A wilting rose. // IDENTITYV FANFIC

✝ Chapter Four ✝

I don't know what it was.. I couldn't tell if it was the pain or the fear but it had me shaking. I don't know for how long I have been on the floor. I don't remember me closing my eyes either but I awoke in my room? No.. Not my room, It seemed larger then mine. Great.. so I got beat up, I passed out and I am in a room that isn't mine..

I propped myself up on my arms to look around. The walls were a royal blue color with some gold accents to it. The floor was white with a carpet in the middle. The room smelled like sandalwood with hints of old books, the smoke you would smell after a picture was being taken anda fancy red wine..I saw a camera and a sword leaning next to it.  I took a wild guess and said it would belong to the photographer.

My eyes fell on his peaceful figure on the chair, his face was resting on his hand and his eyes were closed. Soft snores were heard from him he almost looked adorable like that. I shook my head and laid back down, my head was pounding. I hope he wouldn't mind if I closed my eyes for a little longer.. I closed my eyes and dozed off into a sleep.

A little later someone softly nudging me woke me up, I opened my eyes and saw Joseph's blue eyes looking at me with worry. "Oh my! thank goodness you're awake." He said, his way of speaking was a soft whisper. He probably did not want to startle me or make my headache worse. Joseph sat down on the side of the bed and I propped myself back up on my arms. "Um.. Joseph right?" I began. The man nodded. "Why am I here?" I asked quietly.

"I was visiting Emily, I got hurt in the match earlier today so I went to Ms. Dyer to have it checked out. When leaving her clinic I saw you on the floor. Ms. Dyer was already busy enough,, I had no clue where your room was so I brought you to mine.. " Joseph explained. I nodded. "How are you feeling?" He asked. I remained quiet, I didn't want to bother someone, I looked at him. Perhaps he could tell I was hesitant to tell him cause he gave me a reassuring look. "I have a headache,my throat kinda hurts and so does my body but.. It's nothing I can't handle.." I mumbled quietly. Still loud enough for Joseph to hear. He looked confused which shifted to a face of worry.

"I have not touched you the entire match.." Joseph said to himself, his right index finger was tapping his chin as he was in his thoughts. Then he suddenly spoke up. "Did something else happen?" He asked. Do I want to tell him I got beat up by Naib Subedar..? Thinking back I started to shake again, fear or anger, or maybe terrible memories? I don't know.. Probably the memories.. Joseph seemed to have noticed my shaking and tried to grab my hand but I flinched the moment his hand got to close to me.

There I was again, just a little boy. Who was standing in his adoptive's father workspace, scared after accidentally knocking over the bottle labeled 'bromide hydrate' a highly toxic body preserver which Jerry used to 'Mercy Kill' the people who he believed were not living a good enough life. Unable to look up at the furious man in front of him. Who was screaming, yelling all kinds of insults and slurs and then eventually he struck me across my cheek..

It was not only when I would accidentally knock things over. Oh no.. If Jerry had a bad day - which was nearly everyday - because the man was so stressed with work, I would be yelled at, beaten to the point of being in so much pain that you can't get up anymore. Sometimes he would even do more innapropriate stuff.. Nearly every day until I used his own methods against him since he got old and no longer was living a good enough life. Despite killing the man that abused me since he took me in, it didn't fix the fact it left me trauma.. It left me scared, if someone would reach out it would cause me to flinch cause in my brain it would connect to the fact they were gonna hurt me. I longed for physical touch and just to be loved but that was happened most of my life also made me despise physical touch..

I managed to shove that trauma deep down so it wouldn't affect me in my daily life. But the encounter with Naib made those memories float back up to the surface, causing the reaction of me to flinch. It certainly didn't trigger something good. I was way to caught up with my own thoughts, when I felt some wetness on my cheeks.. tears.. I didn't want to cry. I could feel Joseph bright blue eyes looking at me.. He was judging me surely..

"Oh Aesop.." Joseph said quietly, he placed his hand on my cheek, wiping away the tear droplets that were threatening to spill. It took me a second to convince myself that he was not going to hurt me. I didn't even notice that I leaned into his touch. Joseph had moved closer and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "Sorry.. I should've asked but it seemed like you need it." Joseph whispered.

We sat there in a somewhat silence, you could hear my sniffles and Joseph whispering things like: 'everything will be okay', 'you're safe here..' I would be lying if I said it wasn't comforting.. We sat there for some time, I couldn't tell if it was just a few minutes or a full hour but when Joseph let go of the hug to wipe my face I felt.. relieved. I'm not one to talk about emotions, I more or less shove them away and deal with it.

"How do you feel now, Aesop?" Joseph asked while he moved away to give me some space. "Tired.." I began. "Tired.. but a lot better.. Thank you, Joseph.." I said a small smile forming on my face. Joseph had a small smile as well. He grabbed something of his nightstand and handed it over. It was my mask! I hadn't realized it was gone until now.

"Aesop, you can stay the night here if you want but I can also walk with you to your room if you'd prefer that." Joseph said and I nodded. I wouldn't mind staying here but I wanted what was now "my bed" at least til the end of my stay. "Could.. Could you walk me to my room?" I asked quietly and the tall French man nodded. I got out if the bed and looked at Joseph, he held out his hand for me to grab, which I hesitantly took.

I studied him as we walked, he was somewhat tall, in comparison to me, his very blonde locks framing his face perfectly and how the ponytail was hold together by a golden ribbon. He is actually quite handsome.. the whole walk to my room I was just admiring the man who walked beside me. His voice snapped me from my thoughts. "Which room is yours?" He asked. I looked around "Ah.. this one. Thank you, Joseph.." the French man nodded with a smile and turned around to walk off. "Goodnight Aesop, We'll talk pretty soon." And before I could respond he was already around the corner.

I went into my room and quickly got changed into comfortable clothes and got in my bed. It wasn't as comfortable as Josephs but still pretty comfortable. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Joseph POV

As I made my way back to the hunters side I was greeted by the sound of a violin. "Antonio! Why are you up?" I asked, opening the door and entering the living room. "Oh? No reason. Waiting for you." The man responded, while continuing to play the instrument. I honestly loved it when Antonio played his violin.

"What was that with the new survivor?" He asked, while he finished up the piece he was playing. "You mean, Aesop?" I asked, sitting down on the couch. "Oh? First name use already?" He chuckled and I felt a little embarrassed. "Yes, but there is no harm in being nice outside of matches you you know." Antonio nodded in agreement. "But that still does not explain why he was here." He said, I let out a soft sigh and explained the situation from begin to end, leaving out the breakdown Aesop had.

Antonio nodded. "That was very nice of you, Joseph. I would've done the same." Antonio smiled and I smiled back at him. Antonio was one of the few hunters I could actually get along with so it was nice to know he would've done the same if he was in my place.