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“You’ll regret this.” Poe hissed. “This isn’t justice.”
“It might not seem like justice to you,” The man closed and locked the door of the cell. “But you are far away from home, aren’t you?”
He walked away, and Poe wrapped his fingers around the bars to stay on his feet. He bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. He’d ever been this weak in his life.
“I’m innocent!” The room was spinning, and it was impossible for Poe to focus on the man’s body as he walked away.
“I believe you, honestly!” The man shouted back. “But what I believe doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“Stop mocking me! Do you know who my father is?”
That made the man stop. He looked over his shoulder and offered Poe a small smile; it looked ill, melancholic, almost haunted.
“All I know about your father is that he knows you’re here, and he didn’t even come to see you, let alone try and get you out. If he’s your best bet, then…”
Poe was too shocked, too caught up in thinking about what he’d just heard, that by the time the words sunk in, the man was already gone.
He sighed and backed away from the bars. He sat on the bed instead of standing there and hurting himself more. He winced, touching the wound on his leg. It wasn’t that deep, but God, it burned.
“You need to wash that.” Someone whose voice Poe didn’t recognize said.
Poe jumped a little on his seat and looked around. “Who- Who’s there?!”
“I think my name isn’t what you really want to hear right now. It would be better to ask me where I am instead.”
“Wh- what?”
“Oh come on. To your left.” The voice said, and Poe looked to his left.
“There isn’t-”
“Just kidding, I meant to your right.” The stranger said, and so Poe looked. He was once again met with a wall.
“Stop! Just- just show yourself already!” Poe was starting to think he was hearing voices in his head, and the thought scared him more than he’d ever admit; going mad was the last thing he needed.
“You know, you’re no fun!”
For a moment, there was silence. Poe held his breath, heart beating so furiously inside his chest he thought it might burst. He saw something tiny move from the corner of his eye.
The action was so brief that he wouldn’t have caught it if he wasn’t already looking at that direction, but Poe was sure; one of the stones on the right wall of his cell had moved, it had moved further back into the wall.
“Don’t scream, okay?”
Poe was about to ask what the stranger meant, when the stone was pulled back, leaving a hole in its place. Someone slipped into Poe’s cell through the hole, and fell on the ground with a huff.
Now. Poe didn’t exactly scream… but he did shriek louder than necessary.
“You- you- you- you just- did you- what- how- how did-”
“You’re taller than I thought!” The man completely ignored his broken, panicked questions and dusted himself off. “And try and breathe a little, will you? I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“How did you get here?”
“Are you blind?” The man - he had bright, green eyes, Poe noticed - picked a little hat that had fallen on the ground, dusted it off and placed it on his head. “Didn’t you see? I got in through the hole I made.”
“Through the- just who are you?” Poe sat further back on the bed, putting some more distance between him and the man.
“Introductions are so boring, let’s just get this over with already. I’m Ranpo, Edogawa Ranpo; but that doesn’t really matter, does it? Everyone call me by my number here, which is 1826!” He flashed Poe a grin. “And you are?”
“Edgar- erm, Edgar Allan Poe.”
“And?”
“What do you mean and?”
“Your new name, silly.” Ranpo placed his hands on his hips, narrowed his eyes and looked Poe up and down. “Your number.”
“Oh.” Poe looked at the number they had written on his left arm. “2410?”
“2400! There’s so many of us, how do they even feed us?” There was a pause, before Ranpo continued. “I didn’t come here to talk about the other prisoners though, I’m here to help you.”
“Help me?”
“You’re hurt.” He nodded towards the direction of his leg.
“It’s better than it looks.” Poe cleared his throat, covering the wound with his hands. “The cut isn’t that deep. It doesn’t hurt as much now.”
“As if that wasn’t obvious.” Ranpo got closer and when Poe squeaked, he paused and raised his hands in the air. “Okay, I won’t touch it. But you can’t leave it like that, it could get infected.”
“And why would you care if it did?” Poe furrowed his eyebrows.
“Because I need you! I need you for something very, very important!” Poe opened his mouth, but before he could ask what that oh-so-important thing was, Ranpo kept going. “And besides, if I help you now, you’ll owe me; and a good man always pays his depths, so you’ll have no option but to help me with that very important thing too!”
“And what if I don’t want to help you with that very important thing?”
“Oh, you’ll want to. There’s no doubting it.” Another wide smile touched Ranpo’s lips. He took a few steps backward, hands folded behind his back. “I could tell by your voice, but now that I’m looking at your face, I think you might be as eager to help me as I am with getting your help!”
“Where are you going?” Poe asked, just before Ranpo could get back into the hole.
“To my cell of course! I’m going to be back with some water, and bandages.” He paused for a moment, before he said. “Please don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
“I wouldn’t-” Poe started, but Ranpo was already gone. He heaved a sigh.
It didn’t take too long for him to come back. He held a wooden bowl full of water, a towel and a few bandages, just as he had said he would.
“Now, let’s take care of you.” He dragged out the word as he dipped the towel in the water. He sat down beside Poe and pointed at his leg. “Uh, I’ll need that.”
“Try anything funny and I'll-” Poe let Ranpo place his leg on his lap.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Ranpo started cleaning the wound and sighed. “I heard you say you’re innocent.”
“Because I am.”
“Then how come you’re here?”
“Have you ever heard of the saying ‘I was at the wrong place at the wrong time’?” A small smile touched Poe’s lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Countless times.” Ranpo returned the smile. He dipped the towel into the water again. “That’s what happened to you? There was a murderer and you were just walking by the moment the knights came into the scene?”
“How did you-” Poe winced. “Careful with that. It hurts.”
“There were some rumors. Murder isn’t a petty crime, you know. If you’d just stolen something you wouldn’t be in this prison. Then again, if you’d murdered an adult it wouldn’t have been that huge of a deal, but a child.” Ranpo paused his movements and looked up at him. “Killing a child is different.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Answer this question then.” Ranpo placed the towel down and picked up the bandages. “Why are you here?”
“Because somebody wanted me to be here.” He hadn’t thought that saying it instead of thinking about it would be as hurtful, or as embarrassing as it was.
“There we go!” Ranpo giggled. He seemed almost excited, much to Poe’s frustration. “See? It’s so much easier to talk when you’re being honest.”
“You knew I was innocent all along?”
“Maybe.” Ranpo shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t look like someone who just killed a child; didn’t sound like it either when you got here.”
“Why do you ask me all those questions if you already knew?”
“So I could move on to the questions I don’t know the answers to, of course.” Ranpo let go of the bandages and took a moment to admire his work. “What is the name of that someone who wanted to put you out of the game?”
“I don’t know his name-” When Poe saw Ranpo open his mouth, he quickly added. “But I’ve seen his face.”
“That’s not good enough though!”
“I know, I’m- I think it was someone from the council?”
“For goodness’s sake, Poe, of course he was from the council; but the council consists of thirty people - thirty old men who all manage to look alike - or did you not know?!”
“This isn’t the time. I’m- I don’t want to think about it.”
Ranpo threw his head back and laughed, shoulders shaking and mouth wide open. “You don’t want to think about it? I’m really sorry to tell you this, but that rat that got you here is the person you’ll be thinking of every single second you spend in this cell; not your mother, not your father, not your lover, only him.”
“How are you so sure?”
“I think I have more experience than you when it comes to what it feels like to live in the dungeons of the palace.”
“How long have you been here anyway?” Poe asked.
“About three years.”
“How long will you stay here?”
“Try and guess.” Ranpo rested his chin in his hand, tilting his head to the side. “When will I be allowed to leave this hellhole?”
Poe was silent for a long time. He wanted to say a random number of years, he really did, but the way Ranpo was looking at him - like he trusted that he’d get it right no matter what - made him change his mind.
“Never?”
“Bingo!” He clapped. “Just like you. That’s why I said you’d want to help me with that very important thing.”
“What-”
“Ah, ah, ah- let me finish! You and I are going to escape together!” The grin Ranpo wore at that moment seemed to almost be reaching his ears. “Doesn’t it sound like fun?”
“Fun?! Are- are you out of your mind?!” Poe moved away from him, and squeaked when his back touched the wall. Ranpo shook his head.
“You’re a bigger coward than I’d thought… but it shouldn’t be that big of a problem- come on, cheer up! I’m the miracle you’ve been wishing for and I’m going to help you - you believe in miracles, right? you seem like you do - but in order to do that you have to trust me, okay?”
“I just got here! Even if I agreed, I don’t even know-”
“Okay, now you’re acting like an idiot. We’re not going to escape today, so you can stop acting like you’re going to piss yourself. We’re going to wait for the perfect moment.”
“And you expect me to trust that you know when that perfect moment is?” Poe heaved a sigh and drew small, invisible circles at the corner of his head.
“Exactly! I knew you’d eventually get it! You’re better than the previous prisoner, you’re just so easy to convince!” Ranpo stood up and took the towel and the water in his hands. “The guards change every day, so don’t try to befriend them. If anyone asks about the bandages, they were right there when you came here, okay? You don’t leave your cell, ever, so there’s no way you’ll meet any of the other prisoners, so you should be fine. I’ll visit again tomorrow to see how you and your leg are doing, so be prepared!”
“W-wait- you’re leaving already?!” Poe tried to lift his body up from the bed with his hands.
“Stay where you are and rest! I know I’m a good company, but I need to be on my cell when the guards come to see if we’re all still alive tonight, so yes. I'm leaving.”
They didn’t say anything else, because the door at the end of the hallway opened with a screech, and Ranpo was gone.
The stone was back in its place, and Poe spent all night thinking about whether it was all a dream, all a trick of his wild imagination. When in the morning, Ranpo visited him again, Poe felt something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
It was a mixture of safe and threatened, and even though he had never felt that way before, the feeling wasn’t unwelcome.
Maybe he’d met Ranpo for the better. Maybe escaping wasn’t such a crazy idea after all, if he was to attempt it with Ranpo by his side.