The Dragon's Vessel

Kimi and Laxus arrived back to their house, it seemed like a blur getting out of the car and getting Masumi inside. They had gone to see Jinxx who had informed them of Masumi’s injuries and patched her up as much as she could. Masumi had severe lacerations down to the tissue on her back, a few broken fingers, a broken rib, and severe internal bruising.

"We'll have to tell her the complete truth," Kimi stated her thoughts out loud, breaking the silence as they entered their house. "Her boyfriend is...was a dangerous demon. She's not safe." Kimi rambled.

"Guess she can join the club on being safe," Laxus muttered half-heartedly.

"Put her in my bed, I'll sleep on the couch," Kimi replied, ignoring the dark comment he just made. Laxus moved to Kimi’s bedroom and placed Masumi on the bed gently as Kimi moved about making sure Masumi wasn’t lying too harshly on her back injuries. “Can you get me a glass of water and some painkillers to leave here in case she wakes?” Kimi asked, not seeing Laxus leave silently to do so.

Once Kimi had done all she could to make Masumi as comfortable as possible she stepped back and watched her friend before leaving Masumi to rest as Laxus brushed passed to place the water and painkillers down on the bedside table.

Kimi made her way into the living room and spotted Priscilla on the couch, both women exchanged a tense smile as Kimi collapsed onto the couch beside her.

"Hey, how's she doing?" Priscilla asked as she placed her empty cup down on the coffee table in front of them.

"She's.... doing," Kimi muttered, unsure of where to begin. "She has some severe injuries... if I had gotten there sooner I could have thrown myself in the way. Taken her injuries," Kimi tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling with a frown. "I can heal, she's going to have to live with what he did to her." Kimi forced down her tears by closing her eyes.

"What actually happened? She looked kinda bad but I only caught a glimpse," Priscilla asked.

"Her boyfriend attacked her, he... wasn't human... Laxus referred to him as a demon and his strength was on par with Laxus…” Kimi paused as she got a flashback of what happened, shaking slightly at the memory, “until I gave Laxus a boost of strength." Kimi finished, recalling the kiss and her stomach twisted into knots. "Gray grew a tail, his eyes were completely dark." Kimi couldn't get the image of Gray's demonic form out of her head.

"Shit, a demon? That's... beyond my knowledge.” Priscilla tried to imagine what Kimi was going through but couldn’t comprehend it. “Like well beyond, sorry. I'm sure someone in the Legion has knowledge on them though," she suggested knowing she didn't give much help.

"I've never heard of demons before but Laxus seemed to know, so maybe Ryujin does as well? After all, they're ancient." Kimi couldn't stop her mind from reeling. "But if they knew why have they never mentioned demons before? Does that mean there are other creatures too?" Kimi sat forward and buried her head in her hands.

"Knowledge is power and too much power can be dangerous. Perhaps they didn't mention anything before to protect you or even themselves?" Priscilla tried to justify their reasons for not sharing that kind of information.

"Even so, now we have a new threat." Kimi muttered, "we'll have to let Andrei know so his team is prepared." Kimi concluded with a heavy sigh.

"On it," Priscilla declared, pulling out her phone and beginning to type quickly. Silence consumed both women as Priscilla finished sending the message. "There, he should be well informed now," she said turning to give Kimi a worried look, "would you like a drink?" she offered Kimi, noting that she looked exhausted.

Kimi opened her tired eyes, "I'd love a tea please," Kimi said softly.

"Sure." Priscilla got up and went into the kitchen, allowing Kimi to reclose her eyes and almost drift to sleep. "Here you go," Priscilla came back into the lounge and placed the hot tea down in front of Kimi.

"Thank you," Kimi muttered, sitting back up and picking the mug up. She blew on the tea before sipping at it. "I wish things could settle and be calm for at least a moment before something crazy happens," Kimi admitted quietly.

"We need to stay on alert but at the same time we need to enjoy ourselves?" Priscilla asked than said.

Kimi turned to look at Priscilla, "enjoying ourselves? I've almost forgotten what it's like to have fun... it feels like every time I try something bad happens," Kimi stated softly.

"Well, what do you like to do for fun? Before all this shit started happening that is," Priscilla tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she asked Kimi her interests.

Kimi pondered for a moment in thought, "I liked singing, playing the violin and piano." Kimi smiled at the thought, "but I had to sell my instruments when our apartment got too small and we needed money." She sighed.

"Karaoke bar!" Priscilla suddenly said with glee, causing Kimi to flinch slightly at the sudden excitement from Priscilla, "I know a good one, we can sing all night," the blonde female suggested, wanting Kimi to get hyped up at the idea as well.

"If you can convince Andrei and Laxus to let me go, sure. But I also want to be here when Masumi wakes up..." Kimi smiled, grateful for Priscilla's attempt to cheer her up.

“We'll wait for Masumi to recover then we'll go, she'll need the pick me up.” Priscilla stated, “also don't worry about Andrei and Laxus, they won't be able to say no," she grinned.

"Sounds like you have a master plan," Kimi commented, "what kind of hobbies do you enjoy?" Kimi asked, changing the subject.

"Me? Oh, I love reading and watching TV mostly, anything to do with the fantasy world, as for my master plan, you'll have to wait and see" Priscilla laughed, tapping her nose.

"Fantasy?" Kimi giggled, "I wouldn't have pegged you for being a bit of a nerd," Kimi stated, trying to picture the special forces agent watching Lord of the Rings. "I enjoy reading too but I get so easily distracted doing something else that I haven't managed to do any reading in a while."

"The fantasy world is so much more interesting, well it was until I found out dragons were real. Yeah, I get that, it's easy to get distracted from reading. What kind of genres do you read?" Priscilla asked, enjoying getting to know Kimi a little bit more.

"It must have been exciting for you, to find out about dragons and know that other creatures could exist out there." Kimi sipped at her drink before continuing, "I like romance mostly, knowing that the characters go through so much for love and it works out for them in the end, it makes me feel hopeful... even when I know it's not possible for me." Kimi finished her thoughts on a dim note, drinking more of her tea.

"It was all very exciting, I just wished I found it out a nicer way.” Priscilla grimaced at the thought of her dragon friend before continuing, “it's possible if books taught me anything it's that ‘anything is possible if you believe it is.’"

Kimi laughed bitterly while shaking her head gently, "I'm in love with Laxus, but we can't be together because of his augmentation." Kimi whispered, looking at Priscilla from the corner of her eyes.

Priscilla’s eyes widen for a moment but she quickly clears her throat, "it can still happen if the both of you want it to happen, but I understand your situation... kind of."

"Laxus won't let it happen. He lost control and I ended up in a coma for a few weeks, that's the end of our love story." Kimi shrugged, placing her empty mug down.

"I'll tell you what a wise man in the Legion once told me... find someone else," Priscilla attempted to joke but sounding slightly sad trying to hide it with humour.

Kimi was caught off guard with Priscilla's advice. "It's hard when I see him almost every day." Kimi tried to defend her feelings.

"I know but it's either be miserable with him or be happy with someone else," Priscilla shrugged, hoping she wasn’t overstepping her boundaries with Kimi.

Kimi paused in thought, "he never made me miserable.” She said firmly, “not being with him is what's causing my misery. Sometimes I'm so sick of being in this situation. The constant danger, the threats, not being with the one I want to be with." Kimi's eyebrows furrowed in sudden anger.

"Well shit, I don't know what to say anymore." Priscilla was stumped for words and too scared to dig herself further into this hole of misery they had dug themselves into.

"I know what I'm saying is selfish but I just want to feel selfish for a little bit longer," Kimi stated.

"And so you should, you do so much for everyone here. It's okay to be selfish every once in a while, you’re only human." Priscilla replied.

"Do I though? I jump into situations and put my Weyr in constant danger." Kimi frowned, taking all the blame upon herself.

"Yes but you take care of them. If you only focus on the bad then no one will ever see the good?" Priscilla countered.

"It's part and parcel of being a vessel I guess." Kimi smiled tightly, getting up and moving to put her dishes away. "Thanks for the talk, I might go take a nap or something. If anyone needs me I'll be sleeping in Erik's room." Kimi declared quickly, disappearing to put her mug into the dishwasher before heading to Erik's room.