"Have you visited the dining hall yet?" Elena asked, her figure materializing from the shadows in my room.
"No," I replied truthfully, shaking my head, "Wellan's been the one bringing me my food, so I never got the chance to check it out myself."
"That's no good, you should really go see it for yourself. Friza, the cook, makes some of the best food you'll ever taste, it's best to eat it fresh though! Wait right here, I'll bring you something." Elena wore her usual headache-inducing smile, its warmth clashing with her sharp features and malice-filled eyes.
"No, no, don't worry about it. I planned on heading out anyway, so I'll definitely pass by there," I insisted, indicating that this was too small an issue for her to get involved.
She opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. In the end, she simply nodded and fell into the shadows with a, "Yes, Captain."
Captain… The word still felt strange to me, like it was describing someone else. But there was no doubt about it, Elena Grace was the first to recognize me as a leader.
I sighed and got out of bed, throwing on the clothes the Thorns had provided me and heading for the Complex's third floor, this floor was entirely dedicated to the dining hall.
I had already started salivating halfway up the stairs. The smell of various assortments of poultry mixed with that of steamed potatoes and vegetables. I could also smell the presence of seafood; freshly made shrimp, buttered lobster, refreshing oyster, how had I not thought of visiting the dining hall sooner!?
Having spent most of my life living off scraps, I was ashamed I hadn't taken advantage of the Thorns' food supply sooner. I had been so caught up in my escape plan that thoughts such as these had evaded me.
Not anymore!
With my focus placed on putting on a convincing act, I could allow myself more freedom. I could temporarily put my survival centric personality to rest and enjoy a few common luxuries.
Luxuries like fresh meat… I thought, filling my plate with chicken, goose, steak, and anything remotely fatty that caught my eye. When I was done, the mountain that had formed on my plate was practically typing over.
I found a quiet spot in a corner and dug in. Elena was right, food tasted soo much better fresh.
"Yo," I heard a familiar voice call.
My eyes darted to the figure who had just appeared, it was none other than the blond Baldwin. He had a slightly crazed smile on his face.
"Can I sit here?" He asked, taking the seat across from me before I could answer.
"Well, seeing as you've already sat down, I doubt I can stop you," I replied before stuffing a leg of chicken in my mouth. "Is there something I can help you with?"
Baldwin shook his head, "No, I just wanted to chat a little, and you were the first person I saw." As he said that, a solid metal card appeared next to his ear, shaking and vibrating as if it were trying to say something.
"Well you don't exactly count as a person, now do you?" The former mental patient said to seemingly no one, causing the card at his ear to shake more violently. "Fine, fine, relax! I just didn't want to talk to you or Alia, okay? Is that such a bad thing?" He said with a laugh, half amused and half annoyed.
"Can you actually understand them?" I ask, recalling the information that I had read in his file.
Baldwin nodded, "Not as cool as you think, Zer and Alia are always bickering about something or other. It's a real headache." I could briefly see a twinge of emotion in his emerald eyes, as if his Nexi's bickering had caused him pain in the past.
He shook the feeling away and continued, "Anyways, I wanted to talk about that fighting thing you had us do. Alia noticed something off about you back when you beat us. She told me that she could sense a deep sadness in you which I found a little weird since you won. I get it, my emotions don't often make sense either. I just wanted to tell you that I'm here if you want to talk, freak to freak." Baldwin smiled.
I let out a short laugh, "Sure, freak to freak." Not captain to teammate, not man to man, freak to freak. To Baldwin, we were the same, two freaks forced into a similar situation.
Having long devoured the meat tower on my plate, I smiled at Baldwin and bid him farewell. His words had touched me, making me feel a deeper connection with him.
Escape…I reminded myself, heading down to the second floor. There, I found Madam Shehara leaning against her door.
Her vaguely avian looking mask faced me, she was staring.
"Can I-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence, interrupted by the appearance of a sand-brown card infront of her. Madam Shehara's lips parted and she whispered softly. Too far to hear what she had just said, I could only watch in surprise as her body cracked, splitting in half, before collapsing into sand.
I should've been overtaken by horror. Instead, I was bothered by a feeling eating away at my subconscious.
I was forgetting something and through her actions Madam Shehara was trying to remind me of this.
I was sure of it, it was a message from my subconscious!
Knowing still didn't bring back the corresponding memories, but it made me more vigilant. When making plans in the futur, I'd have to plan with a degree of uncertainty. I couldn't know what it was I had forgotten and therefor could't prepare for it.
A question flashed in my mind as I organized my thoughts but it disappeared almost instantly, as if stolen. The only thing I could remember was that I had forgotten something.
Strange… I thought as I turned the door handle and took a step forward. These two actions were thousands of times more draining than they should've been, causing my eyes to grow heavy and my body light.
The silence around me seemed to buzz, as if luling me to sleep with a sweet melody. Each step I took felt forced, almost against my will. The only thing I wanted to do was collapse on the ground and fall asleep.
I managed to resist until I reached my bed, collapsing on it but not quite falling asleep, the sound of footsteps had called my attention.
"He suspects something, why didn't we intervene when that lady tried reminding him of this place's nature?" An unfamiliar feminine voice asked, as if speaking to her superior. The words barely registered in my exhausted spirit.
"Even our Lord spoke of that lady with respect; we aren't worthy to breathe the same air she does," a masculine voice replied, his voice filling with excitement at the word 'Lord'. "Still, we can't let this unkown interfere with our plans. He wasn't in our Lord's prophecy so you're free to do as you wish with him."
The lady beamed, "Can I be granted 'that' power?" She asked, her voice rising slightly in excitement.
"Of course. If I'm being honest, I'm a little shocked. Being so used to working with Leto, I half expected you to kill him… or worse."
The lady shook her head, "No, no, this is much funner," She said before reaching out to grab something from the air. Pulling her hand back, she made a wornout handsaw appear between her fingers.
I felt a cold object press against my temple accompanied by a sharp wave of pain. I was about to scream but the pain disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replace with a sense of calm.
"This, Deborah, is the grace of the Lord!" The masculine voice exclaimed piously, watching his disciple at work. Those were the last words I head before falling into a dreamless sleep.
I knew the saw had already cut through my skull and was working through my brain but I didn't care, I felt at peace.
…
Waking up I had no memory of the events prior to my slumber, the only memories remaining being my breakfast with Baldwin and entering my room. Anything else was forgotten.
Wasn't today supposed to be round two of me and F-4's 6v1? I thought, not realizing that the thoughts went against my actual reality. My rematch with the other members of F-4 had been set for Saturday, today was Thursday.
I called for Wellan and waited for his figure to appear in my room.
"My head's killing me," I said, grabing onto my aching skull.
Wellan stared at me for a moment befor throwing a bottle of painkillers at me and disappearing. I silently thanked him and left the room.
We both didn't seem to notice that my bedsheets had been dyed blood red.