Stitched Heart

Chapter 12: Bars

(I'm going to be changing updates from Tuesdays to Saturdays. Also no more art because I don't have enough time to draw, sorry-)

Maybe the attackers were aiming for that. That's why the queen wanted them to stay. Or whoever wrote down on the paper had at least wanted them to analyse and learn everything that was happening around them first. Before they could attack.

Why hadn't she seen the clues? She had been so distracted over...nothing... it didn't matter. She just hoped the queen and Crescent were okay.

✩•̩̩*˚ Gradient ˚*•̩̩͙✩

It was cold. Really cold. She could feel her body shivering, doing its best to warm her up. She was uncomfortable. Her neck and back hurt. She felt a rush of stamina course through her body but she was so tired at the same time. Her head was pounding. Why was it pounding though...? Oh... she remembered... someone had knocked her out by heating her on the head. She remembered being tied up. Tied up against... Crescent!

She had been hit and as soon as she became disoriented she had been tied up against Crescent. Then both had been knocked out. The queen had also been attacked! She had been cut...? She didn't remember that part very well.

They shouldn't have gone out. They should have stayed in the castle. Should have gone out to explore another day. They should have been more cautious. She should have come up with some reason to not go. But Crescent had looked desperate, and Gradient had trusted in him.

And so they had gone on a search for whoever Crescent wanted to find. A woman, with a blind eye...

Suddenly she could feel her body reacting. She felt something wrapping around her. She opened her eyes quickly and looked around.

A cell... it was poorly taken care of. It was in poor condition. Extremely cold too. She blinked a few times in confusion. Staring down at the tentacle wrapping around her body. Her body was slowly lifted up and brought close to something.

Gradient was way too tired. But she was confused when the tentacles stopped. She slowly opened her eyes. Looking around. It was dark, very dark. Where was she? She shuddered a bit. Fear slowly trickled up her spine.

"C-crescent?" She whispered, she looked down at the tentacles holding her. She knew they were Crescent's due to their light grey, and because of how they ended in cyan colouration. She felt so weak. She hated that feeling.

Gradient knew she should have brought her bow and arrow. That way she would have been able to protect Crescent and herself. But of course, her dumb*ss didn't. Of course, she trusted Crescent too much. She should have been ready. But no! She hadn't been. She was always ready except for today.

It annoyed her so much. It made her feel furious. But there wasn't anything she could do now. Expect regret and watch as she was trapped.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked, she was startled by this and tried to suddenly sit up.

Only to groan in pain and be forced to lie back down by the tentacle. She looked over to the source of the sound. She sighed in relaxation when she made eye contact with Crescent. Smiling softly as she looked at him. He seemed a bit confused before smiling back at her.

"I'm okay... just tired... and confused..." Gradient sighed.

She had never felt so glad that she could stare at Crescent. She would do it for hours. Even hug him out of happiness. But the bars between the two of them would make that very hard to happen. Slowly her hand wrapped around the bars. They were very cold and quite rusty.