Chapter Six: Serafina Vikentieva (Broken)

What can I even say about Serafina? Or really, where do I begin talking about her? If we had known about her past before meeting her, well, I can't say things would have happened differently but...I suppose it would just be best to tell it as it happened.

We were returning to our barracks from the mess hall and found Serafina sitting on one of the beds sharpening a knife; it was the kind with a hook on the back of the blade meant for skinning animals. She glanced quickly between all of us and jumped to her feet, taking several steps backwards as she did so. Her knife was held out to her side, it wasn't pointed at us but it wasn't pointed at the ground either. Even in those first few moments of seeing us she knew that she was in danger.

Serafina was tall, standing a little over two meters, and skinny to the point of looking unhealthy. Her black hair was cut short and unevenly and her bright yellow eyes twitched between all of us watching for the slightest movement. The flannel shirt and boots she wore were so worn and ragged that I was sure they were the only articles of clothing she owned. I could even smell her; a combination of wet earth, sweat and wild animals? Blood? Something I couldn't quite place. Everything about her was different from the rest of us and looking back we should have known something was wrong with her. We couldn't change anything though. She had to go through what the rest of us did if she were going to be a part of the 82nd.

Kira walked up to her showing no fear of the knife, "Now that's a dangerous toy. Why don't you hand it over?"

Serafina said nothing in reply she only stared back at Kira.

"I said hand me the fucking knife!" Kira shouted and punched Serafina square on the jaw.

Serafina took the hit like someone who was used to it and to everyone's amazement, or perhaps horror, took a swing at Kira. She didn't swing with her knife, just her fist, and Kira managed to dodge but the look of rage on her face was so pure that I felt a small chill go down my back. Kira hit her with two hard jabs to the face, I could hear Serafina's nose break on the second blow, grabbed the hand holding the knife and struck her wrist with her forearm. The knife clattered to the ground and Kira kicked it away finishing up her assault by driving her elbow into Serafina's jaw.

"Grab her and hold her still!" Kira bellowed.

We all went into motion but Galina got behind her first and pinned Serafina's arms behind her back while she was still stunned from Kira's blows. Kira dropped into a boxer's stance and immediately went into what looked like a training routine; hitting Serafina with a flurry of punches. Some of the hits were barely taps while others were thrown with all of Kira's natural strength behind them. After what seemed too short a time from how angry she looked Kira stepped away and sat on her bed, her hands folded under her chin and her face grimly set.

"Alright girls, go. I want this bitch broken tonight."

We all took turns holding Serafina while the others pummeled her mercilessly. There was nothing screamed at her, no special little tortures for her, there was only us hitting this girl as hard as we could manage. Serafina's reaction to her beating scared and confused me. Sometimes she would be screaming in blind rage, other times she would cry and sob like a child and then sometimes she would simply laugh as we beat her. In one of the moments that Serafina was laughing Illarion landed an uppercut directly to her jaw and dislocated it. Her mouth hanging open wide past what was humanly possible and still laughing I knew there was something terrifyingly wrong with Serafina at that moment. Illarion's next blow knocked her jaw back into place, thankfully, and sent Serafina crying again.

We all took several turns beating her except for Kira who remained sitting on the bed and only watched.

After a while Kira spoke up, "Close one of her eyes. I don't care which one."

So we did. All of our blows focused on Serafina's left eye ensuring that she wouldn't be able to see out of it for a long time. This went on for nearly two hours until our knuckles were bleeding and we were tired of beating her. At some point that I don't remember we had stripped her naked and I found myself holding her arms behind her back. Her body was covered in bruises and her face was in ruin. I thought she was dead on her feet honestly with how a streamer of bloody drool hung from her mouth and how much she was leaning forward. She still kept her feet though, I wasn't holding her up, she was standing under her own strength. Zarya was in front of her wailing on her body and face with an enthusiasm that had clearly faded some time ago. We were all tired at this point.

"I'm going to end this." Zarya said, "Is that alright Kira?"

Kira thought for a moment and then nodded, "Make her remember it."

Zarya snapped her fingers in front of Serafina's face, "Hey, look at me."

Serafina slowly brought her sagging head upward and Zarya began to speak while drawing her right fist back, "If you ever raise a hand to any one of us ever again the past two hours will seem like the best moments of your life, do you understand me?"

Serafina coughed weakly, spattering Zarya's face with blood, and her head dropped back down. I saw Zarya's tongue flick out and lick the blood from around her lips and her expression made it seem as if she were considering the taste. Zarya was strange in her own way.

"No no, look up at me." Zarya spoke slowly and kindly.

I could feel Serafina lean forward as if she were trying to get closer to the voice speaking to her and she lifted her head again in a series of jerking movements.

"Do you understand what will happen to you if you raise a hand to any of us again?" Zarya kept her voice kind and reached out to gently place her left hand on the other girl's face.

Serafina tilted her head against Zarya's hand and either nuzzled it or nodded in affirmation, perhaps both. Zarya took this as understanding from Serafina and with a grunt she swung her fist into Serafina's kidney with enough force to nearly knock her from my arms. Her entire body went limp and she pissed herself. I shoved her away and she immediately crumpled to the floor and curled up into the fetal position. We gathered around her to make sure she was still breathing at least before the others went back to their business.

I stared at her for a moment longer thinking that it was the most pitiful sight I had ever seen. Savagely beaten and laying in a puddle of her own urine, her too-skinny body covered in small scars and what appeared to be burn marks she looked like a dying animal. A hand gently taking mine brought me from my thoughts and I let Nadezha lead me over to the bed. She sat me down and began to brush my hair while humming a gentle song to me, putting all thoughts of Serafina out of mind.

"Mm, Rusalka care to join me in the shower? All of that fun has gotten me all worked up." Galina offered.

Rusalka responded by picking Galina up like a husband carrying a bride and heading for the showers, "Well I suppose I could tire you out, my love."

The two dissappeared into the showers and when the sound of running water could be heard Illarion looked up from cleaning Zarya's face, "Kira, can I ask a question?"

"Hm?" Kira didn't look up from Serafina's body.

"Um, what's the deal with you and Galina and Rusalka?" Illarion asked, "Are you all girlfriends with each other or something?"

"Yes." Kira responded flatly.

"Oh. Um, how does that work?" Illarion wrapped her arms around Zarya as if she were a stuffed animal.

I had to admit now that Illarion had brought it up I was curious as to how their relationship worked as well. Ever since I had come here they had just always been together; they didn't try to hide the fact but they didn't explain anything either.

Kira finally looked up, "You said it yourself Illarion, we're all girlfriends with each other." Getting only a blank stare in return Kira continued with a slight smile on her face, "I am in love with both of them, they are both in love with me and they are both in love with each other. I'm not sure I can put it all into words really."

"I don't think I really get it," Illarion said, now half in Zarya's lap and half hanging off the bed, "but I'm happy for you! All of you!"

Kira gave her a warm smile and then went back to staring at Serafina though her expression seemed less severe this time. After that it became fairly quiet and relaxed. Zarya read while Illarion restlessly moved around the bed and Zarya's body; apparently trying to see just how many ways she could drape herself over the other girl. Nadezha and I were discussing our favorite foods while she gently rubbed my temples threatening to put me to sleep. Kira continued to stare unfocused at Serafina looking deep in thought about something. I was finding it hard to keep my own eyes open; I wasn't sure if this was part of the courting that Nadezha had mentioned but if so I could definitely get used to it.

I woke some time later with my head in Nadezha's lap and I reluctantly pulled myself into a sitting position.

"Enjoy your nap?" Kira asked, grinning at me. In fact Galina and Rusalka were grinning at me too.

My response was to blush, stretch and make an 'mmm' noise while trying not to make eye contact with anyone. The idea of a romantic relationship still caught me off guard.

"So what are we gonna do with the kinda dead girl?" Illarion asked.

Serafina was indeed still laying where she was when I last saw her though she was still breathing. She was either unconscious or we had hurt her far worse than we had realized.

"Fuck her," Kira spat, "she can die there for all I care. She shouldn't have taken a swing at me."

"We gotta do something with her," Rusalka said butting her head lightly against Kira's shoulder, "it's starting to smell like piss in here and I don't think she can move...like at all."

Galina butted her head against Kira's other shoulder, "Can we at least put her somewhere else for a while?"

"No, fuck her, like I said she can lay there until she's dead for all I care." Kira said and then she gave a snort like an ox.

"Excuse me, Miss Ankundinova, but if that were true than I do not believe you would have kept vigil on her for the past five hours." Nadezha said laying the formality on thick even for her.

Kira rolled her eyes and snorted again, "Why don't we just throw her a party and give her a cake as well?" She knew she was being teased and was playing up the part, "What about you, fellow ox, do you have anything to add?"

I locked eyes with her and slowly began to lean back down toward Nadezha's lap. When my head reached it's destination I shut my eyes and whispered loudly, "I miss eating strawberries."

Rusalka laughed, "She says as she plants her face in a girl's lap."

"That's it!" Kira said, "She dies on the floor!"

We ended up dragging Serafina's limp body into the shower, being none too gentle about it, and ran cold water on her for a few minutes before dragging her back to the barracks. In that time Zarya and Illarion had cleaned up the mess of blood and urine and we dumped Serafina's body where it had been before. The entire time she hadn't made any noise or motion but her right eye remained open; if she were actually seeing anything was unknown.

Kira stretched and yawned, "Well, it's almost lights out and I'm tired from watching you beat the shit out of this stupid pile on the ground. Anyone coming to bed with me?" She asked looking at Galina and Rusalka.

The two of them wrapped their arms around each other, swayed for a moment and then Galina responded, "Mm, just the two of us tonight honey."

Kira smiled warmly at them, "Have a good night, lovelies." She looked around at the rest of us, "Any of you? Or do I get the bed to myself tonight?"

Nadezha wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against her, "I am afraid that Mstislav already has a pillow for tonight."

Illarion was sprawled across one of the beds crosswise, her arms and legs hanging off, already asleep.

"If you don't mind I would sleep with you tonight." Zarya said, moving over to Kira.

"Of course not, pretty girl! It's been a while." Kira replied.

"May I kiss you?" Zarya asked.

Before Kira could reply Rusalka, already in bed and cuddled face to face with Galina, responded, "If it's Zarya it's fine."

Kira shrugged, "Well then, sure, you can kiss me! We should get to bed though, I'm sure Dakka's gonna give us hell tomorrow when she sees what we've done."

The next morning at drill when Dakka saw Serafina she laughed; it was a confusing reaction. It was amazing that Serafina was standing let alone attending drill. Her face was discolored and swollen especially the area of her left eye which was swollen tightly shut and completely black. Dakka laughing at Serafina's condition was not what we had expected.

"Oh look at this," Dakka said strolling in front of us, "You girls have outdone yourselves this time!" She gave Serafina a once over, "The girl looks like she was hit by a truck! Twice!" Dakka laughed again and looked all of us over, shaking her head, "You girls don't know anything about her, do you?"

We said nothing.

Kira shook her head again and her voice turned serious, "When she kills all of you in your sleep I'm going to personally give her a two rank promotion." She let her words hang in the air for a moment before continuing in a disgusted voice, "Now drop and count 'em off until your goddamn arms break."

We hit the ground and began counting off pushups, Serafina included.

That night we were not killed in our sleep. Though before we went to bed we locked Serafina's knife inside of Kira's footlocker and literally kicked Serafina herself into a corner, threatening to break her legs if she moved from it. After that night Serafina stayed in the corner we put her in whenever she was inside the barracks. It was strange; she never seemed to react no matter what we did to her. When we hit her she took the blows without flinching or trying to move away. Screaming insults at her was like screaming at a post; not even a flicker of reaction just a dead-eyed stare. She seemed to enjoy the freezing cold showers, or at least not mind them, and we never got the chance to torture her in the mess hall. Serafina devoured her food so frantically that she was usually done by the time she sat down at our table. She would spend the rest of the time licking her tray clean and casting quick glances at our food.

When Serafina's left eye began to open again we decided it was time to give her ring to her; if we beat her much more we would probably cause permanent damage.

"Be careful when you go for her," Kira said, "I don't know how or when but she stole her knife out of my footlocker."

"Had to have been while we were asleep," Galina said, "Not like we ever left her alone in here. Pretty damn sneaky."

"I don't think she wants to kill us," Zarya added, "if she is quick and stealthy enough to steal her knife back while we slept then slitting our throats wouldn't have been too difficult."

"Just be careful," Kira said, "she's a strange one."

That night we slipped out of bed as quietly as we could and made our way to the corner where Serafina was to find her laying prone and staring up at the ceiling. She held her knife between her legs with the tip of it against the crotch of her panties.

"I'll cut it out before I let you take it." Serafina said. Her voice was monotone, emotionless. She made Zarya sound like Illarion in comparison.

"Don't worry stupid thing, we aren't after that." Kira said and in a quick movement snatched the knife away.

We picked her up and threw her onto the bed without incident and things proceeded as normal from there. We pinned her down and Kira pierced her nose without resistance.

"It's okay sweetheart," Kira said, stroking Serafina's hair, "it's over now, I promise. You're one of us! You can cry now, we promise everything's okay."

Serafina took a deep breath and her chest hitched once with a sob.

"There you go, let it all out. Cry all you need to." Kira murmured lovingly.

Serafina took another deep breath and her chest hitched again. Once. Twice. Then she began crying. Horrifying ugly sobbing that wracked her entire body. Tears poured from her eyes as she wailed in pain to a nearly inhuman degree. She cried with absolutely no restraint and it was frightening. Her body thrashed violently, more tears poured from her eyes than I thought possible and she screamed so raw and so loud that I was sure the entire base could hear her.

We did our best to hold her and comfort her but in the end all we could do was try to keep her from hurting herself and wait until she tired herself out. It took hours before her body was finally still and she quieted. The sun had already risen and we had missed the call for morning drill; Dakka would burst in soon and demand to know what was going on. I had no idea what we were going to tell her.

Without fail Dakka did indeed burst in through the door to see us all sitting on the bed (we had pushed enough of them together so that we could all fit) surrounding Serafina. Her head was in Illarion's lap at the moment but all of us were holding her hands or lightly stroking her back or sides.

"Why aren't you idiots at drill? What did you do to her this time? Did you actually fucking kill her this time?" Dakka demanded.

Nadezha slipped out of bed and stood at attention, "I apologize on behalf of the 82nd, sir. Miss Vikentieva had a nightmare and was experiencing severe emotional distress. We were awake all night in an effort to comfort her. She has just now calmed down and is resting. I request that you excuse her from drill today, sir"

Dakka raised an eyebrow clearly not expecting such a polite and formal reply, "Is that so?" she said glancing to Serafina, "Well I see she has one of those stupid rings in her nose now so I suppose I'll believe that you didn't spend the night beating the shit out of her." Dakka rubbed her temples, "All of you are excused from drill today, stay out of my fucking sight." As she left she added, "I'm going to kill all of you tomorrow."

Nadezha slipped back onto the bed and we spent a while in silence simply doing our best to comfort Serafina. It was Serafina herself who broke the silence, her voice as emotionless as before.

"My knife was a gift, it's the only thing I own." She stated and then began to talk for the next several hours barely taking the time to breathe as she told us what seemed to be her life story.

Serafina grew up in a cabin in the woods with her father who was a fur trapper. She never attended school and couldn't read or write. In her early years her father taught her how to hunt and trap and live in the woods without much assistance from the outside world. The knife had been a gift from her father for one of her birthdays, though she couldn't remember what date her birthday actually was, and she had kept it tied to her side since she had gotten it. It was a treasure to her, the only gift she had ever received. Her father beat her regularly and as she grew older the beatings intensified. She took these beatings as a fact of life, just how things worked, and never fought back. Things grew worse as time went on and came to a terrible climax around nine months ago.

Her father had been beating her as usual but then he had torn her clothes off and undone his own pants. He tried to pin her down with her legs spread apart, tried to rape his daughter, when it happened. As she put it she felt an angry strength pour through her and she kicked her father off of herself and across the room. She hadn't known she was a witch until that moment. With her newfound strength Serafina slammed her father's head into a doorframe several time and then drug him outside. She bound his ankles together and then hung him upside down on his own tanning rack. Then she slit his throat and watched as the blood drained from his body. After that she skinned her father, stretched his skin out on the tanning rack and went back inside.

For nearly nine months she lived by herself. She hunted animals for food though she was usually only able to catch rabbits and squirrels every few days which explained why she was so skinny. She never left the woods around her cabin instead staying in complete isolation. I still can't imagine such a terrible life or how strong (or broken) she would have to be to endure it.

Around a month ago she was found by the police in her area after several people in town had reported that her father hadn't shown up to sell his furs in quite some time. She was sitting at the table eating when the police came in. She answered all of their questions and offered no resistance when they took her away from her cabin. She was taken to the police department and held for hours, answering more questions about herself and retelling what had happened over and over. Eventually people from the Orussian military had show up and essentially told her that she was joining. She went through testing to determine her magical powers since she wasn't a registered witch like the rest of us and then she was sent here.

When Serafina fell silent again I was sure that all of us had tears in our eyes and we were all certainly speechless. What could even be said to a story like that?

Illarion pulled Serafina into a hug, "That's so...stupid!" she couldn't seem to find the words she wanted to use, "It's not right! That's not how parents are supposed to be!" Illarion herself was getting more and more upset.

Kira wrapped her arms around both of them, then Galina and Rusalka joined and then all of us were hugging each other in a large pile. This was it. The Ox Girls were complete now; there would be no more suffering at each other's hands.

"Shh, it's okay, no one's gonna hurt you now."

"We'll protect you, I promise."

"You're loved here, you're loved, you're loved."

"Everything's fine now, we have you."

It didn't matter who was saying what, the words were for everyone. We laid in the pile slowly coming untangled but still trying to cling to each other as drowsiness overtook us. It had been a very long night.

"Do you really love me?" Serafina asked.

"Yes, we really love you." I murmured into Serafina's hair as I had ended up between her and Nadzeha.

"I...I think I love all of you too," Serafina replied, "and I promise I will protect all of you."

"Heh, I don't doubt that for a second." Rusalka said.

Things quieted down again and we drifted into the last peaceful sleep we would get for quite some time.