Kairo did not return for quite a while, much to her surprise. Instead, she was met with a girl with multicolored eyes who made her strip down and splashed her with cold water to wash her. She was then given a cup of water to drink and small crust of bread as food before being left in the room alone again. Without any way to know how much time passed by, she grew more and more uncomfortable and uneasy. She couldn't sleep even though she wasn't tied down and instead struggled restlessly through the hours. Her chest ached with an extreme emotional pain, but she feared crying or screaming to relieve it, remembering what had happened to her back at the school. As she usually did, she stuffed her pain and misery down to the deep depths of her soul and buried it with her firm and unrelenting resolve.

When the door finally opened again, she was seated in the corner of the room with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her white uniform was stained and crumpled and her tangled dark hair was hanging in front of her face. She did not raise her head to check who it was and instead stayed in a still, submissive position.

"Oof, you look rather rough," Kairo remarked, stepping in fully and shutting the door behind him. She did not even react to him, and a slightly concerned look crossed his face. "Hey..."

"Please don't," she spoke, her voice soft and almost like a whimper.

"Don't what?"

"Come closer."

He stopped. "Alright. But you know I won't hurt you, right?"

"I don't know that."

"You have my word."

"A man's word is as feeble as a house of cards."

"But I haven't hurt you, have I?"

"Not yet. And others have already."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry I was gone for so long. It's not something I usually do, but something came up." She didn't respond so he took a seat on one of the chairs, still keeping his distance. "I brought you a change of clothes and some more food."

She shifted her eyes to look at him. "What are you trying to do?"

He shrugged. "Be kind, I guess."

"But why?"

"To make you feel more comfortable."

"So you can get information out of me?" she retorted bitterly.

"Well, do you really have something to hide from me?" he returned. She was silent for a moment. "What are you trying to protect?"

She fixed her eyes on him. "What kinds of things do you want to know?"

"Anything really. Even if it's just about you. I wouldn't expect you to know top secret plans and such because students like you wouldn't have access to that kind of knowledge."

"Then why take me at all if I am of little use to you? Were you targeting me specifically?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You think you're someone special? Do tell me why."

She paused, glaring at him. "I'm not telling you that."

"Then I'm not telling you anything either."

She bit her lip. "Then this is going no where."

"Aren't you happy you're outta there though? Shouldn't I at least get thanks?"

"Why should I thank you? I was perfectly fine where I was, thank you very much."

"You were fine there? If I didn't go to your room, you would still be in that hellhole."

"What makes you say it was that bad?"

He paused briefly, wondering how to word it. "The scars on your back, darling."

She froze, staring at him blankly. Her stomach twisted and an aching pain formed in her chest and began to spread across her entire body. She pulled her knees closer to herself and put her head down, hiding her face. "You...you saw?"

"I heard," he answered softly. "I didn't actually see it, but Caris told me."

"Caris?"

"The girl who gave you a visit the other day."

"Oh," she mumbled quietly. A brief silence hung between the two of them.

"I'm sorry," he said gently. She could feel his eyes on her, but still refused to look up. "I...I'd like to know more about it, but I understand if it's something you don't want to talk about as of now."

She remained silent, so he sighed, rising from his chair. He knew she wasn't likely to say anything else to him for the time being, so it was no use sticking around. "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night I guess."

She didn't move even after she heard the door lock behind him. His words played in her head over and over again. What was she trying to protect? The people who hurt her? Betray one evil just to further another? She wanted more than anything to believe that they wouldn't hurt her, but nothing, not even Kairo's sweet talking and kind actions, could convince her otherwise. The fear of what they were capable of doing still lingered, peaking over her shoulder and whispering sinister things in her ear. She knew she couldn't tell them what Sarin had revealed to her about herself. There was no telling what they'd do to her, knowing something like that. But at the same time, Kairo had hinted that she was taken for a reason. Did they already know?

She looked over at the items he left behind. The food smelled enticing and her stomach growled from hunger. Without giving a second thought, she launched herself across the room to where the dish was. As soon as she set her eyes on the chicken leg and a section of a baked potato, she began stuffing it into her mouth with her bare hands, not caring how animalistic she looked. In no time at all, she had picked the bones clean, leaving nothing edible at all. Wiping her mouth with her arm, her eyes turned to the clothes he had left. She gingerly unfolded them to find a rather large collarless shirt and equally large baggy pants. Could he not see what size she was or was there just nothing else available? She rose to her feet and made her way over to the corner right under the camera to give herself the most privacy afforded to her. Working quickly, she pulled the new shirt over her head to cover herself before peeling her old, dirty uniform off. She had to wrap the string of the pants around her waist multiple times to keep it in place. When it was done, she folded up the old clothes and placed them on the floor near the empty dish. The new fabrics had an oddly comforting, woodsy smell to them, which managed to ease her nerves slightly. Sighing, she settled down on the ground and leaned her head against the wall, fearfully contemplating what she should choose to do that would decide her fate.

***

Kairo leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully, as he watched the two new prisoners through the security cameras. One was quietly sitting against the wall, fiddling with her hands while the other had fallen into a screaming and crying state of hysteria. Neither had revealed much to him at this point in time, though their different behaviors to the same situations were intriguing to him.

"So, whatcha think of the new Blanks?" Calix asked, sitting on one of the nearby desks. "They sure are an interesting duo."

"Yeah, sure are," Kairo agreed, not taking his eyes off of the cameras and twirling a pen casually between his fingers. "The blond one's quite the hassle. Every time I even try to speak to her, she screams and starts rambling off about how Insurgents are horrid barbarians and whatnot. It's the same bs I always hear, only made worse by her constant screeching."

"Heh, how long do think she'll be kept around?"

"Not long, I bet. The brunette is the one we want anyway. I didn't even mean to get her roomie too, but she nearly got me killed by Sentinels so I was forced to use plan b."

"Did they ever tell ya why you had to get her?"

He shook his head. "No, but I get the feeling she's someone important, whatever the hell that entails."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was special or unique. I mean, you should've seen those scars. Freakin' brutal. Never seen anything like it on any other Blank."

"Well, she is quite feisty, so I get that they'd probably try to find some way to suppress her. God knows what else they did to the poor thing. What I don't understand is why she is so adamant in defending them after they did that to her."

"Dude," Calix said, crossing his arms and shifting his sitting position. "She's probably just as brainwashed as the others. Prolly thinks it's for her good or something crazy like that. Might take a while to whittle her out of her shell."

Kairo smirked. "Well, Cal, that's my speciality. If anyone can get her to crack, it's me."

"Good luck with that. She doesn't seem like the type to fall to your sweet talk."

He shrugged. "Who even knows. I guess we'll just have to see."

Calix glanced back at the screens, pushing his long brown hair away from his eyes. "Did ya really have to get her the biggest clothes possible? Girl's literally drowning in fabric."

"Ah, well, I didn't really know who else to ask. Akilah was the only one willing."

"Oof, sorry, I forgot. How are you and Yves?"

Kairo frowned slightly, turning absentmindedly in his chair. "I mean, we're still on good terms I guess, but I think we both just need some time."

"Yeah, I get that," Calix replied. A slight smirk grew on his face. "Did ya cry it out?"

"No," Kairo returned indignantly. "And what the hell, Cal."

The other boy laughed, nearly falling out of his seat. "Oh, come on. I know you're an emotional softie. You always try to hide it, but things like that affect you a lot. Oh, does your poor heart ache, huh?"

"Shut up, you liar. It's not true."

"Oh, but it isssss."

Kairo jumped to his feet, stalking over to his friend who was currently keeling over, laughing at him. He grabbed the other boy by the shirt, pulling him off of the desk he was perched on. "Now, listen here you little—"

A knock on the door cut him off. "Yes?" he called, trying to hide his slight annoyance at the interruption.

"If you're not otherwise occupied, may I come in for my shift, please?" a clear and strong female voice asked from the other side of the door.

Playfully shoving Calix away from him, Kairo made his way over to the door to open it for the girl. "Hey, Reign. Of course you can come in."

The girl standing before him was small and slender, with curly black hair hanging just past her ears. Her brown eyes glistened in amusement and her lips curved into a slight smirk when she laid her eyes on the two guys.

"If you wish to continue, you can take your petty quarrel outside. I'd hate for his space to get any messier than it already is."

Calix laughed. "As you wish, m'lady," he said, tipping an invisible hat. "We'll be on our way."

Kairo lingered behind at the doorway for a moment. "Reign, keep an eye on the brunette Blank for me. She seems to be more active than the other at night for some reason."

The girl nodded. "Will do. Have a good evening, you two."

"Good night to y—" Before he could even finish, Calix dragged him out of the room and shut the door behind them. Kairo glanced over at his friend, snickering. "Now, where were we?"