TRASH

POV -> Rikka!

She had played that night in her head so many times. Trying desperately to think of something she could have done to change everyone's fates. If she had been just a little stronger, the vines that grabbed Inprobus' feet could have sharpened to gore him through the back instead.

If she had thought ahead and joined Corian and Justin's plan sooner, she could have shown them the seal. Chanced that maybe Justin would have known something.

If she had been braver. Had more faith that she wasn't alone - she wouldn't be here.

Everyone was paying for her mistake, except for Inprobus.

Rikka laid down on her bedroll, staring up at the scratchy stone ceiling. The thought of the Golden Arch standing at the end of her stay sent shivers down her spine. She had thirty days to think about what she had done.

And how to make sure the next time was the last.

She closed her eyes, listening to the quiet evening. The bustle of nurses outside in the hall had departed nearly an hour ago. The tenant across from her was a little noisier than anyone would like for a neighbour, they had spurts where they would simply strike the walls and the doors with their hands and sometimes their head. But they had been very quiet this afternoon, after two guards had gone into the room and walked out laughing.

Her wandering attention found a sound in the quiet halls, steps approaching.

She tried to listen for their intent. It seemed to be one person, walking carelessly near her door.

There were ways the guards passed the hours of boredom during the night shifts. Rikka had always been lucky enough to shirk their attention, but her luck had run out in so many other ways. What was one more stroke of misfortune?

She pretended to sleep, waiting for the sound of the lock slowly clicking. But the steps continued. Not past her door.

Inside the room.

Rikka stiffened. The doors did not open quietly, they scraped against the stone floor, and echoed like an iron drum whenever they closed.

But as soon as the steps stopped in the room, a quiet whisper followed. "Are you awake?"

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She did not recognize the woman's voice. Rikka kept her eyes closed, praying the voice and the steps were just a trick of the echo off the walls, and there wasn't someone standing in the room.

But the voice came again, close enough to confirm the worst.

"I think you're awake."

Reluctantly, she cracked her eyelids, immediately seeing a figure in the room with her. It was short, a young girl with her long black hair braided back. She wore a simple frilly grey dress, that made her looked like an inked drawing in the poor lighting, and stood in the Center of the room, looking down at Rikka with a smile.

Rikka watched them silently. After a few blinks, they still stood there, locked in the same cell. But the door had not opened, and they were a young girl, too young to be employed by the Heroguard as anything but a Follower.

Rikka moved into a sitting position when she locked gazes. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out how the girl had made it into her room. But the shock was not shared. The girl looked down at her, lips cracked in a smile as she spoke the oddest request. "Do you want to be my friend?"

Rikka didn't respond, looking for the usual markings of a follower on her. Her tongue wasn't sealed, and she bore no tattoos on her neck and wrists that would cage her at a commander's side. There was something detached in her tone, but the rest of her mannerisms did not tout that this was some sort of illusion.

Her gaze wandered to the door again. Locked. Rikka was certain of it.

The girl eyed the door. "Do you want to know how I got in here?"

Again the strange girl was greeted with silence. But the cold wall she had chosen for conversation did very little to bother her.

"A guard said I could come in, stay as long as I liked even!" Her voice tittered with a giggle, and her smile twisted mischievously. "But I think you're not so curious as to how I got in. Do you want to know how to get out?"

Any hope that spurred from the girl's words, Rikka was careful to hide. Whatever this encounter was, it was far from normal. Giving it anything. Even a word of acknowledgement. Was something Rikka was not willing to risk.

"I only tell my friends." The girl smiled again, cradling her chin on her palms as she looked up at Rikka with dark eyes, repeating her same strange request. "Do you want to be my friend?"

Rikka slowly stood, cautiously toeing around the girl to the door. They held eye contact, Rikka's actions earning a giggle when she tried the lock. The door didn't budge, properly locked. Impossible for the guest to have come through. But the three stone walls that made up the rest of the room left no other option.

The girl hummed, finally shifting her gaze to the small scrunched up bed roll in the corner of the room. "Maybe you should sleep. I heard, if you don't get enough sleep, you'll start seeing things. You don't want that, do you?"

Bereft of any other choice, Rikka banked on the girl being some self aware hallucination. She edged back around the wall of the room to her bedroll, obediently curling up on the poor padding to face away from the guest.

"Goodnight!" The strange girl called, her steps quicker as she seemed to skip out of the room.

Rikka opened her eyes, staring in growing fear at the now empty room.