Rat squeaking, human speaking

Art by: JellyFish3145

Ayo, like I said last chapter, this is dealing more with the abuse and even a scene of it. If uncomfortable, wait until the next chapter.

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Rain silently left the room, leaving Seven and Squeaks alone for what she hoped only a few minutes, an hour at most. A new mission had her attention, something that she needed her full focus on.

Getting the muzzle key from Mono.

If she can get the muzzle off, they can make a plan together on what to do next. She didn't have time to tell her brother the whole story, but knew she needed him to speak before spilling it all out to him.

Her footsteps were softened by the sand on the warren's floor, which was added to help keep predators from hearing them above. The torches along the side of the wall lit the way down the longer tunnel that acted like a hallway.

The cell was close to the Commander's chamber, which was right by the dining room where announcements would be made when the time came. It shouldn't take her long if she was quick, she knew where it probably was.

She stepped into the dining room, the sound of kids talking as they ate meeting her ears. No one noticed she had left, which was good. She went to turn to make her way to the Commander's chamber, before feeling a soft hand on her shoulder, a spark of pain jolting in her sore muscles.

"Rain, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She knew that voice, giving a small sigh of relief. At least she could trust her. Rain turned, eerie green eyes seeing the pair of blue-gray eyes of the only person she cared for that wasn't her kin.

"I'm fine, Nosebleed. Thank you for asking, but I need to get going," Rain muttered to her. Nosebleed look at her with worry, reaching out and gently took her hand into her own, looking at the bite mark given to her by Squeaks.

Nosebleed looked at the wound, eyes narrowing. "He's hurting you again. I know you don't want me to do anything about it, but by the stars, I'm getting so tired of him treating you like this, Rain."

Rain wrapped her hand around the other's, nervously looking up to meet the other's gaze. "Nosebleed, I'll be fine, I promise. He just... gets angry, but he cares for me. You... you and I both know if he didn't I'd be dead a long time ago."

The answer only seemed to upset her friend even more, more blood gently dripping down onto her once clean white shirt. "Rain, please, I don't want to lose you. We can run away, like we planned in the past," she said in a hushed tone, keeping her voice low to avoid anyone from easedropping.

Rain held her hand tighter, enjoying the warmth in the other's hand. She wanted nothing more but to be away from her Commander, to be safe and sound, to be with her brother and dear Nosebleed. She was there when Seven left, and was the only one Rain let tend to her wounds to avoid suspension from others.

At first, Nosebleed told her to announce it to the rebellion, only to get more angry as Rain told her she couldn't. "You're Oracle, you can just say the stars no longer want him here!"

"That's not how it works. The stars may strike me down for lying, or Mono could do something in retaliation,"

"Oh, what's he going to do, hurt you more by telling? It'll just be the same if you keep letting this happen. He's a toxic person, Rain, you don't need to be around him for your own safety,"

"You... you know I can't do that."

Now, Rain wished she did. She could announce it now, in front of everyone, show the marks on her body as evidence. The tender bruises and cuts, the scars from where she was slammed against the wall... she could end it all.

But she couldn't. She had to get the key for Seven's muzzle, she needed to get him out before it all ended horribly. But first...

"Nosebleed, I want you to promise me something,"

"Anything for you,"

"If I die, I want you to get Seven out of here. Take him to the Nest, it's safe there and now that far away. He knows where it is, we know the daughter of the owners, she'll help him."

Nosebleed nodded her head. "I will, I knew he was lying, there was no way that twig could hurt you even if he tried."

Rain gave a small weak giggle at the statement, before smiling to her friend. "Thank you," she whispered. Nosebleed pulled her into a hug, enjoying the blossom of warmth that spread along in her chest.

"No problem. Be careful."

The two separate, Rain carefully sneaking to go into her and Mono's shared room.

The Commander's Chamber was a combination between a bedroom and an office, with a desk made out of small washed up piece of driftwood with a candle or a small oil lamp placed in the corner to provide light for later hours of the night. It was normally covered in old ink stains and papers from reports of that day or that week.

A closed skylight was towards the back of the room, the candle being the only source of light. On the right wall of the room was a dug out bed, since Mono has also made it the Oracle's room, the bed has been dug deeper into the wall to provide more room.

In the back of the room was a small, still growing map in the back where previous Commanders would figure out where to send scouts at to explore and where adult settlements were to help keep the rebellion members safe.

Like the rest of the warren, the ground is covered in sand, making her footsteps soft and harder to hear.

She came over to the desk, looking through the nooks in it to find any sort of key Mono could have held. She dug in the small slots, carefully moved notes out of the way, even going to look under for any sort of hidden compartments. Nothing.

She came to their bed, moving their large gray blanket they shared, looking to see if he hid it there. They didn't have pillows, normally resting their heads on their arms, or if on unlucky winter nights, before forced to put her head on her Commander's chest.

She hated those nights, hated how his arm would be wrapped around her waist, his nose buried in her hair and holding her so tightly she couldn't move without waking him up. It wasn't like she was really given the choice, it was be uncomfortable or loose a few fingers from frostbite.

Maybe by the map? She walked over, carefully pulling a corner up she had seen him move before. Behind it was a small nook where Mono would normally place a few treasured items he owned, like different hats or shiny things he used to give to Rain when they were younger. Small pieces of red gemstones, a pretty sparkly river stone, even a pretty blue butterfly wing and a lime green moth wing with a twisting tail like attachment at the bottom.

No, nothing, where did he put them?

"What are you doing?"

Rain felt her body freeze as she heard the voice behind her. She forced herself to keep her breathing normal, something she grew to a pro at. Lie, just lie, it saved her before, it can help her again.

"Looking for a notebook," she said, "Eerie and Polaris might have something to share with me tonight, last night it was too foggy to hear them."

She turned fully at last, barely an inch away from her was the paper bag she grew use to seeing. The scratch marks in it giving her a faint look at the pale scarred face underneath it, flashes of twisting claw marks being seen.

She could hear the soft sound of his rather slow breathing, seeing his chest right and fall from how close he was to her. A faint flash on the side of his coat made her glance, seeing the set of keys on a lapel. She should have known.

Slowly, he took a step to her, she in turn taking a step back, than another, than another as he got closer to her. Rain flinched as her back hit the wall behind her, cursing herself for allowing her to be cornered.

He rose his hand, and for a moment, Rain began to panic. Instead of being met with a painful grip, she was softly surprised of a tender touch, lifting her chin up until she was eyes to dark eye holes with him.

She could see the faint telltale sign of his different color eyes, the orbs blank and unwavering, they looked dead almost, with their unnatural steady stare.

"Rain, you know I care for you, don't you?" he said in a low voice.

Rain took a small breath, trying to calm her racing pulse. She just had to play along. The question rang in her head though, how did this count as caring? "Of course, Commander Mono."

"Then explain to me why you are so scared of me, after all the things I have done for you? Keeping you safe and happy, well feed even. You know no one else would have done that for you, not Seven, Five, or even the stars,"

No one else...

"I would give up the world for you. I would sacrifice anything just to make you happy and safe. Please know what I'm doing with Seven is for your own good, he's trying to fill your head with lies and I can't have that."

Seven was lying? Her own brother-- no, no, stop falling for his mind games! Seven wasn't lying.

"Seven... Seven was telling the truth, he won't lie to me," Rain said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Rain, he doesn't care about you like I do. I love you, I cherish you, I know what's best for you, trust me. I would never hurt you on purpose."

Trust him? How could she trust him after everything he's done to her? After all the nights of where she would slip away from her Oracle duties to get her wounds look at, or find a place to cry from the pain in her body. The countless nights she was scared to return back to the warren and would pass out during the daylight hours from sleep deprivation.

"Commander Mono, I... I care for you too. Could- could I please use the keys to speak with Seven? I want to say goodbye to him before daybreak,"

Mono's touch tightened, now grabbing her jaw. "No, no, you can't. I don't want him filling your head with nonsense again,"

"But, Mono-"

"That's Commander and I said no,"

He pushed her more against the wall, other hand grabbing her shoulder, pushing her head up to expose her neck. Her blunt nails reached up, grabbing his wrist and digging in, trying to get away.

In a blind panic swing, she tried to kick him off, knee slamming into his crotch, making him cry out in intense pain, letting go, dropping to his knees.

Her breathing quickened as the reality of it all quickly settled on her, she had to get out before he recovered. She reached over, ripping the ring of keys from the lapel, making a mad dash to the curtain.

"Rain, get back here!"

She ignored his angry cries, pushing passed the curtain and running to the dining hall, before turning and bolting to the room Seven was kept in.

She flung the other curtain open, seeing a now very pleased Squeaks happily receiving head pats from a now unsnared Seven. The snapped off pieces of wire were thrown to the side, and loop pulled over his head and tossed in another corner.

They looked over, caught off guard by the sudden invasion of the other. "C'mon, we have to go, now, before Mono starts getting guards after us."

Seven got to his feet, patting his leg, making Squeaks stand up beside him. Rain hurried to lead them out, the two stopping once they came to the dining room.

Rain's eyes darted around, trying to spot their exit. Squeaks quickly took the lead from her, zipping past her and running to where ever she had come in from.

The twins followed her, finding themselves being lead back to Seven's bedroom. The skylight was open, moonlight washing the sand and painting it silver.

Squeaks came to it, jumping out with minimal effort. The sound of kids running made adrenaline rush through Rain's veins. She pulled her brother over, helping him climb out, before jumping and catching his hand, being pulled up.

There were sounds of shouting and the curtain moving as the lid closed, Seven getting up and trying to push a rock onto the skylight lid. The lid bounced as some kids tried to push the skylight open, nearly opening it, a flash of a hand snapping Rain out of whatever trance she was in.

Rain ran to help her brother, the two pushing with all of their might to keep the lid closed. Once over it, Rain let out a small breath of relief, mind and body suddenly shoot and exhausted, falling to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

She looked up, seeing her brother tried to calm his own breathing, looking around for any ambush parties in the scrubs and bushes.

Squeaks let out a few chirps, motioning them over to her. She let out a small squeak, before making her way off into the bushes, leading them off to somewhere.

Seven reached a hand down for Rain to take, which she took with a soft smile, being pulled to her feet by her brother. They followed after Squeaks through the scrubs, trying to hide as they heard rebellion members begin to crawl out from the warren's entrance, calling out to one another as to who was to check where.

Now she definitely couldn't go back. She didn't have to go back to that hellhole anymore. Stars above, don't strike her down.

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Finished - Apr. 10th, 2021

Say it with me now, Signal Mono is a jackass

I hate this version of Mono's action, but I like writing him cause I like helping spread awareness of this type of abuse.

Most people don't know what gaslighting is. It is an abusive tactic that makes you believe your slowly going insane and/or makes you doubt everything you know.

Rain deserves better, just let the girl be happy that her brother is back in her life after in being missing for two years.

Oh well, it's late, and I need to go to bed.

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!

* Edited June 17th, 2021 *