His wrists snap and splinter against the unyielding metal of his shackles, and only then does he begin to calm down, his all-consuming fury subsiding into something more manageable.

They all look unsettled (all but the thin man) when they hear the crunch. The tall man glances, if briefly, at the door.

The girl is – horrified, but –

– she's also slowly reaching for the tall man's dagger.

He hisses under his breath and gives one last pull, mangling his shattered wrists further just as they're beginning to heal.

The thin man opens his mouth–

–and is interrupted by the tall man's screaming as the girl stabs his dagger into his thigh and drags it down to the knee.

He grins triumphantly.

The tall man stumbles back and collapses to the ground – the other men swear, shout, surround her, one grabbing her by the chain on her single shackle and hauling her arm up –

When the proverbial dust clears, the bearded man is helping the tall man out of the room, and two of the three men left behind are pinning the girl's arms while the thin man, holding a gash in his side, stands over her.

By this point he is healed. He rattles his chains but doesn't break himself on them again.

She looks right at him.

"Sorry. I gave it a shot."

One of the men passes the thin man his axe.

He—is having a lot of feelings, and an unusual amount of difficulty expressing them—

He looks at her, smiling a small, odd smile, with something of the predator in it but also something softer, gentler, sweeter.

And: "You're... good," he says, slowly, as though with great difficulty, but also somehow without seeming to realize what he's doing until the words are already out of his mouth and he's blinking in surprise at the sound of them.

"...thanks. You're good too."

And then the axe comes down on her left arm, the one she used to wield the dagger, and she screams.

(Other things have healed, too.)

It's not done. She sobs and convulses on the ground.

She forgets that it's a dream. She forgets that she can heal.

"Stop–stop–"

It takes another strike to sever it completely.

He looks up at the thin man.

"Don't... do that."

The thin man laughs, disbelieving.

"You believe you can tell us what to do? In your position?"

He turns to the other men and barks something to them. They were picking her up, but now they pin her down again, and she starts to struggle and scream. He hefts the axe.

He growls.

It comes down.

"No no no–"

And again.

He flinches, first, looking away—

—but then he starts to laugh, softly, a breathless gasping snicker that steadies into outright chuckles.

...please let this be some kind of fuck-off magic power about to activate. Please please please.