At first, San woke up slowly, achingly. She was lying curled up on damp stone, bare skin cold against it, and only just enough vision to make out bars of metal before her. Spitting weakly, San tried to remove the taste of iron from her mouth, but it was useless, one of her teeth was loose and still bleeding. Trying to move, she found her hands chained behind her back. Opening her eyes was hard, one was caked shut by blood dripping from her eyebrow, and San could feel the damage in her shoulder, roughly bound to limit blood loss.

She tried to sit up, but a flash of pain struck her so hard, she had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming, but this only caused more to come, so she writhed on the ground in agony for an unknown time, unwilling to let the world hear her pain. But it was noticed anyway.

"Please don't move, it will only be worse."

San gasped for breath, trying to understand the words of the voice through the unrelenting jaggedness in her mind. Finally forcing her other eye open, she sought its source. "Who's there?" Her own voice was ragged, quiet. And then she saw where she was. A cage, just barely big enough to fit her in it. Panic flooding through her, she rammed herself upward, knocking her head against the top of the cage, too low to even sit up in.

San screamed, and not just from the pain that ricocheted around her skull and tore through her shoulder, but from the cage. San, a daughter of the forest, was caged. She screamed, her throat unleashing out a cacophony of torment that filled the darkness to the brim, and she lashed out at the bars of iron that bound her, feet smashing, bound hands clawing, teeth gnashing, all working to try to escape the inevitable horror that came with the knowledge that she was caged.

She raged until her breath ran out, and then took in more to do it all again, but the pain from her exertion became too great, and she sagged back to the ground, curling in on herself, whimpering as racking sobs overtook her.

And then a hand touched her hair. San recoiled, but didn't get far, having to return to the same position in the cramped space, shuddering. And then the hand touched her head again, stroking her hair gently, steadily.

"Don't hurt yourself more, please. I'm here, you're not alone."

Through San's storming heart and rapid breaths, she heard that the voice was small, soft, and cracked in places. Female. The hand kept moving, brushing softly, the touch bringing an unexpected amount of stability, the fingers calm in their movements and comforting in their presence.

"There, there, that's the way. You got hit really hard on the head, please don't move too quickly, or it could do more damage. What's your name?"

San forced herself to a semblance of calm, the presence of another person bringing her back somewhat. Slowly, the memories came back. San had killed Emperor Yamasaki, she remembered seeing his twitching body on the ground. She'd tried to fight more, but eventually the guards had caught her, disarmed her, then beaten her. There had been discussions about killing her, half-remembered through a haze of pain, but obviously she was alive now.

"I'm San," San whispered, unsure of why she was telling a stranger, but not easily able to identify a reason not to. By the moon, her head hurt.

"That's a pretty name." The physical contact didn't stop, and San was grateful, letting herself be touched as the smallest bit of comfort spread through her, her breathing slowing. But it couldn't last forever.

San brought her legs underneath her, and after some painful wriggling, managed to face the other direction, to see who was talking to her. There was another cage, larger than hers, but not by much, with a person in it. She'd reached as far between their cages as she could, her scrawny arm outstretched. In the dim light, San could make out that it was a small figure, that of a small teenager or a child. "Are you feeling better?" she asked. "The bars are tight but they don't want to hurt you."

The figure drew back gingerly, and raised themselves up, and San finally caught a glimpse of the girl's face, half-hidden by shadow. San's eyes went wide, the girl's words going right over her head. She had wood brown hair, large dark eyes, and elegantly rounded features. Even with her scarred, hollow cheeks, the dark circles under her eyes, and her hair reduced to a ragged mess, San saw Ashitaka in this girl. San gulped, the taste of iron running down her throat.

Even with her addled, pain-wracked mind, San put the pieces together. "Kaya?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she turned her head ever so slightly, to look at San more directly. "What? How do you know my name?"

San didn't reply, because she couldn't. The girl's left eye, the one San had thought swallowed in shadow, simply wasn't there. A gaping hole stared back at San's horrified gaze, a dried trickle of blood running from the cavity like rusted tears.

"Please, San, answer me?" Kaya begged, small eyebrows drawing together, chained hands rising together in a pleading posture. "How?"

"Your… your eye…" San whispered, horrified. It was like the face of death was looking back at her, but Kaya simply shook her head, hair obscuring the empty hole.

"Please…" Kaya whispered, leaning against the bars weakly.

San shook herself, shoving down the disgust and anger swelling in her. Information, a good place to start. "I came here with Ashitaka and Chen. We came to save you."

Kaya's eye widened, and her breathing quickened. "Ashitaka? He's here?"

"In the city, yes–" a flash of pain interrupted her, but San grit her teeth and kept going. "They don't know I was captured, but when I don't return, Lady Eboshi will understand what happened. She's good at making plans."

And then San remembered what the Emperor had told her about his knowledge of Eboshi's plans, and her head lowered, resting against the rusty bars of her cage. They could already be dead, for all she knew.

Kaya spoke, voice quavering with emotion. "I had lost hope that anyone would come for me…" She looked up, her eye filling with tears, and San couldn't imagine how much pain that caused her. "How is he? How do you know him?"

"He… he saved my life. I stabbed him, once, but he forgave me. Because I was indebted to him, I came." That was all Kaya needed to know about Ashitaka and their relationship right now, San decided vehemently, ignoring the girl's gasp.

There wasn't room for petty troubles like broken hearts, not when their lives were on the line. Encouraging, that's what she needed to be right now. She narrowed her eyes, concentrating. Kaya had comforted her, in her moment of terror, and what San told her could help allay months worth of fears for the poor girl. She met Kaya's gaze firmly, shoving back both the physical and emotional pains that threatened to overwhelm her, and she realized what she needed to say. "Kaya."

Kaya blinked, swallowing. "Yes, San?"

"Ashitaka never forgot you."

Slowly, like a sunrise, Kaya's face lit up in a smile, tears cleaning a small river down one side of her face, sparkling in the torchlight. "He told me he wouldn't," she whispered. "He kept his promise..." she gave a small laugh, rough from disuse.

A fierce, painful pride erupted in San's chest. Ashitaka had kept every promise he had made, regardless of the damage it had caused. He'd set his mind to tell the truth, and it had split San and he apart. But San realized now, why he'd done it. "Kaya. If I know anything about that frustrating, bone-headed man, it's that he'll never give up. He'll never stop fighting for the things he loves, and nothing's ever stopped him from doing what he felt was right, not me, not an army, not even a God of Death, and–" San smiled back at Kaya, and she could feel her split lip cracking open again. "Nothing's going to stop him now."

San, filled with a burst of purpose, swung her chained hands around, and twisted. Pain surged through her shoulder and wrists, but her flexibility allowed her to bring her hands to her front. She leveraged her hands through the bars and reached out to Kaya, who reached back and took them. Her hands were small, but rough; this girl had done some working in her days. "We can't lose hope."

"Thank you, San." They shared a smile, and San saw that the girl's remaining eye was the exact gray shade as Ashitaka's. The girls didn't let go of each other, and San could see a weight lifting from Kaya's shoulders, and she closed her eye and sagged against the bars of her cage, a small smile on her face.

San realized that the cramped space of her cage wasn't bothering her anymore.

Voices. San drew her hands back and looked sharply into the darkness. "They're coming this way," she muttered, eyes narrowing.

Kaya took a rushed breath, eye widening in instinctive fear, clutching her hands to her chest.

San took in her surroundings for the first time, now that her mind was working better. It was a room of cages and larger cells, and there was only one metal door. There was a lock on her cage, and it only took San a glance to realize she couldn't do anything about it. Clever as she was, she knew nothing about human devices and she was in no shape to tackle solid iron with brute strength. If only she had her dagger…

The door unlocked, then burst open. A squad of samurai rushed in, blades out. Seeing that neither prisoner had escaped, some of them sheathed their weapons, but several others, bearing naginata, pointed them at San. She snarled at them, and they retreated a pace, the fear in their eyes visible even through their demonic masks.

"Take them!" Someone ordered, and one approached San's cage with a key in hand.

She shouted a fierce, wordless cry, and the man staggered back, but the naginatas neared, forcing her against the far wall of the cage.

Another had gone to unlock Kaya's cage, and was having a far easier time. The man reached in and pulled the girl to her feet, and she cried out in pain.

"Kaya!" San shouted, outrage in her voice. "Don't hurt her any more, you bastards!"

"San!" Kaya cried, desperation in her voice as she was bodily picked up.

"I'm here! Don't forget what I said!"

"I won't!"

The man unlocked San's cage, and reached in stiffly, his heavy armor slowing him down. San struggled, but the pain caught up to her, and he dragged her out of the cage. San screamed as something wrenched in her damaged shoulder, then she bared her teeth and moved to lash out.

Kaya let out another cry of pain, and San suddenly realized that she had to be calm. If she kept fighting, it wouldn't get her anywhere, she'd just get hurt further. And she needed to be in the best condition possible for when Ashitaka arrived, to fight beside him.

She wrenched her arm from the man's gloved grip, but instead of taking advantage of the freedom she took a deep breath, ignoring the bloodstains spreading on her shoulder's rough bandage. Her sudden calm surprised the soldiers, and she looked at them with narrowed eyes, standing herself up as gracefully as she could manage, remembering her lessons from Eboshi. Take control of your surroundings. "So? Where am I going?" Her words shocked them further, as if they hadn't expected her to be able to talk. "Well?" she demanded. The spears behind her prodded, and she strode forward, following the one that carried Kaya, as regal as if these were her personal bodyguards.

With blades surrounding her, she walked down the dark passageways of the underground prison. The procession passed rooms filled with strange instruments, presumably used for causing pain. They'd subjected a child to such cruelties. San had known this generally before, she'd believed what Chen had said, but now it was all the more real. San allowed her rage to build at the sight of those foul things but held it in. She'd need it, when she was free.

They descended a flight of stairs, and San realized they were going even deeper into the earth. Where were they being taken? At worst, they'd be executed. They had no further use for Kaya, and San had killed their leader. There was the possibility that they'd be tortured further as punishment for that, but San couldn't think of any others options.

Then something roared further down the tunnel, and San let out an involuntary gasp. That was the cry of a wolf god, but it was… distorted. Twisted, by pain and rage. The passageway opened before her, and San's eyes went wide as she entered a massive room. Many torches and several wrought-iron light fixtures hanging from the ceiling lit the surprisingly large space. The room was lined with cells and crossed with catwalks on higher levels, and San's sharp eyes picked out various stairways and exits.

The room was mostly square, with a larger exit easily visible along the far wall, the wooden door covering it almost three men tall and incredibly wide. But San's eyes were drawn to the center of the room, to the shadowed pit that dominated the space.

Near it, a solitary cage stood, watched over by more soldiers. The room was bustling with them, orders being shouted and obeyed, the clank of metal on metal echoing. The girls were dragged to the cage, and it was unlocked. Kaya was dropped inside, but San followed her in willingly, ignoring the points poking her back. The door was slammed closed, the jailer eager to get out of reach, but San's attention was elsewhere. She knelt gingerly beside Kaya, and helped her sit up. San was shocked at how light the girl was. "I'm here, don't worry."

Kaya looked up at her with her remaining eye, and without hesitation leaned against San's chest. "Thank you…"

Kaya was crying again, San realized. She brought her chained hands up and around, and held the smaller girl in her arms. San tried to imagine being alone, in the dark, in constant pain, for weeks on end, and she couldn't. But she did know what it was like to have someone reach out to you after a time of darkness.

Another howl tore from the pit, dragging San's attention back to it, and San could feel the aura of hate that came from that hole. She couldn't understand what he was trying to say, any languages he'd been able to speak were gone from him, driven out by that desperate, agonizing anger. "No…" she murmured, remembering the first time she'd met Chen and heard his story, weeks ago.

She knew what was in that pit. It was Hitori's father.