"So let me get this straight." James mom sat on the couch and looked at them sternly, glancing between her son and the fox girl in irritation. "You've been able to come to and from your world whenever you please, but you've stayed here with us instead?"
"Yes mam." Ahri said, diverting her gaze as Marry's gaze bore into her.
"Them out of the blue, you invite someone dangerous into the house without permission?" Ahri's ears drooped, her eyes locked on her feet.
"Sona is not dangerous!" The sudden shout and cry of pain jolted both girls as the previously silent teen sat up.
"Sit down and be silent!" James didn't listen to his mom's orders and got to his feet, grinding his teeth as he attempted to take a step towards his mother. Ahri jumped to his feet and pushed him back on the couch.
"James, this isn't how you planned this." She whispered, trying to calm him down.
"Screw the plan!" James barked, attempting to get back to his feet. "She's trying to interrogate you with things you've already confirmed to intimidate you. I'm not letting you take blame for this." He focused his gaze on his mother, glaring as mean as he could as tears of pain leaked out of the corner of his eye when he shifted his body. "It was my choice to go to Runeterra. It was my choice to take part in a match. It was my choice to run around recklessly and pull stupid stunts. It was my mistake that caused me to miss the jump and fall two stories and break my leg. If you're going to chew anyone out for that, why don't you actually check your facts and see it in a non-biased point of view!" His pain now beating his rage, he laid back down and went slack. He kept the defiant look in his eyes front in center, daring his mom to antagonize Ahri again.
James outburst caused his mother to hesitate, not used to the calm, placid video gamer's rage. "What happened to you? You used to do as you were told and be well behaved, not this foolish and violent."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Does this hurt?" James growled. "I did as I was told because there was no reason I shouldn't. Besides, you only saw the smart, obedient child who did as he was told. Did you ever see me happy when I did it? No, I was just doing it because I thought I had to. But now I actually find something to really care about, and your being a total bitch to her."
"I am being your mother!"
"You are attacking an innocent. She wasn't the one who broke my leg, so don't blame her for it!" James slammed his fist into the end piece next to the couch, causing everything on it to shake and fall over. "I already know your whole argument. First, you stack minor details against her. Then you make it so she feels bad and then put the crime you want her to fess up too on the table so she will take that out of misery. Then your going to spin it so she goes home on her own and break her will and make her so guilty she won't show her face again."
"I was n-" she tried to snap back, but James cut her off.
"Yes, you were. Don't lie to me." James said angrily. "I recognize the method. Give me credit, you use it all the time on dad so he will do as you 'ask'. If your going to control people, switch it up. We tend to learn too, you know."
"James, stop." The anger started to drain out of the teen as he heard the gentle voice next to him. He had sat up again, clenching his muscles as if he was ready for a fight. Ahri put a hand on his arm, gently stroking him with her thumb. "This is not you, and you know it." Ahri's voice was full of concern for him, causing him to shake off his anger to look at her. James's eyes met her's, the last of his rage calming to a light simmer.
"Your right." He sighed, putting his hand on hers. "Sorry Ahri." She smiled gently, glad to see he had reverted to his normal self. James smiled back, a tired mood coming over him. Note to self, anger cost a lot of MP. Not the best idea.
Marry was visibly shaken by the events that had just taken place. She silently watched Ahri help James lift his leg back onto the couch, the overwhelming killer intent now gone from the boy. Why does she affect him so powerfully? When she first came here, James often ignored her or got annoyed whenever they were together. Now after he has her under control, her presence can cause him to jump from polar opposite emotions in a short period of time. Does this mean he degenerating to a normal teenager? She shook her head to clear away those thoughts. On the other hand, this could be a good thing. Before he was only motivated by games, so she might be a positive influence on him... She pondered the idea for a minute, trying to guess where this development could lead. James eventually noticed and brought her back to reality.
"So, arguments gone. The story is I was screwing around on the roof to get a basketball and fell, slipping on the ice at an odd angle and breaking my leg." He said mater of factly as if that's the it had happened. "And if they wonder why, we tell them because I wanted to." Both girls nodded, confirming the story.
James waited for his mom to leave and start the car before he had Ahri help him to his feet. "Don't drop me this time." He joked as he hopped to the stairs with the fox girl. Each time he came back down the impact jarred his bad leg.
"I only did that once." Ahri whined, quickly smiling to show she was only playing. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you would just let me carry you again."
James chuckled at the memory of Ahri carrying him down the street in her arms, heading back to Sona's house so that she would heal him. When they found out she wasn't strong enough, they just went home. "Not in my world."
"You mean our world." Ahri corrected him.
"Our world." James agreed.
The drive to the hospital was a bitch. It never occurred to James that his mom was a bad driver. Neither did it ever occur to him that the roads could be so bumpy. By the two hundred and thirty second road patch James could swear his broken leg was trying to kill him. He grit his teeth and tried to bear it, but it was damb near impossible. Ahri held his hand the whole way, but she didn't supply as much comfort as she wanted to.
His mom drove by the ER drop off and Ahri helped him into the building while she went to park the car. "I'm not going to have to pay the parking fee, will I?" He called as she drove away. His mom rolled down the window and flipped him off.
The waiting room was crowded when they walked in. No one noticed them until they got halfway to the front desk. A small boy no older than eight saw Ahri's tails and called out, pointing at her with wide eyes. Soon a crowd formed around them to ogle her, completely oblivious to James.
"Hey, can you let us through? Sir, uh please- come on, let us pass." Ahri tried weakly to get through, only for the crowd to condense around them. "James, this would be a good time to get angry."
"What do I look like, the hulk? I can't get angry on command." James glanced around the room for someone of authority to call to. "Besides, I don't like how I get when I'm angry. It's like I turn into the people who did their best to hurt me when I was younger."
Eventually order was restored and they got to the desk. James got a priority because of the fact he was practically standing on a broken leg and because they didn't want a riot by the presence of Ahri. His mom joined them shortly before the came back with a wheel chair for him.
They wheeled him down a few hallways and gave him a room, telling him that the doctor will be with him shortly. They asked the girls to wait in the hall while they worked. Ahri tried to resist but James told her to follow orders, claiming that the doctors knew what they were doing from experience and their word always had a reason.
"Go sit and think. Try to figure out why they told you to wait." His voice was distant as he tried to separate himself from reality, extremely nervous about them setting the bone.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked worriedly.
"I'll live." James said simply, avoiding her point. He honestly didn't know what to do in his position but follow orders. Ahri wasn't satisfied with the answer, but she wouldn't contradict herself and begin to doubt him now. Once the doctor came in she left the room quietly, only stopping to ask the doctor to be gentle.
"He's in good hands." The doctor told her. Ahri dipped her head and exited.
Waiting in the hall for her was James's mom, a look of apprehension in her eyes. "Is he okay in there?" She asked. Ahri joined her on a bench that was pushed up against the wall.
"He says he'll live." Ahri replied. Marry frowned at the answer.
"That's not what I meant."
"I know." Ahri sighed. "I've only known the guy for a short amount of time compared to how long you have, but I can tell he was scared. I've never seen him scared before."
"Well, he has a reason to be scared." Marry admitted. "I was scared as hell when I broke my arm." Ahri looked at her questioningly.
"When did you break your arm?"
"When I was young." She smiled at Ahri's face. "I was young too, you know. Me and some friends went out to celebrate my twenty-first birthday at a bar. We had fun, drank a lot of alcohol, and generally acted like a group of fools." She smiled nostalgically at the memory of her youth. "That was almost seventeen years ago. On the way home we got into an accident and I went flying out the windshield. The designated driver hit the breaks hard at sixty miles an hour when he came upon a dear standing in the middle of the road. Being completely drunk, it never occurred to me to buckle up. Poor deer never saw me coming." The pair laughed at the thought of the young woman flying out the window at fifty miles an hour or so and football tackling the woodland creature.
"How did you survive?" Ahri asked, trying to wipe the grin from her face.
"I was drunk!" Marry stated, widening her arms. "When your as fucked up as I was, your practically indestructible. My body was so loose and relaxed I bounced off of the thing with only a broken arm. Got knocked out cold in the process though." She shook her head in amazement that she had even survived. "I can't tell you how glad James didn't turn out like me. He thinks everything through first before doing it. At least, until he met you."
"Yeah." Ahri agreed, her mind drifting back to her first day in this world. "The first time I met him I hit him like a cannon ball. Next thing I know he's telling me and everyone else what to do. In hindsight, he was probably just making sure no one lost their life, but I still saw him as someone with a lot of power. He shined, you know. He was shining so bright."
"That sounds like him." Marry agreed, scratching her shoulder as it began to itch. "As far as I could tell, he rarely takes a life. He doesn't even kill misquotes if he can help. I freak out over a spider and just walks in and picks it up, putting it outside on a tree. Someone so into killing in a game, can't hurt a fly in real life. Sometimes I don't understand that kid."
"I think I know why." Marry raised an eyebrow to Ahri's statement. "It's because he knows it's a game. It not the killing that James likes, it's the fact it's a game." The fox girl leaned back against the wall and looked up to the ceiling. "In my world, I enjoyed killing. There it was natural when nations are at war. Eventually I made it to the institution and I took lives every day, except there they came back."
Ahri took a breath before continuing. "I envy James in reality. He was born in a stable, peaceful world. There was no real danger for him here, and he grew up to be a good person. He can't take a life because he still thinks that everything has a right to survive. He doesn't kill unless he has a reason. I've read some articles that claim video games cause violence. They don't. Ignorance and lack of respect for life causes those deaths. Those people don't think life is precious, they lose the ability to judge real life actions and start to behave how they do online. James gave them a name, too. He called them lost. He also looked at some of the cases when I brought it up and said that some of those guys were bad to start and wanted a reason to kill." Ahri shudder. "His disgust was of great volume."
"So you say he is the way he is because he knows the difference of the real world and the virtual world?"
"Yes." The pair sat silently for a few minutes. A loud snap and a restrained yell came from the other end of the door. The doctor had probably reset the bone in the proper position.
Marry finally broke the silence. "When did it start?" She asked, her eyes locked on the door.
"What?"
"When did you two really fall in love?" Her question had an edge to it, as if she wasn't fond of the subject.
Ahri sat quietly for a time as she pondered the subject. "I'd have to say shortly after I began attending school. Before hand I was just playing around and having fun. We were friends, we had each other's back when we needed it. Then I started to want him, but it was only a passing fancy. I'm not going to lie, I loved the attention back in Runeterra. I slept with a guy two or three times a week. Not having done it in almost a whole month and a half, he was looking pretty good. But being as he was my close friend, I held myself back because I knew he wouldn't forgive me if I took him just to please myself."
"Then that day happened. I went out with my so called friends and they treated me badly, acting as if I was just an object to be showed off. When I told them I was going home, they told me that James was the same way." Ahri paused to take a breath, the memory still painful. "That broke me. I ran away and hid, but their words followed me. I texted for help, hoping that James would show up and fix my problems like he always does. But then I started to doubt him. It was scary to think that my best friend in this world, the one who stayed by my side even when it was unbearable, someone who was always kind to me, thought like they did? It was two painful." She was silent for a minute as she struggled with her emotions. When she continued, her sadness had all but disappeared. "But he came. I could here him running around like an idiot trying to break into the school, all the while hollering my name. He eventually found me behind the dumpster and tried to reach me but I held him back with my fire. I'm ashamed to say I didn't trust him."
Marry perked up. The couple had never told anyone what had happened that day, so she was greatly interested in the story. Ahri continued on. "I started to yell at him and he just stood there and took it. I was crying at the time and had my head tucked into my arms and knees, but I could still feel his presence just standing there. He waited until I finished my rant before he walked right through the fire, breaking me out of my downward spiral with just the touch of a hand. He wiped away all my fears and doubts, taking me into his arms as if I was a child. He talked to me tenderly, calming me and renewing my faith in him in just one moment. I knew then that I loved him from the bottom of my heart, more than anyone I had ever fancied before. The hopeless guy who never put any effort into talking to girls won me over without even trying. You could say he's the one who actually taught me what true love felt like."
Just then the door opened and the doctor came out. Both girls got to their feet. "He's fine." The doctor assured them, raising his hands defensively. "Just make sure he stays off his feet for a few weeks. Other than that he'll be fine." He noticed Ahri try slide past him. "Yes you can see him now."
Ahri didn't hesitate and opened the door, barely keeping to a walk as she sped to his bed side. James had his eyes closed and his breath was even, his face slack and emotionless. His leg was wrapped in a sea blue cast, the color obviously chosen by the teen. Ahri could here his heat rate, strong and even.
Ahri took the chair closet to the bed and laid her chin next to his head. "You are good at that, you know right?" She whispered. A grin spread on the seemingly unconscious teen's lips.
"How did you know?" He asked, opening his eyes to meet her gaze.
"Because I love you, that's how." She leaned forward to kiss him, holding him for three seconds before backing to her original spot.
"In other words you guessed."
"Yeah, I guessed." The pair shared a laugh before returning to the moment. "Do me a favor. Don't be scared again. I rely on you too heavily to see you scared."
"I can't promise that, little one." James said softly. "But I can promise you that I won't let you down. Not if I can help it."
Ahri smiled at the boys loving words. "Since when did you become the hero?" She asked teasingly.
"Ever since the queen gave me the royal title of pillow." He teased back.
"But you are just so comfortable! Your just the right combination of skinny and muscled to make a living pillow."
"And you make a wonderful heated blankets."
"And that's why you two sleep together." Marry finished. James momentarily took his attention way from Ahri to survey his mom. She stood in her normal defiant stance with her arms crossed, a slight grin on her face as she watched the two of them playfully bicker. "I've seen what I need for now. I'll leave you two to do your lovers bonding." She left the room with the wave of the hand and a knowing look on her face.
"What was that about?" James asked.
"Nothing important." Ahri said, removing her attention from the now closed door. "Now where were we?"
"I had just called you a blanket."
"Ah yes. By any chance your cold?"
"The bed's to small for us to be comfortable. Let's prolonged that till tonight."
"Ah, your so boring."
"Ah! That hurts! Watch the leg, watch the leg!"
