Blades of Autumn

[NixOlympica]

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After her interrogator was done with her, a team of medics quietly and efficiently went through over her medical status, applying antiseptic over any external wounds. At the end of the check-up they shot her with a dose of antibiotics and then Hanako found herself back in her cell. They wanted to hurt her but she was of no use to them dead either. Today, she gave them some outdated data combined with some falsities. Nothing threatening to the Movement. Or so she hoped. Right now, AI programs and analytics agents were probably combing through anything she has said. She hoped she had not sentenced any of her sisters to death by what she has revealed today.

In her cell a cardamine rebreather, a bowl of protein smudge and a plastic glass of water were awaiting her. She ignored the food and drink and lunched for the re-breather. They knew that if they wanted to keep her alive, they had to supplying her with Cardamine. Trouble was, they knew how to use that against her as well. They only supplied it to her once every few days, staving off the risk of coma. Her days were spent not just with the effects of physical and psychological torture but with the everpresent lingering feeling of cardamine withdrawal.

She breathed in and out. The cardamine felt weak, like it was once breathed already. It was a small relief but for a few short minutes she forgot about her physical pain. Her tense muscles relaxed and she lay down on the floor closing her eyes, breathing in and out slowly.

"You must not give up, little bonsai tree" she heard Rin say.

Hanako tried to force her tears back. "You are not here." I am all alone she thought. Alone in a world of darkness. Sentenced to be tortured until she tells them everything or they find her no longer useful. She realized she was probably going delirious but she did not mind. Better delirious than broken.

It took her a while to remember Rin's face. For the past months her sigh was filled by a walls of different cells. She wondered what her sisters were doing, how the frankly idiotic war with Blood Dragons was going. Whether the bartender still stocked her favourite bottle of spiced gin. Did they already forget her? And if they did, was there a point in enduring all of this pain? She was sure that if she told them everything, in a few days there was a bullet of mercy waiting for her. She felt ashamed for thinking that way, but there was only so much pain a human body can take.

One of Rin's haiku's rang through her mind.

"When the tree has grown
its roots will reach the waters
even through hard ground"

Her stomach turned and she puked next to herself. This tree is withering, Rin.

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