Post Party Trauma

Had she overdone it? Perhaps.
If you asked anyone but Kennedy, the answer would be yes. Linus had agreed, together with Francis, that they would not reveal just how powerful Kennedy was to any of the Serpent members. It had been easy for him to figure out, as he too was a unique shapeshifter, but he could also see the trauma, the hidden debts of darkness in the young woman’s eyes.
So, when she had been lying over the bar counter, after having drowned an entire rum herself, he had done something he usually would never do—meddled. Even though he had seen the looks that Kennedy had given Cyrus, something told him that he might be the only one that could talk some sense into her. Or so he hoped, so when he heard the car park in the garage, he moved away from the bar where he had kept an eye on Kennedy, walking over and giving Cyrus a pad on his shoulder; “She is a terrible shape, I’ve tried to get her home for a couple of hours now, she came stumbling in, high as a kite, and has now drowned an entire bottle on her own” he explained. He nodded and made his way home, sure that Cyrus would be able to take it from here.
Kennedy looked up as she smelled Cyrus; now, if she had been her usual self, she would have apologised for the day she hadn’t shown up on their agreed outing. But she didn’t. Instead, she scoffed “shouldn’t you be in bed with the misses?” she wondered, turning her head away from him; she hated that he saw her like this.

Cyrus parked the car in the garage, and even though he was incredibly tired, he didn’t sit in the car for long. Somewhat surprised, he was met by Linus. His brows furrowed as he received information he hadn’t expected to receive. When his eyes found Kennedy, there were no questions, and he simply gave Linus a short nod. “I’ll see what I can do,” he told him quietly before he let Linus go back home.
He walked towards her and received a question he should’ve prepared himself for. But he hadn't been. “Sometimes we have other plans,” he replied, clapping his hands together, not telling her whether it was him or her who was busy, or simply none of them. It was also good to be able to sleep apart from each other, and sometimes, he simply missed his messy dirty home.
“Shouldn’t you be in your bed?” he wondered and walked over to sit next to her, tilting his head a little, hoping that she would eventually turn to face him, but he wouldn’t force her. He knew that every serpent had its boundaries and sometimes, it was a bad idea to try and push them.

She clicked her tongue and used her index finger to glide over her nose; she could feel how raw it felt; she had been taking a little too many lines today.
“Want to see a magic trick?” she asked, not even waiting for his reply before she, with the flick of her hand while having the bottle loosely in between her fingers, then she threw the bottle. It smacked against the rack where twenty or so other bottles were standing, but only fell down, landed on a pen that Linus had forgotten to put back, dangling on the edge, and then the bottle she had thrown fell down again, landing on the other side of the pen, and just like everything had been made with a careful setup the filled bottle flew towards her. She grabbed it with her free hand—“How can a person be so lucky that she can throw a bottle and then grab it, but the one person that she has loved for five years ends up with someone else? Because she was too scared to say something, and then when she finds someone else, he finds someone too… like some cruel joke from the universe” she snorted a laugh and opened the bottle to proceed to drink; she wasn’t going home, far from it.

She didn’t reply to his question but instead started to show him a magic trick. He raised his brows as she suddenly threw a bottle and eventually a new flask ended in her hand. He blinked a little and looked back at her as she started rambling. He furrowed his brows as she spoke about how the people she loved found someone else to be with. She laughed and opened the bottle. “Kennedy,” he said wanting to remove the bottle from her. If she had already been drinking one bottle and was high, she definitely didn’t need more to keep her brain subdued. “Please give the bottle to me,” he said not wanting to directly take it form her since it could end up badly or with wasted alcohol. “Who knows, maybe it’s not your time with them, maybe you’re lucky that you’re not with them,” he told her, hoping that it was going to help her with seeing the logic he saw right now. No, he didn’t see the message she tried to deliver. She didn’t know that the person who she had loved for five years was him.

She put the flask down, harder than she had wanted to look at him, really looking at him, for the first time after he had gotten inside the bar. “You don’t get it, do you” she whispered, choking back a sob before it turned into a bitter laugh. She let him take the bottle away, giving him what he wanted.  “It’s you, you idiot; it’s always been you” she moved her hands to the edge of the counter and pushed herself away from it, “I just, I just really want to be happy for you and Delphine, and I really hoped that finding someone else would, would at least make my mind understand that it shouldn’t love you anymore, but it’s like I can’t breathe, it’s, it's like I can’t even take a breath” she whispered, another chocked sob wanted to leave her. Still, she denied it which ended up making her feel how it hurt her throat as she sank—letting the back of her hand glide over her cheeks. “Fine, I’ll go home—” she wouldn’t, but maybe she could get him off her back, and she could find somewhere else to drink now that she had been cut off here. She was staggering on her legs toward the door, hot tears gliding down her cheeks.

He blinked a couple of times when she hammered the flask down and whispered to him. It was an intense contrast that was almost heartbreaking. He could see just how much it hurt her. That he clearly didn’t get the problem.

It’s always been you.

It was a heavy stone to be served and for a moment he felt speechless and tried to scroll back in the conversation to remember how she had been too scared to say anything. He watched how she almost choked on a sob. Maybe he was definitely not the right person to talk to her. He was only making the situation worse. “Ken-” he spoke softly but she told him she would go home. She got onto her legs, that almost resembled cooked spaghetti with how she had trouble holding her balance and walking. He got up from his seat and walked over to her, walking next to her, following her drunken pace. “You’re going to fall,” he told her, but didn’t reach out to support her, because he was certain that it wasn’t going to help anything, but he wasn’t going to let her fall. He wanted to support her, even if it meant that he was going to tug her in when she got home. He wished for her to get home safe, because like this, she could be ending up somewhere she would wish she never got to.

A bitter laugh left her when he told her that she was going to fall “couldn’t, even if I wanted to”, she whispered, turning her head and looking at him—did she dare to tell him the time she had been sitting with a gun. The barrel of the gun pressed against her temple. And with a simple squeeze, she could have ended it—but each time, something had happened, and she hadn’t been hurt. It was the same with the experiments that had been done on her; just how far could they go before they would end up killing her? And as by some stupid coincidence, the instruments had stopped working, or a brilliant idea was suddenly settling in one of the doctor's minds and instead of killing her, they saved her. The scars covering her body were the evidence.
She walked past a table, and just her luck, there was a new bottle of beer, untouched. So, she took it and started drinking again.
It hadn’t gone unnoticed by how he hadn’t commented on what she had just told him. Looking over her shoulder, her swimming eyes took him in, “I could have made you so happy if you had just seen me”, she whispered before staggering out of the bar.

Cyrus sighed when she mentioned how she couldn’t fall even if she wished to. He was certain that she could fall, but she would most definitely just land softly, or as he thought about it, he was going to catch her. He had no idea how one could be as lucky as she was. Just as they had spoken about it, she found another bottle of alcohol which made Cyrus clench his teeth. She then turned to him, telling him how happy she could have made him if she had just seen her. He didn’t even understand what she meant by her because he had always seen her. He hadn’t seen the long eyes she must have given him when he wasn’t looking, he hadn’t seen when she swooned as he walked by, drying sweat off his face.
She got out of the bar. He took a greater breath before he with quick steps ran out to her, following her. “You know that drugs and alcohol are not going to help you with feeling better,” he walked next to her. “So tell me, is it luck that I’m trying to make sure that you’re getting home safe, or is it actually just ruining your mood?” he wondered and kept his eyes on her.

She swung her body around and was lucky enough to miss him by inches—she could never hurt him, even if she wanted to. Not thinking about that, this little tantrum of hers might hurt him more than she cared to admit.
“I do know that", she huffed, her words not being completely coherent as she made her move and looked forward. Ruining her mood. She clenched her jaw and looked up at the sky, hoping it would help her keep the tears at bay. “It makes me wonder why you keep being nice to me when I just told you that I love you and you’re together with someone else” she wanted to be cruel, telling him that he and Delphine would never work out. One day she would realise just who Cyrus was, and just like all the others, they would find someone they liked more. But she didn’t; she wasn’t that cruel—she had just seen it too many times, he fell for someone, they liked him back, and then they discovered all his traumas and issues. That he was part of the serpents and Southside would be his home, you could take the boy out of Southside, but you couldn’t take Southside out of him.

Cyrus pulled just a bit back from how she threw a fist toward him. She didn’t hit. Unlucky? He didn’t believe so. He could feel how the wind went past him, and that was enough to make things a little more difficult. Even if she hadn’t meant to hit him at all, it still hurt that she had had the urge to. He could clearly see how she tried to fight the tears, but he truly just wished that she could let them go. “You really think I can’t be nice to you because I’m with someone else?” he asked her, feeling somewhat disturbed. That didn’t make any sense to him, because truly he was kind to everyone, especially the serpents. He knew very well how unlucky he had been throughout his life, not to mention how he had lost his mom and shortly after died, only to wake up to the same nightmare he had always lived in. He honestly believed that Delphine and him could change the world for each other, or at least, he felt like she changed the world for him. She was the part of the nightmare, that would make it all seem like a dream.

She hadn’t even noticed that what she had done could have looked like she had tried to hit him—when all she had done had been to turn around with the flask a little higher than she would have normally done.  
Another sour laugh left her, and she let out a small sigh, her eyes finding the sky above her—she craved to fly, to become who she was, but she was afraid that if she did, people would start talking, and before long she would be found and put back in the arena. So, she kept the dragon hidden away, even if it tore at her soul every day that it wasn’t allowed to stretch its wings, swim in the stream and fly in the skies.
“It isn’t about you, being nice”, she whispered, then stopped and turned to look at him; “tell me you don’t love me, tell me that she is the only one for you, and I would never be able to make you as happy—please” she almost begged, needing to hear it, maybe if he broke her heart instead of being nice she could finally look past it. Finally, be able to find someone else, and forget about this stupid love she had for the human standing before her.

He furrowed his brows as she suddenly believed it wasn’t about him being nice. She ordered him to tell her that he didn’t love her, that Delphine was the only one for him, and that Kennedy would never be able to make him happy. He shook his head slowly. “No,” he said clenching his jaw. “Kennedy I can’t say that,” he told her still with furrowed brows. “I can’t,” he felt so bad for her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t,” His eyes stayed on her. “You are a great friend, and I am happy that you’re here – happy to have you as my friend,” he didn’t know if that was going to help her, but he couldn’t tell her any of the things she had begged of. He didn’t know what the future consisted of. Of course, he hoped that Delphine and he was the ones for each other, but he couldn’t say that Kennedy didn’t make him happy, nor that he didn’t love her. He cared about her, enough for it to be called love, but on a friendly basis.

She looked at him, and for a moment, just a brief moment, a light was turned on in her heart. He couldn’t say it because he did love her? Because he did think she could make him happier than Delphine? There was a brief moment where she couldn’t breathe, waiting for him to finish what he had started. He kept saying he couldn’t, and for each time her hope grew, maybe he felt the same as she did for him, and a smile started to grow, a smile that vanished the moment he added, you’re a great friend.
It felt like someone shattered her entire soul, and as she stood there, it was like something left her. She had wanted him to break her heart, but she had never in a million years thought it would hurt this much. Because he had utterly crushed her, and if she hadn’t felt like she could breathe before, it was now impossible. She opened her mouth, but no words left as if they had all dried out. She lifted her hands, almost to tell him not to come closer, and then she turned, tears streaming down her cheeks. She started walking, drinking from the bottle in her hand, drying off the tears and got angry at herself for being stupid enough to think he would tell her that he loved her in the same way that she loved him. How utterly foolish.

He could see how her smile grew, and he didn’t understand why, because he didn’t want to say something he couldn’t promise, and things like that were things he couldn’t promise. But he could promise her, that he loved her as a friend. And as he said that her smile disappeared, and he could understand now that she believed that he couldn’t say it because he believed that she could make him happier or that he loved her, but not as a friend. He was about to take a step closer when Kennedy raised her hands, and he stepped back. He looked after her, licking his lips feeling conflicted. What the hell was he supposed to do? He cursed underneath his breath as he pulled his phone up, letting his thumb hover over Delphine’s contact, but he ended up locking the screen and putting it away. He looked toward Kennedy again. He wished to call her name, make her stop. Look at him, promise him that she wouldn’t get into stupid situations, harm herself and that she would be going directly home to sleep, but he couldn’t make herself do it. Instead, he kicked a small stone away and started moving towards the garage again, considering whether or not he should go home or actually go to Delphine’s.

The first step was excruciating. But as she walked further away, it was unlike any other pain she had ever tried before; maybe it was because even though she kept telling herself to stop hoping, she still did. Hoping that he would come after her, take her hand and tell her that it would be okay. Hoping he would hug her and whisper that she was more than enough, that he loved her as she did him. Knowing this wasn’t fair toward him when you couldn’t force someone to love you—but why was there ever a situation where you would never get what you wanted? When it was so close that you could just reach out your hand to touch them, but when it came down to it, you were miles apart—suffering alone, in the dark without having anyone to help you. Because no one could, nothing would ever be able to take the pain away that was scorching through her body.

After a few steps, they became quicker until she was running. She wasn’t heading home but was going straight for the lake. She needed to transform; she had denied herself for too many years now; she needed to—it was the only thing that could bring her peace. Even though it was too dangerous, she didn’t care; she didn’t care about anything right now.

Now it wasn’t really because Tamotsu didn’t want to stay at home and drink with the view of the sea, but sometimes you just needed to get some fresh air and something else to look at, which was the only reason why he had gone all the way to the Lake Serpent; to sit on a wrecked bench with his… He looked towards the two bags he had carried with him. No, he didn’t have a number of the bottles he had brought with him, but he had them, and some of them were already empty. He threw the bottle he had in his hand into the bag that seemingly had mostly empty bottles. It made all the glasses tinkle, but it didn’t restrict him from sensing someone who seemed very upset. He turned a bit in his seat before he with a little runup got himself to his legs and approached the being.

“Hey! What’s going on?” he wondered with his hoarse and low voice, even though he shouted to get her attention. “You certainly don’t look like someone who is thinking straight,” he laughed, as he walked slowly, and swung a bit from side to side, slightly under the influence, but it was going to go away soon enough, unless he picked up another bottle.

She had gotten there much faster than she had realised.
Her breath staggered as she felt like everything was swimming, but before she got far enough in the process of undressing herself, someone yelled at her. She stopped as she was undoing the belt buckle, turning and looking at the man coming toward her. He seemed just as heavily under the influence as she felt herself, but there was also something else about him, a legend—a story that her mother had told her, even if it had been Japanese. Something about a demon that craved alcohol and virgins. Well, the bottle in her hands was almost empty, and she was far from a virgin. Maybe it was the draw of something that reminded her of herself, a serpent, without quite being it.
“No—you might be right,” she said, but that didn’t stop her from putting down the bottle and pulling off her t-shirt, revealing her toned and naked upper body and the serpent tattoo on her shoulder blade. Then she started working on her belt once more, “but it still isn’t going to stop me from going for a swim”, she answered; until she was completely naked, she ran and jumped straight in.

A short chuckle left him as she responded. She wasn’t thinking right. Now, it wasn’t because he was lurking while she undressed, but he kept his eyes on her. He could see how she was frustrated and there was something she had to do. She was going for a swim. He growled a little to himself. “Sure, go for a swim,” he mumbled and as she jumped in, he approached to see where she had gone. He had this feeling that she wasn’t just going to swim, and if shit went in the wrong direction, he would have to take care of her, no matter how he would have to do that. He knew better. He knew he should let the serpent member sail her own misery, but some fates were simply worse than others. He didn’t wish for unnecessary attention to places like this. Places where strong beings hid. Most of them hiding in plain sight. He himself as a matter of fact. “Don't do something stupid, girl!” he shouted to her.

She felt the smooth surface of the water press against her skin, the dragon begging to get out. But she didn’t; she just drifted around in the cool pool of emptiness, her eyes looking around with that silver-blue gleam to it. Her normally darker skin shimmered while the scales showed their lines over her arms and legs; that was when she heard him yelling that she shouldn’t do something stupid. That made her turn and kick her legs, so she resurfaced. Her hands glided over her hair and pushed it back, away from her face.
Her eyes were back to the normal dark brown, looking at him with a newfound curiosity. “Well, if you don’t want me to do something stupid, why don’t you join me then?” she yelled back to him, as a cheeky smile formed over her lips. She remembered now. Where she had seen him before, he was part of Helio’s gang. Not that she minded that right now, she didn’t care about anything if she was being completely honest.
Kennedy closed her eyes and leaned back, so she started floating on her back, letting the water calm the storm inside her.

She yelled back to him, and it made him look away for a moment. Now he was babysitting. With a deep breath, he undressed, just like she had done. It showed how he was athletic. When he stood by the edge of the lake, he grumbled to himself, mostly reminding himself that this wasn’t a time for having a great time, devouring, and taking. He should be keeping himself in check. Then he walked in, not like her who had been running. He didn’t even flinch by how the water was somewhat cold for the night. “Alright,” he grumbled as his navel was covered by the water and he started swimming closer to her shortly after. “Now I’ve joined you. Feeling less reckless?” he wondered before he stopped swimming, and simply kept his head above water.

Kennedy didn’t even revert her eyes, which almost devoured him as he took off his clothes; he could believe what he liked. She wasn’t one to hold punches, and she wasn’t going to deny that he was a very beautiful man to look at.
She narrowed her eyes a little playfully when he asked if she was feeling less reckless—watching his beautiful dark olive skin being illuminated by the moon. “I just invited a man to swim with me that I’m quite sure could kill me, and no one would ever be able to find my body”, she titled her head, feeling how her hair started spreading like a beautiful cloud in the water. Then she swam closer to him, her scales once again shimmering in the darkness, illuminating without the need from the shine that came from the moon hanging relatively low in the sky. “But I’m afraid I’m not a virgin, so that I wouldn’t be as tasty” maybe it was a leap in the dark, but she kept returning to the legend her grandmother had told her, a scare tactic to keep her away from water. Not that it had worked, as her entire being was screaming for it, but she had been more careful afterwards.

Now, Tamotsu wasn’t the man who neither smiled or laughed that much, but her reply made a smile spread on his lips and a deep chuckle leave the back of his throat. “You are very much correct,” he told her, but he wasn’t going to do that unless she posed a threat to him, and he doubted that. The smile didn’t last long before his expression found its natural folds.
His eyes followed her as she swam closer to him he could see how she had allowed some of her dragon out. The scales suited her and gave her a beautiful glow. Then she spoke about how she wasn’t a virgin, which simply made him lick his lips. Now, for devouring, he did like virgins indeed. “Well, maybe you’re in luck then. I won’t swallow you whole,” he told her, keeping his eyes on her. He swam closer to her until they were closer than arms reach, “So, Serpent girl, what are you trying to forget?” he asked her. Of course, she didn’t have to tell him that. He was after all a coyote, a stranger, completely naked and simply assuming.

“Pity”, she whispered when he told her that he wouldn’t eat her. Maybe that would be her lucky escape? Die in the hands of a coyote and the very being she had been warned about when she had been a little girl.
Then he asked her something that was far more personal than she was willing to hand him, but she didn’t tell him off as she would usually have done. Instead, she just stood in the water, making her powers keep her balanced without having to use muscle or constantly moving her legs and arms around.
“Everything,” she said with a smirk before closing her eyes and letting herself sink in the crystal-clear water. She dropped to the bottom, once again using her powers to keep her down there. She could easily create pockets of air if she needed to breathe. But she was, as he had called her, as a serpent and could breathe underwater without her aquakinesis. Even if it probably had been because she was part of the opposing gang. Her eyes drifted upward to see if he would follow her or not.

Her reply made him clench his jaw. Sad. She then sank, which made him close his eyes and sigh before he sank too. When he was underneath the water, he could feel how Orochi was starting to search for innocent virgin girls close to a coast, not that they needed to be close to the coast, but it simply made it easier (and less work) for them. His eyes had now gained the color of the beast contained in him. He crossed his arm when he reached the bottom, and for a moment he thought about how she wanted to forget everything. With ease, he got closer to her. He studied the right set of eyes even though the other set was tempting to get a look at. The red Orochi eyes simply wished to eat up every inch of her, even if she didn’t taste as well as the virgins. He wondered whether or not she wished to talk about what she wished to forget, except for just everything. Everything was quite a broad specter. He put his hand out between them, so she could take it or not. If she took it, he would pull her dangerously close and lean down to her, letting the mind play its own game. If she didn’t take it, his hand would simply be between them for a while before it would find its way down again. He simply used his ability to keep himself under water.

She turned as she felt how the water was disturbed by his body sinking beside her. With an interested gaze, she tilted her head ever so slightly; her deep silver blue eyes studied him before they fell to his outstretched hand—with a second thought, she moved and let her hand be taken by his. A burst of laughter left her, which made bobbles around her mouth and nose before they resurfaced when he pulled her close, dangerously so. But she didn’t mind. Instead, a smirk formed over her lips as she watched how the red eyes almost looked at her as if he wanted to eat her whole. It almost made her shiver, but you couldn’t really speak underneath the water; she could, of course, form an air bubble around them, big enough to hold two persons, but for now, she wanted to see where this brought them; what his thoughts were, and what he was going to do now that she was so close to him.