Not a prisoner.
I'm a free man.
And my blood is my own now.
Don't care what the past was.
I know where I'm going-out!

"The Prisoner"—Iron Maiden

Mother Terra

Chapter XV

When Zidane opened his eyes for the second time in his cell he noticed something different—one of his arms was not in chains. And as he pondered why this was so, he felt his other arm being released—by Goldwin and Aldous. "What the hell's going on? Why're they removing my chains? Not that it matters. I must be patient." And Zidane was patient. Within seconds after the final shackle was removed, Zidane struck.

"Wait! Wait, Zidane!" Aldous said, after being knocked to the ground—while he peddled away on his hands and knees like a spider. "We're here to help you!"

But Zidane would hear none of it. He kicked Aldous in the chin; and when Goldwin came to help, he knocked him down as well.

"Wait, Zidane!" began Goldwin. "He's telling the truth! We're really here to help! We defected from Nuri."

"Right, just like what you told me three weeks ago. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that bullshit again!"

"Zidane, wait!" Goldwin tried again. "I know that we lied to you before, and I don't blame you for wanting to kick our ass…"

"I could handle you lying to me," Zidane began, as he kept an eye on Goldwin and Aldous, "but you kidnapped my wife and son, and that's not very forgivable."

"Zidane, please hear me out!"

Zidane was growing impatient, but he gave Goldwin and extra moment of time.

"Look, I'll skip to the point. If we weren't here to help you, would we be giving you your weapons?"

Goldwin held out the belt that contained Zidane's daggers, and he held the butt of the blades where Zidane could easily grab them.

With one hand, Zidane grabbed the center of the belt; and with the other, grabbed the butt of one of the daggers.

Goldwin and Aldous did not strike him.

Zidane fastened his belt. "All right, I'm starting to believe you. Talk! What's going on?"

"It all started yesterday, when we watched you hold Calum hostage. Nuri fired a shot. Not at you, but at your party. Nuri had no concern for Calum. He didn't care whether he lived or died. Part of the reason why we struck you that day was to get you away from Calum—even though it was under Nuri's orders. We feared that you would kill him if we didn't.

"That's not the only reason, of course. It's time we—especially myself—stopped living in a fantasy world and accept reality. Nuri is the boss. He likes to say that we're all equals, so he won't look like a dictator—despite the fact that he is, and if you disagree with Nuri—on an issue that he cares enough about—consequences will come your way…He'd even kill me, his best friend…I regret everything that we've done to you, Zidane, but perhaps there's a way that we can make it up."

"This door," Aldous said, while he pointed, "leads into Nuri's quarters—his basement more specifically. Nuri doesn't have any genomes around him. It'll be a one-on-one battle between you and him."

"This could still be a trick…Both of you, open the door."

Goldwin and Aldous nodded.

And Zidane followed, with his hands on the butt of his daggers.

Goldwin and Aldous also kept an eye on Zidane.

Aldous opened the door. There were no monsters or genomes on the other side.

"Step forward," commanded Zidane.

The two did as Zidane requested.

Finally, Zidane smiled. "I guess you guys were telling the truth. What will you do now?"

For a moment the two were silent. Then Goldwin answered. "I don't know. All I know is that we can't stay here. We decided to go to Gaia, but we're not sure where."

"We obviously can't go anywhere near Alexandria," added Aldous. "Garnet would have our heads!"

"…That's something Dagger's not fond of doing…But in this case, I can see her doing it; and for the most part, I wouldn't blame her."

Goldwin and Aldous swallowed a lump.

But Zidane returned his smile. "However, because of you helping me, I can petition her to pardon you."