I groaned as I tried to shift under the weight on my chest, but I just couldn't find the will to manage even that, so instead I cracked open my eyes. It was dark, almost too dark to see, but the occasional shafts of pale light from overhead kept it from being the pitch blackness I'd gotten used to while wearing the blindfold. Still, even if I had been completely blind like before, the miniscule weight nestled against my breast and the furnace of soft, comforting fur and muscle beneath were unmistakable.

As was the feeling of spindly legs and cool crystal against my skin. I sniffled, trying not to think of what them being there meant, but their presence was too pronounced. Feeling the sisters nestled up against me, compounded by the traces of my dream still lingering on the edges of my thoughts, served as a stark reminder of what was missing, of who should be here with us. I wiped my face, trying to stave off the tears before they could come, but it was a futile effort. The salty streams poured down my cheeks, stinging little cuts I hadn't even realized were there before, and my wracking sobs and pitiful whimpers were more than enough to rouse the small, red bundle curled up on my breast.

Ysa's claws dug into my shirt as she stretched awake, her muzzle splitting open in a wide yawn, before she blinked, her spines twitching, and shot up to stare into my eyes. Her hands pressed at my cheeks, thumbs wiping what little of my tears away as they could, and held me still while I vainly tried to turn away. I didn't deserve to be touched like this, to be comforted or consoled. I got… I… I killed…

"Mary, are ya okay? Yes aren't hurt are ya? Oh jeez, Lu! Lulu! Wake up, somethin's wrong with Mary!"

The mass of fur underneath me shifted and Lulabelle's growling voice vibrated in my chest as she fumbled to wrap her arms around her in a freshly woken stupor. "Lulabelle is up. What's wrong?" Like Ysa, she paused, then her broad, strong arms crushed us both to her chest in a vice-like embrace. "Shhh, you're okay. You're safe."

Her muzzle pressed against the top of my head, but what should have been a soothing kiss just sent a fresh dagger into my heart. I shouldn't be the one here being comforted. I… I swallowed, hiccuping a wracking sob. I should have been the one… It should have been me. I wasn't worth her. She was so much better than I ever would be, but she… Silk had… It should…

"I-i-it sh-sh-shou-should have b-b-b-been m-"

There was a gasp from above me before a resounding crack of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the darkness of the night, and I blinked up at Ysa's teary emerald eyes as agonizing heat blossomed across my cheek. "Don't ever say that, ya hear me? Y-y-you almost died and I was so scared that ya weren't gonna pull through and…" She sniffled, wiping her face and snuggled up under my chin. "Silk wouldn't want ya to feel bad for her, yannow? She did what she did cuz she likes ya and she wants ya to live out your life." She sighed and cuddled tighter against me. "You're too important, yannow, but even if ya weren't our last hope we'd still do whatever we could to help ya, right Lu?"

The desert dog below me nuzzled into my hair, taking a deep breath, then slowly sat us all up. "Miss Ysayle is right. Miss Strand saw the same thing in you that all of us do and cared deeply about you." I winced at her mention and felt that sinking feeling in my gut. I could already guess what she was going to say next and it made my gut twist. "Miss Rose, you are more special than you know and though Lulabelle would like to spend all of her life with you, any of us would gladly-"

And that was it. "Stop!" I shuddered as my voice rang out through the dense trees, eyes searching for signs of movement, then took a deep, stuttering breath. "J-just fucking… Stop… I… I don't w-wa-wanna… I don't-" I choked out a sob and squeezed Ysa to my chest. I didn't want to hear it anymore. It was… not nice, but it made me feel wanted and important before, but now that I was forced to face the reality of the words… It made me sick to my stomach. Silk hadn't deserved to die like that. She didn't deserve to die because of me. She should be here with us. She should be here with me… "Don't s-say it…"

"Miss Rose, Lulabelle didn't-"

I screamed, cutting Lulabelle's words short, as a flash of magenta light filled the little copse the three of us were settled in, scrambling weakly to get away, before a panicked voice called out. "Are you okay!? I heard somebody yell!" Twilight scrambled over to us, her horn cutting through the night with its bright, raspberry corona and her eyes darting all over, searching, before she finally settled on us and heaved a deep, stress-filled sigh. "Thank Harmony you're all okay."

"We're sorry, Twilight. Didn't mean to make ya panic."

Twilight smiled at us, but it was strained, tired. "It's alright, Ysa. We're all just on edge now, especially now that we have to make up for two-" She stopped mid sentence, eyes flicking up and down us, before she parted her lips in a small 'oh'. That twisting feeling surged back up in my stomach. "Well, all that matters is that you're okay."

"Wh-what was th-that?" I stared at her as I shakily climbed to my feet and stood on unsteady, almost boneless legs. "T-t-t-two what?" Twilight's ears folded back while I watched her, but after a few moments of silence she hadn't offered anything up, so I turned to Ysa and Lulu who held that same look that the princess had, like a mix between frightened and concerned. I stared into their eyes, but neither of them could meet my gaze for more than a few seconds before turning away.

Why? What could they possibly be-

I blinked as a disgusting thought prodded at my mind and turned back to Twilight. "D-did… Did somebody else…?" The pegacorn turned away, her head low, but nodded, and with that my heart wrenched. I'd… I'd gotten another person killed. Somebody else had died and… "Who? Wh-who d-d-d…"

I couldn't even get the word out, my throat clenching whenever I thought about it, but nobody needed me to finish my thought too guess the obvious. Twilight looked back over her shoulder, meeting Daliah's and Golden's and the twins' gazes as they gathered around, various weaponry at the ready. "It was Loam. We didn't realize that Grogar's minions had found the escape tunnel. We fought as hard as we could, but…"

I swallowed in an attempt to keep the bile rising in my throat down and took a step back. This, none of this, was right. They'd lost somebody else because of me, but they were trying to keep me calm. I'd gotten him killed. Me. They wouldn't ever admit it, but I could see it in all of their eyes. That silent judgement, the underlying disdain in all of their gazes, was as clear to me as the weakness I was feeling in my legs. They hated me, all of them, for being that awkward shut-in girl that spent all of her time sitting alone in a corner. That was why my only friend had… It was why she had-

"Mary? Are ye-?"

"No!" I clamped my hands over my ears, screaming out into the night, and wrenched away from the touch that had settled over my shoulder. "Don't touch me! Y-you're just tr-tr-trying t-to…" I sucked in heaving breaths, glaring at the other students gathering around me. I wasn't going to be cornered again. Never again.

"Mary we aren't gonna let you say no." My breath hitched as Sarah stepped out from behind the others, her sneer dropping lead into my stomach. She used to be so nice, the only person that had even tried to get to know me, but it'd all been a fucking act. She'd never actually fucking cared; just wanted to get dirt on me and ruin my fucking life. She was the one that had pressured me to talk to him… and I wasn't going to let her fuck me over again.

"Mary, please… don't make this any harder than it had to be. It's not like you'd get any from anybody else."

I slapped her hand away as she reached for me again, pausing for just a second when it seemed much stronger than I'd been expecting from the unfit girl, and backed away from the mob of teenagers as they gathered and sneered around me.

"Stay away from me! Y-you're not g-gonna- Not again!" I stepped back into a green haze, feeling the almost non-existent wisps cling to me, invigorating wherever they touched. Just in the back of my consciousness, I swear I could hear a whisper, but I couldn't focus on it with the crowd closing in on me. I couldn't. I had to run. If I didn't, then… "N-n-not again…"

I spun on my heel and took off at a sprint through the woods, whipping through the brush as the frustrated voices yelled at me from behind. "Mary! You can't run from us! I'll show you what happens when you fucking ignore me!"

The disconnect between the tone of the voices almost gave me pause, but I kept running. I had to be imagining it. The first few words had sounded nothing like Sarah, or Joan, or Lacy, and the voices were familiar, but the biting, acidic words cemented their owners in my mind.

So I continued to run. The forest reached out to grab me, whipping and tearing at my arms and face and clothes. I felt the scratches and welts crawl across my skin. They hurt, but were nothing compared to what I had to get away from. If I had stayed this time, then he…

A disgusting chill ran down my back as I tore into a small clearing and finally stopped to take a breath. My lungs burned, struggling to take in enough oxygen to ease the stinging pain in my side as stitches tried to claw their way out, but I was safe. I couldn't hear anybody chasing after me, none of their shouts or jeers, nor much of anything other than my belaboured breathing. There were the faint sounds of wind through the trees and a modicum of moonlight peeking through the canopy that gave me just enough light to not be completely night blind, but that was it. No bugs buzzing around, no squirrels chasing each other through the trees, and nobody to help me now that I was lost in a forest I'd never been to before.

I tried to hold back that first little hiccup before the floodgates opened while I searched for the path I'd come through, but, just like the rivulets of salty moisture that carved their paths down my cheeks, it forced its way out. I couldn't tell where I'd run in from. Every direction looked the same and there wasn't any sign that I'd even broken into this little glade. The brush and trees looked undisturbed, as if I hadn't violently torn through them in my mad sprint to escape the bitches that had tormented me for most of my teenage years. I stumbled over to the wood's edge, nearly falling to my knees as they shook, the muscles strained.

"Lu-!" I coughed, still struggling to suck in air, an effort made that much harder now that I was on the verge of bawling my eyes out. "Lulu!? Ysa!?" I choked, coughing again, and dropped into the dew-damp grass.

It hadn't even crossed my mind when I started running that I was leaving my friends behind, that maybe they could have helped me. I was so focused on the twisting anger and fear roiling in my gut, and on getting away from their cause, that I hadn't thought of why they were here. I ran without thinking, not realizing that their being here meant that I might not be the only human that'd been called here… As if that even made a difference.

I wiped my face, trying and failing to force back the tears before I completely broke down, but it was a moot effort. I'd… I fucked up really bad this time.

"Y-Ysa?" I struggled to my feet, hissing as the scrapes and cuts I'd gotten running through the woods flared with stinging pain at the movement. My voice was weak, barely more than a desperate whisper, but I had nothing else I could do. I… I had to hope that somebody would be able to hear and find me. "Lu-Lu-Lulu!?" She'd found me before, in the castle, so she'd definitely be able to track me down again, right? "Lulu!" They'd find me. Of course they'd find me. They had to. If they didn't, then…

I yelped as something snapped behind me and spun around, eyes searching the near darkness, but the sound had passed and with it went what little calm I'd still had. It was getting harder to breathe, my chest feeling heavy and heart pounding in my ears, as my eyes shot back and forth, trying in vain to see through the brush and gloom. "Lu-Lulabelle?" I jumped at the sound of my own voice and moved away from where the sound had come from when nobody answered my call. It could have been anything. A broken branch falling from a tree. A deer. A rabbit. Whatever it was, it wasn't Lulu.

Another noise, like the rustling of leaves, to my right shot my heart into my throat and my eyes snapped towards it, but I could see nothing. That heavy, clawing weight of terror seized my throat and crushed my thundering heart as I took my first few steps into the tree line. "L-L-L…" Just over the sound of my heaving breath and the blood pounding in my ears I could hear panting and snuffling everywhere around me until one close to me stopped.

And growled.

Any sense of calm I'd had left, any rational thought I might have had all flew out the window as I screamed and terror-stricken instinct kicked in. I stumbled as I swung around, nearly falling flat on my face, but still managed to scramble into a sprint as a deep, bassy howl rang in my skull, followed by another, then two, then a dozen more before the cacophonous sound of uncountable heavy steps started to chase after me.

I would have screamed again, but I barely had the breath left to breathe as the burning in my lungs returned in full force.

Branches slapped my face, leaving stinging scratches on top of the ones from before, and sharp leaves and pine-like needles handed into the soft skin off my sole while I weaved between trees I could barely see in the near pitch darkness, but I didn't seem to be putting any distance between me and the beasts chasing me. They were getting closer, their panting growls creeping in on me slowly and I was already flagging. My feet still ached from the last run, my legs screamed out for relief, and that stitch in my side dug its fiery needle into me, making each step a struggle, every breath feel like it would be the last one my body could manage before it just gave up the ghost, but I had to keep going, ruin as far away as I could in the hopes that maybe they'd give up, or maybe I'd-

I screamed, wrenching to my left and crashing to the detritus-covered ground as my shoulder slammed into a tree. A raging inferno of pain lanced through my arm and chest, punctuated by a hot trickle of warmth that ran down to my fingers. I gasped and writhed in the grass and leaves, struggling to get to my feet, sure that at any second I'd be overrun and torn limb from limb by the pack of hungry wolves. A terrible shriek scratched at my throat when I put pressure on my right arm, but I powered through it. I had to. I had to, or else-

There was another howl, directly to my left, and I froze, paralyzed. I was trapped, surrounded, shaking and on the verge of losing my mind to terror. This was it. I was too slow. I closed my eyes, trying to will my body to run, or fight, or do anything, but it didn't want to respond, to creep even an inch closer to possible safety.

And then I heard a laugh, deep and nasally, followed by another, higher and equally nasal, until I was in a rising cacophony of terrible mirth. "She think she can run." The wheezing voice crept closer as it spoke, but I couldn't see anything through the daze of pain and almost complete darkness. Not that I would have wanted to see the source. It sounded disgusting, like a slavering monster out of my nightmares. "But we can smell her. The little bitch no get away."

I sucked in a breath, my blood running cold, as the silhouette of a massive, broad-shouldered monster stepped just into sight. The thing was easily as tall and broad as Daliah, standing hunched over at what seemed like seven or eight feet tall, and even from here I could smell its rancid odor. It leaned over me, taking a deep, horrid breath, and exhaled its sickening stench in my face. "We have her scent. No get away."

Something in the back of my mind, something deep and primal, told me that they weren't here to eat me, and that finally kick-started my brain again. I sucked in air, trying not to gag from this thing's smell, and lashed out with my foot, right between the thing's stubby legs, and met what felt like a furry pouch with a satisfying thud before scrambling to my feet and turning tail. The thing wheezed and retched before I lost all sense of it in the range of furious-sounding howls that sounded out behind me once more.

I ran and ran, ignoring the urge to vomit as I started to overheat, shutting out the pain suffusing my right shoulder and arm, until I finally broke through a tree line and into a wide-open clearing. The bright light of the moon shone down on the spotty grass and stone and backlit a towering range of mountains. It was a beautiful sight that I would have loved to take in and appreciate, but I had more urgent issues to worry about as I sprinted out into the open.

Rocks tore at my soles as I dashed over the half-barren field, but I pushed on while the sound of heavy bodies ripped through brush behind me. I knew I needed to just keep running, keep my eyes ahead and push myself to get away, but I couldn't resist the urge to look back and see what was chasing me. Well over twenty stocky creatures in sizes ranging from just under my height to towering goliaths, shaped almost like gorillas, lumbered after me, their faces squished and lower jaws protruding like a bulldog's. Their chests and forearms were large and thick, bound with muscle, that tapered down to stubby, almost misshapen looking legs, but that didn't stop their loping gait as they closed the distance between us.

I faced forward, pushing myself as hard as I could through the agony digging into my feet, the urgency to get away from these monsters pumping my heart near to bursting, and saw my escape. Just ahead of me was a pass, wide enough that I could squeeze through, but too slim for these things' broad bodies to fit into. I had my escape. If I could get into it, I'd be able to climb through and wait out until help arrived. Lulabelle, Twilight, Ysa, and everybody would be able to find me. They'd come and they'd deal with these things and I could apologize and beg for them to do forgive me for running away, then we could-

The ground dropped out beneath me as I neared the mountain path, and I fell face first into the rocky dirt, my teeth clicking together painfully as my head cracked against a rock. I tried to pull myself up, but the world was spinning around me and I felt myself slipping backwards into the pit. I struggled against my weight, wet warmth trickling into my eyes, and scrabbled at the loose earth with fingers that were quickly losing feeling, slipping ever further into the hole when a strong, thick hand wrapped around my arm and lifted me up into the air.

I groaned as I was dangled from the aching limb and turned to look through blurry eyes at my captor. From this close, it was obvious that this was some dog creature like Lulabelle, but unlike her this one was hideous, like an inbred cross between a gorilla, a bulldog, and a pug. I gagged as its breath washed over me, but could do little else as my head lolled to the left, feeling like a lead weight.

"Little bitch shouldn't did that." My head snapped to the right, the left side flaring with pain as its hand cracked hard against my cheek, and I whimpered as it leaned in close. "We learn you place."

My vision swam as he lowered me to the ground, giving me stomach-churning glimpses of these things while they lumbered access the ground and disappeared into it. "Let's go. You got new home now."

The thing dragged me across the ground, scraping my ass and thighs with gravel until it reached a hole just like the one I'd almost fallen into. My head lolled back up to look at the moon and I blinked, trying to clear the agonizing fog in my brain, and opened my eyes to find myself being dragged through a large, poorly dug tunnel of stone. My backside hurt so much more now and I could swear that I felt something wet coating my butt and legs, but it was still so hard to focus. If I could clear my head and watch where I was going, then I could find a chance to shake free and run, so I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the swirling stone and opened them to a large chamber of dug out stone.

My arm, held above my head, throbbed, so I tried to pull it back, but I was stopped by the jingling of chains. It took so much effort just to lift my chin to look above me, the few inches of movement feeling like I was fighting through molasses, but I still looked up to see my right arm, covered in dark something, trapped in an iron band and chained to the wall of the cave. I gave my arm a tug and the chain came taught immediately. I wanted to cry, but the most I could muster was a weak whimper as I adjusted to get a little more slack and a peeling burn tore its way through the backs of my legs. It felt like I was sitting on broken glass and grit that I'd somehow been glued to.

I gasped, falling forward and clenched my eyes closed to block out the pain only to wrench them open with a piercing howl as a rough, wet something dragged across the backs of my thighs. I pulled away, leaning forward on my knees and pressed myself against the wall to escape the blindingly painful torture, but the thing scraped down my ass again, dragging out another choked shriek. My head dipped and I clenched my eyes, but a tiny, thin-fingered hand slapped gently across my cheek and startled me back up.

"Pale One no sleep. Pale One hurt. If Pale One close eyes, they maybe die." I looked down, my unfocused eyes desperately trying to zero in on the fuzzy grey mass situated between me and the wall, but it was so hard to make out details. My vision was still swimming, so I just needed to let my eyes rest for just a moment, then everything would right itself again, so I blinked slowly only for another, much firmer slap to force me to stare at the little face nearly pressed against mine.

"This One said no sleep! Pale One understand?" I whimpered, trying to focus on the little creature in front of me, but everything just hurt so much. My legs still felt like they'd been ripped to shreds, though the sensation of glass and gravel was gone, and my arm was long past losing most feeling. If it wasn't so dark in here I'd have been afraid to look up at it, so instead I leaned closer to the face only for it to shift away from me. I blinked, was slapped, then wrenched away only to realize that whatever kept slapping and talking to me was clinging to the shredded remnants of my blouse. "Pale One talk?"

I squinted at her, but my eyes were so heavy and I was so tired, so I let my eyes droop just for a moment, then snapped them back open when that tiny hand stung my cheek again. "Sssstop…" I wanted to glare at this thing for slapping me, but I was having trouble keeping my thoughts together long enough to even stay focused on it despite it literally clinging to me.

"Good-Good! Pale One talk This One! This One called Kikita. Who Pale One called?" I saw a flash of white in the beastly amorphous blob that was this grey creature before my head and body became too heavy to hold up and steady and I fell backwards only to be held up by the chain I could barely feel locked around my arm. I heard an urgent "No slee-" before I had to close my eyes again. The world spinning around me was making me sick and I had to shut it out, or I'd almost certainly vomit on this thing and all over myself and I didn't want that.

I opened my eyes again when I heard voices talking, one nasal and deep, the other cute, quiet, and squeaky, but I couldn't see what was making them and I just didn't have the strength to look around. There was a low growl from somewhere in this shittily lit room, then the deep voice, one I felt like I'd heard before, barked out, "We told you fix her! Gave you water and cloth, but she not fixed!"

The squeaky voice, quivering but surprisingly firm, shot back softly. "This One not nursemaid! Pale One hurt bad, not good. Pale One arm hurt, legs hurt, head hurt. Much pain. Ugly One need let go!"

There was a literal bark and squeak as a crack echoed around me, and I blinked slowly and opened my eyes and stared across the floor. The stone was almost freezing against my bare chest, my arm felt like there were needles trying to claw their way out of my skin, and the chill air bit at the raw, open skin on my backside, but, thankfully, there was something soft and warm I was resting my head against. It felt like the most wonderful pillow I'd ever rested my head against, plush with just enough firmness to keep me from sinking down too far, and it was wonderfully fuzzy, like one of those mink-fur jackets.

I groaned and tried to look around, but my body was too stiff, so I settled for staring at the bare, rough stone wall only to flinch when my pillow moved. "Pale One wake?" My eyes crossed as a small, grey face leaned right up in mine, and I had to blink several times to bring the blurry image into focus until I was staring into the big, bright-red eyes of a mouse. It was small, with big, membranous, pointed ears almost like a bat's, a long, tapered muzzle complete with tiny pink nose with whiskers and sharp buck teeth. It looked familiar, like I should recognize it from somewhere, but I couldn't focus my thoughts on why. They were distant and unclear, like I was trying to peek at them through a frosted window from across the road, so instead I blinked and forced my good arm underneath me to get just a little leverage and peel myself off the cold stone.

"No! Pale One stay. No move. Move bad. Pale One hurt. Head pain. No sleep, yes?" The high-pitched, squeaky voice sounded like I was hearing it through a cup held over my ears, but even as broken as the words and sentences were, I could at least understand it. Still, I couldn't piece together my thoughts enough to form a response, so I just stared up at the tiny mouse creature while my arm shook, struggling to hold me up, and got a real good look at it.

Her.

It was definitely a her. Her body was slim with dainty looking shoulders and thin arms that grew hairless and rough looking at her elbow down to her long, boney fingers. Her torso thickened out into plump, wide hips that were clearly shaped for birthing and her legs were wide and furry from her thighs down to the… knee? Then they thinned down into the almost scaley, thin-toed feet like her forearms. Looking over her and her worm tail, a thought occurred to me, and barring some more distinctly mousey details in the face, she looked like a grey-furred, red-eyed doppelganger to that field mouse from that one Don Bluth movie I'd seen as a kid, though from her current demeanor she seemed nowhere near as shy as that mouse had been.

The mouse tilted her head, then stood to her full height, a meager couple of feet, and squatted down right in front of me. "Pale One okay? Pale One talk?" From here, with her face once more right up in mine and as clearly in focus as it could be with my head still somewhat spinning, I could see a terrible looking gash on her right cheek that looked like it'd been poorly washed and still wet with blood.

"W-w-what happened…" I paused, wincing as even the vibrations of my voice shot needles into my skull, then took a breath. "Your f-fa-f-face?"

The mouse squeaked, putting one of her tiny hands to the cut, and sat back down before cupping my head and leading it down into her lap. "This One speak back. Punished." I winced as her fingers traced over a tender part in my hair. "You hurt more. Need water. Cloth. Clean. Feel better, yes?" I nodded, but I couldn't piece together why I was injured, why the backs of my legs felt like somebody had taken razors to them. I remembered running, but then…

It was all a blank. Still, I'd been helped and, even if I couldn't figure out what had happened, I appreciated what this mouse had done for me. "Th-th-thank you." I smiled and I'm sure it was a pitiful sight considering just how weak it felt, but the little thing still lit up like the sun. I settled back into my place on her lap, letting myself go slack, and closed my eyes only to receive a sharp slap across my cheek, then shot a sharp, and likely not intimidating, glare up at her. "H-hey, wh-what was th-th-that f-for?"

"Pale One no sleep. Hurt bad. Head hurt." She pointed at where she'd touched earlier, her eyes stern and voice gentle, but firm. "No. Sleep."

I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but couldn't really muster the effort. I knew that I was hurt, but why shouldn't I sleep? That's how you're supposed to weather out injuries. Despite still being exhausted, I didn't argue it, because I got the distinct feeling that if I tried to just sleep anyway I'd just earn myself another slap, so instead I tried to look around as much of this barren cave as I could with my limited range. "S-s-so where are we? H-ha-how'd I-I-I get h-here?"

The mouse tilted her head and scrunched her face up like she was thinking, then nodded quickly. "This Maushöhle. Home. Was home. No more…" Her voice dipped as she continued talking before trailing off completely and it hurt to hear.

"Wh-what h-hap-p-pened?"

Her big, expressive ears folded and a look of pure loss washed over her, but she still motioned with one of her thin hands and seemed to be working up the words before answering. "No know. Bad dogs come, This One help Other Ones run. This One stay. Get caught. Surrender. Let escape. This One give all for Other Ones. Little Ones. Always more queens. Other Ones important." At that, she smiled again, and I felt that little tug at my heart that I felt whenever Ysa and Lulu and… Whenever they smiled at me. It filled me with a comforting warmth, like they were telling me everything would be fine and that they'd do everything they could to be sure of it.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry." It was just a common platitude, meant to show her that I wanted to make her feel better like she'd been doing for me, but I didn't really feel like it was enough. She deserved more, so I reached out and patted her rat-like hand. "H-hey, I'm s-s-sure that they're d-doing o-o-o-okay. I-I-I b-bet that th-they…" I paused as I looked up at her, that little note of recognition finally clicking on in my brain. She was still just smiling down at me as beatifically, if a little tiredly, as before, but I couldn't bring myself to finish my thought. All I could see was the horde of rotting rats and mice climbing over themselves to get to Ysa, Silk, and me and what that meant for what this little mouse had done. She'd given up her freedom for them, but they'd…

"Pale One? You okay? Hurt?" I blinked immediately started wiping the tears off my face while the little grey mouse fretted over me, her tiny claws gently prodding in myriad places.

"N-no… I'm… n-n… okay." The words teasing like bile in my mouth, and the thought of what I knew that she didn't made my stomach heave, but I couldn't say anything. How was I supposed to tell her that she'd saved her people from captivity only for them to be killed and used like puppets? It would just be cruel.

And that thought turned me towards my own situation. I didn't know where I was, where my friends were, nor even how I'd gotten here. The whole… I blinked. How long had I been here? It couldn't have been long, because surely Lulu would have found me by now if it had been any extended period of time, and… Another darker thought wormed its way into my brain and I tried to block it out, but… I couldn't not humor it.

What if they couldn't find me? I had no idea where we were going to before my memory well just faded, and I couldn't remember why or where or how far I'd run off. What if I'd run somewhere they couldn't find me? What if whatever brought me here had dragged me for miles and miles? A pit formed in my stomach. What if… they had found me, but… whatever brought me here…

My gut wrenched and I barely had enough time to lean forward before I retched and spilled a foul, almost tar-like sludge across the stone next to the mouse's legs. She squeaked, the muscles in her thighs tensing up, then jumped to her feet and held my head as I vomited up another wave of bile into the growing pool on the ground.

"No-no! Not good! You sick? Come-come! Need move!" My stomach clenched as she struggled to drag me away from the pool, and I spit up one last glob of tar before she had me moved off a couple feet from it, panting heavily from the effort of moving my considerably larger mass. I felt like a sack of shit for making her do it, but I appreciated it nonetheless and it helped to distract me from…

Her hands cupped my cheeks while she crouched in front of me, turning my head this way and that before finally sighing with relief and dropping to her haunches. "No scare This One." She leaned back, tiny red eyes closing, before turning to stare at the foul-smelling puddle of sludge-covered… something I'd just spit up, concern very evident on her face. "That no good. Pale One very sick, yes? Need nursing?"

I leaned over and spit out a glob of rank, tainted saliva, then fell back into her hands and shook my head. "No, just…" I groaned. I didn't want to think about what happened, or might have happened, or will happen, but it was all I had to occupy my thoughts. I was fucking terrified and in agonizing pain from my right shoulder to my feet, and, on top of all of that, I could feel the creeping migraine worming its way into my skull, overpowering the dull throbbing from the wound on my head. "N-not good. I hurt… e-ev-everywh-where."

The girl nodded, frowning, then looked me over. "Arm okay?" She reached over, placing her hand against my shoulder and I winced as the feeling of needles multiplied tenfold. "Arm bad. This One make better, yes?" I wanted to protest, but she had already set my head gently against the cave floor. There was a little shuffling behind me, but before I could lift myself to turn around I felt my blouse being pulled off.

I yelped and grabbed at the sleeve as it was tugged down past my hand, but the mouse carefully pried my fingers apart. "Need cloth. Rest head." I didn't have much choice considering how easily she was able to manipulate my hand, but my incapability to stop her only made me feel more vulnerable, more exposed despite the fact that my shirt had already been torn and practically useless.

After a few seconds, she lifted my head back up and then settled me back down on my shirt, still dirty but folded enough that I wasn't going to be breathing in dirt. I mumbled out a pitiful "Thanks…"and got a squeak in return that sounded like she'd said 'bitter'. It was embarrassing to be exposed like this again, but… at least I wouldn't be wholly uncomfortable and the little extra cushion was already helping to alleviate the throbbing from my head wound. As soon as she had me settled, making sure I was as comfortable as possible, she scurried around out of sight. The only warning I had before the sensation of being repeatedly stabbed by molten nails down my arm was the faint popping of joints from my right.

She pressed her hands, tiny as they were, deep into my shoulder and I screamed in immediate agony, my vision spinning as stars burst behind my crushed shut eyelids. I could've swore that I had pleaded for her to stop, but she kept shoving her bony little digits into me like she couldn't hear a word I was saying and reached under me to get at the epicenter of the piercing, needling feeling. I almost blacked out as molten fire blossomed out across my breast, searing deep into the tissue. She moved down my arm, leaving a trail of blisteringly hot padprints wherever she pressed and kneaded, until she had my hand in hers, squeezing and rubbing circles into my palms.

I gasped and panted, sucking in air as my head spun, but the pain was over and, much to my surprise, the needling sensation in my arm had faded down to a slightly numbed throb. "Good?"

Her little face peeked down at me, concern marring the cuteness of her visage, and peeled my sweat matted hair out of my face. It took me several moments to find my voice again. "Wh-what… d-d-di-id you d-do?"

She smiled, a little sigh escaping her, and most of the concern eased out of her features, though there was still that trace there that any empathetic person would have when dealing with a child. "This One rub. Mother say This One rub good. Good, yes?"

I twitched my fingers, just barely grasping one of hers and finally feeling more in them than just pain, then offered up a slight nod. "Y-yeah… Better." I closed my eyes. It didn't make my growing migraine, the throb in my skull, or the sharp burn in my legs whenever I tensed up go away, but it was definitely better. Every little bit, right?

"No sleep." She didn't stop massaging my hand, but I still heard the authority in her voice that assured me that she would most certainly slap me awake again if she ever suspected that I was trying to doze off, so I bobbed my head.

My thoughts started to wander again now that I wasn't overwhelmed by the sensations in my body and I kept coming back to how I got here and how I'd get out, and those eventually turned back towards… I didn't want to think about any of those possibilities, but what else was there? I was alone again. Trapped. I… I'd had the thought before that, maybe, everything would end up okay with Ysa and Lulabelle and Silk with me, but… Looking around at this dark, barren cave, at the shadows of faint light flickering and dancing on the walls, and at what little of my beaten body that I could see with my limited movement, that little bit of hope for happiness I'd had was-

I snapped up, my body going rigid at the sound of raspy, nasal beating behind me and finally noticed the shuffling of bare feet across stone. I turned ever so slightly and looked up at the lumbering form of a misshapen dog, its face almost flat with a large, jutting lower jaw that housed disgusting yellowed canines. Its body was like an inverse pyramid with a thick, muscled torso and arms while its legs, though not atrophied, were short and stocky, almost looking like they shouldn't be able to carry this thing's obvious bulky weight. It wore an almost comically small cloak, tattered and torn as if it had been found in a dumpster a decade ago and never been tended to or even washed once. I might have even found it humorous if it didn't highlight just how huge this guy was… And how naked he was otherwise.

Like a moth to the flames, my eyes were inevitably drawn down to the hairy, almost bulbous package between his dirty-brown legs and the bit of red peeking out of its sheath. I could feel my throat tightening and breathing cooking short, shallow gasps as it stepped closer until it was standing over me, presenting right in my face. I must have whimpered or something, because the little mouse squeezed my hand tighter.

"You work now." He leaned over me, huge, thick nailed hand reaching out, and, grabbing me by my left arm, hefted me off the ground. I nearly blacked out as the room spun and my arm was practically pulled out of its socket. I dangled there for several seconds, dazed with pain, before my brain snapped back to the present and I kicked and squirmed, trying to find my footing.

"Put down! She no work! Hurt bad!" I almost couldn't hear the mouse's shrieking over the roar of pain pounding in my skull and it was only made worse by the jostling from the dog's movements as he held me.

"She no work, she be use other way."

My blood ran cold as he sniffed my hair and that sick, sinking feeling I had before from just looking at him nearly stopped my heart. "I'll work! P-pl-p-please… let m-m-me wo-work…"

As I dangled, I looked into this thing's eyes and pleaded with all the desperation I could muster in my half daze. I didn't know if it would recognize the terror seizing in my chest, but I had to have hope. The alternative was… I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought down the urge to vomit.

"She work." I couldn't stop the sigh as relief flooded through me. It didn't stop the tight ache of fear in my breast, nor did it unclench the sickening knot in my stomach. "You work, rat." The little mouse's ears dipped, but she still nodded. I felt terrible for her despite the terror squeezing my heart. She looked so detected, resigned to her fate. "Come."

The dog thing dropped me to my feet gracelessly and I had to struggle to keep my legs from buckling underneath me. My legs shook and my knees knocked together as I stood there and tried to catch my breath, but the beast had other plans. I stumbled and lost my footing as it snatched my arm back up and would have cracked my head on the stone floor if it didn't hold me off the ground. I screamed in pain as my arm twisted at the sudden stop and my knees scraped across the rocky ground as I was dragged towards this room's mouth.

"Halt! Stop now! You hurt Pale One!" I whimpered, thankful that I was given even a brief respite from having my knees torn apart, and it clicked in my brain just why the backs of my legs hurt so much.

The ugly dog-thing turned and glared at the mouse, and my body twisted, shoving my face into its foul-smelling fur, before I could get my feet under myself again. "Why should Hopper care? Little bitch just slave. You slave too."

It was surprising to see the tiny mouse girl, barely coming up to this brute's knee, standing firm in the face of its obvious power, but she still glared up at it defiantly. "No hurt. This One no make better too hurt. Too hurt no work." She paused, eyes flashing apologetically my way. "Too hurt no breed."

I swallowed the sickening feeling that rose in my throat while the breast growled menacingly. It was clearly thinking over her words, seemingly struggling between that and maintaining its threatening presence. Several long, tense seconds passed before the dog-thing lashed out with his free hand, striking the mouse across the face and knocking her to the floor. I yelped, tears stinging my eyes as she shakily tried to rise back to her feet, dazed. "No talk back. You work now." My captor yanked on me again, pulling me by the arm as I staggeringly followed behind. Though still forceful and clearly agitated, he was considerably gentler than before.

The fuzzy girl looked back at me and smiled lopsidedly, eyes unfocused as crimson strained her grey fur from a fresh cut across her cheek, then shuffled into line behind us. She seemed like she was having trouble staying steady, and I wanted to stop and try to help her, like she had by sticking up for me, but one look at the hulking mass of muscle tugging at me by my arm quashed those feelings of chivalry into the ground. I couldn't bring myself to face his ire. I didn't want him to hit me.

I was a fucking disgrace. Ysa and Lulabelle and Daliah were wrong. This little mouse had taken a blow to the head just to make sure I wasn't being treated like a hunk of meat, yet I was too fucking worried about myself, about what he might do to me, to even check to see if she was okay.

But that wasn't even the worst part of it. What stung even more was that I knew just how shitty I was being, that I could change it, but wouldn't for my own sake. It just drove the fact that I was a selfish coward even further home. After everything Ysa and Lulabelle and Daliah and Silk had done for me, I should be better than this, but… I wasn't. I couldn't be. I was terrified and in so much pain. I didn't think I'd even be able to do what this thing wanted me to do, but I was even more horrified by the alternative. Even thinking about it made the squirming weight in my gut go apeshit.

My thoughts were cut short when I finally stumbled into a new room, another cave much more massive than one I woke up in. The walls had been carved out to create a cavern big enough to fit a large village with a multitude of little nooks and crannies carved even further into the rock. There were signs that there had been things living here, like bits of torn cloth, tiny tools, and even a few things that looked like they could've, at some point, been some sort of toy, but those broken scraps were all that was left of this little glimpse of civilisation.

Now the place was clustered with carts and wagons filled with broken stone mined from the walls by the dozen or so doglike things like the one that had dragged me here. Many of them were at the walls, striking over and over against the rock with pickaxes, ruining the previously smooth walls and littering the floor with rock shards and dust. As we stepped into the middle of the room, next to a petite canine who, while still sharing the ugly and slightly malformed looking features of the rest of its kind, was clearly female, one of the dogs mining at the walls stopped, sniffed at the rocks he'd been working on, then barked. Others joined it, beginning to pick away at the cave wall, until the stone fell away to reveal a huge cluster of brilliant blue gemstones. They all rushed to work, chipping away at the rock around the cluster, while the dog that had pulled me in her thrust something against my chest.

I grunted as another pickaxe was dropped into my arms, and looked up at my captor. It pointed at an empty spot on the wall, between another female and a stumpy-looking male. "You work. Mine. Find gems."

I swallowed. The tool was heavy, easily weighing almost five pounds, and my arms shook just holding onto it. Just looking at it and the grueling effort the dog-things were putting in reinforced my fears. I wasn't going to last long. I couldn't even imagine lasting an hour before I-

I stumbled forward as the dog shoved me from behind and almost pitched face first into the ground as my head spun from the sudden rush. I swallowed my nausea, gripping the haft of the pickaxe in awkward hands, and shuffled over to the empty space. My hands shook as I looked around, trying to look for the little mouse, to have at least one slightly friendly face, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I turned back to watch how the others worked, trying to get at least some idea of what to do from them, while I fought down the panic creeping and clawing into my brain.

I was alone again, this time in a place with creatures that couldn't care less about me. They just wanted to use me, for work or… worse, and I had no avenue of escape. I didn't have any hint of how these caverns and tunnels were connected, or how they reached outside, and the little mouse girl, the only friendly thing here that might know where to go, didn't seem to have any desire to try and run. She'd resigned herself to this life, to slavery under these dogs, and…

I couldn't blame her.

They were terrifying. Each one, even the miniatures, rippled with muscle as they moved, a testament to just how much mining and digging they did. Many of them towered over me like monstrous gorillas, and all of them were larger than the poor mouse. They clearly knew these tunnels well considering how freely and nonchalantly they came and went with tools and carts in tow. They didn't seem smart, if the one that had fetched me was any indication, but that didn't mean anything when their sheer number could make up that difference. All of that was enough to convince my already terrified thoughts away from the possibility of escape, but what really cemented the hopelessness of any attempt, the most terrifying aspect of my situation, was just how little these things even cared about each other.

Whenever one of the dogs, an almost malnourished-looking thing barely taller than me, dropped his pick to massage his arms and rest, one of the overseers was on him immediately, barking orders to get back to work and beating him almost insensate when he didn't. If they treated each other like this, and the little mouse as poorly as they had just for talking back, then I didn't want to imagine-

Pain blossomed back up in my skull, quickly replacing the full throb that it had thankfully settled into, and I slammed against the cave wall with a breathless grunt. Above me, another overseer, an almost-brown-haired mutt comparable in size to the one that dragged me here, growled and pointed to my feet. I blearily looked down at where the pickaxe I'd been holding now lay and bent down to retrieve it, fighting back the sudden sense of vertigo that beastly sent me pitching forward onto my face and the tears stinging at my eyes.

The menacing beast watched as I hiccuped, turned back to the wall and, with shaking hands and tearful sniffles, lifted the tool above my head. I nearly stumbled back at the shift of weight, only catching myself by the grace of whatever terrible god was watching me struggle, then swung the pickaxe forward.

Tang.

The thing twisted in my weak grip, glancing off the stone and doing little more than flaking off some dust while the vibrations from the hit crawled up my arms.

I winced, gripping the haft more steadily so that I wouldn't drop it again, and took a deep, staggered breath. It hurt. I felt those vibrations in my skull still, rattling my brain and agitating the wound on my head, and my hands were already starting to burn where they were holding the old wood. I was right. I wasn't going to be able to do this. I was going to be…

Tink.

I gripped the handle low, lifted it high, then struck again. This time I hit somewhat solidly, the blunted tip peppering me with bits of stone and dust, and the vibrations were more subdued, but that burn in my palms was much more pronounced. This was bullshit. I shouldn't be here, forced to mine some cave for some stupid fucking dog things so they wouldn't ra… I swallowed, bringing the pick back to swing. I didn't want to even think it. I thought that maybe if I didn't say it, fully acknowledge it, it wouldn't be real. It wouldn't happen if I didn't tempt it, even if I didn't meet their standards here.

Tink.

The tool struck and the stinging fire in my hands grew into a burning ache in my arms and shoulders. I hissed, wanting to stop and soothe my palms, let my arms rest, but I knew what would happen if I did. Even if it didn't happen, they'd still beat me, and that'd be worse than this. That last smack had almost knocked me senseless and I didn't know if I could suffer another, so I grit my teeth and pulled back.

Tink.

The weight of the pickaxe was awkward, but luckily its own weight did most of the work for me on the downswing. The dust and chips pelted me again as sweat caked the spatterings of debris to my face and neck and breasts. Another swing and I barely had the faculties to even think of how exposed I was, but I was still thankful that nothing here seemed to notice or pay it any heed. I was already wallowing in the shame of just turning over for these things.

I should've been stronger than this.

Tink.

My mom wouldn't have just given up like me. She would've stuck up for herself. Fought until she couldn't.

Tink.

Lulabelle and Ysa would have escaped by now. They were so cool and strong. These things wouldn't have stood a chance.

Tink.

I… I couldn't… I wasn't going to… I'm gonna be-

Clang.

My arms quaked, my shoulders shaking, as tears spilled down my face. My body was getting heavy, my arms turning to lead with each swing, and I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. I dropped the pickaxe with a noisome clatter to wipe my face as I started to openly weep between a pair of surly-looking canine-things. This was it. I wasn't going to get out of this. Nobody was coming to rescue me. No matter how much Ysa, and Lulabelle, and Daliah said that they cared, I wasn't worth the risk of coming here to save. I wouldn't last and then they'd r-ra…

My vision went dark for a fraction of a second when something solid cracked hard against the back of my head, and I slumped against the wall while the muffled sounds of metal striking stone and incomprehensibly barked words continued around me. I felt like I was falling even though I could feel myself laying motionless against the solid stone.

I tasted blood as I was pulled back to my feet and wavered in place while I tried to reorient myself, but I didn't even get a chance to before the overseer was in my face barking at me, his rancid breath making my already-churning stomach do backflips to try and make me vomit all of the nothing left in me.

"No whine! You work now!"

The pickaxe was thrust back into my already blistering hands, a monument to just how unfit for this I was, and I was forced back to work, trying to keep my crying quiet.

Tink.

My whole body shuddered and my throbbing skull flared. I could barely see straight, but I had to keep going. I didn't have a choice. They were going to make me.

Tink.

Or else.

Tink…

Tink…

…

Tink…

…

…

Tink…

…

…

Ti-clang…

Author's Note

Hoo boy howdy do i need to fix my brain. Once again, been sitting on this bitch for eons and just forgot to transfer it over as my daily life takes over my thoughts. Chapter eight is in the works and I'll do my best to finish it AND publish it in a timely manner. No promises cause bad brain, but I'll try.