It was a skill evolved from Prayer, a skill that only one man in both words could make use of. The earlier forms of the Prayer skill granted protection to nearby (believing) allies, and the more who joined in the prayer, the stronger the protection grew. Not a bad effect, and compared to the effect of the X rated skill Shine of Divine Light, it could be seen as more useful. After all, all that Shine of Divine Light did was allow the sun to shine upon the believer, no matter where they were, no matter what time it was. Entirely useless on a sunny day in a field.

But hundreds of feet beneath a prison inside a dark cell… The effects could be rather devastating.

As Kreig’s hands remained clasped in prayer, as words continued flowing from his lips, a distant rumble could be heard. Crashing and crunching and the whole room shook as something seemed to drill its way through the fifty-odd layers of rooms and metal and concrete above them. Somehow, all three members conscious understood instinctually who the cause for the occurrence was. And still, they had no idea how to stop it, or even if they should.

All they knew was that the rumbling seemed to get closer. Shouts and screams started ringing out above them, too distant to truly make out, but close enough to understand that it was coming close.

And then, finally, as the room shook with all the vigour of a child trying to figure out what their Christmas gift would hold without opening it, as the framed portrait of Darius on the wall threatened to come loose and as half of the paintings in Kreig’s cell fell from the wall and clattered to the floor, a final crash resounded. The roof above Kreig’s praying form gave in, cracking and crashing, dust flying everywhere as what had been a wall insulated with metal and steel framing became a hole.

Until the dust settled, not one person understood what had happened. And when it did, they were presented with the visage of Kreig, praying as lazy streams of sunlight tapped down on his broad shoulders from above.

Light touched him.

“-Thank you, Lord. Amen.” The prayer ended, and with it, as Kreig stood up, so did the light fade, replaced by silence. Not total silence, of course. Up above, various alarming sounds could be heard, such as dozens of people speaking in hurried tones, until, finally, an alarm went off, signalling that all people able to should evacuate. The cause for the incident was unclear at the moment, but what they did know was that some manner of ability or skill had been used to plough a hole straight through the entire facility. Nobody had been harmed, but if this had been a conscious attack, there was no telling what could happen in the near future.

But the people at the lowest level knew better. They had seen what happened, they just didn’t know how to react yet.

Kreig stood there, arms at his side, his face as stoic and stony as ever.

“Inmate Wiedemann… Please return to your cell,” Darius said, frowning deeply, clearly unsure if his words would actually be respected.

For a moment, they weren’t. Kreig stood there, still dwarfing his siblings. He looked down at them, they looked up at him. “...May I touch you, once more? Only once.” They turned to Darius. His face was dark and he was clearly upset. Arms crossed, he tapped his foot. But his rage at them was entirely unfounded and he knew it. They hadn’t done anything. Their way of handling the situation had been lacklustre, and he had expected them to handle it with more tact. It wouldn’t have been his place to inform Inmate Wiedemann of his parent’s passing, but with this… Part of this laid on him. He waved his hand, giving them the go-ahead.

George and Sam turned to Kreig. “Yeah,” George said.

Kreig reached his arms toward the both of them, hesitated, and then… Pulled them both into his arms. A hug, to signal the closing of this act. A hug, to signal the beginning of their relationship. He held them close, he held them as softly and carefully as he could, and until they hesitantly returned the embrace, he did not release them.

While in his arms, George spoke a few words. “If you… No, when you get out of here, know that you can always find a soft bed and a warm meal in our home, yeah?”

Kreig released them, looked at them both once, gave a smile, thanked them for visiting him, assured them that he would come visit, and wandered into his cell, where he sat down at his desk to continue drawing.

Before Darius could say anything, the door was thrown open with a bang, revealing Craig and his whole possé of Fighters and guards. “Sir, we need to evacuate! There’s been a breach! Is everyone alright in here? I’ve got a-,” His words came to a halt as his eyes fell on the tumultuous situation inside. Frank in the corner, snoring as if everything was alright. The wall between the observation room and cell busted (suspiciously enough in the shape of a certain man). And the roof was smashed, too. Just a small part of it, yes, but when Craig walked in and looked up, he was given a beautiful cut-through view of the facility, including a fair few heads, some looking up, others looking down. All in a state of shock and disarray.

Interesting additions included a man still sitting in the bathroom (despite it all), an old man wearing headphones with his back to the hole (still diggin’ it) and a prisoner almost at the very top, clearly considering the idea of jumping into it to escape his situation. Though, since the hole was several hundreds of feet deep, jumping wouldn’t do him any favours.

Craig was given a nice view of it all, including how Darius, frown lines more apparent than ever, shooed the two siblings out of the room.

This was the worst day of Darius’ life. This incident wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but he’d still gotten the deal drilled into his head: ‘if Inmate Kreig Wiedemann causes an incident, it’s your neck on the line.’ And here he was. A hole in the middle of Other Island, a broken wall between the observation room and the cell… He’d never hear the end of it, if he wasn’t just fired on the spot. The only positive he could think of at the time was that Kreig wasn’t showing any intentions of fleeing and his relationship to the Wiedemann siblings had improved.

“The very same helicopter that brought you here will soon see you off. I’ll keep in touch with you, assuming I remain on the observation team,” Darius said as he removed them from the observation room. The alarms were still blaring to high hell, red lights flaring.

“Dr Darius, will we-, will we be allowed to meet him again? Y’know, as family, and stuff?” Sam asked, her eyes hopeful in a strange way.

Darius merely shrugged. But, as he looked at them and saw their childish hope, he remembered something. He reached inside his jacket, recovering two sealed letters. “...I almost forgot. Forgive me. We were unable to post them due to the secretive matters of Inmate Wiedemann’s existence. Please, once you’ve read them, destroy them by fire. Make sure that no trace of them exists. Unless you can promise me this, I will withhold them both.”

The siblings shared a glace. “We promise to destroy them.”

Darius nodded. “Good. The first was written closely following his initial incarceration and the second was written a week or so later. Please read them thoroughly.” He gave them the letters, they accepted them, and then they left.

The two siblings considered briefly opening them immediately. Curiosity gnawed at them like rabid dogs, but they agreed to save it for when they got home. They hated leaving that whole mess for Darius to clean up, but they had no choice, they really didn’t. Neither of them had a rank anywhere high enough to get involved in that. All they could do was sit and stew over what they just experienced. Their brother was back, and boy was he in a whole mess of trouble.

The mere implication of his existence to the world as a whole was just not something either of them wanted to think about. And their role in it, to boot… It was too much to think about, and they both forced a sort of self-imposed ignorance onto themselves.

That was, until they got home. The time was 23:53. They were dog-tired, but they knew there would be no better time to read the letters. They were probably not anything too long. Kreig wasn’t very talkable back down there, so they doubted he’d be any wordier on paper.

They were wrong, but that wasn’t the first thing they noticed.

The first thing they noticed was a child’s drawing of five people. A mother and a father and three kids. Smiling, holding hands. Then, the letter.

It would be a lie to say that neither George nor Sam felled a tear that night. The first letter… Every word contained so many unsaid sorrows. It cut them deep and it begged for forgiveness all the while. So much unsaid. It was all right there, everything nobody had told them. He was a soldier. He was a believer in religion. He was a human, and he knew he had done wrong, yet he would not tell them what.

They burnt it before they read the second one.

The second letter was far briefer, more of a quick update than an explanation of his entire state. And, as the beginning of the letter told, the back of it did include a self-portrait. It was almost completely alike the man they had met before. The only detail changed were his eyes. The eyes of the man they had personally met were almost completely empty, void of emotion and thought. These eyes, the ones they saw in the portrait… They were honest, and showed his character in truth, as it was, not as how it looked like. Laid bare before them.

The actual letter was only hard to read in that it detailed his loneliness and exhaustion. As it was, neither Sam nor George could help him with that, although, after everything they had seen and felt… Suddenly, they really wanted to help him.

Even if it meant allowing him abode in their own home.