Make A Wise Decision

"I realize everybody here doesn't use my name. Is that for a reason? Am I only 'The Asterio' to the people down on Earth?" I asked the old man.

"When I was a kid, I never learned your names. I only learned your last names. Tell me, is that girl in there an Asterio as well?" He asked me. He was awful insightful, and a little too smart.

"Would it matter? It's me that you all hate, is it not?" I asked back, staring at him through the broken mirror in between the bars.

"We don't hate just you, but you are the pinnacle of it. All Asterios are seen as enemies and sub-human filth. However, throughout my years, I learned that there are reasons to hate others, and there are incentives to hate others. Are you the incentive type, or is there a reason to hate you?" He asked me.

Well, I had never thought about that myself, but now that I consider it, I am pretty terrible, aren't I?

"I think you should hate me. Nothing good will come from enjoying my presence, or so it seems. So, is there any real way to escape from this hellhole?" I asked him again. He smiled through the mirror again and pointed outside of his cell, and toward the door leading toward the exit.

Ah, so he was being a smartass, I see now. Fine by me.

"Thanks for your help," I told him, turning around to avoid eye contact with him.

"Your arm. What did you do to it?" He asked me. I was more than convinced he wouldn't believe me if I told him... but maybe he was capable of imagining.

"I used the stone on my left hand to deflect a giant Isle floating in the atmosphere. It broke my hand and I haven't been able to use it since." I told him.

"So that was you that made that loud noise up there? Damn, maybe you are capable. You plan to break out of this jail?" He asked me.

I wasn't looking at him, but there was something in the tone of his voice that was setting off my danger sense. I turned my body to look back toward the mirror and peered into his eyes.

Something's off about him.

"Hey, old man. Who are you really?" I asked. He sat with a straight face, leaving my question unanswered while scraping something on the wall.

"Who are any of us in this prison? We're prisoners, that's all we'll ever be. At least for our crimes." He told me.

I nodded, walking over to the bars, and pulling it right out of its socket. With the newfound metal bar in my hand, I used the strands still in my body to form a sheathe on my back, stepped through the opening, and finally came head to head with the old man from outside of his cell.

"Wow, that arm really does look messed up. So, are you going to let me out now? Or will I rot in here?" He asked me as if I owed him something.

"You'll rot, and I'm leaving. Bye." I told him. I started to walk through the door, and he finally put something useful into the conversation.

"I'm sure giving you my name will change things... but I can be useful to you, you know? That group... Quake. I know of a person connected to that. How's that?" He asked me.

"I don't care. You could be all talk." I told him, opening the door leading to the exit, and walking out.

I don't know if Illya overlooked it, or perhaps she's okay with solitude, but I still have my strands inside of my body. I can use them just as well as I have been able to, and nothing has changed in that regard. Ruby must not have been aware, and Illya must've been following my lead.

I did decide previously to stay in that cell, but I wanted to get away from that man as soon as possible, and I'd like to see my friends again.

I walked down the long, dark corridor leading to the jail cells and eventually made it to a set of stairs. At first glance, the night sky was shining brightly into the hole and giving it life, but a shadow blocked that sweet light I haven't seen in what felt like decades.

"You're going to give me trouble, only an hour after you get in? You know, I'm being very nice by not executing you on sight, like everybody here would like me to do." Ruby told me.

"You talk a big game. I don't think you'd be able to do anything to me if my eyes were closed." I told her, but she wasn't happy with that answer.

Flipping a spear in her hands and throwing it down the staircase, I let it whiz right past my head and puncture the stone beside me.

She purposefully missed, and only threw it to scare me. I traced its trajectory with strands and reacted accordingly, a skill I had come up with based on Faith's strange ability to block all projectiles in a vicinity near her.

"You're nothing but trouble." She bluntly said.

"Nothing has kept me alive but trouble. You're not willing to listen to any of my stories or what happened on that Isle at all, are you? If you knew even a sliver of what happened and who I am, you would reconsider my punishment immediately. I told you before, I don't want to fight you, nor do I want to ruin the life you've built here." I told her.

"Likely story. No Asterio can be trusted, and you are not an exception." She told me.

"Again with that damn name. So, if you won't accept me, then, I'll have to kill you. Is that what you wanted to hear?" I asked her.

With a snap of my fingers, a large glacier of ice shot out of the staircase and corridor I was standing in, surrounding Ruby with eighteen separate spikes of ice all pointing at her throat, but not touching.

She couldn't react, as I was simply too fast, and with wide eyes, she watched my movements carefully as I walked up the steps, clearing the ice as I progressed.

"If I wanted to kill you, and everybody around me, I would've... twice over... I hope this will help you in your future judgment, knowing that I can be the most powerful ally you've ever had if you just let me roam free." I told her.