FIC: In Plain Sight
Banner courtesy of m14mouse
Title: In Plain Sight
Author: drummerdancer
Verse: First Anime
Characters/Pairings: Rosé, others
Prompt 276: Under The Bed
Word Count: 410
Rating: K+
Summary: Her mom always said the real monsters weren't hiding under the bed.
When Rosé was a little girl, her mother used to say the only place you wouldn’t find monsters was under your bed. They simply couldn’t possibly be found there because they wouldn’t fit; they were too big and bulky for such a tiny amount of space, never mind that they should exist at all. Rosé hadn’t believed her-all the kids her age had said otherwise-but held onto it anyway in case it ever became true in the future.
Years later, when her mother, father, and fiancé had all died on her, that tidbit of advice came back to her when she heard soldiers pounding on her door, the butts of their rifles piercing the plasterboard walls as they barged their way in. The children clinging to her skirt were beginning to cry, and she knew right there and then that if she let them, none of them would be surviving what came next.
So instead, she gave them all a smile she didn’t feel as she directed them to her bed, pulling the sheets touching the floor up so they could crawl under. She told them not to make a word or the monsters would get them but didn’t specify where or who the monsters were.
One by one they crawled under, until it was just her visible as she dropped the sheet and heard the door break open. A stampede of boots approached her, crowded her, as their leader grabbed her by the chin, his slick silver eyes roaming her face in a way that made her skin crawl.
“Well, well, lookie what we found here,” he said, a gold tooth winking at her as he opened his mouth. “Looks like we gots ourselves a lil lady for our troubles.”
“Ya reckon she knows where them rebels are?”
“Well if she don’t,” their leader said, “we definitely have…other uses for her.”
Rosé swallowed thickly and didn’t look at the bed, the sheets, the headboard, any of it. She closed her eyes and thought the only thing she could think of, the only comfort she had at the moment as she was shuffled around and blindfolded as laughter echoed all across the room.
You were right, Mom. The real monsters aren’t hiding under the bed; they’re in plain sight, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Thieves taking for the taking.
She pretended she didn’t hear the whimpers coming from under the bed.
Or the ones coming from her mouth.
Double posted @ fma_fic_contest