Nila's stretches out her hands, rubbing her fingertips along the fluffy, soft textured sofa she's lying on. Her eyes still closed she wonders what kind of fabric it might be, perhaps velvet? Either way, she relaxes for a few moments before she flutters her eyes open. Making sure to wipe away any sleep apparent in her eyes. But the ceiling looks different, less dirty and definitely more whiter and pristine than the concrete in Sanctuary. The light in the room is minimal and quite dim. That's when she glances around the room, noticing all the fancy furniture. Some modern whilst others look like antiques from Old Earth. There's quite a rather musty looking, army green armchair placed in the corner of the spacious square shaped room. To the left of the chair, it is accompanied by books, placed on a architectural dark wooden bookshelf, some have their covers half recognisable and their pages withering away dating from 2012-2022 B.E.F (Before Earth's Fall). All of which are protected in plastic.

Beside Nila, is the fluffy, maroon coloured sofa she was lying on. And she was correct, it is velvet. To the East, is a wooden, red blanketed canopy bed whilst ahead of her sits a nice little study. As Nila turns around she notices an open door, which seems to lead to another large room. A bathroom. She scrunches her face up as she starts to remember what happened to her last night. The fight with Riley. Eating marshmallows in Adrian's room. The strong chemical smell. Adrian kidnapping her. Nila's arms shoot up to hug herself as goosebumps make her way up her body and she stumbles over to a wall, and drags her fingers along the bumpy, yet smooth and shimmery surface. The walls look like they're made out of pure crystal as two singular rays of sunlight pour in through the gaps of a blind hiding a large window beside her. It's no doubt Andursite.

A acidic, distasteful substance makes its way up her throat and she feels like she's going to throw up. "No, I can't be. No, no, no, no.." she thinks in fear and starts to back away from the walls. Through her eyes, the walls in the room seem to be stretching upwards, so high that she feels minuscule. Majority of Eden is made out of the almost indestructible mineral but her mind can't help but imagine the worst. She may very well be in the Tower. Nila flies one of her hands over her mouth and sprints towards the bathroom. The Tower is where they basically dissected and cut apart Anna and killed Brice. She leans over the glossy white and high-tech looking toilet and starts vomiting out the contents inside her stomach. Accidentally getting the foul smelling substance on the white, blue-crystaled panels that tile the floor. As Nila wipes stray strands of her hair away from her face and cleans her mouth, she doesn't realise someone has entered the room.

"Oh, you're awake! I didn't think you would wake up so early...you look a bit ill. I'm sorry about that lastnight, I think I used too much of that chemical. Unfourtunately, I'm not able to sneak you any proper food but," Adrian's voice blabbers on and on as if nothing is wrong at all, so Nila full of anger just merely keeps her head facing towards the toilet. Feeling too sick to protest in the moment. Eventually, the sound of a bag dropping beside her grabs her attention. "I saved those marshmallows for you. I assumed you'd be hungry."

And he's correct. Nila's stomach grumbles in agreement. She is hungry but as he crouches down and grabs a handful, spreading out his palm in front of her...Nila feels anything but grateful. She feels outraged, especially as Adrian stares at her with that goofy smile of his and she furiously slaps the pink, fluffy marshmallows out of his hand.

Earning a frown from Adrian.

"Please don't be difficult," he groans. Standing back up and picks the marshmallows up but as he does so, he doesn't notice the little chimpanzee climbing out of his open backpack. Nila watches hopefully as Gizmo waddles off with a marshmallow in his mouth into Adrian's room. Perhaps, Gizmo can help? Are chimpanzees that smart anyway? "It's better for you this way.." he mumbles.

Though, Nila doesn't listen and shooting a glare at Adrian, she jumps up off the floor and marches out of the bathroom towards Adrian's bedroom door. She grips the doorknob, shaking and pulling and pushing against it but it to her disappointment, it's locked. Nila turns around, her panic rising again, forming a knot in her throat.

"Nila, the door needs my identification to be opened."

"Where are we?" she asks in a demanding tone.

"We're in my room, in the Tower," he answers matter of factly.

Nila draws in a shaky breath, tears brimming her eyes. "I-I'm going to die," she stutters in distress, sprinting past Adrian to the blacked out windows she took notice of before but they're like blinds she's never seen before. They have no pulling system, no way to pull the coal coloured blinds up manually. Her hands begin to shake with either adrenaline, fear, anxiety or anger, she isn't exactly sure. She can't wrap her mind around why such a kind guy like Adrian would betray her in such a way by practically sending her to her death. Like a little lamb to a slaughter house.

With rage, she tears and pulls at the blinds but they don't budge. Obviously, their set on a track. Nila's grunts and swear words eventually turn into sobbing. In exhaustion, she rests her head against the blinds, creasing and ruining their perfectly straight surface and lightly hits the window again and again and again. Eventually, she finds herself on the floor, slouching on her knees. And once it's evident to Adrian that Nila's calmed down, he stalks his way over and lays a comforting hand on her heaving shoulders.

"Shh, please don't cry...Nila~" he cooes, rubbing her shoulders. "I'm sorry you're so upset but it's better for you this way."

"Stop saying that!" Nila snaps at him, not turning her gaze away from the floor. She glares into the wooden floorboards, as if to burn a hole through them. "Where are my friends?" Nila asks and feels Adrian's grip on her shoulders tense for a fraction of a second.

For once Adrian is quiet. Too quiet.

"Adrian, where are my friends? What's happened to them?" Nila glances at Adrian over her shoulder but the expression he holds on his face doesn't serve to comfort Nila very much. After a prolonged silence, she questions him again, "What did you do to them?" she says almost in a whisper, forcing herself up from where she was kneeling and her tone takes a turn for something a bit more ominous.

"My mother told me to give them a warning, so that's what I did."

"Who? Earleen? That monster that you whined to us about hating! The woman responsible for killing your grandma. Does she even EXIST?!" Nila starts to shout.

If Adrian feels any regret for his actions, he doesn't let them show.

"Adrian. TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO THEM OR I SWEAR, I'LL-" Nila bellows, earning a flinch from Adrian. She forces herself up from off the freezing cold floor and steps towards her captor menacingly. Her hands clenched up in tight fists. However, her sentence gets abruptly cut off.

SMACK!

The sound of skin hitting against skin echoes throughout the spacious room. For a second, Nila has no idea what's happened, suddenly finding her head turned to the side. She brings a shaky hand up to her cheek. Feeling an odd, stinging sensation where Adrian just slapped her. Which leaves Nila shocked into silence. From how tender her cheek is, there's no doubt a red mark of Adrian's hand left behind on her face.

"I'm so sorry Nila. It pains me to have done that but if you don't cooperate, I can't protect you. You..you have to understand that those moments we had back in Sanctuary, my feelings for you, are true. I'll never do anything to hurt you.." he cooes, inching closer and eventually lays a hand against Nila's right cheek. Adrian trails his thumb up and down against Nila's skin soothingly, his actions comforting and kind but Nila doesn't fall for it. She won't, at least not this time. Eventually, Nila's tears stop flowing and she wipes away any remaining water on her face.

A saying she once read from one of the many books in Mars' main library crosses her mind,

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

And right now, that saying couldn't be anymore true.

Adrian sighs and smiles brightly, his eyes shining like diamonds as he stares into hers.

'Could this lunatic actually be telling the truth?' Nila thinks but immediately discards the absurd thought.

"Riley doesn't deserve you," he mumbles under his breath which leaves Nila taken aback at his words.

"And you do?" Nila asks in a disgusted tone, glaring daggers at her captor. "How long are you going to keep me here to play house until I'm on a surgery table?"

Adrian does a double take and gasps, "No, no no no!" he reassures. "You've got it all wrong. I took you from Sanctuary to keep you safe. Miss Chaucer won't stop attacking Sanctuary until you either evacuate or give in. She has plans, horrible ones. And I couldn't bare to leave you. But, Nila. Don't you see the opportunity here? My mother, she'll never know of your existence and we-" he pauses to let out a joyful laugh. "We can live here together, happily, forever!" Adrian exclaims, throwing his arms out wide to gesture to the room.

But all Nila does is take a few cautious steps back, her expression turning from confused to terrified.

"What do you mean?"

Adrian smiles sweetly at Nila. "I probably don't make much sense, do I? Don't worry, I was hoping I'd be able to explain to you tomorrow, where I was going to arrange a nice dinner and, well...it wouldn't of been so distressing," he sighs, disappointment evident in his voice. "But, you're awake now and I think you deserve some answers. I'll be back in a couple of minutes to grab some important items. I'll even get a maid to clean up the mess in the bathroom. I love you," he states cheerfully and pecks a kiss on Nila's forehead before turning away hesitantly to leave the room.

'Breathe in. Breathe out.' Her instructors on Mars once told her to check and steady her breathing in a stressful situation. It turns out that their advice isn't doing much help at all.

'I can't stay here. I don't want to live here with him, forever. My friends, they'll be in danger,' Nila's thoughts start to race and she backs herself up in a corner, accidentally knocking over a vase standing atop of a pedestal in the process. She slides her back down against the freezing, Andursite walls and brings her knees up to her chest.

Never once in her life has she ever felt so helpless, so alone.