Chapter One

She was a fool for believing in their tricks. She was an idiot for not trusting her instincts. She was stupid and dumb and a whole list of other things she didn’t need to name because she already had!

She was stuck, and she had been for a while. Now very well accustomed to the ever lying smell of rust (even though on the four steel walls and ceiling of glass, so blank it drove her mad had not a molecule of rust) and the silence so deafening that if she screamed that she felt that she wouldn’t hear it. The prison itself was not very big.  Cascade had a feeling that once she got out, she would have extreme claustrophobia. Or perhaps she would gain agoraphobia! Either way she would not be leaving this experience unscathed, mentally, or physically. She hated everything about it because there wasn’t anything! It would drive her crazy; she just knew it.

At first, that wasn’t even her concern. Not the insane inducing prison that she couldn’t escape, but that she was trapped in the most helpless and even downright infuriating way too! Chains at her wrists, preventing her from using her magic and inside box. Some sort of prison, she assumed, that was made specifically for powerful people. It taunted her with the glass roof, so clear she didn’t even think there was glass at first, showing her exactly how close freedom was. Of course, it also showed that she would die from the almost always winter climate from which she could just feel the cold emanating through the glass, giving the tiny prison a cool atmosphere, but that wasn’t quite her concern. It was more concerning that she couldn’t get out. It was even more impenetrable than even Astria’s bubbles! Something more powerful than all of them. More powerful than the person who can gain any power at any time, perhaps a variable, so to speak. More powerful than the person who was said to be the most powerful magic user in centuries. Heck, it was more powerful than the ones who helped design it!

More powerful than the one responsible for these people. More powerful than the person who was sent to watch over the two children, years younger than her, and more powerful than the person sent to look after the power of an uncaring student.

More powerful than Cascade, controller of oceans and storms. More powerful than Cascade, sister of River.

River… Cascade had never even said goodbye. Never cared to try and fix what little scraps of relationship that the two siblings had. It had never even crossed her mind to say ‘I love you’ the last time the two had met. In all honesty, they barely met at all. And now, they never would. At least that meant River was safe. That, Cascade was eternally grateful for. That was one of the only things Cascade would thank every higher power for - the same ones that she cursed for allowing the others to get captured. And yet, they were also the same ones who she knew watched over them in particular. Why would the most powerful people in eons (Cascade knew she was exaggerating, but so was everyone else so she had a right to as well. Besides Millie was able to fit the claim, anyways) be able to come together without them? No coincidence could have come to this. SAFE, the oxymoron of the name of a Superhero school that sends its students to life endangering missions, couldn’t pair up people like them.

Or at least, that is what Cascade told herself. If the gods were watching them be tormented like some, some sick game! If that was what was happening, she supposed that the gods had no mercy, and yet still Cascade hoped that they had given it all away to River along with the families and friends of her allies.

Not allies, she mentally chided herself, forcing herself to admit exactly who she had let down, ‘friends.’ She absently picked at her chains, hating how she was far too familiar with the way they felt around her wrists, and yet still she winced at the little spark that came off of them as she mulled over her fate. When she had first woken up, along with realizing who she was truly helping, she vowed to break the chains using any means necessary. She tried desperately to rip and tear at the near ancient runic symbols carved into the metal cuffs that had her contained, preventing her from using the abilities born within her with little success. She pulled at the chains as if her strength would magically come back, and even if it did she knew deep down that they wouldn’t be able to be broken by any human alone. It was a hopeless little gesture, but it was one she thrived on. It was a gesture that made her hope she still had a chance.

She remembered when she had tried to escape once, without a plan and being purely reckless. She had tried to wait until the door opened to give her the bare minimum of food, like she was some kind of dangerous animal they needed to weaken, and before the door closed she bolted toward it. She remembered the feeling of adrenaline course through her as she took the risk and remembered the feeling of pure fear as she felt the shackles start to materialize chains and tether her back to the room. The blank, colorless, stupid room. It made her feel colorless, somehow. She turned around so she saw the glowing, slightly purple haze of the magic chains as she tried to tug at them, tear at them. Even a crack.

As she willed tears back, “Please!” She called out, “You can end this! You can save everyone who suffers here! Just let me go! We can help everyone!”  She screamed, pleaded, for the guard who had come to show mercy and release her, albeit with slightly sweetened words. She knew that he had been in the very same room! He wasn’t like the other guards. He was strong, the magic power inside of him seemed to come off of him in waves. None of the other guards even had magic!

It was why she had decided to try the plan with him. And as she cried for help, still tugging with all of the little strength she had at the chains, he left, emotionless, robotically. If she didn’t know any better, Cascade would have thought that he didn’t hear her. But then, for a miniscule instant, they locked eyes. His eyes, as fleeting of a glimpse she had gotten at them, were blank.  Empty.  And, in all honesty, she didn’t doubt hers looked the same.  Cascade stopped struggling for a second.  The door, ironically the key to her freedom, was slammed in front of her, and she physically recoiled from both the sound and the realization that no one would help her.

That, of course, was when she still had hope within her, determination coursing through her veins and the need for justice sharp within every fiber of her being. She knew she would be able to escape the confines that held her! Then she would find her friends and help whoever they needed to. She would get justice for everyone involved, defending the weak and protecting the innocent!

Those moments passed quickly, and what little bouts of energy she found to have during them grew shorter. She found herself tired, and as she started to scream pleas into the sky, like those she had heard so long ago, pleas that were made up purely of deceit and lies, it was then she realized that no one was going to help her. Still, she convinced herself to be patient. To keep whatever strength she had left in hope it would be useful for later. If anything, she started surviving off of pure spite. If anything, she started to live off of the thought that if she survived she would beat the Shadows and defend the people she needed to protect. She was going to help everyone. She just had to wait.

Eventually, what little shard of a plan that she had was thrown to waste as she realized a few key things. Whatever strength she had kept was gone, whatever thoughts of hope were starting to vanish, and little by little, she was beginning to break down. Little by little, she was becoming resolved to her cruel fate.

As the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, her motivation to get out began to leave her. She knew that as soon as she ‘broke’ she would become even more broken. She would do whatever anyone told her to do. She knew that as simply as she knew the chains on her wrist were doing it. They wanted Phoenix and Astria and Rando, yes. But they wanted Cascade as she was the most ‘useful’ to them. Cascade was able to bend the waves, something that could control everything from trade ships to farms. Phoenix was powerful, no doubt about it. In fact, Phoenix was far more powerful than Cascade was.  But her powers were only useful as a weapon. Cascade was useful as a weapon and a tool. Cascade knew they saw her as something they could use. Something powerful if they could control it.

Her eyes widened in shock; it. She took a second to realize what she had thought. She had stopped referring to herself as a person for a second. She was starting to see through the eyes of those who contained her. They were starting to break her, through beating her or through other means. She was hurt relentlessly, but she knew that there was something else. There had to be some other contributing factor.

These chains suddenly did not seem like simple chains, though she had always known that they weren’t. She was being stubborn and was blocking it out, but she needed to read them carefully now. She didn’t want to, but she knew she would do it eventually. She would rather find out what they did now rather when it was too late. 

She read them carefully, taking the time to examine and place what each runic glyph did. She saw how they fit into each other and how they helped weaken her. She saw that they were actually necessary to her survival, as breaking them would break the dome and let the blizzardy climate of the Shadow’s realm into her prison.

Well, that was both the worst and best news she had received since she had arrived. All she had to do was break one or the other, the dome or the chains, and she would be out!

She would be free to die of hypothermia in the frigid atmosphere of Mt. Aclipsa, or however it’s said, she thought, rolling her eyes. Theoretically, she knew that she could survive in any atmosphere with water. She was trained for anything. And yet, she would have to use her powers, something that was restricted by the chains. If she broke the dome, which was her best bet as the chains were unbreakable (or so said the runes), she might need to break the chains separately. It was strange, almost like how squares are rectangles, and yet rectangles are not squares. The dome was a product of the chains, but the chains and the dome were not exactly mirrors of each other. There was a slight chance that if she were to break the dome somehow, the chains would not stop working. This meant if she broke the dome, she may or may not possibly die.

...Was death truly better than what would happen if she were to keep the chains on? That thought, although as fleeting as it was, terrified her. It terrified her that her mind was ready to go to such lengths to escape this hell.

Well, then, she had to get out of there. She had to get out as soon as it was humanly possible. Still she couldn’t do anything, and she waited. She waited for months and found that the slight hope she still had was fading slowly. Too slowly it seemed, for the people who would make her work for them as soon as she broke wanted her to be under their control long ago.

She realized that they were getting impatient. She realized they were going to kick up the caliber of her torment. That they were going to start to fill her with fear or agony. Something to make her snap sooner. Something to make her lose hope that her friends and herself were never going to escape. Something to make sure she wouldn’t rebel and attack her…

If she broke, what would they be to her? Enemies? Tormenters? Captors?  She wouldn’t break; what was she thinking about!? And yet, in the empty space, where the only new thing was the smell of blood, or perhaps, every once in a while its metallic taste would enter her mouth as she bit her tongue, every unanswered question that was possible to find within her mind was welcoming. She dwelled on it, far longer than what was healthy. It was a term she didn't want to accept.

She was still going to get out of there. If anything, that thought spurred her into what little action she could take. She started planning, and calculations ran rampant within her mind. She wouldn’t let anyone but herself win. She would stay hopeful and strong. She would escape. She would break the chains. She would dissipate the dome. She would escape with the others with her.

Life wouldn’t be that easy. It never was, and it definitely never would be. Her captors had been planning. Planning to make the process of her enslavement quicker. She would be under their command soon, very soon. And if it wasn’t then they would make sure that she had a reason to be under her command.

So when the very person she had prayed to never step foot near her there, River, her usually cheerful eyes now desperately trying to find somewhere, anywhere, to escape from here, walked into the doors of her prison, chained with the same stupid runic symbols on her wrists, Cascade froze. She started, pitifully, to reach her hand out to her sister before pulling it to her chest. She grit her teeth in what would have seemed like anger, but River knew better. And the tears that she had held in for months, perhaps even years, fell down her cheeks like her namesake. It hurt, because they taunted the both of the sisters, water being so agonizingly close and yet, they both were unable to control it.

“C-Cascade..?”

“I’m sorry...” Cascade started apologizing to River like it was her fault that River had been caught, but then… “I’m sorry! I-I I’m sorry, I’ll do whatever you want! That’s what you want me to do, right? Don't hurt her, I’ll come… I will come with you! Please,” Cascade pleaded like she did when the chains formed, all those weeks, or perhaps months, ago; “Just let River free and unhurt.” She resigned herself. She knew exactly what they would do. Cascade knew they would hurt an innocent if only to make sure that Cascade was on their side. It just so happened they seemed to know the exact person that would make her comply the fastest. Someone that they didn’t even need to threaten to hurt because they had already hurt her.  Someone that would snap Cascade into selfishness, that would make it so the greater good just didn’t apply.

“Cascade? What are you… saying?” River knew exactly what Cascade meant about coming with them. She knew exactly what was going to happen to herself and what would happen to Cascade if her sister went through with her words. It was not the thing Cascade was agreeing to that troubled her and riddled her with confusion. It was the fact that Cascade was going through with it. That Cascade was surrendering herself to them. That the stubborn, justice seeking and brave sister River had grown up with all her life was giving herself up. She was scared about the fact that Cascade had lost her spirit - the one that would hold on to everyone to stay. The hope that was always part of her, etched into every fiber of her being, was gone.

River was not confused about what Cascade was doing. River was confused about the fact that Cascade was doing what she was doing. Perhaps it was impulsiveness? Seeing River could have filled her with emotions, and she would resume having hope and being stubborn. Maybe Cascade would soon resume being her kind, brave, and hopeful self right now!

That was when River saw what she hadn’t seen when she had been dragged in. She saw Cascade’s bruised legs. She saw Cascades weak, beaten arms, which had marks from pulling the chains that had restricted her for so long. She saw the clothes she wore were torn and bitten and red. She saw the bandages that Cascade had, always red and pulled too tight.

But none of that concerned her. Nothing about anything that she saw there concerned her in the slightest. No, River felt every wound Cascade had, and yet, despite yearning to heal every single injury, menial or not, that Cascade had, nothing about that had her as concerned as her eyes. Her black eye didn’t concern her either, no. That was minute compared to what she saw in her eyes. She saw Cascade broken, hopeless and ever so sad. The fact that Cascade cried like that was proof enough that something was off.

But River refused to acknowledge that, and only when the two sisters locked eyes with each other did River realize that her sister was no longer what she knew growing up. And as Cascade stood up, two of the four captors that dragged her there began walking to her sister. River was stunned. She reached out to put her hand on Cascade’s shoulder - to try and convince her to stop this.

Cascade flinched back. She corrected herself immediately, of course. Pretending that it hadn’t happened. Pretending that it was okay. But it had happened. Cascade had flinched. Not from surprise, nor from anger of all the things that had happened between the two siblings, but from fear. The simple notion of being touched scared her.

“Cade?” River pleaded, a single word that conveyed so much. It contained the mangled bond they shared, and how it used to be as strong as steel. It brought back a thousand memories, and yet none of them succeeded to bring back the person she knew.

“Sorry, Vir.” That broke River into shock. She watched helplessly, almost as though it wasn’t actually her watching, but rather someone else as her sister, eyes downcast, dragged away. River was unable to move and unable to talk.

No…

No, no, no, no! The phrase repeated in River’s head. Cascade had sacrificed her freedom… for her? She had to save her! River had to save her sister.

“Hmm, that worked out far better than we had hoped,” the first guard said. She had almost forgot they were standing there. Almost. “All we had to do is capture the world known ‘Jester’!”  ...Were they calling her a fool?

“I know! It was so easy. Almost like she was begging to be caught.” River stayed silent, head lowered. It had been easy to capture her. She put up a fight, of course, trying to choke them by wrapping water around their throats and flooding it down their lungs, but that would have worked for only one guard, two if she was lucky.

There were at least ten guards. A little extra if you asked her. But that rose the question: how was Cascade caught? Ten guards would be nothing to her. The ability to control water like a bucket instead of a thread was what made Cascade able to control her namesake and more! The only actual way Cascade could be caught defenseless was in a desert, and Cascade would never go to a desert.

“Alright then. Let go of her - she’ll be staying here,” the first guard said, one of the two that stayed with her after Cascade left. The scene, as short as it was, had brought her attention away from the fact that there were still two guards near her.

River snapped out of her thought and rose her voice at that. “W-What?” She tried to back away from the first guard before the one behind her gripped her arms hard. She yelped in pain, along with slight surprise.

Guard one laughed maliciously, “You truly thought we would let you go? Didn’t know that you were so gullible!” River hadn’t thought so but…

“No, I’m afraid that you’re staying here.” They laughed again before shoving her roughly into the dome and closing the door.

She was trapped…

-Amita Ganeshkumar