"You may all take a ten minute recess…"
The order came from above. April dashed out of the courtroom, her mind racing with panic. She tumbled into the golden hallways, her hair momentarily clouding her view from her drastic movements before she huffed it aside. She was in too much of a hurry. Where had that ninja disappeared off to with Hiroko and Saka at Councilman Zera's command?
She couldn't find him so she continued running down the hallway, her hair and tails following her.
A few sprints later, she finally turned the corner of the hallway. She immediately spotted the so-called ninja Masaru.
"Hey!" She caught up to him, reaching out and grabbing his red sash.
The man stopped and glanced down at the short, panting girl with twin tails, long half-black-half-yellow hair, in the canary yellow tank top and harem pants, his glowing lazulite blue eyes assessing her small hand clutching onto a part of his garment.
"Wait…!" April coughed, buckling over, a finger on her free hand raised.
The ninja tilted his head at her. She had tired herself already?
April wheezed in a breath to stabilize her rugged breathing. She shot her eyes up Masaru's towering figure before straightening.
"Urgh! Okay! Where did you take them? The Japanese guy and the albino elf? Where did you poof them off to?" She interrogated him. "Where!?"
"To the dungeon," Masaru calmly responded.
To which April crowed, "The dungeon!? Are you aware of who the albino elf and his apparently useless status is?"
Masaru narrowed his eyes. "The Third Prince."
"Well—!" April paused to the man's flat response. If he was aware of who Saka was, then why put him in the dungeon when all the High Council of Elders had asked was to "confine them securely"? Was being bound to their chambers not a thing that applied to royalty and other strangers but just her?
Well, they had caused a raucous in the courtroom.
"The dungeons are straight down this hall," Masaru interrupted her thought process. She let go of his sash and straightened up some more. Her eyes swept over him before she ran in the opposite direction she came.
"Your sash is way too bright for your inconspicuous purpose, Mister Ninja!" She commented as she ran off.
The ninja glanced down at his garment before glancing at the strange girl. An intrigued glint flashed across his glowing eyes.
"Bold words… or impulsive mouth?" He muttered before disappearing in a poof of grey smoke.
April, on her end, reached the end of the corridor, staggering to a stop. Her eyes scanned the many doors decorating the opposite walls. They were made of black metal, instantly reminding April of the rock monster Hiroko had transformed into. The cell bar doors looked like ordinary burglar bars but with enough space to fit her through.
She narrowed her eyes. "Not practical at all…" she slinked into the first cell and looked around. With golden orbs standing in for torches, it was certainly bigger than the outside, almost as big as the room she was given. She poked her head outside the cell bars and noticed the bars of another cell right next to the one she was in. But when she pulled her head back inside and looked at the wall, the thing was more than ten meters away from her reach.
"What kind of voodoo is this?" She slinked through the bars and stepped out, standing right next to the other cell. The cell doors were no more than three feet apart, but the insides were bigger than they looked. "This place is wonky."
She sighed and stood in front of the next cell. Then she gasped softly. There, inside the warmly lit room, basked in golden light and standing in the middle of the floor, silvery rope wrapped around his body, Hiroko was mumbling something to someone else who was with him inside. It was the four meter tall golem.
April watched silently, her tails drooping behind her. She tucked her long wavey hair behind her ear and softly called out to him.
"...Hiroko?" It was more of a hesitant mumble than a bold call.
The young man standing in the middle of the floor went bodily still. His golem sort of turned inanimate as well, the fire in its eyes flickering steadily. Hiroko glanced at the bars, locking his purple glowing eyes with the girl's green ones.
"I don't know what to say…" April hesitated.
"How about you start with an apology first?" Hiroko tilted his head, his tone reprimanding.
"I'm sorry," April murmured.
"Not forgiven!" The young man spat.
The girl pouted and tucked the already tucked in hair behind her left ear.
"You know I didn't mean for that to happen, right—"
"You don't get to make excuses," Hiroko huffed and watched the girl whither. "Do you know how hard it's been to survive? How hard it's been not to think about you? Every. Day. I got sick to the pit of my stomach with worry for you."
April glanced at her feet with a guilty look.
"And don't gimme that pouty face of yours!" Hiroko chided. "For too long I've been haunted by your memory and the possibility of dying before I get to see you again—do you know how hard it's been living in Modest with this guy!?" He gestured to the golem standing stationary in front of him.
"Where's Modest?" April asked.
"Only about the one place closest to purgatory!" He exclaimed. "Though it was so empty I lost my mind about a couple of times. Now I show up and find you in a castle, of all places."
April pouted. "I haven't exactly been eating popcorn and watching movies, y'know! I've been bullied by the residents of this place for two months!"
"It's been a bloody five years, April!" Hiroko raised his voice. "I've been trapped in Modest for fiveyears!"
April paused and examined Hiroko's angry expression. She glanced aside. It'd been approximately two months since she arrived in Azarek. What did Hiroko mean by five years? She looked back at him. Was that why he looked older?
"How old are you now?" She cautiously asked.
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Hiroko snarled. "I'm twenty-three."
April's eyes went wide, filled with shock and confusion. "Hiroko, the last time I saw you was literally two months ago."
Hiroko narrowed his eyes. "Don't crap me. Then that would mean I aged ahead of you." He took in her appearance and huffed. "Different dimensions, different timezones?"
"Holy cow!" April gasped. "You're now older than me. I like the mullet, the purple is really working for you." She guestured to her top.
"Shut up!" Hiroko growled and watched her smile vanish. "Hmph! I was in the mood to squash you into paste when I saw you sleeping on the grass outside but those samurais(?) interfered and your snow cone boyfriend got in my way as well."
April sputtered and coughed, suddenly feeling her cheeks burning. What a ridiculous and ludicrous concept!
"Saka's not my boyfriend!" She had completely forgotten about the link to his mind and the ten-minute recess thing by now. "He's the absolute worst!"
"Oh yeah? With how he jumped in to protect you, he must be down bad." Hiroko scoffed. "And he seems like the type to do whatever he wants. Is that the type you're going for, April? You like them bad?"
April almost choked on air. "This topic of conversation is getting way outta line! We were talking about you trying to kill me here!"
"I'll talk about whatever the hell I want," Hiroko sneered. "I haven't had a conversation with a person through my mouth in five years! And what's with that getup?! Are you Jasmine mixed with a two tailed kyubi?"
April staggered back, blinking rapidly before chuckling in frustration.
"Look, Hiroko, I'm sorry we ended the way we did. I'm sorry I got you stranded in a damn purgative dimension but I didn't know what was going to happen when I touched that vortex… I don't even know why I touched it."
The young man wore a defiant look.
Her grin turned into a sad smile. "I haven't exactly been playing Patty-cake with those elves you saw up there…" her lip trembled. "They're planning on using me in their stupid political schemes!"
Hiroko raised a sarcastic eyebrow, his glowing eyes filled with scorn. "Well, I got the gist of that. But that doesn't excuse you from what you caused me to endure."
She nodded weakly. "I get that, and I'll forever be sorry. But at least you're still alive?"
"'At least I'm still alive'!?" Hiroko barked out, making her flinch. "I died! I came back as a shadow junkie and I couldn't speak for numerous years. I was hallucinating of other worlds' histories EVERY DAY! I saw Sir Lancelot!! Who does that, huh, April? Who sees Sir freaking Lancelot in a holographic vision for a year straight?"
"I died as well!" April cried, shutting her eyes as tears streaked down her coffee-toned cheeks. "I arrived in this cursed land at night, got chased by a giant wolf, ambushed by elves the next day, used as lycan bait after and that hobo you called my boyfriend killed me with a freaking tree!"
Hiroko's expression lost all heat as he saw her start to sob, her shoulders trembling with her soft voice.
"I'm sorry you got caught in my stupidity, and I'm sorry you lost five years of your life, but my literal soul is bonded with that psychopath's, I'm trapped in this castle with all these scheming elves, I'm apparently a dark elf hybrid… and I'm stuck looking like this forever…!"
She wept.
"I'm s-sorry…" she looked up to him, her cheeks gleaming with tears.
Hiroko maintained his neutral expression for a moment, watching her fight with her endless tears. He sighed inconspicuously.
"...It's not enough."
April's ears caught the words and her eyes shimmered at the murmured declaration, her lips trembling before she sniffled. "Wh-what…?" She held onto the cell bars.
Hiroko shook his head. "No amount of apologies from you will ever be enough."