Welp... uhmm... it doesn't get too graphic, but I guess I should warn you guys, the torture starts in this chapter. So. Yeah. Things start to get ugly and intense from here on out.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this, I'm really happy with how this chapter came out!

Let met know with one of those lovely reviews, yeah?

Kisses,

MD

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any part of the franchise. I gain nothing from writing this other than creative satisfaction.

DAY 1

Addy had no idea how long the two groups stood in silence, simply watching one another, gauging, assessing. It could have been hours, days, lifetimes, or seconds, her judgement wasn't on point with how distracted she was trying to see around the great wall of man in front of her to make sure her children were all alive and unharmed. So far, none of the adults had tried to fire at them or made any kind of demands, but Adelaide knew it was only the dead bodies she'd left behind on some of her trips that made them hesitate at all from using brute force. Still, they were only children, only one barely over legal age, and that hesitation wouldn't last long.

From the middle of it all, Thomas sniffled and pushed himself to a sitting position, holding a hand to his jaw and studiously looking anywhere but his family. Addy wished he would, because then he could see that she didn't blame him, and she wasn't angry, and she still loved him. He still belonged to her. They were still connected. She never expected anyone in her group to have the strength to face the reason for their miserable life and be able to die with their secret, except herself. She was hardened, and barely even human anymore. There was nothing she had expected of Thomas other than his complete obedience for which, Addy felt, he had already endured punishment enough.

However, his sniffling broke whatever had been keeping the adults from moving, and they all straightened. The farthest one from Addy cautiously lowered his phaser and looked over all the older kids, blatantly ignoring Addy and Thomas, and he was searching for something, she could see it in his eyes. Snow crunched under his boots as he walked in front of her four children, and Addy felt her nails digging into her palm with how tightly she was clenching her fists together. She shifted her body slightly so that the man watching her was less in her way and watched as what she assumed to be the leader stopped in front of a trembling Auriel.

Addy growled softly and the gun next to her gave her a strange look.

"I'm looking for the leader of your little… group," the man in front of Auriel said. None of her children said a word, and she was proud of their bravery, but also cursed them for putting themselves in danger and trying to protect her.

That was not how this family worked.

"You will speak only with me," Addy snarled, making the gun next to her jump. The leader ignored her, searching the frightened face of Auriel, Abraham's resigned face, Justin's empty stare, and Reid's reserved caution. Addy shifted her back away from the gun slightly so he couldn't see her reaching for the knife in her back pocket, and she kept her face the same as she slipped it down her thigh, waiting for the opportune moment.

"I said, I am looking for your leader," the man demanded again, this time with more force. Still, her children were silent. They didn't even look over at her, and it was something beautiful and confusing to watch them try and spare Addy what was obviously pain. It made her chest tense with a dull ache then warm and relax before a sharp throb stabbed her in her heart. She didn't understand it. She didn't understand them. Why wouldn't they out her? She wouldn't let anyone harm them so long as she was alive and able, they didn't need to protect her.

Maybe they were protecting her because… they simply wanted to?

Addy didn't remember what tears were anymore or that crying was something she used to do when her body had the fluid to spare, so instead she scowled at them. She tried to catch their eye, signal them to cease this nonsense, but all four absolutely refused to acknowledge her existence.

Adelaide blinked at the sharp smacking sound as her brain caught up, trying to process the image of a grown man's hand flying out and connecting with Auriel's delicate cheek. Something in her mind snapped at one of her children being assaulted, and she knew this was the moment she had been waiting for. Without a thought, Addy jumped at her guard, now distracted by the altercation off to his side, and with her long arms, stabbed him right in his chest. He let out a wet yelp as dark red blood spilled over her hands, and Addy let her knife drop with him in lieu of his phaser, which she took and quickly aimed level with the man doomed for death.

"I believe I warned you that you would only be speaking with me, you uncultured swine," she hissed. All the adults blinked at her in surprise, unsure of what their own eyes had just witnessed. With a simple button, she changed the setting from stun to kill, and the light weapon in her hands beeped lightly with the alteration, letting her know the charge still held.

The man looked her over, really looked, and Addy didn't like that she couldn't read what he thought of her. She could always read people. She grew up reading people. It was knowing the difference between a beating and only being starved that night. But, for the life of her children, Adelaide could not read a single thought off this man that turned to her and strode with long and purposeful steps. She shifted into a position that allowed her to leap away from him easier if need bed, but he stopped two feet away from her and simply looked.

"You're their leader?" Well, at least she could still hear emotion when he spoke, because that was obviously disbelief in his voice.

"I'm the only one you're speaking to," she dodged. "The next person to approach any of these adolescents dies." The man tilted his head in thought.

"We only want to help you." Addy rolled her eyes.

"Like you all helped your friends to their deaths all that time ago?" Something in his face stiffened, and Addy felt the air change around her, and she was smug with the knowledge that everyone here was guilty and they knew it.

"It was for the good of the colony."

"It was pointless murder!" she screamed, as blonde curls and a rug soaked with blood flashed through her brain. "Did no one stop to think of how wrong what Kodos demanded really was? Did you all simply follow him on blind faith? Was there even a problem with the crops? Your sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers may have all well died at your own fucking hands for no more reason than the whims of a madman!"

There was a choking sound from one of her children, and Addy quickly flicked her eyes over to them to make sure none of the other adults had attempted anything during her discussion. She hardened her face and looked back at the man before her when she saw that it was Auriel crying as soft as she could into Abraham's shirt while Justin tried to discreetly wipe away the tears at his eyes.

"Governor Kodos demands to see you," the man said, as if she hadn't spoken at all, and Addy could have just screamed.

"You can tell the 'governor' to suck my proverbial dick for all I want to see him," she snapped. The man blinked at her and sighed softly, turning away from her and walking back towards the direction of town.

"Ames, make sure Herrell's body comes back with us," he said tonelessly. He stopped in front of Auriel, watching her as she cried for a moment before taking out his phaser and shooting her between her eyes in one smooth movement. Instantly, her hiccuping was silenced as her body fell to ground in a heap. Addy stood there in horror. The beam had been red. His gun hadn't been set to stun either. Auriel was dead.

Thomas' cries began again as the man left them all behind, loud and afraid, and Abraham simply stared at the hands that had been offering their sister support not moment before, like he didn't comprehend where she had gone. Justin was looking at Auriel's messy bob with that same empty face, but Reid was staring at Addy, and she was cold inside, so cold, Auriel had been so warm and loving to everyone, so full of life and stories for the younger children, and soft company for Addy when she didn't even know she needed it. And now it all meant nothing, because everything the Orion hybrid girl had ever been had been extinguished in the span of a second at the end of a focused beam of energy that overloaded her brain until it shut down and ceased all body functions. Auriel's warmth was gone, and Addy hadn't even killed the man for her, and he'd been right there, and she was just… cold.

She didn't fight when someone took the phaser out of her hands, or harshly tied them behind her back. Adelaide didn't even object when they shoved her forward and she almost fell over. All she could see was that brown hair and shy smile, and never again, and she was dead, already dead, there was nothing Kodos could do to her that was worse than this failure.

Much to Adelaide's displeasure, she would soon find out exactly how wrong she was about that.

DAY 3

It was the basement of city hall with all the dank cells and prisons that Addy knew for a fact were against regulation. At first, she'd thought they would be put in separate rooms, but by some will of God, all of her children were given to her. It was only when the door had latched shut that they had crowded around her, and though they made no noise, she felt the warmth of their tears on her skin as they all mourned their fallen sister.

They weren't given enough food, not nearly enough food. They were fed once a day, with barely enough for one person, let alone five. Addy, of course, took less than them so to increase their chances of living longer and being rescued. It was a testament to how tired all four of their souls were that they didn't even argue when she took a bite and said she was done.

No one came for her until the third day.

The door opened, and all the children huddled behind Addy as she squinted into the light she wasn't used to, growling viciously at whomever was threatening her children. Her eyes took too long to adjust before she noticed that the very reason for all their pain and suffering had been the one to grace them with his presence. Her hands had twitched with the urge to wrap around Kodos' neck and wrangle the life out of him, slow and painful.

"Come with me, Adelaide," he said simply, and she stiffened.

"Fuck you, how about that?" she snarled. Kodos took a step into their cell, and she heard Thomas whimper behind her.

"If you refuse me, I will kill your companions in front of you and make you bathe in their blood, Adelaide." She didn't doubt him for a second, but she hated that she was listening to anyone on the god forsaken shit hole, let alone him, so it still took her a moment before she stood.

Without a word, she stepped past him and out into the hallway, hearing the door shut behind her with an ominous thud. Her stomach grew heavy and she felt like she might throw up, or laugh, or rip his throat out with her bear teeth, and everything was making her so dizzy, she started to sway on her feet.

"Follow me," the red haired man instructed, leading her through twists and turns until she was in a room that smelled thick of blood and despair. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she froze in the doorway, looking in horror at the single biobed with stains her mind refused to acknowledge. Kodos stood by it, looking at her thoughtfully before he pat the biobed in an unmistakable command.

The cold feeling returned, and Adelaide was intrigued to find that she wasn't bothered by the knowledge of her impending torture. She wasn't bothered by anything, anymore. She was too hungry and too tired to summon enough energy to feel bothered.

Addy padded over to the biobed and hopped up on it softly, noting the surprise in Kodos' eyes with no real amusement, but a clinical sense of awareness. It was there, and she had seen it, and the information had been catalogued for later examination.

"Ah, Governor, is this her?" a voice asked from behind her. Addy looked over her shoulder and blinked at the woman who held a PADD delicately in her hands. She had black hair and black eyes, and under different circumstances, Addy would have said she looked kind.

"Indeed it is, Eve." The doctor set her PADD to the side and stood, her eyes taking in Addy's obvious state of malnourishment and overall sense of unwellness. Addy looked away from the doctor dismissively, focusing on the wall in front of her, trying to understand where her wrath had gone, and why it couldn't give her strength anymore before deciding she didn't honestly care. The doctor came around and stood opposite Addy's other side.

"Hm. After all the trouble she's cause I expected… more," she muttered, and Kodos chuckled, running his hands through Addy's matted blonde curls. Dimly, she was surprised with how gentle his hands were, she had expected the skin to be rough for some reason.

"Yes, well… I'm sure we'll discover our dear Adelaide here is just full of surprises. I'll leave you two to it. Let me know when it's over, and I'll send Hector to retrieve her." The doctor gave him a nod, and Addy watched Kodos back leave, wondering how a man like him could sleep at night, but then he was gone, and not her problem anymore.

She had expected pain, and she was sure that would come eventually. But for now, this acted more like a physical examination. It made sense, she supposed. They had to establish a baseline from which to do their work, and had to see what kind of questions she was willing to answer from the start (which was none - Addy didn't utter a single word the entire time she was outside her cell).

When the doctor seemed to have finished, she sent a message off on her PADD, and soon enough, the same man from the forest, the one that had killed her Auriel, was here to take her back. Addy stiffened, some of the coldness within her thawing at the sight of them man, and she wanted to know if a monster like him could still bleed red. When he noticed her expression, his lips twitched into an almost smile and the first real expression Addy could say she'd seen on him, but he said nothing.

They walked back to her cell in silence, and she contemplated just how weak the human body was, how many pressure points she could reach to kill him before he reacted.

Her children received her in hushed tones of relief and anger, asking her what happened and what they'd done when Addy got back. She said nothing. Merely curled up on the floor as they surrounded her, and stole some of the warmth from their bodies, and waited as it chased away the last of the chill within herself.

DAY 5

Kodos came for her again when Thomas developed the cough. It concerned Adelaide and enraged her to be so helpless as one of her children needed her help in the most basic ways and she failed, yet again. And despite how much she wanted to tell the red haired man off when he opened the door, she still remembered his threat from last time. She wanted to stay here, to watch over Thomas, to make sure he ate properly and slept as best he could, but she tore herself away, limbs shaking in rage as she stood once more and followed Kodos back to the doctor's chamber.

This time Kodos stayed for everything.

This time there was pain.

They started off by injecting Addy with a drug that made her feel sharp and alive, lucid and stronger than she had since before the massacre. It pumped through her veins, and her brain focused, and she could feel everything. Then the cutting began. The cutting, and slicing, and prying.

Eve was methodical in her work. She used certain tools that Addy didn't know that made her skin feel on fire, and with the aid of the drug in her system, every nerve ending was especially sensitive. Her pride demanded she remain stoic and silent, but she was ashamed to admit the first cut had her screaming. She pulled against the restraints, she tried to break free, she tried to get away from the pain, but all the got her was a broken finger. And when she swore at Kodos for that, Eve twisted her broken finger in such a way that had her sobbing.

In all honesty, it didn't last that long, not when Addy would look back years later. That first time was really rather short. Just another sort of establishing the boundaries, she supposed. But when it was over and the good doctor was wiping her hands, Kodos dismissed her and was left alone with the shaking and whimpering mess that used to be Addy.

How had she been so strong for her children?

He walked up to her side, and looked down at her in sympathy for a moment before wiping the hair and sweat out of her face tenderly. She felt like she might puke on him.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, Adelaide, really, I am. I don't like having to do this to you, but this is punishment. You took things from me, and now I must take things back, do you understand?"

She would have glared and given him a few choice words, but the room started spinning and with one last tremble and cloud of black crashed over her and she knew nothing.

DAY ?

She had no idea how long it had been.

Too long.

She didn't eat anymore. She barely drank the water they gave her, and she never spoke to her children. They stopped trying. She just crawled over to them as best she could when her time was over, knowing they could feel the blood on her skin, and laid her head in their laps to sleep.

The drug was administered at the beginning over every session, which now became a frequent occurrence.

Sometimes they healed her and gave her the drug anyway and sent her back. That was always the worst, because Addy knew that the next time was going to be especially bad.

She'd had all her bones broken at least once. She'd literally seen the flesh stripped from her own body, and through some cleverness on Eve's part, literally held her own heart in her hands before.

And always Kodos was there.

At first, Addy thought he was just overseeing things to make sure they went how he wanted, but… her eyes strayed from seeing her body the wrong way, seeing it turned inside out, and she'd looked at him, and amidst the haze of her pain she'd felt sick. Kodos had been staring right at her with nothing but what could be describe as very obvious desire in his green eyes.

That session, Addy really did throw up.

She understood all of his little touches after that, and once he realized he'd been caught, he only increased them. He seemed to take obvious joy in making her uncomfortable, and forced her to not ignore him like she'd planned. She wasn't allowed to simply brush him off. He was there, and he would be acknowledged.

Sometimes, when Eve was feeling especially vindictive, she kept the drug from Addy, and would prolong the sessions until the small blonde girl had the shakes and was near incoherent as the shock on her body from withdrawals tortured her even in rest.

Who was she kidding? She wasn't allowed to rest.

Addy didn't know what day it was when Kodos came for her but didn't take her to Eve. She didn't much care to know. She'd been expecting it for awhile now. Hoping, against hope, that she was wrong, and he found her frail, emaciated, now scarred body repulsive enough to keep from truly violating her.

She'd been wrong.

And when she was brought back to her cell that time, Addy didn't even bother crawling over to her children.

She sat in the corner, curled in a ball and praying to death to come take her away from this place, to save her from this nightmare. But of course she didn't get her wish. That would have been too easy.

And when had her life ever been easy?

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Peace.