Daro's pleas fell on deaf ears as the turian dragged her by her leash down into the lower cells of the whorehouse, harsh crimson bulbs the only illumination as they made their way down. The sickening smirk was evident on his face, his face paint resembling the rigid grin of a skull. The rusted locking mechanism of the cell door opened with a piercing groan as he threw her onto the solid concrete, not bothering with the ragged and stained bed. His thin, serpent-like tongue flicked over his maw as his hands groped at her petite form. Daro, in a desperate fit of rage, thrust her helmeted head in a powerful blow against his plated face, too tired to attack him properly. He laughed as he straightened his back, quickly bringing his fist across her visor, breaking away at the cracked glass as Daro fell to the ground. The turian wasted no time ripping away at her tattered suit, the final wall she had left between her body and molestation. He got to work immediately, his claws raking over her body, whispering something lurid into her ear, the words lost in a foggy haze of rage and desperation, his breath bringing bile to the back of her throat. He explored every inch of her, the purpose in his hands clear. She was his property for the evening. She was just a slab of meat to him, hardly constituting a person. It made her sick, a proud daughter of the Migrant Fleet forced to play out the deluded fantasies of the depraved underworld. How could this have happened to her? How had she let it come to this?
Minutes felt like hours. Daro's mind was numb, every desperate bout of resistance met with brutal and overwhelming force. Bruises dominated what felt like every inch of her skin before the turian dragged her to her feet, content with breaking in the brothel's newest prize. Daro didn't even know what to think. She had never shared herself with anyone, and the one person she'd even considered had tossed her aside like common trash. Daro felt her blood simmering with fiery hate at everything she had just lost, at what her foolishness had cost her.
The turian wasted no time in stabbing a needle into the vein of her arm. Antibiotics. It was too merciful to ask for death. Daro didn't get a good look at the vial, but judging from the intense burning that resulted at the tract site, it was potent chemical. Probably a scorched earth immuno-booster. It'd make her immune system strong enough to survive like any other species, but would eventually burn her out until the drug itself poisoned her. She'd live long enough for the brothel to make a profit. That's all that mattered to them. Feeling too drained to even lift herself from the floor, Daro watched with broken detachment as the turian picked up pieces of a new suit, forcibly shoving Daro's limbs into them and delivering a quick blow or smack when she made any vain attempts at resistance. It was tighter than necessary, hearing the material creak and stretch whenever she moved her limbs. Excessive straps decorated her form, crisscrossing across her body in order to exaggerate her assets, belt buckles and straps leaving room for any who desired her to pull and toy with her body. Thin, transparent cloth wrapped around her, a mockery of her people's culture, the turian securing each strip perfectly, sneaking gropes in whenever he felt the need. The visor came last, a number painted across the opaque glass. A price tag. The turian cackled as he observed her quivering form. Daro pulled at the uncomfortable material, receiving little give. Everything was too tight. Looking down, she felt nothing but pure disgust at how her people's culture and biology was being used to so cruelly degrade and humiliate her.
"There we go. Nice and pretty."
Daro wanted to scream. She wanted to tear off his fringe and fillet him with it, to watch his guts spill onto the floor as he begged and cried for mercy. Daro lunged at the turian in a blind fit, clawing for whatever purchase her hands could find. There was no method behind her attack, no training or even thought. The turian grappled with her, twisting her arms at an unnatural angle, forcing her to her knees in a painful shriek. His thin tongue slithered to her visor, the organ leaving a trail of saliva along the polished glass. Daro felt her stomach twist into knots in revulsion.
"Feisty. I like that."
Daro thrashed against her twisted limbs as the turian dragged her from the pit he had violated her in, hearing the jeering remarks of the other guards and seeing the knowing mournful looks she received from the other women. All of Daro's training and skill were wasted in a situation where she was both enraged and without leverage. It only served to infuriate her further. Another cell door slid open with a rusted groan, the turian delivering a knee to Daro's gut before tossing her to the floor, chuckling as she curled her arms around her body.
"Stupid bucket barely put up a fight..."
Another voice picked up from inside the dark cell, feminine and defiant, with a strangely familiar distortion to it.
"Take a few steps closer and I'll show you a fight."
The turian remained rooted to the spot, his black eyes threatening pain as his talons curled into fists. Daro heard creaking and stretching material and the rattle of chains as the woman made her way to her feet.
"Go on. Do it. I dare you," said the new voice, venom dripping from the quiet tone.
The air was electric for a brief moment, the space between the turian and the unseen woman burning with the promise of violence. The skull-faced avian twisted his angular mandibles into a sick smile, finally unclenching his fist.
"Always with the mouth, huh? Double shift for you tonight, quarian. You'll get to use that mouth all night long."
The turian scoffed and exited the cell, locking the aged mechanism behind him. Daro sat huddled in the darkness, feeling warm water finally welling up in her eyes, broken sobbing emanating from her mask as her body trembled at the lingering memory of what just happened. She could still feel him, his claws dragging across her flesh and his tongue darting to taste her skin. Daro wrapped her arms tighter around her body, shutting her eyes and trying to wish it all away. This couldn't be happening. Soon, she'd wake up to her mother's soothing voice, Shen waiting outside their cubicle for them to play together.
Daro's hands drifted along the clasps and buckles of her suit, the vile garment meant only to mark her as property, as a quarian whore worth only the price stamped across her visor. Pulling at the strict material and the belts and cloths that adorned it, she found they were effectively built into or locked onto the suit, as was the suit itself. Her sobs turned to the occasional screech of rage, spitting fire and fury against her people's lot in life. Even the suits were used against them, gilded prisons designed only to hide the pain that was used and abused for the debased pleasure of this diseased and filthy galaxy. There were no words for her hatred towards such a cruel indignity. The philosophers of her people believed that the suits were the punishment for the hubris of the ancients. This was not punishment. This was torture. Every single atom of her existence wanted to scream, to watch everything burn and die, just to forget. In a hysterical fit of rage, Daro used every ounce of her remaining strength to pull at the offensive garments. Finding no give, she finally collapsed once more to the floor, exhausted.
There was no nepenthe in her rage. She could still see his black eyes when she closed her eyes, still feel talons digging into her skin, still relive every horrible second in perfect, crystalline clarity. Her tears pooled on the surface of her visor.
Feeling something brush against her, Daro heard a soothing voice whispering to her in the darkness.
"Hey... What's... What's your name...?"
Her name. She knew her name. It was the one thing they hadn't yet taken from her. Daro's voice barely came out through choking sobs.
"D-Daro... Daro'Xen... nar... nar Khalos..." She managed to choke out between sobs.
The voice from the darkness responded, the barest hint reassurance in her tone.
"Kyta'Jiil..."
Daro raised her head from her huddled form, meeting a visor the color of jade. The quarian girl sat on her knees by Daro's side, her arms bound behind her back in a perverse series of belts and straps designed into her suit to restrain her as best as possible, her ankles shackled together with primitive chains. Daro's eyes widened in shock, dumbstruck by the sadistic device Kyta was forced to wear. Kyta followed Daro's gaze, sighing through her voice modulator.
"They put me in this... thing. Keeps me from strangling every damn one of them. Forget it. Are you okay?" she said passively, seemingly unconcerned with what must have been unimaginable agony.
Daro ignored the question, seething at the sight before her.
"I... But... Your arms... They did this to you...?"
Kyta's silver eyes shut, sighing through her mask once more before opening them again.
"Yeah... I tried to kill one of my... my... one of them. A krogan. I tore his throat out and broke the arm of a guard before they finally got me off of him. They feed me nutrient paste through a tube... If they're feeling generous…" Kyta's voice started to trail of wistfully. "I've been wearing it for... I'm not even sure... months..."
Daro felt a sick feeling settle in her gut. Months of being unable to move her own arms? Even if they left right now, it would take months of physical therapy for Kyta to even be able to move her limbs of her own accord again, atrophy and poor circulation leaving them a malformed mess. The sadism behind it was beyond anything Daro could have ever dreamed of. Tilting her head as she examined the foul restraints, the bruised quarian gestured to Kyta. She couldn't leave her like this.
"Turn around."
Kyta visibly raised a brow beneath her visor.
"...Why?"
Daro moved behind the quarian girl, the translucent cloth drifting with her movements, her voice determined.
"I'm getting you out of this thing..."
Daro's trained hands moved deftly along the series of straps and buckles, finding them attached directly to Kyta's suit by a series of friction-based locks. Forcing them open wasn't possible. They were made of the same durable material as the suits, Daro shuddering at the thought of where they must have gotten the straps. Daro pulled experimentally at one of the strips of material, eliciting a sharp yelp from Kyta. They were wrapped so tightly around her arms, even jostling them twisted Kyta's arms further into unnatural angles. No doubt this was intentional, Daro's blood boiling at the thought. The restraints had turned Kyta into little more than a toy, left without even the freedom of movement, meant to live and die as a doll for whatever sick bastard could afford to play with it. They hadn't even left her a way to fight back. Daro shook her head as she backed away from Kyta, hopelessly crawling back into her corner.
"I'm sorry... There's nothing I can do..." Daro felt utterly useless.
Kyta shuffled on her knees, her chained ankles rattling against the stone floor as she turned back to face Daro.
"It's alright. I've tried nearly everything..."
Daro brought her knees to her chest, huddling in a dark corner of the cell. There was a strange comfort in having another quarian around, despite the horrid conditions of her presence. It had been too long since Daro had even seen another of her kind. She wished it was under better circumstances. Throbbing base pulsed from somewhere deep in the building, the lurid sounds of the debased acts within clearly audible even beyond the sealed door of the cell. Screams and groans of agony mixed with jeers and shrieks of ecstasy were in the air. Kyta seemed completely unfazed, Daro speaking in a desperate attempt to shut the noise out.
"What ship are you from...?"
Kyta seemed hesitant to speak, moving her head from side to side as though searching for an answer.
"I'm... I... Kyta'Jiil nar... Qwib-Qwib..."
She had heard of the Qwib-Qwib, a relatively recent acquisition of the Migrant Fleet. A volus vessel. Unfortunately, the multiple attempts made at changing the ship's registration information and name had been mired in bureaucratic proceedings. At this rate, many wondered if the ship would ever receive a proper quarian name. Kyta sighed once more, letting her bound shoulders slump slightly.
"Yeah, go ahead. Laugh it up. Everyone does."
Daro shook her head.
"I'm not laughing."
Kyta turned her head, raising a brow behind her mask, her tone laced with disbelief.
"Really? You're nar Khalos. As good of a ship as any."
"Well... Yes, that's true. The Khalos is a fine ship. I just... never really belonged there..."
Kyta shuffled closer to Daro, leaning against the wall to listen to her new quarian companion better.
"Why's that? I've never been aboard before..."
"Well... I was something of a... pariah." Daro felt the need to babble, a common defense mechanism amongst quarians. "I never got along with the other children... They used to tease me relentlessly. I didn't really have friends... I had my parents, of course... and Shen..."
Daro felt a shallow smile cross her lips for a brief moment before the tears welled up in her eyes again, her arms tightening around her body. She felt so stupid for even thinking about it, let alone talking about home after what had just happened to her. Shen. He had always stood up for her. She wished he was here. He wouldn't have let this happen to her. Daro bit back sobs as she felt Kyta nestle closer to her.
"Hey, it's okay... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
Daro shook her head, watching the tears drip slowly onto the polished glass.
"No... It's not your fault... I just... I can't believe this..."
They shared the silence, Daro trying her hardest to shut out the noise that echoed in the cell. She turned to face the pale green visor at her side.
"How did you get here?"
Kyta shuffled to a sitting position, the silver almonds of her eyes vanishing under her eyelids.
"I was a dancer here on Omega. It didn't pay very well, but I figured I could turn a few credits into enough to get me off this rock. I tried to play the numbers at the casinos, quasar machines, skyllian five tables, you get the picture. It didn't work. The house always wins in places like this... Next thing I know, I'm getting jumped by a bunch of batarians outside my work and I wake up here..." She paused for a moment. "Managed to take two of them to the void before they got me…"
Daro felt a strange sense of satisfaction at the thought of Kyta overpowering her would-be captors, reminded of her own desperate fight against the foreman's thugs. She wished he could have taken a few of them with her.
"You must be skilled to have managed that."
Kyta let out a half-hearted laugh.
"Not skilled enough. Top of my class in close-quarters combat and they still got the upper hand... What about you? I don't mean to pry... I just..."
Daro was silent for what seemed like forever, unsure that she could even put the events into words. Finding some nerve still in her backbone, she blurted the tale out as coherently as she could, despite her trembling lips.
"I... I knew someone... A human... He was kind to me. He cared. I thought I was going to be alone the rest of my life and then he came... He was lonely, like me. He was an addict. I tried to help him quit... We were going to have a home together, away from the rest of the galaxy... Maybe even travel the starts together... Find somewhere we could both be happy... He... He had me sold... to pay for more drugs..."
Daro's words squeezed out under sobs, not needing to see Kyta's face to see the shock and horror there. The words just seemed to pour forth, like a breached filtration system on the Flotilla. Her chest heaved as her breath came in sharp inhales, trying to speak over her hyperventilating.
"I... I thought he loved me..."
The tight bindings of Kyta's suit creaked as she moved herself closer to Daro, holding her body up against hers as best she could without the use of her arms.
"Hey, listen... It's not your fault, okay?"
Daro shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. Comforting lies were still lies.
"Yes it is! I was stupid! I..."
Daro let her sobs consume her, feeling Kyta rest her head on her shoulder.
"Don't think about that... It's not going to help you in here..."
Daro's hands went to her visor, futilely attempting to wipe away at the tears, fingers clawing uselessly at her mask, her voice cracking.
"I know... I just... Keelah... I'm such an idiot..."
Kyta whispered into Daro's audio enhancers, a soft and soothing tone heavy with sympathy and caring.
"I'm so sorry..."
Daro clawed at her visor further, wanting to reach in and tear her own eyes out, wishing she could rip the glass surface off and breathe in all the dirt and filth that pervaded the air.
"I'm so foolish... All anyone has ever done is hurt me... I should have known... They don't care... Nobody cares... They only hurt..." Her words were barely coherent at this point.
Kyta's head left Daro's shoulder, diamonds glittering behind a screen of jade.
"I won't hurt you..."
Daro looked up into the quarian girl's eyes, meeting small, glistening orbs laced with concern and compassion, noticeable even behind her viridian mask. She felt her heartbeat rush at the sight, slowly leaning her body against Kyta's bound form. It was an unexpected comfort, to be able to share so much with someone else and not be shunned. In spite of the hell her "love" had brought her to, Daro felt safe with Kyta. The young quarian's presence was comforting, her ability to listen, a gift from the ancestors. Daro had always been a loner, but even she needed someone to vent to, to babble with. Now more than ever. It was only proper to return the favor. Daro blinked away her tears as she looked up into her eyes.
"You said you were from the Qwib-Qwib?"
Kyta blinked, averting her eyes awkwardly.
"Yeah... My father is a suit-crafter. My mother is a programmer. She taught me most of what I know. Not that it did me much good. 'Else I wouldn't be h-"
The cell door's rusted mechanisms screeched open, three armored guards entering the cell and approaching the huddled quarians. Two of them pulled Kyta to her feet, gripping her arm bindings and wrenching them, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from the girl. Daro got to her feet, rushing the guards in an attempt to free Kyta from their grasp, her mind working on pure, communal quarian instinct. The need to protect the group. One of them shoved her to the side, thrusting his entire body weight onto hers and slamming her into the wall before delivering a sledgehammer blow to her gut. The wind having been knocked out of her, Daro choked and sputtered, unable to breathe. The world went dark, her ears ringing with a shrill note as she collapsed to the ground.
Darkness, warm and enveloping, consumed her until there was nothing left. Part of her wished she could simply will herself to never wake up again, to resign to this void and never feel pain again. Somewhere in the darkness, her parents were waiting. She just had to find them. They were always on the edge, so close, a sound not quite heard, a movement not quite seen. She just had to look harder, and she'd find them, and this nightmare would end.
Cruelly, she was denied, feeling rushing back into her battered body all too soon.
Daro's eyes snapped open, feeling her head resting on Kyta's lap, the girl coughing and retching repeatedly. Daro attempted to move before a sharp pain in her gut stopped her, clenching her midsection with a painful groan. Kyta leaned down, her voice a raspy whisper.
"It's okay. Try not to move. They hit you pretty hard."
Daro's body felt unnaturally warm, sweat clinging to her sensitive skin beneath the suit. Daro shuffled to her side, turning to look up at Kyta with heavy-lidded eyes. Kyta retched again, the hoarseness of her voice clearly audible.
"You're running a fever. It was Kiron, wasn't it? The turian with the skull paint?"
Daro closed her eyes, seeing his painted face and feeling his talons on her skin once more at the mere thought of it. She didn't know if it was the beating, the fever, or the memory of her violation that made her stomach twist as she nodded meekly. Kyta's ragged voice was tinged with sour disgust and venomous hatred.
"He does that to all the new girls. Breaks them in. Tidanya lets him. She doesn't care. She's the asari who showed you in. She runs this whole place. I heard she's a matriarch's daughter or something..."
Daro shivered in Kyta's lap, feeling the fever wrack her body, a testament to the abuse she suffered. Her voice was weak, barely a murmur over the lurid debauchery echoing through the halls.
"We're going to die here..."
Kyta's voice was hard, firm, reminding Daro of her combat instructor back on board the Leriki, where she had received her combat training.
"Don't say that. Don't ever say that. We'll get out of here somehow, okay? They won't let us die. We're worth too much. Food, water, antibiotics. They want us alive."
A series of hacking coughs erupted from Kyta's voice modulator, her body heaving from the intensity. Daro felt tears roll down her cheeks as she watched Kyta suffer the effects of her abuse, abuse Daro had failed to prevent. Daro's arm weakly reached up to Kyta's visor, her finger gingerly brushing against the edges of her mask.
"Are you alright?"
Kyta cleared her throat, forcing back another series of retching coughs.
"I'll be fine... Rest. You'll need it..."
Daro wrapped her arms around her chest, drawing her legs closer to her body as she closed her eyes, trying to force away the vision of her attacker from her mind.
Kiron.
His name echoed in her skull, his leering face stalking the halls of her nightmares. As the nights rolled on, Daro had on more than one occasion awoken with a hysterical scream, horrified at the lingering memory that was seared into her mind. His face joined others, watching Jason whisper sweet lies into her ear before Kiron's talons dug into her flesh or the foreman forced her to her knees. She saw Shen, standing far out in the distant sands of Caleston, screaming for him to help her as her attackers beat her into the dirt over and over again. Night after night, the nightmares came, until Daro barely slept, each dream adding the faces and laughs of more of the brothel's customers to her torment. She never forgot their faces, her rage and anger driving her blind with fury. The guards had more than once needed to hold her down and restrain her, blood rage that could put a krogan to shame causing her to lash out uncontrollably.
The sleepless nights she was given to recover from her allergies gave her time to think, to listen. Daro watched the guards pass her cell, heard their names, memorized their faces. Kyta's words had stirred something in her. She would not die here. Neither of them would. The guards were two dozen strong, including Kiron, by her estimates. Turians, batarians, a few krogan, at least one human, and a salarian who gave them their daily immuno-boosters and antibiotics. She rarely saw the one Kyta had called Tidanya, the asari only ever making her presence known whenever one of the other girls had acted up and lost her a customer. Tidanya had a taste for dealing with the disobedient personally. Oddly enough, she hadn't spoken to Daro since the first night at the brothel. Strange, considering the quarian pilgrim's resistance. Still, it changed nothing in the end.
This was her life. Day after day, night after night. Forced into debased servitude for the sickening pleasure of any who could afford the price stamped across her visor. Sedatives kept her compliant, leaving her limbs with barely enough strength to fight back, the few outbursts she did manage draining her quickly. Some of them even enjoyed it when she resisted, laughing at her pain and humiliation. Had she the strength, she would have torn every single one of them to shreds and reveled in it, leaving her dreams of vengeance within her mind as her body suffered sickness after sickness, a feeling of constant rot and decay becoming her entire existence.
It was only the rare moments of peace in her cell with Kyta that Daro found any comfort in the foul pit that Jason had abandoned her to. Kyta was always there to offer words of comfort and a shoulder to cry on, in spite of her own pain and suffering. She was a true daughter of The Fleet, selfless, compassionate, and above all, proud. It was this pride that they shared in common, coming from different ships and different lives. Kinship had always been a rare commodity for Daro, but was something she found easily in her new cellmate.
Daro had tried time and time again to free Kyta from her bondage, every desperate effort left fruitless. The very sight of the arm bindings was an unbearable indignity that brought her blood to a fierce boil, rage at her own inability to help her friend leaving her furious. Kyta's arms were in constant agony, every attempt at freeing her ineffective, only causing her to suffer more. Daro had never felt so useless in her entire life. She simply didn't have the tools to get the belts off.
"I'm sorry. I've tried everything I can think of. I don't know how I can free you..."
Kyta shook her head, laying on her chest to avoid hurting her arms.
"It's alright, Daro. I don't blame you. I would be surprised if you coul-"
A slot in the cell door slid open, one of the guards tossing a white tube inside. Daro held the tube in her hand, reading the serial number for the tube of nutrient paste. She recognized it. The cheap kind. Barely any nutritional value. Just calories to keep them alive for one more day, until it became absolutely necessary for the next rare sample of paste that actually contained vitamins. Daro removed the cap on the processed paste, stopping her hand at her feeding tube before looking over at Kyta.
"Come here. You first," she whispered quietly.
Kyta shuffled to her knees as Daro came to her side, gingerly removing one of the feeding tubes of the girl's helmet, sliding it into the tube, creating a straw of sorts. Most nutrient past was designed to interface with dispensers built into their suits. However, they were forced to share a single tube, making the usual feeding method impractical. Kyta sucked at the impromptu straw, Daro feeling the change of weight in the tube before Kyta smacked her lips. Daro examined the tube, seeing that the majority of the nutrient paste was left behind before glaring up at Kyta.
"Come on. Eat. You need it more than I do."
"Daro, I'm fine. Really. I'll be-"
Daro interrupted by way of holding her hand up in a stopping gesture, her tone perhaps a little more confrontational than necessary.
"How many times did they starve you? I'm not going to let you starve any more just because of me. Eat."
Kyta sighed before continuing, Daro pushing the feeding tube down further for her. She had told Daro about how, when she first was placed in the arm restraints, the guards had to feed her themselves. At first, they only made her beg or serve them to get her food. After awhile, they got bored, instead letting her starve out of absentminded neglect. Daro had gladly helped Kyta, even though she had been too timid to ask at first.
Daro reattached the tube onto Kyta's helmet after she had finished, the cell door opening just as Daro's hand left Kyta's mask. She recognized the turian's leering, painted face, Kiron's mandibles twitching in an amused smirk at the sight of the two quarians huddled so closely together, seemingly unfamiliar with the fact that quarians had no real concept of personal space.
"Awww. How cute. Let's go, suit. You have a new playmate."
Kiron grabbed Kyta from behind, pulling her arm bindings until her arms nearly came loose from their sockets, laughing at the girl's pained screams. Daro sprang to her feet, every muscle in her body wanting nothing more than to peel off his plates on by one. A sharp hiss was heard as Kiron leveled a pistol at Daro, wrenching Kyta's arms until she fell to her knees in agony.
"Sorry, he only paid for the one suit. One more step and I pull her arms off."
Daro froze solid, her mind racing for a solution. Everything she came up with ended in disaster.
"I'll tell you what. I'll come back after the doll is done with her new friend and maybe I'll have some fun with both of you. You both seem rather close. We'll make it a party," he croaked out with a broken sneer.
Daro's eyes narrowed, chips of razor-sharp ice that bore into Kiron.
"I am going to kill you."
Her words were cold as glacial ice, not threatening, but promising. Kyta looked up at Daro, seeing the faint glint of water in her eyes as the turian pulled harder on her arms, laughing at Daro's words.
"With your immune system? I think it's safer to say I'm going to kill you instead," cold amusement echoed off the halls in the turian's flanging voice, ringing in Daro's ears. She felt something in her mind snap, a sound as loud as a gunshot that she never quite heard.
Daro screamed, lunging for Kiron who swung his pistol across her mask, knocking her to the ground. Daro tasted blood in her mouth as she looked up at Kyta's eyes, diamonds weeping behind a pane of viridian. Their eyes spoke to each other, apologizing and comforting before Kiron pulled Kyta to her feet and dragged her away, the cell door locking behind them.
Daro laid in the dark, staring at the cell door before slowly getting to her feet. The absence of Kyta was enough to drive Daro into a frenzy, knowing what was happening to her while she sat in their cell, helpless. Daro paced back and forth, her hands balled into fists, bringing them futilely against the walls in shouts of impotent rage. Her mind flooded with thousands of ways she wished she could kill Kiron, to watch his blood drain from his body at her feet. She would be free. They would both be free and the last thing that turian would see would be the cold eyes that sent him to the hell that waited for him. Hours ticked by, Daro's mind twisting itself into horrific contortions of revenge and torture. There would be penance for this atrocity, and despite the sadism that permeated Daro's mind, nothing she imagined seemed capable of satiating her desire to inflict pain on the monsters who kept her captive here.
The cell door screeched open, Kiron tossing Kyta onto the ground with a chuckle, watching the bound quarian girl squirm.
"Enjoy the rest of your night, ladies."
Daro rushed to Kyta's side as the cell door sealed shut, the quarian girl squirming and moaning as Daro tried to help her up.
"Kyta... Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" It was a rhetorical question.
Kyta's words were muffled, sobbing and panting as Daro tried to comfort her.
"What's wrong? Talk to me!"
Kyta let out a muffled scream, squirming and wriggling against her arm binders, forcing even more painful whimpers from her lips. Daro's arms wrapped around Kyta, feeling the flushed heat of her skin even through the skintight suit. Her hands traveled to Kyta's mask, trying to meet Kyta's eyes with her own.
"Kyta! Please, tell me what's wrong!"
Kyta's body quivered, sobbing and crying as she moaned out an unintelligible answer, curling her legs into a ball on the stone floor. Daro's hands were shaking, her mind racing as she examined Kyta's body. Her suit wasn't breached and she was clearly gagged. They had done that before...The binder and shackles prevented removal of her suit, forcing her to only use her mouth when taken by a client. They had to use a device that propped her mouth open, lest she bite the customers, and they had evidently resealed her suit with the device remaining in place. Still, something was clearly causing her further pain. Running her hands over the suit, Daro couldn't find any abnormalities, no breaches, nothing. Kyta continued to writhe, Daro doing her best not to cause her further distress.
After a moment, Daro began to make out a faint ticking noise beneath Kyta's agonized panting. Daro felt her stomach twist into a knot. Those bastards had installed nerve stimulators into their suits. Some customers enjoyed the sensations. In Kyta's case, the fact she couldn't take off her suit without removing her restraints meant she usually ended up with those clients. Daro watched, dumbfounded, as Kyta's body quivered, the poor girl sobbing, without control of her own body. Whether they had left the stimulators on out of simple absentmindedness or simply for the cruel joy of further hurting the poor girl, Daro didn't know. Horrified, she wrapped her arms around Kyta's shoulders to steady her, pulling her body up to hers, leaning against the wall of the cell as Kyta curled up in Daro's arms. Daro felt her heart break at every involuntary spasm. This was rape at the worst level, leaving her without even the ability to control her own body. Daro pulled Kyta around her just a little tighter, tears welling up in her eyes as she seethed. They would pay. They would all pay.
"It's alright, Kyta. I'm here. I won't hurt you..." Daro muttered nervously, mirroring Kyta's words to her on her first night in their shared prison. Daro had never been very good with being compassionate. Regardless, something in her felt the need to comfort her companion. Quarian instinct at it's most basic level.
Kyta lowered her head, hiding her streaming eyes from Daro in a shameful sob. Daro's fingers idly moved along Kyta's hunched shoulders, attempting to comfort the weeping girl. Her hands moved along Kyta's body, flinching at every unintentional moan her movements elicited from the girl, trying to find some way to shut down the nerve stimulators. Normally it required an omni-tool. Daro had none, and there were no manual controls in these suits. There was nothing Daro could do about it.
This was her fault. She could have stopped Kiron, saved Kyta, maybe even escaped, if only she'd been faster, stronger. Daro had been a fool to trust Jason. She had been an idiot, making every decision that basic training warned against before the Pilgrimage. She had brought this on herself. But Kyta didn't deserve this. She was a strong, proud, and compassionate girl. Everything a quarian should aspire to be. She deserved better.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
Kyta's legs curled tightly together, her back arching into a grotesque angle as she screamed wildly into her helmet at her frustration. Daro held the girl to her body, terrified to even touch her. This was all her fault. Daro felt tears well up into her eyes, a cold hopeless feeling settling in her gut. She could at least try and help her through the night. It was the very least she could do for her.
"Hey, look at me."
Kyta shook her head, mewling pathetically as another involuntary spasm sent her quivering in Daro's arms. Daro's hands sought out her visor, pulling Kyta's helmet up to meet the tear-filled stars of her eyes.
"Look at me. I'm here. Nothing else. Focus only on me. Look at me..." Daro spoke as confidently as she could. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do.
Kyta nodded, biting back a moan as her body twitched against her own accord. Kyta squirmed in Daro's arms, the ticking sound of the nerve stimulators almost deafeningly loud within Daro's skull.
"Shh... It's okay. Look at me. Focus. Shut it out." Daro felt her hands shaking. This was all she could do. This young girl had been reduced to a quivering mess, incapable of feeding herself, barely capable of moving under her own power any more, enduring constant beatings and torture, and now this. A constant, ceaseless violation of her body, denied even the ability to beg for it to stop. Kyta had been reduced to little more than a living object of someone else's sadistic pleasure, and despite holding the girl in her arms, there was nothing Daro could do to stop it. She could do nothing but look into Kyta's visor, giving her something more to look at than empty concrete, letting her share her pain with her instead of having to suffer through it alone or with a client.
Kyta's eyes hardened, her breath coming through her gag in ragged pants, trying to shut out the device defiling her body. Daro held Kyta tightly in her arms, trying to keep her quivering form under control. They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like hours, Daro almost making out the contours of her face over time. The horrid ticking was unrelenting, even after Kyta's eyes had finally closed shut and she drifted into a fitful, twitchy sleep.
Daro didn't sleep that night, biting back sobs so as to not wake Kyta. The nauseating ticking continued ceaselessly, driving Daro mad, every tick like a dagger in her heart. Hours passed as Kyta slept fitfully in her arms, her silver eyes moving from the girl curled up in her arms and the cell door. They would come for her again. And again after that. The intense urge to defend Kyta took Daro by surprise. Quarians were, by nature, a communal people, but she had never felt such a bond with one of her kind. It felt natural. Primal. Daro needed to protect. To fight. Daro had always cared about her people, but she had never felt it to this magnitude. She couldn't let this go on. The thought of the shivering form in her arms enduring this horror for another moment caused Daro's blood to boil. She had to find a way to end it.
They couldn't stay here. Whether by their captors hands or the ravaging of disease and infection, they would die. Escape was the only option. Daro would leave and she would take Kyta with her no matter the cost. Daro felt Kyta stir from her sleep, still curled in Daro's tight embrace as she awoke. Daro's icy almonds met Kyta's glittering diamonds, the bound girl blinking away sleep under her jade mask, her eyes smiling in their own right up at Daro. Daro was shaken by the acceptance she saw in her eyes, feeling an overwhelming shame settle on her shoulders.
"Kyta... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I could have stopped him... I could have... And you… I…"
Daro trailed off as Kyta shook her head, her eyes speaking with tenderness and compassion as she nestled herself closer to Daro, curling her body and resting her twitching and spasmodic form comfortably with hers. Daro looked down at the girl held in her arms. Kyta was unable to speak or hold her back, instead accepting her with nothing more than a reassuring nuzzle as she continued to endure. Daro didn't know what to say. Kyta had lived with things no quarian should ever have had to suffer through, and after all of that, she was the one who still offered acceptance and support. Daro slowly rested her head on Kyta's as she rested against her, holding her closer, letting a single hand gently massage at the aching shoulders held fast in their makeshift prison. It was a small comfort, but it was all Daro could offer.
The cell doors suddenly opened with a resounding screech, the loud footsteps of the brutish armored krogan thundering as he tore Daro away from Kyta's warmth. Kyta let loose a muffled protest before the krogan's boot connected with her chest, sending her sprawling onto her back, a loud crack resonating from her bound and atrophied arms. Kyta screamed in pain, her weeping eyes the last thing Daro saw as she was left to suffer, twitching and shaking, alone with her misery. Daro's fists beat against the armored thug, howling in rage as she was torn from her suffering friend. She would not abandon her, not when she needed her most. Her hand suddenly found purchase, clawing at the krogan's eye, blinding him temporarily.
The krogan howled in pain, bringing his hands to his wounded eye, letting Daro slip free. Another guard rushed behind her, bringing his arms from beneath her in an attempt to restrain her. Daro brought her helmeted head backwards in a sharp and powerful blow, the guard's forehead split open in a bloody cut before Daro caught a powerful blow to the stomach, forcing the wind from her lungs. The krogan's fists joined together, bringing them down on her hanging head like a hammer. Daro felt her body slam against the solid stone floor before darkness took her.
The consuming, embracing darkness took Daro in it's arms once more, all the pain of her body a distant and unhappy memory. Daro could feel herself fighting it, trying to force herself awake. This complacent peace was not welcome. Not anymore. This embrace was hollow and empty next to the warm strength of Kyta's tender presence. Daro clawed at the inky blackness, tearing her way back to reality.
Daro was dimly aware of the throbbing pain coursing through her body, even the slightest movement sending jolts of agony through her. It seemed they were content to hand her to her client in her battered and unconscious state. If nothing else, Daro was at least grateful she hadn't had to endure the violation while conscious. Finding herself back in her cell, Daro made out Kyta's shadowed form huddled in the corner, her shoulders heaving with sobs. Daro slowly rose, feeling a wave of pain as she forced herself to her knees, speaking through clenched teeth.
"Kyta..."
Kyta's head turned, streams of translucent silver leaking from her eyes as she shuffled to face Daro.
"Daro... Keelah, I thought you were dead..." Daro was glad to hear her voice once again, even the faint ticking seemed to be absent. A frown crossed Daro's face as she slowly came to realization that the only reason that would be is Kyta must have had another client, and the guards had been "kind" enough to allow her what passed as a reprieve on Omega.
Daro pulled herself to her feet, dragging herself to Kyta's side and wrapping her arms around her friend, a rare silence surrounding them as they huddled close.
"I'm fine, Kyta. Don't worry. What about you...? Are you okay...?"
It was a foolish question. Kyta had endured torture at every level of her existence. Her eyes told Daro everything. Kyta leaned into Daro's embrace, biting back sobs as she nestled in her arms. Daro felt her guilt overwhelm her, tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of Kyta's suffering. Suffering she was still responsible for. Every failed attempt to keep her safe somehow drove Daro ever further into sadistic rage, her mind reeling with cruel intentions for their captors.
Kyta didn't deserve this. She was proud, defiant. She never begged. She fought. She never let them see her weakness, her pain. But she showed Daro. Looking down, Daro felt her blazing heart slowly cool as the broken pilgrim sobbed uncontrollably in her arms, finally breaking down in a way Daro had never seen before.
"It's okay, Kyta. You can let it all out. You're with me. You've been strong enough for one day."
Muted sobs turned to heaving cries, Kyta letting loose all her pain and suffering at Daro's words. Kyta buried her head in Daro's shoulder, warm tears glistening on the viridian surface. Daro's arms squeezed the girl tighter around her. Daro was overwhelmed by Kyta's trust in her, willing to bare her heart to her. Kyta's words choked out through heaving sobs and pleading cries.
"I-I just want it to stop… I just want to go h-home…"
Kyta pulled and squirmed in her restraints, apparently trying to tear her weakened limbs free. She found no give. She looked up at Daro. "H-Help me... Please... S-something…" She returned to yanking at her encased limbs, twisting herself into painful contortions in Daro's arms.
Daro looked on in horror, holding Kyta closer in an attempt to make her stop.
"I-I Sorry… I've tried… I do-"
Kyta jerked her head to look at her mid-contortion.
"Please!" Kyta yelled harshly.
Daro was visibly taken aback. She didn't know what to do. She felt her hands trembling and her lips sputtering, knowing her efforts would ultimately be fruitless. She had tried everything she could think of over a dozen times already. Watching Daro shake in fear, Kyta felt herself once more collapse against the last of the Xen family.
"I-I'm sorry Daro… I just…" She once more huddled into a ball, weeping freely. "I can't take this thing anymore… I c-can't…"
Daro's hand drifted along Kyta's helmeted head, trying to comfort her friend's grief the only way she had left.
"It's okay... We will go home. We will. We just need to be strong, Kyta..."
Kyta screamed, rage fuelling her outburst as she tried to pull and tear at her bindings again.
"I'm tired of being strong! I-I can't keep going like this..."
Kyta stopped struggling, Daro's hand moving to her back to help sooth the aching and atrophied muscles there. It was a futile gesture of comfort. Daro was helpless here. What could she say? Kyta was losing hope. It was something she had never seen from her friend, but something she had long expected. Holding this hopeless, sobbing girl in her arms, Daro could not find words.
"How can I go home...?" Kyta's chest heaved against Daro's, who sat frozen, only the trembling in her arms any indication of life.
"How could I look my parents in the eyes again...?" Kyta shifted uncomfortably. "They… I…" Kyta lowered her gaze to her bound and encased form.
"LOOK AT ME!" Kyta screamed at the top of her lungs. "LOOK AT THIS!" Daro's eyes traced over the various cloths and straps that adorned the small girl's suit. Something in her chest felt like it was breaking.
"I'm not even a person anymore!" Kyta rolled her head around on her shoulders, one of the few movements left to her. "I'm just a toy... Something to play with!" She turned her gaze to look at Daro once more. "Look at me… look at what they've turned us into…" Once more she buried herself into Daro's weakening hold, weeping without any restraint at all.
Daro felt tears rolling down her cheeks at Kyta's words, knowing full well that it was true for her as well. Looking down at Kyta, Daro felt herself lurch with disgust. Kyta was shackled in every way a person could be. Legs. Arms. Even her mouth when the time came. A prisoner in a second skin, forced to hurt and suffer simply because there were people in the universe who thought it was fun. Even for herself, Daro had no words of comfort, nothing to say to alleviate the pain, no balm for their wounds.
"I want to die, Daro…" Kyta couldn't bring herself to lift her gaze.
"Please... Kill me."
Daro reeled back as though she had been struck.
"W-What?"
Kyta lifted her head, staring into Daro's eyes with those glittering, tear-filled gems.
"Kill me... Please... I-I can't... I need you to help me... My arms…"
Daro was horrified, watching this girl she had come to respect and admire as her friend begging for her to end her life. It was surreal, her heart twisting into a knot as the world seemed to loose focus, Kyta occupying her every thought process. Daro's hands were shaking as she broke the embrace, trying to grasp what it was Kyta was asking of her.
"No... No, no, no... Kyta, please... I can't... I won't..."
Kyta's chest heaved, her cries sending her into a hyperventilating fit, screaming as she begged.
"Please! I can't go on any longer... I can't... not like this…" She stared hard into Daro's mask, silver streams cascading down her visor. "I want to be a person again… I don't want…" She tilted her down once more, gesturing to her twisted and bound body. "…this…"
Daro felt something in her break. She took her hands and cradled Kyta's visor, their silver eyes meeting through the panes of glass that kept them apart.
"Listen to me, Kyta. I promise you, we will go home. We'll... We'll... " Daro felt her voice breaking, "we'll have a house. A house on the home world. Just you and me, and our families and friends. We can live together in peace. Nobody to hurt us... Nobody to makes us feel like this ever again... We can be happy, together. I promise."
Kyta's chest continued to heave, her body utterly exhausted by her outbursts.
"You... You promise?" Her soft voice was almost childlike in it's purity.
Daro smiled, feeling the tears roll down her cheeks, half-believing her own words.
"I promise. We will have a home together, one day. No more hurting. No more of…" Daro ran a hand down the straps that held Kyta's arms, "… of this… I swear… we'll get out of here. I'll find a way. I promise… I'll find a way…"
Kyta buried her face in Daro's chest, visions of open plains and clear skies flashing in her mind. Friends, family, and a home, with nothing but nature and peace in sight. Kyta pulled desperately at her restraints, almost trying to will herself free. Daro gently stroked the damaged limbs, calming Kyta down as best she could.
Daro wasn't sure if even she believed her own words. It didn't matter. She would find a way out of this and she would take Kyta home. One way or another. If she could just accomplish that, she could do anything. On the blood of her ancestors, she would spend the rest of her life finding a way to build a home, if the ancestors could just help them get out of here. She'd find a way, no matter what it took.
Exhausted, Kyta finally collapsed into Daro's arms, unable to move any further. The images in her mind had given her renewed purpose, but now wasn't the time. Kyta looked up at Daro, staring long and hard into her eyes.
"I trust you, Daro. You'll find a way."
Running a hand through the mock veil around Kyta's head, Daro held her ever closer.
"I promise," Daro whispered.