[PRP] Shouldn't you be dead? (Aurel / Amrita)

[Enoh Love]

Amrita hadn't been doing anything of utter importance today. She had spent the morning searching, checking to see if the missing students had returned, but once more came up empty handed. With nothing else to do and no other effective way to use her time, she turned to the one tried, tested and true method of relaxing:

She spaced out, staring blankly at one of her many empty walls.

Which meant, when someone opened her door out of the blue, she almost literally jumped out of her own skin. She screamed in surprise and fell off the bed instead, scrambling backwards in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the intruder.

Then, she got a good look at him.

"----AUREL?" She gasped out, much louder than intended, but still quite on the floor.  

[Kyribird]

Aurel was, lightly put, a mess. Thanks to Mathias he had managed to not get arrested for assaulting a Bogeyman - and thank Jack Mathias was alive and had made it out. They had managed to convince them that they weren't lying and they had set off toward the island as best as the directions the two could give them would go...But Aurel couldn't bring himself to go back and he didn't know how much time was left, anyway.

He was bloody. He was bruised. He was tired. Dirt and salt water and Jack knew what else hung on him and all he really wanted to do was finally curl up somewhere and cry. Aurel had no idea if the other students were dead as well - he figured he'd find out if he was responsible for more death soon enough - but his primary thought was about his friend.

He had caused her death.

So, feeling that heavily weighing in his chest he made his way to the undead dorms, unable to bring himself to tell anyone else, yet. He wanted to curl up in her room, with her things, and apologize to the space that once housed Amrita. When he got to the door and found it unlocked he simply pushed it in...and heard a ghoul screaming.

Did he get the wrong room?!

It almost instantly perked him up and he started stammering out an apology in broken Slovak before he recognized a familiar voice gasping his name.

"...A-Amrita?" His voice was near a whisper. He had to wonder - was this a delusion? Some cruel joke?

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

For a moment, they both just stared at each other in surprise. It took her a few obvious seconds to realize that something was strange; he was looking at her like he hadn't expected her to be there, despite this being her room. The discovery was only a passing thought however, as another crossed her mind; she hadn't expected him to be here, either. He was one of the missing, and now-

"You're back?!" She breathed, half delighted and half suspicious, as she slowly and carefully got to her backwards feet, holding onto the edge of her dresser for support. She stayed there for only a moment, trying to determine if she was perhaps dreaming. Yet, once she discovered that she wasn't -

She practically threw herself at her friend, her arms folding around him into a crushingly tight hug, despite his wounds.

"You promised!" She accused, her voice as harsh as it was vulnerable, as she buried her face into his chest for a moment or two. She had made him promise he wouldn't vanish on her after all, but lo and behold...
 

[Kyribird]

OOMPF - The ghoul rushed at him and hit him like a train, knocking what breath he had managed to get back right out. There was a flash of pain behind his eyes as she hit something tender and started to crush him into that hug but this was the kind of pain that Aurel could deal with. A solid, reassuring pain that told him that Amrita was not a figment of his imagination taunting him for her death.

"I know. I am sorry, dievčatko." Aurel's voice still held a distance to it, as if he was still trying to believe that it was real and she was solid and that he was home. To be honest, Aurel didn't even notice the cold that eminated from her or her room. Too relieved at the presence of a ghoul he thought he'd never see again. "I did not have a choice, this time. I am sorry. I am sorry." He kept repeating his apology into her hair, closing his eyes and holding her tight to his chest despite the ache.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Aurel apologized into her hair, and at first she was content to feel the vibrations of his voice, and the warmth his FEAR gave off. But then, as it so often did, reality set in. Just as quickly as she had pounced, she leaned away, breaking his grasp but holding tightly onto both of his arms. He was held at an arms length from her, and suffered from a long, scrutinizing stare.

"Who did this to you?" She growled out as she stared at him and his wounds, able to see the damage to his FEAR even without the physical proof that it was there. Then, after another long moment, she loosened one hand to point to her bed. "Sit. I know FEAR healing." Though, the moment she suggested it, she wondered if she should.

She was damaged, after all.

Kyribird

 

[Kyribird]

There was far more emotion than Aurel had ever really thought he was capable of bubbling under the surface. Relief, contentment, exhaustion were forefront but guilt still hung heavily there. He had still killed what he thought was Amrita, though thank goodness it had just been...An illusion?

Just as he was starting to calm himself down, Amrita pulled herself away and gave him a look that only Amrita seemed to be able to get him to respond to. He frowned. "I--I don't recall his name, dievčatko. The one who did it before. The one that has been in all the papers. I don't know if the Bogeys got there in time to save the others. I don't--" He took a breath, starting to feel himself get worked up again. He sat, at her command, and looked at her helplessly. "I tried to get back as soon as I could." His voice was still gravel, "I do not know what happened to the others, if they got there in time. They did not believe me, not until Mathias got there..." Did she know Mathias? Did it matter?

Aurel gave her that kicked puppy look he seemed to have perfected. "I do not deserve to be healed, I will be fine." Nothing a little time wouldn't fix...right?

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

The one that was in the papers? That...What was his name? Game Master? She processed the information she was given, storing away the familiar name - for it had been in the paper, alongside Aurel's - and grew silent. If two of the students from that article were confirmed...

"...Was Remi with you...?" She asked cautiously, her voice quiet in an attempt to not let it shake with fear. There were others she wanted to ask after - like Gene, Pachua and Amphi - but Remi was...more than very important to her. He had been her lifelong friend. Her rock. She couldn't imagine her unlife without him in it. When she had seen his image in the paper, and realized he was gone...

Aurel's admission pulled her from her thoughts, and her focus snapped sharply on him. A moment later her hand shot out, smacking him upside the head - though she tried to be nice about it, because he was already wounded. "Stop that! You said you tried, you did what you could." The patchwork was struggling to keep her voice level, not wanting to upset him more than he already was, or to make him worry about her. She wasn't the one who needed it right now, after all.

"Please be still." Her voice had a rough edge to it; this was a demand, not a request. Without waiting for him to refute her again, she started ghosting her hands along his arms and chest, pausing where his FEAR was the weakest in order to focus her own into him, patching him up as best as she could.

Kyribird

 

[Kyribird]

Was Remi with him? "...Yes. He was with me." He said quietly, remembering he rather liked him. "I woke up in a room with Pachua and Remi. And..." What was her name? "Gene." But he had no idea what happened to the others. Pachua had disappeared first, and Remi had broken away from the group. Aurel frowned and pulled up the makeshift satchel that the bogey had given back to him and took out Remi's beads. "I do not know what happened to him. Mathias, myself, a snotty kid I wanted to punch and another girl were the ones to get out with keys. I saw Mathias but I did not see the other two make it back here."

Ow! Being smacked was probably the least effective thing in the world. He already hurt - and so his frown just sharpened in her direction. That wasn't the reason he didn't deserve to be helped - least of all by Amrita - but he didn't have the energy to say that right now and he was now commanded to be still. So he was.

Aurel closed his eyes and felt a sense of relief every time she patched his FEAR. The adrenaline was mostly leaving his system, and he could feel the pain now - and this was a nice balm.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Remi was there. So was Pachua and Gene. Someone had trapped four of her friends in the same room. The idea mad her angry; she felt the knot form in her chest and rise like a bile in her throat. Whoever it was. Whoever this 'Parker' person was, she was going to find them, and she was going to make them pay for this. She would -

"...Oh." Her heart broke when she saw those beads. She knew them well; they never left his person. For Aurel to have them...it couldn't have been a good sign. The anger stilled instantly, frozen over by a horrific chill she had never experienced before. Remi was gone. No - he couldn't be, right? There was no way... he had to be okay. He was always okay. He was always okay.

Her hands trembled a little more as she healed him up, patching his wounds with her FEAR and the FEAR around them. Her eyes burned with tears that would never come, but she said nothing. Internally she was a rush of emotions, torn between He's okay, he'll respawn somewhere and I'll never see him again. It wasn't fair. It was always supposed to be her doing the reckless disappearing acts, not him!

She was always meant to die first.

Not him.

When she finally finished healing Aurel as best as she could, she was shaking pretty badly. Still, she said nothing at first, merely reaching out with trembling arms to pull him against her chest in a tight hug. A moment later she buried her face into the top of his leafy head.

"I-I'm sure they're okay. They have to be." Her voice shook almost as badly as she was, but she held him tight anyway, trying to reassure herself as much as she tried to do the same for him. "They'll be fine. You'll be fine. It'll be okay." She murmured into his leaves and hair, reciting it like a mantra she wanted with all of her being to be true.

Kyribird

 

[Kyribird]

Aurel felt his friend shaking and just wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him and burying his head in her neck and hair while her head found its rest on his. "E-everyone had something taken from them, except me because I do not own anything really...They were in a...couch. In one of the rooms." His voice was soft as he tried to comfort her, "I remember Remi waking up and being upset that they were gone. Pachua's stuff was gone, too. It...." Aurel took a breath. "The entire thing..."

It had been hard enough explaining to the Bogeys what had happened and he'd been full to the brim with adrenaline. All of that was gone now and was replaced with a tired weariness and, perhaps, a selfish rush of relief knowing that his best friend - his only real friend - was alive.

"I am sorry, Amrita. I thought I killed you. I did not know what to do or how to do it and I pressed a button and I heard you screaming and saw your blood and I thought I lost you. I was coming here because I needed to be with whatever remained of you and instead I found you and I..."

And that is where the lesovik broke. "If that was not real then I do not know what else was not. They could be alive. I do not know. I do not know what is real." He was almost afraid he'd wake up in the room again and this would have been another false dream.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Very little of his explanation made sense to the ghoul, but as much as she wanted to probe for more details or demand to know more about Remi, she simply...couldn't. She knew what it felt like to be in his situation; when he was ready to give her details she would get them.

Even if the wait would be painful.

So she held onto him to steady them both, and was content for the time being to hide from the world with her face against his head. It was easier to listen to his woes than to dwell on hers anyway; though when they overlapped...

"You...killed me?" She replied, sounding as surprised as she was confused. The more he spoke though, the more she realized it had been a mistake. An accident. A horrible, terrible trick of an accident.

"You didn't hurt me." She assured him, her arms tightening around him, pulling him closer against her chest. "I wasn't there, I've been here on campus the whole time, I promise." It was a promise that was spoken into his hair, and one she desperately wanted him to understand.

"I'm real," Her head tilted back as she spoke clearly, willing her voice to a hard edge she couldn't ever achieve under her current distress. "And I'm here, right now, hugging you. We're in my room, in the Undead Dorms of Amityville Academy. You're free from where ever you were. You're safe now, I promise. I've got you." Her grip on him tightened once more, briefly, as if to prove her point.

"They'll be okay." She added, unsure but hopeful.
 

[Kyribird]

The Leshy was shaking inside of his friend's arms; the branches of his now bare wings wobbling along side with him. Had there been any leaves left on them after his journey they would have been falling down around the two of them, no question.

He wanted to believe her words - and, as simple as that, he did. Aurel was a naive boil at the very core of it and he tried to believe the best and good in everyone. Wonderland and the kidnapping had shaken him down and exposed him to things he never quite thought about or even knew existed and his little bubble was slowly crumbling down around him.

Aurel squeezed at the ghoul and closed his eyes tightly. "I am here. You are real." he mumured quietly, fingers curling into her clothes. "Amrita I do not want to ever lose you. I would never hurt you. You mean so much to me. I am glad you are here."

He wasn't usually someone to share his emotions so freely (nor was he one to really hide them, as you could read them on his face) but he wasn't thinking at the moment. He was just...trying to feel safe.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

"That's right." Amrita encouraged, letting him cling to her as much as he needed, especially since she needed it too. She was real, he was real, and he was safe. Whether or not the others were safe now was another big question, and one she wanted an immediate answer too, but she still couldn't bring herself to push him on that subject. She'd just have to trust that Remi would be, well, Remi...and somehow come away unscathed.

"You won't." She promised, a convenient lie. "I'm not going anywhere." Another lie, one that she insisted on sprouting for his mental well-being. "And I...I know you'd never hurt me on purpose. I know. It's okay." This time she leaned away from him slightly, just enough to lean down and press her cold lips against his forehead. "I'm glad you're okay, Aurel, I really am." Finally the truth, murmured against his forehead. Finally her lips left him, and her cheek rested on his head once more, her arms loosening to avoid crushing him further. Then, gently, she started to sway; it was something Lizzy had always done for her, and something Remi had begun doing to calm her down, and she hoped with what was left of her core it would help him now.

kyribird

 

[Kyribird]

It didn't seem to matter whether or not Amrita was lying. What mattered was the words and the implicit trust that the lesovik placed in the ghoul. The lips on his forehead were a foreign sensation - but not, altogether, unpleasant. Despite the coldness of the kiss and the atmosphere around them, Aurel found himself pleasantly warm.

And safe.

And wanted.

It was something that Aurel had never truly felt before. He could ask her a million questions later. He could tell her, if he could find the strength, what really had happened on the island. She deserved to know - especially when she had so many friends there. What mattered, for the moment, was that swaying which slowly lulled the boil the sleep. After all, Aurel was exhausted.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Amrita hadn't noticed that Aurel had fallen asleep right away. In fact, it took her a surprisingly long time to figure it out. But when she did, she had to stop and think about what to do next. He was too big for her to simply tuck in, and she didn't want to wake him up, not after what he had been through...not to mention that his grip on her remained tight, so an escape probably wasn't going to happen either.

Plus, he had wings.

Damn back appendages, causing trouble.

She began to shuffle awkwardly, but when that failed, she waited for his grip to inevitably slacken. The moment it did, she carefully moved around his leg - as she had been standing between them as he sat - and carefully laid him down on his side, bent a little backwards to give her room to move his legs too, hooking her arm under his knees to lift them onto the bed as well. Her motions were not unlike a parent tucking in a child, and every time he stirred she paused, afraid she had woken him. When he settled down again, she continued to fuss until he looked comfortable.

Finally, she pulled a large black cloak from her closet, and draped that over him like a blanket; after all, he was laying on hers, and she couldn't get to it without moving him more. Once she was finished, she stared at him for a moment, and leaned in to press another small kiss to his temple. She hadn't lied about that last part; she was glad he was home safe. It was something, and he didn't deserve the torture he had received. It wasn't fair, and she regretted every moment she wasn't there, protecting him.

Protecting them.

Her gaze fell on the orange beads, which had fallen to the ground at some point. It wasn't fair; those words came up again like bile in her throat. It wasn't fair. She reached down to pick up the beads, holding them in both hands like a delicate relic. She stood like that for a moment, staring down at Remi's prized possession as her mind raged against itself; the optimistic and the logic, battling for supremacy. Remi had to be okay, right? He had to. He always was. But these beads...the fact he didn't have them on him, that wasn't good. Aurel told her he had missed them, but since the Lesovik hadn't given them back...

Suddenly, she was at her desk, the beads dangling in the crook of one arm as she fumbled with her phone, quickly dialling the number she knew by heart. It wasn't until her third unanswered call did the logic side begin to speak over the optimistic, and it took a quick text to Thackery and Aymet for the optimism to die completely. Remi still wasn't home. He wasn't answering his phone, and she was holding his precious beads.

The phone hit the desk with a muffled thud, and the beads were back in her hands, held so tight it hurt her palms. Her gaze began to go out of focus as a low, mournful whimper escaped her throat; before she could stop herself, she buried her face into the beads for a silent, shaking, devastated cry.

When she finally exhausted herself, she felt empty and horrifically, agonizingly lonely. Enough to crawl into bed beside the miraculously sleeping Aurel and to curl up next to him, apparently. Sleep would not come, probably not for a few days, but she could pretend, or she could try.

But she kept Remi's beads held close, squished against her chest with one hand.

kyribird