Remember her from Chapter 7? Well, Callie is back.

The room made John uncomfortable in all the worst ways it could.

It was clean but damp. It was empty yet stifling. It was safe but dangerous. It was a nothing room, yet it reminded John of days spent waiting for a warden to come an experiment upon him and **** him in the name of a god that John thought had abandoned him.

So, needless to say, John wasn’t feeling all too hot.

He could feel his chest tighten, his heart rate beginning to skyrocket. The sounds of his close friends faded into the background, drowned out by the screech of metal tools on a medical tray and the low buzzing whine of a drill. Moira said something to him, but all John could see was a chair covered in leather straps and dried blood from the last prisoner who couldn’t handle the experiments. Mavis had placed a hand on his shoulder, but all he could feel was the grip of two prison guards forcing him to stay still while they tested to see how far his healing factor would prevent major damage to his body, as well as eventually repair itself.

John **** his eyes shut, begging that when he opened his eyes that he would once again be in the Brighton manor. That the world of a prison of **** would be left behind in his memories where it belonged. That when he opened his eyes, maybe, just maybe, he would be back in just a normal interrogation room and not within a room he thought would become his tomb.

Slowly a warm hand grasped at John’s clenched one, slowly forcing him to relax his fist until the hand intertwined its fingers with his own. He could hear the soft breathing of someone next to him, and as he began to calm down, another hand grabbed at his remaining free one. Another warm presence soon joined the others by pressing against his back and hugging him around his middle before finally a soft hand caressed his face, telling him he was alright. The scent of metal and blood faded away to the recesses of his mind, replaced by the soft lavender scent of Talia’s shampoo, and the faint hint of rose petals from Mavis’ body wash. Slowly he opened his eyes to see Moira standing in front of him, a look of concern on her face as she held John’s head in her hands.

“Are you here with us?” Moira asked softly. “If you need to go back out, we can handle the interview.”

“Yeah, you were freaking out there pretty badly.” Mavis said, holding onto his hand a bit tighter before hugging his arm. “If this place brings up bad memories, you and I can go-”

“I’m fine,” John said softly before taking a deep breath. “Just… bad memories from the prison. I disassociated and… I’m fine now.”

“John, you just had an awful panic attack,” Naoto said carefully. “You are allowed to be not okay.”

“No, seriously, girls. I’m fine,” John said, a smile starting to appear on his face. “Having you all here helped me get out of that. I’m fine, and I want to be here to talk with Callie.”

“It is fine to not be okay,” Sigmund said with the voice of a kindly uncle. “Even the strongest of warriors can be plagued by the horrors of their life or ****.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Talia asked carefully.

“I am,” John said with a smile, though a hint of pain was still on his expression. The warmth of his loved ones pushed it far back, but he could still swear that he could smell the dried blood of failed experiments. He hoped that was just his brain playing tricks on him. Moira could still see some discomfort remaining on his face, and she scowled before turning her head.

“Damn that prison,” she muttered to herself. “I swear on the Lady’s name, once I get put in charge of the branch, that will be the first place to go. If we are going to rehabilitate the worst of the Abyss, we don’t need to freaking **** them.”

“Freaking?” Mavis said with a small smile. “What, does the Warden not wanna curse?”

Moira stood up a bit straighter, taking a noble expression on her features. “I’m the Warden of a holy order. I need to be pure in both mind and mouth.”

Talia grinned as well, leaning over to put an arm around Moira. “So you would quote Die Hard to be…”

“Yippie Ki-Yay, Mr. Falcon,” Moira said without hesitation. “Why?”

“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Mavis responded, to which the others sans Moira all got a bit of a laugh out of.

“Warden Brighton?” a knight interrupted them, having poked his head into the room from the door opposite the one they all came in from. “The prisoner is ready.”

Quickly the six of them moved into place, with Moira and John sitting down in chairs on one side of the table, Naoto standing next to Moira with Talia at John’s side, and Mavis and Sigmund standing in the back to act as intimidating muscle. John looked over to Moira, who nodded in response before saying to the knight, “Bring her in.”

The knight gave a short bow before retreating through the door. Then, after a moment of silence, the door swung open to reveal two knights and… her.

“I am so glad you chose to accept my offer, Jonathan,” Lifthrasir said with a smile, shaking John’s hand enthusiastically. “In addition to being a great member of my guild, I have no doubt that you and I will get along swimmingly here.”

“Likewise. And please, just call me John,” John replied with a small chuckle. “What exactly does your guild do?”

“Oh, this and that. We have our fingers in a lot of pies around here and-”

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

Lif and John turned to see who had interjected. Standing there with a scowl was a young woman with hair the color of fire and a burning expression of hatred to boot. She was dressed in rather comfortable clothes, that being a tank top with some logo on it, jeans, and a light jacket along with a pair of combat boots. Her hair was up in a ponytail, though it did look like if it weren’t tied up it would reach rather far down her body. Her blue eyes stared daggers at John as she stomped her way to the two of them.

“Ahhh, Callie. So good of you to come by. John, this is one of my most-”

“Lif, cut the shit. What the fuck is he doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“He’s one of our newest recruits, Callie,” Lif said, “He’s a late bloomer and will be a great-”

“No no no. No way I am working with him,” Callie said. “After he killed Brett and almost got me killed? No fucking way.”

“Wait, after I… Hold up, you were working with BRETT?!” John exclaimed.

Callie looked at him with an expression of confusion and anger. “Well, duh. Lif said he wanted to find who could put out that much power after you managed to do that. But I told you he was way too dangerous to be recruited!” Callie said, turning back to Lif. “Crowly STILL hasn’t gotten out of the infirmary after seeing those flames. I may not be a fucking searcher, but I should know you can’t trust someone who uses flames that can give a searcher PTSD.”

“And would now really be the best time to talk about this?” Lif asked through gritted teeth.

“It is if you intend to bring him deeper into the base,” Callie said before looking back at John. “You. Get out, or I will sound the alarm. We may not have demon fire like you had back there, but if you fucking try anything, there will be hundreds of mages here to kill you faster than you can-”

“Good to see you again,” John said, cutting off his memory as Callie was sat down. She looked a lot like she did that month ago, though she was now a bit rougher around the edges. Her hair was a bit longer, though still pulled up in a ponytail. She had dark circles around her eyes and a few bruises here and there. However, there was one major thing that was different between the day that they had met and the way she was now. That being the rather bulky straight jacket with thick padding around the arms and shoulders that she was dressed in. There were small burn marks on the fabric around the neck, and rather than metal buckles, the belts were latched by clear plastic clasps.

“Nice fit,” John said, to which Callie cracked a dark grin.

“Like it? Apparently I was too ‘shocking’ of a prisoner so they decided to give me some new threads.” She wiggled a bit, and as she did so the faint smell of ozone permeated though no sparks were seen. “Finest form of insulation the order has. No lightning for me while here.”

“And if you don’t cooperate, you’ll be in that for two weeks when we get back.” One of the knights said, his gruff voice having a slight hint of sadistic glee as he looked down at the prisoner. She and John both glared at him, though he was clearly used to such a response as his smile refused to leave his face.

“Soldier, you aren’t helping,” Moira chimed in. She did not look up at the knight in particular, instead focusing her gaze towards Callie. “Please wait outside. We will call you back in when you are needed.”

That caused the knight to lose his grin. “But… Warden, we were given-”

“I’m sorry, but you have been given new orders,” Moira said without a hint of remorse. “I need to discuss things with Miss Anders, and frankly, I think you will agitate both her and the former prisoner, Mr. Newman, too much. You two will wait outside.”

“The prisoner is dangerous-”

“And I am the Warden,” Moira interrupted him before he could offer another interjection. John figured that the prison knights were more used to being independent, as normally a knight would NEVER push against the Warden as much as this one was. “I am more than capable of handling her. Not to mention my allies of Mr. Newman and his various companions. You two would not be of help if a brawl were to occur, and I think you two would create the situation where a brawl will happen. Leave.”

The knights looked at one another, with the one that had remained silent just nodding and turning to leave. After a moment or two, the more talkative knight also turned and followed his companion out the door.

The moment that the door shut, Moira sighed softly. “Wonderful. Guardian knights are made of tough stuff, but they often forget who is in charge in the order.” She looked over to John and gave him a small nod. John returned the nod and turned back to Callie, who looked a bit confused as her gaze shifted between John and Moira.

John folded his hands in front of himself, leaning forward as he stared Callie dead in the eyes. “Look, Callie. I know you don’t like me-”

“Understatement.”

“And I don’t like you much either,” John continued. “But we have received information that you might hold some information that we need. So if you can tell us what we need to know-”

“Nope,” Callie said, popping the “P” as she leaned back in the chair. “Helping you is pretty far up on my ‘list of things I would rather be dead’. Good try, but I ain’t doing shit for you.”

“What if we could offer you something you want in return?” Moira asked softly.

“Mmmm, tempting, but I doubt you want to give me what I want,” Callie said, her gaze shifting to Moira.

“We can offer you your freedom.”

Callie’s smile disappeared as her eyes went wide. She leaned forward into her chair before saying, “Wait, seriously? Wow. You guys must really need some info. Surprised you came after me for any questions instead of Lif.”

“That’s why we need the info,” John said. “We haven’t caught Lifthrasir yet.”

Callie turned to John with a suddenness that caused a small pop in Callie’s neck. “Wait. I thought he was caught with the rest of us.”

“N… no?” John said, confused. “Why do you think they let me out?”

“Because… you betrayed us?”

“No, we let him out to help us find Lifthrasir,” Moira chimed in. “He snuck out while we were dealing with the rest of your guild and haven’t been able to find him. We figured one of the guild members would have a clue as to how to find him.”

“Y… you’re lying!” Callie said, her features twisting into a snarl. “He wouldn’t leave me- us to die!”

“But he did,” John said. “He left you all as a distraction and ran.”

“No! He wouldn’t have abandoned me to-”

“Callie, think,” John interrupted. “Have you heard any of the other prisoners talk about him? About what he would be doing in the prison or anything regarding him actually being captured?”

“Well, of course not. The guards would never mix us with him in fear that we would escape!”

“Then why wouldn’t the guards taunt the prisoners with catching Lif?” John asked. “You and I both know they would jump at the chance of trying to dishearten anyone in there.”

“Be… because…”

“Face it, Callie,” John said while crossing his arms, “Lif left you to rot in jail.”

Callie looked from John to Moira and back again, her snarl slowly being replaced with a look of realization, then anguish, then returning to a face of rage. John’s eyes went wide as he watched tiny sparks jump from Callie’s head to the insulation on her shoulders. Then the sparks got larger. And larger. Soon the insulation was starting to turn black as more and more sparks jumped from her. She started to scream a primal yell, and the stink of ozone filled the room as a giant bolt of electricity jumped out from the back of her head, slamming against a wall behind her and blackening the ancient stone architecture. Callie took in deep breaths, her rage slowly calming as the smell of lightning dissipated from the room. She looked back at John and Moira, rage still present in her features but not directed at the people in front of her.

“So,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse from screaming, “you want my help.”

“Yes,” John said.

“Why?” Callie asked, leaning back in her chair. “Why me in particular? I know a thing or two, sure, but no idea why you are looking for me in particular to answer your questions.”

“To be honest, neither do we,” John said before gesturing to Naoto. The detective gave a small nod before placing the papers they stole from Lif’s house in front of Callie. “We were told by someone who knows… a lot that you would be able to help us with our little problem here.”

Callie peered down at the papers before raising an eyebrow in slight confusion. “Why would… Where did you get these? The guild hall?”

“No. Lifthrasir’s house,” Moira said, having remained oddly calm through Callie’s tantrum. “He seemed to have pulled these aside for some reason, though with the locations being written in code, we have no idea where these places are.”

Callie looked up at the Warden and then back down at the papers, clicking her tongue in thought. “Hm… Well, I can see why you were told to come to me by your mysterious source.” She leaned back in her chair, looking at both John and Moira. “And you said you can offer me my freedom in exchange for my help?”

“As soon as Lifthrasir is caught, you will be freed,” Moira explained. “We have to ensure your information is good before we can-”

“No,” Callie interjected. “I want to be out of that prison before he is caught. I can’t sit in there for one more day while he runs around free.”

“You can’t get out before he goes in,” John said, crossing his arms. “You still did a lot of crimes.”

“I know. But it’s one of my conditions for helping,” Callie said calmly. “You were in that prison, John. You know how fucking awful it is.”

John turned away from Callie, letting out a grunt of agrement. He could recall a lot of things about that prison, some of which he would rather not remember. Even if she did all those crimes and hated him, she didn’t deserve it that badly.

“Maybe we can negotiate having your sentence somewhere else,” Moira said slowly, placing a hand on John’s shoulder.

“Oh, I know where I would like it to be,” Callie said with a grin.