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Detention, Depths of the Castle, Wednesday

The good news for everyone in detention was that there wasn't any sign of singing going on on the island today, so everyone could be spared from any further embarrassing admissions that they'd rather not have made.

The bad news was for everyone in detention was, well, they were all still in detention. But surely, it was getting easier to deal with over time?

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"I like a challenge," Raven purred. "So many people do not give me one any longer. Besides, you do not sound like a mighty sorceress. You sound like a scared. Little. Girl. No garden, no dog."

She paused, then added, "No Squall."

Don't let her see don't let her see don't let her --

Raven only had power if she knew what would hurt you. But she knew anyway didn't she? You couldn't act like it didn't hurt, she could tell. She could feel. She --

Squall was still alive because Squall had to be alive. Squall had to live.

She needed to act indifferent, like she didn't even remember Squall. He was some guy. Not important. He --

"Don't you touch him," she seethed.

Dammit.

"But I already have," Raven said, falsely sweet as she drank in that anger. She was lying, but Rinoa didn't need to know that.

"He is so broken. A failure. Not even half the man he used to be. And that is all your fault."

She had expected, had braced herself against visions of him dead, broken, torn apart. And she could tell herself a hundred times that those weren't real.

Squall, broken? He'd never been a failure. He was strong, and defiant. He was a SeeD. He --

He had carried her lifeless body all the way to Esthar, when none thought she could ever re-awaken. And yet she was here. And had been for months. She was all that mattered to him, all he knew how to care for. And she had been taken away. Just like Sis.

Oh, dear Hyne. This ... this ...

"You're lying," she said, weakly. But she was going to be ill, because ... she was fairly certain Raven wasn't.

Hyne's wrath, Squall. She didn't need to worry about Squall coming here. He was in Hell already.

Raven shrugged, giggling. "Am I?" she said. "What sort of sorry state do you think he is in with you trapped here now? What kind of shape is anyone with someone they care for in here?"

Her grin grew wider. "Their despair tastes delicious."

"B-but he's strong," Rinoa said. "He'll ... he'll fight, he won't ..."

Wouldn't what? Tie himself into knots, give up, stop trying, stop caring? Losing Ellone had made him a shell of himself. She had convinced him to try again, and now she was lost, too.

When Squall was very little, he had gone out into the rain and stood there, for hours. Just in case Sis might come home.

Squall was despairing. Squall had given up. This had broken him -- she had broken him -- and now he wasn't even trying to find her. That was all she had been clinging to. Selfish. He couldn't save her; he would never even try to save himself. Squall would put his face into the water and drown.

The anguished noise that came out of Rinoa wasn't quite a sob, but tears were close.

Raven seized upon those threads of despair and guilt she felt coming off of Rinoa. "It is all your fault," she whispered, trying to drive the knives deeper. She honestly had no idea what, if anything, Squall might be up to, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to convince Rinoa otherwise.

"He is lost, lost and alone and defeated. And you are to blame for that. And who will come for you now if not him? Your only way to freedom is with me."

[Sorry for the delay in pinging back -- things got crazy yesterday as I'm sure you saw.]

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Detention, Depths of the Castle, Wednesday

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