WHEN THE RAIN STOPS- Scrutinized [TANNER x LUNA] 2 IN 1

Luna's Mentality

|LUNA|

I readied my body for the pain but when I was ready it never came... I stress when the woman lowered her hands Tanner grabbed her wrists. "What do you think you're doing?" She was confused and at a loss for words when he turned her hands around and used her as a human pin cushion for the knives. She bled for a moment til the pain overcame her and she toppled to the ground. Then when she was taken care of, he stepped over her body and came over to me, uncuffing me from the couch. "We need to get you cleaned up." I was bleeding all over so to him it just looked minor. But when he looked up at my face he saw the scab from the burn. He caressed it as I flinched to the touch. He pursed his lips before drugging me once again with his famous needle.

When my vision focused again I was outside. In an alley! I ran, stumbling to the corner. "P-please help!" I ran and ran til someone saw me. They took a glance at me and I thought they were gonna stop and help but he just laughed and kept walking. The closer I got to the end of the alley the heavier I became. Then when I reached the end I ran for it. Only to be stopped by an invisible force. I banged on it but nothing happened. I felt powerless.

I closed my eyes to opened them again in my house. I was covered in a blanket and sitting on the couch, it all felt so natural. Almost like a tape. I was watching a movie on the TV when Sarah turned the corner. "Now don't go falling asleep on me Luna." I looked around "what's happened?" She had a tray with medical supplies on it. "You're far too important to die on me now." She chuckled as she came down to the couch. Dabbing a soaked cotton ball on my cheek. She sighed "I wouldn't have brought that woman over if I knew she was gonna do this to you. I'm sorry Love." I grabbed her hand gently "what are you talking about?" Sarah went on as if I wasn't even speaking. "I bet you're gonna be mad at me when you wake up. It's understandable.. I just wanted to teach you a lesson." "Sarah..." "Don't worry though, when you wake up you'll feel much better, and I'll spoil you with gifts and food and-." "SARAH!" She was sounding like Tanner and I didn't like it. Non the less she kept talking. "- comfort, You'll be happy I kidnapped you. Just don't die." His voice was upbeat as usual. Not sad. Not mad. Just...numb.

I woke back up on a medical bed, in medical patient scrubs. I had bandages up and down my legs, wrapping around them like ribbons on Christmas presents. I looked to the side of me to see an ivy and a bell on a little night stand. Along with 2 boquetes of flowers and chocolates. I grabbed the bell and rang it. "Tanner.." I said in a weak voice. He came in quickly and came over to me. I extended my hand out to him as he grabbed it and caressed his cheek with my skin. I sat up and hugged him tight. He smelt of cologne and alcohol. "Have you been drinking? How long was I out?" "Around a week, but don't worry about me I'm-." "You smell of beer, and by the looks of it when you drink you binge so answer me this.." I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "Are you and alcoholic?" It took him a second to answer, but when he did he was telling the truth. "Yes... I was 5 years sober til the night I found out people were looking for you." I teared up as he was apologizing.

But that was the moment I found out what I was to him. I was the final hope he had to life..

I stopped him in the middle of pleading with me with a kiss; I didn't care anymore. Not if I got hurt, not if I was used, not even if I died. I just wanted him. He took a second to kiss back but when he did he kissed back with passion and relief. After a while we split our lips, then Tanner helped me walk to the kitchen. It hurt like hell but I managed. Once we got there I sat down and waited for food. For once he didn't worry about tying me up. Probably because even if I wanted to I couldn't walk. There were beer bottles everywhere and I wanted to help clean. I built up the Will power and strength to stand, and got the garbage can to dump the cans and bottles. Tanner turned to see me when he heard the first clinks and dinks of the bottles. "Oh no I can do that-." "No it's fine. I want to help." I smiled, he gave a soft smile as he finally trusted me enough to walk around. "So what happened while I was out?" He shrugged "The usual. Oh! Lydia came to see you. She's the one who gave you those chocolates on the desk while Adam gave you flowers." I giggled "I like her, she's nice." He did a so/so face. "I suppose." I finished up the kitchen and went to the living room.

There were less cans and bottles than the kitchen so it was pretty quick to clean. While I was there however, I looked out the huge window that was basically a wall and saw snow. "Tanner what day is it?" He chuckled. "December 15th." I looked around and calmly asked "and where's the tree?" He came to me and hugged me from behind. "In storage. I was waiting for you to wake up for that we could put it up together." I giggled and leaned into his embrace. "After breakfast?" He nodded as we walked back to the kitchen to eat.

~Time Skip~

Tanner had put on Christmas music as we put up the tree. For some reason Tanner still didn't trust me not to fall when I walked so he gave me a Roley chair. I rolled back in forth from the ornaments to the tree. Gently placing them in places that fit my idea. We sang the songs together, his voice being smooth and rich like chocolate. I loved hearing it, it weirdly put me at ease. Then after a while of decorating, we finished; taking a step back to admire our handy work. It looked pretty with a half blue and half red side. We didn't really coordinate with what style we were going for so my side was blue while his was red. We laughed it off and went to the couch to cuddle. He did little exercises on me to see if I could feel right. "I don't want to know down the line that she cut a nerve and you damaged something so can you feel this?" He grazed my leg up and down. I nodded, his skin was smooth and gentle on mine. "What happened to the girl?.. if you don't mind me asking." He took a second "I just threw her back in to the streets. I didn't want to waste my time taking care of her." He kept feeling up my leg as I meekly asked "did she survive?" Another second passed with him exhaling "yea, I don't know where she is or how but I know she's still alive." I let out a sigh of relief. "What? You wanted her to survive?" I shook my head "no no it's not like that it's just.. I didn't want that on my conscious." He tilted his head in a way to say 'I get it.' Then gently kissed my forehead.

"I have to go to the market... Do you want to come?" I nodded in excitement. "I wanna come!" He snickered and carried me to my room to change. I didn't mind that he stayed to watch me. I put on normal clothes like a sweater and jeans and put on perfume before going over to him. "Seems like you have a handle on your legs. Or are you just not showing the pain?" He asked as he laid back on the bed. "The second option." I giggled and he scoffed a laugh before wrapping his arm around me in a way to help me balance. We went to the elevator as Tanner grabbed a bomber jacket off the coat hook and draped it over me. He told me it was his and that is was cold and to put it on. I didn't ask any questions as we went down to the first floor. I feel like in a way he knows that I didn't plan to run away anymore, and that I was just stuck there forever. We walked for a bit more down the hall of the first floor before going outside to the city grounds. I looked in awe as he guided me to the corner store. It was an average store. Almost like Walgreens. He was looking at the eggs when he informed me that I could get one thing. I got cherry and went to look in the isle that was right next to him. I saw nothing interesting til my eyes landed upon... a rubber elephant. It was had a packaging that said 'Number one puzzle in the world!' So of course I had to examine it. It looked like any other kid bath toy so how was it a puzzle? I poked around it as it squeezed at me. My eyebrows furrowed as I was deep in confusion.

Tanner turned around to see me in his oversized jacket, fiddling around with a toy. He snickered and came up behind me. "What's that?" He asked, I shrugged with a rustle coming from the jacket. "I don't know, it says it's a puzzle." He poked it, "seems like a bath toy for kids." We spent the next minute trying to find out how it worked when he just grabbed it and threw it into the basket. "We'll find out later." He put his arm back around me and started walking to the cash register.

|???|

'They were in the grocery store.' I noted as I saw the suspect leading the victim to the cash register. She didn't look like she was being forced but then again he could've threatened her. They didn't notice me til I was in the check out lane next to them. The man gave me an awkward smile when we made eye contact, his eyes were cold and lifeless to the naked eye but I bet he has some secret plan to manipulate Luna into making her think he's the hero with a sad back story. You never know with these guys until they go in for the final blow. They finished checking out before me so I inevitably lost them in the foot traffic outside. I looked around everywhere only to find some foot prints left behind from Luna's shoes heading right. I followed them only for the snow to cover up the tracks. Damn.