#aud para

Zarina never thought she could remember a moment in her life so perfectly, yet have it be such a blur at the same time. It happened about three months ago. Zarina was in one of the furthest rooms in the depths of the dungeons-- the room that she's turned into sanctuary for her learning, experimenting, and alchemy. It's also a place she goes to if she wants to be alone sometimes, or just when the other students in her house are angering her... which tends to happen fairly often. Though the room was cold, Zarina tried to make it look as least like a creepy dungeon as possible. There were orbs of floating light hovering near the ceiling, a large wooden table at the back of the room along with two smaller ones near the front, a bookshelf filled with books, journals, and scrolls, and many curtains covering the darkness and cracks in the walls. All in all, it was a home, away from home, away form home.

The brunette had been concentrating hard on one of the most complicated theories in alchemy she's ever come up with due to a weird substance she found in the forbidden forest when all of the sudden there was an intense burst of light. But that wasn't all, the illumination was followed by a force that knocked Zarina to the ground along with two of her tables and a silky mass of her curtains. She had to shield her eyes with her arms for a moment before the light died down and she could safely see what exactly it was that had just chaotically entered the room. Standing, or floating really, before her was a strange mass of energy. Something that she's never seen before. There was no real way to describe it, but it kept continuously changing shape and it's colors looked almost like a living galaxy. And when it spoke-- or rather they spoke, as there was more than one tone of voice slowly and collectively talking, it was slow and completely memorizing.

 "Zarina. We are the Nihil. We are above a godly force, a primal existence, an interstellar revolution, and we are impressed with your skill..." Zarina was absolutely speechless. Never before has she said so many questions running through her mind but have no idea even where to start first. "We know about your failing quest, your search to find who you are looking for, and we are prepared to help you... for something in return." Zarina finally stood up and moved closer to this being of power, circling it once before staring at it in awe.  "How can you help... how do you even--" but before she could finish her thought, they intervened. "We can offer you power. A significant increase in your magical abilities. You will not be invincible, you will not be unbeatable, but you will be powerful, you will be difficult to conquer by your enemies, you will be able to get your revenge." That’s when they had her. Nothing else mattered to Zarina. She would be able to avenge her parent's lives.

Ariel sighed a little impatiently, leaning her elbows on the front counter of the shop. The muggle pawn shop, actually—a fact that kept her looking over her shoulder every few minutes, just in case her father should somehow appear and ground her for the next eternity.  But he wouldn’t, because she was getting rather good at covering her tracks and providing an alibi, in her own humble opinion.

The venture had begun on an exciting note, but now she was left staring at the clerk, who droned on about some muggle television program which apparently had been run into the ground. He was really broken up about it. Ariel, however, was not; she was too busy looking at the strange object in his hand, which she had originally handed him in hopes of a description. The lengthy diatribe about something else was apparently an added bonus. Normally, she wouldn’t complain, seeing as the current topic involved muggles, but she was due home ten minutes ago.

“Okay, but, what is it? The thing in your hand, that I gave you.” She finally cut him off, regretting it immediately when the clerk frowned. “Sorry, I promise I’ll stop in tomorrow and you can tell me more about the story. I just…I have to head home—my father, he gets really grumpy when I’m late.” Realizing that she might have been rambling, she stopped herself, smiling apologetically.

The clerk sighed, setting the object down on the counter. “Nah, you’re fine. Not working tomorrow anyways, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh.” Ariel nodded slowly, then looked at him a little expectantly. “So…what exactly is it?”

“Oh yeah.” He looked at it again, as if he had completely forgotten that it was there. Even though he had just set it down, but Ariel decided it was best to keep her comments to herself about that. “It’s a pager. I guess you’re too young to know that, huh? Ha, figures. It was like…pre-mobile. So, kinda out of date.”

Humming in understanding, even though she really didn’t understand at all, she poked the small device, then picked it up again. “Woah. That’s…wow. This is really cool.” There was silence, then, and she had to tear her eyes away from the pager in order to check to see if the clerk had run off. He hadn’t. He was only staring at her, equal parts confused and tired. “Uh,” Ariel cleared her throat, then smiled. “Could I have it?”

“If you can pay for it, knock yourself out. Eight pounds.” He shrugged, running a hand through his already messy hair.

Beaming, she reached into her bag and pulled out the required muggle money, double checking the amount before handing it out to him. He nodded and turned away, giving her a small wave with his free hand. “Enjoy.”

“Oh, I will!” Clutching the pager to her chest, she turned and all but skipped to the door. Then she remembered the time, and skipping turned to running.

There was a girl with Tic Tacs, and that’s really what did it.

Things were fine, up until that moment. Piper was fine. Sure, she was a little jittery, but not enough for her to do anything. Not because it wouldn’t help—well, maybe that was actually true—but also because it wasn’t that bad. It could be worse. It had been worse. She should really be happy that the day wasn’t altogether terrible. She should actually be happy, period. She hated herself for that.

But she hated herself more because it was the rattling of Tic Tacs that caused things to go from bearable to awful.

She remembered the girls behind her laughing about something fun and involving friendship, which she did a fine job of knowing nothing about, and then she heard the rattling sound. Then she was on the ground, crouched in the smallest heap that she could manage, throwing her hands over her ears. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, too loud in her ears for anything else to be heard.

“—Piper! You fucking listen—” And there was his voice, louder than even her heart, blowing ice into her veins. Just like that, everything was dark and cold and frighteningly familiar. Even if she tried not to listen, she could hear the floorboards creak as he ran up the stairs, shouting profanities and threats. Words that scared her, even if she knew they couldn’t reach her there, at school.

But right then, she wasn’t at school. She was in her room again, crouched behind the bathroom door, sobbing as she rocked back and forth. Please don’t let him find me and please don’t let him touch me and why is everything so loud?

Something touched her shoulder, like a bolt of electricity, and she flinched, crying out and swinging her arm in a frail attempt to keep whatever it was far away from her. Her hand struck something, and very faintly, she could make out another voice. An unfamiliar one.

Another hand took hers, the grip firm, and she took the opportunity to grip it back, holding onto that hand like a lifeline. “P-please. P…ple-ase.” The words were strangled and muffled by tears, and it took Piper a moment to realize that they had come from her own mouth. Oh, she sounded pathetic.

Her father’s voice threatened to grow louder, but then the other person was talking again, and everything started to fade away. Everything was loud and confusing, and the redhead could only keep her eyes shut tightly, cheeks wet.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Are you with me?” The voice was clear as day now, and right next to her. Swallowing thickly, Piper forced her eyes open, only to realize that she was curled up on the floor. The floor, really? Pathetic. She looked up at one of the girls from earlier, who crouched beside her with concern written on her face. “You’re okay, I promise.”

Such kind words, and Piper couldn’t even manage one, then. She tried, but all that came out was something akin to a whimper. And just like that, humiliation came flooding in, and she was standing up with unsteady feet and bolting out of the classroom. It was too much—falling apart like that in front of people, and then not even being able to thank someone for staying with her? She really was beyond help, and wasn’t it worse that she couldn’t even admit that aloud.

Sleeping. In various areas of the castle. With various girls.