Attack (Iugo/Invite)

[Piper Wren]

Since her last incident with Iugo, Piper had isolated herself for a while. The large bruise on her jaw where Iugo had not even begun to fade yet and she swore she could still taste the bitter, metallic taste of Iugo’s blood in the back of her throat. But one thing was on her mind that she couldn’t let go, there had been no sign of Kristopher for a couple of days and the young woman was starting to worry. The blonde normally came to see her regularly, invited or not but his absence was enough to make her wonder…She had checked his usual haunts, gone to Augusta who didn’t seem like himself. The Frenchman had laughed in her face when she asked! What the hell was the matter with him?! It was enough to make her feel ill with worry…that was when she came across the blood, it looked like it was a couple of days old, dried to a blackened stain.

That was when it hit, Kristopher was missing, blood on the floor. Piper thought she was going to vomit…there was no body, no conclusive proof to say it was Kristopher’s blood. But something inside her knew that something had happened to him, she turned away from the blood, unable to look at it and ran at full sprint down the long hallway of the boogie palace. She didn’t stop until she was out of breath and her lungs burning. Piper leaned back against the wall to catch her breath, closing her eyes to block the images of it.

‘Oh god…Kris.’

Piper wiped roughly at her eyes, she wanted to cry but couldn’t let herself. Kristopher wouldn’t want her to, she had to pull herself together. If there was no body maybe he was somewhere else? Was he hurt somewhere, she had to find him!

[Doctor Nationis]

Oh, the poor girl... She had been through so much in so little time since Iugo had returned in her life. She had been forced to play a tune on the piano, kicked to the floor, and violated in ways almost worse than her previous experiences. A pity that she would have to live with those memories, but it was not of Iugo's concern. She probably did something to deserve being in this realm anyways, so she should accept her fate. A little known fact: No one ever leaves Wonderland. Not that he was aware of, anyways. The Good Doctor had been following the woman for the past hour now, staying within the walls with the help of his ability. Only peeking out every so often to see where she was and how to best follow her.

The glasses, new and shining rims, floated out of the wall ten feet to the side of her, catching what little light there was in the dark halls and reflecting them. An eye followed quickly, spotting the girl laying against the wall. IN the process of looking out, his mouth had partially found fresh air, and grinned an evil grin. He slid back in quickly, before Piper saw him. Limping within the walls, he drew his knife, the rusty blade a refreshing feeling for his hand. The weapon turned over in his hand until he was behind where he believed Piper was.

Poking his head out once more, he saw that he was only a few inches to her left. Silently, a hand came from the wall, the edge of the knife hovering over her ribs. Silently, he smiled, already pleased with this. The knife slowly sunk into her side, but quick enough for the hand and it's owner to disappear into the walls of the Palace before the shock wore off and Piper could have a chance to see who did the act. Though Iugo was gone, the rusted knife was left in her side, slid between her rib cage, scratching at the bone as it pierced further into her body. The point of the knife stopped with little breathing room for her lungs. Though they were not punctured, breathing would become a painful task.

[Piper Wren]

Piper felt the knife stab directly through her flesh, grazing the bones of her ribs as it did so. The pain shot through the nerves, burning...she tried to sceam but the sound just wouldn't come. The attempt alone to take a deep breath was agony, she dropped to her knees, gasping. One hand pressed against her side where the knife had been driven hilt deep, that rusty knife...it could only belong to one person. There was no one else who would do this.

Iugo Nationis.

The beginnings of hysteria streamed through Piper, taking over her body like poison. She could feel the slow progress of hot blood from the wound making it's way down her leg, dripping onto the floor. Stark, crimson and real. Every time she tried to breath it felt like the knife was being driven in deeper...she had to find help. Before the shock wore off and the full pain of her torn muscles and nerve endings set in. Forcing herself to her feet she staggered as far as her unsteady legs would carry her, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Piper used the wall to steady herself but as she grew closer to the South Wing, it felt as if her arms were growing slowly numb, the only feeling left was a faint pins and needles in her fingertips. Her legs were as if someone had filled them with concrete, all that was left was the burning, the hot blood. Her breathing only coming in gasps.

The young woman dropped to her knees, the trail of her own blood almost reminded her of that old fairy tale...where the children left a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way out of the forest. But who would find her? The edges of Piper's vision was clouding, she felt...so tired. Weak, sleep would make the pain go away. Piper closed her eyes and collapsed in the hallway, blood still oozing from the wound with the still present knife.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Everything. Nothing. Elric's thoughts were atypical at this moment. Disconnected. Sometimes it was better to just not think about everything. Winter was his usual time for introspection, but Elric could not really bring himself to think about his own issues right now. Other people were dealing with their own problems, and it was supposed to be such a cheerful time of year too.

That's right. It was almost Christmas. The approach of the holiday caught him off guard. Seemed like only yesterday it had been the Devil's Ball and he sustained his injuries. Now he could hobble along at a slow pace, but at least he needed no one to push him in that horrid chair. A little bit of time with crutches that were too short for him meant that he had adjusted somewhat and could move at a reasonable pace. He had tried setting weight on his bad ankle earlier and it felt like it could almost support him.

Blood. After years you would think you'd get used to the scent. To the metallic tang than hung in the air from a lot of blood. The ballroom always had that smell before the damage. Elric had smelled plenty of it in the North Wing a few days ago. Maybe someone had cleaned it up by now. Perhaps Naelona would set him to that task. Didn't matter much so long as it got done. Maybe he'd do it without being told. The smell of blood was getting stronger.

It took Elric a moment to realize that he was standing over Piper. He took a deep breath as the harsh exterior of his face cracked. There was a rusty knife in her side, and part of him wondered if she was dead. He dropped his crutches and fell to his knees. He crawled a little closer to her and touched her body. She was still warm and it looked like she was breathing, albeit uneasily. He wasn't sure how far she walked or how long she had been like this, but there wasn't much time.

Not that there was anything Elric could do in a situation like this. He felt so... helpless. Calm down, Elric. She's bleeding a lot, but there's got to be something you can do. He stared for a moment, unsure of what he could do or what he should do. She was bleeding badly enough that she might need blood. He had to get her to the hospital, but he wasn't certain that she'd make it with that knife in her and her current bleeding. His hands were shaking as he unzipped his coat and grasped at his black shirt that was a size too small. He ripped a large chunk of it off and put one hand on the knife. Sincerely he hoped to whatever force was out there that this wouldn't kill her as he pulled it out and quickly pushed the torn bit of cloth against her wound. "Need to bind it, idiot," he muttered to himself as he looked around.

Seemed somehow fitting that he tied the arms of his coat tightly around her to hold the horrific bandage in place. After all, she had been the one to fix it so Elric didn't need to toss it away. Now there was the matter of carrying her away. There were rooms nearby. He stumbled to his feet and grasped at one crutch as he hurried along. He opened the door to the first room he could and pulled a sheet off of the bed. No one was around, but there was no time to really ask permission. He laid the sheet out on the floor and rolled Piper over on top of it. Grasping at the sheet with one hand and at his crutch to help support his bad leg with the other, he dashed away as quickly as he could.

He got to the door and saw some younger slaves with a sled. "I need that! GIVE IT HERE!" He had not really intended to yell at them, but it just sort of slipped out. They must have understood from looking at him because they nodded and helped him move Piper to the sled. The two of them then helped Elric move Piper and the sled to the hospital where she could be taken care of.

He hardly noticed the chill or sting of the winter wind while outside. For those moments he existed for a singular purpose. When it was over and they finally made it to the hospital he forced himself to sit in a chair and wait. The unfortunate side effect of this incident was that it snapped his thoughts back together. It gave them all cohesion and now he was left to brood on dark things once again.

Should he even be here still?

[Piper Wren]

Elric would be left waiting for an hour, then another before one of the slaves working in the hospital came to see him. Her name was Catherine and tactfully she had cleaned her hands of Piper’s blood before finding the slave who had brought the girl in. He sat alone in the area they had sent him to while they were working on Piper, there was something about Elric which said his mind was somewhere else. But none the less he had waited, it was only decent to tell him the outcome of the whole messy business. Catherine approached Elric calmly.

“Your name is Elric, right? Your friend, Piper. She’s going to be alright, she’s got some recovery ahead of her but she was lucky you got her here when you did…she had lost a lot of blood. For a minute we thought we might lose her.” There was a pause, Catherine didn’t intend to go into further details of what had happened once Elric had been ordered out of the room. His imagination had probably filled in most of the gaps by now. “If you would like to see her I’ll take you through, she’s not awake yet but you can sit with her if you like.”

She studied Elric’s face carefully when she spoke, trying to gauge his reaction to the whole mess. Despite his untrained first aid attempts it had been enough to get Piper to the hospital alive, his coat had long since been removed from Piper as a makeshift bandage.

“You will get your coat back shortly…we’re cleaning it first.”

[Elric Vlarintos]

Elric turned the rusty knife over in his hands as he considered the weapon. He hadn't even realized he had kept it after removing it from her side during the rush of things. Given just a moment to ponder it wasn't really a difficult puzzle to solve. Iugo had stabbed Piper. Naelona wouldn't care about it. Nothing would be done and she would just have to live in fear until the Boogie actually killed her. That didn't seem right.

Elric had been living as a hypocrite for a long time. Hypocrisy was the only way he could really survive. It wasn't the victims' faults that bad things happened to them; that was why they were victims. This land had law, but it lacked justice. The rebels were fighting for freedom, but that seemed like an ill-placed goal when you considered the facts. Nobody was going to do anything to fix what was actually wrong with the world, and Elric was letting that thought defeat him.

He had let that thought defeat him for a long time.

Looking up at Catherine he made a grunting sound to acknowledge that he heard what she said, though he wasn't listening that closely. They were cleaning his jacket for him and he could go in and visit Piper. He was sleeveless and his shirt was torn, but he still looked better than Piper did, he was certain. "I would like that, yes." He stared at the knife in his hand again and sighed as he wrapped it in some spare cloth scraps so he wouldn't cut himself or anyone else while walking with it. For some reason, some dark and cruel reason, he felt like he should keep it.

He stood up and leaned on his crutch before following Catherine to the room where Piper laid resting. Elric might have saved her life, but the balance sheet still didn't feel quite even. He owed it to her to be there when she woke up. After all, he really had failed as a friend in just about every other way imaginable.

[Piper Wren]

Catherine lead Elric into the small room where Piper had been left to recover, there were slaves checking in regularly on her and would be regularly doing so until there were signs of improvement. There was a chair beside the bed just incase she had anyone visiting. Piper was lying in the bed, still unconscious and looking even paler than usual. Her chest was rising and falling at a more regular rate now that the hospital slaves had treated her, she was dressed in a too large black t shirt and sweatpants…her own clothes had been ruined. They were sending someone out to retrieve some Piper’s nightwear and clothing from her dorm room.

But the fact she was no longer lying in a pool of her own blood with a rusty knife sticking out of her ribs was an improvement overall, the bruise on her jaw where she had taken a blow from Iugo was still blatantly evident although Elric had far more to concentrate on than that thanks to the earlier events. Catherine gestured to the chair.

“I’ll be back soon to check her vitals, call me if you need to.”

She left Elric to take some time with Piper despite the fact she wasn’t really up to conversation at this point, although after about fifteen minutes one finger on her left hand twitched. Piper’s forehead creased and her eyes slowly opened, her vision was slightly blurred at the edges. What happened? Where was she? Gradually her vision came into focus and what had happened came flooding back to her, Iugo! She had to get away, before he came back! Clumsily she threw back the covers and tried to stand on legs which couldn’t support her, that was when she felt it, the pain that shot through her ribs like the knife hadn’t even been removed. A choked gasp of pain escaped her, Piper still hadn’t really clicked as to where she was or that anyone was even in the room with her.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Elric took his place in the seat and sat there quietly. He might be waiting hours for her to wake up and he had not really considered that until just that moment. Naelona would not be pleased at all if Elric wasted hours sitting around in a chair doing nothing, but he did not bring any work with him either. Not that he could practice his letters here, even if he had the sheets with him.

And so he waited in the chair. He set the knife down on a table nearby, but glanced over at it every thirty seconds or so. Elric experienced thoughts that were best left unshared with the outside world. They were dangerous thoughts--the type that would get a slave killed. Iugo was untouchable.

Elric mused quietly over that fact while Piper stirred. He did not even really notice until she tried getting up and leaving the bed. Instinctively he darted out of the chair and over to her. "Don't run, Piper." She hardly was in any shape to be getting out of bed and he didn't want that wound of hers opening up again.

"You need to try relaxing." She woke up a lot sooner than Elric had expected. It seemed that she was picking up right where she must have left off when she collapsed. "You're in the hospital now." He wanted to tell her that she was safe, but the reality was she really was not. No place in this world was really safe.

[Piper Wren]

"Don't run, Piper.You need to try relaxing…You're in the hospital now."

Piper only then noticed that Elric was in the room with her and sank back down onto the bed, one hand pressed over the area she had been stitched up although it was covered by the fabric of the too large shirt. She sucked in a sharp breath as the pain shot through her ribcage, slowly she began to register what Elric was telling her. Obviously she must have been found, Piper remembered collapsing but her memory failed her as to exactly where though. Hesitantly she lifted the corner of the shirt up on her injured side, was it morbid curiosity or was it to prove to herself that it had been real. Sure enough there it was, the wound itself had been stitched but Piper yanked the fabric back over it. Feeling ill at the sight of it.

“How did I get here… And why are you here?”

She asked in a small voice, wondering why Elric was even here in the first place. They hadn’t exactly been on good terms lately. Why would he even bother coming? Piper hadn’t expected anyone to come or even anyone to save her, at that moment in time she had given up but here she was. Alive but the physical pain of the injury itself was undermined by the ache in her chest. It wasn’t the same kind of pain that she was feeling in her ribcage but the kind that she had become one of the best at holding in. After all…someone had to, right? Someone had to hold it together and be there for the people who needed her. Her throat tightened at the thought.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Elric wasn't certain that he felt welcome in the room anymore, but at the very least Piper was alive and not trying to make a run for it. Mentally he was trying to prepare himself to speak with her without saying anything stupid or that he might regret. He owed her that much after she was stabbed, right? Distressing Piper further while she was injured wouldn't do her any good.

"I found you in the hall," Elric muttered from his position at the side of the bed. His fingers reached down and brushed against the torn fabric of his shirt and the skin now bared to the outside world. He felt cold, and perhaps a tad insecure, without his coat. Most clothes were too small for him since slaves rarely ever reached his size and the coat had always helped cover that fact up.

Was there any other parts of the story that Piper needed to hear? Elric found her in the hall, and it seemed fairly obvious that he was the one who brought her here. "After I helped bring you here, I waited for you to wake up." He could have said that he had been waiting for his coat too, but that really wasn't truthful at all. If it had just been his coat he would have left without it.

Was he making her nearly as uncomfortable as he felt at this moment? Elric leaned on the crutch to keep weight off of his bad ankle as he just looked at her in silence. He was pretty much the same quiet boy that she met that one day in the music room. Words were never really his strong suit. "I'm just glad you're okay."

[Piper Wren]

"I found you in the hall…After I helped bring you here, I waited for you to wake up…I'm just glad you're okay."

So…Elric had been the one to find her, Piper knew he wasn’t heartless so the fact he brought her in wasn’t a huge surprise. But why stay? The last few times they had spoken he had either pushed her away or done something to make her want to leave of her own accord. Why would he even care? Elric had proven his loyalty was to his mistress and that was fine…The thought of it made the lump in the back of Piper’s throat feel bigger though. She forced herself to look at him, her skin was a fairer pallor than usual, from blood loss or shock? Seeing Elric without his coat was strange, like taking away someone’s protective armour and leaving them exposed to even a sharp comment. Piper wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say, anxiously she worried the corner of the hospital blanket between her thumb and forefinger.

“Why stay? No one else came…All I saw was the-“

Piper’s voice died in her throat at the sight of the rusty knife on the table, her own blood in dark patches on the blade and hilt. The sudden image of looking down and seeing that knife plunged between her ribs, no one else had a knife like that. No one but Iugo. The young woman felt sick and knocked the knife off the table, it skidded across the floor and her sudden movement aggravated her newly stitched wound. A small cry of pain escaped her throat and she screwed her eyes tightly shut. The first hot tears escaped from the corners, it had nothing to do with the physical pain. It was everything that had built up inside her since she had been here, the lump in her throat turned into a quiet sob. Piper couldn’t look at Elric, she looked down at the floor, letting her curtain of black hide shield her face.

[Elric Vlarintos]

Elric forced himself to bite his tongue at Piper's incredulous reaction to his presence. He had that coming and he deserved a lot worse than disbelief. There were far too many answers to give Piper to answer her question; no single answer removed from the others explained the situation as it deserved to be explained. It should have been good enough that he had decided to stay and not leave her wondering how she ended up in a hospital bed after collapsing near the south wing.

"Maybe I'm sorry." Sorry wasn't really good enough, but it was a start. He was sorry for a lot of things, but that was just his personal emotions. The apology was just words. Making amends for everything he had ever done wrong required action. No amount of action ever seemed to help completely clear his conscience from his past misdeeds. And now he was next to Piper's hospital bed trying to make amends for new crimes on his conscience. It was a losing battle.

She knocked the knife to the floor and Elric watched it clatter. His first instinct was to reach over and pick it up, but he did no such thing. He regretted leaving it in plain sight as she broke down into tears. How do you console someone after they had been through everything that she had gone through? Empathy seemed impossible since there was no way to really imagine the pain and pressure of everything. Anything Elric said would sound incredibly stupid at this point.

He was probably going to regret it later, but he reached out slowly with his hand and gently touched her arm. It was the only silent comfort he could really manage to give her.

[Piper Wren]

Piper hadn’t cried since she had come here, not once. It was easier to be other people’s crying shoulder, needing to keep herself together for the sake of her friends was the only thing that really forced her to stay strong. But with Kristopher missing, Augusta suddenly a changed person and things with Elric…the people she had forced herself to remain strong for were either absent or had no need of her. The last time she had cried over anything was the night was came to Wonderland, despite it being a year ago, Piper could still remember it as if it had only been last night. Crouched on the floor inside her closet, sobbing into her knees in the pitch black of the enclosed space.

She had felt just as helpless then as she did now. Except it was just someone else hurting her this time, the background and people may have changed. But the overall pattern of her life had remained the same…just someone else took on the role of pushing her to the edge. Piper couldn’t bring herself to look up at Elric as her own tears trickled down her cheeks and dripping onto her knees. Making the fabric of the borrowed sweatpants darker in patches. The young woman started slightly when she felt a warm hand on her arm, as always something inside her wanted to run at the contact. Not that she could at the moment…but right now the need for comfort. To know that someone was there overruled that usually powerful fear, instead Piper placed her slightly shaking hand over Elric’s and squeezed it gently.

“I…I don’t want to be alone.”

[Elric Vlarintos]

He braced for her to pull away, but was surprised when she put her shaking hand over his. Dealing with people who got overly emotional was never Elric's strong suit, but Piper was someone who tried and keep everything together. Eventually, she was bound to let it all slip up. She deserved a chance to cry without receiving any negative judgments from Elric.

“I…I don’t want to be alone.”

Elric considered it quietly for a moment before reaching his other arm around her and giving her a hug. "You don't have to be." On the surface Elric was calm and considerate, but underneath his usual exterior his mind was racing. It was touching upon thoughts that he would have rather forgotten.

Sigmund had left him alone. Eleanor had left him alone. Neither of them were to blame for Elric's misery, but he sometimes wished that he could blame them. It would have made him feel less guilty about living a life alone. He had told Naelona that no one would miss him should he ever vanish. For the majority of his life it seemed to be the truth. He had almost left Aione alone in that room that one time and he almost had left Piper alone today. People needed other people.

Kyle wasn't exactly alone after Kristopher's disappearance, but it was the same pain Elric had gone through. Kristopher vanishing put Elric one step closer to being alone again. Piper almost died today. She would have left him alone. He felt a couple teardrops form at the corner of his eyes, but he turned and wiped them off on his shoulder. This wasn't his time to cry. Not yet.

"I'm here if you want, and I'm so sorry."

[Piper Wren]

"You don't have to be…I'm here if you want, and I'm so sorry."

Piper returned the hug, despite the ever present feelings of panic and insecurity. The need for comfort overruled that this time, she buried her face in the crook between Elric’s neck and shoulder and let him hold her while she sobbed quietly. Despite everything that had happened, when Elric said he was sorry…Piper could hear in his voice that he really meant it, this was no empty apology. Knowing that she didn’t have to be facing this alone meant more than Elric would probably ever realise. Piper was used to dealing with her problems by herself, keeping it quiet and keeping people out of the way of possible harm. But no person is an island, people did need other people. But with Kristopher gone, Augusta suddenly being a different person and losing her parents. Losing the people she loved and cared for seemed to be becoming a common theme.

But wasn’t it that way for everyone in Wonderland?

“Thank you…for staying with me.”

She mumbled against the fabric of his torn, too small shirt. The real truth of what happened with Iugo was finally sinking in, what would happen if he came after her while she was stuck in hospital? Piper couldn’t expect there to be someone here all the time…But voicing that fear was difficult, she didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.