Daraen couldn't wait anymore to come home and snuggle with his favorite human, he frantically fumbled with his home keys and expected his little Faith to run towards him and cling to his ankle in a strange attempt of a hug; he would pick her up and give her a kiss on the stomach, maybe asking how her day went...

But what he found wasn't what he expected: he could clearly hear sobs even though he couldn't pinpoint where but Daraen was sure of one thing: they belonged to Faith.

"What happened now?" the Shyfter thought while a threatening growl was starting to make itself heard from within his throat. "I swear I will literally tear their head off if it is their fault again" . Now he was too well aware of what kind of life Faith was living: her classmates treating her like crap, constantly making fun of her, her only friends betraying her... He was kinda fed up with these humans...She had nobody but him with her and even though he knew she was grateful to him, he saw that even with his presence beside her they kept on hurting her, emotively and also physically lately.

He growled again, louder, remembering in what condition he had found Faith one day of two months ago: in her school entrance but unconscious on the ground, in a pool of blood which came from her head, full of bruises everywhere on her frail body and only later, when he brought her to the hospital, he learnt that she had also two broken ribs, one of these was at mere millimeters from perforating her lung.

Only when she woke up from her senseless state three days later he learnt what had happened: her classmates bullied her by beating her poor body to this shameful state, as she said. Back then he had one single thought in his mind Make them pay with their blood but Faith pleadingly asked him no to do that... It wasn't worth his time. He promised himself that he would take a keen eye on those lads.

Back on the matter at hand, he was brought to reality when he sensed something even worse of her sobbing...

"NO! She's not doing that again, isn't she?!" he thought while pursuing the smell of her blood till he found his little girl, curled on the ground near the bathroom, intent on using one of his razors to cut herself.

"Faith, what the hell are you doing?!" he asked looking at her lowering his head some, in nothing more than a enraged whisper, both not to startle her and to "respect" her eardrums.

The human in question turned towards his guardian, a new stream of tears falling from her eyes at the deed she was committing, she promptly backed away from the razor, scared.

The look on the Shyfter softened while he lowered himself on one knee, picking in his hands the shocked girl and setting her on his knee: "What were you trying to do, little one?" he asked again softening his voice looking at her so shaken form.

Faith didn't directly answer his question, instead she practically shouted. "I'm fed up with this life! I can't take it anymore!"

Daraen looked at her almost dumbfounded by her answer, but after all he expected that kind of response from her "Do you wanna talk about it?" he whispered worriedly while he brushed her arm with his bend pointer finger.

"I-it's Alex..." she said after having nodded, grasping at his finger like her life depended on it, rubbing her cheek on it, the simple act comforting her.

Daraen heavily sighed, responding at her rubbing with a rub of his own, "What had he done this time...?" Obviously the lad's name wasn't new to him as in her "happy moments" (which were so rare you could count them on your fingers) he referred to him as the "bestest best friend of all" but in his opinion wasn't such since she was often hurt, emotively for the lad's luck, by him

"He... He published a photo he took of me in our classroom Whatsapp group... I pleaded him not to do that... Bu he did all the same... And now they're making fun of me and I can't make them stop... " she said grasping her head between her hands, bringing her knees to her chest, beginning to cry again.

Daraen's frown softened at the look of her, his hands went behind Faith's crying form, cupping her, bringing the girl beside his neck on his chest as to comfort her. He then stood up, walking towards his room and once there, laying on his bed, the Shyfter kept brushing her form with his fingers. He was at a loss of what to suggest her, the silence was beginning to sound awkward until she spoke, rather weakly: "When I asked him for which side he stood... He answered: for the funniest "

That last thing elicited a low growl out of him but he decided to brush it off: "Faith... -he sighed again and kissed his little girls'head- don't worry about him... I will personally deal with it... Now what about turning off that damn cell of yours and cuddling and play with me some? You know, it had been a hard day for me... I need some relax... And you are the perfect cure for my stress~" he stated with an happy purr which sent funny shivers long her body

The girl let out a sheepish giggle "I think I could use some relax myself" then she turned towards his cheek and gave it a little kiss plus a rub "Thank you Daraen... And sorry for... You know... These" she said showing her wrists which had stopped bleeding

"Thinking of it, give me those wrists" with that said he gently licked the remaining blood off her wrists with the tip of his tongue, his healing saliva already curing his cuts. But that kind and caring act send the ticklish girl on her back laughing her lungs out. Daraen quietly chuckled at the sight.

The Shyfter and the human played all the evening until they fell asleep together like those newborn siblings do, one against the other mirroring themselves.