Title: Puppet - AURORA

12 – I Bet You'd Run Away One Day If You Could Choose To Leave Or Stay

When Zero regained consciousness, she was bound, gagged, and hanging upside down from a tree branch in the dark. Not the best combination, in all honesty.

Immediately on her guard, she started to squirm, eyes looking around wildly as she tried to work out what the hell was going on. A familiar voice then broke through her thoughts.

'Hey, hey, it's alright,' Vin said, suddenly appearing in front of her through the darkness. He reached out and carefully took her face between his hands. 'Are – are you . . . okay?'

What the hell?

She did her damned best to convey her confusion though her scowl. Vin pulled the wad of material out of her mouth, and she coughed, hating the dry sensation.

'What the fuck is going on?' she asked in a low voice, levelling him with her gaze. Oddly enough, it didn't make him cower. Instead, he arched an eyebrow, turning to Newton, who was now in her field of vision.

'I just managed to wake your mind up,' Newton told her, showing that he was holding a bowl of smouldering twigs. 'Remember the monks' method?'

'What, now?'

'I used incense,' he clarified. 'It broke through the trance that was controlling you.'

Her gut lurched at that. 'What happened?'

Newton and Vin exchanged a look.

'Cut her down,' Vin muttered, and finally withdrew his hands. When the rope broke, he readily caught her and lowered her to the ground. After untying her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her back to her feet. 'Your legs might not work properly,' he said apologetically. 'And your knees might hurt a little; I kinda had to cripple you.'

Zero latched onto his shoulder as she staggered, yelping in surprise as her legs gave out from under her. 'Argh, what did you do?'

'To be fair, you were trying to kill me,' he replied dryly, tightening his grip on her waist. The obvious evasion irked her a little, and she pointedly tried to ignore how her skin seemed to burn beneath his touch.

She looked up at him, confused. 'Wait, what happened to me?'

'Brainwashing,' he replied tightly, voice clipped and short. He didn't meet her gaze. 'Macbeth's taken all of the stronger kids and turned them into animalistic soldiers. Including you.'

She swallowed. 'Oh.' If he noticed when her grip tightened on his shoulder, he didn't comment. 'Did I – am I -'

'You're fine, now,' he told her, eventually meeting her gaze and softening slightly. 'You didn't hurt anyone.' He snorted slightly in an attempt at humour. 'Well, that we know of, anyway.'

Didn't hurt anyone –

And then, the most god-awful thought crossed her mind.

Oh no.

'Newton,' she whispered, gaze snapping up to meet his. Her insides felt like they were flooding with ice, and her free hand immediately strayed to her midriff. 'Newton -'

He immediately knew what was worrying her. 'It's okay,' he cut in, the look in his eyes assuring. 'Trix and I checked, and everything's fine. We're pretty sure everything's okay, and that Macbeth doesn't know.'

I don't care if she doesn't know, I care that -

Vin frowned at him, oblivious to Zero's panic. 'Doesn't know what?'

'I think we're clear for now,' Trixie cut in, appearing through the trees. She brushed her hands on her shorts, dusting them off. 'I had a look around; they don't know where we are. I'd say we have an hour at least.'

'Zero,' Vin said softly. His tone alone was enough to make her want to hide under a rock. It wasn't angry, it was just . . . worried. And that was so much worse. 'What's going on?'

This was happening.

This was happening.

She looked over at Newton, who wrung his hands awkwardly. 'Uh, take all the time you need. We'll wait here.' Trixie murmured in agreement, and the two of them left rather quickly.

Vin gently squeezed her waist. 'Let's sit down.'

Zero reluctantly complied, wincing as her knees objected. Once they were both resting with their backs against the tree, Zero folded her arms tightly over her chest, buzzing with nerves. She chewed her lip, tension obvious in the way she held herself. Vin didn't push to begin the conversation.

'I, uh . . . I fucked up,' she started weakly. 'Misplaced the damn pill packet, so I didn't remember to take them . . .'

'Take what?' he asked softly, leaning forward a little. His gaze was near inscrutable, but even in the shrouded darkness he looked freaking gorgeous. Her stomach flipped uncomfortably.

And then, in that moment, she had never felt weaker.

'Please don't leave me.'

His brow furrowed. 'Leave you? Why would I – that's the last thing I'd ever . . .' He trailed off, before shrugging wordlessly. 'You're my only family. Like I'd give that up.'

'You don't understand -' She broke off and grabbed one of his hands, squeezing tightly. She cursed, realising that tears were threatening to make an appearance and exhaled sharply through her teeth, trying to regain some sense of decorum. Goddamn hormones. 'Fuck.'

'Are you okay?' he pressed softly, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. 'Zero, I don't care what's happened; I know you're pissed off at me, but please -'

'I'm not pissed off at you,' she muttered, hiccupping unsteadily. 'Not anymore.'

'Then why -?'

'I'm mad at myself, jackass, but that's not the point.'

He huffed slightly, screwing up his brows in a way that was absolutely ridiculous. He spread his hands a little. 'Then what have we been doing for like, the last six weeks?'

'Thirty-six days,' she corrected automatically, before wincing when she realised how desperate that sounded.

He exhaled slowly. 'Thirty-seven, actually.' He laughed quietly, but there was no humour in it. 'You were M.I.A. for twelve hours. It's two in the morning.'

'But who's counting, huh?' she mumbled sarcastically.

He snorted. 'Yeah.'

She looked up at him, trying to swallow the lump in her throat that refused to budge. 'I . . . I'm . . .'

The words wouldn't come out. She knew she needed to say it, and she would never forgive herself if she didn't, but . . .

Just say it, goddamnit, it's not that hard.

'I'm -'

I'm so fucking sorry, can't you see that?

She exhaled heavily, putting her head in her hands.

I miss you.

She felt the careful brush of fingertips along her shoulders, but she didn't respond as he gently pulled her into his side, resting his cheek on her forehead.

'I know,' he whispered. 'I know.' There was a beat of silence before he added, even quieter, 'I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have hidden things from you.'

The lump didn't budge, but the churning in her gut subsided a little. 'Okay,' she whispered.

And then she heard something that didn't sound quite right. Suddenly on high-alert, she scanned the darkness before them, while trying not to tip Vin off to her suspicions. It sounded like a faint rustle, somewhere up in the trees, like . . .

Like something was about to drop down on top of them.

'We've gotta go,' she hissed quietly. 'Something's wrong.'

Vin lifted his head, frowning slightly. 'What?'

'Go, take Trix and Newton. I'll hold them off.'

'Hold who off?'

'Go.' She shoved him forward sharply, forcing him to stumble to his feet, and rolled out of the way just as something hit the ground with a loud thump, right where they had been sitting.

'Oh shit,' Vin breathed.

'Feral is not a good look on him,' she agreed, watching Hector warily as he growled and scrabbled to his feet, pupils eerily large. He was followed shortly by Little Fred. 'Go, Vin.'

'Zero -'

The wind was knocked out of her before Vin could finish his sentence. She was hit sharply in the back by something big and bulky, and she slammed straight into the tree with a yelp of pain.

It was second nature for her to get back up as quickly as possible despite her aching limbs, as staying down meant submission. When she spun around, she was greeted with an all-too-familiar fist.

Fighting however, was the easy bit. What she struggled with was resisting the urge to tear Burt from limb to fucking limb.

She settled with breaking his nose.

'Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Me. Ever. AGAIN.'

She punctuated each word with a blow; either a slam to the ribs, a knee to the crotch, or an uppercut across the face – regardless, it was enough to enrage him past the point of ordinary retaliation. He knocked her sharply off balance with his foot, grabbing her trapezius in an iron grip, right by her throat. The sudden application of stabbing pressure was enough to make her buckle sideways under the pain, momentarily blinded with shock as she reflexively tried to get away from it. She knew a million different ways to get out of holds like these, but for some reason her mind was hazy and sluggish, only able to feel something hideously akin to fear.

This was fear.

While she was wrapped up in her confusion, Burt knocked her knees out from under her and slammed her into the ground, winding her momentarily. She was vaguely aware of shouting, and noises, but she couldn't really think –

The way he gripped that muscle was all too familiar, and he knew it was some sort of pressure point . . .

It was just like when her dad did it.

And then suddenly, through flashes of ghostly memory she was brought back to that night, though she had done her best to bottle it away long ago -

no no dad please no

Pain. So much pain.

are you actually BEGGING me bitch

dad don't please

you're fucking WEAK

It wasn't just fighting; this was something different, something far worse in Zero's eyes. Fighting, she could deal with. This . . . this scared her beyond comprehension.

no dad PLEASE

It hurt so bad –

it's what you deserve you little SLUT

'. . . Zero! I think . . . they're knocked out cold . . . use the incense, Newton . . .'

why would you do this to me why why why

Her fingertips were tingling.

be quiet stop the fucking crying

'. . . ZERO! C'mon, breathe . . . it's me, it's just me . . . you hear me?'

She gasped uselessly, air rattling in her throat and lungs, but none of it felt like enough -

'. . . looks like . . . panic attack? . . . don't know what else . . .'

you stupid piece of shit -

And then she was suddenly aware of something warm touching her face; she was still too disorientated to pinpoint what exactly, but something about it felt right, grounding her for half a second. She needed that half second.

'. . . you gotta listen, okay? C'mon, babe, can you look at me? Breathe, that's it, in, out, in, and out . . .'

She fumbled blindly, reaching out for something – anything – familiar. Her fingers brushed over that steel ring he always wore on his first finger and she paused momentarily, head spinning.

So it was Vin touching her face, Vin was okay. She curled her hand around his finger, the cool band of metal reminding her of the now –

'C'mon, keep breathing. In, out, in, out . . .'

She might have let out a choked sob, but she wasn't too sure, as she was too preoccupied with holding his hand in a death grip. Gradually, her breathing began to steady, and she became dimly aware of other voices alongside Vin's.

'. . . what do you think caused it?'

'I dunno, she was holding up fine until Burt grabbed her funny.'

'. . . d'you think . . . ?'

'Shh -'

It was all hazy, and her heart was still fluttering unnervingly in her chest, like a flimsy aluminium spring winding tighter and tighter –

. . . she hadn't thought about it for so long . . . it had seemed like a ghost, but now it was a demon . . .

And then –

And then –

She crumpled under the nauseating weight, and simply cried.

'We gotta go.' Vin looked up from where he had been cradling Zero's head in his lap, meeting Newton's tentative gaze. 'Is there any way you can rig up that incense to go through the ventilation system? That'd be the quickest way to deal with all this.' His gaze flickered to where they had dumped Burt, Hector and Fred's unconscious bodies.

'Yeah, definitely,' he replied immediately. 'I'll need your help though – we should probably go back to Headquarters. If we barricade the door, it should give us enough time.'

'Then we better move quickly,' Trixie said. She knelt down beside Zero, brushing her sweaty hair back with careful fingers. She was still sobbing quietly, eyes screwed shut as tears slipped down her cheeks. 'Can you carry her again?' she added, glancing at Vin.

He waved her off. 'Yeah, yeah, it's fine, it's just . . .' He scooped up Zero's limp form, cradling her to his chest, before speaking again. 'D'you . . .' He swallowed heavily. 'D'you reckon it had something to do with . . . y'know, her dad?'

He spoke quietly, trusting that Zero was so out of it she wouldn't hear, while directing the question at Trixie. Trixie simply looked at him sadly, the look in her eyes saying it all.

I wouldn't doubt it.

'We don't know what happened, though,' Newton said softly. 'We can't just make assumptions -'

Vin shot him a withering look. 'I think it's pretty fucking obvious what happened.'

'But she hasn't said anything until now -'

'For God's sake, she's Zero, man!' He kept his voice low, but conveyed his frustration in a hissed whisper. 'She won't tell anyone jackshit about her life.'

'Be quiet, both of you,' Trixie muttered, shooting them a sharp glance. 'We need to go. Now.'

Vin exhaled heavily, but followed as she carefully picked her way back out of the forest and back toward the school.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur.

Newton spent that time setting up large clusters of the incense at strategic points in the ventilation system, giving them enough kindling to smoulder for at least the next hour. Trixie followed his progress on the surveillance system, keeping tabs on who was yet to be dealt with, and their locations.

Vin, meanwhile, was left with the manual labour. First came a new door, which was so secure it was practically soldered shut. He then took multiple trips back into the forest, hefting Burt, Hector, and Little Fred back to their rooms to sleep off the night's events. Finally, after some consultation with Trixie, he then went and sought out Macbeth, opting to slip some tablets into her tea that would leave the last forty-eight hours seeming like nothing more than an obscure dream. It was far too simple a solution to such a big problem.

When he got back to Headquarters, Newton had already returned from his own task. He was sitting at the computer desk, Trixie perched on the bench next to him. Both of them were watching Zero, who slept fitfully on the beanbag in the corner of the room.

'It's done,' Vin said, finally drawing their attention away. Newton's mouth was turned down in a sad little frown, and Trixie's expression was completely unreadable.

'We should rest,' she said after a long moment. 'It - it's been a long day.'

Vin nodded his agreement. Newton got to his feet, crossing the room to where Zero lay, before settling himself down on the floor and resting against her.

'I'm staying here,' he said quietly, taking off his glasses and closing them carefully. 'I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not be alone right now.'

A beat of silence passed.

Vin swallowed, an audible click in the silence, before toeing off his trainers and moving to lean against Zero's other side. He looked back at Trixie, opening an arm in invitation.

She looked at him for a long moment, her expression still impossible to read, before it finally softened into something gentle and fond. She came and settled herself under his arm, head on his chest and her curly hair tickling his nose.

'I love you guys,' Vin whispered into the silence, squeezing his eyes shut when his voice trembled. 'I really need you to know that.'

Trixie pressed a close-mouthed kiss into his palm, and Newton's arm shifted to rest across the back of his neck, giving his shoulder a brief squeeze.

There were no words, but it was all the answer he needed.

12/12/2021