Forgotten Mask

Finally, a knock on the door to disrupt the awkward silence after my weird monologue, "Your highness, may we come in? Lord Phelix ordered all of us to search the eastern wing of the palace."

Felix? Felix... why do I know that name?

I don't remember knowing a Felix...

"Aurelius, are you alright?!" A voice came in from a distance, rapidly closing the distance between it and the door. It seems like it won't slow down... but at this rate, he'd knock down the door...

Then.

Well.

What did I expect? He slammed the bloody door right opened.

"It is alright. It was the hero-" Aurelius looked back to find absolutely no one at all, "No one... it was no one... this room is clear,"

I pressed myself against the wall as I listened in on the words they spoke from under the balcony. The kid's a lot more mature than I thought... he looks like he's 13 or maybe even 11, but if I was thirteen and that happened to me... well I don't know what I'd do.

The footsteps of the heavy iron armours slowly faded away as the door closed. If I get caught I might get thrown into an even more secure prison... that'd be too much of a bother to escape again...

"I know you're still here. I might not completely understand your reasons for being here, but I feel like you might want to visit the innermost room of the south wing. Something about you... I feel like I can trust you..."

Innermost room huh? Closest to the centre of the south wing... a trap? From the prison, they sent me to... they don't know my current level so their trap would probably be a walk in the park.

He's just a kid though... what's the worst he can do?

Famous last words I know...

I strolled on the south wing's roof. Slipping in from the balcony, I walked on the red carpet embellish with gold. How much would this cost? This part of the hall isn't even guarded and it's pretty...

If there're no guards here... there's probably something the higher-ups don't want them to know about. Seems too easy... there's something strange about it. Why is it so silent? Is it really a trap?

"WHY WON'T IT OPEN?!" All the sudden constant banging shook even the hallways.

No wonder no one's here... her voice is way too loud to be silenced by walls. They decided to send me and Shin to the countryside with dirty prisons, but kept Misa and the others here in a beautiful palace decorated with diamonds and gold huh? Thanks for the double standards guys! Real fair!

I walked towards the place where her voice came from, observing the luxurious paintings and ornaments that I didn't get to see in my prison.

"Do you want the whole palace to fall from your voice?" I talked through the gaps of the door.

"Amber! You're here! You're here?! What the hell are you doing here?! Didn't I tell you to wait for me inside the garden?"

If I told her... she'd kill me... but she could see through my lies.

"What happened to make you three locked up?"

Reply to another question. Hope she won't notice what I'm trying to do...

"Two. As soon as we arrived, Kyle was arrested and we were brought in here. Mia didn't resist, only asking why they were doing it and I... well at least the soldiers' bones have to be healed to normal. Do you know where Kyle is?"

Kyle was arrested huh? I heard Fin impersonated the "scumbag bully hero" so I guess now I know who Fin became. Shin didn't get the death sentence... well we escaped before we could be sure, but if he would get executed I guess they would've been sent to a temporary prison cell somewhere to prepare for the official execution.

I hate that this somehow makes sense to me now after 6 months here...

Though... I'm not even flinching at the thought of Kyle's death.

I've been so desensitized to losing people... it's scary. The first time was so painful... when I led Julie and Ein into their death... betraying everyone else for survival. I don't remember much of the aftermath though. Not sure if I wanted to.

Though I can't remember... I shiver at the thought.

Chills.

The world around me goes so cold. I hate the cold. It just feels so empty.

"Hey hey! Answer the damn question," Misa snapped me back.

I really got to stop thinking too hard on the simple question of why.

"Probably somewhere I should be right now~. A prison," I said playfully as I tried to ignore the cold. It'll disappear. It always does.

"Stop joking around geez," Misa sighed

Even so... it was true. The entire thing. He's probably in prison... I probably belong in prison.

"I can't lie. Not to you."

"What? Elaborate." Misa's tone shifted. Such a serious tone... I didn't expect that.

Off guard, I just spoke my entire thought process, "Well since Shin was sent to prison and both of them were wanted, I kinda just put two and two together and assumed that Kyle would be in a prison too you know?"

That was... a mistake to say the least...

If she was paying attention to my words... I'm dea-

"Shin was sent to prison?"

Silence...

...

...

...

"Explain." Misa used the lowest pitch she could manage.

"Uhh... so... me and Shin kind of… you know... uhh... got... captured? We escaped of course! A-Although... well... m-my guess is the same thing happened to Kyle... though he didn't?" I doing a sweet voice... not convinced it'd work though.

Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. I'm scared.

D-Door! Protect me!

A murderous aura leaked out of the room, surrounding me, "So... let me get this straight. You and Shin disobeyed my order and you HAD the guts to get captured even though we both know you could've easily escaped? You WeRe CUrIouS wEReN'T yOU? Now that they know you could escape from your cell, they WILL triple Kyle's security. What. Did. I. Ask. You. To. Do?"

Her dead cold contrasting insanity blew the cold feeling from the night air away but replaced it with a kind of paralysis I couldn't seem to overcome.

As I started sweating from the fear, the halls started to shake from Misa's banging out of frustration, "It was SO hard to stay in that BEAUTIFUL garden right?!".

"W-Which... Misa is this?" It was the only thing I could bring myself to ask, but if I even thought for a second about I said... I'd know that I shouldn't have spoken at all.

Even though this topic would always calm her anger towards me down... the air always turns so desolated.

"I..." Misa paused as if she was earnestly asking herself the same question, "I have no idea," she continued sincerely with a gentler voice.

"Sorry..." Sensitive topic... well so I've heard at least.

"No... I was the one overreacting. I should've expected it. Most people wouldn't be able to stand being ordered to stay in the same place. I expected too much of you. What's your deduction?"

People always say my guesses were so accurate, but it's mostly all luck and common sense. Anyone could do it. It's not my special ability or something. It's just the fact that I usually know more things than I say I do.

To make an example, I'd say both of them will be executed on the same site. Are they waiting for something?

Maybe someone important... if that is so... Kyle may be placed inside the prison with the same level of security as Shin... or even the same prison as Shin.

Though I may have made them improve their security transferring a prisoner with capabilities you can't even comprehend seems riskier than just enhancing the initial prison's security with a 24/7 watch on the prisoner.

"Not sure about this, but the prison is probably undergoing some kind of upgrade. Specifically, an upgrade that requires a black metal material that even I can't break. An expensive material... meaning we only have to find any way of transportation holding the metal with lots of guards surrounding it."

"I love how your brain works," Even if I can't see her... I know there's a smirk on her face.

Although...

Complimenting me after scaring me huh? Really think I wouldn't notice that trick? Lowering my confidence while raising my impression of you. We both know how people can be played. I guess... the other Misa's talking now...

"Well, you know who you're talking to! After all... there's a reason we're friends,"