I woke slowly, finding myself enveloped in the velvety, purple sheets of an enormous bed. My brain struggled to recall all that had happened to me since my wild night with Luna, made all the more difficult by the disturbing nightmares that had mercilessly ravaged my unconscious psyche.

A small, warm body clung to mine from behind, her chest rising and falling gently, suggesting she was fast asleep. From the softness of her embrace it was obvious that we were both naked, a fact that I simply couldn't think about right now. I had been expecting restraints of some kind, but instead it seemed I was completely free to move around. Even so, I stayed stock still for the next few hours, not yet able to process my new reality.

This... this isn't a nightmare. I really was drugged, loaded into a van in the night, and taken... wherever this is by my childhood friend.

Eventually Quin roused, holding me even tighter against her than before. She leaned closer, breathing me in until finally she exhaled with an exaggerated Ahhhh.

"Good morning, my love. Well actually, it's pretty late into the afternoon; all those days of nonstop driving took so much out of me that I just had to sleep in!" she giggled.

I kept my eyes squeezed shut as she raised herself from the bed and planted her lips on mine. It took absolutely everything I had not to react.

"You get your rest, my beautiful angel, and I'll see you when you're ready."

After lingering to stare at me for a few more minutes Quin finally got dressed and left the room. I continued to lie there for a while to be certain she wasn't coming back anytime soon. Confident I could look around without her attention, I rose from the massive bed.

The movement made me realize just how sore my body was. I felt extremely hungry and thirsty, but also nauseous. It was not a pleasant combination.

At least she cleaned me up after I vomited all over the back of her van...

Then again, the thought of my unconscious, naked body being exposed to my captor to do with as she pleased made my stomach turn, amplifying my discomfort. I reluctantly felt myself up and down, checking for any sign that I had been violated, but it seemed Quin had managed to hold herself back from that, at least.

The room itself was rather bare. The bed took up the vast majority of the space, with a dresser containing clothes - both her own and some roughly my size that she must have bought for me - basically covering the rest. There was a small closet in the corner, which piqued my curiosity. Inside, there was a sizeable box filled to the brim with a dizzying array of sex toys. My surprise caused my cheeks to flare crimson and my eyes to instinctively dart around the room, eventually landing on a security camera set up on the ceiling in the opposite corner.

Great. So not only does she plan on using this stuff with me, she's planning on filming it all too...

After picking through a few of the nearly unrecognizable items within I closed the closet door and flopped back on the bed. My body was too sore to keep lying here much longer though, and anyway, my eyes were disdainfully drawn to the security camera every few seconds, its flashing red light signifying the permanent end of my privacy.

I could keep putting it off, but this has to happen eventually. There's nothing for me to do now but face her.

I dressed myself in some of the clothes Quin had bought me, which somehow fit better than the ones I'd usually pick for myself. Taking a deep breath as my hand grasped the doorknob, I stepped out of the bedroom...

This is what Quin meant when she said I'd have need of my strength!?

Two hardcore gaming setups had been placed side-by-side, complete with pink desks with flashing lights and excessively massive screens. There was a mini-fridge within arm's reach to the left and right, and in a small bucket of ice in the middle was a large assortment of energy drinks.

"You seriously kidnapped me just to play Raid Fantasy!?"

"Oh, my beloved! You're awake!"

She left her character afk in the middle of a fight in her haste to greet me. She looked up at me with pure joy, not the slightest hint of guilt or regret in her eyes as she took my hands in her own.

"I didn't kidnap you, Nor. I saved you! All of those people were making you miserable, weren't they? I'd never seen you so stressed. So I did the only thing I could think to do - whisked you away to this perfect paradise - just you and I, together forever, like it always should have been!"

There were a lot of competing emotions in me right now. Anger, of course, for Quin deciding to do something so insane all on her own. Sorrow, for how her desperation had had to manifest itself this way. Shame, for never having realized just how much I'd meant to her. Exhilaration, that her utter devotion to me would cause her to even consider such desperate measures...

Wait, what? N-no, this is fucked up!

I took a deep breath, and decided to try to reason with her if at all possible.

"Spending time with you sounds wonderful, Quin, and I'm really sorry that I wasn't paying you as much attention as you deserved when you'd traveled all that way for me. But doesn't all this seem a bit excessive?" I appealed to her, gesturing all around us.

Quin's face fell at my words.

"But my love... are you saying that you don't want this?"

"Well..."

"No... don't say it. Your face tells me everything."

She dropped my hands and turned her back to me, leaning against her computer chair wistfully.

"I really wanted to avoid this, you know. I was hoping your true feelings would become obvious to you as soon as we were finally alone together. But it seems I have no choice..."

In one swift movement she lunged, immobilizing me with a taser before clasping my arms and legs in manacles. Struggling uselessly against my binds, I was led away from the gaming room into a plain white laboratory, complete with strange medications and a medical bed with straps.

"I'm sorry, my fated! Your pain is my own. But I'm sure it won't be long until your love for me finally surfaces! All I need to do is help it along a little..."

---

Luna and Raine drove on in silence.

They had been doing that a lot these past few days. All of their leads thus far had gotten them nowhere. Raine had called the station the other day, and it seemed Norman had finally filed a missing persons report. Unfortunately, there were no leads. The van had never been found, and no witnesses had come forward to report any sightings.

Luna had struggled with the warden's visits. Raine tried to keep her companion grounded, assuring her there was no one else there with them, that she was safe. But whenever Luna mentioned this 'warden' she became erratic and self-destructive. Raine had dealt with people's mental health issues before, but this was on a whole other level. It was all she could do to prevent her interior from being stained with the girl's blood. It happened about once a day in the evening or at night, and when it did, Raine had learned to pull over and hold Luna tight to her, whispering reminders that they were together, that it was okay to want to hurt but that they couldn't afford to fall apart now. And within the last couple of days, Luna seemed to have these 'visitations' less and less often.

Raine's horrendous green vehicle had recently begun making an equally horrendous noise, signalling that it was on its last legs. Neither girl had mentioned this to the other. In fact, other than Raine's whispered words at night, they hardly spoke to each other at all. Because the thing they had to say to each other was too strange to be put into words.

We know where she is.

It wasn't a precise sense by any means, and it was distant, so distant. This sense was faint enough that it was likely to be nothing more than a delusional hope beyond hope. But it was all they had to go on. And so they drove.