Music recommendation: 'Crying Alone' by Jurrivh

-----------

My eyes blinked to adjust to a very familiar setting. I was short, holding a firm hand, and as my eyes turned to look at who it was, I saw my father - the king, walking with me back to the castle hall. I felt happy in my chest. We had just returned from an errand around the capital city.

My tiny feet ran inside to find my mother. She was at her usual place, beside a baby crib which was soon to be my sibling's bed.

"Mama!" I ran ahead. But the ground under my feet started moving backwards. No matter how fast I ran, no matter how much effort I put into it, she was still far away from me. "Mama?" Her back faced me as her fingers gently traced the design of the crib. I could tell she was happy, but she was not happy looking at me. She was not looking at me.

The efforts of these tiny tired legs stopped, and my shoulders felt the touch of metal. Two guards held me up, dragging me out of the room, away from my mother. "What are you doing? Let me go. I want to tell mama what we saw outside today, I want to show her the gift I got for the new baby... Mama"

But my words never reached her ears. Everyone was looking at the ground as my little helpless body dragged across the clean marble of the castle. Their eyes were fogged with dark smoke, and I lost my screams inside my throat.

I did not know where I was being taken. The king wasn't here to help his daughter. My mother finally turned, caressing her baby bump, and she looked happy. She smiled as she had never before, never with me. Did I never make her happy?

The dark damp dungeons muffled my screams, and then they died as I gave up.

I gave up on resistance, behind the bars with everything pitch black and only one scent filled in the air - the mild scent of Ember. No one was ready to help me, no one. My mother was happy, and my father was nowhere to be seen. My maid, Dandeline... I guess even she left my side.

"Selene!" I heard a voice behind me inside the cell. A silhouette stood there against an unknown source of light.

Its hand came forward. "Selene, come to me. It is time to go!"

I turned behind to see the bars and then back at the silhouette standing in front of me. What was this? A ghost?

"Selene, come fast, we do not have time," the shadow said again, and somehow it looked like the only one who was talking to me. Where was it planning to take me? Why were we running out of time?

"Selene!"

"Selene, wake up!"

"Selene, come back, please"

Noises, noises everywhere. They want me to wake up... They want me to come to them. But who were they? Were they with this silhouette?

My tiny hand extended to take his hand, and the shadow pulled me into the light along with it. A scream left my lips with that pull, thinking I was headed to my death. I was fine with Death.

"Ahhhhh....."

My body jerked up and I saw the forest, the trees infiltrated by the sunlight through cracks between the foliage. My throat was so dry that gulping didn't help and my clothes drenched in sweat. I breathed heavily while I only heard the birds in my head, only the melodious sound of birds.

Two hands came around me as they pulled me up into an embrace. "Selene, are you okay?"

I recognised that voice. I would recognise it any time, even in my sleep. My hands came around, finally accepting the hug. This person was someone that had been my comfort place without me even realising it till now. Her hand came up on the back of my head, stroking it gently. "It is all fine. I am sorry you had to go through this. I should have never asked Donnie to hold you back"

My breathing slowed down, and so did my heart. I was getting calmer with every second in her hug.

I heard another voice from behind me. It was Connie. "I am sorry, Selene, I tried to contain the nightmare, but you were too pulled into it"

"It's okay, thank you" my words came out low. He had no blame to take, as that nightmare was the only way he knew to get me out of that hypnotic mess I was stuck in because of Donnie. Connie had the ability to induce dreams and Donnie to hypnotise. I wonder what went wrong with all the voices that had triggered inside my head during the hypnosis.

I was feeling better now in the embrace of a person who cared about me enough to drop her competition and come here for me.

I pulled back, having recovered from the memories which were buried deep in my consciousness. I pushed them back to the place where they belonged.

Everyone from my team, White, was here. Connie stood beside Sam's wolf with his head hung low. Diana's wolf stood there, oblivious to the situation.

My eyes traced to where Arina was and I finally spotted her at some distance carrying Donnie's body on her back while Hailey's wolf nonchalantly walked towards us, leaving Arina behind.

The way Donnie looked, he was surely unconscious. Hailey looked a little disappointed, and I only assumed that she didn't get a good fight against Donnie, which had her mood turn sour and blood boiling.

My eye came back to the person who held me when I woke up, still had a concerned face. Tears glistened in those brown eyes. This girl was not even from my team but came here anyway, giving up on her potential victory. She could have gone off and let her team Blue win, but she was right here in front of me, making sure I was fine. I wondered how can one person bring so much peace to you. I smiled softly at her, "Thank you for coming here, Suzan"