Trash Panda

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Alone and uninterrupted for what he guessed was something like an hour, Cas managed to slip one of the strands of rope loose from his ankles and pulled the binding off. As soon as it was removed, he let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t much, but at least now he had the option to stand up and pace if he wanted to. He had been getting tired of alternating between sitting and laying down, and he was better prepared to run if someone gave him the chance to get out. He still couldn’t get the ties off his wrists though. Once he’d finished working on his feet, he’d tried to wriggle his hands loose enough to pull at the knot, but it was too tight. All he succeeded in doing was chafing his skin until one of his wrists began to bleed. Discouraged by the stinging pain of the cut, he left it alone and busied himself instead by getting up and walking in small circles to burn some of his pent-up energy.

Once he had stood up, he noticed that his knees were bruised. Of course, he was sure he was covered in dark marks all over his body, but the ones on his knees were more painful than the others. He guessed that the rebels must have banged him on something while he’d been unconscious. The thought made him roll his eyes. He never asked anyone to treat him special because he was the crown prince, and he didn’t expect the Scourge to show him any respect for the title, but it was irritating to know that they’d tossed him around like he was no better than luggage at the airport. He was probably going to be sore for a week.

As he bent over to stretch his legs, he jumped at the sound of the door opening. He didn’t want to rebels to know that he’d gotten out of his bonds, so he quickly dropped to the floor and threw the strand of rope over his ankles to make it look like he was still tied up. He just hoped they would assume he was shuffling around because he was uncomfortable and not because he was slowly working on his own escape. He wished he had a way to know when someone was coming before they reached the door though. The way things were, now he only had a tiny window in between the time the door opened and the time someone was standing outside his dingy cell.

Fortunately, it was just Iris who had come to see him this time. Cas relaxed in spite of himself. He knew she was a rebel, but he couldn’t help it. He just couldn’t picture her as someone dangerous like the others. The illusion she’d painted of a perfect, innocent girl was still alive inside his mind, so he wasn’t afraid of her. His feelings for her had been shredded, lit on fire, and thrown out the window, but he wasn’t scared.

As she set down another plate of food and glass of water outside the bars, he watched her with a frown. He couldn’t understand why she was still doing anything for him when she’d already gotten what she wanted. She’d tricked the king’s son into voluntarily walking away from his protection, so she and the rest of the Scourge could end the royal line. There was nothing else he could give her that he could think of. Is she trying to induce Stockholm Syndrome? he wondered, remembering the condition from one of his classes back in high school. Maybe she was trying to get him to warm up to her again, so he wouldn’t try to run away.

Too bad I care more about getting home than I ever would about her, he leaned his head against the ground obstinately. He’d already fallen for her games one too many times, and he wasn’t going to let her get inside his head again. But… his eyes wandered to the water glass she’d left for him. Right now, she was the only one who was keeping him from turning into a dehydrated husk. Perhaps if he let her think her plan was working, she would keep it up, so he wouldn’t waste away before the soldiers found him. At the very least, he could throw her some bait so she wouldn’t lose interest.

“Why are you still doing this?” he asked, breaking the silence between them as he sat up against the wall. His voice was husky from lack of use, and he cleared his throat before going on. “I’m not just going to forget that you lied to me and betrayed my trust, Iris. If you’re still stopping by to get me to let my guard down again, you might as well save yourself the trouble and quit it, because it isn’t going to work.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Receiving a call that his son was missing was not the way Atlas had expected to start his day.

When Jacob had phoned the palace, he had still been in bed, groggy on the aftereffects of the cocktail of medication he had to take before he fell asleep every night. Unable to get up quite yet, he’d asked one of the sit-in security guards to take care of it. The man he complied, but he’d only gotten about two more minutes of peace and quiet before the guard had returned and insisted that he take the call, himself. Irritably, the king had complied, sitting up on his mattress and taking the phone from his hand. He couldn’t think of a good reason why someone would have been so insistent on disturbing him so early in the morning when Caspian could manage the issue by himself. So, intending to give the caller an earful, he had lifted the device to his ear and curled his lip to snarl into the receiver only to fall speechless when the man on the other end said those four little words: The prince is gone.

Forgetting his condition, Atlas untangled himself from the sheets and fumbled to jump up from his bed as soon as Jacob finished relaying most of the information to him. Ellie was at his side in a heartbeat, hurriedly yet tentatively asking him to sit down before he hurt himself, but the monarch didn’t listen. Right now, the pain in his legs was inconsequential. His son—his only living heir—was missing. Pressing one hand against the bedpost to steady himself, he uttered a string of curses, each word fouler than the last. “How could you have let this happen?” he snapped angrily into the phone. “Those bastards are nothing more than annoying pests. There is no reason that they should have gotten away with this!”

The prince snuck out on his own, Your Majesty, Jacob replied slowly, trying to keep the king calm with his own mellow voice. We reviewed the security footage from last night. He left the grounds with the amnesiac girl of his own free will, and the vehicle they took turned up by the edge of the forest. I believe she may have been complicit in the attack—

“Attack?” Atlas raised his voice furiously. “You said my son was missing, not that he was attacked! Do you even know if he’s still alive?” His blood roared in his ears, and his vision had turned red. If the Scourge had killed his only successor, the monarchy was doomed. He couldn’t have any other children because even if he reversed the vasectomy he’d gotten for his deceased wife, the drugs he was taking for his illness had left him sterilized. Caspian was the only man standing in the way of the crown’s collapse. It was the reason why he believed the rebellion had chosen this period of time to start a war. The monarchy had never been this feeble before, and it probably never would be again.

It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we found a large rock stained with blood that we believe belongs to Prince Caspian. It seems that the enemy may have used it to knock him out, so they could take him without a struggle. I believe he’s still alive though. There was no blood anywhere else on the premises, and the spatter on the rock wasn’t enough to have come from a fatal wound.

“Damn it!” Atlas roared, throwing a punch at the bedpost. “I should have had that bitch killed while I had the chance.” He knew Iris was to blame. None of this had happened until she’d shown up at the palace. She was a snake in their den, but because he’d let Caspian have his way, he might have just lost his son. “Call the general and tell him that I want every soldier working on this case—even the off-duty men. Have every non-high born visitor in the capital apprehended and taken to the prison for holding until they can be questioned. If there is even the slightest hint that a commoner has dealings with the Scourge, they are to be executed immediately. Those bastards are going to regret laying even one finger on my son.”

Yes, Your Majesty.

“And Jacob,” Atlas growled. “You and your men had better bring him back alive, or I’ll have each and every one of you sentenced to death as well for neglect of duties.”

…Of course, Your Majesty.

--

Time was unreadable in the never changing blackness of Cas’s prison. He laid on his back, having woken up from his nap a while ago, and stared blankly up at the ceiling. His hands rested over his stomach, fingers toying idly with his rope bindings. He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d last had anything to drink, but judging by the cotton ball feeling in his mouth and the dehydration headache that had started to wrap its tendrils around his skull, it had probably been close to a full day. He tried to remember how long humans could go without water before they died. Was it something like three days? What happens in the days leading up to that point? He wondered, heaving a sigh as he rolled onto his side. Am I just going to get weaker until I can’t open my eyes anymore? Or maybe I’ll start hallucinating or something. He found himself hoping for the latter. At least that way, he might have a method to keep himself entertained while he waited for the soldiers to break him out of his cell.

How do P.O.W.s put up with this for so long? He groaned aloud at the thought. He probably hadn’t been locked up for more than a day—if that—yet he was already bored out of his mind and so exhausted that he was starting to feel tremors coming on. Part of him was starting to regret turning his nose up to the food and water Iris had brought for him before too. It had been a dumb idea. If nothing else, he should have filled his stomach so he could keep his energy up in case he was able to escape. Instead, because he’d let his pride get the best of him, he was famished, laying on the cold floor with nothing to stave off the hunger and thirst that was now constantly nagging at him. He’d just made himself more miserable.

Trying to get his mind off his discomfort, he forced himself to sit up so he could work on the ropes around his ankles again. He may not have been able to get at the ties on his wrists very easily, but if he put in enough effort, he was sure he could at least free his feet. Lucky for me, they didn’t think to use zip ties… he thought to himself, fingering the coarse bindings as he attempted to loosen the knot.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

My meeting just ended ^^ Having a group video chat with 20 people was kind of wild, so I'm glad it's over!

And nice! I need to be working on my project 5-6 days a week, so I'll be continuing on it tomorrow (I took today off). I'll probably be around a little bit less than I am right now, but I'm gonna keep trying to get a couple posts up per day if I can!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That's all fine with me! Also I forgot I've got a webcam meeting with my professor in about 20 minutes, so I may have to start on my next post later if that's still happening.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

That could be interesting! It would make sense for Cas to want to get to one if Regis actually does injure him badly before they run. It's also gonna be a wake-up call for him when he meets Iris's father, I think ^^; Right now, he's starting to feel untouchable, but he doesn't realize Regis is more willing to be violent than Ethan is

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

To explain how Cas doesn't know about the condition of the country, I'm thinking that Atlas (and the other corrupt kings before him) hired people to skew the numbers, so the people look better off than they actually are.

And that sounds good to me!

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

More Scourge propaganda, Cas thought with a subtle shake of his head when Ethan went off about his family. The monarchy wasn’t to blame for the unrest in Aspiria. That was all because of the rebellion. His family had done nothing but work hard to make sure that the kingdom was prosperous, so that everyone could have their basic needs met. If someone wanted more than that, all they had to do was climb the rungs of the social hierarchy by getting a job in a company that offered high born wages and status at the top. It could take a few years, but it was doable. When he was younger, he’d met plenty of children who were the sons and daughters of people who’d immigrated to the capital after receiving their new IDs. The fact that there were so few people working for that status card now wasn’t the monarchy’s fault. It was either because the common people didn’t feel the need to work harder to achieve the luxuries that Aspiria’s aristocrats enjoyed or because their quality of life had improved enough that they were already sharing some of the wealth. In either case, to claim that resources were scarce was ridiculous when he knew the common people were well-off. They had been since his great-great-grandfather’s generation.

Ethan’s insistence that people were dying was even more absurd. Aspiria had access to all the latest healthcare techniques, medicines, treatments, technologies, and more. Their doctors had found cures for most of the diseases that had previously haunted the people of the past. Almost every type of cancer had been eradicated, heart disease could be curbed with routine vaccinations, and surgeries were so advanced that fatalities had dropped below one percent, even in the most dangerous procedures. The only reason his father hadn’t been healed was because he’d contracted his disease from another country, and whatever it was, the physicians in Aspiria had never seen it before. Most people wouldn’t encounter anything like Atlas had, so if they even had the sniffles, they could see a general care provider for medicine and be rid of it in three days. They certainly weren’t dying off in droves like Ethan was suggesting.

“We only take the census once every decade, and we aren’t due for another until the end of this year,” Cas shrugged, not believing a word out of the rebel’s mouth. “But even if we arranged one tomorrow, I’m sure it would look the same as every other census we’ve taken before. Surpassing seventy million people with a steady increase in population in urban areas.” He looked up at Ethan. If his hands hadn’t been bound, he would have crossed his arms over his chest as he stated confidently, “The monarchy has kept track of how many people are dying since before my grandfather was born. If you think I don’t know what’s going on in the kingdom I’m supposed to inherit, then you’re the ignorant one.”

When Ethan suddenly slammed his fist against the bars, Cas startled at the jarring noise. It looked like his quip about Iris had struck a nerve. As the rebel went on, he let out his breath in a low exhale. He knew it had been an act, that she hadn’t actually been interested in him and that she’d taken advantage of his trust. That had already been established. He’d just made the comment in a petty attempt to make the guard mad, and it had worked.

Interestingly, even though Ethan was furious, he didn’t come inside the cell. While the rebel spat venom at him, the prince was quietly observant. Ethan could have easily marched inside and beat him to a bloody pulp, but he didn’t. Cas wondered why he was holding back. Maybe the Scourge was keeping him in good condition to ransom with his father? It still sounded like they were planning to kill him, but perhaps he still had some time before anyone pulled the trigger. He bit the inside of his lip to stifle the smile that threatened to take over his features. If his guess was right, he still had time to come up with a way to escape, and the soldiers had time to find him before he had to stare down the barrel of a gun. He could still get out of this mess with life and limb intact.

“I don’t know if she ever caught feelings, but I do know she genuinely enjoyed herself with me,” he said cockily, gaining bravado now that he was more confident that Ethan couldn’t hurt him. He was going to get the guard back for saying that people only liked him for his wealth and status. “Tell yourself whatever you want, but if you actually gave her what she needed, she wouldn’t have been so eager to throw herself into my arms.”

Maybe his comment had been too much for the rebel, or maybe Ethan was just getting fed up with watching him, but Caspian felt a victorious grin curve his lips as he watched the guard leave the room. The Scourge may have taken him prisoner, but they hadn’t won yet. As long as they couldn’t touch him, he was going to use the only weapon he had left: his tongue. With a yawn, he slid down sideways against the wall until he was lying on his side. Now that he was alone, he was going to try to get some rest, so he could try to get his mind off the feelings of hunger and thirst that were becoming more prominent inside of him.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Aaand Cas snapped xD

I don't have much of a preference! I figured you can be in charge of that timeline since Regis would be calling the shots

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

So, they really are planning to kill me, Cas felt the icy hand of fear grip his heart. He would have loved to beat his chest and boldly declare that he wasn’t afraid of Ethan’s implied threats, but it just wasn’t true. He’d never been in any situation that could have prepared him for something like this. Life in the capital was mundane. Sometimes it had bored him, but now that he’d experienced what it was like to face adventure and danger, he wished he could go back to his ordinary existence, even if it was repetitive and unchanging. Anything was better than sitting in a cold, bare cell while being told that his days were numbered.

As Ethan brought up the king, the prince’s confidence wavered. It was true that his father was in bad shape, and the reminder only made him feel guilty. Atlas had been trying to get through to him for years, trying to tell him that his bleeding heart was going to be his downfall if he didn’t patch it. It turned out that the monarch had been right all along. A melancholic half smile tugged at his lip, and he hung his head to hide it. He should have listened before he’d landed himself in the enemy’s prison. Because of his desire to see the best in everyone, he was barely hanging onto his life by a thread, and he’d put the monarchy at risk of crumbling to a group that would joyfully destroy Aspiria the second they wrapped their filthy hands around the mantle. It was quite the legacy to leave as the last heir of the Maydestone family.

He didn’t bother looked up when Ethan kicked over the water. Iris had left it for him, so he wasn’t going to drink it anyway. He merely squinted slightly as he tried to look for the spilled water on the ground. His cell wasn’t very big, so it would be uncomfortable if the water trickled toward him and made his space damp. However, before he had much of a chance to search, his breath caught in his throat at his guard’s next words. There it was, the confirmation that everything had been a lie. Iris had played him like a fiddle from the moment she’d said she had feelings for him to the last kiss they’d shared before they had snuck out of the mansion. The reveal didn’t hurt as much as he’d thought it would though. After everything else that had happened, his “bleeding heart” had grown calloused.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” he sighed honestly. “But it was still a pretty dick move for you to tell me that when her plan already worked.” The longer Ethan prodded at him, the looser he became with his words. He was starting to get fed up with the rebel who only seemed to be here to get under his skin. If his guards were operating on shifts, he hoped their turns were short, because it was starting to look like this guy wasn’t going to give him a break.

As Ethan knelt down on the other side of the bars, Cas side-eyed him warily. Of course, he just had to pour salt on the wound by not letting him forget how stupid he’d been for falling for Iris’s tricks. He already knew that her games had worked because he was gullible, but he wasn’t going to give the rebel the satisfaction of admitting it. He pressed his lips together defiantly, but his eyes widened slightly at Ethan’s last words. Though he didn’t want to admit this either, the claim had hit home. He averted his gaze, trembling slightly with mixed emotions. “Tell me, are you being paid to be a jackass or are you always this unpleasant?” he spat, momentarily forgetting which of them had the upper hand as he let his temper get the best of him. “Because if it’s the latter, I can see why Iris thought she’d have more fun with me when she was in the capital. She definitely didn’t kiss me like she had a boyfriend waiting for her back home, that’s for sure.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

They're fun to write! And same. It's gonna be wild from there, haha