I've got no excuse for my absence. I mean, except for vicious Writer's block. But! That's not important. You know what is?
The Seven Days of Updates!
Ah yes, the yearly thing I like to do that I failed several times. Don't you just love it? Here's the shtick. This is most likely going to be my last update of 2019. Reason obviously being I need to stockpile chapters for the event, which will start on January 1st. So obviously I need to get on that. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter regardless though!
For the next few days, 545 worked her body to the bone. Every single day Hades had her taken out of her cell, and he hooked her up to that God forsaken machine and drained her of her power. Despite this, every day when she was dropped off in the exercise yard she and Takara would go and work out with the weights other female prisoners had made. Couple this with the labour forced on them, and 545 was essentially working every waking hour in the prison. There were several times she nearly quit, several times she nearly gave out, but didn't. The flame that had ignited in her chest refused to let her. The pain was horrific, both from Hades' torture and the workouts, but she needed to do it. It hurt because she was out of shape, out of practice. If a fight broke out during the escape, she would be useless as she was now. So working out was the only excuse she had.
545 slumped against the ground as Hades' guards dropped her off in the exercise yard, the other women watching her with pained glances. They had become painfully aware of 545's state now that she was being tortured every day, and some seemed to offer her pity glances. God forbid they offer her a hand up, but no one wanted to be around the girl Hades seemed to hate.
Except Takara.
"You okay?" The girl's voice asked as she approached 545. The girl managed a weak smile for her.
"Just peachy," she replied. She accepted Takara's hand, and shakily got to her feet.
"You're bleeding," Takara said. 545 looked up to find Takara was already looking at her back, most likely at the entry point of Hades' machine.
"Not surprised," 545 replied. "He's been rather rough with me the last few days."
"We should take a break," the woman said, watching 545 closely. It was clear she was concerned. "If you push yourself to hard you won't be able to keep going soon."
"I've got to keep going," 545 replied. "If I don't, then I won't be able to help us get out of here. Besides, all these back and forth trips have really helped me map out the first part of that wing of the prison. Only a few more trips and I should be good."
"Escaping won't mean shit if you die," Takara replied. "Come on, Let's go and sit down. I'm not letting you work out."
"Takara-"
"No, listen to me. If you push yourself to hard, you will die. Not if, when. You need to take a break and recuperate." 545 gave her an irritated look, but it didn't seem like Takara was going to listen to her. The woman pulled her away towards the wall and forced her to sit, and 545 just did as she was told. Sitting down felt pretty good, she couldn't lie. But this wasn't what she should have been doing.
"You must be pretty patient if you don't want me to do this as fast as possible," she said flatly as Takara sat down next to her.
"I've waited a long time, I can wait a while longer if it means my ticket out doesn't get herself killed." Takara replied as she watched her worriedly. "Every day you look worse and worse, you're not giving yourself enough time to recuperate. Stop going to Hades, it's time you relax."
"I can't, I've almost mapped out the whole wing to Hades' office."
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Takara demanded, looking irritated now. "It doesn't matter if you die. So sit still and relax, holy shit." 545 made a face but did as she was told, allowing herself to relax as as she leaned against the wall. Her body thanked her, and she could feel her tensed up muscles letting go.
"Ugh, everything hurts now." She said irritably, barely able to move now. "Why'd you make me relax?"
"Better to feel the pain now that wait for it to build up and kill you," Takara replied. "Still, you resilient as hell. Any normal person would've died a few times over by now." 545 wasn't so sure about that, but she guessed that was true. The pain Hades put her through, followed up by the workouts and manual labour was incredibly hard on her.
"I'm sure you could handle it," 545 replied.
"I don't think so," Takara said. "I guess it has something to do with you being a guild wizard before." 545 made a face at this, looking down at the mark on her hand. The last little bit the mark had started to cause a reaction in her stomach, making her feel lonely or queasy. She didn't really know why, though. Did she miss the people there? Where the people she saw in her dreams people she knew from the guild? Maybe.
"I suppose that makes sense," 545 said. "For all I know I was a bad ass before I wound up here."
"That's what I'm saying," Takara said. "You're seriously tough. Definitely a powerful wizard. If only you remembered ant of it."
"Yeah..." 545 agreed. The dark haze that hide her memories was seriously annoying. Sometimes she felt so close to getting to them, like she could feel who she used to be, and then she fell away again. It didn't make any sense. She knew Nashi Dragneel must have been strong, but was she? Was Nashi even going to come back if she got out of here? Was she dead? She didn't know. The person behind the glass in her dreams, the person who looked like her, seemed to think it was possible. She wasn't sure she agreed though.
What she did know was that the only way she would know was if she got out of here.
The banging against the glass was usually 545's first clue that she was having this same dream again. Sitting up, she easily identified the dark hazy room she was in, same as always. When she turned around she could still see the demonic version of herself behind the glass, banging on it as hard as she could.
"I'm back I guess," she said to the demon as she stood.
"Back to free me?" The demon asked hopefully.
"I told you a million times, I don't know how to do that." 545 said. "I don't even know who you are."
"Yes you do, I'm apart of you." The demon replied. "My name is END, don't you remember that? You gave it to me." The name meant something very vague to her, sure, but the demon made it sound like it was supposed to mean the world to her.
"I told you, I don't know you." The demon frowned at this, clenching her fists against the glass.
"This is the farthest I've gotten in talking to you in months," END said. "When he finally broke you I was so scared I'd never...That I'd never talk to you again."
"When I first broke?" 545 asked. "When was that? I can't even recall. How long have I been in here?"
"Over a year," END replied. "It took him three months to break you. To make you into...this. He's been taking my power for even longer."
"You seem to know a lot about this for a dream of mine," 545 said. "Is this, like, my subconscious talking to me in a way that doesn't make me look crazy?"
"No! I'm real! If you could just remember I could show you..." END looked incredibly depressed now, and 545 felt bad.
"I-I mean, look, if I could go back to being Nashi I would, but I can't. We're different girls."
"That's a lie," END replied. "If you were different girls I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be able to talk to you. I've spoken to Fairy Tail. You're friends, do you remember them?"
As soon as the name Fairy Tail left the demons mouth, 545's head hurt. She rubbed her temples irritably as her head pounded, flashes of people and things she didn't recognise floating in front of her eyes and in the hazy smoke around her.
"I don't know these people!" 545 shouted angrily. "Why do they feel so familiar?!"
"You do know them!" END replied. "They're your friends! Your family! How can you not recognise them?!"
"I've never seen them before, that's why!" 545 could tell this was angering END, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. She didn't know them, after all.
"That's it," END said, sounding completely done with her. "If this doesn't spark a memory, I don't know what will. Come over here." 545 did as she was told and walked up to the glass, seeing END pressing her hand up against the glass. 545 did as she had done before, pressing her hand up against the same part of the glass. As soon as she did her head pounded angrily, and the haze in the room shifted into a blur. Once it settled, she wasn't in the room anymore. She was in a crater somewhere, ruins of a city all around her.
"Where am I?" She asked aloud. "How did I-?"
"Nashi!" 545 turned, and saw a scene was playing out behind her. A boy was sliding down the side of the crater towards the center, where she could see END standing. As he got close, her eyes widened.
The boys maroon coloured hair was messy, yet had a distinctive spike to it. His purple eyes shone with worry, and his face was covered in dirt. Yet, he still managed to look relieved.
The closer he got, the closer of a look 545 got of him, the more her head pounded. It got so bad that she had to close her eyes to even concentrate on anything. What was happening? Why was this happening?
Remember! You know this boys name, don't you?! You must!
END's voice echoed all around her, but she didn't know! She didn't know this guy!
"I don't!" she shouted. "Get out of my head, it hurts!"
Look at his face, you know him! He's your best friend, for God's sake!
Despite the pain she felt, 545 opened her eyes. The scene around her had slowed, allowing her to get a closer look at the man. The more she looked the harder her head pounded, but she couldn't look away. Something about his face, his eyes, it did make her feel warm inside. Did she know him? She recognised him from her dreams the past few days, so maybe he was a friend from before.
"D-Dra-?"
"Wake up, you!" 545 jumped in fright, nearly smacking her head against the back of her cell. Looking around wildly, she saw two guards had entered her cell and were glaring at her.
"W-What?" She asked, confused.
"Hades wants to see you," one of the guards said. "So get the hell up and let's go." Making a face, 545 struggled to her feet and made for the door of the cell. As she limped through the halls and did her best to focus on anything but the pain, 545 thought about her dream again. Who was that guy? Her head didn't hurt as much as before, but the idea of the guy in general made it worse. Ugh, she could focus on this later, right now he had other things to focus on.
Once she reached Hades' office, she expected the worse. What she noticed, though, was that the machine he'd been using on her recently wasn't there. What was going on?
"There's my favourite," Hades said. "Have you been enjoying our meetings recently, darling?"
"If it means I have a chance of getting out of here, sure." 545 replied. "What did you want?"
"Escaping, huh?" He asked. "You're still stuck on that, I see. Good, I wanted to show you something. Leave us, guards." The guards did as they were told, and soon 545 and Hades followed them out the door. However, they walked down an adjacent hallway. 545's stomach jumped into her throat as she was steered down the hall, but she had to focus. If she didn't, than she couldn't remember what she needed to remember. Focusing quickly, 545 paid close attention to the hall and where the guards were. As Hades walked past they seemed more interested in doing their jobs, which meant she could remember where they were supposed to stand. She was so absorbed in this she barely noticed Hades stop her.
"Here we are," he said. "Look forward, what do you see?" 545 did as she was told and looked ahead, her eyes widening. Ahead of them were a pair of dark black metal gates, and ahead of that was a platform. Looking past the bars, she saw a console attached to the wall nearby it.
"What am I looking at?" She asked weakly.
"Why my dear, you're looking at the way out of here." He said with a laugh, making 545's eyes widen. "What do the prisoners call it? The Doors of Death?" 545 couldn't believe what she was seeing. Why was Hades showing this to her? Was he taunting her, or was she trying to test her patience? That had to be it, surely. Seeing if she'd be stupid enough to risk an escape. Good thing she was.
"Why would you show me this?" She asked weakly.
"Well you wanted to get out of here, right?" Hades asked, putting his head right next to hers as he laughed. When he spoke next, his voice made her shiver. "Why don't you give it a go. Do you want to get out or not?"
"D-Do you think I'm stupid enough to try right now?" She asked.
"I haven't cuffed you, and you're more than strong enough to overpower me in the blink of an eye and get in there. So why don't you? Are you scared, or do you realise just how screwed you are? Because let me be honest; this is the only way out, and the only way you're getting through it is if you escape when no ones looking."
That's the idea, moron.
"Please just let me go," she whispered, deciding to play the weakling. "All you'd have to do is let me go right now, and I could leave."
"Now why would I do that?" Hades asked. "I could still use more of your power, you know. Besides, I already said; I'm not about to let you escape and go home to your friends and tell them what happened."
"I don't even remember my friends!"
"Ahahaha! That's right, my bad. Still, I'm not one to risk it. C'mon, let's go." 545 did her best to scan the Doors of Death one more time before she was steered around and made to leave, and then she scanned the guard posts one more time. Her head was spinning trying to figure this out, but she had to focus on the task at hand. She needed to tell Takara and Jason about this quickly, so they could move on to the next stage of the plan.
Takara wasn't surprised 545 was delivered to the yard late, but she was surprised that the girl didn't collapse in pain. As soon as she was released she hurried her way over to her, her eyes wide and frightened.
"What's the matter?" Takara asked as 545 reached her. The girl said nothing, just grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from everyone else towards the back end of the yard. Takara didn't ask until they got there, at which point she couldn't hold her curiosity any longer. "What happened, why're you freaking out."
"He showed me," 545 said.
"Showed you what?"
"The Doors of Death." Takara's eyes widened at this, not believing it.
"He did what?!" She demanded. 545 recounted how Hades had taken her down another wing of the prison, one with a dead end that led right to what she described as some sort of teleportation platform with a lacrima console to control it.
"It was just a regular old hallway, too." 545 said. "I've memorised some of the guard placements, and by that point we can just fight our way through them."
"Why did he show you?" Takara asked weakly. "Is he playing us? Jason won't like this..."
"I don't know why he showed me either," 545 replied, looking just as confused as Takara felt. "I think he was taunting me, honestly. He tried to get me to try and escape when he was right there, but I obviously didn't." Takara didn't like this. The Doors of Death were supposed to be the most heavily guarded area of the prison, one no prisoner was ever conscious when they were brought through it. And Hades had just shown it to her?
"I'm not so sure about this," she said warily. "He might be luring us in."
"I considered that too," 545 said, making a face. "But if he already knows were trying to escape it doesn't matter. He just have to try regardless." Takara knew she was right. If Hades was already aware of the escape attempt, it wouldn't matter when they did it.
"Alright, fuck..." Takara hissed. "Let's try and get a hold of Jason." 545 nodded, and made a move to the fence to try and find Jason. Takara grabbed her before she could, though.
"What?" 545 asked.
"...Thank you," Takara said. "For doing this. I know it can't be easy, but..." Takara met 545's glance uneasily, and the girl stared back at her.
And then, she smiled. A brilliant, fiery smile that did not belong on 545's face.
"Just trying to help," she said.
"I still don't agree with this, Hades." Thanatos said as they watched 545 and Takara look for Jason on the men's side of the yard.
"No one cares, Thanatos." Hades replied flatly. "I already said, there's no point in playing a game if one side had no chance. Right?"
"Sure, but..."
"Look at it this way," Hades said as he turned to him. "I've already gotten what I want from her, a surplus of it actually. If it would be more beneficial for this to go on, would it not be good for it to happen?" Thanatos frowned.
"Are you saying you want her to escape?" He asked. Hades smirked at this as he looked back down at the girls.
"What I want is for her to do exactly what I think she will," he replied. "She thinks she's moving against me, but she's just doing exactly what I want."
"You do always make excellent plans, sir." Hades laughed at this.
"A plan is easy to make when you're five steps ahead."
I'll leave it here for this year! I'll make sure to see you guys on January 1st! How about you guys give me a Christmas present and review? Maybe? Haha just kidding...Unless?
Chapter 349: The Full Plan