And You And I

S208 (U2): Stuck inside these four walls

Author's note:

Right, folks, last chapter of the update. This time the chapter title is the opening line to Paul McCartney and Wings' song Band on the run, from the album of the same name. Given where Shego ended up last time we saw her and that the opening verse of the song is about being in jail, I think it is highly appropriate. So, here's chapter eight: Stuck inside these four walls.

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Black. That's all that could be seen inside the small cell, pitch black. There were no windows and not a speck of light managed to penetrate between door and frame. Yes, the cell was about as dark as you could get. And cold... bitterly cold. Cold to the point that the very air would catch in your lungs as you took a breath, force you to cough and, had there been any light, visible as you shakily exhaled. Not that they could be seen, but the room did contain scant furnishings; a narrow cot with a box base, a small sink and a toilet.

Atop the cot, clad in an orange jumpsuit and with a thin grey blanket huddled around her, lay a woman with green skin and raven hair. However, in this room such details were arbitrary. She huddled her knees close to her chest in a desperate attempt to keep warm but could do nothing to stop her body from constantly shivering. How long she had been here, she could not say. Two meals arrived each day, both consisting of a bowl of grey oatmeal, with a strange aftertaste and a glass of water. Unfortunately, she'd lost track of how many and since they were the exact same, she no longer knew whether it was day or night. Feeding time also served as the only time she saw light; five minutes allotted with each meal, then it was a return to the darkness. And each time, the dull illumination stung her eyes, forcing her to squint as she ate the blurry contents of a bowl she could barely make out.

The green-skinned woman lay in silence, bar when a shiver caused her teeth to chatter. The metaphorical green embers inside of her, that she had desperately endeavoured to keep alight, were close to flickering into oblivion. At the start of her confinement, she'd forced herself to exercise, in order to generate body heat to stay warm and keep those precious remnants of fire glowing. However, she'd eventually run out of energy and her food supply had only just been enough to sustain her. So, she'd retreated to lying on the cot and willing her mind to conjure up thoughts and images that might give the fading embers some semblance of sustenance. At times she'd fall asleep and then wake up sometime later, somehow feeling more tired. For the moment, she was awake but felt utterly exhausted. Her pale green skin, so used to being warm, felt frozen to the touch and had it not been for the constant shivers that wracked her body, she could easily have been mistaken for a clothed ice sculpture.

Eyes open or closed, it did not matter, for the same darkness surrounded her regardless. And somewhere amidst that bleak abyss, she could hear the voices of the two halves of her own personality argue relentlessly. A single subject having torn her mind apart. The green-skinned woman watched on as the two individuals, cast in her own image, battled with words.

"Why can't you face up to the truth?" the first woman, dressed in a short brown skirt, grey jacket and teal turtle-neck, with a matching headband in her long raven hair, said in annoyance. She went by the moniker, Miss Go.

"What, the truth you're choosing to ignore?" the second woman countered. She was clad in a form-fitting green and black catsuit, with matching gloves and boots. Her raven tresses flowed freely down her back. Her name, of course, was Shego.

The green-skinned woman felt her frail fire flicker, like the heated argument was slowly consuming, rather than kindling it.

"No, the truth that, if you would just accept it, might help free you from that cage you've kept yourself locked in for the past six years," Miss Go retorted.