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Bassett continued to wiggle and struggle away from the spot where the Hunter once laid until Odessa finally let him go. He calmed after he realized that her arms weren't around him anymore, so, breathing hard, he pulled himself together as much as he could. He was shaking terribly, something he couldn't control. Long years of suffering from "soldier's fatigue" was taking its toll on him, especially after these exciting events. Even his teeth were chattering together with a drum roll of clicks. He watched her despairingly with his amber eyes, as she spoke.

"B-bound-d-d?" he echoed, quite helplessly refusing to believe what he was being told. Odessa...contracted to that...that evil b***h, just as much as he were connected to Pey? No. Odessa was more tightly bound, constricted by invisible chains and laws that weighed on her shoulders, things that Bassett couldn't see. He reached to her, quite sadly taking her locks of hair in trembling fingers as she traced the contour of his jaw.

"Sh-sh-sh-ell sh-shock-k-k," he managed to stutter, quite completely freezing up, as he tried to offer his answer to her question. Shell shock was a nuisance. "Y-you? D-dessy?"

Pey growled, prowling around them and flipping onto his feet so that he stood, without contortions, over their bodies, like a sick blood covered wingless angel. "Odessa. You and I are anything but friends. But I apologize for...Well, you know."

Her words entered into his head in a loose discombobulated mess. He didn't feel like he knew what she was saying, he probably didn't, but the words were there all the same. She was saying, true name...True name...Was this a warning? The soldier was sure that his true name was Bassett Ellery. He had no other name, so what did this mean? But Bassett was too distracted really by the sad eyes before him to really care. These words, being safe, protected, hiding his nature...They didn't mean nothing to him right now with this person before him.

The soldier could do nothing but stare at her, his eyes feeling like heavy marbles in his sockets, cold and ready to roll out of his face at any moment. He held a likeliness to a swollen eyed fish, mouth agape at the girl before him as she leaned in and pressed her lips to his and then to his forehead. The small aches and bruises he felt, the swollen of his back, warped back into normality. He was good as new again, save for the tremor that rocked his every limb. His hands were still trembling near her face, lingering ever so slightly upon her skin and dipping lightly into the blood at her temple. He traced the pink skin around the wound, wishing he could take it away from her like she took the hurt from him.

Nothing hurt in trying right?

Bassett leaned forward and weakly pressed his mouth against hers, wishing with all his being that she wasn't hurt, that he would lean back and find her temple healed over, the blood wiped away...

Surprise is too subtle a word to really describe the emotion displayed on Bassett's face after he was gently, very gently, pushed back by Odessa's small hands. He felt her reactions, felt her hands tightly squeezing around his as softness connected against softness. He felt that strange feeling well up through him, like a surge in the sea, rolling up against him and then falling back into her as quick as it came. He could only stare, glancing up at the wound, or well...Where the wound was. What?! Bassett's mouth pulled up into a bit of a hopeful smile, a feeling of small victory overwhelming him when he saw that the dreadful hurt done to her was gone.

But as soon as he felt the feeling of success well up, he was pulled into an embrace. "Dessy, I-I-" he tried to stammer, aftereffects of shock rapping his words into pieces, "I...I d..." He wanted to comfort her, his own voice expelling feelings of uncertainty and question, at the sound of fear in her voice. But his syllables weren't able to pull themselves into words quick enough, because as soon as she pressed him into a hug, she was pulled away into nothingness.

She was gone.

Regardless, his arms swept up, as if she were still there and he pulled and invisible form of her close to him. He pretended as if he were pressing his face to her shoulder, his fingers still twitching, but it wasn't the same. Who was he kidding? Odessa was gone. Bassett gave a shuddering breath, and let his hug wrap in around himself. His face fell into shadow underneath his hat.

Then he began to quiver with such jerks that his teeth began to chatter, his body curling tighter, "D-d-d...d---"

Pey, standing just a few feet away, stared at the sad sight that was his summoner. He stared at him for a while, not really equipped with the right emotions to deal with such a sight. It was like seeing him back on the battlefield after a blood bath of a battle, gun cast off to the side and holding himself in the wet and stench of blood. Pey made metaphors with only blood it seemed.

He gave a sigh and leaned down, picking up a clump of curls that were shot off by Sybil's gun, and he handed it to Bassett, quite rudely stuffing it in his hands. For a moment, his soldier stared at the locks of hair, but after a few decided moments of silence, his convulsions returned, harder and sadder than before.

"Aw, grab a bloody cross and stab me through with it will you?" the demon groaned, leaning down to pick up his incapacitated lad. He gathered him up into his arms. He had to get Bassett inside, it wasn't safe out here any more. ******** the garden, Pey decided. He needed protection. Carrying Bassett awkwardly, but in a way that spoke of his experience in doing so, he rushed into the house.

"Shut up, will you?" Pey said to Bassett who was still stammering, numb with shock.

......Things, Pey decided once more, were going to get a hell of a lot worse before all this was over.