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It was far from unusual for the queens to frequent a pub after their final show of the night, unwinding after a hard day’s work, or bickering endlessly on the part of Anne and Aragon. It was during one of these arguments, that Kat’s cup ran dry, and she resolved to go get her own refill.
“She wore a crown and came down in a bubble, mate!” Anne screeched, and a very exasperated looking Aragon threw her hands up in the air.
“And how does that make her a princess?!” She cried out, looking around the table as though disbelieving she was actually caught in this conversation. “Her title was ‘The Good Witch’, where in that is there proof of royalty?!”
Katherine chuckled as she stood, looking to the other three queens who were watching with amusement. “Does anyone else need a refill?” She asked quietly, to not draw too much attention away from the riveting discussion at hand. The others all shook their heads, but offered their thanks, before turning back to watch the theatrics.
The normally quiet pub was more lively tonight, as it appeared that a bachelor’s party had stopped in to fuel up before a night of more intensive partying. Kat had to push her way through a few throngs of men in order to reach the bar, which put her on edge already.
When she managed to reach the bar without incident, she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She ordered a refill of her drink, and waited for it while watching her friends continue to act goofily with a contented look on her face. At least, until she felt someone brush up against her backside, and a warm breath on the back of her neck.
“Excuse me, but I just had to tell you how sexy you look.” A deep voice purred into her ear from behind, sending chills of disgust down Kat’s spine.
“I-I’m not interested.” She forced out, trying to maneuver her body away from his when his hand shot out and caught her wrist.
“C’mon! Why don’t we get out of here, and I’ll show you just how skilled I am at making sexy girls scream?” He came close as he spoke, nipping lewdly at her bottom of her ear, and that was all it took for Katherine to go spiraling.
All she could see was Henry, Mannox, Dereham, and Culpeper. All she could feel was their touch on her body. All she could hear was the words they each had whispered to her, telling them how much they loved her, telling them how good they’d make her feel, but they never did either.
Kat’s eyes had glazed over, and she stood frozen.
“Hellooooo.” The man drew out, mockingly waving a hand in front of Katherine’s face as he chuckled, throwing a look back over his shoulder to his friends, who were chuckling as well. “Anybody in there? Sweetie, I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
He began to snake his arm even tighter around her waist, and Kat’s breath hitched, fear shooting through her, but she stayed frozen.
“Oi!” Katherine heard the familiar voice behind her, and soon after felt the warmth of a comforting hand on her back. Instantly Kat felt like she could breathe again, knowing that Anne was here to protect her, and she relaxed a little into her cousin’s touch. “Lesson here mate, I think she’s made it pretty clear that she’s not interested in your pathetic self, so how about you go on back with the other degenerates you came in here with, and leave us alone.”
The man made a sound of disbelief, looking shocked, and had to shoot a glare at his friends as they began to snicker at the verbal take down he had just suffered.
“Fine.” He relented, putting his hands up and taking a miniature step back. “It’d probably be like fucking a corpse anyway.” He sneered, raking his eyes over Katherine’s body one last time.
Then, he spat at her.
The second it hit her in the face, chaos broke out around Katherine, but time seemed to slow down.
Anne was lunging at the man, hitting him square in the nose with her fist as her lips drew back in a snarl. Katherine glanced backwards to see Cleves already up on her feet, chair knocked backwards from the force of her standing so quickly, and striding towards them with purpose. Aragon wasn’t far behind her, with Parr directly behind her. Jane was on her feet in the other direction, clearly seeking out help from some form of security or management.
When she turned back around, the man had gotten the upper hand over Anne, and was now pinning her to the wall by her throat. The scar on her neck looked angry beneath the man’s hand, and it was evident that fear was creeping into Anne’s eyes as she struggled the breathe and memories from the past were brought back.
Katherine felt a wave of protectiveness wash over her at the sight of seeing her best friend in such a dire situation. Seeing as how none of the other queens had gotten close enough to lend any aid yet, she acted on impulse, picking up a bottle laying on the bar and smashing it over the man’s head.
He instantly released Anne, cursing and clutching his head, shaking the glass shards as he whirled around to face Katherine. Anne was clutching her throat, coughing and breathing deeply, before shooting a shocked and panicked look at her. Kat was just as shocked at her actions as anyone else, and began to back up as the man began approaching her again.
“You fucking bitch…” He snarled, striking her across the cheek with his fist and knocking her to the ground. He kicked her once, twice in the ribs, and was rearing back to strike her a third time, only to be interrupted as Cleves tackled him to the ground away from Kat. Hands aided Katherine in standing, either Aragon or Parr, she wasn’t quite sure, before they were gone, leaping into the fray of violence.
There was chaos all around as Anne regained her footing and joined Parr and Aragon in fighting off the man’s friends, doing a damn good job of forming a protective barrier between Kat and any more incoming danger. Kat had managed to press herself up against the bar, hyperventilating as the courage that allowed her to save Anne left her, and was quickly replaced with anxiety. She squeezed her eyes shut tight as she tried desperately to control her breathing, trusting the other queens to keep her safe to the best of their ability.
Time appeared to lose all meaning, as she stood there for what seemed like hours, but was surely just seconds. She could hear sirens approaching, but kept her eyes clenched shut tightly, until she felt a hand lay itself gently on her arm.
Still, she flinched away whimpering, unwilling to face whatever was waiting for her when she opened her eyes.
“Kat, Kat it’s just me, it’s Jane. You can open your eyes love, it’s okay. Just breathe.” Jane’s comforting voice sounded near Katherine’s ear in a whisper, as the hand moved to rub comforting circles in her back.
When Kat opened her eyes, she wanted to close them immediately again.
Parr was holding Anne up, who was gently rubbing her throat where bruises had already begun to develop. She’s also gotten quite the shiner over her right eye, and when Parr gently touched it, she pulled away with a hiss. Cleves was clutching a fist full of tissues to what appeared to be a bleeding nose, but from the gleam in Cleves eye, Kat figured it wasn’t broken, and that Cleves was immensely proud of herself. Aragon and Parr didn’t look too worse for wear, Aragon’s hair had gotten a little messed up, and it looked like Parr had suffered a scratch across the face from one of the men.
As the adrenaline wore off, Kat clutched her ribs, gasping out in pain as she leaned against Jane for support.
“I’ve got you love, don’t worry. We’ve got you.”
Kat nodded, allowing herself to zone out as they were ushered towards ambulances by paramedics. She did however, catch the sight of the man and his friends being led into squad cars, handcuffed and thoroughly beaten.
He happened to look backwards and caught sight of her, bloody lips pulling back into a sneer, before Parr walked between the two of them, blocking their line of sight of each other.
Kathrine just rested her head on Jane’s shoulder wearily, clutching tight to her hand as the ambulances took them to the hospital to get checked.
As suspected, Katherine and Anne took the brunt of the injuries, with Kat suffering from a broken rib or two and a shiner on her cheek, and Anne suffering from a pretty severe black eye and a considerably sore throat for the time being. Both cousins would sitting out the next few shows as their physical wounds healed. Their emotional trauma however, was a bit trickier to deal with.
Katherine, of course, felt it was all her fault that the queens were involved in a fight to begin with, let alone that they were injured. It took convincing from all six of the other queens for her to believe it wasn’t her fault, but the fault of the creep that couldn’t take no for an answer.
Even once they’d managed to convince her that, okay, maybe it wasn’t her fault, she was still dealing with the old trauma that this new trauma brought back to the surface. She was skittish every time she had to be around men, pressing herself into the side of whichever queen happened to be closest, and was suffering from recurring nightmares.
After a particularly bad night terror, Kat shot upright, tears streaming down her face and knees brought to her chest as she curled in on herself. She tried to use the mechanisms she was learning in therapy to calm herself down, when she heard gentle knocking on her door.
“Kitty?” Anne asked, in the softest voice Kat had probably ever heard, as she slowly opened the door and walked just inside the room. “Are you alright?”
Katherine contemplated lying, telling Anne that it was fine and that she could just leave, but the idea of being alone, like she was in that damned tower, it led her to shake her head quickly.
At that, Anne crept slowly into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed before slowly offering up a hug. As rambunctious as Anne could be, she had an especially soft spot for Kat. She knew to respect her personal space, and she knew that when she was sad, it broke her heart.
Katherine gladly accepted the huge, burying her face into Anne’s shoulder, wincing slightly as pressure was applied to her still healing bruise, and being careful of the bruises on Anne’s neck.
They stayed that way for a while, holding each other in comfortable silence, before Anne pulled away just enough to look Kat in the eye. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again, Kitty. I know it might be hard to believe me after what happened, but I swear. Never again.” She affirmed, a look of determination accompanying her promise.
Katherine smiled just a little, and nodded. She knew it probably wasn’t a realistic promise, for as much as Anne was self assured, she did not in fact control fate, but it didn’t matter. “Annie?” She whispered, to which her cousin cocked her head.
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay the night with me? I don’t want to be alone.” She admitted softly, and within a second Anne was burrowing beneath the sheets.
“I thought you’d never ask cuz.” She said with a sigh of content, clearly making herself comfortable in the bed. “Now, lets get some shut eye. I noticed Aragon bring home some donuts, if we wake up early enough, we can beat her to them in the morning.”
Katherine laughed genuinely for the first time in a little while, nodding. “You got it. And Annie?” Anne hummed her acknowledgment, turning to look at her. “Thanks.”
Anne’s lips cracked into a smile, and she nodded. “Anything for you Kitty. Roll on over, I know you’re the little spoon.” She ordered gently, cuddling up.
Once Anne’s arms were around her, Kat felt truly safe, and sleep found her quickly.
Morning broke, and for at least an hour it was peaceful. Until Aragon made it into the kitchen.
“BOLEYN, WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY DONUTS?!”