Time for more crazy Light.

Chapter 35:

Being tossed down onto her knees in front of the man that had started to become more and more of the bane of Claire's existence. It seemed that anyway Claire could defend herself form this monster, he just seemed to crush her hopes and chances like it was some sport to him. And even then Claire wasn't positive that he wouldn't kill her.

But if she was being honest with herself, just the thought of death would be a blessing. She wanted to feel that sweet release. Hell she still wasn't sure why every time she tried to do it herself the guards that were constantly stationed around her stopped her.

It was almost like there had been some incentive in place to keep her alive. Something that would be funny given how this man had constantly killed people in front of her as if they were nothing but insects to him. Just the thought that her life was the important one was another reason on a long list of them as to why she should just be allowed to die or take some of these people with her.

"You know Claire, I really wish you would stop these escape attempts." The fair haired man spoke as he started to descend from the throne he had built just to seem more intimidating, but Claire knew better. It was just some sort of demented ego stroking exercise.

"And I wish you would just either kill me or die yourself." Claire spat as she felt the butt of one of the rifles behind her being shoved into the back of her head forcing her to bow in the presence of the man she despised almost as much as her father who just seemed to want to condemn her to this situation.

"Now men. That is no way to treat a six year old." Dysley spoke as he walked up to the downed pink haired woman and lightly kicked her over onto her back. "She is just like all other six year olds. Albeit with a much large vocabulary that certainly hurt my feelings." He continued as he stared into the defiant eyes of the girl that he just knew that her father would break eventually. Until then he knew that he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to her.

That was when a thought occurred to him. Turning to the guards who had caught her Dysley just smiled at them. "You two should leave me for a while. I'll notify you when you are needed again." As he spoke, Claire could just feel a shiver run down her spine. Wondering just what the man could be planing.

Hearing the two guards chuckle at something as they walked out of the room, slamming the doors closed, Claire started to crawl away the best she could with her bound hands as she tried to keep an eye on the man.

With the doors echoing closed, Claire gulped as she witness him walking closer and closer. "What are you going to do!?" Claire yelled as she felt her head hitting a wall making her take a shaky breath knowing there was probably going to be no escape.

"Going to make sure you know the gravity of hurting my feelings." Dysley spoke as he started to undo the fastenings on his robes. "And if you continue to hurt my feelings, I'll just get rougher and rougher. Possibly even making you swallow a few teeth." He added as he tossed his robs off and quickly grabbed onto the small girl's bare legs, dragging her closer hiking the skirt she had been wearing up just causing a sinister smile as Claire's instincts kicked in causing her to try and fight the hold.

Smiling as he let go of one of them, Claire decided to take the chance and kick the man in the face causing him to just take a breath before spitting on the ground before he delivered a brutal punch across Claire's jaw. Just casing him to smile at the sight of three white like objects flying across the room with droplets of blood.

"I was going to go easy for the first time, but you just lost that privileged." The man spat as he delivered another blow across the child's face. As the bruises started to form and more and more of the white objects flying around the room, Dysley smiled as he could feel the kicking start to die as he could see more and more of the child's face swelling. Something that he hated he had to destroy the face, but knew that he was going to at the very least get his time's worth out of this child.

Sitting up right, in the slightly larger cage, Claire just smiled at the fact that they had eventually decided to upgrade her accommodations to a large dog's cage. Slumping forward, ignoring the feeling of her skin at that moment, Claire just started to look around to make sure that the close was clear.

'Air... Get... Air...' Came the croaky voice that Claire just found comfort in how it had saved her this far. She just knew that this time was going to be like so many others. Reaching under the newspaper that was her bedding, Claire just smiled as she found what she was looking for.

Slipping the two pieces of metal into the lock, Claire smiled deeply as she heard the click of the lock giving way. Just making her enjoy the fact that they had yet to change the lock. She had picked this one so many times she knew that it was down to pure muscle memory but that didn't really matter to her.

Fishing her hand through one of the holes from the thick wires that made up the doors, Claire smiled as she could taste the fresh air that came with being on this train. She just knew that while she couldn't possibly survive in the wilderness wherever they were, she just knew that the air seemed to make her aching muscles relax more.

Smiling a deep smile as she started to crawl out of her confines, Claire just stretched her arm back into her home just to hide her tools of her trade. She couldn't afford to get caught again. Her fingers just healed from when Jihl caught her, and the threat of what would happen if she got caught again. Just the thought of her being chained up in the barracks again wasn't something she enjoyed.

Crawling towards the air vent, Claire just smiled as she started to look around. She was too happy at this moment. Weaving her fingers into the vent, the thin woman smiled as she gave the grate a sharp tug.

'Air... We... Need... Fresh... Air...' The voice croaked again and Claire didn't need to be told twice. Sliding into the vent, she carefully swapped the position of her fingers so she could put the vent cover back in place just so the guards wouldn't think she was missing unless they looked in.

Quickly hurrying down the path she had memorised that would get her to one of vents that faced the outside. She could feel her legs almost burn as she came to a stop. Smiling as she looked up a little, she could see the stars.

Taking a deep lung full of the night time air, Claire couldn't help but smile. She was content with staying there as long as she could. She just knew that she couldn't help wanting to stay there longer.

'Go... Back... We Must... Go... Back...' frowning a little, Claire just continued to hold herself as she took a few more deep breaths. "I just want to stay here a bit longer." Claire muttered softly as she tried to make out some of the wilderness they were passing. Just so she could see if she could see where they were heading now. 'Too... Long... We have been... Gone... Too... Long...'

Sighing a little, Claire just took a last lung full of this fresh air before she would slunk away to her home once more. Just regretting the fact that she was still there. After two years she was still there. But at least she still had the joy that she knew any day she would be free.

Coming to a stop at the grate, Claire could feel her smile get robbed from her at the sight of a guard walking in and closing the door. She could even make out the man starting to undo his belt causing Claire to just feel her throat tighten.

'Stop... Him. He can't... Go Back...' The voice croaked as she frowned at the fact that she knew it was right. Claire just wished that there was an easier way.

Taking a final deep breath, Claire just knew that once she did what she had to... there would be no more Claire... but she had to do it if she wanted to stay living. 'We need... to survive...' With that final prod in the correct direction, Claire started to carefully push the grate from its position taking extra care to make sure there was no noise made.

Crawling towards the man's pants, Claire just smiled at the unguarded knife. She knew that it would be a lot easier now as she wrapped her fingers around the handle.

"Come on Porom. Why do we need to go wake her. More importantly why do I need to go." The boy complained as he felt his sister grab onto his wrist and pulling him along with her. He was starting to get mad at the fact that he had to trust his dessert was going to be fine.

"A few reasons. One, I want to talk to my brother in private and this is the best way. Two Kain promised me and you double desserts if we do this. Thirdly and finally, Light is a friend and you would want her to do the same thing." Porom stated as she quickly started to look around before she stopped and smiled in the hallway. Just happy with how she felt like they were alone enough. "I talked with Lightning earlier... and she made a valid point to me when I was having a slight crisis about if we will ever get out, which caused me to think. We've never tried being straight forward with Rosa and ask her when she thinks we'll get out."

"Because that is a stupid idea. Come on Porom, you are meant to be the one with all the boring and safe but good ideas." Palom complained crossing his arms as his sister just rolled her eyes.

"We have nothing to lose. Worst case we are back in the same situation of not knowing. But we have everything to gain. If we ask nicely, Rosa will most likely tell us. Just think about it. We should go get Light first." Porom said with a smile as she started to lead her brother down the hallway towards her room. She knew the odds of finding Lightning in there were low, but it made sense to start there.

Coming to a stop at the door, Porom just smiled at the sight of Lightning in her room. A little curious if she really did sleep the rest of the day but judging from the tossing and turning she knew for sure that she was asleep now.

"It is still stupid you dragged me along. We could have just gotten an orderly to come up... Light would just hand over cookies if we asked her to. And I still think Vanille would give us the shirt off her back if we asked her for that. She really doesn't care about having dessert or not." Palom stated as Porom just rolled her eyes at the commentary. "Plus I'm still mad at you because you keep using my brush and not cleaning it."

Right now, she just had to get Lightning up and ready to go eat. As she walked carefully into the room, Porom pressed her lips into a thin line as she watched Lightning just thrashing about. It was as though she was having nothing but a nightmare. Something that Porom could sympathise with.

She had them often enough to know how bad they can be. Knowing what she would want to happen to her in this case, Porom reached down to Lightning shoulder giving her a light jostle, the girl could feel her smile be robbed from the sudden searing pain in the arm that was holding Lightning's shoulder.

As a loud gasp filled the room, Porom started to slump to the floor. As she could feel tears leave her eyes. She just felt like crying as she cradled her arm.

"YOU BITCH! LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!" Palom yelled as he quickly hit the emergency button and ran between Lightning and Porom as he could see Lightning shoving herself into the corner. Glaring harshly at the woman, who he could see pull her knees into herself, just muttering what for all he cared could be false apologies. He didn't care. He wasn't going to let harm befall his sister in such a way.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." Lightning muttered as she placed her head between her knees and started to take shaky calming breaths. Wondering what exactly was happening. She didn't mean to harm the child, but at the same time she hadn't exactly been able to stop herself.

"Porom, it's going to be okay." Palom spat as he tried to gesture his sister back to a safer position as they waited for some sort of medical attention. He wasn't going to give this seemingly extremely nice woman a chance to harm his sister again.

'WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!' Lightning yelled internally as she grabbed fistfuls of her hair. She knew this just had to be another nightmare. There was no way this was real. It just had to be a lie.

'That, my surprisingly aggressive woman was my point to our argument. That was some of the crazy I hold back and just let slip out slowly... I decided while you passed out that this was a chance to prove my point. As for breaking the poor girl's arm... happy accident.'

Hearing that Lightning started to groan as she could hear people entering her room once again. "I'm sorry Porom... I didn't mean to hurt you." Lightning muttered as she started to feel her head being moved up gently. As the cerulean eyes met the heterochromatic eyes she once found comfort in. But she couldn't now.

"Lightning, look at me. What happened?" Yuna demanded as Lightning just started to shrink back into herself. "What happened."

"I saw it... she just broke my sister's arm!" Palom yelled as Yuna took a deep breath.

"Palom, I'll get your story of what happened in a bit. But right now you need to calm down." Yuna demanded in a firm tone towards the room's other occupants before she turned back towards her own patient. "Lightning I need to know." She demanded as she could see faint tears starting to mist in Lightning's eyes.

"I didn't mean to hurt her..."

'By now I think we both know that's a lie.'

Biting her lip just so she didn't dig her grave seemingly deeper, Lightning knew that she had to continue what she was saying. "She just grabbed me while I was asleep, and instinct or something just took over and... I'm so sorry Porom." Lightning said as Yuna frowned a little and started to lower Lightning's head back to the place it once was.

Taking a few steps back towards the twins, Yuna bent down and moved Palom out of the way so she could get a look at the injury. Frowning deeply as she could see the bone in her upper arm being clearly broken and the lower part pressing dangerously close to the point of breaking the skin.

"Porom, you are going to need to be brought off site." Yuna whispered softly as she quickly reached behind her to grab hold of the victim's brother's wrist knowing that he would lash out towards Lightning and she couldn't afford that. She knew that Lightning would have just let the teen beat her.

Glancing up towards the door, Yuna smiled at the sight of Rosa as well as a few nurses walking in. As Rosa scanned the sight before her, a scowl started to develop. "It is clearly broken, and nearly penetrating the skin. She needs to go off site Rosa." Yuna whispered as Rosa pulled a walkie talkie up and quickly pressed the talk button.

"Palom, when Sazh gets here go with him. And we can tal-" Rosa started before she got interrupted by the emotional boy.

"I'm not leaving my sister. Not while that bitch is not being punished for just hurting her." Palom bit knowing that if Porom wasn't crying or in pain she would scold him for his language. But he didn't care about that, he had higher priorities at this minute.

Taking a calming breath, Rosa took a few more steps into the room, lightly moving Yuna's hand from his as she bent down and rested her hands on Palom's shoulders. "Palom. I understand you are emotional right now. But do you trust me?" Rosa asked calmly.

"I do... just not with my sister." Palom muttered as he glanced downwards. He knew that she was going to try and convince him otherwise, but he couldn't manage to trust someone with his older twin sister.

"Palom, listen to me. We need to take her to the hospital. Judging from her arm, she needs surgery to fix it. I promise you the same thing I promised the Abbot. I'm not going to let anything happen to her. I will go with her myself but I can't let you go with her." Rosa spoke as Palom started to sulk. "If you don't want me, I will get anyone you want to that isn't a patient."

"Cecil... I'd trust Cecil won't let harm happen to her." Palom demanded as Rosa smiled at him.

"Okay, I'll call him. But you need to listen to me, you need to go with Sazh." Rosa said calmly towards the child who frowned.

"I want to see you call him." Palom demanded as Rosa took a deep breath.

"Okay. Yuna do you have everything here?" Rosa asked as Yuna looked up at her again nodding her head. "Come on then Palom." Rosa said as she quickly shifted to grab hold of his hand. As they walked out, she could just hear the same apologetic manner of Lightning as she rocked back and forth on her bed. It just made her wonder truly how dangerous this woman was but also how much of her reactions were based solely on instinct.

'To be clear, I never meant for you to hit the little shit. But you may want to kiss your ass goodbye. Because if this doesn't secure you losing like every single thing given to you, nothing will.'

"SHUT UP! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Lightning yelled as she began to bite her lip knowing that she had yelled that out loud.

'Uh oh... again, not intentional. But you seriously need to take your own advice. Shut up now. It will help you in the long run.'

Author's Note:

So... interesting developments. But I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Time to get back to FFX... curse my urge to 100% games.