The doors opened. More like thrown open. In the opening was her. The woman that plagued their thoughts. The only woman to defy them, tell them what to do. The one that betrayed them. Aria. She was standing crooked. The smell of blood filled the air. Her clothes were torn. She was crying. She looked at them. Nobody moved. Broken. Hurt. Lost. And terribly alone. Tears were running over her cheeks. She was still looking at them. Then her gaze swept over the people gathered in the room. Slowly her legs gave out and she collapsed on the ground.

In an instant they were next to her. Picking her up and taking her to her room. They couldn't refuse her, even if she had hurt them. Her face was void of emotion but her eyes shined with hurt and desperation. They saw nothing. Gently they laid her on the bed.

"Aria..."

She looked up to a pair of red and a pair of golden eyes and attempted a smile.

"What happened?"

Her eyes unfocussed again to see something that was not there, tears began to roll down her cheeks again and her voice was filled with desperation.

"My brother."

Her voice was horse.

A whisper.

But heard.

"We had an accident... with our bikes... I almost died...."

Her voice was lost while her eyes were focused on her memory.

She didn't see the shock and relief in their eyes.

".... I almost died... but...."

Her eyes changed. They shivered at how they now looked. Doll-like. Devoid of emotion. Lifeless...

In an emotionless voice, like it didn't matter to her, she continued...

"My brother took the blow for me. He was hurt badly. He is in the hospital now. The doctors said he will be out in a couple of weeks. He has a concussion, a lot of bruises, a few broken bones and he lost 3 teeth. He will live, but a bone from his spinal cord shifted because of the accident and cut through a bundle of nerves. He is paralyzed from the waist down..."

".... He will never be able to walk again."

Once again the Lords were shocked. She still didn't notice and continued in the emotionless voice, while staring into nothing.

"He woke up today. It was very early in the morning. I was there alone. I was supposed to be resting because my leg is broken but I didn't want to leave him alone. He woke up and he was looking around to see where he was. I saw and asked him how he felt. He turned to me and said fine. His speech was a bit slurred and it was hard to make out what he was saying. He was probably surprised because he raised his left hand to his mouth because his right was broken, he is right handed, and asked me what happened. I told him that we had an accident and that we were in the hospital. He asked if I was all right. I said that my leg was broken and that I had a gash on my bottom leg but I was fine. He asked what injuries he had and I answered...."

Her eyes focused for a moment. They shuddered from the pain they saw there. A whimper escaped her lips before her eyes unfocussed again and portrayed nothing.

"He looked shocked but I saw that he didn't really believe me. He tried to move his legs and I saw him panicking. He looked lost. He went completely still. His eyes lost their shine and looked dead. I cried. I walked over and wrapped my arms around him. He didn't notice. I told him it would be alright. Everything would be fine. We would work this out. That he shouldn't worry. He didn't notice. I cried harder. He didn't notice. He was just staring into space. Like he was dead. After a moment his body began to convulse. His eyes wide and unseeing. He hit me and I panicked. I called a doctor. They pushed me out of the room and three men held him down to give him some sedatives. The convulsing stopped and he was just lying there with his eyes open until the doctor closed them. The doctor came out of the room and told me that he was in shock. That it was a common reaction after an accident like that. He wanted to lead me to my room but I stayed where I was. My family came. They immediately ran towards me and started asking what had happened. They hugged me. My mother and sister were crying. The doctor came and told them what happened and he told them what he had told me. It was a common reaction and that it will pass. I saw their reactions. Then I started telling them what happened before the doctor came. They all cried. They looked broken. I have never seen my father look so lost, so devastated, so broken... He was so strong."

"The doctor said that I should rest. He led me to my room while my family went in my brother's room. Everybody left me and I got out and went here."

For a moment she just laid there. Still emotionless. They were looking at her. Drinking in every detail.

"He is stupid. He shouldn't have protected me. I should have laid there."

They didn't know what to say. They were happy that she wasn't really hurt. But she was hurting. And they couldn't protect her against it.

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Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. I will post the rest of the story soon, if it isn't posted already, but you can always review to get it out faster :P .I would love to know what you think about the story so please review. I have a one-shot posted as well that is a bit of a precursor to this story. It's called storm. Very cute one-shot. Thanks again for reading.

Ja ne!

Grz xxx Aria-Chan