I awoke with a start, groaning as pain made itself known in my body. Blinking, it took me a moment to be able to take in my surroundings.
It was dark, dirty. There were Iron bars on one side and a cold stone wall on the other. It stank of damp and mildew and the residual scent of a man stuck in one place for far too long.
'A prison cell.'
That was twice now in less than a year. Once in my own estate, and now here.
"Fuck sake" I sighed, leaning my head against the wall. 'This brings back unpleasant times.'
Last time I was stuck for a month. I had switched from having no time to process a thing, to having nothing but time. Just stuck in time, walled off from the world.
'I wonder how long he'll keep me here this time.'
"So, you're finally awake" a voice came from the corner of my cell.
Trying to peer through the darkness, I spoke hesitantly. "Noah?"
"Yeah" he replied. But there was something off. His voice sounded almost muffled.
"Why are you hiding in the corner like some sort of supervillain?"
Noah was silent for a moment, still. Then, I saw a silhouette emerge from the shadows.
Noah had always been relatively good looking. I was never jealous of it, after all, my own appearance was nothing short of stunning.
Yet this thing in front of me bore more of a resemblance to an albino gorilla than anything else.
His lower jaw had swollen, changing his face shape entirely.
I stared, dumbstruck for a moment before breaking into roarous laughter.
"You…look…like…an idiot" I howled, doubling over as I clutched my ribs which flared in pain.
Noah glared, crossing his arms. "Next time, I'm leaving you to die."
Arthur wiped a tear from his eye, grinning. "Sure you are. Now, come here."
Biting my thumb hard enough to draw blood I held it out.
Noah recoiled. "If you think I'm sucking your thumb, we're about to have another fight."
"Relax," I said, rolling his eyes. "I was planning to pour it in your hands. No need to get all excited.."
Grumbling, Noah cupped his hands, letting the drops of blood pool. Then as he touched the blood to his lips, the swelling faded, his cuts vanishing.
Over the months, the potency of my healing blood had grown. Not a surprise really, I'd been using it almost constantly.
My eyes were envious as I watched all of Noah's pain disappear, a relaxed smile appearing on his face.
"Ain't fair."
"What isn't"
"That I can't heal myself.
"You can't?" Noah asked, surprised.
Arthur shook his head. "I told you already. It doesn't work on me."
This time it was Noah that laughed. "You unlucky bastard."
"Tell me something I don't know" I scowled.
Yet the laughter didn't last forever. Quickly silence returned, both of us painfully aware that we were sitting in a prison cell.
"What happens now?" Noah asked. And despite his tone I could see the forced casualness of the question. The way he fought to prevent his voice trembling.
I let out a heavy sigh, wishing that what I was going to say could comfort him. "Now? Well I don't know. But whatever it is, you won't need to worry too much. In fact, if it all goes the way I think it might, you might just get rewarded."
"What?"
Gesturing at the cell, I continued in a bitter tone. "Look, this trial, it's all for me. It's me they want to kill. Thanason doesn't care about you. Most likely there'll be some sort of trial where I'll be sentenced for cowardice and you'll be rewarded for killing the assassin."
"Huh? But that's not what happened, we both took down the assassin. And the plan was all yours."
I laughed at Noah's naivety. "They don't care. They just want me dead. If you play your cards right, you might get some sort of a reduced sentence."
"I'm not leaving you behind" Noah replied stubbornly, jaw set. I could see he was going to be a bitch about it so I didn't argue.
"Look, it's not like I'm just accepting my sentence. I'm going to fight for it. Just telling you the worst case scenario y'know. In the trial, leave most of the talking to me."
Noah nodded silently. After a beat of silence, he spoke up again. "Why does he hate you?"
"I thought you knew the reason why I was sent here."
"I do…but that's it. I only know what you did."
"Ahh, so you don't know who I did it to? Well, it was his daughter."
" Oh....that explains it. So you're in here because of a personal hatred." Noah remarked, watching me carefully.
My gaze darkened for a moment, then I shook my head, a small regretful smile forming on his lips. "Don't hold it against him. If you were him, you'd do the same."
"Is that why you tried to save so many people in the battle" Noah asked inquisitively.
I could tell that he was trying to pry information from me, answering questions he must've had for a while.
But what the hell, he caught me in a wistful mood.
"Partly I guess. Partly because I was ashamed of who I was, what I had done. Partly because I wanted to show that I had changed. Partly because I genuinely wanted to save people. And partly…well, I'm not even sure anymore."
A heavy silence settled again before Noah broke it with a soft chuckle. "So I guess there was a time you were a complete prick huh."
"Hah, yeah I was a real piece of work. You'd have hated me."
Noah chuckled, sitting down beside me. "I can believe it."
"What about you?" I asked.
"What about me?"
"How were you before all of this" I asked, gesturing to the prison.
"I don't really know. The same I guess. Probably happier I think."
"That all?"
"Well, I guess I laughed a lot more. Played more as well. My little sister loved to play, and sometimes I enjoyed it…when she wasn't trying to dress me up."
I snorted, my mind going back to Elsie. "I've got a little sister too."
"Did you play games with her as well?"
I shook my head. "No…I didn't do much with her. She was mostly looked after by servants. I wish I had though."
"Maybe you still can. That's how nobles are. Another month or two of this and they'll bring you back to the mansions, all crimes forgiven."
"You've never met my dad." I let out a heavy sigh, remembering the stern Gravewalker Duke. "No, I don't think I'm ever going back there. But, even if I had the chance to return, all crimes forgiven, I wouldn't go."
"You wouldn't? Hell, I'll go for you if you want."
Snorting, I looked away, my gaze distant. "I'll never go back to that place, not ever. I don't consider it a loss in any way. My only regret would be that as a commoner, I'd doubt I'll see Elsie again."
"You don't think she'll want to look for you when she's older?"
I shook my head, voicing a fear I had ever since I left that place. "I-I'm not sure if she'd remember me when she's older. Or care if she does. I might just be that thing, long forgotten and left behind in the past."
"Well, that's depressing. Hey at least it isn't all bad. You might be imprisoned in a dungeon under the power of someone who hates you most in the world, abandoned by your family and friends ... .but at least you're alive….
For now at least."
Snorting softly, I said nothing.
Hours slowly slid by.
Time seemed to have been in a torturous mood today because each second felt like a minute, each minute an hour and each hour an eternity.
Then, after who knows how long, the door to the cell swung open as a guard stepped in.
'Time for my trial...let's hope it was better than last time.'