Chapter Text
"I'm so sorry, (y/n)..." These words echoed in my head as I ran as fast as I could through the dirty streets of the underground. I recalled the blood spilled all over the floor. It was as vivid as the blood coming from the wound on my back that made it harder for me to breathe while running as I turned to the next right corner of the road I was following.
I had just committed the worst sin someone could ever commit in life and cried my heart out as my legs took me as far as they could take me at the moment. In my hands, I carried the last bag of bread that was trusted me and searched for a safe place to spend the night.
I was lead by mere chance to a square I didn't recognise. I wondered if someone had found the house and what was in it by now. I kept running with my head lowered, facing the ground. I felt my sticky, dirty and wet white dress rubbing against my wound, causing a painful sensation all over my body. Distracted by those thoughts, I felt myself bumping into something. I didn't notice what was happening until I had the sight of four men looking at me. Most in disgust.
"Watch where you're going, brat!" The man that I bumped into, said angered.
"Look, she's bleeding." Someone else said in somewhat concern. I could see that he was afraid of the others by the way he looked at them after he spoke. We exchanged a glare for a brief moment. I wondered why he stared at me in compassion if he was surrounded by bad looking people.
"Think someone would pay good money, if we sell her?" Another man said, making me gasp in fear. I understood by his words that they were thugs.
I tried to run away, but the leader of the group pulled my hair and threw me onto the wall behind us. I felt the wound of my back reacting to the collision and screamed in pain. Fortunately, I fell to the ground which would give me a chance of getting back up if I knew how to pick my cards. If he'd pin me against the wall it surely would've been my end. But still, I had no strength to get up as two of them started to kick my head and stomach in attempt to make me unconscious.
"I got all dirty because of this bitch... She better serve me good money!" He said as I started to cry in pain. "Just take her." He ordered as he cleaned his hands with an oddly large wiper that he took out of his pocket.
Before they could come near me, I reached for the bag of bread and pulled out a knife that I kept for protection. Not thinking about anything else, I cut the throat of the fat man that tried to grab my waist and watched the surprised reaction of the three remaining men, standing in front of me. Their loud groanings made me step back, knowing they were about to come for me.
"Grab her!"
I took a look around, knowing a knife would not be enough to free myself from that situation. I needed to think about my next moves to make it out alive. How I knew what to do was a mystery for me, but I did not think it through. My back still hurt and my vision was getting foggy. I watched the man that I just killed fall. Blood spilled all over my arm and face. Everything was in slow motion as I searched around for something to help me. Suddenly, my eyes caught a white strip tainted in blood. Falling to the ground and I knew exactly what to do. Time started to tick normally again as I put my last efforts in making my body move faster.
I wanted to believe that the man from the right wasn't going to harm me from the way he spoke earlier. He didn't look to want what the others were doing to me... I focused on the blonde man that stood in front of me and on the leader at the back of the two. I couldn't waste all my strength taking down one man. And also, I wasn't fully sure the other was going to be quiet. There was no way I could trust someone unknown in the underground. I could only hope he wasn't brave enough to join the fight.
The blonde was slow. I took advantage of that and decided to dodge his punch to take him from behind, when the others would be too shocked to catch me. The leader looked to fancy his image and that meant he depended too much on his followers. He wouldn't come for me until I faced him first. Adrenaline spiked through my entire body. I was desperate; my body was moving alone. I stabbed the slow man on the ribs, getting rid of the knife. I felt my wrist hurt from the impact and headed for the leader as the quiet fell to the floor in fear. Throwing myself to the ground, I caught the large wiper that he got rid of before and jumped on his back while he tried to escape. Forcing the cloth against his neck, I got hit by his punches in attempt to make me stop until he got out of the air.
I let him fall to the ground and I get up from sitting on his back, taking my time to recover my breath. I fell as I had lost too much blood already, releasing the wiper. Taking a look around, I noticed the man I left alive looking at me in horror.
"Just, go. I'm not gonna hurt you..." I watched him get up and starting to run away as he screamed, afraid I could change my mind and go after him. I got on my knees and looked around, searching for my bag with the only supplies I had remaining for the day. Fortunately, the bread wasn't thrown all over the floor and I thanked for that. I wouldn't want to catch any sickness. I tried to reach for it but grunted in agony, feeling my spine move uncomfortably, sending huge pain sensations all over my back and torso. I felt my ribs hit the ground.
I crawled over to the bag until I heard loud steps, coming from where the man that I spared moments ago disappeared.
"There she is! How dare you kill our boss?!"
Knowing I had no strength left, I gasped in horror when two big men ran towards me. Hiding behind my arms and closing my eyes tight, I awaited for the impact. But, a loud noise of a scream and flesh being cut came instead of pain. I opened my eyes to the sight of a boy around my age, kicking and cutting one of the men that came for me previously.
"Who are you?! Her brother? Seems like I'll just take care of you as well!" He told the boy, before being kicked in the face and stomach, falling to the ground unconscious.
"Shut up, you old pig." The boy cursed, before turning to look at me.
Scared, I tried to get up to leave. I wasn't concerned anymore with leaving the bread behind. The boy looked so frightening that I just wanted to get away as fast as possible, even though my body was burning from tired. I knew he had just saved my skin from getting kidnapped by those men that lied lifeless on the square while tainting the floor with red. But, I couldn't get over the fact that he just completely spanked two muscled and tall men without being touched. I watched as he stared with a cold and empty semblance, starting to walk towards me. Mentally, I begged him to get away. But still, I couldn't say a word when I started to sob, in fear that he would kill me. I watched him turn away for a second and gasped at him picking up the bag of bread from the floor.
"T-That..." I tried to tell him to not steal it, because without it I wouldn't last longer by myself... If I ever managed to get away. Understanding that I wanted it, he walked towards me and squatted while raising the bag, waiting for me to take it. I broke eye contact and stared at the object. I stared at him again, after taking back the bag that initially belonged to me, and watched as he started to leave.
"Wait!" I said before thinking about what to say. Already up, I knew he was staring at me as I stared at the bag in my hands. Knowing now that he wasn't interested in harming me, I wanted to thank him for protecting me from those men without needing to. I took one of the two pieces of bread from inside the bag and raised it in expectation. "You can keep it... Thank you." I stared into his grey eyes and he stared into mine.
Giving me a small, almost unnoticeable, smile he turned to leave. "I don't want it."
I watched him get away, not believing anything that just happened. Different from what I expected when we first made eye contact, he seemed to be empathetic to a certain level. I had never seen him before. And maybe, that was because I didn't recognise the place I was in either. As I stared at him leaving, I knew that I would never forget him. It was the first time I felt the feeling of safety about someone that wasn't my family. I didn't knew him and I knew that feeling was just the result of my admiration for his strength. Smiling in relief for being alive, I got up to my feet and left to find a safe place to pass the night.