@numerosis // CINDER
he should have known better. in fact, he did. don’t isolate yourself, stick together, we protect each other. they were words that came out of his own mouth, and yet he was the one to wander off because of who he thought he saw. it was a trap, a lure, he remembers nothing but a familiar laugh, a quick, sharp pain, and then blackness.
waking up in a dark, unfamiliar room, he doesn’t even have to blink the stars from his eyes to realize what’s happened. despite general opinion, the arc is smart. he makes plans, he’s the idea guy. this was a plan. he’s bait. or else he wouldn’t have woken up at all.
of course, crocea mors is nowhere to be found. there isn’t even a make-shift bed, no window. just a single door on the other side of crooked black bars; at least he thinks it’s a door. it’s a different shade of darkness on the far wall in the shape of a door, but no handle. there’s a single, hanging wall lamp out of reach by the ceiling, just enough light to make out his own hands in the darkness.
there’s....someone there, too. on the other side of the bars, by the weird shape in the wall. a shadow. he blinks, squints through dizziness. he by-passes the typical ‘where am i?’ nonsense because comics taught him he’ll never be told. it doesn’t matter where he is. it’s the why that matters.
“it won’t work,” he ignores how weak his voice sounds, “whatever you’re planning to do, it won’t work.”
