"I see you finally came home, Spider."

She said nothing, and instead drummed her painted fingernails against the dirty ground. She learned when she was young not to speak when her father talked to her.

"Will you not answer father, little sister?"

Pitch black eyes glanced over at her elder sister before they quickly flickered downward and met the baby blues of none other than her nephew. The look of distaste that filled the seven year olds' features made her heart clench. She prayed he got out before she did.

"Answer me, Aria."

She licked her cracked lips before turning her gaze to his.

"Father."

The smile on his face wasn't the kind he'd given her when she was young. This one was full of malice and twisted satisfaction.

"You will refer to me by my title. You are a monster. I only have one daughter."

Her sister's cry of protest was barely heard as her heart shattered.

She'd been disowned.

Her own father didn't want her.

"Father, this is unnecessary!" Livid green eyes turned to his daughter and the woman flinched. "You do not know what you're speaking of Talia! It is completely necessary! Take Damian back to training, we are done here."

Ninjas, as she called them, came and began to pull her away. She watched through dead eyes as Damian and Talia both stared after her, before they too left.

She truly was alone.


When the door opened to her rusted old cell of a room, she'd assumed it'd be her fath- her master.

But it wasn't.

It was the small boy that she was convinced despised her. The ebony carried a plate of food with him and when he shut the door behind him, he stared at her expectantly through the darkness.

"Mother told me to bring you this."

She reached for the plate, pale fingers accidentally brushing against his as she took it from him. But he didn't shudder from her touch. He didn't even blink.

She ate quietly, black eyes occasionally glancing up to watch the boy in front of her. All he did was stand by her door and watch her watch him. It was almost like an endless staring cycle. She finished her plate soon after, and the small boy took it from her. Just before he could leave, she muttered the question that had been plaguing her thoughts.

"Do you think I'm a monster?"

His shoulders stiffened and he froze in place.

"Grandfather believes you are a monster, but mother does not."

Her breath became quick when his words settled in. Her sister stilled cared.

"But do you think I'm a monster?"

She watched as his eyebrows furrowed, a small scowl etching across his face. His cheeks, which surprisingly still held baby fat, were puffed out rather cutely as well.

"You are not a monster. You're just lost."

And then he left, locking the door behind him. Her body shook with disbelief and she stared at her hands, and soon black tears began to splatter against them. Her mind could barely fathom the concept that he didn't think of her that way. Shaky gasps left her lips and her chest began to ache.

Maybe there was hope for this lost girl after all.