Early the next morning, Mickey walked out of his house. He was on his way to Jaden's as per usual, humming a tune to himself as he walked down his path on this bright, sunny morning. As he approached Jaden's house for his breakfast, he saw the mage lying on the ground, unconscious and badly beaten. He rushed over to her, checking her over and came to the dreadful realisation that the mage was barely breathing. Upon further inspection, he also realised that there was a lot of blood all over her body. Her injured knee that was starting to heal was looking much worse and now both of her legs were broken. Her side was ripped open and blood was pouring out at an alarming rate.

Unsure of how to properly handle this situation, Mickey pulled out his phone and hurriedly sent a text to the village group chat, informing everyone on what has happened to Jaden. At this point Mickey was getting desperate as he cast a worried look over to Jaden's broken body sprawled across the wet, morning grass. He sent another message, begging for anybody's assistance to come and help as he couldn't do it alone. Whilst he waited for someone else to show up, he pressed his hands against the wound on her side, hoping to stop the bleeding.

His phone kept vibrating every two seconds as everyone around the village started to respond to his messages, worrying about Jaden's safety. It didn't take long for Merlin, the first person to arrive, to show up. He was shortly followed by both Malibu and Brooklyn, who practically ran straight from the beach the second they saw the text.

"What's happened here?" Malibu asked fearfully as she knelt down beside Mickey, hastily looking over Jaden in a blind panic.

Mickey shrugged his slim shoulders, his voice shaking with undisguised terror. "I-I have no idea. I found her like this…" His voice trailed off sadly, his hands still not moving from their place on Jaden's wound.

Brooklyn nodded at Mickey, placing a comforting hand on his shoulders before turning to Malibu with the first aid kit she brought along. She saw Malibu's briefly panicked features return to relief. She had obviously forgotten to pick it up herself as she rushed out of the door, her usually logical, quick thinking vanished as her only thought was to get to Jaden as fast as possible. Malibu thanked her girlfriend with a grateful nod of her head. The blonde woman then instructed Mickey to remove his hands from Jaden's wound so that Malibu could inspect it herself and bandage it up. Much to her surprise, Mickey obeyed immediately, removing his white gloved hands, which were now soaked red with Jaden's blood.

As Malibu began her work, Merlin, who couldn't stand to sit around and just watch, decided to make himself busy. He got up from his kneeled place on the ground and started glancing around the front garden to see if he could figure out what exactly happened here. That's when he noticed a trail of blood dripping down from the roof, the red glistening against the harsh sunlight. Merlin narrowed his eyes against the glare, his mind working overtime. Did Jaden fall off the roof? If she did, then what was she doing on the roof? Glancing back towards Jaden's unconscious form, Merlin's heart constricted as the most likely explanation entered to the forefront of his mind; Was what he was looking at a suicide attempt? Knowing Jaden's past behaviour it was certainly possible. He sighed sadly at the notion. It was obvious that she hadn't been acting herself recently, she clearly needed help but she evidently didn't know how to ask for it.
Gathering his breath together, Merlin looked over to the small group of Malibu, Brooklyn and Mickey hustled around Jaden. "It was a suicide attempt." Merlin told them simply.

Brooklyn frowned at the statement, looking over at where Merlin's gaze travelled over to the blood dripping from the roof, then back over at Jaden's condition once more. She could see where Merlin was coming from. Judging from the deep gash in her side and her broken body that was likely caused by falling from a great hight, it did look like a suicide attempt on the surface. However, if you took the time to pay more close attention to what lay beneath, there was something more sinister hidden. Both Jaden's face and body were covered in dark bruises, indicating that these were not self-inflicted. It looked like she had just come out of a fight, and if that was indeed the case, then maybe it wasn't Jaden who threw herself off of the roof. Perhaps it was somebody else who did it for her.

Brooklyn concluded that there was no way this was a suicide attempt. Jaden was too badly beaten and she doubted that Jaden would have beaten herself up like this for a suicide. No, this definitely wasn't a suicide. It was an assault.
She was just about to voice her opinion when at that moment, Ken stepped out of Jaden's house, having only just woken up. His gaze caught sight of the small huddled group first, then he sighed when he saw Jaden lying unconscious on the ground.

"I told her not to leave the house in her condition. Stubborn bitch…" Ken muttered the last part, though loud enough for everyone else to hear.

Seeing Ken and his aggressive tone made everything fall into place for Brooklyn's hypothesis, everything was starting to make a whole lot more sense to her now, her hands were shaking at her side, unable to contain her anger towards the man. "And I bet you had something to do with this." Brooklyn spat at him.

Malibu frowned and then gave Brooklyn a confused look. "You think Ken had something to do with this? But why? Merlin said it was a suicide attempt!" Malibu's bewildered voice cracked, not wanting to believe what Brooklyn was suggesting. She looked over at her childhood friend, her rose-tinted glasses refusing to acknowledge what might be considered the truth. No, there's no way that Ken had anything to do with this. I know he hasn't been exactly kind to Jaden, he did stab her that one time, but he wouldn't try to kill her! He's not a violent man! The stabbing incident was just a onetime occurrence! But even as Malibu tried to convince herself, she couldn't help the familiar feeling of dread consuming her.

Ken marched up to Brooklyn, glaring angrily at her. "You think I did this?" Ken forced his face to relax, attempting to hide his outrageous features in favour of appearing hurt, concerned even. "I know I've hurt Jaden before, but that doesn't mean I will hurt her again. I've already apologised for what I've done! Merlin's right, this is clearly a suicide attempt."

Brooklyn however, was not falling for Ken's 'innocent' act. "Take a good, long, hard look at her! She's badly beaten! You can't expect me to believe that this is a suicide attempt. You were the only one with her last night, so clearly you had a hand in all of this!" Brooklyn raged at Ken, having to be held down by Malibu so she wouldn't lunge at him.

"Barbie…" Malibu hissed in Brooklyn's ear as Merlin grabbed Ken by the shoulders, hoping to put an end to this argument.
Brooklyn's stance relaxed against Malibu's hold, being a little taken aback by both the use of her full first name and the anger in Malibu's voice.

Malibu didn't say anything further, focusing her attention back on Jaden as she let go of Brooklyn. She was thankful that whilst she was trying to calm her girlfriend down that Mickey had taken the reigns to stop the bleeding on Jaden's knee. Malibu finished wrapping up the wound on Jaden's side, and turned her attention to the reopened wound on her knee.

"Perhaps arguing amongst ourselves isn't such a good idea." Merlin spoke, letting go of Ken as the man started to struggle against the wizard's grip. "We should ask Jaden herself when she wakes up on what happened."

Everybody reluctantly agreed with nods of their heads. Everyone remained silent as Malibu and Mickey finished treated Jaden's wounds. Malibu then took Jaden in her arms and walked inside the house, laying Jaden down onto her bed, the blonde woman needing to get away from the tense atmosphere. She was still angered by her girlfriend's accusations towards Ken. How could she think that he was the one responsible for Jaden's condition? She couldn't help but reach out her heart towards him. He was the one who was supposed to be looking after her, he must feel awful that she tried to kill herself on his watch. Ken was a very sympathetic man, the knowledge alone must be killing him.
When everyone else started coming into the house, Malibu headed back outside to clear her head, but not before telling Brooklyn to stay with Jaden, knowing if the mage were to wake up she wouldn't want to be alone.

Unbeknownst to Malibu, Ken also left the house, choosing to stand on the step outside. He knew if he was left to stay with Brooklyn, it would only lead into more fights. As much as he wanted to slap the ever-living shit out of Brooklyn for humiliating him in front of Malibu, he understood he had to remain civil if he wanted to get into Malibu's good books. He hated that Brooklyn suspected him as the perpetrator of Jaden's injuries. In the angered state that he was currently in, he knew that if he continued to argue, then he was probably going to accidentally let something slip. As long as he kept his cool, he didn't have to worry. He knew Jaden would never tell Brooklyn the truth, not wanting to break this deal between the two of them. Besides, even without the deal hanging over her head, what was left of Jaden's pride wouldn't allow her to speak up about it either.

That knowledge alone was more than enough for a nasty smirk to grace his lips.


Back in the living room, Mickey and Merlin were sat in the living room, restless and anxious. The wizard and the mouse were both unsure on how to help Jaden. In fact, they were more than relieved when Brooklyn offered to take the reins. She had suggested to the both of them that they were more than welcome to go home if they didn't want to stay any longer, but the pair had shaken their heads in unison, insisting that they wanted to stay close by in case Jaden, or even Brooklyn for that matter, needed anything.

Brooklyn was sat beside Jaden on the bed, stroking the mage's hair as she slept. Try as hard as she might, she still couldn't get the conversation of herself and Ken out of her head. She wanted to be wrong about this being Ken's doing, but there was always that nagging feeling at the back of her head that Ken never hid the fact that he didn't like Jaden, and had hurt her in the past. However, if she was right then she was going to have a hard time convincing Malibu, who clearly wasn't buying that Ken wasn't capable of harming her. Then there was the matter of getting Jaden some help. If this was truly a suicide attempt like Merlin suggested, then they couldn't let Jaden carry on like this. Or maybe it was both? Perhaps Ken did start out by hurting her and then Jaden tried to take her own life to end the pain and suffering? Either way she looked at it, Ken was still involved. Of that she was sure of.

Brooklyn was still sitting next to Jaden on the bed a few hours later when she heard a faint groan coming from the mage as she slowly opened her eyes. Brooklyn had to gently push Jaden back against the pillows as she tried to sit up.

Jaden tensed up slightly when she felt the hand on her shoulder, but when she turned and saw that it was Brooklyn, she relaxed, though not completely. "Brooklyn?..." Her voice sounded weak and dry.

Brooklyn carefully helped her sit up before passing her a glass of water. However, due to how weak Jaden was, she couldn't hold the glass herself, so Brooklyn took it from her and helped Jaden take a sip of the water.

"What…happened?..." Jaden asked as Brooklyn placed the glass back onto the bedside table.

"I was going to ask you that," Brooklyn replied gently, "Mickey found you outside badly beaten and he told the entire village. When Malibu and I saw the message, we came running. We didn't even finish our breakfast." Brooklyn chuckled slightly, trying to make light of the situation. "Merlin suspected that you tried to commit suicide, but honestly, I don't believe that."

Jaden sighed to herself. "Yeah…I tried to kill myself…I was drunk and…" She trailed off her sentence, unsure on how to finish.

Almost immediately, Brooklyn could tell she was lying, though she didn't dare question it. She knew that if she did, she'd only end up pushing Jaden away instead of gathering the information she needed. But she had to wonder why she'd lie. Was she trying to protect Ken? This theory of hers was looking more and more likely.
She kissed Jaden's forehead, her following voice broken and hoarse. "You know if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. I don't want you to suffer in silence."

"Thanks, but I'd rather keep my problems to myself. Easier to deal with that way. The less people that know, the better…" Jaden said sadly, her eyes averting from Brooklyn's.

Brooklyn sighed, shaking her head dejectedly. Though before she could say something comforting, Rafa walked in with a pizza box. He walked over to the bed and placed the box onto the table. His usual bright smile was absent, in it's place was a concerned frown.

"A delivery from Malibu," Rafa indicated to the pizza boxes, "she's still mad at you, Brooklyn for accusing Ken." He said, ignoring the way Brooklyn was trying to silence him with a pointed glare.

"Wait, you thought Ken did this?..." Jaden questioned Brooklyn. She knew she should have expected someone to figure it out eventually, she just didn't think it would be so soon. Now she had to convince Brooklyn that it was indeed a suicide attempt.

Brooklyn's reply to that was a sigh and a nod before speaking. "Yes, I think Ken did this. After all, he was supposed to be looking after you and the fact that you two aren't exactly friendly with each other. I mean, he did beat and stabbed you." Brooklyn pointed out.

Jaden turned her head to stare Brooklyn in her distraught brown eyes, hoping it was going to make her seem more convincing. Liars always never looked you in the eyes, that was a tactic that Jaden had learned from a very young age. "Look, I was drunk and I tried to kill myself. That's all that happened. Ken doesn't even know what happened. I do crazy shit when I'm drunk…" She didn't want to seem desperate for Brooklyn to believe her, but she understood if Brooklyn had told Malibu, which she clearly had, that if Malibu started to believe her then this whole deal would be off, and Ken would go back to Malibu and all this pain would be for nothing. However, judging from the the from the disbelief look that Brooklyn was giving Jaden, the mage could tell that Brooklyn wasn't falling for her lies. Jaden groaned, not yet ready to give up. "Please, you have to believe me, it was a suicide attempt. Nothing more." Her voice was firm and final on the matter, indicating she was done arguing about this.

Brooklyn saw through Jaden's lies like a transparent pane of glass. What Jaden didn't seem to realise, Brooklyn noted, was that it wasn't her convincing words that was a dead give way (though that was a part of it), it was the desperation lingering in her eyes, crying out for help. In that moment Brooklyn, wondering why Jaden was even bothering to cover for Ken in the first place. Why would she try to hide what Ken was doing to her? Perhaps letting Jaden think Brooklyn brought her lies would be better for the time being instead of trying to push her away. She needed to do some more digging into Ken before Brooklyn could push the subject any further, wanting to remain in both Jaden and Malibu's good books.

With her mind made up, Brooklyn kissed Jaden's head. "Alright, I believe you. If you say it's a suicide attempt, then I'm just going to have to believe you. I'm sorry for accusing Ken, I was just worried about you." It was a weak apology, and Brooklyn knew it. She couldn't find it within herself to muster up a genuine apology towards that bastard when he hadn't proved himself to warrant one.

With Brooklyn seeming to now be swayed towards Jaden's lies, the mage relaxed against the pillows. She was unsure if Brooklyn actually believed her, but she didn't have the energy to question it further. This for now, will have to do.

She knew it was only a matter of time before Brooklyn would start asking more questions, but that was the price she had to pay if she was going to continue to go down the lying path, then she would just have to start getting creative with her lies.
She had made her bed, and now she was forced to lie in it.