“Hey, Miss Annie...?” She kept on marching, old worn boots splashing in the puddles made by a Cryin' June. Oh, she knew the owner of the voice, and she recognized the pitch and timidness of the call. Green eyes remained hardened as she watched the backs of the cloaked figures in front of her as their steps splashed begrudgingly through the muddy road. She knew that voice all right and that pitch; it was the voice of someone who was going to get themselves killed. “Hey, wait up...” the owner of the voice scurried up by her side. The yellow of the cloak the other wore was impressive and brilliant. It was one of those carry-overs from the days past, made of a substance that just would not rot up until this day and age. It was a marvellous item; Desiree was sure that it kept the owner dry, much like the items in Deiree's ruck sack since it was lined on the inside with some of the same material. But as impressive as the raincloak was, the sunshiny hue just made the cloak's owner a big ol' yellow target. “Whoa... some turn out...” said the big ol' yellow target, “never seen so many a'marchin'! To war no less! You ever been in anything like this, Miss Annie?” They called her Miss Annie at the Rutherford ranch. Well, actually they did not call her that until the raiders showed up. The Rutherfords staked their claim in Independence outside the city limits. Yes, there was more land to own, but settling way out there was just asking for trouble. People huddled together for protection. And without other people there to huddle with you had to buy your own protection. The Rutherford's had money... probably because they had skimped on buying protection. Well, they had ballista type of turrets set up on their walls, but the people hired to operate them only knew how to shoot. They must have thought that only dogs were the best foot soldiers. But raiders got less desperate and much smarter it would seem. They had one of their own manage to get hired on in the ranch. Someone that knew about dogs and how to command them. Someone that knew the capabilities of the ballista lining the walls. Someone that could sabotage one ballista so as to let the other raiders basically walk on in while the dogs sat there wagging tails as if their bestest buds were coming over for dinner. Any other situation and the muscular woman would have walked away; it was not her fight. But she was laying low and they were interfering with her orders. In essense they were messing with the Lacroix. That just could not happen. And so she just had to take care of business for her family business. She had to do what she did best. She Cleaned up for the Rutherfords. After the last of the raiders were either off the property or taken out, she got back what she wanted. She was able to lay low again. But this time, instead of calling her 'hey, you,' or just 'woman!' they called her 'Miss Annie.' She gave them her middle name and let her be. Her secret was safe with the Rutherfords. And the Rutherfords were safe with her readjustment of their home security systems. 'Miss Annie' just wanted to be left alone, but they still tried to get to her. They were good people at heart and she could not fault them for that, but still, they kept trying to get to know her. She kept pushing them away, keeping them at an arm's length. That was until they found her weakness. And there she was, babbling away, hobbling to keep up with the urgent pace, dressed up as a big ol' yellow target. Many annoyed glances laced with daggers were shot in their direction. “Miss Ember-Lee, you talk too much...” The scowling rain-soaked male faces finally turned away when Ember finally shut her trap. “Oh, sorry, Miss Annie... just nervous is all... I know you hate it when I blabber on...” A sideways glance she gave the small blonde teen and green eyes softened when she caught the gaze of big shiny blues. Oh, she was too cute. “What are you doin' here, little lady?” “I came to fight along side y'all, of course!” shoulders winced as bubbling giggles grated at the ears of the incumbent warriors. “Miss Ember...” if it was anyone else, she would have let them get themselves killed. But she would not let Ember get herself killed a month ago and she was not about to let that happen now. “...eldest sons were invited from families to represent. Besides, your daddy sent out enough workers to appease the call...” “You know why I ran away...” Yes, of course she did, but that was just a cry for attention. This was something else completely. “...I am [i]not[/i] a little princess caged in a tower, y'know...” “ You know you have nothing left to prove...” “You think you're so tough... you think you don't need anyone...” “I am so tough. I don't need anyone, thank ya very much, Miss Ember-Lee.” “You need me, Annie! You do! You said so yourself--” A strong gloved hand snatched a thin wrist and twisted. “Come with me, little lady...” Snickers, cat-calls, cheers and whistles followed them as the muscular form of 'Miss Annie' guided the protesting big ol' yellow target away and behind a dilapidated vine covered ancient building. When out of sight and out of earshot, the bigger woman pushed the teen roughly away. Ember went flailing into the mud. “Go home, little lady... this is no place for you. Go home to the ranch.” “No!” the blonde picked herself up and marched on over into the brunette's personal space. She stared up, blue eyes glinting with much defiance. “You said you needed me, Annie!” A lone chestnut eyebrow raised. “I said: 'I need someone like you to keep me from going crazy at the ranch, Ember...” “Right! You also said: I have control over me! My choices matter in the family! I can marry whoever I want! I was the sweetest thing you ever met! I deserve better than Justin St. Louis!” “Whoa... slow down there, sister... where are we going with this...? No. No, don't you dare. Don't you say it--” “I love you, Annie! I won't let you leave me! I just won't!” she threw herself at the bigger woman and squeezed tight around her waist, burying her face into her breast. The bigger woman could only facepalm. The awkward silence lasted a moment longer then: “Are you ready, Ember... Are you really ready to love me...?” Before the blonde teen could reply, 'Miss Annie' took a step back and kneed her in the gut. The wind gusted out from Amber, arms releasing her 'escaping love.' A heartbeat later and the 'escaping love' had her pinned and eating sloppy mud and drinking dirty puddle. “'This whacha want, little lady?” with a fistful of golden locks, the 'escaping love' slammed the teens face down hard, “you really want to love this?” Twice more did the blonde violently feast upon mud puddle, then for desert she got a knife at her throat. Ember responded with choking wails and futile struggles. “This is me, Ember-Lee Rutherford. This is for real. This is not a little girl's fancy. I ain't no hero. I didn't go after you to save you, little lady. I was horny. I wanted to get at that little piece of you hidden behind your panties. I knew you were looking to get with me. You like what you got?” A painful wail gushed forth from the teen as she was flipped over and had both arms pinned above her head. With an overpowering knee thrust, her thighs were parted. “What better way to rebel against daddy than to hump another woman. A servant woman. A servant become saviour at that?! This what you want?!” “Noooo! Stop! Stop Annie! You're hurting me! Stoooo--” A backhanded smack with the butt of the knife split open cherry lips and shut the blonde up. “Well this is what you get if you are ready to love me! You come to the war front, you get caught by the savages, you get this! And not just one time with one of them! You get it for the rest of your pitiful life from all of them whenever they want! Wherever they want! You want to love me?!” She stood to her near six foot height and dragged the blubbering teen up by the lapels. Dainty feet dangled as she was pulled right up nose-to-nose with the 'escaping love.' “Tell me this is what you want... Tell me!!! No? Then I just saved your life again....” She was dropped to the mud, face first once again, crumpled up like a broken dollie. 'Miss Annie' towered over her and watched the wretched thing quiver, blood flowing from swollen pink lip with each sobbing breath. “Go home, Miss Ember-Lee Rutherford. Go home and forget about me. I'm not coming back to you. Ever. You're only 18. You have your whole life ahead of you. Me? I'm going to All Hells. I am so tough. I don't need anyone. I don't need you. I don't. Go home, little lady... just let me be.” Green eyes took in one last sight of the fallen girl then snapped close. The teen was crying softly, crumpled in a heap of brilliant yellow, alone, humiliated and broken-hearted. A deep breath did the large brunette take. The blonde was not the first to end up like this when Desiree Lacroix was done with them. With a sudden turn of her cheek, a spin on a boot heel, she marched away from Ember-Lee Rutherford, not once looking back. --- She marched double time and caught up with the rest of the bodies making their way to the meeting point. She was steady and steely once again. The rain fell from the Cryin' June skies and she pulled her cowl tighter around her face and she sighed. Green eyes hid behind thick lashes as she indulged a moment of weakness; into memory she delved knowing full well it would undermine her steel. [i]“You are the sweetest thing I ever met...” “Ohhh... Annie... you're just saying that...” Damn that giggle. It was well before the dawn of a new work day and again she held the naked body of the lovely daughter of Mr. Douglas Rutherford tightly against her own nude form and stroked those golden locks while sweeping green eyes held endless blue ones. “No, I'm not, Em...” “Oh, riiiight... I've heard all that before, Anne... prove it, missy...” Damn those legs. It was almost time for her to leave and again she felt the slender ankle gently trace her own ankle all the way up to her knee. “Ember-Lee... I don't give anything to no one. 'Cept family. I only give to the ones I care about. That's it...” “Riiiight... sooooo... what are ya' gonna' give me then...?!” [/i]“Mon nom vrai, ma cherie... Je m'appelle Desiree. Je sais ce n'est pas une grande chose, mais... ca c'est la chose meilleure que je peux te donner...”[i] “Whooooaa... what did you just say? That was sooooooo hot!!! Say it again, Annie..! Say it again...!” “I'm leaving. Now. Sun's almost up. A new work day. Another day where we don't know each other, Ems...” “No...! Wait..! You have to tell me what it means...!” “It means--”[/i] ---- “--you are the sweetest thing...” said the blonde teen with hushed awe and a hint of adoration. Ember-Lee stumbled away from the spot 'Annie' had left her. Covered in mud, dripping with tears, she reached into her trouser pocket to grab a kerchief to clean herself up some before she went back home to face her daddy. Her large blue eyes became even larger when she saw what she had pulled out of her pocket; it was a black kerchief. It was not her own for she never owned such a dark thing. Ever. That and the embroidery was not familiar to her. She broke down again and cried with the June rain as she clutched the dark linen to her cheeks so tight, so tight as if she would never let it go. “...you are the sweetest thing I ever met...” she said between hiccuping sobs. Stitched along the edge of the black kerchief was the name: Desiree Anne Simone-Lacroix. “...you don't give nothing to no one...” a small giggle bubble up between sobs like golden rays breaking through the grey skies of a Cryin' June. “...'cept the ones you care about...” Swollen bloody lips of a blonde teen pressed with more than just mere affection upon that black linen with which was stitched the greatest gift she ever received. “Good bye, 'Miss Annie...'” ------ “Good bye, Miss Ember-Lee...” Green eyes snapped open and the wistful smile departed in time with the steel returning to those green eyes. Strong, steely and steady. Desiree, shrugged her rucksack strap over her shoulder into a more comfortable position. The womanly gait with which she carried through the muddied road changed into that of someone-- something much, much more deadly. If there was a Lacroix that saw her before she saw them, they would know exactly who was walking in the midst of men. She was [i]Une Laveuse[/i] now. No more laying low. It was time for her to do what she did best.