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 Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:29 am
[Timewarp] Nero had soon come to find there was a beach nearby the motel, and he and Kei often went and lounged about in the sand or played in the water. Well, more playing done by Nero. Kei preffered to terrorize the nearby children and steal their ice creams, and occasionally frighten sunbathers. The scorpion boy spent a few hours at the tree, and then the rest of the day at the beach or wandering about town. The, he would return "home" and pass out in that increasingly uncomfortable motel bed. Fear had become foreign to him in these situations, and the run-in with the stranger seemed long forgotten. Everything was the same. It was all so... Plain. Boring. Repetitive. Every day was the exact same as the last. One night, while Nero was curled up in bed, he caught the scent of blood, and immediately sat up. "H-hullo?" He called out groggily, tilting his head slightly. He saw his father peer out from the bathroom and wave. He smiled sleepily and waved back, and then almost instantly forgot why he awakened in the first place. He collapsed back onto the bed and was gone. Axel sighed softly, scrubbing the blood off of his shirt in the sink. "Well, atleast it's over..." He muttered uncertainly, as if he were saying words he didn't quite believe. "Unh." Came the agreeing voice from behind the shower curtain, barely audible over the sound of running water. "Atleast we can take him home." This had not ended the way they desired, it was obvious on their grim expressions the next day. There had been death, there had been pain... And there had been ultimate loss for the second time. Now Axel remembered why his brother was so keen on reminding him about how he was never supposed to get attached to anyone. It hurt too much when they got killed off. Nero, however, was blissfully oblivious to their dismay once again. He was clasping onto his father's hand, staring out at the ocean with bright eyes. He waved his goodbyes to the water, and then climbed into the van with the older male. He was going home. After months. Home. --- "Well, s**t. s**t, s**t, ******** the seat before them, the mangled body of a kitten lay, tiny chest heaving in an attempt to breath every few seconds. "Why aren't you paying ******** attention? You just hit the damn thing..." Usually Axel wouldn't care, but he knew his child was currently already suffering from enough emotional stress. Today was supposed to be a good day. He looked uncertainly to the boy, who was staring at the dying creature with a blank expression. Axel sighed. "It doesn't have a chance. We might as well put it out of its misery..." And even though he said this, he was rather unwilling to shoot something before the young lad beside him. He went to consult with his brother. Nero stroked over it gently with a claw, "I-I'm sorry.." He whispered softly, watching as its eye focused on him. "I-it hu-hurts, h-huh?" He shifted forward, resting his chin on the seat, thinking over his father's words. "I-it's ok-okay... I-I'll make it b-better... J-just go t-to sleep, o-okay?" As his guardian was turning, gun in hand, prepared to take the little thing outside and rid it of its suffering, he saw the stinger of his child pressed lightly into the kitten. Nero released a small amount of venom- the first time he ever had in his life. He then watched as it slowly stopped moving, and then turned his eyes placidly to his father. "D-daddy.. I-Is it g-going to b-be better n-now?" His father's eyes darkened slightly, but he nodded. "Yes. It won't hurt anymore. You did the right thing." The boy smiled in a somewhat pleased way, "G-good.. I-I don't w-want it to h-h-hurt anymore... C-can we bury i-it?" And so they did so, and hit the road once again. "They grow up so fast.." Axel muttered to himself as he stroked over Nero's hair, the boy's head nestled in his lap as he slumbered. "They really, really do." "Unh." Came the halfhearted grunt from the driver's seat. "Yeh, whatever." Axel smiled. [/Timewarp]
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:52 pm
I am finally home. I am very happy, I think. I get to see everyone again. Being away was kind of strange, but the time alone made it so that I write better and think better.. I am very good at reading, also. It is very hard to hold the pen without breaking it, but I am learning. Daddy has been acting strangely lately. I do not like it.
~Nero
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:29 pm
We've been home for awhile now, and I'm still training Nero. He has an avid interest in martial arts- I think its only because he sees how into it I am. Haha. But he's a quick learner- he's rather good, I must say. I can't work with him anymore or he might bash me up. He's still the same nervous kid, though. And his dragon is still an a**, and he still lets that dumbass creature shove him around. Hah.
I got a little bit of playtime, and Nero is taking care of himself pretty well now. It kind of makes me sad to see how we've grown apart, even if it is just a little. I kinda miss the little twerp being my shadow. But hey, they all gotta grow up sometime, right?
Dwaine is dead. Hope they didn't get any info off of him.
Well, I got s**t to do. Later.
-Axel
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:41 pm
Axel sat on the couch at home, legs sprawled out before him, finger twining in his telephone wire. It was another lazy afternoon, and he had just looked at some of the sheets D-Corp had sent while he was away and had become very aware of the fact his child required classes. Well, he went down the list and checked out what kind of s**t his child still needed to take, and checked off a few he could cancel. He was currently calling about the special skill class. He yawned his kicked his legs up onto the coffee table. "'Lo?"
He yawned once again.
"Yeah, this is Axel. I'm calling to tell you my child, Nero, won't need that special skill class... Huh? Why?.."
He paused for a moment, and then sat himself upright. "Um, yeah, about that..." He itched at his nose. "Uhh, he learned how to release venom. And recently we even found out he can release certain amounts at a time. It's cool." He paused to listen, and then went right back into the conversation, explaining the story of the kitten they had hit with their van and his child's learning experience from it.
Meanwhile, his child poked his head out from his doorway, eyeing his father uncertainly. What was he doing? Why was he talking about him so much? He cocked his head to one side, but by the time he had crept over the man ended the conversation and was hanging up. He unconsciously huffed from disapointment. Axel turned his head towards him, brows arching. "Were you eavesdropping?" A slight smile began to curl on his lips.
Nero started, face reddening, "N-no! O-of c-course not!" He folded his arms over his chest, almost in a self-conscious sort of way.
"Oh, I'll show you what we do to eavesdroppers here." His caretaker cackled. Nero grinned, and then instantly turned to run. The older male caught him and scooped the light yet older boy up and began to tickle him.
Yes, perhaps Nero was getting too "old" to enjoy this sort of playing, but he really still loved it. He was still a child at heart, and loved his father more than anything. After settling their dispute with a wrestling match, they sprawled out on the couch to watch TV, Nero with his head nestled in the older male's stomach.
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:05 pm
"Well, he's mastered the punch, the kick, the jump kick, and what to do when getting hit.. And some other s**t.. And I'm not even halfway done training the little squirt.. Think that's good enough of a replacement class?" Axel questioned idly, picking at something underneath his nails.
His brother glanced at him halfheartedly, "Yeh. I'm sure he ain't gonna get any better training from anyone but you. S'rsly."
The younger of the two smiled, "I suppose you're right.." He chuckled warmly, as if talking about something cheery such as a bright spring day, "Silent killer. Plenty dead, never caught. Well, never in an situations the guys've lived to tell about." Time for Axel to stroke his ego a bit, something he greatly enjoyed doing. He tried to do it atleast once or twice a day.
"That'll do, sir. That'll do."
"Think I should call in?"
"G'head. No one's stoppin' ya. Don't need no other teacher if you've taken care of it. The kid's doin' god damn amazin' for such a little squirt."
"Yeah... I guess you're right..."
Moments later, Axel was back on the phone with D-Corp for a second time, cancelling a class. "Yeah... He won't need to take it... He's already mastered basic martial arts, and he's still learning a great deal..."
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:31 am
Umm... My uncle stitched up the stuffed animal I cut accidentally when I was little.
... I still like it. It's cute.
It's like a bunny.
: )
~Nero
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:55 pm
Nero sat quietly, watching as his father prepared to leave again. He stretched out his skinny legs, staring down at the soft greenish colored armor that covered them. He bent them back in slowly. The almost-teen found nothing to say, his largest pair of eyes drooping slowly towards the ground. And there he sat for awhile, contemplating the true essence of loneliness.
His smile returned soon enough, however, as his caretaker turned and ruffled his hair. "I'll be home in a week, promise. And nothing bad'll happen. Watch that pain in the a** dragon, though, alright?"
The scorpion nodded slowly, broken smile lingering. He didn't want the older man to leave. He felt something inside of him cracking slowly, memories of emptiness and darkness flooding in from only months prior. Dread was what this was called, right? He swallowed it down with the lump in his throat, and then burrowed his head into Axel's shoulder. The man gave him a gentle hug. Everything was silent.
....
Axel was about to leave for the car when he suddenly turned, dropping a large book into his teen's arms. "Take care of this for me while I'm gone, alright?" He'd picked it up from a museum, and thought maybe it would keep the boy busy for awhile. Nero peered at it curiously. "A-alright..." And as he looked up to say something more, he found Axel was gone. His heart dropped, and he shuffled back to the couch, sitting down to read.
"A m-magic b-book?" He tilted his head quizzically, and then popped it open for a look.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:30 pm
Nero was instantly sucked into the world this new book layed out before him- what a strange sort of magic.
He spent the next few weeks indulging himself in this funny book, all four of his eyes rarely leaving its pages. This was absolutely fascinating to him. He'd have to try this out, most certainly.
A few days after he came to said decision, he set aside the awkward old book and went to work searching the house for his materials.
He exited the house with armfuls of red and black candles, as well as a few other small supplies and his trusty book. He settled into a nice patch of grass beside a tree, and began sketching a star into the ground. His dragon, who had eagerly taken up the oppertunity to venture outside, now lay a few feet away, watching with a lazy interest.
The boy began putting down the candles, preparing one of the examples he had seen in his book, making sure to follow all the steps. And then he slowly lit them....
The star instantly erupted into flames, lapping up quickly onto the tree seperating him and his dragon. Both jumped equally out of their skin, hearts hammering viciously in their chests for a moment as they stared up at the flames. Soon, Kei settled down, snorting irritably and heading back inside. Nero, however, felt that feeling of dread returning... Uh oh.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:36 pm
Axel stood before the charred yard, face lacking expression, hands resting on his hips. Nero stood a safe distance behind him, head ducked down in a sheepish sort of horror, all four eyes fixated on the ground. He was guilty, and very much looked the part.
After what seemed an eternity of silence, his caretaker turned to him, "You did this?" His voice was unfluctuated by tone. It was empty, bare. The boy remained silent, only offering a hesitant nod. Axel looked back at his rather dead backyard.
"Huh." He never knew that quiet, shy kid of his could do something like this. Most parents would be mortified. He was damn proud. "Well, I was planning on getting it redone anyways." He mused aloud, and could feel the tension ease up behind him. The boy was smiling uncertainly in that way that he did. His caretaker turned and returned a more assured smile. "But next time, tell me before you go this extreme. I'm sure we could have just gotten a gardener."
The light green of his child's face turned a light pink, but he nodded nonetheless.
Even after the incident, however, Nero continued studying into it. He began learning more than just the pagan spells, and was moving into the runes.
Magic was fascinating, wasn't it?
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:32 pm
The night wind howled mourningly outside, sending the trees and bushes thrashing about in woe. A figure stood at the window, dark emerald eyes regarding the new landscape as it recieved quite the thrashing from mother nature herself. He released a soft sigh, fingers playing over the light material of the curtains, contemplating on how the world seemed so against his poor yard. First it had erupted into flames as a result of his child's explorations, and now the sky was sending out gusts of air and preparing to follow each gust with a barrage of rain. He held his breath for a moment, allowing himself to focus on the soft noises that broke through what had once been a suppressing silence that so often used to claim his house- now there was a gentle whistle of wind through the house, the clatter of branches against windows, and the distant lulling noise of a slumbering creature breathing. Axel turned slowly, glancing over the teen that lay sprawled over the couch. It was funny, when this green mass had been a boy, just thinking about touching the couch was horrifying to him, a crime punishable by death in the mind of the little people-pleaser he had raised. Now the boy so eagerly found comfort and solace within the leather folds, all four eyes peacefully closed.
The older of the two males closed the distance, settling into a sit on the couch silently. Without even rousing, the fluffy-haired head nestled against his leg. He allowed a hand to slip down and stroke through those silky yet mussed locks, a strange feeling welling up in his heart. It made him nervous. This sort of affection was most certainly a weakness, but... Was this how his father had felt before...? Although he continued to massage into the lad's scalp, he let himself relax backwards, eyelids fluttering to a close. The past months had been hard. Harder on Nero than he ever wanted the entirety of the boy's life to be. He was such a tender heart, and although he was built with a strong body he still seemed so fragile. Like he needed to be coddled and cared for. He could remember the tiny boy that used to sidle up beside him and hold his hand, cower behind him and cling to his leg. He remembered those big eyes, how they looked up to him with such dependance, love, trust. He had never experienced such a relationship before.. Never had he looked after something that wasn't himself, and occasionally his brother, although the larger man often took perfect care of himself. Now Nero was staying home alone, sneaking out, looking at him with that quietness he sometimes picked up, an emptiness that showed how drastically the past few months had impacted him.
Axel soon founding himself drifting away into the dark silence of sleep, his last waking thought of how the boy suddenly shifted and let out a drowsy murmur. And then the two were lost to this world, safe inside of the storm. For the moment, anyways.
Nero found himself snapping awake to the thundering sound of rain on the roof and a bitter taste in his mouth. He quickly found, however, these were most certainly not what awakened him. He felt fear erupt all throughout his being, and he jolted backwards as his father leapt to his own feet. He found himself burrowing into the couch cushions, feeling nothing more than the desire to disapear. And fast. He trembled, wide eyes following the lithe and agile frame of his caretaker as Axel ran towards the splintering door. Someone wanted in, and they were making an entry way for themself.
The room exploded in noise, and a shower of bullets sprayed through the suddenly flimsy-seeming wooden doorway, and the scorpion soon found himself tucked away behind the couch. A panic attack was seizing him, violently ripping at his timid little soul. He could hear yelling, screaming, gunshots. The sound of metal on metal, skin on skin, and as he burried his face into his knees he found the faint aroma of burning flesh pinching at his nose. If he could, he would most certainly cry at this point in time. Never in the boy's life had he felt so helpless and utterly terrified. Despite himself and his new older age, he whimpered, "Daddy..!" in a pleading manner under his breath. He needed his daddy to come make everything alright, like he always had. As if the man heard him, Axel soon dropped in, blooduy and bruised, and was talking so fast and touching the boy's forehead and promising and fearing and swearing. Finally, after the initial stroke of worry ended, he checked the area and then grabbed ahold of a claw and hauled the smaller creature along beside him as he ran.
Kei was locked up snugly in his heated room when he managed to hear the commotion going on outside. What the hell was that? He raised himself to his full size, and then took in a deep inquisitive sniff. Blood? What was going on in his territory? He tried to pry open the door, but to no avail. This was ticking him off. He ended up snarling in frustration, repeatedly ramming into the door. He couldn't be locked away from whatever was going on! And yet the steel door held firm against the young dragon's strength- he had yet to grow powerful enough to take it down.
Axel had Nero in the closet, both of his bloodied hands resting on the sides of the boy's face. "Stay in here, alright? Stay right here, Nero. I'll be back for you, okay? Don't come out until I come back. Don't." He pressed their foreheads together, feeling the younger one's violent shudders of panic. "It's gonna be okay, I'll be back." And then he pulled away and turned to run back out, "Lock this when I get out there." It was a special closet, made up just incase a situation ever arose when one needed to wait out something like a hurricane or armed attack. "Don't open it for anyone." And as he left, he turned his eyes uncertainly backwards, beginning to close the steel door. "I love you." And then everything was dark. Nero tried to rasp out a response, but found his voice gone. His father had never said that before. He reached up to latch the locks on the door, and then fell to a huddle on the floor, listening. After about ten minutes of the noise, he heard a throaty cry that belonged to a voice so familiar it was bone-chilling. "DADDY!" He couldn't stay still any longer. The scorpion was on his feet, unlocking and running out that door.
....
Nero sat, back pressed to the wall, enveloped in complete darkness. A raw feeling had set in his throat, a consequence of his earlier shrieks. He glanced over his blood-splattered form, and then lifted the phone to his ear. And then he listened to it ring, waiting.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:46 pm
The scorpion lad sat curled in the darkness, eyelids heavy, listening quietly to the sound of his own breathing. The smell of blood was heavy, it was everyone. A damp, stickiness was everywhere, all over his skin and clothes, the wall, and the couch that his father had loved so much. His mouth felt dry. So dry. He was thirsty, he was tired. In his current dazed state, he couldn't get much done on his own. He knew it... So he went to the first person he thought of, the first name his heart tossed to him. He lifted the phone, staring at it incomprehensively for a moment or so before dialing in a number. There was some struggle because of his claws, but after a few attempts he succeeded. He lifted the phone to his ear and his eyes to the ceiling. Inky blackness. Inky blackness everywhere, and the steady sound of the rain slinking in through the destroyed doorway and slushing its way into the house. He listened to the ringing. "P-please, a-a-answer th-the phone... P-please..." He curled himself further into the fetal position, heart throbbing almost painfully. "Please..." Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring... Bree was settled in the couch, sprawled out lazily and yet still somehow she managed to make it look good, like she was on a movie set... But that was Bree, and Bree was 10% looks, 100% attitude. Which... made her 110%, you shouldn't do anything without giving it your best, afterall...
As the phone rang, it was a wonder she could even sit up to get it with just how large her ego was, but somehow she managed lifting the nearby receiver to her ear. "Hey~" she half yawned, but only to add that tired sexy appeal to the cute and sexy tone of her voice, forgetting that the person on the other line might not be calling to talk to her. There was silence for a moment, although everyone knows it wasn't the tone that got him- Nero couldn't tell when women were trying to be appealing or any of that with their voice. Call it naivety, but whatever it was, he had it. He drew in a deep, shaky breath, and then slowly drawled out in an exhausted and raspy voice, "I-is... I-is S-simon there...?" He drew his knees up to his chest a bit further, a small shudder racking through his small frame. It felt almost as if it were the darkness itself seeping through his clothes rather than another's blood. "P-please..?" He added in softly, all four eyes clamping to a tight close. He felt as if his heart were caving in. Whoops. Bree's eyes widened alittle, biting her lip for a moment and realizing her mistake. "Ah I'm sorry, I thought you'd be someone else..." She apologized, having no idea that his awkwardly seeming form of speech wasn't her fault.
"Simon?" She frowned alittle more, "No..." The shakey please letting on more than just feeling awkward of her tone. Nero was kinda shy, but that really hadn't been anything bad had it? It wasn't like she was all 'hey sexy, what are you wearing?' "He's out. He does that alot... What's the matter sweetie?" the last word slipped out, much to her own discust. She wasn't becoming... motherly was she? God forbid... The boy let out the faintest puff of air when she told him the news, however the former numbness soon overtook his temporary disapointment. All there was now was that tinge of coldness that seemed to come at him from everywhere, even though the air was actually still the wonderful 72 degrees his father had it set to. Cold, so cold. His voice, however, had captured all the emotion as it fled him, and aside from his usually stuttering broke quite a bit in his next few sentences and held a rather defeated tone. "C-can... C-can you c-c-come g-g-g-get me? A-at... A-at my h-house..?" He had to get away from this place, in any way possible... And he didn't want to go anywhere alone.. It was strange, but after all this he suddenly had a whole new respect to his father's rules- at that thought, he let out a deep cough that initiated a burning in his chest and stomach. Ow. In the breif moment of silence, Bree started trying to figure out where Simon might have gone. Dispite everything, he was still just a teenage boy, a rebelling one, and that made him possibly the easiest type for her to think like. She coudln't figure otu how to fix it, but she damn well could figure out where he'd be...
But those thoughts were broken by equally broken words, "Ofcourse." She responded, "I'll be right over. See you soon..." With that, she hung up, not even bothering to change from the nightgown, instead just grabbing aslightly longer than average coat and tossing it on. "Lev, take care of Kizu!" She hollared into the silent house, going straight to the car.
The engine revved, and she was out of her drive way and down the street in a second, travling the fairly familiar path to Axel's house. Though the road seemed a hell of alot longer tonight, as she'd notice while trapped in the loud echo of her thoughts. The more she thought, the more it didn't feel right, the more that 'something's seriously wrong' feeling overcame her stomach until she was running the last few redlights between her house and theirs.
Nero might have heard the car screech to a stop, the door open but not close, as she hurried up to the front door and pounded on it, a thousand thoughts of what went wrong pouring in her mind as only a mother could manage. The boy sat still for a moment, and then quietly hung up the phone. He drew in a deep breath, finally opening his eyes to a blurry world. He blinked once, twice, and everything defined itself once again, although he couldn't see much in the darkness. And he couldn't turn on the light here, the lightbulb had been broken and the remains were scattered about the floor. Occasionally they would pick up light, and glimmer like a thousand little stars. He turned his face towards the motionless form beside him, and slowly let his legs down. He hunched over and pressed their foreheads together in an almost desperate manner, and found himself unable to keep his eyes open once again. "I-it's go-gonna be o-okay, i-it's gonna b-be o-o-okay.. Sh-she'll be h-here s-s-soon, i-it's g-g-onna b-be..." Nero couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He stroked over the blood-matted hair of the older male and just stayed there for awhile, violent shudders wracking through him ever few seconds. "I-it's..." And what seemed years later to the boy, he heard the car pulling up and noticed it wasn't raining any more. "S-see.. It's okay.." He whispered to the body, and then sat himself back up, trying to muster up enough energy to haul himself to a stand and shuffle to the door. As their visitor drove in, perhaps she would notice a few vans off to the side, parked under some trees in the actual lawn. Black. The image of those black vans would remain in the young scorpion's mind forever after this horrendous night. When Bree came to pound on the door, she would find a large hole where a spray of bullets had gone through right above the knob, creating a small sort of window. They had used to whole to wrench open the door from the inside. It hung slightly crooked on its hinges, and if she went through with knocking it would groan loudly before swinging wildly inwards, unable to remain closed after its beating. Inside was the true carnage, however. Bulletholes, blood, knives, and bodies, and broken furniture as well as glass. Everywhere. There was barely anything left in tact, and there were perhaps four bodies in the entryway alone. Axel was a fighter, he was quick and he was strong and he had resources, but he was most obviously outnumbered. If she chose to venture outside, the mess would continue, revealing multiple more bodies until there was simply one beside the couch, face down in a gigantic pool of blood, his body gashed open all over. There was another small splat of blood beside him that seemed to have come from another, and it smeared across the floor as if the body it belonged to had been dragged. And the trail led right to the partially-open door of a closet. The whole scene was obvious, like something out of a movie, and Bree had been in quite a few "movies" of her own. Nothing this bad though... Monsters, bandits, traps, she could deal with those. None of that scared her, not even the prospect that someone was still dangerous inside and could potentially hurt her. What did scare her was the idea that someone else was hurt.
It scared the crap out of her, she'd always been alone before D-corp, before all this... mess. Nero and Axel had become like extended family. Maybe it drew back to her more primal instincts of where she came from, the urge to form a "pack" that she always fought so desperatly. No packs, no attachments, a lone wolf of all the cheesey sayings.
As the door flung open, she involuntarily let out a sharp snarl to the floor, and the bodies on it... Blood, everything... "s**t." She cursed as she wove through the mess, "********. Damnit." More curses came, unsure of what to do with the feelings welling up in the pit of her stomach there wasn't much more to do than curse nothingness. Her trip stopped when she reached the living room, and a trail ran off, the phone Nero had used to call her. For a moment, she feared the worst, that someone had gotten Nero while she was on her way. "Nero?" she questioned the darkness, fur standing on end, voice mixed with a tinge of anger but mostly gripped with fear. God help the soul that hurt Nero if they did... Bree's mind was quickly building her up for a fight that probably wouldn't come in the end. "B-Bree?" Came the soft response to the woman's questioning, and a figure pushed himself to a stand in the closet, the soft sound of the struggle emitted through the walls. He wasn't injured really, simply worn out. Entirely. The ordeal had drained all of his energy. "B-Bree..?" He repeated, a little bit louder, and the scorpion lad poked himself out from the closet. He crunched across the broken glass, barefooted but not seeming to take any notice. He was certainly a mess, shirt and pants stained in blood that was not his own, and his hair stuck about in all directions. He had blood covering his claws, and a smear across his cheek. His shirt was torn a bit at the top, as if by a knife slash, and the skin was split however no blood came from it nor did it seem painful. Whoever tried to harm him had been unable to get the knife all the way through his armor-like skin to result in an actual wound. He stopped after a moment, staring at her with tired eyes, head cocked to one side. The disapointment was back. Now she was here, but there was still that body lying motionless in the closet. His false hopes of the closest thing he had ever had to a mother figure being there fixing everything failed him. He looked slowly back to the closet, remaining silent. "Nero!" Bree was met with an immediate releif upon seeing the little scorpion not only alive, but moving and talking. She was to him in the blink of an eye, equally ignoring the glass... Infact, at this point, she couldn't even feel it digging into the pads on her paws, adrenaline had numbed just about everything. She looked him over, there was blood... But it was different, smelled differen than him. She was never sure how she knew these things, it just kinda was. Like grass being green, or the sky being blue. But still, she had to ask "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is there anyone else left?" she glanced around, ears pinning against her head.
And that was when smells started trying to click, though there was an immense amount of differing smells everywhere, muddling her senses like a bad allergy, now being this close to the closet Nero had retreated to, one potently familiar scent caught her attention. "Axel..?" For anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed, but Axel had become a very distinct and recognizable person. Runing a comforting, but somewhat shakey and rough, hand over Nero's hair, she dared to peer past him into the closet. "I-I'm not h-hurt..." The boy said quietly, and perhaps there was even a hint of guilt hidden away in his tone. He let the woman run her hand through his hair, and remembered what had happened only moments before the door erupted. When Axel was still moving. That blistering pain starting back up in his chest, and as Bree said his name it only intensified. His name had been mentioned. He tried to swallow the burning lump in his throat, and then turned away from her and shuffled back in the closet. He fell to his knees now beside the body, staring down at it silently for a moment before a tremor ran through him. This time, it didn't stop. "H-he's no-not breathing. H-he h-hasn't been breat-breathing..." His eyes were facing her once more, "F-for a l-long time.." He stopped, went silent. The shaking grew worse. "H-he's dead." Axel's body was actually rather well kept, his clothing just slightly tattered. His body was without mark, with the exception of three gaping bulletholes in the center of his chest, seeping out blood still. Dried blood had caked on the surrounding material, and Nero took a moment to think on how the man so hated anything ever dirtying his clothes. And if he could cry, he would have started right then. And yet, if one were to look closer, they would find something Nero was unable to check. It was as if Axel's body had gone into a comatose state, without breathing or any other functions, and yet there was still the faintest pulse. Thus, the still-seeping blood. There was still a bit of life left behind. "Good..." Bree echoed softly, Nero wasn't hurt, that was one thing off her back. And there didn't seem to be anyone else around, though she still wasn't too sure, and it made her feel more exposed as her back fell turned to the rest of the large open room.
She followed the boy to the cloest, gulping hard at the sight of Axel, heart clenching. "Nono..." She chimed to Nero, not breathing didn't always mean dead, granted it meant you were well on your way, but there were things to do before that. Luckally for the family, Bree knew more than her share of first aid. Generally what living with a missionary did for part of your life did for you. "Move over." She commanded, falling down to her knees beside Axel, and digging her fingers in his neck desperatly searching for a pulse. There was a moment of nothingness as she waited for one, her own feeling as though it stopped, until there was a small bump against her fingers. "Oh thank God." She let out, only breifly releived before a bit of panic set in "Okay. Okay..."
Slow down, her mind chimed, everythign was hanging in the balance now. one wrong move and everything would be lost. First step, she ripped the shirt open, sending a few buttons flying to inspect the wound. Bullet holes... Her mind spun a moment trying to remember exactly what to do, and only coming up with a few unsure ideas, but better than nothing. Her right hand fell over the wound, pressing as hard as she could muster, her left moving to plug his nose, and leaning in to offer some air, trying to fill the lungs and hoping she was right about the injury.
After one breath, she looked up to Nero, "Call 9-1-1.. Or D-corp. Or anyone. Just get an ambulence here." She leaned in to provide another breath of air, "Tell them he got shot in the chest three times, not breathing, but theres still a pulse." That ought to do it. Or so she hoped. Why did it have to be something like this? Why couldn't it have been a big puzzle or a monster she had to fight, she could have handled that... This... This was eating away at what little resolve she was managing to keep up for Nero. Nero shifted out of the way and watched silently, momentarily glancing down at his claws. He couldn't do that... Search for a pulse. He had barely any feeling in his claws, and pressing the sharp inside to his father's throat... He looked down, feeling rather worthless. However at her words, a little stir of emotion started back up inside the teenager. Hope. His eyes widdened incredulously, "H-he's..." He was alive. His father was alive. Once again, had he been able to cry, he would have done it all over again right here. His claws were on the phone almost instantly, and his frantic mind convinced him to call both sources, and quickly. He started with D-Corp. He dialed in the memorized number, and then waited. Upon them answering, he would hurriedly slurr out what he was told. Upon finishing that call, he called 9-1-1 without missing a beat. He repeated what he had just done, except this time he had to tell them where he lived and more details on the situation. Help was on the way. He slumped back against the wall and watched, exhausted all over again by the rush of adrenaline. "Th-they're c-coming-" After a moment, the body on the floor jerked to life in a fit of wheezing and coughing, eyes dull and slightly glazed over as he came to semi-consciousness almost instantly after he began breathing, staring up in a sort of delirium at the woman above him. It was always strange, almost unhuman, the way he always snapped back from unconsciousness like that- but then again, only his brother would know about that, really. And then, suddenly, he was trying to prop himself up on his elbows but came to find a sharp sting of pain. He blinked and stared down at the bloody holes Bree was covering, and then wheezed out, "s**t." And then the coughing was back and he slumped back onto the floor. Ow. And he slid back into a state of almost unconsciousness, but he was there. Just barely, but he was there. He continued to breathe slow, wheezed breaths. His child was instantly stuck at his side, staring down at him unnoticed with wide eyes. Bree continued like that, giving him substitute breaths until his own took over, trying to ignor the strange feeling on her hand that came with plugging the holes, if only for the running blood she only wished she could stop. If she'd known... she could have brought some potions, or some magical relic, or something... Then agian, if she'd paused to dig that out he might have been dead before she got there.
As he moved, she did attempt to stop him with a "No don't." which turned out useless as he fell back. Finding it hard to keep her hand over his chest in the movement and coughing, she dug her palm deeper, potentially more painful but Bree really didn't care about that at this point, nor even think about it. Her brain felt like it was running a mile a minute, but someone was coming, that was good. "Axel, no, don't go back to sleep." She scolded, frowning, "You gotta keep your eyes open." Continuing to stare down at him, she almost growled in frustration "s**t damnit ********..." she cursed again, looking to nero, "Talk to him, okay?" She spoke softly, immediatly losing the tension and irritation in her voice. Nero didn't look well, she was well aware of that, and that he wasn't at all well... But honestly, if anyone was going to keep Axel thinking and grasping to life, it was him.
D-corp would respond, likely, but there was the issue of a moment of decision making... Did they want to "waste" their resources on such a thing? Alan's say was final in the end, though left with a few sceptisisms he simply covered that the mental wellbeing of their project was equally important, and thus, the company was ready to back up whatever the normal hospitals couldn't cover.
Still, there was the seemingly endless wait for the group huddled in the closet. "Right, right." Axel slurred out, eyes lazily wandering towards her face. "Awake, sure thing beautiful. No problem." He licked over his teeth inside his mouth, tasted blood. This wasn't good. And he was tired, he was gonna have to struggle to keep himself up, and yet he attempted to lighten up the air a bit. "Looks like he got me, huh?" He shifted slightly, wincing a bit at the feel of her hand digging into him, but he knew it was necessary. He sat in a pensive silence for a moment, and then lifted his hand to brush hers aside gently, pushing down on his own wounds to keep the air from leaking back in when he breathed. "Gonna need to make a patch. Go do that. Use tape, in kitchen... On counter. Duct tape. Go, I'll hold it." And then he turned his attention to the scorpion, smiling gently, "Hey kid." He took his free hand and touched the green face of the boy who was still silent, even with Bree prompting him to speak. "You hurt?" Nero shook his head. "That's good, real good. All of 'em... Are gone?" A nod this time. "Good. Good.. I bet they got blood all over my couch, huh?" He let out an extremely sickly sounding chuckle, and stroked lightly over the boy's hair as the scorpion burrowed his head into his shoulder. Atleast he was safe... And then sudden alarm came, although he didn't let it show, "Hey, kiddo.. Could you call your uncle for me? Tell him.. What happened? His number is in my room." Nero looked up curiously, and then nodded silently, picking up the phone and hurrying off to the bedroom. Axel let out a low groan. This was bad.
Oh good, he was awake awake, Bree let out a breath and a small smile, releived... but with that came the strong urge to cry. Something she didn't often feel like doing, and never wanted to feel like doing. This lead her to wondering when Axel had crossed over the line of one-night-stand-buddy into something important... "s**t, Axel." She frowned at him, and his attempt to lighten the mood, but after a second or two she shook her head and went along with it. "I think you got them better." A weak and forced laugh followed that, lifting her one free, now slightly bloody hand to rub at one eye and pretend she never thought about crying in her life, let alone now.
"Right... Duct tape." She slowly drew her hand away, making sure he had a good hold before standing, and offering a small word to Nero "He'll be alright." wether it was true or not, she had no idea, but for now she had to run off to the kitchen to fetch said ducttape. It was a fairly easy process, yes, but slightly paniced. Her mind said hurry hurry the entire time, even if he was awake part of her feared that when she got back he'd have died off in those few seconds.
Duct tape in hand, she made it back to him in time to watch Nero leaving, she gave a puzzled expression before dipping back into the closet and next to Axel. The loud noise of ducttape being pulled echoed through the silent house as she got out a decent length, biting into the end and tearing it like that. Thank heaven for fangs. She held it there, assuming she'd be the one to put it on, but at the same time hoping for some sort of instruction on the matter. She didn't want to admit it, but it felt like most of what she was doing was just shots in the dark. She hadn't seen any sort of first aid in years... "Alright," Axel started as soon as she tore off some tape, "I need you to look at how big the wounds are, and for each one-" He went silent a moment. "s**t, we need some cellophane wrap, too... There should be some in here in one of those baskets." He pointed up towards a shelf above their head, filled with various knick-knacks. "Once you get that, cover each one with cellophane seperately...." He drawled off for a moment, quiet once again, and then he shook his head and went right back into it, "And then cover them with duct tape, but leave one corner open... Al... Alright?" He blinked at her once or twice. He was so tired. "Yeah, I don't like this at all. Remind me never to do this again." He let his eyes droop half-way closed, but didn't let himself fall back asleep. Bree listened carefully, vaugly wondering if he was too out of it to even instruct her, but there wasn't much choice now was there? So, she stuck an edge of the ducttape to the door frame, "Alright." reaching up to grab at a basket that looked like it might have said cellophane. "I already saw them, three, so I know how big they are..."
Bingo. Digging it out, she started trying to make sure she had all the right sizes. So there'd been blood messing up her view, and it was kinda dark... But what did give her a sure fire idea of how big they were was when she had her hand against it. "Yeah, sure." Another weak chuckle as she knelt with their homemade lung-fixxerupers. "Alright..." The man had to pause in order to let out a series of rather disgusting sounding coughs, feeling blood rising up in the back of his throat. He swallowed it back down with some effort, and then turned his eyes back to Bree. "Now, patch them over... Make sure they're taped down really well... But leave that corner open." That was important. "These should keep my lungs from collapsing..." For awhile.. Until the dreaded ambulance or his brother arrived, whichever came first. Bree gave a rather useless nod in the darkness, far too focused on the task at hand to pay much attention to the fact it might not be seen. She knelt, carefully following the instructions... patch, leave corner open, make sure it's down well... She rubbed her fingers over the band of take to make sure it stuck, and to her great releif it held even through the slick of blood. With that task finished, her arms slumped, suddenlly shaking dramatically against her will. All that was left was the wait... Which seemed as though it would take forever, as she stayed knelt switching her gaze between Axel, if he should start to drift, and the patches, if they should start to come undone. She stayed queit, the noise of her brain overriding anything that could possibly leave her mouth. Axel regarded her with quiet eyes as she worked, lips pressed together into a thin line. This was why they weren't supposed to let people in close, wasn't it? Just in case things like these happened... His hand moved slowly as she finished, coming to rest lightly on her leg and just linger there in a sort of reassuring and affectionate manner. He laid there, just like that, saying nothing, simply gazing up at her in a thoughtful sort of way. Moments later, they could hear the sirens and the sounds of many people. He inwardly cringed as Nero entered. "I-I c-called him.." Axel looked away, "Well, it's too late now, I guess.." His child appeared confused, but he made no effort to explain the meaning behind his words. He just watched as the paramedics entered and prepared to take him away... He gripped onto Bree tightly a moment, and then slowly began to release his hold on her, almost reluctantly. He would suddenly move forward, pressing his lips to hers in a raw manner, almost desperate with passion, as if this would be the last time he would ever get the chance. His hand went momentarily through her hair, over her cheekbone. And then he pulled back, and was being carted onto a stretcher. He touched Nero's cheek, "It's all gonna be okay, kid." He lied with a weak smile, and the boy looked down at his feet, touching the hand with his claw lightly. Then, they were taking his father away. Nero had to struggle to keep from running after them, stuck completely still, eyes never leaving the stretcher until they were out of sight. And then he found out he had been holding his breath, and slowly began breathing again. His heart hurt. He slumped back against the wall slightly, staring at the bloodstained floor. ((I'm redoing this post, I wrote it too late and don't like it. XD)) TBC.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:47 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:23 pm
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