Chapter Sixteen: Possibilities

Elizabeth kept on avoiding the game room, hoping that she could stay away from Trois after her outburst. She really didn't want to be around him now, not after she had yelled at him while crying. It would be too embarrassing, too painful.

"Trois, are you alright?" Honey asked later.

Trois had been trembling as they had walked back to their cell, completely silent. He was now sitting down, staring off into space.

Trois looked at Honey when he had called his attention. "I'll be fine."

"Trois, I'm worried about you," Honey admitted. "You were finally back to normal and then that happened. I don't want something to happen to you again. Are you sure you'll be fine?"

Trois sighed. "Honey, it was one incident. Truth be told, I feel a little bad for Elizabeth."

"Why do you feel bad for her?"

Trois stared at his hands as he talked, "Because she was gone for four months and in a horrible situation while we were here. Things might have turned out differently if she hadn't been taken or if she had returned earlier, but she didn't. I feel bad because I moved on and she didn't have the chance to. None of this is her fault, Honey, it's mine."

"Don't think like that," Honey ordered. "You made the right choice, Trois. Don't beat yourself up for it. It isn't your fault at all, nor is it hers. Things just. . . happened, is all."

"Thank you, Honey," Trois told him, smiling slightly. "You're a good friend."

"Of course, Trois," Honey replied. "I'll always be here to help you out."

In Building Four, Kenshirou was talking with Six-thirty-four about Seventeen's return. He had told the inmate a while ago, but they wanted to discuss it.

"So now we've got no way to get Elf back here," Musashi confirmed.

Kenshirou nodded. "Unfortunately, no. At least Seventeen is back and safe. Perhaps you two could share stories."

"Elizabeth already knows my story," Musashi told Kenshirou.

"Well maybe you could hear hers and compare notes," Kenshirou suggested. "It might give us some clues as to how we're going to catch the man who framed you."

"Possibly. When can you have the conversation set up?"

"I'll have to talk to Hajime about it. If he agrees, we can have the conversation set up as soon as tomorrow."

"What do you mean 'if he agrees?' Won't he automatically agree?"

"It's hard to tell with Hajime. It depends on his mood. I just hope I can catch him in the right mood."

"I hope so, too."

At breakfast the next morning, Cell Thirteen sat with Elizabeth like usual.

"So cool cuffs," Jyugo told her. "Are they like the shackles that I have?"

"In a way. . ." Elizabeth mumbled. "I can summon claws when I need them, but I don't ever want to use them."

"Why not?" Nico asked. "That sounds so cool!"

Elizabeth glared at Nico. "Because they're intended for me to use them as a weapon, Nico. I was kidnapped and forced to have these damn things. If I could get rid of them, I would. I hate them. They're a constant reminder of the four months that I spent in captivity. How would you feel?"

"Bad," Nico replied, looking down guiltily. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth."

"It's okay," Elizabeth told Nico. "Just try to be a little more sensitive in the future, alright?"

Nico nodded.

"So I haven't seen you in the game room in a while," Uno told her. "Did something happen? You used to spend all of your free time in there."

Elizabeth looked down at her hands. She didn't want to admit her feelings for Trois. "I just haven't been in the mood, is all."

"Are you okay?" Rock asked, concern flooding into his eyes. "You've been really distant lately."

"Huh?" Elizabeth looked up. "Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure?" Jyugo inquired.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. I just had a rough time over there, is all. Stop worrying about me. I'll be fine, don't worry."

But Elizabeth wasn't fine, not really. Trois moving on had hurt her more than she cared to admit. She had been damaged, broken, by the torture and new 'weapons.' Mentally scarred. Then, as soon as she returned to a place that she felt safe, she had been told that the man that she loved had once loved her, only to have moved on. She had been told that while still vulnerable.

Elizabeth fully understood why Kiji had done that-he cares about his inmates and doesn't want them to get hurt. If Trois had been so badly affected by her disappearance, than she couldn't imagine how he would be affected if she had burst in, declaring her love and trying to make something happen. It probably would have ended very, very badly for both parties.

Elizabeth hoped that Trois was okay. Her professing her love hadn't exactly gone well. She didn't want Trois to suffer. Wanting someone else to suffer isn't love. Love is wanting someone to be happy, no matter the cost. If this was the cost, if it meant she couldn't see him, well, Elizabeth could deal with it. She had to. So long as Trois was happy.

The next day, Hajime opened the door to Cell Twelve.

"Seventeen, Supervisor Yozakura and I have set up another meeting between you and Inmate Number Six-thirty-four," Hajime informed Elizabeth.

"Alright," Elizabeth said. "Is this to discuss what happened to us and compare notes again?"

Hajime nodded as they began heading towards the interrogation room. "Supervisor Yozakura and I will be observing this to make sure nothing happens and so that we get all the information, just like last time."

"Alright then."

"You have five minutes," Hajime told Elizabeth when they had gotten to the interrogation room. "We'll be watching."

Elizabeth walked into the interrogation room where she had been last time. Musashi was already sitting there.

"You're back," Musashi stated.

"And you're Captain Obvious," Elizabeth replied. "So I guess I need to tell you about what happened to me so that we can compare notes."

Musashi nodded. Elizabeth took that as permission and told him everything that she remembered from her kidnapping.

When she was done, Musashi leaned back in his chair. "So when you arrived, you sassed a man with weapons when you weren't in a position to sass a man with weapons."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't like it when people act like they're better than others. Anyways, any similarities that you notice?"

"Did the man with the scar pull out his swords?"

"Not that I can remember. Why?"

"He used them on me. They're just like Jyugo's. He cut out one of my eyes. Later on in another prison, Jyugo cut out the other with his when he couldn't control himself."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth told him.

"It's alright. So you remember some of your experimentation?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. There are points where they made me angry and then I blacked out. Eventually, I started to gain control and I realized what they had given me."

"You got claws."

"In a way, yes. I vowed never to use them. I only showed them to Hajime and Okina. In the same way that you can control your fire, but can't use it, I can control these, so I won't. I hate them. They're just a constant reminder of the pain that I underwent there."

"That's reasonable. So I couldn't really control the fire when they started out with me, either. My voice used to be higher, but I burned my vocal cords with what they did to me. They burned me more than I had ever burned myself."

"So they took you because you were convenient, too," Elizabeth noted.

Musashi nodded. "I told you how they framed me."

"Yeah. I wasn't framed, though. I really did rob all those places. I'm willing to bet that they came after me because I'm different from everyone else here."

"You're the only girl here, you're the easiest target."

"Exactly."

Later, when Elizabeth was back in her cell, she thought about what Musashi had said. He had been severely burned by that organization. Jyugo had been given swords that he couldn't control for a while. Elizabeth had been given retractable claws. She didn't think that any of them had actually wanted what the man with the scar had forced them to take. She certainly hadn't.

Now if they could just catch the man who had framed Musashi and taken her, everything would be solved. They could use him as evidence to free Musashi and then catch the man with the scar.

For the first time since she had gotten back to Nanba, Elizabeth decided that she would go to training. This time, it was held in Building Five. Unfortunately, when she got there, an unwelcome surprise was waiting for her.

Honey and Trois had both decided to go to training that day, too. They weren't expecting Elizabeth to be there.

"What are you doing here?" Honey demanded.

"Training," Elizabeth grumbled, moving to be away from them.

"Wait," Trois started, taking a step forward.

"Why?" Elizabeth demanded, swinging around. "So I can stick around you when you don't love me anymore? So I can deal with perverted questions? So Honey can be an ass? So I can train next to the guy that I like but can't be with? No thank you."

Elizabeth turned around to storm away, but Trois grabbed her wrist.

"Please stop," he said gently.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, turning her head to look Trois in the eyes.

"Parce que je t'aime."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. Did he just say what she thought he had said? Granted, she hadn't been in her French class since her high school right before she was arrested, but she was pretty confident that Trois had just said, 'Because I love you.'

"Did you just say. . ?" Elizabeth practically whispered.

Trois nodded, giving Elizabeth a small smile. "Yes."

Trois began to move towards her, but Elizabeth backed up. "What are you doing?"

"Would you just stand still?"

So Elizabeth did. Trois rested his hands on her waist and leaned in, gently putting his lips against hers. Was this real? Were they actually kissing? Elizabeth found herself leaning up and into it. This was her first and it seemed to be something special.

Over by the head of the area, Liang came up to Samon.

"Samon, two of the inmates are kissing," Liang informed him.

Samon's eyes widened. "What?! Where? Show me, Number Two!"

Liang led Samon over to where Trois and Elizabeth were kissing. Their hands had moved to the bases of each other's skulls.

"Hey! Seventeen! Three! Stop that!" Samon ordered.

Trois and Elizabeth's lips parted, but their foreheads stayed together. They both smiled. This was the start of something wonderful. The possibilities for the future were endless.