꒰ 🐉 ꒱ | 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 ೃ࿔₊•

❬ ⸙: ✰❝ 𝚄𝙽𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳 𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂; ❀❞ ❭

Leia.

The jail cell was nothing like I had been expecting. I've seen tv shows, there should be creaking metal bunks, a small barred window and a surly cell-mate who becomes like a sister to me. The walls are old stones from the quarry and the floor is too, everything in here is hard and cold. The reality of being caged begins to sink in.

even though my hands are cuffed in front of me, the metal still bites into the edges of my wrist and they sting, I've never been handcuffed before. lexie clings onto the cold bars of the shared cell squeezing the tip of her nose through the gap in an attempt to hear any conversations. from what she strung together eavesdropping, was that we were in holding because the police got an anonymous tip-off and suspected us of possessing illegal goods. that wasn't true, well at least not yet. As a result, we were stripped of all of our belongings -including the map- and detained for further questioning. my fingers reach up to touch my necklace out of habit before remembering it wasn't there. right.

I watch madison closely as they sit on one of the beds with their elbows on their knees and palms on their head. I knew exactly what they felt like, everything was getting to us.

on a normal day -or the current timeline, the situation would've been handled promptly but due to their coincidental rush of prisoners in processing the holding cells were full and it would be nightfall before we were out. we were literally packed like sardines in a can and what made matters worse was the fact the air was contaminated by a putrid fishy smell courtesy of the lovely lady in the cell across. her hair was like a birds nest and I swear I saw a fish head knotted in it.

"Wilbur?" madison questions perking up, their voice going up a couple of pitches as they joined lexie. the officer that was passing by stopped dead in his tracks turning to us with widened eyes. the familiar face was enough to ignite what little hope I had left.

"holy shit am I hallucinating" he practically yells. the station doesn't lose its chatter and the proclamation wasn't enough to deter any officials who understood English. "no, no no no" he shakes his head vigorously, backing away from us as we now smooshed our faces between the gap of the bars. "I was at your funeral" he reasons, more to himself than us.

"it's a long story" I pipe in casually.

"you conned me into thinking you were dead for 11 months I think I have the time" he whispers harshly nearing them to avoid eavesdroppers. Wilbur used to work for the organisation before he transitioned and left the force. not that he would be discriminated against, he just wanted different things in life. the funeral was held to tie up loose ends but the fact that he was here in this timeline, in the exact station at the exact moment, surely wasn't a coincidence. the organisation- or what's left of it was thorough. if Wilbur believed we were dead they wouldn't have been able to see him or change that even if they tried. he must've sent him this way to help us.

"look we need to get out of-" lexies words trailed off as an ear-deafening explosion hit dissolving whatever semblance of peace remained. the station burst into chaos as prisoners rushed around and the officials tried to get them in check. Wilbur was pushed with the crowd as gunshots were fired, followed by bloodcurdling screams.

amidst all the chaos, the holding cell area was left unattended which left the perfect opportunity for the alleged investigator from the bakery to sneak in. panic washes our faces but he's only there for a second before throwing something into the cell. madison catches what seems to be a bunch of keys. we've done this dance long enough to know what this was which is why one thought fills our heads as we work the cuffs. friend or foe?

it was evident that the officer this set belonged to was a perfectionist from the way he took the time to label each one in his neat handwriting. it was also a stupid thing to do because we were out in seconds and working on the cell door. the other holding cell doors seemed to already be open because the captives rushed out like sand in an hourglass.