In the early morning Ken was awoken by Mickey as he walked into the room, taking a seat on the foot of the bed. Slightly conscious of being seen naked around a walking and talking overgrown mouse, Ken covered his bottom half with the sheets, groaning as he sat up. He glared at the mouse angrily, resisting the urge to smash the fucker's face in. Who the fuck did he think he was? Just walking in like visiting royalty. Of course though, Ken had failed to see the hypocrisy of the situation.
"It's too damn early, why are you here?" Ken demanded, his voice still groggy from being half-asleep.
"I'm here for my breakfast." Mickey answered, shrugging his shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world to walk into someone else's house without an invite and demand breakfast whilst the homeowners were still naked in bed.
Ken sighed with exasperation and looked over at the sleeping form of Jaden. She was in no condition to get out of bed and make the damn breakfast. It didn't seem to occur to Ken despite his annoyance at the situation that if it wasn't for the fact that he had stabbed Jaden with the poisoned knife, he wouldn't have had to do this task in the first place. But of course, Ken wasn't capable of blaming himself. The cause of his problems was always down to someone else.
Once he realised that the mouse wasn't going to take no for an answer, Ken pulled himself out of bed and got dressed. When he was finished, he grabbed Mickey by his noodle arms and dragged him out of the room, shoving him onto the sofa before Ken walked to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Ken hadn't even asked Mickey what he would like for breakfast. He didn't have the patience nor the anger in check to engage in conversation with him, so he assumed judging by the fact that he had come all the way here that it must be some form of cooked breakfast, though he wouldn't have put it past the mouse for not knowing how to make himself a bowl of cereal. Walking over to the fridge to see what ingredients he had to work with, he spotted a handwritten note, undoubtedly from Barbie. Ken could recognise that neat, practiced joint handwriting from anywhere. He ripped it from the fridge in a fit of rage, screwing it up into a ball when he saw the loving way that Barbie spoke about Jaden, all hearts, flowers and love, something that Ken was desperately longing for.
With his mood now at an all-time low, Ken couldn't find it in him to stomach cooking breakfast. He opened the fridge and spied a pizza box. Taking it in his hands, Ken heated up a few slices in the microwave. Once he was done, he walked back out of the kitchen and handed Mickey a plate. Ken sat down on the sofa, but making sure to sit as far from Mickey as possible, hoping the mouse would take that as his cue not to start any form of engagement. Ken grabbed the remote from the armrest and switched the TV on, pretending to focus his attention on the screen.
The pair ate in silence as they watched the TV, a cloud of awkwardness hanging in the air. Mickey was dying to speak, but it seemed Ken was more interested in the TV, barely even wanting to acknowledge the mouse's existence. Mickey didn't dare speak up about the fact that he didn't even like pizza, so he just continued to sit there in silence, trying not to grimace at the gross blended taste of too much tomato, cheese and crust filling his mouth. Ken already appeared to be angry about something and Mickey didn't want to add any more fuel to an already burning fire. However, a couple more bites in and Mickey couldn't take it anymore, he had to speak up. "Uh, Ken? Can you maybe make me a pancake? I uh-I don't like pizza." Mickey stumbled over his words, already regretting his decision to complain.
Ken shot off from his place on the sofa, pouncing on top of Mickey, his fist raised in the air, his eyes burning with rage and spittle flying from his mouth. He looked to what he was; a crazed animal. "You will shut your goddamned mouth and you will eat that pizza or I'll force feed it to you like a baby!" Ken exclaimed, his voice rising in undisguised anger. When Mickey's only response was to stare back at Ken with genuine fear in his gaze, Ken's anger only rose. He was about to land a punch on Mickey's face when Ken stopped himself, lowering his fist to his side. He couldn't have the mouse opening his big trap about Ken going around and physically assaulting him. But he still couldn't kick the mouse out of the house either, Ken didn't want him to become suspicious of the true nature of his relationship with Jaden. After all, this wasn't Ken's house at the end of the day and he had to show some sort of respect for that. Eventually, Ken climbed off of Mickey, turning away from him in disgust. "You're such an ungrateful piece of shit. Now just shut up and eat what I've given you." Much to his delight, Ken saw Mickey finish his slice, not another word spoken between the two.
It wasn't long until Jaden stepped out of the bedroom, having been woken up from all the loud noise. She leaned against the doorframe, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw Ken sitting on the sofa, with Mickey Mouse sat at the other end. Why's Ken here? Where's Malibu and Brooklyn? They didn't leave me alone with him, did they? Jaden thought with a slight panic. The last thing she remembered from last night was falling asleep on the sofa when the trio of women had sat down to have their movie night. When had Ken come in? Who took her to bed? These questions were racing through Jaden's mind and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answers to them.
Ken, who had heard Jaden come in the room, didn't even bother to look at her as he pointed towards the kitchen behind him. "You want food, there's pizza."
Jaden nodded and walked to the kitchen to heat up a couple of pizza slices, taking her time as she limped on her bad leg. But as she stepped inside the kitchen, she stopped. She realised she wasn't all that hungry and she really didn't want to stay here with Ken. She turned and left the kitchen, heading back to her room to change into a clean set of clothes.
Once she was dressed, she stepped out of her room and this time, Ken acknowledged her with a frown, making her freeze in place.
"Going out? In your condition? I think not." He told her outright, his tone giving off a dominant authority.
Jaden scoffed at him, not in the mood for his infamous temper. "You're kidding. In case you forgot, I'm the leader of the valley here. I have things I need to do and this stupid leg injury, that you caused by the way, won't stop me from doing my bloody job." Her voice sounded confident and strong, a feeling she hadn't felt about herself in what seemed like forever. Even in her weakened state, she wanted to stand up for herself for once and not take any of his shit. He had already broken her beyond repair, what more damage could he possibly do?
Ken got up from his place on the sofa and shoved Jaden back into the bedroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him. "Talking back are we, Jaden?" He spat, pinning her against the door, laughing at her momentary look of fear in her eyes. "You're supposed to do what I say and I'm telling you, you are not allowed to leave this house in your condition." Aside from the doing what I say part, the words might have sounded kind, caring and sincere if it was coming from anybody else other than Ken, who made it sounded menacing and shameful, signifying that she was indeed trapped under his care.
Jaden sighed, her whole body seeming to deflate under the threatening command. "Fine, I'll obey your commands." She muttered sarcastically, determined to not let him break her. That only earned her a hard punch to the face, knocking her down onto the floor. She went down with a startled cry. "Argh, fuck!"
Ken smirked at her pain. "That'll teach you not to talk back. Do what you want, just don't leave this house. If you do, I won't hesitate to break both your legs, then you really won't be going anywhere. So I'd choose wisely if I were you." His voice sounded almost cheery, as if he had been told some great news instead of threatening to hurt someone.
Jaden pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the pain in her knee as Ken turned and left her, shutting the door behind him. "Bloody bastard…" Jaden muttered once she heard the door click behind her. She had definitely taken Ken's threat on board, but like she had just told him; that wasn't going to stop her. She glanced over at the window, an idea quickly forming in her mind. She could simply sneak out of the window, the prospect of two broken legs wasn't much of a threat to her. She had been through much worse pain when she was back in Ferelden. If he really wanted to keep her here, he should have threatened far more than just physical bodily harm.
She approached the window in question, instinctively looking over her shoulder to confirm that Ken was not watching her every move. This action had become a regular, depressing habit, Jaden noted sadly to herself. It was a small price to pay to ensure Malibu's happiness and freedom and to Jaden that was all that mattered at the end of the day. As Jaden opened the window, she couldn't help but notice something was off about the floor. She kicked the rug back, only to find a hatch in the floor. Getting down onto her knees, she opened it up and saw what look to be a tunnel leading underground. Without thinking much into it and needing an escape from Ken, Jaden stepped onto the ladder and closed the hatch above her before continuing to climb down the ladder.
Once she reached the bottom, she pulled out her phone, using it's bright, white light as a torch to help her navigate the pitch black tunnel. She could scarcely make out that there was Night Thorns growing all over the walls, the stench of dark magic heavy within the confines of the claustrophobic tunnel walls. The stench of the dark magic alone would have made it feel like home for Jaden, if it weren't for her fear of enclosed spaces she would probably live down here, away from the citizens of Dreamlight Valley and their problems. Oh, she was certainly going to take advantage of this tunnel.
She walked further down the tunnel, taking various twists and turns whilst drinking from her small infinite whiskey flask as she tried in vain to control her nerves. She wasn't sure how long she had been walking for until she came across a path that was blocked by more Night Thorns. She attempted to clear them away but found they were just too strong, making her wonder where exactly she was in regards to above her.
So, she turned around and started down a different path to her left, not wanting to return to her house anytime soon. When she finally located an exit that didn't lead to her house, she was starting to feel a little tipsy from all the whiskey she had been drinking. If anything, this made Jaden speculate just how many times she had wondered down the same path without realising. When she reached the end of the path, she leaned against the ladder that led you out of the tunnel, drinking even more of the whiskey.
After a while, she put the flask into her jacket pocket and began the ascent up the ladder. She had no idea where this would put her, but right now she didn't care. She just needed to get out of this tunnel.
Of course in her weakened state, she didn't get very far up before she lost her grip on the ladder and fell down hard onto the ground. Jaden groaned in pain and laid there for a few more minutes before gathering the last traces of her dignity and pushed herself back up to her feet, trying not to pass out in the process.
She tried climbing up a few more times before finally reaching the top. She somehow managed to open the hatch in the roof and climbed out, kicking the hatch closed and crawled away from it before collapsing face first into the carpet.
Wait, carpet? The sudden realisation snapped her fully awake. She glanced up from her place on the floor and saw Skipper, one of Barbie's younger sisters sitting at the mini bar. Wait a minute, this is the Dreamhouse. How did I not know about this damn tunnel whilst I was building the damn thing?
Skipper, at that moment in time, turned to Jaden and smiled. "Hey, Jaden. Care for a drink?" Skipper waved at her with a smile on her face, not at all concerned about the fact that Jaden was just lying on the ground, exhausted and seemingly in pain. The young woman had helped Jaden out with some of the finishing touches on the Dreamhouse, With her brown and purple streaked hair, she was easily identifiable when compared to her three other sisters, who were all blonde and around the same height.
Jaden slowly pushed herself to her feet, trying not to cry out in pain. She only managed to walk a few steps before collapsing onto the floor again, a cry escaping her lips as she clutched at her wounded knee.
Skipper got up from her stool and walked over to Jaden, helping the mage to her feet and escorted her over to the sofa. When Skipper sat her down, she noticed the blood seeping through Jaden's jeans. She stifled a gasp, bringing a hand up to her mouth. Jaden, who had saw Skipper's change in reaction, handed her a small pocket knife so that Skipper could cut open Jaden's jeans. Jaden would have stopped Skipper from tending to the wound, but she wasn't in the mood to argue with her, nor had the strength to do so. Therefore, instead of pushing the younger woman away, Jaden allowed Skipper to tend to her wounds.
Once Skipper had ripped open the jeans, she began to peel off the bloody, soaked bandages. This time she let her gasp escape her at the sight, wanting to be sick. This woman must be insane for walking on this knee in the state she was in. Skipper ripped apart the end of Jaden's jeans so that she could wrap it around Jaden's wound.
"I'm going to get Barbie." Skipper told Jaden, who shook her head.
"You can't let Barbie know I'm here." Jaden whispered, a desperate urgency in her tone.
Skipper however, was firm on her decision. "Should have thought about that before coming here, injured as you are." Skipper stood and ran upstairs to get her sister, her footfalls thudding against the carpet.
Jaden watched her leave, her back resting against the back of the sofa, drinking her whiskey. If she was able, she would have ran after Skipper and dragged her back here. But alas, she stayed where she was, pulling out her packet of smokes and lighting a cigarette, began to smoke it. She inhaled the smoke into her lungs and blew it out, watching the smoke curl towards the ceiling.
As she was starting to feel a little better, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She groaned when she peeked at the message. It was Ken, asking her where she was. Great, he knew she was gone.
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and the clearing of Malibu's throat caused Jaden to snap herself from her thoughts. She gave the younger blonde woman a nervous grin as Malibu gave her a stern look.
"Put that out, now." Malibu gestured to the ignited cigarette between Jaden's fingers. Jaden quickly did as she was told, trying not to burn the new brightly, pink carpet.
Malibu walked over to her and knelt down in front of the mage, placing a first aid kit beside her. "Shouldn't you be at home in bed?" She questioned as she carefully ripped off the makeshift bandage.
Jaden shrugged. "I couldn't stay. Can't stay in one place for long, remember? Also, uh…if Ken comes knocking tell him I'm not here…"
Malibu raised a brow at the panic registering in Jaden's voice, wondering why Jaden was trying to avoid Ken, despite the fact that he was the one who stabbed her in the first place. Still, Malibu didn't question it as she cleaned up Jaden's knee. Furthermore, Malibu could smell the alcohol on Jaden's breath, her clothes also smelling damp and musky. It was clear that Jaden wasn't doing well in looking after herself. If she wasn't going to stay at home with Ken, then Malibu guessed it was up to her to make sure Jaden got the care she needed. "Don't worry, I won't tell him," She assured her, "though I do have to wonder how many times I'm going to have to clean and bandage up your knee."
Jaden smiled at that comment. "What can I say? You do a better job than I would. Not to mention it's a great excuse to see you." She added rather sweetly.
Malibu chuckled. "Like you need an excuse to see me, Jay. You are welcome here, you know." She said endearingly as she started wrapping a clean bandage around Jaden's knee.
"Well, I do need to thank you for fixing my house." Jaden began awkwardly, not quite sure on how she should follow up with this.
Malibu's interest spiked. "Oh yeah?" She asked, finishing up with Jaden's knee. "I also have to thank you for building me an entire new mansion. I really appreciate you for making it seem like an old but new home for me. It really feels like I'm living back in Malibu again." She said softly, her voice like silky velvet. Malibu shifted herself to sit in Jaden's lap, wrapping her arms around the mage's waist. Malibu kissed Jaden softly on the lips, to which Jaden returned the kiss just as passionately.
The kiss was interrupted by Jaden's phone vibrating in her pocket. Malibu pulled away to allow Jaden to check her phone, it would be unwise for the leader to ignore her calls and messages in case it was an important matter.
Jaden pulled out her phone, seeing it was a text from Goofy. Jaden's body went stiff with apprehension at what she saw in the picture attached to the message. The image was of a man, no doubt the next person that Goofy wanted to murder. She didn't recognise the man pictured, something that Jaden took as a good thing. There was a message typed out underneath the image. 'Tonight'.
So, he had given her a few hours to prepare for this murder. Jaden sighed to herself at the prospect laid out in front of her. Goofy did tell her that he would contact her when he needed her and, he had certainly fulfilled his part of the promise. It begins. Jaden told herself, before turning her attention back to Malibu. She tucked her phone back in her pocket and pulled Malibu into another kiss.
Malibu didn't question the text message, respecting Jaden's need of privacy and figured it wasn't that important if Jaden's not rushing off to help with whatever request someone might have asked of her.
Once again, they ended the kiss but this time, Malibu softly kissed the left side of Jaden's neck, which caused Jaden to tense up a little bit, but recovered quickly enough before Malibu could take any real notice. She really didn't want to let on about the abuse from Ken, she shouldn't even be here kissing Malibu and whispering sweet nothings and filth into her ear to begin with. If Ken found out she'd be in for a rough night and not the fun, sexy kind either. Just like the last time when he caught them together.
Malibu and Jaden had their second date last week when Jaden had just finished the final parts of construction on the Dreamhouse. Malibu had suggested Jaden should take a break, the house was built and so she earned her rest. It took some convincing and Jaden finally caved in. That evening, the pair had set up a campfire on the beach, some distance away from the Dreamhouse so Jaden didn't have to think about it. Malibu had brought the food, including her homemade brownies that Jaden had heard about, the ones her family couldn't get enough of. The couple had a lot of fun and in Jaden's frame of mind, it was a lot better than the first date they had. This was probably the most fun Jaden had ever experienced on any date in her life.
However, Ken had to ruin things for Jaden as he had watched the entire date and when Jaden met with him afterwards in the very same cave they had made their deal, he ripped into her. He tore through her clothes and kicked the living shit out of her, reminding her of their deal. He had then pushed and held her head underwater, nearly drowning her in the process. When he had finally let her head resurface, he had left her there, a bloody, broken, naked mess on the sandy floor.
Of course, the pain was worth it for the few hours of fun she did have with Malibu. In fact, the pain didn't stop her from surprising Malibu the next day with chocolates, flowers and a love letter. Something Jaden had never thought she'd ever do in her entire life. Writing the love letter was extremely hard. Not only because Ken had damaged her fingers, but because she was never good at expressing her feelings into words very well. Plus she also struggled with writing anything in general. But all things considered, she felt tremendously proud of it when she had finished. She thought it conveyed her feelings pretty well, with her limited amount of writing skills anyway. She felt safe, respected and most importantly, loved.
Still, Jaden had to be careful with how much time she spent with Malibu. If it was up to her, Jaden would spend almost every waking moment with her. She'd have to limit her time so she couldn't see her as much as she'd like so Ken wouldn't break the deal and go back to preying on Malibu. Jaden was lucky that the two women had been so busy for the past month that the two barely spent any time together. But now that the Dreamhouse was finished and she had a ton of free time? Yeah, it was going to be hard keeping her distance. She was addicted to Malibu, as much as she hated to admit it, it was still the hard truth to accept.
Shattering herself from her gloomy thoughts and memories best left buried, Jaden gazed into Malibu's kind and loving face, her heart pounding in her chest. "Uh, Malibu, can I use your shower, please?" Jaden asked her, breaking the silence between them. She thought she was maybe pushing her luck a bit, but right now sex was the last thing on her mind.
She already had a plan in mind on how she was going to deal with this next victim Goofy had presented her with. Once she cleaned herself up, she'd chat him up, asking him on a date then lure him straight to Goofy. Thanks to Ken, she wouldn't be able to offer him sex, so she would have to put her thinking cap on and use another method to drag him to Goofy's shed. The prospect of a date was risky enough to begin with, but something she felt she could get away with.
Malibu chuckled at Jaden's request, giving her a final kiss on her neck. "Don't you have your own shower at home?" She lightly teased.
Jaden nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "I do, but I'm avoiding Ken. Plus my house is a long walk away and I'm already here." She knew it was a weak excuse but she couldn't do any better than that.
Malibu kissed her cheek and climbed off of Jaden. The blonde woman held out her hand for Jaden, to which the mage reluctantly took, with Malibu helping her to her feet so she wouldn't fall.
"Of course you can use my shower, Jay. Do you need help getting to the bathroom?"
"If you don't mind." Jaden knew she could walk by herself, but she wanted to spend more time with the beautiful woman. "If you want you could join me." At this point she definitely knew she was pushing it, but she couldn't help but ask. It was in her nature.
"I'm not having sex with you in your condition." Malibu told her outright. For a split second she felt bad for turning her down, as it really looked like Jaden could do with a bit of happiness, but the sound of Jaden chuckling wiped away any brief pity she had harboured inside her.
"Who said anything about sex? Can't two people have a shower together without sex? Besides, that didn't stop you the last time we got down and dirty." She ended with a frisky smirk.
Malibu playfully slapped Jaden's arm. She was obviously referring to the night they shared together a month ago, when Jaden had nearly drowned and Malibu had spent the night in her bed 'keeping an eye on Jaden' as she put it to Brooklyn. Sex wasn't exactly on Malibu's mind when she had suggested the idea to Brooklyn, it was just something that happened. It had ended up being one of the most passionate, sensual nights that Malibu had ever had and it was something she had been craving ever since that night. She still had Brooklyn, that much was true, but Brooklyn and Jaden were different sides of the same coin. Both women deeply cared for Malibu, but where Brooklyn was smart, caring and had a very clear vision on what she wanted to do with her life, Jaden had dark humour, a tendency to put others above herself and seemed to be wondering aimlessly until something came up to her. They were both very different but similar women and Malibu liked them for different reasons.
Besides, she had enough love in her heart for the both of them. Brooklyn had given her the go ahead to pursue her relationship with Jaden, so that was exactly what Malibu was going to do. "You were weak, not injured," Malibu addressed Jaden, "now you really are injured, seriously I might add. I'm not going to risk hurting you further."
Jaden rubbed at her arm. "Ow, what did I say about hitting the wounded?" She mischievously teased her.
Malibu rolled her eyes. "Anyway, if there isn't going to be any sex, then I'll accept your offer to join you. After all, I want to make sure you don't pass out."
Jaden raised her eyebrows. "Just to make sure I don't pass out?" She repeated Malibu's statement back at her, pretending to fully process the meaning, "Malibu, are you just making excuses?" The mage taunted, enjoying the look of mock frustration that Malibu was giving her.
Shaking her head with a joyful laugh, Malibu helped Jaden walk up the stairs to the bathroom, choosing not to answer the question. It would only bring about her to become a hypocrite.