Wang Tian Mu stared at the bars in front of her, her eyes blurring with her need to sleep. But scary things came in the darkness, their taunts and touches more than she could bear to wake up to. Forcing herself awake, she whispered a prayer that he would be coming soon. He always kept the monsters away. She blinked slowly, and when she opened her eyes again, the bars no longer existed.

Instead, she found herself walking beside another woman in a vast field of flowers. They were heading towards a massive mountain range, smiling and laughing with each other. She couldn't hear what they were actually talking about, but she knew that that woman meant more to her than anything else. Like the friendship formed, walking through fields was meant to last forever.

"She is coming," came a childlike voice, pulling her out of her dream.

"What?" she asked groggily.

"She is coming," the voice said again, this time sounding older, more malicious.

"Rip?" she choked out. If he was there, then she was saved. The rest would leave her alone.

"Get some sleep," he grunted, and she strained her eyes to see him in the darkness.

Knowing he was there, even if she couldn't see him, Tian Mu reached out her hand and gripped the warm flesh in front of her. Pushing her magic into the giant man in front of her, she sighed when she felt him softening under her touch.

The very first time she ever saw him, he had been terrified. She had been at the compound for months when he strolled in, so much bigger than the other Reavers around him. She worried that he would be just like them. And in the daylight, he was. But as soon as darkness fell, he changed into something else completely, her protector.

The best part was just how scared the rest of the compound was of him.

And because they were scared of him, whenever he was around, they left her alone.

"Thank you," he sighed. His words were no longer as broken as they were when she first met him, and his childlike personality was slowly disappearing. But he had to keep up the act as much as she did. She shuddered at the idea of another Reaver, knowing that she was able to heal and strengthen Rip. historical

"But you need to save your energy. If she finds out that you are wasting away trying to heal me, she'll kill me," he chuckled as if he just heard the funniest joke ever.

She heard his body cracking as he sat down in front of her cage and leaned his back against the cold bars.

Sighing in relief, she curled herself up into a small ball so she was completely hidden behind the man. "You'll say here?" she asked, reaching out to grab the back of his shirt in her hand.

"I'll stay," he replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Sleep well, healer. I am here to protect you."

------

Rip looked over his shoulder at the helpless woman hiding behind him. When he first met up with the Reavers, he had completely forgotten what Li Dai Lu had asked him to do. Lost in the blood lust and ability to rip people to pieces, it was a while before he even noticed the woman in the cage.

But as soon as he did, it was like his entire world shattered in that instant, only to be rebuilt around her.

Running his fingers through his long blonde hair, he let out a soft sigh. She managed to do so many things for him; she healed him both inside and out. And yet, he couldn't even get her out of the fucking cage.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. Yes. She had healed him. And, in turn, earned a willing slave for life.

"Want to die?" he growled softly, not willing to wake the woman up. Turning his head, his eyes focused on the outline of a man coming out of the surrounding forest. He knew it was one of the new humans that had joined the pit in the last week. He had seen him wandering around, seemingly trying to get his bearings inside the compound, but Rip could smell a military man a mile away.

"Not particularly," said the man with a big smile on his face. "Just going out for a walk on such a beautiful night."

"Walk elsewhere," growled Rip, straightening his head and looking at the man in front of him. He would admit that the man knew what he was doing in the pit. He had fought 12 times in seven days, and not once did he ever lose a fight.

However, the same could be said for Rip.

"I see you here almost every night. I was wondering if there was anything special inside that cage," hedged the man as he took another step forward. He appeared calm and relaxed, but Rip could smell the tension coming off him.

"What do you want?" the giant asked, not rising to the bait. He had been around men like him before and knew that anything coming out of his mouth would be nothing more than a web of lies with a sliver of truth.

"I am looking for someone," admitted the man, and Ripper stared at him.

"Look elsewhere," suggested Rip, a teeth-bearing grin on his face.

"But I think what I am looking for is in one of those cages," the other man pressed, nodding his head toward a sea of cages that all looked the same. And inside each one was the same thing.

"Have fun," shrugged Rip, but warning bells were ringing loudly in his mind.

"Hopefully, I will be able to meet you in the ring sometime soon," smiled the man, the moonlight shining off his teeth.

"For your sake, I hope not," shrugged Rip, not at all caring about the other man. The Reaver Alpha kept him around because he was entertaining. If he stopped being entertaining, he would start being considered a threat, and if he was a threat, he would be killed.

And if he was killed, there would be no one around to protect the healer.

No, he would continue to dance to the puppet master's tune until it was time for him to destroy everything.