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SHE felt like complete shit.
Iris groaned quietly, rubbing at her closed eyelids as she stirred from her deep sleep. Her head was pounding, but it wasn't the kind of deadly ache that she received from a hangover. This one was much deeper, throbbing against her temples, as if her face had collided into something hard several times.
It all came back in flashes then. She felt Nick's hands in her hair. She remembered the tears that stained her cheeks. She could see Nick leaning his head back and then – smash. Everything had gone dark.
Iris lifted her hand slightly, feeling the tug of an IV in her arm, but she still didn't have the strength to open her eyes. Her fingers lingered on her jaw, where she felt a blossoming bruise, before touching the bandage on the bridge of her nose. She could see the bright light of her necklace pulsing even through her closed eyelids.
She fluttered her eyes open, and it felt like it was the first time she had woken up in years. Everything around her eyes felt crusty, and her perception was blurred. She turned and saw Dick sleeping in a chair beside her hospital bed. That's when she realized that half of her vision was fully black. Iris blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the room, but one eye was remained fuzzy. No matter how many times she closed and opened her eyes, one was clear while the other was not.
Iris laid a hand over her blurry eye. How could she have forgotten? Nick had blinded her with her own powers. He used her only defense against her body and now, she was left blind in one eye. She didn't want to think about what would've happened if he blinded her completely. Iris bit her lip to stop herself from crying, but it was hard when suddenly everything in your life was fucked over.
To most people, being blind in one eye wasn't that bad. Some might even say that she was being dramatic, that her life would be fine. But no one would understand the trauma of a man using your own body against you, or how it felt to have your defenses stripped away in a containment center. They wouldn't understand that she could no longer do what she loved. The police agency would never keep her on as a detective if she was blind. She would be demoted to a dispatcher, if she was lucky.
Nothing was the same now. Iris felt tears prick at her eyelashes before she finally let them go freely. She choked on a sob spilling from her mouth, and placed her arm over her lips to see if that would make it quieter. But nothing could drown her out. She wished she had never gotten this stupid necklace. She wished she never decided to take up that robbery case on her own. This all fucked up her life and now she could never go back to how it used to be. Iris Kingsley was broken.
Dick finally stirred at the sound of her cries, eyes opening with a flash. He shook his head to wake himself up, but as soon as their eyes met, he was jumping out of his chair. "Holy shit," Dick whispered, sitting on the end of her bed. He reached out and moved her hand off her mouth, frowning at her tear-filled stare. "I'm so glad you're awake, Kingsley."
