Welcome to the first chapter! I hope you'll like it, feel free to leave a review!

TW: This chapter contains an attempted sexual violence.

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Chapter 1 – Whispers of Sanity

"Yet another day armoured, aye Shadow?", she said as she took a step back to admire her work, absentmindedly wiping her forehead: this horse was older than the one she had ridden earlier that morning, and a lot sassier. As she got closer again to fix his heart shaped peytral, Shadow lowered his head towards her arm with his ears pulled back and his teeth bared: she met his nose with a sharp slap, used to his manners by now, and carried on, she passed a hand across the crinet and shot a look down at the leg protections.

When she was satisfied, she entered the nearby tack room, got the bridle and the chaffron, and stored away the brushes she had used to groom the horse. She was rummaging in a chest when she heard steps approaching from behind her: she closed it quickly and raised her head to see a long, long shadow getting closer. The Knave of Hearts appeared on the doorframe, looking around until his only eye laid on her: he smirked, carefully closing the door behind him, and resumed his lazy strides towards her taking his gloves off in the process.

She stepped back and pressed against a counter, wanting to shrink as if under the spell of Pishsalver, but instead, she tried to seem strong and unbothered by his presence: "Do you need something?".

Stayne hummed in near amusement, eyes languidly travelling over her figure as he passed a hand through his oily black hair: "I believe you know exactly what I need…".

She did know what that look meant, she just hoped to be wrong, but then he reached for his belt and took it from his hips, discharging his weapon on the floor with a thud: "I'm afraid it might go against our agreement", she hurried, walking sideways to try to keep a safe distance between them and gain some space to flee.

He stopped mid-stride, a hand over his heart in fakest sorrow: "Oh, my apologies. What got me into thinking I could break our little rule? Ah! Maybe this?". Faster than a blink, Stayne was against her and had her pushed against a wall with his whole weight: he answered to her wiggling by pressing a knee to her belly and raising both her arms above her head, keeping them there with just one of his hands: "Just a word of mine and your husband will be freed of his head: and you don't want that, do you?". He caressed her face pressing his fingers into her cheek, pleased by the fear radiating from the girl that would have had her frozen and helpless soon, then he continued: "He would want you to have fun while he is stuck in a putrid dungeon, and you don't have to feel ashamed for surrendering to another man's attention: that's why I'm here…",

Her wrists hurt against the stone wall no less than his knee in her stomach. She couldn't do much, she was stuck in his grip as he neared his face to suck at her neck, placing wet kisses all the way to her collarbone, but her disgust led to anger and her eyes turned red as a consequence: "Let me gae!".

"Mmh, no I don't think I will…", he moaned, then added: "You are my pet, Red, remember?"

"Ah don't belong to ye, Stayne", she spit his name out, her accent becoming increasingly heavier as her rage swell. But she was raised further up by the collar of her shirt, so fast her breath was cut short, he shook her as he spoke and she hit the back of her head against the wall.

"Who do you think you belong to, uh? Your husband? Seems unavailable at the moment. Yourself? I'm trying not to laugh!".

But he did laugh, an awful sound, that made her angrier and angrier, until she found the strength to respond to his violence: she stomped her foot on Stayne's knee, earning a pained yell and making him loose his balance and his grip on her hands. She took advantage of his state to push him back entirely and, when she touched the floor again, she slid away and pulled her dagger out of its secret sheath in the shaft of her boot. She raised her weapon in front of her, menacing, ready to strike as the Knave looked at her with his eye flaming with rage: "Our agreement fell through. And consider yourself lucky ye were not heard in yer shameless rambling: Ah doubt ye would have been as lucky as durin' the Tarts Affair.".

Stayne had been unbalanced backwards and had tripped on the chest she had opened earlier, he had listened to her sitting awkwardly on it, with his face contorted in fury. After a moment, he raised sharply and, just as she thought her would have run to her again, he turned and made to fetch his belt and weapon first, then Shadow's bridle and chaffron from the counter where she had temporarily put them, lastly, he headed towards the door. He pulled it open with a slam that had his horse jump, then turned to her one last time with a finger pointed directly at her: "You were just lucky enough to escape from fate on Horunvendush Day, Hightopp…", he hissed "…but luck is limited". He walked out with long strides and she heard shuffling and metal clicking: next, she saw Shadow sprint away from the stables from the tack room door.

When she was sure that the Knave had left, she released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding: she leaned to hide the dagger again and then she stumbled towards the fountain that stood in the middle of the courtyard. She sat on the edge and buried her hands in the water to bring it upwards on her face and neck: she shivered at its coldness, and made a grimace at the force she used to wipe her skin, but she needed to wash off the sensation of Stayne's hands and mouth. She sat a little longer on the fountain after she was finished, her hands submerged up to the wrists as she sought relief for her bruised skin. She sat there enough to see the water calm before her eyes, in which she saw her own reflection. She had changed… not positively: she had grown pale and thin, she could tell from the hollows on her cheeks and the way her clothes seemed to hang on her frame, even her hair seemed to have lost its vibrancy. She looked at herself as she caressed her face, this time very gently, as if afraid she might crack it like delicate porcelain.

She was ripped from her reverie by a gentle neigh, and she turned to see the black horse peeking out of his stall and looking at her with his ears turned forward. She raised from the fountain and walked toward him, she unclasped the latch and opened the box, she stepped inside, then leaned out to close it back again. She walked to the very end of the stall and leaned her back on the wall, she ignored the throb of the soon-to-be bump on the back of her head and slowly slid down until she was sitting, eyes closed, on the soft bedding. When she opened them again, she looked at the corner of the window at the sky beyond the walls of Salazen Grum… and also spotted a puzzled horse.

"What did I get myself into, Daredevil?", she asked with a dry chuckle.

Daredevil didn't like it when his human was upset, she usually turned into a distracted rider and that he liked even less. But now she was before him and not on his back: he guessed that addressing directly to him meant that she needed his attention and care, that's what she dispensed when he made it clear that he was upset. But what could a horse do?

First, he got closer and neared his muzzle to her head, it was damp and smelt like dust and hay and… Stayne. He snorted. She chuckled softly. Progress. He laid down at her side facing her. He pondered on what to do next: no, he wouldn't have licked her face like some dog would have done… so he touched her cheek with his nose, nuzzling some more. Then, he did a thing that wasn't exactly what a horse was supposed to do: he whispered.

"Teana".

That made her head clear from the thousands of clouds that had invaded it, and fall back to the last time she had been happy: when the sky was blue and the grass and wildflowers bloomed in the sunshine, when she'd wake at the sound of birds at the smell of bread. When the first thing she did as she breathed in a new day was smile, despite everything. That is who she was, that was the spark she had lost. All those years buried in terror, secluded in that Castle, safe behind the mask of a character she had made up to survive, all those nights chasing sleep or escaping nightmares, had succeeded in making her forget her essence, who she had been, and who she was. No more. She was not 'Red', she was nobody's 'pet'.

She was Teana. Teana Hightopp.

Daredevil saw the eyes of the girl in front of him gleam, he could swear they changed colour right then, going from teal to vibrant forest green. Teana then hugged his neck and he felt the same thing he did when she offered to tame him instead of the Knave: gratitude.

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Teana hadn't realized she had fallen asleep: when she opened her eyes, she was laying on the bedding in the corner of the stall, Daredevil was munching calmly not far from her. She groaned as she sat up, passing her hands over her face to wipe her tiredness away, she had been lucky enough that nobody had found her there, otherwise her day would have taken a pretty nasty turn.

Right then, she heard the latch of Daredevil's box being opened and that had her completely recovered: she hid in that corner of the stall where she wouldn't have been seen from the door and prepared her dagger. In the dim light and with her vision still sleep-clouded, she couldn't see clearly who was it that entered, so she chose aggressiveness as a first approach, just to be sure: the figure walked over to the horse and crouched, she stalked behind him and slid the dagger in front of his throat, pressing lightly.

She earned a gasp from him: "Please, don't hurt me, I mean no harm!"

Teana recognised the voice immediately: "Dannis!". She put the weapon away and pulled back to allow him to stand. Dannis was another stable boy who had survived the raid of his village and had been brought to Salazen Grum as a prisoner: he was a slim, tall guy made entirely out of kindness who had allied with Teana to survive the Red Queen, exchanging knowledge about horsemanship to please her will as much as possible.

Dannis rose and towered before her, a hand to cover his throat: "Remind me not to make you angry in the future."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.", She apologised, "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"It's almost noon, Teana, the horses need to eat!", he exclaimed, extending a hand towards the wheelbarrow full of hay that he had left out of the stall, "Where have you been? I've been looking for you for the past hour."

Her eyes widened as she realized she had slept for over two hours, a nightmare free sleep, nonetheless: she would have never guessed that the horses stalls were such a good place to rest, maybe she should have considered moving to the stables those times when insomnia got bad.

"Teana? Are you alright?"

She raised her eyes to him with an inquisitive hum, then answered: "Oh, it seems I involuntarily surrendered to tiredness for a while, and took an unplanned nap."

He gave a short laugh at her: "That explains a lot of things!", he pointed at her head.

Teana's hands shot on her head and she felt straw weaved in her tangled hair: she huffed and rolled her eyes, proceeding to undo her plait to take it all out: "Anything else?".

"Maybe you should dust off your clothes a bit, but no, nothing else", he said.

"Thanks. I'm sorry I disappeared while you needed help, let me get that hay-", she hurried, moving out of the stall still while attending to her hair, but Dannis stopped her.

"That's not exactly what I meant when I asked if you were alright."

She sighed, and gave him an answer she knew he would have liked better, but that wasn't exactly the truth: "Dreams have been getting worse lately: being tired, I have found myself struggling with keeping up with the chores, finishing them late, or having to start real early. Took a pause and promptly shut down, nothing more."

That seemed to satisfy her friend, who nodded: "I really hope that did you good. Now it's best if we get a move on.", he agreed.

As they got out of the stall, they heard the gates of the Castle open with a loud metallic sound and the rhythmical march of the Cards: they looked over the entrance and actually saw a deck of soldiers come back from a mission. The Knave of Hearts rode in front of the circular formation, the one that meant that they were bringing a new prisoner in. Teana also noticed the Bayard the Bloodhound, who had led them all out earlier, was nowhere to be seen.

"Another one", said Dennis, his voice grave, "I wonder how many people are left out there.",

Teana shook her head at the vision, eyes turning slightly redder: then she turned sharply, and took the empty wheelbarrow to go get some more hay to feed the animals.