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Screaming alarms blared overhead, the sound of explosions filled the air, and tremors shook the very foundation of the ancient prison.

For Shiori, it felt as if the entire world around her was ending, and all she wanted to do was dance on the ashes.

She was, after all, the one holding the match.

But any dancing was a distant dream, shackled as she was to the cold stone throne in the center of her cell.  The cursed chains restricting her still pulsed slowly with soft red light, seemingly the only things in the prison completely unbothered by the chaotic scene that the past few minutes had begun.  It almost annoyed her, a little.  Was it so much to want to terrify an inanimate object?  (She didn’t want to know the answer.)

Shiori’s breathing quickened as the seconds ticked agonizingly by, her eyes locked firmly on the cell door as she waited for a sign.  The most insidious of the voices that whispered in her head were all-but cackling.

“They’ve abandoned you.”

“They used you.”

“They’re going to leave you to rot here.”

Their cold spectral hands pulled at the collar of her jacket, doing all they could to drown her in despair...but even before the metal door was knocked off of its hinges, revealing four figures rushing towards her through the dust and rubble, Shiori was unconvinced.

This was happening.  It was all really happening.

“Bijou!  Get the door blocked off, okay?” 

Nerissa’s voice reverberated off of the cell walls as she rushed for the stone chair.

“Got it!”

The demon came to a stop in front of Shiori.  For the first time, there were no bars or barriers between them.  The weight of that realization, combined with the cacophonous noise of Bijou piling rubble against the entrance and the demon dogs ripping away at her chains, knocked any quips or jokes out of the Archiver’s head as she felt Nerissa’s fingers briefly ghost across her own.

“We’re here.” was all Nerissa could get out before the sound of metallic footsteps rang out from the hall outside.  It was like a jolt of pure ice into all five of their veins, a reminder that it was not only shackles and steel that bound them all, but the gods’ cruel guard constructs that seemed to be close at their heels.

Bijou ran towards the center of the room as fast as her legs could carry her, as the guards began to slam against the blockaded door.

“Hurry up, Fuwamoco!” she yelled, waving her arms at the demon dogs as they tore at Shiori’s bonds with unnatural strength.

As if on command, Shiori felt strength returning to her body as the chains, severed from their infernal power source,dropped limply to the floor.

“We’re done!” shouted a voice on either side of her in tandem.  Shiori took a long deep breath, focusing on the next stage of their plan.

“Everybody get ready to run!”

Shiori pushed herself forward, off of the throne that had bound her for so long and onto her feet once again.

Feet that had not touched the ground in so long, with legs that had all but gone numb with disuse.

She unceremoniously crashed to the ground, finding herself unable to support her own weight.  Only a quick twist of her body stopped her from falling directly on her face, her shoulder instead burning as it took the brunt of the impact.

“Shiori!” shouted Bijou.

From her place on the ground, Shiori could see the looks of shock and pity on the faces of her allies.  She could taste inky blood in her mouth from where she must have bitten her cheek, and spat it onto the ground as she wracked her brain for a plan.

The constructs pounded at the door.

She’d never be able to keep up with the others in this wobbly state, even if she could get back upright in the next few seconds.  There was no time, no time to be slow and no time to panic and no time to-

Warmth filled Shiori’s body as she was engulfed by something.  A soft voice whispered in her ear.

“ I’ve got you. ”

Before she could even realize what was happening, perhaps still a little stunned from the fall, Shiori found herself lifted several feet up.  One arm supported her back, while the other was tucked behind her knees, and she looked up to find a grinning Nerissa meeting her gaze.

“What are you doing?” she asked, caught off guard for the first time in a very long time.  “Rissa, you can’t, I’ll slow you-Whoa!”

Nerissa had taken off into a run, leading Shiori to collide with her chest as she followed the other escapees up the long stairs in the back of the chamber.

“Honestly, Shiori, you underestimate me!  I’ve still got a little demon strength left in me now that I’m out of my cell.”  She laughed for a moment, rich and full, bolstered by the adrenaline of the flight and the chance at freedom, before looking down once more into Shiori’s eyes.  “Plus, I would lift this entire prison if it meant getting you out of it.”

Strange feelings swirled through Shiori’s mind, not the least of which was the same reckless and building joy that Nerissa seemed to have felt upon realizing that all four of them had finally escaped from Cell Block X, if not the whole prison yet.  The knowledge that she was close enough to hear Nerissa’s heartbeat was not far behind, starting an uneasy rhythm in her own.

How long had it been since she felt another person's gentle touch?  Hundreds of years?  Thousands?

Did it always make her feel this way?

Soon, they had reached the balcony overlooking the special cell Shiori had, until recently, been confined to, just in time to see the golems crash through Bijou’s makeshift blockade at the entrance below.  Their singular red eyes were aglow, bathing the floor in ruby as they stomped towards the steps.

“Come on!”

Mococo was pointing to the other side of the U-shaped balcony, where a recently detonated explosive had left a passage to the corridors beyond the cell walls.  Shiori felt a surge of satisfaction, seeing her own plans coming to fruition like this.

“Let’s go.” she declared.

Bijou led the pack, the twins flanking her on either side, as the room continued to rumble and quake.  The Cell, this vast monument to cruelty and tyranny, seemed to creak and groan like a monster in its death throes.

Shiori wondered if the gods were watching, her eyes wandering as she hunted for any sign of a security camera.  Sighting one protruding slightly from a nearby wall, she gave it a cocksure grin.

As if in response to her hubris, the ceiling shook, and with a horrible cracking sound, burst open.

“Rissa!” she screamed, jostled hard in the demon’s arms as she came to an abrupt stop just ahead of a wall of falling debris.  Dust filled the air, as Shiori realized with a start that their group had suddenly been divided.

“Nerissa!”

“Shiori!”

They could hear their friends screaming their names from the other side, along with the sounds of frantic movement as Shiori presumed they were trying to clear a path. 

But the metallic footsteps were getting closer now, as the guard constructs rapidly ascended the stairs.  They didn’t have time to wait.

“Hold on tight to me.” Nerissa suddenly said.

Shiori, cornered and desperate, slung her arms around Nerissa’s neck and buried her face just above her chest.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” she murmured.  “But if you don’t…I’ll get us out again.  No matter how long it takes.”

Nerissa gave a nervous laugh as she pulled Shiori as close as she could.

“I know you would.  But I’m done waiting.”

The demon bent her legs slightly, angling herself towards the edge of the balcony.  Then, she leapt over the side.

A pair of black wings unfurled behind her, weakly twitching as she began a rapid plunge.

They were falling.  Shiori could tell, even with her face pressed firmly against Nerissa’s skin.  She should have been terrified, perhaps despondent, knowing their escape attempt was about to end with a conclusive crash.

And yet, surrounded by Nerissa’s arms, feeling both of their heartbeats, Shiori had never felt safer.

Suddenly, the feeling of falling stopped.  Chancing it, Shiori gently pulled her face away to see the floor that had so long been her prison getting ever further away.

Nerissa cried out with joy as they ascended, three bewildered and joyful faces peering over the balcony above.

“Close call, Rissa.” Shiori mumbled, looking up with a smile.

“Aww, Shiori, have some faith!  I knew I hadn’t forgotten how to do this!” she replied.

“It wasn’t me I was worried about!”  Shiori said.  “I’ve got a pair of airbags down here, remember?”

That was enough to get the raven to crack up laughing, the joy in her sonorous voice echoing wonderfully off of the chamber walls.  Ecstasy and relief flooded Shiori until she too was shaking with laughter.

“Ooh, or wait, what if you had crushed one of those poor robots with your huge dumpy!?!”

“ SHIORI! ”

For the first time in a very long time, held tightly in the arms of an adrenaline drenched, cackling Nerissa Ravencroft, Shiori felt hope.

Maybe they were going to make it out after all.