Sorry for missing the last little bit guys. I haven't had much free time these last few weeks, and the time I did have I spent elsewhere. But I'm back now!

But I do have a surprise for you all today ;). We'll be seeing a bit of our new friend, and what she has in store!

Enjoy!

Over the next week 545 spent in Tartarus the visions she saw only got worse. One time she saw the girl that looked like her, standing in front of her and crying out noiselessly. Other times she saw a group of people, most dominantly a man with maroon coloured hair. His features looked sharp and focused, purple eyes never looking directly at her. Other times she saw a blonde woman and a pink haired man, the woman carrying a baby. They too spoke noiselessly. The visions never provided her with anything to go off of except for the image of them, so she mostly shrugged it off as some sort of weird dream. There was no point in dwelling on these visions of people she used to know. Memories of people that Nashi Dragneel had known. They weren't important to her anymore.

Her schedule remained pretty much the same after being allowed in general population. She was moved out of her cell in the morning to work, which pretty much amounted to digging pointless tunnels and destroying rocks down into little tiny pebbles with pickaxes. There was no purpose beyond this labour other than to break them, to tire them out to the point that any possible trouble could be squashed immediately. When someone worked for fifteen hours a day doing nothing but breaking rocks, it tires you immensely. And so they worked. They dug. For hours upon hours, all she did was stare at boulders as she chipped away at them. She always made sure to grind them into nothing so she could ensure she would not be whipped for taking a break. The work did provide her with a decent amount of work to distract herself from the visions though. After all, it was harder to care when her entire body ached from the pain of swinging the pickaxe for fifteen hours a day. Of course, 545 also noticed that all of the prisoners that had gotten rather buff from the continuous labour were worked harder than others. She'd seen more than her fair share of buff men being carted down into the deep depths of the mines, most likely to be worked as hard as possible to ensure they too were tired. She had to admit, the work the guarded did to ensure her body wanted to give in after every day was certainly a lot.

Due to this, her week since release to general populace was relatively normal. Not much really made her stand out, and that was good. Standing out here meant getting whipped, so she opted not to do it. There was just one problem with this.

Takara Yamanaka didn't know how to lay low. Over the week she'd been out, 545 noted that Takara seemed to be some sort of leader among the women prisoners. She was constantly smiling, constantly making sure the other women were okay. During break, she saw the black haired woman walking around the yard and speaking to as many women as possible. From what 545 had overheard from conversations nearby where she opted to sit, they spoke of mundane things. Life outside the prison, old hobbies, family, anything that would make the other women smile. And Takara almost always succeeded in that goal. The women she spoke to always seemed it better spirits after speaking with her, even if the smile they cracked was weak and strained. And somehow, that was all Takara ever seemed to want was a smile. Some sort of sign that her talks had made the other prisoners feel better. It was sort of admiring in a way, had it not been so annoying and dangerous.

Of course Takara had tried to speak to 545 as well, and so far she'd been able to fight her off. She gave short answers when she answered at all, not wanting to attract the attention of the guards or Hades, God forbid. Takara never seemed irritated by this, though. She always accepted the small or useless answers she got with a smile and soon wandered off to talk to someone else. If that had been the end of it 545 might have understood, but it wasn't. She often saw Takara helping other women in the quarry, either switching rocks so that she had the bigger one or swinging hard at a few of the rocks others were working on. She never seemed to tire, so 545 wondered how she'd avoided the hard labour at the bottom of the quarry. No matter where she went, Takara wore a smile and was polite. 545 didn't get it. What was there to be happy about around here? As far as she could tell, they were all down here to die. Whatever random things Takara spoke to the others about would never be seen again. The mothers would never see their kids, or the writers their manuscripts. They would all die down here, lost and broken. She knew it.

"Afternoon, 545!" Speak of the Devil, huh? 545 looked up quietly to see that Takara had walked up to her in the yard, wearing that same goofy grin and light in her blue eyes.

"Afternoon Takara," she spoke hollowly, already having decided Takara deserved that much. The woman just smiled at her.

"You can just call me Taka," she said. "Everyone else does!" With this, she turned and sat down next to 545 and stretched out, moaning as she did so. "Work was hard today, huh?"

"Yes."

"Guards have been working us harder than ever as of late. Probably want to make sure none of us start something."

"I assume so."

"I've seen you in the quarry, but you never look like you need my help. For someone who looks a little underfed, you're pretty strong."

"I suppose."

"How long have you been here, anyway? I've only seen you around for a week or so, but I'm supposing you were kept somewhere else for a while. Any idea?" Despite knowing the answer was that she had no idea, thinking about the length of time she had been trapped here perturbed her slightly. Just how long had it been, anyway? She'd lost sense of time who knew how long ago. She had no idea what the date was, nor what date she'd first been here. All she knew was that it felt like an eternity.

"I don't know," she finally answered. "You?" She didn't know why she asked. She didn't care. Takara frowned at this and looked down at her fingers as she waved them around.

"I suppose we'd be coming up on about ten years," she replied. the number caused 545's stomach to drop. Despite trying to convince herself she didn't care how long Takara had been in here, hearing that it had been a decade was certainly horrifying. Then again, it did help to give her a sense of scale to her own imprisonment.

If Takara had been imprisoned here almost ten years, and her number was 233, that meant there were a few possibilities. It was either that Hades imprisoned over two hundred people ten years ago, herself included no matter how little sense that made, or that many people had been imprisoned over that time and she was the most recent. Or was she? She didn't even know anymore.

"That's a long time," she finally said. Takara let out a laugh.

"Sure is," she said. "Sometimes I can barely believe it." Silence fell over the two, 545 no saying a word. She wasn't really one to converse for no reason, despite how much Takara seemed to love it.

"Do you have a family on the outside?" Takara asked suddenly. 545 made a face.

"I have relatives, yes." she replied.

"Relatives don't mean family, necessarily." she said. "People you want to see on the outside again?"

"No,"

"Really? Not even your relatives?" 545 could feel the a knot forming in her stomach, and she didn't like it. This topic was annoying her.

"No," she said again.

"I'm sure they miss you. I know that what Hades does to people down here is cruel, but-"

"Let's not talk about this," 545 interrupted, Takara stopping what she was saying. The two sat in silence for a moment at this, neither saying a word. Despite the silence, the knot in her stomach failed to go away. If anything it only intensified, like cutting Takara off had made it worse.

"Okay," Takara said. "I know it's hard looking back at what you had. Especially once Hades breaks people." Takara leaned back against the wall. "I miss my parents."

"I'm sure you do," 545 replied.

"After what happened to my brother, I was all they had left." Takara continued as if 545 had asked her. "But I had to go and get myself locked up in here. I should have known better than to cross The Olympians, but..." Takara sighed. "I couldn't help it. Not after what they did."

545 made a face at this, surprise worming its way into her system.

She looked over at Takara, and saw an expression that she had not yet seen on her face. Takara was upset. Depressed even. Maybe angry? It was a clear mix of a bunch of upsetting, confusing emotions that 545 did not want to deal with.

"What happened?" She asked, nearly choking as the words left her mouth. Why had she asked?! She didn't give a damn! Maybe that other girl might have, but 545 didn't! Takara regarded her in surprise, clearly not expecting 545 to care, which she didn't!

Right?

"It was a long time ago," Takara replied as she settled back against the wall again. "The Olympians came to my village. Or, Hades did I guess. He made this big show us giving the village years worth of food and supplies. Being the dirt poor village we were, people regarded him like a saviour. And he abused that. In the middle of the night, kids disappeared. ten or twenty. Including my brother. Hades and anyone that was working with him had disappeared along with them. My brother was among those that got taken."

The anger and grief written clear on Takara's face was surprising. 545 did not know the woman was capable of looking so angry.

"My parents were devastated, but I took it upon myself to find him," Takara replied. "Taking what little magic knowledge I had, I tried to track Hades down. Took me years before I even found a shred of evidence he was still being held by Hades. I suppose that was a shred of evidence too much for Hades. Next thing I knew I was trapped down here in this place, and I've been here ever since. In hindsight, I shouldn't had just left my parents like that..."

"I'm sorry," 545 said, despite not really caring.

"Don't be," Takara replied, her face now adorning a look of determination. "I'm going to get out of here one day. And when I do, I'll find my brother. Along with all the other kids that he took away. And once I do, my brother and I are going to go home and be a family again." 545 figured that was how she managed to stay sane and normal down here. By clinging to what she dreamed of doing, Takara had managed to stay whole. By desiring nothing more than to be freed and see her brother again.

It was foolish.

"I wouldn't bet on it," 545 said. Takara made a face.

"Huh?" She asked.

"I don't know how old you are, but, I doubt you're brother even remembers you or his old family. Even if he's alive, for that matter. Your parents are probably dead, and if they're not they've tried to move on without either of you. You're probably the only one still clinging to what was. Let it go. It's gone."

"Is that what Hades told you to do?" Takara accused, 545 not looking up to meet her eye. "That no one gave a fuck about you out there anymore? That you were useless and that you were better off serving him down here?"

"..."

"It's not true. 545, it's not true. The people you left behind out there love you. They want you back and, if you really were in Fairy Tail, I bet their out there looking for you right now. That's what I meant when I asked if you had any family. Family doesn't give up on each other that easily. My brother may not remember me, but I haven't forgotten him. And our parents haven't forgotten us either. I can guarantee that whoever is looking for you out there can't wait to get you back."

For the briefest of moments, deep inside of 545's core, something happened. Something that hadn't happened in many months. For just a moment the dark curtain surrounding her lifted, and she caught a glimpse of who and what she used to be. She heard laughter, crying, but most of all, she heard love. Warmth spread throughout her entire body, and it felt like the tattoo on her hand was on fire. The feeling left as soon as it came, but 545 couldn't forget it. That for just that moment, Takara had gotten through to someone else. Someone who she thought was gone. Was there people out there who cared? A family left for her?

"Y-You're brother..." 545 started weakly before coughing to clear her voice. "He's lucky to have a sister like you. I'm sure most sister would be happy if their little brother just disappeared." Takara smiled a sad smile, tears causing the steely blue of her eyes to reflect prettily. 545 almost recognised it somehow.

"I'm the lucky one," she said. "He's the only thing keeping me going. And I'm going to find him if it's the last thing I do."

The next week in Tartarus was odd. 545 didn't actively seek Takara out, but the girl managed to raise her spirits a little bit every day. It wasn't nearly enough to make 545 think like she did, but it was enough to make the day a bit better. The conversations made her feel a little more human, and that was really all she needed. Just something to make the hell bearable. Something that meant something to her other counting the lines in the walls.

Currently, 545 was waiting patiently inside of her cell for the prisoners free hour to start. She already picked apart the food she'd been served, assuming that Hades had ordered it given to her had such a weird time of day. She didn't know why she wasn't working right now, but it was nice to not have to worry about it.

"Up against the wall, prisoner!" A guard shouted. 545 went through the motions and got up, placing herself up against the wall as she was told. The cell opened and she was patted down, before being grabbed by each arm and escorted out of her cell. She did her best to keep up with the guards as they dragged her, but they were being a little rough. Not that she wasn't used to it though. They moved quickly through the halls before arriving at the fenced off area that the prisoners were left in when they weren't working.

"In ya go," One of the guards said as she was shoved inside, the gate locking behind her. 545 rubbed at the Anti-Magic cuffs around her wrists as she walked inside and looked for a nice spot against the wall to sit. Her favourite hobby as of late was tracing the stones in the wall and seeing if she could guess how many were there. It kept her busy, much more so than anything she could of come up with in her cell. Sitting down, 545 began her usual spiel and began tracing her index finger down the indents the stone created in the walls. She absentmindedly counted out thirteen or fourteen blocks before something caught her eye.

Over towards the fence, on the men's side of the exercise yard, was a man leaning up against the fence. He had shaggy blonde hair, but that was all 545 could tell about him as his back as to her. He was farther away from the other men in the yard, who seemed to have somehow acquired a deck of cards. What they might have been betting on she had no idea, but it distracted them at least.

545 had been about to return to her counting when the gates to the yard opened up again, shoving in more prisoners. 545 immediately noticed Takara inside this group, as the woman was immediately greeted by others. Takara did her usual polite routine, but it seemed forced now. She did her best to end the conversation as fast as possible, almost as though she wanted to be alone. As much as 545 wanted to talk to her, she wasn't going to disturb her. She didn't want to make herself a nuisance. So instead, she sat in her corner and watched as Takara walked along the fence, watching the roof with a small smile on her face. She stopped walking as she reached the man on the other side, and she turned her head to look at him. From what 545 could tell they exchanged a greeting, but the man did not look at her.

And then, something odd happened. The mans fists, currently resting behind his back, opened up and revealed a small piece of torn up paper. Where he'd gotten that 545 had no idea, but she watched with fettered interest as Takara took the paper in her hand quickly and looked down at it. Her face remained as flat and emotionless as a brick before she folded the paper and nodded at the man curtly before they both left the fence back into the groups of people. What was that about? 545 had been so immersed in watching the odd interaction that she didn't notice that Takara was staring at her. She met the black haired girls eyes, who looked stunned and scared, almost. 545 just watched her quietly, watching her expression harden again before she walked away. 545 looked between her and the blonde man as he disappeared into the men on the other side of the fence, confused.

What had she just witnessed, exactly?

Feels like a weird chapter, not going to lie. But that's okay, I'm just glad I got it out! I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!

Chapter 345: Suspected