II.
-"Uummm, Master?"- Rider pulsed the mental message to Louise as she flew down the road on her scooter, but she completely ignored him. Louise was pushing the bike as hard as its little engine could go, completely ignoring the danger posed by any puddles or hard turns, only slowing down as much as she absolutely had to whenever she took one. She was almost reveling in the feeling of the bike nearly slipping out from under her whenever she hit a particularly slick patch of water, the amount of tension her hands exerted on the handlebars to stay level matching the anger bubbling inside her.
-"Master?"- Rider tried again.
Louise leveled her eyes against the biting cold that stung at her face and hands, having neglected in her haste to leave to bother putting her gloves on. She liked the feeling of the biting chill, but it was doing nothing to cool the heat that was rising in her head and chest.
-"Master."- Rider said flatly this time.
The light ahead changed red before Louise had a chance to fly through it and she had no choice but to come to a screeching halt, the smell of burning rubber wafting up behind her as she came to a stop in an almost horizontal position, putting her foot down to assist in arresting the bike's forward motion.
-"Master I-"- Rider started but couldn't finish.
"Damn it all!" Louise yelled out loud to no one in particular, the stop forcing her mind back to the events that had just occurred. "Who the HELL does he think he is!?" She didn't see it, but the driver of the car stopped next to her had jumped in surprise at Louise's outburst. "How dare he talk to me like that! Did me a favor my ass!" The light turned and Louise peeled away, the other startled driver waiting for her to put distance between them before continuing.
Rider hadn't really seen his Master lose her temper like this and decided it was likely best to let her cool her head in this manner. Considering she had continued to completely ignore him anyway, it wasn't likely anything he said was going to make much difference.
The rest of the drive home continued in much the same way, with Louise recklessly sliding through puddles and intersections alike, determined it seemed to not get caught at any more stops that would rob her of something to focus on other than her frustration. By the time they had reached the Rue Servandoni, Louise had gotten most of her anger out of her system. She parked the bike with care outside Grimaud's and pulled her helmet off. Her face and hands, both bright red from the combination of cold and strain, were drenched with sweat from the exertion of the ride, and her pants and jacket were thoroughly soaked from all the puddles she had driven through.
"We've come back looking worse." Rider said as he materialized. "Are you that tired?"
Rider's question had been prompted by the labored breaths Louise was taking as she looked at the helmet clutched in her hands. Her response, as she stood up off the scooter, was to spike the helmet into the street below. She panted for a moment, watching the helmet bounce away, when its trajectory directed her attention to some city employees who were busily filling in and repairing the damage the street had taken from the night before. There was a strange sort of silent contemplation between the mage and the workers before, slightly embarrassed at her outburst, Louise quietly picked up the helmet and headed inside.
As Louise pushed the blanket aside and entered the apartment she saw Grimaud walking towards the sink in the kitchen area. "Hello, Monsieur." She said in an exhausted tone as she let out a long breath.
"Ah, welcome back." Grimaud turned to look at Louise, dishes still in his hands. "Was the ride that tiring? You look a mess." Rider, who had walked in right behind Louise, couldn't suppress a smirk at this comment.
Louise tried to shake off all the frustration she felt, not wanting to accidentally take it out on her host. "I suppose a little bit. Beyond that-" she started, raising her wounded hand to wring out her soaked hair.
"Again? Louise, you're injured again?" Grimaud's voice was partly concern, but mostly he felt exhaustion at this point on seeing Louise's injury. "What did I ask you when you left?" His tone was definitely one of genuine worry, but there was also a playful note to his voice that Louise picked up on.
"It seems pretty unavoidable at this point." She responded. As she looked back at Grimaud, an expression of gratitude in her eye thanking him for his concern, she noticed that he was holding two sets of empty dishes in his hands. "Is Rosa awake? Did she eat?" Louise couldn't contain the excitement she felt at the thought of Rosa's condition stabilizing so soon.
"Well I will dare to say her convalescence goes well." Grimaud finally placed the dirty bowls and utensils in the sink as he spoke. "But it still seems pretty shaky to me. I'm not the best judge of these things, but she had appetite enough, and was aware of where she was and what was going on." He looked over his shoulder at Louise with a smile. "Asked about you a lot mostly."
Louise couldn't help blushing a little at Grimaud's remark, though it was hardly noticeable through how red her face still was from the cold. She tore her wet jacket off and shoved it and the abused helmet into Rider's arms as she rushed up the stairs to where Rosa was resting. As her heavy steps sounded on the landing and she excitedly threw open the door to the room, Louise heard a sound of aggravated surprise from the direction of the bed. She looked over and saw Rosa in a sort of defensive hunch, half covered by the blanket and attempting to raise her injured body. On perceiving the sudden and unexpected visitor was Louise though her posture almost immediately relaxed and she slowly lowered herself back down.
Louise, now aware of how frantically she had entered the room, quietly closed the door behind her and, in a much more sedated manner than before, crossed the room to Rosa's bedside. "Sorry to startle you, Rosa." She said quietly as she crouched down by the bed. "How are you feeling? You look more awake than before." Louise tried to keep her tone even and calm, not wanting to excite Rosa's state unnecessarily more than she already had, but she couldn't stop a note of optimism from being present.
"The old guy..." Rosa started, her words very rough and unsteady as usual. "Has been nice. Brought me food."
"Yes, Grimaud is incredibly sweet." Louise replied, her genuine affection for the photographer made her glad to hear that Rosa didn't dislike him. "How does your body feel? Do you..." Louise hesitated to ask the next question, worried how it might have a negative effect on Rosa's currently calm state, but she knew it was important to ask regardless. "Have you... heard from... Him, at all?"
Rosa was silent for some time, her gaze directed out the window staring into the cloudy distance. Many parts of her mind still felt far away or foggy, but she eventually turned back to look into Louise's eye with an expression of content with which she tried to mask her concern. "Whatever you did," she pointed to where Lord Wilmore had stabbed her before, "Seems to actually be healing this... finally. I feel... my body feels less heavy."
Louise smiled, reassured that Rosa's more grievous wounds were finally mending.
Rosa continued. "I heard him, whispering to me." Her eyes hardened as she spoke. "I was glad that... it wasn't while your friend was giving me food. Could've been bad." Rosa raised her hand towards Louise who immediately took it between her own. "Your hands are so cold." She said, an expression of concern for Louise flashing across her eyes.
"It was just a chilly ride back." Louise said reassuringly. "I forgot my gloves."
Rosa's look quickly softened at this explanation. "When I heard him, it made my head hurt. Hurt like it always did. I wanted... I want him to go away. I want him to leave me alone. He kept urging me on, it hurt to try and think, couldn't ignore him. But then..." Rosa trailed off.
Louise was worried that the young woman was experiencing some kind of relapse or was hurting, but before she could give voice to her concern she saw a soft blushing smile spread on Rosa's face.
"I heard your voice too." Rosa said, continuing to look warmly on Louise. "And suddenly, his voice wasn't so loud."
Louise pressed Rosa's hand against her cold cheek, the warmth of it stinging a bit as she held it close. She held that position for some time, closing her eye and letting the low heat from Rosa's hand spread through her sore and frigid face. The pair sat there, lost in comfortable silence for some time, neither one wanting to break the calm moment they had found, at peace in each other's presence.
Eventually Louise could feel herself starting to nod off, her head dipping slowly back and forth as sleep attempted to seize hold of her. Rosa, who was just as much being called to the comfortable oblivion of sleep noted Louise's exhaustion. "You're tired. You should rest." She said, the combination of drowsiness and her still fragile state making her voice low and soft.
"No, no I should stay up for now." Louise tried to argue, but the weary state she was currently in, drained equally by sources physical and emotional as she was, robbed her of any conviction the expression should have held. "There's a lot to do. I can't waste the day-" The last word was dragged out into a long yawn which only showed how disingenuous she was being.
Rosa, whose hand was still wrapped up with Louise's, pulled the other young woman with a strength that would not have been supposed for someone in her state. Louise flopped over clumsily from the unexpected motion and was laying half on the bed. Rosa scooted further towards the other side, freeing up space on the surface and indicated to Louise with a concerned look that she meant for her to fill it. "You should rest." Rosa said, a serious tone in her voice. "You fought again today."
It didn't feel right to Louise to argue with an injured person, even less so when they were arguing in favor of what she actually very much desired. The young mage adopted a resigned smile and climbed onto the bed, laying down facing Rosa and using only the edge of the pillow, leaving the majority of it for the still injured young woman.
Rosa, a content smile on her face, closed her eyes and pressed Louise's hand close to her chest. Louise opened her mouth to speak but stopped upon seeing that Rosa had already fallen back asleep. She let the words she had wanted to say die away and, closing her eye as well, drifted off to sleep almost as quickly as Rosa had.