Previously:

"Hey… What are the odds of all of us getting out here and finding them again before they can be sold?" Hope asked, looking down.

"Terrible." The boss answered frankly. "To be honest in a ravine like this, I don't think more than half of us will even make it without some kind of distraction, and their hideout could be in anywhere. There's a number of caves and abandoned buildings within riding distance of here…"

"Then, I guess we have no choice…" Hope said reluctantly, clenching her fist. "Faith."

"Yeah, I think I know what you're gonna say…" Faith said with a wry smirk as a bead of nervous sweat slid down the side of her face.

"We're staying." Hope said firmly as she looked up at the men.

"You can't—!" They started to protest, but Hope held up a hand to silence them.

"You guys need a distraction in order to escape, right? You can leave that to us." she said determinedly. Her eyes landed on the boss's furry little friend. "We'll buy you time to escape, but in return…"

Chapter 32: Slave

"Well, this sucks…" Faith grumbled as they sat inside the dark, dank cell with the rest of their fellow captives in chains. It especially sucked since they had been given the really heavy duty shackles to keep them restrained after all the trouble they had caused. "Scar-face and his little friend better hold up their end of the bargain, or—"

"Shh! Not so loud!" Hope chided her in a low voice. The last thing they wanted was to let their captors in on the fact that they had gotten caught on purpose in order to smuggle the little critter inside their base so they could set him loose after marking their hideout's location on a map so he could bring it back to the boss. In return for helping him and the others escape, the boss had promised to come riding in with the cavalry to rescue them. So it would be a disaster if their furry friend got caught on his way out. "Besides, at least we know where Aladdin is now…" she added, glancing over her shoulder at the sleeping boy. Other than a bump on the head, he seemed perfectly fine. As far as she could tell, there weren't any signs of him having a concussion, so as long as they could avoid being sold before their rescue arrived, they'd be golden.

When Aladdin regained consciousness, Hope examined him again, and the twins explained what had happened. Needless to say, he was extremely touched that they would get themselves caught on purpose for his sake so the three of them could stay together, but he also felt a little guilty about it and blamed himself. The twins weren't having any of that and promptly gave him a flick and poke on the forehead.

"!?" Aladdin exclaimed as he held his sore forehead, surprised. "W-What was that for?" he asked, a bit startled.

"For being an idiot." Faith deadpanned.

"We've said it before. We're here for you, Aladdin." Hope said with a smile. "Besides, you'd do the same for us, right? So don't worry, I'm sure we'll be rescued soon."

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. The hideout of the group of thieves, situated along the passage to Balbadd, was a huge cylindrical walled city that was once a quarry. However, the group of thieves wanted it due to its stable structure, and now they used it as a fortress… which had become a place where even the army couldn't step into. It was hard to measure time in their dark cell, but as the days went by, more and more people were brought in to join them. One poor couple, who had been separated from their daughter, tried to comfort themselves with the hope that maybe the little girl had managed to avoid being taken, and that was why they couldn't find her amongst the other soon to be slaves. They tried to pass the time and cheer everyone up a little by sharing stories and singing the occasional song. They thought they heard a commotion outside one day, but as far as they could tell from their room nothing ever came of it, and Faith began to grow increasingly impatient.

"Ugh… This is taking too long!! And the food's terrible!" she groaned in frustration one day. She getting real sick of not even being able to feed herself. Because the twins' hands had been bound behind their backs, they often needed Aladdin's help to eat. "Why don't we just bust ourselves out!? It'd be so much faster!"

"Faster than what?" one of the slave traders asked as he entered the room. They were pretty sure they had heard the others call him Fatima.

"Dying of boredom while rotting away in this hellhole." Faith quipped sarcastically in response without missing a beat. She really didn't like this guy. He was creepy, and for a drag queen he had a really bad sense of style. That lipstick was so not his color.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that any longer." Fatima said with a smirk. "You and your sister are going to be brought to your new owner in a couple of days!"

"!!" the twins and Aladdin gasped in alarm.

"What!?" the twins shouted incredulously.

"Haha! Surprised?" Fatima laughed. "You shouldn't be. Twins are often in high demand among a certain clientele… They're very rare after all, and matching sets are very 'in' right now." he leered at them before exiting the room and locking the door behind him.

'Did he come all this way just to taunt us…?' Hope wondered, chagrined. He really didn't like them for some reason… the feeling was mutual, though.

"Can we escape now?" Faith asked pointedly as a vein throbbed on her forehead, annoyed.

"Definitely." Hope agreed. "But it's going to require some stealth… It'll be difficult to escape with so many people… We need to find the keys and Ugo-kun first. Aladdin, can you pull one of my bobby pins out and put it in my mouth for me?"

"What are you gonna do?" Aladdin asked as he complied.

"Pick the lock, of course!" Faith answered with a grin while Hope got to work on wiggling the hairpin around in the lock on her sister's shackles using her teeth.

"Huh? But, if you can do that, then why do you need the keys?" he asked, blinking in confusion.

"Hecuz ihall tak huoo wong ho ho dis hor ho hany heeple." Said Hope, trying to talk while she worked. "He on't hanna he haught hin heh hact hof hiscaping, o heel het hunished."

"Huh?" Aladdin and the others said, sweat-dropping.

"She said 'Because it'll take too long to do with this many people. We don't want to be caught in the act of escaping, or we'll get punished.'" Faith translated effortlessly.

"Ohh." Aladdin said while the others nodded in understanding. Yeah, that would be bad…

"Chow time, every—" one of the other slave traders started to say when he came in to deliver the usual bucket of slop for their dinner, but the twins struck before he could finish. The man never even knew what hit him as Faith delivered a sharp blow to the back of his neck, while Hope caught the bucket to prevent it from hitting the ground and making a loud clang. Without a sound the girls quickly gagged him with his own sash and put their shackles on him to keep prevent him from alerting the other slave traders and thieves to their escape.

"Wow… Your sisters are really strong and reliable, huh?" one of their fellow captives remarked to Aladdin. He was really glad they were on their side.

"Yep!" Aladdin said proudly. "I wish I could do more to help them, though… But I'm not very strong on my own, and I'm having trouble borrowing 'everyone's power' without something to help me focus the energy from my belly…" he said a bit regretfully.

"Okay." Hope said, once they had finished helping themselves to the knives they had frisked from the slave trader. "We want to avoid raising their suspicions for as long as possible, so we're gonna have to close the door behind us. But don't worry, we'll be right back." She reassured everyone.

"Yeah, we'll be sure to kick their asses!" Faith added with a wink.

"Stealthily, Faith. Stealthily." Hope reminded her, sweat-dropping. She hoped this would work. Faith wasn't exactly good at 'subtle'.

A couple of beat up thieves and several twist and turns through the tunnels later, and the girls finally caught their first glimpse of sky in days. The fresh air felt good on their faces and in their lungs.

"Fatima! What's with those dogs?" The twins immediately ducked for cover when they heard someone shout the head slave trader's name from somewhere below. Very cautiously, they peaked over the edge and saw that it was the leader of the thieves talking. "What do you plan to do?" he asked Fatima nervously. That was a very good question. What was that freak up to now? Why was a scared little girl being dangled over a cage of wild animals!?

"They are 'desert hyenas'." Said Fatima.

'Those things don't look like any hyenas we've seen before…' the twins thought, sweat-dropping. The slave trader smirked as he turned his attention to the shackled red-haired girl being held in place beside him.

'Hey, wait a sec… that girl looks kind of familiar…' Faith thought, squinting. Her eyes widened when she realized where she had seen her before. It was that crazy strong girl from the dungeon…! Morgan or Morgana, something like that…

"Our group does not like things without value… Since the medicine costs more than the sick slave is worth, I wonder what we should do." Fatima said, taking out a knife.

"!" the twins furrowed their brows as the red-haired girl paled. They had a bad feeling about this…

'What? Just what is this person saying?' Morgiana thought anxiously, breaking out in a nervous sweat. What was he going to do with that knife?

"That sort of slave is just a…" Fatima placed his knife against the rope holding the little girl up. The girls' eyes widened in horror. He wouldn't…!

"Eh? Eh? Eh? Such a… Sto—" Morgiana cried, but it was too late, he had already cut the rope.

"… Nice bit of hyena food!" Fatima finished as the little girl fell into the cage screaming. The twins stared down at the terrible scene in shock.

"Stop it!" Morgiana screamed as Faith and Hope jumped over the edge, gritting their teeth furiously, as they slid down the side of the dirt slope, abandoning their previous plan to save the girl.

"What are you surprised about? In the world of slaves, this is common sense, right?" Fatima smirked. "Your face… has a surprised expression… Though this may not have anything to do with a high-class 'Fanalis', it might be a good opportunity, so please, watch. You two… should also learn to know your place." He added, narrowing his eyes as he glanced back at Faith and Hope, who took out the thieves directly below them with pair of beautiful dropkicks.

"What the!? How did they get out!? Capture them!" the head thief shouted, calling more men to help subdue them.

"Get her out!! Let that little girl go, you bastards!!" Faith shouted angrily, throwing a straight jab fierce enough to send three grown men flying.

'Save her! I have to save her! … Geez! Why did this thing have to be attached like this!?' Morgiana thought furiously, struggling against her restraints. She didn't know where those other two girls came from, but…! 'I have to break these shackles… otherwise, I can't save her!'

"You can't break that shackle, can you?" Fatima sneered, stepping on her, while the Twins continued to try to fight their way to the cage. The little girl screamed as she struggled to get away from the hyenas. Morgiana grit her teeth and began beating her shackles against the ground with all her might in a desperate attempt to break them.

'Hurry up! Hurry up and break, shackles! Hurry!' she pleaded anxiously. '… This shackle… won't break… no matter what I do, it won't break! … If I don't hurry, she's going to be eaten! I promised to save her! It's a promise, yet…!' Seeing the desperate tears of fear in Nadja's eyes as the hyenas cornered her made Morgiana's own painful and traumatic past come crashing back to the forefront, and she was overwhelmed with memories of the abuse Jamil had heaped upon throughout the years.

"Loosen the chains? Morgiana… It's impossible. Impossible. Your chains will always be there…" her old master's voice echoed through her mind.

'I absolutely cannot remove it!' Morgiana cried internally, watching helplessly as the hyenas snapped their jaws at Nadja while tears streamed down her small face.

Really? Morgiana…

"…!?" she gasped, looking up with tears in her eyes as the rukh fluttered around her. "Who…?"

Is that all the power you have? You can't remove those shackles? Your chains should have been removed already, Morgiana!

'That's… a lie.' Morgiana thought with tears in her eyes. 'My hands and legs are in such strong shackles. I can't get out of them at all… Just like back then… I wanted to run away, but I could not.'

That's right, that's why you were captured. Your past fears… Have you not changed since those days? You've grown, and your master has died; you've been released from being a slave. Look, that bond has already disappeared!

Morgiana's eyes widened.

"Kyaaaa!!" Nadja screamed as one of the hyenas stepped on her to prevent her from dodging its attack again.

"Nooo!!" the twins yelled, rushing towards the cage, but they were too far away, and there were still more armed men in their way. They'd never reach her in time!

"!!" Morgiana gasped in alarm.

Those chains and shackled aren't the same. So, just what part of them do you have a problem with?

"Fufu… Look at that Fanalis. What kind of slave…!?" Fatima and the others gasped, staring up at Morgiana in astonishment when she suddenly launched herself high up into the air above their heads and flipped over the top of the cage bars to land perfectly on her feet between Nadja and the Hyenas.

That's right… In this world… you are bound… to nothing!!

"Wow!!" Hope exclaimed in amazement as she punched another thief, taking advantage of his moment of shock over Morgiana's feat. That girl was something else!

"Hmph, it's about time!" Faith said with a knowing grin. "Kick their asses!" she cheered.

"What a kid!" said the head thief, sweating nervously. "To jump like that from such a position…"

"Che… The situation is still the same; you can't do anything!" Fatima snapped once he recovered from his initial shock. He cracked his whip and sent the hyenas charging back at Morgiana and Nadja. "Be obedient!"

"Crap!" said Hope with a frown. "Her shackles are still…!" As Morgiana took a deep breath, the twins surprised everyone by using Fatima and the head thief as spring boards to leap up and scramble over the top of the cage, taking advantage of the moment behind their falls to hit two hyenas with a body slam. The twins quickly rolled back onto their feet as the rest of the hyenas stopped and turned to face this new threat.

"You bitch…!!" Fatima cursed furiously as he glared at Faith, trying to brush off the dirt left behind by her shoes.

"That's Queen Bitch to you!" Faith retorted coolly before turning back to Morgiana and the little girl. "Hey there, we thought you could use a little—"

CLANG!!!

Their eyes widened in surprise when Morgiana took advantage of the opening their entrance had created to start banging the shackles on her ankles against part of the steel cage as hard as she could.

"!" everyone said, surprised. What was she…? They gasped in astonishment when she managed to smash the lock, and her shackles popped open.

"I got free…" Morgiana said, stepping out of them.

'She used the beasts' strong cage to break the lock…!' Fatima cried internally, shocked.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!!" Faith said with a smirk while Hope marveled over how crazy strong Morgiana was as she straightened up and used her brute strength to pull apart the chain on her handcuffs so she could move more freely.

'Something tells me she would've been just fine even without us jumping in…' Hope thought, sweat-dropping.

"Just what are these kids… This habit of slaves… I can't stomach it…" said Fatima, gritting his teeth. The hyenas were too spooked to attack after Morgiana's display of strength, and the twins had already taken out a large fraction of the thieves using their martial arts, but he wasn't about to let those dirty brats get away with this! "All of those things for auction… take them out!" he ordered sternly.