Walking Before Crawling

The scene was just the same as earlier, Elena resting, gathering all the strength she could, before going back to the real world to face her demons. Before long, a cool breeze swept over her, the bad memories rushing back to her, all at one.

She jumped out of her slumber with her eyes open, anticipating her hellish torture, but she was still in the same room where she had seen Christmas earlier, only it was darker now. She looked around and she was certain it was the same room from earlier. She felt stronger and less somnolent though, the pain in her ribs and her head were still there.

Elena grabbed her head and closed her eyes and then the realization came to her.

No more chains. She opened her eyes and inspected her wrists. Even though they were heavily bandaged, there were no chains. She felt how all over there were stitches and bandages, her bleeding wounds tended and all of her aches drifting away slowly.

It hadn't been a merciless dream, her mind playing tricks on her, like on so many occasions before. She was actually safe. Or was she? She took a deep breath and gathered as much strength as she could.

"Dream or not, I still don't know my surrounding or whereabouts. Worst case scenario I'm still in Hell and my mind's playing tricks on me. Again." Elena thought determined to stand up and find out where in the world she was at the moment.

Slowly and masterfully Elena unhooked the IV's from her arms and slowly slithered out of the bed. First, the left foot on the floor, then the right, then she slowly shifted her weight and finally she was standing up. Big drops of sweat all over her forehead and her wobbly posture made her think she was burning up a fever but after being held up in that sorry excuse for a cell for who knows how long without being able to move freely could make standing up feel like running a marathon.

Elena grabbed the IV stand next to her and walked to the other side of the room. Now she was certain her head was going to explode and her legs were going to give out any moment now, but she couldn't allow herself to plummet to the floor.

This was it, this was the opportunity to escape, she had anticipated so bitterly for so long. She concentrated on escaping, letting her lungs fill with the cold air of being a free woman while running. She stopped cold in her tracks.

"If I'm breaking out of wherever here is, I need something better to wear than this oversized black t-shirt." Elena looked around but there was nothing but black crates and upon closer inspection all of them were locked with padlocks.

A few minutes later and Elena was already walking without assistance, she almost felt like running, until she heard steps coming her way. A cold shiver ran through her and she felt like all her spirits disappeared, she was cornered in that room and she prepared herself to die the moment that person reached the door. The steps were slow and Elena inhaled and exhaled at the same rhythm.

A knock on the door.

"Are you up?"

Elena eyes lit up as she recognized the voice from the other side of the door.

"Yang? Is that you?" Elena ran up to the door but before she opened the door she assessed the way she looked, she might be a merc but she was still lady. It wasn't honorable to meet him like and this and he knew that, otherwise her would've just opened the door.

"Yes, I am relieved that you are ok. Everyone's waiting for you downstairs; whenever you are ready you are free to come down if you feel like it. Tool already arranged a fresh set of clothing in the bathroom; the door is across the hall. Again I am relieved you are ok, that is all."

Elena placed her hand on the wooden door and after a few seconds, heard how the steps trailed off away from the room. Slowly she opened the door and looked both ways, there was nobody and the door was on the other side of the hallway. She recognized the hallway; she really was at Tool's.

A fire burned inside her. For the first time in a long time she saw her real self in the mirror. Not the pimped out version of herself ready to be sold to the highest bidder. The exuberant makeup, the extravagant hair style and the lavish night gowns shielded her in; they'd never get to the real her. She hid away all that she had been through.

Before her stood a resolved woman, so unlike the thin and fragile heroin addict she had been forced to become. They dosed her against her will and as much as she fought, that venom ran through her veins. A cold shiver ran down her wet spine. How long had it been since her last dose?

At first she didn't want to see herself, but then Elena accepted her new image. An image, that showed all that she went through, and her endurance to survive in spite of it.

Her hair looked like a black oil spill from the top of her head to the middle of her back. Her face had gone under little change other than a new small scar under her left eye that given time would be erased.

It made her wonder. She looked at herself and started to inspect all of her new wounds she had collected. First she inspected a cut under her chin that was now stitched up, all the bruises that made up the new map of her body, the broken ribs that were painfully set up back in place and finally the new contour of her back. A mix of both fear and curiosity fed her, as she turned around to see her back in the mirror, a testament to all the beating she endured. She pulled all of her half dried hair into a messy pony tail with her hand and stared at the mirror. The most striking aspect to her was that both of her phoenixes flew over all the scars. The phoenixes were placed each over her shoulder plates and they had been unscratched by the savage beatings.

A smile crept on her lips and she looked over to the sink that had some women clothing in it. Elena went over the clothing that must've surely at some point had be owned by Tool's many loves and decided on a black tank top, a pair of jeans just her size and a pair of combat boots that were by the door.

She left her, now dried, hair down. Messy curls covered most of the bruises and she almost looked normal. She ran her hand through her hair and then she noticed it.

Elena looked at her arms almost in panic, had anyone else noticed? The bandages were now gone and it looked like she had been asleep for at least a week before today. Almost all of the wounds she remembered were now in different states of healing; the only constant was that all were in later stages of healing. How long would she be able to fight off the urge? Her mind ran through every single scenario but they all ended up with her losing control, hunting after the venom she so fervently loathed.

A strong and imposing knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.