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[lilynibelung]

Unhealed Scars

The little girl ran as fast as her short legs would take her, her breath coming in sharp ragged gasps.  In her arms she carried a squirrel, the critter surprisingly allowing itself to be carried and not wriggling free of the small child's arms.  The pounding of her heart echoed in her eardrums as she ran, desperately seeking escape from her tormentors.  Shouts and jeering came from just behind her, growing louder despite her attempts to outrun them.  She glanced behind her frantically to see how close they were... a costly mistake that would slow her just long enough.

The first rock clipped her on the shoulder, jolting her with pain and spinning her to the ground.  She fell hard, shielding the animal in her arms protectively to prevent her body weight from crushing the animal.  She felt the sting of a second and third stone as they pelted painfully into her back.  A boy's laughter could be heard before another rose up, then another.  The girl looked up to see the faces of twenty-some older children looking at her.  Soon a chorus of mocking laughter assailed her from the assembled throng, singsong teasing soon following.

"It's just a stupid squirrel!" "'Beast Girl', 'Beast Girl', Hahaha!" "She even looks like one too!"

The little girl whimpered as they approached.  The first impact of a foot in her side caused her vision to blur as the breath was knocked out of her body. The child endured the beatings, her only focus on trying to keep her little charge safe.  Mercifully, the beatings would eventually stop as her tormentors grew bored and wandered off.  She groaned and stirred, red hot pain shooting through her leg.

Somehow, she knew that her leg was fractured, as though she had lived through this moment before.  The pain had been a small price to pay to keep her tiny animal companion safe.  The girl eased into a sitting position and opened her palms.  The lifeless eyes of the squirrel stared back at her, having been smothered in her grip as she was attacked.  A strangled sob escaped the girl as she cradled the little creature's body in her arms.  Unbidden, the darkness crept forward, choking out the light and leaving her in inky silence.

***

The nude Hyur knelt on an obsidian dais, hundreds of images revolving around her in an endless dance.  Like the facets of a gem, the images would fade in and out of focus, each one a different story.  One, a morbol bearing down upon the frightened little girl, threatening to devour her whole.  Terror gripped her heart as the creature opened wide its maw to consume her, but it never came.  Another image appeared, this time a lass with a bandana riding away leaving the heartbroken Hyur behind.  Each moment of pain bit into the woman, carving away a piece of her.

The Hyur wrung her hands as each image spun around her chaotically, each one taking its place to torment her.  Each vision was a single piece in a cacophony of stories.  Some she had experienced, some she had imagined, but all were cruel and painful.  Yet another image flashed into view.  This time, a pale-green-haired Lalafell woman was being beaten by a large Miqo'te with a savage axe while she watched helplessly.  The Hyur reached out a hand desperately towards the image, as though she could somehow alter the course of events with that gesture.

Unable to change anything as the Lalafell was brutalized and beaten near to death, she squeezed her eyes shut.  She jolted with the sound of each impact, felt each blow as they landed on the Lalafell as though each hit was striking her.  Sensibilities overwhelmed, she cried out for someone to help her, to bring her back... but only mocking laughter came back.

When she opened her eyes, the woman was on a dark forest path.  Around her, several indistinct figures closed in.  The dark forms loomed all around the woman, flitting just out of her vision.  Indistinct and devoid of detail, they shifted in and out of focus, ever on the edges of her field of view.  Voices darted in from every which way, the speaker always unseen.  The words were mostly incomprehensible, though bits and pieces were sometimes audible.  There could be no mistaking the tones though, filled with derision and scorn.

"Stupid bitch, look what you did!" "You failed him!  You did this to him!"

The Hyur sat on the bloodstained grass, hugging her knees.  A discarded lance lay nearby, as did the body of an animal - an antelope whose eyes were glazed over in death.  She rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her face unchecked.  Her cheeks were spattered with the blood of the beast, a macabre sight when paired with the whites of her frantic eyes.  The body of an Elezen boy laid nearby, drenched in blood and gored from several wounds.

"You can't do anything right!" "He was a fool to count on you!"

The blonde haired woman quivered on the brink of breaking as the voices closed in around her.  She let out a choked sob as her resolve deserted her. Collapsing to the ground, she curled into a fetal position mewling like a babe.

The silhouettes bore down upon her, arbiters of judgement.  "Please stop..." she pleaded in a whisper over and over again.  The relentless phantoms came as one, chaotic forms beginning to mingle together as each darted in to deliver a barb like a swarm of angry hornets.

The phantom of an emerald haired scholar scoffed: "I'm only your friend because you spread your legs when I ask." A miqo'te in a maid's uniform spat upon her prone form: "You worked me near to death - my illness is -YOUR- fault.” A giant of a Roegadyn bore down upon her, maelstrom armor clanking in the darkness: "You take advantage of how much I care about you - you disgust me!" A spirit veered in, this one with the tall black ears of a viera.  "I cannot fathom why I even had an interest in training you.  You are lackluster in every sense of the word.  You are a mistake.

As one, the phantoms began to chant together, the sound growing until it was a roar despite the Hyur's efforts to cover her ears.

"The sentence is death." "The sentence is death." "The sentence is death."

She heard the hollow sound of metal scraping as swords were removed from their scabbards.  The voices began to crescendo, a chorus of a mob demanding retribution.  As one their chants grew in strength, the volume increasing until the woman could not think, could not breathe.

"Death.  Death.  Death.  Death.  Death."

A skeletal wood wailer grabbed her chin, forcing her to gaze upon her executioner.  Her father.

"Pathetic, useless excuse for a daughter.  I know what you do."  She could feel the scorn in her father's voice as he spat his words at her.

"You spend your time at a whorehouse, fucking anybody that will pay attention to you.  Useless whore, you shame our name.  You're better off to me dead." he sneered.  The man took hold of the colossal claymore at his side, hefting it easily.  The weapon was raised up in an overhead arc before rapidly descending.  She struggled to move, but her body would not obey her.  She could only watch the blade's descent towards her exposed neck.

"NO!  AHHHHH!"

Lily's desperate scream rent the tranquil night's silence.  She bolted upright, panic in her eyes.  Her body was drenched in sweat as were her bedsheets.  She struggled for several long minutes, trying to control her panicked breathing.  Her sunken eyes and the fatigue lines upon her face made the Hyur look absolutely ragged.  Large bags had formed under her eyes accentuating her look and the normally beautiful woman looked quite frail indeed in that moment.

Another night, another nightmare.  It had been several days since she had slept without one disrupting her sleep.  Tears poured down her face as she clutched at the blanket on her bed.  She huddled there, afraid to close her eyes lest the same dream come again to torment her.  She shivered involuntarily, longing for the comfort of touch that would not come.  Her mind wandered back to the events earlier in the evening when she had gone to the Whispered Wish.  Exhausted and seeking comfort in the company of her friends, she had managed to make an absolute mess of things.  Lily thought of Zozola and how terrible she had likely made her feel that evening.  The last thing she had wanted to do was cause pain to her friend, but she had managed to do just that with her callousness.

She found it hard to think, the fog of fatigue and the wild emotions from torturous dreams running rampant through her head.  She looked to her linkpearl, wondering if she should apologize but she quickly decided against it.  Zozola likely didn't want to hear her stupid little voice anyway, was likely regretting her friendship with her even as she sat there in her bed miserable.  Lily collapsed back into her bed shaking.  She -deserved- this, she realized.  This was recompense for a lifetime of failure and disappointments to those that were close to her.  She would find no respite this night, nor the next as she lay there staring unblinking at the ceiling to her chamber.

***

The shadowy creature couldn't help but smirk.  All the pieces were falling into place, and she so loved when a plan came together.  There wasn't much she could do in this accursed prison, but with the Amdaporian magic holding her gaol together finally waning, she was able to send little slivers of her will out.  It was just -so- easy to manipulate the mind of this one, as insecure as she was.  A subtle thought at just the right time, and the woman became a blubbering mess.  She couldn't believe her luck when the little fool had wandered nearby a few days ago.  Possessed of a large quantity of aether but a weak will, it was easy to mark her and keep in contact with her.

And so, the creature had started sending the nightmares - ensuring the woman wouldn't get a full rest's sleep for many days.  As she felt the girl's fatigue begin to set in, she sent a subtle suggestion to her, one that was not easily ignored.  Every day that passed would cause the wretch to slip a little bit further into her delusions, and she wouldn't even be aware.  Her call would not be denied and would ensure that the girl would find her way to her... and when she did, she would be waiting to devour this morsel whole...