ARIELLE

The voices started a few minutes ago.

I was running through the halls, determined to find Indigo Fluor and her mother myself. After all, I was the one who never needed a map. I could make my own way. As for the rest, while I was worried for them and had no idea what they were up to, I trusted Xavier and Damien to know what they were doing and Phoenix could handle herself.

My focus was only on Indigo Fluor. And then the speakers crackled to life and the voices began.

They were recordings, clips of when I was younger, when I was older, maybe even recently. Some were far too similar for me to discern, others were ones I didn't even remember. Why would I? They were daily occurrences.

The clips were taken from what must've been footage that we tried to erase long ago from the cameras of the Golden Palace. I heard my father's voice echo through the halls.

"Daria," he shouted. "What's wrong with you? You can't even keep your hands up?"

There was a clash as he slammed a staff across my back. I heard myself collapse to the floor and cry out.

"Father, please stop."

I shook my head and took off down the dark hallways, the voices still following me. I reached a stairwell and dashed up the steps, no destination in mind, just the goal of escaping my father and myself.

"You're supposed to take up your sister's name in a few months. Mere months, Daria! You think you can convince them when you can't even get back up? When you can't even put up a fight?"

I didn't respond.

"You're weak, Daria," he hissed. "Do you want to keep being weak?"

I reached the top of the stairs and pushed through a door, entering a short hallway. At the very end of the hall was a large metal door, a handprint scanner sitting right beside it. Between the door and her were five armed guards. There were no speakers here, but the words followed her.

You're weak, Daria.

I slid to the ground as the guards lifted their guns, flinging her blades. It caught four of them, slitting their throats, making them collapse into the last one, blocking his line of fire.

My father was right. I was weak. All my life I let him chain me, his words confining me, let him tell me I was supposed to be Arielle Fortier. I shaped myself to his liking, to fix his mistakes. I let him determine who I was. All this time, I knew I couldn't continue living the same way, not if I wanted them to tear me apart. But I did nothing to stop it. I did nothing to save myself, to pursue my own dreams, my own goals.

But what even were they? I said I wanted peace. I said I wanted to run away. But why? Because I thought I wasn't Arielle Fortier? That I wasn't a Crown Heir? That I couldn't rule? I spent years training and studying and practicing to claim the crown. I fought tooth and nail, tore myself apart and put myself together again to get where I was. Did I really want to let it all go? Just because someone said I wasn't good enough?

I threw my blade again and sliced the last one's neck and looked up.

No.

No matter what I said, I wanted to try to be a good Crown Fortier, to be able to be better than my sister ever was. It didn't matter what my father said.

"My name is Arielle fucking Fortier!" I shouted at the cameras. "No one will stop me!"

And then I stepped forward, leaned down, and slammed my blade through one of the dead guard's wrists, cutting his hand straight off. The blood splattered all over me—my face, my clothes, my hair—but I didn't care. I pressed the severed hand against the scanner and, after a moment, it buzzed. The large door clicked.

I dropped the hand and walked towards the door, blades ready. I couldn't know for sure whether or not the door contained the cells I was looking for, but if there was a handprint and multiple guards for this one door, it had to have been something useful, at the very least. I pushed through the door and didn't even blink before slitting the throats of the two guards on the other side. They didn't even have enough time to turn around and check who was entering.

These were the fools the almighty Ravens kept to guard their precious base. It was almost disappointing. I looked up at my surroundings and realized that, luckily, I was right where I wanted to be—the prison cells.

I took the keys off one of them and walked forward, ignoring the numerous strangers who pressed up against the bars, reaching out for me, begging me to help them out. Maybe I should've released them to create more ruckus for the Ravens to clean up, but I wasn't sure if I could trust any of the people locked up. Besides, I needed to find Indigo and Eveleen Fluor. Fast.

It was when I reached the end of the hallway that the dread set in. Neither Indigo nor her mother were anywhere to be found. Where the hell were they? Did we get this all wrong? What if they weren't hidden in this base afterall?

"You're looking for someone," a quiet voice said. I turned to my right to find a frail old woman peering at me calmly from inside the cell. Her face was shadowed in the darkness. She wasn't grasping at the bars and shouting as all the others. She was watching, plotting. I didn't like her.

"Why do you care?" I asked.

"I know where they are," she said.

"How do you even know who I'm looking for?"

"Do Assassins often storm Raven bases and look through their prison cells? No. Who you're looking for is important and, of course, the Ravens would know it. They took her to a special cell."

"I'm guessing you want your freedom in exchange for the information."

The woman only stood and nodded.

"I could just search and find this special cell myself."

"If you wish to spend hours in this place, by all means, please continue."

I studied her for a long moment, trying to read her, but Xavier was always better at this stuff than me. I couldn't get any information besides the fact that she was old, but perhaps the appearance was merely from the effects of being held hostage.

"Make your choice soon, girl," she said. "Or the Ravens will make it for you."

I hesitated for a moment before saying, "Fine."

I pushed the keys into the lock and twisted, letting the door swing open. She stepped forward, still calm, and pointed at the blank wall next to us.

"It's a secret door," she explained. "You must press it to open it. She will be in there."

Of course.

A secret door that looked like a wall. It was the oldest play in the book. I cursed myself for not figuring it out. I pushed the wall and, sure enough, it easily moved backwards.

"Press it again, and it will slide away," she said.

Without another word, the woman turned and walked away. I watched as she headed back the way I came, my hand gripping my blade, ready to attack if she made any move. But she didn't. She merely continued walking, ignoring the shouts from the other prisoners, until she disappeared through the door and out of sight. I relaxed my grip, though I was still uneasy.

I turned back around to the wall and pushed it, as instructed. Sure enough, the wall slid to the side to reveal a well lit room with a glass cell inside. The prisoner looked up.

"Hi, Arielle!" she waved.

She wasn't Indigo Fluor.

"Nydia?"

What the hell?

"You're not Indigo," I muttered.

She paused for a moment, in deep thought, and blinked. "Was I supposed to switch bodies?"

It took me a moment, frozen in place, to realize that I needed to break her out. After all, she was my friend.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I looked around the room. I spotted a control panel on the right wall.

"Counting my hair. Did you know that I have 108,572 strands of hair?" she paused. "I think. I'm not really sure. I keep losing count."

I shook my head as I approached the control panel. Why did the Ravens take her? It didn't make any sense. Was she here this whole time? Is that why we couldn't seem to find her?

I clicked the red button labeled "Open" and a buzzing sound filled the room. A glass door on the side of the cage opened. It was when she got to her feet and walked right out that noticed the clothes she was wearing. They were cheap, common pieces of clothing. Definitely not Assassin-grade clothing that she no doubt had a closet full of. The Ravens must've given them to her during her imprisonment.

"Do you know where Eveleen and Indigo are?"

Nydia shook her head. "Eveleen was in the cells outside. I never saw Indigo."

Except, Eveleen wasn't in the cells outside. Did they move Eveleen away when they realized we were about to attack? Or did Eveleen take her? And if Indigo wasn't here, then was this a trap or a misunderstanding?

I led her out the door, back into the hall with the prisoners who seemed to have gotten louder, understanding that this was their last chance at freedom. Beyond, the door still remained open. I just realized the woman would have closed the door if she wished and we would've been locked inside. I cursed myself. I need to be more careful.

I looked back at Nydia as we passed through the doorway and reentered the hall with the guards I slaughtered.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

Nydia shrugged. "I don't know. Time is weird."

I guessed it would be hard to tell the time without being able to see the sun, but didn't the Ravens do basic things like providing food to their prisoners according to a schedule?

"Have you been here ever since graduation?"

"Nope."

We descended down the stairwell.

"Where were you all these months?"

"I've been helping rats and spreading awareness about ostriches."

Considering that this was Nydia, this could've been a legitimate answer and pushing deeper probably would've only made me more confused, so all I asked was, "Why didn't you visit us?"

Nydia shrugged. "The sun's too mean."

As I reached the last step, I looked up at her. Her voice, her tone, her words were all regular Nydia. But there was something in her eyes, something in the way she seemed to be standing so still, that made me worry. The energy was sucked out of her.

If this was anyone else, I would've blamed their captivity for the change, but this was Nydia Raphaella. During her time as an Alpha, she had been captured during our various missions, one of which was as close as earlier this year during the diablo mission. But every single time, her spirit hadn't wavered. In fact, she always seemed even more energetic, even more active afterwards, reveling in the experience. Nor did she try so hard to seem fine, so she acted almost like anyone else in the world. So what happened now?

What did they do to her?

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "Why?"

"You just seem..." I struggled to find the right words, "more erratic and depressed than usual."

Nydia shrugged. "I feel sane."

I turned the corner and sighed. "Whatever you say."

I looked ahead, remembering which way I had come from. That wasn't hard. The hard part was figuring a way out. I came from the exit of the Ravens' Blood Battles, and I didn't think using that same path would work. Even if it did, I didn't want to explore what the Ravens had in store. That meant I needed to find a different way out.

I kept walking, still following the path I took already as I tried to sort it out and remember where each hall led and where there could be an exit. It was a long while before I realized I was walking in complete silence.

I was walking in complete silence in the presence of Nydia Raphaella.

I halted immediately and turned around to find the hallway empty.

"Nydia?" I called. There was no answer.

Crap.

I ran, following the path I took from the stairs, looking down hallways and through doors as I passed, calling out Nydia's name. I couldn't find her. With each passing second, my stomach sank further.

At last, I reached the stairs and called for her one last time, but there was no response. She was nowhere to be found.

Nydia was gone.

The Great Philosopher Connor Claymon has spoken once again. He states:

I really like the word bologna.

His wisdom is never-ending.

See you guys next week!

~Sreenija Paruchuri, Resident Idiot and friend of the Great Philosopher