I was propped up against the wall, absently feeding myself from the vegetable medley. It was a great feeling, to have this food available for whenever I decided I wanted some. When I was feeling even the slightest bit hungry, it was there! I bit into a piece of sweet corn, thinking that the vegetables tasted a lot better when they were cold.

Continuing to munch, I picked up the water bottle Elliot had indicated. I wondered what would happen if I gave half of it to Fenton before drinking the other half, as per my instructions. I didn't think that it would kill us, but as I didn't know what it would do, I couldn't rule out death. I just didn't think it made sense for Vlad to kill us, not that anything Vlad did made sense to me.

Either way, I thought, staring down at the water bottle, this isn't a decision I should be making alone.

Fenton was sleeping. He was doing that a lot, lately. I think it was the pills. Not only did he have the pain medication, but Elliot had also dropped off antibiotics for him as well. While Elliot had been here, he had once again told me to drink the water, saying that good things could only happen once Danny and I had consumed it. I wanted to try and wake Fenton to get his opinion on the whole thing (considering that I hadn't even told him about Elliot's words, I really did think a conversation was in order). I didn't think I would be able to rouse him, however. After taking a pain pill, he would seem like his normal self for a while, and then he would fall asleep for a long time.

I rolled the water bottle from hand to hand before taking the cap off. I sniffed it but could only sense the fresh, undefinable water essance that all water contained. There had to be something different about this bottle, but I had no idea what that could be. It didn't look different, it didn't smell different, and I had broken the seal when I had originally opened it.

I sighed.

"Sam…"

"Yes?" I answered the creaky voice.

"Water, please," Fenton croaked.

I glanced over at him. He still looked asleep; he hadn't so much as cracked an eye. He had been feeling very tired lately, I had noticed. He didn't move around nearly as much as he usually did and spent a lot of time lying down. The only time he seemed to move is when he sat up to eat. I was a bit worried about him; I worried that his leg was going to become infected and that something far more serious than captivity was going to happen.

"Sure," I agreed.

I reached for one of the bottles that Elliot had dropped off and then I realized something. The only bottle we had left was the one that I had been playing with; the one that had to have something wrong with it. I crushed the plastic a little beneath my fingers, thinking of all the times Elliot had been down here since the original water delivery. He had to have planned it this way, knowing that we likely wouldn't drink it.

"Fenton," I said, turning and walking over to him. "We really need to talk about something and we need to do it now."

He opened his eyes, though very slowly. "What?"

"I … There's something wrong with the water we have."

Alertness overcame his features at my words. "Wrong?"

"Well, I think so."

"Why do you think so? Have we been drinking bad water or something?"

"No, it's just this one bottle."

"I'm confused," Fenton admitted. "How do you know this?"

"Elliot told me, when he originally dropped off the food. He said for each of us to drink half and then something would happen."

"Something like death?"

"I don't know. I don't think it would make sense but …"

"Can I see it?"

I handed him the bottle. "I've already looked it all over. There are no punctures in it. The seal wasn't broken when I got it. It doesn't smell weird – WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

I couldn't hold in my shriek. I thought that Fenton had just been inspecting the bottle, turning it over in his hands and then going to sniff it, just as I had done. Instead, he had taken off the cap and lifted the bottle to his lips. Before I could say anything, before I could stop him, his allotted portion of the bottle was gone. He put the cap back on and then placed it on the floor.

"Now, see what happens to me and then make your own decision," he explained.

"I … what? Fenton, what happens if this kills you? What …" I trailed off, my hysterics shocked into silence.

Fenton's eyes had closed. He wasn't moving anymore. He looked frozen … or dead.

Unable to speak, barely able to move, I stretched forward, about to put my hand on his chest to search for a heartbeat. I had to close my eyes for a moment, to try and calm myself down a little bit. I wasn't expecting to feel a pulse and the feeling of being alone was so paralyzing. The thought that there was a dead boy in front of me was overwhelming. My jaw trembled and I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes. My brain had been thinking the word 'dead' for far too long now; there couldn't be another person to add to the list, there just couldn't be!

I put my hand down.

There was a heartbeat.

I breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. I sat down, crossing my legs under my grungy skirt. I then placed my head in my hands and started to think. The water obviously didn't kill him, right away that is. Now, I had to decide if I was going to follow his lead and drink the water, or if I was going to simply pour it out. I looked at the half-empty bottle and thought of Vlad and Elliot. Elliot obviously needed the both of us to drink it. If I didn't drink the water, if I missed this opportunity, I could only see bad things coming my way because of it. I had to drink the water, I realized.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up the bottle and chugged the remainder. It wasn't long before I passed out.

(-.-)

Home.

This was the first thing that crossed my mind. There was a brief moment where I honestly thought that, through some miracle, I had been delivered home. There was no other explanation for the strange softness beneath me or for the peace that I had upon waking. The peace and my conviction that I was home dissipated instantly. There were still the same grey stone walls that matched the grey stone floor; the same cell bars to my right.

But that was where the similarities between this space and the one I fell asleep in ended.

While we had been unconscious, the cell had been remade entirely. I was lying on a mattress, a real mattress with a blanket and everything! I sat up, taking in the rest of the room. Most things were on Fenton's side of the cell. The head of the mattress was pushed up against the wall, as far away from the cell bars that we could get. Along the wall leading toward the bars, I could see two tall rectangles, built out of more stone. Confused, I stood up and walked to the first one. Inside the first one, was a toilet; an actual toilet, not a hole in the ground. And it had privacy. I moved to the next one and nearly died of excitement. It was a shower; a real shower with shampoo and soap already inside of it. I reached out and touched the white porcelain of the shower stall, dismayed to see how dirty my skin had gotten; it was disgusting.

I turned around, looking for Fenton when I faced my side of the cell. Along my side of the cell, were towels for the shower and clean clothes. I dashed over, inspecting the garments but not touching them – I didn't want to get them dirty, not when I was about to wash. Vlad had given me a long, thick black skirt. I wished for pants, even tights to go under the skirt, but knew they would be impossible for me to put on due to my ankle restraint (oh well, my ever-growing leg hair will keep me warm). There was a long sleeved dark grey shirt. And, finally, there was a sweater, but it wasn't just any sweater. It was a button up and pretty, for one thing. It had had a cute pattern, which had several layers to it. There were dark grey dual lines, followed by thick black diamonds, and then there were little white waves with snowflakes above them dotted by black stars. All of this was on the original light grey material. The best part, though, was it was lined with fleece. There was no way I would be able to avoid being warm in this sweater and I was so excited to put it on.

Turning around fully, to face Fenton's side of the cell again, I finally located him. He was on the mattress, opposite where I had been lying. I was surprised I hadn't felt the chill radiating off him, but he was under a different blanket than I had been, so that might explain it. He was still fast asleep. I decided to take advantage of his unconsciousness to shower in peace. There was still no real privacy in the cell – no shower curtains or place to call my own, so I stepped into the shower stall to strip off the suit jacket and my dress. Before I turned on the water, I stood there and stared down at my naked body. I was nothing but skin and bones. Fully disgusted with the picture of starvation that was my body, I turned the shower on.

Cranking up the temperature of the water, I melted into the stream of water and picked up a bar of soap. I brought it to my skin and scrubbed, watching my flesh turn bright red instead of dingy grey. I rubbed the soap over myself and just delighted in the bubbles. And, finally, I picked up the bottle of shampoo, piling it into my palm. It was far more shampoo than I needed for my hair, but I didn't care. I didn't care about that, just like I didn't care why Vlad had suddenly decided to outfit the cell with creature comforts. If he wanted to feed me, clothe me and allow me to shower, I wasn't going to complain, not after what the cell had been like these past few weeks. Of course, just because Vlad had now decided to be a little more merciful did not mean that I was going to become complacent. In fact, I knew that I was going to have to fight harder to get out of here, fearing that the end was on its way because of all of the nice gestures.

Not that it was going to be difficult to fight harder; we hadn't been doing much in terms of escape.

I was completely clean, but I was still reluctant to leave the warm little rectangle that was my shower. Nevertheless, the look of that warm sweater was calling to me. I turned off the water and picked up the fluffy white towel that I had moved to sit by me. I ran it over my body quickly, beginning to shiver as the chilly air of the cell invaded the place where there once was steam. I dashed around the corner of the shower stall so that I was between the two stone huts. I changed quickly, sliding my skirt over my head and then down to my hips. Everything fit a little loosely – obviously my weight loss had been underestimated by everyone, myself included. Still, they were clean, warm clothes.

I pulled the fleecy sweater on, and then hugged myself.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

~TLL~