2: pain

~~Rose~~

I can't do this anymore. I can't let him keep breaking me down.

"Get off of me."

He ignored my weak voice.

"Leave me alone."

He looked at me with a smirk, knowing full and well I wouldn't scream out.

"Go away."

"Oh, baby doll, the tears make you look like a cry baby. Be good and I'll leave you-"

"Now. Get off of me!"

He slapped a hand over my mouth before he started laughing. He ran a finger over the thin line along my cheek and fear shivered up my spine.

"You're definitely Grace's daughter alright," he said suddenly, pulling away from me and throwing a hand on his face as he laughed. Fear started its trek through my veins.

I can't dissociate yet. He'll take that as cooperation again.

"Both of you getting in my way, in your father's way. Just know this little half-breed girl," he slowly inched back towards my ear. I felt the trembling begin and worsen the closer to me he got. "I will produce an heir to both kingdoms. Even if I never stop this. No matter how long it takes."

Just like that, the numb came in waves. I had no strength left to fight him away from me.

No. I had to push through. I had to try.

For Levi. For Angel.

For Week.

I fought against the numb pain as he got closer and closer. I don't want this.

No. No. NO!

The numbness receded then and Zayn went flying away from me. He hit some sort of barrier surrounding my room. I realized it then, no matter how much I could have screamed or fought against him, no one would have heard me cry out.

A sound barrier.

"Get out."

He stood up, but my vision was slowly blacking away. His eyes held malice and hate within them.

"Get out!" I screeched this time, he flew back into the barrier around us and slid to the ground. He stood up again and laughed at me. He laughed.

Suddenly, whatever power I was able to touch, to hold, it was gone again. It slipped back out of my grasp. Fear began again as he moved back towards me. He touched my cheek in what would have been an intimate way if we were like that.

Suddenly, I heard my wrist crack. I let out a small cry before seeing the swell begin along with the bruising of my wrist.

"I told you to be good, Rose. Did I not?"

He threw me back with his words, punctuating each syllable. The power around me was suffocating. It took my words away with it when it receded, but not before one single word slipped out.

"Monster."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Week~~

I quietly wrapped Rose's wrist while she stared blankly at the ground in front of my crouched figure.

"Rose, can you tell me what happened to your wrist?" I asked, keeping my voice soft as to not upset her. I noted down the fact she wasn't responding to anything.

Her hands felt cold, no power that I could feel coursing through her veins.

"I fell," she said suddenly. I could taste the lie once she said it. Her eyes remained dark when she spoke.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" I asked and she nodded. I could feel her lies in my core.

"Are you lying to me?" A spark. That confirmed it, something else happened to her.

"Rosie girl, please talk to me-"

"There's nothing to talk about," she said, standing up before I finished wrapping her wrist with clean gauze. She went to move her wrist and hissed in pain.

I stood up and lightly grabbed her injured wrist and finished wrapping it. Rose went strangely quiet and compliant to my requests. I took note of that in my head too.

As I finished, I noticed more thin cuts on her right wrist, the one left uninjured. I noted that, but knew better to push for answers.

She needed to trust me before I would be able to get any answers.

"Thanks for your help, Week," she said before turning on her heel towards the door.

"Wait," I called her. She paused and turned back to me. Her eyes were a dull blue and her hair was missing its normal sheen. Underneath her eyes were slight bruised circles that I hadn't noticed before. Her clothes hung off her body loosely.

'When had she stopped eating so much?' I asked myself. 'I can't even remember the last time she ate something without one of us telling her she needed to, even the it was very little.'

"Do you want to go see something cool?" I asked, and her eyes held confusion. 'I have to help her, but I have to be careful with how I gain her trust.'

"What do you mean something cool?" she asked, curiosity suddenly entering her eyes. I smiled a bit and held out my hand for her. She stared at it for a second before placing her uninjured hand in mine.

"You'll have to wait and see when we get there," I said and smiled at her. I lightly pulled her along behind me until we reached our final destination, her memorial back in Asladon. The portal behind us closed. Once she stepped down on the grass in front of the field of never-ending roses.

I heard her gasp as she looked at how many roses there were before her.

"It's from when you disappeared. For every person's life you touched, a rose grew. Even through your music, people were so touched by your purity and kindness. As the time had gone by, more grew. It's grown more since I was last here a few days ago."

I turned to see the awe in her face. I lightly pulled her over to the path lined with the pink roses and pulled her to the stone in the center of the field.

She let go of my hand and walked to the small stone with her name written across it and she touched it. I stepped next to her and noticed a bit of the light of her eyes returning to her, but it didn't disappear right away this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Levi~~

As I entered the ballroom, I felt suffocated by the stared and pressure on me. I knew what they wanted.

They wanted perfection and blood. Blood from me because I took the chance of another kingdom taking control when Michael died from his illness.

None of them knew I was just a stand in for who they were really waiting for.

~~~~

I felt the tug about an hour into this ball of Michael's.

I felt the urgency in her tug and excused myself from his side, silently of course.'

I let myself slip into the bond, but was surprised when I realized we weren't in a dreamscape, instead, I was seeing Rose with Week.