Chapter 143: Having a Grand Ole Time in Prison.

Zoey was slowly losing her mind in prison. Her determination to continue her act as a well-behaved prisoner reignited after her call with her brother. Prometheus texted her to call him and check up on him. She didn't like that Everett got involved in the magji world during such a scary time, but it wasn't like she could stop him either. She was in here, and he was out there. Words can only go so far. Who knows how deep that magji girlfriend of his sunk her claws into Everett? Boys at that age would be willing to do anything for their girlfriends. Boys around her age would do anything for girls. Puberty was a bitch of a temptress that could make someone betray their family just by whispering sweet nothings to the thing between their legs. Even Zoey wasn't immune to it when she was younger.

While thankfully, she never had the opportunity to be tempted like that because she was kind of a huge fucking friendless loser back then. Still, she was and still is a horny bitch. Zoey rose up from the floor with a sigh. She was a little jealous of her brother. Life has been crazy for Zoey lately, and she's had zero time to really be with James.

Something that either made him feel self-conscious or upset because he's called her several times to talk about their 'relationship.' Essentially, he broke up with her because he felt he wasn't a good enough boyfriend for her since she didn't really trust him enough to confide her problems with him. James said he knew she was going through some stuff, but not once did she ever try and talk to him about them or even hint that she was going through some stuff.

This made him feel like he didn't deserve her if she couldn't even trust him to be a listening ear. So, they broke up, and Zoey was single again. Inwardly, Zoey was pretty annoyed by the whole thing. She liked James. It wasn't love, but she definitely liked him. Maybe she should try and find a magji boyfriend next so she wouldn't have to hide things away from him. But Zoey knew that she would only attempt to get better at hiding things. It's how she grew up, thanks to her mom.

"H-Hello? A-Are you awake?" A soft feminine voice asked outside Zoey's cell.

Zoey sat up as she locked eyes with the fairie. "Good morning, Ari." Zoey greeted the fairie. It was surprising to see them so early in the morning. Usually, they came when it was time to eat and stayed to chat. Well, Zoey talked to them and stopped them from leaving after dropping off the food. It was lonely in here.

"G-Good morning…" Ari flew around outside her cell.

"Am I going back to three meals?" Zoey wondered what they were doing here.

"S-Sorry, no. I came to ask you something that I can't stop thinking about…" Ari hesitated. "I-If t-that's okay with you…"

"What's up?" Zoey started to stretch as she prepared for her morning training.

"Why do you treat me so nicely?" Ari asked.

Zoey was about to laugh until she took a second look at Ari. Ari was completely serious. Zoey got into one of the yoga poses that Callie sent to her when she said she was interested in yoga. She didn't break eye contact with Ari as she answered her question. "I treated you well because you treated me well. Even though I'm sure you're afraid of me. You still treat me like a person." Zoey smiled.

"T-That's all…?" Ari seems surprised.

"Well, I'm sure you're not a bad person either, unlike everyone else in this damn building." An audible crack was heard as Zoey moaned in pleasure.

Sleeping on the ground for days on end puts a terrible strain on your spine. Zoey had been trying to pop that spot for days, and she felt fantastic now that she finally got it. When she looked up at Ari, they were looking at her in horror. "A-Are you okay…?" Ari asked.

"I feel great…" Zoey replied as she looked at the Box.

[Flexibility Lv1]

[Friend of the Oppressed Maxed]

Oh, that was neat. Was it because she became friends with Ari, who was watching her do yoga? Could she learn plenty of other skills because Ari was watching her? But what else could she try and learn while in here? She'll have to think about it later.

"Y-You don't think I'm a bad fairie?" Ari asked.

"I think you're a good 'person.'" Zoey corrected them.

Although Ari was scared of her, they never did any extra shit like the guards who intentionally tried to harass and make things harder on her. Well, they haven't tried any stupid shit like that ever since she gave that crazy justice guy a beating from inside her cell. They just left her alone now. Ari was the only one she saw nowadays because she was the only one they sent in here.

Ari handled her hygiene and delivered her food. She used some spells to clean Zoey of dirt, sweat, and filth, Ari cleaned the cell and toilet, and she made sure the food was presentable. Not that Zoey would eat it anyway. Her Endurance skill has been rising like crazy ever since she decided to starve herself and work out like a maniac inside here. The biggest thing that made Zoey like Ari was that she could charge her phone's battery with some electricity spell in the Basic Volume series. Zoey never learned those spells because she was brought up as a Bringer first and magjistar second. Apparently, they learned the basic volume spells in magjistar school and were unavailable anywhere else. It made Zoey wonder how magjistars who didn't go to magjistar school or had connate magji dealt with daemons.

"Why?" Ari wanted to know.

"You haven't done anything bad to me. That's why." Zoey didn't know what was so hard to understand about this.

But then again, she was sure fairies were basically slaves for magjistars. Crippling anxiety issues were probably the norm if they weren't already brainwashed. Zoey felt she was doing pretty well breaking Tink of their programming. They were even willing to hurt magjistars. Something she was pretty sure magjistars and fairies thought was impossible. Maybe now that she had this Friend of the Oppressed skill Zoey could help Ari break free too.

"But I haven't tried to help you escape! I'm not a good person to you." Ari tried to reason.

"Ari. You don't have to help me. I don't expect you to help me either. As far as I'm concerned, you're just as jailed as me." Zoey tried to sound smart, thinking back to the cartoons she's watched.

"Huh…?" Ari was confused.

"Ari." Zoey started doing sit-ups. "Have you ever had a dream before?"

"A dream?"

"A dream is something you want to do when you grow old. Something you want to do or have more than anything else in the world. Do you have something like that?" Zoey asked.

"I don't know…"

"Some people dream of exploring the world, learning all they can, or even something like cooking delicious food for people across the world. Ari, if you were told to leave this building and never come back. What would you want to do?"

"I don't know… All I've ever done is work here. Ever since I was born, I've been here to help magjistars."

"Does it make you happy?" Zoey looked into Ari's eyes.

Zoey already knew the answer to that question, but she asked it anyway. Fairies might have been created to serve magjistars, but that didn't mean they didn't have thoughts, feelings, and dreams of their own. Zoey thought it was probably impossible to help fairies start to think for themselves and want things of their own desires without serving magjistars, but she didn't think it was too much to have them think about serving magjistars in a way that makes themselves happy. Tink loved going out on cases with Zoey as far as Zoey knew. Fighting daemons, training their magji, and learning about the normal world.

"N-No…" Ari realized. "I'm not a good fairie here…" Y-You have been the nicest person I've ever met, but you're a criminal. I don't understand…"

Zoey was about to say that was because the bad guys enslaved Ari but chose not to share her pettiness with Ari. There was no way all of the magjistars in this building were bad people. Just the people at the top were bad people. That also meant that the rest of the magjistars in the building were spoiled by proximity for working for these assholes. So, they were guilty of following orders but not guilty enough to declare them evil by association.

"The world is complicated, Ari." Zoey couldn't think of anything else to say. "The fact that I'm even in here proves that. All I wanted was to beat up daemons. Somehow that ended up with me in here."

"..." Ari was silent. "I-I need to think… I'll be back later." Ari floated out of the room.

Zoey hoped she had made some progress in breaking Ari's brainwashing. She still refused to call herself a hero or any nonsense like that. Any regular person would try to help someone else if it didn't take too much effort. Zoey was stuck in a jail cell. Her options were pretty limited in deciding what the fuck she could do. Helping out some poor person who seemed like they needed a friend wasn't that much. Considering her alternatives were ignoring Ari or treating them like shit like they've already been. Zoey was an asshole sometimes, but only to people who deserved it or when it was really funny, like when she was trolling online. God, she felt like playing a Star Arena to play full damage support, but she had to finish her morning workout first.