Everyone was asleep when Number 7 woke up. She was still groggy, but at the moment her hunger outweighed her need for sleep. It felt like she could eat all the food in the manor. Number 7 knew she'd slept through lunch but she didn't know if she missed dinner or not. There weren't any windows and because everyone else was asleep there were no lights on either. Not that it mattered they didn't have a clock in their room, Lord Heartfilia didn't think it was important.
Despite the lack of windows in the room, it wasn't completely dark. There were little light crystals attached to the bottom of all the furniture, letting Number 7 see where they were. It was helpful for late night bathroom trips and the dim lighting let her see the other four sleeping girls. Out of habit, her sleepy eyes lingered on the empty bed number 4, where there should have been a fifth sleeping girl. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts; Miss Layla had said that it wasn't good to dwell on those kinds of thoughts.
Number 7 tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes only to flinch when her hand made contact with her face. She hadn't expected to feel the texture of the bandages on her hands and she'd forgotten that they were hurt to begin with. Number 5 must have bandaged them after she'd fallen asleep. Thankfully though, they didn't hurt as badly as they had before. They still ached however.
Her stomach growled, reminding her why she woke up to begin with. She got out of the bed as quietly as she could and, with practiced ease, made her way through the dark room to the door. Because of the bandages, it took a little while for her to get a good grip on the knob but when she finally did she wanted to cry. The movement had made her hands hurt more, but that pain was tolerable and wasn't why she was upset.
The door was locked.
Lord Heartfilia only ever locked them in their room when he was punishing them. Unfortunately for Number 7, she had a feeling she knew why they were being punished. It was all her fault; she should have found the other Lucys faster and she should have seen through Number 10's trick. She shouldn't have kept Lord Heartfilia waiting for so long.
With a defeated sigh she went to the bathroom. With the door locked, there was no way she'd be able to sneak into the kitchens and even if she was still a bit tired, she was too awake to go back to sleep. She figured that a bath would at least distract her from her hunger and the rest of the impending punishment. Lord Heartfilia never left a punishment at just locking them in their room. Number 7 shivered at the thought. While he had never permanently hurt any of them, his punishments were never pleasant or something she wanted to go through again.
One time he'd locked them in the graveyard. It was the only time she could remember ever seeing Number 10 cry.
She shook the memory from her head and started filling bath number 7. It was never a good idea to think about the graveyard. Doing so only led to more nightmares about it. Instead she sat on the edge of the tub and undid the bandages Number 5 had put on her. Her hands were still red, but they did look a lot better than they did before. Number 7 also noticed the paper bracelet Lord Heartfilia had given her. He'd ordered her to keep it on for that day, however, she didn't know how long she'd slept so she didn't know if she could take it off. She bit her lip and decided to keep it on. It'd be fine so long as she didn't get that hand wet.
Of course, being able to only use one hand made it hard to play in the water. It wasn't long before she forgot and the paper became soaked. At that point she figured it didn't matter if it got even wetter, it was already ruined.
They didn't have very many toys to play with, and very few of those could go into the water, so Number 7 instead played with the soap bar and shampoo bottles. Sometime after the paper bracelet dissolved into a gross mush but before her fingers got all wrinkly, another Lucy woke up.
"Can I play too?"
Number 7 looked up to see Number 5 standing next to her bath. Without their clothes on it was easier to see who was who. The white identification numbers on their chest, while small and difficult to spot at times, was the only difference between the two girls. With a small smile and a nod, Number 7 scooted over so Number 5 would have room to climb in. As Number 5 did so, Number 7 noticed that the other girl had already taken off her paper bracelet. Her eyes flicked towards the wet pile that sat on the side of the tub; at least she wouldn't have to fish out any more soaked paper.
"The door's locked." She told the other one.
"Yeah, I know."
"I'm sorry."
Number 5 shrugged. "It's not your fault. 10 was being mean. How're your hands?"
"Better. Yours?" Number 5's hands looked fine, from what Number 7 could see. But that didn't mean that they were.
"They didn't get hurt. The Lacrima was like Miss Layla's keys."
"Oh," her shoulders sagged. She really should have thought about something like that. Number 10 was right the other day; she was kind of stupid.
"It's okay. I checked in on the others before coming in, it looks like 10 didn't know either. Her hands where the same as yours. I bandaged them up just now."
Number 7 frowned, "I guess Number 3 and Number 8 weren't able to tell her…" Then again Number 10 had more than enough time to think about that test.
Number 5 flicked a soap bubble. "Or they didn't want to…" she grumbled. "Which sucks, cause she's hurt now and I don't like it when you guys get hurt."
"I don't either…" Number 7 fiddled with Mr. Conditioner Bottle. The thought that the other two would have intentionally kept Number 10 in the dark about how to pass the crystal magic test made her stomach twist. Even if Number 10 played mean tricks on them, that didn't mean she should get hurt. "How did it go for you?"
The other girl shrugged. "It went okay. The Lacrima is sort of like a rainbow; it goes from white to red to orange and such. First time I went up to green. I only got orange next." That just made Number 7 feel worse. Yes she did it wrong and yes out of all the Lucys it was common knowledge that Number 5 had the most magic but still…
"I… only got to pink." It was not a very good sign that she couldn't even get rid of the crystal's whiteness.
Number 5 patted her shoulder. The cooling water that clung to her hand left goosebumps on Number 7's skin. "It'll be okay, let's wait to see how the others did."
"I don't think they could do worse."
"You never know. Besides he could just be testing how fast we get our magic back. You know, I think you're the only one who managed to get anywhere close to the same color both times!"
She gave her mirror image a dry look. "I don't think that's how it works…"
"Well next time he tests us you'll know how to do it right."
"If he tests us on that next time." Number 5 huffed and crossed her arms. Number 7 could see that the other Lucy was not going to give in to Number 7's doubts. "Anyway, if he's testing our magic, do you think he'll let us summon some spirits?" Other than the golden key for Cancer, Miss Layla had two silver keys: Crux and Lyra.
Number 5 wrinkled her nose. "I hope not. I get that you love them but it's just…So weird! And creepy!"
She blinked in surprise at that. "How is it creepy?"
"It just is! They're not human and- and you go and pull them from whatever they were doing before." She gestured with her hands, splashing the water around with her motions. "Why are they bound to their keys? Why do they obey us? If you have a key then you have an instant servant. It's just…creepy."
Number 7 pulled her knees up to her chin and muttered. "I don't think they're creepy."
"Which is why you should be the one to use the keys."
She frowned at Number 5. "I doubt Lord Heartfilia will just let me use them. If anyone is going to get them after Miss Layla is gone, it'll probably be you."
"Well I shouldn't. And I'll tell him that."
"What? But I'm the worst possible person for something like that! And to go against Lord Heartfilia-"
"You don't know that. And I don't think it should be a big deal. It's not like he cares which of us does what."
Number 7 frowned at the sudden bitterness in Number 5's voice. "What's wrong?"
"I've…been thinking…You know how Miss Layla sometimes still reads us stories? And they sometimes have families in them? Aren't we…Kind of like that? Sort of like…Sisters?"
"I…" Number 7 frowned, she honestly hadn't thought of it in that manner. "Where are you going with this?"
"It's just, no matter what kind of story, they're all different- sisters I mean. And if we're sisters than why do we have to be the same? I don't want to summon Celestial Spirits. You do, you love doing it, but I want to use a different magic!"
What Number 5 was talking about was scary. It was going against everything Lord Heartfilia wanted them to be. And honestly, Number 7 couldn't imagine using a magic that wasn't Celestial; she couldn't imagine not having a friend just a key swipe away. However, Number 5 was so passionate about it, she couldn't help but ask: "what kind of magic do you want?"
She was almost disappointed when Number 5 shrugged. "I don't know, I did look in the library, there wasn't any books on stuff like that. The only ones I know of are Celestial Spirit summoning and Lord Heartfilia's." They both gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of his magic. Number 7 doubted it was something Number 5 wanted to learn, or if she even could learn it. Number 5 shook it off. "But I know there has to be other types out there! There just has to be!"
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna ask Miss Layla when she comes back. And if Lord Heartfilia wants me to use her keys, then I'm going to say no. I won't let him make me do it either."
Number 7 bit her lip at that declaration. Number 5 wanted to go directly against Lord Heartfilia's wishes. "I…Be careful…" Her voice sounded weak and small, especially in the face of Number 5's determination.
However, Number 7 couldn't think of anything else to say or do to help Number 5 out. At least nothing that wouldn't also be going against Lord Heartfilia. Her stomach twisted with worry at what might happen to Number 5 and filled with guilt and shame at the realization that she wasn't nearly as brave as the girl in front of her was. All she could do was offer superficial words of encouragement.
Number 5 just smiled in an understanding way and hugged her. Neither cared that the action caused cooled water to splash from the tub and onto the floor.