Finn POV:
I was seven when I found her. A mangy, shivering puppy, eyes wide with fear, huddled in the alley behind our sprawling mansion. Her fur was matted, her ribs showing through thin skin. She looked just like I felt sometimes, lost in a world too big and too indifferent.
Her eyes, those deep, liquid pools, held a plea I understood instinctively. Help me.
I tried to bring her home. My parents, always polished and distant, barely looked up from their evening papers. "Finn, darling, we don' t keep strays," my mother said, her voice like ice. My father just grunted, turning a page.
I pleaded, I begged. They didn't listen. They never did. I still remember the housekeeper, a kind but firm woman, pulling me away, the puppy whimpering as she was shooed back into the darkness. I was confined to my room, punished for my "rebellion."
That night, I cried into my pillow, a profound, gut-wrenching despair I hadn't known a child could feel. I felt utterly helpless, unable to save something I desperately wanted to protect. The image of those pleading eyes stayed with me, a ghost in my memory, a wound that never quite healed. I promised myself then that I would never feel that helpless again. I would always protect the vulnerable, the lost, the ones no one else cared about.
Years passed. I grew up, learned to navigate my privileged world, armed with charm and a carefully constructed facade. But that feeling, the one born of that alleyway, remained. It was a need to protect, a deep-seated desire to be the hero.
Then, I met Elva.
She was sixteen, small and pale, huddled on a park bench, her head buried in a book. A group of older boys, all swagger and cruelty, were circling her, taunting her. Their words were sharp, their laughs menacing.
I saw her, and it was like a jolt. Her eyes, when she finally looked up, were exactly like the puppy' s – wide, fearful, but with a flicker of defiance. That familiar ache, that primal need to protect, surged through me.
I didn' t think. I just moved.
I ran towards them, yelling, my rage a hot fire in my veins. "Leave her alone!"
They turned, surprised, then sneered. I was bigger, stronger, and I knew how to fight dirty. I put myself squarely between Elva and them, my back to her. "Go on," I growled, "Try me."
It was a messy brawl, but they eventually scattered, cowards at heart. I turned, my breath ragged, my knuckles stinging.
Elva was still there, frozen, staring at me with those wide eyes. Her hand, small and trembling, reached out and clutched the back of my jacket, a silent plea, a desperate hold. It felt so right, her needing me, my protecting her.
Later, she kept my torn jacket, even after I insisted on buying her a new one, a better one. She treasured it, she said, because it saved her. It was a physical manifestation of my devotion, a symbol of my promise.
She truly was like that puppy, lost and alone, needing someone to save her. I saw myself as her rescuer, her guardian. I would be her shield, her strength. I would make sure no one ever hurt her again. This, I decided, was love. This raw, overwhelming need to protect her.
