I walked through the pack house, my head down as others stared at me.
They must think you're crazy. The voice piped up again.
They must think you're the slut of the pack. It chuckled, making me pick up my pace. Eventually I made it out, however the children stopped me.
You'll hurt them just as father hurt us. You'll be worse.
"Athena can you-" They started, however I could only cut the little pup off of her sentence as I rushed by.
"I am sorry, pups, I can not speak at the moment." I mumbled, pulling the hood of my jumper up and stepping out into the rain.
He'll find you.
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up." I pleaded under my breath. I needed my pills however I had no clue where I left them.
My bones soon began to burn, then replaced the feeling with a sort of.. jelly.
"Shut up. I am happy. They don't think that." I repeated over and over, the words laced with lies as if not trying to get rid of the voices, yet to get my own mind to believe it.
"Athena, are you?-" Ivy asked, placing her soft hand upon my shoulder. I flinched, grabbing her arm before I quickly let go and sprinted off.
After several hours I found myself in unclaimed lands, meaning Rogues could be anywhere. Howls appeared left and right, followed by snarls and whimpering. These lands where known for fights amongst these blood-craving wolves.
"Athena, come here." Ares spoke from behind me, infront of several other wolves looking out for Rogues.
"I'm not falling for that." I replied, my voice scratchy and my body a pale white.
"We need to go back, you can lead or follow along, just someway or another you need to get out of this land." He said, his tone was low yet calming.
"You'll hurt me." I stepped back a few times, but soon stopped when I saw the genuine sadness in Ares' eyes. "If I go with you, and I get hurt, I am going to leave but this time, you won't find me." He nodded his head when I stopped speaking, and I slowly made my way over to him. He held out his left hand and I took it in my right, as if a lost toddler.
Once we had finally made it back to the border my lungs held a sharp pain in them and my legs ached, however the many times Ares asked if he could carry me I refused. I only held his hand as whenever I tried to let go he wanted to be as close to me as possible, meaning his arm attempted to rest around my hips and he often walked into me.
"Would you like to go to the pack house, or my cabin?" He asked, looking down at me.
Now I really feel like a toddler.
I replied with a shrug of my shoulders, my throat hurt when I spoke. I had zoned out several times and I found it hard to keep my eyes open, so as I tried my best to listen to Ares I slightly leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder.
He picked me up and as he was walking towards the pack house, I fell asleep somewhere amongst the travel.
After what I presume was several hours later I awoke and immediately noticed Ares standing next to a mirror.
"What are you doing?" I asked, my face scrunched up in confusion.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Ares replied, clearly looking at a scar.
"Can't."
"Why not?" He questioned, his full attention focusing on me. I simply shook my shoulders.
He walked towards the bed and climbed in, making me move as far away as I could. His arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me towards him.
"What the f-" I started, however he cut my off by putting his hand over my mouth.
Once he was happy at how close he had put me I continued to try and move. After several minutes of little success I finally allowed him to hold me.
"This is weird." I said, Ares let out a half-awakened chuckle.
××××××××××××××
Beep, beep, beep. An alarm clock went off, making me leap out of the warm bed I was originally in, dragging the duvet with me, and tripping over my own feet.
"I wish I had a camera." Ares chuckled, looking at the mess my half-asleep panick made.
I rolled my eyes at him before trying to de-tangle myself, a smirk had plastered itself on his face and after around fifteen minutes of my struggle he finally decided to walk over.
"Need some help there, little Archer?" He questioned, however I ignored him and let out a growl at the duvet before allowing my back to hit the floor. He lay down next to me.
"What time is it?" I asked, after realising I was in the same room that I was in before.
"11 23." He responded, before lifting up the curtain only for darkness to appear. He then dropped it.
"I'm going back to sleep." I grumbled, stuffing my arms under the duvet and allowing the warmth to heat me up.
"On the floor?" He questioned, an eyebrow raised. I nodded, closing my eyes. "No." Is all he replied, before scooping me and my human burrito up and putting me down onto the bed.
"Was that really worth it?" I opened one of my eyes, the other not wanting to cooperate.
"Yep." He shrugged, climbing onto the bed and sitting next to me.
"Alright." I got out of my human burrito and put half of it over his legs. "So.."
"What happened?" He asked the one thing I was dreading.
"It's a long story." Is all I said, however when I looked in his eyes I could tell he wanted me to say. I let out a sigh. "When I was thirteen my school skirt went just above my knees, and these two boys code named me as 'ss' which means sexy slut." I paused for a brief moment, recollecting the memories of my childhood. "As the teacher said it was the end of the lesson I ran out, yet one of then chased me and pulled me into a janitors closet."
𝗔/𝗡 (𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲): 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗲, 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁.
My eyes couldn't look into his, I hated to be seen as weak, and crying was the weakest thing anyone could do. "He pushed me against the wall and took my clothes off. That's where it happened." I let a single tear escape from my eye, yet I quickly cleared my throat and wiped it away. I got out from under the duvet and stood in the corner facing the wall.
"What are you doing?" He questioned, looking at where I was standing.
"Father made me stand in a corner for several hours and if I dropped or fainted I had to redo the time. He did this when I allowed myself to become weak and cry infront of others. I assumed you would of told me to do the same." I said, standing perfectly still facing the wall with perfect posture.
"No, come here." He patted the spot on the bed next to him, and so I made my way over and sat down.
"I don't know what else your father has done, but I'm not him, so you don't need need go by his rules here. Just be yourself." I nodded, and after sitting in a nice silence for a few minutes we started to talk once more all throughout the night.
Sure, I was finally in a good spot, but would Ares really stick around after he knows what else happened?