Ratigan walked over to Isabelle's room, wondering how she is feeling today.
In the moths she's been here, they have been getting closer, talking for hours of numerous of things in his study. Also, Ratigan started noticing some aspects of Isabelle's personality.
She loves sweet, particularly cookies.
Her right ear twitches before she hits someone.
She loves to read fairy-tales and adventure books.
She loved the color purple.
She absolutely loathes the color pink.
He found out about the pink thing when one day she decided to humor him and wore a blue dress. When he pointed out the pink one, she glared at it so hard that he thought she would set it on fire with her glare.
He finally reached Isabelle door, forgetting that he was supposed to knock and went in.
"Isabelle, I-"
His sentence was cut off when he saw that she was putting on a shirt. But it wasn't her state of dress that stopped him from speaking, it was the sight of her back.
It was covered with long white scars; like whip scars.
They were both silent, shocked by the others entrance. Isabelle then pulled the shirt closer to her, her ears pinned back and she growled.
"Get out."
Ratigan regained his composure and tried to speak.
"Isabelle-"
I said Get Out!" she screamed, grabbing a vase and throwing it at him, making him cry out and shutting the door, hearing the glass break. He then heard Isabelle starting to cry and he sadly decided to go back to his own room, thinking that she needs her space.
"But those scars." he thought "My God, those scars."
He couldn't get those scars out of his mind
Later the day, Ratigan was in his room, reading a book. He sighed as he put it down, deciding to get ready fro bed. Isabelle hasn't come out of her room for hours, he was concerned about what happened to her this afternoon, particularly the way she reacted when he saw her back. He grimaces, remembering how ugly they looked on her.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard frantic knocking at his door. Usually, Fidget was the one who knocked like that, so he got up with a huff and swiftly opened the door, about to yell at the bat. So, he was very surprised when he saw its was a teary-eyed Isabelle in a nightgown.
"It hurts." she moaned "It hurts."
She walked forward, suddenly collapsing. He caught her in his arms, falling to the floor with her.
"It hurts." she moaned again, making Ratigan tilt her chin to look at him.
"What hurts? What hurts, darling?"he asked, wondering what put her in this current state. Then, he saw her suddenly cringed and he understood. He tore open the back of her nightgown and saw her scars were red and looked inflamed. He quickly took her in his arms and carried her to his bed. She started to wheeze as more tears fell down her face.
"Its hurts." she repeated as Ratigan got in bed with her, holding her close. He said soothing words to her and rubbed her arms, trying not to touch her back. He wasn't used to this; comforting someone, but he knows Isabelle need this. He was actually a little frightened, seeing her in this state. She looked too vulnerable, too...weak.
"Please..." she moaned as she looked up at him "Please...maek it stop."
Ratigan just stared at her with sad eyes, hating seeing er like this. The next hing he did was something he didn't understand he did it, it just felt like the right thing.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her on his lips.
Isabelle made a surprised noise, but she then melted in to the kiss, putting herself closer to him. Ratigan tasted something like sweets and tears on her lips. He kissed her with softness, although every fiber in his being wanted to kiss her with all the passion he had.
When he finally released her lips, she gave him a thankful smile and then slumped against his chest unconscious, exhausted from her ordeal.
Ratigan just looked at her with pity as he held her close in his arms. He decided that he will ask her tomorrow what just happened as he soon joined her in his slumber.
Isabelle woke up the next morning, her eyes were hurting and she noticed the sheets looked different from hers. They actually looked like Ratigan's sheets.
She suddenly sat up, the events of last night flowing into her mind.
Her scars were hurting, as they sometimes do, except this time, it was really painful. For some odd reason, she came to Ratigan and he actually comforted, he even kissed her. Her ears perked dwon as her fingers went to her lips, they were still tingling from last night.
She sighed as she looked around, noticing that the large rat wasn't in his room.
She decides its time, its time to tell him why she left Clearwater...and about Norman.
Ratigan was in the dining room, drinking some wine when he suddenly felt someone snatch the glass from his hand.
He turned and was surprised to see Isabelle, who took a sip of the wine and made a face from the taste. She then put the glass down and looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"Lets go to your study, I have something stronger."she said, then leaving the room. Ratigan quickly followed her and saw her pouring whiskey into two cups. She then sat down a chair and watched as Ratigan sat on the chair for his desk.
"I have a story to tell?"she said, taking her glass "Will you listen?"
Ratigan looked at her, then taking his own glass and nodded.
AN: And here we have some conflict! So, here a look at Isabelle's person with her scars, which are long whip scars on her back. She's very self-conscious about them, which is the reason she reacted like that with Ratigan. Isabelle's scars are deep and at time, she gets a really and soreness with them and it hurts her badly. I put that Ratigan sort of softened with Isabelle, yet he's not used to comforting someone. So, the next chapter, Isabelle is going to explain to Ratigan how she got those scars and why she really left Clearwater.
Isabelle is sort of based on me, with her favorite color being purple and hating the color pink. I really hate the color pink! Why? Because its too damn girly!
I don't own Ratigan, just Isabelle!