Hours later and the castle was once again silent with sleep.
"HAHAHHAH!"
...
Maybe not.
"Damnit. Stop laughing right now or I'll--" Carlisle grumbled, shooting the raven head a deadly glare.
But Kain waved him off, laughing even louder and more obnoxiously as he gripped his stomach with one hand and wiped away tears with the other. "HA-- HUUHH, I CAN'T BREATHE! Agh-- Ow! Why again?!" He cried loudly as there was once again a slap to the back of his head.
He turned around to his sister who was seated on the edge of her bed behind him. Kain and Carlisle were both sat on the floor infront of her bed. Tobias across from them sitting on a folded up blanket and Lydia lounging in the chair next to them. They had all gathered there after Kain carried his sister to her room. Now they were discussing stories and reminiscing on fond memories.
"There are people sleeping. Quiet down." Arden ordered, trying her hardest not to smile at the pouting scowl he gave her.
Snickering could be heard from her left and she turned to see Carlisle clamping a hand over his mouth as he tried his hardest not to laugh just as loudly as Kain did. Muffled chuckles were sounding from behind his hand.
Narrowing her eyes, she carefully reached over, giving the tall man a slap to the back of his head aswell.
"The fuck--! Why me?!" He stressed, rubbing the spot she hit as he shook his head at her.
"You know what that was for." She stated sternly, brows furrowing upwards for a second, giving him a pointed look. She was referring to him giving her his blood, more specifically the bandage that was now wrapped around his palm from where he cut himself to fill the chalice.
Grumbling, Carlisle leaned back, his light brown locks sprawling on the bed sheets. "Well, I won't apologise for it. You needed it..."
But he missed the upwards tilt of her lips as he closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, muttering frustrated things to himself in his usual Carlisle fashion.
And when a softer, angelic laugh rung through the room, everyone turned to see Tobias chuckling to himself. His striking silver hair glowing in the moonlight that was spilling into the room. His hands tucked under his crossed legs as he laughed sweetly.
"What are you laughing at?" Kain grumbled, still pouting and glaring like a big-man-baby.
"Sorry, sorry." He waved shyly, "I don't mean to offend. It's just always been funny watching you two being so c-childish after being hit by Arden. I guess I'm just happy it's not me."
"It will never be you!" Kain and Carlisle groaned simultaneously, turning to each other with sudden glares before quickly looking away.
Tobias shyly rubbed the back of his neck but smiled nonetheless. He knew that there was never any negative feelings between the group.
Lydia quietly giggled too before turning to face Arden on the bed, her expression softening, "How are you feeling now?"
"I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me." Arden responded instantly, not wanting her friends to worry.
But Lydia softly frowned, "It comes with the job, Ardy."
"Yeah, we always worry. That's kind of our thing." Carlisle huffed from beside her, "Now, don't be an idiot and keep something from us if you start to feel like shit. Idiot." Feigning nonchalance but everyone could see that he was worried about her.
Tobias giggled again, "We w-wouldn't want Carlisle freaking out over how worried he is about you again."
"Hey!" Catlsile shouted, stiffly sitting up right, "We don't talk about that." Muttering under his breath to Tobias.
But Tobias just shrugged innocently, the beaming smile on his face widening.
"Hahaha, I almost forgot." Lydia covered her mouth as she laughed, "I've never seen him so upset before. He was even crying, it really didn't suit him."
"Really?" Arden questioned smugly, the word drawn out as she slowly turned to face Carlisle with a playful grin.
But Carlisle looked away, scoffing as he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah. Especially since he looked like an ugly bitch--" Kain started before he was tackled to the floor. Carlisle ontop of him as he yanked at his collar. Kain yelped in surprise, kicking Carlisle in the stomach to free himself so he could crawl away.
"Get back here you SON OF A BITCH!" Carlisle shouted, scrambling to his feet after the raven head.
"Try and catch me bastard!" Kain shouted back. Then it turned into a game of chicken, the two running around wildly as they tried to simultaneously attack and defend against the other.
Carlisle would grab the back of Kain's shirt, pulling him in long enough to give him a rough nuggie to the head. But then Kain would elbow him and slip free, jump on his back to give the abnormally tall man himself a nuggie too. Despite their more than murderous words, they were only play fighting.
Lydia and Tobias had retreated to the safety of the bed to avoid being caught up in the attack. But even then they'd find themselves ducking or squishing against one another to narrowly miss the flying limbs. Tobias pulling the blanket he'd wrapped around himself closer so he could use it as a shield.
Arden chuckled fondly at the two. No matter how much they pretended to hate each other, it was clear to see that they enjoyed the others company.
But feeling a pull on her wound, she grimaced, her face visibly contorting into a look of pure pain. Her laughter stopped and she glanced down to find a splotch of blood seeping through her white shirt. Hand reaching out and then gripping the material tightly. All it was, was a symbol of her weakness. Her vulnerability. She was meant to be strong to help the people she cared about, to aid humanity. But here she was, bleeding because she laughed too hard.
As she sighed in defeat, she felt a hand grab hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. And looked to her side to see Lydia giving her that motherly smile she always did, and Arden felt herself relaxing. "I'll help you." Lydia said softly, standing up and grabbing a hold of both of Arden's hands to help her stand up.
"Arden? Are you alright?" Tobias asked worriedly, already shifting in his place to stand up and support his friend.
But Lydia placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him to sit back on the bed, "I've got this. You try and handle that." She pointed her head over to Kain and Carlisle who were still play fighting.
"W-Wha--?" Tobias stammered, unsure of exactly how to stop the two.
"Good luck!" Lydia chirped innocently before carefully guiding Arden to the bathroom, avoiding the swings and kicks that Carlisle and Kain were sending each other. The honey blonde was able to quickly snag a shirt from Arden's drawer, yelping in surprise when Kain clumsily fell into it whilst avoiding Carlisle.
They were barely able to catch Tobias' nervous attempt at stopping their fight, "G-Guys, I'm sure there's a peaceful resolution to this. Can we try-- Um... D-Dont do that-- Oh, dear..." Before the bathroom door closed behind the two girls.
Lydia supported Arden to the middle of the floor then moved to the sink to open the drawers and look around for bandages and a cloth. She filled a small bucket with clean, warm water which she would use to clean the blood from her wounds.
Arden shifted her weight to one foot, finding it easier to stand like that without support from someone else or an object. Then she reached for the hem of her shirt and began to pull it over her head. Except the process was slow and painful, the shirt getting caught at her shoulders as she couldn't lift it any higher.
"Let me help." Lydia offered sweetly, smiling as she helped Arden to carefully shrug out of her shirt. Frowning as she saw her friends face grimace from the pain she was in.
Leaving Arden in a lacy, black bra. And she immediately blushed when she remembered that Levi had saw the bra that one time Kain poured water on her. She brought her hand up to subtly cover her blush from Lydia.
Lydia, tossing the shirt into a wooden basket, reminded herself that she'd have to clean it later for Arden. Living with two half blooded demons taught her a lot, especially how to get blood stains out of clothes.
Then she proceeded to gently unwrap the bandage from Arden's stomach, cringing as the material pressed against the wound was stuck to it because of the warm, sticky blood.
She whispered an apology as she pulled on the bandage to remove it from her body, Arden grunting in pain.
With her injuries now on display in the mirror, Arden got a good look at them. The wounds seemed the ever so slightest bit smaller. But the skin around was still red-raw and torn. The 5 marks spreading across her stomach. Twisting uncomfortably, she suppressed a grunt as she observed her back, only to see the same thing. 5 deep, wide puncture marks spread across the lower half of her back, also oozing with a bit of blood.
Lydia dipped the cloth into the warm water and the wrung the excess liquid out. She turned to Arden with a comforting smile, nodding at her as she crouched infront of her. Placing the bucket down on the floor, Lydia got to work on carefully wiping away the blood from Arden's body. Hearing Arden hiss in pain eveerytime the cloth made contact with the open wounds.
The honey blonde was immediately relieved to see that she couldn't see straight through to othe other side from Arden's injuries. Their was now a barrier of muscle and tissue in the middle, meaning the Croix girl was healing, just a lot slower than a halfbreed should've been. However, the cuts were still deep. "I'd recommend stitches. But we all know how that turned out the first time we tried that. We had to quickly rip them out because the skin was growing over them, you healed that fast." She chuckled lightly, hoping to brighten the damp mood.
"Yeah." Arden attempted a smile, but her tone was stiff from trying not to grunt in pain.
Lydia frowned, but kept smiling anyway. She dipped the cloth back into the bucket of water, sloshing it around before wringing it out, the liquid and cloth quickly turning red.
"You know, it's been really nice seeing you talk to other people as much as you have. You would really only talk when necessary back in the Garrison Regiment." The honey blonde kept talking, hoping that conversation would be able to distract Arden from the uncomfortable pain she was feeling.
"I talked." Arden nodded, glancing down at her friend.
"I just mean, it's nice to see you comfortable with other people. You're smiling, laughing, sparing-- although I feel bad for Jean everytime you knock him down, but it's so... refreshing."
"Huh? I guess I never really thought about it. It was just, natural?"
"Mhmm." Lydia hummed happily, moving the bucket and herself behind Arden as she worked on cleaning her back. "Speaking of... how is the Captain?"
Arden narrowed her eyes, "I don't see how those 2 topics relate."
"They don't. I just wanted to talk about him. You 2 seem pretty close and I was just..." Arden watched through the mirror as Lydia shrugged, pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
To which Arden groaned, shaking her head, "You're not all gonna be like this when it comes to me and Levi, right?"
"Got no idea what you're talking about." Grinning innocently, Lydia dipped the cloth back into the bucket.
But the red eyed woman sighed softly, looking down at the wooden floor of the bathroom.
Smiling softly, Lydia wiped away at the last bit of blood on Arden's back, happy that since the two had been talking, she hadn't been hissing or grunting in pain. "We're just happy that you've found someone you're so, fond of."
Hearing the suggestive tone of her voice, Arden scoffed and stuttered incoherent noises, "I'm not in love with Levi, okay?" She attempted a humourous laugh but it sounded confused.
Confidently, Lydia stood up with a smirk, "I didn't say anything about love~." She teased. Before leaning her mouth closer to Arden's ear, her tone victorious and smug, "And I didn't explicitly mention the Captain's name~."
Opening her mouth to protest, Arden found herself not having any words. She watched as Lydia walked back to the counter to empty the bucket of now bright red water. Unconsciously, a smile began to pull at the edge of Arden's lips.
Grabbing the bandages, Lydia turned back to Arden as she wrapped them around Arden's now clean wounds, "All I'm gonna say is, don't be afraid to fall in love because of what you are. Your demon heritage might be a big part in your life that you hate, but it doesn't define you. Don't let it stop you from doing things that you need to do."
Smiling bitterly, Arden frowned. Her friends words meant alot to her but there was so much that Lydia, as a human, would never understand. "And what about when he hates me for what I am?" Her quiet voice void of emotion, something Lydia knew was a habit she had when she was scared or nervous.
With a big smile, Lydia gently took a hold of both of Arden's cheeks, resting her palms on her soft, pale skin. "Then he'd be the biggest idiot in the world."
And her bright, motherly smile truly was intoxicating as Arden couldn't stop the wide toothy grin that also spread across her lips.
"You're uh-- more gossip-y today than usual. It reminds me of when we were teenagers." Arden smiling fondly and nodded at Lydia to say thankyou as she finished with the bandages.
"Then we should do it more often!" Lydia chirped happily, "The world's so serious now. Let's be teenagers! Talk about boys, that one person we both don't like but can't explain why. Let's do crazy sh-stuff just because we feel like it. Let's just live a little. The world is way too messed up to be soldiers everyday."
And as if she were the sun itself, the world was just that much brighter with Lydia Foreman in it. Perhaps it was her optimism, her kindness, or hope, but Arden truly felt like there was family in the golden eyed woman.
"Yeah. Let's do that." She grinned fondly as Lydia smiled uncontrollably. Suddenly pulling forward and wrapping Arden in a big, warm embrace. The 2 giggling as they hugged one another. Maybe, just maybe, there woukd be a chance for the 2 girls to act like crazy, love-sick teenagers in this world. At least a break where they can just have fun and feel normal for once. But only time would tell.
Pulling apart, Lydia grabbed the spare shirt she'd grabbed from Arden's dresser and handed it to her. Standing back to let Arden try by herself, but staying close to help if she was needed.
Something Arden really appreciated, she didn't want to be treated like a frail, fragile object.
So she slipped both arms through the short sleeve, light blue shirt. Carefully attempting to lift her arms high enough to pull it over her head. But no matter how hard she tried, the pain spreading from her back and stomach was too overwhelming. She grunted in frustration, trying again to lift her arms but they just wouldn't go higher.
And just when it felt like her wounds would tear open even more, Lydia placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Here." She said, smiling sympathetically.
With Lydia's help, the shirt was able to go on, though not easily as she was still racked with pain. But at least it went on.
Taking a few seconds to take deep breaths, Arden looked down, a single laugh of disbelief as her eyes stung.
She felt useless. How was she meant to protect her friends if she couldnt even put a shirt on without needing help? It felt cruel, having power beyond belief but being left helpless from a little bit of poison.
"You'll get it, don't worry." Lydia spoke softly, knowing just what was running through the red eyed woman's head.
"I should be able to do this." Her whispered words full of contempt for herself.
"Arden... You were dead. But now you're not. It's going to take some time to get back to normal." Lydia assured gently before exiting the bathroom.
Leaving Arden to sink deeper into a well of hate she'd built for her demonic heritage. It was the one thing that ruined her life. The one thing she despised more than anything. But she was stuck with it...
~•~
Can Lydia adopt me please? 😇
I feel like I haven't included Lydia, Tobias and Carlisle much in the last few chapters but I have plans for them, so don't worry 😉