“Ugh.” After the world shattered, Jin found themself lying on the ground. It was dark, and cold, and… well, dark again. Hadn’t it just been the afternoon? 

The scenery was beyond bizarre. Part of their brain recognized buildings and water, as if they were still at the dock. The other part was all but screaming in fear, not knowing where they were – and worse, who they were with. The other people who had been at the gazebo were all there. So Jin wasn’t going nuts, that was good. Before they could stop gaping and work up the idea to speak to anyone, there were uniformed people streaming from that prison structure. And that, despite the weirdness, was definitely a prison.

Jin watched as the large drifter took off immediately. Bold strategy, that. They always find it better to just move with the flow of things. Already, their mind was recognizing that this was reality – at least for now – and that they just had to accept it. That was the “beauty” of the foster care system. You learned to get used to new and strange things very quickly, for your own survival. As several guards took off after him, Jin was shoved into line with the rest of the poor souls around them. And then the guards cracked their left shin with their baton, hard. 

“GAH!” Jin yelped, leg reflexively jerking away. “Asshole...” They muttered through gritted teeth as the guard went to the next person. They were going to have a nice chat from that drifting jerk who had gotten them all into trouble and pain. Jin felt their stomach knot as they were led on, as they saw the other “prisoners” that were part of this debacle. What the hell was that goop? What were those helmets? And… what would happen if a person had no money in this system?

As they were led forward into a far too cozy courthouse - the rich just couldn’t help themselves – Jin stumbled forward, nearly tripping over the small young woman who had been brought with them. “Sorry.” They apologized. 

And then, there was a judge. Furrowing their brow, Jin felt as if they recognized this man somehow. Even with the strange costume, the mask and the novelty judge gavel, there was a vague familiarity. Like they had seen that person’s eyes somewhere before. When he asked what they were doing there, Jin stayed quiet. They didn’t trust the law, or cops, and despite their compliance, Jin would much rather be anywhere but here. All they remembered was not to tell the cops a damn thing, especially when they had no lawyer.

Unfortunately, someone else didn’t know that, or care. To Jin’s surprise, it was the same guy they had met that morning. Dakota, right? They had been so busy trying to not get hurt again that they had barely noticed that yellow streaked hair. Dakota, brave or stupid that he was, tried to plead their case with the truth. 

“He’s telling the truth. There were these strange cracks everywhere, all over the school, er- the place where we were previously.” Jin was surprised to hear their own voice, backing Dakota’s words. Great – stupid impulsive brain! “I wrote down the locations of quite a few.” They raised both hands, making slow, sudden movements. “If you’ll allow me to reach into my pocket, I can show you the list.”