Sorry for the wait…I've been busy on Internet Role-plays, but I think you'll find my writing has improved because of it. I appreciate this hasn't been updated for about a YEAR, but I've been busy with things. And I needed a break from Fandom. Now I'm back, I'm going to take things easy. I won't write a few chapters, then rush in with a new story, then write a few chapters, then a new story, like I did last time. I'm going to try and finish my fics now. Then we'll see what happens. Anyway…you all have Kurissyma san Tybalt to thank for me coming back!

DragonGirl323: Sorry, I failed you. *sobs* but I heart you too!

Ecliptic Warrior: Nice to see a new face! And don't worry, I will carry on from now on.

Kurissyma: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR GETTING MY BACK ONTO FANFICTION! You may also win a best reviewer prize, because you reviewed almost all the chapters. I will read some of your stories I think, too. *Hands hankie* oh shoosh, no need to cry! It'll all look up soon. And don't worry, I can't write comedy to save my life.

I'm sorry this will only be a shortish chapter, but I need to get back into the swing of things. I might write a couple of one-shots to get back into my style.

*Stretches hands* Ok. Here goes. For those of you who wanted some Painalai fluff, there's a bit in this chapter, though really it's not Painalai, because its Ruby…forget it.

The Warriors: The Cell

It was a while later that I woke up.

I didn't know where I was.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't talk.

I was just…somewhere; I was existing.

Slowly, I began to regain feeling in my fingertips and toes. I wiggled them, just to check they were there. I could almost move my eyebrows. The feeling creeped up my arms and my legs, and spread throughout my face. It was an excruciatingly tiring task - for a while I couldn't even remember why I was there, but the memories came back.

It was unbelievably boring, just lying there. I had little feeling in my back, so I didn't know where I was lying. I was obviously lying on my back though, or I would have felt the floor on another part of my arms rather than the back. I could move the lower part of my arms, and my legs a bit, when I finally opened my eyes; and even then, my vision was blurry.

I could just about see a grey stone ceiling, cracked and old. There were pillars around. The sound reached my ears of metal sliding, creaking, but I could barely hear it. My lips felt dry and cracked. Slowly, painfully, I moved my head. There was a small window, high up on a grey, old wall. All was stone, all around me. So dull, so grey, so boring. I tried to move my head the other way, and furrowed my brows in puzzlement. There, at the other end of the room, were cold iron bars stretching across the entrance to my room. My room was about ten foot in every direction - it wasn't that high, and not very big, but not too small. But one thing struck me most.

It resembled a prison cell.

Panic seized through me, and I regained the feeling in my body. Sitting up, I looked around. There were two beds, and a table. A couple of drawers, and some clothes on one of the beds. Outside the bars was a corridor, with two burly Assassin guards pacing up and down beside it. And next to me on the floor was Baralai. Baralai, who seemed to be just waking up.

I moved towards him and hurriedly shook him. "Baralai!" I whispered. My voice was strained and croaky; tired. Slowly, he groaned, and his eyes opened. He didn't seem properly awake - his eyes stared into space; his mouth moved, but no words come out. "Baralai, wake up!" I whispered again. He was probably in the same state as I was, but wasn't as far awake as I was. "What is it, Baralai?" I asked, desperate for him to wake up.

"Nnnnnnnng…" a long, low moan came out of his lips. I paused, waiting for him to say more. His eyes slowly came into focus, but he was still not quite conscious. His hand moved and seized mine. He seemed afraid; almost disbelieving? I didn't know. His face had emotion on it, but I couldn't read it. My own eyes were still blurry. He tried to talk again, and the next time, a word finally came out.

"Paine…"

He was looking right at me, his eyes searching my face, but I was sure his eyes were still blurry. My breath caught in my throat. I almost panicked, thinking he had actually realised I was Paine. Quickly I filled in. "No, Praetor…I'm sorry. It's Ruby. Not Paine. Look, long hair."

I felt guilty telling him I was Ruby. The battle and the Assassins and the fights between the spherehunters…it was all too much to bear. The last thing I needed was to keep my real identity secret. But I needed to. Who knows what they'd do if they discovered I was Paine? Surely they know I exist…I do, after all, resemble the girl from the prophecy.

Baralai shook his head, and shortly his eyesight came into focus. He sat up, blinking. He seemed more in a daze; depressed. He didn't react to his surroundings, and just hugged his knees slightly, thinking.

"Praetor Baralai? Is something wrong?" I asked him.

Baralai sighed. "I thought - Uh…" he shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

I sighed, too. I wanted to help him. I wanted to tell him, Paine's fine, she's doing great, she's right here in front of you, oh, and did I mention, she loves… I looked at Baralai. I didn't recall him ever being too handsome on first impressions, but to me then and now he's the most handsome person I know. His kind eyes, his sweet, floppy hair…they all are so familiar. They've appeared so many times in my dreams. But I was Ruby - and I couldn't let him love a lie. Even if there was some chance in this stupid, twisted world that he could ever return any feelings I had for him. I truly believed he couldn't return them, because I was too manly and too independent. Men loved women they could settle down with; I was a warrior, a traveller.

It's like a twisting in your gut. Your chest and stomach feel heavy yet your legs want to kick something so hard you break your toes and make you even angrier. One moment you're just standing there, forlorn; the next you're in a rage, snapping at whoever talks to you. The next, you're instantly sorry. The next you break down in tears and then you're back to being angry. You feel useless and torn. You know you should move on but are incapable to do so. It's the worst thing in the world. Worse than dying. It is dying. Inside you're either shrivelling up or being torn apart. You start slapping yourself to clear your head, only to succeed in hurting yourself more. You think you're going mad. You can't stand the sight of your love object, yet you have to be near them at all times. You just want to run for the hills, but you stay rooted to the spot. It's so confusing. You want to die. You just want it to stop. Everything's rushing around so fast you're having trouble clinging on. You can't focus; everything's strange and foggy; you're going round in circles. Every plan is as hopeless as the rest and you're spinning and spinning around until you feel like you're going to be sick…

"Where are we?" Baralai asks, looking up and around. "Is this a prison?"

I got up, though my legs felt like jelly. The Assassin language is similar to Al Bhed, so perhaps I'll try speaking to the guard in Al Bhed? I went to the bars and called, nervously. "Aqlica sa…Aqlica sa. Fa'ja zicd paah gethybbat, lyh oui damm ic frana fa yna?" Excuse me…Excuse me. We've just been kidnapped, can you tell us where we are? Gosh, I sounded desperate.

The guard at the end of the corridor sniggered and replied in 'Sassin', as he called it. "You're lucky I speak good Al Bhed. You insulted me very badly in Sassin. You're in Citadel, in one of the prison cells. You're to be kept here, because we don't want you running away. Otherwise, you'd be kept in the proper dormitories."

I laughed slightly at his first bit. This Assassin seemed friendly enough. "I'm glad I didn't insult you." I said, in a language that was becoming very similar to Sassin. "So…Citadel is on some island, huh?"

"Right."

"Dammit."

"Yup, no way of escape for you. Don't worry. If you're good, and you work well, you'll be fine. But you can never go back home now."

"We'll see about that."

The guard laughed. "They all start off feisty."

"This one's going to finish feisty."

The guard laughed again.

"What's he saying, Ruby?" Baralai asked me, slowly getting up.

"We're in Citadel." I replied. "In a prison cell. They would have us in the proper dormitories, but they're scared we're going to attempt to run away."

"I have more sense than that." Baralai replied. He looked up and down the corridor, then back at me. "Do you have this strange…something, I don't know what to call it, but you can almost understand the language? I can pick up the odd word, the odd phrase, but not quite the whole language."

"Oh? I can understand every word of it." I raised my eyebrows, surprised. "But then, I can speak Al Bhed, and the formation of the languages are similar."

"All Assassin, or people with Assassin lineage, have a basic understanding of the language. It's hereditary." explained the guard.

"You can understand Spiran?"

"Yes, but I don't like to speak it. I would recommend you talk to me in Al Bhed or Sassin, to practise your language skills. Very few people speak Spiran around here, though your instructors will. I only speak it because we get all sorts of prisoners here."

"Thanks for the advice. I'm-" I shoot a quick look at Baralai. "I'm…Ruby, and this is Praetor Baralai."

"I know. The kidnappers told me when they brought you in. I'm Broska."

"Nice to meet you, Broska."

"And you, Ruby."

"You're nicer than I expected."

The guard smiled at me, coming closer to my cell. "Not all Assassins are bloodthirsty killers. I trained as a guard - I only have to be brutal when dealing with bad prisoners."

"I hope you won't have to deal with me, then."

"You plan to be dealt with, then?"

"I don't plan to be dealt with. I plan to get away with it."

Broska snorted.

I turned to Baralai. "Did you understand what he said?"

Baralai nodded.

I walked back into the cell, and looked around. I immediately went up to the window, and tried to reach it by jumping. I couldn't reach. I tried again, and again. I couldn't quite grab the edge and boost myself up. I looked around for anything I could use as a boost. There was only Baralai, watching. "Praetor, would you help me?" I asked, slightly nervously.

Baralai nodded. "Call me Baralai." he said, walking forward, kneeling down and taking one of my legs in a firm grip. Of course, it wasn't skin-to-skin touch, but it felt just as tingly. Trying to ignore the feeling, and the fact hat he could look up my skirt any time he wanted, I prepared to jump.

"1…2…3!" we said together, then I jumped, grabbed the windowsill and with Baralai boosting me up, looked out the window.

Outside, there was nothing. Well, there was something. There was a huge wall. Thick, tall and strong. I didn't know how long it had taken to build, but it wouldn't be destroyed again in a hurry. It went up into the sky, and I couldn't see the top because the top of the window was blocking the view. I couldn't see the ground, either. How high up were we? I tried to inch forward, to see more, became again momentarily aware that I was probably flashing my underwear to Baralai, but he would be decent enough not to look, then inched even further forward, trying to…

The cell bars swung open. I turned around quickly and jumped off Baralai's knee. He also stood up quickly. For a chill had already seized us, as if we already knew who was coming in the room. We both glared at the new arrival. We both hated him.

Anansi smirked at us, walking forward a bit with a regal, apathetic posture, then standing. "So here we have our prime prisoners. A useless, mourning Praetor and a deceiving girl."

I shot him a warning look. "Shut. Up." I growled through gritted teeth.

"Come now, Ruby, I wouldn't be so nice as to let Baralai in on your little secret myself. No. You can have the torture of bearing it for as long as you can." Anansi sneered with pleasure. "You have already guessed, however, why you might be here."

"I'm a half-blood, as you put it."

"Correct. Took you a while to guess, though. Almost took you a lifetime to accept it, but you've grown used to accepting things recently." Anansi rolled his eyes mockingly. He was annoying me more by the second. Every word he spoke ground me down, made me feel worse. He turned to Baralai. "And you are a pureblood, though you may not have guessed it. Not the greatest example of an Assassin, but regretfully, a pureblood."

"Leave him alone!" I said, with a surprising anger in my voice. "He's done nothing to you. It's me who you supposedly need to deal with, resembling that girl you all fear. Leave him alone and pick on me."

"All right then. I will." Anansi looked incredibly pleased. Had it been anyone other than Anansi, I would have known it to be an empty threat. But with Anansi, I wasn't so sure…"Well." he continued. "I know about you," he said, gesturing to me, "But what about you…" he said turning to Baralai. Baralai yelled and was forced down to the ground by some invisible force. A moment later, he was released. "Yep." Anansi said to himself. He turned and swept out of the cell, his long cloak billowing behind him. He obviously wasn't about to share the information he'd just learned, though no doubt he'd use it to his advantage.. The bars crossed to a close behind him. "You will begin training tomorrow. Don't expect to last long." Anansi shot us one more sneer, then left.