**CURRENTLY A FEATURED STORY**
highest ranking: #11 in Science fiction
❝true happiness is only achieved without freedom.
There is a girl who wakes to a world that she was supposed to protect. Instead, she fights it.
There is a man who is cursed wit...
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evanna
Julian and Bernard appear in the loft ten minutes after they have left me, and announce that they will permit my residence among the people of the Red Hand. There are conditions, of course. I must follow all rules. I mustn't question them. I stay with Julian or their troops, and I make as little acquaintances as possible. "We don't need anyone leaking any information that we're harbouring a fugitive," Julian had sided with Bernard. I tell them both that they have nothing to worry about- I'm not an amicable person.
They smile at that. I don't.
I notice they've also changed their clothing- instead of the multitude of oranges and yellows and reds they had been wearing, they now wore similarly beat-up garments, but this time, all grey. I don't fail to notice that I've been dressed in grey since the beginning, either. I begin to better understand the world I am now in.
"We need to go to the hearing, don't we?" I ask, a little stupidly.
"Obviously," Julian answers. "Everyone does. Don't you think they'll realise if they're missing- oh, I don't know, two hundred citizens, give or take a few?" I don't have time to answer before Bernard interrupts.
"She can't come. What if they recognise her?" Bernard says. He's still only addressing me through Julian, and it's beginning to annoy me.
"They won't," I reassure. "The only two people who saw my face were soldiers, and I killed both of them. Besides, these are not the clothes I was wearing when I killed the first one. I fled before they could get a proper look."
Bernard appears to be unconvinced. "You're proving difficult to trust," he tells me.
Finally. I smile sardonically. "I get that a lot."
He makes a huffing sound and looks towards Julian. "What d'you think?" He asks them.
Julian shrugs. "I think it'd be worth it." They shoot me a grin. "Evanna's not stupid." Thank you, I think. "Besides," Julian continues, "there'll be so many people that it'll be difficult to pick out a face they might have never even seen. The speech will certainly give us some insightful information on what's been happening and what they're planning, up there." Julian turns to me. "You haven't gotten a number or a chip, which might make things significantly harder. Yeah, I hadn't thought of that earlier..." Julian trails off and bites their lower lip, one hand resting on a hip.
"A chip?"
"Yeah," Julian replies. "A chip. They stick it in your other arm to check out your location."
"What do they do that's so hindering?" I inquire.
"They run every person in for a scan. An arm scan, I mean. Everyone lines up according to their numbers, and then they show the guards their arms, and their numbers are ticked off a register." Bernard says.
