"No One Knows What It's Like To Be The Bad Man, To Be The Sad Man Behind Blue Eyes, No One Knows What It's Like To Be Hated, To Be Fated To Telling Only Lies. But My Dreams They Aren't As Empty, As My Conscience Seems To Be, My Love Is Vengeance That's Never Free." – Limp Bizkit; Behind Blue Eyes.
It had perplexed her, more than she would like to admit, and even found herself in wonder over it. It had only been small things at first, barely noticeable to Vesper, only mulling over it for a mere second. She would find herself staring for several minutes at a time and the monster, attempting to understand him, and averting her eyes when he caught wind of her stare.
Beginning with a simple comment, back in the leader's living space, she had been sitting cross legged on the mattress, biting on her bottom lip and glaring at the page she had been on. Finding difficulty in forming one of the sentences, she hadn't anticipated the complexity of the book, and with her basic English even she knew a toddler could read at a much faster rate. She had passed it off as him merely being annoyed by her sighs and soft tuts, and when he calmly, yet sarcastically questioned what she was having difficulty with, she hesitated to tell him.
He was sat at his desk then, grey eyes boring into her blue ones, as if he could see pass them and into the deep depths of her soul, it unsettled her to say the least. She stood none the less, walking over to him to point out the word, and he had told her, simply and quietly, offering a meaning behind the word, and as soon as she nodded her head, he went back to his work, ignoring her as he always had.
She would have forgotten about it easily, returning to fearing him too much to even look him in the eye for too long, only the same situation repeated itself many times after that, to the point where she had approached him herself. She lay down that night, questioning whether she had lost her sanity, to behave this way with her captive, and abuser was unacceptable. She was growing accustomed to living here, and she shouldn't have been, she reminded herself that at one point she would rather die than spend the rest of her days here.
It was the last incident however, that caused her to think of Bane's words, using them on him. 'Some things are not what they seem' he had said, and she could not think of a time that these words would be more relevant than they were now. The arrival of new recruits were a young bunch, some even looking to be as young as Vesper, and as she watched the scrawny dark haired boy hop off the back of the truck, she saw the fear in his eyes as Bane approached him.
The boy practically shook in fear of the man, his clothes ragged and baggy on him, he looked as if he had been starved for days, no doubt a homeless. It saddened Vesper, how unfortunate some people were, and as Bane's hand rose she half expected him to end the boy now, only he didn't. Instead his hand came to rest on top of the boys shoulder, not in an intimidating manor, neither did it look painful, and his stance was relaxed, something I hadn't seen in the longest time.
He spoke to the boy, and with every word the boys eyes widened more in wonder, looking to Bane as if he were a God. Bane didn't promise him riches, or a wealthy life or the world, but what he did promise him was something more valuable than that; purpose. He promised that no more would the young boy have to scrounge day by day for food, he promised him that no more would he sleep on a cold floor in an alley way, he promise him that no more would he wonder when his life would end.
It was only then she realised these men followed and obeyed him so blindly, he kept his promises, asking for only loyalty in return. They were promises filled with nothing but truth, promises that upon hearing them you knew for certain were not lies, it was unlike hearing the speech of a political leader, and with Bane you could see the fire and determination to bring those who did not keep their promises to justice.
His next words, words that were said in unison with every man in the warehouse, their eyes alight with something, caused a stir in Vesper's stomach.
"When injustice becomes the law, rebellion becomes a duty."
And for the first time, Vesper found herself wholly believing in something.
That was only weeks ago, and now she stood by the window in Bane's quarters, her arms folded as she looked out of the dirty window that over looked the entire factory floor, dust collected over the many years that this factory had been unoccupied on the sill. It was nearing lunch, and as the men littered themselves around the cots and crates, the small group of women were all huddled in one area, looking as if they were eating quietly.
She saw the mess of red hair upon one woman in the group, and a small surge of excitement ignited within her on recognising Olga within the group, and relief flooded through Vesper with now knowing that she was safe. With her blue eyes she looked back to Bane, quite as ever and working at his desk, pursing her plump lips, she debated in her head whether she should risk speaking.
She had lost track of the months and says since she had been brought here, but she guessed that they were into the New Year now that the snow had subsided a little, still the freezing temperature of Russia was present.
Oddly enough Bane had not touched her since the night she had first fought him off, he hadn't even struck her in violence, he mostly stuck to ignoring her, she wondered why he even still kept her here, for she was of no absolute use to him any longer. As always his actions left her full of questions, questions she knew would receive no answer, and if she ever did she was sure that it would do nothing but raise more questions.
She was fully dressed now, the same dark green knitted jumper that all the men wore was too large for her, only it kept her so warm she was not about to complain, not that she ever would, Vesper never complained to begin with. Mostly due to the fact she had no one to complain to before this, and upon arriving here even the dumbest of people knew that to complain would cost you your life. The slightly baggy combat trousers however, was a new edition to her clothing, she had come back from the bathroom –escorted- and had found it on the dingy mattress.
She looked to the large man now; finally find her voice, although it came out pathetically quiet and small.
"Can I- can I join them … for lunch?"
He was quite for several seconds, his eyes still trained on the blueprints in front of him, before finally looking up at her, grey eyes void of emotion yet so unbelievably terrifying, making Vesper look to the floor. Her breath hitched in her throat as he eventually stood, his boots booming against the worn floorboards as he stalked towards her. The way he moved, when his shoulders were squared and head held high, his eyes solely fixed on what he was heading for, she hadn't seen anything like it before.
She would have referred to him as the Angel of Death, only even that sounded far to angelic for him, too soft, Bane was every form of a natural and manmade disaster in one being, wreaking havoc and causing pain, to whomever he pleased and enjoyed it. The Grimm Reaper; that was who she settled for, still not volatile enough, yet the way in which he held a person's life in the palm of his beast like hands, as if he were the judge of who lived and who did not, that was as close to the Grimm Reaper as he could ever get.
She turned back around to avoid his gaze, yet still felt unbearably exposed as his huge form towered over her, no doubt watching the group of women himself, so close to her small form that she could feel the heat radiating off of him.
"I assumed that you would not care to socialise with common hookers."
Confusion cast over Vesper's face at that, turning back around as he took steps away from her, heading back to his desk.
"Why would I not? They are no different to me," he accented voice became a tone louder, feeling suddenly offended for the women.
"Ah but they are, little one … for they surely experience these happenings on a regular basis."
For the first time since being forced to this location, anger rose through Vesper, directed at the monster in front of her, and her hands balled into fists. His audacity was what angered her the most, for her clearly thought so highly of him self, spoke as if the women here were below his feet, when he clearly came from no wealthy or important background. She had many things to say to him then, one of them being that kidnapping and the forcing of sexual conduct on these women was no were near to what their job required of them, the second being that even so it was not an excuse that should have been used for such a conversation.
Instead, she let out the very last thought on the subject, and the main reason of why it angered her so much, for him to speak of these women as if they were dirt.
"My mother was one of those women who experience those particular happenings on a 'regular basis', you know nothing of the lives these women live, so do not speak so ill of them."
She had regretted opening her mouth as soon as the words had left them, remembering just how painful it had been for her the first time she stepped out of line with Bane. Her blue eyes flashed fearfully, fingers playing with the hem of her jumper out of nervousness as she gauged his reaction.
Strangely enough his eyes didn't darken in anger, nor did the tendons in his tighten as they usually did when he was about to violently struck her, instead he stared at her, his breathing audible through his mask as Vesper stared back quietly.
"Indeed."
It was his only words to her, before he turned to open the rackety door, standing by the frame, silently motioning her forward with nothing but his eyes. It took her off guard, and several moments for her to put herself in motion, it was unlike him to behave as if her burst of anger had not happened, especially as it was directed to him, and was slightly apprehensive as she reached the door.
As he expected he moved, his large hand coming to grab onto her neck, at the base of where it connected with her collarbone. It wasn't a tight hold, nor was it painful, but it held enough force for her to understand who was superior.
"Should you try to repeat your last escape attempt," he said, eyes boring into her own as she had no choice but to look up at him, stomach churning from an unrecognisable feeling, "the same consequences will be guaranteed to repeat … if not graver."
She nodded softly, swallowing the lump that had been forming in her throat, and waited as his grip loosened, to the point where his hand simply rested on the collarbone. The contact caused goose bumps to rise on Vesper's skin, nervousness flitting through her as the hairs on the back of her neck stood. Her stomach lurched, and not out of sickness or fear, but out of slight excitement.
That alone, terrified Vesper.
"Your name, Vesper," Bane mused, as if he were testing out how it sounded as he said it himself, "Latin, is it not?"
Vesper shrugged the slightest bit, her gaze faltering from his and she licked at her dry lips.
"I don't know, my mother liked the name."
He said nothing, removing his hand from Vesper, and taking a step back, and only then did she realise that she had been holding her breath, her skin feeling as if it had been on fire from where his hand lay, and took a soft breath in.
"It translates into evening star."
She nodded at him, although she had no idea why he would chose to tell her, it wasn't anything of significance, least of all to him. He stepped away from her then, walking in silence once more as his heavy boots sounded against the floorboards once more, and returned to his seat. It took Vesper off guard once more, his behaviour scaring her more than anything, for she had no idea of how to react to it, and from the way she had been reacting to it, with the goose bumps of her skin, and the spark inside her, she almost wished he would return to his previous behaviour.
Her trembling hands took hold of the door, shutting it behind her, and made her way down the and towards the staircase. It was in that moment, when her eyes connected with Olga's dark ones in the main room, her face clear of any dirt or smeared make – up she once had, the worries and confusing thoughts of her monster of a captive faded away. For now.
Sorry for the wait, I've been busy with real life *shock I have one!* and my other fics as well, this is just a side project for me, so it isn't necessarily a priority. I do however love writing it!
PeicesInTheirGames: Hello my dear, lol we are talking on twitter as I write this XD Thank you dear I'm glad you think that, I always get so nervous in whether I'm keeping him in character or not, and there is a slight change here so I'm hoping people are happy with it!
Joe: I'm sorry, it is quite brutal, and I wish I could say it will become easier to read but not for a few more chapters, I did leave a warning at the beginning of the story of what would entail. Bane to me, is an extremely brutal, merciless and violent character, she won't need to be whisked away because, sadly enough, she's becoming used to it.
GwenLight: Yes an extreme crap face, and yes maybe a LITTLE opening ;) Haha I wouldn't exactly call that kindness, so much so as the "lesser of two evils", and friend zoned? Hhaha he raised Tahlia XD I'm sure he thinks of her as a child of his to protect … well in my eyes anyway!
Guest: I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for your lovely compliments! It's so nice of you to say! Sorry for the long wait and I hope you liked this chapter!
I will continue to write do not worry! And really? Thank you that's very flattering XD Hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
