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She hears the smashing of glass but doesn't register the danger until it's too late.
The warmth in her chest from talking to Zen quickly fades when her eyes make contact with the stranger who was now standing in her...Rika's apartment.
He's still standing in the shadows of the window and she can barely make out his light hair and dark jacket before she's screaming.
She can't see him properly but she recognises the warning in his voice as he tells her to be quiet. She wants to run but she's barefoot and the glass on the floor gives her enough cause to pause and before she knows it the stranger is in front of her.
She can barely focus, her heart is beating so loud but he's talking about the app, her mind quickly catches up and she puts it all together, this was Unknown - this was the person who led her to RFA...but why?
She eyes the security camera in the corner and realises with the angle, Seven couldn't possibly see the situation.
Her phone is still in her pocket, warm from her latest session on the chatroom, but there's no way to get it. No way to call for help...
The stranger is still talking, rambling about...paradise? He tells her not to fight back but she's still clinging to the hope that somebody - Zen, Seven, V, anybody - knows she needs help.
She needs to buy time.
"Why should I listen to you?"
And he's off again; parties, paradise, saving her from pain - just who is this guy?
His rambles become a rant - his words get louder and angrier and she needs to get away somehow - but then hope comes in the form of a doorbell.
She'd never heard the doorbell in the apartment before and it makes her jump before her mind catches up and hope, hope, hope...she yells:
"Save me!"
And then she hears the most beautiful sound in the world as Zen bursts into the room yelling at her, asking if she's hurt but the adrenaline is pumping and she can only repeat herself:
"Save me!"
But the next thing she feels is an arm around her neck as she's pulled towards the stranger, his grip crushing against her throat and shecannotbreathe.
Zen snarls in response and threatens her captor but she's jostled as the intruder pulls something out of his pocket and she hears Zen suck air in through his teeth.
Suddenly the threat of being blown up is real, she'd been living with the possibility for days and she thought she had accepted the idea but with this stranger holding the trigger she suddenly feels dread and panic because this is happening, this is happening...
And Zen seems to feel it too because he takes a step back.
"What do you want?"
Her captor begins to rant again, his arm tightening around her throat once more and she begins to struggle. Zen takes a step closer but stops once the stranger's thumb moves closer to the trigger.
She begins to feel faint but her captor's attention is focused on Zen so she takes a chance, her only chance, closes her eyes and then bites as hard as she can.
The arm around her neck is immediately gone and she's runningfallingcrawling into Zen's arms and finally, finally the warm arms wrap around her and they're running together through the door.
Running, running, running.
She feels heat shoot over her back but she keeps running, Zen's hand clasped in hers and before she knows it they're outside and it's cold, so cold, and her heart is beating and her brain is frozen and her feet are bare.
But then Zen is there, hands on either side of her face, his crimson eyes staring at her with concern, he's speaking but she can't focus on the words.
The next few hours are a blur, she remembers a car... taxi? And the ever constant warmth of an arm around her shoulders but she blinks and then she's sitting on a counter as Zen cleans glass and debris from her feet, mumbling to himself.
"...Zen?"
"You're okay, I've got you, you're okay..."
She doesn't know if he's trying to comfort himself or her but she nods anyway, flinches as he wipes the injuries on her feet.
"I'm sorry, I'm nearly done - hang in there babe."
Once he's finished Zen picks her up and carries her to the couch.
"I'll be right back."
She watches his back as he goes to the kitchen and feels a pang of panic at being left alone.
Taking a deep breath she pulls her phone out of her pocket - and thanks a higher power that it stayed there throughout the ordeal -before she logs onto the chat.
Seven immediately messages her and she's replying with carefully worded responses - she doesn't want him to feel guilty or panic the others - when Zen appears in the chat.
Her aim to not upset the other RFA members goes out of the window when Zen unleashes his anger at, not only Seven, but V and the entire RFA.
She tries to calm the situation and Zen seems to stop his tirade but only because she asked - she can tell he's still furious.
Seven stays logged on to apologise and this is exactly what she wanted to avoid. It wasn't the hacker's fault, whoever the green-eyed stranger was knew exactly how to get around Seven's security measures and without Zen it would have been a perfect plan, without Zen she would have been...
She would have...
Her fingers freeze, her response half typed out.
Suddenly she feels like she wakes up from a dream. It was real, she was nearly taken, she was nearly killed, she had been in danger and she probably still was and now...
The world blurs as tears well up in her eyes and make their way down her cheeks.
Her hands are shaking uncontrollably and her breath begins to catch in the back of her throat and she becomes aware of an ache around her neck where an arm had been, crushing and strong against her weak struggles and suddenly it's coming back, the panic, the dread the...
"Babe?"
And then Zen is there, pushing a hot cup of tea into her hands - giving them something to do - and then his arms are wrapping her in a blanket from the back of the couch.
His hands are on her face again, wiping the tears away which are quickly rolling down blotchy cheeks.
"I've got you, I've got you..."
He goes to stand up again and without a conscious thought, her hand shoots out of the blanket and grabs Zen's wrist.
"Okay, okay I'll stay. Don't worry. I'm here"
He takes the tea from her still-shaking hands before he moves her body across, making room for two people on the seat. She clutches at his shirt and buries her face into his chest.
She can breathe easier now, the smell of Zen intoxicating and familiar.
He has one arm around her back but the other comes up to her head and he begins running his fingers through her hair.
Despite the overwhelming panic and fear she still feels, the adrenaline has gone and with it all of her energy.
Her breathing begins to slow, her rushing heart begins to calm and soon her eyes are closing.
Zen's voice reaches her ears as he begins to sing softly. She recognises it as a song from his last musical.
It brings back memories of him singing to her down the phone, his voice full of amusement and love as she was filled with fondness.
She can hear her phone begin to buzz again, no doubt more members of the RFA logging on and finding out what had happened - or maybe guests replying to their party invitation - but she stays there, curled up on Zen's chest, breathing in his scent, his fingers running through her hair.
Her lullaby stops as Zen lowers his face to the top of her head, kissing her hair before breathing in.
He must have noticed that she was still awake as he lays his cheek on her head and whispers:
"Just sleep, I've got you. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."
She remembers the fury he unleashed in the chat, the snarl that was on his face as the intruder began to choke her and comes to the realisation that despite everything - Zen makes her feel safe.
She inhales Zen's scent one more time, his arms tightening around her before she lets sleep take her and she just...breathes.