt that Ange almost felt it herself.

"Because she's not like us," Salia said as she walked off. "The Commander was a fool to trust you. You never deserved Villkiss. Or anything else." Ersha gave the two of them one last remorseful look before she left as well. Vivian though remained behind a second longer as she rummaged through her pocket and dropped something at the foot of the cell.

"Vivian?" Ange asked.

"I won't tell if you won't," Vivian said with a wink as she ran after the others. Ange reached through the bars and pulled in something wrapped in plastic. She opened it and smiled at the contents: a Perolina keychain and two hair scrunchies.

"Here," she said as she tossed the binds to Hilda.

"She really should mind her own business," Hilda grumbled.