Elegant (Wolffe)

5

Tw: Violence and illness?

Today was one of those days.

The days where nothing goes your way and you want to melt into your bed with a hot drink and cry your troubles away.

The days where your hands are aching to have the comfort of a book in them; an escape of sorts.

Karina was having one of those days.

She was dizzy, Benedict had stopped by to gift her flowers, her father made a snide comment about her hair, and Wolffe was being a jerk.

He hadn't said anything to her, but she could feel his gaze on her back as she walked through the gardens, trying to clear her head. He had returned the crumpled up letter to her, throwing it at her feet in the morning before storming to his usual corner.

So here she was: so close to crying and screaming.

Karina fell to the side, clutching a nearby railing as she tried to get ahold of herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as the world tilted, fingers gripping harder.

"Are you okay?" Wolffe hesitantly asked.

Karina nodded, immediately regretting it as everything pitched the other way. "Yes, I'm fine."

Wolffe watched her as she forced herself to stand up straight, pushing herself off the railing. His eyes followed her wobbly steps before she tumbled into the snow.

She lay in the snow bank and closed her eyes with a sigh. "Just leave. I don't need you staring at me as I struggle."

Wolffe remained next to her, hand twitching to help her up. He ultimately decided against it as he saw the look of hatred on her face.

"Didn't you hear? I-I don't need you watching me being clumsy!" Karina snapped, throwing a chunk of snow at him. 

It slid off his armour and landed on her boots. 

"You're going to get sick," Wolffe said as she tried to stand up.

"You think I don't know that?" Karina successfully stood and clutched at her head as her vision swam. 

"You want help?" 

"No. I want you to go away." Karina began to storm away from him before her legs gave out and she fell. 

This time he caught her, looping his arms under hers so her head didn't hit the ground. He gently put her on her feet and held her there for a moment before stepping away.

"Thanks," Karina murmured and glanced away from him. "Can we head back now?"

"What's wrong?" Wolffe held out an arm for her, and she gratefully took it, leaning on him heavily.

"Sometimes this just happens. My parents say it's no big deal and we don't need to see a doctor." Karina paused to take a deep breath, squeezing his arm tighter as the world tipped once again. "It's fine."

Wolffe slowed his pace  so she could have an easier time keeping up, going up the steps to get back inside. "How long has the happened for?"

"Since I was ten, I think." Karina let him guide her to her bedroom and crawled into bed. She lay her head on the pillow and sighed. "I'll be fine. I'm just going to be in bed, so you can leave."

"Is... there anything I can do to help?" Wolffe, for once, felt helpless. His job was to keep her safe, but he couldn't stop the dizziness. There was nothing he could really do about this, and he didn't like it.

"No. Thanks, though," Karina responded. "You don't have to stay."

"I will," Wolffe quietly said, unsure why he didn't want to leave.

"I want you to leave," Karina corrected herself and looked at him apologetically. "I don't want... I don't want you here to watch me suffer."

"I'll leave then," Wolffe said, heading for the door. "I'll be here tomorrow."

Karina made a small noise to acknowledge him before burying her head in the pillow. She could feel herself start to drift off, before her mother burst into the room.

"What are you doing inside on such a gorgeous day? Go outside!" Her mother whipped the blankets away. "It's always like you to hide away inside!"

"I'm not feeling well," Karina said, reluctantly opening her eyes. 

"Rubbish. You're perfectly fine. A bit of fresh air will do you some good." Isla threw her jacket at her. "Go."

So all of a sudden, Karina was outside again.

She found a bench in the far end of the garden between tall hedges to sit on. The dizziness had begun to fade, but was still there.

Karina stared into the distance as she thought about Wolffe. She felt bad for putting the note on his back, but at the same time he deserved it.

He was a jerk, got in the way of her privacy, and she knew he was silently judging her for everything.

Karina's gaze snapped up as she spotted something in the corner of her eyes, turning her head to see it better. She saw a flicker of red between the blank spaces of white snow dispersed between trees.

Karina started to run back to the steps that would let her back inside, hiking up her skirts to avoid tripping. She didn't dare glance over her shoulder, instead going at full speed to the doors.

Then she was sideways, mostly due to her dizziness, partly due to the person sitting on her back.

Her cheek stung as her head lay against the freezing snow. She struggled to get up before her hair was grabbed and she was yanked to her feet.

"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Karina. I've heard so much about you."

Karina took in the red-painted lips as they curved into a smirk. "I've heard nothing about you."

"As expected." Karina's arms were pulled behind her back and roughly shoved into binders. "I prefer the shadows."

Karina kicked out, catching the ankle of her captor. "Who are you?"

"I'm insulted you haven't heard of me." She spread her arms and bowed, brown hair tumbling out of her hood. She dipped her head up and tilted it. "I'm Lilith, leader of Eclipse, and your new best friend."

"Bold," Karina scoffed, kicking the back of Lilith's knee. Lilith let out a hiss of pain, but her smile didn't waver. "How do you know I don't already have a best friend?"

"Who? Mary?" Lilith straightened and grabbed a blaster from her waist. "Or Commander Wolffe? I think we both know neither of them are your closest friends. You despise him, and she tries to keep her distance."

"How?" Karina whispered.

"I know everything about you," Lilith said simply before pulling the trigger.

Blue enveloped Karina and her vision went black as she collapsed on the ground, wondering if anyone would miss her.