The man in the apron steps beside the bald guy that Kita assumes is the boss. He keeps asking about some guy named Chevo- they seem certain that Kita is one of his assassins or some bullshit. She still feels weak, dizzy and in pain, but she can gather her thoughts again. She's aware of the situation at hand. A few moments ago she tried to cast the consume spell she'd used in the tent but her body is too fragile to pull any spells off right now. Even if she could get out of this room, she doesn't have enough souls to take on everyone. Her body is too exposed for the brief moment that she casts a spell, and something tells her she can't cast her shield at the same time.

Maybe she's better off dying again. Resetting the whole thing or however it works. Will she wake up in the tipi again? Or six feet under- buried because these trolls think she's actually dead. It might not be worth finding out.

"Get her talking," The bald man says, stepping to the opposite end of the room to lean against the wall.

The man in the apron steps in front of Kita with a wrench in his hand. This isn't going to be fun. They don't believe a word she says, will they take it easier on her if she just pretends to be with this Chevo guy's crew? Surely that'll just get her killed.

Fuck.

He places Kita's right-hand pinky finger between the wrench and rotates a knob to get a firm grip. His deep voice whispers calmly at Kita, "What were you doing in the tent?"

"Are you supposed to be the trustworthy one?" Kita chuckles to herself at their contrasting tones of voice.

"Wrong answer. What were you doing in the tent?" His voice is stern. Unwavering. Making him all the more intimidating. He's definitely the experienced interrogator.

"Consuming souls," Kita answers, looking into the man's eye without flinching. Wondering if he will see the truth in her words.

He slowly shakes his head in disappointment, "Wrong answers,"

There's a loud, snapping sound that sends a jolt of shock through Kita's body before a sharp pain explodes through her hand and arm. Her eyes glance down as she bites her lip trying to withstand the sudden pain, but the sight of her crooked pinky finger forces a gutwrenching scream from her lips. Her anguished bellow reverberates throughout the small room, giving the spectating, bald man a reason to break his character with a smile.

She can't help the tear that streams down her eye as a reaction to the agony in her hand. She can't look at it again, or it'll hurt. Her body shudders as she realizes these guys can't discern lies and truth.

"I only ask once now… What were you doing in the tent?" The man says, tightening the wrench around her ring finger.

"I just told you, asshole!"

"Wrong answers," He says before looking down at her hand.

"Ok, okay!" Her body jerks in fear, trying to pull her hand away, but to no avail. "I was there to steal coin,"

"Only five pouches?" The man asks, unconvinced by her answer. "We found over one hundred in the chest,"

"T-that's all I needed," She stutters, barely getting her words out as she looks into the man's doubt-filled eyes.

There's no response from the man, but the searing pain bursts in her hand once again the moment she hears a loud crack.

"Aaaah!" Kita cries with all of her breath, shaking her body in an attempt to escape the man.

The rattling of her cuffs is the voice of her fear. She wants to run. Her body's in flight but it's chained down. Restrained to the tracks.

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"What were you doing in the tent?" The interrogator asks again. Still unbothered, and with no semblance of expression on his face as he aligns the wrench to her middle finger.

The souls still surge within her body, her only hope of escape. And she's still too weak to use it. She's screaming in her mind for her fingers to heal. For the pain to diminish at the very least, but she's achieved nothing in the process.

Her back is against the wall here. Hopelessness slowly converts to rage as she understands there's no correct response to this godforsaken question.

She grinds her teeth and looks at the interrogator with her blackened, cold eyes. Projecting as much hate through her glare as she can. "I killed your fucking friends," She nervously chuckles at the pain she expects to follow, doubling down on her stance. "They screamed for their lives when I took them,"

She notices the man's expression tilting to one of frustration at Kita's words- A pain point.

"You knew one of them," Kita smiles, knowing that she's not the only one experiencing pain at this moment. "Which one was it, huh? The big guy? The scrawny kid, or one of the girls?"

She wants to share it. To relieve the burden of this suffering. "Your friend died like a fucking cowar-"

Her middle finger crunches. And she falls silent as her breathing stutters about. No screaming this time. It was too sudden.

Another tear falls from her eye as it twitches to the pain numbing her hand. She can't bear to look. She won't. She holds her watery eyes in contact with the interrogator's face as she feels the wrench clamping around her index finger.

"How did Chevo know about the job?" His face has returned to the blank stare it was before.

He's moved on to the next question. Her response wasn't anything they didn't already know. Was this the truth he was seeking? Not a truth of words, but a truth of character.

Her body's returning to flight as she comes to understand the man's method. Her hand hurts so much. The outcome of any response she could muster up has her in fear- She'd rather not answer. But they're back to this Chevo guy she has no idea about. Telling them she doesn't know who that is won't do. At best, she can pretend she doesn't associate with the man anymore.

"Fuck Chevo," She half-heartedly scoffs as another tear escapes from her eyelid. "I haven't worked for him in over thirty rotations,"

"Then how did you know about the job?"

"I stole a tipoff from his informant. Something about a fifty-rotation raid you had planned,"

"And your goal was to interrupt us?" The guy says with a curious look on his face.

"I just needed some coin... So, I improvised,"

"And you're no longer part of Chevo's crew?"

"I never really was," Her breath stammers with worry, "Just did a few jobs for some coin,"

The interrogator squints his eyes as he reads Kita one more time. He comes to some sort of a conclusion before loosening the wrench around her index finger and walking over to the boss- Whispering something in his ear.

Kita releases a deep exhale, and all the tension in her body quickly dissipates presuming the torture is over. Her head slowly lowers to look at her hand and the sight of her three mangled fingers sends a sickening taste down her throat. The pain has her gagging. But she holds it down.

The boss steps forward and leans in towards Kita's face again. Blowing a Bloom of smoke around her. "I'm going to give you two options," he says, raising his hand with two fingers pointing up.

"One, you work for me and I forget this whole thing ever happened. Or two, I kill you, and put your body someplace no one will ever find it."

He stands back up and walks to the front door, this time opening it to leave the room. But he pauses before he leaves. "I'll give you a few hours to make up your mind. Put her in a cell,"

Three goons enter the room after the bald man leaves, two of whom step at either side of Kita and start undoing the cuffs around her arms and legs. Then heaving her out of her chair- Every twitch and shuffle of her body sends more pain to her hand. She still wants to fight back, but her body can barely support its own weight. She wouldn't be able to move if it wasn't for these guys moving her.

They drag her down the hall to a few flights of stairs before arriving in a basement-like hall with three big cells against three of its four walls. A leaking ceiling creates several puddles. A pungent odour permanently wreaking. And a few dying lightbulbs all contribute to this grim, prison-like atmosphere.

Rusty steel bars shape the large cages built to hold a lot of people, but there aren't many in them right now. She'd count, but she's so tired. Her eyes are heavy and she honestly just wants to sleep through this pain.

A cage door creaks open before Kita feels her body crash to the floor. She squirms as her sideways view of the guards walking away and closing the cage is her cue to lose consciousness.