Aftermath

[Ace]

Ace burst through the battered door of the Hog's Head, the limp figure of the Ministeress of Magic in his arms. The few customers in the darkened pub blinked stolidly at the Vampire for a few moments, then turned back to their drinks, completely unperturbed by this unusual interruption.

Ace stumbled in further, and glanced at Abe to see if he would be ruffled by the situation, but the silver-haired barman shook his head as if to say it was none of his business, and turned away, speaking in low tones to a wizard clad entirely in dragonskin robes. Clearly he was used to having a more unusual clientele staying in his pub, and the sight of the ex-Vampire King clutching the Minsteress as if dead was nothing to worry himself about.

Ace made his way up the creaky wooden staircase to the second level, and found his room. He pushed it open with his shoulder, and walked into the shadowy room.

The room was barely decorated, and consisted of a single bed, a large chest of drawers, a wardrobe that had one its tiny legs missing and was being propped up by a very old shoe, and a large mirror that had a crack running directly across it. The only good thing that could be said about the room was that the large, dirty window above the bed had an amazing view over the village of Hogsmeade, and in the distance the silhouette of the distant castle of Magic Horizons could be seen.

Ace crossed the room and lay Kiki down on the bed, propping up the pillows so she could breathe properly. He left the room briefly, and re-entered carrying a moist cloth and a small bottle of alcohol. Walking over to Kiki, he pressed the cloth against her forehead and spoke softly to her. "Come on, Ki - time to wake up now."

[Kiki]

She lay on a hard stone floor, her robes ripped and torn, shredded lying pointlessly around her legs. Her hair splayed out over the floor, black tendrils curling and weaving in amongst each other. Her legs crossed over each other, the grubby black fabric that were once robes, now rags, revealing the long legs that were rarely seen. Kiki watched as if from above the person below her. There was no-one else around, and small gentle rivers of smoke flowed gracefully into the room. She knew that she was watching herself, and wondered what exactly was happening. She was in the Vampire Caves, but there was no sign of anyone else at all.

The smoke snaked its way around her arms and legs, and Kiki felt herself being pulled back into her body. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go, she liked the light-hearted and almost dizzy feeling of her mind being seperate from her body. It nestled underneath her body, darting between themselves until they weaved a pillow of smoke underneath the body. Kiki slowly returned to her body, feeling the heartbeat against her ribcage and her slow breathing. Then the pain slowly began to creep in through her body. Her arm was sending shoots of pain up and down it, her ribs owned a dull ache and her eyebrow was throbbing ever so slightly.

Her eyes flickered a little and she opened her eyes, the room refusing to come into focus in front of her, stubbornly remaining a blurry swirl. She registered a cloth pressed gently against her forehead and was grateful to whomever was tending to her wounds. She wondered where she was and thought perhaps the Hospital Wing of the school. It seemed the most logical place for her to be, but the room had a more musty smell, not the slightly sterile medical smell that the Hospital Wing had the barest hint of. She blinked again, trying to bring the room into focus, listening to the gentle voice that spoke to her, still too groggy to figure out who it was. Eventually deciding that it wold be better if she kept her eyes closed, she shut them again, concentrating on her breathing. It hurt if she breathed too deeply, so it was slower breaths in and out of her mouth.

In. Out. In. Out.

[Ace]

Ace saw a flicker of movement behind Kiki's eyelids. Obviously she was still semi-conscious - that was really more than he had hoped for at the moment, the amount of torture the Ministeress had been put through would usually render a regular witch unconscious for at least a day.

He lay the cloth down upon her head, and whispered softly into the darkness. "I'm going to go downstairs to get help. Just keep breathing. Everything is going to be fine."

Ace left the room, and went back down the stairs and into the pub. Most of the customers were still there, still staring into the dirty bottoms of their glasses, not even bothering to look up as the green-eyed Vampire rejoined them. He walked over to the bar, where Abe was eyeing him warily, as though he knew what was going to come next. "Whaddya want?" he asked gruffly.

"I need you to fix a few broken bones," said Ace, in low tones. He knew there were plenty of people in the pub who were probably working for the other side, and didn't want them to know what was going on. "Please."

Abe nodded, his ice blue eyes surveying the Vampire coldly. He put down the dirty rag that was almost always attached to his withering hands, and took his wand from the inside of his grimy robes. Ace took this as the best he was going to get, and made his way back up the stairs, Abe following close behind, wheezing.

Ace pushed open the door to his room and gestured to the girl lying on the bed. "It's her arm and her leg, I think," he said quietly.

Abe inspected Kiki, prodding a few of her limbs with one of his bony hands. Sighing heavily, he mumbled a few words and waved his wand - black ribbon-like silk flew out of its tip and flowed steadily over the still figure, from head to toe. After doing so, Abe turned around and fixed Ace with a stony eye. "Done," he said shortly. Pausing, he spoke again. "And you might wanna keep the girl up here while I's got customers. A few of 'em might be int'rested in her..."

With that, Abe shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind him. Ace returned to Kiki's side, and pressed the cloth more firmly against her hot forehead. "Ki, are you OK?"

[Kiki]

The silk that flowed along her body was an electrifyingly good feeling. The soft cloth against her skin was relaxing and then the slow knitting back together of broken bones was a little less relaxing - smaller shoots of pain came at regular intervals. She could feel the bones manouveuring themselves back together, and the pain in her arm was reduced significantly, now just a hollow feeling of pain. Her ribs still ached a little, she thought at the back of her mind that she had probably just bruised them and whoever had cast the spell wasn't looking for bruised bones so much. Kiki relaxed at the lessening of pain, she could cope with the amount her body was giving her now.

She slowly came back into her own mind, her senses returning. She could feel her breath on her lips, the loose strands of hair resting annoyingly on her face and the uncontrollable fluttering of her eyelashes against the top of her cheeks. She could feel the tatters of her robes against her legs, the torn material split across her forearms and the rough blanket beneath her. Her throat hurt, she needed water or some sort of liquid - had she screamed at one point? - to soothe it a little. She could feel her eyebrow throbbing slightly and Kiki guessed she was fairly badly bruised. A voice, a gentle voice filtered into her mind and she took that moment to open her eyes.

Was it truly who she thought it was? She thought that she had seen Ace at some stage when she was in the Caves, but as nothing had confirmed it for her - not even his touch could; dreams were just as vivid at times. The cool cloth at her forehead made it more difficult for her to move her head to see, truthfully she was surprised that it wasn't warm already - she was feeling so hot. She blinked her eyes a few times, and the room slowly swam into focus, and a familiar face blurred into view. Kiki tried to swallow, which possibly wasn't the best idea with her parched throat, and decided against talking at length, managing simply to croak something along the lines of asking for water.

[Ace]

Kiki seemed to enervate herself as Abe left the room, his charm appearing to have worked on all her broken bones and cracked ribs - although she still seemed to be in some pain, she was moving without difficulty.

As she tried to speak, Ace understood - if not by lip reading then with the dry, hoarse whisper with which she attempted to communicate her wish. He dashed from the room and down the corridor into the bathroom the tenants shared - running some water, he grabbed a glass and placed it underneath until it was full. Walking as fast as he could back to the room (and spilling some all over himself in his hurry), he sat once again by Kiki's side. He placed the water on the dust-laden bedside table and took hold of the Ministeress, effortlessly and gently propping her up so she was sitting against the head of the bed.

Ace picked up the glass once more, and held it to her lips. He poured a small trickle into them, and watched carefully as she struggled to swallow it. When it seemed she had managed to do so, he poured some more in - he kept on pouring trickles of water into her mouth, little by little, until she turned her head away, eyes still closed. Taking this to mean she was done, Ace replaced the glass on the little table and gazed at Kiki.

Tentatively, he spoke. "Ki? Ki, love... come on, you're safe here. No more worries. No more."

He reached out and held her hand with his dead, cold one, noticing with some fear that she didn't seem to be much warmer than he was.

[Kiki]

Kiki sipped at the water gratefully, her body delighting in the sudden coolness that slipped down her throat and smoothed the rough, coarseness that had settled within. Her eyes closed, savouring the sweet, tasteless taste of the water. It seemed to spread throughout her body and - although she didn't realise - it stretched over her skin, cooling her down. Her head was still hot, raging hot, however her skin was cooling quickly. She focused her thoughts on the blissful clear liquid, purposefully ignoring notion of the gentle hand that guided the glass to her lips and, more particularly, the person she knew it belonged to. The glorious, clear liquid that slowly woke her limbs up once again, making them a little more responsive then they were previously. An involuntary shiver darted up her spine and she realised she didn't need anymore water. She turned her head away from the glass, keeping her eyes carefully shut.

She listened. She heard the quiet thud of glass on wood, and imagined the water swilling around the glass to an uneasy stop. There was then the soft rustle of the bedclothes as he got himself comfortable again. She decided not to picture anything, just to let her thoughts wander in the darkness of her eyes, to see if they could sort themselves out a little better, to help her think a little clearer.

Then there was silence.

She wondered to herself whether it was all a dream. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened. There must be no-one else here after all, it had all just been some sort of obscure dream, nightmare even. She had nearly convinced herself of this fact when his voice cut through the air. She took a breath, bracing herself, then opened her eyes. She felt his fingers link through hers and she knew that it was all real. Her purple eyes met his green ones and she ignored the shivers and tingles that covered her body all at once. Maybe it was going to be all right after all. He'd come back, hadn't he? After everything that had happened between them, he'd come back.

The meaning of his words hit her. She was safe now, nothing would hurt her, not know Ace was back to protect her. Images of what had happened in the Caves flitted through her mind and she tried desperately to blink back the tears that suddenley welled up in her eyes. She wouldn't let this get to her, she wouldn't give into it. It was just some stupid Vampire who had some grudge against authority - or the master he was working for had something against her. That sounded ridiculous, since when did Vampires ever work for anyone but themselves, unless they had something to gain from it? Besides, it was just the one Vampire.

The one Vampire and Adia. That fact was enough to make the tears become that little bit stronger. She hated the fact that someone who was her best friend, someone she trusted could turn around against her like that. Those were bad thoughts as well. She swallowed again, trying to compose herself a little. Her eyes had darted away from Ace's gaze and now she returned to them, trying to think of something to say, but no words were coming into her mind. There was nothing she could say that could even begin to signify what she was feeling - there were too many things at once.

She tried to squeeze Ace's hand, but her fingers had stiffened so it was a feeble attempt. She hoped that he understood. She hardly dared to believe that this was truly Ace in front of her.

A single tear rolled slowly down her cheek.

[Ace]

Ace held Kiki's hand, silently watching, seeing cogs turn and thoughts swirl in her relentlessly thoughtful mind. Her wide purple eyes suddenly turned to look at him almost hopelessly. He could see unshed tears glistening in their corners, and he opened his mouth instantly, trying to find some words of comfort, some pearl of wisdom that would put the events of the last few hours into perspective - but nothing fell out of his parted lips. What was there he could say? She had just discovered that one of her closest friends had been conspiring against her, she'd had a very close brush with death, and the person who helped her out of there happened to be someone she had had a very turbulent relationship with in the past. What, in all heaven and earth, was he meant to say to her now.

Kiki closed her eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Sighing gently, letting out the unspoken tension with the breath, Ace squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"Ki..."

He shook his tousled blonde head slowly, not noting the small droplets of blood that clung stubbornly to a few strands of his hair. "Ki, please don't cry. Scream, shout, get angry - give me something I know how to deal with... This... I just don't know... how..."

[Kiki]

Kiki's eyes flew open at his comment. Something he could deal with? What about what she had just been through, what he'd left her to deal with when he left, with no goodbye, just a letter explaining he'd gone away, that he had to leave the school because he couldn't stand it anymore. How did he expect her to deal with that? Her best friend had disappeared into thin air and was suddenly no more then a scrawl on a piece of parchment. Their relationship had dissolved into nothingness - the last time she had seen him before today, he'd possibly just saved her life and he was staring at her, confusion, disgust and disappointment in his eyes, before turning at leaving her at the entrance to the castle.

"Something you can deal with?" She whispered. "Something you can deal with?" She struggled to sit up, leaning hard against the pillows and her fingers slipping out of his grasp. Her ribs hurt a little but she ignored them, she had to tell Ace how she felt.

"What about everything that I just went through? Everything that you put me through? Since you've been gone? Without so much as a goodbye? Just a letter once you were settled, halfway through tutoring someone in English. How was that supposed to make me feel? After we ended the way we did, I felt bad enough as it was, and then you disappearing off to Morroco just made it worse. I couldn't think of anything to say to you - well, no, that's not true, I thought of plenty of things to say to you, just none I wanted to write down in a letter because of how many different ways it could be interpreted." She took a breath purposefully avoiding Ace's eyes and continued. "What could I have said to you anyway? Nothing could have brought you back, you made that very clear in your letter, and it was quite obvious that you didn't -"

At that moment, Kiki's throat caved in and she exploded in a coughing fit, her bruised ribs bending dangerously close to breaking point, the pain swelling as the coughs morphed with sobs and suddenly she couldn't breathe. She needed to calm down, she needed to get back into a more positive state of mind. It wasn't working. The overloading of emotions with pain was too much for her body. She felt as though she was drifting on the edge of unconciousness again, but she managed to regulate some of her breathing, the tears from her racking sobs still pouring down her face. She still could hardly breathe, but she needed to see Ace's reaction before she drifted into oblivion once more.

[Ace]

Ace sat there, on the egde of the wonky bed, and let her words hit him with all their force. She did exactly as he asked - anger was something he knew. Rage was something he encountered every single day of his unlife. This - this was easy for him.

But suddenly the Ministeress doubled over, a coughing fit racking her frail body, tears still rolling hot and salty down her pale face. In one move, Ace held her between his arms, his sharp eyes watching to ensure her breathing was regular enough - if she got in danger, he would have to take her to the Hospital Wing. But he had so wanted to keep what had happened a secret from the students... at least until he had spoken to Claire and informed her of what had been going on.

"Ki... Ki, it's alright... come on..."

Once Kiki's coughs resided, she kept sobbing helplessly, her anger dissipated. Ace sighed - he should have known she wouldn't be able to keep up the anger. Something inside of him tightened, and ached, as he saw the tears drying on her face - it crept over him, fearfully familiar.

"Ki, I'm sorry. I tried to explain why I left in the letter... and I'm here now. I'm here now," He repeated feebly, as though somehow he thought it wasn't a good enough excuse to stand just once.

[Kiki]

It was eerie the amount of security that Ace seemed to hold when his arms were wrapped around her. She slowly lessened her sobs, her breathing still rather hard, trying to get enough oxygen into her body to allow it to function. She wanted to stay like this for awhile longer, although, she did agree with herself, if she had to fall unconcious again, in Ace's arms would be one of the more safer places for her to collapse. Her arms hung by her sides, having barely any strength to wrap them back around Ace, wherever her arms might slip underneath. She wished she could, but her breathing was slightly more important right now.

Her body was shaking slightly, as it tried to fix the damage that her outburst had caused. She was glad for it, though, because there had been the nightmares where she had never seen Ace again, where she was just alone in a room, only the memories of people to keep her company. Even after awhile the memories had faded, then there was nothing but darkness. She inhaled shakily, the breath sounding as though it had merged into several shot ones as she tried to move a hand to wipe away the trails of tears against her face. She couldn't, but the solid prescence of Ace against her body was both good and bad - electrifying and enveloping her in a feeling of security so complete she closed her eyes for a moment, blocking the memories of the Vampires Lair that threatened to engulf her mind, and just marking the moment in her mind.

She was aware of him speaking. She ignored the tingles running through her body at the sound of his voice, and decided that she didn't want to hear his excuses again. Maybe it was better that he was here. Did the past truly matter? He was here, holding her close, protecting her. Was this honestly the Vampire who had abandoned her once upon a time? Yes, the thought bit into her cruelly, threatening to break already weak barriers that she had put up unconciously. He did, he left you hanging, all alone. He never held any sort of adoration for you - only when you were possessed, and what kind of adoration can that be?

Kiki tried to quash the thoughts from caving in on her mind, and concentrated on that, barely moving in Ace's arms any more, besides her heavy breathing.

[Ace]

Kiki calmed down as Ace held her. He was unsure whether laying her down or keeping her close to him was the best option, so, compromising, he laid her down on the bed once again, but leant over her, his hands still holding onto her arms.

With her fluttering eyes closed, Ace sensed that she was somewhat soothed by his voice, whatever he said... he remembered, so vaguely, a time when he was recovering from an incident that had left him in a rare vulnerable moment, and he had slowly awoken to the sound of a gentle singing. It had been some human girl who had taken pity on the unconscious, beaten stranger - her tenderness towards him had been something he had never forgotten. It had made her blood taste all the sweeter.

"It's alright now, Ki, just lie down and relax. You need to calm down, or I'll have to take you into the Hospital Wing - and I doubt people will understand a Vampire dragging a Ministeress into the school bloodied up like this... Everything will be fine. In a while, I'll go into the Forest and find some medicinal stuff I can put into a simple healing potion I use whenever I don't have the time to heal properly... It tastes disgusting, but does the trick..."

Ace stopped, but knew he should keep talking, just keep talking. He searched his mind to find something he could ramble about.

"So... I had a nice time in Morocco. It's a nice place, although the extra sunlight hours mean less social time for the Vampires of the city... but it's a really interesting culture, they have a whole underworld that lies beneath the dusty streets of Marrakesh. It's a far cry from this place... I think you'd really like it."

Ace's voice trailed off. What really was there left to say?

[Kiki]

It was true that she was slowly teetering on the brink of oblivion, but it wasn't something she was dreading. The darkness looked somehow more welcoming, more in tune with what she wanted. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything other than what her heart was commanding she take notice of and was dimly aware that she was being gently placed on the bed once again. She knew somewhere in her heart or head that Ace would never leave her this vunerable and wrecked so she felt reassured that he wouldn't leave until he absolutely needed to. The firm touch of his cool hands on her arms was enough for Kiki to know that she was well and truly protected.

It was about then that she stopped paying attention to anything that was happening in front of her. She wasn't listening to the words Ace spoke, the smooth rise and fall of his voice was enough of a consistant babble that she was able to find rhythm in it and matched her breathing to it. She ever so slowly began to drift back into unconciousness, her body was screaming at her for it, but something was keeping her awake. She had a thought that seemed very far away that she was paranoid about losing Ace again. Kiki decided to put some element of trust back in her friend and trusted in the fact that he would be here for her when she awoke.

[Ace]

Ace saw that Kiki was sleeping, and decided perhaps it was best to let her - she seemed to fall into it quite willingly, and not with the same lull of unconsciousness that had preceded the beginnings of her treatment.

With a soft sigh, Ace turned and faced the cracked mirror, but saw only Kiki, sleeping peacefully on the sorry excuse for a bed. Something inside the Vampire was waging a rather painful battle looking at her helpless and vulnerable figure - coming to a resolution, he made his way out of the room, and headed directly for the Forbidden Forest - he needed to clean himself up now, before he could return to the troubling fiasco of Miss Kiki Michaels.

[Kiki]

It was a long while before Kiki's eyelids fluttered open again. She couldn't be sure of the time, and didn't even want to begin to imagine, for fear of discovering that she had slept a week or two and was branded missing or feared dead. She refused her body's command to move, a thought in the back of her brain knowing sharply that if she did the strangely absent pain would return. She contented herself for a moment by looking and examining the parts of the room she was able to see in the dim light. The curtains were closed, small strips of weak light creeping through gaps and highlighting bobbles of dust as they flew through the air. A crooked table sat against one wall and in front of that a spindly chair. Kiki couldn't see much else and before she could stop herself, she shifted her body to try and pull herself out of her sleeping position.

The pain hit her like a ton of bricks. She bit down on her lip hard to prevent herself from screaming, not knowing where she was and having no desire to be found out if she had been taken again was enough for her to try to figure out a way to keep herself silent. But the pain was so intense, she didn't understand why it had come back several times worse now. She ached all over from her ankles to the knuckles in her fingers and when she moved her neck slowly to have a look at the back of her hands, she noticed that her hand was shaking uncontrollably. A coppery sensation flowed into her mouth and she realised she'd drawn blood. Her chest hurt, her forehead hurt, her everything hurt. Her mouth felt as though it was swollen to the size of a football and her throat was screaming for water.

She didn't know where she was, how she'd gotten here or what had happened. She had faint memories, but they could have easily been blissful dreams in a sea of delirium and not reality at all.

All she knew was the pain her body was feeling, and she could not even begin to imagine a way to lessen it somehow.

[Ace]

Ace returned two hours later, without his blood-soaked shirt and his chest completely smooth, no traces of the wounds he had previously sported anywhere on his pale skin.

Opening the door, the first thing he saw was Kiki struggling to sit up. Wondering how it was possible that she should wake up just as he came back, he crossed over to the makeshift bed and stood over the frail figure, hesitation in his eyes. On the one hand, he wanted to hold her, talk to her, make everything she was feeling better again; but he knew he shouldn't. He knew that his surprising tenderness towards her had shocked her, not to mention shocking himself in the process.

He remained standing, looking down at the beaten figure, trying to keep the sympathy and worry from his cold green stare.

"Are you alright?" He spoke the words harsher than he had originally intended, and softened them slightly. "Sorry I left, I needed to clean up... who knows what might have happened if my blood had mingled with yours."