Chapter Text
The government vehicle had been parked just offset from the harbor on some large gravel patch that connected to a trail down to the nearest docks.
After a few moments, Mr. Doe had walked out of the front and opened the two doors at the back of the vehicle once more, letting the midday light flood into the dark grey atmosphere of the place in which Selene still sat, hopelessly trying to forget the dream. Mr. Doe stepped up into the back and pulled something off of the overshadowed walls. “I really don’t see this being necessary, but protocols insist I switch out your cuffs, Ms. Astridonis.” He walked towards Selene with what he had pulled off of the wall; large industrial shackles. They looked to be pure iron.
“I-I see..” Selene stammered, holding out her hands with the familiar light clinking of her usual cuffs. Mr. Doe produced a small key from a hidden back pocket, and hastily removed Selene’s cuffs. Though not a moment was wasted before her wrists were already caged again in those shackles. Selene was a bit uneasy, like she had been before the doors had closed on her and she saw Mr. Doe’s expression. Though now that she was sure of it, there was nothing she could do.
Selene was escorted down the lengthy metal harbor, past the sleek sailboats with their towering masts, endlessly clinking and creaking as their hulls were lulled and sometimes crashed into the sides of the metal docks next to them. The clinking was almost like the sound of handcuffs, Selene noticed, but it meant something completely different. “Freedom”, she saw, was the name of the last sailboat she passed by. It was a smaller boat, but it had a color like a summer sky and obsidian streaks lining the sides of the shimmering boat.
The boat Selene and the accompanying Mr. Doe seemed to be approaching at the end of the long metal walkway was a colossal ship, almost as industrial as the shackles Selene bore. It was black and ominous, and held a darkness that the deepest depths of the ocean couldn’t even compete to.
Maybe it was the demeanor, maybe it was the situation,
but Selene knew deep in her bones that she had no choice but to move forwards.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the two were both greeted by a group of four formal looking people. About twenty-five feet behind them were a very large group of various prisoners, all wearing the same shackles.
“Go on, Ms. Astridonis, please join the others for now.” Mr. Doe whispered to her, beckoning towards the group of other prisoners. Though, assuming that they all went through the same process as Selene, they weren’t technically prisoners, right?
Selene glanced behind herself as she started walking towards where the group was being circled by what were presumably guards, and she saw Mr. Doe talking with the smaller, formal group. He signed various papers they had been carrying on clipboards, their words inaudible.
As Selene was about to quietly enter the mass of people, she was stopped by a circling guard, “Last name and number, please.” The tall man spoke the words like they were automatic, and the please wasn’t very helpful to his firm and intimidating tone. “What number? I was never given a number!” Selene panicked for a moment, before the remembered the only significant number that she saw. “Uhm.. Astridonis.. Number five?” Selene smiled sheepishly, her dark eyes seemed black when overshadowed by this wall of a man. He took a piece of paper from his belt, which held what Selene could only guess were weapons and the such as well as a few storage pouches, and read it attentively. The man then nodded and continued walking. Selene assumed she was good to proceed.
As she mixed in with the others, Selene noticed all kinds of people, some speaking languages she couldn’t even dream of understanding let alone learning. She giggled to herself at the thought, but also marveled at the diversity. She heard some speaking Portuguese, but it was quite distant in the crowd, and from what Selene could hear, she wanted no part of talking about why they were arrested, so she looked around for any others who were conversing about something she would enjoy hearing.
“Where ya’ think we’re gonna be put to do work?”
“Maybe a desert.”
“Come on ‘Gelis, I don’t think they wanna murder us.”
“Well maybe they do.”
“Tch.. Don’t kill the fiesta, man.”
Selene’s head perked up at the somewhat humorous voices, naturally trying to find the bit of solace she could hear in their supposed demeanor. She just knew these were good people. She could always tell by a voice. Would this be a bit of sanctity for now?
Selene, after walking a bit, found the two who were talking before. One, bold looking, tall with hair of fire, cut short. The other, colder appearing, and smaller with longer, ash-colored hair draped over their broad shoulders. The bolder one, understandably, noticed Selene first. They turned to her, beaming almost immediately, “Hiya, there! What can we do ya’ for?” Selene couldn’t help but smile back. Though she was still nervous. These two people were highly androgynous; people like that impressed her and scared her at the same time. She didn’t like offending people in the slightest. “Oh well, I just noticed you seemed to be worth talking to. A lot of people here looked like they would kill me..” She shuddered jokingly. The shorter person chimed in, their narrowed eyes widened in a sudden bark of laughter, “Sure as hell they would.” They crossed their arms. “Don’t mind Vangelis, they’re a little.. cold.” Said the red-haired one, while Vangelis laughed a bit more.
“I’m Selene, by the way. Thanks for humoring me in a decent interaction here.” She managed to giggle a bit, holding out her hand, “No prob’m. I’m Calan.” They shook her hand vigorously, with heart and self-respect. Their pale skin was stark against Selene’s more darkened, and she smiled, grateful to meet someone who looked as different as she felt. Vangelis stepped forwards and nudged Calan aside, taking Selene’s hands in both of theirs, shaking it vigorously as well. Their hands were cold. “Not surprised” Selene thought.
After was felt like a few hours, the sun was beginning to set off of the far horizon over the water. The large group of prisoners were mostly all sitting down now. Calan, Vangelis, and Selene had conversed about all they could. Their family, school, dream jobs, prison food. And there was a silent agreement not to talk about how they had gotten into prison. That kind of mutual respect was not something Selene thought she could find in this kind of situation, but did anyways.
They all sat in a comfortable silence, though Calan was fast asleep, their head rested on Vangelis’s outstretched leg, Selene sitting close by.
The crashing of the waves and quiet muttering from the others was the most prominent of the sounds, Selene almost fell asleep herself, but Vangelis broke the monotony with a tone that wasn’t their usual tough or cold one,
“Beautiful, weren’t they? The sailboats, I mean.” They sounded reminiscent, maybe a little woeful. Selene nodded, and they continued, “It’s almost like they have souls. Though I suppose you’d think me crazy to believe that.”
There was a brief stretch of silence as Selene thought for a moment.
“No, not at all. It’s quite understandable actually.”
“Really?” Vangelis looked over at Selene, contemplatively.
“Yeah. Even the things farthest from being human could have souls. Maybe even more than us.”