Young Writers Society

It was mealtime. He normally despised this part of the day due to him having to digest food that was never meant to be in his essence in the first place, but he was taking today's meal in stride. The wait in line offered a prime opportunity to further concoct a plan, and by the time he eventually got to their table, he had decided that he would involve Apophis and Kazimir in his plan.

There was just one slight problem.

They still thought he was human.

And the one thing he never did was reveal that Leonardo Cartwright was anything but human, because then someone would get smart and realize that he was also the Scarlet Lord.

Kazimir sat down at the table, sighing as he plopped his meal tray on the table. More food he couldn't identify. But, this time, it looked something like a sandwich. It was some meat-looking thing between two softer, more crusty looking slices of thing.

There was so much about alien food he had yet to explore, and of course, it was in a space prison.

"So uh," he looked up to Leo. "How're you likin the cell? Got any interesting cellmates?"

"It's alright," he said, lifting up the sandwich and taking a tentative bite out of it. He forced himself to swallow it. "Fortunately, I'm the only one in my cell. I hope they don't add any more people before..."

He awkwardly trailed off, hoping that Kazimir would get what he was implying.

Kazimir took a bite as well, raising his brows as Leo left his sentence hanging.

"Oooooh," he said with a nod. "So you are thinking about that. This not being a permanent situation and all. Well... so am I."

He smiled and then took another disgusting bite out of his sandwich. He chewed, swallowed and place the food back down on his plate. The chatter of the inmates around them would easily conceal their voices if they kept them quiet enough - he had just had to be vague for the first part in case Kazimir wasn't up for escaping.

"Have you come up with anything, yet?" he asked, desperately hoping that he wouldn't have to reveal the truth.

Apophis slid in next to Leo and Kazimir about this time, frowning with disgust at her food. "Hello boys."

"Ohheyyyy," Kazimir says, sliding over a little to make more room for Apophis. "You're just in time. I was just about to tell Leo we need wings if we wanna make it like a tree from this place."

Something he hadn't anticipated. Luckily, it wouldn't be hard for him to adjust to whatever technology this place used, but it would still be a hassle that hadn't completely crossed his mind. "We could also look for their stargate," he quietly suggested. "I was brought here by ship, but the Sen must have contacted the prison through the stargate - they had no interstellar ships."

"Wait, so you don't think they'd have a ship we could... get out with?" Kazimir asked, with his voice hushed. "I've never been through a stargate. Heard of 'em but I dunno where one would be in this place, or how we could find one."

He thought for a moment. "I'm sure that they have a ship we could use," he whispered back, "but I also know some planets we could go to through the wormhole. If we jump through enough of them, we should be able to throw them off and get to where my ship is. Then I can bring you two back to where you're from."

"Okay, but, where would the stargate be?" he asked, still keeping his voice hushed. "I don't know if there's a way to learn the layout of the ship apart from the areas we're restricted to. There's a whole bunch of upper levels I've never set my eyes on."

This was the moment where he should reveal the truth. The moment where he should tell them that he wasn't human, that he had only been pretending to be one because no one was ever supposed to know. But when he thought about even uttering a single word of the truth, he was overcome by a terrible fear that they wouldn't accept him. It had happened in the past. Why wouldn't it happen now?

But he knew there was no other choice.

He took a deep breath he didn't need.

"I'm not human," he whispered. "I just changed my gui-form to look like I was." Guise made it sound like everything he was was a lie; form made it sound better, like he hadn't been lying to them since the moment they met. "I could easily change my form to match one of the guards. I just need a way to explain my absence."

"I might be able to supply that," Apophis muses.

Kazimir turns to Apophis, with a hand on his chin. "Color me intrigued. That is both vague and ominous. Please, do tell me more."

He looked wildly between the two, trying to keep a calm demeanor but also trying to process how the two of them could be acting so nonchalant about his big reveal. It had taken so much time to muster the courage to say anything. He had expected that it would take a similar amount of time for them to realize what he had said and accept it. But they hadn't even addressed it!