Silver rose to her feet, hands balled at her sides in frustration. "Ben!" she yelled. "What is going on??"
Miki sighed and closed her eyes again. Here we go.
"You and Violet fought in the kitchen and then you go storming off and don't come back until… until… the middle of the night and you're all beat up and your FREAKING LUNGS ARE BRUISED." Silver shrieked. "Ben, how do you freaking bruise your lungs on a motorcycle?? Do NOT tell me everything is fine because it's NOT and I'm so tired of everyone getting hurt and no one telling anyone what's going on!" Hot angry tears spilled down her cheeks as she glared at him.
Violet follows Silvers screams to the Laundry room, not needing Kissa to lead her. Ben avoids eye contact with Silver and stares at the floor to the right of him, clenching his jaw.
Violet clicks on the kitchen light, spilling some light into the laundry room and comes to the door way. "Silver, please!" She pleads before pushing past her to Ben.
She slips her hands on his cheeks, turning his face towards her. Her eyes wander from his face down to the bruise on his chest and the lopsided bandage on his side.
Tears well up in her eyes and he avoids eye contact, staring down.
She inhales, gulping, and lets go of his face, looking over the bruise. "My word, Ben." she whispers sadly under her breath as she kneels in front of him.
Miki put her hands on Silver's shoulders as the younger girl gasped for breath, chest heaving. "I just want to know what's going on." she sobbed. "You never tell us anything, Ben, and you tell us to not go outside or you'll get mad and then you leave for hours and come back like this and… and… and you don't tell us anything!" she wailed.
Ben coughs a little, wiping his mouth. He stares at the ground, his vision blurred.
Vi tries to block out Silver's wails and slowly removes the bandage. She clenches her jaw. "Ben, what is this?" she looks up to see him blinking blankly at the ground.
Kissa stands to the side, staring at his bloody hair.
Miki rubbed her forehead and patted Silver's arm. "Come on, babe, let's–" Silver lifted her hand but Miki grabbed her wrist before she could do anything. "Sil. No. Come on." Without letting her go she dragged her out of the laundry room and out to the kitchen. "Sit." she said, pushing her onto a barstool.
"Miki–" Silver started.
"Nope." Miki cut her off. "Nope, nope. Neither of us are getting any answers in there and Ben deserves to be left to Violet's mercy." she began to bang around with some pots and pans.
Silver watched her for a minute, wiping her face. "What are you doing?" she asked.
The room starts to swim and sway and he closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around himself. "Vi… Violet-" He's cut off by a weak cough.
She looks over his sick face, riddled with pain, and puts her hands on his shoulders. "Benjamin?"
Her voice fades and after a swallow he goes limp, falling forward. Violet stumbles back a step, but shoves him backwards into the chair. Kissa puts a wing around the chair to support him so he doesn't fall out.
"Is he okay?!" She squeaks.
Violet bites her finger nail and breathes heavily before bending down to look over both wounds again.
"Pancakes." Miki replied, mixing ingredients together in a bowl. "I'm starving. And so will everyone else by the time this is over."
Silver stared toward the laundry room. "Ben just passed out."
"Stay." Miki ordered. "Kissa's in there. If Violet needs you she'll call for you."
"He bruised his lungs." Silver said, still watching the door. "Maybe I should tell Violet. She can't–"
"Sit." Miki ordered.
Violet gently presses her hands on his bruise, knowing it had to hurt, and closes her eyes to focus.
Lungs. Bruised lungs. That's where the blood was from.
Gabriel wanders into the kitchen, invisible, and stops at the laundry room doorway.
What
Is going on
is he dead?
Is she like trying to revive him?
He blinks, then turns to walk to Silver, standing beside her.
Silver jumped, feeling Gabriel as he stopped beside her, and reached out to find him. She found his arm and pulled him closer, leaning her head on his shoulder. Miki turned around to grab something out of a drawer and paused, blinking at Silver.
"Gabriel." Silver mouthed silently.
Miki nodded, retrieving what she needed, and gave Silver a weird look as she turned back to her mixing bowl. "I know he's right there but you look really strange, Sil."
Hearing Miki, Gabriel effortlessly turns Silver invisible too. He doesn't bother to ask what happened and instead stares at the Laundry Room.
"Is Ben dead." He quietly asks, although it sounds more like a statement.
Silver snorted in tired laughter. "Oh my goodness, Gabriel, no. He just passed out. He's all bruised and bloody and he won't tell us why."
Miki turned around and started. "Silver! Tell him to not turn you invisible too, that's even worse!"
Silver lifted her head and realized she could see Gabriel. A wicked grin spread across her face and she said, "Well, now I can kiss him and you'll never know."
Cage sleepily trudges to the balcony railing and squints down at them. “Uhhh, you guys know it’s like 4am right?”
Gabriel blinks, staring at the laundry room as Violet focuses hard to heal up the bruises on his lungs if possible.
Miki rolled her eyes at Silver and turned to look up at Cage. "Yeah, but I'm hungry so I'm making pancakes." she called back, not telling him about Ben. She glanced toward Silver and Gabriel again and mouthed, "We need to close the laundry room door." The last thing Miki wanted was for Cage to find out what had happened to Ben.
Cage's face twists with confusion. “Pancakes at four? You guys really that hungry??”
Gabriel blinks at the door for a moment before dragging a wing over to close it. He leaves his wing across the floor, spread out and limp.
Silver watched Gabriel use his wing to close the door, amazed that he could reach that far. She was always surprised at how large his wings were and what he could do with them. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
Miki shrugged and returned to her pancakes, dropping batter onto the hot skillet. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the door close and silently thanked whichever of them that had done it. "Yep." she called to Cage. "I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so, you know, pancakes." she waved her spatula at him. "You can have some if you want."
He starts down the stairs, stepping off of them and onto Gabriel’s wing. Gabriel gasps, yanking it out from underneath him so he fell to his butt.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” He shrieks.
Silver gasped, choking on her own spit as she laughed. Miki jumped, trying to flip a pancake and successfully dropping it on the floor. She turned to see Cage sitting on the floor and raised an eyebrow. "That was probably Gabriel's wing." she glanced toward the invisible pair, where Silver still sat on her barstool, coughing and trying to catch her breath.
Cage shakily stands, rubbing his tail bone. “That was RUDE that’s what it was!” He glares in the same direction Miki had looked.
Gabriel glares back, “Don’t step on my wing!”
Miki groaned as she scraped her pancake off the floor. "Gabriel, you're invisible. He can't see you. Can you please make sure my sister doesn't choke and die." She added as Silver continued to cough.
Gabriel looks Silver over. “Don’t choke.” He demands quietly.
Cage walks over to Miki, grumbling.
“What was all the shouting for? You guys woke me up.”
Silver had almost caught her breath but started laughing again over Gabriel's gentle command. "That… that doesn't help!" She gasped.
Miki tossed the ruined pancake in the trash and poured another one. "Silver was yelling. She does that sometimes."
Cage rubs his arm. “Geez, What was important enough to shout about at 3am? Pancakes?” He picks up a finished pancake and starts to sleepily gnaw on it.
A small grin momentarily crosses Gabriel’s face but only momentarily. He looks up towards the laundry room, eyes narrowing.
Miki made a non-committal sound and flipped a fresh pancake onto the stack. "Just in general. You know how she is."
Silver saw the look on Gabriel's face and slowed her laughter. "Hey." She said, leaning forward to get a better look at him. "What are you doing?"
Cage opens the fridge and pulls the orange juice out. “You guys are weirder than me.”
“I’m gonna go help Kiss, I’ll be back.” He quietly explains, keeping his eyes on the door and patting her shoulder before getting up and heading to the laundry room. He takes only a second to pull himself and his wings in before he closes the door and Cage doesn’t even notice.
Silver raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he actually answered and explained himself. She watched him go and turned back to Miki and Cage.
"Yes, we are." She said to him. "I thought you knew this, Cage."
