The Whispers of Shadows - A&A One Shots

trauma bond

**Aurora's trauma

Darkness, unsettling touches. Aurora writhed, pulling away from the swipe of fingers against her arm. A sharp gasp left her when those same fingers closed around her throat, leaving no room for even a stream of air to lower to her lungs. Her hands shot up and her nails dug into the flesh of whomever held her down. The touch was eerily familiar, as well as the whispers of hundreds of voices that filled the abyss.

"N-no," she struggled, voice croaking as her windpipe was crushed. Something wet ran up her thigh, more hands grabbing at the flesh there. She kicked desperately, making contact only once before her ankles were held down. The whispers slowly fell into cackling laughs that she knew all too well.

They were the haunting of her past, the centuries she spent so much time forcing from her mind. Hands were everywhere, just as indistinguishable as the words spoken between laughs. Her nails sunk in deeper and something thick began dripping onto her chest, the blood that she had drawn.

The hands pulled away immediately, almost as if they had become nothing but smoke that thickened the air around her. Aurora heaved, coughing and clutching at the tender skin of her throat. Suddenly, a flash of bright light blinded her.

Aurora wheezed, lifting her arms to shield the light that seemed to surround her entirely. One by one, figures appeared in a never ending crowd around her crouched and nude body. She tasted blood, surely from the raw skin of her vocal cords. Aurora blinked until the figures became tangible, familiar. A horrified scream climbed her throat as she whipped her head around.

They were the soldiers that had tormented her body. Each damned one. Something about their faces was wrong, however. Even as their words and laughing grew again, their faces were contorted. It wasn't the way she remembered them, and Aurora remembered every face that had wronged her, at least, the ones she had seen. No, these creatures were empty; their eyes flat and lifeless, their mouths in the shape of sneering smiles that seemed so impossible that it looks like they'd been carved that way.

One by one, the soldiers stepped forward. That never ending circle grew smaller as their steps fell into a single threatening boom. Aurora was screaming, curling her body into the tightest ball she could. Wetness coated her cheeks, her screams echoing now. Were the echos just the soldiers mocking her? Was this truly Aurora's terrified shrieks?

Aurora willed herself to stop screaming, to stop trembling. There was silence around her. Complete silence. She peeled her eyes open, blinking away the salty burn. Her chest was heaving and her entire body trembled. She was at home, in her and Azriel's bedroom, alone.

The sunlight beamed in through the window just beside the bed. Her muscles ached as she sat up, stretching her legs out from the curled position she had been in. Home, Aurora was home, in the townhome that Rhysand had purchased for the couple just a few months ago. Aurora couldn't control her breathing as she stood, grasping the windowpane to steady herself. Velaris was busy during the Spring morning, fae of all sorts filling the streets.

Aurora attempted to swallow, gasping when her throat burned. She had been screaming outside of her mind as well. With uneven steps, Aurora made her way into the small bathing chamber attached to the primary bedroom. It was the only room on the second floor of the house, which Azriel and Aurora had chosen to be their room. Glass double doors separated the bedroom from the bathing chamber, sheer white curtains pulled back.

Aurora turned the sink on and splashed water over her face, and then dipped her head down to drink and soothe the burn in her throat. Satisfied and no longer shaking enough to make her muscles sore, she dried her face off and went to the bedroom again. These nightmares had plagued her twice now, the night before being the start.