A/N Okay so I only own my ow OC's, the rest belongs to the genius of Kat Falls.
Ceto stood by the large window in her room, facing the dark waters outside. It was early morning, no one was up yet, and she felt safe. When none were around, she could pound on her mistakes; think about her guilt and responsibility. It was her fault. All of it, it was something she could never outrun, no matter what the others told her. The only way she felt she could redeem was through hard work, dedication, and loyalty to those close to her. She tried to be strong for all of them, to protect them like she hadn't been able to before. Ceto wanted to undo everything they had been put through, every last bit of it. So she took upon herself to always be there, whether her friends needed a listener, a work done or borrow something she owned. She was always there to help, in any way she could. Ceto owned them that much.
When Ran or Sedna or anyone else told her that she worked too much, or was too generous, she would take it as praise. Then she felt that she had repaid at least a little part of the damage. Ceto turned around at a small knock on the door. She frowned and went to open it, reviling a just awoken, mischief- looking Sedna. Well, when you speak of the Devil… thought Ceto amused. Because, granted, she hadn't been feeling "up" a second ago, but there was something about Sedna that just made you crack a smile. Sedna was the groups' sunlight, always cracking jokes or trying to cheer people up, or playing pranks on unsuspicious victims. Ceto herself had never been one of them, thankfully. Now, Sedna gave her older friend a maleficent grin, while her medium brown eyes twinkled at her under her long, unruly curly, dark brown hair. It was actually amazing that she couldn't get it to stay in a hairdo for longer then two hours.
"Howdy, mate. How about you and I sneak down in the kitchen and grab some leftover ice cream before these other low life's awakens, eh? Promise I won't tell." Ceto smiled fondly at her friend. Sedna was the only one of the girls that could cook, and had therefore been assigned kitchen duty. But unaware of the rest, she and Ceto used to sneak down together to grab some juicy bites around when Sedna was starting making breakfast, long before anyone else was up.
"Yeah, just you try to stop me pal. Give me one second though. Don't start without me" she said in an equally hushed tone, and went into her room again. This time, however, she opened a door to the left, and came upon a little bathroom, with a sink and toilet and a small shower in the far end. She stopped by the sink, over which a medium sized mirror hung. On the sink lay a red hair brush and several tassels in different colours. Ceto picked out a turquoise tassel and put it around her wrist before taking up the hair brush. Halfway through with one brush, she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror.
She saw a young woman in her middle to late teens, pale, with a faint glow to the skin, bottle green emotional eyes, and a curly, frizzy, voluminous, clear red hair. Her face was a classic one, broad over the forehead and slim at the chin, a straight nose, and a quite full mouth. Over her left eye, right in the mirror, though, ran a big, red scar. It started at the hairline at the temple, nicked at her forehead, ran over her eye in broad line, enclosing the eye, before continuing downwards to the side of the mouth, where the scars and the lips colours blended together, mixed with white scar tissue, continuing over it, and stopped at her jaw line.
She raised a hand and touched her mouth with three fingers, remembering the pain, before continuing brushing her hair. Flinging her hair forward, she collected her hair in a high ponytail and wrapped the turquoise tassel around it. With the hair away from the face and shoulders, you could see other scars on her slender neck, half regressed burn marks. Ceto smiled at the girl in the mirror, she was proud over her scars, they had made her who she was. There was no point in hiding them, and she knew it wouldn't make a difference anyway; they would still be there, right? Satisfied, she ventured out into her room again, got to her dresser and picked out a simple outfit consisted out of a lime green t- shirt and a pair of plain pants. On her way out, she picked up her laundry and cast a glance around her tidy room. She liked order, it gave her control over her environment, and she knew exactly where everything was. Closing the door carefully behind her, she headed downstairs after Sedna. When arriving, she flopped herself on a chair, and simply watched as her friend went through cabinets and drawers. Sedna returned successful after her raid, and handed her companion a big bowl of frozen yogurt flavoured by sugar. Ceto grabbed the bowl, wide grinning, as well as her handed spoon, while Sedna started to make some kelp tea and put in the mean time in the bread for breakfast, that she had made the night before, in the oven. The minutes ticked by in silence, as the girls ate, and watched the sea slowly turn from the pitch black of night to a darker blue colour of morning.
"You had one of those dreams again, didn't ya?" Sedna's voice was as low as a whisper, but in the empty room, it almost sounded to bounce of the walls, clinging loudly in the quiet space.
"Yeah, I did." Ceto answered hesitantly "but it was far from one of the worst I've had." She glanced at her friend, who knowingly nodded; she had been the one to find Ceto once, screaming and trashing violently to everyone and everything. It had taken three of them to sit on her, while the others tried to wake her. When she'd aroused, her face had been streamed with tears, in her eyes such an horror, and her nails and fingers were coated in blood where she'd buried them into Ran's arms. It was a sight her friends hoped they'd never see again.
"What was it about this time?" her eyes nailed on the teacup in her hands, Sedna never saw the quick, frightful and cautious glance that her friend stole at her. Ceto clenched her fists on the table. It was hard to talk about it, even here, in a lighten room, far from the darkness and pain. It was too soon, the wounds still so open and hurting, for her to be able to talk about it casually. She swallowed hard, and was grateful towards her companion for not pressing her farther. Taking a deep breath, she thought about where to start, and then started slowly.
"I'm in the Room, its dark all around me, all I can see is shadows. My wrist are strung above my head, my arms fastened somewhere farther down. I can't move, the bindings are cutting into me, sewing into my flesh. I'm bleeding, it's pouring down my arms. Suddenly I hear voices, laughter. Struggling harder, as I hear footsteps, and I just know it is going to be bad. And then… He comes in, whip in one hand, a bottle in the other. He smiles down at me in the bed, I still can't move. Suddenly he presses the bottle up in me. I scream, it just hurts SO MUCH! Laughing he hits me, again and again with his whip until I'm not sure whether I'm conscious or not. As if seeing this, he cracks the bottle open, and cuts me. Slowly, wickedly, enjoying it; I try to turn away, but he grips my head, holds it steady. His nails, more like claws, punctuate my skin. When he's done, he backs away, calls to someone. I'm awake by now, and see more men come through the door, the roll in as crashing waves, more and more and more. I can't count them, and all of them take me, there on the stinking madras, one after another. My father, his friend, the Topsider business men…And the last, I never see his face, but I'm scared, I know he's gonna do something, and I see he has a lighter, and he brings it down towards me, I can't move, can't escape…And then there's pain, nothing but sharp pain, and the smell of burning flesh in my nose. And then I woke screaming"
Ceto can feel big tears sliding down her cheek, she hadn't even realised she'd been crying. Sedna's arms are around her, comforting and warm as she sobs her heart out. "Oh, sweetheart" the other girl coos, rocking her back and forth as the redhead clings to her. "They are never going to find us again; you know that, don't you? Not the men, the doctors or the nuns. We made sure of that, didn't we? And you've taken such good care of us all. We wouldn't have survived without you. So quit blaming yourself honey, it wasn't yer fault. It wasn't". The sobs slowly decrease in intensity, the breathing slows down, and Ceto composes herself yet again. Wiping the traces of tears from her cheeks, she manages a small smile.
"How can it be that it always is YOU that see me cry?" she asks jokingly. Sedna smirked knowingly, a hint of sadness in it. "I dunno, but it doesn't happen that oft, only when you'd a really terrible one, and that's rare. And besides, I don't mind you crying a little on me shoulder from time to time, sugar."
A/N Yeah I don't really know if I should put this under M instead it won't be much talk about actual rape situations I think but it will be mentioned. Please let me know what you think.