VII

Blood was splashed all over your hands, face and clothing. It dripped from your cold fingers as you stared blankly at the body before you. 

You furrowed your brow as confusion began to swirl through your mind.

    "Daddy?" You looked up at the voice.

Your eyes shot open and you lungs sucked in a sudden breath. You were back in your cell in the High Security prison. No longer in the past.

Sweat ran down your forehead as you calmed your shaking and laboured breathing. You hoped that your nightmare hadn't woken Fang up and pissed her off. Either she was still sleeping or she had been woken up, she just hadn't said anything yet. 


You glanced at the clock outside of the currently locked cell. 

6:36 it read. Still 24 minutes until the cells were unlocked and inmates went to the mess hall for breakfast. Going back to sleep was out of the question. Images and sounds still lingered throughout your mind from your nightmare.

For a moment you had almost forgotten the events of yesterday, but then the horrid memory of those brothers returned to you, making you scrunch your face up in disgust. 

You remember bumping into Maqui and his little group, and the strange feeling you got from the blue haired one. Instead of following them to the mess hall, you had tried to orientate yourself and find your cell. You hadn't been hungry for dinner yesterday anyway.

You and Fang barely spoke at breakfast. In fact she didn't bother waiting for you after she had finished, she simply left without a word.

Once finished, before you could resume your free roaming, you were intercepted by one of the guards. A blue eyed blonde, and by the look of his badge, a guard from your wing. Made sense. 

    "Inmate 472, Miss (Surname), correct?" He asked you. The guard had a slender build, light blue eyes, a few noticeable freckles and short unruly blonde hair.

    "Thats me...and you are?" 

"Prompto, at your service," He replied, with an over exaggerated bow. "I have come to take you to your counseling session, if you would please follow me." He said with amusement flickering in his eyes. 

You fought the urge to punch this guy right there and then. However you were strangely cooperative (something Prompto wasn't expecting) when you silently agreed to follow. 

Hope was your counselor that you have every two weeks. 

You found that everyone in the prison had some sort of counselor, to talk to them about their habits, pasts and way to deal with problems that didn't resolve to violence. Did these people really think that that would work in any way? At least this wasn't an asylum where they would give you electroshocks or any of that horrible torture. 

One of the mercenary's had informed you that you were to meet up with your counselor every two weeks. 

Prompto lead you to your destination swiftly. The place where you were meant to have this 'one to one' with someone you hardly knew. He was silent for the whole walk. Neither of your felt like speaking any way. Why would you want to start a conversation with someone who might have done something horrific? However you did notice his weary glances at you now and then. Keeping on guard around you. 

You finally arrived at an office like area with a couple doors on each side of the hallway. The floor was actually carpeted in this area to your surprise. 

Prompto led you to a specific door and opened it up for you without a word. 

Upon entering you noticed the room's walls were covered in photos of people and info boards. Sitting at a tidy but crowded desk in the middle was a light blue-green eyed silvernette. 

He looked up upon you entering and offered a kind smile. 

    "(Name) (Last Name), correct?" He said, standing up from his seat. "I'm Hope Estheim, and I'll be seeing you once every two weeks or more if you request it. Not that I'll be expecting that though." He chuckled slightly, trying to ease the gloomy aura that followed after you.  

"Is this really necessary?" You asked taking a seat opposite from Hope.

"Well that depends on you really. We do this to everyone to see what we can do to change their ways and stop them from doing something terrible again, when they have served their sentence that is." Hope replied sitting back in his seat. "Well so far so good, you haven't started any fights with anyone yet, and from what I've heard no one has with you...Have they?" Hope paused to look at you waiting for a reply.

You contemplated whether you should bring up the incident you had with Kadaj and his brothers, but you shook your head.

"Ok. To start off I think I need to get to know you better." He informed.

You narrowed your eyes at him slightly. Was he mocking you?

"You already have everything you need to know about me in your documents." You said.

"Yes but I want to hear it from you personally, who you really are, (Name)."

Your finger twitched in irritation. You didn't like how he was talking to you as if he knew you personally.

"And what exactly are you expecting to hear? My favourite colour? My dreams?.... " you didn't know why you were suddenly getting so defensive. This whole idea of someone to talk to just irked you somehow. Hell you would rather talk to that bastard Kadaj about your feelings. You knew him better, and after all, you were both here for doing something terrible.

You thought back to when you were pulled into his cell and the memory made you think otherwise. You only hoped you wouldn't be in that position again.

"No,  that isn't the point. I need to know you better so I can try to understand you on the same level. Realise the reasons to why you do these things." He said seriously, looking you in the eye. 

There was a moment of silence before you replied,

"You honestly think you could ever get on the same level of any of us?" You retorted, feeling the urge to get up and leave. This was pointless. Much like everything else. 

Hope sighed, leaning back in his chair looking already to give up. Until he spoke up again. 

"You want me to be honest?" He asked. 

You didn't reply.

"You're different than all these others. I can just tell, there's something not right about your case." Hope voice, glancing at your papers. 

You rose a brow at him. 

"Oh? And what makes you say that." You questioned acting indifferent about his words, when really you weren't sure whether to feel relieved or worried. 

Hope leaned forward, elbows resting on his desk, hands interlacing and his chin resting on top. His demeanor changing slightly. 

"To me, you honestly don't seem like the type to kill an innocent." 

Your hands tightened into fists then relaxed, a small nervous reaction, that did not go unnoticed.

After what seemed like the longest seconds of your life, Hope leaned back once more, the tense atmosphere disappearing. 

"Anyway, lets not talk about that. Let's talk about you. Any hobbies other than breaking the law (Last Name)?" 

This went on for the last 20 minutes. Hope asking light hearted questions, noting some things down here and there, and you replying with either shrugs, no's or yeses.  

"Ok, before you go, I would like to inform you that your chores start next week, Monday. You'll be in the kitchens with inmate no. 507 cooking the meals." 

You nodded and stood up from your seat, turning towards the exit. 

"Oh- and (Name)?" You halted, your hand hovering over the door handle, at the way he used your first name. Since when were you on a first name basis? "You can trust me. I am here if you need to talk to anyone. I mean, it is my job after all." He finished offering a kind smile.

Prompto had disappeared once you left Hope's office. You didn't really care but you would have been lost if you hadn't of been memorising the corridors and turns. 

However it just turned your day even more sour when you turned one of those corners...

Without warning you slammed into a firm chest upon turning the corner. Before your body could touch the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around your waist pulling you back into the same chest.

Looking up you see a pair of blue eyes staring back at your own in awe before it disappeared completely and was replaced with a smug glint.

"Uh sorry." You muttered, pushing away from him.

This was another one of the guys Fang had warned you about. Seifer. 

He was alone this time but that didn't mean you were in any less danger. 

Fortunately for you, giving you one last curious look he side stepped you and proceeded to the door you had just exited from. Hope's office. 

That guy really didn't seem like someone who would bother going to see Hope...

Is it just me or is that picture of Prompto up there sexy or what ;) 

A slightly more boring chapter but oh well, expect to meet new people and more exciting shit in the next! And yes there is a reason (Reader) is being kind of bitchy and distant from Hope. Links to the fact he isn't on the BOC list for this book -Rikki

Funny thing is, I actually completed the 9th and 10th chapters of this book before this chapter haha...Its kinda strange because I haven't even done 8 yet XD