A Path to Wonderland

Chapter 6: Lights, Camera, Shadows

-Gwyneira's journal

-Past memory

-Present

"That was perfect, human. Third time lucky I suppose, though I think the speech about him leaving you here was a little dramatic for my liking..."

Fiddling with the hem of her ripped skirt, the ashen blue haired girl stared down the lends of the camera set up in front of her, her fists white from clenching the familiar blue fabric. Gwyneira didn't flinch, nor move even a single inch to look to the voice. She merely waited for the almost blinding lights to fade off of her, for the glare of the spotlight to be placed off of her. Although Gwyneira loved attention, she absolutely hated and feared feeling blind to what was around her. To her being blind was to be ignorant, it was truly her worst fear.

To be blind, it truly was what kept her from sleeping at night without a sliver of light to invade her room, to keep her blissfully aware of what happened when the sun fled from the sky and the shadows of night blanketed Atlas. The fear of being blind was what kept her from taking a moments rest from work, not to mention it was this fear that drove her to the lengths of work and play she lived and breathed through. To stay enlightened. To see everything. Here however, basked in a blinding light and shrouded in the darkness of these ignorant and blinded animals, she couldn't see, nor could she think. So instead she stayed silent and watched as the light dimmed and eventually died out. Spring green orbs narrowed and darted around the room. 

"Cracking are we, Phantom?"

She had managed to control the impulsive shaking of her body, putting on a bored expression on her freckled face instead, biting her lip out of habit to avoid any chance of looking weak in front of the crowd of Faunus that stared at her with hungry, smug smirks. Their blind desire for her fear was suffocating and it made her more than just a little uncomfortable as she shifted in the restraints that had her tied down to a lone chair. It was as if she was a lone rabbit in front of a pack of wild animals and honestly, to her, it wasn't too far from the truth. Gwyn knew they wanted this, wanted to see her break after showing her off as a prize to her General and friend, but she'd rather have jumped to her death down a rabbit hole than let a pack of raging beasts see Atlas' very own Air Force Marshal cry over a bunch of sneers and childish names.

It had always felt wrong to let anyone see her own cocky attitude be reduced to a shallow puddle of shakes, tears and angry scowls, especially with such a title hanging over her head. Gwyneira spent her 19th birthday meeting the General, and she had then spent another three climbing the ranks until she gained such a high rank that put her permanently at James' side. She was a naturally gifted prodigy, which was a given due to her semblance's intellectual boost. 

The distant sound of boots hitting the stone tiles of the cold floor filled Gwyneira's ears as her vision started to clear. She couldn't quite recover fully though, before a familiar brilliant red hair caught her attention, the bull Faunus' face inches from her's, a sudden pain shooting through her leg as her breath hitched, eyes widening as they looked over the patterned mask. She felt a scream get caught up in her throat as her eyes shakily drifted down to where the glowing red blade now pierced her thigh. Her look of pain must of been noticed by the bull as he snickered and pulled away, twisting his blade into Gwyneira's leg as she gave out a sudden shriek of pain. Gwyn heard the cruel laughs but couldn't care less as she focused on trying to block out the pain, watching as Adam then pulled out his dimming wilt with a sudden jerk, sheathing it with a silent smirk.

She yelped at the pain, flinching at the brand new pain that washed over her, blood poured slowly from the wound. Taking a minute to watch her skirt stain red, she looked up, glaring to the snide red head that stepped back. I took in his appearance that differed from the last I'd seen him in, his wardrobe still sticking to it's usual edgy black, grey and red style that just screamed for attention. Gwyn looked closer and pushed her pained look into her own cocky sneer, her attitude taking a small turn as her pain filled eyes flicked over the many useless zippers that adorned it, herself giving out a sudden snort. 

"Zippers? And here I th-thought you had style, Mr Big-Shot Faunus~"

Catching the surprise of those 'hungry beasts' around her, her confidence grew as she knew she still had them hooked on her abnormally cocky attitude. Adam on the other hand was more than irritated at the flirt as his smirk melted into another scowl at her. It was odd to him, amusing even, that this small action had the other White Fang members cowering while the green eyed girl just...laughing harder. It was mind boggling. She had just been stabbed just above where the scarring from metal meeting ivory skin began, where her nerves where still much more sensitive, and yet here she was laughing at his outfit. The bull-ish man had to step back and storm out the room before he harmed their 'precious cargo' any further, ignoring the shocked and confused glances as his burning anger flared. 

If Blake had been there, would he truly be as callous?

The name rung bitter and was quick to swallow him in the empty shadows of the deepest parts of his raging mind. He walked into his chambers, wreaking havoc on the pitch black room as he rushed to expel all his spiteful frustrations, trying to calm himself the only way he knew how. He had to be collected. He had to be calm. He was going to take what was rightfully his...tonight.

As for Gwyneira? She was hoisted up from the chair and dragged back to her cell, her voice silenced by a rag, the will to suppress the pain reigning over her train of thought as she barely listened to the two Grunts that held her up by the arms. She was thrown back in her cage, not even a spare glance thrown her way as the door was locked and she was left bleeding alone. She knew they wouldn't let her die here, nor would they let her get an infection...or at least that was what she hoped. Gwyneira slowly sat up with a yelp, using her arms to shuffle and gingerly pull herself over towards the old matted mattress as her eyes rung as the small hit to her head from being thrown so harshly to the ground. Her hands ached to write her day's 'delights' all down, yet it would have to wait as her vision blurred, the cell's stone tiles spinning as she barley touched the mattress before her head hit the dirty mattress as the blood began to stain and run along the tiles' etched in pattern.

Gwyneira spent the next few hours drifting in and out of consciousness, barely able to make out the blurred figure that waltzed into her room later that night as light filled the cell. As swiftly as the light came however, it soon fled once more as she allowed the darkness and shadows of dreams to take it's place for the final time that night.