Coming to, Seven was sat against a bumpy stone wall atop a smoothed stone floor. Pulling his eyes up, he began to regain his perception. He was inside of some kind of cage with metal bars, and his torn cape was laid over his lap.

His body shivered as he stretched one arm over the other, feeling the cold surface. Seven reached to his chest and rubbed over it before coughing in an attempt to get the attention of whoever was there. He’d rubbed his eyes to clear the blurriness.

The strange man appeared from the void beyond the metal bars and leaned down before placing a wooden bowl of water through a small slot at the bottom of the cage. Seven looked at it for a few seconds before kicking it away. Poison, Seven was no fool.

“Just water,” the unfamiliar voice spoke. “If you stay dehydrated, you’ll be too weak to fight.”

“I don’t want to fight,” Seven replied.

The man was illuminated by a flame extending from what appeared to be the palm of his hand. He was tall, robed, with long fingers from what Seven could tell. “The child can lie. A good skill to possess out there,” he spoke. Seven avoided his eyes. “You’re a sin.” The boy climbed to his knees and peered through the cage bars as he inspected Theo’s hand in dismay.

“As are you,” his captor said. He used his free hand to run his fingers through his own hair to move it from hiding his face. “The ivory locks we share are said to be woven by Lucifer himself, haven’t you heard?” he stated in a sarcastic tone. “That’s why you shan’t be in that place any longer.”

Seven scoffed in reply. “You must be a lousy assassin.”

“Is that so?”

“If your job is to kill sins, then you should be dead.”

The man’s eyes lit up with a small smirk. “How clever you are,” he started. “Alas, my real job is to stay out of the way. In this case, there was . . an Emergency. An unpaid debt, you could say.”

Seven made an exasperated sigh. “Who is it that wants me dead? I’ve done nothing.” In response, the man’s smirk disappeared before he extinguished the flame with a close of his hand and left the room. Seven stood and waited for him to grow distant.

When the time had come, Seven began kicking at the wall in an unsuccessful attempt to break it. Frustrated, he got down on his stomach and tried to fit through the small opening. His head almost wedged its way into getting him stuck, so he gave up after gaining scratches and what he was sure would become bruises. He retired to the ground and attempted to rest utilizing his cloak wrapped up for a makeshift pillow.