"I'm doing pretty well, thank you for asking. What was it you wanted to ask me?" Lily opens her mouth to speak, but her eyes find Karla, and she stops.

"I'll be outside. Let me know if you need anything." Karla closes the door behind her as she walks to the hallway.

"You're the Jay from the Wasteland, right?" Lily asks after a moment.

"Yeah, I am." I pull a chair up so I'm close to her bed.

"Why am I here? What is this place?"

"This is The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils. We exist to bring an end to Guthrie Harper and the Wasteland. Adrien, who you met earlier, is the leader of this place."

"So why am I here? Why'd you bring me here?"

"We brought you here because you were snapping, you needed to be free."

"If I needed to be free, why didn't you rescue me earlier?"

"We couldn't. The time wasn't right. Believe me, Lily. We all wanted to. Every time you won, we could see it in your eyes. We rescued you as soon as we could."

"What do you want? There's some reason why you brought me here, so what is it?" Lily narrows her eyes.

"Lily, I know Adrien has a few questions, but we rescued you because you needed to be rescued."

"There are so many other Gladiators there. Why me? I knew there was no escape and I'd accepted that. I'd been there for over ten years. Why didn't you rescue me earlier if you knew you were going to?"

"We couldn't just waltz in there even if we wanted to. Before we could even start the rescue, we had to make plans, and figure out all the details. Then, Hawk and I had to be caught as if we were Blenders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once we were caught we had to wait to get there. Things were made easier when we were assigned to you for a tour. Believe me, Lily, we rescued you as soon as we could."

"You've given yourselves a death sentence. Guthrie Harper won't stop until he's got me again, and the Wasteland is running smoothly again."

"Are you upset that we rescued you?" She can't really be upset, can she? She looked so miserable at the Wasteland.

"I'd be lying if I said I was happy there, but I'd grown accustomed to it. I was used to everything that happened."

"You're lying, Lily." Hawk's slammed open the door. She jumps into a low crouch.

"What are you doing here, Hawk?"

"I was talking with Karla, and I heard you say that you'd grown accustomed to the Wasteland, and were used to everything that happened," Hawk's eyes focus on Lily, "I know you're lying, so why say that? Are you trying to convince yourself about something? You weren't fine there. Remember when I was there when you woke up and you murmured that you can't kill anyone, and that the Wasteland is killing you, and that it's finally taking its toll? Remember that? Please, don't say that you were fine there when you weren't. It's a horrible place there. You're stronger than you think. It was ten years before you started to break, from what I've seen most break before that, though you'd have a better idea than I would. You're safe here though. I'll leave you here with Jay, but please don't lie and say you're fine if you're not."

"Except I'm not safe here. Guthrie Harper will find this place. You have signed your death sentences."

"Let him come. He won't get to you if I have a say." Hawk cracks his knuckles.

"You won't have a say. He'll outnumber you with a hundred Wasteland guards for every one of you. Or more."

"Lily, trust me when I say that no one will get to you. We all have each others backs here. I'll see you later." Hawk closes the door behind him.

Lily's quiet for a moment before she speaks again. "Does the colour plaid really represent The Loyal... What's the name again?"

"The Loyal Order of the Thorny Devils. It does though. Hawk has his bandana, Karly's got her sweatshirt, and there are others too."

"What do you wear?"

"I don't wear plaid," I say slowly.

"Why not? Isn't that what shows you're a part of The Loyal Order of Thorny... Thorny Devils?"

"It is, but since we're a smaller group, we can also recognise each other."

"Oh, alright."

"Do you have any other questions?"

"I'm sorta hungry... Can I get out of this bed? Karla told be to stay in it." Lily's voice drifts off before rising again.

"Ok. Just give me one second." I walk through the door and turn to Karla.

"How is she, Jay?"

"Lily's doing just fine I think. She's hungry and wants to move. Is it alright for her to eat at the cafeteria?"

"Yes, I believe it would do her some good to get the blood flowing."

"Thank you, Karla."

I stop next to Lily's bed, and she looks at me with hope in her eyes. "Would you like to see the cafeteria?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Let's go. I think it's sorta cool."

"Are you going to tell Karla everything?" We're walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

"Not unless you want me to. She wants to know how you're doing so she can help you get better, so I'll have to tell her some things, but I'll keep it as vague as possible unless you want me to tell it to her in more detail."

"Wait, so if I don't want you to tell her stuff, you won't except for what you have to?"

"Yeah."

"That's bizarre, but I like it."

"Jay! Wait, who's this?" A girl with bright hair runs up to me.

"Sasha, hey. This is Lily."

"Lily? Never seen her before now. Who is she?" Sasha frowns at Lily.

"You may know me better as Arrow," Lily murmurs softly.

"You're Arrow? Jeez, didn't see that coming!"

"Yeah..." Lily's gaze falls to the ground.

"What's it like as a Blender?"

"I don't know. It was cool I guess?"

"Could you turn into Arrow, please? I've always wanted to see him up close."

"I can't." Lily's gaze is still focused on the ground, and she shifts from foot to foot. Sasha frowns.

"Picture yourself as Arrow. What his paws look like, how his armor feels, the colour of his eyes, every detail about him. That's what works for me when I want to Blend myself into my dog form," I say.

"I can't." I frown at her words. Her hands tremble slightly.

"How can you not? You're a Blender, and Arrow's your Blended form," Sasha says bluntly.

"Arrow was my Blended form." Lily lifts her gaze to Sasha's face.

"Lily, why can't you Blend yourself into Arrow?" I ask.

"He's gone."

"You can't just lose half of yourself," Sasha scoffs.

"He's gone," She repeats.

"Where has he gone to?" I frown. How can Arrow be gone?

"I don't know."

"Perhaps you hit your head or something, half of you cannot just be gone. Anyways, I'm off. See ya, Jay! Bye, Lily." Sasha waves and walks off.

"Who's she?" Lily asks once she's gone.

"That was Sasha Scharliene. Half the time she's nice, the other half she's a bit rude. Sorry if she said anything that hurt."

"Why are you apologizing for her?"

"I- uh... I-I don't know."

"She's fine." We start towards the cafeteria once more.

"I'm a bit confused. What did you mean when you said you didn't know where Arrow went?" I look back slightly at Lily.

"I know he's gone. I don't know where he's gone to though."

"When I tried to go into the shadows, I couldn't see him." Lily looks towards the ground. I shake my head; this is so confusing.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just... It's just that none of this makes any sense. Maybe Adrien has some idea. I'm not sure how you're still alive. Don't think I don't want you alive, I do, and I'm happy you're still living, but you were killed."

"Is this the cafeteria?"

"Yeah," I hand her a plate, "Help yourself to whatever you want."
Lily takes the plate, but frowns. She looks the buffet up and down several times. Her gaze takes in the variety of food before she turns to me. "I can get whatever I want?"

"Yeah. Help yourself."

"W-whatever I want?"

"Yeah."

"How much can I get?"

"As much as you want."

"As much as I want?"

"Yeah."

"A-Are you joking?"

"No. Why would I do that? It would be cruel."

"Promise?"

"I promise you can get whatever you want in whatever quantity you'd like."

A smile spreads across her face, but it's gone a moment later. "Ok..." She walks to one end of the buffet and slowly fills her plate up. I pile on bread, meats, salads, anything that peaks my interest. I move the food around on my plate to make more room, then top it off. Once it's nearly overflowing, I sit down at a table with Lily.

I hear the soft drone of voices. People talk in hushed whispers to each other. They point fingers at us and look to their companions for answers. I frown as I take in the cafeteria. Lily closes her eyes, takes a few deep breaths, and focuses her gaze on her plate. She has multiple club sandwiches on it. "Psst!" Someone hisses at me.

"What?" I nearly growl back.

"Who's she? Your girlfriend?"

"No!" Where'd they get that in their head?

"Then who is she?" Another person juts in.

"Her name's Lily."

"Now that I think about it, she sorta looks like that girl you and Hawk brought in a few days ago." Someone else thinks aloud.

"Jay, I think I can talk... i-if you're alright with that," Lily says.

"Sure."

"So you're Arrow?"

"What was it like at the Wasteland?"

"Did you see Guthrie Harper?"

"What was it like being the number one Gladiator?"

"Can you tell us what the inside of the Wasteland looks like?"

"How's Karly doing?"

"What's it like being a Blender?" Questions get launched at Lily one after the other.

"Ok, ok. I'll answer a few."

"Can you answer mine, please?" Several people ask.

"I was Arrow. I didn't see Guthrie Harper. I guess there were some sort-of perks to being the top Gladiator, but it also put a huge target on my back and put a divide between me and the other Gladiators. I think Karly's doing fine. So, yeah..." Do they not know about the backpack Karly gave us?

"What was it like at the Wasteland?"

"I hated it." Her voice is flat before she tilts her head and adds, "AR was nice though. But it was Arrow who kept me tied to sanity." I frown. There it is again. She keeps referring to Arrow as though he's someone else. Blenders are just two halves put together. They're the same being. I'll have to talk to her about that later, or maybe I'll talk to Karla or Adrien first.

Eventually the questions die down, and Lily and I eat in a comfortable silence. She finishes off her sandwiches, then goes back for another one. I clean off my plate, and finish a glass of water. "Who leads this place?"

"Adrien Sauyer. You met him earlier."

"I did?"

"Yeah, when you first woke up."

"Oh, was he the guy without the bandana?" I nod my head.

"He wants to ask you some questions about the Wasteland, but he'll give you a chance to adjust first."

"We could go now."

"A-alright. You could wait a little longer."

"Guthrie Harper's not going to wait. He's probably about to launch his attack. I doubt I know much that'll help, but I can at least try. Trust me when I say your chances of surviving his attack are slim. He's brutal, and won't stop until you are all dead."

"I guess we can go when you're done eating."

"I'm done."

We set our dishes in the bin in a corner of the cafeteria before starting towards Adrien's office. Lily asks me some more questions on the way up. "How long has The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils existed?"

"Eesh. A long time. I think it was started shortly after Guthrie Harper came into power and created the Wasteland, so maybe fifteen, sixteen years."

"Huh, so only a few more years than I was at the Wasteland." A dark look comes over her eyes.

There's only a few more hallways. I make a turn and pass my bedroom and then Hawk's. "Jay, how long have you been here?"

"A few years. About eight, give or take a while."

"Is this his room?"

"Yeah, we're here." I knock on Adrien's door. The shiny plaque glimmers from the overhead lights.

"Come in," Adrien says.

Thank you for reading! Please consider a vote, and comment if you'd like!

When do you think Guthrie Harper will attack?

What do you think has happened with Arrow?

How do you think Karly's doing?

-Werewolf14-