She had fallen asleep on the floor where she sat. The apple core had fallen out of her hand and rolled on the ground.
"Time to wake up sunshine!"
She groaned and opened her eyes, "Sunshine?"
It was that same braided boy from the night before. He was sure the chipper one. Disgusting.
He let out a small laugh, "Okay then, how about Bright Eyes?"
She frowned at him and dragged her body up off the cold, cement floor.
"Why any nickname?"
He came right up to the cell bars and grinned, "Because you do have pretty eyes."
Icy blue, like that other man…the one who questioned her.
"They're blue. Whoopee," her voice was thick with sarcasm, "And yours are vio-" she looked at him closer, her eyes narrowing, "Violet? Are you wearing contacts?"
"No way, all natural right here baby!" his grin widened considerably.
She stumbled over to the cell door to get a better look. There was no way that his eyes were purple.
"Wow, they are!"
His nose crinkled up when her breath met it. She hadn't been keeping up with her hygiene since she arrived. That had to be fixed pronto.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Your breath…it smells like something died in your throat."
She blushed heavily, "What? How dare you say that to me! You guys were the ones that threw me into this stink-hole!"
"Hey now, calm down! We could have just as easily killed you, ya know?"
"Let me out of here!"
"Give us the information we need and maybe we'll let you go!"
"No!"
"Then you're gonna be stuck in here a looooooong time sista!" he snapped his fingers.
"Ugh!" she turned her back to him, "I don't even know who you people are and they send me here. No info, no stats, no nothing. And I'm supposed to get…" she trailed off, realizing that she was speaking her thoughts.
"Supposed to get what?"
"Nothing," she scoffed.
"Who sent you here to get nothing?"
"No one."
"So you just waltzed in here on your own then?"
She stayed silent.
"At least tell me your name. Please."
The guy had a certain boyish charm about him. Not like that other one. He was just a bastard any way you looked at it.
"I'll tell you mine," he continued.
At least she'd know something about her captors.
"Jessie," she whispered, her back still to him. If this was the only way she could get out other than death then bring it on.
"Jessie? That's a pretty name."
"You think a lot of me is pretty. My eyes, my name…I'm getting sick of it."
He put his hands up in defense, "Hey, come on. I'm just tryin' to be nice here. You're lucky, we could torture you or something."
She turned and faced him, "You said you'd tell me your name."
"Oh right!" he scratched the back of his head, "I'm Duo!"
He seemed so nonchalant about releasing his name to her. Surely he wasn't so senseless.
"Duo Maxwell. I may run and hide, but I'll never tell a lie!"
Then again…there's always exceptions.
"Duo huh? Well now that I know at least one of you I can die happy."
He laughed, "So now that we know each other, maybe you can tell me who you're working for?"
Jessie raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so. If I gave out that information, they'd kill me for sure."
"Do you work for StarRex?"
"I told that other guy no, so I'm gonna give you the same answer. I don't. They killed-" she stopped.
"They killed? Yeah I know that. They killed lots of people. Especially at that Murphey Compound or whatever."
Her eyes darted up at him, "What? What do you know about the M.A.C. Crisis? Tell me!"
"Hey, slow down now. Calm yourself," he raised an eyebrow, "Why do you wanna know so bad?"
Quickly, she turned her gaze to the floor, "Forget it."
"No, tell me. I wanna know why."
"I said, forget it!"
He noticed the sudden change in her tone. It had turned to a woman holding back tears. Pain.
Duo sighed and leaned back against the wall, "Okay. It's forgotten."
She knew, even at the age of twelve, that the Gundams were responsible for the destruction of her family's compound and she knew that StarRex also had a hand in it. Both were to be blamed and both were to be punished.
Jessie went and sat on the dirty mattress and rested her elbows on her knees.
"Listen, Duo, I just wanna get out of here."
"Yeah well, I can't just let you go. If you want out, you're gonna have to talk."
"But I can't."
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
He smirked, "See? Look how easy that was."
She stopped breathing a moment, "I just…" her eyes met his, "I just told you my age and yet when that other guy almost killed me for just my name, I wouldn't say."
Shrugging, he stood upright, "What can I say? It's a gift."
"Yeah, but I just met you."
"No, you met me yesterday. Well, sorta. But I did give you that apple," he winked.