And then they were off. Elise had no idea where she was going, or why this village had to be taken out. But she never questioned a superior. When she arrived, it was a ghost town. "Spread out, search each building. Yell if you find anything." Elise barked.

The soldiers nodded and fanned out through the village.

Elise slowly made her way thorough the village. There was no one. How could there be no one? Did Grand actually make a mistake? 'He's not stupid enough to make a mistake. This is weird…' Elise thought. Her eyes caught sight of movement in an upper window to her right. She turned and ran into the building, cased every room before moving upstairs.

She kicked each door open, hoping to scare whoever was up there with her. She couldn't lose. She couldn't die. She had too much to live for. She ran down the hallway and burst into the final room. It was empty. Elise sighed and walked the perimeter of the room, this was it, she looked from the window to the building she was just in, below her. Scuffling caught her ears, she looked up, and eyed the corner. She stalked over and gazed around, nothing. Breathing, someone else's breathing, sounded below her feet. She stepped back and looked down. She could see the lines in the wood, she could see where they didn't quite meet up. And she blew the trap door apart.

"DON'T KILL ME!"

Elise jumped back in surprise.

A little boy scrambled from the hole and darted towards the door.

Elise froze, she couldn't kill a child. "Wait! Don't go out there, I won't hurt you!" She gasped, jumping in front of the door.

The kid scrambled away from her and skittered to the window, he looked out it, and then back at Elise, measuring the fall. "Kid, wait! I-I won't hurt you. Come here, I'll take you somewhere safe." Elise coaxed, holding a hand out.

The boy screamed and shrank away, "That's what they all say! You're one of them! State Military! Stay away! You killed my Mommy!"

Elise stared in horror, as the realization of each death hit her full force. "No… No that wasn't me. I promise, little boy, I'll take you somewhere safe." Elise walked forward, holding her arms out.

The boy shook his head and held his arms out in defense, "Stay away! Leave me alone! I won't do anything! Just leave me be!"

Elise was so close, she reached out for him, and he jumped. "NO!" Elise screamed, running to the window.

A thud echoed through the empty town, and the body of the boy lay motionless in the sand.

"NO! NO! NO!" Elise cried, reaching out to the dead boy.

A ring of crimson slowly began to spread around the body.

"No…" Elise breathed, collapsing to her knees.

:::

She never saw them. Didn't hear them. So when they reached her, she was defenseless. "You, little girl, are coming with us."

:::

Everything was dark. Everything hurt. Time seemed to crawl, drag itself along on it's belly. There was no such thing as life, anymore. Elise was sure she was dead, she couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't hear. 'This… is my punishment…' She thought to herself, relaxing into the grip of Death's cold hands.

Fate wasn't that kind.

:::

Light poured into her senses. Elise struggled away from it, tried to curl in on the never-ending darkness.

"Not so fast, little girl, you can't sleep forever." A deep voice entered her consciousness.

"Grand?" She mumbled, slowly opening her eyes.

Crimson eyes, red skin, robes. "Wrong." The man cackled.

Something hard hit her side, Elise screamed.

"Let her come-to, then we will have our fun." Another voice scolded.

Elise's senses slowly came back, she felt like she'd been underwater forever, and she was surfacing for the first time. "Who are you?" Elise coughed, her mouth was dry, her throat was raw, she felt like she'd swallowed sand. Maybe she had.

"We're your worst nightmare. We're the things you think you can just kill. We're the people who's land you've destroyed. Now we'll get out revenge."

Elise stared at the men. There were three of them. The tallest man stood in the middle, a large-muscled, tanned, man with the coldest eyes Elise had ever seen. To his right was a pudgy man who looked like he gorged himself on everything in sight. To the tall man's left was a tall, thinner man, with a lean form. They all looked terrifying.

:::

"Yzat, what shall we do with her?" The fat one asked the tallest man. He was clearly the leader.

"We will do with her as we please, Soran. I don't think we should kill her off just yet, though." Yzat's eyes landed on Elise. His gaze was full of hunger, anger, and hate.

"She should die for what happened to our people! Think of all the people she's killed and-"

"Enough, Soran. She is not the leader, look at her bars, a mere Major. She's under the control of another. Why not torture her and send her dead body back to her leader?"

Elise bit back a whimper, she closed her eyes and huddled in on herself, praying that this was nothing more than a nightmare.

"Oh, no, no, no, not so fast. Open your eyes, girl."

Elise didn't move.

"I said open your eyes!"

Elise screamed out when something hard ground itself against her skull.

"What do you want?" She screamed, feeling her blood begin to leak from her skull.

"I want to hear you beg for mercy. I want you to pay for all the lives you've taken from us. I want your death." Soran growled, towering over Elise. His stomach jutted out so she could only look up into his fat.

"You're awfully quiet, Rush, cat got your tongue?" Yzat looks to the man standing in the corner.

Rush smiled and flicked his finished cigarette to the ground. "She's beautiful, whether she works for the state or not. If you boys wouldn't mind, I'd like to have some alone time with our lovely captive."

:::

The other two men filed up the stairs, leaving Rush and Elise alone. He knelt next to her and pulled her into a sitting position. "What's your name, child?" He asked.

Elise began to shake uncontrollably.

"I said, what's your name?" Rush grabbed Elise's hair and yanked on it.

"E-Elise. Elise Bradley."

Rush smirked and pulled out a knife, "Well, Elise Bradley, it's a pleasure to meet you… I'm going to enjoy using your body." He dragged the knife up Elise's torso, cutting away her tank-top.

"What are you doing?" Elise gasped, pulling her legs up to her chest.

Rush smirked and roughly yanked down her skirt. He had to admit, this Elise Bradley, was beautiful. She was young, petite, and just beginning to blossom into her body. He was going to enjoy this to the fullest.

"Hasn't your boyfriend ever touched you?" Rush cooed, running a hand up her creamy thigh.

Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it so far. Just a warning: it gets very dark from here. If you have a weak stomach, you might not want to finish the story. Anyways, please review! The more people review, the faster I update (: