Saving Soul

"Doesn't sound like it would," replied Voltaire, thinking back to the soul shot. Retching up one's own soul was not fun either, especially if it was as bad as his was.

Just then Adair wandered in, looking somewhat dazed. "...Anja?"

Anja suddenly felt like she was cornered. She glared at Adair angrily, though she didn't even know why she was angry. "You're an idiot!" She snapped. "You should have just let me die!" She turned her face away in a huff. She would have rolled over if she could move.

Adair would have been more taken aback if he wasn't so out of it already from Raizin's soul drain. That had been their price, to let Raizin take constant blood and soul smaples for analysis. He was interested in both of them: Adair for his Chiaroscuro, Voltaire for his particularly black soul.

"That can easily be arranged," Voltaire growled lowly. "Will a gunshot do?"

"Leave her alone," Adair growled back in warning.

"Like hell I'm gonna do anything to her after all the damn experimenting we've had to go through to save her," Voltaire grumbled in return. "Look, you get to live whether you like it or not."

"Go to hell" Anja snapped.

Curtis walked by, carrying lab equipment. "Ah, she's awake is she?"

"And ungrateful," Voltaire growled.

Adair just sighed.

"Well what good am I here alive when you idiots are suffering? Really, you have your stupid tournaments that you have to be in top shape for and here you are draining yourself for what? Nothing" Anja snapped venomously.

"Well if you feel that badly about it then you can join them in the tournaments later," Curtis replied, seeming slightly amused rather than annoyed by the outburst. "In the meantime you should rest and stop complaining. Adair has been going Chiaroscuro enough over you as it is."

Anja turned her head to glare at Curtis. "I didn't ask for this, And I still want nothing to do with it. You can just go to hell." She turned away again.

"I've been dead. There's neither pearly gates or hell flames waiting. There's just nothing," Curtis answered. "You wouldn't be here if you wanted to be dead. You'd just be dead."

"So then let me just be dead." Anja snapped. "Better yet, leave me alone!"

Curtis just sighed and shook his head. He noticed Voltaire looking mad and Adair looking depressed. "We'll give you time to cool your heels then. Come here you two."

Both Adair and Voltaire followed him out.

"GOOD RIDDANCE" Anja yelled after them.

"SAME TO YOU!" Voltaire yelled back.

"Great. She hates us," Adair mumbled, keeping his gaze glued to the floor. "She really really hates us."

"If she hated you she wouldn't care what happened to you," Curtis countered. "But she does care. Quite a bit, judging by how loudly she denied it."

"...You sure?" asked Adair, not quite believing him.

"If that's her caring I'd hate to see what's she like if she hated us," Voltaire replied flatly.

"Do you remember when Rayna fell into that plant trap and we had to rescue her by giving the plant blood?" asked Curtis. "And then she was royally pissed at us for a week? It's like that."

"...If you say so," Voltaire grumbled.

Anja grumbled from where she lay but didn't yell again. She had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"...Will she be okay by herself?" Adair wondered, looking back.

"You heard her. She wants to be alone," Voltaire answered. "If she hasn't died yet then she probably isn't going to die anytime soon. Let her be lonely for a while."

Anja grumbled to herself for a while before drifting off into a fitful sleep.

Adair and Voltaire walked over to Ava, who was resting. She was not being drained in any way, but was conserving her energy to lessen strain on the boys. She lifted up her head at their approach.

"Hi!" she greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," Voltaire replied. "Anja's feeling fine enough to wake up and yell at us. Guess she's feeling better.

"Um...good?" answered Ava. "I noticed she seemed upset. Why?"

"Because she's an ungrateful bitch," Voltaire answered.

"Taire," Adair growled. "She's...I dunno. It's just a big shock to her."

Anja grumbled in her sleep as if she heard him. She was having strange dreams about heroes in blue armor bursting into flame.

Adair leaned against Ava. "So what should we do? About Anja, I mean?"

"Well get her healed up first," Voltaire answered. "If she wants to die so badly she can live as her punishment. And if she really doesn't want to be a changeling, then she can take back her heart when she's recovered, right Ava?"

"Mmm-hmm," Ava answered. "As long as she really wants it back."

"I mean once she's better," Adair clarified. "I mean, where can we take her? Last place we dropped her off turned out to be a bad idea."

"Then drop her off somewhere with no or few people," advised Voltaire. "Her ankle's better. She should be able to fend for herself."

Adair nodded, but still seemed unhappy with the idea.

"Or I could go catch you some of those Little Deaths and make you a potion out of it."

"Taire!"

(Taire is digging himself a hole. I suggest we skip ahead another day or so)

Anja woke in silence. She sat up, feeling less like a bag of meat. She rubbed at her middle, feeling the scar that Adair couldn't quite heal, with a deep sigh.

(Agreed. Voltaire is so obnoxious in this thread lol. Skipping ahead)

Adair hoped Curtis was right about Anja, but he still felt uneasy and didn't want to get too close. He was also busy keeping Voltaire away. The Hunter's attitude was not helping matters any. Though Curtis and Barrett could be somewhat obnoxious too when they wanted to be.

The next time Adair visited Anja, Raizin was checking up on her. The black feline paced up and down, checking vital signs.

Anja didn't notice Adair at first, so it seemed like she was moping. In fact, she was. She was so convinced that the whole damn thing was her fault, and that both men had gotten hurt for her worked so hard to keep her from dying, and she didn't even remember a thing that happened. She sighed as the little cat checked her over.

"Same diagnosis as yesterday," Raizin informed Adair before the Hero could even ask. "She's getting better, but still needs bedrest and minimum aggrevation."

"In other words, keep Taire far far away," Adair remarked dryly.

"I'll be borrowing him for a while, so that should solve that," Raizin replied as he walked out, borrowing translating to soul-draining and mild experimenting. Ava stayed close to keep things in check during such times. As the dark cat left, Adair glanced over to Anja.

"Um...feeling better?"

Anja grunted in reply as she laid back down. She curled up on her side with her back to him so he couldn't see the tears starting to gather in her eyes. She had been doing nothing but stewing on her feelings of guilt and self loathing, and she was starting to think she didn't even deserve to be alive because of what they were going through to help her. Her movements were still sluggish and stiff.

Adair worried at her turning away. Had he said something wrong again? He slid down the cave wall and sat there silently for a moment.

"Um, I...never meant for you to go through all this. I'm sorry."