Your POV
I felt my consciousness return and I yawned. Feeling as if I was floating, I grew confused and quickly looked up, causing my hood to fall off, as I found myself being carried by Hajime. I was pressed up against his chest and was tightly wrapped up in his arms. My face grew hot as I internally began freaking out. “Finally awake?” His deep voice said as he looked down at me. My face grew hotter for our faces were only a few inches apart. “Uh…” Was all I could say as I stared at him. “Kenshiro brought you back after you fell asleep.” He told me as he placed me down on the ground.
My heart was racing but I felt happy but also a little disappointed when he released me for some reason. “The idiots wouldn’t stop whining today. They kept asking me where you were and how long you were going to be gone. They are even refusing to sleep until you get back.” Hajime told me and I chuckled. “Did they really?” I asked and he nodded. “You might want to prepare yourself. They’ll most likely tackle you to the ground so keep hold of your hood.” He said and I nodded, quickly placing my hood back over my face and held it there as we began to approach my cell.
“F/N!” They all shouted simultaneously as I approached and entered my cell and, just like Hajime said, they tackled me to the floor with a loving embrace. I laughed. “We missed you so much!” Uno said, hugging me tighter. I heard a growl come from Hajime but thought nothing of it as I hugged everyone back. “I missed you guys too.” I said and, for a couple of minutes we all laid there before they finally released me. “Why were you gone for so long?” Nico asked and I shrugged as I sat up. “We had a lot more to talk about than I thought.” I said. I glanced at Hajime and found him glaring at the others.
“You ok Hajime?” I asked and he looked over at me and his expression softened slightly. “Yeah. Just tired. You guys should go to bed too. It’s already late enough. You should have gone to bed hours ago.” He grumbled and shut the cell door and turned out the lights. “Night Hajime.” I said and he nodded. “So, what did you and Kenshiro talk about?” Jyugo asked and I shrugged. “He just asked a few questions. That’s about it.” I said and they looked at me.
“What? Don’t believe me?” I asked and they shook their heads. “Just wondering how only asking a few questions caused you to be gone all day.” Rock said, sprawling out on the floor. “All we did was ask each other questions. That’s it.” I told them. Nico smiled and layed down across my lap. “No matter! I’m just glad you’re back!” He said and I smiled. “I’m glad to be back.” I said, stroking Nico’s head gently. “We all should go to bed. We’ll need our energy if we’re gonna try escaping again tomorrow.” Jyugo said and I shook my head.
“Of course you’re thinking of escaping.” I chuckled and he chuckled in return. “I guess I’ll join you guys on this one. Help you guys out as a way of apologizing for being gone for so long.” I said and they all cheered. “Oh this is gonna be fun!” Rock said and I nodded. “It will be but we won’t be able to if you all are tired and lack energy so get some sleep.” I told them and they all nodded and finally laid down. Nico was still on my lap and I maneuvered him and hugged him close. He giggled and hugged me in return as we soon fell asleep. But only an hour or so passed before someone woke me up.
I wasn’t sure who or what it was as I groaned and slowly opened my eyes and looked around. It was empty here. All I could see was a vast white area of nothingness. “Hello?” I called as I slowly stood up. “Is anyone there?” I was growing nervous as I looked around, hoping to find someone who might be able to help. I noticed two familiar figures in the distance and my eyes widened in shock. ‘No! It can’t be!’ I began to run towards them without hesitation. “MOM! DAD!” I called and they turned towards me with big smiles.
Tears pricked the corner of my eyes as I embraced the both of them. “Hello my dear.” My mothers sweet voice called as she and my father hugged me back. “I missed you! I missed you guys so much! Please don’t leave me again!” I cried as I hugged them tighter. They both chucked. I missed their embrace and I was just so happy to see them again. “I am so glad you guys are here. But… how? I saw you guys die.” I said but they both looked at me confused. “What do you mean? We’ve been here the whole time. Did some kid from school tell you that?” My mother asked and I was more confused than they were.
“Kid? School? I haven't been in school for years. I’m in my 20’s now.” They both just laughed again. “You’ve always been the silly type F/N.” They said and I realized I was back to my 7 years old form. ‘Did I somehow go back in time?’ I asked myself before gasping. ‘Maybe I could fix everything that happened before.’ I quickly stood up and began tugging on their arms. “Come! We have to go!” I urged but neither of them moved. “Is something wrong F/N? Are you sick?” My father asked as he placed his hand over my forehead. “I’m not sick! I just-” I wasn’t sure how to tell them.
“Just what? F/N you better now be hiding anything from us.” My parents were growing annoyed with me. All I was trying to do was save their life and yet they weren’t even trying to listen to me. I sighed and looked around. There wasn’t really anywhere we could go anyway. “Never mind. Let's just enjoy this while we can.” I smiled up at them. They both looked at each other confused before shrugging. “Whatever you say sweety.” My mother smiled brightly as we embraced each other again. “I missed you guys so much.” I muttered to myself with a big grin on my childish face.
Everything suddenly began to grow dark as my parents bodys seemed to melt in my arms and fuse into one as I felt my body return to its usual one. I was no longer a kid as my eyes shot open. The once bright white area was now dark as night and there was only one person in front of me. I slowly and hesitantly looked up to see who it was I was hugging now and found someone I hoped to never see again.
“ELF?!” I shouted as I released him. Quickly, I moved away from him and fell to the ground. “Hello my dear.” He chuckled. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?! Where are my parents?!” I demanded, shaking as I stared at him. ‘Why is he here all of a sudden? Last I remember I was in my parents embrace and now I’m here?! What the hell’s going on?!’ I asked myself as Elf just stood there with his usual malicious grin. “How do you think? You were ours, weren’t you?” His grin widened as he showed me this device with a red dot on it. ‘He’s been tracking me?’ I froze in place upon seeing it.
“What did you expect? We would never let a specimen like you escape like that without a way of finding you again.” My lips quivered as I tried to form words but nothing came out. I was too scared to speak. “Oh don’t look so scared, my little pet. That’s not how you greet an old friend.” His grin widened as he said ‘Friend’, suggesting he meant something more malicious. He took a step forward and I tried to move back but found my back pressed against a wall I never even realized was there, preventing me from moving or even escaping.
His grin remained as he pulled out a knife and stepped closer. With each step he grew closer and with each step I grew more terrified. Once he was close enough to me, he crouched down and stared into my E/C eyes. I looked away from him but he brought his right hand to my chin and lifted it, making me stare back at him. The knife gleamed in the small amount of light coming from a nearby window as Elf brought it towards my face. “Why do you wear that lousy eye patch and cloak? It won’t do you any good.” Slowly, Elf pressed the knife against my cheek.
A shock of pain coursed through me as he dug the sharp side of the knife into my cheek, causing me to bleed. I winced but couldn’t do anything else. My body felt like lead as I shook. I was terrified but there wasn’t anything I could do. I wasn’t able to move. “Hajime… Momoko… anyone. Please, help me.” I pleaded to myself. “No one’s gonna save you. You and I are the only ones here. Isn’t that fun.” He chuckled to himself before quickly dragging the knife across my face. I yelped in pain as Elf just laughed before licking the blade. “You’re crazy! Why are you doing this to me when I’ve done nothing to you!” I shouted at him and he frowned slightly. “You remember what happened… don’t you?” He asked and I looked at him confused.
“Remember what?” I asked. He just shook his head. “That night when you first awoke after the experiments. You don’t remember what you did?” I was confused as I shook my head. “What are you talking about? All I remember was waking up and you guys released me!” I said, wincing once again for my cheek. It stung as blood dripped from the cut and onto the ground. “You really don’t remember? Maybe this will help.” He frowned as he grabbed the base of his shirt and lifted it, revealing a huge scar from his hip all the way up to just below his collar bone.
My eyes widened in shock as I stared at it, unable to look away. “Now do you remember? You almost killed me that day.” He dropped his shirt and stared at me. ‘Did… did I really do that? But when? How did I do that to him?’ I was confused, scared. I didn’t know what to think of that or if I should even believe him. “So tell me, do you remember now?” His grin had returned though you could tell he wasn’t very happy. “I… No. I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t remember doing that!” I said.
“Oh… too bad then.” His gaze went to the knife again. ‘Is he gonna cut me again?!’ I asked myself as his eyes landed on me. “I’ll just get my revenge on you now since you’re weak in this state.” He said, grinning wider as he raised his hand up before bringing it down towards my head. I screamed in terror just as I shot up, hood falling off in the process. I was breathing heavily and was sweating as I placed one hand over my cheek and the other over my racing heart. ‘It… was it all just a dream?’ I asked myself, noticing that I was no longer bleeding and Elf was no longer there.
I looked around, making sure I was back in my cell and found Jyugo beside me, looking at me with worry stricken eyes. “F/N. Is everything alright?” He asked. Tears pricked the corner of my eyes as I moved forward and hugged him tightly. I was scared after that and was still shaking. All I could do was cry.
Jyugo’s POV
I couldn’t fall asleep as I stared out the window, waiting for the sun to rise. I heard rustling and turned to find F/N. Her face was contorted in what looked to be fear and I quickly approached her. “F/N?” I called but got no response. “F/N wake up!” I shouted. Still no response. She was fast asleep and seemed to be having a nightmare. ‘Wonder what she’s dreaming about. Can’t be anything good.’ I thought and looked around in hopes of finding something that might help me wake her up. I sighed and grabbed her shoulders. “F/N! Wake up!” No matter what I did, she didn’t wake up.
She just got worse. She was sweating a lot and I could see her shaking. ‘What is she dreaming about?!’ I asked myself as I released her. ‘What do I do? What can I do?’ I asked myself until F/N sprang up with a scream, startling me. Her hood fell off, revealing her H/C hair and bright red eye as she placed one of her hand over her cheek and the other over her heart as she looked around, terror in her eyes. “F/N. Is everything alright?” I asked but she suddenly began to cry. ‘Uh oh.’ I thought until she suddenly hugged me.
I felt my face grow warm as I sat there, a little taken back by this but soon hugged her back. She seemed to really need it with the way she looked. She looked terrified. ‘I want to find out what she was dreaming about but it might not be a good idea to do so right now.’ I shook my head and pulled F/N closer to me and began rubbing circles on her back, hoping it would calm her down. ‘Why am I like this when she’s around?’ I asked myself. I felt warm and my heartbeat quickened when I was near her. What could this mean?
Sighing, I shook my head. ‘I just need to focus on finding out the cause of her nightmare and why it terrified her so.’ I thought and looked down at her. Her eye were puffy and red while her face was stained with tears. “What happened?” I asked but received no response. I smiled reassuringly at her and I found myself gently rubbing my thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears. She moved forward and cuddled against me and sighed. My heartbeat grew faster and my face grew hotter as she pressed herself against me.
‘What is she doing?’ I questioned myself but made no move to push her away. “Let me stay here with you. Just for a little while.” She muttered in a strained voice. Probably from crying. I sighed and wrapped my arms around her as a way to comfort her. She hummed in response. “Thank you Jyugo. I really need this.” She mumbled and reluctantly closed her eyes and surprisingly fell asleep. ‘So cute.’ I thought with a small smile as I rested my head on hers and hugged her closer.
She seemed vulnerable in this state unlike her usual ‘Stay back’ type of aura. She looked peaceful now compared to earlier. ‘I’m a little surprised she’s willing to have her hood off this long. Or even allow me to hug her like this. Also, how she managed to fall asleep so fast even after having what I think to be a nightmare.’ I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Just enjoy the moment before it ends.” I muttered to myself and closed my eyes, soon falling asleep with F/N in my arms.