There is barely any light…only enough for him to distinguish the lock on the door of his prison cell.
He knows he can't get out…but he wants to. He wants to see the sun again. He wants to see his friends smile again, and he wants to know they are safe. He wants to see Alfred…he misses him, although he would never, ever tell the idiot that. Why can't he get out? Why does it have to be so bloody dark and cold? And yet…not dark enough. If he couldn't see anything, then the lock on that door might not torment him so.
Ever since he was a child, he has hated being locked in. He had been locked in closets before, and it had terrified him. Alone, in the dark. But it had been better, then, because he couldn't see the thing that was keeping him captive. He wanted to get out…had to get out… He hadn't turned back time to get locked in again. He had to get out, before Alfred came to save him like last time. Because, even though Alfred had to know that it would only end the same way-with both of their deaths-he would come. Even though he had said not to…even though he had begged him not to come, if the same thing happened. If he was captured, then he couldn't possibly let Alfred try to save him. It would end in disaster, just as it had the last time...and he didn't think the spell would work twice. He had no way of knowing that it wouldn't...but it was doubtful.
And he wonders…why? Why did Francis make the same mistake twice? He was so careful…and still, Francis knocked his mask off. Perhaps…no. Francis is not a traitor. He wouldn't…couldn't…betray them. Could he? He had to know his actions would result in the death of his friend. Francis did know they were friends, didn't he?
"Should have been kinder to him…and to Alfred… Oh, god…if I ever get out of here…"
But he wasn't sure he would. Would he ever be able to escape this prison? He had to move quickly, before Alfred came. He had turned back time to save his brother, and he couldn't possibly let the boy die now. And Alfred knew-he knew they would die. He knew exactly what would happen if they failed to save each other… And still, that idiot would take the same course of action, to try and save someone who had told him he did not want to be saved. Because he was the hero…even though he wasn't, really. Or…was he? Was Alfred a hero, after all? Wasn't this what heroes did, rushing blindly in to save people who they couldn't save? Or was that just idiocy. He wasn't sure. He only knew that he wanted Alfred to survive. That was the only reason he had turned back time-to save Alfred and anyone else who might die.
And then, he was staring at that blasted lock, and the door opened. He knows what is coming, even before he sees that it is the guards, instead of Raivis or Eduard. And he fights, because he is trying everything he can to disrupt the flow of what happened before. Maybe even a pointless struggle can stop this nightmare from unfolding before his eyes…again.
But he knows, later, when they lead him to the 'interrogation room'…he knows what he will find there. He prays he is wrong, but when the door opens, he sees Alfred, who is trying so very hard not to look at him, just as he did before.
And he knows that there is no escape. They are both locked in now, until the day they die.