This one's going to be good! Funny, too, I imagine.

ooo

I rolled out of bed, hitting the cement (or what felt like it) floor with a loud thud. I opened my eyes slowly, my head now throbbing. Why was I lying on the edge of the bed? Didn't I have more room?

Ignoring my questionable sleeping position, I staggered to my feet, rubbing my newly bruised shoulder. I had time to think now, clearly. I didn't have to be wondering what to do next, or how to escape. Just the silence around me and Rika… Rika?

I caught a light blue hand out of the corner of my eye, still fast asleep in my bed. "What are you still doing here?" I asked, my voice wrecked with exhaustion. With no response from the sleeping elf, I sighed, scanning the room. Other prisoners were awake; I could hear their pleas and cries.

What about me? I surely didn't feel awake, though gravity had forced me to be so. My Omintrix's stasis shield flickered by my waist, laughing at me, at my stupidity.

I sat back down on the cot, hoping not to wake the girl. I spotted her Plumber's badge lying on the ground by the cot, so I leaned over and picked it up, inspecting it. "Can't you help me?" I asked quietly. "You may have gotten me into trouble once or twice, but you've helped me out of it as well." I clutched the badge tightly in my hand, growling, "Damn it."

Plumber's badges were SOS devices, but they were also a ticket to anywhere you wanted to go, if you didn't steal the badge, and your name wasn't on any sort of blacklist, that is. The question was, how far could it send out an SOS?

I tucked the badge safely away in my pocket, waiting to return it to Rika once she woke up.

Now… The silence began, but it wasn't until after I was hit on the head with 'breakfast.' Another day in Hell. That'd meant I'd slept almost twenty-four hours, though I shouldn't be surprised with my lack of sleep the night before. I'd slept longer days and nights in the summer when I was younger.

I'd since lost count of the hours, the time I'd been in prison…

To top it all off, I had the strangest craving for something, and it sure wasn't chili fries. Maybe it was all the talk of Julie, a lost love… Maybe it was love? Companionship? My eyes drifted back to Rika's cold, blue hand.

What about Rika, though? Does her species have the capacity to love? Has she ever loved someone? I find it hard to imagine she hasn't, though she's been locked up in a castle for the majority of her life… Rika did bring up compatibility the other day, however. Maybe she was longing for someone, too…

I shook my head, clearing the thought. No, I would make sure it wasn't love. I can't handle that, not right now.

I needed to get out of there. The prison was driving me to ask questions of myself that I wouldn't normally even think of.

"Rika…," I turned around. "Wake up. We're breaking out of here."