The Bond of the Broken

Talia was a little startled by Tatyina's need to comfort her. It only made her feel awful seeing the girl try so hard just to make sure Talia was okay. She wanted to tell her that she didn't have to try to make her feel better. That, if anything, she should be ignoring her. Or making her life harder. Everyone else already was. Tatyina had more of a right than anyone to pick up the pillow from behind Talia's head and suffocate her. But she couldn't say a word. Talia looked at the nurse and pointed toward the door.

It was at that time that a security guard forcefully pulled Aurora off of Cassie. She tried to shake him free but didn't want to be too violent. "Hey, don't touch me. SHE is the one who tried to kill my sister!" she yelled while pointing towards Cassie. One of the nurses knelt beside Cassie to check on her. "You should be fucking arresting her for attempted murder." Aurora stopped resisting as the guard pushed her against the wall and ordered her to calm down just as another guard arrived. "I was just protecting my sister. You'd do the same in my shoes." The other security guard hovered over Cassie unsure whether she was actually a threat or not.

While all of this commotion was going on, Talia just laid there in her bed. At least it felt secure in a hospital. Even with everything going on, she felt somewhat protected. The yelling voice didn't entirely make sense to her. What the hell was going on? All she could really think about was Tatyina right on top of her. At least she was doing better than her. Hopefully at her current rate, Tatyina would be able to walk and return to her life soon. That'd bring a huge sense of relief to Talia.

Cassie stayed down, curled up and covering her head while she sobbed quietly with her face on the floor. She knew security was there, but she didn't bother to look up. They had pulled Aurora off of her, and that was enough.

The security guard standing over her watched long enough to see that she was more pathetic and helpless than threatening. He glanced at Aurora and wondered what kind of crazy she was that would make her attack a girl like this. In a hospital no less.

He squatted down next to her and asked her something in Japanese. She didn't quite catch it, her Japanese wasn't great and she wasn't really listening. He put a hand on her back and tried again in broken English. "What happen here?"

Cassie slowly pulled herself up until she was kneeling on the floor, and wiped the tears from her face. Her short orange hair was tangled and disheveled. When she didn't answer, the guard prompted her again. "Eh?" Cassie only shook her head, and avoided looking at anyone, especially Aurora.

The security guards had had enough of this little squabble and knew that if they didn't separate the two, they would have to get the police involved. The ones by Aurora stood in front of her. "You come with us. Until this gets sorted out, you can't be near the patients. If you don't cooperate, we'll have to escort you out." The said in a serious tone as they tried to escort her to the break room to cool her off.

The one near Cassie remained close by and looked down. "Do you want the police involved? She did assault you, after all?" He asked.

Tatyina listened as she heard stifled voices. It seemed like the worst of it died down but she couldn't move. She knew if she stood up she might fall down. But she also didn't want to move. She clung tightly to Talia and shook her head. She felt like she was the only one who could save the girl and the only way to do that was to shield her with her own body. Tatyina panted softly against the sheets and shook her head. She then turned and looked at the nurse. "Have they stopped?" She asked.

Mamouru had gotten the call from Aurora. She was going to the hospital to check on Talia and he said he would meet up with her. He could help keep her company. It had been so hard for Aurora that she wasn't even thinking about wrestling. He'd scheduled a match but it was cancelled. That didn't matter. He was glad to be there for her.

As he rode up the elevator he checked his phone. He was running a little late but that was alright. She needed SOME time alone with her sister, after all. The doors on the elevator opened and he walked through the hall. When he turned the corner down Talia's wing he saw more people than should be milling about Talia's door. Several security and a few nurses were all crowded around. No one seemed to be moving as if in a panic but Mamouru curiously stepped forward. It looked like a security guard was huddled over someone on the ground as well. He wasn't sure who to approach to ask what the matter was so he decided to catch the nurse closest to him who just seemed to be doing a bit of rubbernecking. "Um, excuse me. Did something happen?" He asked politely.

Cassie kept her head down. She wrung her hands and slouched her shoulders and hoped that somehow if she ignored everything hard enough it would just go away and she'd be left alone in a vacuum, without Talia and without Dark Angel, and without angry women and security guards asking her questions.

She didn't respond at first, but finally she shook her head. "You're sure?" Asked the guard, and after another pause, Cassie nodded.

The guard shook his head and backed off, and then was distracted by Mamouru. "Yes, this girl was attacked by an American woman, but she won't press charges." There was no mistaking Mamouru's voice, and Cassie picked up her head and looked back. The moment she saw him she quickly put her head back down and shut her eyes tight.

Mamouru nodded and frowned. This was where a lot of the AFW wrestlers were brought so maybe one of them got into a scuffle? But that didn't seem right at all. But he didn't have time to think about it. When the guard stepped away, Mamouru caught a glimpse of Cassie and he about nearly passed out. What the hell was going on?!

Mamouru pushed aside the nurse and muscled through the crowd. "Cassie-san?" He said in a low tone as he made his way to her. He watched as she was huddled over and his heart skipped a beat. "Cassie-san!" He said in a much more concerned tone. He bent next to her and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright!? What happened?!"

Aurora never left sight of Cassie. Even as the redhead curled up and looked down, she kept her eyes locked on her. She didn't even look at the security guard as he told her to come with her. "Don't let her trick you with that innocent act," she said pass the guard restraining her and directly at the one talking to Cassie. "She put that patient in a freaking coma for gods sake." Despite the yelling, Aurora let herself get nudged out of the room. After all, Cassie couldn't do anything to Talia with all those people around. "I better not see you near my sister again, you hear me?" She shouted one last time, still not giving a damn that they were in a hospital.

Talia, on the other hand, was starting to piece things together without even trying. One of the voices was very familiar. Where had she heard it before? It almost sounded like her sister but she knew she was over 5,000 miles away. The quieter voices weren't loud enough for Talia to really distinguish. In fact, Talia thought the yelling girl was actually referring to something Talia had done. She wasn't sure if she could handle it if Tatyina's sister walked in and confronted her. Ironically, Tatyina seemed to be the one who would protect her from it all.

Talia looked back at Tatyina and tried her best to force a smile. But she couldn't. It felt so uncomfortable being this close to her. But she also didn't want to seem ungrateful. Tatyina seemed to really want to help people. At the moment, that was what made Tatyina happy. Talia had to play the role. She tried to mutter thank you but it just came out as two groans.

Cassie shrank away from Mamouru's touch, as though it were nearly the same as Aurora's. She didn't look at him right away. Him being there was one of the few things in the world that could make everything simultaneously worse, because as much as she wanted him to hold her she knew that that could never happen.

She nodded her head, finally, and waved him off. She was fine. She'd been roughed up before, and she was tough. Getting beat up wasn't really what bothered her. Aurora, Talia's sister, being so angry at her that she would attack her in a hospital without so much as a "hello", that didn't bother her.

The voice in Cassie's head told her that she was, underneath everything she showed on the outside, the kind of person that deserved that sort of thing. She had turned away Mamouru because he wasn't a good guy, then she'd tried for him and he rejected her. She had no right to judge him, and maybe if she hadn't pretended that she was better than him she wouldn't have driven him to...

A look of shock came over her and she looked up into Mamouru's eyes like she might scream. She suddenly remembered who Aurora was. She was the one Mamouru was with the one day, when they hadn't seen her. She was... Mamouru was...

"Oh, god..." Cassie groaned, and fell forward until her forehead bonked on the tile floor. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, as if holding back the tears was a tremendous physical strain. She had to go, she told herself, and she put her hands down to get up. She backed up a step and looked at Mamouru like a deer frozen in headlights, like a child who had figured out that Santa was a fake, like a spurned woman who then knew she would always be alone. She turned to leave, though she didn't remember which direction she had to go to get out.

"Cassie-san!" Mamouru said when Cassie fell forward. He reached out for her but after her initial rebuke, his hand was more timid. Mamouru froze when Cassie looked back at her. He stared into her eyes searching for the knowledge they held. He had no clue what she knew but it seemed like she had a terrible secret. As if he was a murderer and she was the only witness and knew if she didn't tread carefully, she'd be the next victim.

Mamouru watched as Cassie turned her back. She was leaving and Mamouru shook his head. "No... Cassie-san, no!"

He threw himself forward, landing on his knees hard and threw his arms around her waist. "Cassie-san, don't leave! Please don't go!" He pleaded. If she left now, he might never see her again. "Not... again..." He said, barely even realizing he was adding those words.

Cassie stopped. She didn't bother struggling against Mamouru because it just seemed too violent. She sighed and looked down at his hands wrapped around the front of her. You can tell a lot about someone from there hands, if they were hard and callused or soft and manicured, or from where they had been. Cassie avoided touching Mamouru's hands because she didn't want to find out which category his belonged to.

"Sorry, Mamouru," she said. "That... I judged you before. You can do whatever you want." She looked back at him. "Can you let go now? I don't think I'm welcome here..."

Mamouru's eyes widened at Cassie's words. He looked up at her and shook her head. "Cassie-san..." He said softly. "I'm... I'm not worried about that, right now." He said and stood up. "I don't know what happened but, you obviously came up here for a reason. Don't go, just yet." He said and looked over Cassie. "Can we go somewhere and talk for a moment, at least?" He asked.