[ Everything hurts. It's true that she didn't fight capture (much, and not physically), when she arrived at the Gallows, when they ripped everything from her, oh. She fought. Has physical proof of that beneath the tatters she wears. That's all they left her; even the ring she wore at all times is gone. And while it hasn't served its purpose since she got her (hasn't been necessary, which feels weird and unsettling), Hibiki feels incomplete without it. The last gift her mother left her, gone.

The physical pain is bad, but the emotional is much, much worse. Both of which she makes sure to block from the connection she shares from Kaito, a wall erected around it.

Galloping at a full gait for what feels like forever, Hibiki holds the reins of the aqua equine tightly. Her ab muscles tightened in an attempt to not twinge in pain as her passenger holds on, they've long since put the Gallows behind them. But it's not enough. She needs to put more distance between them and that horrible place. She needs to blow its stench from her, break the shackles she can still feel on her wrists and ankles and be free.

But intellectually she knows that that will never happen. No matter how far or how fast they go, she will never fully break free. That place has its hooks in her. Once the Gallows is only a memory, Hibiki tugs on the reins, slowing the stead down to a trot. Forcing herself to keep her eyes forward, they ride in heavy silence for a few more moments. ]

...We should probably decide where to go. I can't go back to Stygia, and I don't know if there's a way to get to the Shadowlands from here.

[ It's not just a can't, but a won't. Not now. Possibly not ever. ]