33 Stonegarden Castle / The Pit, Pt 1

Previously, on Usagi Days: Anemone and Sylvie, driving the Hayate (with the Usagi's engine inside), try to extract Ruby from the castle, but the King grabs Ruby at the last second. Then, Sylvie takes off with the vehicle, leaving Anemone at the mercy of the Knights around her …

- 33.1 - The Pit, #1 -

"So.

"… This is the infamous Pit everybody here is so afraid of.

"… It's not that bad.

"… Right?"

Whenever Ruby spoke, she could feel the heat of her own breath pushing back against the stone wall in front of her.

She knew the wall was there, but she couldn't see it.

She couldn't see anything.

Anemone: "… Can you please not talk? … Every time you speak, I can feel your voice, like … vibrating into my back. It's weird, and uncomfortable."

The two of them stood, pressed against each other, back to back, in a tiny, cramped underground cell. No light or sound from the outside world above them. The space too narrow to do anything but stand upright.

At most, they could wiggle their fingers. But no more than that.

Ruby: "Man … Never thought I'd miss the cells at Conifer. … Hey, the walls … Do you think they're closing in on us? … Or am I going crazy?"

Anemone: "… What did I just say about talking?"

- 33.2 - Regarding Sylvie, Patty -

"She really left us, huh? Took the Hayate. See, this is why I never wanted to work with her in the first place. 'Noble' thief, my butt."

Anemone: "Your butt? What about your butt? I can feel it pressing up against mine! Stop talking."

A long silence.

Ruby: "Patty … Did she make it out?"

Anemone: "… Yes. We gave her directions to her brother and father. The Knights won't find anything when they search the foundry."

"They've gotta be sending every Knight they can spare out to find her. What if they catch her?"

"… Let's not think about that right now."

"They gotta be out looking for Sylvie, too. Obviously, she's got a much better chance of making it out."

"… I would really prefer it if you stopped talking."

- 33.3 - The Pit, #2 -

Ruby and Anemone stood in the tiny, enclosed space.

They didn't speak for what seemed like hours.

Then, Ruby, wispily: "… 'What's that, boy? Ruby and Anemone are trapped in a well? We'd better go help them!' …

"… Just kidding."

Anemone: "…"

"Hey, Annie? Did you hear what I said? I said—"

"Shut. Up."

A very long silence.

Ruby: "My knees still hurt from the fall, from when they threw us in here."

"… I don't care."

"Do yours?"

"…"

Ruby: "Someone's in a bad mood."

Anemone: "Oh, really? What gave it away?"

- 33.4 - Regarding Usagi-Hayate Duality Principles -

Anemone, after a long period of silence: "Ruby."

No response.

"… Ruby?"

Still no response.

"Yo. Rubes."

Ruby: "… Oh, so now you want to talk?"

Anemone, undeterred: "What happens to the Usagi?"

Silence from Ruby, again. Not out of spite, as before—but in quiet contemplation.

Anemone: "If the Usagi in the King's storeroom is unobserved long enough, will it become whole again?"

Ruby: "…"

Anemone: "And if so, what happens to the engine inside the Hayate? Does it just disappear into nothing? Can there only be one engine?

"Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe the engine is the actual important piece. … If left unobserved, does a pink frame form around the engine, creating a new Usagi? … And if that's the case, what happens to the Usagi in the King's storeroom?

"But that's all assuming the self-repair kicks in, at all. Do both halves—the engine-less Usagi, and the engine itself—need to be unobserved, for everything to return to what it was? … O-or … can we somehow end up with two Usagis? One Usagi reforms around the standalone engine, and the one in the King's storeroom gets an engine?"

Another long silence followed.

Anemone: "… Rubes?"

Ruby: "I'm starting to get what you were talking about, with the vibrations. … It does feel weird."

They didn't talk for a long time after that.

- 33.5 - The Pit, #3 -

Ruby: "How much air do you think is in here?"

"Not a lot. … All the more reason to stop talking."

"They oughta cut some … air holes into the stone."

"Ruby, I'm pretty sure the point is for us to die here."

- 33.6 - Regarding Ivy, Violet, and Lucy -

Ruby: "At least Ivy and Violet are safe."

(Violet: "We can help you guys! What if things go sideways? You need all the help you can get."

Sylvie: "That's just more of us we need to worry about extracting. The Hayate can seat two. We have to tow a wagon already, just to accommodate the crew we already have."

Ivy: "But we want to be useful! I just don't want to be … useless."

Anemone: "You're not. You guys are helping already. We have to make sure Lucy's safe.")

Anemone, after a while: "… They're going to come after us. You know it's true. It's a stupid idea, and I don't want them to—(besides, what would they do with Lucy?)—but that's what they're going to do. But they should just leave the Wastes instead. Take Lucy and get away from here as far as possible."

Ruby didn't say anything.

Lucy and Violet were hiding out with Lucy in an abandoned motel, in the middle of the wastes. Far from Stonegarden. And as long as they didn't come anywhere near Stonegarden, they would be completely safe.

But Anemone was right—they'd probably make an attempt to rescue the two of them, sooner or later.

… And then, likely all four (five?) of them would wind up in the Pits. Or worse.

- 33.7 - The Pit, #4 -

Ruby: "How long do you think we've been down here?"

Anemone: "I don't know. What am I, counting the seconds since we got thrown in here?"

"Could be hours. Could be days."

"We'd die of dehydration before that."

"So … less than three days. That's all we can infer regarding our time spent in here."

Anemone didn't bother responding.

- 33.7 - The Pit, #5 -

Ruby didn't speak for a very, very long time.

She wondered if it was day or night outside. She wondered if Anemone was asleep. She wondered how long they'd spent in here.

She wondered how long they had left.

- 33.8 - The Pit, #6 -

Ruby's legs ached from standing. Her throat was parched. The darkness seemed to be closing in around her. The walls, too. Squeezing the very life out of her. Her breathing quickened. When she spoke, it was in a hoarse whisper.

"Annie …?"

No response.

Was Anemone breathing? She couldn't tell anymore.

Ruby's palms were sweating. She felt hot, dizzy.

This was it. They were going to die here. Nobody would come for them. At least, not in time. And when Ivy and Violet did get here, they would be captured too. Their story would end here. She couldn't breathe. She—

And then, suddenly, right in front of Ruby's face, a sound.

Like the scraping together of rock.