Dying Ambitions [Nadia, Aerith, Clive]

[Slash]

It can't end like this.

[/center]

It couldn't end like this.

No, please, no. It couldn't end. Not now, not when he was so very close.

Everything from the last few hours blended together. All he could remember was the constant flow of red, the blood that had so traitorously left her body. She was unconscious.

He was almost there. Almost there. If only he could stop shaking.

Was this where she was? He didn't know, but he thought so. He knocked on the door, holding Nadia's dying body as carefully as if she was some infinitely precious, incredibly fragile artifact.

The door opened. It was her. Good. She was the only one who could help right now.

"Please," he begged, his pride gone. "Please save her. Please save Nadia. She's dying. Please..."

[Aerith]

Never thought I would see you again.
--------

So much had happened over the last few days. Aerith was still trying to process it all. Nothing was helping. Not even her flowers.

She had been pouring over some book, not really absorbing anything from it, when a knock sounded at her door. "Hm?" Who could that be? Perhaps one of the others, come to talk to her about everything. Not now. She needed time alone.

Reluctantly, she crossed to the door and opened it. There was no disguising the gasp and look of shock when she saw who stood on the other side.

Jericho?

What had he done? Was this some sort of twisted--? No. No, he was pleading with her to save the bleeding girl in his arms. Instinct completely took over then.

"On the couch. Now. You remember where it is."

She spun and immediately went hunting for bandages, ointment, painkillers, anything that could help. From the looks of those wounds, healing magic would not be enough.

After gathering her supplies, she moved to the couch, running her eyes over the damage. So many terrible bruises. And so much blood. The girl's color was quickly fading.

Aerith placed a hand to Nadia's forehead and attempted to bring her out of immediate danger through magic. But this was going to be a long process. And she didn't know if she would be successful.

No! I can save her. I have to.

"There are chairs. Sit, please. I will do what I can."

[Summary:
Aerith used Curaga.
Posts until next use: 3
Uses remaining: 5]

[Nothingness]

Slowly Changing

Clive had been sitting on the rafters of one of the houses he was building, staring up at the sky. He'd never been particularly sentimental, but lately, he'd found his thoughts drifting to the present, and being shocked at how he'd been letting go of the past. He looked down at the small, silver cross resting in the palm of his hand. "Claire, Rachelle, maybe...maybe it's time I moved on." A smirk crossed his face--the muscles not used to forming the expression. Wherever they were, they were probably waiting with bated breath for him to move on. Eager as ever, the two of them.

Letting the cross fall back onto his chest, he gingerly descended from the rafters and back on to solid ground. As he began walking aimlessly down the streets, he saw what looked to be drops of blood. In an instant, his old instincts rose up, and he looked around for more traces. Yes, there they were. He followed them, making sure to stay as low-profile as possible. There they..."Jericho?" He couldn't help but say the name, watching as Aerith admitted him, and what looked to be a person in his arms into her home.

He ran towards her house, rushing through the open door. He saw Aerith treating a gravely wounded woman, and Jericho off to the side. "What can I do?" Questions would have to wait--what mattered now was bringing this woman back.

[Aerith]

Oh, good. Help.
--------

Aerith was so focused on Nadia that it took her a few minutes to realize that someone was speaking to her. She jerked her head up to find that it was not Jericho.

"Clive?" He was asking what he needed to do. She snapped out of her temporary stupor. "Clive, I need you to get me some hot water and a lot of towels. For now, try to clean up the blood all over my floor. And set the water close to me. I need to clean this wound before I start any stitching."

"Jericho, I need you to..." She trailed off as her eyes went to him. He had no disguises on today. The mental and emotional agony was clearly evident. Was that a tremble in his hands?

Who is this girl? I didn't think anything could affect him like this.

She knew better than to send him off somewhere. Not now. If this girl died while he wasn't here...

"I need you to stay right here, Jericho. Okay?"

[Nothingness]

Yes, Ma'am

As soon as Aerith began speaking, Clive rushed into the kitchen, turning on the tap water to as hot as it could possibly go. Rifling through the cabinets and drawers, he found a decent sized bucket, as well as plenty of towels. Filling the bucket up to the brim, he dropped all but one of the towels into it, and moved as quickly as he could back to Aerith.

Setting the bucket down next to her, he began to work on cleaning up the bloodstained floor. He made sure that there wasn't any water or blood left--the last thing they needed was someone needing their head sewn shut.

[Slash]

Please.

[/center]

Jericho dimly noticed a man walk in, but didn't pay any attention to him. He had been ordered to stay there, but he didn't really need any encouragement.

She looked so frail. She was so badly hurt, and he could do nothing. He could destroy and corrupt, but he could not heal.

Nadia...[/color]

She lost more and more blood with each passing second.

Damn it, I was so close! Why now? Why this far in the game? Damn it![/color]

If she died, he would tear this world apart in his own irrational anger. Never mind any promises he had made or any resolutions he had come to. He was a killer, and if he lost everything again then killing was all he was going to do.

[Aerith]

If any of you are praying people, start now.
--------

Aerith had not waited for a response from Jericho, so when none came she barely noticed. She was far more intent on cleaning the blood from Nadia. The shirt needed to come off if stitching was to be done, so after enough of the blood was gone, off it came. She might normally have sent a warning look to the men present, but this was a life-and-death situation. There was no time for decency.

Besides, Jericho wouldn't have moved, even if she had said something.

She worked as quickly as possible, with the deft hands only a healer could have. Her task was made more difficult by the sheer amount of black and blue patches that covered Nadia's skin. But stopping the bleeding was paramount. Irritating bruises came at a distant second.

In reality, it took her only perhaps ten minutes to sew the flesh together, but for Aerith, it seemed so much longer. Every few moments, she would check to make sure Nadia was still breathing and that she still had a pulse. When the stitching was at last finished and the thread tied off, Aerith sat back and wiped her hands on a mostly blood-free towel.

"All right. At least the bleeding's stopped. She's still unconscious... but breathing."

She reached for a blanket and covered Nadia. For now, she would wait. Without moving from her chair, Aerith picked up a different needle and some thread that matched Nadia's shirt and went to work on it.

[Slash]

So, she'll live?

[/center]

"Okay," he said. "Okay."

Relieved, he fell to his knees and rested his head on the arm of the couch that held Nadia. At least the bleeding had stopped. She had a chance now. She had a chance.

"Thank you, Aerith." He looked up and saw that the man in the room was Clive. So he had pulled himself back into humanity after all. Good for him.

"Thank you."

[Aerith]

If I may...
--------

Puzzlement was written on her face for a moment. There was so much genuine relief rolling off him. Was she sure this was the same Jericho she had met before? The one that had implored her not to be so kind to a monster?

When he thanked her, she smiled. "You're welcome. But..." Her smiled faded a little, and she looked back at Nadia. "Don't thank me just yet. I've given her a chance, yes. But it's mostly up to her now."

Since the immediate danger had passed, she decided now was the time for questions. Gently asked, of course.

"Jericho... do you mind if I ask what happened? I never thought I would see you again, much less with a dying woman in your arms."

[Slash]

You're not going to like the answer.

[/center]

"She can make it. I know she can." His confidence was slowly but steadily rising. She could make it. After all that she had been through, she was a good deal tougher than when they had met.

Aerith asked him what happened. There was no point in hiding the truth- he knew she wouldn't cast either of them out with Nadia in such a poor condition.

"It was her family. Her family did this to her. They kept acting as if she was monster, and her own father ran a sword through her...they would have killed her if I didn't...I couldn't think of anyone else to go to. No one else would have helped her."

[Administrator]

Smart for a spider. Or even a human.

A small figure crept unnoticed in the shadows. Her family had done this to her? That seemed to be uncommon among human culture. Among his kind, you ate your family if they did anything you did not like. If you failed to kill and eat them, they were in the right. It was a much simpler system. However, the complexities of the human condition fascinated him. How they could so intricately tie themselves to rules and strictures they so obviously hated was beyond him.

And so, watching from the shadows, Predisrruel decided to reach out with his mind, to the man he had been searching for; Jericho. "Master?" he called out tentatively. This man was, after all, the one to whom he would be bonded to in servitude for eternity. Or, rather, for as long as the man lived. It was his power that had granted him this transcendence; due to this fact, Jericho was owed his life a thousand times over.

"I am the spider in the corner of the room. The one that is watching you intently." Predis was smaller than he normally appeared; he was currently approximately the size of a quarter. Rather than trying to explain it, Predis sent Jericho the information as a stream of images, and incoherent thoughts. When the man's brain processed it, it would reveal itself as a sort of narrative, a series of scenes explaining how Jericho's energies had caused Predis to become something more.

"I am Predisrruel, master." Coming out of the shadows, Predis grew to his normal size. His feet clicked on the ground, and he surveyed the room. Suddenly, he remembered that others did not find spiders as agreeable as some, and immediately sent a message through the channel. "Might you explain to the others that I mean them no harm? I do not wish to connect more minds currently."

[Aerith]

Looks like I need to make an appointment with the exterminator.
--------

How terrible. A great sadness rose inside Aerith. Nadia's own family had done this? Jericho had said they had called her a monster, but he had left out any specifics. She trailed her eyes over the unconscious woman. She looked normal. Then again, Jericho also looked normal.

He didn't quite finish telling her what he had been forced to do, but Aerith could guess well enough. That wasn't important right now. She certainly would never condone violence, much less killing, but if nothing had been done, then Nadia would have died instead.

She shifted in her chair, leaning over to touch Jericho's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm always glad to help someone in need. You should know that."

She might have continued, but she noticed movement in a corner. The occasional spider was a normal sight anywhere in Radiant Garden. Spiders that suddenly grew larger in front of her eyes were not. She gasped softly.

Her first instinct was to make sure the spider didn't come anywhere near her patient.

Making sure she kept the creature in view, she was ready to yank off one of her boots and smash the thing.

"You stay away from Nadia, now. She's already unconscious."

Yes, Aerith considered talking to spiders perfectly normal. This is the woman who talks to her flowers, after all.

[Nothingness]

Strange Things

It didn't take him long to clean up all the blood on the floor, and as soon as he had finished he set to cleaning up the bloodied towels he'd used. As he returned, he found Aerith rather skillfully closing the woman's wounds, and stood a small ways apart from Jericho. At first, he didn't really believe that he heard Jericho give them his thanks, but didn't show his surprise. Instead, he simply nodded his head in acceptance.

It was then that he had at last taken a look at the young woman's face, and found that he recognized her. "The Demon Child." He thought, remembering all the people that had hired him to kill her. However, before he could take action, she had been whisked off of the world. And yet, here she was sitting before him, after he had reformed. Clive couldn't help but find the irony in it humorous.

He took a step towards Nadia, but turned around, seeing something in the corner of his eye. "Friend of yours?" He asked Jericho upon seeing the large spider.

[Slash]

Am I that crazy already?

[/center]

Jericho was immediately distracted from Aerith's kind words by a voice in his head. Had the spider gained a voice? And why was it calling him 'master'?

No, but apparently some other spider had. That spider's story was then recounted in his head. How very odd. Apparently, visiting Agrabah had resulted in him getting a spider familiar, one that had just crawled out from the corner of the room and had grown to about a foot.

It was honestly kind of adorable.

"I...yes. He...Predis is a friend." The creature's full name was too much of a mouthful. "And he's not going to hurt her."

Hello, Predis. It is good to meet you.

[Aerith]

I'll leave you two to catch up.
--------

Satisfied that the spider was not going to harm Nadia, Aerith relaxed slightly, though not back to her normal stress levels. It shouldn't have surprised her that Jericho had a spider friend, and in fact, after a few moments, she was able to accept this as perfectly normal. Then again, lately, she had had anything but normal visitors in this house.

Jericho seemed fixated on the spider for the moment, so Aerith turned to Clive. The floor was cleaned of blood. She gave him an appreciative smile. "Thank you, Clive. Could you leave those towels in the washroom? It's in there." She pointed toward a door down a small hallway.

After giving Nadia one last examination, Aerith rose from her chair and went to the kitchen. She gave the spider a wide berth. Just because he was friendly, that didn't mean she had plans to cuddle with him.

She washed her hands thoroughly before putting a pot of tea on the stove.