Too Late

Too Late Part 8

The following day Kota, Victor, Gabriel, Silas and Sang could be found at their usual table eating lunch at school. The air was tense and everyone was on edge. The boys all knew what North did, what Sang had let them believe. Yet the boys felt like something far worse was wrong with her.

Victor studied her as she hunched over her lunch, pushing her soup around in the thermus cup. She'd only taken two sips in fifteen minutes, lunch was almost over now. He was worried about her, they all were; she wasn't letting anyone in.

Maybe that's what scared him most.

He remembered when he found her passed out in his bathroom, he'd never been so terrified. When she told him the truth he was slightly hurt that she felt like she couldn't tell them. Why couldn't she realize how much she meant to them? He understood the feeling of being a burden, but like they always told her, she was never a burden. He would do anything for her, Sang could never realize what she gave him. She gave him his purpose back, and sparked a new fire in the team. She became the glue that held them together, but now she could barely look at them. Nothing about this felt right, he had heard what North did but it didn't sit right with him. No one was able to get North's side of the story yet but Nathan had confirmed he had seen North biting on her neck the previous day.

"Where's Nathan?" Gabriel asked, trying to fill the heavy air.

Kota sighed, "That's another issue. He's with Mr. Blackbourne today, he found out yesterday his dad is back. He said he needed a vacation and wanted to relax in his own home. Mr. Blackbourne is trying to figure out how he got back without us knowing again. It seems someone tampered with the communication network."

Sang visibly stiffened, along with the rest of the group. Nathan's dad being home was never good, but the network that should have messaged Mr. Blackbourne could have been messed with by Volto. None of this was good.

"Vic I need you to take Sang back to my house today, I have to go with Nathan and Mr. Blackbourne, but I want you to monitor the feeds at Nathan's house." Victor nodded and glanced at Sang but she didn't look up.

"There's one more thing." The air shifted, everyone could hear the seriousness in Kota's tone.

"It's Mr. McCoy, some camera's picked him up in the woods yesterday. He met up with Mr. Hendricks." Kota looked at Sang, concerned. She was still stiff but wouldn't meet his gaze. He glanced up,

"Silas since you're grounded you're going to Luke's house and covering tracking for McCoy. I need you to help Luke and go over everything when he gets back from his job today, no fighting with North. Gabriel you go too." They all nodded when the bell rang. Without question they all started getting up and moving in seperate directions. Victor took Sang's side and leaned into her.

"Hey, looks like I get to steal the princess today" His fire eyes were dim but Sang managed to smile weakly. His heart sunk slightly, but he wouldn't let her know that.

***

Sang couldn't explain it. She felt so...numb. It was like her body wasn't her own and she was moving on auto pilot. All day she had felt like a zombie, but it didn't matter to her.

I don't care anymore, she thought. She didn't care if the boys were worried about her. She didn't feel anything. She tried to smile but even that felt like it took all of her energy.

I just want to sleep and never wake up.

She closed her eyes, thankfully the day hadn't gone at a snail's pace. Right now she was in Kota's bed facing away from Victor as he watched the feeds. He might have thought she was asleep, she hadn't moved in an hour. But Victor knew her too well,

"Princess, do you want to take a bath?"

She turned over and got out of the bed. Without a word she walked into the bathroom.

She knew it was rude to not respond, but as soon as he said it she realized that was exactly what she wanted.

She turned on the water and turned the knob so that the water would be warm. Carefully she stripped off her clothes. She set out a towel with a robe while quickly grabbing her pink loofah and setting it at the edge of the tub. Sang eased herself into the water relaxing for a moment as the bath filled. When it reached the top she sat up and turned off the water. She began to get to work, putting soap on her loofah and lathering it all over her body.

And that's when Sang realized the damage that had been done to her body.

Large bruises that formed the shape of handprints covered her torso and upper thighs. She could only imagine what her back looked like. As she smoothed the loofah across her arms she realized the tiny finger like bruises that marred parts of her skin. She hadn't realized getting dressed this morning in her sweater and jeans that she was hiding the truth from herself as well as the boys.

But the numb feeling continued as she started to wash away the grime from her body. She felt dirty and no matter how hard she rubbed she still felt like there was something their.

Like his hands were still touching her skin.

She scrubbed harder and faster until her skin was a dark pink, some places she had rubbed the skin raw. But Sang didn't care, she wanted to get clean. She had to get clean. That was all she wanted.

When Sang later got out she avoided looking in the mirror. Instead she slipped on her underwear and bra, along with the fluffy robe. As she walked out of the bathroom she decided to take a nap in the robe.

But she never got the chance, because on the bed there was North sitting across from an unhappy looking Victor. North met her gaze, his eyes giving nothing away as his voice was a dead tone,

"We need to talk."

A/N: Sorry for no update yesterday I was crazy busy! I hope this longer one made up for it. Thank you for everyone who read and commented. I hope you're excited for the next chapter, a lot is going to happen. As always, apologies for any mistakes!

p.s. Who do you think hurt Sang?