Rocking his wooden chair forward and back periodically, silent jailer listened to its rhythmic creaks combined erratic pacing of his junior. The assistant glanced into the newly occupied cell every couple of minutes or so, worried and frantic, yet held her tongue of concerns. She knew better, he assumed, after quietly revealing the prisoner's identity.
Snickering and low whispers echoed off the walls which breathed in a stale air, tainted with the scent of copper. Curious inquiries swirled through cells as if that would give them the information they so direly grasped for. Foolish, at best.
"Sit."
"What? But-"
"Sit."
Begrudgingly, the pinkette took up a stool at the end of the long hallway. It held a slight view into his cell, as if she expected something to happen.
Well, maybe he'd drop dead. With such extensive injuries untreated, it was plausible. Not that it was either of their problem. Orders were absolute, given from Insignious himself-- No treatment, no visitors.
Yellow cat-like irises took note of the copious amounts of blood which extended from the door's entrance down to the newbie's cell, two from the last. The jail itself wasn't very large, but it was sizable enough to contain and separate a group of warriors. Built with clan conflicts and internal crime in mind, there was at least five cells on each side, built upwards in two stories. Two per cell was max occupancy-- and lucky Akihito had one all to himself, including a nice, highly placed window view.
"We should at least assess his injuries, even if we're not to treat them."
Flashing him a glare, she glanced at the stack of notes at his desk-- or more specifically, the keys that laid atop them. As his assistant, she served both a guard role as well as a healer one. Medicinal essentials were taught to her in case of emergencies, however the practice of strength and force held a higher importance.
"Assess his injuries from outside his cell, then."
Indifferent, he bent an arm back towards the drawers, staring forward as he searched through the cabinet. Soon enough, he grabbed parchment and chucked it forward at the assistant, his only offering of compromise.
Flawlessly catching the tied-together stack, she flipped it over a few times before sighing. Standing from the stool, she marched over to his desk and narrowed her eyes-- assertive and confident where they had just been troubled, moments prior. Snatching a pen, she turned for Akihito's cell, releasing the tension in her shoulders as her face relaxed.
Kahu gazed back down at his desk, once again listening to the sound of footsteps and the simple creak of his chair... Surprisingly accompanied by voices singing in tune.
"Hey, you. I, uh, know you're not really in the best shape right now, but if you could just show me the worst of it, I'll keep notes ready for the healers when they're ready to treat you. My name is Nia, by the way! Oh-- if talking is too difficult, nodding or pointing works fine, too."
Every breath seemed minutes apart, Akihito's body barely showing movement. He was lying where Jeremiah had dropped him, crumpled on his side in the filth in his cell. The side of his face rested on the dirty ground facing the back wall, dried blood plastering him in place. A broken nose, bloodied mouth, and blackened eyes left him quite unrecognizable. His throat was manifesting purple finger marks and flesh on his face had split from battering. Cell six was the stronghold of the prison. Barred heavier than any other rooms and secured with multiple locks. Crude drawings were scratched into the stone walls and the floor was caked in foul matter. Aki was staring straight ahead with dead eyes as Nia spoke from behind him. He said nothing. Whether it was the wounds keeping him pressed to the floor, or his shattered spirit, he didn't know. But it was over.
Suddenly, in the distance he heard the soft humming of voices raising in song. A song he knew well, and hadn't heard for an age. His empty expression slowly pulled into a tired smile. Goodbye, my friends... He thought to himself, grateful that his old clan was being honored in such a beautiful way. "We'll all...be laughing with the gods...so let the blackbird weep." He sang quietly to himself, though his voice was nothing more than broken formations of air that rattled in his throat.
Seafoam green irises scanned the prisoner, pen in hand scribbling, jotting down notes from the assessment. She'd already flipped the pages twice in her hurry, injuries too excessive in number and noticed by sight alone. The sight was... depressing. By her account, if he lasted the night without treatment, he'd likely succumb the next day. Guilt swelled up in her throat, although she swallowed down such feelings. Neutrality was always expected and upheld from the guards.
"We'll all be laughing with the gods, so let the Blackbird weep!"
The song was repeated, bellowed rather than sung by a man on the opposite side of cell 6's inner walls. Cell 7. Zinnia shot him a glare, worried it would startle Akihito and worsen his wounds. The other prisoner's hair could only be compared to flames, all shades of yellow to red. His eyes the same, piercing and bright. Deceiving, yet looked as if they held onto something of unsettling truth. What that truth was, however, she hadn't perceived.
"Excuse me?"
"Let the Blackbird Weep! There's no rule against singing, miss. The whole clan is singing it too!"
She watched as the man turned face towards her, grinning. It sent goosebumps up her spine-- not from the fact that he was smiling, but the fact is that she hadn't, in his months of imprisonment, viewed another of his expressions.
"That's true, however-"
"Whyever would they be singing that, ma'am?"
Swiftly cut off, Zinnia refused to reply for a second, her eye twitching in annoyance. The information had yet to be revealed to those inside the jail-- orders of Kahu. Assumptions were, with Akihito's injuries, he'd also be unable to share such intel.
Yet the prisoner- Cain, if memory served- continued to stare at her, his features unchanged, yet the corners of his lips seemed just a bit higher than before. If only she merely imagined it.
"If you want to keep bothering the poor man over, I'll go on and continue to sing."
An offer that sounded like a threat, eliciting low snickers from other occupied cells. She'd never felt uncomfortable by the stares of the many, but considering the demon's situation...
"There's really no need. I've got all the information I need, so I'll leave you men in peace."
Raising her chin, she gave another look over Akihito before starting off, back in the direction she had first come from. Cain hadn't waited until she was out of earshot to speak again, though she neither turned back around to acknowledge it.
Still staring at the wall, Aki attempted a mutter in response from where he lay.
"Maelstromclan..." His eyebrows pressed together in frustration and pain as his voice made only a whispering hiss. Taking a shallow breath, he tried again.
"They're dead....Maelstromclan is dead." This time he managed to get some audible words out, wheezing, crackling and strained as they were. "They sing for them."
A slam to the wall rumbled what felt like the entire building, causing some in other cells to groan in annoyance, grumbling as they tried to sleep. Most didn't care. Cain in cell 7, however...
"A cruel joke, my friend! Hah! Last I saw of Solo, he could take on ten strong. You mean to tell me the impossible?"
His voice morphed as he laughed, disbelief into bitterness.
His family...? Aki thought, finally blinking. Beginning to move, he shuddered at the painful ache in his swollen shoulders. Akihito managed to sit up, blinking crusted blood out of his eyes and looking up at the ceiling. The man's voice was familiar, but far in his memories. "Your...name?" He asked, taking a breath in between.
Taking a moment to register the broken up words, he straightened himself before replying proudly.
"Cain Libarto. Former Maelstromclan warrior, hence I know how impossible it would be for the clan to fall."
The walls surrounding the many kept doubt from entering, snaking its way around Cain. The song was known in other clans besides Maelstromclan. There was no need to feel alarmed.
Taking in a breath of surprise too quickly, Aki choked and held his throat, silenced by pain for a moment. Cain Libarto...He's still alive? He's here..? Was it, truly, his friend sitting just outside the wall? A man he'd fought with, burned bodies with, and shared pieces of his damnable black heart with? In a way, the familiar name scared him. That man was from a life he'd paid hard for. A life he was trying to erase. But. It was also a friend, and in this hour of darkness, a friend was a cool drink in hell.
Slowly, the demon dragged himself to the door of his cell. Sitting cross-legged he touched his finger to his battered face then reached through the bars with his hand and wrote on the stone floor, near his cellmate, in his blood. With a few movements of drawing his arm back and getting more blood, he wrote 'Kirai'. The word was smeared and dirty.
Cain waited patiently for an answer, his brows rising in surprise as a finger appeared. It crossed through cell bars, sketching something out on the ground. As the flamesman scooted closer to view the piece, he noticed it was instead writing and in blood, no less.
Kirai.
For a moment, he was stunned. Being a single cell in the hallway further than infamous cell 6, he wasn't able to view the demon dragged into a cage. If he had, perhaps he'd have been able to refute the legendary name used on a fake. Yet, who would dare even pretend to call themselves by that name? And here?
"Inconceivable. On what business would you be here--"
He hesitated, an assumption suddenly coming to mind. Lowering his voice, he clung to the wall and scowled, glaring at a nosy inmate.
"I've been in Hell, Cain." Akihito said abruptly. As he heard his own words, tears filled his eyes. "I-I've been in Hell." The air felt cold. "I've seen the Castle..."
He suddenly felt petrified, the hair on his arms standing up. Feelings came rushing down out of nowhere. All at once, horrific memories of torture played before his eyes as if since the day he'd stepped foot on Lalonia again he'd been repressing them. His whole body filled with pain from the immense terror tensing his muscles. Letting out a crackling scream, Aki recoiled against the wall and hid his face.
"Oh god...! Oh god I'm sorry! No..!" The demons ears rang with the sound of machinery and he could smell burning flesh again, hear the screaming and the begging. He could hear Yuuki being tortured, pleading for mercy. He could feel his skin peeling away. The cruel laughter, the broiling heat, the gnawing starvation-
And then it was gone. He was back. Aki looked at his hand that was shaking before resting his head against the wall with a weak sigh.
Cain drew silent, listening to his former comrade's confession. He'd always suspected that was where the damn bitch of an angel sent him, but the confirmation of it didn't bode well. An internal rage flared, his scowl dissolving into a more neutral expression as he held himself back.
Before he gathered his thoughts to respond, a shriek split the air, causing the man to bolt upright. Nearly getting his head stuck through the bars, he tried his best to get a look at the man he knew as Kirai. Ten years had done an unimaginable number on him, reducing his confidence, stripping him of what he was. His expression grew dark as silence returned, a few irritated comments from other inmates replacing it.
Then there was the bickering from down the hall-- Zinnia's voice above all. Unintelligible words, likely angered at her absolute uselessness based on 'Orders' alone. Incompetent.
"You may be in enemy territory, but you are not alone. That I swear to you; Dominic, Sergio, myself-- You still have many allies here.
The term 'friend' wrapped around Akihito like a blanket, filling him with something he hadn't felt in a while- comfort. His eyes closed and his breathing relaxed as his brain at last found a feeling of safety. Concerns of the future were gone in this moment.
Just comfort.
He smiled wearily, staring through his cell door at the prison's far walls. "I don't...I just don't believe this...You're still here. Everyone else is dead." He murmured.
Breathing out a smoldering, silent sigh, he once again imagined the entire clan gone. Merely displaced. He couldn't comprehend the thought that they were truly deceased, regardless of the song sang in honor to them. Not until Cain saw the destruction with his own eyes.
"I haven't been a Maelstromclan warrior since the day my friend was murdered."
He replied, leaning against the wall to his side. He rested his head up against it, the flames of his hair charring its surface.
"The others left for similar reasons; their own decisions. If the attack was solely on Maelstromclan, as you suggest, they should be fine. Such as I."
He hoped that his comrade could find solace with comforting words as his legacy lived on. A few had taken Kirai's leadership to heart, and that few survived. The weak perished. Such was the ways of old, returning once again.
Aki listened closely, his smile growing just a little at the thought of his clansmen mourning him. "I'm glad, Cain." He rasped. "I'm glad you and the others are safe." Glancing around, he added: "Sort of..."
The sharp stinging of his broken face was fading from focus as his fuzzy feeling of comfort grew. "Why are you in here?" Aki asked.
Brightening again at his former leader's relief, he grinned at the implications of that question. From clan member, to criminal. He'd have thought it comedic, if not for the circumstances surrounding them.
"Supposedly, trespassing and thievery. My guilt lies in only one of the two."
He chuckled softly, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Coincidence that the rations and goods I carried seemed to be what was missing. A framed case, but they wouldn't hear it. Thankfully, my sentence ends in around a week."
He lowered his voice once again, giving a glance towards the end of the hallway. The jailors had stopped their discussion.
