[X] Stopped by her fathers body, desperately screaming for help.
"Hey."
The girl looked up, as she heard her father talk. That itself was rare enough. He was barely there most the time, and then for the last few weeks he had been just outright gone. And now he's back and talking. What changed?
"What do you want?" She asked, the bitterness in her voice evident to anyone who bothered paying enough attention. Which usually meant her father didn't notice at all.
"Can we talk?" He asked, his eyes sliding to the side to avoid hers. The girl nearly scoffed at that. Her father never talked. He wasn't the kind for it. He made food and then he sat around to mope. Her uncle talked, but even then not much, and not for long.
"I need to look after my sister." The girl decided, turning her back on him in the process. "Someone has to."
He didn't reply. The girl hadn't expected him to. After all, why would he say anything? He never had before.
Leaving him behind, the girl walked to the door, and reached up to the door handle to turn it. Her sister would be waking up soon, and even if it had been a few weeks and she tried to hide it, it was evident how much it was helping her to have someone there for her if she woke up from a nightmare. Even if she kept saying she wasn't having any, it was clear enough how much of a lie that was.
"I'm sorry." Said a voice from behind her, as the girl swung the door open. It took the girl a moment to realise her father was speaking.
He was sorry?
She turned back, half-surprised, half-curious. He was sitting on a chair, head in his hands, his shoulders shaking slightly.
"About everything." Her father explained, when the girl didn't immediately leave the room. "I should have realised that you were hurting as well. I should have been there for you."
"Should have doesn't mean anything." The girl dismissed. She didn't clarify her words, but her father seemed to get the impression anyway.
"I know." He nodded. "I... I understand if you hate me. No, not if. You hate me. I get that."
Well good, that didn't need to be clarified.
"I just wanted to say sorry." He explained. "And... I'm going to try harder."
"Don't just try." The girl bit. "Do it, or don't. Make up your mind."
He was silent for a moment longer after that.
"My sister's going to need me." The girl continued. "She hasn't slept well in weeks. Since I messed up. And then you disappeared, and uncle was barely even here, so it was just me there for her. I nearly get her killed and then she has to turn to me for support, because you just disappeared."
"...I know." The man sighed. "And you're barely older than her. You shouldn't have had to grow up this fast-"
"I did." The girl interrupted, turning around again.
What a waste of time.
Why had she even bothered paying him any attention? Nothing was going to change. One bad thing happens, and he just shuts down. If he was hurting, he could hurt in his own time, when he didn't have people who needed him to be strong. The girl bet that just her sounding bitter would go and make him mope some more.
He wasn't just going to change because he said he was sorry.
But he did.
Her sister had needed him, and she was all there was there for her. If he was going to fail her sister, then she wasn't going to.
But she had.
He was upset and barely functional, she had to pick up the pieces. That was how it had been, and that's how it will always be.
But it hadn't.
He had started getting better. Tried to look after them. Tried to make up for her having to grow up too fast. Let her get away with a lot to make up for missing out on getting to be a child when she needed someone to rely on.
She'd hated him, once. On some level, she still had, even as they had moved on. Even after the bitterness faded, she had hated that he wasn't strong enough to be relied on. How he was never the kind of dad you saw on television, who was overprotective and always there. But maybe he had been after all, and she hadn't noticed?
It had only been a few days, since she had realised why he had shut down. Realised how it felt to just be as useless as he must have been, back then. Finally understood why.
Did she still hate that he wasn't there? She didn't know. The memory of it wasn't going to fade. How it had shaped her, as a person, that wasn't going ot change.
But she got it. She understood why he had grown distant. She hadn't noticed how she must have been getting distant from her sister, up until it was thrown in her face.
She'd been able to bond with him, but it felt like, now, she could do more. He said he'd always be there to help her, only a few days ago, and she had accepted it without even thinking about it. She'd never have done that at the start of the year, even if she'd never consciously think about it.
She loved her dad. More and more, she was being able to just let herself rely on him, comfort her, make her feel better like a dad was supposed to. And this was just a few days after finally getting to understand him, too. How much would they be able to bond, now that she could think of him as someone to be relied on? As someone who could be there for her, emotionally?
And now, just a few days after he had promised to always be there for her...
"Dad!" Yang screamed, as she fell to her knees by his side. She felt a small hit to her Aura a she skid across the tarmac slightly, and felt the sticky touch of blood on her knees as she did so.
Blood, blood, there was so much blood, people shouldn't be losing this much blood, how was he losing so much blood-
Taiyang opened his mouth, and tried to say something. Blood pooled at the corner of his mouth, but no sound came out. He wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't he saying anything-
His chest. Where the huge gaping hole was, were his lungs supposed to be there? Would he be able to talk if his lungs were damaged? No, no, they had to be fine, they had to be, people couldn't survive without their lungs so his had to be fine, it was fine, it was fine, he was going to be fine-
"Dad." She repeated, feeling the corners of her eyes tear up. "I... It'd going to be alright, it's okay, help will be here soon and we can get you to someone who can help and..."
Her breath caught in her throat, and Yang saw her father tear up slightly as she tried to reassure him. Slowly, gently, he shook his head.
No, no, what was he trying to say? This wasn't any time for any sort of no, he couldn't be negative here, positive thoughts, willpower, he needed to be determined and try to hold on, fight on, just refuse to give up, this wasn't a time to be shaking his head.
He was trying to mouth something, but Yang wasn't looking at his mouth. Her eyes kept falling back down to the wound in his torso, the wound that was within a hair of just bisecting him, leaving just two broken pieces of corpse on the groun-
"Help's coming." Yang repeated. "It has to be coming, we're at the edge of the city, we're barely away from the buildings, people can see us, people can see what's going on someone has to be coming dad, just hold on it's going to be fine, it's..."
His hand reached upwards, weakly, and settled by Yang's shoulder. Softly, he rustled at Yang's hair, and tried to smile. His teeth were dyed red, and he barely managed to smile for a second before he started coughing. Yang felt a spatter of blood hit her cheek, before his head tilted downwards.
He tried to lift it again, but Yang could see his eyes drooping as he made the attempt.
"Come on, dad." Yang shook him, before she saw how it opened up the wound. She let go of him immediately. "Dad, you need to keep your eyes open, just let me see your... Your..."
It was hard to see with all the tears in her eyes, but Yang could still notice when he stopped moving. His lips twitched, as he tried to mouth something, but he wasn't saying something.
"Dad? Dad! Come on, dad, don't worry me, please-"
Her breathing was speeding up, she noticed vaguely. What else was there, going on? She couldn't notice. She couldn't think about anything for long. Wasn't she doing something before now? Wasn't there something that made this happen? No, not important, her dad was dy- hurt, her dad was hurt, she needed to get him to help, she needed to get-
"Help!" She shouted out, her lungs straining from the exertion. "Somebody, help! Please! I... Somebody! Anyone! I need..."
She paused for breath, and that was enough to set off the chain reaction. She found herself sobbing, as she leaned over the body. She couldn't feel a heartbeat. It was faint, that must be it, that was no surprise, he must be going into shock, he just needed some help now and he'd pull through, he just needed-
A hand grabbed her shoulder, and started shaking. Yang wanted to ignore it, it wasn't important, but then the hand tightened enough that she felt her Aura take damage, and she spun up for a second to see who it was.
"What's going on?" Asked the girl. Yang recognised her, she-
Wasn't important right now, she could be a stranger for all it mattered.
"What does it look like!" Yang shouted back. "Dad..."
There was a look of realisation on the girls face, which Yang only noted briefly as she turned back to her father, trying to hook her arms under her fathers elbows. Pushing her arms together to make sure she didn't pull him apart by accident, Yang tried to stumble to her feet, pulling her father upwards so she could start dragging him to safety.
"Hold on!" Said the green-haired girl, from outside Yang's field of vision. "I have some first aid in the car, I can try-"
Yang didn't listen beyond that, and the girl was becoming fainter as she spoke anyway, as she ran off to get whatever medical supplies she had. Good, good, medical supplies helped, some first aid would help her dad hang on long enough for her to get him to the hospital, and if she had a car then she'd be able to drive him there or something, this was going to be fine, it was going to be fine.
Yang kept dragging him back, as she heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. Did the girl have the medical equipment already? Turning back to her, Yang got ready to shout at her to hurry up.
The words died in her throat, as she saw the children looking at the bloody body she was trying to carry.
Yang herself could feel the blood dripping, as she tried to carry her father. She was covered in it, at this point. Her clothes were stained with it, most of her probably was. The children had a look in their eyes that Yang didn't give herself time to place into words, but wasn't a good one anyone.
"D-Don't look..." She stammered out, balling her hands into a fist. Great going, Yang. They were already going to be upset seeing a d- barely living person like this, her covered in blood, crying and barely able to talk wouldn't be helping in anyway. "J-Just get back."
She felt herself nearly begin to sob again as she said that, so she closed her eyes as she walked on, trying to ignore them. Heavier footsteps were heard approaching a moment later, and Yang looked up again, to see the green-haired girl carrying a case of medical supplies.
"Put him down for a moment." She said. "I sent in another alarm to try and get an ambulance, someone to lift him out, let me see what I can do."
Nodding, but not trusting herself with words, Yang lowered her father to the ground, as the girl opened the case.
Yang immediately reached for a piece of cloth that she recognised as being used to clean up blood. That'd be needed, she'd just clean up the blood on her dad and the girl would be able to look him over so much better. They didn't need to cut away at his clothes to get a look at the wound, the wound had already basically cut his shirt away, it was only attached because he was wearing the sleeves.
They needed to help him, and they needed to hurry, or he wasn't going to be okay.
Trying to delicately wipe at the blood on his chest, Yang spent a good minute wiping him down, before realising the cloth was already soaked in blood. There was a lot of blood...
The girl with green hair had attached some sort of device to his wrists, and was moving to place another one on his chest Yang moved back towards the case, putting the cloth away, and looking for something that could help.
"W-What do I do?" Yang asked the girl.
She didn't reply.
The silence hung in the air, and a chill crept up Yang's back.
"What do we do!" She screamed suddenly, pushing the girl. "Just tell me! D-Do I need to clean the blood more or b-bandage him up or-"
"I'm sorry." The green haired girl said, barely a whisper.
"Sorry doesn't help!" Yang shouted back. "Just tell me what to d-"
"There's no pulse." The girl interrupted, looking down at the device attached to his chest. "Or any hint of Aura, or Semblance. Not even what you'd expect from someone who's been depleted, or never had it awoken. There's nothing there. He's gone."
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no-
"T-That's not funny." Yang stuttered out. "Now's not the time for jokes, just tell m-m-me-"
Her breath hitched again, her eyes closed as she just tried to blink out tears.
"J-Just... Just tell me w-what..."
The image replayed through her mind, of the slab of whatever the weapon was, impaled through her fathers chest. Positioned right into his centre, tilted on a slight angle, severing his spine and smashing right through where his heart would have been.
"...Just t-tell me what to d-do, dad..."
Her voice was hoarse, she realised, as she found her eyes opening to look down at the too pale face of her father. There was a terrible stench in the air, Yang realised.
"Please tell me..." She whimpered out, looking down at the corpse. "I don't know what to do."
[X] Nora Valkyrie
[X] Periwinkle Flowers
[X] Sun Wukong