acotar one shots

you're safe now

this one is about Gwyn's rescue in Sangravah. TW for violence and SA. Nothing in this is meant to romanticize or glamorize what happened to Gwyn.

IDK You Yet - Alexander 23

***

Gwyn shut her eyes tight and willed her mind to run away. To detach from her body and every sensation inside it. Every sound of every terrible thing hitting her ears with the force of a closed fist. If she could ignore it, she could survive it.

And then the door burst open and a fresh wave of fear churned her stomach. In her peripheral vision, a dark shape stood in the doorway. Blue lights were glowing in symmetrical points across the figure, one anchored in the middle of his chest.

And the men standing before her, with their ugly hands paused, still gripping her robes where they had been tearing them open, let out gasps of terror. One of them murmured something and dropped to his knees. Gwyn dared to turn her head just enough to catch a few more details. The man in the doorway studied the scene before him, eyes sweeping over every corner. His gaze quickly brushed over Gwyn on the table and rage boiled behind his eyes. Those blue lights glowed brighter.

It all happened in the span of a few seconds, but time did not seem to be working properly anymore. It all moved so slow, slow enough that her brain was memorizing every part of every horror, though she was begging her mind to go somewhere far away.

"Close your eyes," That figure said, his voice low and strained like he could barely contain that fury. As he raised his blades, wings flaring out behind him, Gwyn registered that he was talking to her. She closed her eyes tight, a blood-flecked hand clapping over her mouth to hide a cry.

Sounds of death and pain were filling her ears. The slice of blades, liquid spraying, wet thuds on the floor. Her head spun. She had no tears left but her body still shook with choking sobs and she squeezed her knees together as tight as she could to keep them from shaking so violently.

Then it was quiet.

"It's over," the voice said. It was soft now, like he had emptied his body of the rage that had burned so terribly just a few moments before. "My name is Azriel, we're here to save you."

There were a few footsteps, and Gwyn assumed he had moved closer. Shame joined every other emotion storming through her being as she remembered how much of herself was exposed. She kept her eyes shut.

"I'm going to put my cloak over you," his voice met her ears. There was a click and a pause and then she felt the heavy weight of fabric over her and she was grateful for it. But the brush of the cloak against her skin reminded her of the pain in her body and she let out an anguished groan.

"You're hurt?" So soft, so gentle. Such a contrast to the terrors that filled the last few hours of her life.

Gwyn nodded, bottom lip trembling. She kept her eyes shut tight, but managed to whisper, "I can't...look."

Not at the carnage that surely littered the room, not at her sister's head on the floor, not at the sickening amounts of blood that covered every surface. Not at her half-naked body, bruised and bloodied. Not at the stranger she was trying very hard to trust. Trying very hard to believe that he was not here to lead her to yet another horror.

"We're going to take you somewhere safe to be healed. Can I pick you up, or would you like to wait for my cousin and she can carry you?"

Her whole body trembled, soaked in sweat. The table underneath her quaked and rattled. She was working desperately not to let her focus settle on the nausea in her stomach or the pain creeping back into her field of awareness. She felt as though she were completely falling apart.

With chattering teeth she said, "I'll wait."

Her body relaxed just the smallest amount, causing her to lose the fight with her stomach. More pangs of miserable shame hit her as she heaved over the side of the table.

"Let it out, love," A soft, feminine voice drifted to her ears. "You're safe now."

She wished that everything she had witnessed could exit her mind as easily. That she could somehow purge the events of this worst day of her life from her brain and at the end she would have her sister back. Her friends back. She would wake up from this nightmare or go back in time and change whatever she had done to deserve a punishment of this severity.

"I'm going to pick you up now," The woman's voice said again after she had emptied her stomach. Gentle hands were lifting her from the table.

"The children," Gwyn croaked as realization hit her.

"They're safe," Azriel said, "we found them."

With that, Gwyn let her head rest against the woman's shoulder and she was met with the soothing scent of lavender and vanilla.

"You're safe now," The woman said every few moments, her voice sweet and filled with kindness. It was so full of goodness and light that Gwyn now had no doubt she was being rescued.

"You're safe now."