Orlain

"A bit, yeah," Joey muttered. "Now I can go back to whining instead."

"I wish you wouldn't call it whining," Zakuro sighed.

"I should have been done with this weeks ago. It--" Joey shook his head and let out a short breath. "I thought I was done. I'm apparently not, and I almost attacked her for it."

"But you didn't.." Jack reminded, "how did that fight even start?" He asked, still not really knowing. He glanced back toward the rooms where Damien was at. Maybe he should have tried to talk to her first. But she had seemed too sick to be spoken to at the moment.
"I have never heard Damien lie like that..."

"I--" Joey gave another frustrated sigh and sat down in a chair. "I was listening to her argue with Kerian and Aegon. She wanted to keep training with Malak and after they told her no, she threatened to leave and find someone else to train her." He bent in his chair, elbows on his knees as he rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "She went past me, I got frustrated and told her to fuck herself because I guess I'm brilliant, and it escalated from there."

"I'm surprised you were the first to say it," Zakuro said blithely.

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have."

"Why did you say it?" Jack asked. He leaned back in his seat, relaxing a bit. "I mean. Damien might have been being a little unreasonable, but there has to be another reason." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't know why Damien would want Malak to still train her, but in her defense... She didn't even know she had powers until he started training her. He has helped her a lot and hasn't hurt her... You would think with Aegon having control over him he could make sure Malak only trained her and did nothing else..." He felt like he might have sounded like he was sticking up for Malak.
"I'm only thinking about Damien when I say that.." He added carefully.

"Yeah, I get that he's helping her, but Rowan technically helped me and I sure as hell don't feel like going back to him," Joey pointed out. He looked at the ground. "As for why I said it . . . I don't know. I've just gone weeks where she'll barely look at me, won't listen to the others, and wants to keep Malak around even though she doesn't need him. I hadn't meant to say anything at all, but just listening to her threaten to leave, it sort of . . . slipped out, I guess."

"I can understand that, even I lose patience for Damien sometimes," Jack admitted. Wich almost seemed odd, he, it seemed, was always pretty calm with Damien. Like he understood her better then anyone else. And sometimes he thought he did.
"Well how are you feeling about her now that you know she had that parasite thing in her?" He asked carefully. He hoped the answer would be at least a little good.

"Not much better," Joey said bluntly. "I don't know how much it affected her, or exactly how, and it doesn't really excuse anything. Everything she said had to come from somewhere."

"Still, maybe she'll listen more once it's gone," Zakuro suggested.

"Right. She tells me she wishes I was dead and she is definitely going to be more reasonable than she was before."

Jack frowned lightly, "maybe you should give her the benefit of the doubt like you hoped she had given you..." He suggested, "I mean, I know she didn't. But maybe this thing ate up more of her then her emotions. You never know until you talk to her...." He leaned forward, "if you want, I can talk to her first to test the waters, so to speak.."

"What's the point?" Joey asked wearily. "I spent awhile trying to get over it. It didn't entirely work, but I can't keep following her around and hoping things are going to get better."

"It's worth another shot," Zakuro said gently. "Even if things aren't going to be exactly like they were before."

"I'm tired of getting hurt, Zak. I don't know if I want to bother anymore." Joey shook his head, feeling suddenly ashamed by the confession. Rarely did he say outright when he was hurt one way or another.

Jack was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say for a second. "Well.. I do think I remember hearing her say that she had loved you during the fight. Well rather she referred to you. But... I think that should make it worth it." He just smiled lightly at Joey, "but you should think it over. Aegon said she had a couple days before anyone should talk to her anyway."

Joey rubbed at his eyes again, common when he was stressed. He didn't recall Damien saying any such thing. Only that she hated everything that he was. Maybe that wasn't true, but the words still stung.

"Jesus, I think I'd rather hate her," he muttered. "I want to, and it would be so much easier, but apparently I can't."

"Trust me, you wouldn't," Zakuro said with half a smile. "Then we'd all be miserable. She's being difficult, but so are you. Think about it, at least."

Jack smiled at Zakuro, they made a good team. They should comfort friends together more often.
"It's getting late, and the day has been long. We should all just go to bed for now," He said as he stood from his spot, still a little sore from his old injuries. Aegon hadn't fully healed his old wall bruises, but he was alright with that.
"Try to get some sleep Joey.."



((I have a plan for later in the night))

Zakuro nodded her agreement and knelt to give Joey a brief hug, which he didn't return but also didn't turn away. She left with Jack afterward, hoping that the next few days would see more peace.

((M'kay. I've nothing else, so you can skip.))

((LOL NOPE ZAKURO))

About 4 hours after everyone had gone to sleep Jack was rudely woken by another nightmare. As was a common thing for him, so he was glad his movement hadn't woken Zakuro. After taking a minute to calm down he carefully got out of bed, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep without getting his mind off of the nightmare. Making sure not to wake Zakuro he pulled on a shirt, grabbed his glasses and went out of the room.
The house was dark and quiet, giving Jack an eery feeling. But he didn't think much of it since he was still a little worked up from the dreams. He decided to walk around the house a couple times, figuring that would work best for calming himself down and not waking the others. But before he could even move away from the door to their room a weird noise entered his ears. It sounded like some one was being sick... He shuddered lightly and moved down the hall, past Joey's room and stopped in front of Damien's door. It was pretty easy to tell it was her, and although Jack knew she was supposed to be sick, he felt like something was wrong. After glancing over his shoulder he knocked lightly on Damien's door. There was no answer for a moment and he knocked again... After a third knocking he pushed the door open slowly, worried about his friend. He knew she was awake from the sounds...

After he entered her room there was a sudden and loud thud against the wall the was shared between Damien's room and Joey's room. It was soon fallowed by a few smaller thuds. Clearly loud enough to wake Joey, but probably not loud enough to wake the rest of the house...

After a fit of anxiety, as was proper when everything was going wrong, Joey managed to drift off into sleep. It was interrupted far too early by a loud crash in the room next to his, and it awoke him with a start. His heart pounded from the surprise for a few seconds. He tried to calm himself again as he lay in bed, but his senses were alert, and he could hear the sounds continuing from the nearby room.

Reluctantly, he got out of bed and padded barefoot to the next room. The door was already open, making him nervous as he peered into the room.

In the room Damien was curled at the foot of her bed, holding her stomach and crying. She shook as if to be scarred, but it could have been from being sick. She was on her side and curled enough that Joey couldn't see her face or see that her clothes were a bit torn up.

Jack was in the room as well, but he was on his knees over someone, one hand holding the guy by the front of his shirt, the other hands balled into a tight fist and punching him repeatedly. They were faced away from Joey, so he couldn't see who it was, but from the purple glow of magic as he tried to fight back and the curses to Jack between punches it was pretty easy to tell that it was Malak.

Joey felt every muscle tense as he recognized the figure Jack was bent over. He cast a glance at Damien, but his concern was first with Malak. Instinctively, fire flared to life in his hands as he stalked across the room, expression twisting into a snarl.

"What the hell were you doing in here?" he demanded as he stood over Jack and Malak.

Jack paused in his punching fit when he noticed Joey come up behind him. But he held Malak down firmly. The demon looked to the side, coughing and spitting blood.
"Fuck you..." He growled bitterly at Joey.
"I came in to check on Damien and he was on top of her, holding her down and doing something..." Jack explained, glancing at his knuckles that were covered in Malak's purple blood.
Malak started to chuckle and then laugh hysterically the the two. This pissed Jack off and he punched him again, but it didn't stop his laughter. He seemed to be enjoying being hit. Malak's clothes were loosened as if they had been taken off recently, but one couldn't tell for sure.
"That's it. We killed you once, we can easily do it again!" Jack spat bitterly, moving back a little so Joey could get a better angle if needed.

Rage flashed white-hot through Joey's vision; the sheer anger almost made him uncomfortable. He hadn't felt like this at all since he was under Rowan's influence, and he didn't find himself caring.

"You sick fuck," he hissed as he knelt, hand wreathed in flames and darting for Malak's throat. "Why shouldn't we just kill you right now?!"

Malak flinched heavily as Joey came at him but barely fought back, instead he just laughed. "Love makes you do crazy things!" He half laughed, half choked out.
Jack had moved back away from Malak figuring that Joey was going to take care of him. He turned to look at Damine to see if she was alright. Before she even had the chance to move from the spot she was in she suddenly started to puke blood, covering her bed where she laid.
"Shit..." Jack hissed, moving over to help Damien position over the bucket at the side of her bed.

Joey looked over his shoulder, seized by worry for Damien. "You should get Aegon," he said to Jack before returning his attention to Malak.

Killing him would be so damn easy. The way he had tried to kill Rowan--freezing the blood as it flowed in Malak's veins. He gripped Malak's throat so tightly his fingernails left marks, fire scorching at the flesh. He could feel the water in the demon's blood, sensing its presence . . . All he had to do was act on it, and he had all the reason in the world.

Why was he waiting?

Jack nodded quickly and turned to leave the room to get Aegon. He paused before he went, "You better kill that bastard before I get back or I'm going to do it.." He warned before leaving and darting down the hall.

While Jack was gone Damien stopped puking for a moment, still crying. She slumped over her bed, trying to hold back the next bout of puking. Small round burn marks, about the size of a half dollar coin littered her body, some even on her face. She whimpered from the pain and urge to puke.

Malak grunted in pain under Joey, "you can't do it. You never can and never will..." He chocked out, then laughed. Even as the fire burned his skin he did no more then try to push Joey off of him, unable to cause him harm due to one of Aegon's earlier commands.
"Fuck you stupid little boy... You're a coward and a child. At least I could satisfy her!" Malak taunted.

Jack ran to get Aegon, quickly and barely explaining that Malak had hurt Damien before running back to the girls room.

Joey's breath came hard. He could hear Damien whimpering to his side. His hand was beginning to tremble from the pressure he exerted, and thoughts warred in his head. Malak needed to die. Joey--all of them--had been trained since day one to kill. He wanted that hesitation gone.

Malak's comments sent him over the edge.

"Shut up!" he shouted as he gave in. The flames disappeared as he turned his focus to the blood in Malak's body. Starting from the heart and surging outward, it rapidly turned to ice.

Malak closed his eyes tightly and half cried out in pain shortly. The sensation of his blood literally turning to ice was the most painful thing he had ever felt. But it happened quickly, but it was still easy to see how painful it was. First his body stiffened and then he let go of Joey and fell limp. His body making soft cracking sounds as it moved. The blood that was streaming out of his mouth also turned to ice, leading down to the small pool of blood under him. And just like that, Malak was gone. Hopefully for good this time.

Jack got back into the room just in time to see Malak die. He couldn't help but smile, that bastard was gone.

Rane was awoken abruptly by the sound of Joey yelling. She lifted her head off Taiju's shoulder and quickly looked around, startled. Before thinking she reached over and shook Taiju to wake him up.
"Taiju... Somethings going on." She said quickly in a hushed tone. It was surprising that he hadn't been woken yet. But maybe this was his first good nights sleep since Rane had gotten sick.

As the results of his actions sank in, Joey's breath stuck in his chest. Slowly, he unclenched his hand from Malak's throat and stood, backing away. His bare foot crunched on a puddle of frozen blood and he stopped, eyes wide. He kept waiting for Malak to get back up.

Aegon ran into the room shortly after Jack. He looked to Joey and Malak, but said nothing as he redirected his attention to Damien.

Taiju did hear Joey's shouts, but he fell back asleep almost immediately afterward. Rane was right, this was his first night of proper sleep in some time and he intended to enjoy it, whether it was the smartest move or not. Still, it was difficult to ignore Rane shaking him by the shoulder and whispering in his ear, so with a groan of protest, he sat up on his elbows and looked blearily to Rane. "What?"

When Aegon came close Damien jumped and whimpered, not knowing who it was. All the circular burns on her body were entry points of more parasitic demons. Malak had been putting more into her... Many many more. The puking blood was a side effect of them newly entering her body. Though they would not have been in there long enough to start feeding. Her arms around her stomach she tried desperately to hold her ripped clothes onto her body.

jack quickly moved forward, in front of Joey, grabbing him by his upper arms. He gave Joey a gentle shake, "come on Joey. You're fine," he said firmly. "Don't think about this, think about helping Damien."

He motioned to the girl as she pulled away from Aegon, terrified by his touch.

"Something is going on, I heard yelling," Rane repeated. She looked toward the bedrooms worriedly. "You should go check on them..."

Joey barely reacted to Jack at first. He blinked slowly, trying to force some thought through his head and make his body move.

"I--yeah . . . yeah, you're right. Sorry," he breathed. He shoved away his conflicting emotions for the moment and stepped around Jack, going to Damien.

Aegon swore softly as he looked at all the burn marks. He tried to heal Damien just enough to reduce the vomiting, but the parasites themselves would take more work, and it would have to be done now.

Taiju grumbled as he threw back the covers and started out of the room. He was an informant and a bodyguard, not a babysitter.

When Joey came close as well Damien whimpered and curled into the tightest ball she could possibly form into. She his her face in her arms, still crying. "N-no..." she begged quietly.

Although Jack wanted to comfort Damien he was sensing that he would do more harm then good and took a few steps back to stay out of the way.

Rane watched Taiju get up and walk toward the bedroom, swallowing past a worried lump in her throat.

Joey stopped, taken aback by Damien's reaction. Had he done something or was it just an instinct for her to hide?

Aegon muttered to himself for a moment before switching tactics, magic changing from healing to trying to detect how many parasites had invaded Damien's body.

"This is not going to be pleasant," he said aloud as Taiju entered the room. Aegon stood again, preparing new spells for binding and healing. "I'll have to hold her down and remove them with magic, and she will fight."

"What's happening?" Taiju asked, suddenly much more alert. He looked to Malak's unmoving body on the floor, then to the others for explanation, but neither Joey nor Aegon said anything.

Jack sighed lightly, "I came in here to check on Damien and Malak was hurting her..." He explained then made sure to add "Joey did what needed to be done.."

Damien nearly 20 new parasites in her body, and now that he was looking, it was easy to see that instead of one, she had 3 in total before then. They were slowly being killed by the poison though.
She couldn't think straight, her thoughts heavily clouded with fear, pain and illness. Her body tensed up as her stomach threatened to hurl up more blood, but after a second it stopped thanks to Aegon. She felt her limbs suddenly bound by something, Aegons magic. But she only interpreted it as being grabbed and forced to hold still. She fought to get away but she was too weak from the days and nights events for it to do much good. But she struggled as much as she could, terrified that Malak was going to hut her again. She was sweaty and her silver hair stuck to her face, some drops of the blood she had puked up on the ends of it. She kept her eyes closed out of fear and it somehow helped her focus on fighting to get away.

"And now she's scarred..." Jack added after another moment.

Aegon grit his teeth as he set to work, locating each of the parasites in her body before ripping them out with magic. They were ugly, insect-like creatures, and they dissipated as they were torn out one by one. He worked as quickly as he could, seeing Damien's fear mounting the longer he took.

Joey could only stand by, waiting. In spite of their fight earlier, he wished he could go forward and make Damien feel better. It was obvious, though, that anyone's proximity to her would only make it worse.

"I see," Taiju said softly, looking again to Malak. He couldn't say he was particularly upset about this development.

After half of the parasites were out Damien slowly stopped fighting to break free. She breathed quickly, and was just too tired to fight back anymore. She just gave up but continued to whimper and cry. Each time Aegon ripped a bug out, she tensed in pain, but the pain wasn't nearly as bad as it was when they were put in. Between the tensing moment she dared to open her eyes a little more, then finally, toward the end she opened them fully. When she saw Aegon and Joey her fear significantly settled, but she was still very unsure. Her gazed flickered between the two before it ultimately settled on Joey.
"Wh-wheres..Malak-k.." She asked, voice trembling with fear. She didn't feel safe at all. Her torn shirt had slipped off a tiny bit from her fighting to break free.

Jack let out a long sigh, feeling like things were finally calming down. "I think it's alright now.." He told Taiju.

Taiju nodded. "Do you need help with . . ."

"I will take care of the demon shortly," Aegon interrupted calmly. He released the magic when he had removed all the parasites he could, returning to healing to help ease Damien's pain. "As for Malak, he is dead."

Joey shifted uncomfortably, trying not to look at the corpse two feet away. Damien already hated him, or acted like it--what would she say when she found out he was the one to kill Malak?

"H-he is?" Damien asked, looking at Aegon as if not to believe him. For a moment she seemed like she was thankful and like the news was making her feel much better. Then her blue eyes widened with fear and she quickly shot up, bumping Aegon's hands out of the way. She scrambled to get out of the bed and instantly froze when she saw the pools of blood on her sheets and dripping down onto the floor, and the bucket she had puked into full of blood. Her breath caught in her chest and everything inside of her tightened. She hadn't seen that much blood since Jack had to stab himself because of Jayce. And before that since her family died.

Being the one that knew the best what fear and flashbacks could do to someone Jack quickly and wrapped a arm around Damien, blocking her view from the blood. "It's okay... Don't look at it.." She said softly. Damien instantly broke down into tears again, her whole body shaking from the sobs. Jack coaxed her into laying back down on her bed, quickly pulling off the blood soaked blanket.
The girl rolled onto her side and curled back into a ball, crying.
"He's going to come back..." she weepd into her pillow. "He's going to come back, he did last time..." Jack backed off a little and looked at Joey, giving him a look telling him to step in and comfort Damien.

Joey just gave Jack a look back--what was he supposed to do that nobody else had? But he eventually conceded and moved carefully over to sit on the edge of the bed. He didn't know what to say; he wasn't even sure that she wanted him there. He settled for placing his hand on her arm, testing the waters.

"You should go back to bed," Aegon said quietly, straightening and moving from the bed. "There is little the two of you can do." He looked to Malak's body and waved his hand, causing the corpse to disappear.

With one last glance at the others, Taiju nodded and started out of the room. Rane would want to know what happened.

Jack nodded quietly, giving Joey a look that said he should stay before leaving the room. He hoped Zakuro was still asleep so he could just go back to sleep without having to explain things until the morning.

Damien flinched when she felt Joey touch her arm and quickly looked up to see who was touching her. She visibly relaxed when she saw it was just Joey but then quickly hid her face in her pillows again, not telling him to stop or go away. But too scarred to say anything else. Truth was, she wanted Joey there. But she didn't want to make him stay if he didn't want to. But she couldn't help but continue to cry.
"He said that if he died.. You couldn't control him anymore.." Damien slurred between sobs, looking over at Aegon. She hoped it wasn't true. At the time he said it, Malak didn't even seem sure he believed it.

"He perished at least once and was still under my control," Aegon said calmly. "Though the commands I have given him recently may not hold, I am not certain he is truly free, should he return again."

"Even if he was, he's not getting to you again," Joey said quietly. He stroked his thumb against Damien's arm, unable to think of anything else to do for comfort.

Damien blinked back more tears, trying to calm herself down. But it didn't seem to be working. She still felt so sick from the poison but at least everything else was calming down. She gave Joey a sad look after he spoke, no matter how badly she wanted to believe him, she couldn't. Not right now.
"How did he die?" she asked, voice shaking again. She moved one hand back to her stomach to try and fight off the nausea.

Joey glanced to the spot on the floor where a little frozen blood, now slowly thawing, remained. He licked his lips nervously before speaking. "I killed him," he answered. He felt like he should explain more, but what else was there to say? How he did or why wouldn't really change the fact.

Damien was silent, starring at Joey for a long time. "Y-you did?" She finally asked, her throat dry. After another moment she reach one hand out to grab his hand off her arm. She held it tightly and close to her, "thank you.." she whispered, tears flowing over her lids in a faster pace now.
"Thank you... He's been controlling my thoughts for months now..." She admitted, looking down and away from Joey. "I just hopes he doesn't come back.."

Joey swallowed thickly, unsure of what to do or say. He wanted to believe Damien, but it felt too convenient, and he didn't dare let himself grow too hopeful this quickly.

He glanced up to see Aegon quietly leaving the room, then let out a slow, heavy breath. "Then I'll do it again," he replied.

Damien held firmly onto Joey's hand, finding a great amount of comfort in being able to hold him in anyway.
"You would?" She asked, not looking up. "Why... Why would you do that for me after all I have done to you...?" She loosened her grip on his, letting him go if he wanted to.

Joey blew a lock of his unkempt hair from his eyes. "I don't know," he said. "It seems counterintuitive. Figured I'd be up and having a nice attack right now over the fact I just killed a man instead. But I couldn't just let him get away with . . . any of it."

His voice dropped. "And . . . look, I don't know where we stand anymore. The last few days have been a mess. But I've never hated you and I don't think I'm ever going to, so if he comes back, or anyone . . ."

Damien still didn't look up, unable to bring herself to look at him. "I'm sorry..." She said softly, "for all the things I said... I didn't mean it... Any of it." She slowly completely let go of Joey's hand, her hands still shaking, and pulled them back in toward herself. She was so unsure of what to do.
"I don't know what else to say..." She mumbled afterward, still not looking up. Half of her just wanted him to go away if things weren't going to work out... But then again she didn't want to be alone, or away from him. She thought back to when she put the parasite in her body after reading about them. Everything hurt so badly that she just didn't want to feel anything anymore. And then Malak took complete advantage of that, convincing her to add one more, knowing they would just make it worse. Then when Joey came back she was too far gone to even feel happiness. And when she was shot by Asha and she had a slightly peaceful night with Joey, and remembered what she had loved about him he convinced her to add another. Malak was trying to steal her away for a long time. He messed with her mind, kind the way he had Jacks, but just enough to make her think about things differently. Enough for it, coupled with the three parasites, was just too much and she freaked out.... She regretted all of that. She regretted being so weak to allow herself to hurt herself like that. She regretted everything she had said and done to Joey. In reality, things would have been different. She would have been different. They would have been different....

Joey pulled his hand back into his lap and was quiet for a few seconds, trying to decide what to say.

"I'm sorry, too," he said, looking at the opposite wall. "For what I said earlier, for hurting you ages ago . . ." There seemed to be significantly less he could apologize for--that he knew of, at least. He tried to think of anything else he could say. He wanted to suggest being together again, but there was no way he could think to bring that up. Not right now. He didn't know if either of them could act on that rationally in this state.

"I know it wasn't your fault..." Damien said softly. There was another silence in the room. She hates these little silences. It was worse then when they first started dating and everything was awkward. This was a whole different level of awkward.
"I am such an idiot... I should have never doubted you... Because I doubted you if lead me to being hurt wich lead me to sticking a demon inside of me... It was all down hill from there." She explained, keeping her voice low. "But it is still all my fault."

A large part of Joey agreed with that assessment, though he didn't dare to say so aloud.

"It doesn't matter now, I suppose," he said instead. "It's over with, and I'm pretty terrible at holding grudges . . . Honestly, I just want this to be done with, regardless of what happens. It's been weeks. You're probably tired of it as much as I am."

Damien nodded in agreement, finally looking up at Joey. She wanted to much for him to stay in bed with her and make her feel safe. She just wanted to be in his arms again. But she felt like she had killed any chance she might have ever had at getting that back.
"I just want things to be back to normal... But if I ruined it.. Then so be it.." She added, giving him another heart broken look. She would never forgive herself. After all those times Joey said he was worried he would screws things up, it was her. It was always her. The thought passed her mind-maybe they would all be better off if she were dead. But it was just a passing thought.

Joey nodded slowly and was quiet again. Where he normally would have had some reassurance, or at the very least a flippant response, he had nothing.

"I love you, you know that?"

The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them, and his instinct was to try to backpedal, but what was the point of taking back a statement like that? Damn it, the one time he didn't think before he spoke, it was now, and now he had to try to justify his outburst.

"I-I mean--I tried to say it. Ages ago. When we were on our way to Rowan's estate. But I got too freaked out and couldn't. So, I mean--I want to fix this."

Damien couldn't help it as her face flushed red, her heart skipping a beat. Why was he telling her this? And why now? She thought they were done.
"Y-you do?" She asked carefully, making sure he meant it before she dug herself a deeper hole. So that's why he had been acting so weird. If he had just told her before he was taken away, she might not have doubted him. But that was beyond the point now. She couldn't believe that they were talking about this right at that point.