Your World

The Aftermath

You flopped onto the counter, scaring Copper. He stood up, looking you over, though he couldn't see much. As soon as you sat down you buried your face into your arms, your h/c hair covering any part of face he might be able to see.

"Are you ok? What happened?" He started questioning, racing over to you. He stopped as you held up a finger. Copper watched you grab your mug and lift it up, downing the entire thing in a few seconds. When you set it down he gasped.

Your face was bruised, an ugly purple blooming across your cheek. Your eyes were tired and harried, but they held a certain satisfaction to them. You were constantly sparking, blue snapping off of you in a last ditch effort. You were running low in power, your eyes dim as your soul was spent. But then you grinned, and you seemed to light up, despite the blood and the bruises.

"I won." You shook your head happily and called for another drink. "I'm not nearly drunk enough for this." Copper relaxed as you fell back into your usual personality, albeit a bit tired.

"Don't drink too much, Cobalt would kill me." He said. He stretched slightly.

"Please both Cobalt and Rust are going to have to me hung for this alone." You pointed up to your bruised cheek.

"What happened?" Copper asked, his voice quit in the noise of the bar. You sighed, running your talons through your hair. You startled at your own talons, as if you forgot they existed, and looked down at it, before flicking your wrists, turning them back into hands. You rubbed slightly at your neck instead, massaging the bruised area. Copper's eyes drew to the bruised area instead, his eyes narrowing.

"Did he do that to you?" You nodded, moving your hand to show him. The area was red, and obvious hand marks decorated the skin. "Damn it." You shrugged.

"He got the better of me for a moment."

"That's more than a moment Halcyon! It looks like he ran you through a steam roller!"

"Well, pretty much. I was tossed around for a bit until I could fry 'im. Which I did. Like a boss." Copper sighed, aggravated but happy you were okay.

"You still should've taken me in." You shook your head.

"Not with that guy Copper. He was trying to kill. And he'll try again soon." You sighed heavily. "I'm going to have to get a shield spell soon."

"What do you mean?!" Copper looked up at you scared, his eyes wide. "Is he going to attack you?" Wrong choice. Shit. Uh.

"Sort of? I don't know he could not. Just Braves can hold grudges.... For a pretty long time." You looked at him, his eyes narrowed and challenging you to actually try and lie to him. You gave in after a second. "If I'm honest, I knew I'd run into him again. I just thought you guys wouldn't be around to get caught in the crossfire." You chewed your lip, absentmindedly drinking your alcohol.

"What are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can. Be careful. Don't get caught alone. All that jazz." You made small jazz hands, but it failed to amuse the bitty. The both of you stared at one another, Copper trying to glean more information, and you steadfast. Eventually you broke the eye contact, finishing off your mug.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you guys. So let's go home now, alright?" Copper nodded to you, teleporting to the top of your shoulder. You stood up, saying a quick goodbye to Ivan, and headed home.

...

You closed the door, sliding down to your butt so you were sitting against it.

"That sucked." You muttered.

Copper nodded. "It sucked a lot." Copper was sitting on your shoulder, his tiny body warm against your own.

"You think we got out easy and they're already asleep?" Copper a look just as the lights flipped on in the living room. Three bitties sat in the living room chair, using magic to push it around.

"and where have you two be- I KNEW IT I GET YOU'RE DESSERT NEXT WEEK COBALT!!!" Gold shouted, much to Cobalts chagrin.

"You guys couldn't stay safe for only one day?" Cobalt groaned, standing up from his position to come look at you two. "What did you get int- Oh my stars!"

"Language!" Copper snapped.

"I'm not a babybones brother! But look you!" Cobalt began to fuss over you. "Did you get in a fight with a steamroller and loose?"

"I won thank you very much!" You huffed, folding your arms in front of you defensively.

"Of course she did Cobalt, what I'd really hate to see is the other guy." There's Rust. He was standing on the chair, though he quickly jumped down to the floor to walk over to you. "How much did they get in on you?" As he was speaking Gold gabbed Cobalt and teleported over to you, so all of you were sitting by the door.

"Well..." You began quietly. You were trying to gauge how much to tell them, but Rust gave you a blank look. Yeah, you wouldn't be able to get anything past him. So instead you just lifted your shirt, showing him your bruised ribs. They could already see the bruise on your face.

"Not to mention my throat." You stretched your neck, showing them the exposed part. "He had me for a bit, his magic was strength increasing. But once he got a hold of me I fried him pretty good."

Rust sighed heavily before motioning to you. Knowing what he wanted you moved your arm to let him climb up. With a nod to Copper he stood on your shoulder, leaning against your neck carefully.

"Let's go get these cleaned up. Everyone else head to bed. I'll take care of the crow." Cobalt frowned at him, but nodded anyways. Gold just agreed tiredly with his brother, half asleep and not all too worried about your wounds. You always bounced back. Copper gave you a look, silently asking if you wanted him to stay, but you waved him off.

"Go sleep. You need it after all the worrying I put you through." He looked at you worriedly, ironically, but disappeared in a blink, headed off to bed.

As you made it to the bathroom Rust had already jumped off to begin his search for your medical items.

"So who did you destroy?"

"Destroy is pretty strong aint it?" You questioned back. Rust hummed, but didn't make any move to correct himself. "It was your old owner."

CLACK

"What?"

"It was your guys' old owner. He was at the bar, and they were holding a small ring. I got pushed into it and fought off with him. Roughed me up pretty good before I electrocuted him."

"Is he dead?" You shook your head.

"It's illegal to kill outside of rings. Otherwise there would be too much chaos." You stated sarcastically. Rust hmmphed and returned with some pain medicine and salve for your burning throat.

"No matter what happens the past keeps haunting us." He muttered under his breath, and you paused not quite sure if it was directed at you or otherwise.

"Even if it does," you respond slowly, making the bitty look up at you, "I will make sure it never troubles you. Not again."

Not ever.