Chapter 276: Salvation 5


    Chewing her lip till she could almost taste blood, Marigold squirmed on the chair they''d offered her. A plush single-seater just off to the side from where the two were. The boy sat sunken into the seat, one arm over the backrest while the girlid syed across the rest of the couch. Her cheek on his thigh while their eyes watched the television y some movie about cars that transformed into giant people who fought against other giant transforming car people.


    By far it was a ridiculous notion, she knew transforming, or mecha-shifting as it is known, is popr with those young huntsmen and huntresses, but a car doing so just seemed unnecessarily boastful. Gripping the thigh of her dress, Marigold tried to watch the screen but she''d always be pulled back to the boy in time to see the roll of his eyes and bored sighs he let out. The girl didn''t seem any better judging by the way her eyes were constantly fluttering shut only to be jerked open when another loud bang rang from the screen.


    They hadn''t spoken much to her. Asked her a few questions about her day that she answered with bald-faced lies. Couldn''t verily tell them her marriage was ruined and whatnot, that would just be rude and that never did her any good. She knew they could see through her like she was naked before them, still, she lied and pretended everything was good behind that singr word of, ''Fine.''


    Hearing a buzz from her luggage, Marigold''s head suddenly jerked up and looked to the little ck bag filled with her necessities. It was a short buzz, not a call, a message most likely, possibly even one of her rms. Another look to the boy saw him not moving, just ignoring her, so she rose to her feet and scurried towards her bag and dug out her scroll.


    Opening it, she saw it was indeed one of her rms, one for her medication at that. She''d almost forgotten about it.


    "That Bleu?"


    Marigold shivered, her head jerking around to the boy to see his head turned above the backrest, his sharp red eyes digging into her as a sudden bright light filled the screen and framed him.


    "N-no. Just an rm." Her mmy hands trembled as her stumbled words echoed on longer than she would have liked.


    "An rm?" he raised a brow, "you have an rm on your vacation?"


    "Uh," Marigold looked to her scroll then back to him and nodded jerkily. "It''s just a reminder for my medicine. Nothing much really," setting her scroll down, she forced her gaze from the boy and to her bag. She unzipped it and scrounged through its ziplocked pockets before finding a small circr box. Under the boy''s gaze, she popped it open and poured out a single pink pill.


    "What''s it for?" he asked as she stood and made her way back to her seat.


    Setting the pill in her mouth, she lifted her ss of water and sipped a mouthful before downing it in one. "Just something for my stomach. I get nauseous quite frequently, so it just helps calm that down a bit." It didn''t matter how much she believed her lies, his eyes could pierce through them easily.


    "Uh-huh." Parc lowered his hand from the backrest and to ke''s side and tapped her belly. The Faunus girl turned and met his gaze, no sooner was she grumbling and lifting herself from his hip. Free from her weight, he leaned onto his knees and paused their movie. "I''ve put this off for a bit now hoping you could settle in a bit, but I can''t see that happening any time soon." He set the remote on the table with a soft thunk. "Marigold, Bleu isn''t your problem anymore." She jerked. "My deal with him was you. That man, won''t be touching you anymore, not a hair."


    Shivers rapidly assaulted Marigold, her eyes unable to steady. "No, no. He''s, bleu is my husband. This is temporary when he has calmed down, I will go back to him." She thoroughly believed that that much he could tell.


    "I won''t let that happen, Marigold. An abusive man like that doesn''t deserve you or the ce in your mind he inhabits." ke kept silent, just watching him speak.


    Marigold bit her lip and chewed her cheek, how many times will this boy say he beats her? "Bleu doesn''t hit me! He doesn''t!"


    "We''ve gone through this already Marigold-"


    "Stop that! Stop calling me by my name! I don''t know you. Why-why do you care so much about me!? I-we have no rtionship, not me, not you, not her, not my husband. Just, leave me and my husband alone stop trying to ruin my marriage!"


    Parc stilled, his jaw hanging lowly as Marigold burst, her face red as tears trickled unhindered from her eyes. It was sudden, practically out of nowhere, the stress of his actions built up came out in one. Realizing her mistake ofckingposure, Marigold buried her face into her hands and began to breathe unsteadily, attempting quite poorly to calm her mind and stop any anger her outburst may have caused the boy.


    "He doesn''t love you." The couch creaked as Parc stood, clinks rang out as his and ke''s sses collided as he lifted them from the table.


    "You don''t know anything..."


    "Maybe, maybe not. What I do know, is that you are safer here with me than there with him."


    Marigold lifted her head and red at him but quickly shifted away with cowardice as his gaze locked with hers, "you don''t know that. I was happy with Bleu and he was happy with me."


    "Happy" the boy mulled, "fear isn''t happiness." Those words struck a chord in her chest, caused her heart to beat faster. "What you call ''happy'' is fear. You don''t love Bleu because you want to. You love him because you have to. Because if you don''t he will hit you, bully you, force you to do things you don''t want to do." She sucked inwards turning her mature and sullen face skeletal and gaunt. "That isn''t something you have to worry about with me." Standing there, he held the sses by their lips and let them hang from his side, he looked to ke and saw the soft frown on her expression and nodded. "I realize it''s going to take you a while to figure that out, but I will say. If I need to rece every bad memory of Bleu with good ones of myself, I will do just that."


    Marigold gulped and ke shot to him, her mouth wide, ready to say something in objection, something along the lines of ''you should be patient'' or so he expected. Though didn''t quite give her the chance. "To that degree," he scanned the table, found his satchel leaning against it and knelt, digging through it with one hand to pull out an opaque bottle and set it down on the coffee table with a clunk. "We''ll start with those bruises. ke, help her out of her dress please."


    "Huh?" the girl in question eximed, though didn''t get anything in return from Parc as he had already turned away and was taking their sses to the kitchte. Hanging her jaw, ke turned to Marigold, the woman''s eyes wide and unblinking, and sighed exhaustedly. So much for enjoying their short time together before getting to Menagerie.


    "We should probably head to the bedroom," she said sweeping up the bottle of whatever Parc had set down.


    "No-but he just said."


    "Yeah. I heard him as well."


    "But he''s your-"


    "He doesn''t care," then again, he technically wasn''t her ''boyfriend'' either. "I get that things are odd, but take it from me. Parc is better than your husband will ever be."


    That didn''t do anything to quell Marigolds tensity, but it was enough to make her stand, albeit agonizingly slow. Her hands wrapped her body, finding those pained splotches and tightened even more. The dress she wore was her shield, having it removed by that boy was a scary thought. But she found Bleu''s words, to find out what she could about the boy, if that meant seeing her naked, seeing her dirty spots and ruined skin so be it.


    With what minuscule confidence she could produce, she followed ke across the room and towards therge master''s bedroom. A clink behind her told her the door had shut, sealing them from that boy and his cleaning of sses and whatnot for as little a bit of time as possible. It would inevitably open, when it did, she wouldn''t be as modest as she is now.


    She made her way to the edge of the bed, the stinging in her sides from where she mped her wounds stung even worse than before, but it was the soft amber eyes of the Faunus girl before her that stung the most. That pity ate at her, ripped her apart and ruined her thoughts. ''I''m pathetic'' her mind raced for a second, ''so pathetic''


    "He means it when he says your safe." ke nced around and set the bottle on the bed, watching it tumble onto its side but looked away when she saw it wouldn''t leak. "Honestly, I''d be worried if he couldn''t." Sheughed hoping to bring what levity to the impending stripping she could. "Parc''s odd in that. It''s like he knows everything about everything. It''s honestly, it''s terrifying really."


    "Is that supposed to make this better?" Marigold''s focus was taken by the door, she could just imagine Bleu walking in at any moment. Scotch in hand, ready to have his way with her. "A man I don''t know is making me strip for his amusement."


    "That''s" ke darted her eyes all over, searching her thoughts for something, anything to calm Marigold but found nothing imperative. "I don''t what to say about that. I barely know him as well. I''ve known him maybe four months now, seen him once, twice a week but I''ve barely talked to him. This cruise is like, the first time I''ve been alone, truly alone with him."


    Marigold turned to ke, her head still low and drooping, "I couldn''t tell. You two looked happy loving Like I was a long time ago." those words, she knew what they meant, yet they felt hollow to her. Shells of an ideal.


    ke''s ears perked, "I don''t know quite about the whole ''love'' aspect of it. Me and Parc are it''s hard to really say. I''m not his girlfriend, but I''m also not, not his girlfriend. And love that I can''t say I''m in ''love'' with him. It''s more just that I''mfortable with him. I''ve had a few days to think about what we are and" a flush stole ke''s cheeks and forced the cat-girl to look away, "if anything we enjoy each others body and that''s more than enough for us both."


    Staring at the girl, Marigold couldn''t hide the confusion in her gaze, "how does that make you happy?" her head rose higher, "just being with a man you don''t love and acting like that."


    ke had to think for a moment, "I wouldn''t say I''m acting." She met marigold''s eyes and billowed a strange certainty. "I enjoy every moment with him. Even if can be frustrating and terrifyingly virile." Her throat rolled as a hand unconsciously found its way to her loins, narrowly avoiding any revealing shivers of her legs. "Compared to other rtionships I''ve had, what I have with Parc now. I doubt I''ll ever find anything better than it."


    Knocking noises thunked the girls to startle in the silence that followed ke''s words. Collectively their heads turned and found the pristine doorway to hear Parc''s muffled voice from beyond.


    "You ready in there?"


    It was unusual for him not to barge in, but ke knew it was for Marigold that he''d slowed his roll. "We shouldn''t keep him waiting." ke smiled weakly at the woman before her and Marigold shivered in return. Quietly, she nodded, epting of her fate, though still quite hesitant.


    ***


    ***


    Heeyo, quick little update on things on my side. I''ll be (unwillingly) going on a vacation to Cyprus (sunbaked shithole #572... I don''t like tropical Inds, did you guess that?) thising month till the 24th, so starting from say the 5th till at least the 24th but likely the 25th, I won''t be uploading to WN. I''ll still be working on chapters for ******* and all that so I''ll be using that to (hopefully) fix up mycking backlog before getting back into things.


    I should note, incase I''m in the middle of an arc (like how this current one is called ''Salvation'' I''ll set those up for automatic releases so it''s not a two and half week cliffhanger right in the middle of things.