Out of touch (1)

f i v e

If Ravonna Renslayer hated anything more than variants and people questioning her authority, it was the paranoid. She hated that they got special treatment like they were some sob story cases that needed saving and rehabilitation. In her opinion, they were a waste of space, they just took up room and whilst there weren't many of them left, Anita was still loitering in her cell and that was enough to peeve her off. All variants who broke out of their timeline deserved to be pruned and thrown away. She didn't see a need to keep them around. She knew Anita was most likely just a danger to herself, it was why she was confined like she was. It gave her hope that one day she would give in and they could turn her into one of their own. She stared at her case file almost every day, seeing how pathetic it really was. She broke loose from somewhere that had practically ripped her to shreds only to end up in a place that wouldn't let her be touched. She had been neglected of proper care for years. If Renslayer had been more like Mobius then maybe she would've gone about the girl in a nicer way. But she wasn't like him. She was like her. And it's why she didn't want anyone near her because the truth was, she was intimidated. They had never brought someone into the tva who they didn't know they could take down, someone who could be pruned, someone who would be so confused that they would comply anyways. People would crumble under their power and yet Anita never did. She sat tall and proud and stood her ground. She had put up a fight, kicking and screaming and would continue to do so if anyone was going to touch her. It made the judge uneasy.
They all knew Mobius had found a loophole in her orders but she also knew that the girl wasn't giving up any information that they could use against her. He trusted her though. And she almost trusted him.
He would sit there every second day and try to help her, get her to confide in him and yet she wouldn't. Ravonna knew that she wouldn't come out with the information they wanted the easy way which meant they could only do things the hard way.

•••

Anita was awoken by the sound of noise inside her cell. This conclusion woke her up quickly and she turned to see two soldiers stood in front of her with the door open behind them.
She wondered if this was it for her, if they had for some reason decided that they were going to take her back now. She pushed herself into the corner of the room and shook her head before they grabbed her and dragged her out of the cell. Half of the facility could hear her practically screaming murder as she was dragged down the hall. She kicked and screamed and called out for help on multiple occasions. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the horrible things that had happened to her in the past. She couldn't go back. She didn't deserve it. She tried to free herself from the men's harsh grips but gave in when they got closer to a set of doors, now accepting her fate. They opened up the doors and pulled her inside before dropping her on the floor and leaving. She was shaking and felt weak as she tried to stand up. She turned to see a woman she hadn't seen before sat at a table with two chairs on it.
"Take a seat" she says gesturing to it.
It takes her a minute but the girl follows her order and sits herself down, pulling her knees into her chest, clearly trying to hide how vulnerable she was in that moment.
"I'm judge Renslayer and I'm here to ask you why you broke out of your timeline"
Anita looked at her confused. It wasn't as if she had intentionally fled. She didn't ask to have her mind awoken in the middle of her sleep one night. She wasn't the one responsible for being here, if anything it was this woman's fault. She probably ordered her capture.
"Why do you think I broke out of it?"
"I don't think, I know, four years from now, you were going to be set free but you couldn't even wait till then to escape" she scoffs.
"Do you really think that after being awoken from years of mental control, I was going to wait for someone to free me?" She asks the judge, spite lacing her voice.
"As if you were so special" Ravonna mumbles but Anita catches it.
"Yeah you know what, I am fucking special because I got out, I broke out of that control, so you can take your attitude and shove it up your ass okay?" She yells, more anger pouring out than she would've liked.
"Look I've lost everything, more than once now, I don't know who I am or where I came from, who I used to be or who I'm going to be, I've seen how this movie ends, the little girl gets taken away, I don't like how it ends and I think secretly deep down, you don't either" she continues, trying to get the woman in front of her to understand.
Ravonna turns to her with no emotion on her face. Anita didn't understand how she could be this heartless, how she could feel no sympathy for the girl stood before her. She wondered if she had always been this way. So cold and stoic. Was it an act? Or did she just play a part too well that it became her.
"This has been a complete waste of my time" she says bluntly before standing up and leaving the room.
Anita stares at the wall before she notices the same soldier who took her in, walking towards her. She nods to her and lets her take her arm to lead her back to her cell. She knows now that there is no point in trying to escape and screaming isn't going to change her fate. She will find herself stuck in one place or another. It may just be best to stay where she was because at least there she had Mobius, and if she had Mobius, she had a way to the raven haired man.
She walks back into the cell and lets the door close behind her as she lies back onto the bench, closing her eyes and hoping for the best.
As she falls into a dark slumber, she dreams of him. He is holding her hand softly and they are free. They are stood together knowing they have made it out. An unknowing smile makes its way onto her sleeping face as she wonders if this is all real, if it could be real. She wants to go back to the little girl in the field, take the raven haired man with her to see if the child will trust him because then she would know if he really was her saving grace.