Behind Bars

Part Six: Yang's First Lockdown

The first thing Yang noticed were the sounds –

Everywhere, sirens blared and honked and screamed and screeched. A steady babble of voices rose and fell, waves crashing over her ears and slamming into her face as she jolted upright in bed.

Through it all, something metallic buzzed and crackled, providing a steady, regular beat amidst the chaos.

Then the lights –

Gloomy red lights blaring in her eyes. Dizzying flashes of bright white. A yellow blur that spun around the room – there and gone, there and gone.

Yang's vision tried to adjust to the dark, then the light, the dark, then the light. The effort to focus left her reeling in place, struggling to stay upright in her bed.

Guards yelling. A girl screamed – and somewhere in the mess, she could hear the lark singing. Not her usual high, clear lullabies – something sung to herself, low and like a prayer. In a sense, it was as if she'd never stopped, as if the humming tones drifting down from her cell had followed Yang into her sleep, and greeted her again when she awoke to the barrage of noises –

"LOCK IT DOWN! LOCK IT DOWN!"

A CO's voice deep and harsh, growing louder as he ran down the row of cells on the level below them.

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK YOU LOCK THIS SHIT DOWN NOW! CLOSE OFF D BLOCK! CLOSE IT OFF!"

A harsh rattling sound, wet and low buzzed in Yang's ear. It took her a moment to recognize it as the sound of her own breathing.

She heard the crash as the gates slammed shut, sealing off each of the five levels of D block – isolating them from Briarcliff's other containment units. Steel bars clanged together in her ears, momentarily surging over and above the crowd of restless voices.

But then the sea of sounds rushed back – girls yelling, screaming, cursing – demanding to be heard.

"CO! What's going on?"

"What happened?"

"FUCK YOU CO!"

"CO! CO! We have a right to know!"

Guards, irritated, yelled back – adding the cacophony.

"YOU GOT NO FUCKING RIGHTS IN HERE INMATE! SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!"

The war of voices raged on. Even as Yang strained to hear she lost track, too many threads of too many mismatched conversations shaking the concrete walls, slithering through the bars, and dying off in the distance.

"Guard! My cellmate needs help, she-"

"HELP! WE NEED HELP!"

"Call the Warden, damnit we're going code r-"

"Who died?"

"SOMEBODY'S DEAD?"

More screams.

"AIN'T NOBODY FUCKING D-"

The guard's voice was drowned out, overwhelmed by a series of crying, screeching, roaring:

"LET US OUT LET US OUT LET US OUT!"

Outside Yang's cell, a guard hissed into his radio –

"This is CO Willis, get Warden Vincent on the phone. We need more men in D and A blocks now!"

"Containment protocols underway, lockdown has initiated in Cellblock D-"

"COOOO, COOOO WHAT IS GOING ON?"

All the while, sirens continued to whine and wail – the metallic thrumming still pulsing in and out; distant and then close, distant and then close.

Yang's sheets were matted about her legs, sweaty and warm. She felt the temperature rising all around her, getting hotter and hotter with each pass of the rotating yellow light. It wasn't until the monitor around her ankle starting beeping that she realized the heat was coming from her own semblance.

"Cool it, rubia. Get that under control before you do somethin' stupid," yelled Cadeja above the noise. Her head popped up from her bunk, appearing a few feet away from Yang's – first in the dark, then in the light, then in the dark again as the lights continued to sweep in and out of their cell.

"It's already hot as fuck in here – cool it down! Ahora mismo! You hear me?" she roared, fangs flashing.

Yang nodded, focusing. She tried to block out as much noise as she could and slowed her breathing. Balling up the sheets in her hand, she let her muscles contract and then slowly – finger by finger, joint by joint – she released, letting the tension and the energy flow out of her in waves that matched the steady pace of her breathing.

The beeping stopped and the light in her monitor faded back to a dull green.

"Good," said Cadeja – but Yang couldn't hear her. Even as she got herself under control, the other women in D block started to riot inside their cells.

Joining Cadeja on the ground, she went to the front of their cell and looked out. Yang watched, entranced, as the women across from her – above and below – rattled the bars of their cells, pulling on them fruitlessly and screaming their rage and their fear and their frustration at the guards and at each other and at no one in particular.

The noise grew and grew and grew – a monster alive in the Wilds. Women yowled and roared and cried, one woman directly above them was sobbing outright.

Then the beeps.

Beep beep beep beep beep.

Louder, the chorus of mechanized clicks shrieked –

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The harsh keening descended over Yang and Cadeja. The wolf Faunus flattened her sensitive ears to her skull, covering them with her hands as her mouth widened into a soundless snarl.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

And still the sirens blared and women shouted and guards roared and their radios chattered and the buzzing and the thrumming and the clanging and the

BEEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP

The individual noises disappeared into an ocean at war with itself, the beeps lengthened and grew louder, shrieks now ripping from a hundred speakers

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Then cracks of lightning split the air and sounds like none Yang had ever heard before came tearing out of the inmates' throats around her. Scream after scream rammed home its crescendo, and then cut off – zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZAPPPPPP – with the crack of an electric spark that flared to life.

Across from them, Yang watched a dark skinned woman howl and drop to the floor – looking more dead than unconscious in a heap of disordered limbs. The woman's cellmate screamed and cried, draping herself over the body.

The monitors… thought Yang.

In their panic, women had let their natural defenses rise – driving their aura levels higher and higher until the monitors entered the red zone and retaliated, electrocuting them into submission.

Horrified, Yang listened to screams that died and ended in sickening thumps as more and more women were blasted by the electric currents unleashed by the monitors.

"That'll shut 'em up," said a guard, near enough to be heard over the sirens and the ongoing screams and cries of the prisoners. Something about the gruff voice rattled in Yang's memory. Belatedly, she recognized it as belonging to CO Reilly.

"INMATES," bellowed a guard, fighting to be heard above the noise raging through D block.

Yang turned to Cadeja with a questioning look.

"Kowalski," she mouthed.

Yang nodded, and went back to trying to hear what was going on around her.

"INMATES! BACK TO YOUR BUNKS! GET AWAY FROM THE BARS AND SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN. WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING TO UNFUCK THE SITUATION. SIT. YOUR. FUCKING. ASSES. DOWN!"

Of course, Kowalski's words did nothing to soothe the roaring tide of inmates, squawking and hollering in their cells. While a few cowered away from the bars of their cell doors, afraid of having their exposed hands rapped with an errant nightstick, most just redoubled their efforts to wring answers out of the COs.

Amidst the crowd screaming "What's going on!" and "Let us out!" Yang heard a distinct few women bawling, crying out "I want to go home! Let me go home!" and begging for their mothers. Some of them Yang recognized as usually distant, hardened women who – from Cadeja – she had learned had made more than one trip to the Birdcage.

Something about this lockdown… Yang started to try to puzzle it out, but after a few frustrating moments she found it was impossible to connect two thoughts together amidst all the noise and flashing lights.

She felt Cadeja's hand on her arm, tugging her back toward the bunks. Rather than climbing up into her own, Yang settled at the foot of Cadeja's bed. However, she stay half-turned towards the cell door so she could still see what was going on across from her on the other side of D block.

From her vantage point on the second floor, she could see down to the first as well as up into most of the third floor, but what was going on above in the two highest levels, she had no idea.

For hours, she sat perched on the edge of the bed – just watching as guards ran back and forth, either coming up from the level below or running down from one of the floors above. Each time, they were accompanied by a series of buzzing and clicks as they had to use their access cards to navigate the extra security locks between levels.

Even as the night stretched on, the lights never stopped and the inmates kept up their cries. Every once in a while, another woman would push her aura levels too far and get zapped by the monitor around her ankle. Their screams punctuated the flux of noise, echoing down the empty space between the rows of cells.

After a while, the din became background noise. To Yang, it almost felt like she was going deaf. She switched between staring out between the bars of their cell, and watching Cadeja.

Mostly the Faunus just lounged at the head of her bed, her head resting in her hands. Eyes closed, she affected a sense of calm – one that Yang knew thinly veiled a bubbling panic underneath.

Her mouth was tense, and every so often she nibbled on the edge of her bottom lip with one of her fangs. She might have been imagining it, but to Yang it even seemed like Cadeja's spikey white-gray hair bristled from time to time when the noise outside shrieked back up in a macabre crescendo.

But eventually, the noise from the inmates slowly died out. The night lengthened, dipping into the small hours of the morning. Still, most didn't sleep – even if they did finally allow themselves to relax. Now and then, Yang could make out the sounds of a guard's hurried footsteps, then the buzz-click-clang of a CO being waved through a security gate.

As far as she could tell, D block was still sealed off from the rest of the prison because the number of guards seemed to stay the same, none entering from the Western side where the doors led to the cafeteria, the center of the Briarcliff compound, and beyond – to B and C blocks.

But when the fluorescent ceiling lights flickered on at 6 a.m. and the COs made no move to take girls to the morning showers or escort them to the cafe for breakfast, the yelling started to surge back up –

First a few girls, and then more, and more until all of D block was in an uproar again – rattling the bars and screaming at the guards as they ran past, from station to station.

Yang had stood up – intending to stand by the bars and see if she could tell what the guards were doing amidst all this, but she stopped when Cadeja spoke for the first time in hours.

"Don't bother, ave rota. You ain't gonna find any answers by staring out there. Take it from me, you're just gonna have to ride this one out – and it's going to take a while," she said, staring past Yang to the bars beyond.

Yang hesitated – halfway between the bunks and the cell door, but she nodded – recognizing the wisdom in Cadeja's words. Yang didn't know much – like what Cadeja had done to land herself in the Birdcage, or how long she'd ultimately be there – but she did know that this wasn't her first time around a prison, and she spoke with the voice of experience.

It was one of those moments – like a nagging thought, a second of dissonance – that Yang wondered if the person she saw – the kind, if not entirely patient, and even mothering Cadeja – was the person she really seemed to be. She'd certainly done something to end up in jail, not once, but at least twice.

Shaking her head to dispel the thought, Yang plopped back down onto the end of Cadeja's bed. This time, she turned her back to the front of their cell, trying to focus on anything but the noise, the running, the screaming, and the occasional beep, beep, beep.

For two days they stayed in lockdown.

For two days, not a single woman in D block left her cell. Close-lipped guards didn't say a word to shed any light on what had happened. They just scurried to and fro, and twice a day they ferried in trays of food from the cafeteria.

Eventually, Yang and Cadeja had to avail themselves of the toilet in their cell. It was a much-avoided, rather odious object that they usually didn't need – but without access to the D bathrooms, it became a necessary evil.

When Yang had to go, Cadeja pulled the sheet from her bed to cover the front of their cell for privacy. When she stood there holding it rather than hanging it, Yang asked why.

"Because, rubia – they see me here holdin' it, they know where I am. I hang the sheet and walk away, they'll think I'm doin' my roommate, you feel me?"

After that, Yang didn't ask any more questions.

Then – finally – on the morning of the third day, something changed. Floor by floor, the cells were opened and the inmates were escorted under heavy guard to the cafeteria.

Some women panicked, and tried to run – but they were either subdued by COs or the electric mechanisms in their monitors were remotely activated.

After a few of those, no more prisoners tried to run.

D block was emptied from the top down, so Yang and Cadeja were among the last to leave the Wilds. By the time they reached the cafeteria, several hundred women were already huddled in groups around the room – too many women to be just from D block alone.

From what Yang could tell, the guards had bolstered their numbers – there seemed to be one CO for every ten girls. She guessed there was staff from at least two cellblocks, and probably some extra duty shift officers flown in by airships overnight.

In the crush of people, Yang momentarily lost sight of Cadeja as the crowd surged away from the entrance of the cafe. Once she was a little further in and had some space to maneuver, she started to glance around for the tell-tale shaggy white mane of the wolf Faunus.

Distracted by her search, Yang nearly jumped out of her skin when a small white hand landed on her breast. Spinning around, Yang defensively slapped the hand away and found herself facing the strange rabbit Faunus with the mangled ear, the one she'd seen in the great oak tree out in the Yard.

The girl's face was an odd mix of surprise and hurt, her mouth gaping open and her eyes wavering. She snatched her hand to her chest and cradled it as if it were wounded.

Yang almost felt sorry, and was considering apologizing when Cadeja reappeared by her side.

"You got a problem, Xiao Long?" she said, eyes bearing down on the rabbit.

"No – no I think we're good here. Let's go," said Yang, pulling Cadeja away.

But even as they turned to leave, the girl uttered a strangled cry and ran away, skittering through the crowded room.

"Do you know who that was?" asked Yang.

Cadeja shook her head.

"Not really. Seen her around, all I know is her name is Freya Harrison. She's got a rep for bein' one of the weird ones. Add her to the list of people you should avoid."

"Is there anyone besides you who isn't on that list?"

"Who said I wasn't, rubia?" said Cadeja, grinning.

Eyes scanning the room, Cadeja paused for a moment.

"Huh, A Block got hit too," she said.

"How do you know?"

"I recognize some of the girls," she answered. Then, pointing towards the back of the room, she said, "There's a friend of mine."

"You have friends?" Yang asked, surprised.

"Fuck off," said Cadeja, rolling her eyes and smiling.

Gradually, they picked their way across the room to the place where Cadeja had pointed. As they passed, Yang picked up on fragments of conversations that crisscrossed and clashed against one another.

Mostly, she heard girls talking about the lockdown – and what had caused it. Needless to say, the rumor mill was alive and well in the Birdcage.

"…bunch of girls offed themselves in their cells, bedsheets around their necks…"

"…Well I heard somebody got caught fucking a guard…"

"…No, no, no – it's like this: some Faunus bitch got shanked in the showers, huge bloody mess…"

"…no I heard that weird blonde chick – yeah, yeah that one who follows Sasha around like a puppy – got raped…"

"…that bitch escaped? Nah – like hell I'd believe that… What she do? Dig her way out with spoons? Shit's impossible…"

"…damn fuckers pulling some serious shit, practically asking for a grimm attack… wouldn't be the first…"

Able to ignore most, that last one caught Yang's ear and settled with her.

The grimm – it'd make sense, with all this chaos – and why just A and D blocks? They make up the eastern facing half of the prison… the only side not protected by the cliffs…

Yang's thoughts were interrupted when Cadeja pulled her to a stop by the back wall. Sitting cross-legged in front of her was a small woman, perhaps the same age as Cadeja – maybe in her late twenties? She had dirty-blonde hair that ran stick-straight down her back. She looked up at Yang with hazel eyes, not so much seeing her as seeming to look through her. Vaguely, Yang noticed a dark skinned woman with her hair buzzed short kneeling behind her.

"Church," said Cadeja, "meet ave rota. Ave rota? Meet Church."

Yang tried not to squirm under the woman's strange gaze. Clearing her throat, she attempted to improve upon Cadeja's introduction.

"Uh, yeah – hi!" she said, sounding a tad too cheery. "The name's Yang, actually."

She held out her hand to shake, but Church made no move to take it.

"Hello. My name is Isabel Churchill," she said in a rather clipped, mechanical tone, "Inmate number 01-1963." Then, as if an afterthought, she said, "But you may call me Church. Most do."

Yang looked at Cadeja and pulled her aside a step, whispering in her ear.

"Is she… alright?" she asked.

"Don't be rude, rubia. Church es una vidente – a seer. She is much respected amongst my people."

"She's a Faunus?" said Yang, surprised.

Cadeja smirked. "She may not look it, but Church's got a set of claws on her like you wouldn't believe." She paused, jerking her chin towards the woman behind Church. "But Mirra isn't – she's human. She takes care of Church – she has a tendency to forget to eat. She's not the most… grounded person."

Turning back around, Cadeja asked, "Hey Church – you got any idea what's caused this mess?"

Something about her eyes sharpened for a second, but she merely shook her head.

"I wonder if the grimm really did attack…" muttered Yang.

"If they didn't before, they certainly are now," chimed in Church, her voice a little too chipper. "It's not surprising, what with all the panic from the lockdown."

Is this girl for real? thought Yang.

"We're good though, Church, right?" asked Cadeja, kneeling.

Church paused, head lilting to the side.

"We're safe," she said.

Yang saw Cadeja make that odd gesture with her hand over her heart again, and then she took Church's hand and kissed it. Yang's eyes practically bugged out of her head.

Did she just…?

Looking away, Yang's eye landed on Mirra. The girl had been mostly silent, hovering just behind Church. But as Yang watched, the girl started shaking, her eyes locked onto something behind Yang's back.

Oh shit…

Yang, turned and – as she expected – saw Sasha sauntering over to their group. Behind her trailed Roxie and one or two others Yang didn't know.

Noticing Yang's shift in posture, Cadeja stood and turned to face the newcomers, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.

"What do we have here?" cooed Sasha. Looking past Yang and Cadeja, she spied Church and Mirra sitting on the ground. Eyes taking in the quivering girl, she grinned. "Scared, Mirra? Afraid your big bad Faunus bitch can't protect you, traitor?" she hissed.

"Hey!" yelled Cadeja, putting herself between Sasha and the two girls on the ground.

"Out of the way, puta, the people are speaking," she sneered.

Yang practically jumped at the snarl that ripped up through Cadeja's throat.

"I'm nobody's bitch," she said, her voice barely under control.

Ignoring her, Sasha turned her attention to Yang. Something must have registered on her face – still startled from Cadeja's growl – because Sasha smiled.

"Aw," she purred, her tone babyish, "Is this little Yang's first lockdown?"

She laughed and the girls behind her hurried to follow suit, chattering like little birds.

"Wouldn't want such a special little girl to get scared now, would we?" she continued, still smiling.

Yang glared at her, eyes flashing red for a moment before she could bite back a retort. She focused on her breathing, forcing herself to remain calm.

"I won't stay – clearly you and your little Faunus friends were in the middle of something dreadfully important," she said, waving her hand. "Just wanted to check on you, sister, and remind you to be careful of who your friends are," she jeered, eyeing Cadeja and Church.

Turning on her heel, her long black ponytail whipped Yang in the face as she disappeared back into the crowd, goons in tow. As she left, Yang caught another glimpse of the tattoo peaking above the collar of her shirt.

"I'm getting sick of this weird shit with her. Every time she says sister my skin crawls. Still no idea why she calls me that?" she asked, looking at Cadeja.

"She doesn't call everyone that, just the ones that are like her," said Church, chiming in.

Yang jerked, surprised. Turning her attention back to the woman sitting on the ground, Yang said, "What do you mean, the ones that are like her?"

"I mean what I said," she stated simply.

"But I'm nothing like her!" Yang shouted, pointing in the direction Sasha had disappeared.

Church shrugged. "In many ways, that is true."

Frustrated, Yang stamped her foot, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"My head hurts. Weeks and I still know nothing about Sasha, what she wants with me, and what's going on between her and the Faunus." Pausing, she looked at Cadeja again. "Any idea what that tattoo is on her back?"

Cadeja shook her head. "What do you think – we're all perverts in here? I don't go peeping in other people's showers, Xiao Long," she said, waggling her eyebrows.

Yang could tell that she was teasing but she was in no mood. Seeing that she was serious, Cadeja said, "Honestly I've only glimpsed it once or twice. Fucker's huge – maybe a dragon or something?"

"It's not a dragon," said Church, playing with a scrap of fabric in her hands.

Cadeja pretended to be surprised, "You been peeking in people's showers now, Church?"

The small girl didn't even bother to answer her.

Yang waited for a moment, but she said nothing else.

"If it's not a dragon, do you know what it is?" she asked.

Church's eyes came up to meet hers, a dreamy, far-away look about them.

"Yes," she said.

"Aaaaaaaaand?" said Yang, impatient.

"You'll find out, in time." With that, she went back to folding and unfolding the piece of worn fabric in her hands.

Yang was about to try to strangle more information out of the eccentric Faunus, but the words died in her throat when something slammed into the wall, and all of Briarcliff seemed to shake with the impact.

A silence swept over the room; conversations died into a sudden hush. Wind buffeted the building, metal creaking – and in the distance, Yang could've sworn she heard… squawking.

After a few minutes, noise bubbled back into the room as girls resumed their gossip, some crying and others yelling, but for the most part the room stayed calm – a forced sort of calm that didn't quite cover up the women casting their eyes over their shoulders, stopping every so often to listen for another distant sound.

"I wonder if we'll ever find out what started all this," said Yang, "instead of just listening to all these damn rumors. I'd kill to know what's really going on out there."

Turning to face her, Cadeja's face was set into a stern mask. Quietly, she said, "We'll probably never know, ave rota. In here, the truth comes last – only fear comes first."

Author's note: So that all happened! Providing more and more clues every chapter – I really love that you guys are starting to make guesses about what's really going on! Saw some good theories in the reviews – but there was some sort of glitch with the site so I can't see them all. Either way I'd just like to thank you guys for taking the time to review this story – it makes my day every time!

Also I got super caught up writing this chapter, so it's probably full of typos – PM if you see any really bad ones!

As always, message me/drop a review with any questions/suggestions/comments/theories – so far these have been great! I'll keep providing clues as we go along, some of them may seem misleading at times but I promise it'll all come together! Still have one more important character to intro for this particular arc of the story.

P.S. with the holidays coming up, not sure if I'll post the next chapter on schedule but we shall see! I promise to do my best

Updated author's note 12/20: okay so that OC I said I'd intro in the next chapter will actually have to wait until chapter 8! Like I've said before, I always end up having more stuff than I can fit into the chapters I plan. But it's all good because chapter 7 is underway and should be ready soon! Hopefully I'll have it posted before the end of this week