Chapter Thirteen: Heartbreak

Each guard went back to their buildings after discussing what to do about the dead guards. Writing to families, offering a burial service, rewards were in order. They had given their lives fighting for good, so they deserved to be honored. It was past two in the morning when the guards finally left the roof.

Hajime went back into Building Thirteen, feeling defeated.

"Hajime, where's Elizabeth?" Nico asked when he saw Hajime alone. "We've all been up, terrified. What happened?"

"She's gone," was all Hajime would say.

"What?!" Rock demanded, slamming against the bars. "Where? What happened? Tell us!"

"She was taken!" Hajime snapped. "Now go the hell to sleep. It's been a long day and I want to get some sleep, too."

In Building Four, Kenshirou felt obligated to go to Musashi and tell him what had happened. When he had finished, Musashi was quiet for a moment.

"So we're no closer to getting me out," Musashi finally said.

"Unfortunately, no," Kenshirou replied. "But that isn't even the point, Six-thirty-four! Weren't you listening? One of the inmates is missing. The Warden's going to be furious!"

"And you're scared that she'll fire you and you'll never get to see her again," Musashi observed. "You've got a crush on her, so that would be the worst thing for you."

"That's not just it," Kenshirou stated. "If an inmate goes missing, there's going to be a news story. Family members are going to have to be notified. Everything's going to go to hell."

"Don't worry so much, Kenshirou," Musashi said calmly. "We'll get Seventeen back and we'll catch Elf."

Building Three was the worst. Trois had stayed up, terrified and worried. He was constantly pacing his cell, waiting for Kiji to get back. When he finally did, looking dejected, Trois ran up to the window.

"Kiji, please tell me you've got good news!" Trois said.

Kiji's shoulders fell. He knew how Three felt about Seventeen. This was horrible. Reluctantly, he told him what happened.

"WHAT?!" Trois demanded, furious. "SHE'S GONE?! YOU LET HER GET TAKEN?!"

Honey scoffed. "Why are you freaking out so much? It's not like you two were in love."

Trois immediately turned on Honey. It wasn't like him to freak out like this, not get this angry. "Shut up, Honey! We might've been! Now she's gone and nothing could ever happen! You're an ass, Honey! A complete ass!"

"So what?" Honey said nonchalantly. "I don't care. Seventeen hit us, Trois. She tried to destroy our handsome faces."

"That's enough, Eighty-two!" Kiji snapped.

Trois turned on Kiji, his magenta eyes filled with a rage that was so unlike him. A rage more powerful than anything. "You let this happen! This was your idea, Kiji! If it weren't for you, Elizabeth might still be here! This is all your fault! You let her get taken away, Kiji, and now we'll never see her again! She might die because of you!"

Kiji and Honey were both shocked at Trois' behavior. Trois was shaking with fury, which was so unlike him. Kiji couldn't even snap back at Trois, he was so surprised. When Trois ran at the door to try and get out and attack Kiji, Honey snapped out of his shock and grabbed Trois to hold him back.

"Calm down!" Honey insisted. "I know she's gone, I know you care about her, alright! But there's nothing we can do. You have to calm down. We'll find her, but we have to stay calm now, Trois. We won't be able to do anything until the morning."

Trois stopped struggling against Honey's grip and sagged. The rage and fury flooded out of him, causing him to go limp in Honey's arms. He turned inwards and began to cry. Honey gently rubbed Trois' back, trying to comfort him.

"Oh, Three. . ." Kiji began, but Honey glared at him.

"Leave us alone, Kiji," Honey snapped. "I don't think that either of us want to see you right now."

So Kiji did. He left, leaving the boys alone.

Trois and Honey slid to the floor, Honey letting Trois cry into his clothes. Honey may act like an arrogant asshole sometimes, but Trois was his friend. Once he saw how desperate and angry Trois really was, he knew that he had to calm him down and be a comforting friend.

The next day, Hajime had to make a call.

"Hello?"

"This is Nanba Prison. We are legally required to call you to inform you that one of our inmates is missing. This inmate is your daughter. We are doing all that we can to recapture her and bring her back to Nanba Prison. She did not escape on her own-your daughter was taken."

After a moment with no reply, Hajime hung up the phone. Stupid, asshole 'family.'

A week passed with the mood in Nanba prison being in mourning. Elizabeth, apart from escaping every so often, had been a very good prisoner. She did her best to warn the guards about oncoming dangers, trying to stop bad things from happening to Nanba. Now, she was gone and no one anywhere knew anything about where she could be. Of course, the story got out that an inmate had gone missing, not from an escape, but from a kidnapping. Cell Thirteen was watching this news broadcast one day.

"Reports of the missing inmate from Nanba Prison have stopped coming in," the newscaster began. "At around 12:30 in the morning on June 4th, an inmate went missing. No witnesses are available and two guards are believed to have been killed trying to stop this from happening. Nanba refuses to say who this inmate was, claiming that since they were kidnapped, they would not be a danger to anyone. No interviews were available, but the Warden of Nanba did tell us that Nanba Prison is doing all that they can to find and retrieve their missing inmate."

"I can't believe she's really gone," Jyugo said.

"I know," Uno replied. "She was such a good part of us."

"Yeah," Nico mused, looking down at his hands. "I miss her."

"Me too," Rock chimed in. "Think she'll ever come back?"

"I really hope so," Nico replied. "She really made this prison come alive even more than it already has!"

Back in the guard's office, Seitarou came in.

"Sir, the Riona's are here," he informed Hajime. "They'd like to have a visit."

"Who?" Hajime asked.

"Number Seventeen's parents," Seitarou replied. "They're demanding to see her. I think you'd better go check it out."

Hajime stood up. "Damn it I told them that she was gone. I called them."

"I don't think that they know," Seitarou told him.

Hajime sighed. "Fine."

Good on his word, Hajime grabbed the piece of paper that contained the heartbreaking letter and folded it up, placing it in his pocket. The paper had been crumpled up, so it wasn't flat at all. He walked to the visiting office and sat down at a window with two adults on the other side.

One of the adults has a tissue. She was crying, holding the tissue in her hand like her heart depended on it. She had the same brown hair as Seventeen except shorter. Her similarities with Seventeen did not end there. She looked almost exactly like Seventeen, even with glasses, except for a broader nose and different eyes, though they were still blue.

The man next to her was holding her. He had a darker brown hair that stuck up and a small red beard speckled with white hairs. His face was freckled to the max. His eyes and nose, though the nose was larger to accommodate for the man's face, matched Seventeen's exactly.

"I take it you are Seventeen's parents?" Hajime asked as he sat down.

"Don't refer to our daughter that way! Call her by her name. We're her parents, alright, so respect our kid," Adam Riona snapped.

Emily Riona just blinked.

"I'll respect your daughter when you do," Hajime told them. "We've received the letter that you sent her and had to give it to her, legally speaking. I didn't get to read it until after, otherwise I would have given Seventeen the letter with a message. A message that you two don't know what family is."

"What are you talking about?" Adam demanded.

Hajime took the letter out and passed it through to the couple. "Read what you wrote and then tell me that you know what a family should be. Parents don't do that to their children, not even children that have committed the most horrendous crimes."

"Do you have any children?" Adam asked.

"No, but I have a little brother."

"Then you'd never know how it feels to watch your child rob a bank, to watch your child admit to robbing many more, and to have to go through all of that."

Hajime stood up. Seventeen had gotten her shortness from her parents, so he towered over them. If there hadn't been a partition. Hajime would have gotten closer. "If my little brother ever did that, I would still love him. At least enough to not send that thing you call a letter to him. I would love my little brother even if he committed murder. Now why are you even here?"

The scare tactic worked.

"We want to see our daughter," Emily said timidly. "We saw the news story about the missing inmate and we needed to make sure it wasn't her."

"I told you when I called, she's missing," Hajime growled.

"We didn't listen to your stupid call," Adam snapped. "We just assumed that she'd escaped like usual."

"People don't escape Nanba Prison."

"So she isn't here?" Emily asked.

"No. Now get the hell out of my prison," Hajime threatened. "You aren't her family anymore, not after that letter. A real family would understand the value of it."

Hajime turned and left the visiting office, completely ignoring the couple. He hated people who didn't understand the value of family. They were scum according to him. Even worse than the inmates that he had to deal with. Family was important. If they didn't see that. . . Well, Seventeen's parents could just go to hell.

---

Elizabeth was unconscious, being carried into a prison. It was one that she had never been to, one that no one would be able to visit. Impossible to trace, this is the prison where the man with the scar did his experiments on live human beings.

"Set her down there," the man said. The man with the scar. A gas mask concealed his face. He was running this operation.

"Yes, Sir," Elf said, laying Elizabeth down on a bed with leather straps to keep her held there.

"Strap her in. I would like to speak with her once she awakens."

"Of course, Sir."

Elf strapped Elizabeth down, keeping her ankles, wrists, and neck strapped down with the leather. She was totally helpless there. No escape would be possible.

After a few hours, only Elizabeth and the man with the scar were in the room. She was starting to stir, and stirring meant struggling. The man with the scar was sitting at the side of her bed, watching her, waiting. He had questions to ask for once she woke up. Questions to determine what to do with her.

"Where am I?" Elizabeth demanded, trying to wriggle out of the straps. They were too tight. Even though her hands were small, the straps were down tight. "Who are you?! Get me out of here!"

The man just laughed. "You're in my lab. I'm about to determine whether you live or die. Would you like to help?"

"What do you mean, you sick fuck?!" Elizabeth demanded, turning her head to look at the man. "How am I supposed to help you determine my fate or whatever?"

"You answer my questions," the man replied.

"Oh, that's just great! I answer your questions and you either kill me or do experiments on me, is that right?"

"Exactly. You've figured it out. You're much more intelligent than Specimen Six-thirty- four, Specimen Seventeen."

"Let me guess who you are, Asshole. You're the man with the scar, aren't you? The one who did those experiments on poor Jyugo and Musashi. What did they ever do to you, huh? They're nice people and you took them! You took them and ran your dirty little experiments on them. Why are you doing this? Are you just that sick? Are you that messed up that you have to pull some Angel of Death crap?"

The man just laughed. "Oh, you're a very interesting specimen, aren't you? I think I'll keep you around for a long while."