Time Together. [Sui only. Private]

He'd finally put his foot down and demanded some things. Small things, easy things. Nothing too major. But they where things that he made absolutely sure were honored. First: a proper bed in his 'room', one big enough for him to share with Sui. Second: a set of floor mats for them to sit on. Third: a small chest for them to store what little they had.

Needless to say, she was staying with him. A few of the sympathetic handlers had given them some extra sets of clothing; a few simple dresses and such for Sui, more of the 'scrubs' that he wore. A second blanket for them to use, and a second pillow. Luxury items he'd never cared for; but the more he was with Sui, the more the 'real' him woke up. They grew up in the wilderness, they didn't need the 'finer' things; just simple fare.

Hell, they even gave them a lamp. The cover was threadbare and it flickered if you messed with it too much, but it was something.

After the time in the medical clinic, they'd been mostly left alone. The small purchases he'd made in the market before she'd appeared had been brought to him; and they where actually feeding them fairly often. He figured it was because of her; the village did have laws and rules about how they treated escaped slaves, and she had given them good information. It bought them some small allowances, and those allowances brought them physical comfort that he hadn't known in years.

He barely cared.

He just wanted to be with her. They granted him that. He was happy. He spent all of his time within arms reach of her; often just laying with his head on her lap or vice versa; they took turns braiding each other's hair; he was even braiding her a little bracelet from the small amount of ribbon he was allowed to buy from the market. It was nothing compared to the wildflower bracelets they used to make in the short summers, but it was something, and it was almost familiar.

"Sister... I know that anything is better than a slaver camp... but is trading one cage for another any better...?"

He often had random thoughts like this; it was a side effect of just not thinking for years on end. His mind was attempting to knit itself back together, and it was going to take a long time until he had any sort of 'filter'. Beyond that, he often forgot that he'd asked a question before, or answered something, or said something. He would randomly suddenly believe that he was hallucinating about Sui being there, really there, and would start to fly into a rage until she touched him and spoke to him and sang to him and calm the monster in his mind down and he would do the same for her when the nightmares were too much and too painful and the cage was too small and why did they have to live in a cage still?

Would they ever be free again?

Not just of this new cage; but of the cages in their minds and hearts; the pain and hurt and scars and horrors and all of it.

Was it any wonder that they'd sealed him? If not for the fact that she was pillowing her head with his leg at the moment, he would have lost it; but she was there and warm and real and she was alive and she was with him and that was all he cared about. It was all that mattered.

Sui was laying there, her brother's leg being used as a pillow. Her eyes were closed but she wasn't sleeping: she was thinking. She was imagining in her minds eye running through a field with her brother, completely and utterly free. This field led to a forested area, and hidden in the midst of it was an old but beautiful building made out of smooth stone. However, in this day dream of hers it wasn't the building she focused on but the pool of water that was so clean it was clear: a waterfall was feeding it and the sound it made was amazing. It was so real in her head that she could almost feel the wildflowers against her skin as she went, almost smell the freshness of the water in the air. Almost. This wasn't like the way she used to retreat in her mind to protect herself, but it was close.

However, when her brother spoke she opened her eyes and looked up at him, losing her hold on the day dream and allowing her mind to focus on him, on his question. She thought over her answer for a moment, chewing on the bottom of her lip as she did so – this wasn't such an easy question to answer after all. Was this better? In a way yes it was: no one had put their hands on her, no one had hurt her. She was fed more regularly, and she was warm and clothed. Most importantly she had her brother. But, it was still a cage, and it was not freedom.

“I want to be free. I want to be able to run until I can't run anymore. Until I collapse where ever that may be and lay there for hours without having to worry about anything. I want to be able to go where I please when I please; with you.” She then stopped speaking suddenly and gasped: her hand went to cover her mouth as she realized what she had said. Talking like that in the slaver camp could get anyone a sound beating, but she didn't know what would happen here if they heard her speaking in such a manner.

Sui turned on her side, curling herself up into as small of a ball as possible. Her arms wrapped around her legs and her fingers laced together. “I just want to be free...”, she whispered softly.

Gen reached down and began running his fingers through her hair the way she liked when she had bad dreams as a child; for all the seemingly idyllic way they'd grown up, there had been bad times and scary incidents; they'd run into a few bears as children and a rampaging bear was a scary thing even to someone that knew what to do about it.

"Well find a way, sister. Somehow. We'll find a way to go to a paradise that's just us, away from the bad people and cages and horrors of this world. Maybe we'll go south. Remember the stories Dad used to tell us? The places where it never snowed and the flowers grow all year, where you can pluck a berry from a bush even in the winter, and there are fruits in the trees? We always wanted to go... maybe that's what we should do now. Leave this place far behind, and go where it can just be us and no one will follow..."

As Sui felt her brother running his fingers through her hair it created a very calming effect. After a few seconds of the sensation she relaxed her hold she had on her legs, then leg go completely. She straightened herself back out again and once more got comfortable; though she remained on her side so he could continue running his fingers through her hair. Her heart beat which had been racing seconds ago slowed somewhat.

She nodded at his question; she did indeed remember these stories. They were like magical places she could visit in her mind, and it made her smile suddenly. “Yes, that's where we should go. But how? How will we ever get out of here? I don't even understand why we're locked up. We didn't do anything wrong...” This was a situation she still didn't understand: she was happy because she was with her brother, but she felt they didn't deserve to be locked up, neither one of them had done anything wrong.

“I don't think they'll let us just walk out... or will they?”, she asked, shifting her head so that she could look at her brother as she waited for his answer. He knew them better then she did: even now she still wanted to run and hide anytime any of them entered into the room – and the only person allowed to touch her without her freaking out was her brother. He wouldn't hurt her, but she still wasn't so sure about the rest of them.

"You, maybe." He went silent for a moment, he was forcing himself to think and remember those weeks and months that he refused to think about normally; the time when he first arrived and was going through all the testing and meetings and weirdness that came with coming to this place of warring peoples and city life. They weren't bad on their own, but the time was colored by the freshness of the incident, so his mind had shut them away out of sheer safety's sake; otherwise he likely would have broken harder than he had originally.

"They view me as a weapon, sister. They have seen the power we hold inside, the power our parents never told us about. They have seen what I do when I lose myself... and they covet it. They've tried for years to bring it out, but part of me refused to become a mindless, broken tool for them to use. That's why..." He clutched at his chest for a moment, fingers digging into the lines of the seal over his heart that kept him 'tamed' in their mind, "The put this mark on my chest... it stops my... they call it 'chakra'. It's the power that let us play with water and wind like we did as children. Our parents had it too. They say I inherited the powers I have... so they likely think you did too. They... if they try to provoke you, don't let them. That's what they did to me... they told me they had you... they did terrible things... it was a living doll, or some kind of illusion, they showed me things until I broke and... there was so much blood... everything was broken. So much ice... raging storms... the look of glee was sickening. I didn't care... then. I had nothing left, so why not be used... Now... I have you again. I can't let them do this to you, too."

"You, maybe."


No. Nonono. NONONONONONO. Sui went nowhere without Gen. NO-WHERE. Nonononononono! That simply wouldn't do. It just wouldn't do at all. Either they both left together, at the same time, or she stayed here with him. It was simple as that, and she wouldn't settle for anything else.


Her mental ramblings were suddenly cut off as her brother began to speak again, which was probably a good thing because it would have been mere seconds before she started sprouting them out loudly, and at loudly at that. So she listened carefully, closely, as he explained how they viewed him as a weapon, how they covet what he can do when he loses himself.


When she saw him clutching at his chest she shifted only slightly so that she could reach up and take his hand away; holding it between both of her own very gently. She remained silent as he continued to explain how they knew of his powers, and how they had provoked him. This all caused her to frown, ears lowering as sadness overwhelmed her heart. Her brother had suffered at their hands just as she had suffered at the hands of those who had held her captive. This wouldn't do, they had to get out of here.


”I cannot believe that everyone in this village is like them. Perhaps.. if we can get them to let us out for a little while... a trip to the market or something? Maybe we can find someone willing to help us...” There had to be someone out there who would have sympathy for them, someone willing to help the twins reach freedom.

Her taking of his hand calmed him instantly, bringing the soft smile he only wore around her back and letting him focus where it mattered again; on her, on keeping her happy. He wasn't the type to humor someone, but he had to make her happy. "Maybe... There are good people here... but the leaders of this place are... strange. Not always cruel... but strange. From what I've seen this place is little better than a pack of gangs ruling the streets. There is no one leader anymore. Once, when I first arrived... but now it's rule of the strongest. But maybe, just maybe, we could sneak out. If we're lucky, they'll let us out in the next day or so; I've been given one market visit a week recently; a 'treat' they told me. I was behaving so well they decided to be nice."

Sui listened to her brother as he went on to explain that they had recently started to let him out once a week for his good behavior: to someone used to all of the freedom in the world Sui knew it simply not to be enough. Still, she held out hope that they could escape if they were both allowed to go at the same time: either on their own or with the help of someone else. Despite everything that had happened to her, Sui believed that good did still exist in this world of evil, it was simply hidden away and hard to find.

“That's even more reason for us to leave, then. No good would come of someone else finding out what either you or I are capable of, and if things are that unruly then it's likely to happen soon.”

"Tomorrow... it should be tomorrow... or the day after... if they still let me out. They won't hold you, not unless someone's going to change the rules. They send shadow handlers... but I know how to get away from them. They never mind, so long as I show back up after a few minutes. They usually go get a drink or something when I sneak away in the market. It's how I got the ribbons... I'm not supposed to be allowed things I can make a weapon out of..." Which explained why he'd had to demand to even have a blanket; they'd trained him, and he was resourceful anyway; he could turn a feather into a weapon with his skills and powers.

"I know the breaks in the walls, and where the empty tunnels area under the city. I know more about this place than they think. They stopped caring if I was watching where I was going; I was too checked out for them to realize that I was still remembering where I went. I have a mental map of the entire village now..."

Sui found herself becoming excited by the knowledge that her brother held, and yet scared at the same time. The idea of escaping, of being completely free and no longer having to live in a cage? It sounded almost too good to be true. And yet, she couldn't help hoping for it. She couldn't hope but to long for such a time.

She shifted again, laying on her back so that she could look right up at her brother. “Do you think it'll be hard to escape them? How long would we have before they noticed you weren't coming back?”, she asked curiously, her voice barely above a whisper. She was scared to speak too loud, scared that it would put too much hope into this dream of hers, of theirs, and end up destroying it. Gen still had to be let out after all; Sui saw no way for them to escape otherwise, not unless her brother knew even more then what he was saying.