Rosalie nodded at Setton’s comment concerning Gore, completely transfixed by her father’s eyes, staring into them as her mind took in the little details of the emotions the man was feeling. They were near enough the same as her own, she saw, and she ended up biting her lip to stop the tears. He didn’t want to send her away, it was just circumstance and an undesirable one, at that. The girl supposed she could understand the choice he made when he did, but she still wanted to know why he hadn’t tried to find her. There wasn’t much contact since then. She had been afraid and alone going into the Clearwater’s household and she had wished he had been by her side when she needed him most. For now, she decided to bury those emotions and just let herself live in the moment. “I love you, too, dad. I’m just glad you’re safe. That’s all that really matters to me.”

She dug into her food, now, more at ease than she had been earlier, managing a small smile as she nodded. “Dad’s cooking is always the best and  I’m glad you’re still sticking to the healthy stuff. It just means I won’t have to always nag you as much.” Playfully, she stuck her tongue out at him, smile growing even wider. “Gore has caused me a bit of trouble but not as much as you’d think. I know I’ll be able to handle it, but.. you’ll be there to help, won’t you?” The girl gave off a sheepish smile, laughing lightly as she added, “Also, dad? Umm.. I ended up spending almost all the money you gave me in an auction for him, but I’m sure he’ll be able to buy back the price he had cost..” Though she shied away as she spoke, there was one thing she would not shy away from and that was wanting things to go back to the way they were. Gore or no Gore, she wanted her life back.

Even if Rosalie knew she was old enough to stand on her own two feet -and she was confident she was more than capable- the girl wanted to be sure that she would have her guide, safety net and father with her. Reaching for her father’s hand over the table, Rosalie took it -more for her sake- to be sure that this was real. She felt him. She felt the warmth of his skin against hers, and she released the breath she had been holding along with the fear that her hands would go through his despite how real the hugs he had been giving her were. What if it was that only he were able to hold her and she wasn’t? The thought terrified her enough that it sent a light shiver through her body. 
“If it offers you any comfort,” she forced herself to say through her fear and uncertainty, “I don’t know what else to say, either.. only that I was doing all of this just so I’d be able to see you again. Every single moment leading up to seeing you was worth it and I have no regrets, dad. You didn’t fail me, either. Sure, I wonder why you haven’t kept in contact with me, but I believe you did it to keep me sa-” She couldn’t help gasping at the claw that just shot into her view, the sudden movement almost causing her to fall out of her seat as she recoiled in shock and disbelief.

Words abandoned her and so did her voice, mouth moving but not a scream would come out as she shook in fear, tears blurring her sight. It couldn’t be happening right in front of her. She refused to believe it, but though her mind was in denial, her heart was acknowledging it far too well. Fear washed through her body like a wave crashing down on her, causing her to flinch and suck in a breath. “No..” she managed to say when Gore’s figure came into view. She flinched at the brutality he had hit her father with, grimacing at the sickening crunch of her father’s bones as he was slammed about without a care in the world by the crimson dragon. “NO!!” Rosalie screamed, finding her voice. She looked at the Blood Dragon before her in terror, too distressed over her father’s screaming to even take note of the look that was in Gore’s eyes. “W-what are you d-doing?! Stop it!” Desperate, Rosalie lunged at him, looking about in confusion when Gore seemed to teleport to another place that was well out of her reach. She let out a curse, hand instinctively going to the knife she often carried only to find it wasn’t on her person. She didn’t understand. Rosalie had always made sure that it was with her and if not on her body, then somewhere close by and easily accessible, and yet, she was unable to think of where she had put it. Scolding herself came easy at that point, and so did swearing at her stupidity and unpreparedness. When the young woman had needed it most, she was bereft of it.

Around her, the room had darkened and what had been the sun had now turned into a crimson moon. It prompted many changes around her and apart from noticing that the warmth had obviously been sucked out of the room, Rosalie saw there was now a black mist creeping over the floor, making the walls seem as if they were closing in on her. Sobs wracking through her body, the girl fought to control her breathing, choking on her cries a few times as she continued to tell herself to calm down and focus. “How could you.. do that? Put him down.. Please?” The last word was added not out of politeness, but more of desperation. “Or.. or else..” It was a rather meek threat coming from her at the time, but she emphasised it by moving to grab the kitchen knife with the intent of fending him off with it. 

Despair and sorrow settled into her stomach, a heavy, sinking stone that seemed to accept the fate of spending the rest of its time at the bottom of a pond. She wanted to stop the pain that plucked at her heart like a taunting, cool hand, to bury it like the ebbing waves that buried seashells at a beach’s shore, but like the blood that was quickly becoming apparent on the floor, it was far too prominent to ignore. Her small frame was trembling at the sight of her father being treated this way, but not matter how much she lunged at or tried for Gore with a quick swipe aimed at his arm, she always missed, swiping at nothing but thin air. She caught herself on her left foot and pushed off of it toward him again, her strikes becoming more wild. “You monster!” She growled, her tone quickly melting into a whimper when Gore decided to hold Setton out to her and shake him about once more. She was finally forced to stop in her tracks before she crashed into him, holding her knife by her side as she took the provocation with a grim look in her eyes. 

It was like watching a puppet on a string dangle about helplessly as the puppeteer unceremoniously shook him about. She was told to look away but she could not until the final, loud snap that echoed through the room announced his violent death. “Dad!” Hot tears streaming down her face, she dropped the knife she had been holding, the blade falling to the floor with her following after it, sinking to her knees as the strength granted to her by her rage left her. At this point, Setton’s corpse was just some toy to the crimson monster. “Why?” she started slowly, “why did you..,” she found it hard to breathe, the metallic scent of blood -her [i]father’s[/i] blood- getting to her, “kill him?” Perhaps he didn’t hear her as all he did was laugh darkly like he was proud of his work.

Crashing behind her was all Rosalie heard as she held her face in her hands, crying insults at the cursed dragon which did nothing but make the beast laugh harder. It wasn’t some sort of game, but he seemed to treat it as one. What had gone wrong? Did she do something to upset Gore enough that he would carry an act to such an extreme extent as this? People and the legends were right: he was a monster. There was no mercy for Setton just as there was no mercy for the hunters back at the mountain where the beast had once resided.

It sounded as something big had crumbled, shaking the floor she was sitting on and she almost groaned, finding that it took much more effort to tear her gaze away from the floor than it should have. The second she saw another Gore tumble in the room coated in a slick, crimson liquid, Rosalie’s gaze immediately shot to the ground again, trembling as she muttered, “no, no, not again. Stop.. Please.. someone.. make it stop!” At this point, she didn’t care what happened to her, she didn’t care what happened now as she believed that her world had already crumbled before her.