February 24th: Home - 100 words - "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, / They have to take you in." - Robert Frost

Inside, he was greeted by a screaming and sobbing Tien. "You weren't safe! You got caught!" Curled fist beating off Chiaotzu's front. "They broke my shield! It hurt so much."

"Are you okay?" Chiaotzu landed, and swallowed a scream as his leg gave way and crumpled beneath him. Pain like a bear trap closing around his calf with jagged, acid teeth. Tien caught his weight in his right arm, the stump of his left steadying Chiaotzu's shoulder.

"Chiaotzu? Chiaotzu, you're bleeding!" Tien said, his voice cracked with fear.

"I'll be okay," Chiaotzu said, though now he was aware of the injury, he could feel the blood trickling down his calf. It was pooling in his shoe, warm and wet. He pulled the power back from the cage around Shen, knowing that was releasing him and not caring anymore, and looped a tourniquet of shimmering energy around his thigh.

When it was in place, Tien pushed his hands away from his leg and said, "I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure?" Chiaotzu tried to be strong for a moment, then Tien pulled the torn fabric of his trouser leg away from his leg and a wave of dizziness washed over him. Behind him, Ino snuffled closer with anxious little panting breaths. Chiaotzu leaned back against Ino, covering his eyes and biting this insides of his cheeks. He could feel with horrifying clarity, the movement of Tien's hand as he removed the fabric and revealed the wound that Tao had inflicted in that last desperate slice to prevent him from leaving.

He was unable to resist a look. A long slash deep into the meat of his calf. Blood stained his white skin in a splotchy red mess. Tien saw that Chiaotzu was looking and, with his three eyes narrowed, pushed Chiaotzu's face to the side.

"Don't look," he said. Stern and commanding. "It'll hurt worse if you look."

"Okay, okay." Chiaotzu directed his eyes back to the ceiling, lifting his hands and doubling up on the shield that was glowing up there. Another sharp wave of pain as Tien put pressure on the wound, pressing with his forearm along the length. "Dis-distract me," Chiaotzu said, swallowing another retch. "I can't deal. I can't, it hurts too much."

"Okay." He could hear the steel in Tien's voice. The strength at his core. "Tell me about it, did you get your crowbar?"

"I did not." Chiaotzu scoffed, a flush of embarrassment rising in his cheeks. "It's hidden there though, I don't think they know it's there. I'll get it back later. When we're all better. All safe."

"Ma-" A pause, then pointedly, "Shen was there, wasn't he?"

"Yes." Chiaotzu squeezed his hands into fists as Tien peeled the fabric back and tried to survey the slash in Chiaotzu's leg. "He was waiting for me. How does it look?"

"It's not too deep." Chiaotzu yelped as gentle fingertips touched the edge of the wound. Little acid coated needles jabbing deep into the flesh. "Do you have tape?"

Chiaotzu lifted one hand and pulled a roll of silver duct tape to him. Then watched, intrigued, as Tien held the roll between his knees, pulled off a length, then used a small shimmering blade of telekinesis to slash thin strips of tape free. Using his empty sleeve as a towel, he patted away the blood staining Chiaotzu's skin and then glanced up.

"This is going to hurt. I'm sorry."

"Just get it over with." Chiaotzu gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. It helped, a little at least, and when the tape pulled the edges of his wound together the stab of pain was softened slightly. Still slightly overwhelmed, he said, "Tao was there. I thought he was dead."

A moment of silence. Then, softly and a little uncertainly, "I'm sorry."

Chiaotzu flinched as another strip of tape was laid against his skin, then said, "Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"I…I didn't realise Tao was coming." His eyes were brimming with tears when he looked up at Chiaotzu. "Or that you didn't know he was alive. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." A reassuring smile, strained at the corners from pain. "You couldn't have known." And then, because it seemed it needed to be said, "I'm not going to hold it against you"

More tears, accompanied by a shaky little smile. A smile that wanted to believe, but was still uncertain. Tien bent his head and finished taping up the slice in Chiaotzu's calf. "Do you have clean clothes?"

"Over there." Chiaotzu pointed, and Tien turned in place. Bit his lip and reached out his hand. There was a long pause, and then green threads, thin and wavering, reached out and extricated a shirt from the bottom of the pile. Eyes shining with pride, he swivelled back and held the shirt up. "It can be hard to control things when you're stressed, well done."

Blood rose in Tien's cheeks, but this time he didn't turn away to try and hide the fact. Instead he wrapped the shirt around Chiaotzu's leg and taped it up. "How does it feel?"

Chiaotzu flexed his foot, bracing himself against the hot flash of pain, and instead only feeling a faint jab, dulled and softened. "Much better, thank you!" Slowly, he rose into the air and gingerly tested his weight on that foot. Tien shot to his own feet and steadied Chiaotzu with his hand, the stump of his left arm stretched out.

Don't worry, that gesture said. If you fall, I'll catch you. Chiaotzu's heart mended just a little more seeing it.