Torture chamber

Chapter 11

Gray's POV

Gray was silently congratulating himself as he looked at the light at the end of the tunnel, literally. He had made it out without being smashed but he was indeed unceremoniously forced back to dragging himself through vents. He was a little more hopeful, but there was always the question of What would this one lead to? He had a good feeling about the ever-nearing light which was a good change compared at least to the last 24 hours.

As he neared the end of the vent he could tell that it did not lead outside, which was a bummer but now he was free from the sweaty death trap, right?

~1hour~

Gray had been aimlessly taking turns down the endless hallways for what felt like days, although in reality, it had probably been about an hour. Not ONCE had he found a dead end, it was getting ridiculous. Even after escaping the trail of rooms and vents he had been stuck in, he still felt like a caged tiger. He had resorted to checking doors, he didn't know if he'd be more excited to find his friends or at least a bite of food, but so far they had either been empty or too small to hold more than a table. Did some rich dude buy a house and forget to move in or something?

Gray decided to test something, he kicked the wall making sure to leave a dirt mark, and decided to keep taking right turns just to see.  After going right for forever and checking the wall as he went he took a left and there was his shoe mark. Was he going crazy? Did he make a mistake? Or was this magic? It was one of the three.

He decided to spare himself and go with the enchantment theory. After navigating in his new discovery he felt like he was getting somewhere. Gray would take 6 rights and then a left and after a while, he stopped seeing his wall mark. Finally, he found a dead end with a corridor. He had a good feeling about this door, maybe he would find food. The door was one of those doors that felt like it was 1000 pounds and you had to put every ounce of weight you had into it. Would it lead outside? Would one of his friends be there? Would food be in there?!

The door had opened enough for him to poke his head in, The room was so white it was practically glowing, but in an annoying 'I get it, you like being clean' way. He was about to step in but thought twice when he saw how fast the door closed once you let go and the fact that there was no door handle on the inside. The door on the inside was covered in padding which probably explained why the door was so heavy. First, he saw a bowl of something on a small white table that intrigued him. Second, wait, was that a person on the floor over there?

It looked like it was a girl, but it also looked like she was sleeping which made everything a little more difficult. Her face was masked by the chair legs and her hair covered by the table legs so if it was someone he knew he would have no clue.  He tried to make a loud noise to wake her up but when he kicked the highly padded floor it made no noise whatsoever. He groaned, and that seemed to do the trick because she perked her head up.

"Juvia?"

Juvia's POV 

She woke up to the first sound she had heard in months, it sounded like a groan of some sort, and then her name. She opened her eyes to an opened door and a person standing halfway in, looking to be fighting the door. She stood up and met the eyes of Gray who looked just as surprised as she.

Juvia ran to him and gave him a sharp embrace in which he struggled to return for he looked like he was still struggling in keeping the door open. The strange thing was that she hadn't even known that there was a door here if she had maybe she would've been out of here a long time ago. She shoved him out of the door and ran through herself, she hoped the voice curse wouldn't affect him and maybe if she was out the effects would reverse on her as well. "Hey! There was food in there!" Gray cried.

"I'm sorry, but you had to get out of there." It had never felt so good to speak a few simple words, she smiled in relief. Gray frowned but didn't argue, "What was that place?" He inquired. Juvia didn't exactly know how to answer and had to think about it herself. It had sure messed with her but she didn't quite know why. "I think that... they were trying to mess with my head?"

"It looked like you were sleeping to me," Gray retorted. Juvia got lost looking at his hair and deep blue eyes, the opposite of white. After an awkward moment, she realized he was still waiting for answers and shook her head. " It was a slow everyday process, they had me in there for months without color, sound, or human interaction. What did they do to you in that time darling?" Gray looked very confused at this, Juvia didn't know what about though. "Months? They've only had us in here for a day or two at most," Gray quipped. 

"No. I've been in there for at least three months. It could be another enchantment..." She mumbled the last part. "How can there be enchantments when my magic is enabled?" He thought to himself. "It's simple," Gray cocked his head this, " You can't enable magic in an area without a spell of your own or magic devices, so the devices can't enable themselves even if they are magic. Maybe it's like that?" Gray nodded, " Huh."

Gray changed the subject, " So, did the padding on the walls in there, were they part of the enabled senses? And what about everything being white?" Juvia bit her lip, she hated that word, white. "Yes. You can't exactly smash a chair in satisfaction if the walls are literally a mattress, can you?" Gray chuckled at her bitter statement, " Did you try to smash any chairs?" He joked.

" Not only did I try but I did, tables might not be as hard as walls but they do nicely." She added. " You never did answer my question," Juvia said, Gray raised an eyebrow. "What did they do to you?" Gray bit his lip, " I'll tell you later, we should get going and find the others." Juvia was a little disappointed, but getting out of here was the priority.