Chapter 18.

Una woke on the fifth day with her stomach in more pain than before, but she realised something, she wasn't cold. Her nightmare was with Elphcoe and he was trying to kill her in a dark maze with long thorned vines and sharp turns and every corner she turned he would be at the end, he had no face, but she knew it was him, it was absolutely terrifying and when she woke up, she could feel the sweat on her forehead and her heart pounding in her chest. River was already awake and had pushed himself away from her, leaning against the bars.

"It's so warm," she whispered, her head dizzy and her mouth dry and she could barely move her head to look at River in the corner. He mustered a frown, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and with a slight jerk of his head to indicate that it definitely wasn't, it was Una's time to frown.

She reached over for his hand, placing it on her side and he almost jumped at the heat she was emitting, "Una you could be sick," he was worried about her, but she didn't feel any different. Of course, she was in pain, her stomach felt as though it was caving in on her and she could hardly move but she had been like that for the past two days.

The guards were bringing them less and less food each day and Una had started noticing that halves were turning to quarters and water was rare. It was very clear they were trying to get them weak whilst keeping them alive, and it was working, she had never had to ration food before, so it was entirely new to her to live off of nothing.

Flynn seemed to be the one with the most energy out of them all, he would walk around his cell, sing songs for them all with his voice which actually was beautiful just so that they wouldn't forget that there was beauty in the world. Una had wondered how he was able to get up without falling back down and she realised that a part of him was used to having nothing.

He had lived with his parents in the worst part of Somnium that Una hadn't discovered, and he had told her there were times he didn't get dinner because his parents just couldn't afford it. He was getting weaker and she knew that but he was still standing and that broke her heart even more, that he was so used to living off of this amount of food that his body was accustomed to it for so long.

"I feel fine," she said. She took off the suit jacket she was wearing, placing it over River who needed it more than her even with his protests. He was still cold, and she wasn't, and she could live with it more than he could.

He was still wounded, and the guards didn't care if he was to die or not, so it raised the question of why they were all still alive.

She had gotten another beaten from the guards when she asked again, for medicine or something to clean his wounds and she had past caring about death so she threw more rocks and flipped them off with vulgar words and gestures and she didn't know if she was just so sick of being numb that the pain she felt when they hurt her was a relief.

Her and River were the only ones awake, it was soon to be morning, but it was still duller than usual and looking at the clouds in the sky that she saw in the small window seemed to be the only thing keeping her sane. There was nothing more to do than sit and that made her muscles sorer and her mind inactive.

"That's not," he took a deep breath, she had warmed the suit jacket and it felt heated, he felt the warmth flowing through him, "that's not the point, Una."

"Regardless of me being sick or not, River, you seem to be the only one who cares," she didn't mean to sound harsh, but she had passed caring about herself a few long days ago, "do you think the residents of this castle care about us, or care that we're here? Do you think if I told the guards I was sick that they'd care to do anything about it?

We are left for dead until someone remembers about us or someone realises we're gone, and by then we'll probably all be dead anyway."

"You aren't you, Una."

"How would you even know that River? as far as I know, you don't even like me," she turned to glare at him and through the pain in his features she saw one thing she never thought she would. Hurt.

He stared at her for a long time, "I have trusted you for a long time."

"You haven't shown it," she said, leaning against the wall. She could feel the heat around her, it was as though she was shielded and the heat was in a bubble surrounding her and any cold she had once felt had left her.

"Why would I?" he said, "I could see the amusement on your face when you snapped at me, you enjoyed it. You could take your anger out on someone and why not that someone being me when I enjoyed it too."

She didn't have anything else to say because it was true, she liked the bickering, and his jokes and the annoyance because she could shout at him. It sounded weird to say it like that, that she liked to shout at him, but she did, it got her anger out and it made her feel better.

"You've got a fiery temper." He would have smirked if he could but even doing something so simple was so draining.

"When did you start to trust me?" she asked, pulling on his hand when she saw him falling off of the wall and allowing him to lie his head in her lap again.

"The day you showed Ferris that book with all those contacts," he said, "I realised then that I could trust you with my life. No one has ever done something like that for him, or for any of us, and I could tell you made them happy. Elysia never stopped talking about you whenever we were at meetings with our family, telling them all that we had a new member into the squad and that they just had to meet her.

They asked me once, asked me what I thought of you and I said you were the most trusting person I've ever met."

"It's true." Una's eyes snapped up to the other cells and through the bars, she could see Elysia dragging herself against the wall. It was the most she had said in the five days and it showed in the hoarseness of her voice, she was weak, and she hated it so much.

That was why she slept her days away, she didn't want her friends seeing her like she was - she didn't want them seeing her as weak.

"The meetings usually drag on and we hardly have a purpose for being there. All of us should be going to them but no one else cared to show up. River and I went usually to show that we did actually care about Somnium even if we hardly had a say and so when they started to ignore us I talked about the first thing that came to mind and that was you.

I told them how amazed I was that there was another member, how you are from a village so far away and, yet you were brought here, and my mother told me it was fate and I had to believe her because that is my field. I'll always believe in fate, Una, and it can change but...I know my own."

"You do?" Una gasped, her eyes wide with shock.

"I don't die today, I don't die tomorrow or the day after," her eyes were closed, and she could hardly speak but she forced herself too, "I have years left to live. Makers have to know their own fate in order to learn how to see someone else's...and I'm sorry, but I have seen yours."

"What?!" Una squeaked out, eyes wide and turning to River who looked just as shocked as she did, "how...Elysia, you told me you couldn't."

"I keep my word, I didn't do it on purpose," she said, "I couldn't control it. It was three days ago according to the window, I tried to stop it, but it presented itself to me in dreams. I saw your whole life, I saw us all in it, I saw what you do and who you become."

"So," she took a deep breath, "we...we don't die down here?"

"You have to work towards that life, Una," she said, her eyes flickering to River, "you have to work to achieve what you get in life and if you do it correctly then the pieces will fall together. If you give up then you give up, if you try to kill yourself then you die. Fate can change but your life is laid out in front of you, the many narrowed paths and turns and twists all making your life what it is.

You had given up just yesterday," Elysia said, "there's a way out of everything."

"Not unless Elphcoe kills us," Una frowned.

"Having that mentality will get us killed, Una," Elysia said, "we have to think we won't die in order to stay alive. We have to think clearer, we are all so weak and Flynn has given up entirely, and Delilah is about to, but we can't let them, we can't just stop."

"What is my life like?" Una asked.

"It has the power to be wonderful," Elysia whispered, "you have the power to do anything, Una. You are a force to be reckoned with and I don't know why you don't see it."

"What happens now?"

"We can only hope."

She didn't like the answer, but she didn't protest. She had lost her hope on the first night, let it wander out of sight never to be found again, she was done. Elysia was right, she had given up, but the thought of her life, her wonderful life was replaying over in her head.

She wanted to know what happens, but she knew Elysia, she knew she wouldn't tell her no matter if she wanted to know. She wanted something to live for, to hold out for and start fighting again, and then it clicked.

She was so blinded by her own pain she didn't realise that she did have something to live for.

She had never had friends before she came to the city, she had Gus but even thinking of that was more pain she couldn't bear, and now she was ready to give up the friends she had made, the people she loved with all of her heart.

She had stopped fighting, she had pushed all thoughts of getting out from the back of her mind because she didn't think there was any way to get out and she didn't care, she didn't realise that there were many people she should live for.

Like Elysia, the blonde haired purple loving girl with the beautiful smile who was still the most beautiful girl she had ever laid her eyes on, though she did tie with Delilah for that position, she could never choose. She was the first in the squad to talk to and she talked with ease and made her feel welcome, reassured her that they'd all love her, and they did, and she loved them.

Like Delilah, the kindest girl she had ever met, with the brightest smile and the happiest personality and she loved her with all of her heart. Who showed her to her room the first evening and reassured her that they were friends. Who made sure to keep the peace, who made sure to know everyone was loved by her because she loved everyone with all of her heart.

Like Flynn, the bright smiled and the dark-haired boy who had a special place in his heart for dogs regardless of his love for all animals. Who took her out with him and made her feel happy and comfortable and at home surrounded by those she loved. She felt as though she related to Flynn a lot, with his love for dogs, and tea and reading and so many things and he was simply wonderful.

Like Ferris, the boy who didn't need to party as much, who only did it sometimes now because he didn't need to because he trusted her enough and she wished to help him. He could hear all of her thoughts and at first, she thought that was a terrible thing, but it was the exact opposite, she was so close with him, she loved him with all of her heart and trusted him as much as he trusted her. He trusted her with a secret so close to him and it made her feel wanted, it made her feel like he was her friend and he was.

Like River, as much as he was greatly irritating he cared about her and she cared about him. He was the one to stay at the back, to keep his space and be there when she needed to vent unknown to her that he was doing it for her, and taking her anger out on him truly did help her. He was the only one at the start to think she deserved to know about their powers and for that, she was forever thankful to him for even thinking she should know.

She wanted to save him, she wanted to save all of them, but she knew as well that they had all given up, it was terribly obvious as they lay there cold and tired and weak and so was she, she was so weak that in her head she had started the gears again, had started thinking of the tiny glimmer of hope that Elysia spoke about but her body couldn't do the same thing.

It had shut down, she could hardly lift herself up, she could hardly crawl. She needed energy, she needed a decent sleep and food but those were luxuries she wasn't going to get anytime soon and the thought was sickening.

Their prison, the dungeons were next to silent and River was leaning against the wall with the jacket over him and his eyes drooping. He had slept as much as he had but he had nothing else to do, he could sleep the pain away, but she worried that there would be a time when he'd sleep it away and not wake up. She hated to think of that, River was her friend and she was as close to him as anyone else and he trusted her.

And she trusted him.

Delilah had stood up, gripping the bars and forcing herself to get her legs to work and Ferris' eyes were wide and much like Delilah, Flynn had stood too, he was trying to ignore the fact that he was getting weaker and weaker and weaker and it pained Una to see him so sad, so weak and so un-Flynn- like.

So, with a deep breath, she said, "I didn't have any friends. You guys knew this. Back at the village, I had no one for years and years and years and the only person I could class as my friends were my siblings, but no one really liked to do that.

I met Gus because he scared away three boys who tried to bully me and right now I don't know why he did that, and I don't know why I'm here but regardless of why and what urged him - no matter how I feel about him, I'm glad I'm here.

I'm glad I got to meet you all. As sick as it sounds, I'm glad that you are the ones I am trapped with because if there is some possibility that we die, at least I'll die surrounded by the people I love most in this world. You all don't realise how important you are, and just an hour ago I had given up, and I had given up for days.

But I realised that I have a reason to stay alive, a reason to fight. Maybe we'll get dragged away by guards but that doesn't mean we won't go kicking and screaming with the little strength that we do have. I would die over and over for every single one of you.

You are the heroes in my world, you fought for what was right regardless of what's going on in your lives, of things you have gone through and what you all face, you're all strong as fuck. My strength can't be measured by power because I don't have any, I don't have what you all have, and I can't do what you all do.

But I can hope. My mind hasn't gone insane, I don't want to die anymore because I thought about it.

There's nothing in me to die for, but I have five people with me right now that I very much want to live for.

I want to be with you all again, I want to laugh, I want to forget any of this happened and be blissfully unaware and maybe if we escape then we'll have to figure out a way to get our revenge, but I don't want to lose any of you, I never do.

You are the reason I'm still alive because I think if I was down here alone then I'd have killed myself or I would be too weak to fight, too weak to know there was something I wanted to live for."

"Una, I think regardless of what you think," Delilah said quietly, "you're the strongest one out of all of us."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

The seventh day had come and gone and the darkness through the window was the only indication that the world still spun. Their moods hadn't lifted but they hadn't given up just yet, River took it upon himself to count the days just, so he had something to do. He hated feeling useless, he hated not having something he needed to do and so that was his job, he counted the days.

"Did you hear that?" Una whispered. She was stroking River's hair as he leaned on her and she knew he was getting weaker and weaker, his eyes drooped more often, and he clung to the warmth she had because he was getting colder, it was horrible, it was a dreadful defeat and Una knew that she had to work in order to get the life Elysia said she would, but she just didn't know how to. He was getting paler and frailer and Una didn't know what else to do.

She had cleaned his wound yesterday which was horrible and clotted and she was sure it was going to infect but she didn't know how to stop that from happening. There was nothing in the wound, it was a blade that slashed him so it was simply just a clear wound but there was nothing she could do except hope that nothing else happened to it. She had tightened the jumper tighter than before, and even used the bloodied piece of her jumper in order to add more padding to it.

She didn't know if that made it worse though, evidently seeing the blood on the fabric she knew it would be harder to tell if the blood had seeped through. All she wanted was for him to be all right and he was so far from it, he needed attention more than them all and he complained the least, of course, their complaining was justified but hardly any words left River's lips unless he was worried about someone else. She was worried about him, though, and she knew that when she ran her fingers through his hair that was dirty and greasy just like hers was, it was the only slight bit of relief that he was able to get.

"Hear what?" River mumbled, eyes drooping even more than before to the point that keeping them open was more of an effort than closing them. She didn't answer him instead she tried to be as still as she could and the rest of them weren't awake, so she could hear perfectly. River could hardly sleep with the pain and she didn't want to leave him so both of them barely slept, it wasn't the best arrangement and River with as much strength as he could had told her to sleep countless times, and the last time he did she finally told him about her nightmares

"It can't be guards," Una whispered, tensing when the sounds of soft footsteps got louder. There was only one person and she could tell from the way they walked that they were alone, and she didn't know if it was fear that had fell over her when she caught the shadow at the end of the room, there was one candle that always seemed to be lit, and their source of light was the moon or the sun that came in through the window.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Una's eyes widened when she was spotted, and she didn't know if she wished to curl up and hide or not, "I have been trying to find you all for half an hour!"

She watched the girl, she couldn't have been older than a teenager and she sported a very pale, very large red dress that tumbled over her as though she was the figurine on a three-tiered cake. River had pushed himself away from Una so that she could go to the bars and she crawled over, leaning on the cold metal in order to keep herself up.

She winced at the sound of the metal bars clanging, and the girl in a voice that was hushed but soothing, said, "get up, we don't have all day!"

"Who are you?" Una said, and the girl spotted her when she moved her head. She scrunched up her dress, pulling herself along and to the front of Una and River's cell.

"My name is Amelia," she sat down her dress, "I work here. My mother is the head chef for the residents of this castle and I happened to hear the guards talking about the new prisoners. My mother used to have a wonderful job that was owned by one of your parents, I'm not sure which one, but she was captured because of her cooking skills, and I was captured too.

We have had to live here ever since. Think of this as a way to get my revenge."

Una winced as she pulled herself up, "you are giving yourself a death wish."

"There is nothing in my life to live for," she said, "Lord Hillsteel took everything away from us, he stripped me from my life, if I can help you out I hope you can return the favour. I can't let you out, I'm not powerful enough for that, but I can give you food...I can heal wounds."

"You can?" Una said, wide eyes, turning to River, "he was stabbed."

"I overheard the guards say one of you were injured, that they didn't care if he died or not," Amelia frowned, "I didn't know where you all were - I thought it would be hard, but my magic brought me."

"You're magic?"

"I felt drawn to you all, I let that pull me, I let it guide me to you," she smiled at Una whose eyes had widened. She looked at her friends who were looking at the girl as though she was their saviour, in awe.

She felt drawn to them?

Did that mean...Una couldn't think of that right now, she couldn't let herself overthink the possibility that the girl in front of her could mean more than just some kind stranger. There was a chance she would never see her again, there was hope but hope could turn into pain.

"He needs to be closer," Amelia said, and Una nodded, dragging herself over to River who was trying his best to help, "you must be freezing."

"I can't feel the cold," Una said, wincing as she dragged River along as best as she could, "I feel warm."

Amelia only nodded, and Una nodded as she watched the girl hold her hand out in front of her. She didn't know what she was doing but it seemed to be working, her hands glowed with a pink hue, and she whispered under her breath in frantic hushed sentences. Elysia was watching from her cell, pressed against the bars in awe of what the girl was doing, how she was doing it even with the metal bars surrounding them.

"It's done," Amelia said after what seemed like forever, she waved her hand again and in each cell, was a tray for each of them, plates stacked with food and water and medicine for them all to gain their strength, "I hope by doing this you will get free. You have hope, I can see. Keep it."

"We will get you out of here," Una said, "if we can save ourselves we can save you too."

"Don't take the bandage off," she said, eyeing his stomach that once held the wound, "if the guards think he's better they might try something, they might hurt him, or you."

"What about this?" Una asked, gesturing to the plates, watching her friends savour every bite of food they had, drinking water as though it was the first they had ever had it.

"Your water will refill once you are done, you need to keep hydration, hide the cups. The trays and plates will disappear when you are done," Amelia nodded towards them all, "you are all as young as I am. Lord Hillsteel is a dreadful man."

And she was gone.

It was as though she was a figment, a hallucination, she had snapped her fingers and she was away and Una didn't know how that worked but she knew she was real. The plates still stayed, and she finally ate, the pain in her stomach falling away with every bite, every new flavour and taste, it was as though she had forgotten what it was like to eat a proper meal and regardless of the amount on her plate she ate every single piece of it in silence.

Amelia's words were correct, and the trays and plates vanished when they were almost clean of no food, and Una didn't know if the girl was a miracle or the hope she was holding out for. She could stand without falling, she was still in pain and still a little weak, but she could stand, and she could move and she had energy and she almost cried with relief when River stood too.

River had wrapped his arm around her as the rest of them slept the day away and neither of them could think of it. His suit jacket was around her and he said it was his turn to be the strong one, after the seven days of her dragging herself around to make sure he was alright, she needed rest, and she rested on him.

"Tell me a story," River whispered, he had his voice back and his strength back and he felt the hope that Una did.

She couldn't think of anything to tell him for the longest time and her eyes drooped with tiredness. For the first time, she was actually somewhat comfortable, she had been fed and she was against him who felt softer than the harsh concrete and regardless of a nightmare, sleep felt inviting.

But she talked instead, and she said, "my dad is in jail."

She loved her dad, she missed him, and she longed for nothing more than to see him again so if she was going to be weak again in a few days, if she was going to be in more pain and her mind was going to fall away from her, then she was going to talk about him.

"He was falsely accused years ago, and they took him without so much as a care that he had a family. They barely had a case and they just took him, charged him and threw him in a cell to rot. Like father like daughter, I guess.

When I said that my siblings were my only friends, he was too. We did everything together, he spent time with me, I was his favourite regardless of what my siblings will tell you. He was a stay at home dad, he volunteered here and there and did a lot of stuff for people, but he was always there. My mum worked, and she wasn't as bad as she is now, she actually did care for us once upon a time but when he left she stopped.

She didn't even try to fight for him, she took it as an excuse to sleep with every guy she wanted, course that'd be fine if she wasn't still married to him. My dad loved her, he was the most loving person he was always so happy, he was a home inside a person, emitting warmth and light and everything you could possibly want.

And then he was ripped away from me under false accusations."

"How much did you love him?"

"I loved him more than anything in this world, he was my role model and regardless of what anyone says, he still is. He shouldn't be there, he was the kindest man anyone could meet. He was sent to a prison god knows where and we weren't informed so that we couldn't go and see him, I think that was my mother's doing."

"What's his name?" he asked, tightening his grip around her and she wondered if it was because of how warm she was, but she didn't care.

"Aidan, Aidan Reynolds."

He was about to speak, to say something but there was a loud clatter and Una's heart dropped when she realised that it was the guards. There were more that she could hear, and she frowned, turning to River with fear, and she reached for his hand.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly, they didn't bring the trays of food with them, they didn't bring anything with them except chains and Una realised why. They were getting out of the cells.

The first guard went straight to hers first and he had to pull her from River who didn't want to let her go, and she didn't want to go either. She was kicking and thrashing and screaming for them to let her go, and it seemed as though she was the only one going when the guards waited for her to be chained by her hands, roughly dragging her along.

"Una!" her head snapped around at the sound of River's voice, and he saw how helpless she was, he realised how much he needed to get free because he couldn't let her leave like this, "if we get out of this...we're going to save your dad!"