Marissa stayed close to her friend, gently rubbing circles on his back and softly murmuring little reassurances to help calm him. It was all she really could do. Trying to move him didn't seem like a good idea, and an even worse idea would be trying to take him to a hospital. There would be too many questions and answering them would be… complicated, at the very least. She bit her lip in concern for him, seeing how much pain he was in. She had never seen anyone really act this way before but she almost felt that this was her fault. If she hadn't pushed or encouraged him to test his abilities then he wouldn't be in such pain right now. “Damien? Are you ok?” she asked softly when he seemed to be relaxing slightly.
The boy continued to whimper and breathe shakily on the ground, curled in his little ball and with tears rolling off his eyelashes and on to the ground below, along with the sound of what seemed to be tiny porcelain shards hitting the pavement stone gently. His head was still throbbing painfully after the whole ordeal, a ghost of the actual pain he'd gone through momentarily but Damien was very grateful it was gone; his poor head could only take so much of it.
After what felt like a long forever, his body relaxed enough for him to be able to stop shaking and somewhat steady his breathing, even just by a little bit. He didnt answer her, but the way he had calmed down suggested the worse had passed and he was just dealing with the aftermath. With a bit of his remaining strength, he slowly rolled on his side and remained there, whimpering softly while hands covered his face.
Mari continued to gently try to comfort him, still murmuring softly and combing her fingers through his hair. Please be ok. Please be ok. Please be ok… the mantra echoing constantly in her worry.
The sound of porcelain against stone was very soft but it still concerned and confused her. She let out a more calm breath when he rolled onto his side and gently wrapped her arms around him to help him sit up. She didn't lift him too fast, just at a slow steady pace before hugging him close to her, not moving his hands away from where he was holding them.
“Damien, I’m so sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for…” she apologized, feeling extremely guilty for what happened to him. “I didn't know it would hurt you. I’m so sorry. We don't have to do that again.” she promised.
The boy allowed himself to be picked up and held close - despite the pain, he felt like he was being held by his adoptive mother again which was a little reassuring, bringing him back from the foggy state of mind he was in. He had no idea why it hurt him either, but now he at least managed to make a connection between the pain and his power. No idea why it was this way, he hadnt used his abilities before, but it was the only possible answer he had.
It took several minutes for him to calm down enough to breathe normally again, sniffling a little here and there, his body still shaking. He removed his left hand, revealing his tear stained face, and the eye they kept flowing from, using the hand to wipe away some of the tears the best he could.
She rocked gently as she held him. “I’m so sorry, mi amigo. I… I didn't know.” she almost whispered, fighting the feeling of her throat closing on her. The guilt of the whole thing settling in her gut like a ton of bricks.
Mari pulled back a little when she felt him move and looked at him. “Are you alright? What happened?” she asked worriedly, blinking back a few tears of her own. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable by moving his other hand, but she wanted to see if it was ok… Or if that strange sound had come from his old injury. Though that thought didn't make much sense she realized. But the way he was holding it, it had to have hurt so much.
"It's alright…" the boy finally managed to hiccup, continuously wiping away tears. "I think… I think my power was causing it… It hurt like this before, right at the very start…"
As he pushed the words out, sniffling and voice shaking, Damien slowly pulled away the other hand as well, moving it slow like he was holding something small he didnt want falling off. On his skin rested what appeared to be tiny porcelain shards of a white coloring, some of them rolling off to the ground when the hand parted from the face. The hair that usually covered the boy's right side of the face was now ruffled and partially moved, revealing the source of the weird shards of porcelain like material - the skin on that side of the face looked like a doll whose face had been smashed in, except in this case Damien's head wasnt hollow, instead showing what had to be his skull. Unlike normal bones, his seemed to be a charred black, either natural or the result of whatever was causing this strange condition. The crack itself was large enough to cover all of Damien's former eye and the top half of his cheek, with the skin at the very edges bearing the exact same ghostly white tint as the shards he was holding, with visible cracks in as it transitioned back into regular soft skin.
She nodded, accepting his answer. It made sense that his power triggered that reaction… but it didn't necessarily ease much of her guilt. “Damien… If your power was hurting you when we started, you could have said something and stopped. I would have understood. It would have been alright.” she told him, wishing she had thought of that possibility and told him that before they started.
Mari’s eyes widened as she took in… everything. The actual literal hole in her friends face, the paleness of his skin around it, the little shards in his hand, the strange dark color of his skull, the fact that she could see his skull… She took a deep slow breath to stop from spiraling into a near panic. Now was not the time to freak out. He needed her. “Do… Do you think you can stand up?” she asked gently though her voice still trembled.
"I… i didnt know either… i just thought the pain was gone forever when i got better and it didnt hurt when we started…" Damien's tears began rolling again, as the boy clung to her clothes, shaking again. Had he known it would have caused such a problem he would have definitely said something about it.
He took a second to try out his legs, looking down at them before nodding affirmatively. His body felt very weak as if it had been drained of all its energy, but right now he felt the need to go sit on something softer, like a bed just to rest.
“Then what did you mean when you said it hurt at the start?” she asked, a little confused and concerned. When he started crying again, she gently pulled him closer. “It’ll be ok. You don't have to do that again. I don't want you to be hurt like that.” she assured him. Normally, he was right. When something healed, it usually stopped hurting… But she started to wondering if he actually healed. The size of the hole… and how long he'd had that… It didn't seem like it was actually getting better.
Seeing how unsteady he was, Mari quickly wrapped an arm around his waist and stood up with him. “Here. Let on me. I’ll get you inside.” she said softly as she lifted his arm that was closest to her over her shoulders.
The boy rubbed away a few more tears left on his face before replying.
"I meant it back then when i first got hurt and Mom found me and took care of me. It kept hurting like this for a few weeks until i got a little better, but the eye on that side just turned to ash when i took the bandage off…" he clarified, pointing towards the empty socket, with a drop of sadness in his voice, like he was more upset about his eye being gone rather than the way it did. At least this detail helped put some things in the timeline, making that hole in his face nearly as old as he - yeah, definitely not a fun thing to live with.
He allowed her to lift him up, stumbling a little as his knees buckled when he attempted to put weight on his legs, but eventually managed to stabilize himself enough to start taking steps.
"Thank you…" he murmured, trying to keep his shaking under control.
“Oh, ok.” she nodded, though she was more than a little surprised by the fact that his eye turned to ash. “What… What happened back then?” she asked softly. Maybe if she knew what caused it she could understand why his injury looked so bad and why it reacted that way.
“Anytime, mi amigo.” she assured him, taking most of his weight onto herself. “You want to just go up to your room? I think I mentioned showing you some of the stuff in the Atlas.” she smiled a little encouragingly.
"You remember i told you that after mom and i got separated, i arrived here all alone and wondered around places for a while? I think i accidentally scared some villagers once and they started trying to catch me…. It was scary, but not like the man with the gun, he was way creepier… He had this large hat with metal coins on it and this really weird gun that spit out fiery projectiles. I remember him following me through the forest as i ran, followed by the other angry people, until he had me cornered at the top of a waterfall. I know i looked back once to see if he had caught up with me but when i did, i got hit in the face with whatever he shot at me. After that i think i must have fallen into the water because i remember struggling to stay afloat and later mom said she'd found me next to the stream." he explained, leaning more against her as if seeking protection from the memory of that undoubtebly horrifying day. The event had left him with serious nightmares and bursts of panic for a very long time, and judging by how he had reacted the first time they met, he was still severely affected by it.
"Thats also where i lost the bunny from my dad, it probably got swept up by the water." he added, his voice dropping to a murmur as he recounted the emotionally painful loss.
Damien nodded, panting slightly as he made an effort to continue walking and not stumble anymore.
"Yes, that would be very nice… Thank you again" he tried smiling as well, though his was a little more painful.
She hummed and nodded occasionally as she listened to his story. She wanted to ask him how that gun was strange but wasn't sure if he'd be able to explain it or if she'd be able to tell the difference because of how different guns were back then. “I… I'm no expert, Damien, but it almost sounds like that man who shot you was a Vampire hunter. The gun he had could have been modified specifically for… that kind of thing.” she rationalized softly, thoughtfully. That could explain why his eye and skull reacted the way they did to being shot. “I’m sorry.” she nearly whispered, hugging him for a moment.
Mari frowned a little when she saw how he was struggling and stopped for a moment. “Hold on.” she warned before scooping him up into her arms, carrying him as she started walking towards his room again.
"A… vampire hunter?" he repeated slowly, looking up at her as if wanting to know why such a thing existed in this world or processing the reason he'd been targeted in the first place. Just because he had a vampire heritage, despite not ever doing anything to harm anyone else, a vampire hunter tried to kill him, just because he was different. It hit in his emotions like a knee to the guts. The boy raised a hand to gently brush his fingers on the edge of the cracks in his face, while his remaining eye wandered somewhere else, probably processing his situation. An in that moment, he was grateful for the hug, he really was.
"Ah, you… dont need to carry me…" Damien lightly protested, although he didnt do much against it physically. He was a very light boy for his age, thankfully not making it a hard task for Mari to carry him
She nodded a little remorsefully and gave a soft sigh. “Yeah. I've only ever heard of them in stories, mostly fiction, but since you and your dad are real… I guess it makes sense that they would be too. Though I've also heard about other hunters who don't just specialize in Vampires.” she told him, though she still wasn't entirely sure whether or not creatures like werewolves and ghosts existed too. But how exactly did Damien manage to survive getting shot by a special gun from a hunter?
“I may not need to, but you didn't really look like you could walk very well yet.” she smiled, softly teasing. “I’d rather carry you than let you wear yourself out. You need to recover from… that and that means not overdoing it, relaxing, and getting your strength back.” she reminded him, feeling a little embarrassed for bringing up his attack.
"But… why would they need to be real? Are vampires… really that bad…?" his voice trembled, sinking further into her embrace, as if someone took the hope out of his entire being. He'd gotten used to the idea that vampires were generally feared and not liked by the population, but to go to the extent that someone was actively hunting them down like animals? It hurt to think about, it really did and he wanted to cry over it, but right now he was all out of tears. All he could do was hide his face in her clothes and sob quietly.
"Oh… okay then…" he gave in reluctantly, choosing to just relax his head against her shoulder, closing his eye for a moment as they walked up the flight of stairs and arrived to his room.
Mari bit her lip for a moment and shook her head as she held him close. “I… I don't know. I… I think it's like with people. There are good ones and bad ones. Maybe the hunters just started as a way to keep the balance or keep the bad ones in line… But there are always a few zealots in any group who go overboard.” she tried to reason, hating how upset he seemed. Obviously, he had every right to be upset about this but she hadn't intended to scare him like this.
She hummed a little as she entered his bedroom and gently set him down on his bed, taking a seat herself near him. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Damien just sighed, tired of the topic and how bad it made him feel. Sure he could understand people wanting to protect themselves, but then again vampires were people too, weren't they? It just felt so unfair and weird and complicated he didnt even have words to finish expressing what he felt.
"I suppose you're right… i saw that guy after people started screaming 'vampire' everywhere…" he murmured while looking away, clearly hurt by the memory.
The boy struggled a little to find a comfortable place to sit, before just laying on his side to presumably try and help with his incoming headache.
"Not really, thanks for bringing me up here. Now, where's that atlas you spoke of?"
Mari hummed at his comment before gently running her fingers through his hair. It was very likely that the man just reacted to the panicking crowd… but that didn't justify his actions. “Hey, it's alright. Chances are there aren't any hunters around anymore, since most people don't believe Vampires exist. Or if they do, they’d be more willing to give you a chance and treat you better. Not everyone is as scared as they used to be.” she assured him. Though she knew mob mentally was still a thing and it probably wouldn't be too hard to get a riot going.
“De nada.” she smiled softly before sitting on the floor beside his bed so he could look at the book. “Right here.” she said, having spotted where he put the book earlier. “Let’s see… I think we were talking about Europe and Italy before.”
"You've never seen a hunter before?" he asked, lightly turning his head to look at her with his good eye. Surely, if they were real they did exist somewhere out there in the world most likely under a new look or something. But then again, it was very possible they were just hidden like the creatures they hunted down unless… they had already done their job.
"Hmm, really?" a hopeful glimmer ignited in this green iris, possibly hanging on to the idea that the modern world wouldnt reject him the way his did.
Damien rolled slightly on his stomach to be able to see better wherever she pointed on the book in her lap.
"Mhm, those are the ones" he confirmed, waiting for her to continue the explication she'd interrupted earlier.
"No. At least, not one I could recognize as a hunter…" she admitted, shaking her head. It was very possible that hunters were still around and just blended in better, just like vampires, or other beings like them were harder spot it made sense that hunters would do the same. Considering her lack of definitive knowledge on the topic, she wasn't really the best person to ask. All her information came from movies and books and the occasional mythology website.
"Really." she nodded with a small smile. She was sure that her family would accept him, and maybe a couple of her friends would too. But she wasn't going to introduce him to any of them until Damien was ready to meet them.
"Alright then." Mari smiled up at him and opened the large book to a double-page map of Europe that included a bit of west Asia. "So, this big continent is Europe, where countries like Spain, France, and Germany are. This funny-shaped island to the North is divided between England and Ireland… But Italy is this one here just to the South, the one that looks like a boot kicking a ball." she explained as she pointed out the different landmasses.
"Ah,,, i see… Well, at least im glad you didnt… He seemed very scary to me back then… Just the overall aura was… so heavy" he murmured slowly into the bed sheet, his fingers gripping the fabric like he wanted it to protect him. Damien didnt know what hunters were portrayed like in the modern day, but to him it had always a very real and scary reality that still haunted him somehow. He didnt live too far away from where he'd encountered the man, so the fear he might one day reappear in his life scared him half to death.
The boy laid on the bed, watching her hand as it moved on the map, pointing at the various countries.
"Have you ever been to any of these countries?" he asked, grabbing a pillow to hug as he continued to listen to her speaking. He could agree that some countries looked funny on a map, but they had to have nice landscapes too right?
“His… aura? You can see… or feel those?” she asked curiously, changing the subject for his sake. It was obvious that talking about the hunter made him uncomfortable, to put it mildly. She’d heard about aura's before but wasn't sure how much of it she believed. She’d always thought of them as something similar to horoscopes, so maybe there was something to them but the information may not be very accurate.
Mari shook her head, looking up at him. “No. Unfortunately, I haven't been to any of those countries. But I wouldn't mind visiting some of them one day.” she admitted. “I mean, I know enough Spanish to probably make my way through a trip to Spain. England and Ireland both speak English, so I’d be good there too.” she said with a shrug, though there were a few other reasons why she was hesitant to visit Germany or mention those reasons to Damien.
"I think so, im not certain… Its hard to describe them. But i think i used to sense them better before i had this" he gestured towards his missing eye and hole in his face. "Now its very vague compared to then, also maybe because i havent met anyone else since. That man's was like, heavy and dark, like no one else's before, almost metallic in a way, i cant explain it too well."
Damien hugged the pillow he was holding, presumably for comfort.
"Yours on the other hand is different. I cant feel it too well, but i dont feel anything bad either." he attempted to lighten up the mood, smiling softly.
He rolled a little, looking at the book continuously like he was picturing the location.
"Well… if you ever go there, could you tell me how it was like? When you come back, of course." the boy asked coyly, like he was telling her that it was perfectly fine if she didnt want to. He was just curious.
She nodded a little, listening closely to his explanation. "I guess that makes sense. I've heard that practice makes perfect so… Yeah." she hummed. With his injury, it was likely that his ability was… impaired but she would be surprised if his isolation also played a part. "Well, I'm glad that you don't feel anything bad from me." she chuckled, understanding not being able to explain it very well. She imagined it was like trying to explain colors to a blind… No, she'd heard of cases where that was possible, maybe more like describing sound to someone who was deaf was a better analogy.
"If I go, I would be happy to tell you about it." she smiled up at him before turning back to the books and flipping through the pages to find a specific map for him. "You might like this one. This is a map of the Island of Japan… where I think your father lived when he mentioned the Cherry blossom festival."
