How could it have happened?

Brain, Racer, Angel, Hoteye, Midnight, myself... How could we have been caught so easily? It had been a simple 'rob the bank and hightail it out of there' kind of mission...! It was possibly the easiest task that we had ever been given...! Yet, somehow, the police had been called and we had been arrested...! Now, we were stripped of everything that we ever owned, ever had. Our homes, our belongings, our treasures,our status, everything. Even Cubellios had been taken from me. She had been, as the authorities told me, taken to live in captivity. I didn't want to think about little children or teenagers or adults gawking at my friend through a layer of one inch protective glass at some exhibit. It just didn't sit well with me at all.

Our sentence - given to us on the account of 'numerous charges of gang activity, bank robbery, rape, and attempted murder' - was forty years long (thirty in the case of Hoteye since he had been the traitor among us), thirty-five (twenty-five for Hoteye) with probation if we were on 'good behavior'. I, for one, didn't think that I would live long enough to see the sentence through to the end. I would probably be killed for mouthing off or something like that. Of course, at the time, I didn't know that the guards would have broken it up before it got that far, but I didn't learn that until after three years into my sentence. It would be a long time before I learned that.

Before all that, though, we had all been cuffed together to strangers or, in my case, a friend, riding in an old, rusting bus to our fates, Brain in the very back cuffed to some pyscho who kept laughing at nothing, Racer in the front cuffed to some crack addict woman, Angel three seats ahead of me cuffed to some mental guy who kept pissing himself and talking to voices that weren't there, Hoteye was two seats behind me in the oppsite side of the aisle cuffed to a woman who didn't seem to know the meaning of 'shut up' (no matter how many times the policemen that were near the two kept threatening to throw her out the window if she didn't be quiet), and Midnight was right beside me, his wrist cuffed to my own. It wouldn't have been so bad of a ride if it had not had been for the back tires being flat to the rims and bumping on every damn bump there was on the planet and the fact that the seats we were forced to sit in were next to cushionless. I was beginning to think that the driver of the old heap of scrap metal was driving the unpaved, pot hole filled roads on purpose.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the others. Out of the six of us, only Midnight and I were going to get off at the nearest prison. Everyone else had to change out buses at least once. For Brain, it would be nearly seven times to get to California, for Racer, five times to get to Florida, for Angel, three times to get to Wisconsin, and for Hoteye, four times to get to Kentucky.

I glanced over at Midnight only to see that he was out like a light, his head tilted forward with his chin to his chest, his crimson eyes closed. His thick lashes seemed to be thicker somehow with his eyes closed. The things you seem to notice about your friends when you have to sit next to them with handcuffs holding the two of you together at the wrists. Honestly. Then again, it was probably because he wasn't wearing his usual makeup for once. He would have to get his eyeliner and lipstick back, or else he will look so strange to me for a while... Being cuffed to him, though, made me think about something.

Why was Midnight going to the same prison as me in New York whenever everyone else was being split up all across the country? It didn't add up in my head for some reason.

I chose not to think more into it, just deciding to watch my friend sleep. He always looked so peaceful in that state. Never cocky, never arrogant, just peaceful. I found it... intriguing. I could hear each breath he took and exhaled expand and shrink his lungs in his chest, the expelled air bouncing off of his black vest. I could see his brow and fingers twitch every now and again. I could tell that his sleep was purely for rest, not to dream. It was a dreamless sleep. I wished that I could have that kind of sleep right about now. For him, the trip would have felt like a few minutes when he woke up. To me, it was over an hour. An hour that was highly uncomfortable and boring.

When the bus stopped at the prison, it was time to wake Midnight up and stand. I tapped his shoulder, gently whispering in his ear that we were there. He woke, but he didn't move to stand. When I stood, he sighed, standing himself. He seemed relunctant to get off of the bus. Probably because he wanted his sleep to last longer than that one measly hour. Either that or he knew that we probably wouldn't be allowed to sleep until later. I knew that was going to be something that would bug him, but it was only for that single day, and I made a point to tell him that. He seemed a bit happy about getting to sleep between meals.

We trudged off of the junkmobile, noting how our asses were too numb for comfort. We were checked to see if we had anything up in our rectal areas (most embarrassing thing I think I had ever done in my entire life - dropping my pants and boxers in front of a bunch of guys that I didn't know including Midnight - fan-fucking-tastic) before the cuffs were removed then placed on us individually. We had to get a bunch of medical tests done to us before we could go to our cells, and that little process took nearly six hours. I hated waiting on the medical beds waiting for results just so I could go to my new living space for the next forty to thirty-five years.

I was clear of everything and I was given my orange jumpsuit to change into. Once I was changed, I was led to my cell, which, ironically, was placed a couple of cells away from Midnight's. I guess if they expected us to try and plot our escape, we wouldn't have been able to do it. Like we would try to anyways. It would be for the best just to wait it out. Even if we did try, though, we would have had to set up some sort of schedule to see when Midnight would be asleep and when the guards wouldn't be paying attention to us. Thanks to the male's sleeping habits, though, we would never have time to plot it out, anyways.

Before I was allowed into the cell, a guard took off my cuffs. I had been told by that very same guard that after dinner, we would be allowed to go hang out in the common room (it would be dark outside, so nobody would be allowed to go out for sports or anything like that). After that, I was locked into my cell. So, with the oh so great decision of my stomach bitching at me to feed it, I sat on the edge of my new bed, waiting to be released to go out to dinner. It wasn't a very long wait. Maybe twenty minutes? Maybe.

We were released and led to the dining commons, Midnight instantly finding me and walking up and beside me. Prison was very uncomfortably similiar to the child labor factory that we had been forced to work in as children. We knew that there was strength in numbers. Where he had his arms crossed across his chest as we walked, I had my hands shoved in my pockets. We already knew a great deal of what we needed to do in order to survive. We just had to learn the rest.

Once we had gotten our food (I decided on that very day just to drink my water and eat my bread only; I would give my leftovers to whoever asked for them), we sat down in front of each other by ourselves.

"I don't want to be here," were the first words out of Midnight's mouth.

"You and me both," I sighed, picking up my slice of bread and nibbling on it. It needed to keep my stomach filled for a while, so I wouldn't devour it right off the bat.

Midnight sighed as well, picking up his water and sipping it. I normally would have been expecting his plum colored lipstick to smear onto the glass, but I reminded myself that he wasn't wearing it. It was habit, I guess. "I don't like my cell, either. The bed is uncomfortable."

"We'll get used to it," I reminded him, a fourth of the way through my bread slice. I sat it down and sipped at my own water. "I don't think I'll survive forty years in this place..."

"We'll survive," he told me with a shake of his head. He picked up his own piece of bread, munching on it. He could easily ignore his stomach, unlike me, through his wonderful ability of sleeping through everything. "We have medical insurance here. They won't let us die unless we kill ourselves or kill each other."

I just sighed again, looking sadly at my tray. I soon finished my bread and water, my stomach feeling satisfied for the moment. When Midnight finished, we both went and put away our trays. We then went to the common room where Midnight promptly made me sit against the wall and sat beside me, laying his head on my shoulder and instantly going to sleep. How he managed to sleep so easily was beyond me. I gave up trying to understand years ago. I just allowed myself to be his little pillow for now, watching as people filed in, some going to sit in front of the TV to watch some Jeopardy or Dr. Phil and some going to random areas, sitting and chatting amongst themselves. Nobody seemed to pay us any mind, which was completely alright with me.

Midnight snuggled into me, finding me to be rather comfortable. If he collapsed and curled up with his head in my lap, I would have laughed. He always had some sort of fascination with sleeping on one of my body parts, whether it was my lap, my shoulder, my arm, Hell, even my chest, he would be asleep with no problem. I gave a small 'oof' when his head fell into my lap, his body curling up into me. I chuckled, shaking my head as I began to absently play with his hair. I knew that was coming sooner or later.

"What's with you two?" one voice asked us from in front of me. I looked up to see a lean, looming blond man staring down at the two of us with a raised brow, his arms crossed against his chest.

"He's a sleeper," I shrugged, playing absently with the braid that Midnight had made in the white of his hair earlier in the day. "Wake him up for no good reason and he will try to kill you, trust me." I showed him some bruises around my throat to prove my point (I had made the mistake of waking Midnight up that morning without giving him a reason and he tried to choke me until I told him why I woke him up).

The man shrugged, sitting beside me. "So, what are y'all's names? Mine is Laxus."

"I'm Cobra," I introduced myself. "And this is Midnight."

"Real names?"

"Sorry, but if I told you those, I would have to relive some pretty bad memories," I frowned.

"Understandable," Laxus told me, stretching out his arms above his head. "You two are from the Oracion Seis, aren't you?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"They were practically cheering that they caught you guys on the news a few days ago."

I groaned. "Of course..."

"Are you the only two here?" he asked me with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Otherwise, we're all seperated and scattered."

He nodded then yawned slightly. "You want my advice? Join my gang."

"Your gang?"

"Yeah. You seem cool. Plus, having a member or two of the most feared gang in New York City will really boost my stock a bit."

"Your stock?" I snorted.

"My trading and stuff," Laxus grinned. "I need cash and stuff for the one time a week we get the good stuff, after all."

"Good stuff?"

"Like sweets and cookies and Kool-Aid packets."

I was about to tell him that those things weren't really good, then I thought about it for a moment. I figured anything was better than eating bread every single day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner and drinking water all the time. Some flavor would be welcomed. "I guess..."

"So, what do you say? You in?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I would have to talk to Midnight about it." I was a bit clingy in that aspect already. I didn't want to abandon my only real friend here.

"Well, if you're in, just tell him that he's in too," Laxus chuckled, crossing his arms behind his head. "You'll be set with me as your gang leader."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

We kept talking like that for a while, some black haired guy named Gajeel eventually joining us. All three of us eventually got to where we were playing rock, paper, sciccors, lizard, Spock just to pass the time (by the way, if you're curious as to the scores there, Laxus kicked my ass through and through, but in turn, I more than easily handed Gajeel defeat on a silver platter). We were then told to get up, that it was time to go back to our cells. I woke Midnight and, before he could erase my existence, I told him it was time to go. We all stood, the duel haired male's hand grabbing mine tightly before withdrawing into his pocket. I had raised a brow. Well, that had been strange. We all left the common room, returning to our cells. I had found out that Laxus was across from me and Gajeel was across from Midnight, so I felt a bit at ease knowing that my friend would be watched over by someone who could hold his ground in a normal fight.

"Good night, Midnight," I called down to him.

"Night, Cobra..." Midnight seemed to yawn. I could hear him laying down to sleep.

"Night, Gajeel," I called.

"Night, Lizardface," Gajeel returned. I snorted at the name, shaking my head in disapproval.

"Night, Laxus," I said.

"Night, Snakeboy," smirked Laxus, sprawling himself out on his own bed.

"Ugh, no more nicknames, please," I said with a roll of my eyes. I laid down with a yawn. Midnight had been right. The beds were really uncomfortable. I pulled the blanket over myself, yawning once more. I curled up into myself, beginning to doze. Then I heard it.

Sobbing.

I knew who it was in an instant.

"Midnight..."

[xXx]

My first prison AU! XD I'm sorry if it really isn't accurate; I'm just going off of some information that I found off of the interwebs~.

I hoped you all enjoyed~. Please, read and review! I like my reviews! So, review please. Please? Please? I will gives you hug if you review. XD

~Dawn