Blaze woke up with immense pain on his shoulder and all the memories of the day before flooded back. He clenched his fist to numb the pain but that just made things worse. He tried to take his mind off the injury. He breathed in and out slowly focusing on his breath. Closing his eyes, he imagined being with his parents again in their small house, happy forever.

“Hey, Blaze, I think it’s time to wake up.” A very familiar voice sounded in his ears and Blaze opened his eyes to see Nova grinning at him. “Seems like it’s me needing to wake you up, now, huh?”

Blaze smiled. “Sorry, just a little tired. You ready for whipping day?” He asked her as he jumped out of bed.

“I don’t know. Am I?” Nova said playfully.

Blaze raised an eyebrow. “What happened to you? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or what?”

“I think for the first time ever I woke up on the right side!” She said the words so energetically that Blaze wondered if this was the same Nova he had met a few days before.

Blaze shook his head. “You’re crazy! Anyhow, you, Moira, and Lily are gonna get dressed in the bathroom. They’ll teach you how to get into the armor!”

Blaze watched as Nova walked away and he grinned to himself, wondering how she could be so jumpy after what had happened the day before. Grabbing his armor, he slipped his arms into their place and stepped into the metal machine.

Whirring noises sounded as the armor turned on. The metal surrounded his body making movements and changing its grasp on his body. The whirring stopped and Blaze clenched his fists to make sure the armor had positioned well.

“Hey, Blaze!” A voice came from behind him. He looked to see Nova, her hands on her hips. She was wearing armor just like his, a shiny blue line cut through the middle. Her white hair fit in perfectly with the suit and Blaze’s mouth dropped open.

“How do I look?” She did a sort of dance as she twirled around.

“You look Great!” He said barely able to form the words.

Nova giggled, which made Blaze realize that something really had changed since the day before. And he loved it!

“You should see your face!” Ash chuckled. “You can barely keep yourself together, bro!” He turned to Nova. “I’ve never seen him like this! Seems like you’ve been able to bring his heart to life! Best not let it go to waste.” Axel laughed at this and the two boys were sent into fits of laughter, and they were barely able to breathe. Even Blaze found Ash’s words funny as he had to contain his laughter with all the force that he had.

Lily shook her head as she walked into the room with Moira, both of them also wearing armor. “Boys!” She sighed. “I’ve lived with them for two years and still can’t stand them.”

Moira snorted. “They laugh for no reason, too. Look at them! They act like kids!” Blaze stared at Axel and Ash. While the girls had been talking, Ash had said another joke that sent them into even more fits of laughter. They were on the floor grabbing each other's shoulders with tears coming out of their eyes.

When they finally calmed down, Axel spoke up. “Well, at least we know how to have fun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh.”

Moira crossed her arms. “That’s cause we’re in a prison, dummy.”

“Woah!” Ash waved his arms in the air. “No need to speak vile words, Moira.” He glanced at Axel and they both started laughing again as if they had their own little inside joke that no one would ever understand.

Blaze tried his best not to grin as he looked at the girls who were staring weirdly at Ash and Axel. “We gotta go.” Blaze said. “We don’t want to get any more whippings than we need.”

The girls agreed following Blaze to stand at the end of the room. Ash and Axel on the other hand, could barely nod without laughing again.

The six prisoners finally left the room a few minutes later with Ash and Axel wiping their eyes.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

After walking a while around the prison, Nova asked Blaze, “How come we don’t try to escape today? I mean we literally have armor!”

Blaze laughed at that but then looked at her and realized she was serious. “Nova, are you crazy? There are twelve overseers here, all of them wearing armor, even if we were able to get past a few, there would still be so many more!”

Nova sighed and looked down as they continued walking to the whipping room. Worried, Blaze stared at her hoping she didn’t do anything stupid, she would be severely punished if she did.

The prisoners stopped at a door and Blaze turned to Nova. “Are you ready for this?” He asked. “Let’s hope the armor holds up.”

Blaze opened the door and looked in to see six overseers waiting for them. Blaze pointed Nova to her spot and then went to his. He knelt in front of his overseer waiting for the whipping. He clenched his fists hoping he was able to make his armor strong enough the day Nova had worked with him.

He heard the overseer’s vines slicing up and coming down on the armor. He felt the wind rush into his neck, but the armor held. He felt the vines flying up in the air again and swooshing down. Once more the armor didn’t even creak. The vines went up for the last time and came down.

Blaze squeezed his eyes closed and clenched his fist as the vines slammed against his armor. He heard a scream as the vine landed and he didn’t even need to look around to know who it was. Nova screamed again as more and more vines whipped down, punishing her for not having made the armor well.

Blaze frowned, biting his lip so as to not hear her. But her screams pierced through his ears and he could barely hold it together as she continued yelling. Finally, the overseers let the prisoners leave the room and put on the next suit of armor.

Moving over to Nova, Blaze pulled her up and looked at her. She looked scared and tears were falling from her eyes. She could barely stand and Blaze had to help her get to the room.

He lay Nova on her bunk, knowing he needed to hurry. He grabbed a wet towel, took off Nova’s armor and shirt inspecting the damage.

There were whip marks all over her skin, each one had blood seeping out and dripping down to the ground. And it wasn’t only her back either. Her belly and face were also covered in scars. He wiped it all with the towel and told Nova it was going to be okay.

Nova whimpered as he cleaned the blood. She could barely hold herself together and Blaze knew it. He had experienced the same pain so many times and he could barely keep from crying himself.

And the worst part was…Whipping day had only just begun.

Blaze carried Nova to her bunk as the last whip sounded. Thankfully no more armor had broken and the rest of the day had gone well. But the prisoners all knew Nova was in serious pain.

Blaze placed her carefully on her bunk and waited till the others were asleep. He then grabbed the last of the healing silk he had and started stitching up Nova’s deep wound s.

“Seems like we’ll be doing this everyday, huh?” He tried lighting the mood. Nova smiled and answered.

“Tomorrow it’ll be you.” She joked, but Blaze couldn’t help but notice how weak her voice sounded. It pained Blaze to realize that this was the same girl that had been so energetic that same morning. He felt rage build up inside of him, just like eight years before when the Dark Forces had killed his parents.

“I’m so sorry, Nova. One day, someone will defeat the Dark Forces and we’ll be free.” Blaze whispered in her ear.

Nova grinned. “That person will be you!”

Blaze rolled his eyes. “I think you’re forgetting that I’m stuck in a prison that is guarded by twelve overseers.”

“And you forget that I’m here. The girl who’s escaped more than ten prisons.” She winked at him. “I’ll get you out of here Blaze.”

Blaze suddenly got serious. “Don’t even joke, Nova. If you try to escape they’ll hurt you or worse kill you.”

“Then, what am I supposed to do? Stay here for the rest of my life or die in the Arena?” She stared at Blaze. “That doesn’t sound like living to me!”

“It’s the best we can do.”

“No, Blaze, it’s not.” Nova grabbed his arm that wasn’t stitching. “What kind of rebels would we be, if we didn’t rebel?”

“We’d be smart rebels!” Blaze growled, trying not to focus on how his stomach had flipped when she had touched him.

“No, we’d have given up.” Nova smiled sadly. “I thought you didn’t want to give up.”

“I haven’t. I’m still here, aren’t I?” Blaze asked her. The question floated in the air for a little bit. The silence made Blaze uncomfortable.

Nova looked at him for a long time. “Barely.” She finally answered. “Good night, Blaze.” She turned to the side and closed her eyes.

Blaze sighed. “Night, Nova.” He walked to his bunk and lay down thinking about what she had said.

I’m still here, aren’t I?

Barely.

Blaze had given up and Nova knew it. He closed his eyes and saw her in the armor smiling at him. Nova hadn’t given up. She was still there and she kept fighting.

He glanced at her lying on the bed, and fear overtook him. She could get hurt. Blaze closed his eyes again and drifted off hoping Nova would talk to him before she did anything that killed her.