It started with a crash.

Stelle wasn't exactly unused to being woken up in the middle of the night. Between the four kids she was taking care of, a full night's sleep wasn't commonplace. But it wasn't as if she minded. Usually it was because one of them was having a nightmare and were scared to sleep alone. She never minded when that happened, it would always bring a smile to her face to comfort one of her children.

But a crash? In the middle of the night? That was worrying.

Stelle got out from her bed, slipping on a coat quickly and lighting up a lantern. She grabbed the baseball bat that she always kept nearby just in case and stepped out of her room. Her first order of business was to check each of the children's rooms, so she did so quietly.

She checked the twins' room first. She opened the door to check on if either Aether or Lumine had gotten out of bed or woken up, but to her relief both of them seemed to be fast asleep. She checked on Kiana's room next, only to find her in the same condition. Mei's room was much the same, with the raven haired child sleeping soundly.

With the safety of the children taken care of, Stelle focused her attention on figuring out where such a loud crash had come from. There was only one such location nearby that could have made such a sound like wood crashing upon wood, meaning it was likely located in the tool shed out back. Whatever it was, animal or thief, must have somehow gotten in and was rummaging around.

Stelle crept outside, the lantern illuminating her path to the shed. She knew the way by heart, but she spared no diligence when it came to the safety of her family.

When she came upon the tool shed, she found the door shut. The combination lock was still on it, and there didn't seem to be any damage to the door itself. Stelle allowed herself to relax just a bit, she could hear noises from inside the shed, but based on the condition of the door it was likely some sort of animal that had found some way inside of it. If it was an intruder, the lock would have likely been broken or there would be some sign of forced entry.

Stelle rolled the combination lock into the correct sequence, it'd be best to take care of whatever animal was inside now when she was alone and the kids were asleep than when they were awake.

The lock clicked and opened, and Stelle slid the door open. She put the lantern out, intent on illuminating the shed to see whatever animal, be it racoon or bear, had somehow entered.

She was not expecting to lock eyes with a very human female.

There was a moment of silence as the two women froze and just assessed each other. Stelle was having trouble registering exactly what she was seeing. The woman in front of her was… beautiful, to say the least. From her hair the color of a dark red wine, to her deep maroon eyes that were staring her down. She wasn't standing, instead she was laying on the ground. Her back was to one of the walls and she was clutching one of her sides.

Yet despite her beauty, it didn't escape Stelle the fact that she was now dealing with a human instead of her previously assumed animal. An intruder.

"Who-" Stelle started, before being interrupted by a sudden movement from the woman in front of her.

She didn't even have a chance to raise her baseball bat before a strong grip tweaked her wrist, causing it to clatter to the ground uselessly. She would have reacted more if it wasn't for the fact that she felt cold hard metal be pressed against her throat.

"Now now. None of that." A voice purred in her ear.

It was low and seductive. Rich and full. Like a silky velvet melody in her ear. If it was perhaps any other situation it might have made Stelle red in the cheeks, but all it did now was highlight exactly how precarious of a situation she found herself suddenly in.

Her heart beat loudly in her chest, fear gripping it and twisting until her extremities felt numb. Every cell in her body was screaming at her in danger, telling her to find a way to escape the certain death that awaited her. Yet she could do nothing but hold as still as possible, the threat of the blade against her throat keeping her in place.

"A bat? Really? What were you expecting to do with that?" The intruder mocked.

"W-What do you want?" Stelle gasped out. Her voice wavered.

Her wrist was freed and the hand that was previously twisting it now reached up and cupped Stelle's chin, yanking it to the side and forcing her to stare into maroon eyes.

"Listen. You're going to tell me everything you know about me." She spoke.

Stelle gaped. "What are you talking about?" She stuttered out.

The woman frowned. "Listen. You're going to tell me what you were planning on doing out here."

Stelle's heart sank. Was she dealing with some sort of crazy person? Did she not see that clearly she was the one intruding? Not her?

"I-I live here. There was a crash and I came to check it out." Stelle answered.

The red haired woman scanned Stelle's face. Stelle could see her eyes dart up and down, to each and every feature, likely searching for some sort of lie.

The woman in red sighed before releasing her. Stelle backed away with a stumble as she gasped in as much air as she could, having unknowingly been holding her breath.

"Leave. Forget that you saw me. I'll be gone by the morning."

Stelle blinked, her hands were trembling and she was prepared to do exactly what the woman was asking of her.

At least until she saw the slight hunch from the woman and how she was now clutching her side once more. In a manner similar to how Stelle initially found her. There was a faint red seeping up her white shirt that was tucked into her high waisted shorts.

She could leave, and ignore what she just saw. Or… she could be an idiot. And speak up.

"Y-You're bleeding." Stelle pointed out, unable to stop herself.

If it were a few years ago, perhaps a decade ago. She would have simply complied with what the woman wanted. But she had changed since then, and the kids she had taken in had left their mark on her, in more ways than one.

Red Hair scowled at her. "Leave."

Stelle hesitated, before she put the lantern down by the base of the shed and left back towards the house. It was nearly pitch black outside without the light but she was able to maneuver her way into her house and into the medical cabinet she kept near the front of the house with ease. It was always somewhere easy to access in case one of the kids hurt themselves outside.

She grabbed a roll of bandages and gauze, a few cleaning swabs and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She closed the cabinet quietly, making sure not to make any loud noises to wake the kids.

Stelle walked back outside to the shed, taking care with her steps in the dark. When she reappeared, the woman glared at her once more.

"Do you lack some sort of basic self preservation instinct?" She spat. Her tone was more biting than before, but still held hints of the rich velvetines that alluded how it was likely tied to her natural voice.

Stelle silently agreed with the woman, she didn't really have any idea what she was doing back here. She just knew she couldn't leave someone possibly bleeding out in her shed. She kneeled down with the supplies, unsure if she should help or if the woman knew basic first aid herself.

There was another sigh from the woman, one of annoyance and resignation.

"Sit." She spoke.

Stelle complied.

"Don't try anything funny or you won't even realize you died." Red Hair warned, one of her hands very obviously gripped on the long sword that was previously held against her neck.

Stelle pursed her lips. "Not planning on it…" She muttered to herself. It was clear from the flick of her eyes that the injured woman heard her, but she refrained from commenting.

"Take out the supplies one by one. Show me each of them."

Stelle didn't like being bossed around, but she was lucid enough to realize the implied threat behind each of the commands. The woman was paranoid. Stelle didn't want anything to do with her, she just didn't want to deal with a dead body in the morning. She took out each basic medical supply and showed it slowly to the woman.

Stelle rolled her eyes internally at how seriously the woman was looking at each basic medical supply. Stelle wasn't a nurse, but the kids had hurt themselves often enough that she knew how to clean a basic wound.

When Stelle got to the rubbing alcohol, the injured woman spoke up. "Wait." She called, causing Stelle to freeze. "Drink it."

Stelle stared at the woman, trying to process what she just heard. "...What?"

"Drink it."

"It's… rubbing alcohol. It's not meant for drinking."

"Poison." Red Hair said simply.

The bottle of alcohol was snatched from her hands. The top was uncapped and parts of it was splashed onto one of the woman's hands, soaking a gloved finger in it. Said finger was then thrust forward into Stelle's face.

"Suck." Red Hair said.

"W-What?" Stelle repeated, trying but failing to understand what was going on.

"If it's not poison. Then you wouldn't mind ingesting a little? A small amount such as this won't hurt you if it's just alcohol." Red Hair explained slowly, as if she was talking to a child.

Stelle stared at the extended gloved digit. There was something seriously wrong with the woman in front of her. She had to… suck on her finger? What sort of messed up logic was that? Logic that, admittedly might have made sense if it wasn't for the fact that it was just rubbing alcohol and Stelle didn't even have any poison or knowledge how to make some.

"I…" Stelle sighed, giving up and just deciding to get on with it. The faster she helped this woman the faster she could get out of her life and the faster things could go back to normal.

She precariously moved her head forward, taking the alcohol soaked finger into her mouth. She shuddered at the strong, and frankly disgusting taste of the rubbing alcohol that permeated through her mouth. Some odd part of her made sure to lick the digit inside her mouth, just to make sure that the woman couldn't claim something odd about how she was trying to get out of it.

Perhaps, in another situation, Stelle would have found such an action erotic. To have a beautiful woman's finger inside her mouth, licking it clean. But instead the second Stelle backed away, finger no longer inside her mouth, she looked away from the woman and gagged. The horrendous taste of rubbing alcohol triggering the bodily reflex. She couldn't stop herself from gathering any lingering fluids inside her mouth and spitting it out. Anything to escape the horrible taste.

Red Hair seemed to be unfazed by her actions, instead choosing to study her for some sign that could only be known to her. After a minute of uncomfortable staring, she finally spoke again.

"Alright." She said simply, one hand unbuttoning her shorts. She pulled the side down and her white blood stained shirt up to expose a nasty wound. "Get to work."

Stelle hesitated. She had never dealt with a wound larger than a few scratches, and this seemed much bigger. It was a long large thin cut that seemed to be about as long as Stelle's hand. It was a clean cut, seemingly made of something sharp, like a sword.

Despite her hesitation and inexperience with these types of wounds, Stelle got to work. Sitting around and lamenting would get nothing done.

She was acutely aware of the gaze from the woman on her at all points. As if she was sensing for any single moment that Stelle was going to turn on her.

Stelle ignored the gaze, if the woman wanted to stare that was fine. She simply needed to clean the wound, bandage it and get it over with.

She worked meticulously. When she dabbed the wound with the cleaning swabs, there was a tiny flinch from the woman, but ultimately nothing was said.

If nothing else, she was a good patient. The large nature of the wound took time but Stelle didn't have to use time on other things like calming her down or getting her to stop crying. All things she normally had to do with the kids.

There were other things Stelle noticed, such as the high quality of the woman's clothes, or how her skin seemed to be flawless and smooth. Cut notwithstanding.

Before she knew it, she was done dressing and patching up the wound. She took a second to look it over, making sure everything was done correctly and stepped back.

"There." Stelle said. "All patched up."

Red Hair held her gaze for a moment before she took her eyes off her for the first time since Stelle entered the shed again. Her gloved fingers glanced over the now dressed wound and she inspected it carefully. When she was done, she looked back up and met Stelle's golden eyes.

"Thank you." The woman said softly, her maroon eyes losing the razor sharp edge they had for just a moment.

Stelle blinked, feeling suddenly breathless at the sincerity of the woman's words.

"Y-You're welcome." She said, more out of habit than anything.

Stelle held the woman's gaze for a few beats longer, until the familiar steely glint came back to them.

"Now leave, forget I was here. I'll be gone by morning." Red Hair said, echoing her words from earlier.

Stelle nodded, moving to grab the medical supplies before stopping. She opted to leave them for the woman. She had extra in the cabinet anyways. Stelle scooped up the lantern and fallen bat and stepped out of the shed. She looked back to see the faint outline of the woman still inside the shed.

Stelle turned and walked away, heading back inside the house. When she checked the time, she knew that she had only a few hours before the sun would be up, and that she wouldn't be able to sleep after such a night.

She decided to stay on the couch of the living room, half dozing off until the tell tale rays of sunshine peeked through the windows.

When Stelle checked the shed in the morning. Any trace of the woman was gone. The only evidence being the scattered tools that Stelle would need to clean up sometime later in the day.

Stelle sighed. At least she took the medical supplies.

Start: May 11th. 2023.

End May 11th. 2023.

Words: 2557

I genuinely have zero idea where this concept came from. I was just trying to write the next chapter of Stellarium and then BOOM plot bunny and suddenly I was 2.5k words in and the pilot chapter was done. Uh. I have kafstelle brain rot.

Enjoy. Also yes Kiana, Mei, Aether and Lumine are Stelle's little children she's taking care of.

-FN