"Anna, please don't ever leave me," little Lucie Jurin whispered to her best and only friend, Anna Assaoui.
"I won't. I promise," Anna replied and she spoke with such a solemn tone that Lucie knew immediately that she was serious and that she would indeed keep her promise. The only thing Lucie didn't know how just how far Anna would go in order to keep it.
When Lucie found the family that had tortured her as a child, she killed them all without a second thought. But once her rampage was over and once she finally realized the true severity of what she had done, Lucie panicked and did the first thing that she could think of: she called Anna. Lucie felt guilty for dragging Anna into the whole mess, but she needed someone who could help her find her way back out of it again and Anna was all Lucie had in the world. So Lucie finally did call Anna down and, just like she always did, Anna came right away.
Anna only needed to open the door to the house that Lucie had called her to in order to know that something was very wrong here and every step further in that she took only confirmed her thoughts more and more in the worst possible way. Once the initial shock wore off, however, Anna was able to regain her senses and she, though still deeply disturbed by what Lucie had done to this family, offered to help clean everything up. It didn't matter what life threw at her, Anna would always choose Lucie above everything else. It didn't matter what Lucie did, Anna would always choose her in the end. It really was a very powerful and miraculous sort of love and support and even now, 10 years later, Lucie could still hardly believe it herself. She could not believe that someone as good and kind as Anna could ever love someone as broken and monstrous as herself, and yet she did. For some reason beyond all common sense and expectation, Anna loved Lucie, and Lucie knew it all too well.
"Thank you," Lucie sighed into Anna's hair as they curled up in bed together after they finished burying the bodies.
"I promised, didn't I?" Anna teased back weakly. Lucie could hear the strain in her friend's voice and it pained her to know that she was the cause of such strain. She really did feel bad about dragging Anna into all of this mess, but she was so glad that Anna was here. She didn't think she would be able to get through this without Anna at her side. For the first time in quite a while, then, Lucie fell into a deep, dreamless sleep that was, for once, peaceful. Wrapped in Anna's warm arms and sweet scent, Lucie felt safe.
But the very next day, Lucie came to realize that the monsters which were haunting her so incessantly were creatures that would never ever truly leave her alone. They were just as much a part of her as she was of them. The horror of this fact drove Lucie to attempt suicide, but she failed. She chose to jump off the banister of the upstairs of the house but the fall wasn't quite high enough. She was knocked out and severely injured, but she did not die. She woke up again to find herself on the living room couch, Anna crying above her.
"Lucie? Lucie? Lucie?!" she could feel Anna's tears dripping down onto her face and it was with much regret that she opened her eyes to show Anna that she was still alive. Anna gave a choked sob of relief before wrapping her arms around Lucie again and holding her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder and chastising her for pulling such a dangerous stunt. Lucie could only lie in Anna's arms limply, basking in the embrace but hating herself both for failing to commit suicide, and for attempting it at all.
By that evening, Lucie was a bit more lucid and she managed to speak to Anna.
"You should leave," she said suddenly.
"What?" Anna replied, having not expected to hear Lucie speak.
"You should leave. Now. Please..." it was clear that every word was torment for Lucie to speak, but she forced herself to say it anyway. She knew that the best and wisest course of action was to send Anna as far away from her as fast as possible. It terrified Lucie to imagine a life without Anna, but after seeing Anna endure so much because of her already, Lucie knew that it really was the best thing to do. She had to let Anna go, no matter what the personal cost might be. Anna deserved to have her own life, and it would be safer if she left now before Lucie's demons attacked again.
"Go, please. And don't ever come back," Lucie continued to beg, but Anna only shook her head, beginning to weep again. She rested her head onto Lucie's shoulders and Lucie could feel her arm growing wet from Anna's tears, but no matter what she said or did, Anna only continued to hold onto her like a lifeline. Lucie felt as though she had been stabbed, for although it touched her beyond belief to realize that Anna still saw her as someone worth time, effort, energy, love, support and sacrifice, she hated to realize how much pain it was causing Anna, but Anna refused to go.
"I promised you, I promised you," she whimpered into Lucie's shoulder, and nothing would change her mind.
Only an hour later, Lucie and Anna were captured and forcefully returned to the torture chambers below the house. Panic attacks came in spades as the PTSD washed over Lucie like a riptide. Being tied back down here again was the most unbearable fate she could've ever imagined and already, that blessed night curled up by Anna's side felt like a lifetime away. She screamed and cried through her gag when a slot in the wall opened up to reveal Anna's own horrified face staring back at her. The realization that Anna was trapped down here with her too made Lucie's sense of helplessness and hopelessness all the stronger.
What really drove Lucie over the edge, though, was seeing her new tormentor come in. He held an electroshock machine in one hand and a scalpel in the other. An assistant rolled a table full of knives and needles into the cell. Lucie almost fainted from fear. Almost. Sadly, though, she retained consciousness through the whole bout of torture. Every last needle and knife was pushed into her body and she felt it all. She was totally voiceless by the end of all of it and that had only been the first torture session. Lucie knew from experience that there were many more to come.
Once the first round of torture was over, Lucie realized that she could hear Anna pleading and sobbing for her from the next cell. Lucie could also tell that Anna had screamed herself hoarse too, even if Lucie had failed to hear it over her own agonized crying, sobbing and howling.
"Anna. I'm sorry," Lucie mouthed, returning from her lethargy to hear a shrill set of shrieks splitting the shadowy air. She gave a defeated sigh and didn't even try to cover her ears as Anna's screams shattered her ears and heart. The guilt she felt knowing she was responsible for her dear, sweet, eternally-supportive Anna's suffering hurt almost as bad as the physical blows she endured.
"Please, forgive me…" she begged as Anna continued to shriek. Lucie bitterly regretted not sending Anna away when they still had the chance.
The next day, the tormentors came back to Lucie instead of Anna. Lucie cowered, chains rattling as she shook.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she whimpered as they dragged her from the floor and strapped her to an operating table with binds that bit sharply into her wrists. "Why are you doing this to me? And to her? My Anna?" she pleaded next. "Why are you doing this to us?" but the only sound that answered her pleading questions was the scream of a buzz saw. Lucie had to endure the unpleasant experience of having her skin slowly sliced off by the spinning blade and then peeled slowly away, exposing tender flesh to the cold and dusty air. Lucie screamed and screamed.
But finally, once Lucie lost most the skin on her limbs and had gained several giant cuts on her back, somebody answered her question.
"We are doing this because we need a martyr," he said. "And you aren't living up to your potential," his voice was full of warning, but Lucie nearly laughed in delirium. Not living up to her potential?! Who would ever live up to their potential if they were constantly being tortured?! And who would want to find their true potential if that potential was all about how much pain they could take?! This man was insane!
"That's why we've been trying out your friend, Anna," the man continued. "She is stronger than you, but I don't know if she will manage to last any longer than you did..." these words hung dangerously in the air and Lucie began to whimper.
"Please!" she whispered. "Please don't hurt her! Don't hurt her anymore!" the man nodded solemnly in reply before leaving the cell.
Lucie began to cry tears of frustration as her cell door was slammed shut again. Now she knew why Anna was really down here. It wasn't just to keep her quiet, nor was it to find a new martyr, it was nothing more than another torture tool for Lucie. By keeping Anna alive and only one cell away, the people hurting Lucie were exacting a very cruel sort of torture. A psychological torture, where any infraction or resistance upon her part would result in a punishment on Anna's. These people wanted Lucie to be their "martyr" and they all knew it would only happen if Lucie allowed it to. Now they had a way to ensure that cooperation from her: keep Anna's life hanging in the balance.
Now Lucie was at a stalemate. Part of her wanted to take this pain for Anna in gratitude for all that Anna had done for her in the past, but at the same time, that was easier said than done. Sure, the noble thing to do would've been to beg for Anna's life, but Lucie didn't exactly want to suffer any more pain either. Even if it was for Anna… Finally, though, Lucie made her choice. As hard as it was, she knew she would never forgive herself if Anna ever found out why they were torturing her instead of Lucie.
"They won't hurt you anymore, Anna. I promise," Lucie whispered as her tormentors returned, making good on their promise to leave Anna be.
But one day, Lucie heard the sound of screaming from the cell next door. Anna was being taken away. Lucie never saw her again.
"You broke your promise. You broke your promise! YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE!" Lucie sobbed and screamed at her tormentors, louder each and every time. "You promised you wouldn't hurt her anymore and then you took her from me! You killed her!" she sobbed and spat in rage and grief, but no more answers came. Instead, her tormentors only dragged her out of her own cell and led her to a room which held an operating table. Lucie already knew this would be the last stop for her and even though it scared her beyond belief, the grief of knowing that she had failed Anna made it such that Lucie finally stopped fighting. She shed just as many tears as she did blood on that operating table.
"I'm sorry, Anna. I'm so sorry. I broke my promise," she wept as the buzz saw screamed into her back. "I failed you, I'm sorry…"
Lucie was aware that she was alive after her last operation, but that was about it. All she remembered was fuzziness and pain. Life was a blur and she was still half unconscious. She could feel her heart beating, but that was the only indicator that she was alive. Her senses weren't exactly up to snuff. Her vision was blurry, her hearing was coming and going, she couldn't feel the table beneath her body. She couldn't process anything that came to her. Even her mind felt like mush, a hazy soup of thoughts coming and going in and out of focus. She wasn't aware of the cross. She wasn't aware of being lifted up. She wasn't aware of the screaming or the gunfire. She wasn't aware of being lowered back down. She could only twitch and gasp for air. But then she was aware of a familiar outline hovering over her once again and crying.
Suddenly, then, Lucie felt something very warm pressing up against her side. Even though Lucie had long since been rendered immobile, she found herself squirming over to that warmth like a moth to a light. There was a sweet familiar scent that hung in the air next to Lucie and she breathed it in until she could breathe no more. That outline got bright and blurrier until all she saw was white. And then black. Her very last sense to go was sound. Even though everything else had been distant, like trying to hear someone speak underwater, she heard a voice whispering into her ear and its voice was crystal clear.
"I will find you wherever you go... I promise..."
AN: I just wanted to write a "Lucie protects Anna" even though I'm sure that, if she was offered this ultimatum, she would've gladly let Anna be tortured in her place just because, as much as we like to think people are willing to suffer for the ones they truly love, it can be a lot harder to actually do, especially in a scenario like this.