Kita opens her eyes to see her right hand laying in front of her. As her vision adjusts she remembers the interrogation and in a moment of panic, she sits up to assess the damage on her right hand. She brings it to her focusing vision to find all of her fingers perfectly intact. She brings up her left hand thinking she's misremembered, but she finds the same.

Nothing wrong.

She feels for the back of her head, where the wound was and the same healing has taken effect. She sat up much quicker than she should have, and she didn't get woken up by any pain.

"Your hand healed while you were sleeping," Says a young voice from behind her, "How'd you do that?"

Kita turns to see a little boy who hasn't gotten much sun. He must have been here for a while now. He's dressed in rags that wouldn't do much to keep him warm. Her eyes widen as she finally locks with his. How is he still alive? They're black. Like Kita's- He had his soul stolen.

"I don't know," Kita answers, but quickly realizes she's lied. The strength she felt. The feeling of… Fullness that she'd gotten from the souls. It's completely diminished. Ten percent of what it used to be. She can only cast one small spell with this. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I dunno. There are no windows in here so it's hard to tell. Half a day maybe,"

There are no windows, just dense, concrete walls on all four sides. The place stinks. Wreaks of body odour and mould. Ugh, she can't be here for long. She's not the raider type.

"Why did they put you here?" The boy asks, with his curious, soulless eyes.

"I was just trying to get to the marketplace,"

"Marketplace?" The boy giggles, "It's called the strip, silly,"

"The strip?"

"It is a marketplace, but no one calls it that here,"

Shit, they all must've known she isn't from around here whenever she called it that. Is that why they were so certain she was part of Chevo's crew? This is their territory, so raiding is either done by them or by competitors they'll want to snuff out.

"I also lost my soul," He says too loudly, prompting some of the other downtrodden prisoners to glare at her.

She covers his mouth with her hand and passes him a menacing glare for his intrusive psycho-analysing. This kid will get himself killed if he talks like that. People could be religious and make a scene if they hear such.

"You should speak less," Kita says, trying to shut him up.

Speaking to him in the first place is probably where she went wrong. Kids can be so damn irritating, and this one definitely meets the requirements.

She lowers her hand from his mouth after her mumbles in confirmation. "How did you end up here?" She asks him.

"Well, they said they could sell me for a lot of money… Ya know, because of-" With his finger, he draws a circle around his face. Trying to refer to the whole 'souls' thing.

Kita chuckles at his attempt at being inconspicuous.

"I'm Jan, by the way," The kid says, extending an arm out for a handshake.

"Kita," She responds, shaking the kid's hand. "Where are you parents, kid?"

"I just told you my name, and you call me kid?"

"Seriously?" Kita rolls her eyes.

"My parents said remembering names is important. Did you forget it already?"

"No, stupid. Your name's Jean,"

"It's Jan!"

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"Jan, right. That's what I just said,"

Jan overtly rolls his eyes, mimicking Kita's fed-up attitude. "My parents are at home," He answers, wrapping his arms around his legs and drawing his knees close to his chest. "I haven't seen them in a while,"

"They live here?"

"No, I'm from a different city. I don't know where it is now, so… I don't think I'll see them again,"

"Sheesh, kid. That's depressing,"

"You asked!"

"I just asked where they were. All you had to say was 'Not here'. But you go and hose me down with your sad ass back story,"

"Oh yeah? Well, it's more depressing that a grown-up like you can get caught just as easily as a little kid did!"

"Uhm, did they hit you in the back of the head with a bat or some shit to bring you here? Or crush three of your fingers in interrogation?"

"No…"

"I didn't think so. It's much more difficult to get me in here than you,"

"Yeah yeah, you're here anyway," The kid points at Kita, grinning. "We're equals,"

"The only thing you're equal to is my left boot. As a matter of fact, my left boot is more useful,"

"Because it covers up your stinky feet!"

Kita chuckles at Jan's argumentative attitude. Screwing with him is pretty fun. As far as kids go, he's not that bad- He isn't some kind of spoilt brat.

"You know what," Kita says, "I was going to take you with me when I escaped this place, but after the stinky feet thing… I'm having second thoughts," She shrugs.

"There's no way to get out of here," The kid sighs, "There are so many guards upstairs. Anyone that gets out the cell doesn't come back,"

"So… They escaped?"

"No, they died!"

"Oooh, of course. Well, I won't,"

"How do you know?"

"Want to hear a secret?" Kita asks him.

"O...k," He answers suspiciously.

She leans over to whisper in his ear, "I can't die,"

"Liar! That's impossible,"

"You saw my hand heal, didn't you? I'm a hero with magical powers,"

The kid laughs, "There's no way you could be a hero,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You bully little kids! You'd be a supervillain, definitely not a hero,"

"Whatever," Kita giggles, rolling her eyes. "Villains are cool too,"

"The dark one is *not* cool," The kid says, curling his knees closer.

"Agreed,"

It's settled then. Kita's going to try getting both of them out of here. Her other options aren't so great- Working for these raiders. Why the hell would she waste her time with any of that? And waking up buried sends some other type of chill down her spine. If anything, that option genuinely has her worried, so they need to leave and get out alive.

She'll need a couple of souls though… The two guards by the front door of the hall are an option, but getting them over here is a mission of its own. She looks around her to count four other prisoners, excluding Jan, sharing a cell with them. Three in the cell to her left and six in the cell to her right. Getting all of them won't be so easy. She can pull two at a time, and it takes about five seconds to consume a soul.

If she's quick with it. This can all be done in under a minute. Two, tops.

What then? How do they get out of here? She was brought down a few flights of stairs but she can recall how many, or which one would have the exit. Walking out the front door isn't the best idea anyway, maybe there's a back exit. Somewhere they send out cargo or something.

"Hey kid, do you know a way out of here?"

"Not really… Sorry,"

The two raiders guarding the main entrance suddenly unlock the cell Kita resides in- It must be decision time. They both step into the cell and walk straight past Kita to grab Jan by the arms.

"Hey!" He yells as he starts violently shaking his body to escape their grasp. "Let go of me,"

"Where are you taking him?" Kita asks as they drag him out of the cell.

"Shut up," A guard orders Kita, slamming the cage shut behind him.

"Let me go!" Jan continues to resist.

"Hey, Jan. It was nice knowing ya',"

He doesn't respond, he's too panicked. They are really planning on selling the kid. To who? Why would anybody purchase someone without a soul?

Crap. She's going to have to find him. Both of the guards have dragged him beyond the door, creating a window for her to get out of here before they return.

This isn't a big deal, she'll just have to improvise.