"So what's your big plan of escape, Scarlet?" Austin asked Scarlet plainly.
"You already know it. I know you do. You discovered it only a few days ago," Scarleteye's dead stare held Austin's gaze and Austin knew what she meant. The Alcove. Hidden passage. Hidden room. Possibly where the Annihilators go to sleep.
"I do," Austin stated. It wasn't a question.
"So you want us to go straight to where the Annihilators and possibly Savager go to sleep; a place that's likely surrounded by both Annihilators and Savagers?" Aaron glared at Scarlet. "You think that's our way out of here?"
"Hell no," Reya snapped, shaking her head.
"Reya," Austin began. "Think about it. The only place here that we haven't been able to map - the only place here that we've only just now learned of - in this hellhole is that room - that chamber. If the Annihilators and Savagers rest there, then they gotta be guarding something, right? Our way out! It's gotta be!"
Reya thought about this for a quiet moment — a moment that felt like it
Reya thought about this for a quiet moment — a moment that felt like it lasted forever but really could only have been more than a few seconds. She eyed Aaroon, who nodded and then looked at Austin, who knew her decision would be vital in the plan for escape. Finally, she spoke: "I don't trust Scarlet. I never will. Not again…," Reya looked at Austin. "But I trust you. If your gut says this is the right way, then I'm with you, Austin. If we escape, though, if we follow through with this, you will be responsible for these two. Don't let them out of your sight at any time."
"You have my permission," Reya sighed heavily. "As the leader here, in place of my brother, I've gotta do what is best for the Meadows and my friends here. If that means accepting help from unreliable sources...Just… don't fail me Austin."
With that, Reya walked off, saying she was going to help Cleo pack food and supplies for the trip. They were to leave before dark, so they'll stand a chance at getting there before the Annihilators do.
Aaron left soon afterwards to help Zackery prepare everyones' weapons. They weren't certain they wouldn't run into Annihilators and he thought it'd be a good idea to be prepared for a fight. When he left and Austin was alone with Scarlet and Terrora, who retreated to back of her cell, Austin took one last glance at Scarleteye and couldn't help but feel the connection between them - a sibling's bond he first sensed awareness of that night, in the Labyrinth, when he first saw her….
"Well, that was anti-climatically, melodramatically boring," Scarleteye interrupted Austin from his thoughts, causing him to slightly flench in surprise. "I had assumed that there would've been something fun to come out of your little social conundrum, but, I suppose, what's more interesting than unspoken tension among 'friends,' am I right?"
As Austin looked at the girl confused and at a lose of words, the girl continued with "Yeah, you should tell her how you feel. Everything from her concern to your need to make her feel better is really suffocating and painful to watch."
"Are… are you giving me relationship advice…?" Austin asked, perplexed, not believing what he's hearing.
"Well, I am your sister," Scarleteye shrugged, looking bored. "Besides… tension leads to uncertainty, which causes hesitation and hesitation leads to freezing mid-battle and the last thing I need is for you to die. That'd be unfortunate… for me, anyways."
"Good to know you care," Austin mumbled quietly to himself.
"Oh, what? Oh, no. I don't. Not really. It's just that you're the only one willing to argue my going with you instead of staying here and inevitably dying," Scarleteye said, dismissively. "No, survival instincts aside, I don't really care about anything, or anyone - I just really like breathing and living. You're my greatest chance of survival."
"Mmm," Austin muttered, resisting the urge to go back and forth with the girl. "You say the Annihilators are killing my friends, but Reya says they're being abducted… Why should I believe anything you say?"
"Well, the Annihilators aren't killing anyone," Scarleteye said. "No, they are abducting your friends and my crew. Taking them where? I do not know, but they may as well be classified as dead, considering no one knows where they are being taken and if they're even alive, so… Though, I think, those Watchers have them. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that the Watchers control those little beasts… They do possess their logo, or crest, or whatever that RAIDRA emblem on their bodies are."
"So…," Austin began, stuck on the topic, feeling just a little hopeful despite Scarlet's words. "They're not dead? Not yet?"
"Uh, duh," Terrora said, as if it were obvious, startling Austin, who had forgotten her presence. "She literally just said that!"
"Why should I trust any of you?" Austin repeated his question, this time directed at both Scarleteye and Terrora, distrust evident in his voice. "How can I be sure you aren't lying? That you aren't using us? That our friends are still alive?"
"You don't and I don't really care if you do or don't," Scarleteye fixed Austin with her cold, calculating eyes, chilling him to his bone with only the gaze. "But I am not lying and, like it or not, we need each other to survive the coming events. Plus, there's also the fact that I could teach you what I know about the crest we both wear, but maybe some other time, though. I don't think your 'friend' Reya is a fan of me right now."
"When has she ever been?" Terrora mumbled to herself, but Austin felt like he wasn't supposed to have heard that and, judging from Scarleteye's glare at the girl, she felt the same.
As Austin contemplated the words he heard from the girl, he couldn't help but think back to how Reya distrusted Scarleteye, but his instincts were telling him that the only way out of this place was to learn to get along with these two, and trust their judgement. And, through it all, he couldn't help but think that something was gonna go wrong and soon.