The next few days were hard for Blaze, he could barely walk much less make armor for the Dark Forces. There were times when Ash or Axel would have to help Blaze finish his work to pay him back for him taking the blame.
Blaze groaned in his bed a week after the pie incident as he moved to his side trying not to press his injury against the bed.
“You okay, Blaze?” Axel asked worriedly.
“I’m fine, just fine!” He yelled out in pain as he said this, making Moira roll her eyes.
“You know, you don’t need to act tough, we know you are.” She said,
“I’m not acting tough, the scars don’t even hurt that much anymore.” Blaze tried holding in another yell as he lay on one of his wounds.
“Of course they don’t.” Lily smiled. “Maybe if you keep repeating it, you’ll convince yourself.”
Blaze chuckled. “I’ll do that.” He turned to the other side of his bunk groaning loudly for the second time.
“I can’t take it anymore. I hate seeing you in so much pain!” Nova looked at Blaze from her bunk. “We gotta bust out of here.”
“Shh!” Blaze raised a finger to his lips, looking around to see if any of the overseers was coming over. “Don’t speak so loud. Come over here and talk about it.”
Nova jumped off her bed and sat on Blaze’s and the other prisoners did the same.
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“You really think you can get us out of here?” Ash whispered.
Nova sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve led a few prison escapes, but as you can tell I've always been caught again.”
Blaze raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been meaning to ask, how come you’ve always been caught.”
Nova looked at the ground. “Because I’ve never actually escaped a prison. Everytime I do they catch me before I’m really free. Sure, I got through the guards and the doors, but as soon as I’d stepped outside, they’d catch me.” She looked into Blaze’s eyes. “In the prison before this one I led a dozen prisoners out of their cells. They all escaped, all of them except me.”
The cellmates were quiet as they stared at Nova who wiped a tear as she continued. “I want to go back home, to my father and my sister.”
Moira lay a hand on Nova’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. We all know what it's like to want to go back home.”
“And we trust you to bust us out!” Axel spoke up. “You busted a dozen prisoners out of theirs, even if you haven’t gotten out yet, doesn’t mean you aren’t good at escaping.”
Nova smiled. “Thanks.”
“One thing you should know about this prison,” Lily began, “Is that we always have each other’s backs. And guess you keep us in order.” She looked at Blaze. “Nova can’t do this alone, Blaze. You’re smart and you keep us together. What do you think about this idea?”
Blaze looked from Lily to Nova thinking about all the things that could go wrong. It was possible that they wouldn’t make it and then Blaze would lose five more people in his life and he couldn’t take that.
But then he remembered what Nova had said about how they’d die anyways in the arena. She had been right. He looked at the prisoners and they stared back waiting for his answer.
“I’m in.” Blaze sighed. “What’s the plan?”
Nova grinned. “Before I tell you, I need to know two things.”
“What?”
“What happens if we beat the three overseers in the arena?”
Blaze raised an eyebrow. “It’s never happened, but if it does we walk up to the Warden’s tower and he decides which one of us will die.”
Nova nodded and smiled. “When do you think another prisoner will join us?”