Blue Soul Recovery|Private|Neyvahn|

It was right after Rei's fight with Lucius, she had been having a bad day even before the fight. But now... she wasn't sure she would live to see tomorrow.

She had known nothing about him, and afterwards had discovered that he indeed was quite a psychopath and was determined to give her the slowest and most torturous death he could think of. she could barely breathe, she felt a warm liquid bubble up in her throat as she was forced to cough it out her mouth in order to make attempt to breathe. her vision was already blurry, but she could see flashing sirens and hear people screaming and gasping as she felt herself being moved, though she herself didn't have the strength to lift a finger. She was positive almost every bone in her body felt broken from the torture, she would be dead by now. The only reason he let her live was out of sheer luck of his sister needing him for something. She let her eyes close, as she thought she was in an ambulance, but everything went dark.

She was left with her own thoughts and nightmares... as if someone was yelling insults at her. Could she ever actually be strong? in every fight she ever faced, no matter the opponent, even if they were at her same skill level... they always managed to beat her. Always, her magic never seemed like a very useful type of magic, either. She didn't understand strategy or anything like that... all she knew was she always tried so hard to train, but she could never even get to a draw. She felt completely heartbroken... what would she do with herself without fighting? surely, the guild wouldn't even want her there if she was so useless and stupid like she was..

While Rei was completely out cold and barely breathing due to the loss and build up of blood in her throat the medic's did their best to get her to the ER in Black Rose as fast as they could. They wheeled her on a bed to a special room to give her emergency treatment, on there however, they passed a young man with white hair and different colored blue eyes they had failed to notice had began to follow them on their way to the medical wing.

He saw her on the stretcher being rushed to the E.R. Her eyes were closed, tightly, silently screaming out in pain. Neyvahn could see it, on a deeper level than the superficial abuse of her body. Rei's arms and legs were deflated, almost sickeningly discolored and covered in wounds. The sight was too much, he had to look away to avoid vomiting all over the floor. He heard a few of the paramedics cursing under their breaths, refusing to look down at the bloody victim on the stretcher.

Neyvahn watched the familiar girl pass by on the gurney. "She'll be fine," he told himself. "Probably just got into another fight without thinking..." The group of clamoring paramedics and nurses whisked by, bursting through another set of swinging doors.

Neyvahn gritted his teeth and hit himself in the chest. He ached just lying to himself like that. She wasn't fine, not in the slightest sense. Past all of the paramedics, Neyvahn could see it, sense it, feel it... the torture that she was enduring, even if she wasn't conscious. Rei can't handle that kind of punishment. His chest tightened even more to the point where Neyvahn felt like he couldn't breathe. It pained him just to think about what must have happened to Rei.

Were it just some accident, absolutely unrelated to combat, Rei would recover just fine... But this was different. Something in her broke. Her sullen expression said it all. She would smile, smirk, or laugh after everything they've been through. She was never negative about any fight, but not this time. Rei was suffering, she was suffering from something undetectable by those doctors. It was a nearly fatal hit that wasn't physical, it was emotional.

Neyvahn clenched his fists and ran after the gurney...

The operation prohibited anyone from observing. The most Neyvahn could do was wait outside of the E.R, and hope everything was okay. People walked by him, averting their gaze and continuing on without a word. Neyvahn didn't care, he was too worried about Rei. They'd be able to keep her from dying from the combat wounds, but those surgeons and those nurses have no idea just what comes after she wakes up.

The lit "Operation in Progress" sign above the doorway continued to glow a foreboding red as Neyvahn gripped at the choker on his neck, the blue skull pressing against his palm. "Hang in there, Rei... You'll get through this..."

The "Operation in Progress" sign clicked, the red glow dying out. Neyvahn watched as the doors opened slowly, and Rei once again came out on the gurney. Bandages and stitches covered her body from head to toe, and temporary splints on her legs and arms stabilized the fractured bones. She passed by, looking more fragile than ever, like a single push would shatter her into millions of pieces.

Neyvahn followed the group down the hall until they stopped in front of a door. This was where they were keeping her to rest. The group of nurses transitioned Rei into the hospital bed and hooked her up to an IV. Before they left, Neyvahn entered the room.

The closest nurse saw him and stopped him from coming any closer."Sorry sir, this patient cannot have visitors-"

"Neyvahn Keyvolo," he interrupted, rolling up his right sleeve to reveal the purple rose tattoo around his wrist. "Rei is my teammate, and my friend."

The nurse looked taken aback. "... B-but sir-"

"This is urgent. Do not make me repeat myself," Neyvahn growled, glaring at the nurse. She squeaked in fear and quickly fled the room, leaving Neyvahn with the bandaged Rei.

At this rate, it would take months for her to recover. That alone would drive her insane. Neyvahn sat in the seat next to her bed and closed his eyes. As part of Kamille's Shift, he could heal himself during battle. However, that power is not needed by him at the moment, Rei needs it. If he could reroute his magic, he could put that mending ability into healing Rei. Neyvahn nodded to himself and closed his eyes, slowly mending Rei's body, slowly but surely.

"Get better, Rei..."

Rei's eyelids felt extremely heavy as she forced her eyes to open. Even the slightest movement of moving her head side to side sent a spike of pain down her spine, she tried to move as little as possible...

She could see the tiled ceiling of the room she was in, it felt very dark... It must've been really late at night. she might've been knocked out for days on end for all she knew, but right now...she didn't care. She didn't expect anyone to be here, since she had been here before for previous fights...but not this terribly. She swallowed and winced at the pain, making the stitches on her face tighten. which created more pain, any movement led in some form or another to another burst of pain throughout her body. She laid still, noticing her legs were being kept completely straight, her arms in casts in some areas. other parts in stitches. She could feel the stitches on her stomach and chest, they must've done an emergency surgery while she was out..

She laid completely still, her heart ached most. sending waves on anxiety through her body, a lump began to form in her throat as she tried to swallow it down, but it wouldn't go away. Rei wasn't a very emotional type, most of the time... The last time she remembered crying was when she was kicked out of her hometown by her very own family. she could feel the tears starting to rise and clouding her vision, despite her body being stationary. She couldn't help herself as she started to shake... her voice refused to give her cries sound as tears fell for the first time in years. Tears fell silently and slid down her bruised and stitched cheeks, as she had no choice but to stare at the ceiling. She could hear her heart rate monitor starting to beep more rapidly at the sudden grip of fear that was holding her hostage. Who was she kidding? she'd never learn to fight. No matter how hard she did train, she'd never be good enough to make a difference in this world. She had lost the very thing that had given her a reason to live her entire life. She felt the pains of feeling like a complete failure... she was too new in the guild to actually have anyone who was close to her, so she expected to be alone for the few months that she would be trapped here. Most likely in a wheelchair, being nothing but a nuisance to everyone around her.

Late that night, when only minimal staff were there to survey patients, a quiet whine finally managed to escape her throat as she squeezed her eyes shut, more tears streaming in her silent distress. She just wished it could all end.

Neyvahn couldn't remember why he was at the hospital in the first place. Was it because he had sustained a few injuries from his last job? Maybe... That's right. It was a mock battle with real weapons. No fatal attacks or spells, just a battle to count hits.

Neyvahn was dreaming, passed out in the chair next to Rei. The dream blurred by him over and over. Rei on the gurney, the doctors bantering. Those wounds burned themselves into Neyvahn's head, he couldn't stop them. He was forced to look at those terrible cuts and bruises over and over... And they seemed to be getting worse every time they passed him.

"Oh my god..." He couldn't look away as Rei seemed to deteriorate exponentially. Her limbs seemed even more crushed than the first time, and her face was impossible to tell from the rest. She was being stripped away, one passing at a time. "Stop..." Neyvahn begged. Rei's eyes were still shut, her expression gruesome. She passed him one more time... but here eyes weren't closed this time... they were staring at the ceiling, motionless and lifeless. Neyvahn couldn't take anymore.

"STOP!" Neyvahn sprung up from his chair, breathing heavily. His eyes scanned the room frantically, his choker beginning to restrict his breathing. The room was dark, moonlight dimly casting shadows across the floor. Neyvahn gripped the choker on his neck and pulled a little, slowly calming his breaths. "I-It's ok-kay," he stuttered. "C-calm down, Ney..."

Letting go of the choker on his neck, Neyvahn took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. After a few calming inhales and exhales, his breathing had returned to normal and he was able to sit back down. The blood rushing in him quieted down until he could hear the heart monitors once again. Neyvahn sighed long and low. Another nightmare...

It was the beginning of Rei's third day in the hospital, and Neyvahn didn't leave since then. Each night was restless, and these nightmares were getting more vivid, each one depicting a darker ending. Tears began to gather in Neyvahn's eyes. Confusion clouded his mind. Why was he crying? It was just a dream, even he knew that. Rei was right next to him, recovering perfectly fine. He looked over to the sleeping girl... only to find out that she wasn't sleeping. She was staring at him with wide eyes, shocked and worried.

"R-Rei! You're awake!?" Neyvahn jumped out of his chair. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you..."

Rei had managed to turn her head slightly so she could look at Neyvahn. She hadn't seen him since they both had joined the guild...what was he doing here? and at this hour? what time was it anyways...? the thoughts made her head ache more, she could feel her heart starting to pound faster in her chest causing her to grit her teeth at the pain. she blinked her eyes again, his sudden shouting made her jump quite literally as she thought she was alone. "why...y-you.." she managed to choke out before jumping into a coughing fit. it put a lot of strain on her chest, and she decided to stop talking after that. hopefully he got the message... the fact he was here was confusing her, the more she thought the more she felt the pounding in her head increased. she shut her eyes tight and breathed shallowly, trying to wait for it to go away. hopeing Ney would say something to explain himself.

Neyvahn sat back down and stared at his shoes. "Of course you got in a fight... It's just like when we were kids." He didn't say anything else. He barely knew the girl. In fact, he didn't even know why he felt so inclined to be in that very room. Was it a sense of duty? No... He was only a measly low ranked mage. His only duty was to obey orders from any higher ups and to take up jobs for jewels.

One time as a kid... that was the only way he knew Rei. Just some other kid on the streets. It was really because of Elyx that they were still alive, so why was Neyvahn in that room right now? A duty to heal someone? No... Neyvahn couldn't care less about healing people.

Even so, Neyvahn looked back up at the injured girl. "How did this happen?"

The corners of Rei's mouth turned up ever so slightly it was barely noticable. she didn't have the strength to turn her head to far, as she laid there turning her eyes to look at him. her somewhat smile soon faded after his last question. how did this happen? oh, yeah... she was fighting blindly fighting lucius. She closed her eyes and brought up the memories of the fight, it started out (at least she thought) just a friendly playful fight... Until she pissed him off, and she had ran out of energy to dodge. then he started beating her, and beating her... she remembered feeling the moment when he snapped her legs, she couldn't escape at that point. she was completely helpless in a real life or death fight. She shook her head and pushed the memories into the back of her mind. she opened her mouth to speak. "I was, fighting...he got angry..." she avoided his gaze, trying to keep her sentences simple and to the point. "he tortured me...no escape.." she tried to hide under the covers of the bed more... feeling extremely embarrassed of her helplessness. Why was Neyvahn here anyways? he had no reason to be. literally, no reason at all! i mean... i guess its just plain luck. but he must've been here the entire time. They weren't that close, so why would he... her thoughts were jumped and her head ached, she decided to save the questions for later.

Neyvahn clenched his fists. "Of course that's the case..." His tone seemed to darken. "Getting into fights you don't know you can't win," he spat. "Your ignorance already got you hospitalized. What do you think will happen next time? Do you think that your enemy will just let you live because you're a pretty girl?" Neyvahn stood up and stared Rei down.

Why was he doing this? Why was he getting so hot and bothered over something this girl he barely knew did? Was it because she was hurt so badly? Neyvahn dug his fingernails into his palm. Maybe he was going soft... no, that wasn't it. He knew that wasn't the case.

"You're such an idiot," he mumbled. "You can't just attack anyone you run into. You'll get yourself killed. Are you too stupid to realize that?" Neyvahn felt something sting behind his eyes. "Don't you realize that we're at the bottom right now? We're weak, brittle like twigs. Just because we can throw our punches doesn't mean that they won't throw theirs back with heavier intentions!" Neyvahn's vision began to blur, something wet seeping from the corners of his eyes. "You don't realize what you're doing, do you!? You're risking your life. Every. Single. Day. And for what, the thrill of hitting someone in the gut!? You're dense, ignorant, stupid, selfish!" Tears began to fall down Neyvahn's face as he fell to his knees. "You're too innocent... Too innocent to realize that others out there won't hesitate to kill us. You see that, right? Please tell me you see that..."

What was he saying!? Why did any of this mean ANYTHING to him!? Why was it?

... Was it because Rei reminded him of himself?

Neyvahn felt the emotions spilling out with his tears. He lifted a hand up and wiped the tears from his face. "I-I'm... sorry. I don't know what came over me..."

Neyvahns words peirced her as if he had physically shot a bullet through her heart. she couldn't take it anymore. She sat up in her bed, despite her body sending her waves of pain in protest. Before she even said a word, once she looked up to stare into his eyes, so he would understand. "You think I don't fucking realize that!? I know I'm probably the stupidest mage here, I don't have any reason to fight anyone, and I always get my ass kicked! That is VERY clear to me!" she shouted at him as tears streamed down her eyes. "I know that when If I do get myself killed no one is even going to care because of how stupid its going to be, I know I'm one of the lowest mages in the entire city. I KNOW ALL OF IT!" she shouted at him, as her voice started to become raspy. Her head ached from the crying. "I don't need you to come here just to tell me all this stuff I already fucking know, alright!?" she couldn't look at him any longer, she slumped over in her awkward position with one arm in a splint and the other with her forearm in a cast. there was a long silence, before she realized something...

"Why the hell are you even here?" she choked through her crying, her voice cracking mid sentence.

Neyvahn stood up and gently placed his hands behind Rei's head and on her shoulder. "Lay down. You're not in any condition to be moving right now. You shouldn't even be awake." His words were soft, barely fluttering in the still air. "But I do owe you an explanation..." Still treating every action as gingerly as a reverent prayer, Neyvahn sat back down in his chair with his hands resting on his knees. Clouds outside passed by with a gentle breeze, gliding by like birds. "... I don't understand it myself, why I stayed. I was at the hospital for a few stitches, but then I saw you on the gurney. I don't know why, but something was keeping me from just leaving..." Neyvahn let out a quiet chuckle. "That's all I can really understand."

He looked up to see Rei with tears still in her eyes. Great... now he felt bad. His chest tightened up again, and he could feel the guilt bearing down on him. "I really am sorry, Miss Katsura... I don't know what came over me, I just hope you can find the kindness in your heart of forgive me for my immodesty."

Rei let out a shaky sigh as she laid back down again. The pillow she laid her head on nearly forced her to keep her head straight and look at the ceiling. Which was the most pain free pose, but she turned her head to look him anyways. She blinked a few last tears from her eyes and took in a deep breath and tried not to cough. Great, now she felt like she would fall back asleep any second. But her sudden burst of rage had passed, she understood he was just angry because he was worried...

"jeez, at least don't call me Miss Katsura. Sounds like something you'd call some sort of princess" she rolled her eyes a bit before looking back at him then up at the ceiling. "just Rei is fine... and, no hard feelings I guess. I forgive you" she added quietly. and took another deep breath with a wincing sigh.

Neyvahn, sitting in the chair, bowed his head thankfully. "Thank you, Miss-... Thank you, Rei. I truly am sorry for the trouble I caused you." The heart rate monitors filled the silence between the two for the moment, before Neyvahn looked back up and resumed the healing process. With the help of Kamille's Shift, he was able to speed up the process and repair Rei's bones. There were still the cuts and the internal damages, but the casts and the splints were simply for support now.

"How are you holding up?" He asked. "Are you doing okay?"

Rei sighed as she laid in the bed, she wanted to close her eyes... but at the same time she felt restless. she wanted to go run, jump, something. But she knew she wouldn't be able to, for months on end. She felt a strange sensation in her limbs that felt like her bones were going numb... she ignored it, though. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I don't know..." she sighed. "Everything hurts...on every sort of emotional and physical level..." her sentence got quieter as she said it, she didn't want to draw attention to herself, as in Neyvahn pitying her for her circumstances.

Neyvahn wasn't there, but he could tell that whatever fight Rei went through really did hurt her. It was painful to watch, and Neyvahn didn't know how to help it. Instead, he continued healing her body. Right now, he can only help her get back on her feet in the literal sense. "Go ahead and sleep. You need your rest, and I shouldn't be keeping you up." He stood up and fluffed her pillow a bit in an attempt to make her more comfortable, then sat back down. The moonlight still shone through the window, but Neyvahn's body felt heavier nonetheless. As he began to drift off into sleep, he mumbled one last thing. "Sleep well, Rei."