The stained glass cast an ominous light over the corridor as Madelyn stalked towards the end; It was as if the shadows grew a little sharper here, and her instincts were screaming at her to turn back. These instincts were honed by years of training, and she trusted them more than most things. The phrase “It's too quiet", as cliché as it was, seemed terribly appropriate. There was not a sound in the world, save for the soft noises of her paws on shining marble floor.

Her ears, her tail and every single hair on her body were taut like bowstrings, awaiting a noise, a tremor, a gust of wind. The whistle of an arrow, not the sound, but the feeling of something large hurtling towards her face at a high speed.

She was alone in the building. There was just her, and whatever…

She took a nervous breath.

…Whatever lurked on the other side of that door.

The ornate frame glowed under the crimson light, the handle beckoning her hand. She knew what a terrible idea it was to turn it, but she knew she had to; It was just how things would go.

Her steps were probably as quiet as a mouse, but they seemed thunderous in her focused ears as she skulked up to the door and reached out her hand. That was all it would take; A few inches forwards, a twist, and then-

She heard it. She knew she did. Or maybe it was a reflection in the gold, or the light change in the air. It all happened in under half a second, but to her it was an eternity; Something came towards her from behind, faster than any living being she'd ever witnessed. She didn't see it coming, but she knew; Her instincts would never lie.

She'd been balancing at her toes, with a low centre of gravity for this exact purpose. In a mad dodge, faster than most eyes could see, she threw herself to the side and out of harms way, tucking her tail and twisting herself like a cat to land on her feet.

She'd expected it to take a short moment for the impact to come, but it was instantaneous. The Something crashed into the spot where she'd just been standing with a noise that nearly deafened the young woman, and the wind pressure flattened her fur. She used some of the momentum to spin around in a lowered position, balanced on two feet and one hand, her nubby fangs and claws bared in what was probably the world's most pathetic display of intimidation.

The draconic statue glared back at her with red, soulless eyes. A seven-foot body made of rock, magic and pure anger, equipped with fangs that could rip her throat out with a single touch, arms that could literally pull her in two, and a maw to crush her skull like an egg.

She gave a snarl that did nothing to hide the panic underneath. There was no way out of this situation. She knew the way back was blocked off, and she didn't want to take her eyes off the statue to check; the thing was FAST, and she had no idea what it was capable of.

Madelyn coiled herself like a spring, waiting for it to make the first move. She didn't have much combat training, but her reflexes were faster than most. She eyed the statue with caution, searching for a weak spot and finding none; The thing was made of stone, for fuck's sake.

An old memory came to her.

About a year ago, she'd overheard two of the Basitin higher-ups discuss her and her future. They'd been speaking in hushed voices, but her ears had always been particularly strong. One of them had been angry, she could tell from the tone of his voice.

“Come on." He'd said. “She's sixteen! She's still just a girl! Give her some time to grow. Everyone knows you were a weak little wuss until twenty-two."

The other one replied in a sneering voice. “And Jade was fourteen when she threw the army general across the room. She was sixteen when she broke a man's arm by pinching it between two fingers. At seventeen I watched her punch a hole in a three-inch-thick plate of iron, with her bare fist. Face it, the little princess won't ever be the same as our king. Not now, not in ten years or twenty. She's a failure."

The words had hurt then, but they were so much worse now that she realized how true they were. Her mother would've laughed at this monster. She would've walked up to it and flicked at its head to make it fly off, to star-struck gasps from whatever onlookers were present.

She hated herself for being so jealous. For being unable to make something of her own, constantly comparing herself to who was probably the strongest person in the world. She hated the standard she was held to. Hated herself for being afraid.

Sweet on the surface, bitter on the inside.

Useless, disappointing, tiny, weak and terrified.

Without any warning to indicate it was about to move, the statue shot towards her at the speed of a swallow. Maddie ducked, tucked and rolled, and even with the breakneck speed it was travelling, the monster somehow missed her and crashed into the wall behind.

Heh, at least she had that. Nothing could match the speed of The Royal Madn-

The automaton's foot hit her in the chest with the force of a falling boulder. It had shifted its weight as it hit the wall, rearing for a kick. The young Basitin hadn't even seen it coming; before she knew it, she was flying through the air, whimpering as way too many of her fragile ribs snapped like twigs. There was no time to think before her back hit the wall, and everything went blurry when her head smashed into the hard surface.

There wasn't even time to fall before the dragon was upon her again. This time its hand closed around her neck, squeezing the air out of her. She kicked weakly, but her feet only hit stone.

“Face it, the little princess won't ever be the same as our king. Not now, not in ten years. She's a failure."

Through eyes that were now blurred by tears and trauma, Madelyn saw the guardian raise its hand and protract its claws. Knife-like razors glistened in the red light as it drew its arm back, preparing for a low swipe at her stomach.

Though she knew it wouldn't change anything, she sputtered out a weak “No, don't!" as it slashed at her.

Cold claws tore through her thin armour like wet paper, and did the same to her clothes, skin and innards. When it came up again, it was as red as the crimson shine that bathed the corridor.

She'd imagined evisceration to be more painful. All she felt now was a dropping sensation in what remained of her stomach, and a sudden dizziness from loss of pressure as the guardian let go, the floor rushing up to meet her. She landed in a red pool, sprawled out and helpless. It was hard to breathe with a mouth full of blood, but at least it seemed like the living statue let her be for now.

Everything went limp and it was hard to move, but she still had to crawl forwards. The door was only a few feet away, and had somehow opened on its own. A faint glow shone through the crack, a darker shade of red than the blood-soaked corridor.

She was crying now. Escape was so far away, and she could sense the guardian turning around, looming above her. Any second it would come down and tear her to shreds. Her progress was so slow, held back by the fading strength in her arms, and her entrails spreading out behind her.

The crack in the door widened before opening entirely, and the young woman suddenly found herself staring at an oddly familiar pair of foot-paws. The room behind her grew darker, but she no longer had the strength to look up and see what was behind the stupid door.

“Madelyn?"

That voice...
Maddie stirred, and forced herself to raise her head.

“Mom?"

It really was her. Jade Adelaide, the king of all Basitins, the strongest woman in the world. Her white-tipped hair flowed in the sanguine light, and her deep green eyes stared down. Her gaze lacked the compassion that Madelyn had known her entire life, but it was still an unbelievable relief to see her. She would fix everything. She always did.

“Maddie, dear." Said the king. “What are you doing? What's wrong?"

Madelyn tried to point at the guardian. At the blood on its claws, at the red pool, at the trail of innards behind her. 'What's wrong?' was a strange question to ask when nothing was right.

But Jade just gave a sad smirk.

“Why are you on the floor? If you're in a fight, you need to be on your feet! Are you really too weak to even get up?"

Madelyn sputtered and cried. Yes, she really was too weak. She'd always been too weak.

Her mother sighed. “Why did you even leave? You always knew you were too feeble. Everyone did, we just didn't want to tell you. The world out there is harsh, and not a place for someone like you. Now you're just dragging my good name through the mud."

Her mom was right. She really should've stayed at home. Tears pooled in the corner of her mouth along with the blood.

Then five points of cold pain hit her back as the guardian sunk its claws into her shoulder. Its hand was the size of her head, and it grasped at her with a grip of steel, and started dragging her into the darkness. Her own claws were too weak, and they hardly made marks in the slippery marble floor as she scraped at it. Panic finally overtook her as the light faded, the door closing.

“Mom, HELP!" She gurgled. But Jade just turned away from her with a disappointed expression, and shut the last hope of escape behind her.

As the door shut with a terrifying 'clack', Madelyn screamed. The stone monster smothered her, and she was waiting for the feeling of its claws and teeth ripping her apart. She couldn't see, and she flailed helplessly in its grasp, but it was all futile; she was paralyzed with fear, and all that left her was a feeble whimper in the dark.

The guardian's hand was still on her back, but she no longer felt the claws. In fact it was a little warm.

She still struggled, but weaker than before. The darkness wasn't as oppressive as it had been a moment ago, and the ground felt strangely soft beneath her. There was also something else constricting her, something soft and warm.

She cried out for her mom, for Keith, for Karen. Anyone who would listen. She was alone in the dark, crying, kicking and clawing at nothing.

And to her surprise, something, or someone, answered.

“Maddie? Hey, Maddie!"

Another familiar voice, but lighter and much younger than her mom's.

“Maddie! You're dreaming!"

The hand at her back was warm and human. She felt it by how it lay next to her sweat-damp skin.

Madelyn opened her eyes with a sniffle and a whimper, and buried her face in a lock of bright green hair.

There was no monster. No red corridor, no Mom. She wasn't constrained by a murderous living statue, but by soft sheets and another young woman's arms. The hug was warm and tender, but she still struggled a little out of reflex before settling down, heaving.

It had felt so real this time, even the pain.

The first thing she did was put her hand to her stomach, to check if her guts were still in one piece. They lay coiled exactly where they should be, as a pile inside her belly, rather than a gory mess on the floor.

The second thing she did was clasp the other hand to her mouth and swallow hard as her supper made an attempt to escape from her upset body. She shut her eyes and battled it for a few seconds, breathing through her nose. The stench of blood and fear receded, and made  place for Karen's slightly-too-sweet perfume, and she eventually defeated the urge to throw up with a defiant gulp.

Then she laid quiet, just breathing silently. She was safe. Safe, warm and in the arms of a friend; The human girl was holding her gently, pressing herself up against her while slowly stroking her back with smooth and claw-less fingers.

Madelyn took a quivering breath, and gave her a weak pat in return.

“I...I'm okay." She muttered. “Was just a bad dream. I'm fine."

She'd just been introduced to platonic cuddling a few days ago, and though it was still strange to have someone lie this close to her, she didn't object when Karen pulled her a little closer.

“You don't sound fine." said the human. “Was it the statue again? That thing gave me the creeps too, you know. It's alright to be scared sometimes."

Madelyn fought another wave of nausea as the feeling of cold claws digging through her insides returned. It was not made better by the look her mother had given her: The same pity and disappointment she'd caught in the corner of the eyes of everyone she'd trained with in the military. The shame tied itself as a tight knot in her chest, adding to the discomfort in her stomach. 

She rested her chin on Karen's shoulder, and inhaled the scent of her hair. She closed out the bad dream as best she could, shut her eyes and focused on the warmth from the human's exposed skin. It was so impossibly smooth, and quite alien to someone who had spent her entire life with fellow Basitins, and never made intimate contact with any of them.

Her stomach settled after a long while as the dream faded, but the shame and guilt remained. She didn't notice she was crying until the taste of salt hit her tongue.

Karen seemed to notice as well, because her hand soon travelled up along her back and neck until it rested in her hair, giving her a soft massage. Then it made its way to the side until the tip of her thumb rested on the inner part of Maddie's ear.

“...May I?"

She was about to object. Hugging was inappropriate enough, especially between two girls, but touching of the ears was simply forbidden outside of the most intimate of contexts.

The nightmare lingered in her head, and the self-loathing returned tenfold. She couldn't quite suppress the quiet sob as it squeezed its way into Karen's hair.
Why was she so weak on every front? Not only was she too frail to defend herself and her friends, but she couldn't even handle a simple nightmare without breaking down crying. Her confidence had melted away the moment she'd faced a real challenge alone, and exposed how useless she really was.

In the end she failed to give Karen a proper answer, and went silent in misery. She wanted to disappear. Fall asleep and not dream of anything at all. There was this incessant voice in her head that told her it would be for the best if she didn't wake up next time, and she slowly found herself starting to agree with it. Her mom would probably care for a short while if she went missing, but she'd never done anything of value for anyone, and it didn't feel like a lot of people would even notice-

Her train of thought was cut off by a warm and tingling sensation at the side of her head. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in what felt like an eternity; a hand stroking her ear.

She winced.
“Hey, d-don't… You're not supposed to-" Her complaint trailed off into something between a gasp and a whimper as Karen squeezed her ear a little harder.

“Shush." whispered the human. “Lesson number two: Know when to accept a hug. It's okay to cry if you want, I do it too sometimes. It's better to let it out. I don't know how you do it over in Rabbit-land, but we humans stick up for each other."

There were so many things wrong with all this that Madelyn didn't quite know where to start. So she didn't, and let Karen's hand glide slowly back and forth across the space that was supposed to be for deep romances only. 

Her body was still taut and jumpy; The hairs on her neck were jutting against her nightgown, though she wasn't sure whether it was from the nightmare or Karen's touch.
But a few strokes later, she began to melt. 

It was as if the hard, cold claws that were constricting her stomach warmed up and turned to jelly as the tension left her body. She quickly came to realize exactly how badly she'd needed an ear massage when Karen moved to the other ear, and she was left a little short of breath. Her last memory of anyone touching her ear was from many years ago, after she broke her leg in training, and her mother visited her in the hospital. She'd still been a child back then, and the intimate touch had brought her calm.

And now it did the same. Her face was flush with warmth and tears, but it felt good not to care; Karen had heard her call to her mom for help in her sleep. There was no way she could appear any more pathetic, so it really didn't matter to her. What little dignity she'd had was in tatters anyways.

She soon realized that Karen had been right. It really did feel good to let the tears flow. Though her body was damp and cold with sweat, the human girl's very illegal touch soon brought her a little warmth, along with the embarrassment. 

“Y-you know…" she stammered after a while, “This really isn't appropriate. You can't just touch someone's ear like that."

Karen tilted her own ears. Those were still really weird.  Though she wasn't quite certain, Maddie was pretty sure humans weren't supposed to have those.
“Says who?" she replied. “I was never good at following what others tell me, and I don't really care. You looked like you could use a hug, and I'm not about to let foreign norms stop me from giving you one. It's not too awkward, is it?"

Oh, if only she knew.

“No…" she lied, “No, it's not. And uh… d-don't stop."

Karen nodded, and inched a little closer. “So. Bad dream?"

Madelyn swallowed, and put her hand on her belly. Damn straight. “Yeah, you could say that. And you're right, it was the statue. I can't…"

She blinked away a couple of fresh tears. “I just can't stop thinking about what would've happened if we hadn't been saved by someone else at the last second. How hopeless it all was. I keep going through the scenario in my head, even when I sleep, and it always ends the same way. “

Karen's hand didn't stop.
“Sheesh. You think too much, Maddie. Yeah, it was scary, but we survived, didn't we? Mostly unscathed, too. Rose said it was just a bruise."

Madelyn sometimes wished she could be as stupid as her.
“I'm not talking about the bruise, Karen!" she snarled, her voice cracking at the end. “My recklessness got us into that mess, but it never got us back out. What will happen the next time I do something stupid, and no one will be there to save us? Neither of us know how to fight, and I apparently don't know how to think! Sure, we can keep waltzing around like idiots and get ourselves killed at some point, but that doesn't seem like a very fun time to me, and I'd prefer not to. Don't know about you, but I like being alive!"

She hadn't meant to sound so bitter. The bruise on her stomach had swollen in the time since the attack, and the fresh memory of the dream made it feel awful. 

Karen didn't seem to pick up on her bitterness, or maybe it just didn't faze her.
“Sheesh. I told you before, that dragon-thing would've beaten anyone, except maybe Trace. I know it's easy to forget with all the wacky things happening, but we are in the magicky evil mansion of a super-powerful wizard. Something bad was bound to happen sooner or later. I can't fault you for being curious and trying to open the door either. That thing was so shiny, I'm pretty sure anyone would've gone up to it. I know I would."

Madelyn really wanted Karen's answer to be stupid and whimsical like she'd expected, but had to begrudgingly admit that she was somehow making sense. They really couldn't have expected for something to attack them out of the blue.

She tried to find a hole in the human's argument, but soon came to the conclusion that she had no reason to feel quite as miserable as she did. Of course she'd seem meek when compared to a literal killing machine engineered by the Grand Templar. Anyone would. 

Except maybe her mom.

Where she would earlier have felt sadness and disappointment, a faint flash of anger lingered instead: It just wasn't fair. Why did everyone set the same expectations for her as they did for Jade? Could she not even be her own person? Was she just set to fail in the eyes of the generals, simply for being born by her mother?

She balled her hands into fists behind Karen's back. No, it really wasn't fair. It was stupid and wrong. The generals were stupid and wrong.

That thought was so blasphemous and heinous, simply thinking it sent a shiver down her spine. The words of the generals were law, as they were always proven to be the strongest and smartest members of society.

And still…
Keith had stood up to them. He'd thrown dirt on the whole system, spat in their faces, and walked off free. And he was just a normal person, unlike her mother. If there was anyone who could make her doubt the old country, it was him.

Speaking of old rules being broken, Karen's grip on her ears got a little stronger as she bent them upwards, which sent a mixture of pain and intense stimulation down Maddie's shoulders.

“Wow…" She mumbled. “They're so soft… yet so rigid at the same time. One moment they're all floppy like a flag without wind, and then in the next you'd think there was a bone in them. Fascinating… Like, now they're way harder than half a second ago. I wonder how they work..."

Being unlawful was exciting. In the span of the last two minutes, she'd probably broken at least five different decency laws. But it's not like they mattered here. This was a different country. Different (and much fewer, it would seem) rules, different people, different… ears.

Madelyn suddenly noticed she was no longer angry, or even all that sad. She was just tired, and Karen's close body made her feel warm and a little awkward, though much less so than before. Girls sleeping in the same bed was probably normal here. She let Karen fondle the tips of her ears, and she returned the hug, burying her face in the human's soft green hair once again, breathing lightly.

“Is… You're sure it's not a sex thing?"

Maddie nearly choked on her own tongue. She sputtered for a few moments before it turned into an extremely awkward chuckle. Then she thought a little too hard on what the hell she should answer with.

“No… Not unless you want it to be…?" She stuttered awkwardly.

She regretted it the moment she said it. Way to not make things even more awkward.

Karen chuckled in return. “Well… Do you?"

Madelyn didn't know it was possible to blush quite this deeply. Karen was unfamiliar with Basitin customs, sure, but there were certain lines one did not cross.
...Especially not with another girl!

“I uh…" she stammered. “I need to… think about it."

It seemed like Karen finally picked up on exactly how uncomfortable it all felt, because she eased up a little.
“Hey, just asking" She chirped. “A hug can just be a hug, you know."

“Mhm."

Then a long silence passed. Karen's hands still worked her ears, but a bit more gently than before. There wasn't much tension left now, and Maddie soon felt her body going slack. Sleep sounded mighty inviting. She could hear Karen's breath going softer too. 

“Hey… Karen?"

“Mmm?"

“Can I…" She swallowed. “Can I touch yours?"

The suggestion was so lewd and poorly worded, she wished she could undo it somehow. A request like that was best saved for after marriage.

“Sure!" hummed Karen. “I don't think they're as weird and flappy as yours, but a massage would still be nice."

Yeah, of course she'd said yes. She would do that to anything. Madelyn was quite certain she could ask her for a kiss and still get that answer.
…
Okay no, ear rubbing should be enough. No reason to go fully degenerate quite yet.

She trailed her hand nervously up through the human's hair until she reached her soft and furry animal ears. They were warm to her touch, and twitched a bit when she made contact with them. A faint shiver ran through Karen's chest when she squeezed them gently.

“Whoa… That feels a lot better than when I do it myself. Is this some Basitin secret technique?"

Madelyn suppressed a giggle. “No… This is news to me too."

A few minutes passed, two girls awkwardly feeling each other's ears. As good as it all was, Madelyn was getting rather drowsy, and soon she struggled to keep her eyes open. It was so warm and comfy under the covers, with another body to warm her and a pair of hands on her ears.

Karen was in a similar condition.
“So, you ready to hit the sack?" she mumbled.

Maddie yawned.
“Yeah. Haven't had any good sleep in a while."

“No more nightmares, okay? I don't like to hear you whimper in your sleep."

“Sure. I don't like it either."

“Want me to let go?"

“...Nah."

She was asleep before she even closed her eyes.