His eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
"I have done nothing to harm you, I have shown more patients with you then I think anyone else here will! I won't just harm you to justify your misguided idea of us though, and if you think for a damn second I'm going to let you harm any of our family's here your wrong." He leaned more into the bars to look her directly into those hawk eyes of hers.
"I wanted to be kind to you because it was the least I could do after we brought you here, but trust me it could be far worse. I have been dragged from my home before, kicking and screaming as one of your governments damn night prowlers dragged me outside into the rain. I still have the scars on my leg where it had bit into me!" His voice raised as he let go of the bar with one hand and grabbed her shoulder through the bar pushing back on her.

"I watched my brother get his arm ripped off only then to have his throat torn out by another one of those god forsaken monsters as the fought over his body like it was some kind of prize!" His eyes had watered as he remembered every detail of the night. "We havn't hurt you, we arn't planning on hurting you. So I suggest you let go, sit down and shut up. Because we have lost alot of people we loved in the name of your god, in the name of science. The least you could do for us is listen just once to what we have to say!"

When he'd leaned closer she'd involuntarily stumbled backward from fear of him doing something to her. She'd let go in the process and wrenched her arm through the bars and producing a loud noise. She didn't break anything thoug, just a bruise and she cradled her arm slightly as she stared at him in horror. She had no idea what he was talking about and she kept shaking her head like she could see something.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "I doubt that we'd send beasts on you people. We wouldn't do that. We only do it to enhance our performances." Her head was beginning to hurt worse as she tried to remember what she had seen that night, she ould barely even muster the stregth to recall what her ninth birthday had been like but she could recall the nightmares.

There were two nightmares that haunted her. One of them was the kidnapping while the other was this terrible beast that the government had created. She swallowed had as she began to lose color in her face. She was holding her breath at the moment, as if he'd forgotten to breath from the intense fear that now gripped her. She forcing herself into a mental battle, trying to be as strong as her parents wanted her to be.

Neal watched the color drain for her face and sighed as he rubbed his throat.
"I think you know otherwise is true Olivia. We didn't start this war, your government did." he turned away from her with a few stride separating them. "We arn't the hunters, we're the hunted. All we want is to live in peace. Maybe in the next few days you'll be able to see that."

Still rubbing his sore neck Neal vanished in the darkness to leave Olivia with the whispers of memories that haunted her. He was too angry to stay with her at the moment, he needed to calm himself down before he faced her again. It wouldn't be till the next morning that he'd go back to see her.

Olivia finally moved over to the cot again after she'd regained her steady breathing pattern and laid down. She didn't want to have another nightmare but she knew she would. It was unavoidable and it was the entire reason that she was so tired sometimes. She closed her eyes nonetheless and tried to imagine something that would put her in a more pleasant mood.

This was a failure also since she was always scared, always scared that she'd go out and seen the repetitions of all those faces again, scared that she'd run into one of those beasts again.

It wasn't till she wokeup screaming that she realized that she had fallen asleep and had the dream infiltrate her mind again. She was clutching onto a piece of cloth that was given to her as a form of a blanket, sweating from fear. She scooted back and huddled in the corner with a wide eyed expression as she looked for any danger, listened for any sounds.

"This is a nightmare," she said to herself. "I'm going to wake up at any point now and this will be all over. It's just a nightmare and I'll wake up and be able to speak to my brother at any moment now. He'll tell me everything will be fine and that they won't come and capture me."

But Olivia didn't wake up from the nightmare. With no windows it was impossible to tell what time it was but when Neal showed up with some kind of oatmeal in a bowl for her she'd have to assume it was morning. As he pushed it under the door he stayed to the side with no bars so she couldn't grab him again.
He seemed in a foul mood and there was just a light bruise around his neck from where she had been squeezing the night before.

"You should eat." He said simply. "You barely touched anything last night. You'll get sick if you don't eat, unless of course thats what your trying to do to yourself."

He sighed and pushed back his short bangs to keep them out of his eyes for a moment. "I doubt you'll say yes, but do you want a change of clothes?"

She was shaking slightly at the moment and began to realize that she wasn't dreaming. She listened to him speak and she could see the bruise around his neck from where she was. Her hair was no longer neat and there were bruises forming on her own arms from how hard she'd been clutching them. Her stare was wide-eyed and filled with terror as she could still recall seeing that deformed beast lunge at her.

"I'd like new clothes," she said in a shacky voice, someting no one else had ever heard before. "But I cannot eat right now and I'm not trying to make myself sick. I can go without food for at least forty eight hours." She had less than twenty four left at this moment since she'd eaten about twenty four hours prior to this moment. It had been enriched and modified so that she could do this. She would recover from this nightmare by mid day or earlier. It usually took around an hour to six hours to get the images out of her mind. She couldn't focus here so she was at more danger of doing something that was incredibly stupid.

Neal started at her before sighing. She looked like she was having some kind of panic attack...though it could be a trick. Leaving for a few moments he got her a change of clothing, a white linen dress and some leggings to wear under it to keep her legs warm.
"...here." He offered them to her through the bars keeping his tone gentle. It looked like he wasn't the only one that had nightmares last night. "Its not as nice as your current clothes but there clean at least."

Olivia really was scared, but there wasn't anything he could do for her. She wouldn't let him near her and he couldn't trust that she wasn't going to attack him again.

She didn't change but she ran forward and took the clothes up in her hands. She gripped them so hard it looked like she would tear them in half. She was studying Neal at the moment, calculating his mvoements and waiting for him to turn into a beast and spring at her.

She maaged to pull the leggings on and then crawl under the sheet so she could change into the clean dress. It was warmer than the clothing she was wearing before and when she was fully changed she threw the clothes she'd been wearing at the bars, not wanting to go near him

Olivia closed her eyes then and tried to imagine the last page of the last book she had completed. It was no use. She was cold down here and that dripping noise she heard somewhere far off was becoming a nuisance. She was looking around for cameras now, trying to know if they had anything else to watch her with.

Neal had turned his back so he could change had was only aware that she had finished when a dress was thrown at the back of his head. Sighing he picked it up and draped it over his arm. well he wasn't going to get anything out of her at the moment so he was just better off leaving her be for now.

"I'll be back in a few hours with you lunch...do you want me to bring anything else back for you?"

She didn't answer but stayed where she was shivering for the most part. She wrapped the blanket around her body and just stared at the wall as she tried to focus on clearing her mind. She'd been through this drill at least a hundred times and now just wanted it to work immediately.

It was memory that cleared her thoughts and this time she thought about the first time her brother had spoken to her. She'd been sixteen and he had treated her more correctly than anyone she'd ever met. It had been after a nightmare and he'd come down to her room and talked to her until she was tired again. He was at least eight years older than her so he'd had some experience in what she was going through.

When Neal did return he had brought her a simple sandwich and something else, a book. Olivia had seemed to calm down finally and he knocked on the door to get her attention.
"I brought lunch." He said softly still unsure on what her condition was. "And something for you to read...it has to get boring being down here alone.."

He lid the tray under the door and retrieved the untouched one from breakfast, the oatmeal having turned into a hard cake.
"Its a old book we had laying around...I thought you might like to read it. Its not religious at all...its a collection of old fairy tales..It will help pass the time at least." He tried to offer her a smile again, hoping to patch things up from the night before. "My mother used to read it to me all the time when I was still small."

"Will you people stop talking about your mothers, whatever they are?" she asked when she had gotten up to get the sandwhich. She was calm now and the memory had worked for the most part. "And I would know that it gets boring when you're alone. I've been alone almost my entire life. Why do you think it's so easy to kidnap me like you did."

She was interested in the book though but she was afraid to go near him at this point because of the image of him turning into beast kept rolling through her mind whenever she looked at him. She didn't look at him but instead kept him in her peripheral vision so that if he were to lunge at her she could protect herself.

"Aren't you going to sed some people down to question me?" she asked. "I mean your whole reasoon for bringing me down to this hell hole was to convince me that you're insignificant life is better than mine. At least I'm important!"

Or was she?

Neal just sighed. "You know you have a awful temper?" Leaning back on the far wall from the bars he watched her. "...I asked them to wait till you had gotten more accommodated before we showed you around. You seemed too stressed out to retain anything you saw." He tried another smile.

"You know if you didn't focus so much on how much you hate us you might find I'm not so bad to be around, y'know when your not trying to kill me?" He was trying to tease her into smiling, that was one thing he had never seen her do, in photos or on Tv. He wanted to see her really smile just once.

"And since your so inclined to stay away from me, how about I read to you? You won't get so lonely then now will you?"

"Well considering I just had a dream you turned into a giant beast with fangs as long as a butchers knife and the body that was huge and shaped like a greyhound I think... not quite sure but you tried to kill me. How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won't kill me on a whim because of some estranged temper?" she questioned. "But a story sounds nice."

She'd gone to sit down by the bars now, taking the sandwich into her hands and examining it. It looked fine, and possibly quite delicious. She bit into it, looking almost like a child as she did so. She smiled slightly though he could not see it. She took another bite then.

Him kill her? she had been the one crushing his wind pipe the night before, not the other way around. Shaking his head a little he opened the book. Scanning the story he smiled a little, it was perfect.

"Once upon a time there was a young couple that was deeply in love. The young woman was heavy with child and turned to her husband one night. 'My love, if I could have but a few radishes from garden next door I know that I and our child would be content.' Now the husband new there next door neighbor was a witch with a splendid garden, but since it was for his dear love he snuck into the garden and stole his wife a few radishes. But this was not enough for the young woman. The next night she felt the craving for vegetables all the stronger and her husband once again climbed over the wall and stole from the old witch again. For three nights this happened till on the fourth as the man climbed the wall he landed in front of non other then the witch herself. He had watched him steal every night from her garden.
'I'll turn you into a tree to replace what you have stolen!' She shrieked but the man plead for his life and explained it was for his wife. Taking pity on the man she said she would spare him in exchange for the child his wife would bear. With no other choice he was forced to agree. As the months passed his wife bore a beautiful baby girl, and as the witch promised she stole the baby away the night it had been born..."

Neal glanced up to see if Olivia was really listening.

She was listening, her sandwich was in mid air as if she were about to take a bite out of it. When he stopped she did take a bite and chewed slowly as he waited for him to continue. She looked like a little girl should as she was listening to a bed time story, or while the kid was just sitting with their mother, eating a peanut butter sandwich and listening to their mother's voice as they read the story.

She didn't move at all at this point and she semed to be waiting for something, waiting for almost anything. She loved stories and she wanted to know what this one was about. She was unsure what love was but she knew what witches were... then there was that marriage thing? Was that like the union between two people? She didn't ask questions though since she wanted him to continue telling the story.

"Continue please," she said a few seconds later, unable to bear the silence.

He smiled as she asked him to keep reading.

"It wasn't long before the small babe grew into a beautiful young girl which the witch had names Rapunzel and the witch knew the world would steal her away. So she built a tower of ivory and locked young Rapunzel away in the top. The tower had no doors at all, only a single window from which Rapunzel could watch the rising sun. She grew up knowing nothing of her real family, and although it was lonely at times she loved the witch as though she was her true mother. As she aged her beauty grew as did her gold sun hair. The witch loved Rapunzels golden hair and never permitted the girl to cut it. Each day she would visit Rapunzel and brush it for her. It was one day many years later that a young prince had been riding through the forest when he came upon the tower. He marveled at the strange sight and was surprised to see a witch descend the tower by a long braid of golden hair.
Waiting behind the trees he watched as the most lovely girl he had ever seen waved at the old crone goodbye. He felt his throb and he became determined to meet this girl in the Ivory tower."

She gasped slightly when she learned about the tower and then turned so she could look at him while he read. She wanted to see it herself, if he was truly telling this story. Why would someone do that to a beautiful wooman? Keep her locked away so that her beauty could never been seen.

The sick thing was she felt the same in a way, trapped where she was with only the walls to stare at. Her head lowered as she waited for him to continue, taking another bite of the sandwich and looking more forlorn and innocent than the children who had come down her had.

"And so he waited for days, watching the witch come and go and he listened to Rapunzel sing to the birds in her gorgeous voice when she was alone. When he could take waiting no more he waited till the witch left for the day he went to the base of the tower and called out as he had heard the witch do so often 'Rapunzel,Rapunzel let down your hair to me.'
Now Rapunzel was surprised that her mother had returned and wondered if the woman had forgotten something. Letting her hair down she noted that her mother felt heavier then before but she climbed far faster then she remembered.
To her surprise though it was not her mother that hoisted into the windowsill but a man! A young handsome man, but a man all the same! Screaming she threw her hair brush and anything else at hand at the poor prince as he covered his head at her assault. As she calmed down he begged her forgiveness for scaring her, he had just wanted to meet her. With her fear draining she now became curious about this stranger. She had never seen anyone other then her mother let alone a man.
The prince was kind and spoke gently with her, he even asked that she sing for him. He left as the sun started to rise in the sky to hide away from the Witch but promised he'd come again to see her. Rapunzel promised not to tell her mother, the prince didn't want that for some reason. And so there secret daily meetings began.."

Neal paused to clear his throat and was please to see Olivia was eating properly for once.
"What do you think so far?" He asked her as he settled down on the floor himself.

"Why does she keep his secret and why does he want to visit her so much? Does he really want to bring her out in public that much? I'm confused," she blurted out before taking another bite, chewing and swallowing. "Tell me more."

She was nibbling rather than eating the sandwich now and seemed so wrapped up in the story that he could be sitting next to her and she wouldn't notice. She was staring at him then, waiting for thestory to continue.

He laughed a little as he found a bonding point between them. "Alright, alright." Looking back to the book he still smiled to himself.

"For days this went one and Rapunzel grew to enjoy the princes company far more then her mothers. The prince would often bring her things from outside the tower like flowers and small animals he had caught to show her. More and more she longed to see the world behind her small window. And it wasn't long before the prince started to bring pieces of fabric for her to weave into a rope ladder so they could leave together.
Rapunzel would miss her mother but she knew the woman loved her, and although she had warned her the world was a frightening place, the prince had come from there and was so wonderful. As the rope neared completion the prince told Rapunzel of his kingdom where they would go and how she would become his queen. He loved her so dearly he could not wait for the two of them to live together for the rest of there lives.
But there love was what brought them a problem.."

Haru paused to build suspense, wondering mildly to himself is Olivia would get the next part..

She looked confused and was now not even eating but leaning forward against the bars so she could try and read the pages before he read them. It wasn't working though since her hair kept getting in the way. She wanted, no she needed to know what happened and why there 'love', as they called it, 'was what brought the problem.'

"Stop stalling and go on," she demanded, though it sounded more like a request than anything. "Please I want to know what happens. What is a prince anyways? What is a queen?"

"Well," he started as he scooted closer to the bars so she could see the pages of the book. "A long time ago before your government exists, or even science really lands were ruled by Kings and queens, there children, princes and princess were the heirs to there thrown, the next in like to rule. So this prince will someday become a king when he gets married and rule over his homeland. Its a old form of government called a monarchy. Normally kings ruled under the idea that god has chosen them to do so. They were a special blood line of sorts"

Resettling he leaned back against the door.

"One day Rapunzel asked her mother a strange question. 'Mother, tell me why my clothing no longer fits as it once did?' The witch looked her beloved Rapunzel over and to her horror realized that the girl had become burdened with an unborn child. As the witch demanded to know what happened Rapunzel tearfully told her of the prince. In rage the witch cut off all of Rapunzel's beautiful golden hair and cast a spell over Rapunzel and cast her out into a far away desert for betraying her and her love. Then the witch waited for the prince to come and call for Rapunzel to let him into the tower. Tying the hair to a peg in the wall she threw it over and waited for the prince to climb up. As he reached the window she pushed him with all her might, casting him down to the ground below. As he landed thorns from a nearby bush pierced his eyes blinding him. The last image he saw was the satisfied look of the witch above as she had her revenge..."

"What?" Olivia exclaimed in horror. "Why did she do that to the prince and why did the lady get fat with unborn babies. I didn't know it was possibe to be that gross... think to sink down to caniablism!"

She looked confused and horrifed at the same time. She wanted to know why the prince had to suffere like that but wanted the girl to suffer so much for eating babies. They were sacred things and were mean to be taught and conitioned in certain ways. But this nonsense about uborn children? She was utterly perplexed. She thought all babies came from test tubes.

Neal stared at her a long moment as the wheels turned in his head to catch up with Olivias though process.

"Wait you think...she.." All at once Neal started laugh and couldn't stop. His sides even started to hurt he was laughing so hard. As tears formed on the edge of his eyes he gripped his stomach. "S-sorry ha ha I-i'll stop...I... AHAHA!" he bust out laughing again, having to put a hand to the floor to keep himself upright.
With the lack of air making him stop laughing he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"She didn't eat any babies you silly girl. She had gotten pregnant by the prince. Thats what it meant by their 'love' getting them into trouble. Thats all, no one ate any children."