Don't Fear The Reaper *Izana x OC x OC* (COMPLETE)

Physical and Emotional Wounds

Izana--

I wake up a questionable amount of time later to a sliver of sunlight peeking in through a gap in the wooden boards covering the windows. I'm in the main room of a dusty cottage on a worn couch but I don't see Roman or Reza. I hesitantly get to my feet and after a few moments, I'm able to stand steadily. The kitchen table across the room is stained red with dried blood along with a stack of towels and a cloak I recognize to be Reza's. So she made it here at least, but that doesn't mean much about whether she's alive now or not or where they are. I do feel that if Reza were dead, Roman would have murdered me out of anger and blaming me for not dying before. If they were captured here, I'd be dead as well.

There are two doors behind me, one open to reveal a small washroom, the other open enough to show part of a bed. I quietly move through the cottage toward the bedroom and push the door open. There's a faint light from the cracks in the covered windows, just enough to reveal Reza's very pale shoulders as she sleeps on her side with her back toward me. I can see stitching, bandages, and small smears of dried blood littering what bit of skin I can see and her hair appears to be slightly damp, likely from Roman cleaning blood from it. She is in this situation because of me. If I hadn't bothered to announce that I knew she was in my room that night, I could have simply pretended to be asleep and let her kill me. If I'd had more thought to isolate myself away from the rest of the castle the herbalists wouldn't have been able to revive me even if the guards found me. If I'd simply taken the matters into my own hands to begin with, she never would have gotten the assignment. Sadly, there's nothing I can do to take any of this back and restore the life that she had known. I just don't understand why she chose to save me from her family. She said that she wanted to be the one to do it, but why not do it there and get away without me being a dead weight? I am rather formidable with a sword, but I'm not in the condition to fight and I can easily tell without seeing it myself that Reza, Roman, and her family are at a far higher level of skill than I could ever be.

I hold my breath as Reza shifts in her sleep to rest on her back. During her movements, slight whimpers and gasps of pain left her lips but she didn't wake thankfully. Her breathing slows again and I release the one I'd been holding. Now that I can see her face, I can see extensive bruising around her eyes and hand shaped marks circling her throat. I spot a section of hair resting on her eyelashes so I step forward to brush it away but a hand latches onto my forearm and I'm roughly jerked out of the room. Roman passes by my vision as he moves to check on her, then quietly moves the door back to it's original position. He fixes me with a harsh glare and motions for me to move away.

"My Miss is resting. Do not interfere with her healing."

"How is she?"

"Four broken ribs, a minor stab wound to the back of her leg, heavy bruising to her throat, blood loss, the stitches on her side were barely holding on, she was stabbed in the shoulder and in the stomach. She was barely conscious when I saw her collapse just outside the cottage and soaked in blood. I got her stitched up and stable and cleaned most of it off. I'm not sure what happened and she hasn't woken up since."

"Any issues outside?"

His gaze moves away from the door as he sighs. "I've been running perimeter a mile out and running inward every three hours but it's been clear so far. I hoped to be able to keep moving but I can't exactly move her safely while dealing with two hundred pounds of dead weight."

I definitely do not weigh two hundred, but I nod. "I can't do much with my injury, but only to keep Reza safe, I will do what is needed to help."

"Walk out into the forest far enough away that they won't link back to us and let them kill you so I can take her away." He retorts simply while digging through a cabinet to produce a bottle of what I can only guess to be alcohol. He takes a long sip and sighs. "Oh wait, I can't go against her wishes so I'm stuck with you until she figures out what to do with you."

I move to lean against the back of the couch and recall their half-spoken conversation in the medical wing.

"What was your discussion that was mentioned back at the castle? That's the reason I'm here instead of dead, right?"

"That's none of your concern."

"Considering it seems to have everything to do with me and why I'm still alive in some cottage while Reza almost died trying to save me and this is all occurring in my kingdom, I think it is of my concern."

"Is it really your kingdom if you were wanting to throw it all away and die, leaving your little brother the only one alive in your family? I hope you know how fucked that is for your brother, by the way."

"How would you know when you have Reza's family? Zen is strong and surprisingly mature for his age." I challenge and his eyes cut right through me as the bottle shatters in his hand.

"Because my brother did something similar to me, only he killed my parents in front of me, then came after me. I was a literal child and only survived because I tripped him in my panic and he fell onto his knife. Do you know how hard that is for a six year old to see and for me to forget, even almost seventeen years later!? It doesn't matter the age, losing family is something that never leaves, especially when you and my brother both brought it about for selfish reasons. Why Reza wanted to save you, I have no idea, but if I were her, I would have let you die painfully."