A/N: I've started a collection of AccidentShipping one-shots/drabbles. There will be a total of 31 when I'm done^^

But in order to finish, I'll need prompts from the readers! In your reviews (if you're kind enough) please leave a one word prompt (well, could be more than one word, but try to keep it simple^^). Could be anything, though I'd like to keep it rated T and lower. So please read, review, and drop a quick prompt that I will try to give you in future chapters! Only one word a review so I don't get swamped, if that's ok? I've started this out with the one below~


1

Bandages


Rio is used to bandages.

There was a time when her entire body had been wrapped in them, strangled in their hold; she couldn't escape. A time when her form was stiff and burning from the rough clothe pressing against her singed skin, increasing that oh so familiar pain. It was a time when she couldn't even cry without it hurting, without the salty tears stinging as they ran down her cheeks and the heaves of her sobbing chest aching.

Therefore, Rio has taught herself to be strong.

It's little things now. The bandages no longer shield her gaze from the world or tie around her hips, her arms, down to her ankles and up to her neck. Sure, she'll nick her finger on the edge of a paper at times or trip and scrape her knees (but no one needs to know about that). However, the dressing it takes to heal those insignificant little cuts are minimum.

It's when she accidentally breaks her wrist that the memories flood back in an overwhelming wave of discomfort.

Ryouga has already been notified, and he'd practically screamed on the phone that he was on his way. His sister merely rolls her eyes at his worry.

"Such a moron," she chuckles, lowering the cell with her good hand and flicking it off. She looks up at the boy who had brought her to the hospital, smiling. "Don't you think?"

His arms are folded over his chest while he sits in a nearby chair, legs crossed in a no-nonsense fashion. His maroon stare is cast toward the ground absentmindedly. When he hears her speak, the boy snaps his head up in attention. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Thomas," Rio sighs heavily, "I asked if you agree that Ryouga's an idiot. Are you alright?"

Actually, he appears to be the exact opposite. The way his eyebrows are knitted and his fingers are clenched against his cream and gold sleeves are unsettling indications. Thomas had been there when she'd so stupidly gotten herself injured. His lips are angled in a scowl, jaw noticeably clenched, shoulders hunched slightly.

And then she gets it.

Yes, it sucks to be back in this gauze that's pushed even closer to her flesh by the itchy cast. But Rio can live with it, knows she has to be tough to meet her reputation - she cannot afford to break down over this, she's been through much worse. Yet it's then when she recalls that it was the Arclight family who had landed her in that "worse" state of health.

Rio has never blamed Thomas.

Despite that fact that he blames himself.

"Oh, Thomas...," she whispers, letting the name linger on her tongue. The painkillers have left her head a little foggy, but it's clear enough to make the connection.

With shaky steps that she steadies, Rio stands and moves to be next to him, placing her adept palm on his shoulder and squeezing her fingers against it. She leans forward a little and holds her broken wrist out in front of him. Thomas winces.

"See this?" Rio murmurs. "This is going to heal. Like everything else."

He looks like he's trying to smile, but he's failing miserably, and gently, carefully, she snakes her arms around him, pulling his head into the crook of her neck. It isn't much. She knows with all of her being that this shattered young man will never be able to forgive himself, trust himself. No matter how much she wishes he would, it's an unspoken knowledge that he simply can't.

All Rio wants to do is embrace his splintering heart with the bandages that had once saved her.


~Finish~