Forbidden love (MGE harem fanfic)

Chapter 10: Behind enemy lines

Two weeks after the previous chapter, Y/N POV

Despite our win in the demon realm, those who remained loyal to the order have sealed off access to the normal world. To make things worse, Sarah had lost her ability to teleport after becoming a slime. A strange person brought a neko who was currently with me. Her name was Mara and she was sweet, but never told me much about her past. She was very skittish and us being out was meant to be more of a training session, instead we were target practice for the order. we have been alone for two days and supplies were running low, and Mara seemed to be getting closer and closer to her breaking point. She was currently rubbing her white ears against my arm and I don't think she knew what she was doing. It seemed to be a panic fallback because every time she showed signs of stress Mara would rub against me.
Order soldiers marched right in front of us with dangerously powerful weaponry. The only thing between us and certain death was a few coal colored bushes that were hard to see in the dim light. One of the soldiers looked towards the bush and I felt my soul try and prematurely leave my body. Another soldier shouted towards the one in front of us and he looked away and walked out of sight. I looked towards Mara whose skin was now so pale that it was hard to distinguish between her white fur. She clutched my arm to the point where my hand felt numb. I looked back out of the bush and noticed that the soldiers were gone. After fifteen minutes of convincing I managed to get Mara out of the bush. I stood up and the girl clung to me while I used magic to seal off the cave. Sarah taught me a lot about my "gift" and what I could do. According to her I had barely scratched the surface of my abilities.
I sat down and Mara collapsed next to me. She was shaking violently and tears were dripping down her face.

Y/N: M-Mara... are you alright?

Mara didn't respond; I went to stroke her fur and she lunged at me. Her arms wrapped around me and I could feel how fast her heart was beating.

Mara: *crying* I-I... c-can't forget what he d-did...

Y/N: who?

Mara: Mori.

She gripped me tighter and had to take a few deep breaths from just saying the name.

Y/N: what did he do to you?

Mara POV

I began to slowly tell my story. Every once in awhile I would have to stop and Y/N would ask me if I was sure I wanted to continue telling him what happened. I continued anyways.

My first memories were of captivity, I longed to see the sun for so long and no one even bothered to name me. I figured that I was taken by my parents at a young age. I was often plagued by nightmares that I didn't understand. In those nightmares I heard two people screaming, a man, and a woman. As the dream continued those screams died down and a strange light approached the room. In the nightmare I couldn't move or make any noise. The door would always burst into splinters and pain would fill a large section of my body despite a small part of my body being hit by shrapnel. A man in dark armor would pick me up and hold me with one hand. With the other he would remove his mask and show a face that was scarred and deformed. It was twisting and changing constantly and he would smile. It was a dark and vicious smile. Every time I would wake up covered in sweat and tears for reason I did not know.
A large portion of my life was spent in chains. It was like I was completely forgotten and no one in the world actually cared about me. There would be times when someone would come in, but they would only feed me and leave. After a few years someone came in and told me to get up. I tried but after years of being starved and forced down I instantly collapsed. I was lifted up by my neck and I was unable to breath. I nearly suffocated myself when I saw the dark armor of the man from my nightmares.
The next few years after that I spent slowly recovering. I say slowly because every day I was subjected to horrific bearings and punishments for no reason at all. I began to get used to the look of my own blood on my skin. I forgot what it was like to have fur that wasn't matted and bloodied. My white fur looked brown with dried blood. Every morning I would flinch when I heard the door that led to my cell open. Every night I would cry at the thought of having to endure it all again and again. It all stopped one day when I saw Mori again. He had pointed me and said "her".
I spent days being tortured and used as a lab rat for spells and chemical concoctions. After a month they managed to create something that forced me to stay conscious no matter what happened during its duration. The only side effect of this was that I wasn't able to sleep for twice as long as the mixture lasted. Meaning that if it lasted a day I wouldn't be able to sleep for two days. Until I was eighteen this was my torture, for three years I was a test subject under a brutal organization that claimed to be good in the eyes of their people.
Two weeks ago I was grabbed by Mori. I was his personal punching bag for over a day and when I finally found the strength to run, I felt as a dagger sunk into my back. My limbs were bound and I was gagged, and before I knew it my body was slammed against a stone altar.
Natural instinct wanted me to get close to Y/N but who would love a stray cat that couldn't close her eyes without screaming bloody murder. There was so many better people for him, the werewolf, the manticore, the lamia, the hellhound, and everyone else. What they didn't have in personality they made up for it in beauty and exoticness. I was just a normal cat girl, one that you would see nearly everywhere. It would be better to just trade me in for a neko that didn't cry herself to sleep. I deserved to be shot, I should've died back in the courtyard. I didn't deserve to be alive...

Y/N POV

I didn't know what to think, this poor girl was suffering underneath her fluffy exterior and I was oblivious. I wrapped my arms around Mara and I could feel her tears dripping down my neck, they were warm. Her pawn and fur were slightly warmer than her skin. I felt as her sharp fangs pierced my skin around my neck as she bit me out of nervousness.

Y/N: it's alright... I'll keep you safe... you don't have to live in fear anymore... I promise.

Mara wrapped her arms around me tightly and her panic and fear gradually faded.

Mara: I-I love you Y/N

Y/N: I love you too

I was sick so that's where I found the time to write this. Also I wanted a semi-wholesome chapter because I feel like it's the lemons that hold back the length. Don't worry I'll continue the lemons but I kind of want to increase the romance and plot bits. Thanks again for all of your support, I really appreciate it. :)