It's Not That Far Away - Chapter Eight | Same Place, Same Hello, Same Goodbye
(This is a sequel to Mercy Me - We suggest you read that first.)
NaNo Book Cover
Rating: R (solid)
Pairings for Chapter: Tora/Saga
Overall Pairings: Tora/Saga, Nao/OFC, mention of OMC/OMC & others
Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure, Chapter, Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance, Angst, Dark, Horror
Summary: Months of living on the edge of danger is enough to drive anyone to behave irrationally. Though there comes a point in which sitting on the fence, watching both sides, is no longer feasible and a decision must be made. How can one know they are making the right choice? What causes one's perception of good and bad, right and wrong? How does one choose? More importantly, how does one know they picked the right side once they’ve chosen?
Insanity has nothing to do with morality - are you right or....wrong?
__________________________
“Shou-san.” Nao greeted his friend with a sense of mild remorse. His eyes moved momentarily to Tora, unable to focus on just one of them in his overwhelming panic. The man seemed aware that Nao was there and he offered the drummer a lazy smile; the same one that Tora would issue Nao when he was healthy though now it looked as if it were drawn across a ghost of Tora. Nao, for all he’d been through, was remarkably healthy next to his sickly friends. He felt ashamed for it. He had been living happily, recovering, while his friends suffered, quite obliviously in pain.
Finally, his eyes moved to where Saga sat. The bassist hadn’t the energy to lift his head, which was still leaned back over the back of the chair. Nao was shocked at the sick way in which the vampires had used his bare chest as a canvas for their horrific art. Tora and Shou were nicked all across their torsos but Saga’s bones had been traced with sharp object. Red lines showed against the dim light along the top and bottom of his collar bone as well as in the curve of each of his ribs. It was as if he were wearing a Halloween skeleton shirt made of his own skin.
He felt the little bit of food he had eaten bubble in his stomach as he tried to tear his eyes away from his friend. These were the people that meant the word to him and there they sat, battered and broken seemingly beyond repair.
Nao was only aware that they weren’t alone as Evie squeaked in fright. She had not started to cry and for a moment Nao marveled at how brave the little girl actually was. The terrors she was in the middle of should have her screaming and crying; though, he wondered momentarily what horrors she’d already witnessed that might have her less afraid than she should have been by what was going on around her.
His eyes moved to Joey who was pulling on the restraint around her wrist as if the effort would make a difference. But she was unrelenting and determined as she tugged futilely, skittish in the same way she might be in her raccoon form. Though she did pause when he glanced over at her as if she knew he had done it. Her eyes lifted to meet his and she offered him a slim smile. “Good job slick. I hold you entirely responsible for all that happens to us. Just a fair forewarning that I might hate you when we bounce.” There was no sincerity in her words; it was her typical joking tease and he was once again shocked by how cavalier she was. Her dismissive manner and just as causal tone that he had only heard her deviate from once, albeit it was recently when her life was threatened merely by the iron bars she was surrounded by, was unnerving in the situation.
He didn’t understand how she could be so calm while Tora, Shou and especially Saga sat in the dried puddles of their own blood
“We are going to bounce?” Nao asked her in English with a shaky smile, trying his best to harness the small bit of calmness she had. He found himself failing rather horribly as he could still feel his heart beating nervously against his ribcage. It didn't help that he was slightly confused as to what the phrase itself could mean.
“Hell yeah we are. Fuck this place.” She said with a little flare of her nostrils, and annoyance at the restraints she was still tugging on. She was unrelenting against the spot she was meant to be held against. “I’m not staying here any longer than need be. And guess what, I’m taking you with me. Whether you like it or not. And him and him, that one there and probably the little chick on the other side of me too. Fuck this place.” She said again. “By all the Asians I’ve seen about this place, I can only assume we’re in your home, huh? Not the best way to introduce us to the motherland, slick. But hey, I’ll take it. Just a hint thought, next time welcome wagons and plush comfy beds are a plus.”
He couldn’t help but feel the corners of his mouth turn up. Though he was nervous and her words were jumbled in his head, he was slowly piecing together what she’d said. The English language was harder for him to translate when he was an emotional and frightful wreck, which in this situation was an understatement. But he was able to understand what she meant and what she’d said. He bowed his head slightly. “You were wrong-I was right.” He told her. “You don’t want to die…and you do want to be a hero.”
She stopped moving abruptly and her nose wrinkled in agitated defeat at him. “Fuck you.” She snapped hastily, though there was no meaning behind it as she once again took to jerking on the arms of her chair again. “You win by a technicality, that’s not nice Nao. You keep hitting below the belt and using what you know about me against me and I might just kick back. Fucking hard too.”
He felt his eyes lower in uncomfortable bemusement. “We are going to bounce.” He said with a nod of agreement, only somewhat understanding the meaning. For a moment, Nao’s chin tucked in against his chest as a wave of misbegotten hope washed over him-all because of his sudden faith in Joey’s words. He had hope for Shou, that he would smile gain, and he had hope that Tora would stand tall and offer his sarcastic, dry humor once more. He had faith for Saga who would heal from the wounds and would be back to his introspective, sometimes goofy ways. He had faith for Hiroto…
Nao’s head snapped up and he jerked his attention back to his friends in sudden horror. “Where is Hiroto?!” He nearly shrieked, frightened of the worst. Joey jumped from the sudden outburst, particularly since it was in an unfamiliar language to her ears. Shou’s head swung over to look at Nao and their eyes met momentarily. Shou smiled sadly, weakly, as he tried to open his mouth to answer.
“Where is Hiroto indeed.” The voice that interrupted was a familiar one and the only strong one among the battered and beaten. Bastien was descending the stairs that led to small private rooms on the second floor; at the balcony’s edge stood Elisa beside the tall and handsome Cassius. They were all silhouettes on the dark backdrop of the singed club; it made them even scarier than Nao could remember. There were few lights in use and those that were lit only offered dim reprieve from the darkness.
Shou, Saga and Tora were long since adjusted to the low light, after having spent so long in the tortuous conditions. Nao’s eyes were quickly adjusting and Joey and Evelyn gave no indication one way or the other though all those that could had their heads pointed in the direction of Bastien’s voice.
“Where is he?” Bastien asked again in an overly friendly tone, as if he was concerned though it was clear that there was no actual worry for the missing member of Alice Nine. “Oh my…and guests!” Bastien clapped, his voice easily slipping to English as it bounced off the walls. “Josephine Hoxie. I had heard a rumor you would be here; never did I think such a glorious day would be upon us. How I have looked forward to this day for…well probably ten years. We have…history.” He glanced at Shou, as if Shou had inquired about their relationship, and pointed back at the dark haired girl whose face twisted up in a nasty scowl.
“And finally…well look at you.” He bent down in front of Evelyn, his voice overly sweet and soft as if he had nothing to offer Evie but his kind heart. Nao went rigid as he stared, truly angered by Bastien’s audacity to even speak to the free-spirited changeling. “My you’ve grown into quite a beautiful girl since I watched your mommy die. She’d be so proud.”
There was part of Nao that was panicking as he anticipated the news that would come to Evie soon by way of the vampire leader; he was certain that the little girl wouldn’t be able to handle such news on top of her terror. Bastien rose slowly though and turned away from them, gliding across the room as if he were thoughtfully making a speech and waiting for his points to fester before he spoke again. Suddenly, Joey’s leaned over to Nao and she asked him a peculiar question. “Are you afraid?” She questioned quickly in a hushed tone, her eyes big and wide as she silently encouraged him to answer.
His eyes moved over to her and he felt his jaw tighten in confusion. He was dumbfounded by the question, unaware of what he was supposed to say. “Are you!?” She demanded quickly.
Nao nodded gently only to watch her turn to Evie and whisper something to the little girl. The second Nao heard Joey’s voice trail off, he saw Evie’s eyes widen in fear and a squeak escape her mouth. Bastien stopped moving, suddenly aware of something that clearly Nao wasn’t; he was listening closely for whatever they were hearing.
In that instant, he felt something scurry across his foot and an involuntary shutter raced up his spine. It was large and he was positive it had fur, having only seen a flicker of it in the dim, gray light of the room. Fear, strikingly like that which he felt when was a child, flooded him as he was terrified of the mysterious creature that seemed to be lurking about his feet.
The moment he felt it, it seemed Shou and Tora and even Saga’s nearly lifeless form felt the movement too. In fact, it was as if the entire room sprang to life with the small, furry creatures that couldn’t be seen, though their legs scratching across the floor and frightfully chirping voices filled the darkest corners of the room. Their incessant chatter was no louder than a whisper which was more frightening than if the roared or screamed. Joey was breathing hard as she tried to keep cool but her feet were lifted mere centimeters off the ground as she pulled as hard as she could against the restraints to ensure that she didn’t touch to the floor.
The scratching sound seemed to be coming from every part of the room as Nao could feel the critters crawling all over the tops of his feet. He kicked sharply at them, trying to lift himself up like Joey was. Evie’s throat opened up in terror, after short little breaths proved to be of no help and a terrified shriek echoed inside of her.
The second Evie screamed, Joey let out a panicked little shriek, clearly having been caught up in the fear that was swarming the room. Even Tora, in his glazed over state, was disturbed by what was happening as he started to look frantically for the source of the critters scratching at his chair. None of the creatures could be seen but the fear in each of the prisoners only fueled their existence. Nao felt one crawling up his leg and then a second and even a third in quick succession before bright lights were flipped on and everyone squinted. Shrieks from the critters could be heard as if the light itself was burning them and they retreated as quickly as they could, disappearing into the shadows the light could not reach.
Shou opened one eye, though it was through a narrow slit, before he blinked several times. He was in enough pain from the cuts and the sudden light made his head pound even harder. It had been a long while since his eyes had seen true light and the brightness that flooded the club made him wish they weren’t on. Though the entire place had been through fire, and was under construction, the evidence of human remains lingered everywhere. Smeared across walls and deeply embedded into the concrete floor were blood stains and dried, decaying flesh. The smell of the room grew expediently worse now that they could see where it was coming from.
Furthermore, in the brightness of the lights, he could see his friends and how badly they truly were hurt. He was in bad shape himself but Shou was terrified by how pale and lifeless the others looked. Saga was the worst, ragged and weak breaths raking him, and it made Shou forcefully divert his eyes. That was made worse as his eyes fell on the vampire prince.
“Why was that nonsense necessary? Surely we can play this game fairly…” Bastien swung on them, clearly having been affected by the skrittchers and the fear as well. He, however, gasped and his eyes grew wide as he was clearly troubled by what he saw. One of the chairs was empty. “Shadows…” he growled, taking in sharp and alarmed breaths. “TURN THOSE LIGHTS OFF!” He howled ambigiously, but it was too late - Joey was gone from her binds. “Find her! NOW!”
Nao’s heart leapt into his throat and, for a moment, he thought she’d abandoned them -
abandoned him. It was an irrational fear and certainly not grounded in any sort of reality; there was no reason for Joey to simply leave them. But he still felt it and it was a loneliness that he hadn’t experienced in quite a long time.
“Find who now, bitch.” Joey’s voice echoed in the room and they all watched Bastien recoil from the disembodied voice. Nao’s eyes moved wildly about as he tried to locate where her voice had come from. His eyes landed on the shadows about the room, cast by the lights that had been turned on. It occurred to him that Joey might not have abandoned them afterall. She might have, in fact, done the exact opposite.
Bastien turned to a small nook under the balcony overhead; on the balcony, Cassius grabbed onto Elisa and held her, gripping tight against her torso in order to keep her from escaping to the floor below. She looked feral and frenzied; her eyes were wide and glazed over and her teeth were biting down deep into the flesh of her upper lip. Cassius was shaking slightly himself and trying to remain firmly in his spot while keeping Elisa still too.
Bastien took a few steps back and Joey appeared into the now dim light. She was holding her arm out in front of her, straight and directed towards were Bastien stood. Blood was pooling from a slice in her wrist that appeared to be self-inflicted; it was vibrant red against her skin, creating rivers of blood all down the length of her forearm. Lines of crimson ran a circle around her wrist and dripped from the wound itself. With each drop that fell to the floor, Bastien seemed to smell it, and even taste it, as his face contorted in agony and lust all at once.
She continued to move forward and he strategically moved back as she steered him; he kept the same distance from her, clearly forcing himself away from the temptation. He appeared to be in pain as he tried to maintain some level of control over his own hunger. She gave her hand a small flick and blood from her fingertips sprayed in his direction; she offered him a coy little smile. Bastien shrank in his spot, looking more beast-like with each passing second as she moved to bring herself between the vampire and the captured people.
“You’re going to let me leave with them. Or you’re going to stand there and watch me bleed until you can’t take it anymore and you eat me. If you choose the latter, it’s cool - I get the last laugh because we’re both dead and I have a better chance of survival than you. So either you die or you let these people go and we both live to see another glorious day. S’up to you.” She pumped her fist so more blood spurted from her wound.
The mere the smell of her blood, of a changeling’s blood, was more intoxicating than any other creature’s. Bastien was well aware that more than a single drop of her blood would be suicide.
Elisa let out a pained howl from above as she fought against Cassius’s hold. Shou’s eyes flickered sharply up towards the balcony; he was terrified of the wild and hungry look on Elisa’s face. He had no idea who the girl was or what she was saying. Though, he could feel Tora on one side of him half paying attention and he could see Nao out of the corner of his eye as the drummer was focused entirely on what was going on. Tora had always spoken the best English, and though Shou could virtually understand when he focused very hard on English, he had absolutely no capability to do that right then. He had too much fear coursing through him for it.
He could feel the dried blood around his mouth flaking off and cracking as his lips pursed slightly and he shrank in his spot as if sinking into the chair could hide him. He didn’t know that Nao could fully understand what was happening or that Tora was actually trying to understand against his clouded, pained head.
“Release them!” Joey shouted, obviously having been unnerved by Elisa's cry.
“This isn’t over precious.” Bastien said as he slinked further back into the darkness. Vampires, by nature, were smart creatures; self-serving and very much aware of consequence. It was the logical part of Bastien’s brain, not the hungry one, that had him giving into Joey’s words “It’s not over by fair. I have a cold iron dart waiting for you. This is merely the beginning Josephine. You will not win.”
Joey nodded but stumbled backwards, toward the prisoners, as she let her arm fall to her side. “I’ll be waiting.” She retorted in a low, assertive tone.
________________________
It had taken both Nao and Joey to move Tora and Saga. Evie held Shou’s hand as he limped along without asking questions - yet. He was moving slow but it was not an issue as the others were even slower. There was a brief discussion about where to take them; the debate and rebuttal had been bounced back and forth between Nao and Joey rather rapidly before they both agreed on the apartment he lived in across the city. It was paid for, he was sure, though he wasn’t positive he would recognize it after all the time he’d spent away from it.
Nao wondered how they’d traversed the city with the wounded but it was certainly the most insignificant detail among the rest of their problems. He hadn’t even noticed the trek as he couldn’t stop glancing over at Saga whose arm was slung across Joey’s shoulder. She was speaking to him, in a language that was not his native tongue, though he was hardly alive, let alone coherent or alert enough to understand.
The actual apartment was small; perfectly Nao-sized.
”He just let us go…” Shou said sinking onto the familiar futon, having expended every bit of energy he had trying not to use Evie as a crutch and crush her underneath his weight, though she wouldn’t have minded.
“No.” Nao said before Joey could speak. She seemed to be too preoccupied with Saga though Nao had seen her eyes flick over to Shou. It hadn’t really occurred to him that she couldn’t understand Shou; those small, seemingly unimportant details were eluding Nao right then. “He didn’t just let us go. He won’t have just let us go.”
“I meant because she said so.” He bowed his head to Joey though she was had no real idea that he was speaking to her as she couldn’t understand the actual words he was saying. “He let us go because of her.” Shou said again, a small sigh escaping him. Despite the clear exhaustion on his face, he still held his curiousness in his eyes. “Why?”
“Stop.” Joey said to Shou before she looked over at Nao. “Tell him to stop. Please. I can tell he’s asking questions but now isn’t the time. Nao-please.” Her usually lazy, disinterested voice was sober and oddly concerned. She pushed the door open to the nearest room with the toe of her shoe, still holding up Saga. When she discovered it was a bathroom, she moved to the next and was relieved to find that it was a bedroom. She hobbled the weak Saga inside and helped lay him down. She was mostly dragging him, Saga helping only as much as his conscious mind could think to. She was a narrow bodied and gangly girl as it was and, though Saga was equally skinny, he towered over her by several inches and his dead weight was becoming cumbersome for her so she flopped him down a little harder than she meant to.
She hissed and cringed on his behalf before she tugged him into a less awkward position. He was, by that point mumbling incoherently though it wasn’t as if Joey would understand anything he said if he was able to say it. “I know.” She told him calmly despite having no idea of what he was saying. “I know. Shhhh…” she breathed out quietly running her hand through his hair soothingly, trying her best to keep from looking down at his beaten body.
“They’ve lost a lot of blood.” Joey called back out to Nao who making sure Tora was situated comfortably. Tora had, at Joey’s words, started to climb up to his feet though it proved to be harder than he realized. He muttered Saga’s name to himself, holding the back of his hand to his forehead as he fell back to the cushion. Had Tora not been so weak and tired, Nao wouldn’t have been able to keep him from pushing through into the room and doing anything he help Saga.
Shou’s chest rose and fell in big movements as he gulped in the air though he was the most alert as his eyes flickered panicky towards Nao. The drummer quickly ducked into the bedroom, the only one in the apartment, where Joey had taken Saga. He saw that Evie had followed the other changeling and she had slinked into the corner and now had her back pressed against the wall; her wings were splayed out flat against the surface and she was shaking. Tears lined the swells of her cheek but she wasn’t making a single sound as they streamed downward.
Evelyn’s chin was lifted rather than pressed down against her chest as Nao expected when he spotted her. Her eyes were focused on Saga and the corpse-like way he appeared. She barely noticed that Nao had entered the room. “He’s dying.” She swallowed hard, her voice shaking just as much as her little shoulders.
Joey’s head lifted and she gawked at Evelyn whose little mouth fall open in a shocked ‘o’ shape. “He’s dying.” Evelyn said again. “His soul is trying to leave - I can see it. It’s separating from his body…he’s dying.” Evie’s tiny hand lifted and she pointed at Saga’s chest. “Right there.” She shook in her spot and her forehead furrowed in little worried creases that were too old for her young face. “I don’t’ want him to die.” She whispered as she shook her head hard.
For a moment, he too was still and uneasy as he looked over where Saga lay on the bed. Nao couldn’t even be sure the unusual breaths Saga took were real; his eyes, as he looked over Saga’s cut chest and arms and his pale, blood stained skin, were more convincing to him than the knowledge that air was still filling Saga’s lungs. His eyes said that Saga’s life was already expired.
Joey looked back down to Saga’s limp form and tried to keep her eyes from running the length of his shadow, but failed. Nao watched her as she sat still with her eyes transfixed on the gray blob that Saga’s body was casting on the bed. He saw nothing more than the way the light created the mirror image but he knew Joey saw much more in it. “Oh god…” Joey finally breathed out. Her voice was scared, another thing Nao had not witnessed from her before. He wondered momentarily if she had behaved this way over him and former dolls they had liberated before they got better; if she worried for each of them when they were on the precipice of death.
In an instant, Joey was on her feet and Nao was saying something about calling an ambulance but Joey grabbed his hand and held him firmly in his spot. “No.” She told him harshly. “Don’t be stupid, you’d blame yourself for letting him die while you wait for the fucking thing to show up. There’s no time. Evie…” Joey dropped down to one knee in front of the little girl. She released Nao’s hand only to place hers, and her other, on Evie’s tiny shoulders. “You’re a doctor, I’ve seen it. You can fix this - you’ve healed so many people. Can’t you, Dr. Lionel?”
Nao was holding his breath; disbelief swept over him at what he was hearing. He thought for sure he had heard Joey wrong; surely she didn’t want Evelyn to replace the help an ambulance could give them. The moment the thought crossed his mind, her head snapped up and she scowled at him in annoyance. “Get out.” She demanded. “Nao, get out. I need you to take your banality and leave. I fucking felt that disbelief. It will fail if you don’t get the fuck out now.”
He couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t a conscious decision to not believe in Evelyn; it was a natural reaction to the suggestion Joey was making and he wanted to tell them both to stop and that they should call real medical professionals. However, there was another part of him that wanted to believe and that was the tiny portion that forced him to walk out of the room and close the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” Shou was more stricken looking than he had been when Nao first saw him again. Tora’s eyes flickered helplessly towards Nao and he stared with a frantic look on his face. The guitarist was disgruntled that he couldn’t bring himself to really speak and he let Shou voice what they both were thinking. “Did she say Saga’s dying?! We have to-”
“Sit back Shou. We can’t do anything-they will help. I trust them to help Saga-kun.” Nao said slowly, lowering himself next to his friend. Shou started at him for a beat before his shoulders slumped and he forced himself to concede to Nao’s words. It wasn’t as if there was much Shou could do in the first place.
The stress was staring to weigh on Nao. He felt like when he first was introduced to the world of magic and vampires; confused and lost and certainly terrified. The fear he had felt then, the sheer helplessness to the awe and power beyond his comprehension, was overwhelming enough to sit heavily on his shoulders. He couldn’t bring a smile out for the life of him, not that he even had the mindset to search himself for one. He glanced over at Tora; the tall man was leaning back against the futon with his eyes closed, having been unable to keep them open for more than a few moments. He was shivering from his fever.
Nao stood and went to the sink where he drew a bowl of cool water and pulled out a wet rag in which he brought back to wipe over Tora’s face when Shou spoke. “You seem to be the healthiest of us anymore Nao-san; that’s hopeful for the rest of us. We can all get better - surely we can if you survived. Even Saga-sama.” Shou spoke, optimism in his voice though part of him was searching for confirmation from the oldest.
Nao bowed softly though couldn’t find words to truly settle Shou’s fears, simply because Nao wasn’t sure those words existed. “Where’s Pon, Shou-san?” Nao asked somberly and stiffly. His eyes shifted over to his friend; Nao was half terrified of the answer. It was a question he’d been trying not to ask again in fear of the answer. Tora grumbled and mumbled to Nao as he continued to wring the rag out and reapply it to Tora’s forehead. The only discernable word was Saga’s name but even that was muffled between other strange, musings.
Shou’s head dropped and Nao frowned instinctively. “I don’t know.” Shou finally said. “We saw him last in Payton’s apartment where…it was…” Shou trailed off as his stomach lurched involuntarily at the thought and he heaved against an empty belly which only made him gag. Nao’s eyebrows came together and he proceeded to rinse the rag again in the bowl which was conspicuously turning pink from the blood that had been on Tora’s face from some former torture session.
“It’s okay Shou-san.” Nao told him softly, his voice trailing off into the stillness of the room around them.
The man had leaned forward with his head between his knees as he tried to get a hold on his uneasy stomach. The moment pulled against old wounds on his body but it was just another bit of pain he had to endure. Shou leaned up and, when he caught Nao’s eye, the drummer was slightly unnerved to find that the singer was smiling. “Did you ever think…this would happen to us? That this could be real? It’s - crazy. Everything about it.” Shou said slowly, an odd amount of amusement in his voice. He was terrified for Saga and he was equally as terrified for Hiroto but the optimism of their situation, the fact that the were safe in that moment, was overpowering his fear. “Nao there are vampires. Real vampires. They eat people. They ate Payton-san. There are magic people that used to only exist in children’s books. They do magic-amazing magic. There are animal people too…it’s…insanity.” Shou said, an odd smile on his lips as he blinked hard.
Nao nodded slowly, his head tipped to the side. “Yes. And real. Very real.” He paused. “As real as we let it be. And we need it to be real right now, Shou. We need it to be real or Saga will die. Can you believe in it? No matter how crazy it is?” Nao asked anxiously.
“I never didn’t.” Shou said softly, glancing back over at the closed door as a soft yellow light, which seemed to sparkle oddly, shown under the small crevice that separated the floor from the door. Even though Shou had seen magic before, it was shocking to see the sudden colorful display peaking through the slits around the door. Almost in that same instance, the door opened and Evie emerged through it.
“I’d like to see his family. Are you family?” She demanded of Nao before looking to Shou. It was as if she was a doctor with news to bare to the impatient relatives. She didn’t give either a chance to answer as Shou squinted at her, not truly understanding her words from how child-like and quickly she spoke them. Though he was stunned for a moment and wouldn’t have been able to focus on her words had she spoken them slowly and clearly. For the first time, he could see the wings against her small back. It occurred to Shou that the magic could have come from the small girl that stood before them. He blinked in disbelief and, the moment he couldn’t believe his eyes, they vanished momentarily.
“That’s what I thought.” She said in an authoritative tone as she tugged on the sleeves of the dirty shirt she wore. There was blood on it, seemingly from whatever ‘medical procedure’ she had just preformed. “Of course you are family. He’s going to be fine. Tired and a little sore but he will live.” She said with a firm nod. It was the same way she had healed Nao’s wrists-it took more magic to heal Saga’s many wounds but the same belief that she could had given her the complete ability to do it.
A smile broke out across Nao’s face and he leaned down to Tora’s ear, patting the man lightly on the shoulder as he told him everything would be fine. He was grateful for the remarkable little girl that stood before him-one that was subject to the harsh life of a changeling and yet could do more good for people than most of the people Nao had ever met.
A second later all the energy and authority and confidence she’d had escaped her as she blinked sleepily. Evelyn suddenly collapsed into an unconscious heap on the floor, having expended every ounce of energy her little body contained, which was already challenged from the terrifying trip, her braveness against the vampires and staring in the face of death.
______________________
Authors' Note
Mandy & Jackie: 71K words dude--we're getting to that 100K goal. We think we can do it too--we're getting to the end. :D That is relative to say but the end is nearer in sight than it was before (we are, after all, techically on chapter fifteen ^_^). We are still expecting to have this done by December 1st--by the even of NaNo as planned. Unless the world falls apart. :D
Thank you for reading and as always--any questions, please please PLEASE ask!!!