(Unedited. Trigger warning: mention of blood.)

A fevered sunrise warmed the cliffs of Aurora's cheekbones and brought her senses to awaken, sunlight painting a mosaic to the walls. In a loose, eggshell colored cotton tee, a sigh left her pouted lips. When her eyelids adjusted, an instinctual, looming dread hit her gut - but it didn't come from waking next to Arlan.

It was, instead, knowing she no longer had Beck. He was the first thing on her mind, the pained loss of him inexorably unavoidable. His friendly, gingered presence entered her mind in waves of imagery. The only things keeping Aurora sane and afloat admits her kidnapping was the comfort of normal friends around her. Now she was seemingly forbidden to see Nate, broke things off with Beck, hardly get to see Elise, and in a rocky place with Hadley. It all just felt so defeating.

Almost as if suspecting she was thinking of another man, Arlan woke from slumber, open eyes meeting hers. The peaks and valleys of his muscular, tattooed shoulders and bare collarbone poked from above the blanket. While his snake-like irises were soft and fatigue induced, they still held a stormy aura to them. It sent her heart hammering. Though she still felt more forlorn than fearful.

"Not in the mood to bolt, little Dove?"Arlan prodded in a throaty, morning rasp.

She would typically rush out of bed to avoid him. However, now, the idea of school seemed exhausting and daunting to her, so Aurora simply remained cocooned in the silky black blanket. Her eyes were melancholy. She hated being with Arlan, and she hated being at school. When was Nate going to enact his plan?

His inked fingers found the Dove charm of her necklace resting on her collarbone. When his icy skin brushed against her warm body, she felt ill. Arlan delicately played with it.

"What's wrong, baby?" Arlan quietly implored.

Aurora's tiny body turned in bed, snuggling up with her back facing him. Arlan was the last person Aurora would vent to this about. He was cruel and monstrous and insensitive.

Aurora gasped when his hand smacked her bum. Her body pivoted and she sent an angered glare to him, growling. Then, she turned back, wiggling away.

"Stop being a brat," He grit out raspily, pulling her arm closer.

He flipped on top of her and Arlan caged his arms on either side of her all in one moment, domineering with her his eyes.

"Or actually, maybe don't. I like having this little play time with you in the morning," Arlan drawled and smirked. "You look so sexy right now, I could get a little blood on these sheets."

Aurora's face deeply reddened as he lips favored her neck.

"You're cruel," She muttered, bashfully covering the blanket to cover her face. "How dare you."

Then, any sort of amusement dissipated, as his jaw hardened.

"Don't hide from me," Arlan quietly growled, a predatory lust filling his eyes. His disgraceful lips violated hers, fluidly moving against her entirely stiff ones. Tangling his fingers into her bedhead, he yanked lightly and she yelped, pushing at him. "Why am I cruel? Because I am stating the truth? You bleed when I fuck you."

"That's not supposed to happen," Aurora whimpered.

"And who's to say that?" He countered senselessly.

"You're irritating," Aurora grumbled vehemently, pushing at his chest.

"That's one of the nicer things people have said about me, babydoll. Now kiss me," Arlan grunted, squeezing her cheeks with his hand. His lips mashed to hers and she quickly turned her face away.

"Ew, stop!" Aurora desperately writhed around. "I don't kiss killers! You're psychotic!"

With an aggravated groan, Arlan stilled. He slightly inched his body weight up from her.

"Is this Santiago you're referring to?" Arlan gritted.

Aurora's blood icened upon hearing his name come from her captor's mouth. Her eyes lowered from his.

"If you're wondering, I just poisoned him. It wasn't nearly as gorey as my olden days. I used to,"-

"Stop," Aurora cried, whimpering as a head rush of sheer terror filling her. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to know the ways you t-tortured p-people, caused them pain or k-killed them. You're a monster, you aren't even human, you deserve Hell and I hate you," She mumbled weakly, eyes watering.

"Ah, ah ah!" Arlan brought a tattooed finger to her lips playfully, she cringed at the contact. "You're not twenty five yet, remember?" He teased with a grin and tilt of his head. Her teeth gnashed on his finger, biting it and he hissed, pulling it away.

"No, I mean it - I promise! I hate you!" She fervently avowed. "Please," Aurora panted, writhing around. "You have to let me go."

"And now you've successfully softened me," Arlan relents with an arrogant roll of his eyes. "Darling, don't you know your annoyance can be such a turn off?" He rolled away from her figure.

Aurora took the opportunity to bolt out of bed, while Arlan tried to catch her arm, he just missed it- while Aurora ran to the bathroom and slammed the door.

"AURORA!" Arlan vehemently roared.

Her body had chills of disgust, her heart rate ticking erratically. With anxious hands, she turned the sink knob and the water rushed out. Scooping the water into her hands, she frantically splashed her face. Ice cold water soaked her face once, twice, three times, four times.

"Ugh!" She bemoaned in disgust, shaking her head.

Anxiously she opened the drawers, her hand sifting through everything until she found her toothbrush and toothpaste. Ignoring the painful tremors in her hand, she squeezed the toothpaste onto her toothbrush and immediately scrubbed her teeth. She looked up and faced herself in the mirror, opening her mouth wide to visualize every tooth. Her hand was a blur, back and forth and back forth, all around her teeth, in the way back of her teeth, to get it clean. Then, she spit into the sink, ready to add even more toothpaste. Only, she paused, an unusual sight in the sink- the swab of her toothpaste spit in the sink was crimson.

"What?" Aurora whimpered in horror, examining at it.

She exhaled shakily, balling up her right, clammy hand into a fist. Hesitantly, she spit once more. A slew of red left her mouth before falling into the sink.

A harsh cry left her mouth. Her bones chilled to a meat locker temperature. A whimper left her. Blood was leaving her mouth? How? Did she have some sort of condition? Did she just brush too aggressively? She was on the verge of a heart attack. Her head peered up and a shrill shriek lacerated her throat.

Arlan stood behind her as her teeth, tinted with blood, met her reflection.

"Hi, Dove," He greeted coolly, a ghost of a smirk on his lips.

With a cry, Aurora attempted to sprint out, only he roughly grabbed her shoulders. Writhing around incessantly, she was not a match for Arlan's strength. She incoherently muttered a succession of pleas to let her go, all to no avail. He brought her directly to the mirror.

Her mind was going absolutely crazy, whizzing with sheer fears and horrors. How was any of this real? An actual killer was behind her and put his lips on hers. A cold hearted killer, holding her against the mirror.

"Open your mouth," He commanded harshly. "Look at it."

Her eyes squeezed shut and she shook her head, lips pursed. She didn't want to see it again, it scared her enough the first time. He knew the sight made her terrified, she was faint-hearted.

His hand took hold of her eyelids and physically peeled them each open as she gasped, the feeling invasive and foreign.

"Look!" He roared, and Aurora's skin jumped, goosebumps protruding off her arms.

A struggled whine left her throat as she hyperventilated. His hands left her eyes and wound around her stomach. With a face flushed with tears, Aurora sniffled, hesitantly meeting her reflection. She barred her teeth, stained with blood, and released a weakened cry. An icy finger of Arlan's brushed against her temple as he slid hair behind her ear, shivers parading the back of her neck. The gentle, carressing motion sent a shudder of disgust down her body. Her mouth closed, tears dripping past her lips.

"Do you think you're really all that different from me, Dove?" Arlan's chilling tone fanned against the shell of her ear. Tears pushed into Aurora's eyes as Arlan pushed his body weight further against her. A discomforted groan left her. "I want an answer, Aurora Mulven."

A scattered gasp left her throat. Her mind was perplexed, what prompted a question like that?

"Yes."

"Really?" Arlan assessed her. "Offer some sincerity here, Aurora."

A feared whine slipped from her. What was this, some kind of mind game? Terrify her so much that she bends, snaps and admits that she was anything like him?

"I-I'm n-not like you," Aurora avowed.

A kiss to the arch of her neck warmed her skin, and she entirely stilled, terrified. The crisp sound of his lips leaving her skin was the only noise in the room. Then, he placed a heated, open mouth kiss above the previous spot, just below her ear.

"I would argue to disagree," Arlan's voice rumbled directly into her ear, shivers parading her hair-risen arms. "It's impossible to live so closely to someone and not acclimate yourself to their characterstics. You are becoming like me, Dove, and I see it. And it's breathtakingly beautiful," He exhaled, pulling on her bottom lip to expose her bloodied teeth.

The manipulation had Aurora questioning her sanity, the abuse was getting to her head.

"No!" Aurora screamed.

She pushed herself off the sink and bolted out, anxious, bare feet flying on the cool wooden floor as she sprinted out of their room, slamming the door. Her legs sprinted towards the winding staircase as she thudded down each step, relieved he wasn't running after her.

The stark differences between the two were day and night, Aurora had feelings, she empathized with others, she would never kidnap and torture people. How dare he even try to insinuate they were similar. Whether he was royally twisted in every neuron of his brain and believed they were the same, or simply just saying it to agitate her - it didn't matter. She was absolutely nothing like him.

She breathlessly stopped at the bottom step, hearing cooking sounds and smelling eggs. Aurora emerged into the kitchen feeling relieved to see Nate standing by the stovetop, his hood over his head. Her head spun in fifty different directions, but the sight of Nate could slightly orient her. Feeling comforted, she sharply inhaled the rich aroma of food and watched Nate make his usual omolet. At least there was an ounce of normalcy here to keep her just afloat. She felt self conscious of her teeth, her lips tightly pursed, but wanted to talk to him.

Her bare feet pad from the bottom stair to the kitchen.

"Hi," Aurora mumbled solomnly, barely moving her lips. Her body was still incredibly shaken up.

Nate maneuvered his spatula. The sizzling cooking sounds omitted into the air as Aurora anticipated his voice. Hopefully he wouldn't notice how close her lips were closed around her teeth. Though, Nate was never one to ogle at her bruises or ask uncomfortable questions, so Aurora doubted he would. She drew in a shaky breath.

"Nate," She spoke.

A lack of response had Aurora feeling like a ghost. Maybe he had headphones in; Nate did like to listen to Queen to destress. Aurora stood up on tippy toes to see, angling her head and squinting. Two hands clasped her shoulders from behind to bring her feet to the ground and she let out a strained gasp. A cold fear tempered through her knowing Arlan was behind her again. Why wouldn't he just leave her the fuck alone? She was on edge now, again. And why hadn't Nate acknowledged her at all?

"Nate?" Aurora whimpered.

Nate sprinkled salt among his omelet before gently settling it on the counter. He was cool-tempered. Then, he picked up the black pepper, turning the seasoning on its head and shaking it so the flakes fell to his food.

"Nate," Aurora urged.

"You heard Arlan. Stay away from me," Nate replied stoically.

Aurora's jaw unhinged, she could feel the muscles in her mouth pain from how far it opened. Nate's eyes remained planted to the stove as he cooked.

"Nate," She insisted in disbelief.

He didn't respond.

"Nate!" She yelled accusingly when he did not respond, despite being right in front of her.

Her frustrations were slowly spinning into a web of hurt. Betrayal flood through her body in a hot flash. How could he? A feared whine left her mouth. Aurora went to lurch forward.

"Nate!" Only, Arlan forcibly caught her arm, pulling her back.

She turned to face the demon himself, Arlan had dressed in his slacks and silky blazer for work already, looking sharp as if he were a "normal person". Her head was a plate spun on its side.

Then, Aurora turned back and went to advance towards Nate again. Arlan caught her arm once again and pulled her back, she released a loud, aggravated groan before breaking to tears and beginning to wail.

"Nate, why?" Aurora sobbed, desperately trying to run forward. "Stop ignoring me! Why would you listen to him?" Arlan had constricted her hands behind back now. She began to writhe desperately. "Nate, talk to me! What the fuck is going on!" She cried.

Nate remained uncharacteristically still and emotionless.

"Nate!" She wretched out, wiggling around in Arlan's death grip. "Stop being fucking silent with me, talk to me, please! Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me!" The tears tumbled down. "Talk to me! Nate!" More and more hurt tipped in her heart.

Nate slipped his omelet from the pan and onto a plate, and he left the room. Once he was out of sight, Aurora stilled in her constricted stance. She let the last tear drip, before the hurt turned to rage. Panting empathically, she stumbled upon being released from Arlan's vice grip.

"You're pathetic! You know that?" Aurora dared, turning to face his wrath. Snake eyes met hers. "You ruined one of the only friends I've ever had, you ruined my adoption, you won't let anyone talk to me! What the fuck on this green Earth wrong with you?"

Arlan's firm face remained routed in neutralism, meanwhile Aurora's was red and panting.

"What did I ever do to you?" She begged in desperation, grappling for some sort of reasoning for his cruelty. "I was in your Chemistry class, I was nice to you, I never wronged you. Please, just tell me! You are hellbent on breaking me mentally, why do I deserve any of this?"

No emotion or expression marred his face, not a single eyebrow even twitched, his eyes void of any indicator of responsiveness.

"You are for some reason horrifically obsessed with me, and terrified of the idea of me making an identity outside of you. All you want is complete control over me, to mold me into what you want. I'm not clay, or a doll, I'm a human being. If I talk to anyone but you, you feel a lost sense of control and it makes you crazy. You're crazy!" She screamed, irate, suddenly spiraling. "You're the worst person I've ever met! You're the last person I'd ever want to talk to! If you died, I wouldn't shed a tear!" The words shocked herself, as she never pictured uttering a sentence that heartless to anyone. "I want to make friends and have people around me and you keep ruining that because you're a selfish bastard! You make it so that all I can focus is on is the dreadful fact that I'm stuck here with you!"

Aurora knew the words were a lost cause at making him having a change of heart of any sorts - Arlan was intimate with evil, transfixed with masochism, and that would never change. She at least wanted some reaction out of him - where was the anger he had moments before in his room? Now he was even-keeled? He picked and chose when to be angry, when he knew she wanted a reaction, and it fucking bothered her.

"Come on, let's get you to school," He replied coolly.

She was angered. Beyond angered.

Aurora was noticabley depressed and silenced at lunch with Hadley. She poked aimlessly at her Mediterranean bowl, but food was the last thing on her mind. Silence had long settled between the two girls when Aurora dared to ask the question pegging at her brain.

"How's Beck?" The words left her lips.

Hadley paused right as her fork full of Mac n cheese was at her lips. Her eyes moved up in calculatedly successions to meet Aurora's. She felt slighted that, that was the first thing Aurora had said when they had been sitting in silence for twenty minutes.

"He's good," Was Hadley's clipped answer.

Aurora didn't hide her pout. She wanted more information. Good - how good? Really good? Was he laughing and writing songs, and having a blast with his co-workers at the diner? Was he texting or hanging out with new girls, hanging out with all of his friends? Or was 'good' meaning he was getting by? Mostly okay, but still mourning the fact that he hadn't talked to Aurora in days. Aurora's brow furrowed deeply as she showed just how much she was overthinking it.

"How are you?" Hadley asked, her eyes squinted. Though it was an entirely cloudy day, rays of sun still managed to slip through.

"I'm bad, Hadley, okay?" Aurora blurted. "Another friend of mine stopped talking to me today. I've lost pretty much everyone."

Hadley's eyes widened slightly in offense. She hesitated to see if Aurora would make a reparation for her comment, and she didn't.

"Ouch," Hadley responded.

A grunted sigh slipped Aurora's mouth. "Hadley, I didn't mean that," She shot her friend an annoyed look that didn't supply much comfort to the redheaded girl.

"Then what do you mean?" Hadley retorted in an accusatory fashion.

Aurora shook her head, pushing her food tray forcibly away from her.

"I have to go," She stood, gathering her backpack to her shoulder.

"Yeah, fuckin go," Hadley bit out, shaking her head. Once Aurora had left the lunch table lawn, Hadley scoffed.

"Thank you for meeting with me," Aurora gently spoke. "I'm sorry if I look rough, I've had, um, a morning. I know this is all kind of awkward, after everything that's happened between us, but I wanted to talk with you."

Santiago grinned.

"Of course, Aurora," He kindly nodded, a crescent shaped dimple pressing into the side of his cheek.

Aurora bellowed a sigh, allowing all the air to leave her mouth, letting her stomach drop. She rolled her neck, trying to relax, before facing Santiago ; A plum colored long sleeve with the Argentinian flag, and dark khakis adorned him.

"I really want to focus on school again, you know? It was an amazing distraction," She explained.

"Distraction?" He echoed, leaning forward on his elbows.

"And seeing how well I did on my exam," She ignored his comment, "It's proven that you're an extremely qualified and helpful tutor. I'd like to keep seeing you for the rest of the semester."

His features held a slight of concern which he all but quickly dropped, grinning. He nodded once.

"Of course, Aurora. Did you...did you want to start today?"

"Sure," She nodded. "I mean, if you have the free time. We are starting a new unit soon in class."

"Of course, I'm free for the rest of the evening. And, if we're going to be at it for a few hours, let me fill up your water," He cordially offered, smiling with his hand extended.