scarlet heart | exo

Fear

*** Trigger warning: sexual assault, attempted rape. summary at the end. ****

When the black cloth over her head was removed again, Xuefeng found herself in a tent.

She had been dragged here from the enemy leader's tent, and her wound had been re-stitched and bound by the enemy's medics, before the black cloth over her head came off.

Once she got used to the blinding candlelight, she realised that she was in an elaborately furnished space, by army camp standards. The guard who took the black covering off was standing at the side, an unreadable expression on his face. He had a round face and large doe-eyes, and donned sturdy leather. His next words surprised her.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," she stuttered instinctively.

"Okay. If you need anything, do let me know. I'll try my best to get it to you."

Wait.

This was weird.

Less than an hour ago, she was bleeding out on the enemy leader's floor, threatened with the whip unless she gave him information about the Qing army.

Now, she was in a rather nice tent, an enemy soldier at her beck and call?

Something was not right, but Xuefeng couldn't place her finger on it.

"Why am I here?"

The soldier, who was about to leave, was taken aback by the sudden question. But he composed himself quickly and replied, "Our leader knows your identity as Maertai Xuefeng, wife of the 4th Prince, which is why he brought you here to use as a hostage against the Qing army."

That much, Xuefeng knew. But her burning question was why here, in this luxurious tent, rather than with other prisoners-of-war that she was sure the camp held captive.

(On her way to this tent, though she couldn't see, she could hear the anguished screams of women. She thought that that was where she would be going, but the screams only got fainter and fainter.)

"That's not what I meant. I meant, why here?"

The soldier squirmed, avoiding her eyes.

"Can you not tell me?"

"No! It's just that..." the soldier eventually caved.

"This is our leader's tent. He has instructed for you to be brought here, for him when he returns in the evening."

The soldier fell silent, leaving Xuefeng to mull over his seemingly cryptic words.

It didn't take long for it to hit her.

"You, are a pretty little thing."

"I can put you through a fate worse than death"

"Get one of the medics to patch up her wound."

"I will see to her later.""It is not over yet, my dear."

Oh my goodness... Xuefeng's heart thundered and her stomach knotted as realisation dawned.

The enemy leader had certain things in mind, and there was no way she would be able to overpower him. It wasn't just the weak state of her body - even if she were completely healthy, wound-free, she wouldn't be able to escape the enemy camp, and would be swiftly and easily recaptured.

"I'm sorry I cannot help you," admitted the soldier. "I don't like the way our leader does things, especially his authoritarianism and cruelty, and much less the way he rounds up women from our captured territories and enslaves them. But if I help you, I'll be betraying my people. I can't do that. I'm sorry."