Getting fixed up

[Jason]

"Well well having fun out in the training grounds eh?" Asked the first healer who spotted Jason.
"Your wounds aren't too bad but it's a good thing you came in. Take a seat." he said leading the young apprentice to a bed. He put his hands over the wounds and they were soon closed.

"Stay in for the night. You lost a decent amount of blood coming up here" Said the healer.
"Well can't I get a book or something?' Jason asked. The healer nodded and handed him a book about the history of the Academy.
"Most new students find this interesting. You look like the type who would as well." Said the healer.

And that was how Jason came to be reading in one of the beds while he recovered a bit more.

[Phae]

Phae rolled over in bed. She groaned. Blacky was gone, probably training, and that was allright. She hadn't felt good this morning so he had tucked her in and given her a soft kiss before he left her saying he would be back soon, and that she should go back to sleep. Problem was she hadn't been able to go back to sleep. She had tossed and turned but no rest came her stomach only hurt worse and worse. She hadn't been able to do much of anything except treck back and forth to the bathroom when her morning sickness.. or what she thought was morning sickness hit.

It had been an hour and she had sharp pains in her stomach. She could barely breathe without it hurting.

..Del!..

She called out for her small Jhereg familiar who perked up off the desk and understood what she needed to do. Flying out the window she not only informed the nurses to send someone up to Phaedra and Richard's room but she even flew out to the training grounds to get Blacky's attention while she needed him. It wasn't long before the nurses came up and one of them picked up the small thin redheaded girl and carried her down to the recovery wing. Phaedra groaned in pain. She was used to pain but this really hurt and she didn't know why but her gut instinct said it wasn't pretty.

The healers put her in a room with a blonde kid in it. She wan't paying attention she was in much, too much pain. Her jaw was clamped tight as she gripped the sheets of the bed as the healers began to examine her. Pulling the curtain so no one would see the process began.

**One hour later**

All that could be heard now were the soft cries of Phaedra Weiss's sobs. Her crystalline tears fell down onto the bed as she stared off wondering where Blacky was. Probably being stubborn as always. Unless the healer's hadn't let him in. It was gone, her precious daughter had not lived. She had not given birth. No. It was much too early for that. In fact, Phae had miscarried her first child. The healers' had informed her she was not strong enough when she conceived. Because of the issues that kept haunting her sleep, and keeping her from eating she had not been strong enough. Not to mention the mental and emotional anguish that she had been put through most recently.

She merely nodded as the doctors pulled back the curtain and left her be covered in a lot of blankets knowing she would go through shock. There was nothing they could have done for the child. It was set to miscarry the moment it was conceived. And now.. now Phae was alone again. Though she had Richard in her life now, she wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around her and for him to tell her that she.. was his. That she didn't need anything of Jun's. But it wasn't even that. She had failed as a mother before her child had even been born, unable to provide for it.

[Jason]

Jason looked up from his book seeing a girl being brought in not looking well. He felt a bit of sympathy but not real concern for her. Not in terms of her being okay the healers were excellent. He busied himself with his book for the next hour being polite enough not to pry in any way. it wasn't his business and even though he had the urge to help this wasn't in his talents.

it was later when he heard the noises from her bed that he put the book down and walked over not able to help but at least check on her. Considering it was the dead of the night now and the healers were probably just doing routine stuff right now.

He knelt by the bed with a soft smile showing he was just being friendly.
"Hey there I'm Jason. Is there anything I can help you with? Anything at all?' he asked with his voice full of sincerity. Jason always felt like the people around him should at least be comforted when he was there. healing was beyond his power in terms of physical wounds. But to be a friend and just comfort someone. he could do that.

[Phae]

Phae looked up at a voice. Her sapphire eyes were now shaded red, with blood shot, and exhaustian. She didn't want to go to sleep yet. Couldn't anyway not without Blacky putting his arm around her. It was just the way life was now. She slept with someone, or she didn't sleep at all. She sniffed softly as used the sleeve of her fuzzy white sweater to wipe the tears away. She had two necklaces on. One was a silver cross, it was Jonathan's left to her in his will, her very best friend. Whom she had not found a replacement for. One was three rings. One was a platinum band with a black stone, the other a black ring that looked plain but wasn't, and third a white gold ring that had two diamond hearts entwined.

She swallowed softly as he asked her if she needed anything and she merely shook her head. She sighed softly as she looked down for a moment, her pale face was freckled and the blush from crying so much made them stand out all the more as her eyes darted back up to him. She was a very pretty girl, highly toned, callouses on her right hand showed she was indeed a affluent swordswoman. Her red hair fell to her hips in it's long straight strands.

"No.. just.. talk to me... tell me about yourself.. or a story.. or something. Please." she whispered to him as she looked at him near imploring him to follow this request.

[Jason]

Jason nodded giving a much warmer smile.
"That I can do for you. I think i know a good story to pass the time" he said grabbing a chair dragging it over to sit by her. Many stories went through his head. but one that he remembered the most when he wasn;t feeling good in any way was one his grandfather used to tell him before he passed away. Jason always remembered it due to the fact it always brought fond memories of the man to his mind.

"This is the story of Won Lee. My grandfather used to tell it to me when he came to visit. I've always like it myself. You're the first person I've been able to share it with." he said and cleared his throat. His voice was smooth and soothing as he spoke during the story and it was clear he had it memorized as he spoke as he never heisitated during the whole story.

"Won Lee was a stone cutter who lived in ancient China. He cut large stones and he cut small stones. He made them into ornaments for gardens. Some he cut to build houses. He was proud of his work, but sometimes he would think, "If only I had more money" or "If only I had less work."
One day, Won Lee was walking home from work. The sun was very hot and he was tired, so he sat down at the side of the road. He felt the heat of the sun and thought, "It's the sun that gives us the daylight, the warmth to grow our crops. Surely the sun must be the most powerful of all things."

Won Lee said quietly to himself, "God, if only I could be the sun. I would love to feel what it is like to be the most powerful, the greatest of all things."

God answered Won Lee. "You may become the sun." He said. And Won Lee became the sun. He felt wonderful; so strong and powerful. He shone down on the world far below.

After a few days, a puffy white cloud appeared in the sky. It drifted about and, when it came near Won Lee, it blotted out his rays and cast a shadow on the world. Won Lee was sad. Surely this cloud was more powerful than he ? "If only I were the cloud. That would make me the greatest of all things," he said.

God heard, and again He answered: "Won Lee, you may become the cloud." So Won Lee floated about the sky feeling very grand.

One day, Won Lee saw a great black cloud coming his way. Soon it surrounded him, and he saw the black cloud dripping droplets of water. The drops fell on the earth and made a mighty river.

Won Lee thought that this black cloud must be very powerful to swallow up a cloud and turn itself into a river, so he said, "If only I were the river. How mighty I would be. Then I would be truly happy."

Again God heard and answered: "Okay. You may be the river."

So Won Lee flowed along, feeling the mighty rush of water. Then he came to a bend in the river. There was a great boulder jutting out into the river. The great boulder held the river, swirling it back on itself.

Won Lee thought, "The rock ! The rock ! At last I have found the mightiest of all things. If this rock can hold back the raging river, then it is the greatest. If only I were this great big rock, I would be happy."

So God made Won Lee into the boulder and he stood there, holding back the water and feeling very great and happy. Then, one day, along came a man who cut a large piece off the boulder. Won Lee was sad. No longer was he the greatest if this man could come along and cut him up.

"If only I could be the man who cut up the stone, I would surely be the greatest," Won Lee thought.

And God said to Won Lee
"But you are the Stone Cutter!"

ANd that is the story of Won Lee the stonecutter." he said with a smile.

[Chephros]

Chephros of course, couldn't really sleep. After that adrenaline, even though it hadn't helped him at all during the fight, was keeping him up. He figured he would find Jason at the healers, since thats basically where someone would go after getting into a fight and had to ask one of the late night wanderers where the place was. After ten minutes of completely undisturbed walking he reached the place to hear crying, or the sounds of such, from inside. Was Jason actually doing that? No, it was someone else. Looking inside he saw Jason and some other girl with a mass of blankets over her. Or rather, she looked more like a woman, but then he had no idea. He was still learning about the place so he didn't know much.

Walking in, he heard Jason start the story and simply leaned against the doorway, arms crossed as he listened. It was an interesting story, that was for sure. It was ironic, about a man going full circle from a stone cutter and then to the boulder that he should have cut. Jason told it well, or at least that was what Chephros though and he clapped his hands in that announcing sort of way that commonly scared the crap out of people in movies.

Leaning forward he moved to greet them both when a healer caught up to him and literally pushed him to a place next to Jason's area, across from him was Phae. There was no screen needed for this, as the healers were simply fixing the minor cuts he had and the slight burn area on his chest from the last beam. It took about half a minute as the cut was basically fine and the burn really didn't do much. Looking at the healers as if they were insane, he stood up. "Well that was pointless."

[Phae]

Phae listened to the story. Anything to take her mind off the pain and the sorrow that were flooding her body right now. She smiled softly as she listened to his tale and thought that it was an interesting story. One that somehow in a way fit a bit with her life. But now, she was doing better, or had been at least until this morning and now she was here in the hospital wing with a stranger that was exceedingly nice and he was working on telling her a story to keep her mind off of everything that had just happened. She hadn't told him what happened but he didn't seem to care really he was just being there and being a good friend.

When the story ended she smiled softly and opened her mouth to say something when she heard clapping from behind. So enthralled in the story she was that she litterally jumped in her bed and gasped. She smirked as some other person came into the room. Wings and gauntlets and did she spy a tail. How intriguing she wondered just what he was and who he was. Why he was here but then the healers pushed him down into a chair across from her and she watched as they tended to him.

"That was a lovely story. Thank you, I enjoyed it. I'll make sure to pass it one someday." she said softly with a smile.

"I'm Phae by the way, I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry if I was rude, but I.. " she fell off and closed her eyes trying to be as strong as she knew she could be in the face of adversity.

[Jason]

Jason turned at the sound of clapping and gave a small wave.
"Hey there." he said then turned back to Phea.
"It was a pleasure to tell it. I've never got to do that before Except for fond memories it's what my grandfather left me. And don't worry about being ud Phae. you're obviously upset." he said still giving a sfot smile.
"Uhmm you don't need to answer but what is wrong?" he asked wondering what could cause a person who seemed to have traces of being strong in many ways so much grief.

[Phae]

She smiled softly at him when he told her that she wasn't being rude. That was nice, because she loved meeting people and making new friends but the one thing she didn't want to be was rude. Even in her current state what she really wanted was Blacky. But he was no where to be found and she wasn't going to go searching for him, they wouldn't let her leave anyway, but he would either show up eventually or it was because he got caught into another huge fight he couldn't leave. She could understand he thought she was just not feeling well this morning not that she was on the verge of losing the last thing Junpei had left her with.

Jason then ventured to ask THE question. Why exactly she was here and she bit her lip. Most people in the school knew who she was and most of her romantic history but right now she was with one new student and she had never seen the winged guy before so as far as she knew he was new too. She sighed softly and took a deep breath tears running down her cheeks as she began to speak.

"You see. I was engaged. For sixth months. We were to marry and start a family in december, last month. But he left. After he found out I was pregnate for some reason he just left and I"ve not heard from him since. But that isn't the first time, but it will be the last. Anyway, I started feeling bad last night.. " she said softly almost in a whisper as the tears dripped down soiling the blanket below her.

"I started feeling bad. My stomach was turning and everything. My boyfriend, he took care of me and was up all night trying to help me feel better until I finally got to sleep. This morning I felt worse and he went out to train as per normal. A lot of times we train together but this morning I felt so bad I didn't want to. And that is odd for me because I love to train, especially with Blacky. Regardless, he left and from there it got worse and worse my stomach began having these horrible pains that sent shivers through my whole body. So I sent my familiar to get ahold of a healer and apparently she did because they came up and got me bringing me down here. And then.. they told me .. well that.. that I.. lost.. my baby." she whispered.

"She wasn't even born yet and I couldn't take care of her! Because that stupid Junpei made my body weak! Because he kept leaving me like an idiot and I was.. was not able to take care of myself. And then.. the nightmares.. oh god .. they don't let me sleep and then.. I can't eat.. and I .. I .. I guess I wasn't ready because .. they said that I wasn't strong enough. Even now! They say maybe but still not enough. I wasn't strong enough when I conceived she was doomed from the start and now .. now I failed!"

It was out. The real problem. She had failed at being a mom, a wife, a girlfriend, a fiance'. She had failed at living and now she had failed at giving life. Phae began to cry.

[Jason]

Jason's smile dropped hearing what she had gone through and he found himself putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Just a guesture of support letting her know he actually cared about what she was saying. His eyes softend too. he was very empathetic at times and it wasn't hard for him to imagine what another had gone through. he found it a blessing and a cuse.

"Oh I'm so sorry Phae. Nobody deserves that to happen." he said with a gental squeeze on her shoulder.
"But I don't think you failed. Really I don't see it as your fault. As long as you were ready to have the kid at least. And if you want my opinion I think with the regret you are showing you would have made a damned good mother." he said in a more comforting tone. he didn't tell her not to cry. Tears were good. They gave a person solace from their grief. He would sit there and let her spill out as much as she needed. Jason didn't think he'd run into something like this here. He was apparently wrong. But he took some comfort in knowing he could at least do his best to help her out a bit. He let her finish and speak before doing anything else as he knew words beyond what he had said were pointless until she said something again.

[Chephros]

Phae was her name and he remembered it, just like he memorized the boy's name as Jason. Looking at her he did the normal male glance from bottom to top. Of course, seeing as she was sitting up, he only saw from stomach up. She was shapely, or at least all men would probably pay a certain kind of attention to her, with pretty long hair. Of course, he wasn't all that attracted at the moment. He lived with succubi in the demonic realms so females on the mortal plains weren't exactly all that better. Except that one he saw at the town where he blooded himself. He couldn't forget her. He still had the carving she gave him in his Academy Dorm.

As Jason waved, Chephros did to and nearly collided his blades with the bar that held the curtain he could draw closed. Looking down at them, wondering briefly if he should take the blades off, he eventually decided to. Pulled at the base where it covered his arm, he pulled at it hard and eventually it started slipping off. The 4 rods with their burns had left clear burns on his skin, leaving black marks along his unusually pale skin for a demon. He looked like a barely tan human. Pulling the other blade off he rolled up his sleeves to look at the burns on his arms. They literally spiraled up to his elbows so he didn't have to move his sleeves that far. Barely any distance from where the joint stopped the band that covered it had also burned into it leaving a circle mark. Such bands covered regular intervals and thus there were three band marks around the four spirals.

Phae began her story and ended it. Chephros really didn't know a whole lot about what she was talking about, not that experienced in the knowledge of humans, but he knew what babies were and conceiving them. It happened. Her child had died though, and then once she finished she began to cry. That grating sound. It reminded him of when he had nearly killed, Dashka. It wore at his mind and brought back the rapid flashes of the entire happening, not just what he had tried to remember and forget the rest. He had to stop it. Somehow, he had to stop her crying. "Please.....stop crying." His hands were against his head, his face screwed up in a grimace.

The mental slide show was not something he wanted to revisit. Having been standing now, he stepped backwards ackwardly and fell down, crouched down. His mind twisted the images into him torturing and actually killing the girl. What were these nightmares? Literally pressed against the metal bed his knees came up and he looked like a huddled over child in fear. "Stop.....please.....just stop....." This was more said to his mind than to Phae now.

[Phae]

Phaedra cried softly as she listened to what Jason had to say. She felt like a failure even though Jason said that she really wasn't. But all she wanted was for everything to be okay again. She lay there in her bed, as she listened to Jason crying softly as she placed her hand on top of his. Seeking comfort through that touch. So many things had gone wrong in her life since coming here. Since enrolling in the academy.

She had come a normal high school girl from Germany. Her accent when among some others was indeed strong but her english was perfect having learned it from birth right along side German. She had met Junpei that first day and fallen deeply in love with him and he with her. For months they had been together for a long long time. Closer than most. Inseperable some said. that was all until he saw, her ex best friend, kiss her. Instead of letting her explain or realizing that it was one sided he left. A ful week he was gone with no word on when or IF he would come back. She had nearly died then. He came back for another month or two but she had lost a bit of trust in him then.

After then she had been happy, or as close as you could get until he up and left without warning again. One month this time he was gone and she was forced to be alone. And in that time she had fallen in love with Blacky, the man she was with now. And when Junpei came back again, he had made her chose. She had given him one last chance. Having proposed, bought a house, and set them up to get married, setting the date, she even had gone shopping and planning. But then he had left again and now she was not going to worry about it any more. Even if he did come back she wouldn't give him a chance. She was too deeply in love with Blacky and there was only so much she would stand for.

Then the other boy he broke her thoughts asking her to stop crying. She gasped and quickly held her breath setting her jaw. She didn't want to cause him pain and it seemed that she was. She saw the burn marks up his arm but in truth she was more worried about why his head was hurting and now she was being forced to hold in her emotions something she wasn't supposed to do anymore.

..Blacky.. where are you?

"Sorry." she whispered as she bit her lower lip and looked away.

[Jason]

Jason wiped a tear from his eye.
"Heh sorry about that. Some comfort right. I just tend to be able to understand how others feel pretty easily. I't my imagination. Helps with that." He said giving a soft smile then looked over at Chephros. he wasn't sure what was wrong with him really. He looked back to Phae
"I'll be back in a second. He's kind of a friend. Well at least in my mind." he said giving he shoulder another gental squeeze as he got up.

He walked over to Chephros and knelt down.
"Hey are you gonna be okay. Can I help somehow?" He asked. Once more his compassion was showing through. Jason sometimes wondered if it would get him killed much like when he saved that girl before coming to the Academy. but he was taught to do what felt right not what always seemed easy. Now after all this time what people considered hard was easy for him.

[Chephros]

Simply staying there, he attempted to calm himself. The girl apologized though and that, somehow, sent him reeling back through the mental torture starting from when he apologized to Dashka then knocked her out basically. Then it rewound to a few days before and it all started over again. His mind was either trying to make him go insane or simply being moronic and painful to its host. Either way it wasn't good. "I'll....be fine." He managed to squeeze the words out while simply sitting there. After about three minutes, a healer came back and and found him. Instantly, he was given a small dose of tranquilizer.

This drug put him out for half a minute. Under normal circumstances it would have been two minutes. His body was different from a humans though and thus he was only out for a few moments. Sitting up. he had been covered with the single sheet on the metal bed. His body spasmed briefly but he gained control after a few moments. "Well that was painful."

[Jason]

Jason gave a nod glad to see Chephros was okay. They had only just met but it had been on more or less friendly terms all things considered and he at least wanted to know the guy was okay. One Chephros was taken car of he took a seat next to Phae again.

"So is there anything else I can do. Even if you just want someone by you for company I can do that." he said giving a smile smile knowing now what she had gone through. He knew it had to be terrible and he'd do his best to comfort her.