Day 11

Prompt: Injury

********************************************************************

To say she's on edge is a huge understatement.

She's not sure she's slept in days and every time she tries to her mind is plagued with the terrible thoughts of death. A knife could so easily end her life and she starts to fear sharp objects the more she thinks about it. It's getting out of hand really, yet she still tries to work to the best of her ability.

She feels safe at night as Leliana now refuses to leave her side. She's there when she wakes form the nightmares, there to hush her and kiss her forehead in the calming way she always does. Josephine is incredibly grateful to have Leliana while she goes through this. After all, a contract on your life is something that terrifies even the toughest soldier.

When Josephine found out about the contract on her life she was terribly disturbed. She worried for days and still does even though the inquisitor has promised she's working on resolving the issues the way Josephine has asked it to be resolved. She wants no murder or foul play used. She wants to do this properly to try keep whatever good reputation her family has left.

She's up late one night working as usual, her nerves completely fried and her mind numb from the fear of not hearing anything more on the case. The inquisitor has been away from Skyhold for about a week now and Josephine grows more anxious with each passing day. The inquisitor can handle herself of course, she just desperately wants an update on the situation with the contract.

She's half way through a letter when she hears a groan of pain from outside her office. She's instantly filled with fear as she realises the only people who could possibly be outside her door are the guards Leliana has had stationed there every night for the last few weeks. She only see's the door open because she's watching it with such intensity, and sure enough a figure sneaks into the room. Her immediate reaction is to duck down and hide away from the obvious assassin, but that's childish and will definitely get her killed, so she's left standing by her desk, paralysed by fear as the assassin dashes towards her with incredible speed. She closes her eyes, waiting for something to happen, but it doesn't. She opens her eyes quickly to see the assassin sinking to the floor, when he falls she notices the knifes in his back and her eyes quickly dart to the door to where Leliana is leaning against the door frame panting.

For a moment she's filled with joy, she quickly makes her way around the desk and towards Leliana, but she stops dead in her tracks. Her face pales and a hand flies to her mouth as she see's the blood dripping from Leliana's side. Obviously she's tried to stop the bleeding with her hand but the cut is deep and by the looks of it, it isn't her only wound. Josephine wants to scream but manages to keep it together long enough to reach towards Leliana with shaking hands. Leliana smiles at Josephine and their eyes meet. Josephine is about to say something when Leliana falls to the floor with a thump. That's when Josephine screams, the loud shriek echoing around the room and within seconds guards are running in on the scene. They catch her terrified gaze before jumping into action.

All Josephine can concentrate on is the steady rise and fall of Leliana's chest as she watches many people all trying to crowd around her love's fallen body. She's vaguely aware of being led away by strong hands on her shoulders but she's not really sure.

She's replaying what happened over and over again in her head and before she knows it she's sat with a blanket around her shoulders as a young man kneels in front of her asking if she's okay. Her whole body starts to shake as the shock sets in and she barely manages to nod. He takes that as a comprehensive answers and tells her he'll be back soon. Her mind is racing about a million miles a second making everything hard to process and understands but she nods again anyway.

It's when she's alone that the emotions catch up to her and she realises Leliana could be dead just now all because of her. The tears start to fall and before she even realises it she's sobbing pitifully into the blanket in her hands.

An hour later she finds herself at Leliana's bedside, sitting silently as Dorian is checking for any more wounds he may need to heal, luckily he finds none and bids Josephine a good night before leaving the room. Leliana looks pale and almost dead, and that scares Josephine more than anything. In all the years she's known Leliana she's never seen her look so unwell or so helpless. It's a strange sight, and one Josephine decides she never wants to see again.

She's pretty sure she'd be dead right now if Leliana hadn't been there to save her, yet she still feels incredibly guilty.

"You looks so sad when you frown, Josie"

Her eyes dart to Leliana's face and the complete and utter joy she feels in that moment is undesirable in mere words. Leliana's eyes are open, blinking lazily as she stares up at Josephine's red puffy eyes. More tears fall but they're tears of joy, and it takes everything in her to not just jump up and throw herself onto Leliana. She instead takes Leliana's hand, squeezing it tightly as her words fail her in this moment.

"I tried to stop him" Leliana says suddenly, making Josephine look up to meet her gaze once again. "He had the advantage and I couldn't overthrow him, if only…"

"Hush you" Josephine says, mimicking the words Leliana has often said to her "I'd be dead if it weren't for you"

Leliana simply smiles, her eyes closing for a moment as she exhales. Josephine focuses once again on the rise and fall of Leliana's chest, glad to see her love still alive and breathing after the whole ordeal.