Marked

A Reason to Hope

Liliana's P/V:

     Pain pounded through my head and radiated down my neck, through my throat, leaving a weird tingly feeling whenever it subsided for a second. Other feelings began swarming my senses as I began to wake up, blinking my eyes open in an attempt to piece the puzzle together. My hair stuck to the back of my head and I could feel something dried, thick sticking my hair together and trailing down my neck to my shoulders. My feet were firmly on the ground and I had to be sitting in a chair, but my arms ached from being twisted behind the frame of the seat. They burned from the rope as I tried to pull them back in front of me. It was so bright as I tried to focus once more, shaking my head and trying to focus on anything but my pounding headache and the black that momentarily covered my vision as a threat to fall back into slumber. Whispers cut through the ringing as I noticed the figure occupying the room with me.

     "Looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to join us." A sickening voice taunted with a laugh. A hand gripped my hair close to the scalp and pulled back, causing me to let out a yelp. Something warm began trickling down my head and neck, followed the dried path from earlier and it finally clicked what it was. Blood. I must have hit my head hard when I fell from the balcony and from the soreness in my back it had also taken a good blow. Looking at my captor my vision finally focused in on the monster. He seemed to be a hybrid. A mix between a goop or slime type monster mixed with an elemental... perhaps a flame elemental from the way his hair shifted and flickered like a flame but it was hard to tell considering his skin was entirely black and resembled goop more. Pieces of his seemed to drip off and stained my clothes, some no doubt would be clumped into my hair from his grip. His clothes seemed slightly tattered and a logo stood out among the dark fabrics... it looked like a family crest, or perhaps an organization's insignia? "I guess it's only fair I tell you my name since I already know yours Miss Liliana.... my name is Phobus." Opening my mouth I quickly shut it, grinding my teeth. Asking 'where am I' most certainly wasn't going to get me far; considering the fact I was tied to a chair. 

     "What do you want?" I croaked out, now noticing the bitter dryness of my throat. Not a very original question but my mind wasn't working at it's finest right now. 

     "Simply..." The monster hummed in thought, tossing my head back as his released his grip. "Free reign. We didn't work with Dolores because we're friends or any of that sentimental crap, we have an arrangement. In exchange for helping her land a marriage with Lord Papyrus she would allow us to operate within the village. Really though, you are more determined than I would have originally anticipated." Phobus chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "When Dolores first brought you up I figured she was simply being jealous since you had been gaining so much attention recently. Nevertheless, I sent one of my men after you to go ahead and send you off for some cash. Even getting hit right in the back you managed to keep on going. Then, tonight when I ordered another after you, you managed to land a heck of a punch on him and dodge enough to get onto the balcony.... of course you lose points for falling off so roughly." He smirked, patting my cheek. My mind raced to catch up, trying to connect all the pieces together. The symbol on his jacket no doubt belonged to some sort of gang if he was worried about being able to... operate. 

     "Despite it being entertaining to see how far your determination was going to get you I'm afraid this is where the game ends... While I will be guaranteeing your safety to the Lords as a bargaining chip I can't give you much consonances after than. People are willing to pay a surprising amount for beauties such as yourself and after all this trouble, I think we rather deserve a bit of gold out of it." Phobus shrugged. Twisting my wrists, the ropes wouldn't budge, simply giving me rope burns as I tried to find a weak spot in them or the knot. My heart began picking up speed as fear began to truly invade my system for the first time in a while. An odd feeling filled my back before traveling towards my soul, leaving me to stare down at my chest confused for a moment before it happened again, and again. The feeling becoming firmly settled in my soul. 

     'Papyrus...' my mind finally associated the feeling to my mark and I couldn't help the relief that spread through my system. They were coming. "..heh, you really are idiots." I couldn't help but chuckle as I shook my head. That seemed to grab his attention as he spun around to face me once again as I sat up straight, my head high. "The Lords are not fools. They would find out your lies quickly, and even if Dolores got married to Papyrus before they were able to see through them they would never allow scum like you to parade free through the city." My eyes narrowed into a glare. "I'm not afraid and I will for sure see all of you put in prison."

      "Strong words." Phobus scoffed. "Especially for someone tied to a chair. What can you do to stop me, hmm? You are simply a pathetic human who failed to stop the fire at that old witch's house." 

       "..you're right, I am just a human, and I have not been able to protect my family in the past. But, I am full of Determination and HoPe, and you'd be surprised how far that can get you in life." I chuckled leaning closer to his face as he growled at me. "....besides." My grin grew as I could feel my mark begin to glow. "I'm not alone. And my family has one hell of a temper."

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A/N:

OK SO THIS CHAPTER IS LONG OVERDUE, I AM SORRY FOR THAT

Honestly though you all have been so kind and chill with my recent disappearances so thank you all so much for that! That really encourages me to keep writing and working at it! So for all of y'all here is the next chapter that is actually a decent length lol. For some reason this chapter was really hard to write, even though I knew where I was going and how I wanted the interaction to go?... idk, maybe I'm just a bit out of practice. Well we're reaching the end of the Dolores arch, but who knows what that will lead to...

Fun fact! The name of our newest story member, Phobus means fear!