Fandom: Dalmatian, E.R. mv & teaser-pics (Magic AU)
Pairings: Simon x Inati ; Simon/FemOC/Inati ; YoungWon (Dongrim) x Fem OC
Rating: PG-13 (violence x sexual themes)
Chp WC: 8,998
Summary: Nearly immortal with the amount of raw power they possess, the Dogs of St. Aggie's have a very specific job to do: guard HER. It's no simple task when it's the things that haunt the nightmares of children that they're supposed to be guarding her from, but their biggest challenge by far is grappling with their personal feelings towards her, and more importantly, towards each other …
{聖の家: 奈落の番犬} (naraku no banken)
The House of Saints: Hell Hounds
~Unleashed~
Watching her had been his job since he had been gifted with the breath of life.
Watching her, watching over her, was the sole purpose of his existence.
To be ordered away from her side was the worst torment Dongrim could imagine. He could tolerate it when his Alpha took her attention away from him, he'd learned to deal with the fact that the pack's Gamma had insinuated himself into her life; but being ordered to stay away from her hurt in a way that nothing else possibly could.
Especially while she was hurting.
In the week that Milly had been lying unconscious in her private suite in the infirmary, Dongrim had worn a hole in the grass four stories below her window from his frequent pacing. He wasn't allowed inside, but he couldn't bear to stay away.
Milly had been knocked out cold, by her own bubbling powers, and it had been his fault. Jeesu had told him that the Healers were certain that she would wake up and be completely fine. It was possible that she wouldn't even remember the event that had triggered the trauma. But that didn't change the fact that Dongrim was entirely responsible for it. The weight of the guilt nearly killed him.
In the week that Milly had been unconscious, either Inati or Daniel was stationed at her bedside. It was a 24 hour watch; she was never alone, never with Simon or Dongrim, and never aware of any of it.
Simon was lurking around somewhere.
He was banned from entering the infirmary as well, and he was just as antsy about it. Dongrim could occasionally catch his scent on the wind, but he never spotted the packmate he loathed above any other creature in existence.
Simon knew that if he got within sight of his packmates, they would tear him to shreds. Even Daniel, the young pacifist of the group, was furious enough with him to warrant limb removal. Simon was rather attached to his limbs, so regardless of how interested he was in getting in to see Milly, he wouldn't tempt Fate.
It had taken a few days for him to discover the way to climb silently over the rooftops until he could perch within a few feet of Milly's window. None of the others had discovered it, and no one who was allowed inside with Milly bothered to look away from her for the few moments it would take for them to notice Simon.
In the week that Milly was unconscious, Simon was watching.
And then she woke up.
Inati was with her at the time. It was the middle of the afternoon and he was resting with his head on the edge of her bed and his hand lying lightly over top of hers.
It had been the routine of the week and Inati had fallen into the cycle as comfortably as he could be expected to under the circumstances. With Milly unconscious, life was anything but comfortable. But then he'd felt the twitch of her fingers under his and, like he'd been physically kicked, he was instantly awake and alert to her every breath.
"Milly?"
His whisper came out so gently it surprised him.
"Hmm?"
Milly's tired and disoriented response washed over Inati in a wave of relief. It was a few more seconds of sluggishness and then Milly opened her eyes. They shot open wider once they registered Inati leaning over her; the great warrior was within inches of her face.
Carefully, so as not to startle her further, Inati moved back.
"Milly, can you tell me where you are?"
This was not Inati; one of the Healers had noticed his sudden alertness and had guessed that Milly was waking up. She came to stand on the other side of Milly's bed, deft hands checking her pulse and reactions.
"The infirmary."
"Good love, do you know which infirmary?"
"The one in St. Aggie's East Wing."
"Very good, now can you tell me his name?"
"Inati."
"And how about your own?"
"Millicent LeBourghe."
Inati nearly jumped out of his skin, but the well trained Healer, the person whose face had Milly's attention, was able to keep her surprise private.
Milly wasn't supposed to know.
"Very good, sweetie," she said brusquely with a warm smile. "You'll be all better in no time." With that she gave Inati a look and headed out to confer with her colleagues.
Milly waited a moment, staring after the Healer, before she turned to look at Inati. He was still impressively intimidating, even though his features looked drawn with exhaustion and his silver hair had dulled to grey with neglect.
Her eyes dropped to the tattoo circling his neck, the star the dipped beneath it to his chest at the V of his throat. The little black tendrils that snaked out from underneath the star, underneath his skin, looked like blood vessels pumping black ooze as if the brand had injected him with a sluice of charcoal. It was captivating.
Milly simply stared at it for far longer than would have been acceptable had she been staring at nearly any other creature. Inati was bound to her, however, in a way that nothing else was, and he would sit patiently to be stared at for as long as she wanted to study him.
Shivering for some reason she couldn't articulate, Milly looked back to Inati's face. It was still the stoic visage of the warrior, even as tired as it was, but there was something soft about it as well. It was a shadow of concern, of caring, that was normally hidden away under the thick skin of being the Leader.
"What happened?"
"I don't know," Inati replied, his voice as controlled as he could get it, but rough with disuse. He truly had no idea what had happened.
He felt like a failure of a guard.
Inati hadn't been able to keep Simon away from her, hadn't been able to make Dongrim keep his mouth shut, hadn't been able to help her at all when she needed it most.
He hadn't been able to wake her up.
"What do you remember?" he asked gently, terrified that he might end up sparking another fit, but desperate to know what was going on inside her head.
"I . . ." Milly began, feeling inside of her skull for an answer but finding only blackness. "I can't remember anything."
Her statement was tinged with fear.
Desperate to keep her calm, Inati replied, "The Healers said you might experience some memory loss. You experienced trauma, and they can't know how it affected you."
"Trauma?"
"You had a seizure."
"Seizure? But . . . how?"
"We don't know."
Milly knew that the key to finding out was probably inside her head, locked within whatever she couldn't remember. "I was doing laundry. Simon came to visit. And Daniel, he said he'd gotten me a book. You were there too."
Inati, now that he'd already experienced one mind shattering surprise about what Milly knew and shouldn't, was able to keep himself mostly under control at this revelation. But his face still showed some of his unease.
Milly had not been able to see him in the courtyard just over a week ago, of that Inati was sure. Milly didn't seem to care about that fact and fortunately was too focused on trying to remember to notice Inati's disturbance. "I finished with the laundry and went to clean up and then Dongrim was there . . . he was hurt. Is he okay?"
"Dongrim has healed completely from the encounter that day," Inati promised.
Satisfied, Milly went back to trying to remember. "Jeesu was there . . . and then . . . then I was here."
"Are you sure?" That's what Inati hoped she remembered, but the hesitation in her voice and the way she knew things she shouldn't led him to believe otherwise.
Milly nodded with a stilted movement that made Inati positive that she wasn't telling all she knew. But he couldn't pry, it wasn't allowed. Besides, he couldn't risk triggering another fit.
"I'm just glad you're alright," Inati told her, a smile ghosting across his face as he took a moment to feel the relief surging through him at the fact that, regardless of what Milly wasn't telling him, she was awake.
For her part, Milly's memory was literally black between the time around Jeesu's arrival and waking up here. What she wasn't telling Inati was only that she'd been conscious inside that black, aware of it like it was a living thing. She could remember that there was something important about it, but even thinking it inside her head felt foolish.
"Inati?" the quiet call from the Healer didn't even make Inati turn around.
"Yes?"
The Healer came to lay a hand on his arm. "Miss Milly would probably like some time to herself," she insisted. "And a nice hot bath too, most like."
Inati didn't move. How could he possibly leave Milly alone? Wasn't that the reason this had happened to being with?
The Healer looked to Milly. "Can you tell this big bad puppy dog that he needs get something to eat? Or he's going to be the next one I put in a hospital bed!"
Milly was appalled, as the Healer had known she would be. "Inati! You haven't eaten anything? Since when? Go! Go, take care of yourself!" Milly commanded lightly, punching at Inati's shoulder through a forced easiness with him. He still unnerved her, but he needed to take care of himself.
Sighing heavily, Inati got to his feet. An order from Milly could not be defied, even by the Pack's Alpha.
As he tramped out with the Healer, the kindly woman turned back to Milly, saying, "Bath's over there, love, fresh towels and a nice clean slip, just waitin' for you."
Milly smiled her thanks.
Outside, the Healer gave Inati a look. "She remembers," the Healer whispered urgently.
"I know," Inati replied, shaking his head and looking at his feet distraught. "I don't understand it."
"Is her Wall still there?"
Inati nodded. "I can feel it in her head, the barrier that's been keeping her from recognizing us for what we are is still there."
"So, why does she remember?"
"I don't know. This shouldn't be possible."
The Healer sighed. "I can ask one of the professors," she said after a moment. It was frightening to see a Hell Hound so in the dark about his mistress. Usually, the Hounds were the ones trusted to care for Milly, they were the only ones who really understood what she was after all. "Meanwhile, you need to eat something, maybe get some sleep. You heard the girl, 'take care of yourself' she said."
"I know," Inati replied bitterly, angry at the Healer for provoking the order. Taking one last look at Milly's door, Inati turned to run for a quick meal. He planned to use the forced break to contact Daniel. His subordinate could look into resources that only the Hounds had access to, resources with information about Milly in them. If anyone could figure out what was happening to Milly, it was Daniel.
Meanwhile, inside Milly's room, the patient let her shoulders sag as she breathed heavily out. Once the door had closed behind Inati and the Healer, Milly simply sat in bed, her head throbbing in the quiet. Then she slid her feet over the side and gingerly tested her weight. She was so weak, but her knees managed to support her as she pushed off the bed.
Making her way over to the bathroom, Milly was astounded by the opulence of it. She was used to much starker conditions. The floor was tiled with marble, and the tub itself was made of smoothe porcelain. It filled with hot water within minutes as Milly opened in the appropriate valve.
Stepping in carefully, Milly relished the seeping warmth of the heated water, watching as it sloshed over the side and flowed down the drain in the center of the room. It was wonderful to feel warm and clean as she scrubbed at the dead skin that had accumulated during the week she'd been unconscious. The soap was soft to the touch and smelled warm and crisp and sweet, it felt amazing on her skin.
She wasn't sure how long she just spent soaking. It was a while though, her fingers and toes were all pruny before she even considered getting out. Then she spotted the straight line of silver that indicated a razor, a single smoothe blade like the ones she was allowed to use on special occasions to shave like the girls actually enrolled in St Aggie's.
Carefully, Milly set to work making her skin smoother than anything else in the universe. She'd just about finished when she heard something outside the bathroom door. In her moment of distraction, Milly's razor hand slipped and a thin red line appeared on her pale skin just above her knee. It hadn't hurt at all as the blade slipped through her skin.
Milly marveled at the phenomenon for a moment, enraptured by the red. When she heard a thud outside the bathroom though, she decided that she didn't have time for that silliness and quickly stepped out of the tub. She pulled the main drain and let her body drip dry for a few moments before whisking herself over with a towel and pulling the short red slip of the hospital gown over her head. The elastic waist cinched itself to her and the skirt hung halfway down her thighs. It felt odd that it was the only thing she was wearing as she prepared to face whoever had come in looking for her, but she reasoned that the amount of skin her usual clothes covered had always seemed excessive.
Opening the bathroom door, Milly expected to see that Inati had returned.
Finding that Simon had clambered through the window and was in the midst of locking the main door was entirely unexpected. "Simon?"
"Hey, Milly," he whispered, darting back across the room to close the window he'd slunk through. Then he tuned to look her over, taking in the swaths of skin she had never let them see before. The reason for her modest uniform had been an attempt of St Aggie's staff to rein in the attraction Milly's guard dogs felt towards her.
It hadn't seemed to help much, but seeing her now was enough to make Simon change his mind. What Inati wouldn't kill to see her like this…
"How are you feeling?" Simon wondered, surprised by the gentleness in his voice. He wasn't supposed to actually care about her; this had all been a game, just one big, convoluted game to piss off Inati. Hadn't it?
"Fine, I think," Milly responded.
Simon came over to her anyway, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her to the bed despite her protest at the close contact. Simon ignored her. He noticed the razor nick as he set her down on the bed. A bit of the blood had smeared over his arm as he set her down.
Without thinking, he licked it off.
It tingled on his tongue, still sparked with her power.
The cut was unbearably tempting, but wary of how kissing her had affected Dongrim, a story that everyone that knew anything about Milly on the grounds of St Aggie's knew at this point, Simon simply licked his thumb and then rubbed it over her cut, sweeping up as much of her lifeblood as he could.
"It helps the healing," Simon explained with a smoothe lie when Milly gasped. He then licked every drop of the charged blood from his skin, feeling the warmth of the sparks react with the energy trapped inside of him.
The added spark of power let him sense acutely that Inati was standing just outside the door, seething. Simon smirked. If Inati broke the door down and progressed to rip Simon's throat out, Milly would freak out. It would probably even cause a relapse.
And Inati knew all of that, so he was forced to remain outside, furious and impotent, while Simon stole away his girl. He would never risk Milly's health for sake of killing Simon. Inati might actually kill him because of this, but for the moment Simon was entirely safe.
Simon's eyes combed hungrily over Milly's skin. All his teasing before had been to make her feel half as uncomfortable as she was effortlessly making him feel now. "What do you remember?"
"Everyone keeps asking me that."
"That's because it's important," Simon chuckled, pressing himself closer to her and causing her to scoot a few inches away on the bed. His nearness was as unnerving as it usually was, amplified by the fact that she felt rather exposed in front of him at the moment with how little she was wearing.
Knowing full well that it would both make Milly uncomfortable, and make Inati furious enough to burst into flame where he stood, leering, outside the door, Simon hefted himself up on the bed, lying on his side next to Milly with only a few inches between them. Inati, using the sub-sight sense they all had of 'seeing' the power contained within people, could trace every detail of Simon's movement as clearly through the door as if it were made of glass.
"You can tell me anything," he whispered, "just let it out, everything you remember."
Milly sighed.
"I don't really remember anything," she admitted.
Resting her head back against the pillows propped up in the hospital bed, Milly sighed. "Just black. There was so much black."
"What was it like?"
Simon knew of the Hell behind his eyes at night, the shadows of the Pit that recharged his powers, regenerated his body, roiled under the black ink of the containments on his skin. But Milly was different. She was more than a resident of the Pit, she was a ruler. She didn't know it, but she had the power to leech onto every temptation the human soul could offer up, twisting them to serve her purposes. Hell wouldn't be the same torment for her that it was for him. In some ways, it was likely that Hell would be a pleasant experience for Milly.
It was hard to believe when confronted with how sweet a person Milly was.
But no matter how sweet her demeanor, she was still a daughter of Lucifer. She had the blood of the fallen angel pumping through her veins and she had every ounce of his affecting power.
"It was icy and boiling at the same time, and it was so loud . . ." Milly replied slowly, sinking into the memory. It wasn't so much terrifying as it was confusing.
As she was thinking, Simon felt the air around her begin to crackle with energy, much more sparking and vicious than what he had tasted in the residue of her blood. He began to worry that he might trigger another fit.
"Don't think about it too hard," Simon coaxed, inching away subtly. "It might come easier if you don't try."
Milly huffed, giving up. For a moment the energy around her flared in frustration, and then it settled down again as if it had never been there. Whatever had happened to her, it had shaken the walls her power had been hidden behind and it was leaking through the cracks. Just how big those cracks were, and just how fragile the rest of the wall was, were things that Simon couldn't even begin to guess.
But he knew it was a problem.
One that he couldn't risk making worse.
Inati had felt the little ripple of power and he was just itching to get Simon alone to end him once and for all. "Inati's been giving us all extra rounds," Simon said, sitting up suddenly. For the first time in his history, Simon was trying to get himself out of Milly's presence.
"Oh." Milly's voice wasn't exactly disappointed, but she wasn't happy either.
Simon hesitated. "I suppose I could stay with you for a little longer," he said, letting his hand brush over her bare leg as he laid back down.
Milly didn't even shiver, she simply smiled as she pulled her leg just an inch further away. It unnerved Simon slightly, but it gave him an idea. He might be able to get Milly, this Milly as unfazed and unshaken as she was, to give into him completely. Normally, it was Milly's own shyness that stopped Simon from achieving his conquest. The fact that the others could come upon them, the fact that she didn't want to show any favoritism. But here, with a locked door and a Milly that had gotten almost comfortable with being exposed, Simon might be able to make her yield to him.
And to sweeten the deal, he could do it while Inati was only feet away and able to see the whole scene taking place.
Settling himself into Milly's bed again, Simon let his hand fall to rest on her side and nestled his forehead against hers. "So," he said, tapping his fingers at her hip, "How do you feel?"
Milly closed her eyes and breathed out. "I don't know," she admitted. "I'm tired, confused . . . lonely."
"Lonely? I'm insulted," Simon returned, sliding his hand up to the side of Milly's ribcage.
She laughed sweetly, opening her eyes to look at Simon straight on. He froze, his breath moving in shallow pants of his chest. Milly's dark eyes were staring straight through him. They were dark and heavy with concern, and more. They were alight with power.
Simon began to rethink his idea. When Dongrim had simply kissed her, and that when she had been the Milly they'd known for years, he'd nearly destroyed the fabric of reality. This version of Milly had her power bound much less tightly, and much less deeply within her. Even Simon was wary of her.
Milly didn't notice Simon's tension. "And," she added, still thinking about his question, "I think I'm hungry."
In a sudden motion, Simon pushed himself up. He held himself over Milly and leaned down quickly to kiss her. "How's that?" he asked with a smirk, "still hungry?"
Milly stared up at him, shocked beyond words for a moment as he hung over her, just inches away. "Yes," she breathed at last, looking straight up at him. There was something more in her eyes than there had been, but it wasn't lust that Simon was looking at. Moving closer, he let his teeth brush along her cheek.
"Then stay hungry," he whispered. Simon slid down to kiss the base of her throat, wondering just how far he could've pushed her had he decided to try it. The first kiss had been as quick as Simon could make it and even that had sent a jolt of power running through him that had nearly unseated him. This kiss actually made Simon's skin spark where it was in contact with her. She didn't seem to feel it, but it burned Simon. "I have rounds," he whispered, siding off of her and off the bed altogether.
Whatever was going on with Milly was not something he had ever seen before and he did not know how to handle it. Getting as far away from her as possible shot up on his agenda.
Milly's pout as he stepped further away from her stopped him. Simon's priority, whether he liked it or not, would always be Milly. It was coded into his very being. He had learned to make her uncomfortable for sport, but he could never actively make her sad.
To soothe her, Simon promised, "I'll come back to see you later."
With that, he slipped out of the bed and made his way out the window. Milly sighed once she was alone. She knew that Simon had locked the door, but she didn't even move to unlock it. This whole thing was just too bizarre, in the space of an instant it seemed her entire existence had been uprooted, shifted into an entirely different reality, one that didn't make any sense.
When Simon had been on top of her like that . . . kissing her, she hadn't reacted at all. Sure, she was used to his advances, as ridiculous and boundary-pushing as they were, but she had never just accepted them. She'd always drawn a line somewhere and stood her ground at it. This time . . . she didn't even know what had happened this time.
Milly's head buzzed with static, memories she couldn't place and the blackness she couldn't forget. She felt so lonely. She knew she could call for someone, Inati at least was nearby, but she could ask for Daniel too, or for Dongrim or even Jeesu to come play with her. But somehow, it didn't feel like that would help; it didn't seem right, like it wouldn't be fair somehow. It was all very confusing to Milly.
Outside her room, Inati was antsy. He was shifting back and forth on his feet impatiently, his hand a steady fixture on the door's handle as he squirmed. He was just short of whining to be let inside, feeling like he'd been left out in the rain without anything to shelter under.
He was so perturbed by the fact that even after Simon had left, Milly had let the door remain locked that he didn't notice Daniel appearing at his side. "She really remembers?"
Inati jumped, whipping around to face him. To his credit, he didn't snarl at his most trusted packmate, but his movement was ferocious enough to draw attention from the nearby Healers and Orderlies. Inati's hackles were still raised, but he composed himself enough to answer Daniel, "It's touch and go. She's remembers things she shouldn't but not everything. From what she was telling Simon . . . but there's no way to tell exactly how much she remembers without breaking down the whole charade."
"St. Aggie's staff won't let that happen," Daniel responded, specifically avoiding the question of how and why Milly had been with Simon.
"They might not be able to stop it," Inati replied, admitting his worry to the one soul in the world that wouldn't take it as a weakness.
Daniel remained silent for a few moments, looking at Milly through the door as she curled up around her knees on the bed. "There are worse things than her chained up in this place. They might not have her power, but they do have cunning. And hate. Even if Milly remembers, she'll be able to recover, Inati. We all did, and we're not half so kind."
He was being very gentle with the leader. Daniel knew exactly how connected to Milly Inati was, how the more upset and confused she was, the more unpredictable he became. For years, Daniel had followed Inati's orders because there was no one better to give them. Now, with all the Hounds on edge because of Milly's unstable state, Daniel was the one orchestrating everything with subtle suggestions.
Inati would not be soothed at the moment however and after a moment of silence as he turned back to Milly's closed door, he replied to Daniel's attempts to assure him, "We never forgot to begin with."
With temerity he wouldn't have dared otherwise, Daniel put his hand comfortingly in Inati's shoulder. "I'll look into every outlet I can, you know I will," Daniel promised. Then he went to find Jeesu and relieve him of the rounds that Simon and Dongrim were neglecting, hoping that they didn't kill each other while he was busy doing their jobs.
It was a close one.
Simon and Dongrim met just after Simon had left Milly's side. He was still charged with enough of her power to have been able to take Dongrim in a fight and he was certainly considering picking one. But Dongrim, as furious as he was with Simon, needed information more than he needed to rip the scoundrel's throat out. Simon was covered in Milly's scent, he had been with her.
"How did you get inside?"
Simon grit his teeth together, thinking about not telling him. But with Milly's instability affecting them all severely, Simon did something unexpected, he explained. "Milly's room is special, a private suite. It's not technically part of the infirmary."
His words were curt, cool and uncaring, but they weren't mocking, and they weren't lies. It was more helpful than Simon had ever been to Dongrim.
Acknowledging that by a cant of his head, Dongrim loped off in the opposite direction that Simon had been headed. They parted on terms better than they'd ever been on, and it was something that worried them more than comforted them.
It would have bothered Dongrim more, but he had to see Milly. Immediately.
Finding Simon's access point, the roundabout route up and over rooftops to get to Milly's window, was tricky, but it was made much easier by the fact that Simon had only just traversed it. His scent was still all over the path he had taken.
He leapt over one last gap and there she was, lying in bed with a frown on her face. Seeing her this close up was enough to make Dongrim sigh in relief. He had been so far away from her for so long . . . just seeing her was a miracle to him, even with how tired she looked, how confused and uncertain. She was alive. As along as she was alive, they could make her happy eventually.
Milly sighed heavily. It drew Dongrim to the window. Hovering halfway inside, Dongrim called quietly, "How ya holdin' up, Milly?"
"Dongrim!" Milly gasped, turning abruptly to face him in surprise. Then she softened, not wanting to make it seem like her surprise meant he was unwelcome. "Aren't you going to come inside?"
Looking her over as she held her hand out in invitation, Dongrim felt himself melting. Resolve, self-respect, cognitive reasoning, all of it dissolved as he stepped through the window.
Milly kept her hand outstretched as she looked him over. "Dongrim? Is everything okay?"
"I am so sorry, Milly," he said, enveloping her in the tightest hug he could manage without harming her.
Hugging him right back, as hard as she could, Milly promised him, "It's okay."
"I didn't mean to hurt you," he told her in something just short of a sob, pressing his forehead against the curve of her neck.
Milly held him close, whispering over and over, "It's okay, it's okay."
But Dongrim knew it wasn't okay. It couldn't just be okay, not after what he had done. Pushing away from her enough to look her in the eye, Dongrim asked, "Milly, what do you remember?"
Huffing, Milly pushed out of Dongrim's hold all together. She pouted and said, "That's what everyone keeps asking me."
"It's important, Milly," Dongrim told her, pulling himself to her to press his forehead to hers like he could read her thoughts by contact alone. "It's so important."
Sighing again, Milly replied, "I don't remember anything." She scooted over slightly, patting the bed beside her to invite Dongrim to sit down beside her. Until then, he had been leaning over the bed. At Milly's invitation, he hardly hesitated to slip in beside her.
He decided that he ought to confess. The last thing Dongrim wanted was to cause a relapse in Milly, but he couldn't bear to sit with her under false pretenses like this, like it had never happened and like he wasn't the reason that she was in the hospital at all. However, everyday before had been a lie as well. Milly was the girl who didn't remember. The Hounds all knew far more about her than she did and, until Dongrim's slip up, they had never breathed a word of it to her. The secrecy was a crucial part of the care they provided for her.
Dongrim knew it was against the rules, but he had to say something. "I hurt you, Milly, whether you remember it or not."
"Dongrim. It's okay. I'm okay, whatever you did, or more likely just think you did, you can't beat yourself up for it," Milly instructed. "You look like you haven't slept in a week, Inati didn't look any better and he actually smiled, and Simon . . ."
"What?" Dongrim asked, carefully controlling his reaction. He could not upset Milly, not again.
"He seemed off . . . he didn't push like he normally does, he left because he was supposed to," Milly explained slowly, leaning up against Dongrim's shoulder like it was just another afternoon in the Laundry. "I don't understand him."
"You understand him better than any of us do," Dongrim told her. "He hardly even talks to us."
Milly sighed. "I don't know why he fights you so hard, why he purposefully breaks so many rules. All he wants is to be recognized, valued. And he's really good at making you all angry, I mean the way he reads people . . . if he just used that talent to actually be helpful . . ."
As Dongrim gawked at her, Milly shook her head. This one statement by Milly told him more about Simon than he'd ever learned on his own. It also told him something about Milly. She knew things she shouldn't. According to what Milly knew, Simon only broke one rule, he shirked his duties. It was only the Pack Rules that Simon worked systematically to break, rules like playing with Milly, upsetting her, touching her, teasing her. There were other rules too, like using the black power inside him simply because he felt like it, using that power to take unnecessary shortcuts, or to torment the hunting hounds or livestock. Those were rules Milly couldn't possibly know about. But she seemed to.
It unnerved Dongrim slightly.
Milly had fallen silent, closing her eyes as she rested her head on her friend's shoulder. "I've missed you," she said suddenly, in a quiet, sleepy voice. It sounded like she was talking about a time that was much longer than how long she'd been asleep since the incident.
When Milly let herself fall asleep against Dongrim, the entire pack gave a sigh in relief. Milly was comfortable, and that was a comfort to the pack. It wasn't too comforting, since Milly was apparently remembering things she shouldn't and the pack's ranks were still in tatters, but it was something.
As soon as Milly was fully asleep, Dongrim slipped out of her bed. He made her as comfortable as he could and then slipped outside. He had a job to do and with Inati hovering just outside the door, Dongrim counted himself lucky for being able to slip out without being attacked. He wondered briefly if Milly had ordered him out, but that didn't seem like something she would do. Dongrim decided to put it out of his mind for the moment, focusing instead on how nice it had been to sit with her. She trusted him completely, complicitly, even when he didn't trust himself. That was something to cherish.
While Dongrim was clambering back to the ground to run his rounds, Inati was fidgeting outside Milly's door again. She still hadn't unlocked it. Inati had suffered through the torment of Simon's visit, wanting to tear through Simon's ribcage and pull out handfulls of his organs for each and every one of his touches, his kisses, his blatant transgressions. Milly had accepted them, and so Inati had accepted them. He'd tolerated Dongrim's visit, the one who had put her in the hospital in the first place knew far better than to risk her safety again. Milly liked the dumb dog for some reason, and since she enjoyed his presence, Inati tolerated it.
But then Dongrim had left and Milly began to toss and turn as her night mares returned and the door was still locked and Inati couldn't take it. A quick burst of his power could destroy the lock, but that would upset Milly. It took a much more careful slide of power to simply pick the lock, but with Inati's skill it didn't take long.
Milly's nightmares were disturbing her sleep, far more than usual now that they were so close to the surface. Inati knew that having a Dog next to her was the only way to soothe the fears, the only way they could promise her protection even while she was unaware of the Dog's presence. A good guard dog could never leave her like this.
Silent, Inati came to sit at her bedside as he had every day while she'd been unconscious. He held her hand lightly, just enough to let her know that a Hound was at her side. He would stay with her until she was about to wake up. He would stay for however long she felt like sleeping, and just before she woke up he would slip away and lock the door behind him. Milly would probably never know he had been there, but that was part of the point.
Inati's job was to keep Milly happy, as unobtrusively as possible.
Meanwhile, Dongrim was making his way around the perimeter; doing the rounds he was assigned. He'd been doing his job all week, but he'd been taking frequent breaks to go pace under Milly's window. He wasn't doing his job as carefully as he should have, but he was still helping guard. With Inati leaving Milly's side only to blow off steam, Simon shirking off almost completely, Daniel trying to keep them all alive and moderately sane, Jeesu was the one doing the bulk of their collective duty. And he was often too distracted with worry for his packmates and Milly to do it well.
He was being sloppy.
It had taken a few circuits for Dongrim to notice the change. He wasn't surprised that Jeesu had missed it entirely. It was such a slow and creeping thing that even if they'd been on high alert it would have taken three or four passes to catch the intrusion.
Something was coming, sneaking in after getting a taste of Milly's power. When she'd given Dongrim the command that had made him tell her the truth about what he was, the ripple hadn't been contained to St. Aggie's. It had shaken the fabric of the whole of reality, and the things that go bump in the night had noticed.
Dongrim couldn't howl an alert.
That would tip off the thing trying to sneak inside.
If it was as powerful as it seemed to be, and he compromised its stealth to such a degree that it attacked immediately, the pack wouldn't be able to fend it off. In their current state, they wouldn't have been able to fend off something with half the power of the thing that was coming.
Running his usual route with only the slightest burst of acceleration, Dongrim got halfway around the school before he veered off and bolted to the infirmary. He was still banned from entering of his own accord, but Milly's safety allowed for him to temporarily overturn that creed.
Inati almost killed him the moment he arrived at Milly's door, panting for breath. The leader latched onto his neck and slammed him against the wall with such force the nearest Orderlies screamed. They were about to try and step in, when Inati calmed himself down enough for Dongrim to get his message across.
In only a heartbeat's hesitation, Inati let him go. "With me," he commanded, loping off to find Daniel and Jeesu. He didn't want to leave Milly's side, but she would be better protected if he did, and that was the main thing.
Inati needed to confer with Daniel to send out an investigation that wouldn't provoke the incoming threat. He would have wanted to have Simon present for pack-business, but he couldn't be bothered to search for him.
Daniel and Jeesu curved their course to fall in line with Inati and Dongrim as they approached and Inati led them back to their base. Hopefully, it seemed like a routine pack-meeting to the encroaching power. It was likely, since Simon happened to have been heading towards the kennel when he'd left Dongrim, and therefore the entire pack was gathered together.
A quick and quiet discussion determined that Jeesu was too exhausted to be a good scout. Inati couldn't leave St. Aggie's boarder and he didn't trust Simon. Dongrim was the one remaining who'd had the most rest, so he was the choice to run double rounds while Daniel went to investigate.
Without hesitation, he vanished into the shadows and set off running as fast as he could away from the intrusion. He would circle carefully back around, keeping his power tamped down for stealth.
The pace of the rounds was stepped up slightly, making three full circuits occur in about the time they'd previously used to make two. It wasn't so dramatic that it would be obvious, but it would allow them to monitor the situation more precisely.
Even Simon was on board to run an extra set to give Jeesu time to rest up. Simon and the pack weren't friends, but even he knew that they'd been created for a purpose and he would fulfill that purpose, regardless of how much he hated his companions. He didn't want Jeesu to have time to rest to be comfortable; he wanted Jeesu to have enough rest to be battle-ready.
Dongrim was the first one slotted out on the perimeter runs, Inati and Simon took up various patrols within the grounds surrounding Milly's room. They needed to watch every bit of ground surrounding her, but not circle so obviously so as to point out her location exactly. They hoped the thing didn't already know where to target specifically.
The routine they fell into was mechanical, militarized. They changed who ran a double shift every twelve hours, to ensure that they would all be at their peak performance when Daniel came back with his report. That could take anywhere from two hours to two days, depending on how carefully he had to move and how difficult it was to study.
By midnight, Dongrim was sent back to the kennel for his turn to rest.
He'd only spent twenty minutes or so, tossing and turning uncomfortably, before he gave up and trotted silently out to his post beneath Milly's window. Staring up in the night, he saw that she'd opened it and was leaning out in the warm breeze with her elbows propped on the sill. Instinctively, Dongrim scaled the wall to get to her, to tell her that it wasn't safe. It wasn't the clandestine route he'd taken earlier, but the shadows of the night shielded him from view.
"Milly," he whispered, calling out to her from what he hoped was far enough away to keep from startling her.
Seeing anyone on the wall of a four story building was startling to Milly however, and when Dongrim's whisper coaxed her out of her daze, Milly jumped back in surprise. "Dongrim! What are you doing?"
She reached out a hand to him, ready to pull him to what she thought was safety. Honestly, Dongrim thought it was safer to stay outside; clinging to the wall was easy, convincing Inati that he wasn't worth killing immediately would not be so easy. It was his fault that Milly was in the hospital, and his fault that whatever wanted her power was coming to knock down their door.
But he couldn't resist, having managed to live through his previous encounter and having seen that even Simon had made it inside unscathed, and Dongrim took her hand and pulled himself through the window without putting any of his weight on her. Once he was inside, Milly sighed with relief.
"That was dangerous!"
"I've done worse," Dongrim replied with a shrug.
Milly just let her shoulders fall, looking at him with concern she knew he would just brush off if she voiced. "Why were you even out there?"
"Why were you?"
Looking back towards the window, Milly admitted, "I was waiting for Simon." She didn't notice as Dongrim's hands clenched into fists. "He said he was going to come back to visit me."
"He's busy."
"I thought he might be," Milly replied. Then looking Dongrim over with concern, Milly asked, "What's going on out there?"
"We don't quite know yet."
Milly hugged her arms around herself. The recent events had been scaring her, the ever-increasing frequency with which her friends were coming to see her with cuts and bruises, limps and aches. Something was happening, and it wasn't something good.
Moving carefully, Dongrim put his hands on her shoulders, ducking down to make eye contact with her even though she was staring at the floor. "It'll be okay, Milly."
"I'm worried about you," Milly returned. "All of you. Why does it have to be you? Shouldn't there be other ways to guard the school than by having just you five watch over everything?"
"We're very good at our jobs," Dongrim countered. "Nothing else in the world is a more efficient system to keep a place like this safe."
Milly didn't look assured. "I just want you all to be safe," she whispered.
Pulling her carefully into a hug, holding her as tightly as he could ever hope to, resting his chin on her hair, Dongrim whispered back, "We'll be fine. As long as you still want us, we will always be here next to you."
Milly snuggled closer to him.
"I hate it when you're hurting," she told him suddenly. Uncurling her hand from her chest, she pressed it to Dongrim's, her fingers feeling out the contours of his muscles over his heart. "I can always feel it when you are. All of you; when you're hurting, or angry . . . scared. I'm not sure how, but I can feel it."
"I'm sorry."
"I just wish I could fix it."
Dongrim followed Simon's audacious example and he lifted Milly into his arms, carrying her to the bed. "You can make us worry less by taking care of yourself."
Shuffling herself into a comfortable position, Milly countered, "You need to take care of yourself too! Especially with whatever's going on!"
"I'll be fine."
Milly wouldn't be soothed. She scooted over to the far side of the bed, recalling how easily Simon had fit on it with her. "Just for a few hours, please, just come here and rest," Milly pleaded, unknowingly giving a command he could not refuse.
Not that he would have wanted to, for sake of anything but keeping Inati off his back. Dongrim moved carefully, making sure to use only the sliver of the bed that he absolutely needed and leaving the vast majority of space to Milly. Even without her command sinking him into sleep, the exhaustion would have taken hold the moment his body gave into the softness around him.
Milly brushed the auburn strands of his long hair off of his face and spent at least the next two hours comforting away his nightmares as she fell into the routine of petting him. It made her feel better too, thinking that it somehow soothed him.
She fell asleep at some point. A little while after that, Dongrim woke up, fully rested and recovered. He moved gingerly, slipping out from under the hand she'd rested on his head. It had probably been the contact with her that had made him recover so quickly. He'd already seen the miracles her power could work. Then he slipped silently out of the bed, taking pains not to disturb her.
Daniel was in the doorway.
"When . . . ?"
His voice just as soft as Dongrim's, Daniel responded, "I got back about an hour ago, Inati sent me to find you. I've been here for the last twenty minutes."
Guiltily looking towards Milly, Dongrim sighed.
"I won't tell Inati."
The look of relief and gratitude in Dongrim's eyes could have broken any heart. Daniel refused to let it sway him. "You have rounds."
"What's coming for her?"
"Take your shift, then ask Inati. Jeesu's sleeping."
Dongrim recognized the dismissal. With Daniel having already granted him the kindness of not telling Inati, Dongrim decided that pushing his luck would not be a good plan. He dipped his head in acknowledgement and fled out the window, as he was still banned from the infirmary.
Once he was gone Daniel sighed heavily.
"He's a good dog," Daniel whispered to Milly's sleeping form. "But he's rather masochistic."
Coming to sit carefully in the spot Dongrim had only just vacated, Daniel smiled at her. "Me? I like to keep things simple," he said, continuing his monologue. "I don't stick my nose in the fire when the boss-man drops in some steak."
He paused crossing his arms over his chest. "It was better when things were simple, when there were rules we had to follow, you know?" he asked, looking over at her. He shifted onto his side, looking over Milly's sleeping form and brushing the side of her face. Running his thumb lightly over the pale skin, Daniel said, "It was always so hard to follow the rules, but we managed. Don't touch, don't tamper, don't get attached, don't let go; never hurt your feelings, but never get involved; pretend Inati's not a rutting hound, that Simon's not a bully, that Dongrim's not already hopeless. Jeesu is the only sane one, and he wants you just as much as I do."
Daniel sighed again. "Maybe things weren't so simple."
In her sleep, Milly responded to his discomfort and snuggled closer to him. "You're so sweet, Milly; so kind and gentle. I hope that you'll remember that."
Rolling away from her for a brief moment, Daniel stared up at the ceiling. His eyes traced the patterns in the tiles. "We can't win this one, not bound the way we are. If there was any other way, I'd take it. Inati's trying to think of a battle plan, but we're outmatched. Even on a good day, winning this would be hard."
Lapsing into silence and turning back to Milly, Daniel just stared at her for a while. For so long their only creed had been to protect her, to keep her from getting hurt at all costs. And now, in order to save her, Daniel had to hurt her. "Like a bandage, quick and clean," he whispered to himself unconvincingly.
With a deep breath, Daniel lifted himself up, holding his frame just inches over hers. He lowered his face to put his cheek next to hers, the sparks of her energy making his skin tingle. Dropping his voice to dip into the power stores he could still access, despite the bindings, Daniel whispered, "Milly, wake up."
Her reaction was immediate.
Millicent LeBourghe's eyes flicked open, revealing the blackest eyes imaginable.
She stared at Daniel for half a second; at her disobedient dog, trying to give an order to its master.
"Off."
The wave of power has such force to it that Daniel was launched into the air, sent sliding across the floor. The windows were blown out. The wind inside the hospital room began to pick up, swirling around Milly's figure. She shifted slightly, lifting herself up into a sitting position. Her black eyes looked over her shoulder, through the wall, past the bounds of St. Aggie's, at the thing that was coming to challenge her authority.
As the winds intensified, Milly lifted off the bed, hovering effortlessly as she drifted towards the ceiling. Dematerializing as she reached it, Milly passed through and continued to rise until she was stationed high overtop the roof.
Inside her suite, the winds nearly evaporated when she left, now coming in only through the blown out window. Daniel set his jaw as Inati arrived.
"What did you do?"
"It doesn't matter," Daniel said, looking over Inati's skin as the charcoal ooze of the binding insignias swirled into nothingness as their entrapments melted away. His own tattoos tingled and then shimmered away as well. His plan had worked.
"We're off the leash."
~Pas Fini~
A/N: Thanks so much for your support guys! Personally, this is my favorite chapter. Jeesu gets a bit gypped in it, in terms of screen time, but he's out doing his job like an awesome puppy, so if he's your bias, I guess you can take that as your consolation prize? Story-wise in the MV I've based this whole thing off of, Jeesu's role is the smallest, so I guess that's what's happened here. I don't know, anyway, he's got a much larger role in the next chapter, so keep your eyes open for it!
And again, thank you so much for reading!