Chapter Four
Capture and Escape Index
Naru awakens to find herself in a small room with one wall being a one way mirror with a door big enough to slide a tray of food through. She's lying on a cot with a pillow under her head and a blanket draped over her body. By the cot is a small table and in a small attached room is a toilet, sink and shower.
She groans softly and puts a hand to her aching brow. In the distance, she hears someone screaming in pure agony. At the sound of the small window opened and a tray with an ice pack is inserted into her cell.
"Our apologies for whatever pain you are in, Miss Osaka," a deep, unfamiliar male voice comes over the PA, briefly drowning out the horrible screams in the distance.
Naru slowly stands, one hand to her head and hesitantly takes the ice pack, putting it to her throbbing head.
"Who are you people? What do you want with me?" she asks as she faces the one way mirror, wishing she could gaze past the reflective glass.
"I'm afraid I can't give you that information," comes that same, cold voice. "You will be fine so long as your fiancée responds accordingly to our wishes."
"But..."
"Lie down, Ms. Osaka. Your head will stop hurting with rest. Our doctors say you don't have a concussion."
"Who am I speaking with? Can you at least tell me that much?"
When there's no answer, the young woman sighs resignedly and lies down, figuring she'd at least try to get some rest. Maybe she'll be able to figure out some answers after some sleep.
309 looks over at Ken, who lies sprawled in his favorite chair after his punishment. Half of 309's face is covered in light, swiftly healing scars that resulted from the flames she was subjected to, while her palms and bottoms of her feet are still slightly raw from the same flames. That was her punishment, purification by fire. Neither of them knew whether it was just discipline or if it was a combination of that and testing.
Since Ken doesn't have a healing factor like 309, they hooked him up to a machine to trigger all of his pain receptors at the same time after his watch over Naru was over. They're both exhausted, but they need company more than they need rest.
She goes over to him, walking very gingerly, wincing with every step. He shifts and opens his arms to her. Gratefully, she slides in beside him, her wings pressed tightly to her white clad back, and he folds his arms about her.
"Ken," she whispers into his ear, softly enough that she knows the hidden microphones won't pick up her voice and close enough to him that her mouth is hidden from the cameras. "Did you find that other man as strangely familiar as I did?"
He nods and whispers back to her, hand traveling up her back, between her wings, to lightly tangle his fingers in her long hair, "Yes, I did. In fact, I thought I should know him as intimately as I do you."
She blinks a little bit as she brings a bandaged hand up to touch the curve of his jaw with her healing fingertips. "That's what I felt about Mr. Stanton." She lowers her voice even more so it's as soft as her breath barely brushing the skin of his ear. "Do you think...maybe we could join them...?"
He pulls back and looks down at her, shocked thoughtfulness in his pale eyes. He nods a little bit, kisses her upturned brow and pulls her close against his chest.
"Just rest now," he whispers softly to her, "we'll speak more of this later."
She nods a little and cuddles against his chest as he tightens his arms around her. He watches as she drifts off to sleep and remembers back to the feeling he got from her the first time he saw her. It was a great deal like the one he got from the pretty man the Manashevitz and the Osaka girls were with, but to a far lesser degree. Though the thought of being free as well as not being submitted to the dual tortures of the pain they put him through and being forced to helplessly watch his only friend struggle with her own pain and constant humiliation, he's afraid that feeling might blossom into something more with more exposiure to that beautiful young man.
He rests his cheek on 309's silken hair with a soft sigh. While he wants to escape as badly as his companion does, he really doesn't want to hurt her. That, he's afraid, is exactly what's going to happen if they are able to actually escape. With another sigh, he closes his eyes, figuring he's drained enough to at least try sleeping.
The wandering warrioress sighs and looks up the stairs where Nephrite disappeared to the night before when Zoisite and Diana told him of what happened to Naru.
"Diana?"
She turns at the sound of her name, and looks right into Jae's dazzling blue eyes. She fights down a blush when he puts his hand on her shoulder, face worried.
Gods...why does this have to be so hard? I can't stay... Why do so many hearts need to be broken?
"Hai, Jae?"
"What's wrong?"
She sighs a little bit. "I'm worried about Nephrite."
"He'll be ok."
"You sure? He's been up there since we told him about Naru..."
"Hai," he takes her hand and leads her to the TV room. "He's probably drunk and passed out, or asleep from trying to do divinations all night."
Diana nods a little and sighs as she flops down onto the couch. "Hai. You're probably right, but still..." She shakes her head a little. "I'm also worried about Zoisite."
"Oh? He hasn't been acting stranger than usual, has he?"
She shakes her head and turns to face him as he sits down next to her. "Well...no...but," she trails off, debating on how much to tell him.
"But what?"
Green eyes reluctantly meet blue. "But, I know that Zoi recognized the man for who he is. I know that in almost all of the other realities I've been to, Zoi and he were together."
He nods a little. "I see..." The blond man pauses a moment, then looks at her again. "What about us?"
Diana looks at him and blinks. "Us?"
"Hai," he answers. "You and I." Gently he takes her hands in his and gazes deeply into her eyes.
...gods, Jae...why did you have to ask that?
She takes a deep breath. "Well, in most realities where both of our equivalents are alive, hai, we are together..."
"...we could make this one of those," he says quietly as he squeezes her hands, a lonely longing in his eyes.
"Oh, Jae," she whispers sliding her hands from his and standing. "I wish we could." Taking another deep breath, she wraps her arms about herself and starts for the door. When she feels his hands on her upper arms, she stops and bows her head, the silken tresses of curling fire falling to curtain her face.
Gently, he turns her to face him, slipping two fingers under her chin to tilt her head up. He looks into those sorrowful eyes and asks a question he already knows the answer to; his voice soft and sad.
"Why not?"
"Because," she looks into his soulful eyes and feels her own fill with tears, "because, once we get Naru back, I have to continue on with my journey."
"Why can't you just stay here?" He asks, voice colored with sadness and passion. He slides his hands down her arms to take her hands again, bringing them to his lips.
"Because I don't belong here. It...it's not my home."
"How do you know?" Desperation enters his voice. "And anyway...what difference does it make? We could be so happy together! We could make this your home!"
She takes a shuddering breath, struggling valiantly against the tears threatening to overcome her efforts. "It's a feeling...a pull...so strong sometimes it's as if I'm being torn apart. It's always there. Always. When I get to my home reality, it will be gone. If I stayed, it would become an escalating agony I'd have to live with until either I left or died.
I...I want to be happy, and," her voice begins to quiver, "I want you to be happy. If I stayed, the pull would drive me mad, and you wouldn't be able to find the one meant for you."
Why can't we just have normal lives? I should be getting ready to go to college and he should be with the woman he loves or at a job or something normal! I shouldn't be breaking his heart like this!
Tears roll down her cheeks as she sees the complete look of heartbreak in his eyes, the soft, eternal sadness etched into his features.
"Gods, Jae," she whispers in a broken voice, "I wish it didn't have to be this way..."
A tear escapes from one of his brilliant sapphire eyes as he caresses her cheek. "Me, too," he answers softly as he leans down to place a gentle kiss on her trembling lips. He draws back to gaze softly, sadly at her before turning his back to leave the room.
Call him back you fool! Don't break his heart like that! A small voice screams at her. She wishes she could obey the order.
There's a sudden burst of blue energy right in front of her, making her stumble back in surprise and forcing her out of the melancholy. When the light fades, she sees the big silver haired man suddenly there, grabbing Jae from behind.
"Jae!" she manages to cry as a surprised warning, before a massive amount of pain blossoms from the back of her neck, bringing the thick blanket of unconsciousness with it.
All that's left for Zoi and a very hung-over Neph to find when they get there are the signs of a struggle and the vague energy signatures of the people there only a few seconds ago.