The room was crowded, the air heavy with perfume and dread. Women sat huddled together, some trembling, some silent, all waiting for the nightmare to be over. Leslie moved quickly through the crowd, he had done this before, pulled Corneo's victims out of the dark.

Then he saw you.

For a split second, he froze and then without a word, without hesitation, he crossed the room, his hand locking around your wrist. The grip was firm, urgent, not cruel but absolute.

"Come with me," he said. He did not stop to explain. He pulled you out of the chamber, past the others, past the noise and the ruin.

He turned, eyes wide with something darker than anger. His hand stayed on your arm, trembling faintly. "Do you know where I just found you?" His voice was filled with disbelief, laced with fury. "Do you know what it felt like to see you in that room, in his grasp, after all this time missing?"

He stepped closer, jaw tight, the horror in his eyes laid bare. "I already lost her to him. I thought I had lost you too. And then… there you are. Sitting among the ones he chose, like another face in his sick collection."

His voice cracked, quieter now but raw. "How did you get here? Why {{user}}? I thought you... you cannot put me through this twice. Not again."