Tugging him, Kissa leads them forward. "We'll settle in the forest and walk from there. They'll be looking in the sky, not on the ground."
Gabriel nods, following along and keeping his breathing even. He glances over to Silver. "Are- Are you alright?"
Shadow just kept looking outside and he spoke “do you know if we are being followed”
(I’m fine if you want to skip anything)
Silver nodded, flashing him a smile in the hopes that he wouldn't see how worried she was for him. "Sounds good." She said to Kissa.
Violet shakes her head once, glancing into the review mirror. "Nobody is behind us, we'll be alright this time."
Cage sits back in his seat. "Sooo, what happened to the front of the car? It's a little smushed."
Silver nodded, flashing him a smile in the hopes that he wouldn't see how worried she was for him. "Sounds good." She said to Kissa.
Only a few moments later, they start to lower themselves down. "Gabriel, are we visible?"
He nods, evening his breath out, or at least trying.
"No, I- I can't keep focus ri- ight now."
She nods, planting her feet into the soft grass as he less-than-gracefully lands behind her.
Silver landed hard, not bothering to try to land easily or carefully, being more concerned about Gabe and whether there was anyone around to see them. She quickly scanned the area, as far as she could reach, and turned back to them.
"There's no one around." she said. "As far as I can feel, at least."
–
Miki cleared her throat, throwing a glance at Violet. "We crashed."
Kissa nods. "It's alright. I'll make sure we're not seen."
Gabriel rubs his midsection, wincing a little at the pressure he's putting on his cuts, but otherwise seems fine. He looks to Silver, his purple eyes still sad and droopy as ever. He goes to speak, but stops himself for a moment. "I'm assuming you and, umhn…" He looks over to Kissa as his scratchy voice fades. "You've met."
Kissa turns to give Silver a less-than-impressed look over.
Silver tried to avoid looking at Kissa, but failed. She'd tried to keep her ire and annoyance pushed down inside because if Kissa was helping Gabe, and Gabe wasn't hunting Silver, then hopefully that meant Kissa wasn't going to hurt her.
But.
"Yeah she chased us when we were in the van." she said lightly, glancing over Gabe and taking in his cut up estate again. It was much easier to be worried about him than to be mad at Kissa.
Kissa rolls her eyes, but Gabriel doesn't seem fazed, "Is anyone hurt?"
Kiss scoffs. "You think I just let everyone stand there and picked one to bring back? Of course people are hurt, Gabriel. That's what happens in fights."
He turns his head, glaring hard at her, and she quickly looks to the ground.
Geez
"Nobody's dead."
He spreads his arms out, his chest bleeding more now from the strain of flying. "Yeah, I'm not dead either, Kiss. That doesn't me I don't hurt." He snaps.
She swallows, trying to look over him, but returning her eyes to the ground.
Silver opened her mouth to explain the crash and Ben and the motorcycle, but stopped as Gabriel and Kissa got into it. Her mouth hung open and she stared at Gabriel, pretty sure this was the most amount of words she'd ever heard him say out loud in an entire day.
He shakes his head, letting out a light sigh, "Kiss let's not fight."
She nods. "I need to take care of your wounds before you bleed out."
"That's dramatic." he mumbles under his breath as she instructs him to sit down and takes cloth from her pocket.
She looks up to Silver. "To be fair, your friends were being rather dull. One got very close to bursting into flame on the highway."
Silver sucked in a sharp breath, pressing her lips together as if to hold in the words she wanted to spew out. Slowly she knelt down beside Gabe to help, but almost instantly she shot to her feet and walked a few steps away.
"Dull?" she finally said, her voice low and quiet and much, much too calm. "Dull?" Her hands fisted at her sides and subconsciously her wings rose behind her, feathers ruffling up so they looked almost twice their normal size. "Maybe you would be a little bit dull and have panic attacks every day too if you'd been hunted for as long as you could remember."
Gabe goes to grab Silver's arm as she stands and marches away, but misses.
Oh great.
Kissa rolls her eyes. "Oh please, don't get me started on anxiety. I think a FULL GROWN man can deal with it, don't you Gabe?" He opens his mouth only for her to continue, "go roll in the ditch, kid, cause that doesn't attract attention! He had a heat wave around him! Do you guys not control yourselves at all?"
Gabriel closes his eyes and gulps.
Kissa shut up, you know nothing about anxiety.
Silver blinked at her, drawing in slow, deep breaths. Finally she let out a sigh and shook herself, her wings easing back down to a normal size. She looked away from Kiss and motioned toward Gabe. "He… finish helping him. Please. He needs…" she sighed again and walked farther away.
Gabriel looks up to Silver, as if to apologize with just his eyes, then looks to Kiss who is angrily dabbing the blood off of his chest.
"Cool it." he hisses lowly and quietly.
She shivers.
"I hate him." She whispers.
He tucks her bangs behind her ear so she can see better, then looks back to Silver, whispering to Kiss, "I can tell."
Silver sat down on the grass, her back still turned to them, and tried to sniff discretely as her eyes welled with tears. It didn't matter what Kissa thought. It didn't matter if she was a stupid kid who didn't know anything about their lives. Gabe mattered. Gabe was the most important. And Ben and Miki and the others. They were what mattered.
Slowly she tuned into Gabriel's body, detecting his wounds and trying to find the remaining pieces of glass embedded in his skin so she could ease them out.
Gabriel stares at Silver's back as she sadly sits away from them.
Kissa.
You hurt her.
Kissa slowly looks up to his face and furrows her brow.
But he doesn't return the look. He sleepily looks over to Silver and coughs a few times, blood returning to the surface of the wounds Kissa had just cleaned. She stands and walks around him, kneeling behind him and pulling a few small shards from his back.
She heaved another sigh and looked up at the trees, blinking furiously. Who knew what Kissa would do if she saw her cry. She tried to focus everything she had on Gabe, gently pulling the deepest shards of glass to the surface where Kissa could remove them.
Letting out a sigh, he stands up. Kissa gasps as the piece she was gently pulling out slices more through his skin.
"Gabriel." She hisses quietly.
He takes a seat next to Silver. "I'm sorry." He quietly states, his voice cracking.
Silver hastily scrubbed at her eyes, but her face was still blotchy and wet. "I'm okay," she lied, not wanting him to worry. "Did she get all the glass out?" She glanced at his chest, not meeting his gaze. He was still bloody, but his cuts looked cleaner.
Ignoring her question, he wipes her wet cheeks with pure concern in his eyes.
It's okay to cry.
It's good to feel.
Kissa glares from a few feet away.
Cage's eyes go wide. "What?! Is everyone okay?? Is that why Ben didn't come???!"
Violet takes a deep breath.
"it's fine. We're fine."
Her eyes filled with tears again at his touch, dripping down her cheeks with each blink. "We–" she choked. "We need to get moving." Her voice broke and her stomach started to shake with suppressed sobs. The only thing she wanted was to lay her head down on his shoulder and sob, curled up in his arms, but she was afraid if she leaned on him she would just make his cuts hurt more.
Miki nodded hastily. "Yeah, yeah, everyone's fine. Ben was just sleeping so we left him there."
The tears being to fall again and he starts to panic a little inwardly.
I'll fix it.
He wraps her in a cold, gentle hug.
"We have time. It's okay." He gently whispers.
Kissa purses her lips, jealousy boiling up inside.
I hate her.
Violet pulls up to the house and stops the car, thankful they're there.
"Alright. I know we've all had some disagreements before, but lets try to be kind and considerate this time around. Along with less dramatic maybe."
Cage nods. "Yes ma'am!"