๓ครợยгค๔є

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

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(( Sorry it's taken me a while to reply, bit of writers block haha ))

Belle listened to Vincent explain why he had been sparring carefully, the way he seemed to hesitate a bit between sentences making her wonder if he was telling her the truth. People who came into the hospital lied all the time if they had done something stupid or illegal when they got injured. She was good at spotting truths from lies and she was pretty sure he wasn't being completely honest with her. She wouldn't question him more about it though, if he didn't want to tell her, then so be it. Sighing gently, she just nodded, saying gently "I'll talk to Damian and tell him to take it easy then." It was obvious by the look on her face she didn't quite believe her, but she wasn't one to push if it wasn't necessary for her to know.

"But ya, if you could sit up a bit I can wrap them for you." she said with a slight smile. Once he moved into the position she had asked, she grabbed the cloth she was going to use to wrap his broken ribs and started wrapping it around his body. It took her a few minutes and although she was as gentle as she could be, it had to hurt because she was pretty much pressing the ribs in a single position so they could heal. She taped off the end so it would stay in place, then stepped back, looking at her handiwork. "You're good to go then, just make sure to ice and take those painkillers.... And rest." she said with a slight smile, putting emphasis on the word "rest".

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Vincent shifted himself so his head would rest on the silky pillows then folded another under his knee to support it. He yawned slightly and nessled into the bed not listening to her too much, until she said she would have to wrap his ribs. He looked up at her with pitiful eyes not wanting to sit up at all. He wanted to beg her to skip it, but then he decided it would be better to have some pain now and heal faster. Very slowly he sat up cradling his ribs and struggling to sit up fully. When he finally did, he nearly lost his breath. He winced as she took care of him and was extremely happy to lay back into the bed.

"Yeah, I get it. I'll rest as much as I can," he told her agreeing fully. He put his arm under his pillow relaxing and nearly falling asleep right there. "Thanks a billion," he muttered feeling extremely dazzed from both the pain and how tired he was.

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

……………………………………………………………………

Belle watched as Vincent made himself comfortable again after she had wrapped his ribs, sighing gently as he barely kept himself awake. He was going to wear his body down real fast if he kept it up like this. Regardless of who's fault it was that Vince had actually continued training, she was still going to talk to Damian and make sure he understood how imperative it was that Vincent got enough rest. Hearing the man mutter a thanks however, Belle smiled gently, saying "No problem." She smiled a bit more at him, then turned and packed up everything she had used that day before refilling his pain meds and leaving them on the night stand beside his bed. She returned the med kit to its proper place, then turned to walk out the bedroom door, smiling softly at him before she shut it quietly behind her. Remembering how to get out of here this time around, she headed down the hall and then down the stairs, pausing at the bottom of them and wondering where she would be able to find Damian.

Looking around for a moment, she listened, following the sound of the noise, and finding Damian in the kitchen. Poking her head through the doorway, she smiled sweetly, clearing her throat lightly to announce her presence. "Hey Damian, I don't know why exactly Vince- Mr. Ryder- was sparring, but he really needs to get some rest or he's going to run himself into the ground." she said, some sort of all knowing tone hiding behind her voice. She had a good idea Damian was the one Vincent was sparring with, hence the bloody nose this morning, and was determined that he would get the rest he needed. Leaning against the doorway to the kitchen with a slight grin playing across her lips, she said "You think you can make sure he get's enough rest? Like, no sparring, moving around as little as possible, icing.. for at least two days.." She kept her gaze locked on Damian as she spoke, a seriousness in her tone despite the warm smile resting on her lips.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

He watched Belle navigate the room performing her normal leaving ritual just enjoying her company even if she didn't take much notice in his. Her being around meant a chance to relax and be calm. He nuzzled back into the pillow with a crooked smile on her face taking the last chance to admire her athletic curves. Seeing how gorgeous he was made him feel self conscious when she left. He looked down at his body and put a hand on his bit of stomach fat that hid most of the muscle in his body then his large forearms that didn't match anything else but maybe his shoulders. He had to get in shape. As soon as he wasn't in agonizing pain, he was going to hit the gym hard and train with Damian. If he ever wanted to be in the same league as a girl like that, he had to shape up, badly.

Damian wasn't worried about such things, he was busy worrying about the crime rate skyrocketing through the roof since the b*****d's father died. If he couldn't get Vincent out onto the streets soon, there would be such a build up of criminals the young man wouldn't have a chance. He sighed putting down the news paper to flip a burger on the grilling top in the counter figuring a homey meal would help Vincent feel better. Though he did drill him with physical pain like he didn't care, he truly did. He was worried for his well being enough that he knew he needed the day off. He grabbed the cutting board from one of the cabinets and put a large, multi-colored apple on it and begun slicing it up humming a German hymen to himself when Belle came in.

He looked up hearing her speak and noticed the lack of formalities and it made him smile glad she was getting more comfortable here. He payed attention to her as he worked in preparing Vincent a rich meal if he could get him to swallow it down. "Mrs. O'Dear, I will do my best to make sure he does stay on bed rest for the time you have prescribed," he lied but well enough no one would notice unless they were better trained than he to lie. "I'll be sure to make him up rich meals so he heals quick and is able to keep up with the regimen that fool has set himself up with--if you don't mind me speaking so forwardly. Tell me, when he can be on his feet again, if there a limit I should put him on? I don't mean with his injuries, I mean in general for the shape he is in, his build, his internal health, those such things."

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

……………………………………………………………………

Belle watched Damian cook, smiling a bit to herself as he chopped up the apple. She might be an excellent nurse and a tough athlete, but when it came to the kitchen, she really had no idea what she was doing. She usually just settled for pasta for some sort of mix that was already prepared for her - cooking was definitely not one of her talents. She was actually enjoying watching Damian prepare food though, she always wished she actually had some sort of cooking ability and liked to watch others that actually knew what they were doing in the kitchen. Her mother had been a good cook and she could remember sitting down and watching the cooking channel with her, barely understanding half the ingredient names in the recipes, but loving watching her mother fumble through the recipes later. She always seemed to turn out an excellent result regardless, which Belle definitely admired.

Her eyes drifted away from the food Damian was preparing back to his eyes and the soft reminiscent smile on her face slipped back into a slight grin when he responded to her statement about Vincent. She had been lost in her thoughts momentarily, in good memories from the past, but was brought back to the present by Damian's voice. She listened to him carefully as he said he'd do his best to keep Vincent in bed and rested for the time she suggested. "Thanks Damian, he'll need that. His body won't heal properly if he doesn't get enough rest, two days worth." she said lightly, reinforcing the idea that he needed to be in bed resting for two days, emphasis on the words "two days". She wanted to make it clear to him that he needed the proper amount of rest or else his body probably would heal incorrectly and cause more problems in the future.

When Damian asked the question about Vincent's limits, health wise, Belle had to rack her brain for a minute to try to answer. She'd only examined him a few times so far and had a general idea of his health and body, but not enough to make a perfect suggestion. "From what I've seen so far, he's in pretty average shape, but will need to work his way up to intense training. He should start slower and add weight, time, and or reps to his routine on a daily basis to get better. But definitely don't start him out too hard, you want to help him increase his fitness, not wear him down from the start." she said thoughtfully, knowing that working someone too hard if their body wasn't at that level yet was never a good idea. It could hurt further athletic development. These sorts of things didn't happen overnight, they took time. "You'll just have to be patient so he can increase his fitness at a proper rate so things like this don't happen often." she finished, grinning a bit and nodding in an upward motion, referring to Vincent's current state as he lay exhausted upstairs.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Damian nodded cutting up a second apple on a small plate then handed it to Belle before drizzling caramel over it. "Mmm, so what you are saying is that if he keeps pushing himself too fast is his body is going to crash. Any counters against that?" he asked. "Like something I could feed him, certain amounts of sleep, what? Because I have a feeling Master Vincent isn't going to listen very well. He's been a stubborn fool since he first arrived and saw that grand gym." He finished up with the apples and put them on a plate with a cheese burger with bacon on it then started on a small strawberry smoothie that he enriched with extra vitamins. He looked at the clock seeing morning was almost over and Vincent was going to be bed ridden for two days. That was going to put a heavy damper on their training, unless he took it easy. He would have to teach him how to fight in a much more text book way than learning on his feet--which he did exceptionally well.

"Care for lunch?" Damian offered to the nurse who unknowingly was suspecting the wrong culprit for the injuries of his master. She would probably never know as long as he could keep a lid on Vincent. "Miss, have you read this yet?" he asked holding up the newspaper with an old picture of Ryder on the front and large headlines reading, "Where is he now?"

"The crime rates in the city are almost tripling already."

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

……………………………………………………………………

(( Sorry for being so MIA! School is overwhelming haha. ))

Belle watched as Damian cut up a second apple before drizzling caramel over it and pushing it her way. Smiling softly, she thanked him and picked an apple up from the plate, crunching through a slice and enjoying the sweet taste on her tongue. Hearing his questions about countering Vincent's body crashing from pushing too hard, she chewed on her apple slice, contemplating his question. "Well, he should definitely be eating a lot of high protein meals, protein drinks after training sessions would be helpful. Eight hours of sleep a night, at least, is necessary to make sure his body can keep up. Simple things like making sure he stretches properly before and after working out, eating right - no junk, only healthy fuel for his body. There's not exactly any way to counteract crashing, but if he's treating his body right by sleeping enough and eating right, he'll be able to push harder." she said thoughtfully, finishing off the slice of apple she held in her hand as she watched Damian finish up Vincent's meal and start to prepare some sort of highly nutritional smoothie. When he asked her about lunch however, she shook her head gently, holding another apple to her lips. "Oh no, thank you, but I've got work at the hospital in about half an hour. Thank you though." she said with a smile, appreciating the offer. She would have liked to stay longer and talk, but she simply didn't have the time for it.

Sarabelle bit into another crisp slice of apple when Damian held up the newspaper, pointing to the Ryder article. Grinning a bit, she took the newspaper from him gently, scanning over the article. "I skimmed it this morning. It's crazy how fast criminals have taken advantage of him being gone." she said softly, handing the paper back to him. "Y'know, Ryder was like a symbol around here. He stood for justice. I myself always thought he was just some story the cops made up to make people feel safe. Since he was so secretive and unmasked and such. But he had to be real - seeing as crime rates have skyrocketed since his disappearance." she said thoughtfully, lost in her own mind for a moment. Smiling a little more, she snapped out of it, finishing off the last bite of the apples Damian had given her. "Thank you for the apples, but I need to go now, the hospital calls." she said with a grin, adjusting her purse over her shoulder as she said goodbye to Damian and turned to leave.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Damian looked at his burger in consideration to what she said and nodded as she spoke. A cheese burger wasn't the best thing for him, but he needed something to eat that would put himself on Vincent's good side once more. He took care of the last bit of his foot and started placing it on his silver plate when Belle moved on to speak about Ryder and his possible non-existence. He struggled not to smirk at the idea of the late Ryder not existing and he wasn't training a person for nearly thirty years.Then it was hard not to frown at the memory of trying to keep alive after he was shot through a crack in his armor and bled to death at the hospital. He sighed lightly then looked up at Belle when she announced that she had to be leaving for her other job.

"Alright Miss O'Dear, drive safely and stay out of trouble," he told her as he walked her to the door with Vincent's platter in hand.




"Vincent, Miss O'Dear will be arriving at any moment and she won't be happy to see you up!" Damian called as he left the locker room straightening his bow tie and his boxing gloves slung over his shoulder. He ran his fingers through his peppered black hair a few times to ensure his hair fell correctly in place. If Miss O'Dear saw him all sweaty and a mess like he had been five minutes ago, she might yell at him for disobeying her rules.

The man in question looked over his shoulder as he hung by his wrists hearing something, but not entirely understanding what his butler had told him. He pulled his ear bud out to hear the message repeated and he nodded. He dropped to the floor with a solid thud as he rolled his shoulder feeling the recently dislocated joint pop from the stress it was under. He nodded to what he was told and stretched out his entire body before breaking into a dead sprint to his room and up the stairs to his room. He stripped himself of all his clothes as he walked to the bathroom and kicked them into the room as he went.

He took a quick shower getting rid of the sweat and scent of cigarette smoke from his breath and body from his morning smoke from nearly four hours ago. He stepped out of the shower patting down his body and drying off his jet black hair that had gotten longer. He yawned loudly and wrapped his towel around his wait walking into his room waiting on Belle to show up for her every morning check ups. Getting his clothes, he pulled on his boxer briefs and then his jeans as he heard his door creak open.

He grabbed his protein shake off the dresser and watched the door from the lip as he buttoned up his jeans and zipped it up single handed. He then put the empty glass down and looked at what she would see when she came in. He realized for the first time as he looked in the mirror on his dresser. From when he came in as a slightly muscular mechanic, he now looked like a battle ready warrior. His body was rippling with muscles under his lightly sun kiss skin. His body was purple and black from injuries Damian had given him from sparring, his shoulder was practically black from the bruising of it being dislocated nearly a week ago, but never fully healed from what he did. HIs ribs were always bruised now and his wrist had been broken that morning, but ne never felt it until he slowed down enough to feel it with the pain medication and adrenaline. Vincent looked like a new person. A God and a wreck at the same time. It made him smile broadly enjoying the new Vincent and it was worth it, even with the bruises. He just hoped it was enough to survive his new challenge: Ryder.

Tonight.

He came out of what he was thinking to address his nurse with a polite bow and a smile. "Miss O'Dear, how are you this morning?" he asked her with a smile. He turned from her to pull her med kit out from under her bed and placing it on the end table.

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

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(( I'm not making her a psycho about smoking this time around hahaha ))

Belle nodded and waved at Damian as he told her to drive safely and stay out trouble, grinning a bit to herself as she walked out the front door. This job was turning out nicely so far. It stressed her out a bit with Mr. Hughes getting as beat up as he did, but Damian was exceptionally kind as well as Vincent himself. She could see herself working here as long as they needed her easily. They weren't at all the rich snobs she had partially been expecting. heading back to her little blue car, she hopped in and drove off to work, where she'd change into her scrubs there. Her new schedule was going to be even more demanding than before, but she knew she could handle it.


Belle knocked on the door to Mr. Hughes - or as she always called him now, Vincent's room. Mr. Hughes just seemed so formal anymore, even if he still called her Miss O'Dear. Pushing the door open, she stepped in with a tired smile spread across her lips. She was wearing black yoga pants, sneakers, and a simple t-shirt today, too tired from last night's late shift at the hospital to car enough to dress any nicer. Her eyes scanned over Vincent as she entered the room, her tired smile gaining a new spark as she grinned at him a bit. It was amazing how far he'd come in such a short amount of time - from a beat up average guy to an amazing athlete. "G'morning." she said, stifling back a yawn and taking the med kit from him as he pulled it out for her. "A little bit tired, what about you?" she responded genuinely, although she was a lot tired, not just a little. Rummaging through the med kit, she refilled his pill bottles as her eyes scanned over his body, trying to determine his latest injuries.

"I will never understand how you get hurt so much. Or how you progressed so fast despite your injuries." she said with a bright grin, the dark circles under her eyes masked for a moment by her usual cheeriness. After refilling his medicine, she moved to stand in front of him, poking at certain injuries like she normally did. She instructed him to sit after a minute or so, taking his wrist in her hand and moving it gently. "Broken wrist, bruising. The wrist seems like the only major injury for today. How's your shoulder feeling though?" she asked, grabbing some medical tape and a splint to support his wrist, since she knew he wouldn't be getting a cast. She held his hand lightly as she started wrapping it up, glancing at his eyes every once in a while as she did so. She didn't even remind him to take it easy anymore, or to rest, since she knew her efforts to get him to do so were pointless. He didn't like to rest, he liked to push, and she knew she wasn't going to get through to him with that. A grin slipped across her lips as she wrapped his hand though and she suddenly asked "You have a smoke this morning?" She knew he liked to think that she didn't know he smoked, but she was good at noticing things that people thought they were hiding - for the most part - and she wanted to see his reaction to her picking up on his habit.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Vincent walked over to his bed and sat down on it pulling a chair over for her like usual as he listened to her speak about how she was tired. "Me too. Jumping coasts is still messing with my sleep despite it having been a month since I moved here. Big time change," he told her sitting down on his bed with what he said being the truth--part of it. The other half was that Damian was shifting his sleeping pattern around more so he went to bed during the day after sunrise, but that was when Belle showed up so instead he slept right after she left.

He shivered a little bit starting to feel cold from being wet and the shower cooling him down a great deal after his long workout that morning. He looked up at her when she commented on his injuries verses his progress and he gave a little smirk cocking his head to the side in a "I don't know" fashion. It amazed even him how durable he was to pain and how easy it had become to work through that. That and he had been given pretty heavy pain killers. He yawned watching her work as he sat up perfectly straight and she tended to his wrist commenting how it was broken.

"I personally didn't notice my wrist until you pointed it out, now it really hurts," he told her biting his lip a little bit. He was being entirely honest to what he told her. He felt his pulse throbbing painfully in the few bits of broken bone in his wrist as she wrapped it and he nodded. "My shoulder though? Still feels ******** up," he told her ignoring formailities for not cussing around her. "It hurts, but not too bad. It's kinda like when you run into the corner of a table, it hurts like hell if I do anything, but it fades away pretty quickly so I haven't payed too much attention to it."

Vincent reached to grab his glass of water off the night stand when she mentioned him smoking and he almost knocked the glass over her. Quickly he scrambled to keep the icy water upright and in the glass. He picked it up when his hands stopped shaking so much. He gave her a bit of a dirty look for figuring it out and sighed. "I brush my teeth and bathe like it is a new religion practice that will grant me immortality, how do you know?" he asked her knowing very much that he didn't leave his cigarettes laying around the house. He also knew he had become quite an organized, clean person since he showed up unless he was in the garage. Those clothes he used reeked of cigarette smoke and oil, but the two tended to blend together and he couldn't smell either in the first place. "Or are you just physicic to those kinds of things from being a nurse?" he asked her slumping forward now as she took care of his broken wrist as if he were being scolded. "Did Damian tell you?"

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

……………………………………………………………………

Belle nodded a little when Vince said he was tired too and that it was from the time change, grinning a bit to herself. She new the time change definitely was a factor, but it was obvious he had pushed himself to some extreme limits in the past month, so that had to exhaust a person too. "Sure it's just the time change that's wearing you down?" she joked, grinning at him. She always had this all-knowing vibe about her, like nothing you did could escape her. Obviously, she didn't notice everything, and she definitely missed a lot, but for the most part, she was pretty good at reading people and learning their habits quickly. She couldn't help but laugh when he cocked his head to the side and smirked at her when she commented about his progress, shaking her head a little as her laughter faded and she finished up wrapping his wrist.

She was pretty surprised he hadn't noticed his wrist was broken, despite the fact that he barely noticed his injuries most of the time. A broken bone was something that most people would be in tears about, or a least in a good amount of pain - yet it didn't even seem to bother him. It was insane to her that a person could take that much pain so willingly and in such a short period of time. She listened to what he said about his shoulder though, nodding and placing his wrist back down as she finished checking over the wrap to make sure it was secure. She stood up and prodded at his shoulder gently, trying to see what state it was in right now. She had put it back in place after he dislocated it - which had to be painful - so it was just healing now. "Doesn't look too bad actually. Should be healed up in about a week if you actually rest it a bit." she said with a grin, knowing too well that he probably wouldn't rest it at all. And that he probably wouldn't follow any of her treatment advice except for taking the painkillers.

She sat back down in the chair in front of him to make sure she hadn't missed anything and pack up her med kit. When she made her comment about smoking, she could only stifle back a laugh when he almost spilled his water everywhere, fumbling to get control of it again. When he gave her a dirty look, asking how she even knew, she smirked at him, finishing packing up her med kit. Standing from the chair, she put the med kit away before walking back over and leaning against the back of the chair. "I know a smoker when I see one." was all she said in response to his question, grinning a little wider as she watched the look of a small child being scolded spread across his face. "I'm not even going to try to argue with you about quitting, because you'll probably just continue to do it anyway... but it's really going to make training and everything harder on your body." she said simply, her grin fading to a soft smile as she told him this. She hated smoking and she wanted to go through his things and make him throw out all of his packs, but that wasn't her place and all she could do was tell him it was bad for him and how she felt about it. She didn't want him killing his lungs when he worked so hard to be such a high level athlete.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Vincent nodded at what she told him about his shoulder and sighed a little bit. Taking it easy, yeah right. With Damian riding his a** as much as he had been and the lack of sleep, he figured he was going to be in awful shape the next morning and Belle was going to try to kill him. Good luck with that too. The way he was being trained, he felt like he could battle a war lord of kung fu. He sighed with what she said about him smoking and nodded once more to her, but knew he would barely change for what she told her.

"Yeah, Damian keeps telling me that and I know it is going to damage the likelihood of being the best I can be, but it is relaxing. I don't know anyone who has a worse addiction to cigarettes than I. I get mad, shaky, weak, headaches, nauseous... I'm kinda too nervous to stop," he chuckled weakly hating the fact that what he said was true.

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

……………………………………………………………………

Belle listened to Vincent's response about cigarettes, claiming that he was the world's worst addict. She just shrugged her shoulders as she leaned back in her chair, watching him with a slight smirk on her face. "I don't doubt that, trust me, I've helped people give up smoking before. It's definitely not easy, especially if you've been doing it for a while to stifl- feel good or because it helps." she said, catching herself at the end and replacing her words easily, like she had never made a mistake. She was going to say to stifle emotions or memories, but some patients didn't like to hear that and she didn't know what his life had been before coming here, so she had no right to say that. He could simply smoke because it felt good, but the way he described his symptoms made it sound like he smoked because it kept his mind off something else. Why else would he be nervous to stop? "Anyways, I can't make you stop, it's not my place. But if you ever want help quitting, I'll be there to help." she said genuinely, smiling at him as she sat up a little straighter in her chair. Glancing at the clock, she scanned over him one more time, wanting to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Try not to use that hand, the broken one, for at least for a few days so it can heal. It's not your dominant hand, so that shouldn't be too hard to avoid, ok?" she said, standing from her chair and giving him a stern look before she broke into a smile again. "And you know how much pain medication to take and everything, so I'm going to go home and get ready for another long shift at the hospital." she said, rubbing at her tired eyes as she stood up from the chair. "You need anything else before I go?" she asked curiously, tugging at her messy ponytail with an apologetic smile as she waited for his response. She hated to make her visits here in the mornings so short all the time, she'd love to stick around and actually get to know who she was helping a bit better, but her schedule was always so packed that she barely had the time.

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[Unbreakable Justice]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAll the broken pieces left unglued
xxx → Should never find their way
xxxxxxx into the hands of x( x s o m e o n e x )x like you !

Vincent nodded agreeing to what she told him about quitting as he knew what she said was very true. He had tried to quit before and it ended very poorly for him. He grew worse when he succumbed to his desires to smoke for a few weeks until he was able to cut back once more to the point he only needed two a day, sometimes one if he was able to keep busy or in a good mood. "Yeah, I might look into it again, but not likely. Last time I tried it didn't go over well. But, yeah, I'll keep off my wrist and continue to be gentle to my shoulder until you deem that my shoulder isn't in danger anymore," he told her as he started to stretch out his shoulder getting ready to crash for the day since he was going to be needing to sleep all day to make up for staying up all night that night.

Sore, he stood up slowly from his bed and walked over to his bed already getting stiff from the day's workout and dug through his clothes when she announced she was leaving to work another shift at the hospital. Momentarily, he stopped what he was doing wanting nothing more than to beg her to stay, have lunch with him, join him for breakfast, something. With the help of his newly developed deductive skills, he had to stop when he noticed what he did. Belle was already exhausted from the night before, she hadn't dressed up like she normally did--but she was the kind of girl she still looked hot the way she was dressed--and under her eyes were dark from getting little sleep. He sighed and gave her an apologetic look right back that turned into a smirk. He shook his head and turned away from her as he pulled away his basketball shorts and replaced them with a fuzzy pair of red plaid pajama bottoms.

"Naw, you can get out of here, go to work and then finally get some sleep. That is a demand by one of your patients," Vincent smirked walking back over to her and gave her a warm hug thanking her for all that she had done for him. "Now you can go." He quietly watched Belle leave with a smile on his face and as soon as she did, he dropped onto his bed and snuggled under the freshly made covers and fell right asleep to fill up the day in his preparation for the first night out.

Just after dark, Damian entered Vincent's room to see him getting up on his own and taking his pain killers. Without a word, the butler motioned for him to fallow as both understood what it was time for and Vincent was walking to it as if he were going to the slaughter house. That was exactly what he felt like was about to happen. The pair walked down to the gym and passed through the wall that Vincent had entered every day since his arrival to acquire gear to practice with. Now he was about to use it for battle.

"I'll keep in contact with you through the helmet. Anything goes wrong, just let me know or you can ask for advice. There is also a news feed that goes through the visor so I will see what ever you are seeing as well. So if you can, please try not to shatter the visor. Also avoiding that will keep glass out of yours eyes, but mostly for the camera's sake so I can keep you alive," Damian told him as he helped him to pull the perfect fitting armor over his body.

"This still feels like it weighs a ton," Vincent muttered zipping up the coat.

"Then after this, we'll make sure you workout in it or something of similar weight; until then it'll still keep you alive," Damian responded.

Vincent nodded once more and pulled on his belt loaded with ammunition and his gun with his batons equipped onto his back. Finally ready, he placed his mask and slid his helmet over his head. He struggled not to grin wide at the idea that he had just become what he always dreamed: a superhero. With his keys in hand, he started up his motorcycle, revved it loud and raced into the night to the city of mayhem hoping to right a few wrongs that night.

That idea was fast to fade into boredom when he first arrived. The first few hours were just Damian running him through new drills that he loaded into his helmet and onto his screen so he could practice them. Finally, something happened: a mugging. Eager, but nervous, Ryder raced to the scene and quickly pulled his batons from his back and leap from the top of the building directly onto the man's shoulders shattering his collarbone and collapsing his spine. He leap from the man's shoulders in a neat back flip to land on both of his feet while the man crumpled to the ground. Instantly, he was greeted by the woman by a kiss on the visor and a tight hug. He smiled broadly under the helmet seeing her lipstick marking the smooth black fiber glass.

He waved to her good bye in a dopey manner and then took off racing up the fire escape to run across the roof tops extremely thrilled of how well his plan went over. The rest of the night, he easily broke through the small stream of little villains. He had been shot several times that night, but with his armor, the plates stopped every bullet to fall crumpled to the ground and him with no more than a bruise in the morning, if he'd even get one.

Then his night was ruined. As he was mounting his bike with his armor already torn apart, some gang members noticed him and were not happy.

"Hey, hey! Roach, isn't that Ryder? That b*****d that put your brother in jail?" a member of a local gang called out recognizing the motorcyclist's form in the moon's eerie glow.

"No?"

"Yeah, it is that b*****d!"

"Vincent!" Damian screamed in his ear before he was thrown over the back of the car with his helmet being knocked free over to the side.

Despite being hit by a car, Ryder was quick to get his helmet back on, but was much slower at getting his feet under him. He felt his stomach lurch feeling like he was about to throw up when he noticed that his shoulder was separated once more, but backwards. He tried to quickly reset it, but it wouldn't budge. He whimpered looking up at the group of men as he tried to stand up tall once more and he was responded to by a knife going through his zipper blade cutting through the thin plastic to enter his gut. A bullet fallowed through in attempts to shoot him in the heart, but the armor made it only stutter as he fell backwards in the middle of the street feeling his blood pool under his heavy vest. Desperate to keep his life in tact, he turned to the training Damian gave him and it became rough for the men being attacked.

With a savage roar, Ryder flipped himself up onto his feet and ripped his batons from his back. He swung them in a wide arc cracking them into the side of the stabber's head shattering his jaw and breaking the side of his skull. With a kick to the diaphragm, he left him in the filthy street. He moved to his next victim flipping onto his feet to launch them into the face of his next man. When he put his entire weight down on the man's face, he howled in agony before an ax kick was delivered to his ribs shattering them and his diaphragm just like his friend. He smiled and turned seeing another man pull out a gun. In a panic, Ryder dropped his baton and reached for his raising it to fire and fired.

Bother Ryder and the thug dropped to the ground, but the thug was faster to get up. Ryder remained on the ground holding his gloved hand over to the crevasse in his armor where he had been shot in his shoulder blade and the bullet was caught under his armor in his chest. He looked up through the mask from where he laid on the ground to see a needle being aimed at him. He threw his boot up breaking the syringe as the mad man tried to run it through the soles of his shoe. He kicked the man in the groin as hard as he could dropping the man unconscious and leaving him in the middle of the street trying to keep conscious himself.

"D-Damian," Ryder muttered as he slowly pushed himself back into the alley to hide among the trash like just another junkie while he awaited rescue.

"Already calling Belle and on my way," Damian responded racing out of the armory.

Ryder laid among the muck struggling to stay concious for as long as he could, but he passed out before Damian reached him. As tenderly as he could, the butler loaded him into the back seat making him comfortable and removing his helmet so he could breath easier. He wished he could remove his coat to aid him in breathing, but he knew it was keeping a good majority of the blood inside him instead of bleeding out.

Vincent woke up just long enough to hear Damian on the phone leaving Belle a rather calm message for what he was asking her. He tried to say something and sit up, but he just groaned laying back in the seat.

Damian looked back at him when he tried to sit up and sighed loudly. "Miss O'Dear, I have an emergancy. Mr. Hughes was jumped while he was on his way home from a midnight premier and he needs emergancy help. I would normally take him to the hospital, but he asked to avoid going public and wanted you to come see him. I'll keep him together for as long as I can, but I don't think he'll last for more than a few hours without medical attention. I don't believe gang members sanitize their blades anyways. Text me when you get this message with an answer so I know if I need to stitch him up myself or if I can count on you to be over. I'll make sure to throw in large bonus for your help, thanks," he ended. He closed his phone hoping she would receive the message sooner than later. He didn't know if he could really keep Vincent alive for more than an hour as he was already in shock with a dangerously high fever.

Breaking several speeding laws, Damian returned Ryder home. He took him into his room and slowly pulled his coat away from him and left him in his pants as he hoped to keep in as much heat as he could. After removing his boots, he retrieved towels to put under his wounds and wrapped a few around him trying to keep the pressure on his wounds while he covered him in several blankets, many more than he normally slept under. "You need to pull through this," Damian growled before he quickly hid his weapons and coat back in the room and awaited Belle's response anxiously leaving the door unlocked and his eyes always on his phone's screen not wanting to miss a response.

「 I'M IN THE DARK... 」xxxxxxxxxx

 

[VVanderIust]

ＳＡＲＡＢＥＬＬＥ ＦＡＹ Ｏ' ＤＥＡＲ

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”Well the offer for help is always there.” Belle said gently when Vincent mentioned that he probably wouldn’t be trying again. It frustrated her that he smoked, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about it. At least not today – she was too tired and she knew he was exhausted as well. Now was not the time or place for this argument. She nodded when he said he’d do his best to be gentle to his shoulder and his wrist She knew he meant it when he said that he’d try, but she also knew that him resting any of his injuries was very unlikely. She watched him as he turned away from her to change, noticing him pause momentarily when she said she had to leave, like he heard a noise and was trying to hear what it was. She looked around for a moment, but her eyes landed back on Vincent once he had changed into his pajama bottoms. She was always curious as to why he always seemed to be getting ready to sleep when she came in the morning – most people were waking up right about now. She’d have to make a note to ask him about that later. When Vince spoke up, saying she could go to work and get some sleep and that it was an order from a patient, she laughed a little, smiling at him. ”I’ll promise to get some sleep if you do.” she said with a grin, returning his hug when he wrapped his arms around her. She smiled at him when he released her from his hug, taking his feeling of warmth with him. Waving goodbye, she left him to sleep, closing the door gently behind her. She talked to Damian for a bit before she left, then hopped into the cars where her scrubs sat in the passenger seat for her to change into as soon as she arrived at the hospital.

Her shift went by a bit slowly as the day progressed. There were a few major incidents – a man who had been the victim of a mugging in broad daylight, an elderly woman who was suffering from a stroke, and the usual heart attack that seemed to happen almost every day. The worst however was a young boy who came into the Emergency Room after being hit by a car. He was conscious and fully aware of what was going on, but he had been paralyzed and it was the worst thing to have to explain to a child that he might never be able to walk again. These types of moments were what weighed heavily on her and she had a hard time keeping a smile on her face for the rest of the day. By the time she finally got home that evening after her ten hour shift, she was completely physically and emotionally worn down and wanted nothing more than to crash in her bed and get some much needed sleep. Unfortunately for her, she had classwork to do for her online course, so sleep wasn’t there to comfort her quite yet.

Popping one of those frozen pizzas in the oven, Belle settled herself down at the kitchen table, notebook and laptop open and ready to go. She worked on an essay that was due the next day, finishing the writing portion of it by the time the pizza was done. While she chowed down on her dinner, she went back in and edited the paper, making sure her exhausted state hadn’t made any idiotic mistakes. The pizza fueled her through finishing and submitting her paper, as well as taking a small online quiz for the class. By the time eleven rolled around, she was fed, college coursework was completed, and she was finished work until she had to check on Vincent in the morning. Although eleven might not be that late, she had been up since five AM that morning, so she was ready to crash and after a quick, warm shower, that’s exactly what she did.

The buzzing in the middle of the night accompanied by her ringtone caused Belle to stir in her sleep, rolling over to watch the phone ring until it fell silent. Groggily, she sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes, glancing at the clock. Three AM. Who was calling her at this ungodly hour? She might not sleep a lot, but she did sleep. Picking it up and seeing Damian’s name in the Caller ID, she rubbed at her eyes a bit more before bringing the phone to her ear and playing the voicemail. As soon as she heard Damian’s voice and the word emergency, Belle stood up from the bed and walked towards the bathroom, trying to focus on the message despite her exhaustion. Vincent was jumped, sounded pretty bad… The urgency in Damian’s voice woke her up and she texted him back quickly, saying I’ll be there in a few. She would have called him back, but she wanted to let him know she was coming while she got ready. Setting the phone down after she sent the text, she splashed her face with water to wake her up from her short four hours of sleep. Tying her hair back, she grabbed her phone, slipped on a pair of knock off ugg boots and making sure her plaid pajama pants fell over the top of them. She grabbed her jacket and tossed that over her shoulders on the fly as well, getting her keys and hurrying out to her car. Speeding a bit, she got to Vincent’s place quickly, her tires screeching to a stop a bit as she pulled in.

Hurrying to the front door, she opened it up and ran inside. ”Damian, I’m here!” she called, closing the door behind her and hurrying up the stairs. She pushed the door open to Vincent’s room and the moment her tired eyes fell on him, she caught her breath in her throat for a minute. ”You should have taken him to the hospital.” she breathed out, hurrying over to the bed where he was laying, covered in towels that were stopping his blood flow. Pulling her med kit from the floor, she flung it open before turning to Vince, chewing her lip as she tried hard to focus. Lifting the towels to look at the wounds before replacing them, she cringed slightly at some of the worse ones, turning back at glancing at Damian before she turned back to Vince. ”How did this even happen?” she asked, not really looking for an answer from anyone, but more so thinking out loud. ”His shoulder is out of place again, stab wound to the gut, shot in the shoulder… did he get hit by a car?” she mumbled out loud, focusing on his shoulder for now. She was going to have to set it back in place, which was going to hell for him, but it was necessary for her to stitch the bullet wound up correctly.

”Damian, hold him still while I pop his shoulder back in. Vince, I'm sorry, this is going to hurt." she said, shifting him a bit and instructing Damian where to hold on to him so she could do this correctly. As carefully and as painlessly for him as she could, she worked at his shoulder to pop it back into place smoothly. It took more than one try, but she got it back into place with a sickening sound to accompany it. She shot him an apologetic look before grabbing the towel that had been covering the bullet wound on his shoulder that was bleeding profusely now that she had worked his shoulder back into place, the movement causing more blood to flow from the wound. Grabbing a small knife from the med kit and something that looked like an elongated pair of tweezers, she glanced at Damian, than at Vincent, grimacing a bit. "The bullet's still in there, I can't stitch it up until I get it out, Damian - keep applying pressure to his wounds, get him to swallow some pain medication." she said, reaching behind her without even having to look and holding the pill bottle to him. "Give him four." she mumbled, helping Damian move Vincent so he was sitting up a bit more and would be able to swallow the medication. Once he was up, she left Damian to do what she had asked and made a small incision around the wound, pulling the bullet out relatively quickly. His armor had deflected it's trajectory a bit, so it hadn't dug too far into his skin. Moving the towel back over that wound, she moved to the stab wound on his gut that was causing the most problems, dabbing away some of the blood as she pulled out what she needed to stitch him up.

"This is going to be painful." was all she said before she started working to close his wound, glancing at Vince sympathetically. She was worried for his life and for her ability to save him, that much was obvious. She worked quickly but carefully to close the wound, the medical thread tugging his skin as she tried to piece him back together. It didn't take her long to close the wound that decorated his gut and she soon had it covered in gauze, the bleeding minimal now. She then returned her attention to the site of the bullet wound on his shoulder, beginning to stitch that up as well. By this point the pain meds would be kicking in at least a little, so the second wound wouldn't be nearly as bad as the first to fix. She worked with an excellent degree of focus and efficiency despite her exhaustion. She knew what needed to be done and that it had to be done quickly and she cared about Vince, so she was extremely focused on the task at hand. By the time she finished stitching up the second wound, her hands shook slightly as she placed the gauze over top, her eyes scanning over Vincent carefully, her hands bloodied from her efforts.

"He needs rest. Food and water. He'll be okay though." she said tiredly, wiping her hands off on the least bloody towel she could find before she started prodding his ribs, suspecting them to at least be bruised from his impact with the car. "He bruised his ribs pretty badly again, they aren't broken though." she said quietly, removing the towels from his chest and tossing them to the side. Wordlessly, she walked to the bathroom and found another towel, wetting it and bringing it back with her. She started to wipe the blood from his chest and around the gauze, as well as from the smaller and less significant cuts that decorated his body. Once he was cleaned off, she noticed something a bit odd on his chest, like a bruise that a bullet that had been stopped by protective armor would leave behind. He had no reason to be wearing a armored vest however, so she let it slide, slumping into her chair beside her bed exhaustively. "He'll be okay." she said again, her eyes locked on Vince as his chest rose and fell.

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