Twist of fate

Boogeyman

Three months until the wedding

Ava sat in the far corner of her grey little room, whimpering in fear as Akainu pushed the door open, an unpleasant smile twisting his face. She flattened her body to the wall, fat tears rolling down her hollow cheeks, empty stomach cramping in dread at the syringe in his hand.
Nothing good ever happened when he brought one of those.
"You ready to tell me where dear old dad is at?"
Her tears came harder, sobs wracking her body. Her throat constricted, no words forthcoming as she started to hyperventilate.
Why wouldn't he believe her?
No matter how many times he asked in the past three years, her answer had always been the same.
She didn't know.
How could she when Ceasar had never been home? She had been so young when everything happened, to young to even really understand what was going on.
She only had vague memories of a man with short cropped purple hair and eyes, telling her she and Eris would be his greatest successes.
Akainu smirked at her. "So you still refuse to talk! What a pity."
Gray brick walls closed in on her, feeling more like a coffin then a room as he stepped farther into it.
Ava clawed at the bulky cuffs around her wrists, choking on nothing while her tears blurred the world around her.
She knew they would never come off, knew that she was gouging at her skin every time her fingers slipped off the metal.
But the pain paled in comparison to what the stuff in the syringe would do.
"P-p-p-l-l-eeeeaa-s-se d-dooo-n-t." Ava stuttered, the lump in her throat growing larger.
She prayed fruitlessly that the cuffs would malfunction, would stop working, anything, so she could stop the deranged man. She didn't want to feel pain anymore, was so sick and tired of always being tormented, scared, and hungry.
If only the cuffs would come off, she could blast the ugly smile off Akainu's face, make him pay.
"This will continue until you tell me what you know, Ava."
She kicked out at Akainu in a desperate attempt to hurt him as he stopped in front of her, mockingly laughing at her pitiful struggle.
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, I SWEAR!" Ava screamed, clawing at him. "I SWEAR, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!"
He bent down onto his hunches, grabbing her flailing hands in one of his much larger ones, to pull her up and stop her from moving.
Her cries and pleas went unheard as the needle was shoved into her arm, his thumb pressing the plunger down.
Her muscles started to spasm, her body convulsing.
A pained scream ripped from her throat, one word coming out in a garbled mess.
Cracker.
She chanted his name in her head, picturing his face as her body was torn asunder.

Ava shot up, screaming in terror while her muscles twitched and throbbed at the memory of her nightmare. She flailed around, twisting herself in the blankets and sheets.Her eyes frantically searched for someone her rational side told her wasn't there, but the remnants of her dream told her was, the scared eight year old child she'd been screaming at her to run.
Cold, empty, rock walls greeted her, the light from her lamp illuminating the cave enough to tell her she was alone.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with sweat as her head fell into her hands and she sob.
Eight years had passed since the escape, and Akainu was still tormenting her, laughing at her terror and pain in her dreams.
She had thought she'd gotten away from them, the nightmare having not been a problem in over a year.
It seemed they had caught up with her again.
What the hell had happened at the end?
That was the only part that seemed distorted.
More like changed, which had never happened.
Had she screamed for Cracker?
Had she really screamed for Cracker?
Why the hell would she do that?
This wasn't a fairy tail. He wasn't gonna burst through the door to rescue her, beat down Akainu and pull her from that hellish place.
He was no knight in shining armor, he couldn't help her.
Not in her dreams.
Ava sobbed a little harder knowing she was alone in this, never thinking to tell her sister.
At first it was because of Akainue and Kizaru's threats to harm Eris, later because Ava knew Eris would blame herself.
It wasn't like either of them could change what had happened anyways, what was the point of telling anyone.
Ava laid back down and curled into herself, letting herself spiral into despair.