song of the forest ♪ [OLD VERSION]

ꏂ꒒ꏂ꒦ꏂꋊ

ρ͢σ͢ѵ͢:

ꋬꇙ꒐ꁴꋬ

Riven's head slumped over his shoulder. I didn't have time to be angry or even offended about Riven's words, because the only emotion imprinted on my eyelids was pure panic. I was sure that Riven was dead or going to die within the next few minutes. He had been returned to his cell drenched in his own blood, barely conscious, wearing nothing but his binder. Even that was destroyed to almost falling off his body.

What had happened in there?

"Riven!" I didn't remember telling myself to say. I couldn't get to him– the cell's design prevented me from even getting my hand past the wall. I'd used up all the energy I'd been painstakingly building up to shift to a more comfortable form mere moments before Riven had been dumped in his cell. So I turned to the only other option I saw.

I whirled around, squinting behind the bright lights to the shadows I knew were there. "Get over here," I growled, in the most threatening voice I could muster. "Can't you see your prisoner is dying? Won't you get in trouble if he [FROG]ing died?"

The shadows didn't answer, though I caught a flicker of movement in the dark through the glaring screen of light. Uncomfortable hues hung heavily in the air.

"Help him, you [FROG!]ing imbeciles." I barely sounded like myself. My voice was forceful and commanding, though I was the powerless one in the situation. I refused to turn my head, knowing if I saw Riven lying there one more time I would go insane.

More movement from the shadows. A silhouette moved behind the lights, all fuzzy edges and not-quite-visible features. It entered the cell next to me. I rested my forehead on my knees, clenching my eyelids so far shut that I wasn't sure they'd ever open again. Tears didn't escape. They came in the form of stabs of pain.

I did lie, I realized. Everything the Misura had ever told me had been a lie; why didn't I realize that? Everything Riven had said was exactly right. I deserved to be hated. We were going to die right here, at the hands of the Fai. Or maybe we were below the Fai– maybe they would just send a servant to finish us. Or let us starve.

I'd tuned out any sound while I wallowed in my own misery, but when I heard a door slam, I was jolted out of my mind. My head snapped up, my eyes bolted open, but dark spots and bright colors bloomed in my vision. For a panicked moment I thought I was back in the Blind City, but the colors dissipated, leaving the scene before me muted and swimming.

Riven was gone. His cell looked like a crime scene– and maybe it was. The figures behind the lights stood tense and at attention. And at the end of the hallway, standing straighter than I'd ever seen him, was a familiar figure.

"Daisy?" I whispered. That was all I could muster– my throat was on fire.

He didn't respond. His thin frame was shaking. His cane was tucked behind his back– an attempt to look more intimidating, I thought.

"Where's the other one?" Daisy said, his voice quiet and serious.

I almost just curled into a ball again. Instead, I went the route of anger. "His name," I growled, "is Riven."

"Where is he?" Daisy said again, still infuriatingly calm.

"I don't know," I gritted my teeth. I wanted to scream.

"Well." Daisy's calm was wildly out of place in the situation. Riven was dying, or maybe already dead. He shouldn't be so composed!

"Stop acting so–" I stopped. I couldn't find the word. I decided to give up on the sentence. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here."