Fragility of the Mind

Ariel stared at the ground, glad to have the fire in front of her to stay warm. Without looking at TK she asked quietly, "What are you thinking about?"

Gabrielle hopped off her bed and walked off to see Emir in the bathroom calmly. She was keeping her personal freakout for later. "Hey, dude..." She leaned over and touched his shoulder. Seeing the gushing wound, she winced and said, "Somebody get a doctor!"

She put his limp hand over her shoulder and walked out of the bathroom, a little concerned about her clothes getting ruined by his... forehead blood. She tohught his wound was fixed! Cursing to herself, she exclaimed, "Fast, before he loses too much blood!"

(fuck. delete it then. GO PASSED OUT EXCUSE GO.)

While Emir was passed out, he kept seeing drifting images of the old man in his mind, a gun in his hand.

Raine saw Gabrielle holding Emir up and her eyes widened in surprise. She saw the blood and looked down at the bandaged mess that was her arm. It was regrowing, slowly, and process was painful as ever. Raine thought about shooting up some morphine and dulling the pain but she thought against it. She didn't know what was in the syrum she took and she didn't know if it would react with the drug.

She winced, for about the millionth time, and grit her teeth. Her eyes were watering by the time she asked Gabrielle, "What, did a girl finally club him over the head for being a pervert?"

His hand being limp from gravity, his scar bleeding drops of blood all over the floor.

Gabrielle let go of Emir and put him on the bed. "Nothing like that. Did you hear him scream?" she asked Raine, narrowly staring at her. "Get me some bandage tape."

Realizing her request was tactless and bossy, she added, "Please."

Emir woke up a little, looking at Gabrielle with confusion.

"Don't have to be polite on giving orders Gab, it's redundant to everyone including a black guy who's bleeding out."

Raine looked at the woman blankly, "Whatever." She then opened a portal beside herself, painfully stepped through and into her appartment. She strolled into the bathroom and got out the first aid box. She opened the latches and swung the lid open, viewing the contents inside. When she saw the medical tape she snatched it up and put back the kit. She walked back to the portal that was still open in the living room and a picture frame on her small coffee table was knocked over. Raine frowned, not remembering hitting it over as she picked it up and placed it back the right way.

"Oh man..." she breathed, seeing her horrified expression reflected by the glossy glass. Beyond her face was her and Jon, posing happily and looking like they had not a care in the world. Suddenly the pain in her arm got more intense and she felt the prickle of the tears behind her eyes. Raine grit her teeth, stepped away and practically ran through the portal. She gave the tape to Gabrielle and ran off, muttering saucy and offending comments under her breath where she went.

"The little bitch left me, well I've got worse, had a whole squadron abandoned me to die, slit all those throats." Emir mumbled, becoming more lucid of his past.

"Oh, yeah. since you're awake, could you help me wrap up your head?" Gabrielle asked quietly as she unrolled the band of tissue. She was rather concerned about Raine--perhaps it wasn't right for her to get so 'into' a situation like this.

Emir took the roll of tissue.

"I've got this, Raine probably has a reason to leave and you'll probably concerned of her." He said calmly, getting a large amount of tissue to put around his head, tearing another piece to wipe his face. "I'll be alright, just some remains of the project coming back."

Ariel chuckled quietly at TK's last comment.

"Do you think that's a bad thing or a good thing?" she asked. "After all, I never believed that too much thinking could be good for you."

Ariel grinned back.

"Yeah, yet another thing we have in common," she murmured. She gazed into the fire for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. Then without looking at TK she said, "I've just been thinking about everyone. This situation we find ourselves in, how crazy everything has gotten." She paused. "I'm worried about Raine, about you. I've finally made some headway with Gabrielle, though I feel bad about it..." She sighed then, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

"Emir has had a rough past too. And Alevon...well, I won't get into that right now." Then she turned to TK and grabbed both of her hands. "You're my best friend, TK, and I just want you to be ok. There may be some problems with Videor, but I truly believe that he is better for you than Alevon," she finished in a steady voice. Then she said with a slight laugh, "You know, I didn't always think that he was an asshole. That was more Lean...a..." The smirk was wiped clean off her face and she swallowed. She hadn't thought about her since...

Alevon inhales shakily and exhales just the same, and looks down at the pieces of the plate

...he picks them up and sits them on the counter, dragging them back together piece by piece

"...the pieces are finally coming together...the very root of my problems is not myself...not TK...not anyone...but it is my dependance on TK and the mental comfort she gave me..."

He keeps working, pulling more and more back to the right spots, the plate is gradually taking it's shape once more

"...yes...I have seen the error of my ways...the obstacle that which was my dependance on TK, broken down with these newfound eyes of truth...I feel so much better already...maybe for once I can be with the group and not bring them down with my extreme sensitivity. Yes...I am whole now, my mind is focused, and I know now that I was feeling this way for no reason at all...to love is one thing, but my dependance and needy attitude were not acceptable..."

The plate now holds it's original shape, carefully put together on the counter

"I can finally be myself...I sense that this is the best thing for everyone, my newfound independance...now everything will be alright...I will rejoin the group bright and sober, I will do everything in my power to heal TK of the scars I have made, and I will be the person I always sought to be....Alevon Drey."

Ariel held TK just as tightly, laughing darkly to herself.

"Yeah...the hell we went through together..." she trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the images. She opened her eyes after a few moments and looked at her friend.

"But you're right, we're not alone anymore. We have our friends with us, and that's what matters."

Ariel looked at the ground for a moment and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I think we should go back now," she said in agreement. Then she turned to the fire. "You want to take care of that?"

Ariel flopped onto her bed and laid back.

"Yeah, that was a much needed break," Ariel agreed. Then she sat up and asked, "Hey, has anyone seen Raine?"

Ariel looked at the ground, her brow furrowed.

"Sight-seeing?" she asked out loud. She frowned. "I don't believe that... They would have said something." She pulled out her cell phone and looked for Raine's number. She was about to compose a text message but decided against it. She called instead.

"Come on, Raine... Pick up."