Bolton Rising (AU, RP, 18+) Flashback Part 3: Melly, Gregor, Ramsay

Gregor was in the main wing with Ramsay when the alarm went off for the fire in the kitchen. Servants and guards ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, yelling out orders here and there. The flames leaping about gave the Mountain little concern. Chaos would be restored to order soon enough with several fire extinguishers. Instead, he watched as his Boss stalked over to the cook and began questioning the old man. Something in his eyes was giving him away. Ramsay could sense fear better than any of his dogs. His cold pale gaze often reduced men to tears and caused them to piss in their pants, sometimes worse. "You fucking let her out?!"

Gregor stepped up behind him as Ramsay’s cool calculated voice flipped like a switch to a furious and dangerous tone. The Mountain watched impassively as Ramsay grabbed a butcher's knife and hacked off the cook's right hand, the man's scream no doubt the first of many that night. "I'll go find her with the dogs. Don't worry." Gregor spoke in a calming tone, placing his massive hand on his Boss's shoulder, feeling the deadly tension radiating off Ramsay like a blood drenched aura. It was never good when he became this upset.

"Yes... the dogs. I'm coming with you and finding that bitch. I'll have her skin on my wall before the night is over," the Bastard replied, then ordered a pair of his Bastard Boys to drag the bleeding cook away to the dungeons to pay for his crime with flesh. 

 They let the pack of dogs loose from their kennels and followed the howling barking animals into the dark woods that surrounded the compound for miles in all directions. This prey was heading north, as most always do, and at first Gregor and Ramsay weren't very impressed. The girl's tracks were easily found and followed by the pack of bitches that his Boss spoiled and babied like children. They were Ramsay's little army of hoodlums, with sharp teeth, ill tempers and a taste for human blood. Then the prey got clever. She circled around and backtracked over her own steps, wasting precious running time, but it was enough to confuse the hounds and stir up Ramsay's anger.

"Let's split up, Boss. She could only head in two main directions from here. I'll check the river; you take some of the dogs towards the ridge. Your girl's probably trying to climb over that shit," Gregor suggested, already seeing Ramsay becoming unhinged. Something about the women running off drove the young man over the edge of sanity. It was creepy and frankly even frightening to him. The aftermath of what happened to those girls brave or stupid enough to try to escape would put even Jack the Ripper's work to shame.

The Mountain headed off towards the river. His large strides quickly ate up the distance as the dogs raced ahead, barking in signal as they once again picked up the girl's scent. "At least she's lucky I'm the one finding her," he muttered to himself, wondering why the dogs suddenly went quiet and started whining. Gregor came through the thick brush and peered down at the girl. She'd fallen in the mud and was holding her ankle and was staring right back at him, not with fear, but a calm acceptance of her coming fate. She's like a fucking deer, trapped and waiting to be butchered... and the thought of that stirred something in his chest. "What's your name, woman?" The Mountain squatted down and pulled her into his arms, then rose up high and wondered why she was lashing out at his massive chest. Her tiny fists beat at him, registering only as an annoyance and nothing more. He smirked in amusement, feeling his lips curling almost into a grin and shook his head, a stern hard line to his mouth once again. 

A shadow fell over Melly and she looked up to see the Mountain looming above her. He was Ramsay's clean up man, equally as dangerous as his Boss, twice as large, but maybe only half as crazy. Standing seven feet tall and packing three hundred fifty pounds of deadly muscle, the Mountain was a man to be feared. She wasn't afraid though. There was nothing he could do to her that would be worse than what she'd been through already this night. He would, however, return her to Ramsay. Then her nightmare would truly begin. She watched his rugged face as he approached her. He didn’t look angry; bemused might be a better word, she thought as he stared directly into her eyes. She didn’t flinch, but stared back, and a strange and somehow familiar calm surrounded her. However, as he scooped her up with ease, ready to placidly carry her back to her death, she was overcome with anger. She beat at his chest and arms, kicking and bucking in his arms, although it hurt every inch of her body to do so. "FUCK YOU! Put me down, don't fucking touch me!" she shrieked as she assaulted him, bruising her hands on his massive rock hard chest.

"I could just drop you in the mud again... or perhaps toss you in the river," the Mountain threatened as he walked towards the edge and held her easily out towards the water down below. "The drop over the waterfall into the rocks will definitely break your slender neck, girl. At least that would save you from the suffering awaiting you back at the compound," Gregor explained, thinking he was being unusually kind by offering her a way out. A mercy, at least in one regard. "My Boss doesn't like his toys disappearing on him. I think you know that well."

"How can you do what you do for him? What kind of a person takes orders from someone like him?" She thrashed in his arms, pushing at his chest. "Put me down! On the ground! Let me go... give me a chance to make it on my own... please...." She stopped moving, suddenly still, and grabbed the front of his worn leather jacket and stared into his eyes. "I'll do anything... you can do anything you want to me... I can take it, I swear... just let me go after... please..." Her eyes filled with tears and her lip quivered a little as she gazed up at him, still holding out the tiniest shred of hope that she might survive this.

"You're not going anywhere with that ankle, little doe," Gregor growled back with a snap, before lifting his eyes towards the clearing as he heard the rest of the pack coming. "Just keep your mouth shut and you might keep your skin," he whispered before Ramsay appeared, looking as furious as a demon spat out of hellfire and brimstone.

"You found my bitch? Good. Give her to me, so I can first rip out her fucking lying tongue." The Bastard of Bolton whipped out his switch blade, and the moon light gleamed off the sharp razor edge, while his cold pale eyes looked straight at her. "You promised to never leave me!"

The Mountain's hand palmed the entire back of her head and turned her face away into the safety of his chest. "Sell her to me, Ramsay. I want her."

The Bastard frowned at his Second in Command's words, snapping him out of his intense stare-down, but his hand still gripped the blade with a vibrating anxiety. "What the fuck are you talking about? She's mine and I want her back. Now!"

Gregor only hardened his own dark gaze and repeated his words, low and threatening, right back. "I want her.. Name your damn price, Bastard or you and I are going to go to town all night out here."

She couldn't quite believe her ears as she shivered, naked and huddled in his arms, her cheek pressed against the rough leather of his jacket. Sell me to you? What will you do with me? She couldn't be sure, but for now, he’s her protector, the only thing keeping Ramsay's blade at bay. She said nothing, knowing that anything she said now would only anger Ramsay further. For a moment, she felt something for the Bastard. Everyone leaves him. No matter who you are, that hurts. Now she's done the same, and in his twisted way, he had loved her. As much as she wished to escape, she loved him too. The tears flowed freely now as she buried her face into the Mountain's chest. Gregor, her unlikely savior.

"This is the fucking thanks I get for rescuing you out of that damn pit they tossed you into, Gregor? Betraying me too... after all this time?!" Ramsay snapped, as he came at the Mountain without a care in the world about the other man's size or strength. The Bastard, in a blinding rage, slashed away with his deadly blade as the Mountain stepped out of the way from the charge and set the girl down by a tree. "Stay here, girl. Don't you dare move out of my sight." Gregor yanked off his jacket and tore his shirt off, using the material as his only defense to protect his hands as Ramsay wasted no time turning around and attacking again.

"I'm not betraying you. Listen to me, you fucking ass!" Gregor rumbled with a roar, as he caught Ramsay's blade in his hand and closed his fingers around it in a tight fist, imprisoning the Bastard's weapon for a moment.

"I will make you pay. The both of you. With your flesh!" his Boss spit, as he pulled out a second blade with his left hand and stabbed the Mountain through his arm, causing blood to spurt out like a fountain as he nicked an artery. "Did you forget I never fight with just one blade, motherfucker?" Ramsay laughed with glee as the Mountain stumbled back a step, and put pressure on the wound with his hand to stem the flow of blood.

"You've gone over the edge, Bastard. I'll break your damn neck for this," Gregor growled back like a wounded beast, never having seen his friend so completely crazed. 

 

Melly cowered by the tree where Gregor left her, terror washing over her as she watched Ramsay fly at him, blade flashing. She stared at the size of him and watched his muscles ripple as he dodged the Bastard's blade. There was no way he could lose this fight... and yet... Ramsay was out of his mind with rage, terrifying in his assault. "Nooo!" she screamed as the second blade appeared as if out of thin air and plunged into Gregor’s arm. He was her only hope now...

Ramsay turned his head slowly towards the sound of her voice, a serious dark jealously washing over him as she cried out for the Mountain. "Hear that, Gregor? My fucking bitch... screaming for you!" The Bastard started moving towards Melly’s cowering form, ready to make her suffer for this outrage, when Gregor grabbed him around the neck and lifted the mad killer off his feet with ease, slamming Ramsay against the tree.

"Don't you ever fucking touch her again, Snow!" the Mountain yelled with a possessive fury of his own, glaring at his Boss and childhood friend, face to face, his thick fingers squeezing the life out of Ramsay. The Bastard went limp and dropped his blade, wheezing for breathe.

"Do it... you asshole... and my father will hunt you down and lock you up again," he managed to grate out, before Gregor dropped him to the floor, booting the blade out of reach.

Dissolving into sobs that shook her from head to toe, Melly watched this display in horror as Ramsay stalked toward her. She pressed her back against the trunk of the tree, trying in vain to move further out of reach of his blade. Her eyes widened as Gregor lifted him as though he were a child. She watched him struggle for breath and was afraid, suddenly... afraid that Gregor would kill Ramsay. She couldn’t say why, but she didn't want Gregor to hurt him. Just as she was about to beg Gregor not to kill him, he let him fall. Her body relaxed slightly as he stood over his friend. Ramsay was unarmed, but she was still not free.

"I could have killed you right now, Bastard. Remember that." Gregor spoke low, rumbling in his chest like a caged animal ready to explode again, before his huge fist slammed into the tree, breaking the skin and spilling more blood. "Here is my payment, Ramsay, and you will take it, and we shall never fight like this again. Understand me, you crazy fucking prick?" The Mountain bent a knee, kneeling before the Bastard as he rose to his feet, and Gregor pounded his bloody fist into the mud with a bowed head. "I swear, by my own blood, to serve you and your House till the end of my days, in exchange for the life of this woman."

Ramsay said nothing as his Second spoke such a strange oath, yet the words sounded so familiar to him, and he found himself pleased by the act. "I don't know what you're babbling about, Mountain, but this means you’re mine forever. Anything I ask of you, you will follow without question, ever again, or this bitch's skin will be on my wall. By your own hands," Ramsay replied, and glared at him for a moment before he whistled for his dogs. They came back, barking around him. "Let's go girls. I've had enough of this romantic bullshit for one night."

Melly observed this silently, afraid to speak, afraid to move, not wanting to break the spell Gregor seemed to have woven. Then, to her surprise, Ramsay visibly relaxed and seemed satisfied. However, when he looked at her, his eyes were colder than ever before and she couldn’t meet his glare. She looked away, chilled, knowing his words would haunt her always. As he turned and left, she began to try to crawl to Gregor, dragging her injured ankle behind her, unable now to bear weight on her hand that was cut so deeply. She owed him her life. She belonged to him now.

"Come, girl... we better get out of here before something changes his mind." Gregor wrapped a strip of his shirt around his bleeding arm into a tight knot, ignoring his injured hand. He then wrapped his jacket around Melly as the cold winds of the night picked up, signaling an approaching thunderstorm as lighting flared off in the distance. The Mountain picked her up, cradling her close to his warm bare chest with his good arm as he made the long trek back to the compound. He avoided the entrance and just walked around to the front to get his pickup truck. Glad to hear the dogs howling back in their kennels, he wondered if Ramsay was entertaining himself with the old cook down in the dungeons. 

  

 Overcome with relief, Melly rested her head against Gregor’s chest, feeling his warmth. She swam in his jacket, using her good hand to hold it closed around her like a cloak. She'd barely realized how cold she was before, but now she noticed her feet, cut to ribbons and covered in mud, were as cold as ice. She said nothing as he carried her to the car. It's possible that she dozed off once or twice, she wasn't sure. She was so tired. There wasn't an inch of her that wasn't screaming in pain. The hard welts from her beating were sticky with dried blood. Her body was covered with cuts and bruises. Her ankle throbbed and her hand was bleeding freely again, as was the wound under her chin. The bottoms of her feet were a mass of cuts. And yet somehow she felt... happy. Or perhaps she was only relieved. She knew she felt at peace. She was leaving this place with her new Master and he would keep her safe. When he placed her gently onto the seat of the truck, she gasped in pain, but didn’t cry out. She was surprised at his gentleness, as she'd only heard that he was a monster. When he climbed into the truck beside her and turned the key in the ignition, she sighed quietly and let her head fall back against the headrest. "Thank you..." she whispered into the darkness.

"You never told me your name, woman." Gregor sped his truck past the front gates, feeling some relief when the heavy black gates closed behind him, but never slowed down. He wanted distance from that place and looked forward to the security of his own home to keep the girl safe from the Bastard of Bolton, at least until something new attracted Ramsay's attention. The Mountain's whole being vibrated with a very strong need to protect her, like she was his predestined mate. His thick fingers gripped the steering wheel harder, knuckles turning white, as his heavy boot stepped down on the gas and the truck roared down the deserted road. 

  

"My name is Melicent, Master... Melly," she said very softly, turning her head slightly to look at him as he drove. His profile was highlighted whenever the truck passed a street light and she noticed that he was handsome, in a rough hewn way. He reminded her of someone, but she wasn't sure who. Perhaps someone she'd known a long time ago. Her life before Ramsay had taken her was a blur, a swirl of faces, sounds and scents that evoked memories she couldn't quite unearth. She felt his urgency, and saw his eyes flick in the direction of the rear view mirror. She too, couldn’t quite feel safe, not until she was far away from this place. She wasn't sure if she would ever truly feel safe again. He'll take care of me, she thought. My new Master.