Chapter 3

He left me there, alone to cope with my sorrows. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted my old life back, but I knew that that wish was a vain hope. Even if I was able to go back, nothing would ever be the same as it had been and the same faces I had known would be forever lost to the village. I sat there wondering if anyone who still remained in the village remembered who I was. I wanted to tell myself that they were searching for us, but I knew that they had already accepted that we were among the lost; the ones to never return. I stared at the mark on my wrist again, my tears started to dry on it. The sad reminder that my life was a meaningless hell, I was nothing more and nothing less. I heard petite footsteps pacing towards me. I could see Yeul from my peripheral vision. I could see that she was moved by my current situation, she probably just felt sorry for me. Her knees hit the floor beside me as she curled her arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Noel. I truly am, I know it all must be hurting you."

She whispered softly in my ear. Her warm breath sent goose bumps down my arms and legs. I heard a slight muffled cry, as the tears she held in for me broke loose. Even though we hadn't known each other long, we seemed to have some sort of connection. I realized that she must have had an experience that related considering she seemed to care so immensely about the pain that I was feeling deep inside of me. I wrapped the un-marked hand around her frail fingers; intertwining our fingers as I did so. I needed someone to just hold my hand in that instant. I didn't think too much about what I was doing. She gasped slightly at the sudden motion; however she didn't withdrawal from me quickly. We stayed like that for a few minutes, until she slowly stood up and offered her hand out to me. My eyes were glued to hers as I took her hand to stand.

"Come, I won't treat you like you aren't a person, even if you are a slave. It's not fair, no matter what Caius believes. I know he's wrong about you, but please don't hate him for how he is towards you, it takes him a little bit to warm up to new people."

I tensed at the mention of his name. How could I be expected not to hate him? Did she see how he treated me from the second they bought me? A better question would have been, how could she be so in love with a man like him? Did he even care about her, or anyone?

"Noel, please he's not as horrible as he seems… he really is a good man."

She glanced back at me and smiled, trying to convince herself that everything she had said was true. I shook the thoughts of Caius away from me because I didn't want to infect my mind with curiosity about him. It was unlikely that the way Caius and I felt about each other would change.

"I can't promise anything."

I muttered under my breath and hoped that Yeul didn't hear what I had said. She didn't say anything to me after that, so I assumed she hadn't. It was strange that once she stopped talking, I had already missed her sweet and quiet voice. She led me to a dining room that had a beautiful stone floor with a sun mural hand-painted on it. The ceiling had a moon mural; it was different than what you'd usually expect, since the sun was usually painted on ceilings to represent the glory of morning. In the middle of the room, Caius sat at a huge wooden table with about a dozen chairs set in certain places. In my village most people had a low to the ground table that we sat around on our knees. It was a glorious change of pace. Caius had a smirk on his face as he stared through Yeul and straight into my soul. I wanted to wipe that expression off of his face, but I knew that if I ever crossed him he'd kill me without asking for Yeul's consent. Besides, I wanted to be different than him. I wanted to respect all of her wishes because I never wanted to hurt her. I could still hear the threat he had whispered to me through his smirk. Yeul was off limits and I swore to him that I understood this, but yet I wasn't so sure if I could keep that.

"Noel, would you like to sit here, you will eat here … at the table with us."

"A word please… Yeul."

"Caius, if you have anything to say, please go ahead and say it."

"I wouldn't want to offend our newfound guest."

He said this in a sarcastic way. It seemed to me that he loved throwing out the fact that I was below him every chance that he had. I looked down, already feeling tired of the situation I was in. Yeul smiled at him and kissed his cheek, which made me cringe. I turned away out of jealousy. Yeul told us she'd go get the food and left Caius and I alone for a few minutes. We glared at each other dangerously. The hatred inside of me raging, I wanted to scream at him, but I had to control my attitude.

"How does it feel to not be treated like an animal? You know if Yeul let me you'd be on your knees, sitting on the floor like a dog, begging for even the smallest scraps. Wasn't that how your people used to eat anyway?"

I had a witty response, until he said the last part. My people begging like animals? He crossed a line that would always make my emotions imbalanced.

"I…I…. would never beg for you!"

"Really now, because looking at you shows me that you are weak. Is that how all of your people are or just you?"

I felt like hitting him to shut him up, but he was right. In this game I couldn't do anything and he knew that. I was showing a weakness because he had the power over me.

"You are a disappointment; remind me why we bought you again?"

"I… I don't know!"

"Did I tell you that you could talk to me, maybe I should punish you for that," his smirk returned before he continued, "I guess we'll be alright if you bow down to beg for forgiveness, while calling me Master."

"M… I will never call you 'Master', nor will I ever think of you as one."

"What did you just say? Do you really want me to put you in your place, boy?"

I looked down and realized that I would just have to accept the defeat. I couldn't do anything about this because I knew everything would just become worse and Yeul wouldn't be happy. I didn't look up until Yeul came back into the room because I didn't want to see his victory that would be written all over his face. She sat down across from Caius and smiled with a toothy grin, and then she looked at me. She didn't know anything about what had just happened, but I bet she could've sensed the tension.

A/N: Hellooooo there! I'd like to thank my friend for giving me all of these lovely ideas, and of course the first Reviewer, Antirrhinum. Anywho, who knows when the next chapter will be up… soon hopefully!

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own these characters…. *sigh*

***Dear Antirrhinum, I wanted to message you, but I thought it would be cool if I responded to you here. I'm glad that you like it despite the darkness and I'm glad that you like the AU that was created for this story. I wanted to explore the weird love that Noel had/ gains with Yeul and Caius, because when I played the game I always kind of thought that he had feelings for both. Of course, he has different relations with both of them in the game, which is something I wanted to explore in this story as well. It's alright that your response is short, I still appreciate it! Thank you for the encouragement, I hope you continue to read this story. (: