Soul: Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

Starved for Freedom

(A/N: Happy holidays! Here's a present for you all!)

Seto was on the verge of dozing off on the bed when he suddenly heard a muffled voice say, "Hey! Sorcerer Dude!" followed by relentless tapping on the wall beside him.

Seto's eyes snapped open. "Huh what? Who's there?"

"I think the doctor said his name was 'Seto', not 'Sorcerer Dude'..." another faint voice from behind the wall said.

They must be the people in the other cell, Seto realized. "What do you want?" he asked, briefly noticing how flat his voice sounded.

"We just want to talk," the first voice said. "My name's Preston."

"And I'm Bashur!" the second, slightly higher-pitched voice said.

"...Hi," was Seto's hollow response as he curled up into a ball and sighed.

There was silence on the other side. "Wow, not the talkative type, are you?" Preston remarked.

"Well it's not like any of us were very social when we first got here..." Bashur said. "Plus at least he said something, unlike the people in the other cells."

"That's true..." Preston admitted.

"So, uh, you got turned into a blaze hybrid?" Bashur asked tentatively.

"...Yeah."

"Well that's better than what I got," Preston grumbled. "I got turned into a freaking lava creeper, how about that? Everything I touch either burns up or gets destroyed if it's not enchanted."

"I still don't know what he was thinking when he turned me into a watermelon hybrid..." Bashur lamented.

Watermelons... What I wouldn't give to eat once right now...

"It's because you were already a vegetable before you transformed," Preston teased. "I bet you hardly felt the difference afterwards."

"A watermelon is a fruit, not a vegetable!"

"You didn't deny that you were originally a vegetable, though."

"Hey!"

Seto found himself smiling slightly at their antics despite how weighed down he was feeling.

"Hey, Seto, you still listening?" Preston asked.

"...Yeah."

"Listen, we all heard what the doctor told you. We don't know if we'll be able to, but if we can, we'll find some way to sneak some food to you." Seto's stomach grumbled at the mention of the word "food". "What do you think?"

Seto paused to think. "...Are you sure you won't get in trouble?"

"Dude, we get in trouble all the time!" Bashur said, laughing.

'We used to give food to Tyler..." Preston said in a quiet voice.

The mood suddenly dropped and everyone fell silent. "I... I appreciate it, I really do," Seto said finally. "But this is different. He's not going to react the same way if you try to help me."

"What do you mean?" Bashur asked.

Seto laughed bitterly. "Because the doctor's giving me 'special treatment', that's why. If he or the wardens see you getting in the way of his punishment, you're not going to get the typical discipline."