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If there was one thing she learned having visited Babylon's wonder on Mercury two weeks ago was to never leave home without a blanket, at least not in the Fall or Winter time.

Wrapped up in a dark blue fleece blanket, Acrucis stood a healthy distance from the safe house, rocking back on her heals she wondered if she should stop by, if anything to see if the little plant needed some TLC. And maybe, just maybe he'd be there this time...

Closing her eyes she felt the area around her, trying to pick out any chaos or order signatures that might be close by. With no immediate threat in the near vicinity she unwrapped the blanket from around her shoulders and draped it over her arm before jogging around the perimeter of the building, just as a precaution before approaching the rhododendron bushes.

Nothing... no order or chaos signature. The hope she held that someone would be here slipped away as she ducked beneath the curled drooping leaves. Each step, punctuated by the crunching sound of dead leaves beneath her feet, quelled any attempt at being quiet. It was pointless, really, with the frost coated ground that groaned under her weight she doubted even a squirrel could get away walking around here.

Placing one hand on the glass, Acrucis applied a bit of pressure and slid the window open so she could climb inside. Everything seemed quiet no sounds came from inside, nor was there any powered presence around. Without much thought, Acrucis placed her free hand on the window sill so she could climb inside. Before she so much as lifted a foot off the ground she withdrew her hand. Slowly, so ever slowly she turned her palm face up to see what it was she touched....blood... and it was still wet

"No..." she exhaled the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Eyes wide at the realization that someone either was here and she couldn't sense them or they had recently left. Either way they were injured...

Not willing to waist time like before, Acrucis tossed her blanket through the window onto the floor and climbed inside. Picking her blanket back up she quietly weaved her way through the first floor to the area Thraen brought her the first time they met.

Her eyes scanned over the immediate area noting the open first aid kit, gauzes and other medical supplies that had been either opened and or used. Acrucis felt herself slipping back into her scared self, the one that sat up night and night again from nightmares. Phantom echoes of the student whispering in her ear that she was too late caused tears to p***k the corners of her eyes when she finally spotted a person laying curled up with a blanket on one of the pallets.

With shaky hands and hesitant footsteps she approached the body inwardly hoping... no praying that he was still alive. The grip she had on her blanket tightened as if it was her only life line as she reached out to touch the persons shoulder please be alive her heart clenched inside her chest... please

Startled, Acrucis withdrew her hand from his shoulder and took a step back, placing a hand over her heart as she tried her best to calm down.

Tired gold eyes peaked at her through thick lashes.

In the matter of seconds a mix of emotions played across her face; shock, relief, confusion, worry,...

Something about this situation felt very de-ja-vu, some what mirroring her first encounter with Shangri-la when he called her by name even though they'd 'never met before'. Either way it didn't matter who he was, chances are some time in the past month Thraen must have told him she knew about this place and was welcome here much like how he had informed her about Medea.

What was more concerning than his knowledge of who she was, was the slash across his face and how disoriented he seemed. "It's Wednesday... the 18th." Worry about not knowing the full extent of his injuries past the visible gash she added "We... we need to get you to a hospital."

Acrucis opened her mouth to respond to his round about way of saying 'no', that going to the hospital was not an option, when he cut her off before she could so much as utter a single syllable inquiring whether or not she could sew. "O-only with a sewing machine, why?" the only experience she had was mending a torn pair of pants or a shirt where the seam was falling apart at the collar.

The action of him trying to sit up which elicited a yelp of pain was all the confirmation she needed that the facial injury was not his only one. Dropping the blanket yet again she reached out to steady him "If you won't go to the hospital then you need to at least lay down. J-just tell me what's wrong and I'll try to help. Or I can go try and find Thraen or Shangri-la, they-they'd know what to do... "

"Thraen?" His name escaped her lips at no more than a whisper. "Is it..?"

What happened next she had little to no control over as she found herself leaning forward her hand sliding from his shoulders around his neck in a careful yet gentle hug. "You are alive" she breathed with a slight quiver to her voice.

Those dreams, those stupid dreams were wrong. He's not dead, he's here. Thank you lord for watching over him, thank you

Carefully she withdrew her arms from around him, and with one hand wiped the tears that threatened to fall. She wasn't sad, no... quite the opposite. It took a month but finally she had the confirmation she so desperately needed. "I'm sorry, I-I just... Y-you weren't here when I came back I-I thought. I mean I hoped you were okay." and those taunting dreams me trying to convince me that you were... dead. That I abandoned you by leaving. "It's been long enough and I hadn't so much as heard from you, I-I didn't know..." But she knew now and that's what mattered.

When he began giving her instructions she nodded her head listening carefully to what she needed to do. Before moving in to help him remove his shirt she reached up and unclasped the sapphire gem clasp on her caplet to remove the upper garment then began to undo the gold clasps on her coat to remove that as well as the sleeves would only get in the way. With as much strength as she could muster she tugged on the ice blue cross that hung from her coat. A bit surprised at how much effort it took to take the decorative piece off, Acrucis was finally rewarded with the sound of threads snapping. Discarding the coat on top of her caplet and blanket she removed one of her bangles, reached back and gathered her hair using the base of the 5" cross and piece of jewelry as a makeshift hair tie.

"I have all of my renews, I haven't used them yet." she replied while reaching out to take hold of the hem of his shirt to help him remove it. "There's no point in saving them for later." She continued as she started carefully pulled the fabric up. There is no way she wouldn leave him again, not like last time. "But only you know how much good they'll do." As hard as it was for her to admit up till now he supported the worst injury she'd attempted to mend to date and aside from his words last time she had no visual reference to go off of to determine how well it actually mended his injury.

It didn't bother her seeing a shirtless guy in front of her as it was a typical seasonal ritual come summer time for a vast majority of the male population to shed their upper garments once the weather warmed up considering most found it to be the perfect time to hit the beach, or swimming pools in her case. What did bother her, however, was how many bruises littered his torso.

Worse was when he turned around and she saw the lacerations on his upper back. He had warned her that there was a gash, but that was enough to really prepare her for what she was looking at. With his back to her she raised a hand to cover her mouth to keep from gasping. Like his front side, he was covered in the same if not more bruises. Swallowing the lump in her throat her eyes trailed over the length of each gash, she'd never seen anything this horrific before. It didn't help matters that the open wounds were accentuated by both dried and fresh blood from removing his shirt.

Cerulian blue eyes locked gaze with his golden eyes when he turned to face her inquiring how bad it was. Paled face, she shook her head not wanting to answer his question. With how deep the gashes were there it was nothing shy of a miracle he was alive let alone sitting.

"You might want to lay down." it was a cross between a statement and a weak suggestion. Sitting up would do him no good, he may as well try to be some what comfortable if she were to try and help him.

Once he was settled she brought both hands up, palms together and cleared her throat before reciting her attack not once, but all three times consecutively. She only waited till the glow of the previous one fully dissipated before going through the motions again knowing that she hadn't needed to worry whether or not the mending caused discomfort. Given the past encounters where she had used her Prayer of Renew not a single person showed any signs of discomfort triggered by her attack.

Acrucis watched as deep purple bruises faded to a greenish hue to normal skin color with each use of her renew and surface scrapes closed completely, though the blood stains still remained. Deep down she knew that her abilities weren't strong enough to for much for those gashes or mend the broken bones, both injuries were way past her healing capabilities. Unfortunately no amount of hope or prayer would be enough to give her attack the added strength to close those up.

When the fading light yellow glow from her final prayer fully finished, she took a few steps forward so she stood at his side. She was tired, oh so tired having expended so much of her magic in such a short time but now wasn't the time to sit down and stop. Placing a hand on his shoulder she gave him a questioning look "Without moving can you tell if it helped at all?"

Dread washed over her in waves causing her skin to turn cold and heart beat loudly in her ears when he described to her what she needed to do next. She didn't question the purpose of the Listerine, she'd used the alcoholic mouth wash plenty of times in the past when she had mouth sores to know how much that stuff hurt and that was tiny in comparison to what he was asking her to do with it.

Acrucis left his side for only a few moments to gather everything he said she'd need including the first aid kit. With trembling hands she separated the gauze into two piles; one for cleaning the gashes, one for applying pressure with.

To say she was scared was an understatement, she hadn't a clue what she was doing even with his guidance. There was no doubt in her mind this would hurt, alcohol on a knee scrape was one thing and typically ended with a kid screaming in tears. This... this was no small scrape. But he refused to go to the hospital and was incapable of doing this himself which left it up to her to take care of him.

Shangri-la... I need you her heart clenched in her chest I don't know what I'm doing, I'm not qualified to do something like this Acrucis tilted her head back to try an banish the tears that pricked the corners of her eyes. Where are you when I need your help? I can't do this alone a small whimper escaped despite her best efforts at trying to calm down. Using her arm she wiped her face and took a deep breath.

Pinching the sides of the Listerine cap, I'm sorry Acrucis thought as struggled to remove the lid before it finally clicked and twisted off. She held the bottle tightly in her right hand, trying to keep from shaking, while at the same time seeking out his hand with her left. Worried blue eyes searched his gold eyes once she was ready, waiting for an indication that he was ready for her to proceed. I'm so sorry

She only hesitated for a moment when he nodded his head to prepare herself for what needed to be done.

Staring at the gash for not even a minute she did her best to locate any and all places she could see either dirt or shirt fibers. Biting down on her lower lip she took in a deep breath and carefully poured the antiseptic over the length of the laceration.

Her breathing became short and quick when his body tensed from the pain of alcohol on an open wound. Thraen neither yelled nor thrashed, rather he laid there as still as humanly possible for someone in his condition. Worried that he was no longer concious she tried calling out his name "Thraen?" heart beat quickening as she did her best to clean the area to the best of her ability dabbing at the areas with the clean gauze where she saw shirt lint clung to scabs. "Thraen? Answer me please" her voice quivered as she tried calling his name again.

Dabbing at the areas where the Listerine had pooled she wiped the edges of the laceration clean. Hands already stained red from the fresh blood that flowed from the gash she made haste in laying the second pile of clean gauze along the length of the wound before leaning forward using her forearm along the length of the injury to apply even pressure. five minutes, he said five minute Acrucis closed her eyes, her body rocking ever so slightly trying so hard not to break down as panic set itself firmly in her core. "Thraen... please" she croaked "p-please answer." you can't do this to me, I don't know what to do next though he had told her before she had used her renew what needed to be done, the instructions were unfortunately lost on her now.

One tear slid down her cheek, then another. Turning her head to the side she tried to wipe the tears that hung on her chin off onto her shoulder so they didn't fall on him. The smell of minty Listerine and blood coupled with the sight that would no doubt be ingrained in her mind for a long while and panic brought her precariously close to the edge of fainting.