May contain triggers later. I will indicate them.

I had convened the Legion as soon as we found out Ashtin was alive, and we had banged out a plan. Ashley, Jinxx, CC and Jake would lead the wild one to battle, everyone accept for Amy, Patrick, and Bryan would be going. That meant that there were seventeen well trained wild ones going up against an unknown number of Rebels.CC and Jake would take storm it, Ashley would look for a back entrance and go in through there, taking Jinxx with him. Andrew, Darren, and Ema would go one way with Ashley , and Victor would and Ariel would go another way with Jinxx. We’d managed to get a set of walkie talkies from The Box a couple of months ago, so Jinxx Ashley, CC and Jake would have walkie talkies and Ashley and I would have the satellite phones. The plan was that they would find her, and I would stay in my white room and keep tabs on Ashtin and relay them to Ashley, who would then relay them to the rest of the group. If I heard anything, a commotion, then I knew they were getting close and they were supposed to yell their individual code words, and I’d say who I heard, and that group would be joined by the other members of the other groups. The goal was to get Ashtin and get out. We didn’t want to shoot to kill, just to stop, but we weren’t against shooting to kill. We’d relayed all this information to the Wild Ones and they’d all agreed, all of them that is, except for Ebe.
~~Flashback Mode~~
“Why are we going through so much trouble to save her? Can’t someone else be The Deceiver?”
It was a brash question, and I met it with a brash answer.
“No, no one else can be The Deceiver. It takes a certain amount of magic to be what we are, and not everyone has it. We don’t like to risk your lives, but her being here is important.”
“So her life is more important than ours?” Ethan questioned. He didn’t seem upset about this notion, rather he seemed to be stirring up trouble, something Ethan was quite fond of doing.
“I wouldn’t put it that way. Her life is just very important, or rather, the things that she knows are very important. Ashtin is in the hands of the Rebels, and she knows enough that if they somehow manage to break her-“
“Which is doubtful,” Ashley cut in.
“Yes, it’s very doubtful, but if they somehow manage to break her, they’ll know enough that we’d all be in danger, and putting that notion aside. If it was say, Amy, who was in trouble this way, wouldn’t you all be just as willing to go and get her?” I asked, directing the question at Ebe.
“But that’s different, Amy is one of us, we love her.” Ebe countered, and Zen interjected.
“The point is, Ebe, they’re torturing someone that belongs here, and we’re going to go and get her, end of discussion.”
“But the risk-“
“Isn’t any greater than if we were going to go get you. In fact, if we were going to go get you the risk would be higher. They’d try harder to hold onto you because you know more than she does.”
“How does she know anything?” Patrick asked suddenly, seeming confused. “I thought she’d never been here.”
“I’ll explain later.” Amy said softly to him. I nodded at her with a smile of encouragement.
“She’s one of us, and we’re going to go get her.” CC said strongly, with absolutely no joke in his tone. I’d never really heard him that serious before. “All of us.” He looked at Ebe who glared before nodding her concession.
“Alright, now that that’s settled, I want everyone to be ready for battle at all times, because the second we know where she is we’re going to get her. That means stay well rested, stay well hydrated, and stay off the fucking booze. I catch anyone drinking and there will be hell to pay.” I said, using my most convincing of glares as I looked at Indigo and Caleb the least likely to get caught. “We can’t afford to have anyone hung over if we’re going to get her out safely.”
“What if I just don’t get drunk?” Indigo questioned and I glared at him. He looked away and said simply, “Alright then.”
“Circuit One has weapons duty today, your job is to make sure that weapons are ready to go at a moment’s notice, sharp blades, loaded guns, ready magazines. Evan I know you like to use the bow, make sure you have enough arrows. Make sure your weapon of choice is ready. From now until we find her cleaning circuit will have weapons duty every other day, so Circuit Three has weapons duty when they’re supposed to clean next and so on.”
They all nodded like they agreed and I called Amy to me.
She had what could almost be called a smile on her face, she looked like she thought everything was going well so far. Patrick had become her little lap dog and was practically following her around. “Amy, your job is to keep an eye on Patrick and Bryan while everyone is away, because none of you are in any condition to fight, no offense Patrick, but we train five times a week, so your sort of stuck out.”
“It’s not a problem,” He said.
I nodded at him then looked back to Amy. “Amy, if they all have to go out, I’m going to be in the white room most of the time, and since you’re the most dependable of the ones left behind you’re in charge of base until the party returns, alright? I just wanted you to know this, and that I think that whether they’re gone for two hours or twenty four, you’ll hold down the fort nicely.” I smiled at her and she smiled back.
“I’ll do my best, Prophet.”
“I know you will Amy, thank you,” I gave her a quick hug which she returned with only a slight hesitation. Having Patrick to look after the past couple of days had loosened her up a lot. She was more willing to converse, even if it was only with Patrick and I. She was coming out of her shell.
“Alright, well, I’m going to go, see you around, kid.” I smiled at her and went back to my white room immediately.
~~~~~~~
That was two days ago, and now we were enacting Retrieval. There was no guarantee that we’d find her, but if nothing else it was good practice.
I watched as people filed into the halls, all the while in the back of my mind thinking about Ashtin, and what she must be feeling. I couldn’t get the image of what had happened to her out of my head. I couldn’t even imagine how she must be feeling, how she was coping. She’d been so weak, they could’ve at least fed her, damn it. She was starving.
“Andy.” Ashley whispered in my ear, pulling me away from our growing Wild Ones. “It’s time.” I nodded to him and we went around the back way into the meeting room. We all stood outside our doors, and Ashley looked at me. I looked over at the spot that was empty, the spot meant for The Deceiver, and then looked back at him.
“It’s time.” I said, just loud enough that they could hear me in the quiet space.
We all opened our doors and took our measured paces, and just like many times before we went through our bedrooms and out into the Great Hall.
We appeared in sync and the entirety of the congregated people shut up.
I looked out over the gathered crowd, checking that all faces were present.
“You’ve been told the plan; you know what to do. Our Deceiver is counting on us to bring her to safety. Bring our Deceiver back where she belongs, so that we can finally take down F.E.A.R.!” I yelled over them, and there was a cheer that Ariel started and was soon echoed by the others.
“We are the Wild Ones!” Ashley yelled, shaking his fist in the air, only further spurring their cheers. The gathered masses with their weapons followed behind their appointed persons as they exited through the kitchen in turn.
CC and Jake and their group exited first, followed by Ashley and Jinxx and their group. I was the last to leave aside from Amy, and Patrick, Bryan had made a last minute attempt to get into the field, only to be stopped by Ariel, because that obviously wasn’t happening.
I went to my white room and sat on the floor.
“Ashtin, we’re coming for you.” I said aloud before slipping into the trance, only to be disgusted by what I saw.

Warning!!!! May be triggering!!!
It hadn’t been thirty minutes, and they were torturing her again. She was screaming in pain as a knife was run across her stomach, only creating a flesh wound, but when combined with the pain of being forcefully penetrated was more than she could stand silently. She was still lightheaded, and foggy, and it appeared that she had awoken to the pain. I wasn’t sure if they’d ever stopped. It was Kronus now, with that smug smirk on his face, taunting her as he continued to mutilate her.
She was suffering to protect us. I’d never felt more pride then I did then, knowing that she was bound and determined not to crack. She was so strong. I wasn’t sure that I would’ve been able to do the same thing had I been in her position, just watching, and knowing the pain she’s in, I was cracking, but she was keeping herself so strong.
"Where is your Prophet now, Ashley?" He asked her mockingly and she gritted her teeth.
"The Prophet is dead." She said through the immense pain.
"No he isn't, he just left you to rot." He laughed and I felt her resolve weaken momentarily before coming back full force, determined not to say anything.
“Don’t believe him, Ashtin, we’re coming for you honey.” I told her, but she didn’t hear me through the pain, she was barely conscious with the pain and lack of any real sustenance. She was trying her hardest not to react to him as he tortured her, but she was fighting a losing battle, until she did something I hadn’t expected. She slipped into a trance state. It’s literally impossible to do without training, but I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. She shouldn’t have been able to trance, but even though I was sure it wasn’t technically a trance, it was very similar to a trance.
**Trigger Over**
He continued to talk to her, but she wasn’t paying attention anymore. She was off in her own little world, and I watched the images form in her head absently, while I listened for the guys. I slipped out of the trance and called Ashley.
“’Lo?” he asked, and I could hear the jeeps tires running along the compact and cracked earth as they sped towards the place where the Rebel’s were stationed once, and may be stationed still.
“They’re torturing her again, so if they are there, listen for screams, yelling or laughter, you know the kind.” I told him bitterly, remembering the call we had received that I was now certain was Kronus. That bastard.
“Alright, will do, does she have any idea where she is?” He asked me, and I sighed trying to contain my irritation.
“No Ashley, it’s sort of hard to tell me where she is in the middle of being tortured.”
“Sorry man, but we don’t have much information to go on.”
“It’s enough.” I hung up before I said something that pissed him off. I was frustrated beyond belief. I’d never heard Kronus do anything but yell instructions, so I hadn’t recognized his voice over the phone, but I would know his face anywhere. I would never forget the face of the man who I watched kill my entire family. I’d never forget the coldness in his eyes, or that shock of white blond hair that I would gladly rip from his head. I was seething at this point, and rather than continuing to dwell on the fact I went back into my trance.

**Another Possible Trigger**
“It’s alright Ashtin,” I told her when she was screaming in pain, having been taken out of her trance like state by a knife blade running along the softness of her inner thigh, making a deep cut.
“The Prophet is dead” She said again, coughing from the soreness of her throat that was aching from it’s overuse. I doubted Ashtin had ever screamed at anyone, or screamed in general, ever, or at least not since she was a baby.
“You keep saying that, but you know what, I don’t believe you.” He laughed coldly and there was silence besides her whimpering and his grunts, indicating that he was finishing in her. I cringed, and she screamed.
**Trigger Over**

“Until tomorrow,” He said as he removed himself from her kissing her forehead like a caring lover. I growled angrily, and she flinched. I wasn’t sure if she was flinching at me, or at him, but either way I felt bad for her. This was my fault. This was all my fault.
Jacob entered the room when Kronus finished putting himself back together and then dragged her into the shower attached to her room.
“You have five minutes,” He told her as her knees hit the tiled floor of the skimpy bathroom, accompanied only by a single bar of soap and a ripped rag. Nothing like what would be available to the members of the Rebel Camp regularly. Unlike us their numbers were large, very large, and with their “connection”, which we suspected were F.E.A.R., they had access to the things necessary to have nice little things like thiers. But we didn’t have the luxury of a tiled shower, hell we barely had the luxury of running water. She didn’t look back at him, rather just stayed on the floor until the door closed. I watched as she rose shakily, and looked at herself in the mirror. There was a purple bruise forming on her face, and the gashes in her stomach and leg were bleeding profusely. She rummaged around for antiseptic, or anything really, to clean the wounds, but she didn’t find anything besides a tooth brush and toothpaste, which she didn’t touch. She looked with disdain at the shower, and then hesitantly went towards it, but stopped short, not trusting the shower. I felt guilt consume me. She didn’t even trust the shower. This was all my fault.
“Prophet,” she whispered into the emptiness. “Prophet are you there?”
She was talking to me, but… why?
“Yes, Ashtin, I’m here, I’m here Ashtin.” I told her reassuringly, but she started the weep.
“Prophet, please, don’t be dead anymore. PROPHET!” She screeched and I realized what she was doing.
She was making it seem like she was trying to contact me for their sake. Of course they were watching her, how could I have been so blind. She fell to her knees and in came Kronus.
“Where is he?” He asked her angrily and she started to sob, crocodile tears I was sure. There was no way she’d cry like this, not in front of him. It was all an act trying to convince him that I was dead. Did she know that I was alive? It didn’t matter, it was common knowledge that without a Prophet the Wild Ones would fall, it was in the Prophecy.
When the Prophet falls for the last time the Wild Ones must bow…
As though she could hear me thinking she repeated the lines to him, gasping for breath that she was losing in her hysteria.
“But the Prophet hasn’t fallen, Ashtin, we both know this.”
She looked up at him coldly through bloodshot eyes and tear coated eyelashes and said with all the bitterness in the world.
“The Prophet is dead.”
It was like a giant kick in the face. She believed this with all her heart, she believed that I was dead, and everytime I spoke to her was just a figment of her imagination. She was only doing this to save herself, and any of the remaining Wild Ones, but mostly to keep herself safe and get herself out of harms way. She didn’t care about us, she was trying to save herself.
But I was the reason she needed to be saved in the first place.
I was the reason that she didn’t have any hope in the Wild Ones.
I was the reason she thought I was dead.
I couldn’t blame her for being selfish because as far as she was concerned there was no one but herself mixed into the equation. She was all alone. She though that there was no one coming to save her. Everytime I pleaded with her that I was going to keep her safe my words fell on deaf ears. She’d never believe that I was alive, that she had to save not only herself, but her fellow Wild Ones. She could have easily told them everything she knew, in hopes of getting out, but in the back of her mind she knew that if there were any Wild Ones left she couldn’t just throw them to the dogs, even if it meant this pain, but at the moment all she wanted was to escape from the pain, and with the direct route blocked she was taking desperate measures.

Notes

So I was extra careful and just marked off anything with bad stuff, just in case. I feel like I'm being to cautious, but having been triggered myself once from reading a thing I just wanted to make sure that anyone reading knew what they were getting into. A big thanks to everyone who is reading. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, life has been hectic, but I have a first period off, so I should start doing better about the frequent updates since I can work during 1st and lunch (all my friends have the other lunch period :( )
Anyway, thanks for reading, I'm getting really fed up with all the filler I've been having to write lately, and the Retrival is probably going to happen within the next few updates because it's getting tedious. Originally they were going to keep her locked up for an unreasonable long amount of time, but if I do keep her locked up I'll be doing a lot of time skips, because darn it if I'm not tired of writing filler.

Thanks for listening ^-^
♥ Ashtin