clutching her side, Isabel stumbled to Axes house, she could feel blood seeping from the wound on her back. Crystal, isabels ice dragon, was providing as much support as possible, letting Isabel lean most of her weight against her. Using her free hand she knocked, they had set up a knocking system, specific knocks meant different things, the one she used was solely for emergencies. Isabel honestly didn't know how she still remembered, they set up the knocking system shortly after they met, over 40 years ago.
Just as Isabel was starting to give up hope Axe opened the door, they gasped, probably because Isabel was bloody and bruised.
"Mission went wrong, children with Rowan- help" was all Isabel was able to get out before she fell into Axes arms, she was barely conscious, putting all her energy into applying pressure to her side.
"You're a fucking idiot." Was all Axe said as they carried Isabel to the guest room, not wanting to get their bed bloody.
"Crystal what happened?" They asked mentally, placing Isabel down and getting the first aid kit.
"There were more men than she thought, they ganged up on her, there's a cut from her right shoulder to her left hip and a cut wrapping around her right side. There are others but those are the most concerning." Crystal replied as Axe got disinfectant and bandages.
They will definitely need to bring her to their mom tomorrow, but for now, they focused on cleaning the cuts and bandaging them, stopping the blood loss as best as possible.
"Isabel, love, I need you to draw energy from your ring for me. I need to get to your other cuts but to do that I'll need your help." Axe spoke as softly as they could, luckily Isabel was conscious enough to do as Axe asked. They immediately noticed a change, Isabel's eyes opened and she asked what she could do to help.
"Undress then lay on your stomach, I got your shirt and bra off but that's it." Isabel did as Axe asked, slipping out of her pants then laying on her stomach.
Axe sighed, there were a lot of bruises and small cuts that they didn't need to cover on her legs. Axe assumed the cuts were from thorns or barbed wire. The bruises were undoubtedly from being hit, with whatever blunt object the men could get their hands on or from just hitting her, Axe didn't know, though they fully intended to find out when Isabel was better.
Doing what they could with their skill level, Axe bandaged and disinfected anything that needed it.
"Ok Isabel, turn over for me." Isabel did as she was told, in most other situations Axe would admire her body, but now they solely focused on her wounds, they wrapped the cut that was around Isabel's side, it wasn't bleeding as much as the one on her back was, but it still made Axe feel better that it was now taken care of.
Axe finished disinfecting and bandaging any other wounds that needed it then went to get some of their clothes. Axe was a good 6 inches taller than Isabel, meaning all of Axe's clothes were too big for her, but neither cared.
Axe especially didn't care right now, seeing as they had a pretty good feeling that if Isabel had waited any longer she wouldn't have made it. So Axe grabbed one of their hoodies and a pair of Isabel's underwear, fully intending on making Isabel take a bath or shower because while Axe loved her, they were not letting her sleep in their bed covered in blood and dirt.
Once they were back in the guest bedroom they helped Isabel to the bathroom and started running a bath, not trusting that Isabel could stand by herself.
"Ok love, I need you to take off your underwear and get in the bath for me. I love you but I'm not letting you sleep in my bed covered in blood and dirt." Axe said softly, helping Isabel balance as she, for the third time that night, did as she was told. Axe could see Isabel relax as she touched the water.
They helped Isabel wash her hair and they lightly scrubbed her body, getting the grime off it, trying their best not to hurt her. The water was tented red when Axe deemed Isabel clean enough. They helped her out of the bath and grabbed one of the spare bathrobes for her to wear until they got to their room. It's not like anyone would see Isabel naked, but Axe knew that Isabel didn't like being exposed.
Slipping an arm onto Isabel's waist to help her walk they quickly led her to their room, getting her in the hoodie and underwear.
Axe helped her lay down and get comfortable, then slipped out of the room to let out the bath, and go check for any injuries on crystal. Axe knew that Isabel would contact them mentally if she needed anything, so while they didn't take their time they didn't hurry.
After about 10 minutes Axe had taken care of everything they needed to and went back to their room, seeing Isabel huddled in a ball, asleep.
"Well, at least she fell asleep. Lord knows she needs it." They thought, changing into an oversized hoodie and taking off their binder. They climbed into bed beside Isabel. Axe loved how Isabel looked when she slept, all the worry and stress that she couldn't quite hide from them seemed to leave her body, leaving a relaxed look.
Axe had come to know that Isabel was never calm, never fully relaxed, always on edge, always ready to fight for her life, a product of her upbringing and living alone for twenty-ish years, Axe assumed. No matter how good she got at pretending she was ok, Axe knew she struggled more than she'd let anyone know. Even Rowan and themselves. Axe eventually fell asleep, their thoughts lingering on Isabel.
Isabel woke up in a panic, she could feel tears rolling down her face. "Another fucking nightmare. Amazing. Stop crying, idiot. It's weak." She couldn't stop the thought, it was ingrained in her since she was a child. "don't show weakness. If they have nothing against you, they can't use it against you." It was a common thought she often had, living with her mother and belle was never easy, especially after dad left. Rowan tried shielding her as much as possible, but he could only do so much.
Isabel quickly and quietly slipped out of bed, her back and side were still burning with pain. Moving hurt, but she couldn't stay near Axe. They didn't need her problems as well as their own. She made her way to the kitchen, deciding to get a bottle of water and a snack.
"Don't eat so much Isabel. You're 20 pounds more than Belle already. You don't need to gain any more weight." She heard her mother's voice, a voice she hasn't heard from the actual person in nine years, in her head. A constant reminder of why she was like this.
"You're not real. I killed you, you hold no power over me. Leave me alone." The last word was a plea. Isabel hated the effect her mother left on her, hated that even dead, her mother affected her, she hated that she could still hear her voice, telling her everything she did wasn't good enough. No matter how many people told her otherwise, which Axe and Rowan did on a daily basis, making sure she knew she was loved.
Isabel was so lost in thought she didn't notice Axe leaning against the door until they spoke. "Come back to bed Isabel, it's 5 am. You barely got 3 hours of sleep"
Isabel jumped at the noise, wincing when another jolt of pain ripped through her. People didn't sneak up on her. "The scars you have say otherwise, mistake." Her mother's voice came again, this time colder, but with a hint of amusement, like her mother would find her pain funny, which she probably would.
Axe had moved beside her, grabbing Isabel's hand effectively pulling her out of her thoughts.
"How about we go for a ride on crystal, that usually clears your head, right?" Isabel nodded, it did help just being close to Crystal. Isabel had found her egg a few months after running away and ended up raising her and spending about 20 years with only her, so they're soul bonded(authors note-basically they can feel each other's pain, and communicate no matter how far away they are).
Crystal did not enjoy waking up at 5 am, but she flew for over an hour. Flying helped Isabel calm down, and she eventually fell into a light sleep, which Axe was grateful for. Isabel averaged 4 hours a night, very rarely more, too often less.
Isabel slid off crystal shortly after she landed, much to Axe's chagrin. (Isabel! Your back and side are practically split open. You cannot slide off crystal- Isabel don't you dare!) they slid off after Isabel, who winced when a particularly sharp scale scrapped her back.
"What now? Not like we'll be able to sleep anymore." Axe sighed, they loved Isabel, but they really wished they had gotten more sleep.
"Well, I doubt you'll let me do anything until the cuts are healed, even though I've worked through worse." Axe glared at her, she definitely has worked through worse. That doesn't mean she gets to work through this. "Stop glaring, anyway. No idea"
"Ok, wanna tell me what happened on the mission?" Axe asked as they walked inside.
"Sure, I guess." Isabel said, following them as she tried to remember what happened.
"Before we start, what do you want for breakfast, pancakes or omelettes?" Axe looked in their fridge for ingredients before asking.
"Whatever is fine, coffee?" Isabel climbed on the counter as she spoke.
Axe rolled their eyes but started the coffee pot, knowing Isabel needed it.
"Thanks love!" The thanks was elongated, something Isabel often did when she was happy.
"Yea yea, now what happened?" They asked, mixing the pancake batter.
"I arrived and cased out the building, it was a more important one so there were 3 or 4 guards outside, which I threw knives at. I got inside and started fighting, but there were too many, one of them cut my side. Because of the pain, my magic lashed out and killed them."
"I found and got the kids to safety and went back to kill the remaining men, they were ready though, and surrounded me, slashing my back. That's when crystal busted through the ceiling, let me climb on her, and she killed the rest of the men with her tail." Axe nodded along, glad that she survived, pissed that she wasn't more careful.
"I offered to make you armor that you could hide under your clothes." Axe said, rather exasperated, they had made about 8 pancakes, one of which Isabel grabbed and was eating as she told the story.
"And that would've taken too long." Isabel grumbled. They've had this argument multiple times before she went on the mission.
"And you could've died, Isabel. If you had come even 2 minutes later, I don't know if I could've stopped the bleeding." Axe groaned, "she needs to care about herself more."
"But I didn't! I'm perfectly fine" as if on cue she moved wrong and pain shot through her, making her wince.
"No, you aren't?! Your back and side are split open!!" Axe was done with the pancakes by now.
"And? It's not like if I died it'd be bad." Axe stared at her, a mix of fury, and sorrow in their eyes. "Yes, Isabel. It would be bad. It'd be horrible!"
Isabel scoffed, "it'd be no different than anyone else dying."
"It would be for people who love you, like me, and Rowan, and your dad, and the twins??"
"Still don't know why y'all love me." Axe was getting fed up with Isabel, they had this argument quite often, and Axe was very tired of it.
"I know for a fact that you're aware of my feelings for you. Just as I'm aware of why you think we 'could never be together' like I haven't trained with a sword almost as much as you!"
Isabel was stunned into silence, she did know that Axe liked her but it had slipped her mind because of the argument, not to mention it was never truly said before.
"Yea and you shouldn't! I mean look at me." Isabel motioned to herself as she spoke. "Just this morning you had to patch me up because I was careless."
Axe sighed in frustration, they were done with Isabel and her thinking everything she did was wrong. An idea popped into their head, they debated for about a minute before deciding it was fine,
Axe and Isabel were the same height when she was on the counter, so they walked forward and kissed her.
Isabel, once again, was stunned into silence, they were both aware of each other's feelings, but she never expected Axe to actually act on it.
"Point taken-" Isabel mumbled After Axe leaned back.
"Good."
YOU ARE READING
Defender of the innocent one shots
FantasyI'm writing an original story so here are one shots : )
