*Storm POV*

I must have been crying freakishly. The wind was arid and the atmosphere just as sere, yet even all that droughtiness couldn't dry away the waterfalls on my cheeks. I sat on the floor, my fingers laced with dust and my back aching from the whips earlier. This had to be the third time I had cried today and I wasn't sure it would be the last.

Just as I was about to get on my feet, my ears perked to the sound of a painful cry from not very far away. I spun around, searching the sordid ground for my rapier. The cry echoed again, almost like it was been dragged away. And when I started to decide that it was none of my business, the cry came again. This time it sounded subdued, muffled and that was when I realized this was a person in danger. I cleaned my dirty hands on my shirt and dried my wet cheeks. My rapier caught my eyes just in time and I grabbed it, breezing into the woods without a second thought.

I paused to examine the pristine forest surrounding me. The vivid colours of green, drew me into the coolness of the forest almost as a compulsion would. Why did I know this place? How had I dreamt of it?

As I ran through the dead leaves and fallen trees, I felt my heart beat raced almost as fast as my legs. The forest green more sense, the plants more exotic and lush as I hurried through the seemingly impenetrable trees. The cry became louder and I only hoped I was going in the right direction. I knew this forest; I've ran through every corner, I've been hunted in every spot and climbed on every tree. I've been here in those nightmares and it felt so real. The leaves seemed to cheer on to me as I ran, slapping on to my speeding body and rustling as I whisked through.

I move through the forest swiftly but with instinctive caution, fully alert, aware of the smallest of rustlings, the silence of insects and the faintest of scents that could indicate I wasn't alone.

My mouth went suddenly dry and my heart rate increased. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled with unease. I was finally close.

When I heard the voice once more it was clearer to me that I was just a few feet away. The voice was masculine and it sounded deep I was more frightened now that I was this close to it. My feet halted and I started to regain my breath, squatting down to analyze the situation I had facing me.

Behind the half-dead virginia creepers in front of me, I hid myself, narrowing my eyes to get a better view. I made out a cage, somehow it was easier to see because it looked familiar, awfully familiar. But after a much closer look, it didn't take long for me to realise it was the very same cage that haunted me in my dreams. At first, I was stuck in denial. It couldn't be. But unless this was another dream, my eyes could not be decieving me, I had trained them well enough to never do that. It was the same cage.

The weldering, the curved edges, even the lock that bolted the silver top to the iron bars. I couldn't believe it.

“He's going to yell again, just do it!” I jolted at the abrupt sound of a husky voice. And just under my feet were leaves which were unkind enough to rustle so loudly that I knew my presence had been given away.

“Did you hear that?” I heard a much softer voice say.

“Hear what?”

“Leaves. I heard leaves rustle.”

“Yeah, no shit, mehn. We're in the fucking woods, leaves rustle all the time.”

“Nah, nah, hold on dude. I think he is right, I did hear something.” Another voice, this one was was piercing and he sounded smarter than the rest of the two. “Right there, behind those weeds.”

“Yeah, whatever. You two go check it out, I'll stay with our prisoner over here.”

I sighed to myself. I had hoped to do this without having to get into a fight but it seemed that prospect always followed me wherever I went. I readied my rapier, tightening my grip on the handle and waiting. Calculating my attack as the two slimmer men approached me. My advantage? They couldn't see me. But I could see them. I readied to attack.

In that same second, a butterfly flew straight in front of me, resting on the creepers and staring at my face. I stared back, admiring its beautiful fragile yellow wings but my attention was recovered once I heard the rustling leaves signal me that the men were close.

“Shh!” I whispered to the butterfly, placing my index finger to my lip. Somehow I knew it understood me.

Once the men were close enough, I threw my rapier in the air and as I expected, their eyes followed my blade into the sky. Selling their attention to the wrong attacker.

“What the fuck is that?”

I sprung out of the weeds, landing legs-first to the bigger of the two, forcing him to the ground. His squeal was loud as my feet pushed all the air out of his lungs, only the weeds cushioned his fall and saved him from breaking his spinal cord. I heard a loud clang behind me and I knew my rapier had landed on the ground but just before I could reach for it, the slimmer man lunged at me.

“What's going on, man!” I heard the third ask. The guard obviously didn't have the chance to answer. We rolled on the floor for almost an eternity before it ended with him on top of me, grabbing on tightly to neck. My eyes reddened as I felt my throat tighten under his grasp, the rusty taste of dust settling on my tongue and in that moment, I spat on his face.

“Fuck!” he yelled, tightening his eyes. “You stupid bit—” Blood finally pumped into my legs once again and I caught his tiny head in between them forcing him backwards and slamming his skull to the ground.

“Oh, ugh!” I groaned, trying my best to catch my breath as I pushed away his lifeless body from my thighs.

“Ayo! What the fuck is going on there!” The big one was coming, they were three, if I remembered clearly. I had to think fast. I scurried up to my feet and grabbed my rapier just in time to halt his bulldozing body from reaching me. I pointed my rapier at him.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Just stop.”

The big man didn't seem at all pleased by the situation, he had a ugly grimace under his red mustache as he gave me a disdainful once-over. “Who the hell are you, girl?” he asked.

“Why is he in the cage?” I asked back, motioning at the man who seemed to be half-dead inside of the small cell.

“It ain't none of your business,” he said. “Now run along.”

“No,” I maintained. “What I'm going to do is: I'm going to let him out and I'm going to spare your life.”

“You don't know what you're doi—”

“Shush it!” I said. My rapier a bit more closer to his fat neck. “Don't make me kill you.”

“Kill me?” he scoffed. “I'll kill you, you ignorant bitch!” His movement was sharp. He flung my blade away with one move of his hand and lunged at me as fast as he could. But my reflexes were faster, l ducked out of the way, watching him almost trip due to his uncontrolled speed. I reached for my pocket knife and stabbed his leg.

“Ughh!” He yelled, falling to his knees as he lost his balance. “Ugh!” He kept yelling! “My leg!”

Walking slowly to his front, I picked up my rapier and graced his pain-filled face with my proud presence. “Don't ever call me a bitch,” I said in a cold whisper. He expected a stroke of my blade, but I spun around and struck his hard head with the heel of my boot then watched loftily as his body landed on the floor with a loud thud.

“Hey, are you alright?” I asked, hurrying over to the cage with the key I swapped from the guards belt. “I got you.” I unlocked the cage and tried helping the man pull himself out of his prison. He refused my hand and dragged himself out, groaning as he escaped.

“Jesus, what did they do to you?”

I watched him try to get up to his feet but then fail miserably as he fell to the ground. And as I hurried over to him to check if he was alright, I felt a cold breeze lace through my spine and root my feet into the infertile soil.

I knew this man. My eyes widened, darting around his tired sad face. Shock. All I felt was shock. Because this was impossible. I had seen this man before. Just as I knew that cage, I knew this man. He was the same man in my dreams. The very same man.