Celestia's P.O.V.

The drone went straight down the hallway to the right of Jakes and came back a moment later, without the man. The trap door in the ceiling opened, and the drone rose through it, never even acknowledging us.

"Did they at least leave clothing for us?" I asked Jake, remembering what I was wearing.

He nodded with a laugh, "Yeah, looks like you need some, eh? What, were you at a ball or something? Did they pick you up at midnight in their mechanical carriage?"

"No, I was out with a friend." I huffed.

"Ahhh, a friennndddd. How's he doing with your disappearance I wonder? It's gotta suck. Was he there?" Jake asked.

"She, and we were not in a relationship. We were just hanging out." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Mhm, suuuurrrrreeee." He grinned teasingly. "Don't worry, I don't mind the gays."

I couldn't help a small smile. This man was ridiculous.

"I'm serious!" I tried to clarify. 

Jake tilted his head and then shrugged. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"So, how do I do this ice thing?" I asked. "Do you know?"

"Well..." Jake paused. "That's more for you to figure out, I work with fire." He smiled, twirling a little fireball on his fingertip.

"Well, I mean, do you just focus really hard on it, or like, I don't know. You seem to have figured stuff out, how did you do that?" I asked again, looking around the room.

"Well, I spent weeks alone with absolutely nothing to do, so I just experimented with my powers, and honestly I don't really know how I figured it out. I just did." He told me.

 "How long do they keep us here for?" I asked, turning back to him just in time to see a fireball flying at my face.

I jumped and an ice wall formed in front of me. The fireball crashed straight into the ice and while I half expected it to just burn straight through the cracks, the wall held strong.

"What was that for?!" I yelped.

"I was testing your reaction speed. Not bad." Jake replied, grinning.

"Thanks, I guess?" I said uncertainly.

"Well, I mean, you seem to know what to do instinctively." He told me. "And you wanted me to help you figure out how to use your powers. Well, what I'm trying to say is that I just surprised you, and you knew what to do,  so how did that feel? Just... Figure out how to do the stuff without it coming with surprise, I guess? I don't know, I'm new to this too." He sighed.

"Thank you." I breathed, a lot more genuinely this time.

"I hope that that helps." He replied. "Let me know if you need anything. In the meantime, I'm going to get some sleep."

He turned from me and I watched as he walked away, down the hallway to his room. I felt a strange feeling as I stared at him, his smile stuck in my brain, the echo of his laugh replaying over in my mind. Something about his voice just felt so comforting.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a flickering red light flying towards me. I held my hands in front of me and ice flowed from them, flying in all directions at an incredible speed. The intricacy of each branch of ice caught my eye - it was beautiful.

The fireball rushed into my wall of ice and dissolved, but not before it sent shimmers of light reflecting off of the ice all throughout the room in gorgeous patterns. I lifted my eyes to see Jake standing at the end of the hallway, smiling at me.

He nodded in approval and I shook my head, half annoyed and half happy - this was the most fun I'd had in a long time. He laughed when I sent an icicle at him, quickly melting it with a fire wall, but I conjured another one, relentlessly pelting him with my icicles.

"I'm actually going to go now." He chuckled. "But you're doing really good, you should keep practicing. Well, unless you don't want to. You don't have to of  course. But like, it'll help you get better at it. Not that you aren't already good at it.... Um..."

I laughed at the red tinge that was greeting his cheeks as he tried to fix his sentence. "I get what you meant, it's okay. Thank you."

"Okay. Bye." He replied, , before he turned and left.

I sat on the floor, the cool concrete greeting the dwindling warmth of my body. There were small cracks on the concrete here and there, but overall the room looked unused. How long would we have to wait for other people to get here?

It seemed strange that something that hadn't happened for so many years was now happening within such a short span of time and I was skeptical that it wouldn't be a long wait. I hadn't seen any other drones here yet, but maybe there were somewhere, and I could ask them questions.

At least Jake seemed nice. I smiled slightly at the thought of being stuck here with him - so far, I didn't mind the concept. Then again, I had no clue who the other man was, which made me a little nervous. Nonetheless, I trusted that maybe I'd be safe with Jake here.

"I should rest." I sighed.

I'd been tired long before I decided to come in here, and by the sounds of it I could practice some other time, considering how long it seemed we'd be here. I stood from the floor and walked along the long corridor to my room, my hand gliding along the metal wall absentmindedly with each step I took.

I could feel the strange texture of the picture against my skin and it reminded me of where I had been and everything that had happened. I fought the tears threatening to emerge as I looked at the door to my room. Opening it, I was greeted with the sight of a simple bed in a room that was only dimly lit from the fluorescent lights - not a window in sight.

Spotting two metallic doors embedded in the wall I rushed over, hoping it was a closet. Opening them both at once, I was surprised to find lots of clothing hanging - there were robes, dresses, pants, sweaters and leggings. Where the clothing ended, a dresser stood. Opening the drawers, I found undergarments, shirts, socks, and pajamas.

"Nice." I smiled.

Removing the picture from beneath my dress I tucked it underneath the bottom drawer of the dresser, before I went on the hunt for some pajamas that actually seemed cozy. Taking off my heals I spotted the blood on the bottom, still remaining in a dried fashion.

"Lovely. Just lovely." I mumbled to myself.

Removing them, I placed them with the rest of the shoes, before I changed. I closed the closet and then wandered back to my bed. Heaving a sigh, I collapsed on it, ready to rest. The sooner I slept, the closer I was to getting out of here. Or at least, the less of being in here I had to actually be awake for.

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I awoke to light streaming in from the window beside my bed, illuminating the concrete floor. I guess it was time to get up. I shimmied off my bed, standing on the cold floor. I didn't want to put the effort into changing out of my pajamas, so I simply grabbed a blue robe that was hanging from the door.

Realizing that I hadn't explored this place much, I decided that now would be as good a time as any. Once I tied the robe, I walked down the hallways. It was cold, and eerily silent, so I assumed that the man who got dropped here must have still been knocked out, and Jake was still sleeping.

"I guess it's nice to kinda have the place to myself." I smiled slightly. "Less chance of embarrassing myself."

Looking towards a small flight of stairs, I noticed just how textured the walls were. I placed my hand upon the wall, my fingers inching into the grooves. 

"How strange." I breathed.

Hearing a sound in the distance, I decided to continue down this path, retracting my hand from the wall and hesitantly continued down the hallway. As the stairs came closer, I could hear whispering voices, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I walked up the stairs and saw a door on either side. The voices seemed to be coming from the left, so I stepped closer, resting my hand on it's cold surface and gently shifting my ear against it.

"She killed me." I heard.

"She doesn't belong here. She's a murderer, not a Guardian." The voice continued.

Were they talking about me? I wondered. 

"You're right. She is a murderer. Having powers doesn't make up for her actions, she doesn't have the right to be here. You should fix that. She doesn't have to be here, you know. You have just as much control over getting rid of her as I do." Another voice replied.

Caylie?

I stepped back from the door just as it opened. My eyes met those of Caylie's, and I noticed that behind her a tall man was standing, but I couldn't make out his face in the dark shadows.

"Celestia." Caylie shook her head. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

"How are you here?" I asked, confused.

"Don't ask questions that you don't want answers to." The man said.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

As he stepped towards me the lighting shifted to reveal his face. I stepped back, fear taking hold of my body. It was him - the man from the club. But how? Metal glinted from the corner of my vision and I realized that he was holding a knife. 

"You know who I am." He replied. "You're the reason I'm not alive anymore. And I will be the reason you experience the same fate as me."

With that, he thrust the knife into me. I screamed at the sharp pain in my stomach as he swiftly removed the blade and left me to fall to the floor. Caylie shook her head at me, as though she was disappointed.

"You're so weak." She sighed.

I fought the tears welling in my eyes, but it was to no avail as they slid down my cheeks. My stomach throbbed, the warm blood flowing through my clenched fingers where my hands rested on the wound, as my vision faded.

"Tia?" I heard in the far distance.

"Celestia, wake up." The voice repeated.

Jake?

I opened my eyes quickly, sitting up abruptly. My eyes met the nervous blues of Jake's and I became extremely aware of the weight his hands resting on my shoulders exhibited. I looked at my stomach and seeing no blood, I reached under my shirt.

My fingertips grazed my skin and yet I felt nothing. No wound, no blood, no injury at all. I was fine. But how? Had I truly slept for so long that I had fully healed? Or had none of that happened? It all seemed so real.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked. "You screamed so I came to check on you. It seemed like you were having a nightmare so I woke you up. I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind."

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." I told him hesitantly. 

It was a dream. That made sense, given how dark my room was - there weren't windows and there wasn't sunlight. And it also explained how Caylie was there. And the man I killed. But still. 

"What were you dreaming about?" Jake asked me, removing his hands from my shoulders.

I looked to him with a fake smile. "Nothing all that bad, just running out of cheese."

"Running out of cheese?" Jake questioned.

"Uh, yup, so terrible!" I laughed slightly, kinda wishing he hadn't let me go.

"Okay...." Jake looked at the ground. "Would you like me to go?" 

"Would you like to go?" I asked.

He stared at me and my breath caught in my throat from the intensity of his gaze. I didn't know what I was asking, or implying, or how he interpreted my question. How could he make sense of what I meant when I didn't even know what I meant?

"We should probably sleep." He finally answered. 

"Yeah." I agreed.

He nodded, as though agreeing with himself, and then stood up once more and walked to my door. He leaned against the frame for a moment before he looked back to me. 

"Nightmares suck." He stated matter of factley.

"Yeah." I sighed, biting my lip in an effort to not start crying again.

"I could sleep in here if you wanted. Just like, on the floor. So you don't have to be alone, you know." He said after a short pause.

I contemplated his offer. On the one hand, I didn't know if to trust him or not. On the other hand, I really wanted to trust him. And for some probably stupid reason, I felt like I could. And... If I was being honest with myself, I really didn't want to be alone either.

"Do you... Do you want to?" I asked him.

"I don't mind at all." He smiled.

I couldn't help but smile back at him. "Okay, then."

"I'll just be a moment then." He told me, before he walked out the door. 

Within minutes, he'd returned with an armful of bedding, which he laid out on my floor. I turned on my side in the bed and watched as he crawled beneath the covers upon the concrete. I felt bad, because it had to be uncomfortable, but I was also strangely happy he was here.

"Goodnight." He smiled.

"Goodnight." I replied.

I watched as he closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep. I couldn't see him well through the dim fluorescent lights, but from what I could see, he seemed so peaceful. I felt calmed by his presence, and before long, I'd fallen asleep as well.

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