𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

4 ~ prison

He couldn't bear the suffocating feeling. There was nothing for him to do, nothing for him to see except the ice through the windows, and it was beginning to be frustrating.

The only thing that brought him even a little sense of comfort were thoughts of...home, thoughts of...family. All which he no longer had, all which he could no longer go back to. It was really, really frustrating, wanting to do something but being unable to. Being trapped. Being caged. Being...restrained as if he were some animal, a monster that would ruin everything.

It was at moments like this, when his thoughts got the best of him, that he'd feel the familiar heat boiling beneath his skin. It was even more frustrating having an itch you couldn't scratch. That's how the heat felt. So he'd drag his blunt nails down the side of his neck where the itch was strongest, most persistent, and just scratch and scratch and scratch, but it never did anything, it just left rugged lines on his skin that itched even further.

If he bled would the same happen as last time?

Would the cabin catch flame? Sink under?

But he'd stop before he bled because it would only make things worse. If they saw him as a monster meant to be kept in a cage, it didn't mean that he should give them just that. He wasn't an animal. He wasn't a monster. He was just...himself.

So instead he'd wrap his arms around himself, around the unfamiliar blue hues of his robes, and pray the itch went away.
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"Hello?"

For the first time in a while, he heard someone's voice. It was...a girl's voice, a girl who sounded young, very young. For a few moments, Guren didn't reply, but in the end, he stood up and slowly crept closer to the door.

"Hello...?" He said it back, questioningly, wondering if he should've replied at all.

The girl didn't say anything, and Guren thought he imagined her, but then there was a light knock on the door and a quiet voice following suit, "Um...I saw people coming here every day, and I...wondered why," She sounded hesitant. "You...How old are you?"

Guren blinked, caught off guard by the whole thing, and managed to collect himself enough to answer. "...Nine."

"Nine...?"

Did she not hear him well?

"Why are you here? Why is there...a lock on this door?"

She...didn't know?

"Because others think I'm dangerous." He gave her the truthful answer.

A light 'oh' left her. "Are you?"

Was he?

"They said I sank a district underwater."

And then there was silence. It was silence for so long that he figured she left. That would be the only right answer. Why would she stay after hearing something like that?

"So that was you..."

But he was wrong.

"I wondered what happened, but no one would tell me anything."

He didn't know what to say to that so he didn't say anything at all.

"What's your name?"

But it seemed she had a lot to say and ask.

"Guren," So he told her. "What's yours?"

With an audible smile, she replied, "Yue!"
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Yue kept visiting him day after day. She'd sit on the other side of the door and talk and talk and talk, but he didn't mind. Talking with her made the itch go away, it made it stay away. He didn't feel alone, and his thoughts wouldn't overwhelm him at times. He learned she was chief Arnook's daughter. Arnook was...kind, that much Guren knew, and Yue was kind as well. He guessed it ran in the family to want what's best for someone else.