Guardian

Chapter 1

1030.

It was as though time had stopped, all of the commotion surrounding her meant nothing as she sprinted across the bloodied field, her golden hair rustling behind her. She looked the part of an angel as she ran to her love's fallen body, collapsing beside it as though seeing him in pain caused all of her strength to be sucked away. She placed her hand on the wound, applying pressure in a futile attempt to keep him alive.

"Stay with me, please, don't go." The words came out as a plea, waiting for some sort of divine intervention that she knew would never come.

"I must apologize, but I fear that that is one thing I cannot do," he breathed, his chest rising and falling with such labor that she knew his breaths were limited. He placed his hand atop hers, his warm blood seeping through her fingers and onto his. "I love you, Liv."

"No, do not say that, you cannot act as though this is the end." Her words wavered as she scanned the area for someone who could help him, who could save him. But they were all focused on themselves, too distracted to pay them any mind. "This is only the beginning, I will get you through this, I swear."

"Liv-"

"Please, someone help!" She called out, despite knowing that she was the only person who cared and the one most qualified to save him.

She began to do everything that she could, working through the tears that slid down her cheeks and onto his bloodied body. She kept working even when his heart gave out and his eyes glazed over. She kept working despite the shouting around her. She wasn't going to let anyone take him away from her.

Her body fell numb as she was forcefully dragged away from his body. She lost all resistance and let them do as they pleased. Slowly, she lost consciousness and succumbed to the darkness that beaconed her.

-

(Olivia's POV):
I pulled the last stitch through and secured it, announcing, "alright, he's all closed up. You can wake him up."

The assistant nodded, checking his vitals before taking him off of the anesthesia. I knew that she would stay with him until he woke up, but with such an emergency surgery, I wanted to be there until I knew that he was in the clear.  While waiting for the drugs to wear off, I tossed my gloves away and allowed my tools to be carted away to be cleaned and sterilized.

The assistant and I remained in the room, watching over him and I ran my fingers through his soft caramel fur, as though trying to coax him to back to reality. Finally his eyelids peeled open and I was met with drowsy brown eyes.

"Good morning, Scout," I smiled at him, relieved that he had finally awakened. I looked up at the assistant, "do you want to take it from here? He should be watched overnight to make sure that he doesn't have any adverse effects to the surgery. He just went through a lot for a little beagle."

She nodded, "I'll make sure that he is well taken care of. Thanks for staying late to do this, Liv."

"Of course, I'll be by my phone all night in case anything changes in his condition."

I grabbed my bag and leftovers from the dinner I had called in once finding out that I was going to be staying late to operate and then left the clinic, ready for a relaxing evening. I'm sure Caius, Aufidius, and Puck were wondering where I was by now and I was a little nervous that they were going to tear the apartment apart if I didn't feed them soon.

As I left, I pulled out my phone and sent my boyfriend, Tyler, a quick text, Just finished up for the night. How was your day?

The walk home took a while, but the people were sparse which allowed me to weave through people easily while keeping up my brisk pace. However, I was stopped in my tracks by the crying of a cat in pain. I immediately stiffened at the noise, my eyes scanning the streets to find the injured creature. This wouldn't be the first time that I helped a homeless animal get back on their feet and my cats certainly wouldn't mind another house guest until I could find a home for them. My landlord, on the other hand, would no doubt be annoyed.

The cat cried out again and my eyes landed on the gorgeous black cat with piercing green eyes, its fur covered in blood. It was in worse condition than I had expected, mostly likely having gotten hit by a car. I carefully approached the cat, speaking softly to it and holding out my hand for it to sniff. It was trembling slightly, but seemed unable to move therefore allowing me to approach and scratch its chin.

"I'm going to help you, ok? You can trust me," I spoke calmly readjusting my stance so that I could pick it up. "This is going to hurt a little, but I promise I'll fix you up."

It let out a cry as I touched it, but made no moves to attack me. I knew that the smart thing would do would be to bring it back to the clinic, but I feared that it would be too far away for the cat to make it in his condition. My apartment was right around the corner and I had enough medicine and supplies to patch him up there until he was stable enough to bring all the way to the vets. I believed that that would be my best course of action.

Hoping that I could save his life, I hurried home, nearly running up the flights of stairs to my apartment. I was met by all three animals as soon as I opened the door, but I kicked the door close behind me and told them, "be patient guys, I have an emergency to attend to."

Knowing that they would be upset, I wiped down the kitchen island to use as an operating table. I set the cat down once it was sanitized and washed my hands clean from his blood. I then set my emergency medical bag next to sink, pulling on a pair of gloves and a mask as well as grabbing a wipe so that I could clean the cat's fur and get a better idea of what I was looking at.

But when I turned around, the cat was gone and in his place lay a bloodied raven-haired man, his face twisted in pain.

"Holy shit." The words tumbled from my mouth despite my mind having gone blank, shocked by the sudden transformation of my patient from animal to man.

-

(A/N): Ok so I did decide to post this, though I may change the cover later on as I am not exactly thrilled by it. Also, should I create chapter titles or just leave it as numbers? So many uncertainties, but I am excited by this story and I hope you enjoy it!