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She snuggled farther into the male in her semi subconscious, letting out contented murr. She ran in her dreams, chasing him as Mother and her sisters stood by, laughing at their antics. She would hide in the tall grass and chase him in circles, batting at his feet and pouncing on him from behind playfully. Mother had taken up her knitting and in her dream; Mother didn't have chronic arthritis and moved easily and freely as a younger woman might. Some of the sisters gathered flowers and threw them at the two as they raced passed, smiles on their lips. She launched herself at him and he caught her, using her momentum to roll them both downhill laughing. They came to a slow stop and she was splayed across his chest giggling. Micha giggling, not Cassie or Lila, but Micha and she could only smile to herself that she had her mind as her own. She couldn't remember the last time she had.

But the sky darkened and a scent reached her nose. A frightening scent. A scent that reminded her of harder times. The smell of gunpowder and blood filled her nostrils and the smile fell from her muzzle, panic filling her eyes as she saw smoke rising at the top of the hill. He didn't stop laughing as she scrambled up in fear, calling for her Mother. Cassie whimpered and cried softly in her sleep, trembling against him. The field was ablaze. Mother and her sisters were nowhere to be seen, but she could hear them scream. She ran for them but couldn't find them. Jason stood behind her on the hill, a silent smile in place, the voice of Rage whispering bitter "I told you so's".

Cassie's small claws dug into the fabric of his shirt as she went from trembling to shaking and whimpers to whines. Cassie couldn't tell if she as sleeping or awake. The smell of the smoke was so real. The smell and feel of Jason was very much there. But she couldn't smell or see Mother and the sisters. The grass smelled too wet for the fire blazing across the hills. Terror caught in her throat and ragged sobbed wrenched from her throat. He didn't know what to make of his own dream and immediately tossed the sexual implications away as he woke. It wasn't the dream that woke him, but the painful pricks against his chest and the sound of whimpering. The fire had burned low into embers, and the girl whimpered at his side. Jason gave her a shake and frowned when she merely began sobbing. "Micha. Micha, wake up...!" he whispered harshly. Nightmares were common in the Empire army, and he had found himself the watcher of his younger comrades. The fourteen and fifteen year old lads not used to the horror they signed on to inflict. He would wake them and tell them it was okay. And that was all it took. He cared about those boys, despite the fact that he had left them. He sat up and pulled her with him, shaking her gently.

"Micha. Wake up." He demanded, growing frustrated. Her frightened eyes finally blinked open and she tried to see him through her tears. Uncomprehending, she tried to push him away but he crushed her to his chest, taking in her shivers and her terror. He had never held anyone before but her fear was palpable. "What happened?" he whispered. It seemed pointless at this point to ask if she was okay. Not when she so clearly wasn't. "They were dead. They were screaming. Did they die?" she whimpered and clutched his shoulder, eyes wide and shining with tears yet unshed. She could almost still smell the gunpowder in the air; hear the screaming across the valley. Then the smell of him filled her nose and she buried her small face against his bare chest. "Don't let them hurt me..." she said softly, hiccupping over her breaths to stop the tears. "They hurt me so bad before..." she said and pulled herself steadily closer to him. "They're bad men." she whispered and buried her muzzle in his neck, trembling lightly.

Cassandra had never been so afraid before, and she had certainly never had a nightmare before and all she could think was to get closer to him. Closer and closer until she was nearly in his skin. Cassie had never been attacked before and she hated it. Assault was so frightening. It didn't take him long to realize who he held and the thought angered him. Cassie should never have to be afraid. "It's ok sweetheart. Nobody here's gonna hurt you. It's okay." He rumbled. His body was weary but he kept her gathered to him, held tight against his chest. He gathered her legs up and tucked them underneath her, so she rested completely against him. He couldn't suppress the primal urge to destroy whatever had upset her so much, even though he knew it had only been a dream. He wished it were a tangible creature, just so he could throttle it to death. But there was little oral comfort he could give, so it was up to his body to do it instead. He'd hold her as long as necessary; hold her all night if she needed it.

"They won't hurt you ever again," he said softly. He reached long and snagged up his shirt, tucking it around her shoulders and underneath her chin. The scent wouldn't be as fresh, but he needed to move them. The winter chill had crept up on them and he didn't want her sick. With his arms momentarily free, he tucked them under her legs and hoisted her into the air, using his chest as the back of her mobile "chair". She held onto his forearms and trembled, although he couldn't tell if it was from the cold, or from fear. He settled down by the fire, with her smaller form sitting in his lap. She pressed against him and sniffled. For a long while it was just the sound of the embers occasionally popping and her sniffling. Eventually she crawled out of his lap and sat next to him. She was still close, but gave him his body back. She looked up at him with frightened eyes. "Rage yelled at me. She said it was my entire fault and that she told me so." she said, her trembling faded as she clutched the shirt to her and leaned on him. She was oblivious to anything but herself and him and her mind was thoroughly preoccupied with her own fears crowding her mind. She was very much a child and hardly caught the weariness in his voice. Rage triumphed at the sound as she snarled cruel words at the girl at the foremost of her conscious.

She pawed lightly at his chest and nuzzled him lightly on the cheek, feeling safer in his presence. Rage was mean spirited and cruel, but Cassie didn't care about her until she took over. Until them she was just malicious emotions and words. Jason was more than happy to make the girl feel safe. If he could do nothing else, he could at least do that. He chuckled, "Well the next time she says it's your fault tell her I said she can go fuck a tree stump. You've done nothing wrong." he rubbed the fuzzy top of her head, "I'm sure she'll know what that means, even if you don't," he winked, although he was pretty sure she couldn't see the slight motion in the blackness of the cave. Did fox furre have the ability to see in the dark? He stood and patted her head. A log wouldn't be amiss either way. The cave was cold now, and the warmth was more than welcome. He returned and sat next to her. For a while he simply watched her play with her tail, childlike in her forgetfulness.

"I don't want to upset you, but what exactly is she saying is your fault?" He was reluctant to ask but it might help in comforting her. And besides that even he was curious as to what could have been so awful as to invade Cassie's dreams. Cassie; the epitome of lush innocence. Perhaps it might have been for the best if he didn't but things had become all too confusing since they had met. He pressed his palm against her furry cheek and used his thumb to stroke her fur as he spoke, "You don't have to. I'm just curious and confused is all." She closed her eyes a moment and when she opened them he had to swallow his despair at the sad confusion he saw there. It was certainly a look he never wanted to see on Cassie's face. No. Not even on Micha's face. It tore at his heart and he clenched his teeth to keep quiet. She would tell him if she so chose.

"She says the bad men are my fault and that's why they broke Micha." she said sadly and looked away. Then looked up with a quizzical brow raised. "What does 'fuck' mean? Lila says that a lot too. Is it like sitting or playing?" she asked and blinked slowly. She couldn't imagine what else you might do to a tree stump, but she'd never heard the term and Lila only spoke to her when she wanted out, and Rage only taunted her, never answered questions. Micha tried to answer her questions but usually ended up telling her to forget about it. She was hardly avoiding the subject but her mentality was that of a small child, and thus, wandered often. Jason shook his head and chuckled. He knew better than to speak that way around Cassie but the unfamiliar words gave her a much needed distraction. "Don't worry about what it is or isn't sweetheart. Just know that it will shut her up for a few minutes." He ran his fingers down her back and neck, feeling her gradually relax the muscles she had no idea she was tensing.

"And as for it being your fault the bad men came...Well, bad men are all over the place and it's no ones fault when they come or go. And I'm sure Micha isn't broken. I mean, she's certainly very...surly, but broken? Nah." He said. He ruffled her ears as she pouted at him. She crawled into his lap and let out a long weary sigh. It was still a childs sigh, but out of place nonetheless. "Oh but they did. She cried for days you know. And she bled so much. She told me so. That's why she let Rage out. She says she'd broken so I hafta believe her don't I? Micha wouldn't lie to me would she?" she said and looked up at him with wide eyes. To her, Micha was the best thing ever. Even Jason came in as a close second to Micha. Micha was never wrong and for the most part, what she said went.

But she remembered a night when she hadn't listened to Micha and she regretted it all the time. The night she agreed to play when she should have run like Micha told her to. The rest, she knew nothing about. Micha blocked her from that hard. She had taken the fall when Cassie had gotten them into it. And it bothered her that she'd probably never know what had really happened that night. Only that it was her fault. He didn't mind the girl's weight atop of him. She was light enough, and her body was rounded and delicate looking enough that she didn't poke him. He knew the strength beneath her soft fur and luscious curves. He knew of the corded muscles being controlled by the mind of a child. He knew she was formidable I her own right, but right now she was Cassie. And Cassie would always be delicate.

He pulled her down as he lay back, settling her head in the center of his chest even as he straightened his legs. He would never understand the complexity of the mind, could never understand that the stress of the abuse the woman had endured had caused her mind to fracture and to create for itself these various entities that composed and inhabited her body. "Well, she can say she is, and I can say she isn't. Believe whoever you like." He wasn't about to start an argument with her over her idol. It would be counterproductive to just about everything. He was troubled by the new information, and though he wore a smile for the kit, inside his mind was trying to interpret this new information. He put aside asking Cassie any more questions. Micha was iffy about answering questions and Lila was a downright horrifying option. That left one possible alternative, but he feared that personality more than anything. He put his curiosity on hold and decided to wait. Maybe Micha would tell him on her own time. The thought had him almost scoffing. "No sweetheart. Micha wouldn't lie to you. Get back to sleep. We have a garden to start tomorrow." He said. He closed his eyes and ignored her tiny huff of childish annoyance. But she remained quiet. She knew that tone. It was the same one Micha took with her often when she was restless. She curled herself up smaller and relaxed atop him, letting her mind drift completely off and she dreamed of clouds. She dreamed she was flying and never got the chance to land.

Because it wasn't she who awoke, nor Micha, nor Rage.