Double Rainbow

Dark Rainbow-4

Breathe. In, out. Keep that heartbeat going. I let the thoughts flow through my mind, but at the forefront is that picture of Torch. Even though Storm told me not to, I keep a little picture of him at the back of my mind. I can't help it- even if I'll lose a bit of this consciousness, even if I lose something valuable- I simply can't bring myself to forget him. He saved me, and I will be forever grateful for that. Torch had seen something in me, too, and I would at least remember him.

An Obsidian writes something down a small chalk board in front of me in the middle of the room. It's not high-tech at all, but the noise hurts just as much as any other form of torture. I see three Canira's faces drawn up in the powdery chalk. A face similar to Torch is one of them- another Burn Canira, but this one has a plume of fire running up its face. "These are the destined Imperial Three." says the Obsidian. "You are to kill them, no matter what."

"There, rubbed it in. She'll remember it now." he says, talking to his colleague. I just sit there in the mindwipe cell, bored.

"ACTIVATE THE-" screams one Obsidian, but another plugs a tail up his mouth and says,

"Turn the damn thing on."

The electrical pulse attacks my body, and I begin thrashing again, my body jerking involuntarily from uncontrollable pain, but it just gets worse and worse. My brain begins to spasm, things floating in and out of reality, but soon it all stops. I squint at the faces on the board, but they're unfamiliar. All I know is that I was in trouble... and then I was here.

Everything in between is a blank gap. I don't even remember a face. Just what I looked like before- my eyes were red, but something lifted it... and my eyes turned blue. One Obsidian bounces over, and asks, "Did it work?"

"I don't know." I say. I can see myself reflected on his glassy coat, and my eyes are still blue.

"Of course it worked, it's a mindwipe. It works every time. Why would it just stop working now?" says another gruffly. They can't see my eye color. Obsidians must be colorblind.

It didn't work this time, because I still have what they tried to take- my free will. I can still smell and feel this place for what it is, and with free will comes a lot of knowledge. I have the advantage now, because they trust me without even knowing it. They think I am a dumb slave, but while they plot it all out, I'll be turning all the tables behind their backs. The most important thing to do for now is gather information.

I stagger back to my cage, pretending to be dizzy from the mindwipe. Okay, that might not be too much of a stretch after all. I wretch and throw up onto the floor below my suspended cage.

"They escaped," whisper all the prisoners, a collective hum, "They escaped. They made it."

"Who are 'they?'" I ask the closest one to me, a tiny Canis.

"The Burn Canira and the pegasus! They escaped the Factory!" squeaks another.

Burn Canira. That sounds way too familiar. "What was his name?" I ask.

"Oh no, the pegasus was a girl."

"No, The Burn Canira!" I snap.

"The name, hmmm, I'm not... oh yeah, Torch! It was Torch."

I nod. I wait in the cage, uplifted by the generally less dismal air of the place (although it still smells of unspeakable things), when they bring a limp body in and shove it in a cage halfway across the room.

The smell of burning feathers drifts across the room. I look over, grasping the bars to get a better angle to look at the tiny, limp body.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Pegasus." A prisoner confirms. "No wings, though, but you can see the burn marks. It's a pegasus who got it's wings burned off."

Murmurs spread across the room. "Could it be... her?" Somebody says, a young voice.

Of course, it's obvious, but to them it's unthinkable that one of their heroes didn't make it. Already, hope has made them weak and less perceptive. They refuse to acknowledge even simple, obvious things. I can't say that I've never had a bit of hope, either. Like a small flame just barely sheltered from rain, it burns bright inside me but is threatened at every minute.

I hope that I can be free and live my own life. Find out everything the Obsidians took from me.

"It's Cherry Blossom." confirms a prisoner.

"They would've brought him back too, wouldn't they?" adds someone else.

"So he's still out there."

They will never know, but I can check tonight. I plan too. Torch... I run the word through my mind. Even though it seems even less plausible now that they've brought back Cherry Blossom, somewhere in me I know he escaped.