R: Ultra Evolution
Book 23: Stress Rehearsal
Rio was buzzing with excitement after her big win, especially with the knowledge of what came next. 'I'm actually getting a 1-1 title shot, and they can't screw me out of this. I don't care what anybody says, I'm cashing that in ASAP, hell, I want him in Long Beach, because finally, I'm going to get what so many of us deserve without having to deal with any of the sh*t that comes with it for us.'
Jade seemed much more cautious though, as she tapped Rio on the shoulder. 'Please just know what you're getting into, Rhydian is unhinged like all hell and there's nothing he hates more than the person who took what he wanted away from him. He's going to be after your blood.' Rio though was bullish about the prospect. 'If he wants my blood he can come and take it, because every time we've gone 1-1, I've outsmarted him, and if we meet for that title, I'm going to do it again. Besides, I can look after myself' she smiled at Jade.
She then dropped back to speak to Phil. 'Great job there, I'm proud of you kid' he reassured her, as she looked for advice. 'So how do you think I duelled? I know I fluffed some of the lines and missed a couple of opportunities' 'Look, that kind of scenario is so unpredictable and fast moving that there's not much room for optimising, you can't account for every single moving part, so the best thing you can do is keep out of the way while everyone else tears each other apart.'
This appeared to offend Rio slightly, as she responded 'So you think I deliberately just did nothing?' 'Not quite what I'm saying, more that you were smart enough to set up and choose your targets while everybody else was kill or be killed. You kept your head and played your game. That's exactly what I told you to do, and that's why you were always going to win. And with your title shot, if you want it in Long Beach, tell me and I'll be on the phone to the Board telling them as much.'
'Thank you for all the support' Rio told him, but it wasn't a compliment he'd accept. 'I'm just doing my job, whatever you want I try and arrange. You're going to get your title shot, and I'm going to make sure you're best prepared when that happens.' Nodding, Rio told him straight. 'I want my shot in Long Beach, I'm not giving him any time to weasel his way out of this. I'm going to take the last thing away from him, because I'm the last Ace we've got in a hand that lost.'
As the airport honed into view, Astrid, Freja and Maddy were stood by the doors, waving at them. Arriving, Rio was immediately offered a hi-five by Maddy. 'You were so good there, I can't believe you squeezed Caprice out despite everything. You going after the title now?' 'Yep, Phil's going to be giving the board a ring and tell them that I want my title shot in Long Beach. And if they reject, I'll just keep demanding it, because they owe me a shot now.'
Maddy then turned to Blair, who was talking with Astrid. 'So you really think things are getting better?' 'Yeah, absolutely, we had a good chat out there, I think we can start being positive about the future now.' Maddy though, had something rather more frivolous on her mind. 'I swear you're a better Brit than I've ever been, you've even started to get the Newkie accent down a little.' 'Thanks pet' Blair responded in a semi-coherent Geordie accent that was clearly an imitation of Maddy's own voice.
While the mood around the alpha seemed to be rosy however, Freja was far more prickly about the situation, as before they went into the airport, she and Rio stepped to one side. 'Maddy's hiding her issues really well, but she's still numb like you wouldn't believe, she was asking why Astrid had forgiven her when she didn't deserve it.' 'If that's the case then why's Astrid so cheerful?' Freja's reply was stark. 'Because she's forcing herself to believe something that isn't true. Astrid's fooling herself into thinking things are ok because she wants everything to be ok.'
Two days later
Having taken over a day to physically recover from the trip to Switzerland, Maddy was still struggling, but it wasn't just her condition that was the issue, as Sakura was all too ready to remind her. 'Don't forget, you've got your rib surgery next week, so you need to be looking after yourself.' 'Don't I know it, I feel sick enough and it's not even for a week yet, god knows how I'm gonna cope when we're closer. You got any advice for it or anything? Or maybe some kind of magic anti-worrying pill?'
Unimpressed, the good doc shook her head. 'I can't just give you antidepressants or something Maddy, there isn't some magic cure for being worried. End of the day, you could have got this sorted months ago and we wouldn't be in this situation now.' Having ranted, Sakura saw that Maddy was quite upset, and immediately regretted her reaction. 'Look, I get it, you've been to hell and back, and if there's anything I can do to help, you know that I will. But drugging you up isn't going to sort anything, and even if it would, if there's anything in your system when you go there they can just refuse to go through with it. Trust me, you'll be fine.'
This was when Maddy made an admission. 'I'm just kind of scared of being put to sleep like that, I… don't know what they're going to do to me while I'm like that, it reminds me of…' Understanding, Sakura relieved Maddy of the burden of saying the words. 'I get you, I can't imagine it for a second. But I promise you, they're highly trained professionals, and if you're suffering with past trauma, you can tell them and they'll go through all options with you. Also I've been to that hospital, everyone's lovely there.'
While Sakura tried to provide comforting words, Sean walked up behind them, and gently tapped Maddy on the shoulder to say hello. Startled, she flashed her eyes and swung a wild punch straight into his mouth, causing him to crash to the deck as she screamed 'NEVER TOUCH ME AGAIN! GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!', before running away in tears as everyone watched on in shock, many members peeking out of their bedrooms as she did so.
While all this was happening, Sean wiped his mouth, staining his hand with blood as Sakura offered him some tissue. 'I'll get you to the medical bay.' 'I'll be fine, just check on her will ya?' 'Plenty of people around to check on Maddy, and I'm sure she'll be ok later. Your mouth on the other hand, might not be ok later, that's quite an amount of blood you've got in there, and I want to check there's no further damage in there.'
Relenting, Sean picked himself up, and casually walked with Sakura to the medical bay, where Belle was sat, scrolling through her phone, her mid-length hair gently moving up and down rhythmically with her head. As Sakura prepared to have a look inside his mouth, Sean tried to make some conversation. 'So… what are you in here for?' 'Attacking Rhydian's crew, jumped out a bus window, think I broke my foot.'
Sakura though, had a different piece of news. 'Well the good news is nothing's broken Belle. I can't say for certain, but I think you've partially torn something in your ankle. So there's going to be no jumping out of buses for you for a few weeks, you need to be careful with that.' 'Well can I fly or duel?' 'Sure' Sakura responded cheerily. 'I'd recommend a couple of weeks off the pro circuit just to let things settle in there, and you'll need a boot on it if you're walking any distances. But other than that, just keep it up when you can, keep ice on it, and you should be fixed up in a few weeks.'
'Thanks' she responded while standing up, grimacing as she did. While she retrieved an ice pack from the mini freezer and strapped it to her ankle, she looked over to Sean. 'So what happened to you?' 'Maddy freaked out on me, only tapped her on the shoulder and she drilled me like no tomorrow.' 'Looks like it hurt a bit.' 'Eh, the pain's not big to me, it's not like I've never been in a fight before. It's her I'm concerned about, she went berserk out of nowhere, no idea how I triggered her.'
This appeared to light something up in Belle's own mind. 'Sak, is there any chance you could lend me some crutches? I need to go and speak to Rio before I forget, I think I can help understand what she's going through.' Sakura looked confused at this, which was when Belle made an admission. 'You know that video I sent of her being beaten up?' 'Yeah?' She sighed, and told the doctor 'It's not the only one. There's worse, on a hard drive, it's got a load of CCTV footage and some of it's of her.' Understanding the severity of the situation, Sakura passed the crutches over immediately. 'You ok getting up there?' 'Sure.' As Belle was leaving, Sean shook his head. 'That actually hurts a bit now. Maybe I'm going a bit soft…'
Outside the main hall
As Belle was forcing her way across the base at top speed to find Rio, Lydia was watching her go by. 'And now everyone's going to give her sympathy. Well maybe a broken foot's the least she deserves for trying to break my family. If she'd have just stayed and if that stupid stupid idiot Rhydian had listened when I was telling him the truth, then maybe, actually no maybe about it, all of this WOULD be sorted.'
She soon changed her tune and demeanour though as she saw Freja approach. 'Look, I've got a lot on, so if this is about you and Belle, I really can't deal with it right now, you'll have to act like adults.' 'It's not that at all, I'm keeping out of her way and she's keeping out of mine' Lydia responded, which appeared to satisfy her sister. 'Well it's not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it means you're not tearing each other's throats out. So… what did you want to talk about?'
'It's just that I've been thinking that with all the stuff with Maddy going on, and how much better she seemed when she was away from here, by your own admission, maybe the three of us could move out of here, get our own pad, even if it's only renting somewhere for a couple of months, just let Maddy recover, get you away from all of this stress, and… you know, just try and… reconnect.'
This was a fine suggestion in itself. Sadly for Lydia though, Freja saw straight through it. 'I'm not movin' out of here. I know why you want me to, and it's not going to work, because right now Maddy's my priority. If she's moving back out of here, it's only to Phil and Hannah's, and I wouldn't be joining her because the last thing she needs is my drama concerning her. Face facts, it doesn't work, I'm not choosing between you.' Frustrated, Lydia shouted 'Wake up!' at her sister, who wasn't moved by the apparent plea.
In Stoneybridge
Jana was walking through the main street through the village when she suddenly saw a hooded figure that was clearly Maddy rushing through the , not stopping for anything, carrying what appeared to be a bunch of lilies in one hand and a card in the other. Suspicious and cautious, Jana waited until she had passed, and then silently tailed her, making sure not to get too close in case Maddy's vast hearing picked up someone trailing.
After several minutes, Maddy turned off the main street and into a small churchyard, before entering the graveyard, only to suddenly turn her head sharply as Jana lightly brushed a nettle bush, but the new Renegade dived for cover, resulting in there being nothing to see. As the rain drove down, a muddy Jana went to stand up, but stopped on her knees as she saw Maddy walk up to a grave several rows from the front, with "Daniel Smith, 1965-2017, a loved father and husband, leader of his pack" in beautiful gold cursive writing on the black marble headstone. And with her own supersonic hearing, Jana picked up Maddy whispering through tears to the stone.
'I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. I thought I was changing the world, making things better, but I let you down… I let everybody down… and I killed you because I was selfish and evil, I let all of this happen, I'm responsible, and now you're not here anymore because of that. Well I promise you, it won't be in vain, because I'm going to make sure that I get all the punishment that I deserve. And once I've served that, maybe then I can begin to forgive.' Shaking her head, she put her hand down on the ground, and as her body shook through tears, her eyes glowed and she vanished, confusing Jana. 'But… your powers aren't supposed to be working.'
Back at the base
Belle had finally managed to make her way to the office after several minutes of difficult manoeuvring with the steps, and after taking a couple of sharp breaths, hammered on the door, only for there to be no response. She tried again, hoping that the Interim President was just momentarily distracted, but there was no such luck. As she turned around, Dakota walked past and casually informed her 'Oh by the way, Rio's not going to be in the office most of the day, she's training in the arena.'
As Dakota walked off, Belle stared at the steps for a moment before starting to make her way back down them again, only for Freja to greet her on the middle of the seven steps. 'Foot's bad then?' 'Just damaged some ligaments in my ankle, nothing too bad.' 'I'm glad to hear it. Fancy some help down?' 'If you like' she responded, so Freja helped to guide her down, before walking away again, not even stopping for Belle to mutter 'Thank you' to her.
Having eventually reached the arena, she looked through the window, and saw Rio summoning Dark Simorgh against Kenzie. So carefully, she creaked the door open, with Kenzie immediately drawing the Interim President's attention to it. 'Sorry, were you wanting to train? We'll be done soon I promise.' Nervously, Belle approached her, and mumbled 'Can we talk in the office? There's something with Maddy I haven't told anyone yet.'
Seeing the torment in her eyes, Rio nodded. 'I'll just be a couple of minutes, we can talk in the arena office to save you having to get up the stairs on those things again.' 'It's fine, I'm just using them to move quicker.' Rio then shouted over to Kenzie. 'Taking a breather after this alright by you?' Kenzie just nodded in return, replying 'Thought you'd never ask, we've been at it for 3 hours, my knees feel like they're made of sponge.' Belle then left to wait near the office.
As she did so, she looked around briefly, and heard Maddy returning, followed by a conversation with Astrid. 'Hey Maddy' 'Look 'trid, you know I love talkin' to you and all, I just need to go to the toilet first.' 'Ok but this'll only take a moment. I've been thinking, Geneva was great wasn't it? Just the three of us there having some fun.' 'Really was' she smiled in return, lowering her head as she did. 'Feels so long since I did anything like that…'
'Well I'm just asking because Mollie rang earlier, she said she's wanting to come back to the UK for a couple of weeks, her sister's due to give birth and she wants to be there. Anyway, she's fretting about having nobody looking after her place in Geneva, so I was wondering if you fancied going on a mini vacation of sorts, just housesitting for her?' Thinking about it, Maddy seemed interested. 'Ok, I mean let's talk about it?' 'Sure.' Maddy then went off while Astrid wiped some sweat off her head. 'Hopefully this works.
In the office
As Belle entered the office, Rio immediately greeted her cheerily. 'Sorry about the towel and vest, it's real hot in the arena, especially when the air-con's not working. How's the foot?' 'Damaged my ankle ligaments a bit so I'm stuck in a boot for a few weeks.' 'So there was more you wanted to show me?' 'Yeah… you know I shared that video of Lukas beating Maddy?' 'Yep.' 'Well the truth is… I shared one of the videos. There are two more that I never showed you, I've not even seen them myself. When I was at the condo, I secretly set up some cameras, to try and gain intel, but looking over one of them, I saw something with Lukas, Claude and Maddy, I fast forwarded to the end and cut the videos.'
She then handed over a memory stick. 'As I say, I've not seen them myself, all I know is that she was black and blue when they were done.' 'And Rhydian?' 'I don't think he knows about these, he knew about the one time you know, because Maddy distracted him from kicking Lukas out, that's what broke the trust between he and Akiza.' Concerned but knowing what she had to do, Rio played the videos.
The first one dated the 19th April (three days after Tee's liberation) saw Lukas smacking Maddy over the head with a shard of glass, and then beating her ribs and her back to the point where she could barely breathe, while telling her 'If it wasn't for your stupid buddies, Tee would still be here and things would still be right', before Claude walked in, and grabbed her by the jaw, telling her 'If you ever try and leave here, I'm going to give all those lovely pictures to all your friends and family so they can see what a slut you've become. You'll be begging to return here to us. So just be a good girl and let your brain melt away.'
At this point, they heard Rhydian coming, and scarpered, with him discovering Maddy bleeding from the back of her head. Immediately he looked concerned, and rushed over to her, while shouting 'Akiza, she's bleeding, I need you in here now!' She didn't rush tough, rather sauntering, and casually opening up her medical bag, before placing a large bandage around the back of her hairline, while Rhydian cuddled her tenderly.
The video then cut off, and the second one immediately started, dated the 2nd May (the day before Belle turned on them) with Maddy being approached by Lukas. 'What are you doing today?' 'Master Rhydian told me that he's going to take me to an orphanage today, he wants to have children around.' 'Well it's better than you ever getting a little demon out' he responded, and randomly smashed her in the jaw, and as she fell to the ground unconscious, he stamped on her knee, before walking off. Chillingly, he then walked back in with a lighter, and told her 'Akiza needs to learn that I'm the destined one and not you', only for Kieran to come up behind him and snatch the lighter, shutting it off before telling Lukas 'This one is between us, we'll chalk it up as a moment of madness. Next time, you're out on your ear. Now I suggest you get going.'
As Lukas flipped him off from behind and walked away, Kieran checked Maddy's pulse before flinging her over his shoulder, and carrying her to Rhydian's apartment, letting himself in and dumping her down in front of the shrine. 'You can worship when you wake up little one. Sleep tight, this spell's soon going to be fully tight.' He walked out and locked the door, before ringing Rhydian, and telling him 'Watch out for Lukas, just caught him harassing Maddy, I think we might need to cut loose if he continues.'
Watching the videos, Rio was absolutely silent, and there was a pause before Belle asked 'What do you want to do about this?' She didn't respond to the question, but quietly walked over to the tannoy, and in a low tone, stated 'Sakura Haruno to the President's Office, that's Sakura Haruno to the President's Office, Code Amber.' She then sat back down, and told Belle 'You were right to not look before now.'
Within three minutes of the announcement, Sakura arrived at the office, and immediately asked 'What did you need?' 'We've got some extra footage of Maddy being attacked while she was in Toronto, if you can, I need you to watch it and tell me if it would be consistent with the injuries that you recorded from her.' Nodding, Sakura told them 'I can have a look, I can take quite a lot when it comes to these things, especially when you need me to.'
She then pulled up a seat, and watched the first video, quickly recording 'I did find some evidence of an old head wound, I can't say if it's from that but it's in the right area.' She then watched the rest of the video, and looked over at Belle, inquiring 'What pictures are these?' 'Akiza sold some explicit pictures of Maddy to Claude, I didn't see what they were exactly but he was paying upwards of $8000 for some of the envelopes. Rhydian sent me on missions to watch them because he was suspicious of Akiza.'
As Sakura shook her head, the second video started playing, and she went from shaking her head, noting 'The way he hit her would explain the damage to her jaw and that in turn would explain her reluctance to eat; if her jaw's causing issues, it might be too painful for her. I can talk to her about that, and we can work on a specialist diet while she heals, because I've already told her I'm not giving painkillers to a former drug addict, and just saying that sounds horrible.' Rio tapped her on the hand though, and told her 'We know what you mean.'
Sakura then continued watching the video, and as Lukas came in with the lighter, she started shaking and shuddering, tears of anger flowing from her eyes. With the video ending, Rio asked the important question of 'So what do we do now then?' Sakura's response was 'First of all, we hunt that son of a bitch down and make him wish he'd never laid a hand on Maddy. As for Maddy, I'll need a couple of days to assess her eating. We'll get her sorted though.'
Elsewhere in the base, Maddy returned from the toilet, to the consternation of Astrid. 'Hey, what took you so long.' 'I wasn't long… was I?' she somewhat tentatively asked in return, surprised at the confrontation. 'You were like half an hour-ish, what took you so long anyway?' 'I was constipated' she quickly stated, but by this time, Astrid had noticed something very different - two long scratches on Maddy's arm.
'Um, this might be a strange question, but what are those marks on your arm?' Caught completely off guard, Maddy immediately told her 'I gashed my arm on an old plank of wood yesterday, think there was some screws stickin' out of it, got it cleaned up asap anyway.' 'That why you're wearing long sleeves?' 'Yeah, I didn't tell you because I knew you'd get worried over nothing.'
Unconvinced but with little reason to disbelieve the story, Astrid just smiled politely and played along. 'Well next time just tell me straight up, k? I want to know.' 'I know you do, but you've got this big title opportunity coming up, and I don't want to stress you out, I need to stand on my own two feet and look after myself now, it's what everyone wants to see.' As she walked away though, Astrid looked dubious.
In Washington
Blair was hoovering the apartment when Jade arrived home from grocery shopping. 'Well I never thought I'd see this, Blair Flannigan doing housework.' 'Cheeky, I do loads' she responded while laughing. But then, her gaze came upon a large envelope in one of the bags, surrounded by red onions and jars of cumin and cinnamon. 'Is that envelope' 'Yep it is' Jade sung while glowing with happiness. 'It's the adoption paperwork.'
As Blair pulled their oaken table into the middle of the room, they sat down next to each other and Jade carefully removed the papers from the envelope. 'Right, so I spoke to the lady from the adoption agency, we can send the papers off now, but it won't be made totally official in the eyes of the law until July because you're not 21 yet.' 'Well that sucks' Blair responded, but Jade didn't see the issue.
'Thing is, she's already living with us, everything's good, they don't have a problem with it, we can sign everything now, they just can't process it until your birthday. She said she doesn't see any issues with us adopting her when you're old enough, so as far as I'm concerned, when we sign these, we're a family properly.' 'But we've been approved?' 'Yeah totally, I know you were really concerned, but she said that it doesn't matter that I'm Lesbian and you're Bi, because we've got a stable home life, and America's sent a letter of support for us. Did you come to an agreement regarding money with her?'
'Yeah, we agreed that when we get the confirmation that the adoption paperwork's all approved, I'm going to send her the confirmation letter and then I'll send the $15,000 to her.' 'What account are you using?' Jade asked, wary of America's history with money, but Blair had it all figured out. 'I'm using Hannah's old account, it's literally got about £20 in it, she's going to trade details with me when we go looking at schools next week.'
'She's going with you?' 'Yeah, she wanted the experience for when Sky's old enough to be attending, and it just gives us some time to catch up because we don't get to talk much.' Ally then peeked around the door, and quietly asked 'What are you talking about?' Blair smiled at her, and told her 'I was just about to call for you. We're going around some schools next week, me and Hannah, to try and see where you'll be attending in September, and we'd really like you to come, because it's got to be just right.'
Smiling, she nodded, and then saw the papers on the table. 'Am I… in trouble?' Jade laughed, and exclaimed 'You? No! Look, sit down here.' As she did, Jade explained the situation. 'You know when we were talking about you staying with us permanently, and how you liked the idea?' 'Yeah, wanna.' 'Well these are the documents we need to sign to make that happen. We just sign on these dotted lines, then send them off, and everything is official on Blair's birthday, when sa she turns 21. And we wanted you down here because we want you to see us sign everything, so you know how much we both love you.'
Ally responded by jumping up to her feet and back onto the chair in one fluid movement, putting her hands on Jade and Blair's shoulders while telling them 'But I know that already, you don't need to prove it.' Blair ruffled her hair, and told her 'We know you know, but you should be here when we do it anyway.' Jade then pulled a pen out of her pocket, and signed her name on the dotted line, printing it right below, before passing the pen over to Blair, who smiled at her and Ally, before doing the same, before declaring 'Right, I think that calls for pizza and movie night, it's Ri's turn to choose.'
The next morning
Astrid came back from her daily run to find Maddy up and eating breakfast. 'Oh hello, you're up early.' 'Trid, it's almost 8, where've you been?' Laughing and enjoying Maddy's apparently brighter mood, she told her 'I went out slightly later, couldn't get out of bed. If anything, though, you're up early.' 'Yeah, just couldn't get back to sleep so thought I'd try getting up and doing stuff. Just not decided what stuff that is yet.'
'Well I'm sure you'll work it out' Astrid told her cheerily, but as Maddy turned around, Astrid noticed a score of scratches on her upper arm, and stretching down to her elbow. Realising the potential gravity of the situation, she didn't say anything though, instead telling her 'You'll have to let me know when you want to anything, because I'm too nosey to let you do it alone.' Maddy looked over confused, but then they both grinned at each other.
As soon as Maddy was out of sight though, Astrid sprung into action, quickly approaching Rio as she was on her way to the arena, and posing 'Do you happen to know where Belle is?' Immediately, she was surprised that Rio knew the answer. 'She's drying her hair in her bedroom, I was just talking to her a few minutes ago. And if she's not there, then she's probably getting ready to head out, she's got a Uni open day.'
With this information, Astrid dashed straight upstairs, and found Belle in the midst of plaiting her hair. 'Belle, I know you've got this open day' 'Yep, the joys of two hours to get to York. Why, did you need something before I go?' 'Look, if I get Jana to warp you there, I need your help on something that's related to Maddy. There's no easy to say this, but… erm… uh…' 'You know you can just say whatever it is, right?'
'I know, but it's… well… I know that you've… how do I put this… hurt yourself in the past?' Calmly, Belle told her 'If you're talking about self-harming, just say it.' 'Ok, I know you've self-harmed in the past.' 'Yep, not exactly proud of it. Why?' 'I think Maddy's doing the same, those scratches on her arm, they're not from some damn screw, they're from Maddy herself.' Concerned at this, Belle immediately dropped what she was doing, and turned to face Astrid.
'If she is doing this, then we need to remember two things. Firstly, if we confront her directly about it, she's just going to do it even more in secret, and we won't be able to prove anything. Secondly, if she's doing it, then she's probably slicing, and she'll have whatever she's doing it with on her so she can slice whenever she feels the urge.' 'What's she doing it with though?' Belle just shrugged in return.
'Could be anything, a knife, scissors, I used a razor, like a shaving razor, that's how I used to do it. Basically if it has some kind of sharp edge then you can use it.' 'So we need evidence, and for that, we need to catch her off guard' Astrid mused, but before she could go any further, Belle said 'Way ahead of you', and reached into her bag to reveal a bottle of Coconut and Lime shower gel.
'Maddy's favourite… did you know' 'You might have believed that Maddy was getting better, but Freja didn't. She texted me yesterday and asked if I could pick this up. Difference is, Freja doesn't know she's self-harming.' 'What does she think then?' a confused Astrid asked her. 'Don't tell her I told you because it was in confidence and all that' Belle whispered in return, 'But she thinks Maddy's trying to starve herself to get sectioned, I just thought it was because she's got a busted jaw. But there's your plan anyway.'
An hour later
As Maddy returned from a short walk outside, Astrid was waiting for her. 'Are you… following me?' 'No, I was waiting for you' she responded happily. 'You know that Coconut and Lime shower gel that none of us could get hold of?' 'Yeah…' 'Well guess what I picked up this morning when I was on my run, I just had a quick look in the supermarket while I was out and found it, I forgot to mention this morning.'
Passing it to Maddy, the Alpha gave a surprised 'Thanks' in return, but Astrid was keen on her using it. 'Why don't you treat yourself to a nice long shower, one thing you missed while you were gone is that the shower actually stays hot now. Belle just came out of it about an hour ago, she hasn't stopped saying how nice it is, and if you can't shut her up, you know it's good.' Laughing at this accurate point, she agreed. 'Ok, sure.' 'Just drop your clothes in the entrance, and I'll throw 'em in the wash for you.'
Without a second thought, she agreed, and quickly made her way up the stairs, making a point in closing the door before stripping, and pausing for a moment to stare down at her far more wiry frame, her broken ribs just about visible through her skin, which was peppered with bruises of yellowy-green and pale yellow and brown, markers and reminders of her ordeal. As she stepped into the shower and the water flicked on, Astrid reached into the room, and yanked the shirt and previously tight jeans that were now loose to the point of falling off her out of the room.
After she had obtained the clothes, Astrid retreated to Freja and Belle's bedroom, and shook the shirt out, finding nothing, before rifling through her pockets. At first she wasn't finding anything notable, but then she felt something somewhat metallic, and after fumbling for a moment, got a hold of it, and pulled out an unusual item. 'That's her engagement ring? Why does she still have that? The whole point is she's out of his grip now.'
Before she could consider this for long though, she heard two quiet knocks on the wall, and scooted over to the next room along, which was Maddy's room. As she walked in, she saw Belle leant over the bedside table, and hearing Astrid arrive, she stood up, holding Maddy's bank card, the bottom of which was stained a deep crimson, a finding which seemingly confirmed their suspicions.
But in case it wasn't clear, Belle held her arm out, and as Astrid tried to brace herself, slowly sliced her own arm, not even flinching as she did, disturbing a clearly squeamish Astrid. After cutting a four inch scratch in her arm, Belle immediately placed a plaster on it, and seeing Astrid's reaction, reassured her 'Don't worry, it was only on the surface of the skin, it will heal in a couple of days. I'm sorry, I know you're bad with blood.'
'Does that not… hurt?' A concerned Astrid asked, but Belle remained perfectly matter of fact about it. 'A little, but I think I damaged some of the nerves, this is the arm I used to self-harm on, so there's a bit of a tingling, but not a lot more than that. I just wanted to demonstrate how easy it is to do.' While they walked down the stairs, they continued conversing. 'I just don't understand why she'd do something like this.' Belle just shook her head, and stated 'Grief I guess? I remember when I started self-harming it was because it took away the pain of what I'd done.'
While they discussed this, Blair arrived at the base to share her news, but found Belle and Astrid deep in discussion. 'Hey guys, what's occurring?' She then saw the blood on Maddy's bank card, and immediately figured out the truth. 'How long has this been going on for then?' 'We think since she found out about Dan, but we've only found significant evidence of it today' Belle explained, as Blair took mental notes.
'So what happens now, because confronting her's the worst thing we can do.' 'Trust me, I know' Belle told her. 'If we all bust in there, it's just going to explode in our faces. What she needs is someone who knows what she's going through, and someone who's able to comfort her, someone she sees that she can confess anything to. Because between this and what she did to Sean this morning'
'What thing with Sean?' Blair asked, completely unaware of the incident. 'As Sean put it, he tapped her on the shoulder to say hello, and she freaked out, popping him right in the mouth, broke one of his teeth and he's got a decent amount of blood in his mouth that we don't know where it came from, he's gone to A to get it checked out. It's almost like she just has a thing about men from behind.' This throwaway comment from Belle got the wheels turning in the Michiganer's mind, and quickly, she had a truly horrific thought.
'Right, I need you both to be totally open with me now. She's got something with men, right?' 'Yeah.' 'And she's been talking about her memories coming back? She's also been really insistent that Rhydian's not hurt her at all, and she's self harming… Belle, this is a really sensitive question I know, but when you self-harmed, why did you do it?' 'I dunno, I just did it' she responded, before thinking further.
'I suppose… it started after Gemma but before I was charged, I felt like I needed to be punished, and the police weren't doing that. So I had to do it myself, I had to feel just a fraction of the pain that she did. I almost felt dirty… as if I needed to be clean, that probably sounds stupid, but' 'You've just sealed it for me!' Blair told her, before hugging Belle tightly. 'I need to talk to Maddy now, I know what's going on. But she needs to tell someone, and I'm the person she needs to speak to.'
In her room, Maddy was sat silently, staring at a picture of herself, Dan and Emma on holiday in Corfu when she was 11 years old. Eventually though, she asked herself 'Where did all those simple times go? When it was just me as this young cub with dreams? Before all this shit about being a legendary Alpha, before all this mind control bs, before my destiny, when I was just plain old Maddy.'
Before she could find her answer though, there was a gentle knock on her door, and before she could answer, Blair walked in, hair fastened back and wearing one of Maddy's wolf-face duelling shirts. She invited herself in, smiling kindly, and then closed the door gently, before placing herself down next to Maddy. After a slightly awkward stare at each other, she stated calmly 'I think you need someone. Or more specifically, I think you need me.'
Maddy immediately responded by reaching out to Blair's knee, and she responded by holding her hand. 'You've not half been through a lot haven't you? Being under that evil spell, Lukas beating you up, all the stress here, it's been a tough time for you hasn't it?' She silently nodded in response as tears slowly started to fall, before she swept them away. 'And then there's all these memories coming back.'
Sensing she was making an impact, Blair pressed forward cautiously. 'We know all about what Lukas has done to you, the way he beat you up, crippled you, punished you, for things you didn't even do.' Holding the tears back, Maddy mumbled 'It just hurts… so much. All the pain, he just never stopped, through everything I could feel the pain, but I couldn't react. I couldn't stop it… I couldn't stop anything.' This was the moment Blair had searched for, and she asked the question that was burned into her mind.
'Maddy, you can talk to me, and you don't need to speak, just nod or shake your head: has somebody raped you?' Silently, she nodded, sending a chill down Blair's spine as her theory was confirmed. 'Was it Rhydian?' She shook her head, leading to a surprising response. 'Thought not. He wouldn't do that to you. Was it Lukas?' Again she shook her head. 'Kieran?' Another shake, leaving Blair with one more name. 'Was it Claude?'
Finally, she nodded again. 'In the condo?' Once more, she nodded. 'Final question: was it after Belle left?' This time, she spoke. 'Two days later. I don't want to go to the police though, he'll come and find me if I do, they'll never believe me anyway. What did I know?' Blair just held her tight, and told her 'You can say it to me, that's all that matters right now.' Plucking up the courage, Maddy said the words. 'Claude raped me.'
This appeared to free her up, and they started to talk about it. 'I've been able to remember it all along, but I didn't want people to know. But you… you've been there. And you survived it.' 'Trust me, I understand, when he did it to me the last thing I wanted to do was talk to anybody about it. It's only when I couldn't take it anymore that it fell out, Rio could have been anybody. And I was too chicken to do anything about it. But I'll promise you this - I can tell people, and they'll understand, and they will respect your decision. We're all in this together.' They hugged, and Blair signalled to the door, as Belle walked in, having heard everything.
Next time: Maddy's sisters in war gain revenge for her plight, but will anybody believe what they have to say? And has Rhydian finally met his match in Rio? R: Ultra Evolution Book 24: Snakebitten & Frostbitten.
