Chapter Text
In Hope's head, the same words always buzzed: "5 years on Penence." Why would Echo do this to her?
She spent the last 5 years training to get her revenge, only to be betrayed by her best friend in this way. She didn't accept it at all.
She was angry, furious, with who had done this to her but also with her mother and her Aunt O who had allowed her to do it.
As thoughts ran through her mind, Hope heard a metallic noise and immediately afterwards, the door to her cell opened.
It was Echo... if there was anyone she did not want to hear or see at that moment, it would be her.
Hope was sitting in the corner of her cell, and Echo approached her silently.
But Hope growled at her, breaking that silence. "Will you really take me to Penence?"
Hope received nothing in return for her words, except Echo's icy stare. Her gaze implied a clear "yes".
Hope could not contain her anger and hurled herself towards Echo.
Echo was ready for this and tried to dodge it. Hope was fast and she was very good at fighting,, which Echo knew. But she could not afford to fight her, not now. The anger made her even stronger, but out of control.
She had to stop her somehow, so she locked her to the wall. All Echo's weight was now completely leaning against Hope.
Both of them were gasping for breath.
All this reminded her of their fights on Skyring with a lot of nostalgia, but now she couldn't admit it.
"I don't want to hurt you," Echo said, remembering their first fight. Echo had already understood from there that Hope would be special. A special adversary, a special friend.
But now all she had in front of her was a fragile, visibly unstable girl who was wiggling under her weight.
Echo looked her in the eyes, but Hope did not look back.
"Hope, please look at me," Echo said quietly. Her tone of voice had changed.
And Hope looked at her, and she was not wriggling, but trembling.
"Echo, what are you doing?" He said to her in a trembling voice. "This is not the Echo I spent five years with..."
Echo lowered her gaze, she knew she could not afford what was happening. She could not. On the other hand...hesitation is dead...and now she was hesitating. So she took her wrists and handcuffed them behind her back as she had been ordered.
"Echo, what the hell are you doing?" Hope screamed to her, not realizing how such an intimate moment as this was turning into yet another nightmare. In the meantime, a guard entered the room and turned to Echo, huffing, "How long does it take to handcuff a prisoner?"
"With this prisoner, too much," she said, returning to her usual cold tone while Hope once again gave her a hate-filled look.
"We're taking you for a shower," said the other guard. "Probably the last one you will take in five years."