ATH Not-So-Temporary Thread

[Felixitous]

Lucy watched him leave. He'd expected a fight. He'd expected Gabe to yell some more, to hit him, maybe. He bit his lip and went home, silently walked into his room, and pulled a knife from his pocket.

He was done, all right, but not only with Gabe.

He slid the knife across his throat and crumpled on the ground.

((LUCY IS MELODRAMA MELODRAMA MELODRAMA XD))  

[Lady Mimicry]

Upon passing Lucy's room, Tokka paused, smelling blood. He hadn't taken the bandages off, but being blind required some memorization of his surroundings.

Opening the door, he stepped inside and slipped. Warm liquid coated his arms. "Mom," he shrieked, "Dad!" He reached out, blindly searching for Lucy.  

[Felixitous]

Trigger jumped up, pulling Zero with her, following Tokka's voice. She froze when she saw Lucy. Somewhere far off, she heard herself shout for Clover.

Clover came running, glad to finally have something to think about other than Tokka. She lifted Lucy off the floor, thinking he was almost gone, that she wouldn't be able to save him, when they heard something.

It pierced the petrified silence. Lucy laughed. Blood spurted from his wound, and he laughed, hoarsely, while the blood made him gurgle and sputter.

He tried to talk, but couldn't. Instead, he mouthed it, looking at the ceiling.

Let me die.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Zero knelt beside Clover and Lucy. He placed his hand against the wound, then focused on reversing the damage. The temperature dropped and flecks of ice coated Lucy's throat.

Ice melted away, Lucy's throat smooth and whole again. "Trigger," he said, "you should stay, talk to Lucy. I'll take Tokka, get him cleaned off..." With parenting, Trigger had always had the better relationship with Lucy.  

[Felixitous]

Before Zero left, Lucy punched him. His eyes were cold. He looked more like Trigger right now, anger flooding him. "I hate you," he said, quietly and evenly. There was no need for profanity at the moment. The simplest form would do the most damage.

Trigger resisted the urge to kick him. Beating her children wouldn't solve anything. "All right Lucifer, let's get one thing straight. You aren't going to die. You're not going to be some pathetic lump of rotting flesh. Get yourself cleaned up." She didn't know what to do. She wanted to tell Zero that he hadn't meant it, but she saw that look. He did, at least for now.

Clover took Tokka by the hand and led him off wordlessly, not waiting for Zero. She too him into her bathroom and ran the water. She was afraid to speak. She wasn't sure what she could really say to him. Some detached part of her realized that the only member of Trigger's family that had never once hurt themselves was Logan. He was an odd bug, that one.  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Fair enough," Zero replied, "but I'll never regret saving you." Sighing rather sadly, he kissed Trigger's forehead and left.

While Clover ran the water, Tokka stripped off the bloody clothes. His body was graffitied with criss-crossing cuts. Some were old, faded scars while others were red and scabbed over.

"Is it ready?" He asked. He couldn't describe the numbness. There was something traumatizing about finding your brother choking to death on a self-inflicted wound. Yet his self-mutilation was any better? It seemed so...hypocritical.  

[Felixitous]

Clover nodded, still silent. She felt guilty. She knew what they'd just seen wasn't commonplace to Tokka. She'd been dealing with Trigger almost since she was born, so the devastation of another's body wasn't anything new. Granted, it wasn't very new to Tokka either, but he'd never gone so far as Lucy, and had never had to actually see it. But all she could think about was how did she look, oh god, she must've looked a mess, what would he think about her, and when should she talk to him, and maybe he would say something first so she didn't have to, and maybe (just maybe) he'd ask her to bathe with him--

She sighed audibly without realizing it. If this was love, she wasn't sure she wanted it.


Lucy glared at Trigger and slammed his door closed. He looked for the knife again--but it wasn't there. She must've taken it. He growled and kicked the door, hoping she was still there to hear it, wishing it was her head. He walked over to his bed, flopped down, and stared at the ********. How was he going to get to sleep without Gabe?

He looked at his hands and clenched them. He'd wanted to let go of Gabe, to sever that tie before he severed the rest, to save him some sort of pain, maybe. He wasn't sure why exactly he'd done it. But now that he was still alive, now that they weren't going to let him go through with it, he didn't think he could go back to him. He curled up and hugged himself. He loved Gabe. He knew that. But this had to be the end.


Having an angel for a father had to be annoying.

Aramis always seemed to know where Gabe was when something happened. Out of nowhere, he walked up next to him, and said nothing for a moment.

But then he broke the silence. As though it weren't that serious, he said, "Lucy slit his own throat tonight." He paused to let it stick in the air. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Aramis was smart enough to know that Lucy was self-destructive already, but he also knew Gabe. They were at once perfect for each other and terrible, too. If something happened to make Lucy react that way, Gabe probably had a hand in it, even if it was something small.

((JUST SO YOU KNOW I AM NOT ENDING GABE/LUCY HE'S JUST BEING USUAL EMO LUCY AND IS GOING TO HAVE A SPEECH NEXT TIME HE SEES GABE))  

[Lady Mimicry]

Tokka, obviously unable to witness Clover nodding her head, decided it was and carefully eased himself into the warm water. Searching, he squeezed Clover's hand, realizing it was as bloody as his own.

"I haven't removed the bandages," he said, "join me. I'll be the perfect gentleman." Tokka smiled sadly yet despite that sadness, it was always a ridiculously charming smile.
***
"What always happens, daddy?" (Yes, big and bad Gabe never stopped calling Aramis daddy. razz )

Gabriel was stretched out beneath a tree, basking underneath the moonlight. His body ached everywhere. After he'd stormed off, Gabe picked as many fights as he could handle. Which hadn't been many. He wheezed with each exhale, a sharp pain shooting through his ribs. While half his face was scratched, the other half was purple and swollen.

"I don't think we're fixing this, daddy, I think it's really over." God, even his throat was raw from all that whiskey.

"Tell me, you ever fight with Froot?"  

[Felixitous]

Clover blushed and looked at him. "I know. You're always a perfect gentleman. It's how you are." She let go of his hand and pulled off her clothes, took down her hair, and got in with him. The ends of her hair, which poofed somewhat spectacularly, skimmed the water and weighted the mass down. "And you can take them off. You're healed by now. You've been healed for hours." She bit her lip and looked away. "Besides, might as well see me now. It doesn't really get much better."



Aramis looked at him. "You can't really think that. I mean, it's Lucy. Do you really think anyone else can put up with either of you?" He smiled sympathetically and rubbed his shaven head. "I mean, yeah, you guys fight, but with anyone else, you'd just fight more."

He noticed he was sick. He'd been noticing for a while. But Gabe didn't listen to anyone except Lucy, and even that was only on occasion.

At the question, though, he shrugged. "Mostly at the beginning. I had to completely change my lifestyle for him. It was a little difficult, but we managed. But we're also very, very different from you guys."



In his room, Lucy writhed. Half of him wanted to bash Gabe's skull in, and the other half just wanted to curl up with him and sleep forever. He sat up and shouted at nothing, screamed until he couldn't hear or feel anything. But then, he was empty. He'd screamed it all out, and now, there was nothing left. He shuddered and leaned his head on his ********. ******** this. ******** everything." He got up and pulled on his coat, not minding the blood that stained its front, and walked out. He was going to go out and find Gabe and settle this once and for all--

As he opened his door, he found a pair of innocent glue-gray eyes. Maybe this was better. It would be easier, at the very least.

He grabbed a surprised (and human) Nevin and pulled him into the room, kissing him. He needed this. ******** Gabe. Or rather, not.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Tokka blushed, but rather nervously began to unwrap his bandages. Once the filthy things hit the tile, he paused and then, opened his eyes. The light burned, but he resisted the pain to see Clover and she was just...

"Wow," he breathed, "you're beautiful. It's funny, light sensitivity, looks like your incased in this angelic glow."
***
"It's amazing," Gabe mumbled, "how you two could have such ******** up kids like us." Forcing himself to move, Gabriel rolled over, bring himself to his knees only to double-over in pain. Blood dripped from between his lips.

"s**t," he groaned, "ain't feeling so hot..."  

[Felixitous]

Clover felt she was far from beautiful. She was still too thin, her face gaunt, her eyes sunken in with dark circles beneath them, made prominent by her extremely pallid complexion. There were still cuts and bruises on her face, and she felt like she might be sick again--not that she'd ever admit it.

But nevertheless, she blushed, trying to smile and only coming up with a grimace. "I--just--you--" She was out of words again. How did he always manage to do that?



Aramis couldn't ignore it any more. He grabbed Gabe and brought him inside the Shop, taking him immediately to Clover's room. Basil caught him before he started going in and looking around. "Here, I'll get it until Clover's, uh...present." Even though she had no idea what the hell to do.

"Um...lay him on the table?" she said tentatively, offering a shrug.  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Would it be awkward if I were to ask you out right now?" Tokka smiled, eyes downcast and watching the water ripple.

"Yeah, kind of," he laughed, "maybe after we have clothes on?"

Elsewhere, Gabe suddenly remembered Aramis saying Lucy had slit his throat earlier. Suddenly determined to check on him, he forced himself from Aramis and clumsily manuevered himself down the hallway. Upon reaching Lucy's door, he stumbled, forcing the door open.

"Lucy, you okay?" His eye that wasn't swollen closed widened. "What. The. ********."  

[Felixitous]

Clover shrugged. She was having problems looking him in the eyes. "Now's as good a time as ever." What was that? That little tingly sensation? And--oh god get your eyes away from there.

But it's not like you've never seen one before.

So yeah, it's not awkward.

Except it really, really is.



Lucy saw him. He didn't even stop. He didn't even look angry. He just watched him coldly over Nevin's shoulder, ignoring the moans. He just stared at him.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Gabriel's shock quickly dissolved, adding on to the pain that throbbed throughout his entire frame. Only this, this was like rubbing salt into each and every one of those wounds. He looked away first, biting his lip. His eyebrows twitched obnoxiously and oh ********, was his eye watery.

"Sorry," he said quickly, backstepping from the room, kept going until he fell onto his a**. More blood. Lifting his shirt, he realized the bruise on his chest was spreading. Then he realized, what should he care?

"Lucy," Gabe gurgled, forcing the blood and bile down, "I-I'm...oh, ********. ********. ********. ********!"  

[Felixitous]

He hadn't really been enjoying it. He hadn't even really been paying any attention. It was just getting his mind off things. So he easily pushed Nevin off and was next to Gabe, picking him up and running him out the door. Clover was busy. Umeda would have to do.

Good thing he hadn't actually gotten out of his pants.

((I THINK I WORDED THAT BADLY, SO I WILL STATE HERE THAT HE WAS BASICALLY JUST JACKING NEVIN OFF XD))