Master Charleson was standing over her, and there was nothing Scarlet could do but scream. It was another one of his practice sessions, which meant more hours of torture and suffering for her. Although he was little more than a child, each flick of his wrist sent agony down her spine. Visions of worms squirming throughout her body and laying eggs beneath the surface, birds pecking out her eyes, and swarms of wasps digging into her skin filled her mind, reducing her to a sobbing mess, desperate to rid her body of the invaders.

Just as she was starting to get her breath back, Master Charleson's face morphed into Levana's. She was back in the Queen's throne room, back in her interrogation, surrounded by the hateful glares of thaumaturges. Levana said something that her panicked mind couldn't catch, and just like that, her fingers were closing around the handle of a hatchet against her will. She tried not to look at Levana's vicious sneer as the hatchet swung forward.

Scarlet woke with a start. Since they had returned from Luna, she had been plagued with memories about her time spent as a prisoner. She tried to breathe, but her thoughts were still jumbled after her most recent nightmare. She started to get out of bed, only to notice that Wolf was awake beside her. She rushed to wipe the tears from her eyes, hoping that he hadn't noticed. However, she knew that that wasn't the case when she saw his face. "I'm fine," she insisted. "Go back to sleep."

Wolf remained silent momentarily, then he whispered, "What did they do to you?"

Scarlet's heart stopped. From the day she had reunited with the crew, she had avoided talking about what happened, partially because she was so happy at seeing them again, and partially because she didn't want to bring up the painful memories. She was inclined to lie and try to convince Wolf that nothing had happened, that she was just having a regular night terror. But when she saw Wolf's eyes, the way they seemed almost guilty, she made up her mind.

And so she told him everything. All the times she was abused by Lunar aristocrats, made to perform tricks like some sort of animal, and starved until she begged for food. She told him all of it, not stopping until she was sure she had captured every gory detail. As she was talking, she felt Wolf stiffen beside her, the anger practically radiating off of his body at some points of her story. When she was finished, he paused for a moment and gave her a sweet, gentle kiss on her forehead, then shifted his body so that he was looking directly at her.

"I am so, so sorry for everything that happened to you. If I could, I would have killed them all myself, I would have…" he muttered. "You're safe here, on Earth, and I promise, no one will ever hurt you again." With that, he gave her one final kiss and said, "Close your eyes. It'll be alright".

As Scarlet began to drift to sleep, she couldn't help but smile. She was home.


Author's note: This is my first time posting something on this website, so hopefully the formatting is right. I'm fairly new to writing, so I welcome any and all feedback!