Chapter Text
Hopeless.
She didn't feel anything but hopeless. Yet, she knew how to hide deep inside her. No one around her knew. She walked with a smile on her face, a happy voice, and warm hugs full of support. She couldn't show weakness. No one ever understood her. No one was capable of seeing beyond the act.
The house wasn't really a home. If she didn't abide by their orders, she got a lashing out. Yelling, threats, humiliations, beatings, basic necessities ignored, no money, no kindness. If she behaved like they wanted, she could have a little bit of what the others her age had. For a while, sometimes, she felt lovable.
But everything has a price. Nothing good is really for free. If it isn't money, it's your soul.
She tried leaving that place four times. The first they found the money she was saving and took it. The others were circumstances in life that they took advantage of to bring her down. They kept breaking her emotionally, physically, and mentally. Trying to tame her spirit. She couldn't really die, she tried. Nothing worked it. So she survived and kept fighting a silent battle every day. Pretending everything was fine because no one believed her pleas of help. She worked hard, studying harder. Nothing seemed to flourish. She thought it was a curse.
She was cursed.
And then when she thought she finally would escape that hell hole, she fell sick. They took her to the hospital. Pills that weren't what they said they were. Wires connecting her to machines. And drugs in her veins that left red trails. She wanted to die. She prayed and cried. And she pleaded and begged. But she couldn't die. And something wasn't right.
Everything burned. Everything hurt. Pain so much pain. She never felt that kind of pain, and she was used to different types and levels of pain. She couldn't breathe. Suffocating on despair. It wouldn't stop burning inside out.
Then everything became darkness. She couldn't see anything. Or hear. It was like she was trapped inside a black hole. She lost track of who she was. She forgot their faces, their voices. She forgot the house. She forgot the people who showed temporary veiled sympathy. She forgot the details. She couldn't feel her body. Or think straight. She lost the little things that she tried to call hers. She had nothing to grasp. Nothing but darkness and emptiness.
She became darkness and emptiness.
Then, she was only emptiness trapped in darkness.
For hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years.
She wasn't herself.
She wasn't her.
She was nothing.
There was nothing.
The darkness became nothing too.
Nothing.
And then a sound.
And an explosion of light.
"Shh, I've got you. You're safe now."
Light. There is so much light.
Burning. Is that what's called light?
Couldn't see. Light burns.
"Hey, I'm Moon Knight, I'll get you out of here, ok? Kid, can you hear me? Dammit, Steve, I can see she's unresponsive."
It hurts. Everything hurts. And burns. Need darkness. It burns. Outside of nothing hurts.
"Shit. She has powers. Couldn't you have warned us, Konshu?"
No. No. Hurts. Burns. Back. Darkness. Where?
"We're here to help. You're safe now."
Help? What's help? Safe? Light hurts. Need... Something? Darkness. It's too much. Hurts. No. No. Not again.
"I'm sorry, kid."
Back to darkness.
She sighed in relief.