Sorcerer Stabber Orphen Fan Fiction ❯ It's in the Blood ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: The usual, I don't own any of the characters in SSO.

This is set after Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge. This is based off the Anime only and the English ADV versions at that. Warning Spoilers!

Chapter 10~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*

Orphen sat with Cleo all night and watched as a huge purple bruise discolored the left side of her face. Majic slept in the chair by the fire to be nearby in case he was needed. Cleo's mother and sister looked in from time to time but didn't disturb them.

Although reassured by the doctor that she'd suffered no lasting harm, he couldn't bring himself to leave her. In the 3 years of traveling they'd done, she'd never been significantly hurt. Well…. scraped knees or scratches happened when he couldn't keep her out of the fighting, but he'd always been able to protect her, despite all of the trouble she got them into.

He couldn't believe he'd treated her so badly over the whole Agan mess that she wouldn't come to him when she damn well should have. And when she did finally come to him, asking for his help and not just jumping into the problem with both feet, what did he do? He called her a liar, a spoiled brat, and told her he never even listened to her. Well, he'd called her a spoiled brat on more than one occasion and got a wonderful rise and fight out of her. Even if it had resulted in one of the 34 times she had taken off in a huff. He smiled at the memories and frowned again as he realized that the spirited play fighting was something that'd been missing since they arrived back at her home.

Thinking back on it, he realized that Agan had manipulated all of them into disbelieving Cleo, from the moment she met him. Everything she brought out against Agan kept making her look worse. He remembered when he saw Cleo recovering from what he swore was a fall, and she said she been pushed by Agan. `Was that as she claimed, too? No, not claimed. She told me and I didn't believe her.'

`Hold it! I remember now. There was magic used in the room. I felt it when I was approaching, but because I got angry, I didn't pay attention. The ally who helped him last night must be a sorcerer.'

`The morning she grabbed the ledger, I felt illusion magic then, too. The sorcerer was deliberately distorting things for her and returning them to normal when she tried to expose what she saw. My Cleo would never lie to me.' After reasoning though that, Orphen felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. She would heal and everything would return to normal.

`How did she know so quickly that Agan was rotten to the core? When she first met Agan she complained of a headache and collapsed. Wait, she collapsed on the road, during that attack, and when she woke up she complained about buzzing and a headache. Maybe there's a connection. Something is going on here.'

As morning arrived, she started stirring. She opened her eyes to see she was in her own bedroom. To her surprise, she saw Majic, curled up asleep in a chair by the fireplace. More surprising was in the chair, by her bed, was Orphen, looking tired, disheveled, and relieved, as he watched her wake up. She tried to sit up, but the room spun and he gently pushed her back.

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Uh…." Then memories started flooding back to her, Agan at the window, Vulcan laughing, Dortin trying to warn her, and finally, Agan hitting her.

He watched her intently and saw the different emotions play across her face, "I'll take that as a yes. I caught you when you fell." Through gritted teeth, "HE got a way… for now."

"Don't go after him, Orphen… please."

He stood up, "The hell I won't! Why couldn't you trust me to protect you, you stupid little fool? You should have made me listen, damn it! You can't think I would let him get away with that," pointing at her face "and the other times he hurt you." Majic opened his eyes when he heard Orphen stand and shout.

Cleo looked very startled when he mentioned the other times and looked away. In a small voice, "You mean you knew and…" `Oh please deny it, Orphen, tell me you didn't know what he was doing. Pleeassse.' Cleo paused a few moments and when Orphen didn't say anything she shouted "…. Go away!!"

"No, I won't, and you're not running anywhere." He pushed her back down on the bed as she started to get up. "Look at me!" When she did, the pain and tears in her eyes made him wish she hadn't. Then it hit him. She actually thought he knew she was being… abused at the time and that he let it happen. `How could she be so stupid!?!?' He stormed out with a growl.

Majic who'd been forgotten by both, Orphen and Cleo, spoke up try to clear up the confusion. "Cleo, everyone, including Master, found out from Dortin last night after you'd been hurt."

"Oh no," she started rising to go after him.

"You're supposed to stay in bed. The doctor says you need to stay in bed."

"No! I have to talk to him."

Majic was getting scared for her. "Cleo, stay in bed! I'll go get him for you."

Cleo was now standing shakily, pulling on a robe. `I have to do this, but how can I if the room is spinning?' She kept going, despite Majic trying to stop her.

"Don't make me use a spell on you." She didn't stop, so he cast "Shield of Ice that Surrounds Me" to try to keep her from leaving the room, but it fizzled, as many of Majic's spells do. "Drat, not again."

She opened the door and heard Orphen and Hartia talking downstairs. `Good, Hartia stopped him, or at least, delayed him. Now, just keep him there long enough for me to catch up.' She swayed again, because she was so dizzy. `If I can stay on my feet. Oh, my head hurts.'

As she got to the door to her room, she almost pulled it closed on Majic's fingers. She heard him exclaim, "Damn it!" as she started towards the stairs. Majic cried out again "Cleo, get back in bed!" That got the attention of the two people downstairs, just as Majic hoped it would.

Orphen chanted, "Towers of Heaven that Dance Around Me" and appeared right in front of Cleo. "You're supposed to be in bed!" as he scooped her up and took her back to her room. He slammed the door behind him, practically in Majic's face.

"You've got cracked ribs, do you want break one and puncture a lung? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you were leaving me and… I couldn't just let you…." she faltered and blushed slightly.

In a bare whisper, as he tightened his hold on her, Cleo heard "I didn't know. I'm sorry. It'll never happen again."

As Orphen tucked her back into bed and sat down in the chair, it came to him that Hartia had been correct.

// Flashback //

As he'd been about to storm out of the house, Hartia stopped him.

"Running out on her again?"

"What?"

"I asked if you were running out on her again."

"She believes I knew and that I let it happen. I won't stay and be accused of that."

"True, but who broke the trust first?"

"Are you saying this is my fault??"

"Yes, DAMN YOU! After he hurt her, let's not mince words here, after he beat her. He punched and kicked her, to the point she was dying!!!! I almost didn't have enough power to pull her back." Hartia saw the hurt that statement caused in his friend's eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've been angry about this for 2 days, and you just didn't seem to care. You should have trusted her. She still trusted you enough to come to the inn when she was injured. It wasn't me she was looking for. Trust is something very hard to gain and easy to break. Think about it, how would you feel if Cleo believed someone she just met instead of you? Wouldn't you hesitate to confide in her again?"

"Damn it!" Orphen turned, that was Majic, from upstairs. He went to the stairway and saw Cleo wobbling towards the stairs, intent on going after someone, probably him.

//End Flashback //

`I guess I'll have to thank Hartia. For a lot of things actually.' He was doubly glad he'd been waylaid by Hartia since Cleo was so hell bent on finding him that he didn't think even Hartia could have stopped her. She was tenacious, even when injured.

As Cleo was settling back in her bed, she grasped Orphen's hand. He squeezed it back and said, "Rest, I'm not going anywhere." When Majic and Hartia entered the room five minutes later they were both sound asleep.

"How can she sleep with that racket?" Hartia muttered, when he heard Orphen snoring loudly.

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Although, he didn't want to, as evening approached, Orphen realized he should go back to his room at the inn only to find his way blocked.

"I won't hear of it. Besides she needs you here." Insisted Mrs. Everlasting.

"Mrs. Everlasting, I… wouldn't it look bad?"

"And it doesn't that she's traveled all over the continent with you for the last 3 years? And that you were here last night?"

"But…"

"No, no buts about it. You're staying here."

"I really shouldn't."

"You don't need to be running up and down the hill."

"Mrs. Everlasting, please…"

"I'll feel safer with you here."

Orphen sighed, `I know where Cleo got her tenacity from.' Aloud he answered, "Yes Mrs. Everlasting."

"Good. Tell Majic and Hartia, I have rooms prepared for them, too. You'll be in the room next to Cleo. By the way, please call me Tistiny"

"I'll get my things and bring them up." Orphen went back to the inn, packed what little gear he carried and returned to the mansion.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cleo slept most of the time the first full day of her convalescence. The second day boredom had settled in. That and coping with her understandably emotional sister.

Mariabella was keeping Cleo company in her room. After talking about several other topics, Mariabella finally got around to what she really wanted to say, ever since she left her room and saw Agan, the man she thought she loved, backhand her sister.

"Cleo, I'm sorry. I can't believe I misjudged him so." Mariabella started crying.

"Mariabella, you couldn't have known. I'm just glad everything came out alright."

"You've been stuck in bed for two days and you call that alright?"

"Yes, because I will get out of the bed and continue to travel or shop and just live." She smiled at Mariabella, "But right now I'm so BORED I could scream!"

Cleo was quickly losing patience. She knew her sister was hurting and felt badly about what happened but she swore if one more person said how sorry they were she'd scream. The worst thing was that stuck in bed there was no escaping either them or the boredom. And she quickly discovered there was no escaping the bed, thanks to Orphen.

Every time she thought the coast was clear and that she might be able to get out of bed to get a book or do something, he'd appear and order her back to bed. After she got a lecture, that is.

"I know but the doctor said you should still take it easy for another day or two. He'll be here in the morning."

"I don't want to wait. I want some fresh air, and I want to do something, anything!"

"So let's go outside." Said Hartia, who had just entered Cleo's room.

"Shri… Hartia …oh, thank you!"

"One condition, since I want to live. I'll carry you out to the porch where your mother has set out tea."

Mariabella chimed in, "We tried that earlier, but Orphen nixed it."

"Well, he just left for the ruins for a few hours since you were sound asleep in your room."

"But I haven't…"

"Shhhh… "

Smiling brightly, "Great! Can we go by the library first so I can get a book?"

"Absolutely"

After a quick trip downstairs to the library and a quiet tea outside, Cleo was disappointed at how tired she actually felt. Added to that was the realization that Orphen was right, she still needed to be in bed. So, she swallowed her pride asked to go back up to her room, admitting she was tired and taking another nap.