A Life with the Mask
It all happened so quickly that Talia barely had time to respond. Her mother was being grabbed and carried off by inmates that had broken into their small, dirty cell. The tiny cell with one bed that was the only home the small child had ever known. Talia reached into her pocket for the short, rusted knife she had found in a pile of cloth the week before. Almost without thinking she drove the knife into the back of one of the monsters that clawed at her mothers clothes. As fast as she stabbed, the child twisted the blade and drew it back out. The monster howled in pain, and clutched the wound. Blood immediately soaked through the layers of cloth. The sight of the blood almost brought a smile to the young girl's face, almost.
As soon as the monster turned, large hands were around the child's waist. Bane, her protector, the single reason she had survived as long as she did. Talia screamed and kicked her legs. She could barely see her mother being carried off in the other direction. The prisoners grabbing at her clothes, wolves tasting blood for the first time in years.
Her protector, sensing that Talia could see over his shoulder, moved the child into his broad chest. Blocking her view. He wanted terribly to shield her from what was about to happen. That was all he ever wanted, her innocence protected. But it was in vain, innocence could not flower here, in this condemned rotten pit. Her mother's screams could be heard throughout the prison, as the monsters did their terrible deeds.
Almost like a saving grace, the tell-tale crowd began to form around the man who tied the rope. Some fool was making the climb. Attempting to make the climb was more accurate. The chant got louder, deshi deshi basara basara. It masked Talia's mothers cries to stop, her begging and pleading. Deshi deshi basara basara! Louder and louder until it filled Talia's small ears and made her cry out.
With a gasp Talia shot up. She was covered in sweat and the cool night air pricked at her skin. She looked around, fearing that she was back in the pit. Expecting to see the dirty bars of the cells, and hearing the screams of her mother. Instead she only saw Bane, a blade drawn ready to slit the throat of whoever had broken into their room. "It was just a dream." Relief flooded over Talia
Her ever watchful protector sheathed his blade as she motioned for him to join her back in their bed. Since his excommunication they never slept apart. Talia often wondered how she was lucky enough to find the other half of her soul in that hell on Earth. But that thought was always followed by the indisputable fact that they, of all people, deserved to find each other.
As Band slipped back into the bed, she instinctively curled as close to his body as she could manage. Just as how they had slept in the pit after her mother's death. The heat of his massive body raised bumps down her spine. He never failed to bring those feelings to her stomach. So foolish to be trained to kill without mercy, only to have such a large weakness. She would do anything for him, and no doubt the other way around. The mask hissed, and she knew her protector was not asleep.
The woman looked into the eyes of the only human, half-human, that she will ever care for. There was a hint of inquisition that she knew was in regard to the nightmare that left her sweating. Though he would never ask her to speak about it. " I dreamt of the day they took my mother," Talia whispered. Bane's large comforting arms circled her even tighter. In his synthesized voice he said,"it was only a dream my friend." In his eyes she could see sadness. She knew he feels as if he failed to shield her, that he should heave done more. To this she gave her usual response, a kiss on the strap of the mask that runs down his forehead. An unspoken understanding they have, of his sacrifice for her. A life with the mask.