"Here, change quickly before they come back." Jeno passed Rina another jumpsuit, similar to the one she was already clad in.
Rina scowled, her fingers pressing the uncomfortable material. "I know, but it's the smallest size I could find for you." Jeno said, averting his eyes. Rina began to undress quickly, shaking her head in disapproval as she put one leg, then the other,before shimmying it up.
"Done?" Jeno asked, and Rina tapped her nails against her metal bed as an answer. The black haired man turned around, before handing her several white sheets of paper and two pens. "So that you can communicate for a while with your new cell mates." Jeno explained at her questioning look.
Rina was elated, a large smile breaking out across her face as she cradled the sheets of paper to her chest, as if they were the most precious thing on the planet.
If she was honest, they probably were. She didn't have anything else to call precious. Jeno let out a small chuckle, before his happy expression faded away, replaced by a bitter sweet smile. "Listen, Rina." He said, sitting beside her in the cell, the door opened wide. "I'm being transferred to the Capital Prison."
Rina glanced up, shocked. Why? She mouthed. "They're running short on guards, considering how most of them are here, patrolling the palace." Jeno answered. "The King's death can cause revolts anytime, y'know?"
Rina was confused, shaking her head. Jeno looked surprised, before guilt flashed across his face. "Ah, sorry. I thought I told you." He muttered, his gaze shifting to his hands that lay on his lap.
"His condition has gotten worse." He said, voice becoming lower automatically, although the third level of the Prison was completely empty.
"The doctors are sure he won't make it through, so Jaemin is soon to be crowned the new King."
Rina listened, her face completely blank. She felt a rush of sadness at the mention of the King's imminent death, but mostly for Jaemin.
Jeno wasn't looking at her, and she didn't have to look at him to see the obvious guilt he was feeling. She smiled softly. The boy was too nice for his own good.
Waving, she caught Jeno's attention, giving him a small smile as she patted his shoulder, her way of letting him know she was okay. "Anyways," Jeno continued on. "I'll be back in about three weeks time, so don't go anywhere." Rina gave him a dry look, jabbing her elbow into his ribs, causing him to let out a small sound of protest.
Rina pressed her lips softly to his forehead, brushing back his black bangs. Be careful, she wanted to say, but couldn't. How she wished she could speak, because at least then, she'd be able to comfort her best friend and little brother like figure. Jeno seemed to understand as she mouthed the words she wanted to say, nodding before standing up. "I better get going. It was nice seeing you today."
She gave him a bright smile. She felt rather cheery, finally having gone out after a long time. They'd passed the normal prison courtyard, and she'd automatically peered in. Upon seeing Donghyuck sitting with her cell mates, she was surprised, but Jeno had tugged her along before anything could really be registered.
They'd gone to an abandoned part of the gardens, rubble of an old shrine that used to sit there surrounded the corpses of flowering plants with beauty blessed by Eros. The two of them had simply sat there, Jeno making small talk by talking about palace life.
"They haven't hurt you, have they?" Jeno had asked her quietly.
She'd shaken her head. They didn't even know she was a girl, she revealed, something Jeno found hilarious, laughing so loudly she was worried they'd get caught.
She was very lucky to have people who still cared about her, even if her existence meant nothing to the people who she once lived with within the walls of the grand structure above her prison.
Rina smiled, mouthing a thanks, as a way of gratitude for taking her. He smiled, before turning away and walking out, locking the cell door behind him.
And as his foot steps echoed down the stone hallway, getting fainter and fainter.
It was saddening to her, a small realisation she had every time someone walked into her cell and left, but it hurt more each time. The sharp prick of jealousy when she saw someone exit the cell she was bound to be trapped inside for an eternity.
To distract herself, she skimmed through the writing material she had been handed, pressing the nib of the pen against her pale skin, smiling joyously as the ink began to bleed into the skin, forming spider web like patterns against a canvas. Carefully taking one paper out of the bundle the younger by had given her, she continued to smile as she allowed her mind to wander mindlessly as the pen stroked against the paper, messy scrawls and lines forming pictures and sentences.
Her mind began drifting to what she knew of the world, back when she was free. That's why she liked to draw and write, to remember the faint, fading memories that were years old. She doodled a small meadow, a large apple tree at the corner of the page. There was a small figure sitting hunched under the tree.
That was her happy spot, she remembered. She would go there to escape her suffocating room, all the miserable memories her house contained. In that meadow, she was someone else, not the imperfect girl people were insistent on fixing.
In the distance, another figure was running towards the girl under the tree. "Kim Rina!" She flinched, looking up as the voice echoed around her. Something wet fell against her cheek, her finger pads softly brushing against her skin. Was she crying?
It was all just a memory, she consoled herself, as she stared at the bleeding ink on the paper, where her tears and the black liquid had mingled together.
"Rina!" The black haired boy had run up to her happily, his blue sweater too large for his petite frame, fingers barely peeking out from under the sleeves. His black hair fell into his eyes, the wind messing up his hair more. "It's been so long since you've come here!" He cheered, sitting next to her.
"Chittaphon," Rina looked up, her voice dull. "If I went missing, would you look for me?" Chittaphon looked at her in surprise, the look of happiness fading as he sat down on the grass in front of her. "Of course I would, Rina." He said softly. "I would tear apart every city if I had to." She was silent, his words registering in her mind, making her smile as a warm feeling spread through her. "I would, too." She replied, looking up at him.
"But you're not going to leave me, are you?" He asked her, threading her fingers with his. Rina looked down at the grass, picking at the blades with her free hand. "I don't know," She said softly, her hand moving up to her throat, massaging the area. He noticed this, concern becoming apparent on his face as he leaned forward, face inches from hers as he moved her hand aside, staring at her throat.
"Does it still hurt?" He whispered. Rina nodded, her eyes meeting his brown orbs.
He looked beautiful, the picture of a worried angel, with black hair and shimmering eyes, the flecks of amber in them looking like droplets of the sun. He looked small and vulnerable in his loose clothes, yet here he was, worrying over her wounds as his soft fingers skimmed over her collarbone, taking note of the marks.
She could only imagine what a horrifying picture she must have painted of herself, marked and bruised. "You should stop talking if you're going to lose your voice." He said.
It saddened her, seeing a happy, beautiful person like him worry over a broken thing like her. "If I'm going to lose it, I'd rather use it in the time I have left." She said, pulling him closer and leaning her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, looking at her with so much affection it hurt her.
She softly pressed her lips to his cheek, an innocent giggle escaping her throat, ignoring the stab of pain it brought her.
"Why do you still wear black, Rina?" He asked, his eyes drifting to the dark colored attire she had chosen to wear that bright, summer day. "You wear black to mourn." She said softly, fixing her eyes on her black pants, watching as a single dandelion flower fell on her lap, the white a stark contrast to the black cloth.
"I wear this to mourn the person I'll cease to be." She looked up, smiling sadly.
A soft rustle of fabric caught her attention. She looked up, seeing Lucas and Mark staring at her apprehensively.
"Are you crying?" Lucas asked, eyes widening as he drew closer, watching as she hastily wiped her tears away and shook her head adamantly. "Are you okay?" Mark asked, lips pressed together in a line as she nodded. "Alright." He shrugged, turning away before Lucas hit him on the head, turning back to her. "Are you sure?" Lucas asked again.
"Well, aren't you nice to her?" The guard, who apparently hadn't left, sneered, shutting the cell doors rather loudly. She bit her tongue, cursing Lucas' height, she hadn't been able to see past him.
"Her?" Mark quirked an eyebrow, clearly irritated with the man. "They haven't tried anything yet, have they?" The man smiled, shaking his head. "Wimps."
"Excuse me?" Lucas turned around. Rina felt a soft wave of fury overcome her, but she said nothing, merely swinging her lithe body off the lower bunk and scrambling up the shaky metal ladder to her own.
"I said, you're a wimp." The guard said, giving Lucas a crescent eyed smile- she found Jeno's prettier, this one was just plain ugly. She snorted quietly to herself, catching the wary look Mark was giving her. This guard was one she'd seen around often before, unruly blond hair and narrow kohl lined eyes that shot her scathing looks.
"A wimp for not beating up my cell mate?" Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, and Rina could hear the condensing tone in his voice.
"Not like she can talk anyways." The guard gave her a look, shrugging. She flipped him off in return. That should've been enough of a reply for him, anyways.
"He." Mark snapped. "He's a boy," Mark squinted at the name tag, and Rina almost laughed. Someone with such bad vision was actually a criminal?
"Why are you even here? We're already in our cell, could you leave, uh, Woojin? " He said firmly, eyebrows furrowing.
"Oh?" The dark haired guard turned to her in surprise, an amused smile on his lips, ignoring what Mark had just said. Cruel, she decided. This man was just cruel.
"That's what she told you to get off her back?" He shook his head. "Well, boys, you're in for a treat. That one," He pointed to her, and she flinched.
No, no, no, she chanted in her head like a never ending mantra, eyes widening as she locked eyes with the guard, before looking away. She was going to kill him if she ever got out of here, she swore.
"That one is a girl, and a failure of one too."
"What the hell is taking you so long?" Donghyuck's voice echoed from the doorway, and Woojin jumped back, the buff guard giving them one last pointed look, before replying, "A little trouble, but it's sorted."
Cruel.
Donghyuck appeared, the soft golden brown hair a mess as he ran his fingers through it, giving them all questioning looks, eyes lingering on Rina a little longer than the others. She nodded ever so slightly.
Yeah, she wasn't alright. She was probably going to have to hurt these two if they tried something after these guards left - or worse, she'd finally meet her end in the prison.
But Donghyuck didn't need to know that, he did so much for her as it is.
The guard looked satisfied, before reaching up and dragging Woojin by the ear outside. "Jungkook needs help hauling something."
"Why can't you help?" The other stumbled as he tried to keep up with Haechan while being forced to bend down to his level, a rather amusing sight that she would've smiled at if her heart was hammering so hard in her chest she could hear it over their echoing footsteps.
"I don't want to." Well, Donghyuck's response quirked the corner of her mouth up in a smile. The squabbling of the two guards faded into the background, until there was nothing but silence.
Now, silence was something she was used to. When she couldn't talk and had no one else in the cell, it was her constant companion, the one that sat by her in during dark nights and lonely days. It would press into her ears, so vast and heavy it was almost deafening, and sometimes she wondered if she lost her hearing along with her voice.
The scratching of her pen was the only one that would keep silence away, but she grew used to it, even fond of it.
But now, she hated it.
There were two others who shared her cell, both the boys staring in the direction the guards had exited in long after they left, as if they didn't want to look at her.
She didn't force them too, either. She shifted slightly, folding her legs into a more comfortable position, and winced when the metal bed squeaked slightly.
The sound shattered the deathly stillness of the cell, making both Mark and Lucas flinch in surprise.
She didn't want to look at them, fixing her gaze of the raw bitten nails of her fingers. She could almost hear Jeno chiding her for biting them off. It was a bad habit she knew she should get rid off, but it was one she had with her for most of her life, from her youthful days through her teenage years, all the way upto prison.
As someone who lost so much of her previous life in less than a second, she was willing to grasp and keep anything that reminded her of the person she used to be outside the prison walls and keep it tucked next to her heart.
"What's your name?" Mark's voice was careful, almost as if he was treading on a mine, ready to explode at the smallest wrong movement.
She froze, her hands clenching into fists, and she looked down at them. The brown haired boy was fidgeting with his shirt, lips curving into a natural pout as he stared at her curiously. That's all he ever seemed to be- really curious.
Lucas looked a little more intimidating, glowering at the wall with his arms crossed, head nearly reaching the top bunk where she sat.
She picked up the pen and paper that lay by her side, the one she had been drawing on before they came, and a brief sense of longing to delve into her memories came back, before the fear overtook it.
Should she lie? She considered it, but what was the point? Mark was staring closely at her, a look of surprise on his face masked by an attempt at an impassive look.
Rina.
Their eyes glanced over the name, and Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. "So you are a girl."
It was less of a question, more of a statement, but she nodded in response when Lucas looked at her expectantly.
Mark glanced out, evidently examining the other cells. "Why did they put us in here with you?" He asked. Rina could see the suspicion, maybe even a flicker of horror in the brown orbs that scanned and dissected their surroundings. "All the guards know you're a girl?" He asked, and she nodded.
I've been in here for eight years, most of them know me. And hate me.
Lucas' jaw fell slack as his eyes widened. "Who the hell are you?" He breathed out as he looked up at her. "Eight years and you haven't once been taken to the Capital?" Mark looked shocked, Lucas and him exchanging dark looks.
"What did you even do?" The taller sat down hard on his bed. She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest.
The message was clear: she didn't want to talk about it.
She pointed to Mark, who looked confused. "Me?" He looked down at his clothes, and then back up to her, tilting her head like a confused puppy.
"I think she wants to know what we did." Lucas nudged him. "Oh." Mark frowned.
"We hate the King."
"We're not telling you."
Lucas gave Mark an exasperated look. "Mark!" He dragged his hands over his face, Mark's cheeks turning a bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Rina's eyes softened and she smiled. "Just, uh, forget I said that." He looked up at her pleasingly, to which she nodded.
To say she wasn't surprised was an understatement. It was almost expected - practically every other person had been a rebel or part of a rebel cause again the King and his court of ministers, either because they were being unfair to Neo City and its residents, or the soldiers under the King abused their position.
Treason against the King was why most were thrown into the third level. Her eyes moved quickly to the switch, the small addition barely noticeable to others, but to someone who spent one third of her life in here, the change was rather drastic.
She shifted her gaze back to Mark, who was curiously glancing at her as well, and locked eyes. He gave her a rather forced smile, and she looked away.
Perhaps out of all the people she had seen, they were the most normal, but they were the most suspicious.
A small seed of hope planted into self into her chest, as she gazed out the cell into the empty ones opposite her.
Maybe, if she played her cards right, they could be her ticket out of here.