Selena walked through the forest, she started to run. She panted and gasped for air. She tried to escape whatever was chasing her, but she tripped on a root of a tree. She skinned her knee and was oozing blood. She tried to get up but her foot was caught in the root. Then there was a little girl in front of her, it was Selena when she was younger. She looked innocent carrying her teddy bear. Selena started to cry. Then there was a man. The Baron. He took the younger version of Selena by the hair and chopped her head off.

"NOOOOOOO!" Selena woke up screaming. She sat up and wiped the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead. Erol came in the door.

"What!? What is it?!" He panicked, then he rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Let me guess, you had a nightmare." Selena shook her head.

"I'm sorry I woke you." She apologized. A tear rolled down her face. Erol suddenly felt remorse.

"I'm sorry. It's not like you can control what you dream of. I couldn't control my dreams when I lost my mother." Erol sighed.

"What happened?" Selena asked curiously.

"It was a day like any other. Sunny, not a cloud for miles. I was ten. My mom was taking me to school. We were almost there when we gotten into an accident. We had a head on collision. Turns out my mother was intoxicated. My father blamed me for her untimely death. He said it should have been me and not her. He said if she didn't have to take me to school then she would have still been alive," Erol's voice grew into a whisper. "He used to beat me every night when I came home from school until I turned eighteen. He pushed me down the stairs, beat me with his belt, pistol whipped me, kicked me, punched me, slapped me, and sometimes he would tie me up and leave me down the basement to starve and rot for days, maybe weeks at a time. He died of a heart attack when I turned eighteen, and when that bastard died I laughed. I watched him die. Its not until he died when I called the ambulance, but then at the funeral I cried...He would haunt my dreams and in my dreams he would call me useless and I was nothing. I mean even though he was dead he still found a way to kill my very being..." There was a long pause. "But that was a long time ago." His voice grew stern and cold.

"That sucks." Was all that Selena could mutter.

"Yeah? Well life does suck, but you get out of it what you put into it." Erol explained, as he walked out of the room, his motion more relevant with each step he took.

"Don't you want to go to the ball Ashelin?" Torn asked. The Baron was having a dance ball thing and all the guards could go and some of the more important citizens of Haven City were also invited. Ashelin and Torn had spent a lot of time together. They talked and over a month there friendship had blossomed into romance. Torn wasn't quick to fall in love with a woman so quickly, but to him, Ashelin was one of a kind. She shook her head.

"I just want to stay here...with you." Ashelin explained. Torn approached her and sat beside her.

"I can't argue with that." He smiled.

"Torn I love you, irrevocably and unconditionally."

"I do to honey." Torn kissed her lips. "You've really helped me see the light, and I will always be there for ya babe." Ashelin blushed and touched his face, caressing his cheek. Torn took her hand and kissed it lightly. Then she kissed him with passion. The kissing got deeper.

"Torn, I want you to be my first." Ashelin gasped. Torn almost jumped when she said this. "I was raped when I was sixteen and I have been emotionally scarred for sometime. Now I met someone I really want to make love with and not be forced to." Torn smiled.

"Are you sure this is what you want? Are you sure I'm what you want?" Torn whispered.

"I have never been more sure in my whole life, Torn." She kissed him. He kissed back.

Selena approached Erol, who had been lazily sitting on the sofa, looking half-dead from lack of sleep.

"Erol." Her voice was a mere whisper.

"Hm?" Erol replied.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything." Erol said.

"Well I...Have you ever wanted to...to end your life?" Selena asked hesitantly.

"What do mean?! You want to?!" Erol asked worried. He cocked his head in her direction.

"Sometimes I forget how easily a life can be ended, how easily I could end mine..." Her voice trailed. Erol stared at her intently. Selena sat beside him.

"Selena, I know that this whole experimentation thing can make you have doubts, but you have to get used to-" Selena cut him off.

"No! I am sick of you always defending Baron Praxis! He made me into a monster! He killed my innocence, my life, my sanity!" Selena retorted. Erol was speechless. Selena stared him in the eyes, but Erol looked away. Then he replied, his voice so quiet, it was nearly inaudible.

"He's done this to everyone..."

"I miss my family. My mom and my brothers." Selena cried.

"I don't miss my family."

"I-I can't...take this, Erol..." Selena cried heavily. She swallowed her spit that threatened to choke her. Erol stared at her and then broke his rule. He embraced her. His hug was warm to her. He rubbed and patted her back.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Nobody is going to want me." Selena said, her voice muffled on his shoulder. Tears ran wildly down her face.

"I will." He declared. His eyes bore into her face as he held her chin and kissed her. She kissed him back. She gasped wildly when the kiss was over. She cried even more when she embraced him.

"I'm so scared." She whispered.

"I'll be here." Erol whispered back, his voice dripping with sincerity.