Marina Scherbatskaya (scherbatskaya) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2015-11-15 11:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2018 [11] november, alejo costa, marina scherbatskaya |
Who: Marina and Alejo
Where: Outside UMCB
What: reunited and it feels so good~~
When: November 3rd, evening
It was getting dark. Before, the dark had been a foe, something to avoid at all costs- Alejo was already missing one sense, he couldn’t afford to have two taken away. He was wrapped, washed, and dressed in clean clothes; for the first time in months he couldn’t smell himself just by breathing in. Walking didn’t feel good, but walking meant going out and seeing Marina. The air wasn’t fresh or cool, it was rancid and he wanted to be back inside. But as Alejo stepped out, taking a few steps away from the hospital’s front doors, he saw a figure. He didn’t need to see her details or face to know it was Marina. He knew her shadow better than his own sister’s, and it took him everything he had to not run towards her. “Marina,” he said, his voice heavy and tired. He had one arm wrapped around his middle to help with the pain. His nose was bruised, as was his jaw and back. Most of the worse colors and wounds were hidden under clothes, and he was thankful for that right then. “Irma.” He wanted her to turn around, he wanted to see her. Marina leaned against a pillar watching the sun go down, the sky painted with unnatural shades of pinks and oranges, no doubt some toxic reaction to the gas that plagued Austin. Sure was pretty, though. People came and went from the hospital but it wasn’t until she heard the too-familiar tone of Alejo’s voice that she stiffened, hyper-focused as she turned and let her eyes land on him. Fuck. There he was walking towards her. He looked like hell but he was alive. It was more than she ever thought she’d see again. “Al,” she breathed out, her face breaking into a beaming smile. Fuck the sun. Her smile could light up the whole fucking city with how elated she felt at seeing him. She moved until she was just centimeters away, then stopped cold, asking, “How bad is it going to hurt if I hug you?” “Hurts more if you don’t,” Alejo said, walking closer and hugging her himself and Marina’s arms instantly wrapped around him as well. His wounds ached, but it had been so much worse to be in the dark about Marina and if she was alright. Alejo had a theory that the cartel hadn’t ever told him about Marina’s status because they knew it drove him crazy, and they’d hated him. He squeezed her tighter, as if checking that she was real and not a puff of smoke that was going to disappear a second later. Finally letting go, he jerked his head over to a bench near the entrance for him to hobble over to. He had to half use Marina for balance, the world spinning a little before he took a seat, one leg out straight and the other more comfortably bent. “Are you alright?” he asked her. “Do you have…?” he began, pointing at his ears, hoping she’d have some batteries. Marina was reluctant to let go but once she had and they were settled onto the bench, she reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a pair of batteries for Alejo’s hearing aids and holding them out to him. “I was beginning to think I’d never get to give you these.” Alejo took two of the small silver disks and removed his hearing aids, one at a time, popping them open and putting in the new batteries. When he clicked them into place and put them back into his ears, the hearing aid played a sing songy set of tones to show it was ready. Waiting for Alejo to insert the batteries, she took those moments to look at him now that they were just inches part. He’d certainly looked better but he was going to be okay and that was the important part to focus on. “Did he do this to you?” She asked, not needing to clarify just who ‘he’ was. Al would know. “He sent someone to do it for him, like a coward,” Alejo said, adjusting a little so that he could face her better. Alejo loved Marina deeply, he wanted to hold her hands and kiss her cheek and lips, but he knew it wasn’t meant to be. Just being close to her was enough, being her friend and having her safe were huge gifts he wouldn’t have lost for anything. “Marina, if they know I’m alive, I’m pretty sure they’ll kill me.” “Guess that means I’m special since he hurt me himself,” Marina said hollowly before letting out a humorless laugh. In a sick way, she felt good about that. Felt validated that even if he’d beaten her and left her for dead, he’d done it himself because it was personal. She wanted to believe that the last 10 years of her life hadn’t been a waste, that she hadn’t wasted her feelings on Emmanuel and that his personal treatment meant something, but really she was just a fool to think that. Alejo’s stomach turned at the idea of Emmanuel hurting her. He wanted to hurt Emmanuel. “He knows I’m alive, but he doesn’t have to know about you. Where are you going to go after you leave the hospital?” Pausing a moment, resisting the urge to be selfish, she said, “Nadia is at the library. They’re good people there.” “I like it here,” Alejo admitted. “They’re nice here, there are other teachers here.” Alejo had loved teaching art, it had become a passion for him the same way his own work had been a passion. He had actually taken Marina to his class a few times, to show her the hard work his students had done over a semester or year of classes. “But I want to be with Nadia too, Marina… she’s amazing. She’s alive and she reminds me of our mother, but she’s also a whole person. She’s more than I could have imagined.” Any lingering thoughts of Emmanuel were pushed aside at the mention of Nadia. A smile spread on her face, just thinking of the woman she already regarded as a sister. “Isn’t she? I can’t believe how grown up she is. All those years, seeing that picture of her as a child, I never could have imagined she would turn out like that.” Reaching out, Marina took Alejo’s hand in her own and widened her smile. “I’m so happy for you, Al.” Alejo took Marina’s hand in his own two, bringing it up and resting the clump of flesh against his chest and the heart that beat below it. As a younger man, Marina had been able to make his heart skip beats. Now was no different, but the reasons were other. It wasn’t lust or a crush, it was love, which was so dangerous and gray. It was the sort of love that didn’t need to be returned, and the sort that didn’t die overnight. He didn’t fully understand it; he never really would. “You can’t come inside?” Focusing instead on the steady beat of Alejo’s heart beneath her hands, she could almost ignore how much it hurt to say she couldn’t stay with him. “No, Al, I can’t. I don’t have an ID and they won’t let me inside without one.” Never mind the fact that she lived in a camp with the raiders that were notorious and wanted by the Mayor of Austin. For a moment, Alejo looked hurt- he wanted her to come in, where it was cool and he could sit with her for hours. “I should probably head home soon, before it gets too dark.” Before the geeks had more of an advantage than they already did on a small girl like her. “When can I see you again?” “Whenever you want,” Alejo said, gesturing at some of his wounds with a small grin. “I’m not really going anywhere. Besides… I’ll never leave her again,” Alejo looked proud to say it. The her was unquestionably Nadia. Nodding and smiling at his words, she let their hands stay intertwined a few moments longer before reluctantly pulling back and standing. “Give me another hug then and I'll see you soon, okay?” Immediate satisfaction; Alejo hugged her tightly. He wasn’t scared of her turning to dust or smoke anymore, he only feared that when she wandered off she wouldn’t return. The hospital felt safe, horrifically wonderful in that. He watched her go, eyes trailing the black hair as his ears fell deaf to the sounds of the bike. |