Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
" If you turned out to be serendipitous, I wouldn't mind. " – Kinich
My whole body shakes with the sheer effort of getting up and off the ground as I somehow find my way to the bars. A slender, pale hand appears from outside my cell, holding a gold hairclip with flower petals folded into a butterfly, like the origami my mother always used to make.
My hands bend into an awkward position as I reach for the clip, my fingers faintly brushing against hers as I take it, trying to hide the sizzling lash marks that spread all the way from my neck to my palm. I wince as it begins to sting from the movement.
I approach the lock on my door, looking around the dimly lit hallways to ensure no guards are around, before reaching my hands through the bars and fidgeting with the lock, trying to gauge its security levels. I carefully detach the butterfly from the clip, placing it onto the metal ground, before returning my focus to the lock on my door. It was made of aged copper, and was already beginning to oxidize. I adjust my position so that I can see the bottom of the lock, before shoving the clip into the lock and twisting it.
Surprisingly, the moment I did so, the lock immediately drops to the ground, a deafening clang resounding in the frigid air. Huh. I'd expected more from Snezhanya's 'maximum security' prison, but perhaps we were underestimated. After all, lock picking is just a little trick learned in the Scions of the Canopy.
"Is it working?" I hear a soft voice from the cell to my left, bringing me out of my stunned trance. Every time the witch girl spoke, she did it with such panic in her voice. I'm used to striking fear into people with my presence back in our tribe, but she's different.
How could someone have seen the state of my family, and still be afraid of me?
But again, even back when we were both kids, she ran away in fear the moment I even lay eyes on her. At first, it confused me, but eventually I came to my own conclusion that this simply was the way she interacted with everyone. I've only seen her once – After she saved my life, and never again.
I'm rather observant of those around me, and I've never seen her out and about, so I can only assume that she's always in that house of hers with that healer Mpenzi. It would be no surprise if she turned out unaccustomed to the way of social life and interactions when she only really spends time with someone as eccentric as the medic herself.
I realize I'm being rude by letting the silence linger, and hastily give her a response. "Yeah, I've gotten through the lock. I'm going to help us both escape this place, but you have to be quiet, and we also need to go find a certain someone I can't leave without."
"A... friend?"
"Yeah, you could say that." I wince, thinking of Ajaw's antics and careless jokes. He's anything but a friend. "I believe I've got a hunch of where he is. I'll break you out of the cell, and just follow me, okay? And be careful."
I step out of the cell while pulling my jumpsuit up to cover my arms, trying to keep the creaking of the door to a minimum, before turning around to finally look at the witch girl for the first time.
Her hair was tied up into two carelessly woven braids, and her pale gray eyes watched me silently from behind several strands of hair that broke free from the mass. A red fur cape far too large for her figure was draped over her shoulder, hanging there almost like magic. And then I remembered, she is magic.
Slender, pale limbs hung loosely on the floor as she sat limply, and in the faint glow of the torches lining the corridor, she was almost alike a porcelain doll. I swallow, taking a deep breath. She always looked peculiar as a child, but now that she's grown up, the features seemed to grow into her skin, molding perfectly like softened butter.
I wonder if she used magic on herself.
"Are you just going to look at me like that?" She says, her voice effete, like coffee on a Monday morning.
"Sorry. We haven't seen each other in a while," I replied halfheartedly, glancing around to make sure nobody was around, before moving to pick the lock on her door. She watches me without making a single move.
"You've changed, Kinich," She says plainly.
That took me by surprise. It would've been right for me to say that, but hearing it from her mouth... I've never seen much change in myself, at least physically. "Why do you say that?"
I move my hand to catch the lock as it falls free from its hinges, leaving the door slightly ajar. She simply shrugs in response, and I can't make out what she's feeling as she looks away.
"Just... come out?... I don't bite." I add, looking at her hesitant body language. She picks herself up, her black dress brushing against the ground like feathers as she rises to her feet. I offer a hand, which she stares down until I drop. "Anyways, just follow me, and keep quiet. We can talk when we're out of here."
I feel her presence next to mine like a ghost as I race through the hallways without a single word, navigating the place and mentally mapping everything down as I move. Although my boots resound softly on the cold, hard metal below our bodies, she's barefoot, which lets her be absolutely quiet as she walks. I wonder if-
Suddenly, two large, muscular bodies block our way, and I hear a quiet exhale beside me as I look up to see two masked men, armed with weapons that could crush us if it even barely touched our skins. My gaze shifts to the witch, hoping she'd be of some help, but her eyes are clouded, and she doesn't move a single inch, her misty eyes trained on the ground. Seems I'm alone for this one.
"They're fugitives on the run. Don't let them get out." The one on the right rumbles sternly, before all I see is red. My body moves off instinct, shoving the girl to safety behind me, dodging the first heavy blows coming my way, and planting my hands onto the Fatui soldiers' chests. My vision glimmers faintly, its weight beside my leg rallying me on, as I attach a string of pure green to their hearts, grabbing onto the ends to tug them forward.
But they don't budge.
And then I realize my mistake. They're big. Far bigger than I am, and without Ajaw by my side, I can't possibly fight them off. Shit.
I return from my trance, summoning my claymore to my hands, but it's too late. I feel a shadow above me, and I can do nothing but close my eyes, waiting for a hammer to obliterate me to bits, before...
Nothing happens. I open my eyes, my vision clearing, and I look up, only to find the Fatui soldiers suspended in their movements, their eyes still furrowed in battle spirit and their arms raised to strike me down. A faint red glow, almost like the color of blood, surrounds the two men, and I back away as they crumble to the ground, their bodies turning to ash and leaving nothing but their armor, laying on the ground like tombstones.
My head snaps over to stare at the girl beside me blankly. She's watching the soldiers with empty, emotionless eyes... But instead of their usual snowlike gray, her irises are replaced by a deep red, the exact color as the aura around the soldiers. As the sirens begin to blare, I immediately realize what she's done.
"Out. We need to get out of here." I rush over to her side, my knees meeting the floor as I kneel down next to her. She doesn't give any sign that she's heard me, her eyes simply focused on the exact same spot they were left on. "Come on, don't do this to me. They'll be here anytime..."
I began to panic at her unresponsive state, and fling her over my shoulder, barely sparing a glance at the Fatui following us with weapons as I dashed out of the prison like our life depended on it.
