"You bit him? You little bitch!" Her father slapped her again. A whimper left Dani's mouth.
She was ten again and had just gotten home from a particularly horrible job. And her father, the one person she was supposed to trust and protect her was now slapping her hard enolough to make her head snap left or right.
"I have been nice enough to let you live here after your mother died and this is how you repay that kindness!" this time she screamed as he threw her into the wall.
"Daddy, please-," silenced by a kick to her side.
"And," He gently cupped her chin and made her look at him. Older face, fat nose, thin lips. He was the person she trusted most. "You look so much like your mother."
Dragging her to her bed, and sitting her on the pink blankets, he started unbuckling his belt.
"No Daddy, please, no, no." She cried as his pants slid down his legs, "NO!"
He was the person she trusted most, and he hurt her most.
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Alicia was sitting on the couch, Dani laying next to her, but half on her too. One of the girl's arms were wrapped over the older woman's stomach as her head rested, in its usual place when they sat like this, on her chest just beneath her chin.
A sudden, but small, shock ran through Dani and was felt by Wash, on arms around her shoulders as the other held her plex to look over paperwork.
Another jerk, followed by several whimpers and whispers all the same two words. Daddy and no.
"NO!" Dani gave one final jerk, sitting up and panting as she shook. Alicia arched a brow and gently placed a hand on her, well, friend's shoulders.
Funny thing was Dani was more than a friend, she was more like a child to Alicia. Mostly because the things she did with Dani her own mother did with her.
Pulling at her shoulder, the older woman got a look at Dani, and her expression of terror was horrible.
Jumping up she ran from the house as Alicia followed close behind.
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Dani's legs moved on their own accord, she didn't know why, but she just had to get away.
Alicia was wonderful, though a little hard to know her thoughts, she was a lot like herself and whatever she did seemed to calm her.
This is the life she wished she had.
"Dani, stop." A strong, but small hand wrapped around her elbow, but she kept going, dragging whoever it was with her.
Finding the orchards she found the last row, the one nearest the fence and were all the little pterosaurs were.
They were all so small, about the size of a sparrow and easily fitting into her hand.
She whistled and hundreds descended from the trees on the outside.
"Dani, what, how did you do that?" Alicia was in awe by the flock perched in the trees around them.
Turning back she crashed into the older woman, ducking her head to rest it over Alicia heart and snaking her arms around her.
She felt the tears begin and couldn't stop the sobs that followed, a warm hand running over the space between her shoulder blades that wasn't covered by her shirt.
Oh No, Dani forgot to put her jacket on. Her fear of people seeing her scars brought more tears to her eyes.
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All Alicia could really do was hold this girl as she sought comfort from her. Callused hands running over smooth skin and detailed scars, Alicia wondered if someone used a knife on her.
That was how perfectly straight the scars were, no jaggedness on the soft pink or white scars, just precise marks.
And then there were her wrists. It took Alicia a week to notice the pink rings around the girls small wrists, and she almost didn't want to know what made them.
"Dani," Pulling back, she cupped her cheeks and made her look at her. "How did you get these scars? I need you to trust me."
"The…last person I trusted….hurt me." She was able to gasp out between sobs.
"I trust you, with by life, I would do whatever it takes to protect you, trust is knowing that I will never lie to you, hurt you, or hinder you in any way. I trust you." She stated factually, keeping eye contact with the girl in front of her.
"I trust you, because if your right then you are the first person I have trusted n a long time." Her tears were slowing and her voice started to calm, "But I can't tell you."
Pulling back she detached herself from the older woman to go sit beneath a tree. She let a note slip past her lips, the palm sized dinos responding immediately.
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Alicia stared at the sixteen year old beneath the branches, singing.
She was the voice that has been haunting Alicia since her arrival. That sweet, hard edged voice that sent goose bumps up her arms.
Watching for a little while, enjoying the sweet song with the birds as the chorusing background. How could she have missed this?
Her comm. buzzed to life and she was brought from her thoughts to answer her Commander.
One last glance and she was gone, running to the command center.
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"Licia!" Edgar stepped out and caught her by the waist, and action that made her stomach warm. He was quiet a bit taller than her, maybe an inch or two above Taylor, and he was relatively strong for not being in the military.
"Hello, Ed." He let only her call him that. "Is there a reason to this?" His arm still around her.
"I was thinking I would walk you to…well, wherever you need to go." He smiled let her go for a moment, that is before offering her his arm.
A slight turn of her lips before sliding her palm up to rest at his elbow, they set off, unaware that Nathaniel was watching them from the balcony.
And boy, was he upset.
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Dani, let the little dinosaurs perch all over her, tired of singing, they mostly just pecked around on the grass, looking for some tiny insects she guess.
She did know that their beaks were sharp and hard as rock, watching one basically peck at a log nearby till it uncovered the grubs inside.
But at that moment she didn't care, she was battling with herself on whether or not to tell her guardian about herself.
How the hell was she supposed to survive visiting those memories?
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Alicia was otg, Reynolds at her side as they drove towards outpost nine, something to do with a wounded soldier, thus Wash going along.
A sudden fallen tree in the road stopped them, it was only then that Wash saw the trap.
But they were already in it.
A man grabbed her and dragged her from the vehicle. "Well, aren't you a doll." Wash's fist then collided with his face, and oh did she enjoy the sound of that punch.
Three more sixers moved in, and Alicia got most of them down, that is until one poited a gun at the space between her eyes.
"We already have your little soldier down, just relax and you'll be home soon." She raised her hands in submission, trying to figure a way out of this.
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