Vanille Dia prayed for a miracle (a_new_dawn) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-14 14:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, bella donna boudreaux, oerba dia vanille, oerba yun fang |
Who: Fang, Vanille, Belle
What: Fang is sick, they're attacked, Vanille knows a new spell.
When: The night of this phonecall.
Where: Santa Ana, somewhere.
Ratings/Warnings: R for for violence, death, triggers for the same plus attempted assault.
Status: Complete!
Fang had coaxed Vanille out on a date. She had even decided to wear a dress instead of pants, if only to prove she could dress up a little girly if she felt like it. She felt really out of place, but if it made Vanille smile it was worth it.
It did make Vanille smile a bit, though she was more familiar with Fang in pants and silky, swanky shirts. The Fang from her dreams wore a Sari, but Vanille felt like that Fang was a little different, and a Sari wasn't quite like a dress, either.
But it did look good on her. She was looking forward to taking it off of Fang, in fact, though the thought made her cheeks red, "We shoulda taken a taxi instead of walkin'..."
“I hate cars, you know that.” Fang offered her elbow to Vanille, the woman’s smile making her forget her discomfort. She always felt like they were dancing around things they needed to talk about. The dreams, the accident, the coma. It was like she was learning her friend all over again, but she didn’t mind.
Vanille didn't like talking about the coma. She felt like her brain had been in a fog ever since she'd woken up. Like some part of her was still asleep somewhere... It reminded her of her dreams in the crystal, actually.
And she wasn't that shy of being in a car, as long as she wasn't driving, though she tended to take the bus instead. She thought maybe it was time they both got over that fear, but she wasn't sure how to go about bringing it up, "It's okay... I just wanted to get to your place faster, is all."
Challenging Fang would probably do it. She dropped her arm to thread her fingers through Vanille’s. She found herself grinning, and even blushing a little bit. “Y’do huh? Lucky me, maybe I could be convinced. Wouldn’t want to get winded.”
She felt the hairs on her neck raise, and glanced behind her. They weren’t being followed, were they?
"That's right, you wanna have all of your energy!" Vanille grinned up at Fang, the sort of grin that made her eyes squint and caused her nose to wrinkle.
Two men. Three actually, following the pretty girls and hoping for some money or a good time or both. One of them gave them a catcall. Fang stiffened, then rolled her eyes. “Keep walkin’.”
It was hard to resist the urge to give into her sudden feelings of fear and freeze where she stood, or look behind her. Vanille knew both of those reactions were bad ideas - the dreams had taught her that, especially, not just real life. So she nodded her head and swallowed a lump in her throat.
Fang would protect her, right?
"Right... So, maybe we should consider that taxi again, 'cause I'd just hate for you t'run out of energy before we get home."
Fang made a face, that consisted of rolling her eyes. She felt suddenly woozy, but tried to ignore the feeling. They just needed to get home. She caught the reflection of the creepers in a window and let out a breath. “Call a cab.” She tapped her cane on the ground. If they gave them trouble…
With a nod, Vanille got out her phone and began dialing up the number of her favorite local taxi service. It occurred to her though, as she dialed, that she'd have to give them an address to pick them up at, "Uhm, but Fang, we're gonna need to stop walkin' at some point, or the taxi won't know where to go an'I won't know where to tell it to pick us up at."
She nodded, and walked over in front of a shop, leaning against the wall, looking out of the corner of her eyes at the people following them. Her vision was swimming, and she wondered if she’d had bad sushi. She felt like she wanted to violently throw up.
One of the men catcalled. “We’re looking for a good time, ladies.”
“Oh trust me, you won’t get a good time from us,” Fang said, lifting her head to look him in the eyes. “Not until y’have a sex change op. We’ll talk then.” She flicked her tongue out at him.
His friends laughed, and he looked vaguely uncomfortable. “Your girlfriend here looks interested.” He approached Vanille and put a hand on her. It was precisely the wrong thing to do. Fang’s cane shot out, hitting him in the wrist and making him yelp in pain.
The world blurred around her and the next thing she realized she was on her back while they kicked at her, and hit her with her own cane. She was too ill to fight back. It was embarassing. She tried to tell Vanille to run, but it came out as a croak.
The slightly uncomfortable feeling that had rising up in Vanille's throat when she'd noticed they were being followed sunk down into her stomach and turned into cold, hard fear when the man laid his hand on her. She froze in place, even though Fang was there to help her and whack the man's hand away.
It stuck there and stayed, growing worse and worse as the men tackled Fang to the ground - a movement that she knew was far too easy. Fang wasn't that weak, and she'd expected her lover to be that strong, capable woman who could fend off gigantic beasts without even taking a backward step.
But that wasn't Fang, not right now. Fang was on the ground, being beaten with her own cane, and Vanille felt for a few seconds like all she could do was watch. She couldn't run. She wouldn't run from Fang, she wouldn't leave her behind. She knew that much.
The croaking sound snapped Vanille out of her fear enough to realise she needed to act. Tears were running out of her eyes at that point so badly that her vision threatened to blur, but she blinked them aside. Her hand slid out in front of her, then waved in the air. Green swirled in place over the men's heads, poisoning them. "You... Hey... YOU... Stop that! Go away! Leave us alone!"
One of the men coughed a green mist. He picked up a rock and threw it at Vanille, and laughed. Then he coughed again and picked up a brick. He dropped it onto Fang’s head. “Stupid bitch.”
Fang’s vision went starry, and started to tunnel in on itself. When she emptied her stomach on their shoes that only seemed to encourage them. She was used to taking punishment - at least in the dreams. Here, sick and battered, she could barely raise a hand to shield her face. Run...damn it… She thought hard at Vanille.
No. NO. She was not going to run. She dodged to the side of the rock that was thrown at her. The way they'd reacted - barely even noticing how she'd tried to poison them - would have been enough to incite some anger in her, but worse, they still weren't leaving Fang alone.
The fear was starting to subside. She let out a bit of a cry, then waved her hand in the air again. Lightning struck down from the sky, hitting the three men simultaneously. She hadn't even known she could make lightning, but she wasn't about to complain.
"I mean it! You wanna deal with someone, you come over here an'deal with me!" Vanille shouted.
Two of the men bolted and ran, as fast as their legs could carry them. They only knew that they'd just gotten a hell of a jolt, and the didn't particularly care to find out why.
The third kicked Fang again in the ribs. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then discovered Fang's cane hid a sword.
"You don't scare me." He poked Fang with the blade. "Hey, bitch. I'm going to poke you full of holes while your whore watches, then I'm gonna do the same to her."
Vanille allowed herself to feel relieved for three entire seconds when she saw some of the men running away. But there was still one left, and she wasn't sure she could bear watching him hurt Fang any longer. She just wanted him to stop.
"You shouldn't be focusin' on someone who's on the ground and bleedin'. You should be more scared of ME!" She shouted, reaching out her hand again.
Her intention head been to summon something else from her dream arsenal - maybe a fireball, or some piercing ice. Instead, darkness swirled around the man, and for a moment he looked like he'd been cloaked in shadow.
Then he dropped face first on top of Fang. Vanille blinked her eyes a few times, unable to process what had just happened. She felt extremely drained. What had she just done?
The man lay perfectly still, his skin having paled to a shade of gray, and his eyes were glassy and sightless. Fang struggled to push him off, grabbing for her cane and sliding it back together. She couldn’t see very straight, and her stomach roiled. She avoided looking at the man, knowing the sight would set her off. She tried to see Vanille through a haze of blood and pain. “M’sorry, M’so sorry.” It wasn’t supposed to be like that. Fang was supposed to protect her!
A choked noise rose up in Vanille's throat. It was starting to hit her that the man was dead. Whatever she'd done, it had killed him. Killed him. Wasn't that murder? But it'd been to protect Fang...
"Oh god..." She whispered to herself, then brought her hand up to her mouth for a few seconds. She tried to breathe. Fang was still hurt. She was definitely going to need the hospital. They couldn't exactly call a cab now, not after this.
Instead of panicing, she turned her attention back to Fang, "Don't. Don't say you're sorry! Don't... talk, just... It's goin' to be okay, you're goin' to be fine, I'm gonna take care of you..."
She knelt beside Fang and rested one her hands against her love's cheek, casting the glowy sparkles that she knew healed things.
Fang waved a hand towards Vanille, trying to tell her it was okay, but she barely had the energy to do so. She couldn't turn time back. She knew there was time magic but she couldn't call it up. She couldn't change this.
Vanille's magic wasn't helping with whatever poison was in her, but it did lesson how messed up her face was and stopped the bleeding from the brick. "I did it," she breathed. "I did it. When t'cops come I did it, y'didn't do anything. I did it." Fang could take the fall.
"No one did it... No one... we're gonna run." Vanille cared more about getting Fang and getting her to a hospital or getting some help than she did about some pervert who'd attacked them. She didn't want to think about it, and owing up to it would make her have to do that.
She pulled Fang to her feet, tears still streaming down her cheeks, "We can't stay here, Fang, come on, just... take my hand and lean on me, and we're gonna run!"
No one was around to see them so far, and hopefully nothing nearby had security cameras. She took off without hearing a response from Fang, dragging her behind her and sometimes even trying to carry her.
Fang stumbled against Vanille, squeezing her hand and using her cane to keep from toppling completely. She felt like she'd been hit with some kind of flu, and then beaten. Which was exactly what had happened.
"Vanille...baby..." Fang coughed, and then couldn't stop coughing.
"Goddess... Fang... you need to keep goin', okay? Just another block or..." She slowed her pace a bit and looked back. They'd managed to get a few blocks between them and the... body...
Gods, there was a body. A body that she'd... she was responsible for that body. Vanille swallowed back another wave of nausea and panic, then turned around a corner with Fang still in hand, walking slowly now. This wasn't good. She needed help. They were in serious trouble if Fang couldn't move...
She pulled out her phone and dialed Belle's number. They got another few paces and close to a gas station before she sat down and had Fang lay down and rest, pulling Fang's head into her lap and making her lay on her side, just as Belle had instructed.
There was nothing else to do now but wait for Belle's car to pull up.
Fang slumped down next to Vanille, closing her eyes to make sure she didn’t throw up again. She nuzzled her head against Vanille’s lap. She didn’t want anyone to ever see her like this, but it couldnt’ help. She was bleeding and bruised and it felt like she should just give up.
Belle’s SUV pulled up to the curb and she parked, ignoring the fact that she was on the wrong side of the street. She sighed when she saw the shape Fang was in, and Vanille’s expression. “Dieu, sweetie.” She bent down, resting a hand on Fang’s forehead. She was still dripping wet and wearing just her bathrobe, but that was a worry for later. “She’s hot as hell. Looks like Mrs. Summers did.” She turned Fang’s face so she could look the younger woman in the eyes. “We’re gonna take you t’ the hospital, petite. Don’t say nothin’ about what happened earlier to no one, compris?”
There was still blood on her face, and splotches of bruising on her skin, but Vanille’s healing had taken care of the worst from the beating. She didn’t dare try to speak - she’d just throw up again. But she tried to gesture in the direction that they’d left the body, and groaned.
"Belle's gonna help us, don't worry about that. We both want to make sure you're okay, that's our priority," Vanille stroked Fang's face a bit, then looked up at Belle, noticing the state the other woman was in. She instantly felt even more guilty than she had before, "Oh no, you were in the shower and everything..."
But it really wasn't the time for that. She shook her head, "Can you lift 'er?"
“Yeah.” Belle nodded and worked her arms under Fang’s knees and shoulders. She had to be careful, Fang was nearly the same size as her. “Get the door for me, please.”
“Can walk,” Fang finally said. It didn’t look like she could walk, in the slightest, and she wasn’t resisting. She tried to help, knowing how heavy dead weight could be.
With a nod, Vanille got up from the cement and got the door for Belle. She didn't even bother to dust herself off, and she didn't say anything. It was clear that Fang couldn't actually walk, but arguing with her wouldn't solve anything.
She hovered for a bit, waiting to help Belle in any way she could.
Belle hefted Fang up, taking a slow, deep breath. It wasn’t so bad once she was standing. She settled Fang in the backseat and handed her a plastic bag. “Just in case.” She went around to the driver’s side and waited for Vanille to get in and all the doors to be closed. “What happened?”
Fang answered by just being handed the plastic bag right in the nick of time.
In the font seat, Vanille was kind of wishing someone had handed her one. She felt like it still wasn't time to break down, though. She somehow had to get through telling Belle all of this, for one thing.
Her fingers dug into her knees a bit as she began, "We were walkin' home from a sushi place. Fang doesn't like cars... Some men started walking behind us. She told me t'just keep on walking, and we did, but eventually we had to stop so I could call a cab."
She glanced over at Belle, then back down at her hands, "They caught up with us and one of 'em put a hand on my shoulder... they were... lookin' for a good time. And Fang didn't like that very much. She threatened 'em. Well... they knocked her cane away and she... dropped, and then they were hitting her and... I just wanted them to stop, so I did that thing, like what I did to Wolfwood that time. But they laughed, and they threw rocks at me and then hit Fang with a brick."
"I got real mad, and I made lightning come down from th'sky. It scared two of 'em away, but the big one that was on her still wouldn't stop. He threatened to... to poke her full of holes and make me watch, then do the same to me... and I just snapped. I did something--"
Vanille squeezed her eyes shut, "Whatever it was, it killed 'im. I didn't mean for that to happen, Belle, I swear!"
Belle stroked Vanille’s hair, her expression calm and serious. “Of course not, chere. I’ll take care of it. Don’t you worry a bit.” She started the car and moved on down the street. “Ah, I see ‘im. “ She pulled the car up next to the dead man and parked again. She went around to the back, pulling out a big jug of some kind of cleaner, and a large tarp. “Just one moment, ladies, then you’ll go to the hospital. Don’t breathe a word of this t’ anyone else.”
Fang squinted, but she was too green to object.
What was Belle doing? Vanille wrinkled her brow and pushed her head out of the window to see what was going on. She wished she hadn't, though, when the man's body came back into view.
Belle was probably going to... take care of it for her. She didn't know how to feel about that. Grateful, mostly. Relieved. Her hands went up to her chest, folding together in the motion for prayer in her dreams, and she closed her eyes.
"Everything will be alright. Please. It has to be."
Belle was pleased that the man hadn’t bled on the sidewalk. She rolled him into the tarp and dragged him into the back of the SUV, then doused the sidewalk around him and everything else in a five foot radius or so. Then she put the cap back on the empty jug and got back in the SUV. “We’re goin’ to Irvine hospital unless you got another preference.” She didn’t think Fang would want to go to Kaiser, but you never could tell.
Fang just gave her a thumbs up, and wondered what Belle actually did for a living.
"I don't really know the hospitals and I don't... think that Fang does, either. We try t'avoid them. I think your choice is fine. You know better about this stuff," Vanille replied, softly.
She wasn't sure what else to say. Or how to ever thank Belle for what she'd just done for her.
“I just know where the rest are bein’ taken.” Belle said with a shrug. “We’ll be there real quick, don’t you ladies worry.”