Mommy Dearest: Chapter 6
Summary: Casey’s hit bad during an attack and fades between reality and memories of his past.
What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.
-Cynthia Ozick
The first thing Casey became aware of as he drifted back to consciousness was that he was in pain. It radiated from his side and he gave a groan. Blinking against the harsh light, there was a moment of motion sickness where he realized that he was moving.
“You’ll be alright, Casey.”
The voice was female and not at all convincing. There was a sound of panic to the tone. He glanced over and saw he was being drug up the steps to the loft by both Lily and Theo.
“RJ!”
Their master appeared at the top of the stairs and paled. “What happened?” He was by their side in an instant.
“Casey was hit.” Theo replied, as RJ pulled Casey from Lily’s side and slid one of Casey’s arms around his neck. The arrow that had pierced his friend was clutched tightly in his free hand.
The jarring motion from the move caused Casey’s legs to give out from under him and he almost took all three of them down the stairs.
“Let’s get him inside.”
The voices were starting to sound muffled and far away.
He caught a glimpse of purple hair right before his vision went black.
oOoOoOoOoOo
“Boy!”
Casey rolled his eyes and backed away from the scope. He glanced over his shoulder to see the tall mass of red and silver lounging at his chair. “What?”Annoyance laced his voice.
“Shouldn’t you off with your sisters… training?”He said his last word with distaste, as if training the three was a huge waste of time.
“Nope.” He went back to watching the earth. “No training today. Mom went with Dallina, Sorani, and Rita on some sort of girl’s day out... or something like that.”
“Hmm…”
He couldn’t figure out what exactly it was that attracted Rita to him. Oh, well. It looked like it was going to be a long boring day. Maybe he should have gone with the females.
That though gave him pause and Casey shook his head. There a brief flash of him following around his family, going from store to store, watching as his sisters begged mom to buy them frilly little female outfits, having to help haul them around.
Or maybe not.
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“There’s so much blood!”
“Calm down, Lily! Panicking isn’t going to help!”
“We have to stop the bleeding.”
“Here.”
“Theo, I need you to press this against the wound as hard as you can. Lily, go into the bathroom and get the first aid kit. “
“Right.”
“Got it, RJ.”
oOoOoOoOo
“Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Block.”
Casey wiped the sweat from his eyes quickly, not wanting to take the chance of giving a moment of weakness. They had been at this for close to four hours now and he felt as though he was going to collapse at any moment.
“No. You keep dropping you left shoulder. Do it again and fix it this time.”
He repeated his movement, trying to perfect his movements.
“Better, but it still needs work. Block my attack.”
There was barely enough time to bring his staff up, before he was forced to his knees by the attack. He pushed up and shoved her back, scrambling to his feet.
“Very good.” She stood back and gave a satisfied nod. “That’s all for today.”
Casey gave a sigh of relief and dropped the staff to the floor, following it moments later himself as he collapsed to the floor.
She merely sent him an amused look. “Tired?”
He grinned at her. “Exhausted. You’re a much harder teacher than my mother, Astronema.”
“I promised her, and Dark Specter, that I would train you to your full potential.” Astronema offered the preteen her hand, hauling him to his feet. “Whether you like it or not.”
oOoOoOoOoOo
“How’s he doing, RJ?”
“He’ll be fine, young cheetah. What did you do with the arrow?”
“I have it right here.”
“Thank you, Theo.”
“Did you hear that Casey? You’re going to be just fine.”
oOoOoOoOoOo
“You idiot!”
Camille found herself being flung across the room by a very angry Scorpina, flanked by her equally pissed daughters. She bounced off the wall and crashing to the floor only to be yanked up to her feet. A hand wrapped itself around her throat as she came face to face with the oldest of the triplets, Dallina.
“I should destroy you.” Dallina’s eyes had turned a menacing golden color. “You were only supposed to graze him with the arrow, not shot him in the side.” Her hand tightened around the neck, stopping any protests dead. “There is no way to figure out what that amount of poison will do it him!”
“Dallina, let her go.”
She shot her mother a questioning look but obeyed her command.
Scorpina had her arm wrapped around Sorani, holding back from going after Camille herself. “Come. We have plans to make.”
Both daughters sent her a disgusted look.
“Then you can destroy the chameleon.” She placated them as she turned to leave.
Sorani stopped struggling and shot Camille a promising smile. Dallina just gave her a grudging nod, before trudging away.
Long after they had gone, Camille dragged herself to her feet with the feeling that she may have just signed her own death warrant.
She needed to speak with Dai Shi.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Casey came back to consciousness with a whimper of pain. He brought his arm down to his waist, gently brushing the area where he had been struck earlier that day, flinch at the memory. Even that movement sent a sharp pain up his side. Tears filled his eyes and he shut them tightly, willing the pain away.
“Shhh… You’re going to be okay.”
The familiar female voice made his eyes shoot open and he jerked himself up, biting back a yell as the pain in his side intensified threefold.
“Not a very smart move. I thought I taught you better.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no way. It just wasn’t possible. Casey opened his eyes and glanced up, taking in the silver armor and shockingly purple hair.
“Astronema?” His voice cracked.
“Surprise.”