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The hallway down to the basement gave away no hint as to what lie beyond the door. Every foot step felt just like the last, no sudden change in atmosphere despite the gravity of the things hidden inside the depths of the house.
Vixen is sat on the floor of her cage, looking up at the light between the bars, hugging her knees close to her chest. She feels an empty, insatiable hunger. It only gets worse when she hears footsteps approaching the basement door. She hated how her stomach twisted in sync with the sound of the lock pushing open.
Oh, Sunny. Beautiful, angelic work of art. How Vixen really viewed her in a different light after being locked away for so long. Compared to the bland grey walls, Summer was the glorious sun. More than that. A supernova. And oh, how Vixen ached in a completely different way than before. The hunger replaced by the need to just be closer to Sunny. Her Sunny girl.
"Hey, Vix." Summer smiled, wrapping her fingers around one of the bars. Vixen suddenly stood, almost awkwardly as she fumbled over to where Sunny stood just on the other side of the steel barrier. Maybe it was this stupid prison messing with her head, because absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Although, Vixen never truly knew what it meant to be.. Fond?
Not until Summer.
Vixen pressed as close as she could to the bars, almost as if she could phase through them somehow if she wished hard enough.
"Enough with that, I'm getting you out of here."
And thats when Vixen's heart began to pound so loud she couldn't hear anything else Summer might have said even if she tried, her blood rushing through her veins like a live wire.
"Where are we going?" Vixen sounded oddly innocent and childish despite her crimes. Summer admired that about her. How sometimes she could tell there was a human somewhere in there. One who worried about mundane and normal things rather than a sickening urge that never went away.
"Somewhere better, you'll see." And Summer began to enter the combination to the lock. Whatever random insult Summer threw toward Sylvian was practically ignored as Vixen focused with razor like precision on Summer's movements. Every second passed like somehow when the lock clicked open, the world would implode in on itself.
And then like that, she was free. Free from being treated like an animal. Kept somewhere cold and dark where she had to constantly stare at the unimaginable horrors that Sylvian didn't even bother thinking about.
A cruel, cruel predicament; but one that made this moment all the more sweet.
No, of course, Vixen was frozen, with no idea what to do with herself. Summer however, lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the creature that hardly resembled a person anymore. And Vixen felt that ache again but ten thousand fold. Like maybe just the warmth alone from Sunny against her was enough to regenerate the rot deep inside her.
She was too far gone, and that's why it hurt so bad. Vixen hadn't even noticed she was crying until Summer pulled away with a concerned look on her face.
"No, Vix, it's okay." And she raised her hands to wipe away at the tears, knowing it would do nothing to stop more from falling, in fact only making it worse.
"Vixen." She said it more seriously this time, not sure what she was even trying to say, only knowing that she wanted this all to stop.
Wanted the pain Vixen felt to stop. The fear, the anger, the sadness, the jealousy, the hatred, the hunger, the emptiness. Summer wanted to be the reason Vixen smiled again. The reason she can finally have a moment to enjoy living rather than constantly wanting and needing something more.
And she knew that somewhere in this very moment she was able to stitch a few of Vixen's open wounds closed, no matter how much she wanted to simply erase the old scars. She smiled because this was all she could do.
The tears didn't stop, but Vixen breathed a little slower, grounded by the feeling of Summer. The presence of such a light after such a long period of dark. Vixen's heart swelled so severely she wasn't sure what to do about it. Positive emotions like this never processed well in a body like Vixen's.
"Sunny." Vixen said weakly, holding back every urge to consume, to devour, to completely envelop and make into hers. Her mouth began to salivate. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Hurt me, I don't care." Summer never let go, in fact even got closer, which only made Vixen curse inwardly at herself. She really felt like Icarus as he'd finally reached the sun.
"You can't just.. Say things like that." But she knew there was no point in arguing. Not with anyone else, not with Summer, not even with herself.
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here. That thing is creeping me out."
Right. The culmination of pain. The very thing that Sylvian worked so hard to keep hidden. The very thing itself was like the opposite of a black hole. Like the negative side of a magnet pushing against itself, forcing everything away the harder it tried to get close.
Vixen found it hard to look at when she was first locked away. After a while, however, she began to stare at it, losing her mind in the process of trying to understand it in all its horrificness.
She convinced herself that it wasn't that bad, that it was just the absence of something rather than the addition of a bad thing. But the more she stared at it she wanted to fill in those gaps. Was it really absence, or substance?
It didn't matter anymore, because Sunny was already pulling Vixen out of the room as well as her thoughts as quickly as she could. Summer knew the look in Vixen's eyes when she was thinking about something she didn't want to think about or remembering something she didn't want to remember. Summer also had a way of bringing Vixen back to earth, even if she wasnt entirely conscious of it in the moment.
Summer's room was also entirely different to the steal and concrete Vixen memorized for years. It was full of life and personality and embarrassing things that Vixen wanted to learn about just as she had learned the basement. She wanted to - not because she had to - and that was different.
It was too much all at once, too many sights, smells, feelings and emotions that Vixen didn't understand and filled her with a certain terror.
But there was Sunny, still holding her hand as she brought her over to the bed covered in stuffed animals. Vixen swooned, because how could one person be so.. Unapologetically themself, so bright and amazing?
The bed sang to her like a forbidden tune, pulling her closer in a way she was unfamiliar with. She'd always been pushed away. Always.
And once she flopped down onto the bed, a feeling unlike anything she'd ever felt before spread through her entire body, making her limbs and torso light up with endorphins. This moment could never be more perfect. And Summer was still right there, watching over Vixen with a kind of admiration that Vixen couldn't stand. Not that it bothered her, although it did, just not in the way you'd expect.
It dug up feelings she'd forgotten about and buried deep underneath all the decay and debris of her broken mind. It stirred something within her that had been dormant but never truly gone, and it felt strange.
Like dipping your hands in hot water after your fingers had already gone numb from the cold. The starkness that you can't quite process until it's already too late, and you're thawed completely.
Vixen sighed contentedly for the first time in a while, simply existing in the comfort and love of Sunny's gaze rather than questioning whether or not she deserved it. Summer had a way of doing things like that to Vixen's brain. Quieting it completely or other times absolutely overstimulating it.
Summer noticed how the color almost seemed to return back to Vixen's cheeks. That softness that hadn't been there for so long that not even Vixen herself could remember. Not that she wanted to, anyway.
And Summer couldn't help the urge to get closer, to envelope her love and keep her safe from any outside or internal forces. To stop the world from continuing simply just to make Vixen the happiest she can be.
She carefully climbed onto the bed, finding a spot right next to Vixen among the sea of plush fabric and stuffing. Vixen whined slightly, unable to form words or refuse the situation properly. Not that she really wanted to.
Summer was warm, and unbearably so. Vixen found her muscles relaxing at the sudden feeling of Summer's arms and legs draping over her form, holding her close as if she were one of the plushes she kept.
Vixen wasn't soft like that, but that didn't bother Sunny none. In fact, she only fell in love harder at the contrast. The difference that she wasn't used to. The desire to learn more about her, in more ways than one. Physically, emotionally, spiritually.
And Vixen could feel it too, despite how neither of them really understood it. She could feel that invisible pull, that energy drawing her closer until she can't escape. Even though she was free from the cage, she found herself trapped in a different prison, one that wasn't nearly as horrible, but just as affective at making Vixen's heart race.
No other words were exchanged, because there didn't have to be. Everything was simple, at least in this moment. Vixen was free and surrounded by love. Summer had her terrifying girl right where she wanted her. Thats all they needed.