"Of course, Riz, just spit it out, you're starting to scare me. What could possibly be so important that you would drag me into this..." He sniffed, immediately regretting the decision. The room reeked. "...dump?"

Riz simply shook his head at Kane. "Open your eyes, idiot! The whole place is a dump, look around. There are holes in the wall everywhere. The food is nothing but flavored cardboard, or tire rubber, I can never tell. There are innocent children in jail cells. Do you not- how do you not see the problem here?" Riz made sure to keep his voice a hissing whisper, but it was growing increasingly difficult with all the words be wanted to spit out at Kane bubbling in the back of his throat.

"What's your point? At least we get paid." Kane scoffed, but he couldn't bring himself to look into Riz's smoldering eyes. His gaze was instead fixed on a brick on the floor next to him.

"Listen to yourself! Do you not hear it? You've become one of them. You used to be a good person, or at least slightly less crappy, but now..." Riz trailed off, it pained him to think about the rest of that sentence, let alone speak it. "You're no better than her!"

"You, you take that back! I care abou-" Kane started, but he was cut off by a steamed Riz.

"You care about Kiyon, that's it. You don't seem to care about any of the other people trapped here, labeled prisoners simply because this twisted woman needs amusement. But that's not why I brought you in here, so shut up and listen up."

"I don't take orders from y- uh,  never mind." Kane's voice went a little higher in pitch than normal, Riz rarely ever got mad, and at the moment he looked like he was going to explode any moment. "C-carry on."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, I have a plan. You and I both know that these kids are innocent. And you know exactly why, I'm sure you recall what happened all those years ago, I know I haven't been able to forget. So, I have a plan to get you, me, and them out of here. And if we play our cards right, we could end this. We could end all of this, and finally send that woman away once and for all." Riz looked Kane up and down, noting his apprehensiveness, "you interested?"

Kane studied Riz, he was serious. He didn't think he had ever seen him as serious about something as he did then, he usually didn't even speak his opinion if he was scared that someone else might disagree with it in some fashion. Riz had just earned even more respect from Kane, surprisingly, that was indeed possible. "Yes, I'm in. Just...tell me what I have to do."

"Every day, or night whatever, you make extra rounds after yours are over. You always take the excuse to pay Kiyon an extra visit, because that's when you sneak him extra food."

"Hey! How do you know about that? No one knows about that, those are secret, the only light I even use come from the palms of my gauntlets," he turned up his hands, looking at the palm of his hand, where the power for the  gauntlets surged.

Riz scoffed, "I have my ways. But once again, that's not the point. Okay, so, after those extra rounds tomorrow you come get me, and you give me the key to their cell, then you go to Opaque. You tell her that someone escaped from section C, her attention will be there instead if where we are, and I should be able to sneak the kids out, then, you just run to meet up."

"Riz, this is a nice plan and all, but I can't do it. Nah, I just won't do it. I'm not going to be a traitor, and it would never work." Kane stuck a hand into his cargo pockets, gnawing softly at the inside of his cheek. At least in the prison, everyone had a place to sleep, and enough food to last them another day. What would happen to all of that if they dared to try and escape? Even more, what would happen if they got caught?

"What do you mean you won't do it? Do you know how much I've sacrificed for you? I've given up my whole life, for you! I didn't even want this job, yet here I stand, and when I come to you with a way to finally make things better for..." Riz trailed off, he was about to say 'us', but he didn't even know if they had an 'us', was there an 'us'? "You know what, make your choice. You can stay with...that woman, or you can come with your best friend. Either way? I'm out of here."

Kane was taken aback, he almost always got his way in arguments with Riz, but this time he wasn't caving like he usually did. "Fine. I trust you, you know I do." Kane leaned in real close to Riz's ear, as if someone could hear them. "I'm trusting you with this, don't make me regret it, okay?"

"I'd never think of it, just...be ready. And be safe. And they'll be safe with me, I promise." Riz grabbed Kane by his shoulders, drawing him into a tight, protective bear hug. He had faith that his plan would work, he'd put a good bit of thought into it, but the place was unpredictable. If it didn't work, he wanted Kane to know some things.

"Hey, Kane?" Riz started, still rocking Kane back and forth with him in the hug.

"Still here," Kane felt a little bit awkward, but that hug, or whatever it was, seemed to be bringing Riz comfort, so he wasn't going to let go.

"Just know, always know, that you're the best friend I've ever had. I don't plan to, by any means, but if I die, I want it to be with you. And I can't wait to stick it to opaque tomorrow."

Neither of the two men had noticed the raven sitting on a nearby piece of rubble. Only one of the hundreds of birds that had been modified and 'enhanced' with cameras, with great visual and audio quality. Neither of the two knew that their whole conversation was on video, but Opaque did.

Ooh, what do you guys think about what's happening? Do you think Amaya's dream, or conscious life is worse?

Comments are always appreciated, inline spam is my life source.

❤