AN: This drabble has Trigger Warnings for a quick, non-graphic reference to consensual violence, and for implied past child abuse. If either of those might upset you, please skip this one and go straight to the next drabble, okay? Take care and be safe.
She has anger issues now, and that can be dangerous when you're the Dark One. And it's your fault, it's because of you, so you have to help. You have to do something to make sure she doesn't destroy the whole town and everyone she loves in a fit of rage.
So you let her take it out on you. You let her hurt you, however she wants. However she needs to, so her anger will go away and she'll function without hurting anyone else. Whether that's with words or cracking a whip on your back or anything else she wants to dish out.
You take it, even though it hurts – and it always does. You tell yourself it's for her sake, that you owe it to her; and it's also for everyone else's sake, so they don't have to suffer. But deep down, you know there's more to it. There's a sense of comfort and nostalgia that keeps creeping up even though you try your best to push it back down every time, even though you fight it with all you have, even though you absolutely refuse to even acknowledge it.
You ask yourself, over and over, why you accept that, why you willingly put yourself through that. You fight against yourself over the answer, because you don't want to admit it. But when the pain starts to overwhelm you and the endorphins kick in and you're soaring... it feels like home. It feels like childhood. However screwed up you know that is.