Chapter 39

Aura's hands ran along the wall in the dark. Nothing. She could find nothing. She had been searching for a door, a window, or literally anything that would give her some indication as to where she and Zena were being kept. She reached the end of the rope tethering her to an old metal pipe and she gave a frustrated tug, hissing in pain as the rope ripped at her tender skin.

"What's wrong?" Zena's voice came out of the dark.

"Nothing." She replied, feeling defeated. "I found nothing. There's nothing down here. What the fuck."

"Just… come back over here." The other woman said softly, "Before you hurt yourself."

"No." Aura pulled her rope tight and used it to walk as far as she could across the room, moving in a semicircle slowly as she tried to feel around. "We need to know what we've got in here…"

"There's nothing." Zena said flatly. "We saw before… when he was in here."

"That was just a little." Aura replied, "There was still darkness beyond… We need to know… what if there's something that we could use to get free…" She reached the end of her rope before she reached another wall and gave a fruitless tug again. "Ugh."

"Aura, come back before he finds you doing that…"

"Why aren't you trying?" Aura demanded, "We have to get out of here, yo!" She blinked when light appeared on the other side of the room behind the far door.

Quickly, she hurried back to where Zena was sitting, and sank down beside her. She felt the other woman lean gently against her and they huddled there as the door opened and a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. They watched then as Cadan approached, walking toward them slowly. Aura blinked when he stopped before them and bent down, putting a tray on the floor.

"Eat up, ladies." He said.

"No thanks." Aura replied, "We don't know what you've put in that…" she eyed the food on the tray with suspicion.

"Why would I need to drug you?" he asked moving toward the fireplace on the opposite wall, out of their reach and bending to light the fire.

"So you can do Shiva knows what to us…"

He laughed then, and the sound was hollow. "I don't need to drug you for that, Aura. Look around."

Aura swallowed thickly, her eyes moving around the room. He was right. They were already under his control. She twisted her hands, trying to get free of the rope again. She wasn't going to sit and do nothing. "You must need us for something…" she began, "Why else would you feed us and keep us down here…?"

"Never you mind." He told her, glancing over his shoulder with a grin. Aura stared at him. How had she not seen him for what he was? She had always thought she was an excellent judge of character. She had had to be, back on the streets. She watched as he got to his feet, the fire springing to life behind him. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, coming toward them again. Aura got to her feet, ready to stare him down.

"No." she said firmly. Standing as tall as she could, meeting his eyes as he came to stand before her. He smirked.

"No?" he asked, reaching out to her. Aura slapped his hand away with her bound hands.

"Tell me what you want from us." She growled. Cadan reached out once more, snatching her wrists out of the air when she went to push him away again. Aura jumped in surprise as he yanked her toward himself, his other hand coming up to grab her by the throat. She choked, trying to step back, but unable to do so.

"Don't you dare give me orders, ShinRa Bitch." He breathed.

Aura twisted her hands, trying desperately to free them, but the rope had absolutely no give in it. She choked again, pushing at Cadan when he forced her back, slamming her into the wall. He suddenly lifted her, his hand tightening around her throat. Her vision blurred as her toes left the ground and she kicked blindly at him. "This is your own fault." Aura could barely hear his words over her own heartbeat thundering in her ears. She heard his sharp grunt of pain however when one of her kicks found him and he dropped her. Aura was pleased that she somehow managed to stay on her feet, stumbling only a little when her feet hit the ground once more. She coughed, trying to clear her throat as she leaned heavily against the wall. She looked back up at him just as he struck her across the face. Aura fell sideways, landing on the concrete floor. She groaned and pushed herself up on her hands before Cadan seized a handful of her hair and yanked her to her knees. "Get up." He snapped. She struggled to move quickly enough to lessen the pull on her hair, tears blurring her vision as she tried to get high enough. He released her hair and Aura couldn't contain a small sob of relief. A second later Cadan kicked her in the back and she fell forward again, barely having time to break her fall with her bound hands.

"Stop it…" Zena's voice rang out, echoing in the darkness. Cadan ignored her and grabbed the back of Aura's dress, dragging her away from the other woman before kicking her over onto her back.

"I bet you thought it was funny…" he snarled, "I bet you thought it was hilarious… getting me to trust you, to tell you things… and then running and telling Shinra about it. Your turk boyfriend… I bet you sat and laughed about how dumb I was that I didn't realise you were fucking with me…" He brought his foot down hard on her stomach.

"No…" Aura sobbed, shaking her head. "No, I didn't… that didn't happen…"

"Stop lying to me." He snarled, bending over her. "You made a fool of me! You took what you wanted and then discarded me like I was nothing."

"No…" Aura was cut off when he slapped her across the face.

"Stop fucking lying." He kicked her again when she curled in on herself. Aura cried, trying to crawl away, but Cadan had grabbed her hair again and yanked her up. When his other hand closed around her throat Aura suddenly heard Reno. She didn't even know how many times he had gone over situations like this with her. In their years on the streets time and time again he had told her to never stop fighting. He had taught her how to break free of someone's hold on her; how to use a knife. She had never been particularly good at any of it, but she knew that she wasn't going to just allow this to happen.

When Cadan brought his face close to hers the next time, Aura abruptly headbutted him. Pain erupted around her skull but she grinned in satisfaction at his pained cry as he staggered back from her. She didn't allow him the chance to recover and swiftly kicked him in the back of the knees, watching as he went down with a surprised yelp. Knowing she wouldn't get another chance, Aura jumped on him.

She had about three and a half seconds of thinking that she might be able to win the scuffle that followed, but then Cadan had flipped her hard onto her back on the concrete, pinning her with his body as he wrapped the rope attached to her wrists several times around her throat and began pulling. Aura stopped struggling against him. She gasped, her fingers scraping and scratching at the rope cutting off her air.

"Are you going to behave?" he asked softly, still pinning her in place with her weight. She nodded, choking. He leaned closer, his face only inches from hers again. "Do you see how I'm in control?" he asked, "How you belong to me…?" She nodded again, her vision growing darker, "Do you see how I could do whatever I like to you…?" He tugged on the rope until she nodded, feeling her limbs growing heavier. She heard Zena's voice yelling at him and then he had pulled the rope from around her throat, but she could still do nothing more than blink slowly as she tried to breathe deeply enough to make her head stop spinning. She felt his hands slip inside her torn dress but she couldn't move to do a thing about it. She flinched when he squeezed her breast hard enough to hurt and she watched his face as he looked her over, only glancing up when someone thumped loudly on the far door. He sighed and then leaned down over her. "I could have you here and now…" he breathed, his breath hot against her ear, "and there's not a thing anyone could do about it…not even that red-headed turk…" Aura shuddered. "But…" he continued, getting to his feet and leaving her lying on the concrete, "I have other things to do."

Aura still couldn't move, even as Cadan closed the door behind himself and they heard the lock click into place. Zena was suddenly beside her, kneeling over her, pulling her dress closed, and fingers probing carefully at her throat. Aura just looked up at her, feeling dazed.

"Are you okay?" The blonde woman asked. Aura didn't know. She swallowed carefully, drawing a shuddering breath. "You'll be okay in a few minutes… just breathe…" Aura nodded her understanding, slowly flexing her fingers. "I can't believe you jumped him like that…" Zena went on. "I thought he was going to kill you."

Tears flooded Aura's eyes and she nodded, having thought the same thing. She wriggled her toes, relieved that her limbs appeared to still work. A few minutes later Zena helped her sit up.

"You're right." Zena murmured, her hand rubbing up and down Aura's back. "We have to get out of here. Now."