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Alessio seemed in a daze, and Leana resisted the urge to fidget.

Finally he looked at her, biting his lip, “It’s possible if Nithel is still in this world…dimension…place…then he might be forced into the trials as well and there’s a chance of us finding him there. I don’t know.” He sucked in a deep breath, and Leana’s brows furrowed. “The last time I saw him…was right before a robber–” He stumbled on his words, “But he made it out safely! As far as I know, that’s when we got separated.”

Leana somehow straightened more, and she forced herself to breath slowly.

“The trials…” He frowned and lowered his eyes a moment. Shadows passed over his face, and he slowly brought his fist to his mouth, and started to gnaw.

“You’ve been there before?” Leana whispered, to where she almost didn’t hear it and she hesitantly moved closer to him, around the table. It hurt. The memories.

“They um…” The haze came back. He was far away.

She reached out to rub his arm, but he blinked several times, and she pulled back. The fog seemed to leave his eyes, though it reformed like a mask around them.

She gave him the curtesy of holding his eyes, and keeping a calm face, as he spoke. “I believe that whoever, or whatever, brought us here is using these trials to experiment with whatever responses it can elicit, but the trials show you things that have happened in general to force whoever’s a part of it to feel guilt.”

Wait… Experiments? Like… building a catapult and seeing how far you can fling rocks into the pond?

Making people feel guilt? 

“Nithel doesn’t have anything to feel guilty for, so he should be past the trials before any of us and, assumably, we all end up in the same place afterward.” Alessio took a deep breath, and fidgeted with the table cloth, the fog conquering again. “Um,” Alessio stared down at the table. “…He’ll…he’ll be ok, and…we’ll find him.”

Leana’s brows furrowed again. Don’t lie to me. Don’t you dare, lie to me. Anger spiked.

“Whatever dragged us here seems to derive more pleasure from keeping us alive so…in all likelihood, he should be alive…”

Her shoulders drooped and her eyes widened. My… father… could be tortured, right now? All alone, or with other maniacs, like this bunch? She breathed in slowly, then out slower. “Alright.” She reached out and rubbed his arm gently, like she had war-stunned soldiers. Leana attempted the smile, and it came out honest, sad… but grateful. She stepped into him and gave him a tight hug, trying not to cry. “I’m not sure what you’ve been through, but I’m sorry.”

She stood silent a moment, then whispered, “In the future? Don’t ever lie to me.”

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@this-is-not-an-alien @ragnarok @ethan-leonard