a/n: i accidentally double uploaded a chapter, so i edited 42 so it's correct, if you want to go back and read that before this one, sorry for the inconvenience

After many hours spent lazily driving along down country roads, great motorways and everything in between, they finally reached their destination: a crappy, crumbling old shed in the middle of nowhere.

"It's not perfect, but it's the best we can get." Nimue told the group as they all got out of the car, Felix picking Dot up again while grumbling something along the lines of 'definitely not perfect', only with a lot more swearing.

"At least she's trying to find us somewhere to stay." Added Tiro, squeezing his girlfriend's hand as he sucked up to her as per usual.

"And this is all she could find?" Felix was clearly not impressed with her efforts. "It's bloody awful."

Truth be told, he wasn't wrong. The sides of the dingy hut were almost falling in on themselves in their own misery, ivy claiming all the walls insides and out, with a rotting door that didn't shut all the way and a leaky roof that looked as if it was going to collapse at any second topping off the derelict structure.

Nimue kicked Felix's shin lightly, making him scowl at her. "We need somewhere Digorn won't find us. I used to come here with my sister sometimes, when we needed to talk in private. It's not a 5-star hotel, I know, but we're not really going to get anything better when we have no money."

"You didn't bring any money?" Felix asked, eyes bulging wide. "Did you think this thing through at all, or did you just pull a plan out of your arse and call it a day?"

She glared at him, extremely unimpressed. Tiro started to wiggle his toes in an effort to relieve the pain caused by her nails digging into his palm to no avail, hoping for the sake of his hand that Felix would stop antagonising the woman.

"Digorn has control of everything I own. If I drew any money out of my bank account, he'd know that I did it. Physical money is an option, I guess, but..." She shuffled her feet and rubbed her thumb over Tiro's. "I just wanted to get out as quickly as possible."

"Okay so, basically," Felix turned his head over his shoulder to whisper to Dot. "She's making it up as she goes."

Luckily for Tiro's hand, Nimue didn't hear this comment, and so the four trudged towards the shed in silence. Dot was still turning his head to look in all different directions, determined to absorb everything of the outside world that he possibly could before he was taken back inside again.

After a short walk punctuated only by Felix nearly tripping over a bramble and swearing loud enough for a nearby sheep to baa in response, they were all finally settled into the cramped space. Nimue grabbed a little plastic box of mango chunks along with a few breakfast bars out of her jacket pocket, handing the latter out amongst the adults and giving the mango to Felix, who then opened it and held the container up to Dot's mouth so he could eat out of it.

"What now?" Asked Tiro, but was only met with quiet crunches as the people around him ate instead of answering.

Truthfully, no one really knew what to do next. Felix wanted to go home to his family, Nimue had made this up on a whim, Tiro had merely followed her, and Dot had no experience of the outside world at all so couldn't be expected to know how to keep safe out here.

It was all a bit of a mess. None of them knew what was going to happen next and most of them hated each other, the only thing that everyone sitting in the dingy old shed had in common was the wish to remain free.

Felix sighed and pushed Dot off his lap, standing up with a groan and bending backwards in a stretch. He began to stroll towards the door, but was promptly interrupted.

"Where are you going?" Nimue licked the last few crumbs of her food from her fingers as she asked the question, fixing her eyes on him to ensure he knew she wasn't just going to let him leave without an answer.

Felix raised an eyebrow. "I need to pee. Would you rather I do it in here?" He laced his tone with sarcasm as Nimue backed down and allowed him to exit, on the condition that he'd be back within five minutes.

He wouldn't leave without Dot anyways, right?

The mood inside the hut was stale and awkward, with none of the remaining escapees quite knowing what to say.

Nimue in particular was stuck in a dilemma. Did she apologise now, or should she wait until things were more stable? She didn't want to do it in front of the others for fear of making a fool of herself, but knew that Dot would outright refuse to follow her anywhere privately.

She watched him awkwardly scratch behind his ear with his thumb, having to fight back a smile. He was so adorable, and he was hers. It was so perfect.

Dot hissed and pulled his thumb away from his ear, making his mother jolt at the sight of the blood that painted the tip of his claw. He had scratched too hard, and accidentally cut himself in the process.

"Oh, sweet, let me help you-" She went forward with a tissue she had in her left pocket only for her son to jerk backwards and give a short hiss, warning her to stay away.

The woman froze in her spot, hurt at the reaction.

She had only been trying to help.

Dot shuffled further away, rejecting her help in favour of awkwardly pressing his head down against his shirt to stop the bleeding.

Nimue stood up straighter and gripped the tissue she was holding like it was her lifeline, biting her bottom lip as hard as she could as Dot continued to shrink away from her.

The world was static and her head was a ball of cotton, all thoughts abandoned as she fled the space and stormed outside, locking herself inside the car and hoping the tinted windows were dark enough to hide her.

She knew he hated her; she knew, she knew, she knew.

So why the hell did it hurt so much?