Chapter 2: Empty Stomachs and Hollow Promises Part 6

"I think we should tell everyone about him."

"...I agree." Reluctantly, I replied to Poppy. I knew we had to at some point, but now with the 'motivation' in progress, getting Ceáser out of his chains became a main priority, since he had gone even longer without food than us.

"Y-you do?" Poppy didn't seem like she expected that, but her eyes lit up as soon as I agreed.

"It's the best option we have, and we need to do it soon, so yes, I agree." I nodded my head to reassure her, "But we should do it tomorrow."

"Why?" Poppy asked.

"We don't know what time it is, and for all we know, we could be caught outside of our cells with only a minute before nighttime." I explained, "If we wait until tomorrow, we can get our bearings and our story straight." Poppy nodded in agreement at my assessment, and seemed confident in our plan to finally liberate Ceáser.

"Alrighty then, sounds like a plan." She said, standing up confidently, "I'll see you tomorrow then A.K."

"Right, see you tomorrow, Pop Star." I waved to her and bid her adieu with a smile, as she exited my cell, happily bouncing towards her own. As soon as she left, I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me, most likely a result of the lack of food setting in. I changed out of my soaked clothes and collapsed into bed. I let the sleep grab hold of me, not caring if I missed the nighttime announcement or not.

…

...I'm hiding under a table. I can hear him walking around close.

"Come out…" He says. I'm hoping that he can't find me, but as he passes the table, my breathing gets uneven, and way too loud, and he stops walking.

"Aka…" He mutters, while one of his hands grabs the underside of the table. He knows I'm here, he has to. After a brief moment he pulls himself down under the table and-

"Boo! Found you!" He pulls me out and up from the table, before picking me up, "You nearly had me fooled Bookworm, but no one can trick the Ultimate Dadtective!" He says, holding me up like a trophy.

"Awww, not fair. You heard me breathing, you didn't actually find me Dad." I say, ashamed at how quickly he located me.

"Make all the excuses you want Lil' Einstein, but you and I both know,"

Y̴̰̓o̷̹̍͆ư̷͎͘ ̶͋͜ͅc̵̙̄͘â̷̡͍n̸͔̪͘'̸̼͌͝t̵̝̀ ̶͕̈͝ȟ̷̰í̴̙̲͊ḓ̶̞̒e̵͇̒́ͅ ̸̛̖̃f̴͖͘͝r̴̥̥͝o̶͙̾m̶̘̐̈́ ̶̬̔͝m̸̥͊ḙ̴͆̇.̶̤̏

I shot upright out of bed, waking myself up from that 'dream'. When I got my bearings and scanned the room, I noticed Poppy standing at the doorway, halfway into the room.

"Well whaddya know, I didn't hafta wake you up this time." She said, seeming less cheery than her usual self, for obvious reasons. She helped me out of bed and got me out of my cell as soon as possible, walking through the hallway, a bit behind the rest of the main group.

"So, are we still on the plan to tell everyone?" Poppy asked.

"Yep, it's now or never." I responded, practically meaning it, "Just let me do the talking, and if they start to accuse me of anything, you back me up ok?"

"Will do, boss." She replied, almost mockingly.

"Alright, thank you…" I said, while my mind returned to the 'dream' I had. I didn't want to invade her personal life, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Poppy...Have you dreamt about your life before you woke up here?"

"...A little bit, why?"

"...I had a dream about mine last night, and was just curious if I was the only one…"

"Nah, it's ok. I've had some almost every night. I wouldn't worry about it though."

"Yeah, you're probably right but…" I started, holding back any sort of emotional tone as best as I could, "...I just miss my old life, I guess is my point."

"Aka, look," Poppy said, looking at me directly, "Don't get all mushy over any of that. Once we get outta here, you can have your old life back, so don't worry!" Her upbeat attitude helped a bit, but once we looked away and continued walking, all I could think was,

"IF, we get out of here."

…After some time of walking, we reached the cafeteria, and I wasn't shocked to feel a depressing atmosphere from everyone in the room. Barely anyone was talking, and no one seemed happy to be there, but I can respect them all keeping the tradition. Poppy and I sat down, and readied ourselves for the explanation. After some time, I cleared my throat, and stood up.

"Hey um, guys," I started, getting everyone's attention, "I have something I need to confess."

"Are ya coming out?" Jambo said, snickering at his own joke.

"No, actually, it's serious." My tone got him to stop and actually focus, while everyone else leaned in waiting.

"When we all first woke up, we were in rooms with other people chained up," I began, starting to shake a little, "Poppy and I claimed to have woken up with just ourselves…But that was a lie." Almost everyone looked up, especially a certain someone in a pink shirt.

"We had woken up with a third person named Ceáser Bálad, and we didn't let him out of his chain due to him being a very dangerous person from the start, and-"

"AAAAHA! I KNEW IT!" I was interrupted by Mia, who had stood up and pointed at me in her triumphant moment. "I KNEW you were hiding something! I called it perfectly!" Everyone silently looked at her, which didn't seem to shake her confident happiness one bit.

"...Can I continue?" I asked politely.

"...Go right ahead." She responded gleefully, sitting down and dancing in her seat at the fact that she was right.

"As I was saying, he woke up and threatened us, so we didn't think he was safe to let out yet. Of course, over the course of the last couple days, things like the rules and the motivation caused me to not be able to let him out." I explained, feeling a burden leave off of my shoulders, "And I need your help getting him out."

"S-S-So you just l-left him there to d-d-d-die?" Jinju asked, stuttering more than usual at my confession.

"Again, I was going to get him out once we found an exit, but that didn't happen." I explained once more.

"Furthermore, due to the rule against being outside of our living quarters, he must have been punished in some way. Am I correct?" Liam asked, paying attention to the rules.

"Yeah, unfortunately even he wasn't exempt from the rules. His room was locked the day after we woke up, and it was set to open back up 'sometime around nighttime'."

"Couldn't be more vague if I tried." Joseph quipped, "Is that why you need our help?" I nodded in response, happy that no one was really upset with my decision.

"Exactly, I need everyone's help in finding out when the room unlocks if he's still affected by the rules, and we need the key that Mia has to unlock his chain."

As I explained, I felt a hopefully feeling, happy that we might be able to get Ceáser out of there, and hopefully find a way around this motive next.