#saraya.

DIGGING DEEPER.

TW: murder, parental death, homelessness

when you grow up in a setting where it’s clear the people who are supposed to be your family would prefer you dead instead of alive, you’ll do anything to get out of there. as much as they did nothing to care for their daughter, saraya still grieves her parents when their bodies are found mutilated in the woods. some say it was the work of a dread pig, some say that the thorn’s were wrapped up in the kind of business that only a soldier of the devil can conduct. regardless, saraya knew one thing – she would always be better and safer alone. she begins living on the streets to keep herself from becoming a possession of the government considering she had no living relatives, a street kid who developed a thick skin. that is… until it became a life that wasn’t sustainable anymore.

when she arrives at the doorstep of the east atlantic army at the age of twelve, she comes to them desperate (despite being far too stubborn to openly admit it), but ready to fight. the first meal she eats she rips into – and the rest was history. over the next couple years she becomes someone to fear. despite listening to commands and being highly skilled with various forms of weaponry, there’s just something about the way she swings her fists, as if they’re on fire. 

that is, until she becomes the sole survivor of her unit following battle – but she’s gravely injured. her release is unexpected, but saraya most certainly doesn’t question it. she’s twenty-five with the rest of her life ahead of her – or so she hopes. of course there’s the fear that down the line afterglow will find use for her again, that they’ll drag her back there kicking and screaming – but she’d never show it. instead of getting herself a regular nine-to-five job, saraya knows she’s always been a fighter. after sneaking into a cage fight and entering – the rest is history. she mainly works in the underground circuit, gracing hell’s gate on occasion, but the fights she gets herself into are unregulated – untamed. and yet, she always comes out on top. 

meeting rio cardona following a fight, little did she know, would change the course of her life. what saraya believes to be just a conversation (she toyed with the idea, when in reality she knew better) turned into meeting the illustrious scarlett hulley – who spins a deal that is far too sweet for saraya to turn away. thus, she joins the jackals – working her way through the prospect system before becoming a member, an addition to their unspoken collection of muscle. rio too develops from just a scout to one of the few people she can consider to be family, and saraya trusts them implicitly. even if most of the time, she looks like she could kill you.

despite not actively participating in fights anymore, she’s developed about as normal of a life as a jackal could have. the fisher brothers open their doors to her, an apprenticeship soon giving way to a career as a tattoo artist. she’s never not engaged in some kind of jackal business now, either with clients at the fishery or acting on the orders of scarlett and rio. and yet, she believes, she couldn’t be happier. she has agency, people whom she can trust, and a roof over her head that is all her own. 

EXTRAS.