by Desi Lin
“What the hell happened?” Souta spat out the words, eyes narrowed in on the bandage on my wrist.
Brooks remained silent, but I didn’t miss the white knuckles on the fists at his sides. I shook in the face of their obvious outrage.
“It’s nothing.” The words slipped out too fast, and I knew it. Even though I still planned to try to call May again, I needed to do something now. They couldn’t know about Aguirre. I didn’t want them to get hurt, too. “I banged my wrist on the counter this morning.”
Now I did tug at JJ’s hold, desperate to get away.
“I’m not buying it, firefly.” Still not letting go, JJ stepped closer as he spoke, and then, to my complete horror, he began undoing the bandage.
“No! JJ, don’t! Please stop!” I shrieked and pushed at his hand, but nothing I said or did halted him.
Brooks came over to me and rested a hand on my elbow, forcing me still.
“You can’t expect us to ignore this, Sera.” His deep voice, low and quiet, contained steel in every word. With no way to stop their inquiry into my injury, I gave up.
“It’s okay Sera.” Souta came to my other side, compassion warring with anger. I swallowed, looking anywhere but at them. As I focused in on a group of colorful flowers nearby, Souta patted my shoulder, right on top of my burn.
“Ah!” I couldn’t stop the sound, or Brooks when he whipped my shirt up and revealed the bruises and burns covering my body.
JJ’s eyes went wide, and he released my hand, turning abruptly. He made a grabbing and twisting motion with his hand. I watched as a nearby sapling knotted itself. His other hand thrust out and chunks of dirt in the garden flew to the sides as a furrow dug itself, nearly ten feet out. The wind whipped around me, swirling into a tight cone surrounding the four of us. The water in the fountain whipped around, churning up huge waves before spilling over the sides. It felt like hours, but only moments passed before the guys’ initial anger seemed to fade, leaving the still hot and raging embers behind.
“Who-the-Fuck-am-I-killing?” JJ’s entire body shook in rage, tightly contained fury waiting for an outlet. Fear shot through me. I couldn’t let them risk themselves when I didn’t understand their actions.
How could they do this? How could they make me care about them when it was all for nothing anyway? I would be leaving in a few months, and they wouldn’t remember me. Everyone forgot about me.
Part of me knew my thinking to be irrational and untrue but I couldn’t stop the fears, the feeling of pointlessness or the need to lash out. I gritted my teeth against the pain and tore my hand out of JJ’s grip.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Why do you care? You shouldn’t care! I’m nobody! Leave me alone!”
I knew I shocked them because they stood frozen long enough for me to dash away.
CHAPTER TEN
I slammed through the door to the dorm heedless of the young faces turning to stare at me. My mind fixed firmly on making it to my room in order to lose it in privacy. I never made it past my doorway as a fist connected with my cheek. My head whipped to the side, and my adrenaline spiked. Pushing past my pain, I came back swinging. I knew who hit me. I recognized the punch.
“Where is it?” Aguirre growled.
My fist slammed into her cheek. For a second, I believed I stopped her. Then she disabused me of the notion by backhanding me. The crack of her knuckles across my cheekbone echoed in the hall, and I knew the kids in the common room suspected something happened. The fact no one came running to find out what was going on worried me.
“You’re going to regret coming here, you stupid child!” Aguirre’s fist flew, slamming into my eye, while the other connected with my gut.
I thrust out my good hand, attempting to protect myself. A foot to my midsection sent me flying into the wall, and I crumbled onto the floor in a flood of pain. Though it hurt, I curled in on myself. Another kick connected with my head, then my ribs, and then my arms.
Her abuse danced on my body. Rough hands yanked me unsteadily to my feet, followed by open palm slaps hard across my face. My skin blistered, sending shards of pain through me. I fought back a scream as the smell of char on flesh tickled my nose, her hands searing my flesh. Knowing I had to try to stop her, I kicked at her, my foot thumping weakly against her shin. She tore into me, her heated fists rained blows over my head, my arms and my torso.
Ears ringing, pain raging through me, I collapsed again, sobs finally breaking through. I couldn’t defend myself anymore, the pain unbearable. Another blow hit my ribs, and another. I curled up again, tight as I could, and rolled to face the wall. As her foot came down again, I slipped into unconsciousness.
~
I came to still curled up into a ball on the floor. Tears flowed down my cheek, blood dribbled down my face, ribs screaming, and the smell of burnt flesh stung my nose. A young girl, barely more than ten, leaned over me. Her blond hair pulled into a ponytail spilled over her shoulder, eyes wide with fear, as her fingers gently shook my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, eyes darting nervously toward Aguirre’s closed door. “We wanted to help but she’s never done anything so horrible before. Normally, she only yells and pushes us, sometimes slaps. We need to move you in case she comes back.”
My agonized body said moving might not happen, but she seemed adamant. I rolled over. Her hand clamped down over my mouth to cut off my cry of pain. I bit it back, and with her help, I made it to my aching knees.
Whimpering, I decided to not even attempt to stand. With the young girl’s help and encouragement, I made the slow, torturous crawl across the few feet of the hall to my door.
The bed presented a new challenge. Burns ran down both arms, and my wrist hurt worse than ever. Breathing shot small tremors of pain through my sides. My ribs might be bruised. It took several tries, but finally we got me into the bed.
“Can I get you anything?” the girl asked anxiously.
“Water, pain pills.” I gasped the words out, barely getting them past my sore throat.
She dashed into my bathroom and returned fast enough with my stuff, setting it on the nightstand and handing me two pills.
“How bad?” I managed to ask before tossing down the pills.
Her face screwed up in pity. “I wouldn’t go to school for a few days,” she whispered. “I should go, but one of us will check on you before bed. I don’t know what got into her. She’s always strict, but nothing like this.”
She dashed off and left me alone with my aches and pains.
Craving the oblivion of sleep, I closed my eyes. This was the final straw. I was done taking what she dished out. She’d gone way too far. As soon as the worst of my injuries allowed, I planned to make a few calls.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I drifted, waking up long enough to pop a few pills when the pain became excruciating, but never long enough to make the call I needed to. At some point, I managed to get a mirror app on my phone and examined the visible damage.
Colors bloomed across my face, brighter than any makeup would ever cover. Abandoning any thought of going to school, a couple days passed, but I didn’t care. Every place on my body screamed in agony. I slept mostly since doing anything else hurt. The painkillers wore off for the millionth time as voices filtered through my haze of misery.
“This is her room?” The male voice sounded familiar, but in my mostly sleeping state it took a few moments to put a name to it. JJ.
I turned my head away as the door creaked open. My eyes remained closed. I didn’t want to witness the guys’ reactions to my injuries. Light flared, and a swift, indrawn breath almost made me open my eyes.
“Fuck, JJ,” Souta muttered. “Look at her.”
“Believe me Sou, I am.” His voice held rage, but his fingers grazed my cheek gently. His hands slipped under me, and I couldn’t hold back the cry of pain. My eyes flew open, meeting his worried ones and then darted to Souta and Brooks.
“Don’t think of arguing,” Brooks rumbled
. “You know damn well we aren’t about to leave you here.”
Pain made protesting impossible, and I allowed JJ to curl me into his chest. Souta pressed his phone to his ear as we walked out, but the haze in my brain didn’t allow me to listen in. When they headed to the school, I let out a squeak of protest. They ignored me. I felt eyes on me as we walked down the hall, and my cheeks heated in embarrassment. Whispers followed us. JJ murmured soft reassurances in my ear.
When we made it out the front doors, a black sedan idled by the curb. I whimpered as JJ shifted us to settle into the back with Souta, Brooks sitting in the front with a uniformed driver. A large, red patch with a golden bird and an ornate K decorated his black jacket, and the jaunty little cap rested at an angle on his head. As the car rolled along, I drifted off again, still curled into JJ and one hand clutching tight to the one Souta offered.
~
The sharp jabs of pains from being shifted brought me awake again. My eyes went wide, and a shocked squeak escaped me as I took in our location. Beautifully manicured lawns spread out in an emerald expanse. A curved, stone drive surrounded a small, simple, yet elegant fountain ringed in roses. The house before me stood proud and strong, like someone took it out of the English countryside and dropped it in the middle of Washington. The glass fronted door opened as we ascended the steps and an older, Asian man lifted an eyebrow at us. The same red and gold patch rested on his coat.
“I take it, Master Souta, you need me to call your mother.” His voice held a heavy accent, telling me English was not his first language.
“Yes, please, Shiro,” Souta said absently as JJ carried me down the hall.
The boys’ extreme focus on me seemed wrong. They needed to worry about school and finding their Ignis, not me. JJ slid me onto a plush, red sofa, his hand brushing back some of the hair matted to my forehead.
“You’re okay now, firefly,” JJ murmured. “We’re going to take care of you.”
I wanted to protest, to tell them not to be like this but the words stuck in my throat. Souta and Brooks settled on the floor with JJ whispering reassurances of their own. My aching body refused to allow my mind to settle. I knew I would be intimidated by the obvious wealth around me once I could focus again, but for now, I rested.
The four of us sat in silence for some time before Souta’s mom walked in. Her appearance closely resembled Souta’s own. Her dark hair, pulled into a simple twist, framed delicate features. A pair of gold, wire framed glasses perched on her nose, and an easy, confident smile spread over her face. Her low-heeled, black pumps clicked over the floor and echoed throughout the house. Her gaze swept over me, taking in my bruises and obvious injuries before finding Souta.
“Is this her?” she asked, her voice musical and clear as a bell.
Souta’s grin lit up his face. “Yeah.”
She shooed the boys, who backed up and took seats around the room, then kneeled next to me.
“Hello, sweetheart, you’ve caused quite a stir among our boys. You’re not looking good today. I’m going to do a quick examination, okay?” Her voice held confidence and comfort, putting me at ease right away. “It might hurt a little, but I’ll try to prevent it as much as I can.”
Her hands ran over me, quick and efficient, assessing the damage to my body. With the stethoscope cold against my abused flesh, she listened to my breathing and my heartbeat.
Her expressive face showed her findings as she went. “I’d say you’re a lucky girl with lots of bruises. These burns aren’t pleasant but they could be worse. I’m assuming they were caused by a Heater?”
I nodded at her question.
“I believe your ribs are bruised or cracked, but not broken. You need x-rays to be sure, and you need them for your wrist. I’d like to know how you ended up in this condition.”
Though she made it a statement, her tone held a question. I bit my lip and shot a nervous glance at the guys.
She smiled in understanding when I did not respond, then turned to her son. “Souta why don’t you settle her in the room by yours? She needs rest. I’ll call the clinic and see if we can get her in for those x-rays today.”
Standing, she looked kindly down at me. “My name’s Akiko, or you can call me mom. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of you.” I stared, gape mouthed at her statement. Why would she want me to call her Mom?
This time Brooks lifted me and held me close. I winced, a tiny whimper escaping, as we made our way upstairs, and Brooks laid me down on a soft, pillowy mattress. I shifted, gritting my teeth against the agony.
“Why?” I asked them when they settled on the bed around me. I couldn’t make heads or tails of things anymore, like I missed half the story.
“Why, what?” Souta cocked his head as he propped himself on his elbow. His other hand found my thigh and began stroking little circles on it. Frustration poured through me, at myself for enjoying the little display of affection and them for being deliberately obtuse.
“Why everything?” I tossed the words out. “What was all that with your mother? Why did you bring me here? Why do you give a damn?”
Confusion fell on JJ and Brooks’ faces, but Souta laughed. “Because. My mom knows how much we like you. You needed help, and we sure as fuck weren’t leaving you there.” He sat up then, scooting up the bed and gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. His thumb ran over my jawline, and his eyes shone with affection. “Because you're worth giving a damn for, even if you don’t think so.”
I tried to yank my chin from his grasp unsuccessfully.
“You keep trying to push us away, hot stuff, but you need to realize we aren’t going anywhere. And be prepared. We came for you today because we were worried sick, but you were coming here either way. Tomorrow, you’re getting your Ad Aetatem. Don’t argue. Everything is done and set already. Now get some rest. We’ll see you after your x-rays.” He dropped a kiss on the only place that didn’t hurt, my forehead. followed by Brooks and JJ.
They left before I could give voice to my protest. I knew I should fight harder, but my own embarrassment at needing rescuing combined with my sheer exhaustion from holding my emotions back from the guys weakened my resolve.
I tried to rest but sleep wouldn’t come. My brain and my heart wanted to keep going over the last two weeks. So much happened, and what I knew I should do warred with what I wanted to do.
Eventually, I went to the clinic and the bruised ribs and sprained wrist were confirmed.
Upon my return to Souta’s, I found the boys waiting for me. They decided on a quiet evening of movies and munchies, and my heart melted a little. Fighting them exhausted me, instead I gave in and opted to worry about the consequences when the time came.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The morning of my eighteenth dawned bright and clear. A stream of sunlight peeking through the cream and gold curtains fell across the large, comfortable bed, and I realized I wasn’t alone. The guys sprawled around me after falling asleep at some point during our movie marathon. Somehow it seemed natural to all be cuddled up in bed together.
The prescription meds Akiko gave me dealt with the pain better than the over the counter ones I used, and the aches were bearable now. The brace she made me wear did a better job of protecting and stabilizing my wrist, too. Moving didn’t hurt badly anymore. I still appeared ten shades of beaten to a pulp but it couldn’t be helped.
The chiming of my phone startled me, and I reached over Brooks to find it on the nightstand. The gold comforter fell to the side. Shock ran through me as May’s picture greeted me.
“Hello?” I murmured, settling back into the comfort of the guys.
“Happy Birthday, darling!” May’s warm, enthusiastic voice sang out of the phone. “I finally got back into town. Now, I have something for you, a little gift. It’s your big day after all. What are you doing today? Something special I hope. I wish I’d time to give you a proper Ad Aetatem but my schedule’s been crazy.”
Warmth spread inside me knowing May wanted t
o give me the same thing every normal Elementum child got. I didn’t believe it would matter to her, only being a ward after all. Granted, I knew she cared about me, but I’m not one of her grandbabies, not real family. Tears came unbidden, and I swiped them away hastily. I had cried more in the last week than in the rest of my life. What the elements was wrong with me?
“Um, actually,” I kept my voice soft, partly from uncertainty and partly to keep from waking my sleeping boys. “I kind of met some people –”
“Darling! You made friends? How wonderful!” Her enthusiasm made me grin like a loon. She knew how hard connecting with others happened to be for me. Leaving hurt, and as I got older, she watched me close myself off with each move.
“Yeah, I guess I did.” For some reason, it only hit me when May said it. “They kind of planned something for my Ad Aetatem.”
“I’m glad someone did. It wouldn’t be right for you not to get one. Now, where am I going for this?”
“Souta Kurihara’s house. Do you know them?”
“The Kuriharas. Oh, my. When you make friends, you do it big, don’t you?” Her chuckle rang through the phone. “Yes, I know exactly where they live. I’ll be there at a more reasonable hour then. See you soon, sweetheart.”
“Bye May.” I signed off and glanced at the time on the phone. Barely seven a.m. Well, it was my birthday, and if I wanted to sleep till noon by the elements, I would. I sank into the pillows and back into sleep, surrounded by the warmth of my boys.
~
It seemed like seconds, but by the way the light fell through the curtains, I knew several hours passed when gentle shaking and murmurs woke me. Souta sat on the bed, Brooks behind him, and I searched the room for JJ but didn’t find him. My heart fell a little.