After what felt like an eternity, the hot water is finally turned off. You're scarred body is pulled out of the tub as your mother throws a towel at you.

"Do you feel those burns, daughter?" your mother tells you, "That is only a fraction of the pain you'd feel if you were in Hell right now. And you WILL go there if you're not careful around your age – you're growing up, _. Soon, people will be telling you things you shouldn't know. Boys may want to get you to perform sinful acts. If you do, then God will reign his judgment down on you for sinning against him. Do you understand?"

"Y… Yes, mother," you sniffle, wrapping your burned, scalded body up with a towel.

"Now, dry off and get dressed. Your father will be home soon, and when he gets home, he'll have to further beat the sin out of you…" you let out a small whine, which prompts a hard slap to the face, "Don't you dare start crying! This is for your own good!"

You swallow hard, trying to fight back tears.

You find yourself walking down the school hallways with a slight limp. Your body was aching horribly from another night of sleeping on the floor. You make your way to your locker, opening it.

"Hey, cutie," you suddenly hear a voice from behind you, "What are you doing?"

You shiver in fear, feeling someone looming over you. You shyly turn your head behind you to look at whoever it was. You recognized the red eyes and white hair anywhere – it was one of the school jocks, Gilbert. "N-Nothing… j-just getting a few books," you shyly answer.

"What's your name?..."

"I… It's…" you only manage to mumble out your name quietly.

"What's that? Can't hear you!"

"M… My name is…" once again, your name only manages to come out as a tiny whisper.

"Didn't get that, Mumbles!"

"It's… _," this time you manage to get out your name clearly, albeit as a high-pitched squeal. Gilbert simply chuckled.

"Wow, you're weird," he said, "Still, you're pretty cute." You shrink as he tussles your hair. You didn't want to be so nervous around people, but you couldn't help it. You let out another small squeak. "You feeling alright?"

"I… I'm fine… just… I…" you couldn't speak what you wanted to, and your eyes kept darting in all directions.

"Relax, I don't bite! … Much!" Gilbert let out another laugh, "But seriously, relax! I ain't gonna hurt ya."

"Y… You're not?..."

"No, what on earth made you think that!?"

"N-Nothing…" You regain your composure, "So… w-what are you doing here?"

"Well, _," Gilbert said, "The Awesome Me would like to take you out on a date tomorrow night. How does dinner and a movie sound?"

A date? He wanted to take you out on a date? Your parents words and warnings echoed through your head. Then again, he did say it would just be dinner and a movie; how bad could it be?

"Um… Sure," you meekly answer.

"Sweet! I'll pick you up at 5, then!"

5 o'clock… your parents would be in church around that time, so you could get out of the house.

"Alright… I-I'll see you then."

"Who was that boy?"

You froze in place right in front of the front door, facing your parents. You had just gotten home from your date with Gilbert.

"I… It's just someone from school, father," you say, your voice trembling with fear, "He's just a friend."

The only response you got from your father was being shoved back against the door. "_ HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING AT ALL!?"

"F-Father-" you're interrupted by a hard slap to the face.

"WHO SAID THAT YOU COULD TALK BACK!?"

"N-No one. I just-" another slap.

"What has that boy been doing to you?… ANSWER ME!"

"He hasn't done anything wrong, father... We just had some food and watched a movie together, that's all, I swear!"

"What's going on in here?" your mother walked into the room, "What's happened this time?"

"She was with a boy, Karen," your father told your mother, "A BOY!"

"WHAT!? After we specifically told you that they're not to be trusted!?"

"But-"

"No buts, _!" your mother scolded, "I swear, sometimes I wonder why we adopted you! Charles, take her downstairs!"

"NO! PLEASE NO! I PROMISE NOT TO MISBEHAVE! I'M SORRY!" you scream for forgiveness as your father drags you downstairs…

"_, snap out of it!" Gilbert's voice called you back to reality. You finally stopped screaming. "Mein Gott, what's wrong with you!?"

"I… I just…" you looked back at ruler Gilbert had raised in his hand, "I just got a little frightened… I'm sorry…"

"You were screaming bloody murder. That sounds more than a little frightened… you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just… I had a bit of a fight with my parents the other night…"

That was partly true.

"What kind of fight?..."

"It-it's nothing, Gilbert… um, I've got to head to class now." You run out of the room and on your way to class. Gilbert stood still for a few seconds, unsure of what to make of this.

"O… Our Father… Who art in heaven… Thine ki-"

CRACK! You let out another scream of pain in your back from the sharp ruler. Your arms thrash against the shackles that strung your arms to the ceiling, the rusted metal digging into your skin, casting flickering shadows on the wall against the light of the candles.

"Wrong again!" your mother yelled.

"Start over!" your father said,

"H… Hail Mary, full of grace… the Lord is with The…" you wept, starting the rosary prayers over again for the third time that night. Your back was completely red from several lashings, and starting to cut open and bleed.

"We must do this to get rid of all the sin within you, _. Keep going."

"B-B-Blessed art thou among women… and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus… Holy Mary, Mother of God… Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death… Amen."

"Very good… now the Our Father."

"Our Father… Who art in heaven…"

"WHAT ZE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!?" a familiar voice yelled. You raised your head, seeing Gilbert in the lit doorway.

"Gilbert!" you cry out.

"YOU!? How did you get in our house!?" your father shouted, "Leave now or His divine intervention will rain down upon you!"

"You're about to get some divine intervention on your face!" Gilbert clenched his fists, getting in a fighting pose. A part of you wanted to yell and tell Gilbert to run, but you stayed quiet.

Your mother released you from the shackles as Gilbert and your father began to fight. You're dragged upstairs and thrown into your room. Before you could get out, she closes and locks the door from the outside. "No! NO NO NO!" you yell, banging your fist on the door. You had to get out of there and get help. You try pulling at the door, but it was locked tight with a dead bolt. You looked around the room. The house you lived in was ancient; there had to be some way that you could break out. You look around until you notice a large crack in your window.

Taking in a deep breath, you raise a fist and start punching at the window. It hurt horribly, but you knew that this was the only way out. With each punch, the crack got wider and wider, until your fist shatters the window. Your hands were now cut and bloodied, but you could get out. You immediately run over to the neighbor's house and slam your bloody fists against the door.

"HELP! CALL 911! MY FRIEND IS IN TROUBLE!" you yelled. Thankfully your neighbors woke up and called.

Within about an hour, cops were surrounding your house like moths around a flame. Your mother and father were both dragged off in police cars while Gilbert and you were both taken to the hospital. Gilbert was beaten up quite severely at the hands of your giant father, and was rolled in on a stretcher. Your hands and back were both treated for the cuts and bruises, which according to the doctors would heal relatively quickly so long as you had them treated right.

Now you're sitting right beside the injured Gilbert, unsure of what to say or do.

"H… How long…" Gilbert breathed painfully.

"Huh?"

"How long have they been doing that for?... what I saw down there…"

You look down at the floor for a bit. There wasn't really any easy way to explain something like this to anyone. You feel tears well up in your eyes.

"I…" you let out a sigh.

"Don't worry… you can tell me anything, _..."

"O-Okay… I'll tell you…"

When you were young, your parents had died in a fire. You were left homeless until the couple of Charles and Karen begrudgingly took you in. Sadly, they were incredibly abusive, hitting you and depriving you of food whenever you seemed to step out of line in their eyes. As you got older, the abuse got worse, up to torturing you by making you recite the rosary if you broke a large rule in their book. If you couldn't complete a prayer from it, then you were lashed with a ruler and forced to start all the way over again. You didn't even have a proper bed to sleep in most nights when they forced you to sleep on a cold hard-wood floor.

"W… Why couldn't you tell me earlier?..."

"I… I was scared to…"

"_, there's nothing to be scared of…" Gilbert assured you.

"I'm sorry…"

"Hey, it's alright… I guess this sorta explains why you're so nervous all of the time…"

You blush a bit in embarrassment. Suddenly, a doctor comes in.

"Miss… _, is it?"

"Y-Yeah…" you say, "Is something wrong?"

"Well, due to your guardians being put on trial, there's a small matter of where you'll be staying after this…"

"Oh… I…" you didn't really have any family in this town. Where could you stay?

"She's staying with me." Gilbert suddenly spoke.

"Is this true?" The doctor asked.

"Um… i-if that's alright," you answer nervously.

"Alright. Well, you two should get some rest. It's getting late." With that, the doctor left as quietly as he came. You looked down at Gilbert in surprised.

"Y-You didn't have to do that, you know…"

"I wanted to do that," Gilbert smirked. You smiled shyly at him.

"Thank you…"

"No problem… well," Gilbert yawned, "Gutenacht."

"Goodnight," you said, heading back to your cot and laying down.

It didn't take long for you to fall asleep.

"N… no… stop… stay away…"

Gilbert got up from his bed, suddenly hearing sounds from the living room. It's been two weeks since he and _ checked out from the hospital and she had been living with him. So far, her physical scars had been healing quite nicely… the emotional and mental scars sadly would take much longer to heal. Gilbert walked out into the dark living room, seeing _ in a troubled sleep on the couch.

"Stop… sorry… so sorry… don't hurt me…" she muttered in her sleep. The poor thing was having another nightmare. Gilbert walked over to her and carefully brought her up to her feet. Her head hung low, Gilbert walked her back into his bedroom with him, carefully laying her back down on his bed. She shed a single tear in her sleep, terribly afraid and begging for mercy. Gilbert laid down beside her, pulling the blankets and comforters over the two of them. His hand lifted up to stroke her head as he began to sing softly.

"Schlaf' ein, schlaf' ein, schlaf' ein…

Du gahnst schon, komm kuschel dich ein,

Ich sing' dir noch ein Lied,

Ich freu' mich so, dass es dich gibt.

Ich winch' dir eine gute Nacht,

Wir seh'n uns wenn wieder die Sonne lacht.

Schlaf' ein, schlaf' ein, schlaf' ein,

Wir lieben dich schlaf jetzt ein.

Wir lieben dich schlaf jetzt ein…"

He continued to sing until she had finally calmed down. He gave her a small kiss on the forehead before finally drifting back to sleep, still keeping an arm around her.

…You slept better than you had in years.