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Free to go?

Morning came. Hours went by. Days blew across the wind. And the bond of friendship was getting stretched and tested as Freya and Bella had begun arguing. Their hair matted and clothes stained; minds worried and bellies hungry.

Fighting ensued when they had both reached breaking point, and the slightest thing had now become enough to set fire to already brewing rage. They sat apart from each other, heads to the ceiling, faces forlorn, each growing gradually haggard and emotionally distant. Wondering how they had gone days without food when they were once kitchen staff?...

“This is all your fault!” Bella yelled now, as she dropped her aimless stare from the ashy ceiling, sparking a fresh debate. “If you hadn't gotten us into this hole, we wouldn't be in this mess Freya!” her voice raised high and belligerent, indignant and impulsive.

“Well, last time I checked, I never asked you to tag along, did I?” Freya yelled back in rebuttal, more pissed than an angry cobra. Her head came down too as she faced Bella with a raised brow of both annoyance and confusion.

It made her angry to see Bella trying to put the blame on her as though anyone of them could've seen all this coming? It was annoying to see her friend trying to abandon on her head all the weight of responsibility for the consequences of an unexpected circumstance?...

As everything that had happened after Sheila had called her to her chambers were more unplanned and unprecedented than forest fires in Antarctica. It was crazy and spontaneous. No one knew or expected it. An ambush that lived up to the title, as even the guards were caught off guard…

Yet somehow, the woman who gave herself up to capture was now regretting her own decision; blaming it on someone who had been used like a chew toy, and almost got raped in coming here…

“I was the one who got spat on, treated like dogshit, and made a slave in a place where I don't even belong…” Freya yelled back, hostile. Her eyes going up in flames.

“I was alone, I didn't call for help. I didn't light a bonfire and say hey everybody look at me, I'm about to be taken away to a place that I don't know… I didn't scream at the top of my lungs for any assistance. I was there on the ground, in the dirt, by myself; my fate accepted, ready for whatever was going to happen…”

“I didn't bring you into this mess, Bella… you did!” Freya spat. “I only brought myself… but then you decided you wanted a piggy back ride to hell…” her tongue unbridled. “You came running along on your tippy toes, trying to play the hero, being adamant even when the guards spared you the chance to walk away. And now you want to pin you being here as my fault?...” she asked, bewildered.

“I did it all because of you!”

“You made a choice, you weren't called to sacrifice yourself!” Freya yelled back. Her hands going up in a gesture.

“I did it because we're friends!” Bella shot back, with tears suddenly welling in her eyes. As her heart had finally shattered and caved in from the pressure she had allowed inside it.

Her head slumped to her hands and she sobbed uncontrollably. The dirt on her palms now acting as face paint. As they rubbed off on her cheeks and stained her eyes. “I just wanted to help!” she cried. “I couldn't just leave my best friend to die…” she let out, wailing.

And Freya's heart broke then too. Her feelings tugging at her consciousness, and stinging her for her outburst—whether it was necessary or not. She felt sad for raising her voice and watering down her friend's effort…

As she suddenly realized the weight of putting one's life on the line when you weren't asked, and the resolution it took to let go of a chance to forfeit the nobility… And Freya knew that was something she couldn't even imagine herself ever having the strength to do—when she stood up from the ground and rushed over to Bella's side, hugging her in a tight embrace and sobbing now too.

“I'm sorry…” she cried. “I am so sorry…” her eyes broke a dam.

They both cried and held unto each other—weak, hungry, and saddened. Each with his head on the others shoulder, finding strength in holding firm to the one thing they actually knew…

Themselves…

They cried into the bleakness as everywhere around them still stood dark. They couldn't tell it was already the morning of another week, as the walls that surrounded them constantly reflected darkness. Freya even got lucky she didn't step on Bella's head on her way to hold her. As they had both been yelling at each other in blindness, not seeing where they stood; with their ears only finding their voices and keeping them audible.

Freya had managed to follow Bella's sobs to reach her. And now they both sat together, wrapped together in shared pain and agony—both praying to the goddess to put them out of their misery, as they were nearing starvation.

They were lost and gone in their weeping, and so much so that they hadn't noticed the ray of light that suddenly began growing outside their cell. The hue of orange that slowly burned into view. And gradually increased in it's intensity, stopping just outside the metal bars.

There was a sudden clang of iron and the two girls gasped out of their almost glued embrace. Only to see a figure standing outside just ahead of them and beyond their cage, holding a lantern same as the guard that brought them here, but now holding a different appearance.

“Alright, you pixies… today seems to be your lucky day…” he said, bringing out keys.

The two girls had their eyes opened wide as they saw him open the lock then slide the door open. And Freya was the first to stand up in earnest as she asked:

“Are we free to go?” with glowing eyes of hope.

But the guard grew a smirk at the corner of his lips as he shook his head. Finding her delusional guess as far off from reality as the alignment of stars on a cloudy day.

“No, the Alpha wants to see you…”

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