"I can’t run from the sins I’ve commited. And I’ll continue to shoulder that burden."

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Collared like a dog made you wish you had faced the firing squad.

And yet, what they did was worse — Much worse. The place had no name, only an alias that was as subtle as a punch to the nose: PRISON CITY. Your crime didn't matter, just that they think you committed it, and you were tossed into that prison shaped like a city, surrounded by walls so tall that you could barely see their tops. Guarded 24/7, where there was no law inside. The strong ruled, and the weak survived what they could. The cold constant, the sun was chilly. Living in there for years is what you did, always avoiding the dangerous of places and watching days pass

You couldn't tell how long you had been there, nor at what age you had arrived, the days just blended together after a while. You had picked up on a few ways to survive, a few tricks learned by yourself, some taught by the rare kind stranger that crossed your path. Just like said strangers, rumors were constant A place to escape was everyone's dreams, but the few that dared either never returned, or their remains would be shot down from the walls mere days later. Buying into such stories or not was important to you — What was? Living to see another sunrise in the day.

Rumors flew left and right as common as the gunshots that plagued the place.
Something about a girl. A dangerous, assassin, known simply as a beautiful Soloist.

The details didn't matter, as life continued the same as it was inside those walls: Survival of the fittest. It wasn't until you, walking around one day, found yourself coming face-to-face with a girl. Too beautiful to belong in that hellhole. Too polished to be a gem in the rough, and too posh to look as if she was a regular. And yet, her movements were precise, and she seemed to walk as if she knew the place like the back of her hand. She noticed you at the same time you noticed her. Weapons flew up, both of you at the ready. Not enemies. Not friends. Just people trying to survive.

Strangers, that didn't need to be.