Camp Lily

Day ?

Lily had no way of knowing how much time passed since Iroha captured her and Cocorobo. When they were seized and taken from the fountain, they had nothing but unanswered questions. They could not fathom how someone like Iroha could go rogue, or why the Indefinable Shadow Beasts weren't attacking her. Ring was also getting on the duo's nerves, as she would not stop tormenting them as they marched through the woods under restraint.

Where were they going? Iroha had a sense of where she wanted to take them, but how was that possible? She didn't live in the Execrated Forest, as far as the captives knew. The red-haired girl in the red dress hunched over and crawled on all fours, sniffing out every area before making sure they could walk there. She described this as her way of finding her path. She had a destination in mind, and Lily and Cocorobo were about to be her involuntary guests of honor.

At first, they were taken to a cell without any windows, and time moved pretty slowly while they were in there. They couldn't tell if it had been a day or several. They spent a lot of time sleeping on a dirty old cot that threatened to collapse every time they laid on it. Perhaps they slept for weeks, for all they knew. Apart from the cot, the cell was barren. Cocorobo also killed time by eating dust that gathered on the floor.

"Sorry, force of habit." she would giggle.

Lily's last memory involved Iroha coming into the cell with a few ISBs behind her, talking to someone and saying "I've searched the whole forest, and I'm pretty sure that's all of them! Looks like it's time." Lily didn't get to see much before Iroha threw a bag over her head and escorted her out of the cell. Wherever she led her, the cat did not want her prisoners seeing the path they took.

For however long the venture took, Lily did not see a thing the whole time. She did not understand what was going on, she just felt herself being pushed up against something really cold. She was confused and unable to foresee the coming events.

There was a moment of silence with a lack of clarity, but then Lily heard something. She did not see it, but she surely heard it.

"Meiko, could you scooch over a bit?"

"Rin, I literally can't."

The sound of familiar voices brought hope to Lily in such a dark time. Dark in more ways than one. On top of being unable to see, she couldn't move, either. She felt as if her body were being held down, but she still stood upright against the icy, hard surface.

Iroha pulled the sack from Lily's head and stomped away from her, finally letting the blonde see where she was.

"Lily! About time she took that bag off your head. Not sure why she kept it on for so long," Cocorobo cheerily greeted her friend from right beside her. While the blonde was happy to see her pink-haired mate was okay, she was standing a little too close for comfort.

"It's good to see you again, Coco," Lily regained her breath after having it suppressed for who knew how long. "But, do you have to stand so close? Give me some space, pal."

"I can't help it! I can't move!"

"You might wanna take a look at yourself, Lily ol' buddy!" Gumi popped in from the other side of Cocorobo. "We're in a bit of a sticky situation here!"

Upon looking down, Lily gave a tremendous groan when she saw that she and Cocorobo had been tied to a massive pillar together. "Are you kidding me?!" she growled.

Thankfully, all of her friends were still alive, as they were all in the same room as her. At the far end, Rin, Meiko, Yanhe, Merli, and Xin Hua were stuck together, and beside them, so were Gumi, Yuki, and kokone. On Lily's other side, Tei and Maika were also bound together.