AN: Sorry it took so long, I was in the hospital for a few days, and then pretty much useless for a about a week or so, anyway, hope you like it.

"Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm lost. Doesn't mean I'll stop, doesn't mean I would cross." -Coldplay

Chapter Six

Hadeel didn't know what to say, what she had seen and witnessed was something that had left her slightly speechless in front of the man that had caused her to be that way. Bane merely stared down at her without much emotion in his eyes, for a moment Hadeel had thought that she could see a bit of surprise in his eyes. Though that emotion was gone as quickly as it had come.

She expected him to at least ask her why she was there, he was curious about it wasn't he? She was definitely curious as to why Bane had come in with intent to kill, and plans to do who knows what else.

"Nothing to say?" Bane asked her calmly.

Tearing her eyes away from his face Hadeel looked away from him and towards the ground, what was she to do? Was she fearful of him now? Maybe, though more than anything Hadeel felt as if she was numb to whatever was happening. As if she was simply watching everything happen from afar, unable to call out to herself and give her own person advice. There seemed to be a single question floating around in Hadeel's head, one that made her cringe when she remembered the reason for it coming up at all.

"Is it easy?" Her voice was small when she spoke to him finally. Bane seemed a little taken aback for a moment; he hadn't expected her to speak much after watching him kill a handful of people.

"Is what easy?" He questioned her.

"Killing people," she let her voice fall off after that. Bane looked down at her small form beneath him as she slumped against the wall and looked away from his searching eyes.

It was an odd sort of question to hear from one so young, especially a girl, moreover, a girl who just watched her friend whom she thought to be nice kill people and walk around like nothing happened. That was one of the reasons why Bane liked the girl, Hadeel always seemed to surprise him, smiling when he thought she would cry or bite out at him. Asking questions when she should be running or trembling to the point of tears from fear of what might happen to her. Yet she was asking him a question that made him smile.

"Yes," he answered shortly.

At that moment Hadeel looked up at him, eyes full of an emotion that he had yet to see in her eyes and in the contours of her face, a mixture of fear, worry, and pain. Bane's eyes crinkled up slightly in amusement and excitement, not only was his plan finally coming into play but also he was able to see his Songbird show such a raw expression to him.

When Bane had answered her question so simply Hadeel felt her stomach churn sickly, quickly turning her eyes towards his she looked at him with a pained expression. He killed people as if they were goldfish or pigeons, but that wasn't how it was supposed to be, humans are supposed to be different. When you think about the fact that they have been going through hardships and pain just as you have it should make it harder to end their life. Because they're trying just as hard as everyone else is to stay alive and to just be happy in such a world as this.

"It shouldn't be," she said in a soft whisper.

After saying that Hadeel once again turned away from Bane, feeling that his gaze was much too strong on her, she looked down the hall as calmly as she could. What was she going to do though? Was Bane going to let her leave? Or was she going to die by the very hands she thought to be so strong and threatening, but gentle? Bane had his moments where Hadeel felt that he could protect anyone from anything, and that no matter what, he would be there for her. Of course that was also just a wild thought in Hadeel's mind that ignored all other feelings of fear and uneasiness, because at the same time Bane was dark and threatening. The strength that Hadeel had felt behind his arms and through his words had made her shudder and spill the truth when she really hadn't wanted to say anything at all.

She didn't know anything about him except that he wore a mask, he liked big coats, and he seemed to want to know everything about her. In just a few seconds she'd found out that he killed people and that it was easy for him, that he didn't care he was ending people's lives, and she had no answer for why. She'd seen something that he obviously had not wanted her to see; else he would have told her that he was going to be at the Stock Exchange. So what was to become of her?

"Get up," Bane said suddenly. Yanking Hadeel to her feet when she hesitated Bane pulled her with him, down a few steps of stairs before he caught sight of what he was looking for.

Seeing a man with a gun looking at them Hadeel stiffened and tried to shy away from Bane's grip and the man. He looked mean, with a dark face and a set expression of hate and anger Hadeel didn't want to get any closer to the man than she already was, she could imagine the gun in his hands quickly turning on her form. The sound of it going off ringing ghostly in her ears as she could almost feel the pain as the bullet struck her skin, if it happened would she scream?

"If you lose her, you will lose your life," Bane said to the man before shoving Hadeel towards him. Hadeel stumbled, feeling the need to run away she took a shaky step before the man with the gun grabbed onto her arm forcefully and brought her from to his. Hadeel could feel the strength of his body through the stiffness of his stance and his chest against her back, a shiver passed through her skin when she felt his heart beat powerfully.

"Yes, sir," he muttered coldly.

With that said Bane turned and walked away from them, leaving Hadeel with a silence she choked on and a fear that was growing in her throat and in her heart.

Usually it was horror movies that made her tremble and shake as she walked to her room in the dark at night, her friends would laugh at her and giggle at how she would leave the light on when she slept. Her thoughts would run wild and unkempt through her head whenever she saw something even remotely scary. She could almost hear the weight of their footsteps as they walked down the hall toward her room and never opened the door. That was a kind of imaginary fear that stole sleep from Hadeel during the dark nights in her room, but this was different.

The man holding onto her arm pushed her past the dead and limp bodies on the floor until they were in front of a chair; he then forced her down towards the piece of furniture powerfully.

"Sit down," he growled lowly.

For a mere second Hadeel had the thought to run. Bane had told the man that if he lost her that he would be killed in return, that would mean that Bane didn't want her dead or lost for that matter, but if she ran would she make it? Course he could always shoot her in the leg and then she would be a bloody mess trying to stumble back to her feet, and she didn't want a bullet in her leg.

Sitting down quickly Hadeel looked away from the man quickly, not wanted to make eye contact with him she wondered how many times he had listened to his gun fire at someone, she could only imagine their bodies falling limply to the floor. Fearful of her own thoughts Hadeel closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears as she heard new screams echo through the building before gunshots followed. The man in front of her shifted uncomfortable from foot to foot taking a glance or two in the direction of the noise. Was that the next step of Bane's plan?

Trying to take her mind off Bane Hadeel set her mind on trying to come up with an escape plan, she was too scared when it came to running away from Bane because she had seen him in action when he had killed the men and women that lay before her on the ground. But when it came to this man there was a bit of lightness, just a small fraction, which lifted from her heart, because she didn't know if he was as powerful as Bane was. But should she try to escape? Even though she had seen Bane kill he still hadn't caused her any real harm, he could have killed her already and yet he let her live.

Her thoughts tore into two parts as Hadeel wondered what she should do, she'd considered Bane as a friend before this happened, what was he now?

"So," a voice ripped her from her thoughts.

The man in front of her smirked and took her bag from her like it was a bomb, tossing it across the room Hadeel watched as if hit one of the bodies before she closed her eyes painfully. The sound it'd made when it hit the body was so horrid and dull. It wasn't like she had anything threatening in the bag; there was no reason for him to cast it aside like an unwanted doll.

"Why are you so important?" He asked turning her face forcefully up towards his.

It was then that Hadeel finally got a good look at him, not a bad looking guy with a bit of stubble around his face and a thin mouth made for serious expressions. Lastly Hadeel looked into his eyes, it was always the thing she loved about people, the way their eyes were unique to them. His were green with traces of brown and gold in them, looking like white veins, Hadeel couldn't help but feel a tightness in her throat. How could someone with such beautiful eyes be holding a gun?

"No answer?" He asked her squeezing her chin in his grip slightly.

Tearing her gaze away from him Hadeel forced her head out of his grip tentatively, was he the type of bad guy that got angry easily and started beating up his captives? Typically in movies there were only a few types of villains; the one that was evil and cared nothing for anyone else, the one that was just fighting on the wrong side, the one that cared for only a few people, and the one that was kind only at certain moments. Sometimes Hadeel would imagine what these villains would be like if she met them, she never thought it would actually happen.

"I like your eyes," she mumbled too softly for anyone to hear.

"What was that?" He asked hearing her mumble something. His voice turned hard and mean when he asked her, as if he thought she was cursing at him or something.

"Your eyes," she said looking up at him suddenly. "I like them," she said before turning away from him ashamed of herself. She shouldn't be complimenting the guy with the gun, if anything she should be screaming or attempting to runaway just like everyone else in the movies did. Why? Why was she saying something like that to the man? He could be a crazy person.

When the man let a chuckle escape his lips Hadeel looked up at him abruptly, he shook his head once before turning away from her; he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"Weird girl," he muttered lowly.

Doing her best not to look at the bodies on the ground Hadeel looked around the room as if she was a curious child, but somehow her eyes always landed on the limp figures on the floor. Making her shudder with discomfort and fear she felt like crying just from the sight of it, how much would their family members cry for them?

"Keep moving!" A shout echoed throughout the building loudly. The man next to Hadeel more or less disappeared as she tried to figure out what was happened as more and more people started to come down the stairs and towards the main entrance. Getting lost in the crowd of people Hadeel started to feel more fearful than she had moments before, what was happening now?

Feeling the fear of everyone else surround her Hadeel could feel herself begin to fall into the frenzy of the people around her, the pushing and shoving of arms and shoulder made Hadeel want to fall to the floor and block the world out. Within the madness of fear and worry a strong hand found its way to Hadeel's arm, pulling her backwards and into a familiar presence Hadeel looked up to see Bane staring down at her. A sudden urge to get away came to her again, but her legs would not follow such a command.

There were no words spoken between the two of them, Bane merely pulled Hadeel behind him as they made their way through the crowd that parted in front of them as if they were a shark or lion passing by. Finally they came to a group of motorcycles and Bane plopped his helmet on easily, merging in with the rest of his gang Hadeel couldn't tell any of them apart and perhaps that was what they wanted.

Tensing in his grip Hadeel tried to shy away from him slightly, feeling like she should at least struggle as someone tried to steal her away from the world. It was odd to feel nothing and say nothing when something like this was happening, when in truth she was merely petrified with fear and discomfort and didn't know what to say. Giving a small tug on her arm to get away from him Hadeel almost squeaked when Bane tugged her towards him even more, now their bodies were but inches apart.

"You needn't be afraid, little Songbird," he said shortly. Even through the motorcycle helmet Hadeel could hear the rasp in his voice as he breathed and spoke to her, and that, in its simplicity, was calming.

Within the next few moments Bane pulled Hadeel onto the bike with him, sitting her in front of him so she would have no venue for escape. Hadeel felt herself stiffen when she thought about how close they were to each other, she could feel his form through her clothes and could imagine what his heartbeat felt like. The sudden sound of engines revving softly made Hadeel close her eyes tightly, a few people next to her made small screams and noises of protest, making Hadeel open her nervous eyes to see what it was.

Hostages, the other men were taking random people from the crowd for hostages on their own bike. So that's all she was then, a hostage. Bane wasn't taking her for any other reason than to use as leverage to threaten the police with. An odd sort of feeling rushed over Hadeel as she felt herself stiffen all the more when she thought about what he might do with her and the rest of the hostages.

Finally they started to move, inching forward bit by bit until some of the people were exiting the building through the front doors; Hadeel could faintly hear policemen shouting things back and forth to each other. A burst of power sent Bane, Hadeel, and the other men on motorcycles through the crowd of people and put the door without conflict, driving easily past anything that the police had set up for them.

Hearing another scream Hadeel turned around for a moment to see some of the other men ditch their hostages on the side of the street by the Stock Exchange building. Looking forwards towards the road again Hadeel wondered when Bane would throw her away as well.

Hadeel closed her eyes frightfully; she had always hated motorcycles since her dad had gotten one and made her drive home from school on it. The fact that most motorcycle crashes kill the driver made her clench her teeth and let fear clog her throat, hopefully Bane would be a good driver. Feeling a bump in the road and hearing bullets in the background Hadeel tried her best to hide away from the sound, shriveling backwards only to come into contact with Bane's stomach. Freezing suddenly she made no move to get away from him by leaning forward, because for some reason she felt safe with her back against his chest. Blotting out the previous knowledge of him being a killer and whatnot she still only felt that he was the one that could make her feel safe.

"I'm going to throw you now," Bane said letting one of his hands clench around her waist tightly.

"What?" Hadeel finally muttered a little baffled.

Within the next moment Bane thrust her out onto the road like she was a cigarette butt that he could no longer smoke. Hadeel hit the ground painfully, letting out a small whimper when she could feel the skin on her shin grate across the ground and tear through her tights like scissors through tissue paper. Finally coming to a stop she looked around to see where she was, but she didn't recognize the place, she was near an alley with a great expanse of street and buildings on either side of her. Hearing the roar of the motorcycles leave her ears Hadeel looked up suddenly to see if she could catch any sight of them in front of her, but they were already gone.

Pulling herself to a sitting position Hadeel frown and murmured complaints when she saw that her shin was already bleeding and burning angrily, the wound was about as big as her palm and already the blood was dripping down her leg. There were other placed along her body that were also banged up pretty badly, her elbows felt hot and her left hand had lost quite a bit of skin on the knuckles when she'd tried to stop herself mid skid.

"My only nice dress," she muttered softly to herself. Looking down at her clothing she frowned sadly when she saw that there were a couple holes and tears from just sliding on the road, what an awful day today was.

The only good part was that Hadeel was no stranger to pain and could ignore the burning hotness of her wounds and stand up without whimpering in pain or feeling too much agony course through her veins. Wobbling unsteadily on her feet Hadeel began to take off her boots so she could walk easier, the boots had a bit of a heel on them and that was something she had always hated and made her feet ache. Holding them in one hand she began to just walk, perhaps Bane would come back for her, perhaps not, regardless of that, Hadeel was pretty shaken up from what had happened that night. She just wanted to get home and forget it ever happened. Though she was sure nightmares would haunt her while she slept that night.

Hearing something behind her Hadeel turned to see a man walked briskly in the same direction that she was, and by briskly it would mean that it looked like he was almost running at her. Feeling fear rise like bile in her throat again Hadeel turned around sharply before walking faster herself, surely they couldn't coming for her. What kind of luck would she have if right after she got left behind someone came to get her? Very bad luck.

The footsteps only sounded closer so without too much thought put into it Hadeel began to run, sprinting as fast as she could away from the man, feeling the pain in her shin burn like a fire sweeping across her leg she limped slightly. Letting her boots fall behind her she felt like the sound of the man's footsteps behind her were echoing in her mind, telling her that he was only getting closer to her even as she ran. Taking a quick glance behind her Hadeel saw that the man was running full power at her and that he wasn't very far behind her. Turning back to look in front of her Hadeel thought that she saw a gun hanging off of him somewhere, so he must be one of Bane's men then.

Closing her eyes tightly for a second Hadeel tried to pump her legs faster, blocking the man with a gun out of her mind until she felt something close around her arm tightly, yanking her backwards until she came into contact with another body. Quickly turning sharply towards the man Hadeel lashed out with her arm in a sort of karate stance, with her fingers stretched out and pressed together. She'd never taken karate but always insisted that if one was to hit someone in the throat it would immobilize them for a little while, or for at least like ten seconds or something.

The man was faster than she would have ever thought he would be, catching her wrist and deflecting her wimpy attempt to hit him. Hadeel grunted in anger and frustration before trying to kick at him, feeling the fiery pain in her shin made her speed lessen and the man easily caught her leg and pushed her onto the ground. Letting a small growl pass her lips Hadeel stared up at the man with furrowed brows and a defiant expression on her face.

"You can struggle, but in the end, I'm taking you with me," the man said sternly. Hadeel stopped when she heard the accent in his voice; it was an interesting difference from his voice to hers, something that Hadeel had to scold herself for thinking of. She'd always liked accents, but now was definitely not the time to admire one, especially if the guy was trying to kidnap her.

"Why?" She questioned feeling terror grip her heart. Why was everything bad happening to her tonight? "Just take a rock and say I turned into it," she mumbled under her breath. Feeling embarrassment flush her face she turned away from the man, had she really just said that aloud?

"What?" The man questioned wondering if he' heard the girl right or not. Glancing around the streets quickly he advanced on her, pulling out a cloth that Hadeel almost smiled when she recognized before she remembered that it knocked people out.

"There's nothing special about me, no one will care that I'm gone," she tried to insist. "You won't gain anything by taking me," she said backing away from him as he walked closer. Throwing out feeble attempts to keep him away the man caught her wrists with ease, putting them in one hand before speaking to her in a wise voice.

"I know, but you're the Songbird," he said towards her softly.

Turning frigid under his gaze Hadeel didn't have time to react to his quick movements as he shoved the cloth in her face and onto her mouth. Feeling frantic for a few moments Hadeel thought back to what she had said not moments before, what would her parents say when she didn't come home that night? Would they freak out because of the news that the Stock Exchange had been hit by thugs with guns? Would they look for her? Or would it be exactly as she said? No one would care.

Staring up at the man quickly Hadeel let her eyes soften before she lost consciousness and her world turned black. If no one would care that she was gone why would she want to go back to a place where she was not cared for or recognized?

030

Barsad stared at the girl wordlessly, the look in her eyes just before she'd passed out had been different then the fearful strength that he had seen as she had been trying to fight back. It was as if she had accepted what was happening to her, that perhaps she realized the truth in his words or in her own, that she would be coming with him no matter what.

He'd been surprised when Bane had told him that the Songbird had escaped her cage and was out in the city, that he had the job of catching her and bringing her back to the sewers. Clipping her wings, as Bane had said.

At first the girl had run, which he had been expecting, a limp in her gait meant that she was injured and yet she was still running pretty well, nothing that Barsad couldn't catch up to, but still, he'd expected less of the girl. Bane hadn't spoken much about the girl that he had been going to meet about every other day every so often; he'd just told Barsad the he had plans for her. He'd also showed him a picture of the girl explaining that Barsad would be the one to go get her when the time was right, that she was his Songbird.

There were no questions that Barsad asked Bane about the girl, for she was Bane's distraction, and Bane didn't like anyone joining in on his distractions.

The girls name was Hadeel, or Songbird, as Bane called her, and Barsad knew to look for short hair, but that was about it. The only reason she had been so easy to spot was because Bane had told Barsad exactly where he was going to drop the girl, so it had to be her.

Stooping down to pick her up gently Barsad remembered what she had said under her breath with a small grin. An odd thing to say to something trying to kidnap them, but perhaps that was the very reason why Bane had taken such a liking to the girl, because she was different and she didn't hide it.

But he had to wonder about something, Bane called her Songbird, so she must sing. Would she sing in a cage?

030

Waking up with a start Hadeel took a deep shuddering breath as the images of her dream shifted around in her head, fresh tears on her face made her falter as she tried to sit up.

She'd been standing in the middle of the street, nothing around her, no cars, no people; even the dark sky was empty of anything. Suddenly there was a dull thump that came from behind her, sounding much like a bag of sand hitting pavement, she turned to see that it was a person that had hit the ground. The dull sound of a motionless and lifeless body hitting pavement was sickening to her ears and made her stomach churn cruelly. Feeling tears well up in her eyes she turned away from the body to see another one fall in front of her, the same dull thud that she had heard not moments before began to echo in her mind as more and more bodies began to fall from the sky and fall onto the pavement like ragdolls.

A thickness prevented her from running suddenly as her vision began to get foggy with tears, the dream was changing and shifting as dreams liked to do, perhaps she was beginning to wake up. She had been trying her best to close her eyes and wake to her house, to leave such an awful dream but nothing was working. Looking down at her feet Hadeel saw the street beneath her shoes change suddenly, trying to move again she tripped and fell with a small splash in the new liquid beneath her. For a moment Hadeel couldn't quite figure out what it was, but as more and more bodies began to fall and splash in the fluid she could see the color of it. Red, lifting her hands quickly from the ground she almost screamed at what she saw, blood all around her, coated her hands.

It was blood.

That was when she'd woken up, shaking visibly from the memory of the sound of the bodies hitting the pavement, the splash of blood all around her, and the dark emptiness of being alone, all of it made her quiver. In her dream she had been crying profusely, so it didn't come as a surprise when she could feel the tears streaming down her face, sometimes when she cried in her dream she woke up crying. It was weird, but she didn't care about it right now.

Finally as she began to calm down a new sound found its way to her ears, the sound of rushing water that never let up, a soft sound that made her remember everything that had happened to her up until this point.

She was on a bed, with thin covers and a pillow that had run away during her dream to the side of her bed. Reaching for it slowly Hadeel gripped it like one of her old plush dogs that she had in her room at home, the softness of the pillow did little to calm her nerves as she remembered the dream and where she was. Bane and his men had gotten her, knocked her out just like they did in the movies, but where was she now?

In the faint light Hadeel could make out walls all around her, she seemed to be on a small observation area where someone had placed a bed and a small light. The only way off of the place was down a staircase that went along the wall and disappeared into a darker place than the one she was currently in. It smelled like a damp cave, and from the sounds of distant chatter she could tell that there were other people in the place, but who were they? Certainly not friends, she'd been kidnapped for goodness sake.

Where was Bane? The man that had caused everything to happen to her, the man that had taken her away when he really could have just left her at the Stock Exchange like he had left the other people, and yet, she was here instead. Glancing around the place quickly Hadeel pulled her legs out from beneath the covers and over to the side of the bed, staring curiously at her leg when she saw that her black tights were missing. In their place were a few bandages that Hadeel knew covered her wounded leg and perhaps a few other scratches.

Who'd bandaged her though? Hadeel barely let people hug her, let alone take off her clothing and take care of her wounds; she was the type of person who believed that if she could get it done herself there was no reason to ask for help. Even her arms were bandaged where she had scraped and marred them on the ground, her knuckles had a bit of bandage wrapped around them as well, making Hadeel feel like she had a mitten on her hand or something. Had it been Bane? He'd touched her and bandaged her with the same hands that he killed people with, which meant that Hadeel had death on her leg, but that was silly, wasn't it? Certainly she was being much too paranoid, but then again, who wouldn't be after what she had been through?

Letting her feet touch the cool metal grate of the floor Hadeel teetered for a moment before finally gaining the balance she needed and taking careful steps forward. Grabbing onto the railing that followed the staircase Hadeel made her way down the steps slowly, feeling her breathing become quicker and shorter as she let fear drown her mind with unwanted thoughts.

What did Bane want with her? Her parents didn't have money for ransom to buy her back, sometimes she wondered if they even wanted her at all, there was nothing she could give them of any value. Were they going to use her as further leverage for the police? There was one question that hurt Hadeel to think about, but she couldn't help but feel that it might be the truth in all the silly and frivolous questions in her brain. Had Bane been planning to use her all along? Had he been nice to her just to gain her trust? If that was the case then if Hadeel was ever set free or let out alive, for that matter, she would never trust anyone again.

Feeling the stairs quake beneath her Hadeel took longer strides to wherever the staircase ended, hoping that there might not be anyone else on the other side. Hearing the sound of metal creaking made Hadeel freeze for a second, she hadn't even thought about whether the staircase was safe at all, she just wanted to see what was on the other end of it. What if it just fell from beneath her feet and she disappeared into the sound of the rushing water? Would they even hear her vanish?

Would they care?

Feeling overly depressed for herself Hadeel took shaky steps down the stairs further, sighing slightly when she saw that there was another sort of level that someone was living on, or where they had setup a place to hang out and plan evil things. Relaxing slightly Hadeel was made aware of a pain that had been waiting for her to forget about being scared; her shin was calling out to her bitterly, reminding her that she had been tossed off a moving vehicle. There was a shake in her step that she had taken to be fear, but was instead exhaustion and soreness, things that Hadeel had always ignored.

"You should be resting," a familiar voice called out to her.

Looking up at Bane darkly Hadeel felt anger rising in her stomach, standing to her full height she watched him as he walked closer to her form with the same air of strength and power that he always carried. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, so many things she wanted to ask him. Did you pretend to be nice to me? But instead she bit her tongue and let something else bubble out.

"You threw me, like I was some," she stopped trying to find the right word. "Unwanted baby trout on a fishing trip," she finished giving him a hateful stare.

Bane chuckled at the expression on her face; somehow she always made the weirdest expression but still managed to get her point across.

"It was necessary," he explained shortly.

Hadeel scoffed at him and turned away, feeling like they were merely having a conversation like they did at her college, without worry, and without knowledge of what he really did. Suddenly feeling sentimental she turned away from him and stared at the metal grate beneath her feet, standing on it barefoot was beginning to hurt. She could already imagine what the imprint would look like on the bottom of her foot.

"Your wound has opened again," he said towards her. Hadeel cast her eyes towards her leg to see a few dots of red beginning to stain the white bandage; she always hated losing a bunch of skin to the concrete. They were the types of wounds that lasted the longest and were the most annoying, scabbing over and getting itchy.

"Stupid leg," Hadeel grumbled stooping down towards it. Intending to just move the bandage around slightly Hadeel began to unwrap it from her leg when a larger hand stopped her movements abruptly.

Bane stood in front of her holding a new bandage and his glare told her that she was not to touch her leg or even try to do anything to help it. Hadeel looked up at him distastefully as he began to kneel down in front of her. Feeling a bit of resentment towards him at the moment she stood up quickly, too fast for her leg to handle as she wobbled a bit, before looking down at Bane with an angry frown, thinning her eyes in irritation.

She hated feeling vulnerable and didn't like it when people did things for her, and here he was insisting without words that she was not to do anything at all. He had taken her away from the world, thrown her off a bike, and was treating her like a little kid. Still she could taste the bitter question on her tongue as he stood up and towered over her small form, had it all been fake?

"Don't help me," she grumbled before turning around to go back up the stairs. This feeling of helplessness that was washing over her made it hard to breathe; she could do nothing to change what was happening to her. The least she could do was change her own bandage.

Hearing heavy footsteps behind her Hadeel didn't even have time to react before a strong arm lifted her from the ground and brought her up the stairs more quickly then she could have handled by herself. Her feet didn't even touch the ground as Bane took her up the stairs to her own little domain. Hadeel realized in those small moments that the reason why she was up there was so the only person who could get to her was Bane. She wouldn't be able to do anything without the man knowing about, because he was right down the stairs, waiting, watching, and listening.

She felt nothing more than a child when he dropped her on the bed and sat down next to her, making the mattress sink considerably by his added weight she almost fell into him before she caught herself quickly. Grabbing onto her injured leg quickly he started to unwrap the red tainted bandage.

"I can do it myself," she protested trying to push away from him with her other leg. His response was grabbing her other leg and pinning it down with the weight of his own leg, casting a dark stare at her as a warning she huffed and looked away from him sharply.

His hands were gentle but firm, when she felt like he was loosening his grip he held fast to her leg, preventing her from any sort of motion. Finally giving up Hadeel felt a little humiliated, this was what every girl her age wished for, someone who would take care of them when they were injured, but for Hadeel. She wanted someone who recognized her for the fact that she didn't want any help, especially not from someone who killed people and lied to her.

"Why," her voice faded off when she lost her nerve. Glancing up at his face to see that he was staring at her intently before averting her eyes.

"I've been waiting for your questions little Songbird," he said going back to taking care of her leg.

"Why did you take me?" She finally asked him feeling her face burn. "I'm not something that someone would want," she murmured softly.

"Who told you that?" He questioned commanding her attention with his voice.

"No one," she said trying to get away from the question.

In truth it was her sisters and sometimes her friends that admitted they never thought anyone would go for her, because she was so weird and odd sometimes. Countless times her sisters would merely look at what she was wearing, or comment on her behavior and say, 'you'll never get a boyfriend.' Of course Hadeel would laugh, because there just words, but some things just never go away. When she spoke to Bane she'd even regarded herself as something and not someone, because everyone feels worthless sometimes, but a lot of people just never get out of that feeling.

Finally turning towards Bane Hadeel felt herself shy away from his gaze, it was stern and serious, but she didn't know why he wanted to know so badly, everything had been a ruse right? He didn't really want to know the answer; he was still pretending to care.

Friends were important to Hadeel, when she was younger she'd grown up in another state, she spent her childhood with a dozen or so friends that had frowned and cried when she left town for good, she was about ten or eleven. A couple years later her family went back for a visit, Hadeel was excited to see her friends, she wanted to see them smile and hug them when and tell them how much she had missed them.

But they didn't know her.

It was as if her childhood had been erased, her brothers and sisters still had people who remembered them, and they could smile and say I missed you, but Hadeel couldn't. No one seemed to understand, sure they smiled and patted her on t back, but Hadeel was too sad to care, she had no one who was waiting for her to return.

As a result of this she tried to remain friends with everyone, to smile the brightest and always be there for everyone, to never forget. It was even harder for her to admit things to her friends because she had been betrayed countless times, so why would Bane be any different. Sure he was a killer and a thief or robber or whatever, but for a moment, she thought of him as a friend, and right now she felt the familiar sting of betrayal.

"Who was it?" He pressed her for an answer.

"Everyone," she said softly. "My sisters, my friends," she said shaking her head once before looking up at him with a smile. "No one would want me, so why would you?" Her grin was fake and cheerful.

Bane finished bandaging her up in silence, letting her legs go he watched as she shied away from him to the other corner of the bed, turning her back on him and looking out at the water. She felt violated to say the least, he'd done it again, pried away at the barriers she'd set up to keep people out. Perhaps it was her fault, she said something that was unneeded and he'd wanted to know the reason behind it. Maybe she just needed to stop talking.

"You're my Songbird," Bane said catching her attention briefly. "Your wings are broken, and that's why I took you," his voice called out to her kindly as if he was speaking to a child.

Listening to him walk back down the stairs Hadeel looked down at her newly bandaged leg.

"Of course they're broken," she murmured softly.

030

When finally Hadeel had gotten to sleep again she woke up not two hours later with a gasp, another dream about the limp bodies radiated cruelly in her head and behind her closed eyes.

Taking a shuddering breath she let a soft sob escape her lips, holding her head in her hands as she remember the sound of bodies hitting the pavement from her previous dream. She was afraid that if she fell asleep again she would have to see them again, all the bodies.

Blocking out all her thoughts Hadeel listened for any sort of noise of chatter or talking from below, though the water did a good job of hiding anything too quiet away from her. She didn't want to go back to sleep, and still her mind seemed to flood with images of everything that had to do with dead bodies and painful emotions. Ignoring the fact that she didn't want to sing because that was one of the reasons why Bane had taken her, since Songbird meant singing, she grasped onto anything in her mind that made her calm. If she sang quietly no one would hear her right?

"Slow down you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile. But then if you're so smart tell me why are you still so afraid, mmm," Hadeel started of gently.

A song she had always loved for the lyrics and for the tone in which it was sung; it had always been one of her favorites to sing when she was alone. It was a song she liked to listen to more than she liked to sing it because it seemed to calm her down when she was stressed, but at the moment she could only sing it.

"Where's the fire what's the hurry about? You better cool it off before you burn it out. You got so much to do and only so many hours in a day, ay," her voice seemed to grow stronger with just about every word. Imagining herself in her room with a waterfall soundtrack playing in the background, her mind calmed considerably as the song continued. "But you know that when the truth is told that you can get what you want or you can just get old. You're gonna, kick off before you even get halfway through, oooh," she sang powerfully even with such a breathy voice.

Opening her eyes when she hadn't even realized that she closed them she sang the repeating line of the song. "When will you realize, Vienna waits for you."

Like most songs she sang Hadeel found real truth in the words, it was about growing up too fast and how one should take their time and enjoy life as it went by at its own pace, or at least that was what she thought it meant. For now it was just calming for her, even in the chaos was that currently her life she could sing and imagine herself elsewhere.

030

Bane was waiting patiently, sitting down near the staircase that led up to Hadeel he wondered about the hurt in his eyes when she had looked at him earlier, it could have been from her wound, but he knew better than that. He'd been forceful with her again when she refused his help, she certainly knew how to make him angry, but she needed to know that he was in charge, especially down here.

Finally something echoed softly throughout the sewers, he'd picked the spot by the wall because he'd figured out early on that sound echoed through the whole area at that point, and had decided that he would keep his Songbird there. Plus he could keep an eye on her, there was only one staircase that led up to her, and no one could get to it with him there.

Hadeel's voice grew louder as the song went on and Bane noticed the silence that had settled on the area, it seemed that everyone was straining their ears to listen to whatever was resonating so softly.

After Hadeel's voice stopped there was still a bit of uneasy silence about the place, as if everyone was waiting for another song or for something to happen, but there was nothing of the sort. And soon the sound of quiet chatter was back

Barsad had commented on how she might not sing in this cage that Bane had created for her, but Bane was sure that was not the case. Hadeel was someone that longed to be free of the things that held her down, and if there was a chance for her to spread her wings and escape, she would sing. Only birds that had given up would sit limply in the cage and stare at the window longingly.

Even a bird with broken wings would still imagine that they could fly away.

"I just got lost. Every river that I tried to cross. Every door I ever tried was locked." -Coldplay

AN: Phew, got that chapter out. Probably one of the longest chapters I have ever written, almost eight thousand words!

What did you think? Do you still like it? m'

Thanks for reading.