freedom fighter.
[[ Content warning for brief mentions of underage sex workers and mature themes. Please read at your own discretion. ]]
I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting my contact to be young.
It had taken weeks of deliberation before I finally decided to dig up one of the old cards a “client” had given me, had earnestly pressed into my hand while making direct eye contact. He had been a surprisingly gangly Roegadyn with a gentle gaze, one of the last clients I’d had before the explosion that sent me flying away from Alfie and his circle.
Except we hadn’t slept together. He was a person who worked in anti-trafficking rings, in the same organization I had so often been approached by.
“We’ve been keeping eyes out,” he told me. “Your pimp is losing grip. He’s getting messy. We can help you. All you have to do is come here. You’ll be safe, you have my word.”
At the time, I had shrugged it off. Just another person who didn’t understand, I told myself. They didn’t understand how hard it was to get out. It was easy to play pretend, to play the hero. Even still... I had never been able to persuade myself to get rid of the contact cards these agents gave me. No-- I had a box full of them, and most all of them had the same name written on the back, the name of the person I was supposed to ask for if I ever went to their headquarters.
Misaki Ito.
Now, I sit in the waiting room of their operating base. It looks like any other unassuming office, with healthy plants in the corner of the room, pamphlets on sexual abuse and sexual health on the tables in front of the soft chairs, with a few young people - mostly women - that look how I feel; battered, exhausted, nervous. Caius sat beside me with his hand in mine, squeezing it each time he noticed I tensed up with every time one of the doors on either end of the room ended. I look over to him as my leg bounces, and he lifts my hand, kissing the back of it and brushing my hair from my face with his free hand.
“It’ll all be okay,” he assures me quietly. “You’re so strong, Audrey. It’s all going to be okay. I’m right here.”
I nod quickly to his words and squeeze his hand back, exhaling shakily. Alfie had just been released from gaol after he attacked Laelia. That had been the final straw for me. He was going after the people close to me, that I cared about. How long would it be until he hunted down someone else? Would he use his cronies to assault Caius? Celia? I couldn’t stomach it. The fact that Laelia had been hurt by him filled me with enough guilt to fill an ocean, even though she was okay, even though she wasn’t the least bit angry with me.
But this had to end. It had to. I was a prisoner in my own apartment, and everyone I cared about was a prisoner to my circumstances. My father had written back to me, the letter hand delivered by Laelia after her trip to Hingashi.
Things had to change, now.
“Audrey Matsuda?”
My eyes flash up as a feminine voice calls my name, and Caius looks up, too, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. Standing in the doorway is a young Raen woman with the same cherry red hair I had so often sported, dressed relatively casually, and holding a clipboard. With a feeling like I was about to go into a physical, I rise to my feet, willing myself to keep my breathing steady.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Caius asks, and I turn my head, flashing him a quick and reassuring hope-- or, at least, I hope it is.
“It’s okay. I’ll... I’ll be back. Don’t worry.”
Finally, we let go of each other, and with slow steps, I make my way to the Raen girl. She smiles at me and bows her head before stepping to the side to quietly usher me into the hallway. The feeling that I’m in some sort office remains, and I suppose I am as I walk past numerous closed doors along a carpeted floor, little plaques put up on each with the name of whoever was inside, or the purpose of the room itself.
Doctor. Doctor. Counseling. Lawyer. Restroom.
It’s the end of the hall that appears to my destination. There’s no sort of title on the golden plaque against this door, but there is a name.
Misaki Ito.
The Raen girl knocks against the door, and an accented voice calls for her to come in. The door opens, and I glance inside before I’m gently urged to step inside. The office is sunny, I note. There’s a brightly blossoming pink orchid on the handsome desk, an assortment of Far Eastern art on the walls, two squishy looking leather chairs in front of the desk.
Behind it is a woman that can only be a couple of years older than me, and she looks up from the paperwork she had been looking over, smiling at me. It gives me pause. She looks... familiar, in a way that I can’t quite place. Her eyes are as dark as my own, and her pitch black hair is silken and perfectly straight, but pulled into a low ponytail. Her makeup is subtle, highlighting just how pretty she is. I’d never had a taste for women, but I found myself in slight awe of this one. Though she was small, she had a commanding air around her, akin to Laelia-- elegant and powerful.
“Miss Matsuda,” she says, and it’s clear that her accent is Hingan. She stands and bows to me, one hand against her stomach. Her clothes are tidy; a simple white blouse and a black skirt, a delicate golden chain hanging around her neck with a starburst of gold and diamonds as the small pendant. “It’s a pleasure to finally get to meet you.”
I bow quickly in return, and she smiles again before gesturing for me to sit. I take the chair on the left, willing myself to not start picking at my nails and swallowing the urge for a cigarette. This all feels so... polished. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I don’t know what it was that I was expecting, but it wasn’t for a young, beautiful, and Far Eastern woman to be my... what? Advocate?
“My name is Misaki Ito,” she offers, and I nod, smiling quickly at her.
“Ah... Right. Yes. Your name... was on the cards your people have given to me in the past,” I reply, stopping myself in the middle of picking at my nail polish.
“I’m glad you decided to come and see us, Audrey. It seems as though your pimp has been in a spot of trouble with the law recently. That’s good. It’ll play in our favor. Usually these guys are able to fly under the radar, so to speak, or they’re in so good with local law enforcement that they’re immune. But he’s clearly not untouchable, and that’s good, Miss Matsuda.”
“Please, just Audrey.”
“Right,” she says, and then she glances back down at her paperwork for just a moment before her dark eyes return to my face. “Now. Let’s talk. We know a surprising amount about you already, Audrey. A few of our agents have gathered a lot of information about you over the years. Your pimp has put you front and center an awful lot, hasn’t he?”
“Yes,” I reply, glancing down at my hands, at the jade bracelet and the silver dragon on my wrist. “I’ve known him since I was... really young.”
“How young, Audrey?”
I glance up at Misaki, and the corners of my lips twitch into a sad smile. She is observing me intently. I figure that if I’ve come all this way... well, there’s no point in hiding anything, is there? I close my eyes and exhale before meeting her gaze once more, calling on the steel and the fire that had gotten me through so much before. If I could withstand the life Alfie had put me through... I could do this.
“I met him when I was... four. He was a friend of my adoptive family. He started having me work for him when I was fourteen.”
Misaki takes notes as I speak. I tell her everything, like the floodgates had been opened after years of trying to jam them shut. I tell her about every terrible thing Alfie has done to me, about every terrible thing I know he’s done to other girls, and she is quiet, nodding along and glancing up at me with... nothing like pity. It’s refreshing. She does not look at me like some weak and fragile victim. Her gaze is level, and the only thing she shows me is sympathy.
She asks a few questions, asks for clarification on some details, and I give them more readily than I thought I would be able to. She lets me go to the window and sit on the windowsill to have a cigarette when she notes how jittery I’m starting to get, especially as the question of the other girls under Alfie’s employ comes up. I close my eyes, and this is the only thing that gives me pause. Was it my place?
If you don’t help them, whether they want it or not, they’ll be stuck there forever.
I give the names. I give the ages.
Thirty girls are under his active employ. Of them, fifty percent are under the age of eighteen. And I know that at least six of them are under the age of sixteen. Misaki’s lips purse as she writes this all down, and I glance over her shoulder. She’s writing it all in kanji.
I don’t know how long we’re in her office. I lose track of time, but I know that I go through my entire pack of cigarettes. She hands me a stress ball, and I squeeze it so hard that the plastic peels a little, digging my fingernails into it.
“Under normal circumstances, I would have asked to do this in a couple of different sessions, but time seems to be of the essence, Audrey. You tell me that your pimp has been stalking you?”
“Yes. I haven’t been able to safely leave my apartment in weeks. And he... the reason he was in gaol, he assaulted a friend of mine.”
“The doctor,” she says, and for just a moment, there’s an odd look on her face. Familiarity? “Yes. I’m aware of Doctor Woodard. It comes as no surprise that she managed to have him locked up, of all the people he’s come in contact with. I digress... It seems your situation is escalating, and that’s not good for anyone involved. Not for you, the people around you, or the other women under his employ, Audrey. So I have a proposal.”
-------------
My head swims as I walk back out of the office and to the waiting room. Caius stands as soon as he sees me and quickly closes the gap between us, arms slipping around me when he notes the expression on my face. In my hand is a referral to a psychologist within the building. It was sunny when I went in to meet Misaki. Now, I can see that it’s dark, the sun fully set for the day.
“How did it go?” he asks me, leaning back to scan over my face. I close my eyes for a moment and take a breath before exhaling.
“She wants to do a sting operation,” I murmur. “At the club. Prostitution is legal in Ul’dah, but the trafficking of minors isn’t. They’ll be going on a night the underage girls are there, and she seems... confident. Very confident. She thinks it’ll be enough to have him put away for a long time.”
Caius nods, still watching my face. His hands lift to gently cradle it, and he leans down, pressing a kiss against my forehead. I feel like I could cry, and I don’t know why. There are so many reasons. I feel... frightened out of my mind. I feel doubtful. I feel nervous.
I feel hopeful. I feel... elated.
Elated that this might really end. That I might be free from Alfie after all of these years. That I might be able to... to go home, to Hingashi, to meet my family after all of these years of having no idea that I had a real one at all. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, to put the chocobo before the cart. But for the first time in a long time, there is hope.
Misaki had given me her linkpearl to call whenever I had a question or concern. She was kind. Kind and smart, had been able to make me laugh in the midst of all the questioning and planning. She told me that I would likely have to come before a court and testify against Alfie. I told her that I would.
I tell Caius everything only after we get back to the apartment. He wraps me up in a blanket and holds me in his arms and finally, for the first time the entire day, I feel completely safe. I put my head to his chest and I listen to his heart as I speak, and he listens quietly, rubbing my arms through the blanket.
“I’m going to be here every step of the way, Audrey,” he promises quietly, kissing the top of my head. “And I am so damned proud of you, mea columba. You are the strongest person, you know that? Everything will turn out okay.”
His pinky hooks around mine, and I smile, squeezing it with my own.
My freedom has been long since overdue. As Misaki said-- now is the time to reclaim it. To start my life over.
To finally know some peace.
