(Y/N) felt cold.

Everything hurt, it stung, her whole body was engulfed in a type of stinging pain that wouldn't let her find any peace of mind, it wasn't like she could anyway with the situation at hand, everything the (H/C) loved was going to be burnt out, just like what happened so many years ago.

It should've been different, back then she was just a small, powerless child against the predatory force of nature, it was the only thing to do back then- to run away, but it should be different now, she wasn't small and helpless anymore, she had strength, she had cunning, she could easily bring them all to their knees in an instant for their crimes.

But nothing was different this time, this was exactly the same.

If it wasn't for those damn instincts of hers, if only she could overcome them, then maybe she could actually protect those close to her, but she couldn't.

Everytime she tried, it resulted in only more agony, every word she spoke against them was received with an unforgiving press of dominance, a sudden chill in the air would forcibly seal her lips shut, and then they would beat her.

It was frustrating beyond thought.

She wanted to bite them until their hands were chewed off, she wanted to scream and shout and spout such horrific threats in their faces that they would cower back in fear before dying of fright, she wanted to swing her arms right through them, she wanted them to leave her friends alone

For once she wanted to be finally rid, of those god damn scars.

All they ever seemed to have brought was anguish and pain, whenever she thought everything was going to be alright- they'd just ruin it all.

Now it's apparent they were serving as a target tattooed on her back as well, and all she could do was howl and thrash about in the cage they chained her in.

Practically blowing out hot air, she struggled to get ahold of any lifeform that dared to set a single toe too close to her, but instead it somehow turned into some sadistic game for them.

They would purposefully inch a few millimeters too close to the cage, just near enough for her to swipe them bloody, but just when she moved for them they would jump away and laugh at her attempt.

Giving them a frustrated snarl she turned away and violently pressed her fingers against the flooded eyes that were threatening to leak, she couldn't show any weaknesses to these vile creatures.

Peeking from over her shoulder, she hissed in both warning and fear seeing the black monstrosities dance around the cage with their gleeful red eyes.

She wasn't in the forest, she wasn't in the forest, she wasn't in the forest, she knew it, she knew they weren't real but they just were, and she couldn't help but be terrified.

Why did she have to be so different from everyone else? Why was she suddenly feeling so inferior? Why couldn't she rebel against these instincts? Why couldn't she overcome this part of the forest that has followed her?

In the beginning she struggled to find a way to own them, trying to get used to the stares and the nightmares, and the many, many reminders of the biggest moment in her life, it was hard to find a way past the instant that branded her for eternity.

She thought she did, when Kidd and all the other children welcomed her with open arms, she thought she could look past them as something that would make her the odd one out, she thought she finally realized what they truly made her, she thought it was over, like the end of a story the adults would speak of around the fire.

But it never was.

She still had the haunting nightmares of the forest, it was always the same one, it began the same, and it ended the same, and it probably always will.

She will always have to stand before that monstrosity again, always run away for her life again, and end up with the same scars again.

It was a cycle.

It was pathetic, she had Kidd, the rebels, Law, and his friends and family who all genuinely cared for her, and they all didn't just look at the scars, instead they looked into the scars, and she couldn't have been happier.

But there were other people, the nobles that thought they meant 'abused', the many peers that mistook them for ugly accessories, the few rebels who mistook them for badges of bravery and pride, the elders that saw them as signs of pity.

Suddenly hearing the monsters back away, she broke out of her thoughts feeling a spike of adrenaline in the air, she turned around seeing the beast stand before her, looking exactly the same as the night she first laid eyes on it.

It's red, endless orbs of bloodshed glowed in cruelty, it's fangs glistened- something that made her stomach drop, knowing that clean teeth meant an empty stomach, and it's black fur was as unruly and dirty as before.

Hearing the beast rumble from within it's very throat, the smaller monsters followed by pushing her out of her cage, and instead of putting up any kind of fight, she felt the dangerous aura and silenced her complaints for her own good.

And it was so frustrating.

The whole time they spent herding her around the twists and turns of whatever cave they were in, she was frustrated, struggling with keeping her internal conflict to herself, she bit her own lip to the point of bleeding to occupy herself.

Finally they left her in a small room, and she was left to her thoughts, with nothing but the darkness as her company.

Breathing in and out with vigor, she felt her skin crawl, now beginning to hear loud, violent noises beyond the opposite wall, rushing to the cool rock that acted as the only barrier isolating her from the rest of the world, she felt her fists tighten hearing the battle that no doubt would end it all.

Her friends were out there, they needed her.

But the bone chilling sensation that eroded her courage of crossing such a frightening alpha made her go stiff, and this time she truly wept in frustration.

She wanted to end this, she wanted to stop being so weak, she wanted to stop bending over backwards over these stupid instincts, she wanted to finally stop letting other people define her own scars as something she knew they weren't.

They weren't accessories, they weren't badges or ribbons, they weren't stains, and they sure as hell weren't marks that made her a completely different species, they were her, they were her skin, her story, her life, and they will always be there to show what she's been through in physical form, she wasn't proud of them, but she wasn't ashamed of them either, there was nothing to be proud or ashamed about, all she ever did was survive like everyone else.

She was just like everyone else.

Feeling her eyes widen, caught inside an epiphany, (Y/n) collapsed onto the wall and slid down until she was seated on the ground, for some reason she felt she heard something like that before.

And suddenly the memory hit her.

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(Y/N) watched as the rebel children gathered around the fire, it glowed big and bright, whisping around in the breeze like grass on a wide open field.

She has never seen fire so brightly before, once all the other kids settled down, an older man close to reaching his final years wobbled over to the fire and logs, collapsing into a seat across from the kids.

"Now, isn't it time for another story?" She blinked hearing all the little ones cheer out at once, only to quiet back down almost immediately, as if they were simply captured with baiting breath by the promise of these stories.

Keeping her distance from the others, she avoided the warmth of the flames and kept to the chill of the night.

"Well then, have you children heard of the-" suddenly the old man's eyes landed on her hunched up alone in the shadows, making (Y/N) squirm in nervousness.

Pausing for a moment, he kept his eyes trained on the girl until he turned to the other children with a gleam in his irises, "have you children heard of the story of the seamstress and the little boy?" They shook their little heads.

"Well, long ago there was a seamstress who always wore a long cloak that hid her whole body, she was the best in the village, and everyone would go to her for their robes" soon the (H/C) turned away, uninterested in such a tale.

"One day the son of a weaver came to her asking to be her apprentice, and she refused" she blinked, "day after day the boy would ask her again and again, until the seamstress finally said, 'do you want to know the secret of my talent so badly?' And the boy said, 'yes'" (Y/N) turned back to see the kids all leaning in.

"She removed her cloak to show the boy that her skin was sewed onto her body in stitches" the crowd silently gasped and the girl blinked in suprise, why would she show the boy that?! Of course now he was going to be afraid of her!

"'My ability to sow has a secret, the reason I have become so talented is from sowing my own skin, and now do you see little one why you cannot be as good as me?'" Of course, there was no way for the boy to possibly match up to someone who went through so much, she's seen pain, and he hasn't, simple as that.

"But the boy shook his head" (Y/N) froze on the spot and began to listen to the story closely, "and he said, 'I can still be just like you, I may not have the marks, but I still can have the experience!" (Y/N) felt slammed, the experience? What?

"And so the boy became just as good as the seamstress, like mother and child- they sewed together for the rest of their days" the children began to mutter and gossip excitedly about the story, seemingly happy with the ending.

But (Y/N) wasn't.

"That story doesn't make any sense!" Peering back at the young girl with a knowing gaze, the elder watched (Y/N) snarl at him in defiance- evidently having been waiting for such a response.

"How could the boy possibly match up to the seamstress?! She's been through so much more than him and has the evidence to prove it! She paid the price for what she wanted and now she's the black sheep because of it! That story makes no sense! How can the boy possibly be anything like her?! She's different from everybody!" The elder smiled at her tantrum with a wise stare.

Looking down at the children he rubbed one on the head, "Ace? Do you know the difference between the boy and the seamstress?" The freckled raven stared hard into the fire, gazing deep into the mysteries of the universe until an ignorant smile molded onto his face, "well, the seamstress is a girl?" (Y/N)'s jaw dropped.

Turning to the other kids, the old man grinned at them, "well then do any of you kids know the difference?" All of them began to ponder and hum in concentration, causing (Y/N) to blow up in frustration.

"Are you all joking?! It's the stitches! In order to get so good she marked herself forever and made herself different forever!" They looked at the hellraiser quite puzzled, "why do the stitches make her different?" (Y/N) was at a loss for words.

"S-She looks different.." the old man gave her a small, unapproved frown, "now why would looking different make her special from anybody else?" (Y/N) couldn't find anything to say.

"My child, we are all children of the earth, some of us may look different, but we can all be the same through experience, and what experience makes us all the same is how we survive together" (Y/N) felt her eyes water, "some of us may survive in different ways, and we may have to survive in different situations, but that doesn't change the fact that we all struggle on this earth together, so, how can that seamstress and that boy be so different when they both strive to be the best at what they do?" The little girl broke down.

"I- I- whaah!" Bursting into tears, she ran up to the elder and buried herself into his embrace, "you're no different my child, you're just like everyone else" and for once, she believed him.

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That's right, she was just like everyone else.

Harshly wiping away the globs of tears stinging her cheeks, (Y/N) forced herself up and glared hard into the wall, "there must be.." gripping tightly onto the ridges and cracks, she began to scrape against the stone, feeling her brutality begin to claw out, "a way out.." once again she listened to the shouts of violence, spurring her on to escape and felt bits and grains crumble around her.

Feeling herself lose grip on reality, (Y/N) continued to focus on nothing but the many members of her kin who were awaiting her, her beloved alphas, the kids of the village, the wise elder, even Sachi and Penguin, "gah!" Hissing in pain, she clenched tightly onto her left wrist, grinding her teeth seeing a gaping laceration on the palm of her hand.

Looking to the wall, she felt her chest lighten in hope seeing pokes of light streaming through.

Jumping upon the hole in an instant, the (H/C) ripped and tore at the walls, soon the cries of battle grew in clarity, and she could so perfectly hear every blow, every strike taken, clicking her tongue in annoyance as her hands began slipping off, she growled looking down at her bloodied hands.

Squeezing them tightly, she began to punch and bang, watching her escape route become bigger and bigger, just a little more and she was free to change everything.

"(Y/N)!" Freezing in confusion, her heart erupted in elation hearing an unmistakable voice, "L-Law!" Forcing her head through the gap, she cursed finding the light too bright, making her unable to see.

"Law!" She coughed roughly feeling her throat sting in pain, "(Y/N)!" The young woman swung her head around to try and identify where they were, "(Y/N)!" She struggled to try and poke herself out, but she flinched back feeling the hole grind against her skin, "Kidd! Law!"

Her cries were suddenly interrupted by a groan of pain, and her body went awfully still, her alphas were in pain.

Not being able to hear anything else over the blaring noises surrounding the whole city, she took in able deep breath.

The hole she made wasn't near enough the size anyone could worm through- but maybe, if she could pull off that miracle one more time.

Drawing in a hesitant breath, (Y/N) rubbed a bloodied, tender finger over the scratchy surface of stone, no doubt trying to scrape by would end in- permanent scarring.

"-ow prepare to receive divine judgement for your crimes! You traitor!" The hellraiser saw red hearing that man's voice, he was there.

She just snapped.

Ramming into the hole, she sucked in the pain as she clawed her way through, feeling patches of her skin flake off with it, but she didn't give a rat's ass about that.

With a pissed roar, she charged at the man who started all of this, the man who made her life such hell in only seconds, and the one who dared point a weapon at her alphas.

Launching him into the air with a powerful tackle, over the rushing wind she could hear the shouts of her alphas, but ultimately ignored them as she and Spandam were vaulted off the side of the castle in their momentum.

Hearing the purple haired creep shriek in terror and fear, she ignored the instincts to help him with the scent he was giving off and used him as a springboard.

Jumping off his falling body, and also shoving him towards the marbled streets, (Y/N) painfully grabbed ahold of the stone walls, feeling her fingers scream in agony as the skin was practically scraped off until she came to a stop.

Dangling recklessly over the edge, she let her adrenaline power her, letting out an angered roar, she climbed up and up and up, until finally she boosted herself up and stood proudly amongst the rubble.

Looking down at her hands, she clenched her teeth seeing nothing but bloody, stumps of flesh, all missing their nails, then moving to glance at her arms, she blinked seeing less damage than she anticipated, sure she bled, and had scrapes that would scab- perhaps a few that would scar, but she would surely heal.

Then the tears started to roll, she did it, she finally overcame that black, murky, terrifying crevice inside her, she fought back against the wolf, she finally fully embraced herself, she had no more regrets.

"(Y-Y/N).." looking up in shock, watery (E/C) orbs met gold and silver, she felt her nose begin to run seeing her beloved alphas, "m-my, alphas!" Rushing towards them, she nearly wept feeling them crush her in a tight embrace.

"(Y/N)! I am so sorry! I did all of this!" Letting Law ramble on and on with bullshit apologies, and smiling feeling Kidd assault her with relieved pecks to her cheeks, (Y/N) grinned.

"Guys I get it now!" Inturrupting the both of them, they paused in awe, catching the new lively spark shining through her eyes, "I'm just like you all! I'm the same! I'm not different! This whole time I felt alone! But I wasn't! You're both just like me! We're all the same!" The two allowed soft smiles.

"Well.." seeing something glitter behind them, (Y/N) acted quickly and shoved them down, just in time to dodge an axe flying by them and slashing into the further debree.

Finally paying attention to the battle taking place, the three stilled disconcerted, seeing many people still facing each other to the death.

"Oh no.."