Growth and Lust Ch. 05 - Hurt

Perta winced, the tone was so sincere, like a little girl talking to a puppy with utmost care.

"Because you can tell me, Peter." There was a pause, no one speaking for a moment.

Perta felt like his feet were glued to the floor.

"Go ahead, say it Peter."

Perta strained his ears.

"I-"

Perta heard Peters voice.

"I- I'm-"

*SMACK*

Perta heard the sharp crack of a hand smacking cheek, a noise he had become accustomed to whenever Peter and Veronica were together. She never did it in the estate proper, but the bowels of this damp concrete labyrinth almost echoed with her constant berating.

"Don't cry, what did I tell you about that? Now, go ahead and say it."

"I'm- stupid."

Perta closed his eyes as he turned his head back from where he came, feeling hurt himself and wondering if he could sneak back down the corridor.

*SMACK*

"That's right Peter, you are stupid. You need to acknowledge this."

"Yes."

The mans voice whimpered out.

"Can you spell it?"

There was a pause as the air hung still in the corridor, Perta feeling like he was about to receive a slap from her at any second.

"Stupid, Peter, spell it."

Peters mouth opened, but nothing came out at first.

*SMACK*

" 'S' Peter, stupid starts with an 'S' " Veronica chastised.

" 'S'- t-'T' "

*SMACK*

"Don't stutter, you know how much I hate that."

" 'U'- 'P' --'I'-"

Perta could hear his voice cracking, a stone formed in his own throat as he felt the man trying as hard as he could.

" 'D' "

*SMACK*

"Why are you crying, Peter?" Veronica hissed. "You cry all the time, for us being so alike you truly are so pathetic. Stupid and pathetic Peter."

Perta furrowed his brow, unable to see even a slight inkling of these two being alike.

*

"I'm not sure what it was, but from the little I gathered from Savanna, apparently her and Roke had a similar childhood." He stopped for a moment, looking at the rocks around him and ensuring he was heading in the right direction. "I didn't ask too much, but something about their mothers brought them together." Perta began stepping forward again, sure he was in the right place but felt they were well ahead of schedule.

Bakaree matched his footsteps, planting her feet almost exactly where Perta had stepped, the silence of the forest felt suffocating as Perta focused on the path. Glancing over her shoulder though she could see the Tallhee was angry, her eyes full of fury as her lips showed a disapproving snarl. She snapped her head forward, then reaching out to Perta she grabbed his elbow and shook it.

Perta reminisced over the things he saw there, remembering how Peter would just grit his teeth and bear it. How many times he had found him in a heap with blood staining his clothes, he had asked Savanna how he didn't pass out? Only receiving the answer, 'She wouldn't consider the lesson learned if he slept through it.' He felt a strong grip on his elbow, he stopped and looked at Bakaree. He shook his head and cocked a confused eyebrow before asking, "What?" then seeing the red woman was stone still and glaring. He watched her head raise and black angry pools that once were fiery begging eyes now weighing down on him, Gulping as he instinctively took a step back.

"Don't think about it." Bakaree hissed.

Perta blinked and looked at her, confused about what she meant.

"Don't-" she looked over her shoulder at the angry Tallhee, using all her might to match her eyes and not falter. 'He's a good man, and we know you do not have a lot of time, but please be patient and remember this is all in the past. Before you met him, before he was Roke.' Then turning to face Perta again, "Don't dwell on the bad, focus on the path ahead and try not to think about whatever you just were."

Perta had even more questions, now worried that he made the wrong decision as Bakaree was pleading with him through fear filled eyes. He nodded and then turned to continue walking, not focusing on Rokes past pain but instead thinking of when he finally spoke to him without Savanna.

*

Perta gulped and wondered if he would be reprimanded for what he was about to ask, but he couldn't stomach this anymore. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and reassured himself that he may be able to sleep better if he just asked.

"Why don't you leave?"

Peter didn't answer, instead he kept putting one foot in front of the other and marching towards the room Veronica told him to go to.

Perta could see him walking with a limp, he tried to hide it but with nothing else to pay attention to it was easy to see. "Do you want hel-"

"Shut up!" Peter hissed as he spun on his heels.

Perta felt a hand clamp around his mouth, he felt fear for a moment as Peters eyes glared into his own. The blue intensity of them made him feel so small as the man looked so angry, he tried to apologize but couldn't open his mouth with Peter holding his hand over it. He felt Peters other hand wrap around the back of his head, his fingers sliding to be close to his ear and out of his hair.

"Don't."

Perta heard the first word but felt the tip of Peters finger on the bare skin by his ear. -tap, tap,tap-

"You EVER."

-tap-

-tap-

-tap-

"Talk like that to me again." *tap,tap,tap*

Perta stared into Peters eyes now, understanding they were both in more danger than he could have anticipated.

*

Perta was surprised as he stepped forward and found himself out of the forest and staring at his cabin, he looked around and then back at the wood line. Unable to believe the quick return time they had made, he saw Bakaree following him and still looking nervous, but the red woman was stoic behind her, she approached Perta. He looked up at Ginrar and could see the trip had taken a toll on the frazzled woman. He wondered if he should comment that the things in the forest would stay in the forest, but then hearing her speak.

"Why?" Ginrar asked as she looked down at him, "Why did you help him?"

Perta furrowed his brow, thinking it was an odd question but remembering that many people at the Blackstar estate had never helped him. Thinking about it he held out his hand, about to ask her to give hers to him but seeing it come forward and her palm facing upwards towards the sky. He put his palm down and on top of hers, his fingers grazing her wrist before he used his middle finger to tap her skin.

-tap, tap, tap-

-tap-

He held his finger there for a second, then doing it two more times.

-tap-

-tap-

-tap, tap, tap-

Finishing the three quick taps and then looking at her again, remembering how Peter had extended this small cry in silence towards him. He could still feel how his eyes had pleaded with him, begging to be heard and acknowledged.

Ginrar could see the vision in his mind, feeling the presence of Roke and envisioning him looking up towards her. The way he had looked up towards this man from the mountain, she felt her eyes burning as she tried to speak. "What- what is that?"

"It's SOS." Perta responded, repeating the pattern again. Three quick taps, then three long ones, then the finishing three quick ones. "This was how he reached out to me, letting me know he wanted help. Going out on a limb that I would actually be willing to."

Ginrar still looked at him in confusion, wondering why he would be the one to answer Rokes' plea, how had he been so kind and how had the Mohreb found him?

"Save Our Souls..." Perta said, he saw she seemed awestruck by the sentiment, she could be so daunting, but she did care. Then guilt filled him, 'It's not my place to tell her.' He thought to himself.

Ginrar narrowed her eyes, hearing the last mental statement.

......

779 grimaced as she observed Peter on the operating table, she wondered if Veronica had even let them numb him. But she pushed the question out of her thoughts as she didn't want to imagine what the pain must feel like. Watching a surgeons scalpel slice into flesh, making quick work of removing a mans low hanging fruit that could cloud his judgment. She wanted to close her eyes and look away, holding in a whimpering cry as Veronica had him mutilated in front of her. Seeing the operating staff working on his face, diving behind the eyeballs to do other unspeakable atrocities to him.

'I should hate you.' 779 thought to herself as she couldn't look away, 'But I pity you.' She thought as she watched the gory performance in front of her, they performed with little care of blood or tissue. The steady hands of a staff accustomed to following gruesome orders by a woman who could turn on them at any moment.

......

Reedus guided the shuttle back to the cabin that the informant had told them to go to, seeing Ginrar standing in the snow and looking more than displeased. She glanced to Saffee and raised an eyebrow in concern, "Did she really find her?"

Saffee stood and walked towards Reedus, leaning on the back of the pilots seat and looking out of the front glass. Seeing Ginrar standing alone and waiting, "The man says she did, but he didn't directly observe it."

Reedus nodded as Saffee turned her head to look back over her shoulder to the cabin area of the shuttle, seeing Gresh and Teloo talking quietly behind them. "

You're nervous, Saffee." Reedus said.

Saffee looks forward again, "That obvious?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure things will align and we'll find Roke."

Saffee pursed her lips, "I am concerned about that, but at the moment, I worry about Ginrar and Gresh."

Reedus looked at her, "Ginrars not the same, Saffee."

"You weren't there that night, you didn't see what I did." She replied. Saffee remembered how Ginrar had stepped off the Growth shuttle a few days prior. When she returned for the first time, she could see it was a new Ginrar. A woman he called Gin, the way she wore her remorse for all to see. Broadcasting to the entire village that she was returned, she was the banished, and in her time she grew with regret.

The crowd was so silent when her mother laid eyes on her again, sealing her death as she stood unguarded in front of her. Everyone heard Gins plea, silent and honest.

'Please, I just want to keep him safe, he- he's so precious to me.'

The red sea of the waterfall coven had silently tasted her conviction, everyone knew what it meant. Everyone understood that this was not the same daughter that was banished before.

Then when Ginrar had awoken from her time on the other plane, the way she clenched her stomach and stared at the floor. No one could read a single coherent thought coming from the Tallhee, but the feeling she oozed. It stung their very souls as she gathered herself, pestilence and raw hatred. It made Saffee want to scream as it felt like salt being ground into her eyes, that was Ginrar.

That was The Banished, and she had returned.

Hearing the shuttles bay door open Saffee looked back to see Teloo stepping towards the edge, Reedus turned the shuttle to point the door towards Ginrar. Saffee wondered if she should join her as she watched Teloo leap from the opening, deciding to let the mother and daughter have their own time together.

Teloo landed in the snow and took a few galloping steps to slow her pace, looking at Ginrar as she stood patiently. She felt a cut of sadness as her daughter turned away from her, glancing at the cabin she saw a man step out of it. Then a large yellow Mohreb woman following, reading their thoughts and smirking as she wondered if they planned their reaction.

'Fuck, there's two.' He thought in an innocent and chipper tone.

'Fuck, there's two.' The Mohreb exclaimed in mental anguish.

Teloo changed her path to head towards them, hearing the shuttle beginning to descend behind her and come to land in the snow.

"Um, shuttles aren't allowed to land outside of the port." Perta said.

"My most sincere apologies, we don't have transport to take her to the port, so we have brought the shuttle to us." Teloo responded. Teloo paused for a moment and glanced towards Ginrar as she stepped towards them, hearing the mental note: 'He's coming with us.' Teloo accepted the statement and understood her daughter had made the choice based on a well thought out decision. Smiling and saying, "Again, my apologies, we are grateful that you have decided to assist us as well, please find comfort in the accommodations provided."

Perta nodded and began to walk towards the shuttle, pausing as he didn't hear Bakarees footsteps in the snow. Looking back he was about to ask but kept his voice silent as he saw Bakaree staring into the eyes of the newest red woman. Neither one speaking, Bakarees eyes burning into the others with ferocity as they both stood still, he was shocked to then see the red one bow.

"Of course, my word on my life." Teloo said, bending at the waste and giving a deep bow as she put her right hand to the back of her neck. Pushing her hair out of the way to expose the defenseless part of red flesh and letting the Mohreb woman observe it.

Bakaree nodded as she turned to walk towards Perta, putting one of her upper hands on his shoulder and pushing him forward gently. She squeezed it and tried to hide her fear, feeling like a lamb walking into the slaughterhouse as she inspected the white shuttle.

Ginrar began to walk as well, looking at the snow and wondering what their next move would be.

"Speak to me, my daughter."

Ginrar stopped, gulping as she didn't want to hear the words her mother spoke, she concentrated on getting her feet to move. But they refused, staying still in the snow as the gap between her and the two walking to the shuttle increased.

"You do not match my eyes, you're angry, and you have every right to be."

Ginrar grit her teeth, feeling her fangs tinge with an inkling of a familiar feeling that had plagued her for years. She saw Bakaree and Perta make it to the shuttle, stepping inside and the Mohreb pausing in the doorway, no doubt she wasn't happy to see three more Tallhee inside.

"I made you do something you can never forgive me for, and I do not expect you to, but I do ask that you understand why I did it." Teloo said as she remembered the look in Ginrars eyes as she forced her to take part of Roke, to swallow a part of her loves torn flesh. The guilt filling her as she had given Roke the means to see her past, to meet Ginrars father. "The old ways, we've left them behind, but they are not forgotten." She stepped towards Ginrar, seeing her shoulders tremble as her horns shined in the sun.

"Mother." Ginrar whispered coldly.

Teloo tilted her head, opening her mouth to speak, but being cut off as Ginrar showed her speed and power. Turning to her and feeling her daughters hands connect with her shoulders, gripping her tightly as she threw her backwards and dug her body into the ground.

Reedus glanced up in time to see Ginrar on top of Teloo, widening her eyes as she grabbed the sticks, "Oh no, space, we need to give them space." Hammering the thrusters and feeling them lift the shuttle off the ground.

"Hey what's this den?" Saffee asked with annoyance, then looking out the window and seeing what Reedus was observing. "Oh fuck, higher, get higher!"

Bakaree and Perta felt the shuttle shudder and lift, the door still open behind them and a mix of cold air and snow blowing through the cabin. Bakaree used her lower arms to wrap around Perta and her upper ones to grab onto the wall and a hand hold in the cabin. She nervously looked at the male Tallhee that was also surprised, then seeing a somber expression cross his face.

"Please, wait, we're about to settle." Gresh said as he looked at the two new traveling companions, then sighing in relief as his words came true and the shuttle stabilized. He looked forward to the cabin seeing Reedus and Saffee staring out of the front window. Then back to the two in front of the doorway, noticing the human wasn't looking at him. But instead next to him, Gresh brushed it off and moved to ask them to come further into the cabin area.

Teloo grit her teeth as she felt her body connect with a tree, then pushing herself off it and out of the path of Ginrars fist. Seeing it connect with the tree and blow a chunk of splinters out of it, "Ginrar!" she snapped out as she watched her daughter attack. "What are you doing!?"

"Fight back!" Ginrar yelled in anger, moving forward with blinding speed and delivering a straight kick to Teloos gut.

Teloo exhaled upon impact, remembering her instincts and wondering how long it'd been since she'd had a battle like this. She watched as one of Ginrars powerful legs came at her, sweeping from the side and aimed at her head, she leaned back and dodged it. "No, I refuse to retaliate, you have every ri-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ginrar boomed as she whipped a rock at Teloo, seeing her dip to avoid it and using the chance to invade her personal space. Driving her fist in an arc to give Teloo an uppercut into her torso. She purposefully flexed her arm and back, swelling the muscles but slowing the speed.

Teloo felt it connect into her stomach, driving upwards into her sternum and raising her feet off the ground and launching her like a rag doll away from Ginrar.

"Fight you bitch, fight or I'll kill you!" Ginrar said with anger, holding back tears as she tried to steel herself, throwing her body towards Teloo and preparing another hit.

Teloo focused on Ginrar in time to see her coming again, side stepping she stuck out her arm and caught her daughter in the crook of her elbow. Wrangling her neck and clotheslining the angry Tallhee, seeing her legs go out from under her and extend straight in front. "Gi-"

Ginrar spun her body in the air, shooting a hand forward to grab Teloos leg while her other hand dug into the ground. She yanked her mothers leg out from under her, then letting her own feet connect with earth so she could propel her body again.

Teloo felt anger rising, this was not the time to be doing this, she felt Ginrars claws dig into her leg and try to pull her balance askew. She put her hands together balling up one fist and clutching it with the other, she swung the two down and into Ginrars back. The loud blow of solid flesh being impacted by a bony missile echoed off the trees, stopping Ginrars forward movement.

Ginrar bounced off the soil but pushed herself upwards, going in for another hit as she felt her mother finally showing her power. "I'll kill you!" she screamed, spit flying as tears streamed down. Visions of a past fight clouding her mind as she let her ferocity show, hating every second of the vivid memories.

Teloo tried to focus on the attack but slipping and seeing her daughters thoughts of a familiar face that made her blood run cold.

"I know your feelings!" Ginrar screamed, seeing an opening and driving a punch into Teloos face, "I've felt it, fight back!"

Teloo grit her teeth, swinging a leg upwards and delivering a kick to Ginrars body as it flew forward in midair.

"I'll kill you!" Ginrar screamed, feeling her mothers hand wrap around her horn and torque her body through the air. 'Just like I killed him.' She thought, feeling her body slam into the snow and dirt, shaking the earth around them.

Teloo straddled Ginrars body and wrapped her hands around her throat, fangs bared as her eyes glared down at her opponent, tightening her grip and screaming.

"You killed him!"

Ginrar let her own body go limp, looking up at the angry black horned woman, the soul she had ripped away from her leaving her with an eternal pain. Thinking of how she had stood over Fenrars broken carcass, his last words dancing on the nights breeze as his being left this plane forever. She gave her mother the front row seat she never wanted, letting her see the memory of how she had shaped her hand like he taught her. Giving her the feeling of his still beating heart in her grip, and how she had ripped it from him, the light leaving his eyes as his flame went dark.