“And after that, I lived in the woods for a while. Hermiting out, killing any passerby. Then I decided to get a little braver, I went to a nearby town, pretended to be a beggar. Then I killed some people in that city.” The Madman continued in a lackadaisical tone, “The guards didn’t take so kindly to people being killed, and so they jumped me, shackled me, and tossed me in here. What do you think of that?” A crude scratching in one of the prison walls, almost resembling something human stared back with unblinking, chiseled in eyes. The madman cackled, “Yeah! That’s what I said too!” He threw back his head again laughing uncontrollably. His laughter instantly cut to a throaty growling, then screaming, “WHY CAN’T I GET YOUR DAMNED VOICE OUT OF MY HEAD?!” He held his head in his hands, sobbing. Not with sadness, but with contempt. Contempt for himself, his brother, and especially his brother's killers. Especially them. Those self-righteous bastards. Those hairless apes thought they were special because of the way that they made weapons, because nature had not given them their own. He stared at the scratching in the wall, and he heard his brothers voice. It echoed in his mind. “No… No. Nonononono! Stop! Get out of my head!” A single guard stormed up to the bars of the cell, banging the butt of his sword on them.

“Will you shut up?!”

The madman looked up, “Who, me?”

“Yes you, You dolt! I get it, you’re in prison, can you at least shut your damn trap?! I have the night shift and all I get is one goddamn fox, sitting in solitary, wailing like a banshee! Why am I guarding you, instead of going home to my family?!” The guard ranted, The madman sprinted up and pressed himself against the bars, his bright amber eyes glinting in the torchlight.

“A family you say? You see, someone killed mine. That’s why I’m here.” He whispered. The guard leaned in closer, straining to listen. The madman wrapped his paws around the bars, his lips curling, baring his teeth into a snarl. “I killed them all… all of them… even their village… I burnt it to the ground. Every man, woman, child… dead. Mincemeat.” The guard backed away from the bars, staring at Xensui in disgust.

“How could you…? They were innocents! Innocents!”

“No one Is innocent!” The madman screamed, “No one.” He pulled back from the bars and sat down in a corner of his cell. His head in his arms. 

The guard stared at Xensui. His eyes softened, “You say they killed your family?”

“Yes. My mother, father, and brother.”

“Is that what you were talking about? Who were you talking to?”

“My brother, course! ” He said, he jumped up off of the ground and raced over to the scratched figure on the wall. He pointed to it, staring at the guard expectantly and grinning from ear to ear.

“Didn’t you just say...” he muttered, then had a wide-eyed look at the scratchings on the wall. His voice changed, it was softer. More as though he were speaking to a child rather than a full grown adult. “Does he talk to you often?”

“No shit, he’s standing right there. Who else am I going to talk to, you?” He laughed again, it started with a low chuckle, slowly progressing up to his normal, maniacal, cackle. He stepped back into the cell and kept laughing. The guard stared on in horror and curiosity.

“Ok I- I’ll just leave you be for now. I’ll be right outside. If you need anything, I’ll be right here.” The laughing came to an abrupt stop.

“In that case… can you grab me a book?”

“A book?”

“Yes. A book.”

The guard walked away, confused, upset, and a little frightened. He moved a little faster. thinking about what he had said. Was the fox crazy? He was talking to a wall. A wall! His walk turned into a jog. He had to find a way out. He had to talk to the captain, he had to be reassigned! His jog turned into a sprint. He could still feel those bright amber eyes piercing deep into his soul, seeing all he had done. He had seen it all, and that’s what made him worry. It seems like in all of his insanity, he had knowledge. Either the guard was going to leave, or that prisoner was going to have an accident. He felt those long, stone hallways closing in on him. He felt the eyes of the prisoners staring at him. Watching him. Was he going crazy? What did that fox do to him?! He started panicking, he sprinted down the halls at top speed but no matter what path he went down, he always ended up in the same place. Right back at the Madman's cell. He ran past it over and over again, always ending up in the back in at that same fox's cell. He could hear the soft laughter echoing down the halls he ran through. He knew what he had to do, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he built up the courage to talk to the madman once more. He walked up to the cell, the shadowy figure in the back stood up. 

"Hey! What did you do?!" The guard shouted, all he got in response was that haunting cackling. The kind that sounded pleasant to the ear, but took a serious toll on the psyche. The kind that one might say, would drive you mad. The figure dashed toward the guard with inhuman speed, throwing itself against the bars. It uttered a single word that terrified the lonely prison guard.

"Boo."

The guard woke up, he was slumped on the ground outside of the Madman's cell. It had all been a dream. The Madman was close to the bars again, his outstretched paw reaching for the keys at the guard's belt. The guard darted up and away from the cell bars, out of The Madman's reach. 

"Damn!" He swore, "I almost had them this time!"

"What did you do to me?!" the Guard asked, "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"You were asleep, so I screwed with your dreams. You're quite resilient by the way. Most people just die, or end up like me!" He responded, poking himself in the side of the head. "I just used a little dream magic, hoping that you would die, go crazy and give me the keys, or be sleeping long enough for me to grab them. Unfortunately, none of those happened." 

"How- What- I'm reporting the magic use to the warden, so he'll let the rest of the guards know, you'll never get out!" The Guard walked away, a smug grin plastered on to his face. But something still felt off, and The Madman knew it. As he pulled the key's from the sleeping guard's pocket, he knew that there was still a small part of The Guard that knew that this wasn't real. that it was too good to be true. He also knew that eventually, the guard would wake up again. So The Madman took the Guard's sword, and slit his throat. He took the key's off of the body and unlocked his cell. Leaving the bloodied, naked corpse to be found by some other guards. A chuckling fellow in a guard uniform walked out of the prison, spinning a ring of keys on his finger. The madman stepped away from the awful place and started walking towards the docks.