<div style="text-align: center">《 Sou 》<br/>
<i>Location: To the <s>dungeons!</s> basement<br/>
Addressing: Alvaro</i>​</div><br/>Sou's feet, knees, and ankles hurt. The men squeezed her arms cruelly, not caring if they left bruises on her porcelain skin. She let her head hang as tears dripped down the flat plains of her cheeks and left a trail of moisture on the carpet. These men were heartless, cruel bastards, and all they were doing was continuing their dominance over the gentler sex, hurting them just because they could.<br/><br/>She was taken into a service elevator, and even though she knew it was useless, she begged them. "Please, please," she whispered. "Just let me go. I'll run and never look back.<i>Please</i>." She felt like every woman who had been wronged had poured their sorrows into her heart, and the men were like soulless gargoyles dragging her to her doom.<br/><br/>Where was Rebel? Hadn't he told her he would always protect her? Where was his protection now? He couldn't be that mad at her for being out, could he? He wasn't supposed to return today anyway! He was supposed to be out for three days. Yet here he was, coming home early and then blaming<i>her</i>for not being there! It was his fault; if he had been out on patrol still this would have never happened! Maybe he came back early because he<i>knew. </i>He knew! He told Hale, and now she was being punished!<br/><br/>Was it her fault that she was lonely? Was it her fault that he had stopped telling her the things she needed to hear, worrying more about provisions and fucking medical supplies than about her? She needed to be<i>appreciated, </i>damn it! She needed to be adored!<br/><br/>Her mother was right. Give a man milk, and he would never buy the cow. So what if she had been the one to refuse his proposals? He was supposed to ask her again and again, to<i>pursue</i>her, for fuck's sake! Make her feel wanted! Make her feel like he couldn't live without her! She would have said yes eventually. He stopped asking too soon!<br/><br/>The sound of a door opening made her look up and she regretted it. He was there. That man. That evil, druggie man, with his druggie tattoos and those black, evil eyes. He was here.<br/><br/>Sou struggled, realizing that it was really going to happen. "No, please! No no no!" She pulled at her arms and tried to get away, but the grip on her only tightened. One of the men jerked her<i>hard,</i>making her shoulder feel like it was going to be ripped out and causing her to yelp in pain.<br/><br/>"Stop! Stop! You can't do this!" She was sobbing now, her cries ugly and from the bottom of her soul, where her psyche writhed with the same fear she had when her mother told her father that she needed to be punished. She felt the flash of cold terror that she had as a child; the backs of her thighs echoed with remembrance of the welts his thrashing left on her legs. "Ppleeeasse," she wailed. "Please don't, please!"<br/><br/>But there was no reprieve. No forgiveness. Her arms were wrenched behind her back, aggravating her shoulder, and causing her to scream in pain. The zip ties dug into her skin, the gag was filthy, as if it had been used to wash unmentionables over and over, then left to mold on the side of the sink. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Snot filled her sinuses, bubbling out of her nose as she struggled for a breath. She felt like she was going to throw up, and fought against it, fearing she would drown in her own vomit.<br/><br/>Sou struggled against the ankle ties and tried to scoot away, her body moving like an injured worm against the cold, hard concrete floor. She rocked her body and accidentally hit her skull against the ground and for a moment she couldn't breathe. Then the stars cleared, and she saw the face that would haunt her as he prepared to do Hale's bidding.<br/><br/>Her need to breathe outweighed her desire to flee. She laid on her side, watching Alvaro with wide, terrified eyes. Part of her wished that he would just shoot her and be done with it. Whatever was going to happen, it would be worse than death. At least then it would be over.