Elaine had found herself fairly comfortable as she began to wake up the following morning. Opening her eyes tiredly, Elaine saw herself in a darker room, on the floor with Descole's cloak still on her and…

Descole's cloak still on her?

Elaine sat up, holding some of the cloak in her hands, shocked to see it still here. While her memory was never the best, she faintly recalled Descole leaving the room, saying he had to check on some things. Elaine, feeling a bit tired again, had laid down on the couch and shut her eyes, not truly expecting to fall asleep. Well, obviously she did.

She was startled when the cloak was suddenly tugged out of her hands and looked up just in time to see Descole bring the cloak around himself and tie the strings of it together. Elaine gave a weary look to his side when she noticed a sheath with a sword inside. How long had that been there and why did Descole have it?

"About time you woke up." He muttered.

"'Ow could I wake up from such a 'comfy' floor?" Elaine muttered back in a sarcastic tone as she stood up.

"Simple. Open your eyes and stand up. That's how you do it." Descole turned to walk back to the monitor he had been sitting at. With no sound other than the hum of said monitor, Elaine was beginning to feel a bit out of place just standing in the nearly empty room. She cleared her throat and asked,

"So, why did you bring me here?"

"I decided to be kind and let you use my cloak as a blanket, and I wanted to make sure you wouldn't try to steal it." Elaine had doubts of that excuse. It just sounded… Off to her somehow.

"And I was on the floor because…?"

"I didn't say I was planning on being a saint without sins." Elaine glanced to the monitor and with slow and silent steps moved up behind Descole to look at the screen.

"It's rude to look over people's shoulders you know." Descole pointed out in a dry voice.

"If you're reading. I don't think there's nothing too wrong with trying to watch something." Elaine retorted, not looking away from the screen. The contestants were there, Professor Layton and Luke among them as well as the singer from the opera last night and Mr. Whistler. She was surprised to see a table with food and drink prepared for them.

"You're actually feeding them?"

"How are they going to run on an empty stomach?"

"Run? From what?" Elaine tried to see as much of the area the screen would show, but could see no danger.

"The wolves of course. What, did you believe they would have just been for show? Very pointless I must say." There was a brief silence before he added, "I can assure you that they won't eat the contestants. At most, just terrify them. Make them regret all negative decisions they have ever made."

"Aren't you an âme gentille et douce?" Elaine said as she folded her arms. "And if they do get caught by the wolves, what then?"

"They're out of the game, and will stay in the dungeon cell until the game is finished." Descole sounded a little irritated with all of Elaine's questions. Elaine couldn't do much. She was in a more or less powerless position. She doubted she could just easily leave the room since Descole did bring her here in the first place. She didn't even know how the controls in front of Descole worked so if by some chance he left her alone in here, she wouldn't know what to do with them. She wasn't an expert with this kind of stuff.

It was a bit hard to believe for Elaine that she was here simply because of her career choice. She probably still would have went ahead with it if she knew to some degree that something like this would happen. But that didn't stop her from wondering if she should have applied for a job at a different museum. She knew that there was a museum near an art gallery in Monte d'Or, where her cousin Madeline was. Elaine couldn't recall off the top of her head right now what Madeline did there exactly. Something involving the, Ledore family, maybe? It sounded along the right track. Maybe not the right family name but it was on some form of correct track.

Elaine was sure it was either an assistant of some kind or accountant.

Elaine cleared her throat and asked,

"So, what happens after someone wins?"

"Assuming their body accepts Melina's memories, Ambrosia will be raised with the Song of the Stars and Song of the Sea, and will belong to me of course. You get the honour of translating any glyphs found after that."

Elaine didn't say anything else, but she smirked to herself as she remembered one important detail. Song of the Sun. She never mentioned it and it was still unknown, likely to all and not just Descole. No. It WAS unknown. There had been little evidence of Ambrosia's existence to begin with, and what information did seep up was by sheer fortune. Elaine wasn't even sure how Descole got those papers that led to this island in the first place. Maybe someone else had stumbled upon them and Descole stole them? It didn't sound beneath the man to do so. At least by much. But no matter what, Elaine was certain Ambrosia would not rise. At least not by Descole.

The thought of Descole seeing himself fail at this made Elaine want to smirk in triumph. Maybe it was a bit petty, but what was her one moment of vindictive nature compared to everything Descole has done up to now?

That's when other thoughts began to creep up to her mind. Thoughts that weren't so pleasant and actually made her uneasy.

Her action of omitting the Song of the Sun had been done with little to no thought whatsoever. On a whim really. Stubbornness can have good and bad sides. An example of a good side being that one would be very tenacious and determined towards a goal and refusing to just stop. Elaine preferred to see her stubbornness in this light. However, the bad side would involve acting on impulse and sometimes acting without thinking. Being an archaeologist, such things would not really be beneficial, but Elaine has so far kept such things from interfering with work and instead having it directed towards personal situations such as the one she was in.

The reason why this is important to know is because frankly, Elaine was only beginning to realise how bad of a decision she made early on in only mentioning two songs. Maybe the realization came up earlier in the form of the guilt early on. Guilt brought on only because of the possibility she was developing Stockholm Syndrome. At least, that was what Elaine repeatedly told herself.

But new scenarios of possible outcomes were popping up. What if Descole found out? No doubt he would be furious. How furious exactly, Elaine didn't wish to know but had no doubt it would end badly for her. Then there was another in which his plan to get Melina's memories into someone actually worked and he tried to raise Ambrosia only to fail. All that money, time and work for nothing. No doubt he would be just as furious and accuse Elaine of lying or blaming her in some other shape or form. Again, Elaine didn't want to know the outcome for herself.

These ideas alone almost made Elaine wonder if she should come clean. Surely it couldn't hurt too much for Descole to rise Ambrosia? As far as Elaine knew, there wasn't any sort of curse on the island or kingdom (Unless you counted a fruitless journey to find immortality), so it wouldn't lead to some such as some kind of apocalypse, right? Descole probably just wanted some kind of fame from what she knew, and to be fair it would be hypocritical on her part to blame him for such. She had had her own ideas of fame when she was left as the last person on the Golden Garden excavation. Though she wouldn't have gone to such lengths as her captor.

Yes. Being honest did seem to be the right thing to do. She was going to move her mouth but hesitate as another scenario came to mind.

What would Descole's reaction be? No doubt angry. Possibly even feeling betrayed somehow. Elaine felt a little ill as she realised he would still be mad and take it out on her still. Either thinking she was lying or something else along those lines. And with that sword on his side…

Elaine now felt almost physically sick. She was in a horrible position where she had a high chance of paying for her lack of thought. Maybe even with her life! It was a long shot but not impossible.

The proverb she was possibly looking for was perhaps, 'Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her new problem had no solution. There seemed to be no escape. And dear God, she had no one to blame but herself.

"Something the matter, Ms. Hawthorne?" Elaine blinked and looked down to Descole who was staring up at her with what was likely a demanding look.

"Wh-why do you-?"

"You look pale." Descole cut her off. "Are you sick?"

"N-no, I… Maybe the weather's getting to me? It's warmer 'ere then in England." Elaine suggested, as she tried to keep her thoughts from showing on her face. Descole simply stared at her before looking back to the monitor. Not speaking another word. Elaine felt some relief and tried to ignore her fears.

She was fine. There was nothing to worry about. It was just her mind over exaggerating. She told herself this repeatedly. She tried to convince herself that the choice she made was the correct one and that she made no mistake.

But yet, the confidence in those words wavered greatly.

Alrighty, so I found what I believe to be the perfect voice actors for Elaine in English and Japanese. I left the names in Elaine's profile on my Deviantart account along with a link with a voice sample to give you an idea of Elaine's voice. If you're Vocaloid fans, you may be happy to know that the voice provider for Megurine Luka is Elaine's Japanese voice actor :)