Like I said, gotta love consistency.

Enjoy!

545 waited at least a week after being confronted by Takara before she heard any news about being introduced to Jason. The woman hadn't given her any news, and had then unexpectedly told her Jason wanted to speak to her today. So, as she sat there and waited in her cell, 545 focused in on her memories. Or at least, what she thought was her memories. The people that she had seen when speaking to Takara made her feel so warm and fuzzy, and she needed to figure out who they were. The more she tried, though, the more she couldn't see. Their faces grew fuzzier the harder she tried to make them out, and the memories grew vaguer and vaguer the more she replayed them.

Growling, 545 slammed her fist into the ground. Why was this so hard? She just wanted to see them! At this rate she would never know who they were. It was so frustrating!

"Up against the wall, prisoner!" The guards outside her cell shouted. Doing as she was asked, 545 went up against the wall as the guards frisked her before dragging her outside her cell for work. She was scheduled to be in the western tunnels today, and from what Takara had told her the western tunnel was one where this meeting would happen. So, she kept herself quiet and did as she asked as the guards dragged her towards it. Eventually they came up to it, and 545 could see at least a few dozen prisoners mining away at the rock. Being left to her own devices, 545 picked up a pickaxe and began to swing it at the rocks, her mind elsewhere. She focused on keeping her eyes out for Takara or Jason, whoever he was.

It must have been a good hour or so before 545 finally crossed Takara's path, both of them breaking rocks off to the side.

"Morning," Takara greeted. 545 just nodded, focusing now on the rocks.

"Are we good for today?" She asked. Takara hummed affirmatively.

"He's around here somewhere," she answered. "He'll come and see us once he deems it appropriate."

"Your friend sure is a pain in the ass to talk to," 545 said. "Is he in charge of this whole operation?" Takara nodded as the rock she was swinging at broke apart.

"He's the brains alright," she said. "He came to me about escaping, so he's the one in charge. And don't be snarky to him, it won't win you any points." 545 spared a thought to wonder where that snark had come from, as it wasn't something she would have done before. Was she snarky before Tartarus? Perhaps. Silence fell over the pair, neither of them saying a word for a good while. After a minute or two, thought, Takara spoke up.

"You don't remember much from before, do you?" She asked. 545 looked over in surprise, not sure how she knew.

"How did you...?" She asked weakly. Takara just watched her quietly, not saying more. "No, I...I don't. Not anything worth remembering though. I can see faces, hear their laughter but...nothing more than that." Takara nodded at this, returning to the stones.

"I've heard that's how most Broken are," she said. "Hades takes away who you were, what you were, and replaces it with what he wants. It's why most of them are insane, kept in their cells. They lose more than just who they were." That made sense. When 545 thought about it, she knew that Takara was right. Everything that Hades had done to her lined up with that. He made sure to tell her that the girl she was before, Nashi, was nothing. Less than nothing, and only useful for what he wanted. So she'd disassociated from her. It was easier. Maybe that was what these memories were. They were Nashi's, not hers.

"That makes sense," she finally said. "After all, you're easier to control with no sense of self."

"Hm," For a few more minutes both girls were silent as they smashed away at rocks, both waiting for some sort of signal. They soon got it when a blonde man sidled up next to them, smashing more rocks.

"Afternoon girls," he greeted, his voice deep and more in control than 545 had expected. "I take it you're the one I'm meeting today?"

"That's her, Jason." Takara said. "She said she wanted to help." Upon hearing the name of the man, 545 turned her head to look. Jason beat her to it, using his free hand to force her gaze back to the ground.

"Don't look at me, it draws attention." he said. "Speak low, and keep smashing rocks, got it?" 545 nodded weakly and kept going as she was ordered, wondering if this was really all necessary. Then again, it was Tartarus. Of course it was.

"By the way, Takara," Jason said as they worked. "Are you out of your god damn mind?"

"Why?" Takara asked.

"You do realise Hades has a vested interest in this girl, right?" He demanded, voice now harsher and irritated. "She may well be a spy for all we know."

"I'm not," 545 answered.

"I wasn't talking to you," Jason said coldly. "Besides, that's obviously what you'd say. Not convinced in the slightest." 545 frowned at this, unsure as to what she had to do to gain his trust. Open a locked door? Sneak him info from Hades, maybe? How would she even go about doing any of that anyway?

"Jason..."

"No Takara, you listen to me while we can talk." Jason interrupted, a scowl evident simply from his tone. "I came to this because I wanted to tell you this; you're too hopeful. We've been working on this escape for years and we're just barely at the cusp of success. And now you want me to allow this 'Broken' to help us? She could be a spy, she could be using us to better her own conditions, there's a million different things that could happen."

"Well just wait a minute-" Takara tried.

"On top of all of that, Hades has a special interest in this one!" Jason seethed. "Are you insane?! Besides, I only agreed to this, because I plan on making sure she doesn't talk." At this, 545 stiffened as another shank was pressed into her back.

"Jason!" Takara hissed, trying not to draw too much attention to them. "Don't!"

"You'd be smart to avoid this," 545 said, trying to not focus on the shank pressing into her back. "Guard catches you, and Hades finds out you threatened my life? Dead meat, both of you."

"I'll take my chances, I suppose." Jason said. "I can stab and leave you. Who knows who did it."

"Jason!" Takara insisted.

"Listen closely, Jason." 545 said as a fire was lit in her belly. "I didn't wait all this time to meet you to get stabbed. I offered my help, and I meant it. So, how's this going to go down exactly? I'd rather die quickly if you plan to stab me."

"Hey! You two!" 545 heard the guards shouting in their direction, and she felt her stomach dropping as feet approached. She had to act quickly, hide the shank and save Jason's life. Jason stopping his digging and smashing to hold the shank against her back had drawn the attention right to them.

545 didn't pay attention to how quickly the plan came to mind. Whirling, she grabbed the shank from Jason while he was distracted, shoved it down the front of his stripped pants and held it there for affect, before forcing Jason into a rough kiss.

Despite being indifferent to most things that happened around Tartarus, 545 had noticed a few things. One thing, the guards were pretty rough to any rule breakers. However, an exception to this was if two prisoners were caught in sexual acts. In this case, the guards seemed to just want to break it up as quick as possible. It was obviously awkward, so just getting the two apart was what they wanted. So, 545 had to bet on the guard being an awkward one in order for this to work.

And she lucked out.

As Jason tried to free himself from her iron grasp and kiss, the guard shoved the two apart, and 545 let the shank drop into his pants.

"Enough of that, both of you." He said, red in the face. "None of that. You, go over there and get back to work. I see you with her again, I swear I'll make sure she's got nothing to grab a handful of next time."

"Yes sir," Jason mumbled, eyeing 545 cautiously as he turned and walked the way the guard pointed. 545 turned as well and returned to digging, Takara watching her in surprise.

"You're a good spy if you're willing to go so far," she noted as the pair went back to work. 545 made a face at this, thinking back on her actions. She'd thought and acted so quickly in order to save Jason, and she'd done so without a second thought. What had happened.

545 raised a hand to her chest and felt her own heartbeat, focused on something else entirely. The fire that rested in her chest, the embers that remained after Takara had told her that her brother's name was Tetsu. After being told that, and seeing all of those visions of the life she led before, 545 had made up her mind.

She needed to get out of here.

Hades had changed her, broken her beyond repair. At least, that's what she thought. But now, having seen bits and pieces of who she was before, the flame refused to go out. No amount of hard labour or beatings made it go away. It resisted even the coldest of treatment, refusing to let her fall back into the pits of despair. Whenever she'd gotten close, the images of those people came back. Those men and women that she used to know. Her friends, family. The visions caused her to resist falling down again. Preventing her from truly losing all hope. Perhaps they'd been doing that from the start, keeping her from truly going insane down here.

545 looked down at her hand, noting the guild emblem on the back of her hand. For who know how long she'd barely reacted to it, only acknowledging it as a tattoo or even less, a birthmark. But now, looking down at it caused the embers in her chest to spark a bit. This emblem meant more to her than that. Rather, it meant more to the girl that came before. Nashi.

The name made her head hurt. 545 wished she could understand just what Hades had done to her. The idea of going by that name, Nashi Dragneel, it made her head spin and her stomach ache. She wasn't that girl anymore. Hades had made sure of that. She was Prisoner 545. But maybe, just maybe if she got out of her, she could find out who she was. Maybe even be that girl again one day. She could only hope.

The only thing she knew was that she had to get out of here.

545 was in a dark pit. She couldn't see past the dark mist that enveloped her, nor could she hear anything but her own thoughts. Looking around gave her absolutely nothing to go on, so she had nothing to do but sit around and wait for something happen.

"Nashi!"

545 jumped at the shouting turning to see what had happened. And again, like before, she saw that vision. A vision of someone who looked like her, except this person had demonic features of the right half of their body. This person was standing on the other side of a pane of glass, and 545 could just barely hear her over the glass muffling her.

"Nashi! The person shouted again, slamming her fist uselessly against the pane of glass. 545 could tell she wasn't getting through that.

"You've got it wrong," she said aloud. "I'm not Nashi."

"Don't gimme that bullshit! Just get me out of here, I can help you!"

"How the hell am I supposed to get you out?" 545 asked, inspecting the glass. There was no way past it, no matter how she looked. She jogged alongside it for a bit, but found no way around. She returned to the other person, who was watching her desperately.

"Get me out!" The person shouted.

"I can't," 545 said. "You must be looking for Nashi. Sorry to say, but she's gone."

"Let me out!"

"I can't!" 545 was getting irritated now. How dumb was this person? There was no way out. The person on the other side of the glass looked so sad, and she slowly placed her open palm against the glass. 545 placed her had against hers on the other side of the glass, and the glass morphed. The person that looked like her was gone, now replaced with more people. People she'd seen in her visions. She recognised them!

"Guys?" She asked weakly. "Who are you guys? Can you tell me?!" None of the people replied to her, just watched her quietly. Before long they too faded, and now were placed with someone else.

It was her.

545 stared at her reflection in surprise, noting how different she looked. Her face, usually gaunt and skinny, had a life and brightness to them she did not recognise. Her skin was tanned slightly from the sun, a luxury she did not have in Tartarus. Her brown eyes shone with life, and the smile on her face could have lit a fireplace.

Was this Nashi?

545 could not, for the life of her, imagine herself being this girl. There was just no way.

"Are you Nashi?" 545 asked weakly. The reflection gave no reply. "You've got to help me get out of here! I need to find a way out, can you help?!"

"Wake up," Nashi replied.

"What?!" 545 demanded. "That doesn't help me at all! Help me out of Tartarus!"

"Wake up." Nashi stated firmly this time. "Hurry up and wake up."

"W-What?" 545 asked.

"Wake up!"

"Wake up already, you filthy bitch!" 545 jumped as her eyes snapped open, revealing the cell she had become so accustomed to over the past year and however long. It had been a dream, of course it had. There was no way something so ridiculous had been real.

Getting to her feet, 545 turned to the wall so the guards could frisk her before taking her to the exercise yard. As they did so and escorted her out of her cell, 545 thought about her dream. The things she had seen, people she had see, disturbed her. Nashi had said nothing to her, neither had any of the people she saw in Nashi's memories. The only one who had spoken words to her had been that demonic apparition. Who was that, anyway? She was the only one who actually spoke real words to 545 in these visions, and it confused her. It must have been something Nashi remembered, not her.

Getting to the exercise yard and being thrown it, 545 immediately wanted to find a corner and huddle into it so she could focus on her dream. She didn't get that chance, though, because as soon as she entered the yard she was grabbed.

"What the-?!" 545 turned to see it had been Takara who grabbed her, and it quelled her anxiety a bit. "What the hell, Takara? You scared me."

"Sorry but we don't have much time," Takara replied. "Jason wants to talk to you." 545's eyes widened at this, but she didn't get a chance to say anything before she was hauled through the yard towards the fence separating the men and women. There, near the center, Jason stood against it. Once they reached it, Takara and 55 sat down back to back with him, no one saying a word.

"I want to make something abundantly clear to both of you," Jason said. "If you are a spy for Hades, 545, Takara and I are going to die no matter what happens next. So, I figured I may as well play all the cards I have on you and hope for the best. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah," 545 answered weakly, Takara humming. Was she really going to get to help them? It seemed to good to be true.

"You can thank Takara," Jason said. "She convinced me of your worth. After all, a prisoner special to Hades has certain perks. Like seeing parts of the prison not privy to the rest of us." 545 made a face at this.

"What do you want me to do, exactly?" She asked weakly.

"Nothing too bad, yet." Jason said. Takara and I have spent years mapping out this prison down to it's guard detail. However, there are certain legs of the prison we cannot go. Places you should be taken if Hades wants something from you. Namely, his office and the surrounding halls. Next time he takes you, whenever that is, I want you to map it out to the best of your ability mentally. Remember every detail. Doors, other halls, guard placements, everything."

"Oh, is that all?" 545 asked somewhat snarkily.

"No," Jason said. Because of course that wasn't it. "I need you to look for the Doors of Death."

"And what is that?"

"It's the gateway into Tartarus." Jason replied. "Listen closely. Tartarus has no natural entrance in the normal world. The only way in or out is a teleportation magic item that's set up in the most heavily guarded wing of the prison. That's why escape is next to impossible, because getting to that gateway is very...improbable."

"Nearly," 545 said. "That mean you have a way?" Jason neglected to reply to this.

"Find the Doors of Death," he said. "If you can do that, it'll prove your worth to me. And do take note, if you come back to me tomorrow with the location you're not doing yourself any favours. After all, Hades may as well have told you himself."

"But you're dead either way, right?" 545 asked. Jason managed a laugh.

"Exactly," he said. "I either die down here, die during my escape or die because you snitched to Hades. A successful escape is the only way we get out of here. Oh, and by the way; thank you for saving me yesterday. I owe you one." With this Jason got up and disappeared into the crowd of men, Takara and 545 getting up as well.

"Well, I suppose I have my orders." 545 said. Takara snorted.

"Don't get hopeful," she said. "Jason's been down here a long while and he's never seen the Doors of Death. He may as well have told you to finds a unicorn."

Great. So 545 had to map out the locked down wings of the prison, memorise guard placements and movements, and find a doorway that no prisoner had even seen and was probably exclusive to the most trusted higher ups of the prison?

Piece of cake, right?

I'm going to be blunt with you guys, Purgatory arc onward is the most unplanned portion of the series. Aside from major events I'm basically winging it in terms of chapter by chapter content, so I apologise if weekly updates aren't consistent. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!

Chapter 347: The Forbidden Wing

Harry Potter looking chapter title, am I right?