Skylight

Chapter 7: Anastasia

 It was hardly a time to be awake, I realized as I gazed at the sky. The moon, full tonight, was the same one Val and I should've been under, cracking dumb jokes and forgetting our responsibilities. Instead, I was taking a suspicious, past-midnight stroll to see him, in a prison cell, thousands of feet off of the ground where no human should've been.

Although I suppose that was now, where anyone without wings should've been.

Flashing my ID to the guard at the door, she nodded, unlocking the gate and letting me inside. Compared to the cell in Icaria, ours was much cleaner and much brighter. Not that it mattered, but my chest filled with a little pride despite that.

As I wandered down the prison, following the guard escorting me, the prisoners stared at me, many of them I recognized to be humans; the same ones my father had kindly greeted not two days ago. I was trying my hardest to keep my eyes off of them. They weren't worthy of that sort of attention.

The man unhooked a key from his belt, slid it into the lock and opened the door. The same action repeated until we came upon a large, thick metal door, which he opened by turning the dial in pattern, several noises resonating from within it. When it finally unlocked he allowed me in, his hand brushed my shoulder to catch my attention, the reflection of light on silver momentarily blinding me. The guard had given me a sword, for safety measures.

"Just in case, sir," he explained to me. I took it reluctantly, thanking him on the way in.

Pushing the door open with a creak, I found Val awake, as I'd been expecting; at least that he hadn't lied about, although it was the one thing I had hoped he had. He was sitting with his back against the wall, knees pulled up tight to his chest. When he turned his bloodshot eyes on me, it was clear in an instant that he'd been crying at some point.

Slowly unlocking the door and slipping in, I left the sword lying outside the door, just in reach of my hand. The door shutting when I leaned my back against it, I slid down and sat opposite to him.

"I heard about all that." I told him softly when he curled tighter into his little ball. "I'm just here to talk."

"Yeah." mumbled Val weakly, burying his face into his arms again. He took a shaky, deep breath. "I guess you want me to explain?"

I extended my legs out in front of me nervously. "Not if you don't want to." I said. "But I think it's for the best."

Sucking in a breath, he nodded. "But before I start," Val added quietly. "I hope you know that I wouldn't have done it if I had the choice."

Ten Years Prior

I awoke to the sound of praise, but from different voices than I was accustomed to; certainly, these weren't my parents. Rope tied my wrists to the blank board, and a gag choked off any words from my mouth.

"His eyes will do perfectly." A woman cooed, long, cold fingers stroking down my back. Only then did I realize the sharp, throbbing pain from it, a soft cry muffling itself. No one reacted.

"They'll match finely with Queen Dianne's." Another purred, this time the voice belonging to a male. "And his pale skin almost rivals that of King Cassandar's."

Not sure what was going on, I rolled over to my side, pulling on my arms to try to free myself. Fear struck through me like lightning to find that I was surrounded by humans. The woman held a bloodied knife in her hand, oddly calm, whereas the man held a white handkerchief in his. Light shone from above me, a pale white illuminating their faces and casting a shadow upon me.