a life unkind
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Summary: Shianni and her wayward cousin, but mostly Shianni, as Bell Tabris is hopeless and doomed to be just like her mother. – Multichapter Origin Fic.-
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Nola was worse than useless.
She hadn't stopped gibbering since they'd been herded into this cell, causing Shianni to send more than one savage look her way. She wasn't alone- the other girls were viewing her with equal parts alarm and distaste, as if giving the shems the satisfaction of their overwhelming fear was too embarrassing for words.
Satisfied, she thought, good. It'll be easier that way.
She was sitting in the corner of the cell, apart from the others, with Bell's limp head and shoulders bundled into her lap. She stroked her hair absently from time to time, her expression unreadable.
This was how it was going to happen.
They were going to bring them, separately, or as a group to the Bann's quarters.
They were going to be raped.
It was entirely within the realm of possibility that several of them were going to end up murdered. There would be no investigation of their deaths, and whatever reprisals occurred would be swiftly crushed. Their one chance lay in cooperation.
Failing that, it would fall to one member of their group to occupy the Bann's time in such a way that he never found time to move on to the rest.
Against her will, her hands trembled, buried in Bell's hair.
This was not the first time the Bann had done this, after all. The girls he took usually came back, hollow eyed and jumpier than cats, but a few hadn't.
The key, she felt, lay in remaining calm.
At this point, Nola's gibbering reached a boiling point, and Shianni began to deeply reconsider this course of action.
Bell stirred.
A bolt of sheer, unbridled panic coursed through Shianni's fingers.
If Bell woke up, she would attempt a Plan. The Plan would be short, simple, and by all likelihood, almost sensible. Bell's Plan would be put into enthusiastic action at first opportunity, and would likely result in all of their bloody, violent deaths.
She had to think- had to think, had to do something to keep Bell out of the way…
The moment passed, and her cousin didn't wake up.
Shianni forced herself to be calm, and forced herself not to worry about the fact that her cousin had received a blow to the head that she hadn't woken up from yet. Her mother, her mother, a stove-in skull and broken legs, a small, terrified voice said, but she smashed that down with all the rest.
It was down to her. It all came down to her. That was all it ever came down to.
I have to…, she thought with grim clarity, I have to keep him busy. As long as it takes. He remembers me, he said as much, I broke a wine bottle over his blighted head after all, so-
She choked back an entirely inappropriate laugh. When it came down to the crunch, all she'd been able to do was to act exactly like Bell, complete with inopportune violence. It had all seemed so simple. Hurt him, make him go away, at least until the wedding was over and she could go home and have a drink first, but he'd rallied himself quicker than she'd thought, and now here they were.
And, oh Maker, what had she said- "Touch me and I'll gut you." She fought the urge to rub her forehead for that one. Bell was becoming a worse influence by the minute.
The thought was calm, almost reasonable. He's going to touch you and he's going to hurt you, and he's going to make you remember him for the rest of your life, so that no other may touch you without his poisoning it first.
You can't fight. You can only try to live through it.
Her shoulders relaxed.
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When the guards come, Bell was still out cold, but when they began to haul the first group of girls away, she started to stir.
Bell came to her senses, blinking blearily and rubbing the back of her head, then visibly realized that she has been lying in the rapidly cooling puddle of Nola's blood- half her face and the whole front of her dress stained an ugly, browning red.
The last thing Shianni saw before one of the guards shoves her though the door was her cousin, shock bleeding across her features like a wine stain, reaching out for Shianni with outstretched fingers.
Shianni retained her composure. Nothing would come of panic. Nola had learned that the hard way, but the rest of the girls knew it too now.
It all came down to her.
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Author's note: Hey guys, know what's really hard to write about? Rape! Who knew??! D: