The Black Swans Secret

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟥

  This is kinda long (1.2k to be specific) so enjoy!

★★★

Y/n's eyes watched the small beam of light that flowed in through the small window of her cell. Above her she could hear the scraping of furniture and people running around trying to accomplish whatever jobs they had been assigned. It had been going on for the past half hour and was driving y/n insane. 

She had overheard Gisela yelling about something called the Black Swan when Gethen came downstairs to give y/n her morning meal, which was just a roll of bread and a cup of stale water. Sometimes y/n wondered if normal elven prisons were any better than what she was suffering through right now. 

A fly buzzed past her ear dragging her away from her thoughts. It landed on the plate her breakfast had been served on, there were only crumbs left. Then she heard another noise, footsteps. 

Why would someone be coming down here? Y/n thought as the footsteps grew louder. Surely it couldn't be lunch time already, she had only been served food less than an hour ago. Or what seemed like an hour, time was never certain for a prisoner like herself. 

Gethen's blond head came into view and left y/n wondering what Gisela could possibly want with her today. They had run so many tests and taken so much blood that y/n wasn't sure she had any to spare. 

"Aren't you lucky you get to leave you cell today for something other than experiments," Gethen said with a hint of sarcasm. He unlocked the door to her cell and stood there waiting for y/n to get up, it's almost as if he were afraid to touch her. 

She rose from the dirty floor of her prison, not caring to brush the dust of her ragged clothes. Gethen strode forward leaving y/n to follow as he always did. 

He didn't lead y/n in the direction they usually went for experiments and she wondered if Gethen was telling the truth when he said she wouldn't be tested on today. The hallway they were in was unfamiliar to her and when Gethen paused at a tall golden set of doors y/n was almost excited to see what was inside. It was stupid and unworthy excitement and she knew it, but to have something potentially positive in her life of suffering was exciting in itself. 

Inside the room was Lady Gisela stood next to a girl y/n didn't recognize. A new recruit. Y/n could tell. 

Every time someone was recruited to the Neverseen they were introduced to the most important members of the Neverseen without hiding their identity's. Later on when they met the rest of the members or where doing things outside of the hideout they had to wear those ridiculous cloaks to keep their identity secret. 

The people who basically run the Neverseen (Gethen, Gisela, Fintan, Brant) never keep their face hidden around others though, only when out in public, but then they end up revealing themselves in some fancy way. 

That is what made y/n wonder why she was allowed to see this girls real face without the black hood blocking it out. She was beautiful, with bronze skin, jet black hair, and full lips. Her pale blue eyes were framed by thick lashes that cascaded down her cheeks when she blinked. 

Gisela stepped towards y/n. "Y/n meet Rayni Aria, the newest member of the Neverseen." 

Y/n was confused. Why was she here, why was she allowed to meet this girl and know her name? That's not how things worked in the Neverseen, everything was compartmentalized. People were only allowed to know things about missions and assignments that directly involved them. If they weren't involved they didn't know anything about it. 

"What's going on? Why am I here?" It hurt y/n's throat to say those words, but she couldn't stay silent.

"No need to worry dear," Gisela said making y/n cringe at her choice of words. "Rayni here is new and young, around your age in fact. We only wish her to feel comfortable here and she asked to see someone her age. That's where you come in. So tell me y/n, won't you be good for Rayni here and listen to everything she says?" 

"Yes ma'am," y/n said, it's not like she had much choice to say anything else. If she tried to reject it she would most likely end up being tortured into complying. That's just the way Gisela's twisted mind worked. Besides, maybe she could become friends with this girl. 

Rayni on the other hand looked confused. "What do you mean she should listen to me? Isn't she a member like me? She doesn't look too healthy either, what have you people been doing to her!" 

Y/n was taken by surprise at this girls words, no one in the Neverseen ever seemed to care about what happened to y/n. They were all too scared to Gisela to say anything. 

"Y/n would you like to tell her about your life with us?" Gisela said. To anyone else that might have been seen as an honest opportunity, but Gisela added a glare to it that made y/n afraid of what would happen to her if she was to tell the truth.

She forced herself to overcome her fear. Gisela wouldn't hurt her, not here, not as long as she wanted this Rayni girl to join the Neverseen. 

"Lady Gisela likes to use me to practice her plans on," y/n mumbled, trying not to tell the whole story. "I'm kept in a cell, but it's not that bad," y/n quickly added. 

"So you're basically torturing her?" Rayni practically shouted. 

Gisela couldn't say anything to counter that, not when y/n looked so pale and fragile, there was no way she could be lying.

"Y/n tells the truth," Gisela finally came up with.

Rayni stood there for a moment looking absolutely disgusted, it was as if she was seeing Gisela and the Neverseen in a completely different light. 

"Fine, if you want me to join you stop harming this girl. Let her choose whether or not she wants to stay here," the girl said. A flicker of hope sparked inside y/n, the first bit of hope she had had in years.

Gisela looked like she wanted to smack Rayni. "We cannot stop our testing, not when we are this close, neither can we let her go," she paused as Rayni glared at her. "If you are this insistent I suppose we could treat her better, but don't go getting full of yourself. You aren't even a member yet and have no right to be making demands."

"Treat her better? What does that mean? I'm not agreeing to this until you tell me what will happen to her," Rayni asked.

Gisela sighed. "We'll move her out of her cell to one of our rooms in a secure hideout, which will be heavily guarded. I'll also order her to have three full meals a day, just like the rest of us. Would you like to order me to do anything else dear Rayni?" Gisela added an eye roll to the end.

Rayni looked torn between being happy and scared. "Just make sure she gets treated well. I won't argue more about your experiments, but don't harm her too much." 

"I'll personally see to her recovery. Before you meet the others I would like you to tell me the code name you have decided on," Gisela added. 

"Call me Glimmer."

★★★