Life was always difficult for me. I didn’t know how bad it could really get until he got his hands on me. My part of the story started at the lowest point in my life…

Returning to the waking world should have been nice, a pleasant experience. However this… was true hell.

The cold concrete floor greeted Althea as she returned to consciousness. She couldn’t be sure what happened, but the last she recalled she had been captured.

It wasn’t a surprise to the young hare. Her life hadn’t been the easiest to this point. If it wasn’t the Lunarans who actively despised her race or the Riterrans who regarded her as an enemy, it was those who could appreciate her scarcity.

No matter what she was surrounded on all sides by enemies.

But maybe they were right. Maybe she was a blemish in this reality. Certainly, that would explain why when she finally passed she ended up in the depths of hell. She had no other explanation for her current surroundings.

The squished stone walls, the concrete floor, the chill in the air eliciting uncontrollable shivering, absolutely no furniture, and the sounds of cruel suffering all around.

It was torturous.

That wasn’t all, oh no. The lights above were so bright it was a wonder she was ever able to be unconscious for any stretch of time. There wasn’t even a toilet in her tiny cramped little cell. The thick iron bars not only prevented her escape but also prevented any privacy. She could see many other Resonators around her sharing her horrible horrible fate.

She cursed her stupid, big, sensitive ears. Once again they made her life worse, catching the cacophonous stream of sounds being cast from above at maximum volume.

That was the worst part if Althea was being honest. The loud booming noise was so unpredictable she couldn't ignore it. It bit, clawed, and smashed her psyche, never allowing her a moment’s reprieve.

If not the artificial chaos from above, the screams of the damned from all around her would be the coup de grace on her sanity.

All she could do was curl up around herself, trying and failing to hide from the torture.

Tears streamed so easily down her face as her heart began to crack, allowing the darkness to seep in. Visages of those she had loved and lost haunted her, she couldn’t tell if they were damning her or easing her into eternal slumber. Slowly she began to lose her grip on reality. The cold turned to numb as the darkness consumed what remained of her sentience.

It was easier this way, submitting to the void. Maybe she could try again next time. Perhaps she’d be dealt a better hand.

…

And then it grew hot, so very… hot? Surely that must have been a mistake, a trick of a fading mind. But then there came a voice.

“Colpito da una Roccia, Piano!”

The back wall of her cell suddenly collapsed, and the voice became much louder; louder than the horrible sounds behind her.

“Told you, Vee,” the first voice spoke.

“Hush, we broke into the wrong place,” said a second, much less inviting voice. “There’s a Resonator in here.

“Oh really? Let’s get them out.”

Althea couldn’t question what was happening until she had been pulled out of her literal hell into a small office.

The hare looked around in a daze, as the numbing of her torture chamber began to fade away. The warmth of the Maestro girl chasing the darkness from her heart. Althea winced, grabbing her head. “O-ow…” she whimpered, as the tears began to pour anew.

“Whoa! What the hell happened?” asked the Maestro, steadying the hare by her shoulders.

“I don’t know…” whimpered Althea, grateful her voice still worked after all that.

“Looks like they’re torturing Resonators,” said the Maestro’s Resonator, who had poked her head into the hole they created.

“Urgh…” the Maestro looked back at the door of the office they were in. “I guess that hallway really is the only way out. Let’s get out of here Vee.”

“What about finding Mom’s killer?” asked the Resonator.

“We can’t beat that man, not like we are. Let’s just take this girl and run.”

The girl’s Resonator considered that thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“Can you run?” asked the Maestro. “My name is Faith, by the way. This is my sister and Resonator, Vienna,” Faith introduced the pair to the hare.

“A-althea,” the hare remembered her manners. “I can run,” she lied. The pain she knew was coming would be leagues better than going back.

This was freedom. Althea wasn’t about to give it up, not until her last breath.

The now trio gathered by the door. Faith poked her head out, checking if it was clear for them to go.

Althea watched the Maestro work, checking between a tuner and the hallway. After intense studying Faith nodded and lowered the device.

“Let’s go,” Faith waved the two Resonators to follow while stepping into the hallway.

The younger of the two Resonators followed. Althea remained in place for a moment, deciding whether or not she was going to join them. It just took one glance back from where she had been to solidify her decision.

Progress was slow as the trio carefully crept down the dim hallways. Despite the chaos she had just come from, Althea noted the ambiance, or more accurately the lack thereof – it was quiet, deathly so. The musty air settled in the hare’s nostrils, a nostalgic scent that informed her of the type of place they were in. The depths of the underground, it was always the same no matter where she was. What also never changed was the difficulty of visibility; poor lighting conditions cursed their path, but the way was blessed by being simple enough to follow.

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“We’re underground,” the hare vocalized her observation.

“Yeah,” confirmed Faith. “Real secret operation they got going on here,” she elaborated.

“Who are ‘they’?” asked Althea.

Faith opened her mouth to answer but a new voice cut in.

“That is none of your concern.”

Althea jumped as the trio spun around to face the owner of those words.

He stood over the three girls, the glare piercing the thick shades that he wore despite being in the depths of the underground. Althea backed up, the pressure radiating from the human making it just that much harder to breathe. Though her heart was seized with terror, the two girls by her side acted.

“Dad! How could you work for him!?” Faith roared, unperturbed by the intense aura the man exuded.

Vienna stepped forward, glaring down their father.

Althea found her gaze ping-ponging between the siblings and their supposed parent.

“You wouldn’t understand what Dr. Vim is trying to accomplish,” stated the man.

“He KILLED mom!” Faith snarled.

“Millie isn’t dead. She is asleep,” he stated. “Perhaps it is time for your bedtime as well.”

Althea shivered, feeling as if a blizzardous gale was cast over them with just those words alone.

“What are you going to do?” Althea asked.

“Fuck if I know,” Faith said quietly to the hare. “Dad’s the strongest Maestro I know… even without mom,” she admitted, her voice quavering in reluctance.

The hare couldn’t help but agree. She hadn’t met too many Maestros in her short life, but this man… no this monster was imposing, a hungry carnivore that would destroy anything in its path. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, to abandon anyone slower than her.

But her heart said to stay. Faith pulled her out of hell. If Althea had to go back, she wanted to at least go back proud. For that, she stepped in front of Faith, glaring down the man despite the fear gripping her.

Faith blinked in surprise at the hare stepping up. “You-”

“I’m null element, just like her,” Althea said, her gaze focused on the wall of a man before them. “Use me.”

“Whistler,” Ryo spoke. He held out a hand, his digits wrapped around a glowing object of some kind. The seconds before battle extended into eternity, though nothing lasted forever and the battle began in earnest. “Corrente Elettrica, Forte.”

A bolt of lightning erupted from the man and slammed into Vienna effortlessly flicking her away.

“VEE!” Faith screamed.

Althea ground her teeth. She couldn’t be sure of the younger sister’s power… but she was certain of one thing. This man wasn’t normal. How was he doing that? Casting spells himself as a Maestro?

It didn’t make sense.

“Riffletore Musicale; cast it at the same level he casts at,” Althea muttered to Faith who was desperately fighting the urge to tear her eyes away from Ryo.

“R-right,” Faith found her focus, placing her hand on Althea’s back.

“Corrente Elettrica, Fortissimo,” said Ryo.

“Riffletore Musicale, Fortissimo!” Faith cried in response.

There was no reason Faith should have trusted Althea could handle this. A fortissimo spell from a Resonator she just met?

But…

“Thanks for believing in me… Faith.”

Faith’s eyes widened as despite the vicious electrical attack barreling down on them the shield projected in front of Althea held firm.

CRACK BOOM!

And just as quickly as the vicious assault began, the two were running again.

“Where’s Vee?!” Faith cried out, feet pounding against the stone floor below.

“I’m sorry Faith, I don’t know!” Althea cried back, keeping herself just behind the Maestro.

Faith checked the tuner. “S-static… she can’t be…”

“Don’t slow down!” Althea shouted, snapping Faith back to her full running speed.

“DAMN IT ALL!”

----------------------------------------

“Well, obviously she didn’t die,” Shouri of the present spoke up, shooting a glance at the very much alive Vienna.

“Of course not, I’m not that easy to kill,” chuckled the lyrebird. “I just needed to make them think I was dead.”

“Hm?” Shouri raised a brow.

“She transformed into someone who was dead,” Faith revealed. “And the tuner didn’t know how to process that any way except assuming she had died and cut the connection.”

The room went silent. The absurdity of what was said stunned the room.

“Wait that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they stop chasing you then?” Rebecca pointed out.

“Yeah, didn’t they want rare Resonators?” Taika chimed in.

“It wasn’t hard to stop our father. I just asked him to leave them alone,” Vienna shrugged.

“That worked?” Pacifica asked.

The lyrebird grinned toothily. “Of course, because I wore the face of the one person he’d always listen to.”