Chapter Fifteen: Broken

(Warning. This chapter contains sensitive content such as unhealthy body imaging. Please continue at your own discretion)

Hajime had gone down to the shore to check out the situation, bringing Okina and a stretcher along with him. Seitarou followed.

"Damn it," Hajime grumbled as he knelt down to check Seventeen's pulse. "She's barely alive."

"I can't believe that she's back," Seitarou muttered. "I thought she was gone for good."

"It's been four months," Hajime said as he ran one of his hands over Seventeen's wrist, tracing the cuff. It was skin tight, looking like one of Wonder Woman's cuffs, except silver instead of gold. There was no clasp, no tie-together, no apparent way for it to have gotten on or off. "Okina, bring that stretcher over here. We've got to take her to the infirmary."

Okina came over with the stretcher. Hajime lifted Seventeen onto the stretcher and they began wheeling her inside, very careful not to pass any occupied cells. The inmates could know that Seventeen was back either when she died or recovered, whichever came first.

Seventeen didn't look very good. Her brown hair was matted and stringy, having grown to her shoulders, her body thin and bony. Her skin was so pale that you could see the veins on her arms and legs. The tunic and leggings she wore were torn in several places, you could see Seventeen's knees, stomach, and parts of her legs through the torn fabric. She was unconscious, barely breathing. Barely alive.

After they had gotten her to the infirmary and hooked her up to an IV, Hajime summoned the Supervising Officers that were there four months ago, when Seventeen had been taken. Soon enough, Kiji, Kenshirou, Samon, and Hajime were all crowded around Seventeen's infirmary bedside.

"She's back," Kenshirou stated.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Samon countered sarcastically

"When should we alert the inmates?" Hajime asked. "Seventeen's stable now. Okina should be able to heal her up quickly enough."

"We can't let Three know, not yet," Kiji said.

"Why not?" Hajime inquired.

"He's finally doing much better," Kiji explained. "After Seventeen went missing, he went into this awful state of depression. At the celebration three months ago, he said that he was going to move on. He's only just gotten back to normal. I don't want him to fall apart."

Kenshirou nodded. "Perhaps we should tell the inmates once Seventeen is conscious and able to function as a normal human again. I have a feeling that will take some time, though."

"Most likely," Hajime agreed. "I know that that pain in the ass Cell Thirteen will try and break out so that they can come here as soon as they hear, so maybe it's best that we don't tell the inmates for a while."

"So we're in agreement?" Kiji asked. "We won't let the inmates know about Seventeen's return for a couple days?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then," Kenshirou began. He gingerly picked up Seventeen's hand to show everyone the cuffs. "These look similar to Inmate Number Fifteen's shackles, except they're much thinner."

"Yeah, they are," Samon agreed. "What do you think they do?"

"I doubt they hold the same purpose as Fifteen's shackles," Hajime said. "Whatever they do, I'm pretty sure that they can be used as a weapon if she needs one."

"They look dreadful on her," Kiji stated. "That man who put them on must have no taste!"

"Kiji, that's not what this is about," Hajime reminded him. "We're trying to figure out what these cuffs do."

The guards stood around and discussed the cuffs and what had happened to Elizabeth for another hour before Okina kicked them out, saying that Seventeen was going to get overwhelmed if she woke up.

Elizabeth was in a coma for the next three days. Okina saw her stirring on October 17th and sat down by her bed to make sure that she wouldn't be waking up alone.

"Where am I?" Elizabeth asked groggily.

"You're back at Nanba," Okina explained. "You've been missing for over four months."

Elizabeth's eyes widened as she struggled to sit up, supporting herself with her hands. Okina put a pillow up behind her so she could lean back on it. "What?! I've been gone that long?!"

Okina nodded. "Only the guards know you're back, though. They've decided to wait until you were awake and stable to alert the inmates."

Elizabeth put her head in her hands. "Oh goodness, I can't believe I was gone for that long."

"What happened to you?"

Elizabeth looked at Okina. Her eyes were empty and sunken.. "I-I don't really remember. I remember being taken away by Elf-and then. . . Not much. Only scattered bits and pieces."

"Can you tell me what you do remember?"

"Pain. A whole lot of pain. . . And. . ." Elizabeth flexed one of her hands. Her nails elongated into claws. "This is what they did to me. The last thing I remember before I woke up here was the man with the scar. . . He said that I was no longer useful and they were going to dump me. It was horrifying."

"Do you know why he said that?"

"Probably because I learned to control these." The claws disappeared.

"Okina," Kiji's voice came in as he appeared in the doorway. "Could I speak with Number Seventeen, please? Alone, if you don't mind."

Okina nodded and stood up. "Go ahead, Kiji."

Kiji sat down as Okina left the room. "Hello, Seventeen. Welcome back to Nanba. We're all glad that you're safe and back."

"Is there anything you want, Kiji?" Elizabeth asked, a little nervous. "Shouldn't Hajime be welcoming me back and stuff? He is my building supervisor after all."

Kiji shook his head. "He will later. I just wanted to give you a warning."

"What is it?" Elizabeth's voice was tentative. Kiji's solemness worried her. Kiji was almost never solemn.

"Stay away from Number Three," Kiji told her.

"What? But Trois is my friend," Elizabeth began to protest.

Kiji held his hand up, indicating that Elizabeth should stop. "He's moving on, Seventeen. He's only just gotten back to normal and I fear that if you try and make something happen, he'll fall apart again. Three was in love with you, Seventeen. Now, I don't know if you knew that, you can be quite unobservant, but he did. Your disappearance was a low point for him. He said three months ago, after Eighty-two led me to find him starving himself from depression, that it was time for him to move on."

"He. . . loved me?" Elizabeth was shocked. She really was as thick as a brick wall. She had had no clue.

Kiji nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, Seventeen. I had hoped that you two would work out, you were so good for Three, but I'm afraid it's too late."

"But I love him. . ." Elizabeth quietly protested.

"I'm afraid that you're too late, Seventeen. I truly am sorry," Kiji said gently as he stood up. "I'll let Hajime know that you're awake."

As soon as Kiji left, Elizabeth hugged her legs, tears slipping out of her eyes. It was too late. . . Trois had moved on. She couldn't blame him, it had been over four months. She might've done so, too, if she were in his position. Still, she felt heartbroken. This was her first real love. Sure, she had gotten crushes before, some of them on girls, but she had never truly fallen for anyone. This was the first time. It had been slow and gradual, but now it was gone. Elizabeth felt more broken than ever before. Elizabeth sadly hummed Last Kiss as she sat alone in the infirmary, waiting for Hajime.

When Hajime came in, Elizabeth wiped away her tears and told Hajime everything that she had told Okina-what she remembered, what she could now do, and that she didn't know much overall. She tried to keep her voice from cracking as she spoke. Hajime was a good listener.

"So you have cat claws now," he said when she had finished.

"I mean, yeah, I guess," Elizabeth replied. "When you put it that way. . ."

Elizabeth retracted the claws so that she had her normal nails again.

"It's good to have you back, Number Seventeen," Hajime told her. "If you don't mind, I'm going to alert the inmates that you're back."

"Go ahead," Elizabeth told him. "I could use some good news right about now."

Hajime left the infirmary, leaving Elizabeth alone again. Elizabeth looked down at her hands, no clue what to do.

Hajime went to his building and began spreading the news that Seventeen was back and going to make a full recovery.

Of course as soon as he got to Cell Thirteen, they immediately asked if they could go see her.

"Not now," Hajime snapped. "Seventeen just woke up from a three-day coma. She needs rest, not you four tackling her."

"She's been here for three days?!" Uno demanded.

Hajime sighed, nodding. "We didn't want to get people's hopes up, Eleven. Especially not yours, seeing as you four would break out to go see her and probably mess something up."

"He's right about that," Jyugo told Uno. "We totally would have."

"When can we see her, Hajime?" Rock asked.

"Yeah, when?" Nico put in.

"Tomorrow," Hajime snapped. "She's been gone for over four months. You can wait another day. Besides, it's almost dinner time anyways. You can visit her after breakfast tomorrow, understand?"

"Fiiine," Rock sighed. "We'll wait until tomorrow. For her. Not for you."

In Building Three, Kiji had heard that he was allowed to tell his inmates that Seventeen was back. He figured that he should let Three know before he heard about it from someone else. Kiji walked up to Cell Six, noting that both boys were in there.

"Three, Eighty-two, I've got some news," Kiji started.

"What is it, Kiji?" Honey asked as both boys looked at Kiji.

Kiji took a deep breath. "Seventeen's back."

"She is?" Trois asked. He had his usual nonchalant air about him. He didn't sound hopeful at all.

Kiji nodded. "Yes. She washed up a few days ago and has been in a coma ever since. She just woke up today. If you'd like, I can take you to see her tomorrow."

"No thank you," Trois told Kiji. "I'm sure we'll see her when she's released."

"Alright then," Kiji replied. "Goodbye, Boys. I'll see you later."

Kiji walked away, sighing. Trois really had moved on. Poor, poor Seventeen. Maybe it was for the best that they didn't see each other. It might really break Seventeen's heart.

Days passed and slowly, but surely, Elizabeth began to recover. The color came back to her skin so that she was her usual tan, her eyes stopped being sunken, and her face grew back to normal. Elizabeth gained weight, slowly going back to her normal weight. She had even cut her hair back to what it was before. She had spent a few hours at the infirmary practicing walking. Finally, after two weeks, she was cleared to go back to her cell.

Elizabeth only had the visitors from Cell Thirteen, them visiting four or five times while she was there. Trois hadn't even come once. She guessed she should have expected it, given what Kiji had told her. Still, she couldn't pretend that his not not visiting didn't hurt her, at least not a little.

Elizabeth never went to the game room during free time anymore. She didn't want to risk running into Trois. It would hurt too much. She didn't want to risk having her heart broken by him acting indifferently, or worse, friendly.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth couldn't avoid Trois forever. They had to see each other sooner or later. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, it happened sooner rather than later.

Elizabeth was in the infirmary again, this time not for an injury. It was just a regular check up. She had been to Nanba for a few months before she had gotten taken. Now that she was back, she had to have a check up.

"You're here so often, Seventeen, I was thinking that maybe we should honor you," Okina teased. "What do you say?"

Elizabeth groaned. "Please don't. It's not my fault."

"I know," Okina replied, chuckling. "Anyways, I've got that refill for your medicine."

"Thank you, Okina."

Just then, Honey and Trois walked in.

"What are you two doing here?" Okina asked. "Did you pull muscles again?"

Honey shook his head. "We got cut."

Okina sighed. "Where did you get cut?"

Honey looked to Trois to answer Okina, but Trois was standing still, staring at Elizabeth. Elizabeth was stuck staring at Trois as well.

Honey huffed in annoyance. "We fell and scraped our elbows."

"Both of you?"

Honey nodded, showing Okina one of his elbows. It was actually badly scraped, dirt coating parts of it. "Trois' is almost as bad."

Honey nudged Trois to get him to show Okina his elbow, which was actually just as bad.

"I'll go get a washcloth," Okina said, turning around to grab a washcloth and dampen it with water.

Finally, Trois spoke up. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since before you-before you were taken."

Elizabeth looked down and tugged at her fingers. "I've been avoiding the game room. I didn't want to see you."

"Why not? Aren't we friends?" Trois asked.

Elizabeth blinked, trying to hold back tears. She wouldn't look up. She sounded choked up when she tried to talk. "Kiji told me that you'd moved on. I don't think I could have stood it if I saw you. . ."

"But why?" Trois asked. "What would be so painful about it?"

Elizabeth looked at Trois, her eyes brimming with tears. "Because I love you, you idiot!"

Trois stepped back like he had been punched. "You. . . love me?"

Elizabeth nodded, some of the tears starting to leave her eyes and trace her cheeks. "I love you and Kiji told me that you did too, but you had moved on. That would have hurt so much to see you. I could barely stand the idea of thinking about you, so there was no way in hell that I could've stood it if I actually saw you. Don't you get that?"

"Trois, maybe we should leave. . ." Honey gently said, noting Elizabeth's fierceness.

"No, I want to hear this," Trois told Honey. "I do get that, Elizabeth. It's just. . . you were gone for more than four months. I would have thought that if you would even come back, you wouldn't have loved me anyways."

Elizabeth scoffed. The tears were streaming down in a steady flow now. Tears of anger. "You're a massive idiot, Trois. Every day in that damn place, they tortured me. It was so bad that I can't even remember most of it, but do you know what I do remember? Thinking of you. I remember just thinking that if I ever got out, maybe something could happen, but I was wrong. I realized there how I really felt, but I guess it was all for nothing."

Trois stood there, dumbfounded. Elizabeth had admitted a whole lot of stuff, stuff that he had used to feel. He looked down in shame.

Elizabeth just stood up and stormed out to the awaiting guard who would take her back to her cell. Now Trois knew how she had really felt. It was all over. Hopefully she'd never have to see him again, not if he really had moved on.