She couldn't move without feeling excruciating pain, her body wanted to shut down.

She cried softly as she lay on her front side. It hurt too much to lay on her back.

She finally drifted off into a fitful sleep, but in her dreams she just lived that day over again, and woke up in a cold sweat. But because of exhaustion, ended up falling asleep again.

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It was during one of her rather long blocks of sleep, that Dallen came to see her.

She hadn't given her name, and the guilt of torturing her was eating him alive.

He gazed upon her, regret and sorrow in his demeanor.

"I'm sorry." he pleaded, falling to his knees at the side of her small cot. "I'm sorry I couldn't... I didn't..." he started crying silently, tears falling down his face.

He couldn't sleep, so had gone down to the girl, hoping he would know what to do once he got there.

He was disgusted by himself. He had tortured her, just because he was scared of being tortured or killed himself.

He should have had the courage to stand up for himself, to not fear death if it was to protect someone he loved.

Love?

No.

Cared deeply for, there couldn't possibly have been enough time to fall in love with her.

He would admit, that he had started caring for her a few weeks back, but nothing serious, just a like for hanging out around her.

It might have been her always rude, honest comments that no one else would ever dare to tell him. Or it could have been the way her eyes sparkled with a challenge anytime they argued about the most unimportant things. But these feelings he felt for her had grown steadily stronger.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, crying out his guilt. But he eventually calmed down, and after putting a blanket over her, went back to bed.

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She woke up once again as he was leaving, hearing the door as it firmly closed.

"Who?...." she weakly called, but couldn't finish the sentence as she broke into coughing.

She noticed the blanket covering her, and was grateful for it.

Her wounds felt a bit better, and with the added warmth, she fell into a more peaceful slumber.