Chapter Text
Everywhere hurts.
My whole body stings, aches and I feel completely exhausted. They threatened, beat me and drugged me. I can barely think straight at this point.
My eyes are heavy but I try to open them. I manage to open them enough to peer out at the room, but my vision is hazy, blinking to clear the shapes that fill my vision, until I could see and really remember where I am. I try to lift up, but my hands are cuffed behind me as I sit on a chair in a dark room. A secluded concrete room. No windows and the only light are spotlights built into the walls at the bottom.
After what happened with the police I finally end up here… Did the others make it out in time? And she helped me escape… Did she get out too…? My mind is too fuzzy to remember…
Slight jolts of pain spark over my face from the smallest of movements from where the police had beat me to get me to sit still, as an attempt to get some answers out of me. My arm stings from where they forcibly injected me with, whatever they used. My sleeve being ripped because of it. Whatever the concoction was that they injected into me makes my memory fuzzy and making me drift in and out of consciousness.
I’m so tired… What did they give me…?
I hear some distorted voices around me until suddenly feeling a bunch of water being dumped over my head making me jolt up and gasp in surprise from how icy cold the water is. I open my eyes fully. Water drips from the bangs of my hair onto the floor and my lap. I wince and slowly look up to see the few officers staring down at me.
I cough slightly to remove some of the water from my lips, feeling some bangs of hair now clinging to my face. The icy cold water makes me shiver all over.
“No dozing off.” The man says, making me turn to him.
He is in charge…? No... I can’t think straight, ugh…
I try to struggle against my bonds. Tugging and shaking about on them, but to no avail. It only makes them dig into my skin and cause further pain. “Ngh… damn it…”
The officer sighs as he watches my vain struggle. “You still don’t get it, do you.” He slowly lurches forward and raises his foot back before slamming it into my stomach, “Give it up!”
Pain erupts over me as I’m sent crashing off the chair onto the floor as it shatters around me. “Nngh…” I curl up slightly, desperately gasping for air before his foot rests against my head to keep it on the floor.
He smirks down at me. “Come on, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?”
I grit my teeth and look up to him before slowly casting my eyes towards the CCTV camera above the door. The officer slowly turns to it, raising an eyebrow. “Huh? What about the camera?” He removes his foot from my head, “Are you thinking it can be used as evidence?” He grasps my hair and lifts my head up forcibly to meet his.
I just avert my eyes and keep quiet as I know what the answer would be and don’t want to waste my breath. He sighs and throws my head onto the floor making my vision daze slightly from the impact. “Didn’t you hear my question? Answer!” He forcibly kicks my stomach again.
“Guh…” I shriek in pain and gasp for air as I wheeze, curling up more from the pain across my stomach on the existing bruising. Feeling some tears well up.
I peek out of one eye as he grabs a clipboard from another officer behind him as he reads off it. “Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons… Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works. To think all these crimes were led by a punk like this. Stupid girl. And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it.”
I slowly raise my head off the ground to look at him, letting out a soft sigh. I was enjoying it? I-I can’t remember much… But enjoying it? No… it was necessary. He signals the other two men over, one holds me back up to my feet as the other removes the cuffs before throwing me back on the floor.
I rub my wrists as the pain of the cuffs being too tight are released from my skin, seeing the deep coloured bruises across them. “Ow…”
The man crouches down in front of me and holds out the clipboard towards me, gesturing his head towards the bottom. “Sign here. It’s a confession under your name.”
I just look at it and slowly push it away, turning my head to the side slightly away from him. “No way…”
He looks away in disappointment. “I see.” He raises up to stand, “I need your hand to sign this, but…” He suddenly, forcibly slams his foot on my thigh. I cry out in pain and grip my leg tightly as he applies more pressure. Gritting my teeth to try and stop the pain and pressure, “I don’t care if you end up losing a leg.”
“S-Stop… Ok, ok…”
He removes his foot, letting out a sigh of relief as I rub my thigh slightly, feeling it start to immediately bruise. He then hovers the clipboard in front of me again. I take it in my hand as he holds out a pen before pushing his face almost against mine. “Don’t think you’re getting out of here in one piece.” His tone radiates menace, “One must take full responsibility for their actions…”
I slowly turn my head away and take the pen from his grasp, looking to the bottom of the sheet, the line waiting for my name. A confession… It’s all wrong as usual… I wince as pain was washing over my body with even the slightest of movements and breaths I take. I slowly sign my name on the line.
Rin Kurusu.
After that it is all a blur. The pain and whatever drug they had given me makes me fade in and out of consciousness again. All I remember is when they bring in a large metal desk and a couple of chairs, forcing me into one and left again. It is silent in the room for a long while, but it allows me to get a bit of rest for my weary body. I open my eyes as I lay on my arms on the desk. It is cold just like everything else in this room as I shiver, still being wet from the water they dumped on me.
What a piece of trash!
Worthless!
Damn brat, I’ll sue!
I was just trying to help… Ugh… Why am I thinking about that now? I have more important things to remember…
I hear the grinding of metal against concrete as the large metallic door to the cell opens, but I don’t react or take notice. Being too tired to do so as it is probably just another officer. I hear a voice calling to me and I slowly shift in my seat.
“Hey!” I hear a woman shout as she taps her palm on my head. I slowly rise up and hold my head to see her as my vision clears, “Focus and stay with me. You need to concentrate.”
“Sae Niijima… It would be you…”
She sighs as she looks over me, eyes hovering over the bruises. “I didn’t expect it’d be you. You’ll be answering my questions this time.” I just nod slowly as she looks to the floor where the multiple empty needles are, “Those bastards…” She leans in close to me watching her eyes move over my face. “Can you hear me? It seems you’ve been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here… and I can’t stop them.”
“That's an… understatement…” I mumble tiredly.
She drops a thick leather bag on the table and opens it up. Taking out a document folder that reads, ‘Phantom Thieves’. She also pulls out my phone and places it down next to her. “I don’t have much time…” She says bluntly, “Don’t miss out on anything from your version of the story.”
I prop up my elbows on the desk and rest my head on my hands to hold it up, meeting her stern gaze. I must remember, I must tell her.
“Quick to ask as always…”
“I don’t have time. Now, speak. Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn’t think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn’t assemble a case for prosecution. It’s because I couldn’t figure out the method behind it.”
“Of course you couldn’t figure it out… Why do you even want to know? Is it just something to be used against me?”
She shakes her head dismissively. “This isn’t an issue of whether or not it can be used in court. I need to know. This is my case, after all. At least it seems you’re coherent… even in the state that you are.”
Barely…
“I look that bad, huh…?”
She sighs before continuing. “When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal one's heart? Now tell me your account of everything… Start from the beginning.”
“The beginning…” I give a slow nod, “Okay, I’ll tell you everything.” I cast my mind back, and begin to speak.
However a blue butterfly suddenly starts floating around my face as the room goes dark around me. It speaks in a soft, gentle feminine voice. “You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you.” It starts to glow brightly in front of me, “I beg you. Please overcome this game… Follow your path, the light to the truth and save the world…”
My light to the truth? Save the world…?
“The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds, the truth that you and your friends grasped. That is your light. It all began that day… when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of the world's future… as well as your own… you must remember…”
I must remember…
“Well? Are you going to start?” Sae asks, sounding impatient.
“Yeah, sorry.” I take a deep breath and slowly let it out, “It all started when…”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Damn brat… I’ll sue!
She did what?
Don’t talk to her, she is a criminal!
What a loser!
Piece of trash!
Look at her all beaten.
She’ll never get in our way again.
I let out an audible sigh as the memories come flooding back to why I am here now. Sitting on a train, going to a place I have’t been before and where I would now be staying after everything that has happened recently.
What those girls did to me… And that man who blamed me for… This is what I get for trying to help…
The train rocks slightly from side to side as it travels along the rails. It is extremely packed and just as bad as I had heard for Tokyo from the countryside. People are gossiping, on their phones and just going about their daily lives.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for travelling with us today. We’ll be arriving at Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line. Please transfer here for all subway lines.”
A new start, huh…? If only it could be that simple.
“What are you for real? A mental shutdown?”
A mental shutdown? I look up to see a couple of girls talking a few metres away from where I am sitting.
“It’s the truth!”
“To a person though? That’s gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don’t you?”
I wonder what that’s about.
“You’re worthless!”
I groan and try to shake away the voices as the train slowly comes to a stop and everyone bundles off. I step off the train and manoeuvre through the crowds of people, finding the nearest restroom, glad for it to be empty. I turn on the tap as some of the cold water comes out, splashing it over my face, looking at my reflection in the mirror as the droplets of water run down my face.
My reflection stares back at me. My burgundy-red hair is up in a high ponytail that usually falls just below my shoulder blades. It shimmers a violet colour in the light that is more predominant at the ends. A natural colour that makes me stand out quite a bit from others. My crystal-like eyes look back from the mirror. A mix with a hint of a darker blue mixed with bright turquoise colour makes them stand out as well. My build is slim and athletic thanks to all the gymnastics I did for years, making the school uniform I am wearing fit snugly to me. People have said in the past I was pretty, cute, and model-like even. But most of all, too good looking to even reach for and have a chance with, that included making friends. Some would praise it, but most would push me away for it, being too different from other girls or on another level, too different, too unique. This was out of jealousy or just going with the crowd, it’s all the same. The same with the assault charge too and the other things.
“Ugly.”
“Disappointment.”
“Waste of space!”
I just sigh and shake my head to clear the voices. Drying up my hands and walking out into the crowds. I look up at the departure board and it is all a bustling, overwhelming thing to look at. I hover my finger through the air to follow the path I need to take.
So the Ginza line to Yongen-Jaya… This is so confusing, and people do this everyday?
After finding out with some help that the original gate area is blocked off and that I had to go around, I find my way up into the bustling streets of Shibuya. Buildings litter my view, some with large screens showing off advertisements and the news. Music blares out from stores that mix in with the voice of the people. The mass of people moves as if it is a single collective unit. Thousands of limbs seem to move in sync with each other as my eyes scan across them.
I’m going to have to come through here everyday? And it’s always this busy? That’s umm daunting to say the least…
My phone buzzes making me reach for it out of my skirt pocket. I was expecting a notification from my GPS as it is what I am using to get around this maze of streets. There is no notification that I am expecting on the screen. However, there is one strange app that has suddenly appeared and is flashing. It is a menacing looking eye that seemingly feels as if it is looking back at me. I blink a few times to see if I am seeing it right. I tap on the eye and it grows in size across the screen of my phone. Tapping it a few more times to try and get rid of it.
Um, what is this thing?
I look back up from my phone and can’t believe what I am now looking at. Everything has stopped around me. The people have all stopped on their phones, moving their kids about and just generally walking. The cars have all stopped in the streets and even the clouds remain motionless in the sky. It is eerily quiet. However, one thing is moving in the distance. A pillar of blue flames coming from the centre of the mass of people in the square.
I look around myself and it is all the same, eyes focusing back on the flames as they grow in intensity. W-What is happening?
I take a step away, the flames grow more so. Panic rises in me, looking around for any kind of help. Two burning wings suddenly rip from the figure that now forms in the flames. Lines of blazing fire for eyes seem to bore into my soul.
“I AM THOU. THOU ART I” I feel the words reverberate within me, and a heat pulses all over my body making my heart quicken, forcing me to grip my blazer over my chest.
In an explosion of flames they erupt to reveal myself. I stare back at it baffled as the face grins. My eyes are no longer their soft, blue-mix but golden and wild and looking free. I blink and the image is suddenly gone, sound and life suddenly returns to the mad rush of people in the crowds around me.
“I… What just…” I look around confused, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
First auditory hallucinations and now visual ones…? Why now…
“Hey kid, move it!” I slowly turn to an older-aged man in a smart business suit scowling down at me, “Don’t just stand there! Move it, kid!”
I take a slight step back and to the side and bow apologetically. “I-I’m sorry!”
He tuts and swiftly pushes past me, batting into my shoulder as I hear him mutter as he passes. “Damn school kids.”
I just look down at myself in the school uniform that was given to me, the only clothes I had to wear as all were shipped out. School clothes like this are rather showy, well, compared to my previous uniform anyway.
It is quite noticeable for a uniform. A black blazer with the Shujin crest on the chest pocket. Large bright red buttons keep it together down the centre. The skirt which comes to just above my knees is decorated in black with a white and red checkered pattern. And then I decided to go with some black tights and simple black slip-on shoes.
I quickly push past the mass of people into a clear alley from the main street. I lean my back against the wall, letting out a heavy sigh. What was that just now? Was I um, hallucinating? Really? Was it a ‘mental shutdown’ that those girls were discussing on the train? That seemed so real though… and it was me and some… thing.
I rub the bridge of my nose. It had to be just stress. Just so much of it recently with all this… going on. Hospital, straight to a trial… I honestly don’t know how much more I can take… I take out my phone and see the same app still there, the eye pulsating on the screen. I groan and drag the app with my thumb to the trash bin, returning my phone to my pocket.
“That can disappear.” I look around the area, “So… where from here…?”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After a while of wandering around to find the correct station and train I make it to my destination, Yongen-Jaya. It is the polar opposite of the overwhelming hustle and bustle of Shibuya. It is a quiet place, with only a few people and storefronts scattered about in the tight corridors of streets. However, it holds a simple and relaxed charm to me.
I’d prefer somewhere quiet and secluded with everything that has happened recently. Not that it’s any different from what I’m used to anyway.
I look at my phone as the GPS that struggles to work in the cramped area, even when holding it up to the sky. I walk around the backstreets for a while until I come across the cafe that I am supposed to find. LeBlanc.
It is a small storefront across from a bathhouse. It’s sign is small but inviting and has a nice rustic charm to it.
I reach for the door, but my nerves decide to spike up. I know nothing about this Sojiro Sakura. He was the one I was told who would be taking care of me for the year. At least that was the name that was written on the sheet of paper I signed. He isn’t a known relative of mine and not even a friend that I know of or to my family. I don’t know why he accepted to take me, but these things have been arranged already without my say. And I was told nothing as usual by anyone except to do as I was told.
I take a deep breath and open the door, stepping inside as a small bell rings to signal my entering. I blink a few times to take in the room. It is a series of booths that line the wall with a simple wooden bar opposite them. It smells of a mix of different coffees and worn leather, but it isn’t an unpleasant smell by any means. It is actually quite relaxing. The rustic charm of outside being the same as inside. I look around the small cafe taking in its features.
It’s surprisingly quite nice in here.
My eyes move to a man sitting on a stool as a couple of customers walk past me and out the door. He is wearing a bright pink smart shirt under a black kitchen apron. His hair is a deep black colour and has a perfectly trimmed chinstrap beard with a goatee that flicks out slightly across his face matching the same colour. He is wrinkled and looks about in his fifties to sixties from what I can tell. He has a newspaper in his hand but he slowly puts it down upon hearing me come in. He looks over me from atop his glasses with his grey eyes.
I feel my throat go dry as I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. “Oh, right. They did say that was today.” He sighs heavily, “So, I take it you are Rin Kurusu?”
I clear my throat and give him a small, respectful bow. “I-I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you Sakura-san.”
“You’re polite as they said.” He comments with a slight smirk, “I’m Sojiro Sakura, and I'll be your guardian for the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh?”
“Um… yeah…”
“Come with me.” He pushes himself off the stool and waves me over. Slowly taking steps to follow him into the back and up a narrow staircase.
He stands in the centre of a very dusty and cluttered attic. Or more accurately, a storage room from the look of it. Bags, boxes, books and random things are all cluttered onto shelves that look to have a thick layer of dust on top of them and ready to fall at the slightest of movements. A bed is shoved into the far corner under the window that is just a simple metal frame and mattress. The windows at the back of the room are so dirty that barely any light is able to penetrate through it. It is quite a dim and dull area.
It’s a storage area? Why is he showing me this?
“This is where you will be staying.” Sojiro says simply, “I at least gave you some clean sheets for your bed.”
I don’t really know what to say. Only looking around the room with a slight blank expression. So, I get a dirty storage room to live in…? My luck never seems better.
“What’s with the look, kid?” He prompts, raising an eyebrow.
I jump slightly and turn back to him. “Oh, um, it’s spacious? I mean if you take out all the boxes and clutter it could be a big bedroom…” I remark.
“I guess... However, rules. I’ll be locking up each night and you’ll be alone. If you make any trouble, I won’t hesitate to kick you out.” I blink at his bluntness as he continues, “Second, I already got the gist of the situation you’re in. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her. He got hurt and sued you, right? That’s what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?”
I look down slightly at my feet. “That’s what happened, but the context is all wrong…”
“The context doesn’t matter.” I look up to see a slight grin across his face, “That’s just how life works kid. Better to not keep sticking your nose in others' business.”
I just nod slowly. “Yes sir…”
“And now that you have a criminal record, you were expelled from your previous high school. The courts ordered you to transfer here, which your parents also approved.”
Of course they did… I haven't seen them in a couple of years anyway.
“Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted. Cause any problems and you’ll be sent straight to juvie. You got that?”
I sigh inwardly. “I understand…”
“Good. We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow. We’ll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like you, you know.” He glances back at the various boxes of my possessions and suitcase of clothes behind him, “Your luggage arrived a little while ago. I brought it up here for you. Girls always seem to have a lot, huh.”
“It was only the necessities, but thank you…”
He goes over a few more rules about not disturbing customers or himself when at work. And he is vaguely sorry to give such a place to a young girl, but I would take anything I could get really, even if it was a dirty storage room. Thankfully he drops off a box of cleaning equipment for me to use.
I move to the bed and drop my bag next to it. Sitting on the thankfully clean sheets and comfortable enough mattress. I look around the room and sigh heavily. “One whole year here.” I say to the emptiness making me feel even more lonely.
Alone as usual in a new place. Some things never change.
I jump to my feet and tap my cheeks in my palms, taking off the school blazer and rolling the long sleeves before going over to the cleaning equipment. “Might as well make this place liveable… On second thought, best not use my uniform now that I think about it.” I take out some clothes from the suitcase and changed into more comfortable clothes before I spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning and sorting out the room.
By the time evening falls the place is organised and liveable to a degree that I can be happy with. There is no real room to put any of my clothes so I have to improvise a storage box for them from what was already there. The shelves of books and clutter are cleared and cleaned of the dust. The cobwebs that clung to the rafters are all gone and the wooden floor is cleaned of the muck and dirt. The windows are now clean enough to let in the moonlight of the evening, having it open to let in some fresh air. I am mostly thankful that the dust is gone from the room.
I wipe my forehead as I hear footsteps coming up the stairs.
Sojiro knocks and comes back up the stairs. He looks over the room with a surprised look and focuses on me in the centre. “Hm. Actually it's not half bad I guess. A woman's touch to the place got it clean. Though it’s only natural you’d want to keep your room clean. I want to be in and out tomorrow, got it? So you should head to bed, you don’t have anything better to do, right?”
I just simply nod and he turns to leave.
“Thank you!” I call out to him. Sojiro turns back to me, raising an eyebrow, “I mean, thank you for taking me in that is. Just… thank you.”
He just shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t mention it. I’m heading home. Don’t take anything. Oh and I’ll shout and knock before coming up here.”
“O-Oh. Thank you for the privacy…”
He nods and walks down a step before stopping. “Oh, there is a shower in the back room. It’s not much but it works.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
He nods and disappears down the stairs.
I let out an audible sigh and remove the hair band holding up my ponytail before I fall back onto the bed, resting an arm across my forehead as my hair spreads out under me. I take out my phone with the other. I don’t even know anything about Shujin, I should look it up a little.
I find a website on the school, looking through all the awards it has won for academics and sports.
It's a rather prestigious private college prep high school. They have a marching band that has qualified for the national tournament and from the looks of it, a highly successful volleyball team that has won the regional tournament. Seems they’re quite famous for it. I sigh softly. Gymnastics… No, I won’t go back to a team again.
I yawn softly and close the app. I’m really tired… Hm? The strange app from before had somehow found a way to come back to my phone, the same menacing looking eye looks back at me. I just click on it but nothing happens, until something shifts in the air and then I feel even more tired than before. What was… Probably just me being tired, I should sleep.
I put the cleaning equipment away and throw on some shorts and a top for pyjamas from my box of clothes, flopping back onto the bed and curling up as sleep takes me.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I open my eyes to an unfamiliar place. The walls and ceiling looks to be blue velvet fabric in a diamond style. An open toilet drips with water and iron bars are where a door should be, however no door is present. W-Where am I? Is this a prison!
I look down at myself, now in tattered stripped prison clothes. Panicking I jump off the bed only to feel my hands shackled by iron chains and an ankle brace attached to an iron ball.
This is a nightmare right? It has to be b-but why does it feel so… so real. I must be more stressed than I previously thought…
I grasp hold of the bars and look around to see identical cells to those around me in a circular room. A deep blue velvet colour shimmers around the room almost like a fog. But then in the centre of the room is a clean desk with various things on it and a velvet blue rug underneath.
At each side are what looks like identical twins and sitting at the desk is a man in a black suit and tie with white gloves. However, his grin is much wider than a human, spreading across his face. His eyebrows almost look like a length of thorns and his nose and ears are knife-like and too long to be that of a human. The top of his head is bald with some white hair along the back of his head. But his bloodshot looking eyes just focus intensely on mine.
“Trickster.” He says with a deep almost menacing sounding voice, “Welcome to my Velvet Room.”
“Wha- Velvet Room?” I push and tug on the iron bars, rattling the chains across my wrists, “What is this!?”
The two twins take point either side of my cell. “So you’re come to, Inmate.”
“The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You’re only experiencing this as a dream.”
“You’re in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!”
“M-Master?”
The man at the desk begins to speak again. “Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter.” I look at the chains bound on my wrists as he continues, “I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well.”
“I must be really stressed out if I’m dreaming of something this strange…”
“Silence, Inmate!” One of the twins shouts making me quickly shut my mouth up.
Igor maintains his wide grin. “I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.”
“M-My life?” I frown and tug forcibly on the iron bars of my cell, “Why must my life be affected more than it already has! Let me out!”
The twin walks over and smacks her baton over the bars, sending out sparks making me recoil back away from them. “Know your place, Inmate! Who do you think you’re talking to!?”
“I-I-I…”
Igor chuckles as he looks over the room. “Still, this is a surprise… The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”
“T-This has to be a hallucination or something… Ruin in the future? What are you talking about?”
“Haha, worry not. There is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be rehabilitated. Rehabilitated toward freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin… Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?”
“Distortion of the world? I-I would rather avoid ruin… As much as it had already happened anyway…”
“Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.” The two twins now face me, “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline, to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.”
I look down at them both. “R-Right… Nice to meet you, I think…”
Caroline huffs, tapping her metal baton against the palm of her hand. “Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like.”
Justine remains calm next to her, holding a clipboard in her arm. “The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators… That is, if you remain obedient.”
I nod down at them both and gulp. “I-I see…”
“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion. Now then, it seems the night is waning… It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…”
“B-But, I don’t understand-”
A loud bell begins to ring throughout the prison room.
Caroline smacks the bars with her baton. “Times up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep.”
I grab the bars and tug on them. “H-How!?”
Everything then goes black.