Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Agony That is all Marguerite has known, for damn near a decade a tiny cage has been her only home, slavers, bandits, and various other sorts of lowlifers her only companions. She's not bound at least, the cage is iron so they know she can't escape, not without burning herself into a nice fae crisp and collapsing in such a way they could easily find her before she recovered. So she had simply....stopped resisting, acepting that this was to be her home and these people the only family she'd ever know. Truly if they'd just treat her kinder she might even find some end to her misery, but no, they kept her locked up, isolated, and only ever took her out for....violation, or if one of their buddies got hurt and they needed a healer. She'd fallen asleep at some point, it was evening when she awoke today, hard to have a regulized sleep scheduule when really your life was at the whims of unpredictable criminals. She scooted as close as she dare to the bars, the men and women were having dinner but, suprise, none for her. So she did the only thing she could, sit and stare passive agressively into the distance, knowing she was alone, knowing she was helpless, and yet, praying for some kind of miracle, some kind of salvation to save her from this existance. Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 This was it. This was the place. If she wasn't there, he would find someone who would know. And he will make them sing. The place was a fortress, and it was swarming with lowlives. He looked at the surrounding rubble, where he told mercenaries to ready themselves. It cost him a pretty penny to get the firepower to take this fortress, and have enough guns on his side to take out the people that needed to pay for what they've done, but it will all be worth it. He drew an empty bow and a phantom arrow appeared, a misty aura around it, illuminating his masked face. As soon as the arrow flies, the bombing begins, stirring up the hornet's nest. He took a breath and let it out slowly as his bow string rolled off his fingers. The arrow lodged itself into the head of one of the watchers, and as his partner looked at why he suddenly fell down, dull thumps rang out from the surrounding area. There were quiet whistles before the deafening blasts of mortar shells filled the night air. One barrage after another, the shells fell while more precise explosives were detonated around the fortress and a few mercenaries flooded in. Juno by this time had jumped off his perch and grabbed his rifle to join in with the charge. As the mercenaries swarmed the buildings, Juno went for a particular one. If the people he interrogated were right, she should be there. Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Suddenly the evening air was alive with smoke and gun fire, the sound of arrows burrowing themselves into flesh with a soft squealching sound. She barley had time to react before someone was opening her cage and dragging her out into the chaos. But there was far too much of it for perfect control and when one of the explosives went off it knocked both marguerite and her 'escort' back, and though she was winded, she realised she wasn't being held. Taking advantage of these precious few seconds the girl hauled herself to her feet and started bolting out the newly opened wall, juno's mercenaries not paying much mind to a simple hostage taking advantage of the chaos. Once she was out of the building though she quickly found herself utterly disoriented. Going out the front wasn;t an option, not without the gun fire and chaos at the front gate, she needed to find another opening, but now she had to avoid getting caught by either side. So rather than just wait for her captor to catch up with her she just started running avoiding people where she could and looking for an opening, given the chaos, and her being only a frail looking girl, it was working in her favour. Until she ran smack dab into someones chest. She backed up hesitantly, afraid it had been one of her captors. But none of the criminals currently 'in residence' wore masks...or had a glowing eye. Though she wasn't very in touch with her fae heritage, she was still able to distinctly recognize items that obviously had fae magic imbued in them, this extended to bodytouched. If he had helped the fae once....perhaps just maybe he could help her too. \"I i'm a fae, please, if you help me get out of here, i'll give you anything you want,\" Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 With the majority of the insertion bearing into the middle of the fortress, the mortars eased up. A portable rocket was fired into the prisoner building to make an entryway for Juno, however, to his surprise, there was a woman with red hair running out and literally running into him. He almost couldn't believe it. For a second, he was frozen, his brain forgetting how to say her name as her voice filtered into his ears, muffling all other sounds out. A raised gun pointed at him from the hole in the wall, and it would have shot the girl in her back. He quickly grabbed her and pulled himself and the girl to the ground to avoid where the bullets would be as he aimed his rifle with just a single hand and shot two bullets at the attacker. One on his hand to stop him from accidentally firing again, and then to the head to permanently put him out of his misery. But this guy wasn't the last. There were more, and he needed to get the girl out of here. He gently rolled her off and got to a knee and dropped two more raiders who were pointing their guns at his direction, though they were firing at the people in front of him. \"Stay low and behind me!\" he told the girl. His voice was muffled by the mask, but it was clear enough, given the circumstances. Just a few more heads and he can take her away from this hole. His head kept jerking from left to right, wanting to take no chances of any stray bullet being anywhere near him. But that was getting less and less likely as the mercenaries pushed forward. Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Marguerite didn't say much of anything as she was pushed away and behind him, but given his commands it did seem like he was willing to protect her, at least for now. Staying low and behind him like instructed gave her a chance to take it all in, mostly the man. A prostetic arm and a fae eye. Something about the eye felt familliar, not just her ability to recognize it as fae but like....perhaps it was given by a fae connected to her? It seemed hard to believe but....well now wasn;t the time to be obsessing over it, this man was obviously a friend of the fae, and suddenly she was safer than she had been in ten years. \"Why are you attacking the fortress? What's your plan? What are we doing?\" she finally managed to ask after a few more tense moments, she hadn't spoken much over the last decade and it showed in her voice, just barley able to be heard over the sound of ammunition, shouting, and shooting. But she couldn;t just follow him with no clue what was going on, and they certainly couldn;t take on all this chaos by themselves. Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Juno's twitchy movement and the way his head went from one area to another in short order made him look nervous, as if it was his first time in a gun fight, however, the way he flicked his gun to execute an enemy with flawless accuracy would say otherwise. As the mercenaries got deeper into the fortress, the ones who manned the mortars split, half remaining at the equipment for emergencies, and the other half rushing into the battle. Seeing this, Juno looked for the commander, who signaled that they'll take it from here after noticing Juno with a freed prisoner. He could relax for a little bit now. \"We're just cleaning up what the apocalypse failed to. We're getting you to a safer place, come on,\" Juno took the girl by the hand and lead her to one of the holes they just blew open before and to the surrounding rubble of a once-large city. \"Are you okay? Are you hurt?\" It was painful asking that question. 10 years. She was with those savages for 10 years. He was afraid what her answer would be. A medic came over and checked the girl for anything to treat, expecting the worst. Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Marguerite blinked a bit at his response to her question, and something in her eyes was telling that, even despite the abuse and the violation she'd endured over the last decade, she didn't think this was the proper way for things to be done. Still, she kept her mouth shut on her oppinions, this was her saviour after all and it wouldn't do to sound ungrateful, she was extremly grateful, if still unsure what would happen to her when she was taken away from this place. His questions further cementing her suspision the idea that these people were far kinder than those she had known. She got out of having to reply by the medic rushing over, and knowing the drill Marguerite obligingly let go of some of the outer garments so her wounds could be tended to. The sight wasn;t pretty. Scars that were obviously picked open and remade multiple times, burns from iron and branding, tatoos marking her as property of the fort, and her arms were littered with various little surface injuries, the result of the drugs they would often fuel her with to keep her from running off. Still she kept silent as she looked at the man, refusing to answer for a long time. \"can i plead the fifth?\" Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Juno was speechless at all the injuries the girl had. He just nodded and looked to the side when she asked not to answer. He had seen enough, and if she told him what they did to her, he wasn't sure what he'd do. But he was sure he wasn't going to keep it together. He was a failure. Why did it take him so long to find her? Why wasn't he strong enough to fight them off when they first took her... Once the medic was done treating her wounds and left, Juno looked to her. He took a deep, shaky breath, and sighed \"Marguerite...\" he trailed off, shaking his head. \"I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner.\" He pulled down his hood and took off his mask to reveal his scarred up face, wet with tears. \"I could have saved you from this.\" Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Juno In that moment everything stopped, her heart, the gunfire, the screams and chaos of a fort being utterly destroyed. They didn't exist. It was just juno, it was just her, he came for her. She couldn't stop herself from walking over to him and her hand from touching his cheek, extremly hesitent and yet determined as could be as she finally let the tears she'd held back over the last decade fall from her eyes, slow at first, but soon enough she was practically sobbing silently. Her thumb gently stroking his scar as she found her voice. \"And I could have saved you from this, but i didn't. But we're both here, you saved me juno, we were kids then, don't blame yourself simply because you couldn't go above and beyond that of an eleven year old. We're here, we're alive,\" she murmured, as if unsure if she even was indeed alive, and this just some long delerium death hallucination of her brain. But his skin felt so warm under her fingertips, his voice so familliar as he spoke. She moved closer after a moment pulling her hand from his face to wrap around his midsection and bury her face into his chest, the sobs that had been banging at the surface finally breaking free as she cried against him. Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Here and alive, but broken even further. This was the second time he found her like this. When she walked into that orphanage, Juno knew that she was hurting. He knew there was a deep pain that resonated with him. But now, she was hurting even more. Perhaps more than he had been hurting for the last ten years. He had seen what the savages can do, and he had always felt anger welling up inside him before he went and delivered the slowest and most painful justice he could inflict on the worst of them. But even the worst offenders didn't come close to making him as angry at their kind than him seeing his childhood friend so damaged. \"Look at me. I was here to rescue you, and you're the one making me feel better...\" Juno held the crying girl tight, his whole body quaking. \"I will make sure you're not hurt like this again. Never again. I will keep you safe until the day I stop breathing.\" Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Marguerete only clung to him tighter when he even implied he might die one day It was the way of things, and he was only vowing to protect her, but right now, such logic failed her as she clung to him, tears soaking his clothes with the bitter regret that strangled her heart. Still, she tried to stop, pulling away from him she tried to breath, tired to say something in response to all his self loathing. Apparently, deep down, a decade had done next to nothing to change who either of them were. She was always compelled to make him feel better and he always felt bad for being soothed. \"It's okay to let people love you juno.....you came to rescue me, the least you deserve is someone to reassure you that what happened wasn't your fault, what they did wasn't your fault. We're together now, despite everything, and for that alone I would have suffered any hell, I missed you so, so much,\" the words were so quiet, barley a whisper as she clung to him once more, unsure what else to say, what else could be said, they were such a mess. Her anxiety was starting to overcome her voice as well, she didn;t think she'd be able to speak much longer if they lingered in this stressful enviroment. \"Will you take me away from here, now?\" she asked, hopelessly, as if unsure that he would even agree, or that there was even a place they could go. Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 \"And I missed you more than I can say. I never stopped looking for you.\" It felt so much like a lie. He hated himself for taking so long to find her. She had to go through god knows what. She must have been so scared. But she won't have to be anymore. At least, as much as he can help it. The world wasn't what it used to be, but so was he. This world hardened him to all its cruelty, but it didn't prepare him for this. But he knew what to do. He knew how to survive. And he was going to make sure she would too. \"The mercenaries will handle the rest here. I'll take you to our camp, then we'll make our way to a city a few days away.\" Juno turned sideways and lowered himself after adjusting his gear so they'd be hanging in front of him. \"Get on my back. I'll carry you there.\" Link to comment
Guest Pure Soul Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Marguerete stared at him for a few moments in disbelief. Did she look that bad off that she ccouldn't walk? Or was he just being overprotective as he used to be, when she wasn't allowed to so much as approach anyone else at the orphanage without him there. \"Juno.....I appreciate what you're trying to do, but i can walk, really I can,\" she insists, and though her words are weak (more a side effect of her mutism kicking in due to stress) she seems like she intends to stick to them as she grabs his hand with a determined smile. \"besides, this is the first time in ten years i've been for a walk, and I intend to enjoy it, no more iron cages for me, Marguerete is goin for a walk!\" the words were cheerful enough, but the fact was she was trying, in her own way, to gently tell him the things she'd been through. She knew if she told him everything at once he'd very possibly do something she either disagreed with morally, or that endangered himself, or both at once. But she also needed to confide the horrors in someone and the fact was, there was only one person in the world that she both trusted and loved......and that was juno. Link to comment
Guest Nameless Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 He respected her wishes, even though he didn't want her to push herself. But hearing that she was caged for ten years really didn't sit well with him, but he tried not making a big deal out of it. He wanted her to be able to tell him these things without worrying about him. It was good for him when he had that therapist over in the orphanage, getting bad things off his chest, so he knew she needed someone to talk to for this kind of thing. \"Alright. But you feel tired, the offer still stands.\" He readjusted his gear so he could walk properly and hooked his mask to his side. It was going to be a pain to find one of these in good condition. Plague doctor masks were surprisingly hard to come by. He looked at her and let himself smile. Despite everything, it felt good to see her again. He held out his hand to her like he always had when she practically trained him to hold hands with her whenever they walked somewhere together. \"Let's go, the camp isn't far.\" Link to comment
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