Rosie

Raiden didn't realize what she meant at first. "Why-" he began, but then common sense kicked in and he answered the question himself, when he put it together. "Oh." He turned around quickly, crossing his arms, embarrased to have not realised and averted his eyes before Eliza had had to ask.

Zack stared at the picture in complete bewilderment for a long moment. Then his gaze flickered over to the White Rabbit's face, dancing between her and the picture. In his confusion, the hunger and the mixed up emotions were abandoned for a moment. After a quite lengthy hesitation, he finally said, "...Mr. Moon is pretty creepy."

"Yours is going to suck?! All you have to do is stand by a tree!" Raiden exclaimed, waving his hands around as he spoke. He walked slightly ahead of her, until he lost his guts somewhat when they approached the cave. He started to hang back a little, dragging his feet and staring gloomily ahead.

"Well, that's stupid!" Zack snapped, then covered his mouth with both hands, eyes wide. Crap. He was starting to sound like Zane. What was he even thinking, having a go at her? It wasn't like it was the White Rabbit's fault- not any of it. He was struggling to come to terms with why he was so angry and upset. Even though he knew he wasn't angry with her, he was still starting to take it out on her- and the rational side of him was starting to kick back in. Mentally kicking himself, he dropped his hands from his mouth with a sigh, slumping down. "...Sorry."

Zack stared silently at the ground under his knees for a long while, breathing still hitched and shaky. It was only made worse by the fact he felt no nausea like he usually did after he'd swallowed blood- in fact, as he thought about it, his stomach gave an uncomfortable rumble. He hugged his arms around his waist, trying to ignore the taste still lingering in his mouth. "...I still don't want you worrying when I get hurt," he said softly, eventually.

"D'you want the scientific explanation, or the deep moral fancy pants one?" Raiden questioned, unsure of whether or not she was asking him seriously or just talking to herself. The nerves were starting to creep in, a deep pit in his stomach that grew heavier the more he thought about going home. He tried to tell himself he was being ridiculous, that he was over reacting, but he struggled to even come close to convincing himself. Raiden tried to hide his anxiety when he realised he was biting at his thumbnail, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning his face away, pretending to look at something in the distance so Eliza couldn't see his expression.

Zero gave up on trying to get free, trying to ignore the pain running up and down his legs and arms in the hopes it would go away soon. He just sat where he'd fallen, trying to concentrate enough to listen and see if the girl's thoughts would answer the question he wanted to ask. Okay, so he'd snapped a little- but he hadn't really been that near to anyone unprepared before, and the closer he was, the louder the thoughts. Hers had caught him off guard, louder than he expected them to be. After a few seconds, he assumed it was better to ask rather than wait for the answer to drift into her thoughts. If it did, which was doubtful. "What's with the blindfold?"

(If I'm mistaken and Candle is running into someone else, ignore my idiocy- it's half three in the morning and I'm scatterbrained even before I don't sleep.) To Zero's annoyance, it was still difficult to move- and, because he was putting his all into dragging himself along, he wasn't in any way prepared for when the girl smacked into him, and with what sounded a little like an exasperated sigh, he didn't try to catch himself as he lost his balance. Landing heavily on his backside, he stared, quite shocked, down at the girl who he'd collided with. Realising quickly that she couldn't see him, he struggled to move his legs enough to move away and stand up properly- they were still half-numb, so it was no surprise he was finding it hard to do anything particularly strenuous with them. "Who am I?" he echoed when she asked, wincing as a spike of pins and needles shot up his leg when he tried to lean on it. "As if it matters-" Zero broke off, pinching the bridge of his nose with a grimace. "Could you think a little quieter, maybe?!" he demanded.

In their rush to get him held down, the guards had actually only injected a little sedative into Zero- mainly because they had heard the alert and decided that it was much more important than one pretty much powerless teenaged boy. Because Zero had no real offensive powers on his side, he came lower on their list of priorities. The dose of sedative was enough to keep him immobile for a few minutes, but once they were up, Zero weakly started dragging himself towards the door. His body was aching, his head throbbing, because the drug was still moving through his bloodstream and hadn't got anywhere near being completely gone. To his amusement, Zero noted that the guards had not only neglected to lock his door, but hadn't left any of their number behind- leaving him to traipse along without any interruption while he tried to shake the numbness out of his legs enough that he'd be able to run when the time came. Everything felt sluggish and slow, his limbs heavy, but he kept moving and mentally urging it to wear off already.

Zero burst out into near-hysterical laughter as the guard tried to wipe the sludge that had been Zero's dinner off his face. Not particularly successful, but having managed to scrape the gunk away from his eyes, the guard lunged at the skinny teen, not a hard thing to do considering there was only two foot's space between them. Bellowing, he only grew more furious when Zero dodged out of his grasp, hopping back across the width of the cell. And the boy was still laughing. The sound of the guard's yelling was enough to alert another two, who rushed into the cell without even thinking of stopping to assess the situation. Zero ducked under one's attempt to grab him, kicking out as he moved and feeling satisfied when he heard a low grunt, confirming his foot had met its mark. Skirting around the original guard, he turned, ready to lash out at the last- but he wasn't there. A rough hand caught the back of his shirt, tugging him backwards, and nearly making him lose his balance. They dragged him, kicking and screaming and laughing his head off, down to the floor, where they made sure to forcibly restrain his arms before jabbing the syringe a little too roughly into the crook of his elbow. Past hysterical by that point, Zero continued to struggle, even as the sedative rushed into his bloodstream. Those struggles grew weaker and weaker as it started to take effect, until the guards knew for sure he had passed out. The distress call for them came, and without a word or a glance between them they abandoned Zero in the cell, slamming the door hard behind them as they left. Sprawled flat against the floor, Zero made a weak noise in the back of his throat.

Before the door to his cell had even opened properly, Zero sprung to his feet, waving sarcastically at the guard who entered with... God, these lunches were getting worse. It didn't even look like food any more. They had always been disgusting, and he hadn't eaten all of anything they'd given him for about five years now. But, this stuff...! It didn't even count as sludge. It was as though, not content with being either a solid or a liquid, it had decided to take on a life of it's own, a congealed pile of slop on the tray. "Oh, you. You passed by yesterday, didn't you? Really not much going on in your head. Still isn't now, other than you're--" Zero started chatting away, either ignoring or just being completely oblivious to the guard's warning glare. The tray was thrown to the floor with an audible clatter, cutting off Zero mid-sentence. He darted forwards across the small space of the cell, and the guard raised a hand, as though in warning. Seeing the telltale glint of the sedative syringe, Zero scowled, stooping to pick up the tray. "Great lunch today, then. Puke with a side order of drugs..." The blond boy stared down at the tray in his hands for a long moment, then suddenly shoved it at the guard's face. "I think I'll pass on lunch," he added, perfectly calm. (Oh, Zero isn't escaping just yet, don't worry. xDD This is probably normal behaviour for him on a GOOD day.)

There it was again. The hum of voices, buzzing away inside his head. Sometimes he could make it stop, or less audible- like bad static on a radio. It was preferable to hearing the voices. The guards became well aware of when they had placed too many people in the boy's proximity, when he started trying to drown their thoughts out by himself. There was only one way to do such a thing, and it only worked at best for a few, blissful seconds. He screamed. On and on and on, until his throat was raw, thrashing around inside the padded cell. It was sometimes enough to overcome the noise inside his mind, just for those few precious seconds of peace. The guard didn't take to his constant screaming, however, and lessened their numbers around that one cell. A smaller group caused less trouble for the boy; it seemed the closer the thoughts, the more they bothered him. Heavy sedation, three times a day, if not more. He never tried to resist, lazily allowing them to inject him. He'd lashed out once, but the rest of the time got under the guard's skins, talking to their thoughts. In fact, he was never quiet when he knew someone was close to his cell. Cameras recording footage of his cell managed to uncover that when he knew no one was around, he often seemed to be yelling at thin air, snapping and fighting imaginary opponents... He had no real name. The one he had been given had been lost, along with, from what they could tell, a good deal of his sense of self. One thing was for sure; his cell was never silent.

"No," Zack choked out, shaking his head vigorously and tangling his hands in his hair. He gripped harder than he needed to, tugging painfully hard at the roots. "Not everyone. Monsters don't need sympathy, you hear me?!" his voice rose an octave as he finished the statement.

"That isn't my fault. I can't resist a fight and you're way too much of an idiot to hate me outright," Zane added, as a... kind of but not really agreement. It was hard to tell, although his smile was definitely genuine. Besides, Zane was just actually enjoying having someone else to talk to for a change- Zack had been his only source of a social life since they'd arrived, and Zane had been starting to go a little stir crazy around Mr. Morals. Zack just sat there, sobbing heavily into his hands, until he realised how rude he must have sounded, and even as upset as he was his instinct was to try and fix what he'd said. "I'm sorry... I just... You can't touch me. I'm... I don't deserve you being worried about me. I... I'm s-sorry, but..." he burst into a fresh wave of tears before he could really elaborate at all.

"The rain's awful," he argued, trudging out after her. "It makes you all wet and cold (lololsorryZuko:'D) and everything goes gloomy... AND it makes your hair go all frizzy," he carried on, messing with his hair as he spoke, as though flicking his hand through it could somehow make it waterproof. By the time he reached her, dragging his feet and walking slowly as he was, Raiden looked like a drowned rat. A very, very grumpy one.

"Besides, sheesh, I was holding back the entire time," Zane continued, sniffing a little before dropping his hand away from his nose. If he was being honest, he probably would have ended up cheating anyway himself... he just would have taken a little longer before he actually tried anything.

Zack's shoulders shook, his breath coming in sobs, as he kept his hands over his face. He didn't reply for a long while, struggling to breathe properly through the near-hysterical sobbing. Eventually, he murmured something into his palms, needing a few more seconds to repeat it so it was even audible to the White Rabbit's good hearing. "Don't touch me." It sounded less like an order, and much more like he was begging. Zane smiled, rolling his eyes, and when he was back on his feet, crossed his arms, pretending to scowl. "Punching is cheating," he said childishly, only uncrossing his arms to briefly pinch his nose, waiting for the blood to stop. There really wasn't that much, and he mopped up the tiny black trickle long before it would have bothered him.

"I know, but when I asked I thought it would be a reasonable time..." Raiden grumbled, but shut up quickly when it occured to him he was overreacting. It wasn't as if he really needed the sleep, anyway. He might feel tired, but deep down he knew he was probably just faking it for himself. Trying to cling to a chance at acting alive again. While Eliza went to deal with Ruru, Raiden slipped into the bathroom and grabbed his dagger from where he'd hidden it the evening before. He managed to beat Eliza to the door, though, and was glaring out at the sky, a slight grimace on his face. "Ew, it's raining. It hate it when it does that," he complained.

Zack stared at her blankly for a moment, reaching up to catch one of the tears as he felt it rolling down his face. Surprised, he stared down at the droplet, blanced on his finger. With a slight shudder, he wiped it off on his jeans, slumping slightly as he buried his face in his hands. "I don't know..." he mumbled, voice thick with still unshed tears.

Zane managed not to yelp or embarrass himself in any other way as he hit the ground, floored by the punch. Dazed and having to blink stars out of his eyes, he only groaned a very pained sounding "What?" in response to Aaron. Automatically reaching up to check his nose wasn't broken, he was relieved that it wasn't- only bleeding a little, and that wouldn't last for long.

Zane laughed, shaking the dark hair out of his eyes as he twirled the blade in his hand, lifting it so the very point of it was level with Aaron's chest. "What were you saying before about my good shot, huh?" He just couldn't believe his luck had carried over. That, and he'd forgotten his own strength- something only Zack tended to do, since by comparison Zane was ridiculously weak when paired against his older brother.

Zane smirked for a brief fraction of a second, then caught on to the fact Aaron was teasing him. "Oh, shut up-" he tried to retort, taking a step forwards. And then Aaron moved, and Zane, not expecting it, swore loudly when he felt the sword touch his back. Whipping around, he brought his own blade up as he turned, trying to push Aaron's aside with a block he prayed would work and wouldn't result in him dropping the sword.

"...You'd do that? It's not like I've ever..." Zane started to go off on one, rambling, but trailed off when he realised Aaron was heading towards him. Ignoring the slight sting from his earlier wound, Zane darted forwards and swung the blade around, aiming for Aaron's shoulder. It wasn't as if the wound could bother him, anyway- he knew for sure that it had to have fully healed up by that point, so any pain he felt was probably just all in his head.

Name: Zero. Age: 15. Power: Hearing thoughts- but he can't filter them out. Gender: Male. (No, wait... I 'unno, he's totally actually Lady Gaga in disguise. /shot) Personality: He's going through a bit of a personality/identity crisis- hearing voices 24/7 has driven him over the brink, and he can't remember who he really is. Tends to be obnoxious and often outright rude- if he hears something in someone's thoughts, he calls them out on it. Mentally very unstable- he tends to just snap after the slightest of changes, whether it be into blind anger or exstatic, insane happiness, or something else entirely. Is always the pessimist, sceptical, and gets a strange kick out of voicing other people's thoughts to get them in trouble. Appearance: Very pale, which isn't surprising considering he hasn't seen the light of day in nearly eight years. Unsettling, too-green eyes- they seem way too bright to be natural, but he was born with them. Tangled, messy light blond hair that falls in tendrils all over his face. Tall, and rail thin. Somehow always manages to look like he's been dragged through a bush backwards. ...IckyIckyFatwang. *snort*

If he beats me this time, I am NOT going to scream or have a toddler tantrum about it. Even though it's the third time. Gah, why couldn't I win the last two?! Zane thought to himself, looking around for the blade Aaron had leant him earlier- although it was shorter than Aaron's, it made Zane feel a little closer to winning. He must have dropped it when they were falling... after all, he'd been stabbed, he wasn't really going to look for it right away. After an embarrasingly long search through a nearby bush, Zane finally found it, and headed towards Aaron. "...Alright, I'm ready now," he announced, slightly grumpy at not getting to it right away.