TW: Implied SH (it doesn't actually happen though)

  Marina melted into Remora's arms, her body still trembling from the adrenaline. Remora hushed her and threaded her fingers through her silken hair, holding her head to her chest. Marina shuddered against her.

  "Thank you... thank you, thank you, thank you..." She endlessly murmured in a weepy whisper. Remora rocked her back and forth, her heart beating with an emergence of protectiveness for her. She turned her head to the side to see Babcia standing outside her door, her hands folded in front of her as she witnessed the scene. The secret was out.

  "Remora..." Babcia called out to her, her voice quieter and more unsure than she wanted it to be. Marina shot her head up at her appearance and quickly stood to her feet, Remora following her up. Babcia stepped forward towards them like a curious creature before divinity, her eyes studying Marina's features with total recognition and surprise.

  "You... are..." Babcia's voice shook as her eyes darted back and forth between Marina's, who silently dipped her head and nodded in return. Babcia released all the air from her lungs as the realization settled down upon her, her old knees bending as she brought herself to the floor to bow to her. Marina jumped in surprised and rushed to her.

  "Oh, no! Please don't... I don't ask that of you..." She carefully took Babcia's arm, helping her slowly rise to her feet. Babcia groaned as she felt her hips ache and she met the princess's eyes in bewilderment. Remora approached her grandmother, pcing a hand on her shoulder.

  "She didn't go missing, Babcia. She ran from her wedding. She's not safe in the pace and she won't be safe in that marriage..." Marina's eyes widened at Remora's expnation and she watched as the peasant girl turned to her with a firm gaze. Babcia's eyes darted between the two with a deer-in-headlights stare. A long silenced draped over the room before Babcia cleared her throat.

  "Remora... a word..." She turned and walked out of the bedroom and down to the end of the hallway. Remora sighed as she felt her chest tighten and she gnced at Marina who stood there in horror. She forced a smile and lifted her hands to ease her.

  "It'll be fine. I will handle it... Just... I'll be right back..." Remora nodded at her in reassurance before turning and following her grandmother into the hall, leaving Marina frozen in pce.

  "What were you THINKING!?" Babcia sharply turned to Remora, hissing through her teeth. She wanted to shout but had to school her voice to a harsh whisper.

  "She needed help, Babs! What was I supposed to do? Just leave her to get swept up by the royal guard???" Remora protested in a harsh whisper in return, waving her arm energetically.

  "Remora, she is FAR from her world! I mean, have you even THOUGHT this through? What, are we supposed to keep her like some stray dog!? Except she's NOT a stray dog, it's not as SIMPLE as that! She's a princess! THE PRINCESS...! If the royal guard discovers we're harboring her under our roof I could get arrested. YOU could get arrested! Did you even consider that???" The shorter, elderly woman filed her arms with frantic eyes.

  Marina stood with her back against the wall, ear tilted towards the door. Her heart dropped down into her stomach as she overheard their heated words... She covered her mouth to prevent crying, but the tears started again. She tried to stifle her noises but ultimately felt it crashing down upon her and hurried away to the bathroom.

  "Of COURSE I thought about that! But she's devastated her life, Babcia, and she has no idea what to do... I couldn't just leave her in that alleyway... And no, I haven't figured out what to do with her... but..."

  "But WHAT?" Babcia snapped back. "Did you FORGET what royalty did to your grandfather? What they did to this FAMILY???" Remora felt her hackles rise.

  "OF COURSE I DIDN'T! My whole LIFE is what it is because of THEM! OUR lives are this way because we've been treated like shit by royals. But... Marina isn't like them... She isn't the one pulling the strings, she's just as trapped as us, Babcia... She's just another young woman who didn't ask for this, who's getting screwed by the system... literally..." Remora clutched her stomach and hushed her voice on that st line, turning her gaze to her bedroom door as she thought of the poor girl in her room. Remora never thought she'd find herself defending a royal, but as, here she was. Babcia felt herself halt at her granddaughter's words, and she merely stared at Remora in shock.

  Marina sobbed over the sink, the water forcefully rushing out of her against her will. She turned on the faucet and spshed her face, hoping the cool water would calm her and soothe her puffy red eyes. She stared at the person she found in the mirror.

  "Helpless. Burden. Helpless. Burden. HELPLESS. BURDEN." The words snarled and snapped in her mind and she felt like she was drowning in her own body. She clutched at her head, curling her fingers around her hair in desperation. She wanted to disappear, to sink away into nothingness. She escaped her wedding but she was far from free. Her mind and body was a prison and her existence a weight on innocent people... She opened her teary eyes and gasped for air when she noticed a glint of something shiny in the corner of her eye. A pair of scissors.

  An idea then pnted itself in the soil of her helpless mind.

  "I understand she's a princess. I understand what they've done to us, Babcia... But... she's not the enemy, Babcia. We didn't ask to be born as peasants and be mistreated by our leaders... just as she didn't ask to be born into a life where she's forced into an awful marriage... And BELIEVE me, Babcia, I didn't want to help her at first. In fact, I thought about stealing her wedding ring and turning her in and pawning it off so we can get the HELL out of this kingdom! But then how does that make us any less greedy than them? You always taught me to be grateful and empathetic and kind... to be BETTER than them. This is me TRYING to have that empathy, even if it's for a kind of person who may not necessarily deserve it." Remora stood her ground, her eyes almost welling up with water as Babcia listened to her in silent dismay.

  Babcia was torn between her hesitation to accept such a person into their home... and the blossoming pride for her granddaughter. How much she had grown... She went to answer her before they heard a choked sob coming from down the hallway.

  "Shit..." Remora sighed, marching down the hallway. They dropped the argument immediately and rushed towards the bedroom. When they didn't find her in there, Remora felt her breath grow shallow.

  "Marina?" She called out. They heard a muffled sob and turned their attentions to the door. Remora hurried to it and rapped on the wood, trying to turn the handle only to find it locked.

  "Marina??? What's wrong? Hey, it's okay... It's okay... Can we come in?" She called out, nearly pressing her cheek to the doorframe.

  "N-No... don't come in... It's h-horrible, it's all horrible..." Marina cried out in a rasp and hiccuping on her words through awful sobs. Babcia stepped forward and knocked.

  "Your highness...?" Remora shook her head at her. "Uh... Marina...?" she corrected "Please, open the door sweetheart... We're not going to do anything with you, we promise... we just want to make sure you're okay..." Babcia's tone was of a pure elderly softness.

  "We won't turn you in, I told you we'd figure something out. I promised. And I never break promises. Ever. So please let us in so we can help you, okay, honey?" Remora added. They were only met with silence and Remora and Babcia shared a worried gnce. Finally, they heard the click of the door unlocking.

  As it opened they were met with Marina. Her eyes were red, her face was tearstreaked, but more importantly, all her long obsidian locks were messily chopped and in clumps on the floor.

  Babcia and Remora covered their mouths at the pitiful sight, their eyes widening in horror. Remora was the first to move, rushing forward to hug her as Marina crumbled into her arms.

  "Marina, oh my Gods..." Remora excimed, looking down at the mess of a girl in her arms, and the worse of a mess that was her hair.

  "Oh, baby, your beautiful hair..." Babcia chimed in, approaching her cautiously and putting a hand on her hiccuping shoulder.

  "Why did you do this...?" Remora tucked away an incredibly short strand behind her ear, looking into her eyes with worry in her own. Marina covered her mouth as she choked out her voice.

  "I just... didn't want to... be even more of a burden... I thought... If I made myself unrecognizable I wouldn't be such burden... I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry... I never wanted to hurt anyone I just... wanted to escape..." She shattered into Remora's arms in violent agony. Remora held her close to her body, then gnced up at her grandmother with a look that said "see?"... Babcia caught the look and felt herself sink at the helpless sight before her.

  "Oh, Marina... You didn't have to do that to your pretty hair... to yourself, darling..." Remora rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her. "We... We can fix it...! We'll figure it out... Oh, darling..." She swayed her slightly as Marina clinged to her. Babcia could see the uncertainty in her granddaughter's eyes at the situation, and she felt her motherly instincts kick into high gear.

  "Yes. We will." Babcia marched out of the room. Remora sent her a confused stare before quickly returning to hushing and comforting Marina. Babcia reappeared carrying a stool and set it down before the mirror. She turned to Remora and patted the seat. Remora's eyes widened in surprise but she quickly nodded, moving Marina over to sit her down in the stool. Babcia got straight to work, setting up her combs, her spray bottle and the scissors. Marina briefly stopped her violent crying to watch her. Babcia then sighed and smiled, coming behind her and putting her hands on her shoulders. "We'll fix you right up, that sound good, baby?" Marina stared at her through the mirror with glimmering eyes and nodded. Babcia gave her a gentle shake and got to work.

  She started by taking her spray bottle and gently misting down her hair. Marina shuddered as she felt the cool water hit the nape of her neck, but it soon grew to comfort her. Babcia gently combed through it, messing with the chopped locks as she analyzed how to fix it. She slowly started pulling finger-fulls of tufts and began meticulously snipping away. Remora leaned against the wall, gazing at her in the mirror with a smile... one that could easily be mistakened as affectionate... but she would never admit it was.

  "Yeah, kiddo, I've seen worse. One time Remora got tree sap stuck in her hair when she was... oh I don't know, 9 or 10 years old... Well... Miss 'I-don't-ever-need-anyone's-help' decided to take it upon herself to 'fix' it up." Babcia ughed and Marina could see Remora's face turning red in the mirror. "You should have seen it... and with her curls? What a mangled mess! But it finally got her to wear the hats I crocheted." Remora stomped her foot, pouting like a child.

  "Babciaaa stoppp... that story is so embarrassing...!!!" She concealed her face in her hands as her cheeks turned into tomatoes, eliciting a giggle from Marina. Babcia ughed and leaned in next to her ear with a smug look.

  "I have plenty more stories like that about her..." She whispered.

  "BABS...!!!" Remora protested. Marina smiled.

  "Was she cute as a kid?" She blinked curiously at Babcia through the mirror.

  "Oh! The CUTEST! Like a tiny pumpkin... I have a family album with a bunch of photos of her somewhere around here. I bet I could find it for you after this." She answered between snips.

  "Ugh! Babcia you traitor!!!" Remora poked her hip. Babcia yelped and turned on her with a threatening comb in her hand.

  "Hey! Don't bother this old dy while she's working! You want me to mess up?" Remora rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head as Babcia turned back around. "Mhmm..."

  "I'd love to see those photos..." Marina commented. Remora scoffed.

  "Now you're BOTH traitors."

  ...

  As Babcia finished up Marina's haircut, adding a little product and towel drying it, she stood behind her, fluffing up her hair. It was an incredibly short haircut, causing the tufts to curl slightly more around her face. It was so short, that she looked more like a boy, especially with the more angur features of her face.

  "Well, it's certainly not a dy's hair... but I think that won't be a problem for you at all." Babcia teased, pying with a few tufts. Marina stared back at her reflection with shining eyes as she reached up, pulling on a few strands for herself.

  "Wow... this is..." She stood up, tilting her head to look at it from all angles as she narrowed closer to the mirror. Remora and Babcia sucked in another breath, having to prepare for the possibility of another meltdown. Marina simply blinked at the sight before her eyes, then turned to them.

  "It's... so light... and strangely freeing... I... love it..." She smiled in bewilderment. Babcia grinned happily in return, opening her arms.

  "Oh, I'm so gd, deary." She hugged her, the smaller woman patting her back. Remora sighed as her lips curled up, approaching her.

  "It actually looks really good, Marina... Or perhaps I should say... 'Ci Wivret'." She grinned smugly as she ran her fingers briefly through her hair. Marina chuckled and turned back to the mirror.

  "I think... both those things suit me..." She smiled at her reflection.

  And for the first time, she didn't want to cry or turn away from the sight of her own face.

  Despite everything... it was still her... and she never felt more like herself.