END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[blindwatchersees]

"So you set a prisoner free, on a whim, on a feeling." He's... smiling?

"You called him a boy. He's young, then? Impulsive?"

[abhorrently]

It doesn't abate the coiling in the pit of her stomach. She knows a smile can herald the worst sorts of things. She knows, because she smiles before she strikes. Fever stands at the bars, awaiting judgement.

"Young, yes. Impulsive, likely. He fought me in the Village, and I struck him down. He wants to atone for what happened there - for the mistakes he made. And there was another in his cell as well. Also young, but known to be dedicated."

Numbers. That's tactical, right? That could mitigate the worst of the punishments.

"I swear I'll come back. By my name and blood I'll figure out how to solve this problem. Unlock the bars or break them or bypass them - I-I have a spell that can do it, that can get you out. I can do this."

Please. Whatever he decides, let it fall on her head alone.

[blindwatchersees]

"Fever, love. I'm not upset with you."

He stands up, approaching the bars.

"It's a story for another time, but... know that where I come from, there is significance in the freeing of an unlikely prisoner, at a critical moment. You've done what you needed to, and I'm not going to question it. Especially not when the most important parts of him already go with you."

[abhorrently]

The look on her face says enough. Disbelief that he's not mad at her. She doesn't know how to take it, and is privately grateful Valdis can't feel her emotions - the storm inside of her could not be cloaked at this time. How is he not upset, when this is happening? How does she believe that?

Even if the most important parts go with her. Even if they never really are parted. It's not the same, when she wants to fight back to back and prove herself. To not fail him, his faith in her. She opens her mouth to protest, to beg forgiveness, and something else falls out.

"...I don't want to leave you."

Soft, something only he can hear. Slowly, she puts one hand on the bars. Never does one realize how badly they want to touch when it is denied.

[blindwatchersees]

He reaches through as best as he can, fingertips able to brush her hand even if any contact beyond that isn't possible.

"We often end up doing things we don't want to, love. Perhaps it's greatness that drives us. Perhaps it's madness. Perhaps the two aren't mutually exclusive. Don't let your worry for me hold you back. You are a Prisoner freed, and that means you can make them kneel." Something feral creeps into his smile as he says this, the glint of a hunter and a madman.

"And if you make your way back with a way to free us, do bring an extra knife for me, won't you? Preferably something made from one of Malin's tibias, but I'm not picky."

[abhorrently]

"I was thinking that peculiar eye of hers as a trophy. It would do better in someone else's hands."

She grins back, matching his look, trying to take strength from that knowledge -

And then briefly bows her head, lowering it so she can touch his fingertips to her cheekbone, ignoring the cold metal in favor of that brief contact. If their hands had been free, she would have pressed palm to cheek, seeking it.

"If I can, I'll bring us all back our strength. And then I'll call, and you will hear me."

As they have before. They are separate yet the same, and she cannot feel how she does for one while excluding the other.

[blindwatchersees]

"And I will be with you, with everything that I am. Together, we will bring the fury."