Jellal never had the chance to talk with Grandpa Rob about it the next day, or in the weeks that followed. Part of it was that whenever he was around him, his cellmates were too. I definitely want it to be a VERY private conversation. He supposed the only way he'd ever be able to talk to Rob about it would be if they were given an opportunity to talk alone, which hadn't really happened throughout their stay. But Jellal felt too embarrassed to bring it up to begin with, so he wasn't sure how to get information on what was happening to his body.
About four weeks after Jellal and Erza's little escapade on the veranda, the guards implemented a new mechanism for oppressing the prisoners. A buck toothed man in a guard's uniform came in to explain to them how they worked. "Here's a state-of-the-art suppressant machine that tracks your actions and decides when to stop you. It includes a shock mechanism for when the device notices that you are not performing your duty. You will put them on every time you leave this cell and take them off when you return. I call them shackle-bots." He grinned widely, emphasizing his disproportionately large front teeth. Jellal looked at the machine. The bot that floated in the air above the prisoners heads had a blinking light. He wondered how smart the machine was, and how powerful its restraints were.
"We've decided to adopt these machines to ensure maximum productivity in reviving our god, Zeref. Our latest reports state that efficiency has gone down in recent months, which is why we are introducing these." His crude smile grew. "Keep in mind that should you work at too slow a rate, or go anywhere you shouldn't be" His eyes met Jellal's at that moment and his heart froze. There's no way he could know…"Then the bots are programmed to issue a taser-like shockwave that will most likely knock you unconscious. Should that blow be so severe that it detracts from your work productivity, we will have to take you as a sacrifice for our God. As we continue to construct the R-System, more lives are needed to fuel its power." He ended with a giggle. The guards here all sure seem to enjoy the suffering of others. Jellal thought bitterly. He looked at the frightened faces around him, and stopped when his eyes met Erza's. They had barely talked since that incident, and even avoided eye contact with one another. Instead of talking directly, they would converse only in conversations with their friends as buffers. Jellal wasn't sure what the root of this avoidance was, but he figured it probably had something to do with his mentioning marriage. Admittedly, the fact that he had gotten hard again multiple times in the past few weeks didn't help his shame. The best he could do was lie on his stomach and pinch himself while thinking about what probably happened to all their cellmates that had gone missing. He found that pain and disgust were the fastest remedies to that issue.
Their first experience using the shackle-bots began that day. While he couldn't feel the restraint of the bot directly, he could see the electric chains that connected him to the bot. Hours passed as usual, as he and Sho worked beside one another with their pickaxes to mine rocks to be shaped into bricks, not too far away from their cell. Suddenly Sho let out an audible gasp. "Ouch!" he said, wincing. Jellal looked over and saw that Sho's left hand had a large gash in it where crimson blood was oozing out. "Did you hurt yourself?" Jellal asked. "Yeah, that rock I was holding turned out to be a lot sharper than I thought" He replied. Sho put his pickaxe into his pocket to concentrate on stemming the blood leaking from his hand. In the blink of an eye, Sho lit up with electric light, screaming as he was tasered, then fell to the ground unconscious. Jellal stood there a moment in horror, then tried to move towards his comrade.
"Sho!" Jellal looked over and saw Erza rushing towards them, a worried look on her face. Just as she drew near them, and Jellal got close to their friend, their restraints snapped them back painfully. Jellal felt like his arm was almost ripped off. So this is how these things work, huh?
With both rendered immobile, a guard approached them chortling at the sight. "Well well, someone was slacking off eh?" "Please sir!" Erza pleaded. "Sho needs some help. He needs to be treated for his wound and rest!" Jellal smiled lightly at Erza's compassion. She really had taken the younger kids under her wing, especially Sho and Millianna. "Help and rest, huh?" considered the guard. "Well, I suppose I could be so altruistic...if you receive punishment in his place for slacking off." he said smirking. "I'll do it!" said Jellal. "Me too!" agreed Erza. The guard gave a small chortle. "Very well then, we'll leave him for awhile to rest then allow someone to carry him back to his cell at the end of the day. As for you two, you're good at carrying heavy materials, right?" They both nodded uncertainly, and his smile grew. "We have been needing someone to clean out the sacrifice room." He laughed loudly and called over another guard to help bring them. The electric chains pulled them roughly, following the guards to their destination. Jellal glanced at Erza and saw the same fear in her eyes that he was feeling. Please don't let this place be what I think it is.
It was. As they were lead up the stairs to the highest chamber, a disgusting stench filled the air. Jellal tried to hold his breath to fend against it, but the odor just grew stronger and stronger. When the guards opened the door, they were flooded with a wave of the smell which was even more pungent. But what they saw inside made the stench take a back seat in his mind.
There were bodies everywhere. The room was dimly lit by several large lacrima crystals lining the walls, each emitting an eery glow… and containing one to four preserved rest of the room was strewn with carcasses in varying states of decay. There are so many...how can anyone do something like this? Surely if there is a God, like the one they serve, it would try to stop this madness! So many people, and I've probably met or seen a lot of them...how can they do stuff that's just so pure evil? Jellal's mind was racing. What if he recognized some of them? He didn't want to see. He just wanted to go back to the cell and shut his eyes tight. Opening his eyes, he noticed how each of the bodies seemed to have been treated differently post-mortem. Some had been cut up, their entrails spreading across the floor like spilled mush, rotting slowly. Some looked to have been badly burned, their skin and faces beyond recognition. The worst were those that had been preserved but for large holes through their bodies - it almost looked like they were still alive but for their vital organs being scooped out and splayed across the room. All of them were crawling with maggots. The smell of death permeated the air even when Jellal tried to close his eyes.
"The two of you will work to clean this place to make room for the upcoming sacrifices." Stated the first guard while the other left the room. "You will be locked in here until midnight tonight. If you do not clean them all by that time then we will take the bodies and store them in your cell with you while you sleep. Oh, and we'd have to take that little blonde kid you were protecting as a sacrifice, since you wouldn't have fulfilled your punishment." He let out a little giggle "Now wouldn't that be fun?"
The second guard re-entered, wheeling in a few wagons. "You will place the bodies in these. I want this place spick and span by the time you are done. We will take off your shackle-bots for now, they need to be used for the next shift of workers. But don't worry, you won't be able to escape here, and I dare say we've given you enough incentive to work efficiently. Oh, and don't forget about the bodies inside the lacrimas." He ended with a laugh, slamming the door behind him and locking them in, leaving them with nothing but their hands to work with.
The instant the door was shut, Jellal fell to his knees and started retching out the tiny morsels of dried bread and water he had consumed earlier. The smell of death was overpowering him, making him sick to his very core. After his stomach was empty, he continued dry heaving, trying his best to get out the immense revulsion. Why do we have to be here? Why is there no one getting rid of these sadistic bastards? He thought in his anguish. I hate them all. He thought as he felt himself go dizzy from exertion. He felt like he was going to pass out.
"Jellal!" cried Erza as she caught him from falling. She rested his head against her shoulder. "I really hate it" he mumbled "How they always laugh at our pain. Its like we're just things to play with for them. I couldn't even imagine treating an animal I hate this way, nevermind another human.""I agree" she said. Jellal could feel her shaking beneath him. She's frightened, but putting on a brave face for me.
"You rest awhile, I'll get started on cleaning up." Erza said, trying to lay him down gently. "No! Erza, you shouldn't even have to look at this stuff. I'll clean it all myself." He insisted. He could tell how much she didn't want to touch any of the bodies. "Don't be silly Jellal" she said with a soft smile. "We're in this together. Besides, we don't have enough time for only one of us to do the work. We need it cleaned by midnight." Jellal still looked uneasy about Erza having to touch those corpses overflowing with maggots. "Think of it this way" she continued. "We're both working to save Sho. Now I know we will both be able to get through this if we just keep that in mind. This is for our nakama." Her words made him smile despite their situation. "You're right" Typical Erza, always putting her comrades first. He thought. I can't protect her the way I want to - that's just not who she is. Yet that somehow just makes me admire her even more.
So without further delay, the two set to work on collecting the bodies and heaving them into the wagons. They started out with the parts that were the most decayed. They smelled worse, but were less recognizable and therefore easier to deal with. Jellal tried hard to numb himself as much as possible to the sensations around him. He tried to ignore that the garbled grume in his hands had once been part of a living person. After a while it got gradually easier to ignore the nausea in his stomach and terror in his brain, and just concentrate on making it back and forth from the wagons to the remains and back again.
The real problem came when they got to the corpses that had been scooped out. The miscellaneous mash of organs wasn't so bad, they could just pretend that it was something else. But the bodies that still sported their owner's faces were the worst. The first one Jellal approached was a former cellmate of theirs - the young woman who had been vomiting from anxiety their first day - her name was Mara. So this is what happened to her when she disappeared two weeks ago. Jellal tried to take ahold of her body, but as he lifted it, the hole that went through her abdomen gave out on the sides and she broke in half. Jellal had to hold his breath and scrunch up his eyes to bring her upper half to the amassing pile of gore. After he'd brought the first half, he looked back at Erza who was carrying another corpse on her back, her eyes shut in anguish as she heaved it towards the destination. He could tell she was suffering, same as him. If anything, her suffering made him feel worse than his own, if that were possible.
"We're nearing the end, Erza." He said, trying to comfort her. "Good." came her short reply. It was true that they were almost finished, but the bodies that remained all had distinct faces, and they hadn't started on the ones inside the lacrimas.
They decided to work together with the rest, flipping them over so they were face-down and didn't have their milky eyes looking past them blankly.
Finally, all that was left were those in the lacrimas. Jellal wasn't sure how to go about getting them out - the lacrimas looked pretty solid to him. He walked up to one and felt the surface. It definitely feels solid, but then how did they get them in?
He pressed down hard on the crystal, and, to his surprise, his hand penetrated the surface. He was not prepared for the shocking pain that came with it. He screamed and retracted his hand. It felt like a billion needles trying to get inside his skin all at once. The hand he had brought out again felt like it had been dipped in acid, raw and stinging, yet there was no visible impact to it.
"Are you okay?" Asked Erza. "Yeah, just wasn't prepared for the sensation of touching inside this thing I guess." He replied. He braced himself, then tried again. This time he did all he could to ignore the pain. Reaching towards the corpse encased in the crystal, he grabbed the woman's arm and slowly pulled her out of the confine. It was like pulling someone through molasses. Finally, with some help from Erza, they pulled the woman's body free from the lacrima. It landed on top of Erza, who gave a squeal before Jellal wrenched it from her and flipped her on her front. Together they brought it to the wagon that wasn't already overflowing with various bodily remains. The rest they did with Erza pushing from behind and Jellal pulling from in front. Somehow, the poisonous-feeling pain from the lacrimas helped to numb them even further. They both seemed to be in a state of incomplete consciousness, too traumatized to even treat it like they would any normal situation. They were so immersed in their task that they managed to finish up relatively quickly, leaving them with time to wait before the guards allowed them to leave.
When they finally hauled the final corpse of a large man that had taken both their strength to move, Erza collapsed to the ground, shaking. Jellal understood, part of him wanted to do the exact same thing, yet he found he no longer knew how to move. I just feel so...numb. Like I'm in a dream right now. Like this room is just too disgusting to be real.
He looked down at Erza, and had to force his body to move, holding her trembling form. She leaned into him instantly, something which under normal circumstances would leave him beyond elated. Not right now though. He didn't feel anything right now - he was beyond the threshold for emotion.
And so they sat there together, in between the wagons they had filled and the door, that only exit from this torture chamber. Erza's arms encircling his neck, her face buried in his chest as he held her around the waist. It was hard to say how time was passing, he had lost all ability to pay attention to it when everything just felt empty. They felt sticky, and Jellal didn't want to think about the substances gluing their clothes and skin together.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the door creaked open, revealing the two guards that had brought them there.
"Ah, all done are we? Good children. And look! You even had some cuddling time - aren't we kind for setting you two up?" The guard cackled. Had anyone else said that, Jellal would normally blush but secretly feel euphoric over them getting the impression that he and Erza were sweet on each other. Now however, he couldn't feel anything...anything but...I hate these monsters. What would they know about anything to do with people and how they interact? They've already forsaken all pretense of their humanity. They...they deserve the same kind of punishments they dish out.
He wanted them all dead. Every single person who had enabled and perpetuated this horrific community.
Lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed being lead out. In the light, it became evident that both children were coated in various brown and red substances that smelled like putrid meat. He didn't want to think of the words for what it actually was.
The guards forced them to strip down and hosed them off. Jellal normally would have gone into a state of embarrassment and curiosity standing next to a naked Erza, but right now, he didn't even feel okay glancing at her. He felt too dead inside to do it. The guards finished washing them of the blood and entrails, giving them new clothes after. By new, they were new to Jellal and Erza, rather than brand new. They certainly looked and smelt like they'd been worn by someone else. Jellal didn't want to ask the question of what happened to their previous owners; he was pretty sure he already knew.
They were lead back to the cell, both in a state of semi-consciousness, so shocked and unsure of how to deal with this experience. Many of their inmates were awake, waiting for them.
Sho ran up to them straight away when they entered, leading them to their group of friends. "You guys are alright? Thank goodness! I was so worried about you. Everyone said that you had taken punishment for me when I was knocked out. I felt horrible not being able to do anything about it. I'm so glad you're okay!" He rambled on as their other friends greeted them as well, stating how glad they were that the pair had turned up okay.
"I was scared that they would do to you what they did to Grandpa Rob that time" Said Millianna. She was referring to a few months prior when Rob had disappeared for a week and a half after trying to sneak extra food to one of the kids. He had come back much worse for wear, and insisted he would rather not discuss his experience. Jellal was sure that the old man had only survived because of his amicable and polite acquiesce with the guards' commands. I don't know if I could go along with their orders so easily...not after what I've seen. He thought darkly.
"So uhh..." Started Sho, looking around nervously to check whether anyone was in earshot. "I came across something, or rather, made a plan...y'know...for escaping" Jellal's eyes widened at Sho's statement.
"When I was lying there, I noticed some stuff about the structure of this building. Looking around, I saw the layout of the drainage system in this area. It goes in a kind of downward spiral, then stops nearby this cell, if you go by the patterns of the drains. The way this room is built...the only place that the pipes could leave would be through the wall to the right of us. That's the only area big enough, and the drains stop after it. That means, if we can get through, then we can cut into the pipes and escape through the sewers." Jellal was speechless. Could this really mean...can we find a way out?
"And that's not all" Sho continued. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pickaxe he had been using during their work hours. "The guards completely forgot to check my pockets while I was passed out. They left this with me. I think we can use it to chisel through the wall, and maybe even the pipe itself" He explained excitedly. Well it certainly sounds possible.
"All we gotta do is keep at it every night and hide the passage behind the wooden crates in here during the day. The guards shouldn't notice. They barely spend any time in this place - they wouldn't notice that a crate moved a few inches" Said Wally with a wink.
"You...you really think we'll be able to get out of here?" Asked Erza. "I think it will work. I have faith in this plan, and our ability to follow through with it." Chimed in Simon. Jellal felt like he had exceeded his emotional cap for the next month...and yet…"I agree. We should definitely take this risk. Any more time in this place than absolutely necessary is wasting our lives." Said Jellal defiantly. The others all smiled and gave a quiet cheer.
"Then we should get started tomorrow!" Sho exclaimed excitedly. "C'mon, I need to go to sleep now, you all should be real dandy and join me" Said Wally with a yawn. The others all joined him, except for Erza Jellal noted.
"I...I don't think that I'll be able to sleep after the things we saw tonight" She said with a small tremble. "Though Sho's plan really gives me hope. I think we might just be able to do it" "Yeah, I feel the same way. You were really brave today." Replied Jellal. "Not really...you were. But I guess you always are" Said Erza with a small blush. Jellal raised his eyebrows. "I mean, you always do such a good job of leading us all, its like you know for sure that we'll all get through this no matter what. You give me so much hope" Erza explained, looking at the ground. She was shaking again he noticed. "I just can't get those images out of my head" She said, tears beginning to well up in her big, dark eyes. "I don't want to explain to the others what we saw. I don't want them to feel this same fear" She began to full on cry. Jellal acted on instinct and grabbed her, holding her close. "Don't worry" He cooed. "We don't have to tell them anything. We have a plan to get out of here and we're going to succeed." He wasn't sure where this strength was coming from, but it somehow made him feel better too. He held Erza gently and after a long duration, she dozed off. Jellal looked at the girl in his arms, her face, her hair. Of course, she's what gives me this power, this resolve. She is my light at the end of this dark tunnel. He thought back to those dark thoughts that had gone through his mind earlier, of how each guard deserved death and defilement. I don't need to waste my energy on that kind of hate. What I need to do is put as much distance as possible between us and those sadistic bastards. And with that in mind, he finally got some shut-eye before morning.
The next few weeks were spent working diligently as possible during the day (in order to avoid suspicion and any potential visits from the guards to their cell), and working hard on their escape route at night. When the others asked about the punishment Jellal and Erza had gone through, they just said that they'd had cleanup duty. Well that's partially true I suppose. Simon managed to get his hands on a small shovel as well, so they took turns in twos chiseling out the brick and concrete that separated them from the sewer pipe. Night after night, they toiled hard. They had grown callouses, sometimes waking up with their hands bleeding, but none of them cared. Jellal was pretty sure that all of them would sacrifice their hands completely if it meant their escape. Quit thinking such gruesome thoughts. That's only going to make you remember that night. He thought with a shiver.
The sacrifice room had played a large role in his night terrors throughout the past weeks. Just the knowledge that that room existed, let alone in the same building, was enough to make Jellal begin to shiver and sweat. But he tried his best to keep it at the back of his mind, and put all his energy towards ensuring that they would escape safely. Each day, they dug further into the brittle wall. They had to hide the pile of dust and rubble behind another wooden crate to keep it out the way, along with using one to hide the hole they were creating each day. The further they dug, the more Jellal's hope grew. We're going to make it out of here!
Finally, after many weeks of little sleep and a lot of labour, they reached the pipe and began working around it to find a way to pierce through. Jellal was the one to test out creating a hole in it. While the pickaxe Sho had snuck in made a dent, it also created a lot of noise. If the guards hear, they'll catch us for sure. He thought.
"Hey guys, we're going to have to find a way to mute the sound of hammering through the metal here. Any ideas?" He asked. "Here." Said Simon. "I'll wrap my shirt around it, then use as much pressure as possible to break through" Jellal watched as Simon wrapped his garment around the tool and took hold of one of the pointy ends. He managed to pierce through by putting all his weight on top, puncturing a small hole with little noise. Next, he took the small shovel and placed the pointy end in the hole, turning it in circles to widen the gap with as little noise as possible. It grew larger with his force. We're finally going to be free! Jellal thought. Though I wish it had been me to break through it instead of Simon. Why does he have to be so beastly anyway? But Jellal didn't linger on his envy for long; he was too excited that they finally would be able to escape.
He turned to the others "It's ready! We should get going before the guards hear anything."
Sho turned to the rest of the group. "Over here, c'mon, hurry up!" Wally frowned at him "Jeez, we gotta try and be quiet you dummy!" he reminded him. Millianna frowned back at Wally. "Hey! You're being even louder than he is right now." Wally blushed at that. Jellal had noticed that Wally seemed to be developing feelings for Millianna, but he wasn't completely sure. "Huh. You're right, sorry about that." Wally apologized.
Simon turned to Erza, who didn't seem to be moving. "Come on Erza, we've gotta move quick or the guards will catch us." Erza looked up at him "Yeah." She nodded. "I know...I want to go...but I'm scared. Because… I know what happened to all the other kids. They're dead…" Jellal felt his heart break for knew exactly what was going through her mind at this moment. "There's nothing to worry about, we're gonna be fine." He assured her.
"Oh, Jellal!" Erza jumped a little, surprised by his proximity. He heard Simon give a disgruntled "tisk" in the background, but ignored it. He looked Erza in the eye. "We're finally getting back our freedom, our future, our dreams." He held out his hand for Erza to take. We're finally leaving this place together. "Let's go, okay?" She smiled softly and took ahold of his offered hand. "Yeah" She responded.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps, all of them stood frozen, then tried to rush towards their escape but stopped dead. "Well well well...what do we have here?" Came the voice of that obese guard. No. This cannot be happening. This CANNOT happen! Jellal thought in anguish. We're so close...Yet this was just the beginning.