Castle Thief {A Momojiro Tale}

Chapter 16

I had been behind bars before, but not for reasons as "treason" or "kidnapping royalty", that's what they had said I'd done anyway. Momo had just asked me to show her the world she was missing, so I had.

I just hadn't expected things to revert to the way things were, like they were like at the orphanage.

Sleep had never really come easily to me, there I had learned to sleep lightly or not sleep at all. The older kids would always play tricks on me, making me alert to all the noises in this jail. Tonight, all I heard was the scuttle of rats and the soft sobs from neighboring cells.  I'd be lying if I said my own pleas didn't join theirs in a discordant melody. I've heard songs describing the pain of four stone walls and an iron grate, but none quite got the rueful feeling that's no one was coming to help you this time.

I groaned, I messed everything up, again. Maybe it's better that I'm down here, in the dungeon. I can't believe the last time I'd ever have seen her would have been yesterday, I wish I had never agreed to take her out of the castle. She probably hates me now, I know I deserve it.

I heard footsteps down the stairs, it didn't feel like I had been in here long enough that they'd already be feeding me. But then Momo's voice floated down the stairs, "Kyouka?" my heart gave a sharp pang in my chest that had nothing at all to do with how I just realized how much I had missed her.
"Momo?" I called back, and she appeared in the doors window slot, "What are you doing here?"
Momo grasped the bars, "Kyouka," she whispered, "it's horrible down here. Are you okay?"
"Yes yes," I said impatiently rising from the damp straw mattress that had been my bed struggling to untangle from the chains, "but what are you doing here?"
"Father said I could come see you," Momo said, "I'm not allowed to come in, but I had to see you."
I got on my tiptoes to be face to face with her, "But I mean..." I trailed off, "why?"
"Why? What do you mean why?"
I rocked back on my heels and pressed my forehead to the cold iron door, "Why would you want to see me? I mean, I got us into this mess, I didn't think you'd want to see me again."
"Oh Kyouka," Momo was quiet for a second, "it's not your fault. Actually, I think I know how to get you out of here."

"You what?" I whipped my head up to look at her,
Momo continued, "Kyouka," she reached a hand through the bars, hoping I'd take it, "you don't deserve to be in here. I don't want you to be in here." Momo took a deep breath, "don't you understand Kyouka? I need you."

     "No, you don't understand, it never gets better for me," I warned, stepping back from the door, "you'll just get caught up with all the troubles that follow me. I don't want that for you. You don't want that either."
"You know Kyouka, I'm tired of everyone telling me what I want. I didn't expect you to do that, but I will get you out of here."
"Momo..."
"Please Kyouka, call me Yaoyorozu. We're too close to be calling eachother by surnames."
"Momo," I murmured , "I can't let you drag yourself down with me."
"You're not dragging me down Kyouka, okay?" Momo exhaled, "I feel better than I ever have when you're around. All the things I've read about... the things I want to do, I want to do with you."
"Okay Yao-Momo. Sorry," I sighed, "How will you get me out of here."

I knew there was no way the king would even consider letting me out, but even so I let her explain through the door, she found a law stating how I couldn't be imprisoned unless I had someone to represent me in a trial, since I was only sixteen. We sat back to back, with only a few inches of iron door in between us. The iron was cold on my back, but it was almost comforting to know that Momo was on the other side. Despite how being so far from where my chains were secured made me pull to do so, I sat all the closer anyways. Momo scribbled in a notepad as she explained how she would get the king to agree to even to listen to her, let alone let me out of this cell. I was doubtful.

     I didn't even realize how much time had passed until another set of much heavier footsteps came stomping down the stairs, "The king summons you to the throne room, your highness."
     I couldn't see Momo shuffle to her feet or walk closer to me, but I did hear her whisper through the bars, "Wish me luck Kyouka, and please, don't lose hope just yet."

I smiled, "I won't Yaomomo, for you," but she didn't hear me, she was already ascending the stairs.

I was alone in the prison. Momo had filled the emptiness for long enough for the silence to ache like it was brand new. But maybe it didn't have to be like that forever, I trust Momo. More than anyone else.

—

Momo's heels clicked down the hallway the plush rug did nothing to dampen the echo each step made. Her heart beat faster and faster which each step to the throne room. But she had to pull herself together once more, for Kyouka. Kyouka was counting one her, she couldn't break her trust again.

Momo hated seeing her in that cell, shackled to the wall, without enough length to even sit comfortably by the door.

     The guard beside Momo knocked on the door to the throne room and they entered, with a curtsey Momo said, "Father, we have something to discuss."
"We do indeed daughter." His voice was harsh and cold to Momo's ears. She heard no love in his tone, only disappointment. And maybe even a little disgust.

—

"Please Father! You have to listen!" Momo cried, it felt like she had been arguing with him for hours, she was exhausted. But she couldn't give up, her father knew the laws. He just didn't believe they should apply to him, that he shouldn't change them at the drop of a hat. "The laws are there for a reason! Please, just hear me out!"
"I do hear you," he said, "but your servant girl will stay in this prison until I decide to let her out. And that is final."
Desperate for any change, Momo pleaded, "She doesn't have to be my servant Father, just let her out of the dungeons! She won't even have to see me anymore, she could just work in a different department!"
The king paused, "You would free her just to never see her again?" he asked,

Tears were welling up in Momo's eyes at the thought of never seeing Jirou again. But she nodded, "Yes Father, she doesn't deserve to be in a cell for the rest of her life."
The king nodded slowly, coming to his decision, "Then it is settled," he declared, "The servant girl, Jirou will be freed from the dungeon." His eyes met Momo's, "On one condition." Momo nodded hesitantly, "She is forbidden to ever see you again, and on any offense to this term. She will face life in prison, or a public execution."

Momo's blood went cold, "That is not what we agreed on!"
But the king just shrugged, "Then don't break the rule. There is only one." Momo started to protest but the king held up a hand to silence her. "I tire of your arguments. Leave now or I will let her rot."