A chuckle escaped him as she likened the possibility of their would-be lives to that of an old sitcom. Mostly, he was glad to hear her starting to come back to herself, her sense of humor the most reassuring thing at that moment. When she dove under the surface of the water, he watched her pink strands float apart from each other, and he found himself wondering what life could have been like somewhere else... with his parents alive, with no Monacello or Vescovo... But Alba wasn't a fan of 'could have been' situations. Reality had enough problems as it was without adding the depression that came with a 'what could have happened' line of thinking. Still, he did see what some people could find appealing about the fantasy.
When she came back up and grasped his hand, his eyes met hers again, and he listened to her slight request. He nodded in response, wondering why she thought Soiree wouldn't understand. Granted, he wasn't quite as close to Jinx as he was, but they were still close. What could be so secret? Was he supposed to not know she was prone to having explosions of power like that? Silently, he listened, waiting to hear an answer... but not the one he got.
"Lesions?" His eyes were wider now, in shock and surprise, and perhaps just a little bit of fearful sadness to boot. She couldn't... couldn't... "Are you... oh, Jinx..." It was a little too much. Dealing with her having a breakdown? Not a problem. Cleaning the blood and grime from her wounds? Piece of cake. Talking her back into a semblance of sanity? Easy. Finding out she was on a ticking mortality clock? ...not so much. Reflexively, he squeezed back, holding her hand to his cheek. Those green oceans looked strangely calm, the prelude to a storm that would probably never make it past his own mind. Jinx was his big sister. She could be hurt, she could be broken, but she could never be killed! She was invincible! Immortal! There was no way the girl who kept the nightmares away, who held him and soothed his injuries, who was always there for him... No way... None.
"They... can anything be done about them? I mean, we could get you some help, right? Some real medical help, not a hired Family medic or something, I mean specialists, a clinic, something..." He knew he was just grasping at straws, and she probably knew, too. He looked away from her eyes for the first time since he came to get her, for once honestly not wanting to face the truth. "Or... you know, outside of Italy, there's all sorts of places that are still advancing medicine. Maybe we could find someplace that could help. I don't mean cure it, that's a long shot... but maybe some place to ease it, give you some extra years..." His voice was calm, collected as always... which made it more obvious it was covering up something. Alba wasn't a creature of extreme emotion, but he was only human, prone to the same stimuli as any person. When the right buttons were pushed, even he couldn't be as impassive as he'd normally portray.
Quietly, he kissed her hand, finally looking at her again. This time, he wasn't able to mask his tears as easily as before, his eyes shining with fresh moisture. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and offered his smile again, sad as it may have been at that moment. "So... I guess the possibility of getting cut down when you step outside isn't so scary after all, is it?"
And now came almost exactly what she was expecting. Alba had always been the more emotional of the two boys, but not on the outside... not in front of other people. But Jinx knew him, and she knew him well. Every time he had cried at her embrace, every time she stayed awake until sunrise and held him through his nightmares. That was back when he was younger, before he became the man who handled delicate operations for the Monacello, who's job was to be calm and collected. A man who drove fast cars, wore his sunglasses at night and could occasionally kill a man. And now he was quickly reverting back to the young boy who had lost his parents. She knew something like this would hit Alba harder, deeper, but Soiree would not understand like his brother would. Soiree was not as close to Jinx, he was not the one who needed her comfort, and he was not one to give it, clean up her wounds, and hug her until she fell asleep.
Calmly, she let him rant, only moving to lift her head from her knees when he looked away from her. Softly, she cupped his cheek in her hand and caressed along the frame of his face with her thumb. No matter how hard she tried, they would not stop shaking. All of Alba's options, all the things he tried to think of to help his big sister... they were not going to work. The lesions were a painfully slow cancer embedded deep within her brain tissue, and not surgery, not the special AMC doctors or Jushirou's voodoo tea were going to help anything. And using her abilities only sped things upon, only destroyed her further. That was something she would keep from him, though. She wanted him to continue looking at her abilities like they were fun, like they made things more interesting, not that they killed her faster.
When he kissed her hand, she leaned more toward the edge of the bathtub and caught his eyes as he stared back. Tears... when she had been crying for hours now, she felt as if it were going to start all over again seeing that moisture in his beautiful green eyes. "No... I guess it's not. I've found that ultimatums ease you after you've gotten past the initial shock. I also find them very motivational." With a heavy sigh, she let her legs stretch out in front of her and unstopped the drain with her foot. The water was growing colder, anyway. And slowly, she stood, shaking, barely able to hold herself up. As she attempted to stop her head from spinning, pounding, she leaned against the tile wall and brushed the tips of her fingers against his face.
"I've never left Reggio Calabria and that's not going to change anytime soon. I've made my place in this city and I'm not going to let you give up your dreams to help a lost cause. Alba, someday you're going to save the world and I'm not getting in the way of that... I'm helping. I... I want to make good. I'm bad luck... but I want to help carry on the dream that Fate put in your head. I... I don't want to die... but everyone has to eventually. I just know my time is a bit more limited than anyone else... so I'm not going to waste it on stupid shit until someone comes along and kills me before the lesions do." She ignored it, blamed it on her previous state, but the tears once again poured from her stinging eyes and streaked her cheeks. "Now come on, Diavolo dell'Alba. Why don't we get me a towel before I freeze and you help me bandage up this arm, eh?"
Her knees giving up on her, she came as gracefully as she could in the half fall to sit on the edge of the tub, her feet in the draining water. "I'm not looking for extra years," she said so softly that her voice did not even echo in the small bathroom. "I'm looking to make the best of the years I have left." Today was a day of realization, a day where new things were discovered and older ones were dug up. One of the new things Jinx came to know was the exact reason why Alba always wore his sunglasses. It was because his eyes were too heartbreaking with sad, too impactful when serious, too endearing when happy... and she felt herself falling in love with another man every time she looked deeply into his emerald irises.
The sound of water beginning to drain preluded her standing, and Alba rose with her, his hand still over hers, feeling the shaking under his fingers, wishing he could steady her just for a moment. When her fingers brushed his face, he closed his eyes, blinking a single set of tears down his cheeks before looking into those pink feline eyes, red-ringed as they were but much less feral than before. Her words came through, hitting him deep - he was a hopeless idealist, true enough, and everything Fate had planted in his head was a crapshoot at best when it came to the likeliness of it actually happening, but to hear someone other than Soiree or himself affirm a commitment to it... it touched him deeply. It gave him a minor spark of hope that they could make a difference here. Even when she brought reality back when she mentioned her time running out, he still felt a certain warmth knowing that, even then, she'd still be there for them, still supporting them when they needed her most. He smiled in response, reaching up to wipe her tears away. "...thank you, sis."
He let out a faint chuckle. "Sorry. Yeah, let me get that for you." He turned away, grabbing one of the dark red towels from the shelf on the opposite wall. He stopped before turning back, listening to her words, his eyes locking on the towel as another sad smile touched his lips. While he didn't want to think about it, the fact of the matter was that she was going to die before either of the Meira twins, and though it wasn't the best of news to hear, she had a point. Better to use the time left to its fullest than to squander it, wishing for more time. Nodding silently, he turned to face her again, opening the towel up and draping it across her shoulders. He gathered a few first aid supplies in one hand, and offered her the other. The bathroom was getting too cold, and besides, he needed to find her something to wear once she was fixed up.
Leading her out into the hall, he opened the door to his room, keeping his hand on hers until she was settled on the bed. He dropped the supplies on his dresser before squatting in front of it, looking through his clothes for something that wouldn't look terribly stupid on the much smaller girl. Eventually, he came back up with a couple of oversized (on her) T-shirts and set them on the bed, waiting for her to finish drying. He reached for the supplies he'd brought from the bathroom, taking a few gauze pads and spreading some Neosporin on them before asking Jinx to hold out her arm. Gently, he patted the gauze onto the gash, then reached around for the medical tape, rolling off a few strips to wrap around her arm, holding the gauze in place.
"There we go..." He held her arm in his hands, looking up into her eyes. "I think that should hold it together for now." As he set the supplies back down, he sighed inaudibly, trying to keep his composure. He still had the urge to cry behind his eyes, burning, but he wanted desperately to be stronger than that. He was stronger than that. He just had to throw in a little of his professionalism. Easily done, right? Not as easily as one would think, when it was his sister in question. Something about her brought out parts of him that never grew up, parts of him that still needed her to be the guardian angel in striped tights and black vinyl. And it showed. Again, his eyes watered as he looked at her, wishing there was something more he could do for her...
As she sat there on the edge of the tub, her cheeks still tingled from where Alba had reached down to dry her tears. And when she closed her stinging eyes, she could only see his green irises looking at her sadly, saline rolling down his cheekbones. Jinx wanted to kiss it away, wanted to make him smile once again... but in the end, it was her who had made him that way. It was her fault he was sad, that he was crying and that he had gotten hurt. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around herself, grasping onto her opposite shoulders, and found herself shivering against the porcelain tub. And as always, Alba was there for her. Through her sorrow, her stress, the pounding headache and her wounds... she managed to give a small sort of smile as she felt the warm towel hug her body. When he offered her a hand, she stood on trembling knees, grabbed the towel together in front of her, then took his help to get her out of the tub.
With him, she traveled down the familiar hallway to his comfortable bedroom. The last time she had seen it was under much different circumstance with completely opposite emotions. Slowly, a bit painfully as well, she came to rest upon his bed. Her lids almost as heavy as her head, she fought with herself to keep from laying down and falling asleep forever in his safe scent of leather. Instead, she focused as much as she could on drying herself off. Luckily, the towel was just as red as her blood, so she did not cause too much damage to it. At steady as she could manage, she held out her arm to Alba, like a child who had just fallen off their bike and needed the places that hurt kissed to be able to get back on. When he put the gauze over her gash, she winced and closed her eyes, waiting for him to finish. But the next time she opened her eyes, she almost had to jerk herself to make sure her body had not fallen asleep.
"Thank you, Alba..." she told him softly, looking at his handiwork and giving another sad smile. Then she took the wet towel away from her body, replacing it with the first thing she grabbed beside her. After pulling the shirt over her body, she felt much more comfortable, a bit better about this most of this situation. The cotton neckline dipped low on her body, circling over her thin collarbones. The sleeves came to her elbows, and the bottom of the shirt hit her mid thigh longer than the dress she had been previously wearing. In this state, she felt as if she was allowed to be small and weak, just for this once, in front of Alba and only Alba. At that moment, she may not have been his superhero, but she felt human, and that feeling was enough for her.
"Now, stop it," she told him, giving a weak smile. "You were never this worried when I was off fighting entire gangs by myself, or on dangerous missions. Just because you now know that something else may kill me if I manage to survive this city shouldn't change anything unless you were planning on marrying me or something. Now come on, come here." Seeing the moisture in his eyes, she knew it was time to play older sister. Trying her best to keep her hand steady, though it continued to shake terribly, she leaned up and weakly took his wrist. "Come here, kiddo," she coaxed him down onto the bed with her, to sit next to her. "I'm not going anywhere right now. You're the kind of guy who likes to live in the present, don't change that. Now come on, baby. Lay down with me, hold me for a while."
Clumsily, slowly, she adjusted herself on the bed to where she could lay down, putting him along with her. And then she laid on her side, cuddling close to him, putting her head against his warm chest. Her body was spent and it was hard now to keep her eyes open. She knew very well she had to have a concussion after all she had put herself through, but she was too tired to care about the risk of putting herself in a coma. Jinx was too stubborn to remain in a coma for more than a day. She would get too restless being bedridden. "I'm not gonna leave you anytime soon. I love you too much for that. And you still owe me too much to get off that easily." And then she leaned head head up to him. To comfort him she had always kissed his forehead, maybe his cheek, as he had been doing to her that night. But softly, she laid her lips down to his.
It was only meant to last a moment, but her trembling hands came to him, one resting at the top of his head, the other at his cheek. For a moment she pulled back, barely a centimeter, and let out a gentle breath, her eyes half lidded, as she looked at him. Then, she came back down into a kiss to tell him everything was going to be all right, that she was there, tender, affectionate, and so delicate that it was not the Jinx the rest of the world knew. This was the girl that Alba had known since he was young, who had comforted him many times as he cried... and who could not entirely understand why she felt the need to do this. Kissing in her mind was only meant for pleasure, only leading into lust... but this was different... especially as she could feel her eyes hot once more, the saline rolling from her cheekbone to his. "I'm not going to leave you, Alba. I promise," she whispered to him, her lips brushing his as she spoke so softly. It was reassurance for him... and she needed it for herself. She needed to tell him that out of her own disbelief. And again, she gently kissed him, weaving her fingers into his hair.
He sighed when he felt her fingers at his wrist, disappointed at himself for letting it get to him so badly. "When you went on missions though, you were making the choice... and I don't know, I didn't feel helpless about it back then." As he settled down next to her, he closed his eyes, hit with the fact that he couldn't help her, either with his brain or with his fists; it really was as inevitable as it seemed. Eventually, he'd come to accept that, but right now, nothing in the world could break him from the sadness that had grabbed the base of his brain. Right now, reality had confronted him hard, and the last time that had happened, he and Soiree were orphans without a home. He could normally deal with anything life threw at him; that was one of the things he was proud of, when compared to how he was as a child. But nothing hit him close to home, ever. This was different.
The funny thing was, as he lay down, Jinx closing to his chest, he felt safe again, like this was all going to blow over, and he would be okay. Something about her had always done that to him, made him feel protected, and it was strange that it was still true, even though he was now much bigger, much more in control of himself. Strange, but comfortable. He wasn't going to argue with comfort at that point. His lips curved at her words, especially the part about owing her, and he started to respond... only to feel her lips against his.
They'd kissed many times previous that week, all in one night really. They'd kissed a few times before, when they were children, for a variety of reason: to see what it felt like, dares, games, that sort of thing. But this kiss she laid on him, it was different from every other kiss they had shared. It was warm, soft, tender; like the ones he'd been placing on her forehead and cheek all night. It wasn't at all what he expected. When she broke away, her eyes meeting his, he felt something melt away. It was a moment where the world stopped, and all that existed was the two of them, him almost trying to curl into her the way he would, long ago. This was a safe place, a place with nothing but love and comfort. When she kissed him again, he kissed back, telling her that he would be all right, that he knew she'd be there for him, and that he would do the same, never leaving her.
"I know, Jinx." He whispered softly, meaning it only for her to hear. "I'm not leaving you, either." He smiled slightly against her lips; not his usual smile, not the one of the adult Alba Meira, consigliere to the Monacello family. It was the smile of little Alba, the smile he gave whenever his big sister Jinx was around to hold his hand. "Cross my heart." Another kiss, still warm, still comforting. His hands spread across her back, holding on to her like she held him earlier, like she was the only thing real right there. He wouldn't let her go that easily; even in the face of death, he would still hold onto her hand.
That smile was enough for her. Seeing it cross his lips, she felt something clench in her heart that made her feel like it was a promise she would always keep. Of course she did not wish to leave him, but times always changed and her promises were always broken with the dramatic shifts of her emotion. But this was so much different. This was Alba, her Alba, the little boy she needed to make happy, the one she needed to protect more than anything else in this world. Even though he was so much bigger now, even though her Alba was strong, responsible and could take care of himself... there was still that little part of her who needed him to need her. That little boy she knew years ago; the one who she immediately attached to because he reminded her so dearly of her own brother. Maybe that was why she was feeling this way, why her head swam with emotions that swelled in every beat of her heart. Maybe it was just what had happened tonight, her mental breakdown and the emotional trauma peeking through. That was what she told herself, what she believed to be true tonight.
His hands spread across her back, his fingertips reaching the entire span between her shoulder blades. As he held here there against him, she felt a Soiree level of corny. It was as if... as if everything was going to be all right as long as Alba was there. As if she was really human, just a girl, and there was no need to be sad about the things she could not control. She kissed him as if it were the last time she would ever be able to feel him close to her. Tears flowed freely from her eyes because of this emotion, because she felt safe, because she was frightened, alone, terrified of losing him, not wanting to lose herself, because a choking came in her chest this time, not from her throat. Or maybe it was just being with him... and nothing more...
The whole night could have been dreamt away in his kiss. The sun was setting now, its deep light shining penetrating his window and shining through between the slits in his blinds. Sunsets were always thought of as endings, where the burning star vanquished itself upon the horizon, leaving the earth in the black of night. Yet night to Jinx was just a prelude to a new beginning, a new morning that would dawn so brightly she had to squint toward the east. The night was nothing to be afraid of, for it was simply a transition into a new day, a time for the sun to take a rest from the Hell of Reggio Calabria. And when the new morning came, it would bathe even the darkest of corners in an ethereal light that only had good intentions... much like Alba's heart. But to realize these things, someone had to look past the night and forward to the morning, and be willing to take in that light in all its good graces.
The children embraced, the two adults kept their lips together in all their warmth, and there was something tonight between the devil and the damned that was not going to be soon forgotten. When she pulled from his lips, she inhaled a whisper of a breath and wiped the tears away from his cheeks, not entirely sure if there were hers or his and not caring in the least. For the moment in time they were allowed to freeze and be the only people existing, he was all the things, everything, she ever needed to care about. Without a doubt, there was nowhere else in this world she would rather be. "Can I... can we stay together until morning?" she asked him, her voice low, breathless. "I'd like that...I'd like you to hold me... stay with me..." Her head came back to rest on his chest, her eyelids falling heavy as she cuddled near and listened to the sounds of his heartbeat. "If it's okay... I want to stay with you, here, for a while. I want to be able to fall asleep with you... il mio amore."
The choking sound came again, different from before, somehow softer. Less like something was missing, and more like she finally had something. Alba listened quietly, stroking her back before reaching up to her hair, running his fingers along her damp locks as he pulled her closer against him. If he couldn't cradle himself into her body, then he'd do the opposite, being the warmth, the protection that they both wanted to be for each other. When they parted, he took in her eyes, so full of pain, so tormented... and still so powerful. He looked into her eyes, and always found the strength, the courage to face anything. This time, it was the courage to face life, to face the truth, and not back down in the shadow of death. He blinked as she touched his cheeks, his own eyes deep and surprisingly steady as he watched her. When she spoke, they brightened for a moment, as though he realized that she wasn't just some hallucination before him.
"Yeah... of course you can stay here, schwester. I... I'd like that as well." He let out a slow breath, which trailed off as he heard her use those words. He really didn't expect to ever hear those words come from her lips, and he especially never expected to hear her direct them at him. She meant the world to him, one of the only people he'd truly die for, but to hear her call him that... He was a little confused, and maybe just a little scared. She had claimed she was in love already... but, at the same time, something inside him smiled. For her to think of him that way... it didn't feel like an ill-fitting suit, so to speak. Perhaps it was just the stability he represented to her. Perhaps it was just how he had cared for her earlier. Maybe it just had something to do with the promise he'd made, the promise he'd intended to keep above all else. Maybe... just maybe, it was just the honest-to-god truth that he was hearing. He didn't know, and after everything that had happened that day, he didn't care.
Reaching his arm to fully embrace her, he nodded slightly, kissing her hair. "Then stay with me, il mio preziosa. I won't leave you."
...or perhaps Alba was grasping for logic, something concrete, trying to do the impossible of rationalizing Jinx's actions. The young assassin felt herself drift away, yet instead of jerking herself awake once more, she let herself go further and further toward slumber. As her body relaxed against him, she felt his arm's embrace. There was a gentle kiss atop her head. And he called her something... his precious. With a small smile, she whispered, "Sarò qui, per sempre.."
I will be here, for always.
The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was the comforting rhythm of his steady heartbeat.
When she came back up and grasped his hand, his eyes met hers again, and he listened to her slight request. He nodded in response, wondering why she thought Soiree wouldn't understand. Granted, he wasn't quite as close to Jinx as he was, but they were still close. What could be so secret? Was he supposed to not know she was prone to having explosions of power like that? Silently, he listened, waiting to hear an answer... but not the one he got.
"Lesions?" His eyes were wider now, in shock and surprise, and perhaps just a little bit of fearful sadness to boot. She couldn't... couldn't... "Are you... oh, Jinx..." It was a little too much. Dealing with her having a breakdown? Not a problem. Cleaning the blood and grime from her wounds? Piece of cake. Talking her back into a semblance of sanity? Easy. Finding out she was on a ticking mortality clock? ...not so much. Reflexively, he squeezed back, holding her hand to his cheek. Those green oceans looked strangely calm, the prelude to a storm that would probably never make it past his own mind. Jinx was his big sister. She could be hurt, she could be broken, but she could never be killed! She was invincible! Immortal! There was no way the girl who kept the nightmares away, who held him and soothed his injuries, who was always there for him... No way... None.
"They... can anything be done about them? I mean, we could get you some help, right? Some real medical help, not a hired Family medic or something, I mean specialists, a clinic, something..." He knew he was just grasping at straws, and she probably knew, too. He looked away from her eyes for the first time since he came to get her, for once honestly not wanting to face the truth. "Or... you know, outside of Italy, there's all sorts of places that are still advancing medicine. Maybe we could find someplace that could help. I don't mean cure it, that's a long shot... but maybe some place to ease it, give you some extra years..." His voice was calm, collected as always... which made it more obvious it was covering up something. Alba wasn't a creature of extreme emotion, but he was only human, prone to the same stimuli as any person. When the right buttons were pushed, even he couldn't be as impassive as he'd normally portray.
Quietly, he kissed her hand, finally looking at her again. This time, he wasn't able to mask his tears as easily as before, his eyes shining with fresh moisture. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and offered his smile again, sad as it may have been at that moment. "So... I guess the possibility of getting cut down when you step outside isn't so scary after all, is it?"
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Calmly, she let him rant, only moving to lift her head from her knees when he looked away from her. Softly, she cupped his cheek in her hand and caressed along the frame of his face with her thumb. No matter how hard she tried, they would not stop shaking. All of Alba's options, all the things he tried to think of to help his big sister... they were not going to work. The lesions were a painfully slow cancer embedded deep within her brain tissue, and not surgery, not the special AMC doctors or Jushirou's voodoo tea were going to help anything. And using her abilities only sped things upon, only destroyed her further. That was something she would keep from him, though. She wanted him to continue looking at her abilities like they were fun, like they made things more interesting, not that they killed her faster.
When he kissed her hand, she leaned more toward the edge of the bathtub and caught his eyes as he stared back. Tears... when she had been crying for hours now, she felt as if it were going to start all over again seeing that moisture in his beautiful green eyes. "No... I guess it's not. I've found that ultimatums ease you after you've gotten past the initial shock. I also find them very motivational." With a heavy sigh, she let her legs stretch out in front of her and unstopped the drain with her foot. The water was growing colder, anyway. And slowly, she stood, shaking, barely able to hold herself up. As she attempted to stop her head from spinning, pounding, she leaned against the tile wall and brushed the tips of her fingers against his face.
"I've never left Reggio Calabria and that's not going to change anytime soon. I've made my place in this city and I'm not going to let you give up your dreams to help a lost cause. Alba, someday you're going to save the world and I'm not getting in the way of that... I'm helping. I... I want to make good. I'm bad luck... but I want to help carry on the dream that Fate put in your head. I... I don't want to die... but everyone has to eventually. I just know my time is a bit more limited than anyone else... so I'm not going to waste it on stupid shit until someone comes along and kills me before the lesions do." She ignored it, blamed it on her previous state, but the tears once again poured from her stinging eyes and streaked her cheeks. "Now come on, Diavolo dell'Alba. Why don't we get me a towel before I freeze and you help me bandage up this arm, eh?"
Her knees giving up on her, she came as gracefully as she could in the half fall to sit on the edge of the tub, her feet in the draining water. "I'm not looking for extra years," she said so softly that her voice did not even echo in the small bathroom. "I'm looking to make the best of the years I have left." Today was a day of realization, a day where new things were discovered and older ones were dug up. One of the new things Jinx came to know was the exact reason why Alba always wore his sunglasses. It was because his eyes were too heartbreaking with sad, too impactful when serious, too endearing when happy... and she felt herself falling in love with another man every time she looked deeply into his emerald irises.
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He let out a faint chuckle. "Sorry. Yeah, let me get that for you." He turned away, grabbing one of the dark red towels from the shelf on the opposite wall. He stopped before turning back, listening to her words, his eyes locking on the towel as another sad smile touched his lips. While he didn't want to think about it, the fact of the matter was that she was going to die before either of the Meira twins, and though it wasn't the best of news to hear, she had a point. Better to use the time left to its fullest than to squander it, wishing for more time. Nodding silently, he turned to face her again, opening the towel up and draping it across her shoulders. He gathered a few first aid supplies in one hand, and offered her the other. The bathroom was getting too cold, and besides, he needed to find her something to wear once she was fixed up.
Leading her out into the hall, he opened the door to his room, keeping his hand on hers until she was settled on the bed. He dropped the supplies on his dresser before squatting in front of it, looking through his clothes for something that wouldn't look terribly stupid on the much smaller girl. Eventually, he came back up with a couple of oversized (on her) T-shirts and set them on the bed, waiting for her to finish drying. He reached for the supplies he'd brought from the bathroom, taking a few gauze pads and spreading some Neosporin on them before asking Jinx to hold out her arm. Gently, he patted the gauze onto the gash, then reached around for the medical tape, rolling off a few strips to wrap around her arm, holding the gauze in place.
"There we go..." He held her arm in his hands, looking up into her eyes. "I think that should hold it together for now." As he set the supplies back down, he sighed inaudibly, trying to keep his composure. He still had the urge to cry behind his eyes, burning, but he wanted desperately to be stronger than that. He was stronger than that. He just had to throw in a little of his professionalism. Easily done, right? Not as easily as one would think, when it was his sister in question. Something about her brought out parts of him that never grew up, parts of him that still needed her to be the guardian angel in striped tights and black vinyl. And it showed. Again, his eyes watered as he looked at her, wishing there was something more he could do for her...
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With him, she traveled down the familiar hallway to his comfortable bedroom. The last time she had seen it was under much different circumstance with completely opposite emotions. Slowly, a bit painfully as well, she came to rest upon his bed. Her lids almost as heavy as her head, she fought with herself to keep from laying down and falling asleep forever in his safe scent of leather. Instead, she focused as much as she could on drying herself off. Luckily, the towel was just as red as her blood, so she did not cause too much damage to it. At steady as she could manage, she held out her arm to Alba, like a child who had just fallen off their bike and needed the places that hurt kissed to be able to get back on. When he put the gauze over her gash, she winced and closed her eyes, waiting for him to finish. But the next time she opened her eyes, she almost had to jerk herself to make sure her body had not fallen asleep.
"Thank you, Alba..." she told him softly, looking at his handiwork and giving another sad smile. Then she took the wet towel away from her body, replacing it with the first thing she grabbed beside her. After pulling the shirt over her body, she felt much more comfortable, a bit better about this most of this situation. The cotton neckline dipped low on her body, circling over her thin collarbones. The sleeves came to her elbows, and the bottom of the shirt hit her mid thigh longer than the dress she had been previously wearing. In this state, she felt as if she was allowed to be small and weak, just for this once, in front of Alba and only Alba. At that moment, she may not have been his superhero, but she felt human, and that feeling was enough for her.
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Clumsily, slowly, she adjusted herself on the bed to where she could lay down, putting him along with her. And then she laid on her side, cuddling close to him, putting her head against his warm chest. Her body was spent and it was hard now to keep her eyes open. She knew very well she had to have a concussion after all she had put herself through, but she was too tired to care about the risk of putting herself in a coma. Jinx was too stubborn to remain in a coma for more than a day. She would get too restless being bedridden. "I'm not gonna leave you anytime soon. I love you too much for that. And you still owe me too much to get off that easily." And then she leaned head head up to him. To comfort him she had always kissed his forehead, maybe his cheek, as he had been doing to her that night. But softly, she laid her lips down to his.
It was only meant to last a moment, but her trembling hands came to him, one resting at the top of his head, the other at his cheek. For a moment she pulled back, barely a centimeter, and let out a gentle breath, her eyes half lidded, as she looked at him. Then, she came back down into a kiss to tell him everything was going to be all right, that she was there, tender, affectionate, and so delicate that it was not the Jinx the rest of the world knew. This was the girl that Alba had known since he was young, who had comforted him many times as he cried... and who could not entirely understand why she felt the need to do this. Kissing in her mind was only meant for pleasure, only leading into lust... but this was different... especially as she could feel her eyes hot once more, the saline rolling from her cheekbone to his. "I'm not going to leave you, Alba. I promise," she whispered to him, her lips brushing his as she spoke so softly. It was reassurance for him... and she needed it for herself. She needed to tell him that out of her own disbelief. And again, she gently kissed him, weaving her fingers into his hair.
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The funny thing was, as he lay down, Jinx closing to his chest, he felt safe again, like this was all going to blow over, and he would be okay. Something about her had always done that to him, made him feel protected, and it was strange that it was still true, even though he was now much bigger, much more in control of himself. Strange, but comfortable. He wasn't going to argue with comfort at that point. His lips curved at her words, especially the part about owing her, and he started to respond... only to feel her lips against his.
They'd kissed many times previous that week, all in one night really. They'd kissed a few times before, when they were children, for a variety of reason: to see what it felt like, dares, games, that sort of thing. But this kiss she laid on him, it was different from every other kiss they had shared. It was warm, soft, tender; like the ones he'd been placing on her forehead and cheek all night. It wasn't at all what he expected. When she broke away, her eyes meeting his, he felt something melt away. It was a moment where the world stopped, and all that existed was the two of them, him almost trying to curl into her the way he would, long ago. This was a safe place, a place with nothing but love and comfort. When she kissed him again, he kissed back, telling her that he would be all right, that he knew she'd be there for him, and that he would do the same, never leaving her.
"I know, Jinx." He whispered softly, meaning it only for her to hear. "I'm not leaving you, either." He smiled slightly against her lips; not his usual smile, not the one of the adult Alba Meira, consigliere to the Monacello family. It was the smile of little Alba, the smile he gave whenever his big sister Jinx was around to hold his hand. "Cross my heart." Another kiss, still warm, still comforting. His hands spread across her back, holding on to her like she held him earlier, like she was the only thing real right there. He wouldn't let her go that easily; even in the face of death, he would still hold onto her hand.
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His hands spread across her back, his fingertips reaching the entire span between her shoulder blades. As he held here there against him, she felt a Soiree level of corny. It was as if... as if everything was going to be all right as long as Alba was there. As if she was really human, just a girl, and there was no need to be sad about the things she could not control. She kissed him as if it were the last time she would ever be able to feel him close to her. Tears flowed freely from her eyes because of this emotion, because she felt safe, because she was frightened, alone, terrified of losing him, not wanting to lose herself, because a choking came in her chest this time, not from her throat. Or maybe it was just being with him... and nothing more...
The whole night could have been dreamt away in his kiss. The sun was setting now, its deep light shining penetrating his window and shining through between the slits in his blinds. Sunsets were always thought of as endings, where the burning star vanquished itself upon the horizon, leaving the earth in the black of night. Yet night to Jinx was just a prelude to a new beginning, a new morning that would dawn so brightly she had to squint toward the east. The night was nothing to be afraid of, for it was simply a transition into a new day, a time for the sun to take a rest from the Hell of Reggio Calabria. And when the new morning came, it would bathe even the darkest of corners in an ethereal light that only had good intentions... much like Alba's heart. But to realize these things, someone had to look past the night and forward to the morning, and be willing to take in that light in all its good graces.
The children embraced, the two adults kept their lips together in all their warmth, and there was something tonight between the devil and the damned that was not going to be soon forgotten. When she pulled from his lips, she inhaled a whisper of a breath and wiped the tears away from his cheeks, not entirely sure if there were hers or his and not caring in the least. For the moment in time they were allowed to freeze and be the only people existing, he was all the things, everything, she ever needed to care about. Without a doubt, there was nowhere else in this world she would rather be. "Can I... can we stay together until morning?" she asked him, her voice low, breathless. "I'd like that...I'd like you to hold me... stay with me..." Her head came back to rest on his chest, her eyelids falling heavy as she cuddled near and listened to the sounds of his heartbeat. "If it's okay... I want to stay with you, here, for a while. I want to be able to fall asleep with you... il mio amore."
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"Yeah... of course you can stay here, schwester. I... I'd like that as well." He let out a slow breath, which trailed off as he heard her use those words. He really didn't expect to ever hear those words come from her lips, and he especially never expected to hear her direct them at him. She meant the world to him, one of the only people he'd truly die for, but to hear her call him that... He was a little confused, and maybe just a little scared. She had claimed she was in love already... but, at the same time, something inside him smiled. For her to think of him that way... it didn't feel like an ill-fitting suit, so to speak. Perhaps it was just the stability he represented to her. Perhaps it was just how he had cared for her earlier. Maybe it just had something to do with the promise he'd made, the promise he'd intended to keep above all else. Maybe... just maybe, it was just the honest-to-god truth that he was hearing. He didn't know, and after everything that had happened that day, he didn't care.
Reaching his arm to fully embrace her, he nodded slightly, kissing her hair. "Then stay with me, il mio preziosa. I won't leave you."
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I will be here, for always.
The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was the comforting rhythm of his steady heartbeat.
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