The Elemented

A Little Pain and A Little Flirting

P.O.V: Iris

When I finally regained consciousness, I was laying in my bed. I tried to move my body, but that was a mistake. Immediately, a wave of pain washed over me. I heard the door open and close. The person walked to me and sat down next to me on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Ajax asks, his voice full of concern.

"Does it look like I'm okay? I feel like I've been run over by a truck." I retort, my voice raspy.

"I heard what happened with the dogs, and I have to say everyone was impressed that you actually scared a Death Hound." His voice registered his own awe.

I try to smile but that was another mistake.

"What happened to your face?" He asks.

He could have phrased that better. I would have yelled at him, but my voice lacked the force to do so. "Ask the guards who threw me in that place."

Ajax looks at my face and says, "At least your nose isn't broken. But you are going to have a black eye and those scratches will become scars."

"Way to be optimistic, Ajax." I say sarcastically.

He laughs a little, but his face still has a concerned look.

"Do I really look that banged up?" I ask him.

"Yeah, but scars tell stories. Plus it makes you look hot." He adds, winking at me.

I roll my eyes at him but blushed and he takes off his jacket and rolls up his sleeve. There was a bite mark scars all over his arm.

"They locked me in the same place as you, but I didn't do as well. They were on me in a heart beat. The Death Hounds went at my stomach, arms, legs, and one actually almost killed me with a bite on the side of my neck." He tilts his head a little to the left, showing a bite mark that stretched all the way to the back of his neck on the right side. "Luckily, I was taken out of there and stitched up. My father was very disappointed and so did He when they saw me." He said with a sad smile.

"Well," I say, "that's in the past. My father would always say, 'Let the dead bury the dead.' He was always saying things like that. Quoting them out of famous books and poems. While he had books, I had my music. I would go down to the basement and just play my electric guitar. I would play rock, hip hop, and heavy metal." I smiled. This time the pain subsided. "My parents would have to pull the plug of my amps just so I could hear them. After they were done, I would plug them back in and continue to sing my heart out." I look at Ajax.

"There wasn't a single place where I didn't hum a song. My father hated rock music, so each night I would sneak out and go play at a rickety old house at the end of my street. I played every song I knew and then learned new ones in a few days." Ajax says, smiling at the memories.

"You had to sneak out just to play the music you loved?" I asked incredulously.

He nodded. "It's not that much different than it is now." He said.

I shiver involuntarily because an image of the grey-eyed man popped into my head and also because my room was now freezing to me. I had to be changed out of my orange jumpsuit and into a white tank top and some shorts. They did this so they could bandage my arms and legs. I try to set up, but my left side started to hurt. I instinctively grabbed my left side and felt something against the inside of my shirt. Carefully, I lifted my shirt to see a huge bandage on my side. It was already soaked through with my blood and I noticed the rest of my bandages were also like that. Ajax must have seen this too, because he began to take off a bandage on my arm. He took out some antiseptics that he must have brought with him.

"This will only sting for a few seconds." Ajax says, not looking up as he applies it the the bite.

I squeeze my eyes shut against the pain and eventually, it subsides. When I open my eyes, he has already begun to carefully remove the soaked bandage from my left shoulder. It stung as he took it off. When I looked at it, the wound was purple and it was bleeding a lot. I close my eyes and wait for him to apply the antiseptic, but this time I didn't feel the sting of it against my bite.

"Did someone hit your shoulder before the dog bit you?" Ajax asks, a mix of anger and concern in his voice.

"One of the guards hit me with a club twice on my back, once on my shoulder, and then punched me in the face and then the stomach. Just because I struggled to break free three times."

Ajax had finished my left shoulder and began working on my right arm. "These guards only torture you because they are scared. They're scared of all the kids who are part of the Tyrants, but they are more afraid of us. Because of our Elements. So they try to beat us, torture us, and eventually, they try to break us." He says softly.

I watch as he works diligently.

He lifts my shirt up just enough to reveal the huge bandage on my side and begins to remove it. I feel a sharp pain and I wince. He applies the antiseptic and puts a fresh bandage over the large wound. Then he begins to work on my thighs. Gently, he removes the bandages. I involuntarily bite my lip out of habit. These wounds aren't as big as the others, but they are deeper.

"You're lucky to be alive, Iris. If these wounds would have been half an inch deeper, then it would have hit a major artery and you would have suffered from major blood loss." He tells me.

In spite of me being cold, sweat shines on his forehead. It must be hot for him, for he was wearing a long sleeve button-down shirt and black pants. When he applied the antiseptic, it begins to sting worse than the first time. I let out a small cry of pain and he quickly bandages my thighs. Next, Ajax looks at my face. He runs his thumb over the scratches on my right cheek and the one just above my left eye, checking how deep they were. I don't say a word. I just look up at him while he is busy checking my face for anymore scratches.

"How did you learn all this stuff?" I ask, while he is still searching for scratches.

Ajax stops looking around my face and looks into my eyes.

"My mother was a nurse so she taught me how to stitch up wounds, when to know if someone needs to be stitched up, and things like that. She was always helping people around her whenever she was needed." He says quietly.

Despite him lying to me, I felt like he needs to be comforted, even if he did lie. I was angry still, but I wasn't cold and heartless. "She sounds very nice, I wish I could've met her." I say kindly.

He gives me a small, sad smile. "She would've liked you."

I raise an eyebrow at him and ask, "Really?"

"Yep. She was just like you. Strong, determined, defiant, and didn't take orders from anyone."

I smirk. "You're forgetting that I'm also hotheaded. Literally."

That makes him laugh. It feels good knowing I have that kind of effect on him, despite still being furious at him. Ajax's eyes had torches that haven't been lit in a long time, but now they shine brightly and that makes me smile. He picks up his jacket and slings it over his shoulder.

"I'll be back tomorrow to check on you and make sure you don't get an infection. Tell your guard if your bandages need to be replaced. Oh, and I almost forgot." He says. Ajax leans towards me and kisses my cheek that doesn't have scratches.

"What was that for?" I ask, stunned a little and my heart beating quickly.

"Now we're even." He replies with a lopsided grin.

I roll my eyes and we say our goodbyes. Did he seriously just pay be back for teasing him? I laugh at the idea that he actually knew that I was teasing him.