Alright, so I'll have you know that I have edited all of this (my editor actually) and so you may read in peace. Everything I'm writing now will be edited unless I say so. Thank you for reading!

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"Everyone wanted answers I wasn't ready to give."

― Lucy Christopher

"WHAT PART OF tell me do you not understand?" Helene asked, as she watched the blood run down Lavynder's pale arm.

"All of it!" Lavynder shrieked in the empty cell, her voice echoing loudly. "How could you do this to me?"

Helene's eyes widened and she pressed the blade closer to her skin, "You're kidding right? You are asking me that?"

"Yes!" she tried to catch her breath, closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them again. "We're friends and we help each other. No matter-"

"Even if that means if the friends betrays you? Does that count?"

Lavynder's eyes flashed and she muttered, "No."

"Exactly. Now tell me. What is going on?"

Lavynder shook her head and shut her eyes tight. "I can't! Don't you get it? He'll kill me if I do."

"Who he? Do you mean Asmodues?" She asked desperately.

Lavynder shook her head, "Both of them."

"Who's the second person?"

"His son!"

"He has a son?"

"No! Shut up Laynder! Just shut up!"

Helene stood back, trying to catch her breath along with Lavynder. Nothing was working. Absolutely nothing. She had been down here for more than an hour, leaving the others with Erza. Lavynder had always been the weak one from the two. Slightly pathetic, but a loyal friend. Until now.

Helene chose Lavynder because she had a feeling she would spill whatever it was. Or at least she had more of a chance of spilling it then Erza did. The others were probably peeling off her skin in the other cell because Helene could hear her screaming as if someone was burning her alive.

Then she had an idea.

Burn her.

Immediately, fire appeared in Helene's palms, moving in grace, smoke followed by the fire.

"No. You can't do this to me!" Lavynder jerked back in her tied chair. "Let me go!"

Helene advanced slowly, trying to look as intimidating as she could. "Then tell me. From the start."

Lavynder jerked back again, the tears she had been hiding for such a long time sprung free and trailed down her cheeks, "Okay, okay! Just keep the fire away from me. Please?"

She wanted Lavynder and Erza to be someone else so very badly. She wanted to be back at home, saying goodbye to them as she went off to SwynCrest. She wanted to hug them and tell them to keep her updated with everything at home.

But she had missed her chance to do so.

She was too late and they had already been gone too far. When had this started? Who had told them to join the Creatures? Had someone forced them? Were they blackmailed? What had happened?

So Helene asked all those questions on her mind, and waited for Lavynder to tell her.

"Tell me everything like you're telling me about your latest hookup." Helene tried, trying to sound a lot like the friend Lavynder was hoping she still had.

But she had no idea, did she? Lavynder was never going to see that friendly side of Helene ever again. The twins had betrayed her.

It was easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.

"We wanted to," Lavynder swallowed loudly, her breathing hitching slightly. "No one forced us if that's what you're wondering."

"Who asked you to do this?"

Lavynder shook her head, "I don't know. They were wearing a mask and a cloak."

"Their voice?"

"Deep. Really, really deep."

Helene frowned. "Go on."

Lavynder nodded, shivering from fear and cold, "He told us that he would pay us a great deal if he did what we were asked to do-"

"What did he ask you to do?" Helene asked.

Lavynder looked at her, her black eyes piercing, "Track you down. Throw out all the food. Leave the water. He then said once we did that, he would come get us, or if he wouldn't be able to come then send someone for us and get us out of there. But once we did what he wanted us to do, we waited and hid, waiting for the signal. Nothing happened. No one came."

Helene looked down, her fire slowly dying.

"He warned us to stay out of your way. Especially you, Helene. He told us you would use your fire on us. And he wasn't wrong."

Helene turned her face back to Lavynder, her fire a full blaze, "And you are still on his side? Even after what he did?"

"Yes," Lavynder seemed proud of it too. "Because no matter what I do, you won't set me free. You will send me and Erza to trial and they will either kill us, or send us to prison after interrogating us by nearly bleeding us to death. I know how it is Helene. People think I'm stupid or naive. I might be a little, but I know my way around."

"That's not enough," Helene whispered.

Clearly not enough. What if she was alone in the dark forest with no help? No companion? No Erza? What would she do then? Cry?

Lavynder licked her chapped lips and shrugged, "Enough for me is all that matters. If I know I can work with that, then that's all I care about. No one's opinion is going to change that."

There was silence.

"Is that all?" Helene pressed once again. "Who's Asmodues' son? And how do you know about him?"

Lavynder sighed, sounding tired and defeated. "I eavesdropped on a conversation. It was in the main square at midnight. Erza was at a club, getting drunk and hooking up but I was tired and needed a walk. I was the one who got us into this. Not her. Let her go."

Lavynder being brave? Helene was seeing something new. Whatever or whoever it was out there must have really motivated her.

"Do they have any hideout you know of or been to?"

Lavynder furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, "Do you remember that warehouse near the countryside? There is this abandoned house that looks like someone constantly lives there. Inside, there is a basement. We met up there for more information and a close up of this ship. That's all. I swear."

Helene knew half of everything Lavynder had just told her were lies. All made up lies. That's what was one of the most highly trained Scar's did. Drive the enemy off track. Keep them busy. Keep them engaged.

Lavynder might not be so highly trained but that didn't mean she wasn't smart enough to pick up some filthy tricks from here and there. And god knows how long she had been working with these people. Maybe years? Months? Weeks? And what about their families? Were they working for them too? Or was it only them?

Helene couldn't trust anyone anymore.

She was truly on her own.

She wasn't used to feeling alone and useless at the same time. She was used to people supporting her and she getting the work done exactly they way her superior wanted her to.

And then people clapped her on the back, congratulated her and she would be off to her next task.

But this task seemed to go on and on, never ending. She would get one obstacle out of the way and then another one would make its way through. Then again. And again.

Helene stood back, breathing hard. She was confused and tired. She suddenly wanted to leave and forget everything that had happened.

"You can just let me go, Helene," Lavynder whispered. "Please."

Lavynder's eyes pierced hers.

Helene glared back.

No one moved.

Time ticked by, and Helene knew it was time to go and share her information with the others. She was wasting her time.

Slowly, she reached down, unlocked Lavynder's cuffs and stepped back, her eyes promising.

Don't make me regret this.

Lavynder gulped, her eyes tearing up and she nodded in thanks. Helene lifted her chin and gave her a cruel smile, "Sorry. No can do."

Then, she walked through the door, her head still high and her heels clicking against the floor. She shut the door behind her and didn't bother with the lock. Helene made her way towards the room the others were in with Erza, interrogating her. The shouting and screaming had died down and now there was silence. Helene felt curious.

What was going on inside the room?

She twisted the doorknob and walked in.

The sight was quite horrible, as well as the smell that met Helene when she walked in. The chair Erza was on was on the floor, and she was tied along with it, her head on the ground and her feet in the air. Blood surrounded her body, inking her skin and the floor with red. Helene's friends stood before her, glaring and ready to kill her the second she spoke.

"What the hell happened here?" Helene muttered, avoiding the blood on the ground and made her way around.

Brenna muttered a few curses under her breath and turned to her, "She won't speak."

"Well that's too bad," Everyone turned their glaring towards Helene. "I mean, it doesn't matter. Lavynder told me everything."

Helene watched in satisfaction as Erza's eyes widened and she let out a growl, trying to hide it beneath a mask. "Of course she did. That stupid brat can't hide anything to save her life. He'll kill her for sure now."

"WHO'S HE FOR GOD'S SAKE?" Brenna shrieked. "I'm going to kill her-"

Helene put her hand out to stop her from advancing. Erza was enjoying making Brenna squirm. "I know. I'll tell you everything in my room once you meet me there in five minutes. Get yourselves cleaned up. We have a lot of talking to do."

Everyone began to leave, except for Cas who stared at Erza in distaste. He must know. He must know how it felt for Helene to see her good friends here and betraying them to their enemy. He was staring at Erza with so much loathing that Helene feared he would kill her when they left. So she said out loud, to spare him the cleaning and putting Erza back in her cell, "Raylan? Can you..."

Raylan was nodding before she could finish. Ella moved to help him as everyone else, including Legion marched out the room. Legion hadn't said much at all. In fact all he did was stare at Erza and at the blood that now coated the floor of the interrogation room.

"Lock her in after," Helene said. "I already locked up Lavynder."

She was worried they would go check on her just to make sure she was locked in and then find it open. And then the real arguing and fighting would start and everyone would be mad at Helene.

They made their way towards Helene's room, not bothering to stop at the bar for some food or their rooms. They must have have been really pissed and tired after trying to make Erza talk.

Helene closed the door behind her and they quietly waited for Raylan and Ella to come in. In the dead silence, Helene could hear the clock on her bedroom wall clicking and ticking as seconds passed, and then minutes and soon Raylan and Ella were slipping into Helene's room, their clothes changed and their faces washed.

Helene quickly began to relate everything that Lavynder had told her. Time to time she would hear Brenna swearing and muttering curses under her breath. Other times, she could hear Cas sighing, sounding tired and defeated. Raylan just tried to make jokes to lighten the mood. Ella stood as straight as a statue and Legion just stared at Helene as she spoke. It was all very intimidating and making her palms sweat like crazy.

She wiped her hands on her pants, and took in a deep breath, "We can't be sure if she was right, though. I mean, we are trained to lie, aren't we? We lie when we have to. Lie to our enemies so we don't tell them something valuable."

They stared at her.

"Say something. I haven't been talking for no reason," Helene snapped.

Cas cleared his throat, "I think we should just kill them-"

"All in favour of killing those two twins?" Raylan interrupted.

Everyone except for Helene raised their hands. Even Legion did. She looked around desperately, looking confused.

"Wait-are you serious?" Helene muttered. "We're really planning to kill them? They are-"

"Your friends," Legion sighed. "Raylan and Ella told me. And that's why you don't want to kill them. But Helene, they are a serious threat. If we are on this mission to eliminate all the threats against our two countries and against all Scars, then we must eliminate these two as well. No matter who they are to you or anyone else in this room."

Helene looked around the room, gulping. This was seriously not happening, was it? They weren't really going to kill them, were they?

"I can kill them," Ella offered. "Give them a painless death."

"It's not about a painless death!" Helene tried to make them see reason without suspecting her. "It's just...look. I know you're thinking it's because I've known them forever but it's really because they were forced."

"You just told us Helene that whatever Lavynder told you was probably rehearsed and a well practiced lie. You of all people know that," Brenna pointed out. "How can you say that but not follow it?"

She was trapped. And they were losing time. Why hadn't they escaped yet? Why hadn't nobody alerted them and told them some prisoners had gone missing?"

"We have another problem." Helene decided to change the subject, as evident as it may be, "They threw out all our food. Our at least most of it."

"That's more the reason to kill them, Hel." Cas nodded. "And if you're worried that you won't have friends, you have me." He sent her a wink.

She scowled.

Just as she was about to open her mouth and snap at him, her bedroom door banged open and Giuseppe appeared, his eyes wide. "Hurry! The prisoners! They are escaping!"

Helene gulped.

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