I have a few things to say before I start this chapter and to avoid any spoilers, I have some things I need to say after the chapter. For those of you that don't know, I want to point out that what Klaus says near the beginning of the chapter is paraphrased from what he says in the game after the music festival. Another thing I want to say is this one is far more serious than most of the other chapters I've written and is quite personal (more on that at the end). Also, I meant no hate towards those that do like Marlin. I personally don't like him and there's a reason why I don't and why I used him. Anyway, on with the chapter.

Flower Bud Village wasn't an excessively large place. Like most of the small towns around the area it was a farming community that held a few festivals that only a few locals would even think twice about attending. However, Flower Bud Village was home to a once a year music festival that many people near and far traveled to attend.

Reagan had gone to this festival a couple of times while she was in high school with her ex-boyfriend, Marlin, and a few other people. She let her mind linger on a couple of these people, wondering where they were and what they were doing now. They had been her friends right?

Then her mind went back to Marlin. She had loved him so much and it had hurt so deeply when they had broken up. At that point, she had been devastated, thinking that no one would ever want to be with her, that she was completely undesirable but that had been his doing. He had her so completely convinced of this. Though this was true, it was partially her fault as well for letting him do this to her for as long as he did as well as letting it get to her as much as it did.

She shook these thoughts from her mind, deciding to just enjoy the day with Klaus by her side. Everything that happened with Marlin was in the past and that's where it needed to stay.

The field had been heavily decorated with numerous flags and banners of all shapes and sizes. There were many bands playing various types of music. It was common knowledge that Reagan loved most types of music with her favorite being rock but Klaus had never really noticed just how much she enjoyed it.

As they walked hand in hand back to his car, he glanced down at her seeing that her excitement had not abated. "You seem to really enjoy music," he noted.

"Oh I do!" she responded enthusiastically. "My grandma and I used to listen to her records all the time. We listened to them while cleaning and we would sing and dance. Grandma used to tell me how much she loved to hear me sing."

"You do have a beautiful voice. I heard you singing in the library."

Reagan blushed and mumbled a very quiet thank you.

Klaus smiled at her, "I have a rather extensive collection of music back at my apartment. If we're at home we can engage in other activities as well," he said flirtatiously.

Reagan's blush intensified, "Like what?"

"Come back to my place again and you'll find out," he spoke seductively and winked at her.

Reagan thought for a minute, the thought of spending another night with Klaus was very appealing to her. She was about to consent to going back with him when a thought occurred to her.

"Can we stop by my place first? I only brought enough stuff for one night."

"That can definitely be arranged," he responded with a smile.

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Reagan ran down the hall to her apartment making a mental list of everything she needed to grab. She grinned widely as she thought about spending a second night with Klaus.

She stopped in front of her door and started fumbling for her keys.

"You didn't think you could hide from me forever did you?" came a voice from the shadows that sent cold, painful chills up her spine. She turned toward the source of the voice.

Out of the shadows stepped the man who had destroyed what little self esteem she had. The man that only had something good to say about her when he wanted something or to show what a great guy he was to the entire world. Everyone had been convinced that her ex-boyfriend, Marlin, a very slender man that was about Reagan's age and about a foot taller than her, was the victim in their relationship and she was just the psychopath that he had the misfortune to have fallen in love with.

"One could only hope Marlin," Reagan spat at him bitterly.

"Come on Rae, you know you missed me," Marlin said as he inched closer to her. "I know I missed you.

She backed away from him. "No, I definitely didn't Marlin."

"You know you miss the way my dick felt buried deep inside your tight little pussy," he said slithering closer.

"No! I do not!" she said louder taking a step back again.

"I know you want to feel me again." Reagan backed away. A feeling of dread flowed through her when she realized her back was against the heavy wooden door of her apartment. She pressed harder against the door trying to phase through it.

Marlin placed one hand beside her head. He reached forward with the other and grabbed her breast, kneading it roughly.

She tried to push him away, to reach up and smack the shit out of him. He had her pinned against the door. She opened her mouth to scream only to be forcefully kissed on the lips thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

Reagan bit down on his tongue, hard. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Marlin jerked back and grabbed his mouth.

"Stupid bitch!" he screamed through blood seeping into his mouth. A yelp of pain came from Reagan as he smacked her hard across the face.

Reagan glared at him. Her left cheek stung and began turning red. She spit his blood into his face.

"Go to hell," she demanded bitterly.

"You stupid whore. You honestly think someone else would want your fat ass?" he reared back, ready to strike her again.

Reagan instinctively went on the defensive. She slumped to the floor and covered her face and head readying herself for the impact. Instead she heard Marlin let out his own surprised cry of pain. She blinked in surprise looking around the room in confusion.

There, before her eyes was Klaus gripping Marlin by the throat and pressing him hard against the hallway wall. Marlin struggled against the taller man making a feeble attempt to escape.

"You have two choices," Klaus stated calmly. "You can walk away and stay as far away from my girlfriend as you possibly can or two, you can continue to harass her and be an all around asshole like you are and I rip your fucking balls off and force them down your throat."

He released the smaller man allowing him to fall in a crumpled heap on the floor. Marlin struggled to breathe sending a hate filled glare at the taller man. Klaus was not phased by this merely taking a step back and holding out his arms as if inviting the man to hit him.

"The choice is yours."

Klaus stared at Marlin waiting for him to make his decision. It may have been a while since he was involved in a fight but he knew he could and would hold his own if it meant protecting Reagan. He helped the girl in question up from the floor, wrapping his arms around her protectively.

She gripped his shirt tightly trembling in his arms. Refusing to let the tears that were stinging her eyes fall she kept her face buried in Klaus' chest. She was angry. How had this jack ass found her here?

"You can have that stupid fat whore," Marlin sneered at them. "She's definitely not worth my time. All she was good for was a halfway decent fuck."

Reagan felt Klaus bristle at Marlin's comments. She gripped Klaus' shirt tighter. Marlin talked a big game and she had no doubt in her mind that Klaus could probably take him. Though this was true, she didn't want her nosey neighbors calling the police and Klaus possibly getting in trouble for her.

"Reagan," Klaus called to her calmly.

She gripped his shirt tighter and shook her head.

"It's not worth it," she whispered.

"No you're not," Marlin sneered. "Back when we were fucking you had a nice tight little pussy. Now it's probably like throwing a hot dog down a hall."

"Reagan, please." Klaus pleaded. He really wanted put this son of a bitch in his place.

"Klaus, he's not worth the trouble."

"Of course it probably feels that way anyway since this pussy probably doesn't have much to work with," he laughed at his joke.

Reagan's grip on Klaus' shirt slackened and her vision began to fade into shades of red. Everything around her fell silent except for her heart pounding in her ears. Facing Marlin, she was surprised to admit to herself that she was truly seeing the type of person he was for the first time.

Her hands dropped to her sides and curled reflexively into fists. Everything seemed to slow down around her. She could hear Klaus saying something to her in the distance, the sound muffled by the pounding in her ears. As she got closer to Marlin, she saw his horrible smirk, thinking that she had decided to come back to him. She didn't really know what was happening until her fist made contact with his face.

Everything sped back up and before she was on top of Marlin, hitting him numerous times as angry tears flitted from her eyes. She screamed random insults at him, most of which were incoherent. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her off of what she believed to be a monster. Marlin could say all he wanted about her, she didn't matter, but she would NOT allow him to say anything bad about someone she cared about.

She struggled against Klaus flailing her arms and legs and screaming that she was going to kill him. Klaus shook her shoulders finally getting her attention.

"Reagan," he called to her softly.

Everything suddenly crashed down on her. Angry, frustrated tears streamed down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Klaus whispered in her ear soothingly and ran his fingers along her spine gently.

Marlin sat up from the floor and stalked over to them, anger planted firmly on his bruised face, twisting his features.

"You stupid bitch," he screamed, "you honestly think you can get rid of me that easily?!" A sinister smirk crossed his face, "If I can't have you, no one else can," he waved over his shoulder. "I'll see you soon Rae."

Klaus glared at the retreating figure.

"Go pack whatever you need," he said suddenly.

She looked at him with large tear filled eyes and shook her head vigorously, holding him tighter.

He lifted her chin gently with his fingertips, brushing his lips against hers softly. "I'll be waiting here for you."

She stared at him a moment longer before finally nodding in assent. Watching as she retreated into her apartment, he waited until she closed the door and ran over to the window at the end of the hall to see if Marlin had made it down to the street yet. He opened the stairwell door and listened for footsteps hoping that he would be able to catch up to him.

No noise emerged from the stairs except the echo of the door opening. Klaus growled in frustration and released the door, allowing it to shut behind him. He walked back to her apartment to wait for Reagan. Leaning against the wall next to the door, he let out a long frustrated breath. He was proud of Reagan for what she had done but he wished she would have been more apt to protect herself rather than him. One thing was for sure, that son of a bitch had better not mess with her again or he would see what Klaus could really do.

As I said, this chapter is very personal. When I was younger, I dated a guy that acted a lot like Marlin and honestly looked a lot like him too so that's why I used him. When I was with him, he was very abusive, mostly mentally but some physical too. A few of the things that Marlin does to Reagan happened to me. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything like that. However, I do want to let anyone that is reading this that has gone through something like this or is currently going through this that you're not alone. Be strong, fight back, and/or get help. If you know anyone that is going through this, don't turn your back on them because they need you more than ever.

Now if you will excuse me, all this seriousness is about to kill me and I must do something about that. Look! Flying purple polka-dotted underpants! WHOOSH and away!