Interim
Uvogin x reader
Warnings: mentions of captivity, abusive relationships, abuse, violence, blood, kidnapping, mentions of death
Word count: 9k
2:09 AM
A familiar nightmare wrenched you out of your sleep, one that left your heart pounding and your limbs shaking as you instantly reached for the table lamp, blindly scrambling at the lamp's base before you moved your hand upward to find the light switch. You needed the light on. You needed to be able to see clearly. You needed to know that you were alone – that there wasn't a large figure standing at the end of your bed watching you, waiting for you to become aware of his presence before he snatched you up.
You needed to know that you were the only one in your little apartment.
The light came on and you looked all about the bedroom.
And……
Nothing.
There was no sign of anyone being in there with you. The few pieces of furniture and personal items you owned were in the same places they had been when you went to bed the previous night, and with the exception of your work shirt that hung off the back of a chair, nothing in the room was in any sort of disarray. Nothing torn up or destroyed, no clothes that had been roughly shoved into your aged backpack that hung off the hook on the bedroom door.
And when you looked to the foot of the bed, you didn't see anyone standing before you.
You let out a shaky sigh of relief as you fell back onto your mattress.
Like the other times, it was only a nightmare. It wasn't real, it was only your deepest fears coming out from your subconscious, bringing forward the fears that you tried your best to keep at the back of your head every day. A possibility for your future that you were desperate to avoid.
But despite how often you'd experienced that particular nightmare, that only did so much to calm your rapid heartbeat. After all, he could still find you. Even though you had run so far and done so much to cover your tracks so that following you would be a near-impossible feat, no matter what you did, the fact remained that Uvogin could find you.
With how long you had been away from him, you felt pretty secure that you hadn't slipped up anywhere when you left; if there had been any clue you left behind, any images of you on a security camera that he or one of his friends would be able to see, then he would've gotten you by now. The fact that months had gone by and you didn't see any sign of your former captor had you feeling secure that you had done well when you got away from him.
But he could still find you.
Uvogin liked to travel around when he wasn't with the troupe, usually in search of strong opponents or ways to increase his already astounding physical strength. It was always possible that he might come to the town where you now lived for training purposes. Or maybe he would come for a different reason; maybe he'd come just to see what a remote town in the middle of a frozen wasteland looked like.
Either way, he could always find you. And no matter how much you assured yourself that the chances were slim, the fact that those chances still existed would never allow you to feel completely at ease.
There could always be a morning where your nightmare became a reality.
That thought made you shudder, and you pulled the blanket back up around your shoulders as you curled beneath it, not bothering to turn off the light. You'd need to go into work in four hours, but there was no way you were getting back to sleep before then. At least savor the warmth of your soft blankets before you need to go out into the cold, you told yourself.
You also told yourself not to think about Uvogin while you did that.
But of course, that was an impossible task. The instant you told yourself not to, images of him popped into your brain and he was all you could think about.
It wasn't fair.
After all this time being away from him, the months you'd spent building back up a normal life for yourself as you tried to integrate into your new home, your mind went back to him with every other thought. You couldn't help the way you wondered about what he was doing. Where he was. If today he would casually destroy numerous innocent lives that he wouldn't bother to remember, or if he would decide that the day was going to be a peaceful one. You couldn't imagine his way of life had stopped completely, but it wasn't like every day you had spent with him was one where blood was spilled.
It was only the really bad days that were like that.
Was Uvogin even still alive? That was something else that you thought about. The stress at the thought of him finding you was constant, but if you could have some sort of confirmation that he was dead, it would mean that all of stress could taken off of your mind. Maybe you wouldn't even need to keep living here and go back to the way your life had been before Uvo decided to mess it up for you.
It seemed like a long shot that he'd be dead, though. Especially when you remembered what he was capable of. You had too many memories of the way he could crumple up metal in his bare hands, or how he could take hits that would have demolished a normal person. Hell, not even bullets could do anything to him. So what the hell could even kill a man like him?
You sighed.
It'd be nice to imagine that he'd given up on you, at the very least. That you running and hiding away for so long had caused him to lose interest in you and that he'd shifted his obsessive focus to someone else. A thought that made you feel bad for that hypothetical third party, but it would technically be good for you.
….. What an awful thought to have.
You groaned as you pushed your face into the pillow.
It wasn't fair how he consumed your mind. It wasn't fair how you had this same internal dialogue every morning. It wasn't fair that he was always somewhere at the back of your head from the moment you woke up to the time you went to sleep. It wasn't fair that even in your dreams you weren't free of him.
Why did he need to pick you?
It was useless asking that question – you'd never get an answer for it. Not one that you'd be satisfied with, anyway.
Glancing up again at the time, you found it to be 2:16 AM.
Work was in four hours and you couldn't get back to sleep.
5:35 AM
You winced the second you stepped out the door, the cold air of the outside biting at your exposed skin without mercy. Unfortunately, as much as you wanted to barricade yourself in your apartment until the weather was better, you had to get to work.
And it wasn't like things would get any warmer; the days in Mowbray were freezing all year long.
Being located in one of the coldest areas in the world tended to do that; the town was surrounded on all sides by an icy tundra, a completely barren and snow covered land where nothing was able to grow. The harsh weather conditions meant that for the majority of the year, the main way in or out of Mowbray was by airship. There weren't any roads that connected the town to the outside world, and the vehicles that were capable of getting across the rough landscape were generally reserved for true emergencies. So the only visitors that the town would get that came by land were unusually determined people – Hunters, generally – and they only came into town during the summer months. The rest of the year no one dared venture out into that wasteland for fear of dying and being forever lost, buried beneath the snow.
With conditions like that, there weren't many people living there. The town's total population was just below the three thousand mark, and with a lack of anything one could do at Mowbray, it was a rare occurrence to get many out of town visitors. They usually ranged from relatives of other residents to the aforementioned Hunters, either coming in for a social call or for a job of some kind.
For the people who lived in the town year-round, the majority of them were those who had been born here and were happy with the way their lives were. Things here were simple and quiet, and very few had any desire to leave the life that kept them separated from the rest of the world. Some people moved to the town later in life in search of that peace, finding the way that the world worked outside was too overwhelming. Sometimes those in the latter group decided a few months in that it wasn't worth it and left, but a majority of that group was happy to stay.
And then there were the people whose sole purpose in coming to the town in was order to hide. Like you did.
You weren't the only one, as there were several who lived in the units around yours that raised suspicion. Like the old man who lived across from you with the long-healed burn marks on his hands that he tried to keep hidden. Or the younger woman who lived in a different building who you occasionally saw staring at a photo from a locket around her neck whenever she stepped outside to smoke. And then there was the tenant below you looked to be around your age and was constantly on alert as they always looked around them whenever they went outside, as if they feared they were being followed.
You speculated on what their stories were, what exactly had brought them to a place like this. And you could assume that they did the same with you: watching you pass them by while they quietly wondered what in the world had made you come here of all places.
Those weren't stories that would ever be shared as it was better to keep such things quiet.
As you trudged out into the snow so you could start your shift at the grocery store, you were annoyed with yourself that your thoughts once more went to Uvogin, and you subconsciously pushed the scarf around your face just a bit higher.
At least with living here, it was considered normal to cover up half of your face when you went outside.
5:59 AM
Only the faintest hints of the sunrise were beginning to color the sky when you entered the store and began to set everything up for the new workday. Turning on the lights, checking the shelves to see if any stock was out of place and making sure everything was clean before you unlocked the front doors to officially open the place. You had a routine in place that you followed religiously as you were desperate not to disappoint your boss, an elderly woman named Helena. She owned the place, and she was nice enough to give you a job despite the large gap in your work history, nor did she question you on why you had come to the town in the first place. She had always been warm to you, treating you as though you were one of her own. So after such a sweet old woman had taken a chance on you, you were determined to show her judgment hadn't been misplaced.
Helena had never doubted you, although that sentiment didn't seem to be rubbing off on the other long-time residents of the town.
The bell above the door chimed twenty minutes after the store had opened, and you called out a greeting. There was a mumbled reply in return, and then two sets of footsteps walked further into the store. As you anticipated that whoever had entered likely wouldn't be around long, you took your place at the register so as to be ready for them.
You then overheard part of their conversation.
“What'd you think is making them so antsy?” one man's voice asked.
“Dunno. Could be weather,” a different man answered.
“The weather? Do the dogs get that nervous over that?” the first one questioned.
“Sometimes. Could be that we're in for a bad storm.”
There was a brief period of silence before the second voice continued to say “then again, it could be something else completely.”
“Like what?”
The second man sounded slightly exasperated as he answered “I dunno. We'll have to see what happens.”
The first man seemed to take the hint to stop asking as nothing more was said.
Based on the conversation, you had a good idea as to the identity for at least one of the men, and as the two rounded the corner of the aisle, you found that you were correct in assuming one of them was Marlow, an older man who kept sled dogs. The man who was accompanying him was slightly younger, and you were pretty sure his name was Hugh. Both were carrying drinks and pre-made sandwiches, and they set them down on the counter in front of you.
You began to ring the items up as you asked “find everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
The response you got from Marlow was curt, the exasperation still present in his tone. He wasn't in a good mood.
A shame. You wanted to ask about his dogs, especially with what you had overheard moments ago. But it was better not to as you knew it was likely he would snap at you if you annoyed him too much.
Maybe when he was in a better mood you could ask if his dogs were alright.
They paid quickly once you had finished scanning the items, taking the jenny you'd given them in change and leaving the store to go to their jobs in the oil fields. You and Hugh made eye contact just before they left, and you smiled as you told him to have a good rest of his day.
He looked uncomfortable as he gave a brief nod in response before vanishing out the door, the bell above the entrance ringing out loudly.
It was a little sad that a majority of the townsfolk didn't like you. Most of them merely tolerated your presence while they looked at you with suspicion, not trusting you for a moment.
Helena told you that people would open up eventually. That you just needed to be around for a while before the close-knit community would be willing to let you in. Just be patient and it'll happen someday.
9:03 AM
The front door bell ringing out followed by a “hello there!” brought you out from the back area as you greeted your boss, who seemed happy as she headed towards you.
“How busy has it been so far?” Helena asked.
“It's been pretty slow,” you answered.
She nodded as she removed her scarf, saying “sounds normal for a Thursday.”
“Yep.”
You then remembered the conversation you'd overheard this morning, and you mentioned “I heard someone saying we might be in for bad weather, though, so it could pick up.”
“Really? Who said that?”
“Marlow. I heard him saying that his dogs were nervous.”
“Well, animals do have better senses than us, so they would be the first to know if something was off,” she said.
Helena pulled her coat off as she said “if we are in for some bad weather, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure we're fully stocked out front, just in case.”
You nodded, saying “sure. I can get started on that.”
She laughed.
“Not now. Do it when you get back from your break. You look like you could use one,” she said.
“Oh. Okay.”
She was hanging her coat up in the back when you asked “do I look that tired?”
“It's noticeable,” she told you, “did you not get a lot of sleep last night?”
“Not really,” you answered, “I woke up a bit too early this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep.”
You noticed the way her brows furrowed when you said that and you quickly added “it's fine, though. I'll just go to bed early tonight.”
She didn't seem completely convinced, but Helena nodded slowly as she replied “as long as you're sure. But don't be afraid to ask if you need to head home early.”
“I'll be okay. But thank you.”
She let you go after that, and you sat down in a small break room while you did as she had told you, taking out a drink you had packed from your locker.
Now that you weren't keeping busy with work, your mind went back to Uvogin.
It'd be nice if you could talk to someone about it, you thought to yourself. Helena had told you that you could talk to her about anything, and you wondered if she sensed that you were hiding something from her. It'd be nice to let out everything that had happened to you, who had taken you and why you were hiding here.
But doing that felt selfish. Did you really want to destroy an old woman's peace of mind by letting her know that there was a chance a man who happened to be mass murderer who was also obsessed with you might come here one day? And would she still be nice to you once she learned everything?
It was better to keep it to yourself.
11:00 AM
A new shipment of goods arrived only a few minutes ago, and Helena had left you in charge of the front while she made sure everything was in order. Doing as your boss had told you, you made sure to put out the stock on the shelves wherever there was room. Currently you were restocking some of the shelves of soup that had already been running a bit low.
The bell above the front door rang out while you were kneeling by the shelf, and as you grabbed another can from the box next to you, you called out “welcome! Let me know if you need anything.”
There wasn't any response to your greeting, but you didn't pay much mind to it. You only made a mental note to keep an eye on the checkout counter so you wouldn't leave whoever it was waiting.
Though they didn't say anything, you heard them walk off the mat in front of the door as their footsteps sounded on the hard tiles of the floor. Those same footsteps walked over to the refrigerated section on the other side of the wall, and the hum that came from that section grew louder when one of the doors were opened.
At that point you didn't pay much attention to the other person, your mind going back to the task at hand while you continued to fill up the empty spaces on the shelves in front of you.
You needed to do some shopping of your own when your shift ended, you remembered. The contents of your pantry were starting to run low, and if the weather was going to be taking a turn for the worse, you didn't want to be stranded in your apartment without a decent supply of food.
With that thought in mind, you decided to leave one of the soup cans in the box so you could buy it for yourself later. That was at least one perk to working in a grocery store, and as minor as it was, you smiled to yourself.
The shadow of a person suddenly overtook the end of the aisle that led to the door. Still in the middle of restocking, you placed another can on the shelf as you instinctively looked over to the new presence that you sensed.
You froze.
You stayed in place, looking at the person who was now standing before you and you wondered if this was reality or another bad dream. The shudder that ran down your spine and the feel of the cold floor against your knees confirmed that this wasn't in your head – this was real.
Uvogin was here.
Standing at the end of the aisle.
Staring directly at you.
You stared back, unable to say or do anything, as for a moment, your mind stayed blank.
Then your mind began to race as you were forced to come to terms with your worst-case scenario that was playing out before you: he had found you. You were face to face with the man you had run from, the entire reason you had come to this town in the first place in the hopes that you would never see him again.
But now he was here, right in front of you.
All that time, all that effort had been for nothing. All of it was made meaningless the instant he laid eyes on you. The only thing that was guaranteed from this point out was that you were going to suffer for it, because there was little doubt that he was angry with you.
Your heart began to race and you felt like you were having trouble breathing. But you didn't look away from him.
He hadn't said anything.
What would happen now?
You had imagined him finding you at the store before this. In the times this awful scenario played out in your head, Uvogin would always grab you, toss you over his shoulder and carry you outside, regardless of if you were dressed for the weather or not. You doubted that he wanted you dead, but he wasn't against having you suffer if he felt you deserved it. Would he actually do what you'd imagined for so long? Or would he use threats to get you to drop what you were doing and make you go with him willingly?
Whatever he would do, he would act immediately. That was what you had believed.
Yet Uvogin wasn't saying anything. He was still standing there, his gaze boring holes into you while his mouth was pressed into a hard line. Meanwhile, you couldn't say anything. You were barely able to breathe at the moment, let alone try to get any words out.
A brief bit of hope made your heart skip – maybe he didn't realize it was you?
That hope was quashed within moments as you realized what a dumb thought that was. There was no chance that he didn't recognize you – Uvogin wasn't stupid. Whatever changes you had made to your appearance wouldn't have fooled him into thinking that you were another person, and definitely not after he'd spent so long staring at you. The way he was looking at you now meant that he definitely knew it was you. Trying to act like you were a simple shop worker and nothing more would probably only make him more angry.
Don't make this any worse for yourself
You said nothing, waiting for him to make the first move.
Helena and the deliveryman were still in the back, and no one had come in after Uvogin. It was only the two of you in the store at the moment; a perfect opportunity for him to grab you and take off. Maybe there would be people around outside to see the two of you, but even if they did witness your kidnapping, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Though seeing someone being taken against their will would spur most to action. That thought made you shudder. You really hoped none of them were suicidal enough to try and stop Uvogin. Those were deaths that you didn't want on your conscience. It would be better to beg for their lives now. Promise that you'll do everything he says just as long as he didn't hurt any of the residents of the small town and that the only one he should punish is you. You were at fault for what happened, not them.
You licked your dry lips as you prepared to speak.
Uvogin beat you to it.
Motioning over to the register with his head, he said to you “you gonna ring me up or what?”
He held a six pack of beer in one hand that he lifted up slightly while he said that. Somehow you'd managed to miss that before.
You needed to run his sentence over in your head a few times before you understood.
“Oh…. Okay.”
You kept an eye on him as you made your way to the register, anticipating the moment when he would roughly grab you and take you away from this place.
Yet he didn't do anything other than keep an eye on you as well, and when you made it behind the counter, he dropped the six pack in front of you. You couldn't help but flinch at the loud sound it made when it landed.
You looked at him and then back to the beer. Still no move on his part to grab you.
He…. He really wanted you to ring him up?
With only a single item to scan, the price of the item plus the sales tax added up to the total he owed, which flashed on a small screen in front of him. Upon seeing that, Uvogin frowned.
“Stuff is a lot more expensive here,” he commented.
That time you managed to get out something that resembled a coherent sentence, though you couldn't bring yourself to speak loudly.
“Just about everything comes in by airship,” you mumbled, “flying supplies is automatically expensive.”
Uvogin scoffed.
“So this place is in the middle of an empty wasteland, cold as fuck and you need to pay twice as much for a thing of beer? Seems like a shitty town to me.”
“….. The quiet is nice,” you said.
“Yeah, I'm sure the fact that this place is quiet is why you came here,” he answered sarcastically.
“…. Part of it.”
“Sure.”
You could hear Helena speaking to the deliveryman in the back. As nice as she was, she had a bad habit of chatting with people for just a bit too long.
It was just as well. If she came out and saw how you were right now, she'd assume that Uvogin had done something to you and demand that he leave or threaten to call the police. Depending on his mood, Uvo would respond in one of two ways: laugh it off if he was feeling good or kill her if he was annoyed.
She couldn't save you from him. No one in this town could.
And none of them deserved to die because of you.
Uvogin hadn't taken the beer nor payed for it, and you stood behind the counter, your hands folded in front of you while you waited for what was to come next.
When nothing happened, you chose to break the silence.
“What happens now?” you asked quietly.
“That all depends on what you do,” he answered.
“…. Are you going to kill anyone?”
“That depends on what you do,” Uvogin repeated, “there is a scenario where no one gets hurt and they all live on happily, but whether or not we go that route relies completely on where you choose to go from here.”
Uvogin crossed his arms as he asked, “so, you gonna give me any problems?”
You shook your head.
“Good. Now, where do you live?”
You kept your head low as you answered “Lerch apartments. It's a set of blue buildings.”
“What unit?”
“17E. On the second floor”
Uvo held out his hand as he ordered “give me your keys.”
You complied, reaching down to get the key ring in your pocket and taking off the one that unlocked your front door. He snatched it out of your hand when you held it out for him, and it quickly vanished into the pocket of his jacket.
“Do I need to be worried about any roommates?” Uvo asked.
“No. I live alone.”
“What about nosy neighbors?”
“They shouldn't bother you. The people there tend to keep to themselves.”
Uvogin nodded, then looked to the clock on the wall behind you.
“When do you get off?” he asked.
“Uh, in about an hour and a half.”
“Hm. Alright,” said Uvogin, “finish up your shift and we'll talk more when you get back.”
“Finish up?” you asked. That seemed strange to you, that he'd let you go about business as usual and let you finish your shift at your job. Hadn't the fact that you'd run away bothered him? Didn't he want to leave with you as soon as possible?
“Yeah, it'll look less suspicious that way,” he replied, “unless you wanna get off early.”
You shook your head.
He smirked as he said “I figured. You would rather try to delay the inevitable, wouldn't you?”
“N-no, it's not that. It's Helena. She's older. She needs help,” you said.
“She looked fine to me, but whatever,” he said, shrugging as he added “use her as an excuse if that's what you want.”
It wasn't completely an excuse. She did need help with some of the heavier lifting.
“I'm not using her as an excuse. She's been good to me and I want to help her out,” you told him.
He shrugged again as he reiterated “whatever. As long as you show up in ninety minutes.”
You nodded.
An hour and a half. That was all you had left of this little life you'd made for yourself up here. After that, you would return to what your life had been with Uvogin. Following him around like a pet as he journeyed to wherever he pleased, going with his whims to find whatever interested him most. You had no say in any of it, and if you kicked up too much of a fuss, he'd respond with some sort of violence.
What would he do to you for running?
“Anything else I should know about?” he asked.
“I don't think so.”
“Alright then. I'll be heading off.”
“But before I do that,” he added, “there's something you need to do for me first.”
You immediately became nervous as you asked “what?”
He smirked as he pointed to the cans of beer that were still sitting in front of you on the counter.
“Cover this for me,” he said.
You stared at him for a moment before looking back down to the beer. And after double-checking the amount that was owed, you let out a quiet sigh as you got out your wallet, putting your money into the register and getting out the change.
All this time and he still refused to carry cash.
“Gimme the receipt,” he told you.
You didn't question why he wanted it and just did as he said, printing it out and holding it for him to take.
But when you thought he was reaching for it, he instead grabbed you by the arm to pull you forward, causing the edge of the counter to dig into your stomach while he leaned in so he could whisper in your ear.
“By this point, we both know that you're prone to doing stupid shit,” Uvogin whispered, “and while you won't get very far with this weather, it'll be annoying to hunt you down in that tundra. But if you decide to do that anyway, just know that I'll level this entire fucking town before I go and get you.”
You could sense the grin on his face as he continued with “I'll probably start with grandma back there. Maybe splatter her brains across the walls before I move on to whoever's closest.”
“Please don't do that,” you whispered.
“Then don't run off.”
With that, he let go of your arm, took the receipt that you were still holding, and grabbed the case of beer as he began to head towards the front door.
Before he left, he looked back at you one last time.
He was grinning at you, but there was a look in his eyes that betrayed how he was truly feeling.
You were wrong about what you'd been thinking earlier.
He was angry.
Uvogin was angry at the lengths you'd gone to try and escape him. And now he'd be sitting at your apartment for an hour and a half, stewing in his emotions and becoming angrier and angrier until you got back.
A full body shudder ran through you at the thought of that.
Silently, you walked away from the counter and returned to the box of soup, settling yourself down on the floor before placing the last of the cans on the shelf. The box was empty when you were done, and as you got up slowly and collected the empty cardboard off from the floor, another shudder ran through you at the thought of what he'd be like when you returned to your apartment.
You should've just gone with him.
12:33 PM
The blue building looked foreboding as you approached it, the place that you had called home for so long now feeling like anything but. The dread of what awaited you in that apartment had long since settled in, and every step you took through the snow felt even more weighted down than normal. Yet you tried to keep your pace quick. You told him ninety minutes. That was how long he would be willing to wait before he went through with his threat.
Uvogin would absolutely go through with what he'd told you. He'd likely be even more inclined to destroy the town because of the remote location. Even if someone managed to get to a phone or a radio before Uvogin got to them, it would take hours before rescuers would arrive, and by that point, survivors would be an impossibility.
It was the first time you had considered that scenario, and you felt stupid for it. You had been so desperate for a place that was away from the rest of society that you didn't think about anything else.
But it wouldn't happen. You weren't going to let it. Ninety minutes later and you were returning, just as you'd promised.
Though not without some minor incident. After Uvogin left, Helena had noticed how far your mood had dropped and she'd asked you what was wrong. Unable to tell her the truth, you lied to her and told her that everything was fine. But even with your insistence that everything was fine, she didn't seem to believe you, even if she eventually let it go.
You wished you could've said goodbye to her. A proper farewell to someone who had been so kind, as there was no chance that you would ever see her again. Or anyone here. Helena and all of your neighbors would all become memories of a different time. And you would vanish from their lives without much of a trace. Would any of them wonder about what happened to you? Helena would – she would definitely worry over you, and you already felt guilty for that, for the stress you had yet to put that sweet woman under. Whether the others would care enough to bother worrying wasn't as clear.
You shouldn't be so worried about them, the selfish part of you said. After all, they weren't the ones that needed to deal with Uvogin. You did.
And a different line of thought began to run through your head once again as you made your way up the stairs.
What was Uvo going to do to you?
…. Nothing good, that was certain.
You stopped yourself before you could go any further. It was better not to think about it. Just let it happen so you can get through this faster.
The faster he's finished punishing you, the faster the whole ordeal is over with.
Reaching the door to your unit, muscle memory kicked in for a moment as you reached for you bag with the intent of pulling out your key before you remembered that you'd given it to Uvogin. Still, you tried the knob anyway.
It turned out that he'd left it unlocked as the door opened easily.
You didn't waste any time getting inside, quickly and loudly shutting the door behind you. There. He knew you were back now, like you promised.
Maybe that was enough to put him in a better mood.
Pulling yourself away from the door, you turned and walked in, finding that snow had already been tracked onto the carpet; Uvo hadn't bothered to remove his boots before he barged in. Clearly there was no point in doing so in his mind. You wouldn't be staying here anymore, so who cared if things got messed up?
You found him sitting back against your cheap couch, one foot propped up on your coffee table with a can of beer in hand. There were already two empty cans on the floor next to him. The rest of the room was in a messy state, and when you glanced towards your bedroom, you saw your things had been strewn about. He'd been going through your stuff while he waited for you.
Uvogin smirked once he saw you.
“I'm glad you chose not to be stupid,” he said.
You gave a short nod.
Uvogin pulled the can of beer away from his lips, one of his eyebrows arching up in question as he looked at you.
“What, got nothin' to say?” he asked.
“I don't know what you want me to say,” you answered.
“No? How about 'sorry I put you through all of this bullshit'? That might be a good place to start.”
“… Will me saying that I'm sorry change anything?”
“Nah.”
He pulled his foot off of the table so he could sit up fully, telling you “but after the way I needed to track you down, the least you can do is grovel for me.”
You looked down at your feet, finding it hard to maintain the eye contact he was giving you, and you mumbled out an “I'm sorry.”
“Hmm. Not sure that's good enough.”
A full body flinch ran through you when you heard him stand up, and every part of you wanted to run back to the door of your unit, to try and get away from him. Your hands started to sweat as he approached you and you were scared. You were so scared of what was going to happen from this point.
You made yourself stay in place by repeating in your head that running would only make things worse.
He was on you in moments, and you were reunited with that sensation of how small and weak you felt whenever he towered over you. How easily he could break you if he wanted. How easily he had broken you, snapping your bones whenever you had gone too far for him to laugh off whatever line you had crossed, and that was usually followed by him telling you that it wasn't that bad. You falling asleep while you cried in his arms was an occurrence that was far too common, and only ever served to make you feel even more pathetic. That even after he'd been the one to hurt you, you accepted the comfort he so patronizingly offered you, and the reason why he did so seemed to simply be because it amused him.
Before you met Uvogin, you hadn't thought of yourself as being weak, and during your time away from him, you felt as though you were gaining back some of the independence and confidence you had lost. All it took for those illusions to come crumbling to pieces was a few minutes in his presence once again.
Something violent would follow, you told yourself. Maybe he'd hit you, or maybe the way you were avoiding eye contact would annoy him enough that he'd yank you up by the hair and make you look at him.
Yet the violence you expected didn't come. Instead, he placed his hand on your cheek, his warm skin coming into contact with yours that was still chilled from the bitter cold outside. You stiffened.
What was he doing?
“You wanna try again?” he asked.
Uvogin's tone contrasted the almost gentle touch on your cheek. It held more than a hint of warning – there was a promise that things would be awful for you if you didn't do what he wanted.
You cleared your throat before you spoke again.
“I'm sorry, Uvogin,” you said.
“Yeah? What for?”
“For making you come out here to get me.”
“And?”
“For…. For running from you in the first place.”
“Anything else?”
…. What else was there to say?
“I'm just sorry in general,” you mumbled.
He hummed again, the hand that had been softly caressing your cheek stilling once he heard that.
“Sorry in general,” he repeated, “that's it?”
It was probably the wrong move, but you nodded.
Uvogin hummed again before he made you look back up at him. Surprisingly, he didn't seem too angry. If anything, the look on his face resembled that of disappointment.
“You make loving you really hard sometimes, you know that?”
“Loving me?” you repeated.
“Yeah, loving you,” Uvo said, raising an eyebrow as he asked “why are you questioning that?”
“…. It doesn't feel like you love me,” you answered.
“Why else would I come out here and chase you down?” Uvogin asked.
“Because you're controlling and you don't want to see me get away from you.”
He hummed, shrugging as he said “well, you're right on the second part.”
Somehow, despite the terror you felt of being in his presence once again, you managed to scoff at that. A horribly dumb mistake, as Uvogin's hand on your cheek stilled and he zeroed in on you.
“Got something to say?” he asked.
“….. No.”
“Oh, come on. Tell me the truth,” Uvo said. When you refused to respond, he tsked.
“This is why we have issues, babe. Because you refuse to open up like you should.”
“…. You say that like the issue isn't the fact that you hurt me,” you answered.
“If I treat you rough it's because you're the one who chooses to act out,” he replied, “I've been plenty good to you; the only reason the bad outweighs the good is because you keep fighting me.”
“And you sure haven't helped yourself with this stunt,” Uvo added, “but if being the bad guy means keeping you by my side where you're supposed to be, I'll be the fucking bad guy.”
The air around you suddenly felt a lot more dangerous. Your lip began to wobble while you trembled in his hold. Tears began to well up in your eyes, which Uvogin noticed immediately.
“Starting the waterworks already?” he asked, his tone mocking while he smirked at you.
That was it. The sight of him looking down at you like that was what finally made your composure snap, and useless words began to spill out of your mouth as you clutched at his jacket.
“Uvogin, please – let me go,” you began, “I can't go back to that life you live. Watching you do horrible things to innocent people – I can't do that anymore. I can't stand it. Please just let me stay here. I won't ever leave this place and I won't bother you ever again. I won't say anything to anyone about you or the troupe. Just leave me here.”
Uvogin said nothing, but judging by his expression, he wasn't at all impressed by your speech.
You pushed further.
“Uvo, please. This is what would be the best for both of us. If you really cared about me-”
The next thing you knew, you were on the floor. The side of your head that laid directly on the hard surface was aching, and there was a stinging pain in your opposite cheek as well as on your lip. You reached up to gingerly touch your face with your gloved hand, wincing as the pain worsened when you did so. Running a finger lightly over your lip, when you pulled your hand back, you saw a smearing of blood on the fabric.
It finally registered what exactly had caused that pain, the feeling of a palm against your face that struck you so hard your brain rattled about inside your head.
He hit you.
You finally got him mad enough that he hit you.
You should've expected it – no, you had expected it, and yet it still managed to come as a surprise.
Uvogin's boot roughly connected with your shoulder, and you cried out as you were forced onto your back. The only good thing was that he didn't pin you down like that, pulling his foot away from you after.
He was speaking.
“The cold air must've gotten to your brain, babe. You really think I would just leave you after I found you?” he asked, “that after everything, I'm just gonna say 'sure' and leave you behind in this wasteland? You really fucking think that there's some scenario where you're not coming out of this place with me?”
You felt the blood coming from the gash in your lip, dripping into your gaping mouth and bringing with it the taste of iron. Tears began to flow freely as you brought your hand back up to your mouth in a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding.
Uvogin knelt down next to you, saying “I didn't hit you that hard; you'll be fine.”
That statement was horribly familiar. The way he shrugged off your injuries and making it clear that he felt you were overreacting. A single hit from him could kill the average person, but you mattered enough that he would control his strength because he didn't want you dead.
Uvogin scratched at the back of his head as he added “I have to ask, though: what the fuck you were expecting when you say shit like that?”
You didn't reply. Anything you said was likely to make him hurt you more.
After a few painfully silent moments where Uvogin watched you while you began to sob, he got up without saying another word, leaving you where you lay on the floor. You followed him with your eyes, watching until he disappeared into the kitchen, and a few moments after that, you heard the sounds of him opening and closing your cabinets and drawers before he found what he was looking for.
Uvogin returned, settling down next to you and pulling you off of the floor. You protested, feeling the ache in your head becoming worse from how he moved you. He ended up pulling you into his lap, holding a dish towel up against your busted lip.
“Use this before you bleed all over the place,” he told you, encouraging you to take the towel.
When you did as he said and you clutched the fabric up to your face, Uvo kept one hand on your back, rubbing up and down in a manner that was soothing.
Already you were back in that routine. Where he'd hurt you and then follow it up by making a show of kindness, as minimal as it was. And already you were accepting it by leaning into his touch.
Because what else were you going to do?
Uvo's voice cut through your thoughts as he said “we're gonna leave soon. I've got your bag packed, but if there's anything I didn't put in that you wanna keep, now's the time to take care of that.”
You didn't respond. And when you curled in on yourself in his lap while you tried to stifle your sobs, Uvogin didn't say anything further.
1:09 PM
You wished you could've watched as you left the town, as today was the last time you would ever see it.
Technically, you could've done that. But the coward in you feared what Uvo might do to you if he saw that. While you knew that the hit at the apartment was only the beginning and wouldn't compare to whatever punishment was awaiting you once you left the area, it was better not to test his patience and make him angrier with you.
You'd made him plenty angry by now.
At least your lip had stopped bleeding, and instead of clutching the dish towel to your face, you held on tight to the backpack Uvogin had packed for you while you sat in the passenger seat of the heavy duty off-road vehicle he had brought you to once you left the apartment. You didn't recognize it, and it seemed to be doing well enough on the area around Mowbray. He'd stolen it, no doubt, getting the vehicle so he could avoid anyone who would see you two if you left by airship.
Doing it this way was faster, too. Uvo likely had a schedule in his head that he wanted to keep to.
If you making him wait ninety minutes had caused a delay in that schedule, you'd probably end up paying for that, too.
There hadn't been any further violent incidents because you didn't give him any reason to respond in that way. Once he decided that it was time to go he pulled you off of his lap and told you to collect your things, you did as he said, quietly following behind him once he left the apartment.
Uvogin didn't seem quite as angry anymore. And as he drove you further and further away from the small town, he started talking again.
“Anybody there gonna kick up a fuss when they find out you're gone?” he asked.
“… I don't think so,” you said, “my boss will probably be worried, but I don't think she'll be able to do much.”
“You talking about that old woman?”
You nodded.
A terrible thought then occurred to you, and you felt compelled to say “I didn't tell her anything about you. She doesn't know anything beyond that I moved there for a change of pace. She's not a threat.”
Uvogin laughed.
“Relax. If I was worried about that, I would've gotten rid of her before we headed off. And even if you did tell her everything, what the hell is she gonna do about it?” he asked.
Hearing that was bittersweet. It did nothing to make your situation any better, but at least Helena wouldn't suffer because of you.
At least there was that to be grateful for.
Outside the vehicle, it was clear; not even the wind was making any effort to batter at the car. You idly thought how it definitely wasn't bad weather that had been bothering Marlow's dogs.
Another thought: it would've been nice to see them again.
“You gonna miss this place?” Uvogin asked.
“I don't know.”
He laughed a little.
“What, you went out of your way to come here and you didn't even like it?” he asked.
“I was trying to hide,” you began, “and it was away from the rest of society and seemed like a good place to lay low.”
You sighed as you said “but I was never able to escape you, even before you found me.”
You heard the confusion in his voice when he asked “what does that mean?”
Before you could wonder on if you should answer that question, you spoke.
“I thought about you a lot,” you admitted, “every day from when I woke up until I fell asleep, I was wondering how you were doing. You were constantly on my mind and I couldn't help it.”
There was silence after you said that. A silence that lasted longer than you would've expected. And now you were left to wonder if saying that had been a mistake and if you were going to pay for that as well.
It felt like it was impossible for you to stop from screwing up.
Then you heard him chuckle to himself.
….. Why was he laughing?
“I'm really happy to hear that,” Uvogin said.
“…. You're happy?”
“Yeah.”
He then reached over with his hand and tapped against your head as he added “because if you're worrying about me while you're away from me, that means there's some part of you in there that knows you're supposed to be with me. If you really hated me, why would you bother expending that mental energy, right?”
His hand settled on your shoulder, and when you didn't respond he began to squeeze as he asked again “right?”
“… Yeah,” you whispered.
Uvo's grip lessened and he patted you on the shoulder, saying “you should listen to that part of you more often. Then we can avoid shit like this.”
“Okay.”
He patted you again at your soft spoken response before he pulled away, and when you glanced up at him, you noted that he looked pleased with himself.
Today had been a good day for Uvogin. Even though he'd needed to go to extreme lengths to find you, he ultimately did just that and was now on his way back with his reclaimed prize. For him, things were going to go back to the way they were supposed to.
For you, it had been less than eleven hours since the simple life you made for yourself was destroyed with no chance of you ever reclaiming it. The chance that you would be able to escape Uvogin again was next to nothing as he would be sure not to slip up again when it came to you. Your busted lip still hurt, but it would heal up. As would the other wounds that would come as a consequence for your escape.
He would be there for you while you healed, offering those soft touches and kisses while he wiped away your tears. And you would accept them, all the while knowing that every minute you spent in his hold, internally you were breaking more and more.
