Chapter Nine: Real Nightmare

Oh, free time. How glorious free time could be. Elizabeth was spending free time in the game room with Trois. They were good friends by this time. She had just beaten him in a game of pool.

"You're quite good at pool," Trois told Elizabeth.

"Thank you," Elizabeth replied, swiping some stray hair out of her face. "You're not so bad yourself. Where did you learn?"

"Pool halls in France," Trois said. "Plus my parents had a table at home."

"My dad had a table. He taught both me and my brother how to play."

"You had a brother?"

"Yeah. He was about a year older than me. I'm actually horrible compared to either of them."

"Well you don't seem horrible to me."

Elizabeth felt her cheeks grow slightly warm. "Thanks. Maybe we're both bad."

"I've watched you play. You're really wonderful at this game." Trois walked next to Elizabeth and rested his hand on her shoulder. It wasn't that hard, considering he was 5" taller than her. "I don't even know if Uno could beat you."

"COME AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE, YOU LIMP NOODLE!" Uno's voice rang through the game room.

Elizabeth burst out laughing while Trois gave a polite chuckle.

"Did he just. . . reference Mulan?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know, I'm afraid I've never seen it."

"You've never seen Mulan?! It's only one of the greatest Disney movies of all time! You should bug Kiji to let you watch it."

"What's it about?"

"So it takes place in Empirical China, when the Huns and stuff were trying to invade," Elizabeth began to explain. "Naturally, there needs to be men to fight. One man from every family. In this one family, there's an old man who had already served in a war. He has one daughter, Mulan. When he's summoned, she dresses as a man and takes his place. It's a great movie, really taking gender stereotypes and kicking them in the ass. It also gave rise to one of the best Disney songs ever!"

"Which song is that?"

"Make a Man Out of You. It's so catchy!"

Trois chuckled. "You're very passionate."

"You should see me about Harry Potter. I'm way worse."

"At least you admit it. Many people don't understand just how bad they actually are and try and deny it."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I do try and be self-aware."

"That's fair. Do you want to play another game?"

"Only if I break."

They spent the rest of free time playing pool, letting Rock join in on their last game, which Elizabeth won. Rock wasn't all that bad, either.

Elizabeth loved spending her free time in the game room. She had made a good friend in Trois and she enjoyed spending time with him like all of her friends. He was in a different building, after all. She got to see her friends in Cell Thirteen at every meal, but Trois was different. He seemed to be spending most of his free time in the game room as well. She hoped that they would stay good friends.

Elizabeth read many books and watched a lot more anime in her cell, catching up on stuff she had missed and stuff she had always wanted to read or watch. She did attempt an escape at least once a week, on occasion joining in with Cell Thirteen in their escape antics. She had a blast! Elizabeth usually ran back when Hajime started beating them all up. Didn't always stop her from getting caught, though.

Elizabeth now had three more scars in addition to the one caused by a shiv fight. One on the back of her head, another on her stomach, a horizontal scar right above her belly button, and the third was on her neck. The cut had been deep enough to leave a scar. Elizabeth didn't mind. Scars, in her opinion, were badass.

Elizabeth continued on, more or less, with the regular routine. She went to training about once a week at most, once a month at the least. She was actually starting to enjoying herself.

Still, the nagging thought of Elf kept her up at night. Who exactly was this man and what did he want with Elizabeth? Who was the man with the scar? What did all of this have to do with her? Why was she part of it? Why did Elf single her out? Why hadn't he come back to silence her? He clearly knew where her cell was, so why didn't he try and break in?

Maybe he couldn't break those bars. Elizabeth had kept well away from them, but she hadn't seen Elf since. She even broke out just to get the rush, not to actually get out anymore.

The thought of running into Elf again was worse than any punishment that Hajime could give her. Worse than being treated like a doll and forced to go outside in front of men. Worse than the flirting, the ass-grabbing, anything. In truth, Elizabeth was terrified of him. She was scared that if she actually escaped Nanba, he would find her and take her. Then she'd be one of those missing convict cases. She feared human experimentation more than anything that Nanba could throw at her, which was saying something. Hajime could be quite terrifying when he needed to be.

That is why she never tried to break out for real. Out of fear that she'd be used. Still, Elizabeth hoped that none of her friends or any of the inmates would be taken for experimentation. That would be horrible.

Yet, as the weeks went by and there had been no incident, Elizabeth began to relax. Maybe Elf was gone. Maybe he had died falling away. Maybe he had decided that Elizabeth wasn't worth it.

Then, one night, Elizabeth fell asleep and had a dream that had brought back every fear that she had about Elf and more.

Elizabeth was strapped to a table. She was wide awake. Elf and a man with a mask were standing over her, laughing maniacally. There were other people, too. People she couldn't name, couldn't see, couldn't even hear. Just people watching her to see what she might do, what she might become.

"Let's see what Specimen Seventeen's got inside of her," Elf taunted, then he turned to Elizabeth. "Don't worry, this will only hurt a lot!"

Elf laughed with glee as the man with the mask took a knife and slid it across Elizabeth's torso, down it towards her pelvis. It split open, releasing a horde of people.

Suddenly, Elizabeth was in a courtroom. Her hair was long, her glasses different. She was younger, surrounded by people hissing, "Thief. . ."

Her family was sitting in the front row-her mother, crying into her father's shoulder, her brother, staring at his lap, and worst of all, her father. The father that she had looked up to, admired as a hero. Elizabeth's father was glaring at her as if to say, "Look what you did to us. Your mother is a wreck. You are a horrible child."

Then her mother and brother looked at her. All three of them-their eyes were black. Pitch black, like the demons on Supernatural. They were full of hate. The jury turned on her to announce the verdict. Their eyes were black, too. One of the members had shackles around their neck and wrists, just like Jyugo's.

"We, the jury, pronounce Elizabeth Riona guilty of all charges."

The judge, "I sentence you to forty years in prison. Your right to be treated as a minor has been denied."

Then, suddenly, Elizabeth was in a jail cell. The prison in Cincinnati. It had been one of her easiest breakouts-and her first. The scenery kept changing from jail cell to jail cell.

Then, suddenly, someone was there with her. A girl with shaved hair on one side, in prison for murdering a prominent gang member. Her sentence had been lighter than Elizabeth's, but she kept raising it by breaking out, just like Elizabeth.

As suddenly as Naomi was there, she was gone. Elizabeth was alone again until the guard came up to her in Nanba. Hajime's body, but Elf's face. She tried to scream as he picked her up with ease, but no noise came out.

Finally, she was back on the table. The others came into view. They were the faces of those she had known. Her father's rage and disappointment. Her mother's tearstained face. Naomi's gleeful grin. Even recent people, like Uno with a haughty expression. Nico looked downright sadistic as he laughed. The worst of all was Trois. Trois was there.

"You could never be good enough to be my friend," he hissed. "Never good enough. Only useful for bras."

"Thief. . ." everyone joined in on the hiss. Everyone except for Elf and the man with the mask.

They laughed at her suffering and pain. They each had a knife, which they plunged into Elizabeth, pinning her down even more than she already was. Trapping her to listen to her friends and family hiss 'thief' at her over and over and over.

Elizabeth woke up in a cold sweat. Had she really dreamed up something like that? That was completely terrifying, so dark. How could anyone think up of such a horrific thing? How could the author of this do that to the poor main character? Unfortunately, Elizabeth felt that this was only the start of how bad things could get.