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Post by skyeknight on Aug 14, 2017 20:36:10 GMT
After Anna's release from the hospital, Axel made a habit of dropping by her place to make sure she hadn't nailed the door shut with how much she had withdrawn. Granted, he had to go back to work full time, he still managed to pick up things like groceries and take-out while she was rather incapacitated. Even now a few weeks later, he was carrying a large bundle of groceries to her place. She had withdrawn after her release. It was mostly just him just leaving the groceries on her doorstep and heading back home. But this time, he was determined to talk to her. She had been avoiding him. Well, avoiding everyone from the sounds of things. She got to keep her job, luckily, but was all but on probation and careful watch not to be using the lab for her personal projects anymore.
He felt awful, but he was happy that the outcome wasn't worse. She could have been fired. Criminal charges could have been pressed. A pretty little thing like her wouldn't last long in prison, not when she all but bubbled hope and optimism. That only set off the tougher guys in there who made it their jobs to make everyone as equally miserable as they were. No, Axel was glad she escaped those sorts of things. He set the bags down, but knocked on the door.
"Anna, it's me. You know, Axel?" |
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 14, 2017 21:12:32 GMT
Anna had been napping on the couch out in her living room when she heard the knock at her door. She had been sleeping a lot lately and while the doctors had ensured her that it was a side effect of her body's healing process and would pass in time, she didn't really believe that. No, she was certain that it had to do with the fact that she felt so broken inside.
She blinked slowly at the door as she lay on the couch with a blanket over her. Her hair was tied back in a messy, low ponytail and her clothes consisted of PJ bottoms and a loose t-shirt. And despite the fact that she had been sleeping only a moment before, she looked terribly drawn and pale.
She stared at the door, not moving towards it or answering when an all too familiar voice spoke from the other side. It was Axel. Ever since she had been discharged from the hospital, he had been dropping by frequently to check up on her. He often came with a load of groceries or some kind of takeout to make sure she was eating. While she wasn't exactly starving herself, she wasn't eating like she needed to in order to get her strength back up.
The truth of the matter was, she wasn't doing much of anything of lately. The perky, sweet and odd young woman who had managed to make even the likes of Shadow laugh, who always enjoyed showing off the newest strange purse she had bought, who took simple joy in randomly cooking things and talking about her rubber duck collection, had dissolved into the sorrowful, depressed creature that could barely make it through a day of work before coming home and collapsing into bed to silently weep.
Mistakes. She had made so many horrible mistakes and now she couldn't move past them.
Anna was about to lay back down and ignore the knocking as she had done before but suddenly a green shape jumped up onto her chest and began to squeak incessantly. Pascal was glowering up at her as he continued the nonstop noise. It was clear he wanted her to go and answer the door and that he wasn't going to leave her alone until she did.
She watched the little chameleon for several more moments before letting out a small sigh and slowly getting to her feet. With the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, Anna shuffled over to the door before opening it just enough so that she could see and speak to Axel.
"Yes?"
Even her voice sounded rusty from lack of use and she couldn't seem to meet the Fire Demon's gaze head-on. Instead, she looked at a place just over his left shoulder as she stood in the doorway.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 15, 2017 13:50:36 GMT
"So you're alive after all," he replied, not even bothering to contain his sarcasm.
He didn't think retreating from the world was a healthy way for her to be dealing with this. Hard to lecture her from behind a door. She hadn't given him much choice though. Not like he had her phone number and could call. She'd likely call for help if he just broke in, despite them both knowing a little measly door didn't stand a chance against him. He was trying to be respectful, give her the space she wanted. Forcing her to talk about something she simply did not want to talk about would earn him no favors. But seeing her for the first time since the hospital, he certainly didn't think she was following doctor orders about resting.
"Can I come in?" he asked.
He still held the bags of groceries. If pressed, he might even use them as an excuse to go inside. Why have Anna carry them in when he could? If she said no, he would respect her decision and leave the groceries where they were, only to try back another day. Pushing her was what had gotten them in that mess in the first place. She didn't need to be put in that position again. So he was going against his better nature and trying to be gentle. For her.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 16, 2017 7:43:41 GMT
At Axel's sarcastic response, Anna couldn't help but flinch as if he had made to hit her. Normally she would have been ready with a clever yet playful remark to throw right back at him, but things weren't exactly normal for the young woman anymore. No, things had changed in a big way for her and the changes had been nothing but bad.....
She lowered her gaze to the ground and didn't answer for a few seconds when the Fire Demon asked if he could come in. When she finally did response, it was with nothing more then a small shrug before she moved silently away from the doorway. She walked back over to the couch, her grip on the blanket tightening as she sat back down.
Pascal, who had been watching her the whole time, walked over to her side before jumping up on her knee and sitting there, looking at her with his large eyes. The chameleon had been frantic when Anna had not returned home for several days and it was only pure luck that one of the officers at the BPD had come by and found the little reptile. Said officer had taken Pascal back to the station where he had been looked after by several members of the BPD Unit and he had been overjoyed to see his beloved owner when she was finally released from the hospital.
However, even the little reptile had been able to tell that something was off in a very big way with Anna. Even now he could tell something was wrong. Her scent wasn't quite the same anymore and she wasn't acting like she always acted. Happy, sweet, energetic. And it worried Anna's pet deeply.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 16, 2017 14:54:23 GMT
She hadn't slammed the door in his face. He supposed he was lucky in that count. But she had left the door and retreated back to the couch. Her blanket trailed behind her like a cape. Axel sighed and stepped inside. He closed the door behind him before carrying the groceries to her kitchen. After putting things away, in the places she liked them, he came back to the living room. He stopped at Pascal. The little lizard didn't seem to be doing any better than his owner. He held out a hand for the little guy. Axel had to be warmer than the house was at the moment.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
He was going to have her talk to him. She could try to be as withdrawn as she wanted to be, but he was not going to let her wallow in this self pity forever. It wasn't healthy. Besides, a lot of people went to a lot of trouble to make sure she survived. Including, apparently, a genie. He simply wasn't sure how to bring back the peppy and spunky girl who was all but a light at his bar. He was still taking a more 'gentle' route with her, soft tones, giving her space, and not forcing the issue.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 17, 2017 12:05:31 GMT
Anna just stared down into her lap the whole time that Axel spent bringing in and storing the groceries he had brought her. She knew she should have been grateful for his kindness, knew she should have said or do something to express her thanks and yet she couldn't find the energy to do so. So she just sat silently on the couch as Pascal watched her and Axel finished putting away the food.
However, he didn't leave this time. Instead, he came over to where she was sitting and asked in a soft tone how she was doing. She opened her mouth, about to say she was fine, but the words died on her lips and blew away like old autumn leaves. Despite everything that had happened to her and the fact that she felt like an emotional wasteland inside, she couldn't lie. Not even now.
"No so hot...."
Her voice broke on the last word and she found her eyesight becoming blurry as tears steadily began to well up in her eyes. She didn't want Axel to see her cry. He had already seen her do enough of that yet she couldn't stop the well of hot salt water that made her blink rapidly.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 17, 2017 14:55:21 GMT
"I think it helps if this place isn't a literal ice box." he half heartedly teased.
He knelt in front of her, really having to sink down low, because even when he crouched he was still a tall being. It was upsetting that she was so heartbroken over what happened. There were no magic words, no incantations and nothing he knew how to do to fix this hurt. Curse her for making him want to move the world to make her happy. But he readjusted the blanket around her shoulders, as that was probably the best he could do without changing her thermostat. The heat, however, wasn't what Anna was talking about, they both knew it. She was talking about feeling poorly. Granted, she had every right to be.
She had gone through horrible physical trauma at the cost of the serum she had worked so hard for. She believed that it would help people. That was probably the worst part about it. She should have tested her sample on something like a mouse or a frog. Not herself. She had to deal with the guilt of having hurt someone who was only trying to help. She had broken her own morals by doing what she had done. Not to mention, she had almost died. It was a lot for anyone to go through.
"When's the last time you ate something? Or went outside for that matter?"
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 18, 2017 10:11:57 GMT
"I... I don't really remember."
Anna looked up briefly when Axel knelt down in front of her but quickly dropped her gaze back to her lap so that he wouldn't see the tears sparkling in her eyes. And while her answer made it sound as if she were trying to avoid answering Axel's question, that wasn't the case at all. She simply couldn't remember. Time seemed to have grown vague and fuzzy for the young woman, but her sorrow and guilt were as bitingly strong as ever.
The Fire Demon was doing his best to support her during this difficult time. He was going out of his way, doing as much as he could and more to make sure that she was taken care of. He had even put himself in potential danger to find and save her when the serum had transformed her into a rabid semi-Other. And although they hadn't discussed it since, Anna hadn't forgotten what he had said when she was in the hospital. About his feelings for her....
Yes, he had done so much and yet she still couldn't find her way out of the bottomless well of her despair. Axel did his best to try and sympathize with her.... but he didn't know the full extent of why she was so despondent. After all, she hadn't told anyone, not a single living soul....
"I heard from the hospital.... the other day."
She picked at a loose strand of the blanket wrapped around her, unable to meet Axel's green eyes and still speak.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 18, 2017 15:33:24 GMT
"Then we take care of that first." he decided.
He would get her something to eat, maybe even coax her outside. The later being something if they were really being adventurous. Or rather if he were being particularly stubborn and she would give up on fighting his advice to recover. She looked like she needed sunlight something fierce. In a way, she reminded him of a wilted flower. Not enough sunlight and not enough water. Except he wasn't going to jus let her wither away. It was a shame to see her this way, but at the same time, he understood it. He didn't spend this long as a drunkard's agony aunt to not understand human guilt, even if - as a demon - it didn't quite make sense to him.
"What did they say?" he asked.
It could be good news, but it could also be bad. Like whatever they were going to charge her for the life saving care. Or test results that came back even worse than the serum.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 19, 2017 10:35:53 GMT
At Axel's question, she could feel her chest tightening and the tears fighting to fall. She tried to force them back and swallowed hard, the bitter sting of saltwater and the hot taste of guilt threatening. She took in several deep breaths to try and steady her nerves, forcing herself to straighten her back and finally raise her face so that she was looking directly into Axel's eyes.
"They said...."
Her throat felt so dry in that moment and she swallowed once again, trying to make it easier for her to speak. The swallow produced a small click from her throat as she opened her mouth to tell him the truth.
"They said...."
And without warning, she burst into tears. She had thought she could tell him what the doctors had said to her. They had still been doing lab work on her blood to make sure there were no lingering and averse side effects to the serum she had injected so rashly and thoughtlessly into herself. She had truly believed for a moment that she could tell him what the results of those labs had finally confirmed. Apparently, she wasn't even strong enough to do that anymore.
Leaning forward, she pressed her face into her lap and sobbed, her back jerking as the strength of her cries wracked her frame. Pascal, who had been sitting by her the whole time, made a distressed chirping noise and immediately went up to her. He pressed against her leg and laid his head partway on her lap.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 20, 2017 2:33:38 GMT
"Hey," he said quickly, "Take it easy!"
Axel put a hand on her back as she doubled over and started to sob. He rubbed a hand over her back. He wasn't prepared for that sort of reaction, but he had to stop himself from assuming the worst. Which was hard because he was a pessimist by nature. But if she wasn't going to be positive about the outlook then he had to be. He wasn't a naturally comforting person by nature. Anna had completely thrown him out of his element but damn him for wanting to try to be at the worst of times.
"We can talk about something else if you want?"
Something that didn't invoke body shaking guilt and all encompassing self hatred for her past actions. There had to be something good she still had left after all of this. Granted, a lot of things had gone wrong for her. Her coworkers might even be wary around her. The doctors' news might not be good, especially if it brought forth a reaction like that.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 21, 2017 4:50:49 GMT
Anna felt the warm touch of Axel's hand on her back and barely made out the soothing words he spoke, but if anything this only made her cry harder. Why did he care so much about her? After everything she had done the Fire Demon should have hated her or at least felt nothing more then contempt, yet here he was brining her food so that she didn't go hungry, checking up on her regularly to make sure she was taken care of, trying to comfort her and see her through the despair that seemed to have drowned all the things that made her her.
When he said they could talk about something else, the weaker part of her wanted to just nod her head and give into the kind offer, to avoid the truth of what the doctors had told her.... but she couldn't do that. Some part of her, even lost in sorrow as she was, told her that this was something she couldn't just hide away. She had to face it and the only way she could do that was if she let someone know.
With this voice whispering to her fervently, she forced herself to take a shaky breath through her tears and speak in halting words.
"They doctors... they told me... when they ran the blood tests on me.... to make sure the serum hadn't... hadn't left any damage.... they said that... that the blood..... it doesn't belong to a... a human anymore!"
At these last words, the sobs overcame her once more. She wept into her lap but soon enough the cries began to tamper off as exhaustion settled over her. Still, she couldn't raise her head to look into Axel's face. She was simply too afraid of what she might see on it.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 21, 2017 14:53:12 GMT
Axel made sure to breathe slowly. He was upset. Naturally. However, this was no longer in Anna's hands. She should have perhaps thought before she simply skipped a step and jumped to human testing, but she had been emotional and angry with him and Shadow. It certainly explained why she was as upset as she was. It was the lost of her 'humanity'. He had seen youngling vampires go through this. It wasn't a life they chose. It was forced upon them. They could never go back to the way things were before. He couldn't make that better, so he let her cry. He just kept smoothing a hand over her back so she knew he hadn't left.
"You're not human anymore?" he said slowly.
It supposedly meant her experiment worked, with near fatal side effects, like madness and almost death. They were not unlike the infomercials about medicines with potentially hazardous side effects. Not exactly what Axel wanted to hear. This was probably the nastiest shock that Anna could have had thrown her way. He wanted to do more to help, but wasn't sure how. He could coddle little vampires to be, but they would still be vampires. But because Anna used Shadow's blood - a hybrid's blood - there was no telling what sort of Other she was.
"Listen, Anna, you can get through this." he said. "I'll help you."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Aug 22, 2017 6:21:23 GMT
"N-not completely, n-no!"
Anna managed to choke out these words softly. By that point her sobs had tapered away so that her body was no longer jerking violently with the force of them and the sound of her cries had diminished into sharp intakes of breath. However, only a great fool would have thought this meant she was recovering from this dreadful news. She simply didn't have anything left inside her to cry with.
"Th-hey don't k-know exactly what it me-means, but the d-d-doctors said traces of unk-known Other DNA replaced some of m-m-mine. It's n-not much but its en-enough to make m-m-me...."
Here she stopped, simply unable to get the word out. Semi-Other. That's what the doctors said she was officially classified as of now. Semi-Other. Even now, they weren't sure how this would effect her. More tests had to be done and they had told her to partake in nothing risky, no strenuous activity.
Right.
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Post by skyeknight on Aug 22, 2017 18:26:08 GMT
"Honestly being an Other isn't that bad." he said. "And silver lining is you're alive. I count that as a success. What about you?"
So they just had to figure out what sort of DNA was in the original serum so they could figure out what sort of half-Other Anna had become. One step at a time. He just a had a few on his list - get Anna calmed down, get her to eat something and maybe open a window so she could get some light. He might have been a upset by her reaction. This was what she had wanted her serum to do and it did it. Was it the fact that she herself had become an Other or did she have something against Others that he hadn't realized? They couldn't just wish her to be human again. Things just didn't work that way.
This must have come as a nasty shock for her. This was what her serum was designed to do. Perhaps she had taken blood from the wrong Others. Axel's blood didn't grant him any super healing powers. Granted, she hadn't taken his blood. He doubted that Shadow's was going to hold anything that wasn't deadly or dangerous. He didn't know what other samples she had been tampering with when they had bust into her lab. He honestly wished he could redo that over. He almost had her talked down when Shadow decided to throw a temper tantrum. However, as much as Axel wanted to blame Shadow, he had been the match that burnt up all of her work. |
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