SARAQXEEN.
Genuine curiosity colored her face as the rest of his sentence settled into the thickness around them. Michael was a mystery filled with an intoxicating history that bleakly reflected pieces of her own scattered story. They were hardly cut from the same cloth but, if given enough time, they’d find similarities laced in the pain && loss that dominated the majority of their past, future, && present. She [ w i s h e d ] it was as comforting of a thing as she’d made it sound in her head but the truth of the matter was that someone else’s pain, especially someone she’d grown to unexpectedly C A R E for, would weigh on her more than her own troubled history. The guilt that saddled the words that danced from his lips would become her own in an attempt to e a s e the awful that pricked his skin && kept him painfully aware that he was still ALIVE. She’d spend the rest of the time she had with him trying to SAVE HIM && she wouldn’t realize it until it was too [ l a t e ].
“ I broke into prison once —— ”
A breath passed through scorched lungs as the memory flooded senses she hadn’t wanted to reawaken. The infamy that haunted her over a trigger she hadn’t pulled, the sense of FAILURE that briefly took over when the knowledge of a missed T A R G E T swam through her thoughts, the smile that crossed her lips when the sensation of one less [ b o d y ] added to her count collided with the feeling of being saved — it all hit her like a T R A I N. He hadn’t asked, not once, but the overwhelming need to relay the receptivity ofunderstanding in more than just two simple words && a nod had taken over before she could talk herself off the edge. Pieces of the TRUTH only built trust && trust was the one thing they needed to expand on. Hope — FAITH — would never be enough to get them through a sprint from hell. Not even with experience on their side.
“ —— a rescue mission that held EVERY possibility of going wrong. We weren’t even in there for five minutes before what could go wrong DID go wrong. It took all of five minutes for the fail-safe to kick in. ”
Sara didn’t need to remind him that what could go wrong would always go wrong — if there was even the slightest margin for error it would, without a doubt, expand within the first ten minutes of setting things into motion. It was how things went in Russia. Leonard went off to save Mick, Stein had almost become a thermonuclear weapon of mass destruction used for the Soviet take over, && S A R A had practically become the mindless killer she’d been trying to rid herself of. If it hadn’t been for Leonard the moment of h u m a n i t y that dug deep within the walls of her subconscious the team would have been short one member && the death count would’ve resulted from her own hand. Not from the hand of an overzealous scientist with promises of a new [ w o r l d ] from a man who’s immortality proved to be his downfall. But these were all things she couldn’t tell him. The truth only got her so far when it contained pieces of a timeline she couldn’t infringe.
His own story held weight with the air for a few moments longer before it finally settled at the pit of stomach. The want to know more burned at her tongue && scorched her esophagus the moment she swallowed down the itch to revert back to the mystery she’d been left with. NOW wasn’t the time to poke around for answers. They had a bigger problem to address.
“ One && a half to four hours, sometimes longer if given in higher doses. That’s [ MORE ] than enough time to disappear.” A pause was given on her part before she placed a hand up as if to prevent the question from forming before the explanation could properly be given. “ Cop dad. Don’t worry — I’ve never roofied anyone. ”
Blue hues shifted from the shadows dancing along his face to the barely visible cracks in the cement that surrounded them. Plenty of failed attempts still haunted their cell, passed down from inmate to inmate as sort of a welcome to H E L L basket to be thought back on during their first night. It was ammunition. For every attempt gone [ w r o n g ] was a story forever ingrained in the back of her mind. Where others had failed to see opportunity Sara saw promise — learning from the mistakes of others before attempting to correct them with her own two hands. Learning from MICHAEL while the rest of the prison i s o l a t e d him.
“ Only one of us is going to be able to get into that workshop without getting noticed. The other is going to have to be a distraction. Just long enough so that the other has enough time to find the chemicals && since you don’t exactly look like their type… ”
breaking out of prison is far different to anything else michael had done in his life before fox river. graduating cum laude, working with charity, engineering — to be thrust from that life and into a navy jumpsuit and forced to stick around for count is something that takes some getting used to. ( there are three things in life that are inevitable. death, taxes, and count. ) and there’s something aching when he realises that the only way out of this one is to force his way out — not for him, no; there’s a part of michael that doesn’t want to break out. it doesn’t want to break out because of all the sins that’ve accumulated on the path to freedom. the deaths, the theft, whatever the hell t-bag got himself into — it eats away at him because it’s something that he orchestrated. it was a grand plan. a grand plan that only allowed a mob boss, a rapist, and a few thieves escape and run riot on the streets of chicago. he doesn’t care to break out. i’m willing to atone for my sins.
but he doesn’t think she should be in here. he’s no face of justice — he has no idea what her past is like. broke into prison… why? but there are worse fates than being here with her: being here alone. and he owes it to her, truly, because if he wallows and dies, he’s no use to anyone. if he spirals, he will die, without factoring in the other possibilities. he’d be alone if it wasn’t for her.
‘ we don’t have a margin for error in here. if it goes wrong… there goes our ticket out of here. ’ — it’s a very real understanding because it’s one that’s been following him over the past few years. we have one chance. if we fail, they will gun us down. and it feels like she’s prying for information — building a rapport before they both have to trust each other to excess. i have to trust you if we’re going to get out of here. so tell me more about you.
‘ i broke my brother out. they framed him. put him on death row. so a month before his execution date, i got myself in and did everything i could. ’ and it worked. for the most part. the only strain was the consequences after. i ruined sara tancredi’s life. i killed people indirectly. it’s my fault they’re dead.this is my fault.
they have up to four hours. up to four hours to get out — that’s another issue. practically, the only way out is via the back guard towers. unmanned.the gates are locked and there’s no way of slipping past every single guard with a gun because that is entirely the point of having them stationed outside. there’s a swamp in the south of the lot and at the end is loosened fencing wire. ( he’d noticed it briefly, because when the heat wasn’t entirely stifling and forming a trickle of sweat down his brow, the wind would make the barbs rattle — it’s loose. shears and knives may not be easy to find, but if they have up to four hours, untangling mesh to slip under is an achievable goal. from then on out, however, there’s no telling what’s going to happen. )
when they get outside the prison walls, they will either be shot and killed as fugitives, or slip into the city centre and be lost from sight. neither of them know laos well. neither of them know where to go or who’ll be there. it’s going to be difficult to get out but the real work starts beyond those walls.
but he doesn’t offer anything else about his life. that was my life before this. now it’s about getting out — linc, sara, lj have all been left behind. ( no, they’ve moved on. he’s been left behind. trapped in the recurring image of the damage he’s done since breaking out of fox river — suffocated by the memories of sona and hurled into an encompassing memory of watching his father die in his arms and trying to scrape the rest of the blood off. i can’t do this anymore. i’m so tired — tired of decisions. of consequences. )
i’ve never roofied anyone. at this point, he’s no one to judge. i tied someone up and left them in a tunnel underground. i held a knife to pope and tied him up. i stole from sara. i stole from a store. i held a gun to an fbi agent. i let abruzzi cut off t-bag’s hand. i let t-bag murder and rape. i framed alex mahone for drug smuggling. i faked being a diabetic to gain access to an infirmary. when i was eleven, i watched someone be killed and i was thankful. because he deserved it — a multitude of sins still curl under his skin. and ones that he can never repent for. if there is a god, he must be shunning me.
‘ you’re a distraction. i just need enough time to slip in from the right — get in, get what we need, get out again. from then on out… that’s when it gets difficult. ’
