Hello, Goodbye

Nothing But Broken

I was in a room. A room with no windows. The room was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I didn't have a stitch of clothes on my body. I was scared. The door opened and a very gruff looking man walked in. "Well, look at you! Aren't you a pretty little thing? How about you make papa feel  good, alright?" The man walked towards me and I scampered to the corner of the room. His big hand picked me up off the ground  and his hands began to touch everywhere. I tried to fight, throwing punches at his shoulder but it wasn't enough. He wouldn't let me go. "Stop fighting you damn brat." He threw me on the bed began to take off his clothes. I jumped up and lashed out at him trying my best to harm him in some way. Once again I was thrown to the bed, but this time I was pinned down by his giant hands. I began to thrash against his hold. I needed out. I needed out of here. 

"Thalia."

"You damn brat. You'll learn not to fight back against me." The man picked up some rope and tied me down to the bed. I tried to squirm once more, but this time it hurt. Every bone in my body hurt. Tears began to fall from my eyes.

"Thalia. Wake up." 

I screwed my eyes shut and screamed  as pain seared through my entire body. 

"Thalia! Wake up! Please!"

My eyes flew open and the first thing I saw was Claude's worried face. He had me straddled in between his legs with my arms pinned above my head. "Claude? What...happened?" He releaxed and let go of my arms, but kept his hands on either side of my head. "You attacked me in your sleep. I've been trying to wake you up forever." Guilt flooded my entire body. I placed my hands over my face as sobs wracked my body. Claude sat up and pulled me up and into his chest. His hands tangled in my hair. "Shhh. It's okay Thalia. I know you were having a nightmare. It's okay." I jerked back from him. "No, Claude! It's not okay. It's not okay that I hurt you. I... need to go." It was like a switch went off in my head. I felt different. All of a sudden I felt stuffy. I needed to go. I climbed out of the bed and ran towards the door. Claude called after me but I just kept running. 

At the bottom of the stairs I ran head first into someone. I looked up into soft blue eyes. "Thalia... are you okay?"I didn't stop. I ran right past Dimitri and down towards the lower town. Ignoring the calls of those around me. 

Once I was finally far enough away from the monastary I stopped. I tried to catch what little breath I had before walking again. "Come on little lady. Come with us. We won't hurt you." My head snapped in the direction of the voices. Anger filled my body as I drew closer. In an alleyway on the far end of town there were three men who had cornered a girl who didn't look above ten in age. I pulled my shoes off and sat them down outside the alleyway. I suddenly remembered I didn't have my lance. Or my dagger even. I took in my surroundings and saw a bag laying on the ground by some crates. I picked it up and it felt heavy. Inside was a small dagger. 'It must have been hers. She must have dropped it.' I took it out and placed the bag back on the ground.

"We'll have tons of fun sweetheart. I promise." I walked towards them slowly and began to laugh manicly. "Men like you are disgusting. Preying on weak innocent women. You make me sick. But that ends now. Prepare to die!" Then, I blacked out.

Claude's POV

I ran into Dimitri shortly after chasing Thalia. He said he had seen her but she refused to say anything and ran from him. The two of us searched all over the monastery for her that day. I couldn't sleep that night knowing she was out there somewhere. We began the search again the next morning with the aid of Felix, Sylvain and Ingrid. We had yet to alert the church for fear of taking the knights from where they were needed. We didn't even tell Teach. "Alright. Dimitri, Felix, and I will search the lower town. You two cover every inch of the monastery again." We all parted and as we were making our way to the lower town Felix spoke. "What brought this on? She was just fine the other day."  I paused, wondering if I should tell them or not. "I'm sure you already know all this Dimitri, but I know Felix don't. When Talia was nine she lost her entire family and was abducted. The men that took her broke her physically, emotionally, and mentally. When she came to us she wouldn't talk. Her eyes were empty and she seemed almost emotionless. It took forever for her to open up to me. So if she talks to you, it's because she feels she can trust you.  I woke up early yesterday morning to her screaming, from a nightmare. I went into  her room and tried to wake her, but she attacked me. When she finally come to she ran. " I told them what I could without releasing too much information about myself or the fact that I held her in my arms just the night before last.

Neither of them said anything. I was afriad. I was afraid that when we finally found her. She wouldn't be the same. "Let's split up." Felix said and we each went our seperate ways. I looked down every alleyway. Hoping to see her brunette hair somewhere. "Thalia! If you can hear me, please say some..." Before I could even finish my sentence I saw it. There in a lone alley she sat. A young girl sat with her and she had a dagger in her hands, covered in blood. Blood that was not her own. Surrounding her were the bodies of three men. The scene in itself was enough to make me queasy to my stomach. The young girl turned her attention to me and called out. "Mister please help. She saved my life but she... she won't move." I walked over to the girl and kneeled down to her. "Okay. There should be a couple other men dressed similiar to me walking around town. Go see if you can find them, okay?" She nodded and ran out of the alleyway. I positioned myself in front of Thalia and placed her face in my hands. "Thalia. It's Claude. Can you hear me? I need you to drop the dagger, okay?" Her grip on it's hilt released and it clanged to the ground. 

She looked up at me and there was absolutely no emotion whatsoever in her eyes. "She was in danger. They had to be stopped. They had to die." I had seen her devoid of all emotion before, but never like this. "Dear Goddess. What happened?!" At the end of the alleyway stood Dimitri and Felix. The little girl stood in front of them with her arms out. "These men were trying to do mean things to me. She saved me. She said they would never take advantage of girls like me ever again. She saved me. Please help her." Felix walked over to me. "Can she walk, Claude?" I shook my head. "I don't know. I've not tried to move her." Felix placed a hand on her back and the other under her arm. I did the same with the other side. "Don't just stand there you boar! Get that girl out of here." Dimitri only nodded and took the girl out of the alleyway.

We lifted her up slowly and walked with out out into the street. Only then could I see just how much blood she had on her. It was even on her face and in her hair. She said nothing the entire way back to the monastery. I was worried. "She's gonna be okay Claude." Felix stopped me outside her room. "The main thing we need to worry about is when what she done settles in. When she realizes what she done. That's when we need to worry. But I know she's gonna be okay." As he walked down the hall Dimitri emerged from the stairwell. He walked over to me. "Is she... alright?" I turned away from the prince, anger welling up inside me. "You already know the answer to that question Dimitri! She's not okay! She's never been okay! I know you know. I know she's told you. She needed someone! She wanted you to be there for her, yet you continued to push her away. I understand that you've had your own problems to deal with, but so has she. Yet she constantly waits on you. Hoping you'll come to her. Yet you never did. You better hope she snaps out of this Dimitri. Because if she doesn't then we both lose her. And I refuse to lose the most important woman in my life." I opened up the door to her room and closed it. Leaving behind a very startled prince.