Brightness in Bondage

44 - Redemption

"That's why we're doing this." The Dream turned away from me. "You have one hour." 

He left. He left, and I was sitting in a prison cell, awaiting..whatever was to come! I clenched my fists, and if there had been anyone within ten feet of me, they would have felt every ounce of my rage...but there wasn't. I was alone. I was alone, and no one was going to come save me..no one could save me, at this point, could they? No..they couldn't. I let out a long sigh, and I lay down on the mattress, seeing no point in trying to run; they probably would have just done it sooner if I had tried. I had thought that heroes were supposed to be the good guys..that they didn't kill unless it was absolutely necessary. I had thought they would have been smarter. But..they were going to kill Broomie. Broomie, the one being who had never left my side..my mentor..and just because he happened to be a demon..he was going to die. Because he had to die, if they wanted to "help" me..and when it was over, I would thank them, because I wouldn't have been myself anymore..or maybe I would be, and I would hate them for it..I didn't know what would happen. The hour wasn't long, and soon enough, the door to my cell opened, and a few heroes came to escort me. I saw no point in struggling; they undoubtedly had dozens of plans to prevent my escape, and the only thing I could really do was put their hours of brainstorming to waste by not trying at all.

"Come on, it's time to go." A different version of myself came with a few other heroes to escort me.

I sighed, standing up and complying. I walked toward the heroes, letting them handcuff me and do what they pleased. Once they were content with their work, they began to lead me through the halls of the prison. After a few minutes of traversing the stairs and halls of the prison, they brought me to a room, where I was set in a chair that was inside some sort of machine; I didn't want to know what it did, but I had a feeling I would soon find out. I remained silent as I was strapped into the chair, and the heroes outside whispered to eachother, obviously not wanting me to hear what they were talking about. They didn't speak to me, and I didn't try to speak to them; I knew that I didn't want to know what they had planned. After ten minutes (there was a clock in this room), one of them turned to me, an Ink.

"Well, we have everything prepared." He stated. "Do you have anything you'd like to ask or say?"

"..You're ripping away everything in life that means something to me." I said. "But you don't care. You remind me of myself. I do things like this to people. I hope that you feel regret after this day, and that nightmares plague you frequently; I suffer like that because of what I've done. You're doing the same thing. I hope you can never look at a villain the same way again - that you realize that doing this makes you no better than us. And..if you don't feel regret, if you don't suffer or feel guilt, I hope you remember this: you're worse than most of us villains, because we can't do things like this without suffering. I don't know what's going to happen to me; I can only hope that I don't thank you. So go ahead - rip my life from me. That's what you want, isn't it? I can't stop you."

"..." He looked down, before turning to the others in the room. "Let's just get started.." 

The heroes got to work, and I was put to sleep; I supposed they didn't want me to be awake for the proceedings. I didn't dream, but I felt that very little time had passed before I woke up; I felt exhausted. Nevertheless, I opened my eyesockets, finding myself lying in a bed; I wasn't in prison, anymore. This looked more like a hospital. After determining my location, I decided to do something I somewhat dreaded: I paid attention to my feelings. I felt light; it was as if a weight had been lifted, except that weight had been a manipulative demon who had enslaved me. That part felt nice; I assumed he was dead. Well, that was one change; I knew that I hadn't enjoyed the idea of Broomie's death before, but now...I rather liked it. I was free. I could make my own decisions in life, now. I wanted to go back to sleep; freedom was tiring. I did so. When I woke again, someone was sitting by my bedside, and I felt rather well-rested.