"She's my girl now…"
Starlight could still feel his gloved fingers clutching around her shoulder as she had been pulled close to his side.
The ringing in her ears pierced through her aching eardrums and her heart pounded in her chest and reverberated through her bones, her knees shaking.
She automatically replied to Ashley's demanding question of approval for this turn of events for this sham of a reality show.
#Homelight…
She could have vomited with her abhorrence at what was happening…
But she couldn't show weakness in front of everyone… not where Homelander could smell the adrenaline pumping in her bloodstream, hear her blood pressure rising with her rapid heartbeat…
And she took control of the situation before anyone else said anything.
She kissed Homelander willingly.
She could sense his surprise at her initiation of the gesture as her fingers touched his cheek so he could meet her height level as their lips met.
He was a disgustingly passionate kisser and possessed the Americana looks of a chiseled jawed movie star.
She felt his tongue tease her bottom lip, demanding access past the folds of her cherry-glossed mouth.
And she had never felt so repulsed to do such a thing since the incident with The Deep, coercing her into giving fellatio to him on the night of her Vought debut.
One of her hands held Homelander's chin as they kissed for the cameras.
And her other hand went behind her back and clenched tightly into a fist, her fingernails digging painfully into her palm as she bit back a scream of rage and helplessness.
Just like her mom always said. Pain is weakness leaving the body.
They pulled apart and he smiled with smug pride down at her, the tip of his thumb tracing down the side of her throat, no doubt remembering when he had grabbed her violently by the neck in the Tower elevator, one of the most frightening moments of her life…
One squeeze of his hand and she would be dead.
The ringing in her ears increased as she spun away from his reach and left the room with the end of the shooting day.
This man had been the bane of her waking hours.
And now she was about to be plagued with nightmares about the star-spangled man who was still Vought's blue-eyed mascot.
That night in her prison of an apartment, she slept in fits with one nightmare after the other, featuring none other than the blonde monster with the proud visage of a hero…
In the first nightmare, she was asleep in her large queen sized bed as she would in her own apartment on nights when she didn't stay overnight with Hughie.
It was an especially scorching night and she only slept in a sheer slip of a T-shirt and shorts, the sheets tangled around her bare legs as she snoozed blissfully on the pillow.
But a black shadow loomed over the bed, creeping to stand over her still form.
Blue eyes stared down at her with desire.
He was in her room, his body bare of his uniform, exposing his lean musculature that his suit concealed with padding to make him appear more physically imposing.
He was silent as a ghost, intruding the sanctuary of her room and he climbed onto the other side of the bed as she turned around on her pillow, her eyes still innocently closed.
Homelander slid underneath her covers to join her in bed, bending down to pepper kisses onto her shoulder and neck, enfolding his arms around her as she moaned in pleasure.
Starlight… no, Annie… was oblivious to who it was doting on her with such daring affection.
How much she had missed Hughie…
Her fingers wove into his golden hair and she pulled him close, still not completely aware of who was in her bed.
Homelander purred in her ear and she froze in his arms as she opened her eyes, her wide brown orbs meeting the glowing blue of his own as they turned to laser red.
She could feel the tip of him pointed at the holy entrance of her sex, ready and wanting…
And it was too late to react as he hovered over her, imprisoning the small woman in his arms as he invaded her in the darkness of their sexual union with one quick thrust of pain between her legs.
He placed one hand around her throat to keep his domination over her and his other hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream, either in ecstasy or agony.
Even though she wasn't a virgin, she knew her sheets would be stained with blood and other bodily fluids.
And the tears flowed from her eyes down her pink cheeks and soaked her silken pillowcase.
Annie's eyes shot open as she sat up in bed, gasping in fright, her sunlight hair strewn everywhere around her face as she looked about her apartment for anything out of the ordinary, for any sign of the patriotic fiend haunting her mind.
No American flag floating in her peripheral vision, no crimson laser beam eyes aiming to threaten her life at her disobedience, no glacier white canine teeth gleaming like a wolf snarling at his prey.
She got out of bed and went to the kitchen. Pouring herself a glass of milk, she drank it all, wanting to quench the discomfort of her parched esophagus.
A simple glass of cold milk always made her feel better during troubled nights.
She gulped the whole glass down, the milk's icy coolness soothing her throat, a few stray dribbles trickling down her chin as she reached for a paper towel.
She wiped away the white mustache staining her upper lip, bringing out for a brief moment the little girl she used to be before everything had gone to hell.
She rinsed out the glass in the sink, placing it on the polished marble counter before heading back to bed.
Exhaustion clouded her mind and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. And she dreamt again…
She was drowning…
Bubbles swirled around her as she struggled to swim upwards and gasped desperately for air.
When her head broke the surface, she found instead of blue ocean water she was swimming in, she was floating in the cold ivory cream of dairy milk.
She looked around for anywhere she could go for dry land.
But she found nothing…
As she attempted to keep herself afloat, she found it more difficult for her legs to keep kicking, like the liquid floating around her lower body was becoming more gelatinous…
The milk threatening to drown her transformed into scarlet ooze that pulled her further deep down into its depths and she found it difficult to breathe. The familiar stench of rust and death…
She was drowning in blood… the blood of her loved ones.
Her mom, Hughie… even her ex-boyfriend Supersonic.
Sinking past her shoulders and collarbone, filling up past the delicate length of her neck…
She was submerged now up to her chin and she kicked with all her might to keep her head above the bloody flood. Her arms managed to reach out above the surface, as she clawed the empty air like a desperate sailor fallen overboard into the storming ocean.
All those swimming lessons her mom had dragged her to as a kid had to pay off…
But in this dream, she was only Annie January, an everyday human. Not Starlight, the glowing gold heroine. No Compound V in her veins…
Maniacal laughter sounding eerily similar to Homelander's voice haunted the ambiance around her, taunting her as she looked for anyone else around.
Then the chanting began, the mindless brainwashed fanatics cheering for their superhuman messiah who believed himself chosen by God to save them.
"HOMELANDER…HOMELANDER…!"
Annie fought with all her strength as the oozing blood rose up past her jaw, crawling up to her lips as she wanted to clamp them shut, but her voice screamed for help to her detriment. The burning solution scorched her tongue with its acidic taste flooding her mouth, enflaming her uvula as she accidentally swallowed and choked on the sickening liquid submerging her like quicksand.
Her mouth was now underneath, the fluid substance centimeters from her nostrils as the stench of gore invaded her nose. Annie leaned back her head, her gurgled speech choking out another cry for help at the empty atmosphere of her dream…
A terrified scream erupted from her mouth as more blood was swallowed by the slowly sinking woman before her lips were under and didn't resurface. Annie's nostrils next to disappear and her head almost halfway sunk beneath the oceanic pool.
Her golden-haired head submerged in blood past her nose, up to her eyes and they already stung with tears as she shut them tightly.
She was pulled further down inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter…
Her eyelids were submerged now… gluing her long lashes together…
It was up to her forehead…then her scalp… her yellow ribbons of hair soaked with blood as her head completely sank underneath…
Her lips were open, allowing more blood to flow into her mouth and throat as though she were simply drowning in water. Her body convulsed with the agony in her lungs as she no longer had the will or constitution to hold her breath. With her eyelids closed, the deep darkness of scarlet faded to nightmare black…bubbles of withheld oxygen emerging from her mouth, floating up to the surface, her arms still outstretched above until her normal human muscles wilted.
As more bubbles patterned the blood's surface, the drowned girl was dragged further below…her elbows vanished next, then her arms were sinking beneath at an achingly slow pace like the blood was slowly caressing the length of her limbs…
Then her wrists sunk down… her palms…
And her fingers twitched while staying afloat above the surface…and all the bubbles popped without any others coming up to replace them… the blood's thirst for her flesh was satiated…still so slow as it consumed her polished nails…her fingertips…
And then she was no more…
Her tormenter continued to laugh as he watched her demise, the chanting encouraging his indulgence. "HOMELANDER…HOMELANDER…!"
Starlight opened her eyes again, gasping for breath as though she had literally been drowning, catching her breath for several minutes as she allowed her heart to calm down and looking around the room to see the faint cerulean blue and fuchsia pinks of early sunrise peeking through her white curtains.
Her previously tossed around blankets and sheets were now wrapped tightly around her in an entrapping cocoon of warmth, her head perfectly situated on the centermost pillow of her mattress, her arms pinned down to her sides as she worked to untwist herself free.
That hadn't been her doing, she sensed that much.
She had been moved while asleep, placed in her bed like a doll on the shelf for presentation, enfolded in her blankets like she was made of fragile porcelain…
She shook out the bedhead curls of her sunshine hair.
And glanced at the clock and saw the crimson numbers read 6:30 AM.
And next to the clock was a neatly handwritten note in immaculate inked penmanship.
Starlight's trembling fingers reached out and grabbed the paper, nausea creeping into her stomach with each word she read, hearing his condescending and boastful tone slithering in her ear.
My better half, you look angelic when you're sleeping. Even your messy bed head is adorable. I took the liberty to make you more comfortable while you cried in your dreams for me. I hope you wake up warm and cozy.
And I had no idea you liked milk!
Your beloved hero,
HL xxx
And next to her bedside clock was a fresh glass of cold milk.