forum It's A Deal Then //Private with Chogiwae//Closed

Started April 07, 2020 by @gracehustle

tune

(It's okay! It was good, I liked it. I should add Serena's flashbacks, too, but I'm planning on doing that after she sees the Fae who killed her family xD Also, sorry it's so short)

Serena pursed her lips, waiting for a reply, but Venali seemed to be out of it. He had a distant look in his eyes, almost as if he was here but his mind wasn't. But right after she spoke, he snapped out of his thoughts and answered her question, quickening his pace in the process. Serena didn't tell him it was aggravating her injuries.

"Ah, good," she murmured instead, then remembered the couple she saved. "I'm tired. Is that couple safe?"

(It's alright! I can't wait to read more about Serena's past lol, and also sorry mine is short :) )

"Thanks to you killing the beast, they're fine," He said gently, looking down at her while he waited for the guards at the door to open it for him, "You can rest, I'll make sure no one bothers you." It took the guards what felt like forever to open the large double doors, letting Venali continue his path into the palace. He figured she had already been given painkillers, and so he started on the path back to the cells.

(I can't wait to read more about Venali's either! And it's okay~)

Serena shuddered, setting her hand on her injured arm, making sure her head didn't rest against him, either. She ignored his gaze, pretending she didn't feel it as she slowly nodded.

"Okay," she mumbled, sighing softly and wincing. The next words were so much harder to let out, but Serena blamed the effect of the painkillers for making her say, "Thank you. For the–the bath, even though I'll need it again, as well as… taking me back."

Then she closed her eyes, pretending as if she'd fallen asleep, or was close to it. This was as far as she'd get with a Fae. This bond between them would change nothing. It couldn't.

"No problem, Raina." He could feel her shift in his arms slightly but didn't say anything, just started down the stairs towards her cell. Venali kept his steps smooth, keeping her from moving around any more than she did by just being carried in his arms.

Her cell wasn't the nearest to the stairs, but it didn't take him more than a minute longer to reach her's. The door was still open and he stepped inside, laying her down on the bed carefully so that he didn't hurt her. She looked much less stressed when she was asleep, it made her look younger, and as much as he was surprised to find himself thinking it, she looked pretty. With that thought intruding on his mind, he turned and walked out of the cell quietly, locking the door behind himself.

"When she wakes up, can you please get her food, a bath and her old clothes back as well as any more medical attention if needed?" He asked Arya, stopping her for a moment as he passed by her on his way out of the cells, getting a small nod and a smile in return, "Thank you Arya."

”Serena, stop your crying,” Serena blinked when the rough voice filled her ears. She blinked again, looked up, and found her father’s stern face staring back at her, but he looked like a giant. He was so tall.Looking at her hands, Serena realized one thing; her father hadn’t turned into a giant.

No, she was just a little child. She’d gone back in time. She remembered this moment.

“But—but I can’t kill it,” her little, sobbing voice filled her ears, and Serena felt tears running down her cheeks. She had no control over her actions or her words, but she knew everything that happened next in great detail. “I’m not strong!”

Her father’s face turned harsh and he forced her to hold the knife, directing it towards the squirming rabbit. Serena’s eyes filled with tears again.

”Please, dad,” she said weakly, trying to fight him off, but failed. Her father was stubborn, just like her. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to be a killer!”

”The Fae are all killers! What will you do when your mother and I are no longer here to protect you? How will you eat if you can’t even hunt!”

”Darling, she’s just a child,” her mother tried convincing her father as Serena sobbed harder, desperately wishing the rabbit would escape. But it didn’t. It couldn’t. It was trapped. “She can’t do this.”

“Yes, she can,” her father said harshly, shrugging off her mother’s hand and addressing Serena again. “Do it, Serena, or next time, you’ll have to skin it, too.”

Serena knew what happened next. She’d squeezed her eyes shut, and killed it. She could still feel its warm blood on her fingers. She could still remember the rabbit looking straight into her eyes. And she could still hear her father’s next words.

”I’m sorry, Serena,” he said softly, rubbing her head as she cried. “The Fae will never be merciful. You need to learn how to survive, and for that, you need to know to hunt. One day, it’ll get easier.”

He had been wrong. The killing never got easy. To prove her point, as little Serena cried, the rabbit’s face shifted into a human face. Eyes wide, mouth bloody, lifeless. It was her father, dead after what Scythe did to him.

Serena’s eyes snapped open as she shot up with a gasp, then gasping as pain struck her. She groaned, wrapping her arms around herself, whimpering, hoping the pain would lessen.

“Shit,” she cursed breathlessly, her world spinning slightly. She stopped breathing, hoping it would calm the pain, but it didn’t. Why did she have to get that dream right now? She wanted a peace of mind, but she knew she would never have it unless she avenged their deaths and protected Alec. She needed to. She had to. There was no other choice.

"Your uncle wants to see you, in his room." A guard called, knocking on Venali's door only half an hour after he had dropped off Raina.

The words were enough to make Venali curse and roll over on his bed where he was currently reading. Seeing his uncle was the absolute last thing he wanted to do today, especially since he had already suffered through sitting near him throughout the entire trial. "Coming," He groaned, standing up and making no effort to look happy to see his uncle as he walked down the two flights of stairs to his uncle's floor.

Normally the king would take the top floor that Venali currently lived in, but Eldon preferred his childhood room, and so he had given the top floor to his nephew. Either way, he tried to wait as long as possible before knocking, hearing no response and taking it as an invitation to come in.

"Raina, how are you doing?" Arya asked, coming by her room a few minutes after she had woken up. She carried a tray of food, though it held enough for two meals worth as she opened the door and walked into her cell. A tiny smile settled on her face and she seemed happy that Raina was alright, or that she had survived at least. "I brought you something to eat."

Serena exhaled slowly, trying to even out her breathing so it wouldn't hurt as much. She was still on the bed, her good arm around her waist. Her dream had unsettled her, especially since it had been so long since she dreamt of her father. Especially memories like that, but as always, she never stopped seeing them dead. She needed to know more about Scythe in order to give them peace, and herself, and Alec.

Sometimes, she envied his young age. He didn't even remember anything.

"I'm fine," Serena wheezed out when Arya came in, looking up and trying to smooth out her features. She remembered the wire she gave her, and bit her lip. "Thank you. For the wire."

Arya set the tray down on the ground next to her bed, a soft smile on her face as she picked up a tiny cup and held it out to her, "Here, painkillers for your arm and side. The blue pill in there, don't take until you eat and take a bath, it'll help you sleep." She looked away at the mention of the wire, her smile still on her face, "It's nothing, you don't have to thank me." Now that she had dropped the food off, Arya started out of her cell, looking back at Raina once more and pointing to the heaping tray of food, "Eat, when you're done I'll take you to take a bath."

"Your human girl survived," Eldon said once Venali stepped into his room. Besides those words, he didn't acknowledge his presence at all, sitting at his desk and going through a stack of papers without looking up.

Venali nodded, looking around his uncle's room for any sign of what he could want, "Yes, she did." He didn't bother sounding happy to be in his room, though he didn't seem mad either. For as much as he hated his uncle, his voice was calm. "What did you call me in here for?"

The king looked up, setting the papers down as he answered, "I wanted to be the one to tell you how she ranked, and when her next trial will be."

"Go on, I have things I need to finish, Eldon."

"She placed first, unsurprisingly," His uncle started, leaning back on the ornately carved chair he was sitting in, "And as for when her next trial is, you have two options."

As Serena took the tray from Arya, Venali’s words filled her mind. A promise of teaching her how to use silverware properly rather than with her hands. A scowl covered her lips. Why she remembered that, she couldn’t fathom, but she tried not to give it more thought.

The food today was, thankfully, something she recognized. It was rabbit meat, though cooked in a stew rather than roasted. And there was fish, too, with white rice, and some kind of sauce.

“Did my results come out?” the girl asked, though she didn’t look up from her tray. “Or will Venali be the one to tell me how high I placed?”

"Venali wanted to be the one to tell you how you placed once the results are out," Arya explained, casually leaning on the wall next to Raina's door, "I'm not going to tell you anything else though until you eat." After that, she seemed to start ignoring her, busying herself with little tasks like wiping dirt off of the gray top she was wearing or tucking a stray strand of hair back into her braid.

Venali stifled a groan and instead just rolled his eyes. Leave it to his uncle to be dramatic and petty enough to bargain Raina's trial date for something the king wanted him to do. "And those options are?"

Eldon watched him for a minute, the tiniest of bored smiles on his face, "Option one is to have her next trial be in about two weeks like I want, enough time for her injuries to maybe heal, but still be painful. Option two though is to have her trial in five weeks or so, that way her injuries are fully healed and she could maybe even prepare a little." He stood from his chair with that, slowly starting to walk around the large open office and lounge area of his room, "The second one would cost you of course."

It wasn't the lowest Eldon had ever gotten to wrangle Venali into doing his dirty work, but it was close. He was silent for a minute, pretending to think things over when he already knew he would go with the second option. There was no way he wanted to risk his and Raina's joint death because she wasn't healed. "What would it cost me?"

Serena, unable to help herself, made a face, but without objection, she began to eat. It hurt to swallow, or chew for that matter, but she managed. Unlike what she had to eat most of the time, the rabbit meat and fish were rich in spices. After all of this was done, they’d go back to eating bland food. Or not eating at all.

If Venali even lets you leave, a traitorous voice interrupted her thoughts and Serena bit back a growl. As if the choice was his to make. He didn’t control her, whether or not their lives were linked together.

When she finally finished, she swallowed the painkillers provided and slowly drank water, and then she wiped her hands with a cloth.

“Now,” Serena started, her brown eyes shifting towards Arya, “Enlighten me.”

(Sorry it took me so long to respond to this one)
Arya smiled again once Raina had finished, opening the cell door again and stepping inside to grab the tray again, "Can I do that on the walk to the bath?" She scooped the tray up and then looked around, motioning for her to get up, "If you feel well enough to walk that is, otherwise I can get someone to carry you."

"I have some…business out of the city that I need you to attend to if you wouldn't mind. It would take about a week, maybe two if you take your time getting there and back." Eldon looked over at Venali, pausing in his walking as he waited for a response, "Are you up for it boy?"

Doing whatever Eldon wanted him to do wasn't going to be pretty or fun, Venali knew that for a fact, as he ground out an answer, "Fine, when do I leave?" It was the nicest of responses he could muster at the moment, and he hoped that his uncle wouldn't make him stay any longer.

The King smiled, a hint of something flashing behind his eyes, "The end of this week, three days." With that though, he motioned for him to leave, turning to go back to his work as Venali did just that and got out of his uncle's room as quickly as he could.

(It's all right! Don't worry about it :D)

Serena scowled at the thought of having someone carrying her. She'd allowed Venali to do that once (well, technically, she hadn't really allowed it) and she wasn't about to do it again. She could carry her own weight.

"We can talk along the way," she said as she started to stand up. This time, the pain didn't really overtake her, but it was harder to breathe. Still, she stood upright, forcing her legs to steady, wrapping her good arm around her stomach. "And I don't need anyone to carry me. Let's go."

Then she thought: where was Venali, really? She had figured he'd want to be notified the second she woke up, but he wasn't even making an appearance. She told herself that it was because she wanted to know about the next trial, and the bond, and nothing else.

"I'm trusting that I don't need to get a guard or cuffs, you don't look like you're in the shape to attack me or run," The girl said, leading Raina out of her cell and walking alongside her just to be safe as she led her to the bathing room again. A few guards looked at Arya with a puzzled look as they walked by, but they didn't stop her once she gently rested a hand on Raina's shoulder. "I know for a fact that you placed really well, though only the king and probably Venali know exactly how you placed." She smiled and looked over at her, "He'll probably come by later to tell you the exact place you got."

Once again, the bath was already full of steaming hot water once they arrived, a towel and supplies already ready alongside the bath.

Serena wasn't a very touchy person, so she tensed up when Arya set a hand on her shoulder. It was a gentle touch, though, and Serena was grateful she didn't recoil away. That really would have aggravated her injuries. She didn't bother replying to her statement about her placement, nor the comment about Venali. That would mean she cared, and she didn't.

Upon noticing the hot water, the twenty-year-old tilted her head to the side.

"I'm not a doctor, but I thought using hot water with broken ribs only caused inflammation," she said. "I'm afraid I'm only human, not a Fae."

Arya frowned, looking at the water and sighing, "It was supposed to be cold, I'm not Fae either and I know that hot water isn't good for rib problems." She stepped away from Raina and to the bath, pulling out the plug so the water could drain. "Sorry, I'll get it changed as quickly as I can." The girl seemed nothing more than slightly bothered that the water was hot and not cold, as if she dealt with things like that every day.

While the water ran, she started to check that everything Raina could need was next to the bath, from soaps and towels to a brush again and her stack of old clothes, fresh and clean.

It was hard trying to take a bath, especially with one hand. To Serena's mortification, she had to rely on Arya again, especially when it involved washing her hair and scrubbing her back. She used to clean up Alec before when he was just a child, and sometimes he helped scrub her back when she was injured but this was different. This was a completely unknown person, and Serena hated being so useless.

Finally, she was done with her bath, as best as she could while making sure her broken arm was okay, too. She got dressed in clean clothing, which took longer than she'd liked and far more painful than she would have admitted. At least she was done. She, honestly, just wanted to get to bed at this point. Too bad she needed to sleep upright due to her broken ribs. If only she had been more careful.

"I'm ready to go back," she said once she got dressed. She purposely avoided looking into the mirror, knowing she'd honestly just be staring at a stranger.

"I'll be ready in just a second," Arya said, picking up the pile of Raina's dirty clothes and stacking them on top of the tray from her cell. She smiled gently once everything was piled in her arms, then headed for the door, sure that she would follow. "It might be a good time to tell you that Venali is most likely going to come by today. He wanted to know when you were fed and had a bath before he bothered you though."

This time the guards didn't bother them as much as they headed back towards the cells, just shooting various looks of confusion at Arya. She paid them no attention this time, walking with a confidence that was usually only found in Fae.

At least Venali knew just how much the mere thought of him bothered her. Serena merely grunted in response to Arya's words, both not wanting to give Venali the satisfaction of inquiring much about him, as well as due to how hard it was to really talk. Still, the cold bath helped a little. Maybe she'd ask Arya for an ice pack.

When they reached her cell, Serena ignored how weak it might look and instead took a seat on the bed, positioning the pillow against the wall and wrapping the other around her chest. She wheezed a little, making sure to sit upright, and exhaled a shaky breath. Now, she hoped she didn't cough. Or sneeze.

"I think an ice pack would be nice," she finally muttered. "For my ribs."

The girl nodded, closing the cell door once Raina was in, "I'll get someone to bring that to you as soon as I can." Arya stayed a few moments longer, just looking around the cell before smiling gently. Then she was off, walking away while humming softly.

It was clearly not a coincidence as Venali showed up a few minutes later, a large ice pack held in his hands. "Hi again, monster slayer, miss me yet?" He asked, a grin on his face at the nickname, "I'm sure Arya told you that I'm planning on keeping you company for a while?"

He knew just how much Raina probably didn't want to see him, even with the ice pack he brought. She was his responsibility though, and she could dislike him all she wanted, he was just there to make sure she would live and in turn he would. At least that's what he told himself.

Serena groaned, tilting her head back with her eyes closed in exasperation. Of course, Arya would send him. She was hoping to not see him again for a few hours, but given her luck, it wasn’t a surprise she didn’t get what she wanted.

“I’d rather I never see you again, but alas, I tend to not have my wishes granted,” she said drily, shifting slightly to make herself more comfortable while keeping upright. “What do you want?”

Then a cough broke through, sending a flash of pain, and Serena gripped the pillow tightly against her chest to lessen the pain. She wheezed, breathing shakily, then threw her head back again. She couldn’t wait to have these injuries healed…

"Well, I did come to give you this, like Arya wanted me to, but seeing as you never want to see me again…" He trailed off, raising an eyebrow, "I can leave, or you can suffer through my presence for a while and then I'll leave you alone." Venali had been standing right outside her door, but as she coughed and the pain on her face flashed by, a concerned look settled onto his face. The decision to leave was no longer an option. She really needed the ice pack he had.

So, he hid the majority of his concern and stepped into her cell, not saying anything as he walked to her bed and hoped she wouldn't break his hand as he pressed the ice pack against her side. He was trying his best not to cause her more pain, that much was clear from how gentle he was. "Once you regain the ability to talk to me without winding yourself in a few minutes, I wanted to tell you how you did today."

Being so vulnerable in front of a Fae (or half-Fae), in pain, clouded by it, Serena couldn’t help but flinch. The movement only caused her injuries to aggravate. She hissed, squeezing her eyes shut, and tried to calm herself down. The coldness seeped into her skin, successfully reminding her that she wasn’t in any real danger (yet), and that Venali was only providing her with an ice pack.

When she did regain control of her senses, she was surprised to notice just how gentle the Fae was while handling her injuries. He didn’t push the pack into her; instead, it was lightly pressed against her skin, careful not to hurt. Serena gritted her teeth and instantly took the pack, peeled the pillow from her chest, put the pack against it, then pressed the pillow back. The ice brought relief.

She mumbled her thanks, hoping he didn’t hear, then quickly moved on before he had the chance to reply.

“Tell me how I did,” she said. “And tell me when the next trial is, and what it is about.”

Venali did hear her thanks, though he didn't bring it up as she took the ice pack from him. "You placed first, not surprisingly." He answered the first part of what she wanted to know. The second part would be a little more interesting to explain since he was sure that Raina would want to know just why he had bought her a few more weeks between trials.

The half-Fae stepped away from her bed, though didn't go farther than to lean against the nearest wall in her cell and watch her. "Your next trial was supposed to be in three weeks, but…I got it moved back. You have five weeks or so now, enough time for your injuries to heal." He didn't go into more detail than that, figuring that would be enough to let her know what she wanted to know.

If she wanted to know more, she could ask.

Serena released a breath, most of her nerves dissipating. She'd placed first, meaning she scored a better chance at making sure Alec's stay here was comfortable and not at all dangerous. Though he'd always be in danger, she supposed, he'd just be in a safe space for the time being. When the pain finally settled and she was able to move without really hurting herself, Serena lifted her eyes towards the Fae male leaning against the wall and looking at her.

She pursed her lips.

"I don't think the king would just allow you to move the time back," she said slowly, knowing that if anything, the king would most likely want her to trial as soon as possible, considering she'd be injured and far more vulnerable. And she knew the king would not listen to Venali without making a bargain of his own. "So, what did you do, Fae?"