Chapter 1 - The Fury of the Forgotten


He was quiet the entire walk down the hall. He felt eyes cast upon him from all directions as he did, the entire complex feeling cold no matter where he stepped. He felt oppressed- depraved of privacy and comfort. He wondered if this was how she felt every day from the day she entered this place up to this point.

Then he thought to his own last five years. He looked down at his hands, his fur, and his clothes- his hands were already rough from hard labor, his fur was somewhat messy but still shined as it did in high school, and his clothes were dirty from the same- some at home had rips in them as well. His mind wandered to all the girlfriend's he's had- all of them liked Ruben Kaufmann for his money, and his calming charm but none of them were, personality-wise, anything close to sane in his eyes. All of them blew up on him for all sorts of reasons, and because of that, he's been in a rut for the past few months.

Ruben had gone through his yearbook to try and find someone who could be some help from his bout of depression. He called a few of his friends, some he hasn't spoken to since high school but none were enough to help ease his pain- only prolong his fall. He started thinking in that certain way when, one day as he randomly scrolling through the yearbook once more, he fell upon her name, one remembered well by the class. He hadn't seen her since she was arrested and thrown in prison- and so he was here to see her- desperate for something. What that was, he didn't know himself.

"We're here."

The guard opened the door, cutting the buizel from his thoughts. The lucario motioned him to step through and Ruben did so. Once he entered the guard came in behind, closing the door as he did. The guard stood in front of it rigidly, likely for as long as he was here.

That's when he saw her.

Ruben remembered her well. She was a dainty, runt of a sneasel with a loud mouth, a haughty expression on her face and a brain to match it- the school's most hated snitch and teacher's pet extraordinaire. With her in front of him, he could see that being in this prison had taken its toll on her; her fur sat ragged and unkempt, even tangling upon itself in places. Her eyes had a sort bleak look to them as if it needed to see, to learn, or else wash over with dejection. The feather on her left ear had a rather muted red compared to the bright red her eyes had; an effect of not seeing sunlight all too much. She had a physique that told him she could beat someone down if they tried something but otherwise, but she was still the runt everyone from school knew. Dressed in the traditional black and white striped uniform, there was no mistaking her as a prisoner with her sitting in front of him. She wasn't looking at him but out the window with those bleak eyes, longing for freedom. He hoped to give a miniscule taste today.

"Lil... Lily?" he started as he walked over to the table. She didn't look up as he sat down. "It really is you Lily, isn't it? You haven't changed much in here..."

The sneasel only grunted in response to that statement. Ruben continued.

"Well... It's me Ruben... you know me from school. You know... umm... North Avenue H-High School? We..." he stopped and looked down at the floor. "I... graduated from there... we... we used to be in the... the same class." he looked back up to her. "Right?"

She didn't speak when she glanced at him but the expression on her face gave it away. Dismay and anger. Clearly, finding her here in jail angered her. Instead of seeing her out and about, he found her in a prison uniform and handcuffed. He knew she was probably thinking he was here to laugh at her position, no matter if he's paused more than laughed. He tried to think of something to say, to talk about, but only found himself curious as to how she got here.

"So... How did this happen? I uhh... I heard all the stories but I never really got all the details."

Lily sighed and leaned back in her chair. She finally looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Is that why you're here? Find out me side of the story and then laugh at me?" her words made him cringe. She scoffed at the sight. "Why waste your time? Google it. I'm not some clown to laugh at, you fucking asshole."

Her upfront, blunt response took Ruben aback. He expected animosity from her at first; years in prison can do that to even the nicest person. But he was expecting as much as she's displaying- she had been far meeker in her adolescence. Even if she were a bit haughty, she refused to pick fights, and ran at the first sign of trouble. He knew there was nowhere for this conversation to go but forward so cleared his throat and continued.

"Well... I want to hear it from you." she narrowed her eyes. The red of her iris' were displaying a sharp look of anger in them. They made him nervous but he kept going. "I mean... a firsthand account is the best one I think."

"It's a long story." Ruben leaned in. She snorted and shook her head. "We only have thirty minutes in here, so I'll keep it short: I was really, really dumb. Well not dumb but..." she looked out the window again and sighed angrily. "But the result is that I've been here the past three years and for the next two as well or five if I break the rules." she turned and glared at him. "Are you happy now?"

"Uhh... ye...err..." he shook his head, keeping a weak smile on his face. "No... all you've told me is that-"

She leaned in close to Ruben. She was only inches from his face- close enough for him to feel her ice-cold breath. He heard the guard move, if only slightly- he was ready to restrain her if needed. Ruben hoped she wouldn't strike- her claws could tear out his throat in a flash. Runt or not, she was a sneasel- they were renowned hunters in the years before society changed monsters from mindless beings to civilized peoples.

"I'm not telling you shit." she snarled. She bared her fangs. "So, if you keep this fucking charade of cheap niceness up, I'm gonna slash the shit out of you!"

"Watch your tongue Harrison!" the guard shouted.

The sneasel froze. It took her a few seconds to decide it wasn't worth it, angrily scoffing in defeat. She sat back down in her seat and sucked on her tongue.

"And your attitude." the guard warned as well.

Ruben took the moment to scoot his seat back slightly, thoroughly intimidated. He never remembered her being this scary or angry and concluded that prison did change her. He shook the thought away and decided a direct attack was a bad idea with her and went for a different route. While she was mad, he felt it was less at him and more what he was asking- he thought that others had come by before and done the same. He didn't know and didn't want to ask that either- she'd likely attack if made angrier.

"So, w-wait... you said you were going to be in here five years, r-right?" Ruben shakily asked. Her outburst had shaken him visibly enough to affect his speech- he was tense and ready to jump out of his seat. It took a long minute but he saw her mouth the word eight, baring her fangs as she did. "Eight? Why so long? It's only assault."

"...four counts." she muttered.

"Huh?" he tilted his head, confused. "What did you say?"

"Four. Counts." she snarled. Ruben tensed up again. "Before you dare ask, it was for assault. Felony assault. They gave me two years for each count max and so..." she threw her hands into the air. "Five to eight years. Five if I'm nice, eight if I'm naughty. More if I do something stupid."

Ruben did the math in his head and tilted his head confused. "You beat up four people? I mean, all I heard is that you beat the shit out of Tommy."

"Yeah, him and his little posse." she replied. The sneasel in front of him flexed her claws and stared at them for a few seconds. It took no time for her to snap back on him. "Is that a problem? It better not be." she threatened.

"Well besides being illegal, though you know that..." he gestured to her uniform and handcuffs. She growled and he swore he could hear a hiss coming out as well. "The problem here is..." Ruben leaned in closer. "You... you were such a stickler for the rules... I can't picture you willingly beating people up like that."

"You won't believe the reason so I won't indulge you. Just that they deserved it, no matter how much everyone liked Tommy and his little gang of fucks." she leaned back and let out breath of frigid air. "Bunch of fucking pieces of shit..."

Ruben opened his mouth but closed it when he realized he still wasn't getting an answer anytime soon from the look on her face. He finally decided to change the topic.

"You look tougher." she raised an eyebrow. "I-I mean, you were kind of... weak."

Lily snorted. She flexed her arm- his appeal to her ego worked, thankfully. "I was weak, true. Now I'm stronger. Not much to do in here so I end up weight-training- thrice a week to be exact. This past few years, I've been doing a light regimen, building up my strength and endurance. Maybe now, if I see Remy, he won't break me in two like a piece of ice."

Ruben snickered at the crude joke, as did Lily. The two sighed after a few seconds of shared laughing only for her to growl once again when she realized she let her guard down. Ruben chuckled nervously.

"It's nice to see you're not suffering completely in jail." he quickly said, smiling while she frowned. "I bet you miss your camera though."

Lily took a few, long breaths before looking away. "I miss a lot of things. I think the worst though is that my future is ruined." she sighed. "I had so many plans and now..."

She gestured to herself and her bound arms. As she did, the chain rustled just enough to emphasize the point. Looking down, he realized they had also cuffed her legs. Another chain from the leg cuffs led into the table, keeping her from running off if the door opened.

And from potentially killing him.

Ruben nodded. "I... I see."

For a full minute, the two exchanged no words- only stares. Only after that minute, Lily sighed loudly. Ruben let out a sigh of relief- it seemed that minute had calmed her down somewhat as well. Not by much though, as the toothy snarl in her mouth stayed.

"Listen, just so you know, you're the first person to pay me a visit. My family has entirely disowned me and I have no friends besides a few in here."

Ruben slowly sat up, confused. "Wait... I thought... I thought that maybe..."

"What, that some of our great classmates paid me a visit too?" she let out a loud laugh for a good twenty seconds. She shook her head with her eyes closed, amused. "Hell no! I'd have probably attacked one at some point and end up in max-sec. I'm impressed anyone gave enough a shit to come here and see me."

"Well, you have me here now." he chuckled and turned wholly to the side, facing the wall. "You know, it was hard to get visitation rights for you. I begged for some time, but they refused over and over. The administration here was so stubborn but they relented- they got tired of seeing me coming in every week."

"You know, I do wonder this: why did you come see me anyways and-" she paused. She recounted his previous sentence word for word as he smiled nervously.

"Wait..." she narrowed her eyes. "You've been coming..." she stuck out her neck, lowering her head slightly. "How long exactly?"

Ruben continued to look at the concrete wall. He shifted in his seat slightly, uncomfortable about admitting this to her.

"Thr... three months now."

He looked back at Lily, expecting shock on her face but she held the same anger expression as before- but he could see her slowly relaxing.

"Umm... you okay Lily?" he asked her. She didn't respond. He began to just watch her instead.

It was slow but after a minute, he could see something starting to change in her eyes. After two more minutes, the angry snarl in her mouth that she's had since they started was gone and after another three, long, silent minutes, he watched her eyes glaze over with disbelief as her ears fell behind her head, possibly touched by his action.

"Why." she stated, more an order than a question. "Why would you waste your time like that."

"Well... I missed you." the buizel put his right arm behind his chair and leaned back. "I missed seeing you every day in between class and in town after school."

Lily perked up in her seat. Her eyes started to see some shine once more as well.

"You... missed seeing me?" she pointed at herself. Her eyes shined with a hint of happiness and her voice cracked from joy. "M-me? The girl everyone hated?"

Ruben looked down at the tiled floor. "Yeah... I did. And so, I came."

"But..." she had tear in her right eye and the fur under her left was slightly wet. "W-why?"

"You remember that aipom I was dating? Ruben asked her.

"Sarah..." Lily said, her voice almost a whisper. "She hated me so much."

"Yeah, she did..." Ruben shook his head. "Well first, she's an ambipom now and second..." he looked away. "She err... didn't work out. Nor did that mienshao, Erica. And that infernape from the other class, Elisa. And Sally... I met her at a studio I worked out at... I don't work out there now... plus a... a couple other short term relationships. I've had..." Ruben counted his fingers for a moment before looking up and counting in his head. He sighed. "Roughly fifty girlfriends by now."

Lily's eyes bulged out slightly at the info. "Holy shit. T-That's a lot in only three years... y-your heart must have tons of scotch tape keeping all those pieces together." Ruben snorted at her and shook his head. "W-what?"

"No just... it describes me well is all..."

Lily eyes widened slightly and she tugged at her lower lip. It was clear all her anger was long gone at this point- replaced completely with sorrow. "Okay..." she looked up at the ceiling for a moment to gather her thoughts. She looked back down at him and asked her next question. He could see the water in her eyes was growing in intensity. "C-can I ask w-what does this all have to do with m-missing me?"

"Well... I uhh..." he closed his eyes and sucked in his chest and clenched his hands to quell the tension in his muscles. "I like you, Lily."

"Huh? L-like me?" Lily sat back in her seat and laid her arms in her lap, the cuffs rattling loudly as she did. She closed her eyes tightly to get rid of a few tears. "What... what is there to like about," she looked down at her clothes and at the cuffs binding her wrists. "about a... a criminal like me?"

Ruben opened his mouth to say otherwise but she continued before he could speak.

"I mean... I'm just some loser sneasel... a runt!" she yelled. The two recoiled from her yell and from how fast she went for fury to distress in only a matter of minutes- and was getting worse. "A runt who could never keep her mouth shut! An idiot who was a massive teacher's pet and snitched on so many of her classmates just to get good grades!" she drew in a few ragged breaths, the tears now in full force. "N-not to mention, this is the very runt w-who likes t-t-to take j-jabs at virtually everyone. Even... even p-people who did l-like her!"

"Lily..." Ruben began.

She banged her arms on the table and looked right into his eyes. He could see her shame- her misery. She was crying softly, holding back the full force of her tears.

"S-so you've got to be lying- that's it, you-you're fucking with me! You still hate me and w-want to fuck with me!" she smiled crazily and sniffled a couple times. "T-That's gotta be it right!?" she gauged his look. All Ruben did was bite his lip. "Right!?"

Ruben sighed and looked back up at her with a frown on his face. The sight of it made her shiver in her seat. She could see it; it wasn't one of unhappiness but of resignation- that he hurt her so easily by admitting one little thing.

"Lily, I don't hate you." he reached for one her hands as she sobbed. "I never did."

"W... what?" she replied.

"Let me say this, I..." he rubbed his forehead and let out a tense breath. "I don't hate you in the sense that I don't hate all that stuff you said about yourself." he put his hands on the table, close to her. "I like your wit, I don't care you're a teacher's pet or that you love to live by the book- I saw that you wanted to prove yourself to the fullest. That beneath that haughty sneasel was a girl who didn't have anyone to be with- not even at him." he looked away and held his right arm, rubbing it nervously. "I mean, I thought you looked cute while everyone insulted your height. To put it simply- for all the reasons everyone hated you, I liked."

Ruben could see it. He didn't want to see it but he did. His last words to her, were the breaking point. Her breaths grew more and more ragged as he watched her gaze upon him fall behind a curtain of water- her eyes slowly closing as she began sobbing, wailing inconsolably. Ruben could tell this was the hardest she did the last five years.

The buizel didn't know what compelled him to do so, even if he probably would get in trouble, but he slowly stood up. He was unsure of himself at first but clenched his fists in resolve. He walked around the table and right up to the weeping weasel, put his arms around her and hugged her. She leaned into one of his arms and let out her tears on his fur instead of hers. His arm muffled out the sobs and occasional wailing from her- a relief in a way but only ended up making him feel worse for her as she cried.

He couldn't help but pet her on the head, stroking her fur to try and calm her down- that someone did care for her. Ruben held her like that for what he felt was an eternity, but actually a few minutes, she began to calm down enough to talk through her crying.

"I... I'm..." she sniffed. "I'M SO SORRY!" she let out a short wail before continuing. "I... I yelled at you! I... I was so mean to you..."

"It's fine Lily. It's fine." Ruben smiled at her. "It's understandable in your shoes. You didn't expect someone to come and say they care about you... you thought I came to laugh at you. I would've been just as mad."

"B-b-but... I threatened to cut you..." she drew in a sharp breath. The weasel pulled herself up from his arm and looked right at him. The gloomy look in her eyes made his heart drop. "I threatened... to kill you..."

"Again, it's... it's fine Lily." he let her go and bent down to be eye level with her. "It's alright. You've probably had a seriously rough time I bet and it's justified you'd be mad."

"N-not enough to try and hurt you though..." she despondently replied. Her ears drooped again and she looked at her feet, not bearing to look at his face. "I... I deserve to be in here."

"Don't be like that now." she ignored him. "Lily, please look at me."

The sneasel looked up to the buizel. She sniffled a few times as she looked at him. There was still a tear in her eye. Ruben wiped it away.

"Listen, you're a great girl. Smart. A little arrogant at times yes, but don't say you deserve to be stuck in here; you deserve better than this... even if you did get yourself locked up."

Lily giggled at the joke. Ruben let out a soft chuckle as well, more at the sound of her cheering up than anything else.

"You know... you haven't really grown up in a sense. You're still that old eighteen-year-old Lily Harrison I knew. Ready to mouth people off with an attitude of authority yet emotional to a tee when confronted."

Lily slowly smiled at him. "I guess I haven't have I? Trapped in this place... I never got a chance to become an adult in a sense. I did become one yes, but being mature in here means keeping a straight face at all times and showing no weakness."

"That... that sounds horrible." he replied.

"That's prison." she said back.

She drew in a few breaths, slowing herself down. Leaning back in her seat, she titled her head to the buizel kneeling next to her.

"Can I ask why..." she gulped nervously. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Ruben rubbed his right arm, looking for an answer that could be easy on her. He happened to glance at the sneasel across him and the look of anticipation on her face made him nervous. He gulped. There was no choice but to lay it out bluntly.

"Well... I was scared." she looked down at the floor-s he expected the answer. Ruben immediately tried to rectify his mistake. "I... I mean, I wanted to say something. I always did but..."

"You wanted to stay popular, right?" Ruben held his mouth slightly agape, contemplating her answer. He shut it and nodded. "I don't blame you. You're... you're naturally good looking with your," she looked him up and down, smiling. "rich orange fur. You're taller than most other buizel, you work out so you're fit, and you were one of the forwards for the football team. With qualities like those, you were top of the class socially- so you got away with so much shit."

Ruben gulped. He knew what she was talking about and hoped she would stay quiet- what with an officer of the law standing not too far away. Thankfully for him, she didn't.

"You... you were also in my eye as well." she let out a despondent breath. "I... you were never mean to me. You even helped me a few times... you didn't care I was a runt, that I stunk at battling, stuck close to the teachers, refused to break the rules, or that I never shut up..."

"So... you like me as well?" asked Ruben.

"Yeah... I... I liked you." Lily rectified. She blinked slowly and flexed her claws. "Always had... a secret crush. But you... were kind of beyond me I guess?"

Ruben grinned. "Well, since we both like each other, why don't I join you in jail so we can be together?"

"Hah-hah. Really funny." she snarkly replied. Ruben laughed and so did she. If the past five minutes hadn't happened, Ruben would never have thought her as a broken person. Then again, he really couldn't consider himself whole either. "You're lucky I'd get in shit tons of trouble for even touching you or else I'd whack you in the arm for saying something dumb like that."

Ruben chuckled and proceeded to hit himself in the arm for Lily. She laughed triumphantly.

"Wow, I'm a psychic now: I made you punch yourself for me! Next up- teleportation."

"Don't get ahead of yourself Houdini." Ruben laughed and eyed the guard nearby. "I don't think the guards would like you talking like that."

"Oh, him?" she pointed to the lucario guard posted by the door. "That's Caleb. He's actually a real softie. Talks about philosophy all the time and-"

Lily's smack-talk about Caleb ended when he threw a disposable glove in her face. He gave her a look that told her to keep quiet about him. She peeled it off and just smiled back. Ruben shook his head at the whole thing- this was the same guard that was ready to give her a beat down and yet he was acting cordial so suddenly- a jarring sight.

"You know, you act so nonchalant for a prisoner. I can only assume you get in trouble all the time."

"Not at all actually! I'm a good girl, right Caleb!?"

The lucario by the door rolled his eyes. "Mhmm. You say that but..."

"See, I'm their model prisoner."

A few minutes passed with, again, no words exchanged between the two, unable to draw forth more from the previous topic. Ruben finally said something when he realized his time was almost up.

"So... you got five years left to serve?" she nodded. "That's helluva a wait time to get a new girlfriend."

"I recommend L'oreal." quipped Lily. Both Ruben and Caleb couldn't help but snicker at the joke. "But seriously, it's likely I'll get out sooner than that. As I said before, the sentence is five to eight years, depending on my behavior. If I'm squeaky clean, I get released in two years instead."

"Nothing that gets you out of here earlier than that?" Ruben scratched his head a few times. "I'd have thought you'd be trying to get out as fast as possible."

Lily stifled a giggle before she nodded. She looked at the wall next to them. "Yeah there are plenty of ways but... it doesn't feel right for me to not serve my full-ish sentence. I'm guilty and so I... I gotta suck it up and take my punishment as it is." she saw the look on Ruben's face, one of disappointment. "Don't get like that Ruben, it's a personal thing."

"I know." he said sadly. "Still... kinda is a... really weird thing to see you here."

"Well, you have to wait two years for that to change." she closed her eyes and smiled. "Until that time comes, why not visit me more? Gives me something to look forward to for a change. Once a month is fine before you ask." she looked out the window, a look of sadness on her face again. "I... I assume you live pretty far from this place. You always did say you'd move away from Golden first chance you get. Well, from what I heard at least."

"Yeah, I live in Olive City now. It's rather nice... err... much nicer than Golden but far smaller. It is a little closer though." he answered.

"Still, it must be a pain in the ass to get up here in the mountains. I don't want you to waste all your time and money coming up here to see my silly butt." said Lily.

Ruben smiled. "Considering my line of work, my wallet is a bit deeper than one would think and I have plenty of time to do whatever I wish. Perks of being a mature adult."

"What I wish I was right now..." mumbled Lily. Ruben frowned, which she noticed. "Don't worry, I'm fine..."

Ruben sighed. "I hope you are..."

The two heard a knock from the door. They turned to see Caleb point at his watch and hold up two fingers. They only had two minutes left.

"Well Lily... it's nice to finally have seen you again. I hope to see you... next month I guess? I'll try my best." said Ruben.

Lily waved her hand. "If you can't come next month, then the one after. Just as long as you remember me and don't play games with me and my emotions. Today was enough."

Ruben stood up to leave and started for the door. He turned back to Lily and smiled to her.

"See you Lily. I hope you have a good day."

"...same for you Ruben."

Ruben stepped out of the door, with Caleb behind him. Minutes of quiet passed, leaving her to think about the entire encounter. She hadn't expected him of all people to visit her and yet, he dedicated so much to do so. From her conclusion, he was serious about this.

"They must've burned him bad for him to come to me of all people." she murmured to herself. She sighed and rested her head on the table. "But... I guess it's nice to know I was always in his mind... that someone also cares even if I'm behind bars." she couldn't help but let out another, more despondent sigh. "Though I do wonder if he's still bluffing..."

The door opened a minute later, with Caleb stepping back inside. The lucario had an audino in the same guard outfit as backup, keeping the door blocked as the aura monster unchained her from the table.

"Come on, let's go Harrison." Caleb ordered. She opened her mouth. "No snappy words right now. Not after earlier."

She closed her mouth and rolled her eyes. She stood up from the chair and walked up to the lucario. Without a word, she held out her hands for him. He unshackled her hands, only to shackle them again when they were behind her back.

Having done this time and time again, by this point Lily had gone from hesitation to seeing all the protocol as day to day activity instead. The two guards escorted her out of the visiting room and down the hall to the checkpoint. She eyed the guard in the booth, a blaziken.

"Oh, hey JK." The blaziken narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head. "...Jerry."

"That's better."

"Let us through, dick." Caleb said impatiently.

The blaziken smiled coyly. "Magic word princess?"

"Fuck you." the steely fighter type pointed at the door. "Just open the damn thing."

"Keep this up and I'm just going to walk out of here instead of heading back to my home." quipped Lily. The audino tapped her baton on Lily's side, pressing it on a specific spot. Lily immediately recoiled. "I'm joking..." she did her best to make the pain go away. "Ow... ow. That still hurts..."

"Three years, and I can't really tell Harrison. You don't whine enough." said the audino. She snorted. "And nor do I want to hear it at all really. Any of it."

The gated buzzed and slowly slid open, letting the two guards and Lily through.

"Bye Jerry." chimed Lily as they ushered her onwards to the cells. The blaziken didn't respond. "Spoilsport."

"You treat this all as a game a little too much." complained the audino. "And then you wonder why you get in trouble so much."

Lily scoffed. "Listen, it's either become an emotional wreck or take nothing seriously. I think option two is better for my mental health in the long run. Beats heading to a noose."

"And too morbid." Katie said flippantly. "I'd say lighten up, little miss liar, but I bet you have a reason, don't you?"

"Of course! I'm in the same place murderers are kept, I should be the least morbid thing here. All I did was beat some people up."

"You partially blinded one of them and broke two of their legs." the guard challenged. She snickered. "You know, for a pint sized girl, you're strong."

"They had it coming! No one sees my side of it all- only that I did the beating up part. Never the damn lead up to how it got to that point." Lily looked away. "And I'm not strong... just lucky."

"The day you explain all that is the day I let you stick a baton up my ass." commented Caleb. The sneasel rolled her eyes and snorted.

"I tried twice but no one cared." Lily shook her head. They turned a corner, passing a sign stating Cell Block D was down that way. "You two willing to sit and listen or will you walk away two minutes in?"

"We have roles Lily. We can't and don't stay in the same place for more than ten minutes unless it's a static post. We told you that." said Caleb.

Lily snorted. "There's always lunch."

Caleb rolled his eyes once more.

"Ah yes, the Great Chaos. The perfect time for you to talk to us- you know, that period of the day where there's a guarantee of at least one fight."

Lily sighed. "Don't even say it, I know: in the event of an altercation, all posted guards must either intervene, crowd control, or control access."

"Smart girl." quipped Caleb as they came upon the gate to Rows 9-10. "Stand still."

"Yeah, yeah..." Lily said as Katie worked to unlock the gate.

Caleb leaned in to her, making sure that Katie didn't notice. "So about when he first got in that room and the ten minutes after that... I've never seen you that angry before." he whispered to her.

Lily looked down at the floor. She held her hands together, playing with her fingers- trying to find the right words.

"The... the only people who could possibly visit would all just... taunt me or flaunt their great lives in front of me- to show me how I'm such a piece of shit... I was ready for that. I didn't expect him but I didn't know why he was here so..."

"It's fine. He didn't seem mad... well, after you broke down I mean." Lily gave a dejected sigh and looked down and away. Caleb chuckled nervously. "I'm not insulting you- everyone breaks emotionally occasionally. You can't lock up your heart behind bars." the lucario let his shoulder sag as he relaxed. "And please Lily, don't what you did ever again- death threats are taken seriously in here."

"I'll keep that in mind and hold myself back." she whispered back.

"Stop muttering!" Katie slid the gate open, letting it hit the wall with a bang. "And hurry up Caleb!"

"I'm not a prisoner Katie." Caleb bemoaned.

Katie growled. "Just hurry up and get in there with her!"

He complied either way and lead her in while she stayed behind to lock up the gate. "So, how'd you enjoy the rare adventure outside the Cell Block- barring the mess room and the showers."

"Boring." she snorted. "Just like my last three years."

Katie rushed up to meet them and heard her remark. "Hehe... that's jail for you... and me." Katie smirked triumphantly. "But at least I get to leave at the end of my shift."

Lily didn't respond to the audino's remark as she was lead to her cell. The other inmates didn't bother to say anything to her either- many didn't really care for her and only a few truly hated her but most didn't speak with her on any terms. The two guards placed her against the wall before uncuffing her arms and legs. She stayed in that position until she heard the door slam shut. Once she did, she turned around and watched them leave.

Lily waited until the two were out of earshot and sighed. She walked over to her cot, ignoring the sounds of someone calling for her nearby, and laid down on it. The sneasel looked up at the ceiling and slowly brought her pillow over her face. She peeked out at the wall beside her, wanting to look outside, only to see there was no window. She looked to her left and stared at the toilet and sink in the middle of wall, both cemented to the wall and floor. The sneasel's ears slowly fell below her head as she sunk her pillow into her face, tears slowly forming in her eyes. She couldn't help but sob- she needed to.

By the time it was time to shower, she had stopped crying. She still felt empty inside but felt something- an inkling of new hope now that she knew that someone did care about her. That they missed her. She hoped that he wasn't lying, that she wasn't lying to herself, and that things would work out.

After lights out, she wasn't dreaming the usual dreams of idealistic freedom but of what life with Ruben would be like. Hugging and kissing him, enjoying day and night together, and living together. It was easy for her to go along with her new dream- not freedom but life with someone who cared about her.

It was the best sleep she had in three years.


End Chapter 1