Pain. Piercing through her leg as if somebody had decided to break her ankle multiple times in a row. Slowly, but surely it pulled her out of the bizarre dreams she had had only minutes ago. She couldn’t quite remember them, but what she could remember made her absolutely sure she was happy to not remember the other bits. It had been a rather violent dream, including shots fired, people collapsing on the ground, and still could she hear it in the distance: the eerie death song of a child, weeping somewhere in the distance and shrilling through Elena’s ears like the alarm bell next to her bed. Checking her hurting lips, she realized they were bleeding. Suddenly, the taste of iron was on the tip of her tongue.
Her head was throbbing heavily, and she could feel a warm, viscous fluid running down her forehead and cheeks. The pain was tenebrant, as if her head had been a drill’s testbed. At least it did some good, as it temporarily managed to deaden every single of her self-destructive thoughts. Her mind was clear, a most unusual circumstance. Only the pain she perceived swirled around there. Blinkingly she opened her eyes, trying to find out the lie of the land. The world around her was spinning like crazy, and everything she could see – which was not much either – was vaguely blurred.
Albeit her vain attempts to get her head straight, she couldn’t hear herself think – the pain was drowning out any of her cogitations, like a high-pitched siren. Her heart was pounding frantically against her chest and the shaky ground she was lying on.
She heard people talk. At first she couldn’t understand any meaning behind them, but with time passing she slowly began to grasp what it was all about. “You mo- … how do you plan to negotiate when she already looks dead to me?” she could hear a voice say in the distance. Still, she was only half back to reality, and so it would take its amount of time for her to understand what he meant? No matter how much she tried to remember what had happened beforehand, she could only bring back fragments of memories. Somebody had put a gun on her neck, that’s what she still knew. How she had ended up on the floor like this, and what that penetrating pain in her leg was – no idea.
For now, she kept quiet. Her deeper instincts told her a wrong move and she could be dead, as she didn’t know at whose mercy she was right at the moment. Best was to just act as if she hadn’t awoken yet, no matter how much she would have liked to gasp for air. Instead she held her breath, to not utter the slightest peep that could have given her away.
One of the persons talking had to be Mason, she realized. His voice was a bit farther away, or at least farther than the other male voice. Judging from the sound, he had to be right next to her, somewhere in the room. They were obviously discussing something. Elena didn’t get the content though. Unobtrusively she tried to move her right foot, the one that was hurting so badly, only to come to the realization that it hurted severely. Clenching her teeth, she had to suppress a hissing sound as she inhaled sharply, but hopefully silently enough for whoever-this-guy-was to not hear it.
She began to panick. There had to be some way out, but whatever this bastard had done to her, walking was absolutely out of question. Without moving her head, she opened her eyes and eyeballed at her legs. A puddle of blood, establishing itself beneath her ankle. For a second, she believed to see a small figure standing right in the puddle, but it dissipated quickly. Shit!, she thought to herself and squinshed her eyes shut. If she could need something the least, it was her imaginations going wild again. Not right now.
Still not allowing herself to gasp, she opened her eyes again and looked round without any unnecessary motion of her head. Right next to her was another pair of legs. Were they also just imagination? How much could she trust her own senses at this point? God dammit, she thought, feeling like she was running out of time. She didn’t know who this guy was, neither what limb he would shoot next. She affected not letting it come to that.
She pushed the pain back into a corner of her head for a moment, and decided to make a move. The guy’s voice sounded as if he was busy with discussing things with Mason, so she found it to be the right moment to dare something. It wasn’t well thought-out and quite harum-scarum, but she didn’t care. Either she succeeded with this, or she would be dead, probably. But if anything, she wanted to get out of this situation. While she kept a weather eye on the legs beside her, she carefully began to slide over the ground, as fluently as possible to not draw his attention. Inwardly, she prayed for him to not, under any circumstances, look down.
Then she was in a good position to strike, and from the guy’s reaction it seemed he had not yet noticed her to be awake. “Nah, that wasn’t what we agreed on. I’d rather keep my only gun,” he told in the meantime. Elena bit her lip. Eat shit and die, she mumbled to herself under her breath and laced into his legs. Grabbing hold of them with her hands, she made the gripe as strong as she could, and at one go sent the guy flying towards the ground.
It was a full-blown success. Not only did he hit the ground as harshly as one could imagine, but he also lost hold of the gun in his hand. It fell down on the floor thrummingly, bouncing off multiple times until it came to a dead stop apart from the conflagrating fighting ground. Still, after some moments during which he had to come to his senses, he tried to reach for the gun again. If he got it again, it would be game-over. Merely being driven by survival instinct by now, she tried to gain the upper hand over her opponent now. Seeing as how he tried to reach for the gun, she grabbed him by his shirt and tried to pull herself above him. Puffs and groans would slip her burst lips while she clenched her teeth together, in an attempt to ignore the pain, yet it was slowly coming up again and confounded her once more. Out in the hallway she could hear steps at a fast pace, almost running.
The picture of the man she was fighting against was only blurry to her, as the sudden moves had made her head spin again. All she saw was a rather fit, yet dishevelled man. No matter how much she tried to hold him back, he somehow managed to stretch for the gun lying on the floor, immediately rolling over to aim at Elena. Before he could aim at her though, she already reached out with her hand, giving him a punch in his face. It made his trigger finger itch, and so his gun let loose of another bullet that dashed against the wall milliseconds after. With a start, she couldn’t keep herself from recoiling slightly, which gave the man room to finally level the weapon at her.
That was when their eyes met for the first time. She, with blood that was dripping down her face and her brown hair chaotically falling into her face. He, with an expression that turned into the epitome of remorse and confusion, his eyebrows raised to the max. "Voigt?" he asked in disbelief, then a sigh slipped his lips and he mumbled something out of Elena’s earshot. Slowly he lowered his gun and rolled over onto his back and took a deep breath.
With clenched teeth and a pained mien on her face, she attempted to make another leap forward to punch the gun out of his hands again. Worked up into a frenzy, her mind viscerally considered this a death-feud. It was the wrong foot with which she tried to push herself up. A loud cry shrilled the same second, and she collapsed on the floor again, convulsing her body, holding her injured ankle. With a face contorted with pain, she looked up again, ready to glimpse into the barrel of a gun. Instead, she saw this face all of a sudden, and it dumbfounded her completely. Eyes and mouth wide opened, she would stare at him, dismay writ in her face. "What? Cross?!" she asked in a slurred manner, as her lips seemed inert. A sigh that had a tang of relief slipped her mouth. Afterwards she laid her bleeding front against the floor again, one hand at the ankle, the other at her banging head. Right now, she just felt like throwing up.
Elena Voigt. The person who told Kyle that Kiara Galow had been captured. The person who apparently had a plan to rescue Kiara from her Gallic captor. Well, that was one rescue attempt. Kyle didn't know if Elena had even received his message about Kiara believing to be someone else and leading a somewhat happy life in Gallia. What bothered him was that he had started a fight with the people who were supposed to be his friends here. Although Kyle didn't want to have anything to do with that thug that Voigt had brought with her. Speaking of...
"You have got to be kidding me. Cross? The guy we are here to save as well?" Kyle heard the voice of the man who had caused him so much trouble, this time right above him. As he slowly opened his eyes, not changing position, he found himself staring down the barrel of a rifle. Then he turned his attention to the man holding it. Kyle could see a large, fit man standing over him. The man was wearing a brown lether jacket, and a silver T-shirt under it, along with blue jeans and black boots. The rifle didn't move away from Kyle's face, but at least that guy didn't try to take away Kyle's pistol. Elena's pistol.
Kyle remained lying on the floor in a relaxed position, his hands spread apart, as if he were a snow angel. Except that he was no angel, and there wasn't any snow. "That's what you call 'saving', huh? Waltz in, shoot and threaten everything that moves, including Kiara?" A sarcastic grin appeared on Kyle's exhausted face as he asked that in a rather calm manner, so as not to anger the guy with the rifle too much. Instead he turned his face to Elena: "I didn't think that 'the almighty plan' involved that."
Elena didn't respond to this feeble attempt to ease the tension or lighten the mood. Instead, she moved her ensanguined hand away from the injured ankle and caught hold of the edge of the bed. Yomping towards it, she still clenched her teeth and breathed heavily through her nose. When she reached the bed, she pawed at one of the blankets lying on top of it, and got hold of it.
"Neither it involved getting shot by the guy we try to rescue," she spat through her teeth in a caustic tone. Tearing the blanket away, she simultaneously rolled over slightly to now lean against the bedstead with her humped back. With narrowed eyes, she bustled around with the blanket and ripped a part of it off, then gawped at her right leg, seeing a small pool of blood next to her on the floor. Elena then proceeded to put a makeshift tourniquet around the wound, not paying attention to anyone else in the room.
"Well we didn't really know you'd be here. For all we knew you were dead or locked up, not living with her." Kyle's recent opponent muttered out and stepped over him, walking towards Elena. He crouched in front of her and ripped some more of the blanket, starting to clean the blood on Elena. "Well that definetly didn't go as planned," he said quietly with a sigh.
Kyle remained lying on the floor, at least for the time being. For the first time he was in Gallia, he felt as if he wasn't a complete stranger. The feeling was... unexpected. If anyone, those two unlucky Forlorn Hope rescuers deserved to know what happened: "Locked up was just about right. I'm not living with Kiara. In fact, I had just come here and barely had time to take a shower before someone shot the lock instead of knocking on the door."
He then turned his face to Elena, looking at her as she was patching herself up. Kyle's own expression changed, as he was trying to find the right words to apologize: "I'm sorry for your ankle... It's just that I thought you two were some thugs... I heard some shots, Kiara's screams, and saw her getting wounded... I thought that guy held her hostage." Kyle moved his head in the direction of the thug briefly.
Elena deemed Kyle worthy only of a quick glimpse, a severe look on her face, then a grunt. She mumbled something offensive, but Kyle couldn't hear it. After having finished up the improvised pressure bandage around her ankle, she took another piece of the blanket and cleaned her bloodied hands with it. Instead Elena's associate continued speaking: "And why are you here, if you're supposed to be locked up?" his voice was now calmer, and he still looked at Elena, trying to clean of the blood and tried to clean the blood that he could see. "What the **** is with her anyways? You call her Kiara, she calls herself Aurora. Did she not recognise us or really did play us?" he asked, as he turned over to Kyle.
Kyle sat up on the floor and then stood up, his tone slightly sarcastic at first: "Got released early for good behavior. That, and the fact that Remy Moreau disappeared all of a sudden, and whoever is in charge now thought that feeding me was a waste of credits. As for Kiara, it's compli...", he then turned his face to Elena, who started acting strangely.
Her head wound was still palpitating sorely, so she used the same blanket piece to hold it against her head afterwards. With the other hand she held her stomach, having a sick feeling again - her body language spoke volumes. "Kiara..." she muttered, her head lowered. "Where the **** is..." Elena suddenly halted, and at the same convulsed her body and tucked up her legs, whilst her breathing turned into a huffing and puffing again.
Her accomplice turned his face to her, his tone was now worried: "Oh Christ.. Going to vomit?" Elena didn't react to the question, just pressing her lips together, not saying anything. In the meantime, she huddled up next to the bed, and curled up into a ball, quite similar to how a distressed child would do. With her arms bent, she tried to obscure her rather pinched face that had turned ashen-pale by now. She screwed her eyes up, as though she panicly tried to look away from something. Her breathing became more rapid and heavy fast, up until she was on the verge of actually hyperventilating. Slowly, she rolled her shivering body over to one side, away from the two men. A mutter and a slurred "Oh God, no" were everything Mason and Kyle would hear from her.
Elena didn't react on Mason's question, just pressing her lips together, not saying anything. Meanwhile, she huddled up next to the bed, and curled up into a ball, quite similar to how a distressed child full of fear would do. With her arms bent, she tried to obscure her rather pinched face that had slowly metamorphosed into an ashen-pale visage. She screwed her eyes up with the utmost strain, as though she panicly tried to avoid to look at something. Her breathing became more rapid and heavy fast, up until she was on the verge of actually hyperventilating. Slowly, she would roll her shivering body over to one side, showing crouched Mason next to her her back.
It seemed to her as though Mason and Kyle had been more and more moved away, as their voices only sounded strange anymore, muffled in her mind. While she had been in the bedroom one moment, the other she suddenly thought to be at a completely different place, far away from her companions. Pictures, one after another, began to flash past her inner eyelid, the mere prelude of a whole movie filled with exasperation, mortal agony and fear that had begun to play for her. She tried to look away, somehow; tried to close her eyes or look the different direction. But no matter where she looked, she saw those horrendous scenes before her, sucking her in as if there was no escape. And the worst of all: those pictures felt real and almost tangible. They were blurred, as though an expressionist had done their job, but so was her mind, and so she could not distinguish between reality and her own imaginations anymore.
She cried for help, but none of her words ever left her mouth. There was seemingly no way out of this death trap, no matter how much she tried to pound against the flitting by pictures that were incarcerating her in an oubliette that felt like hell. The feeling that she was in fact her own jailer incarnate didn't make the situation any better. It only made her grow desperate even more whether she would ever get out of this sudden daydream that was reality to her again. Her body began to respond as well, through the developing sick feeling in her stomach that only reminded her even more of the past events which she had the sketchy pleasure of re-experiencing anew. For hours she had managed to suppress drifting into those kind of flashback moments. Until now.
"Dammit Elena, what is it?" she could hear Mason ask her. Although his voice did sound muffled, she could still hear the concern and sudden stress in it. "Come on, what's wrong?!" But she didn't react. She thought those words to be just a few more to the thousands of snarky comments she could hear through her inner ear and that frightened her a great deal. She was so obsessed with being sucked into the flashback that it had become a minor matter to perceive her actual surroundings.
"I thought you'd explain it to me," she heard Kyle reply. "But we can't stay here for long like that, not with the door open." What she could hear were a few silent steps coming ever closer to her, and instinctively she attempted to flinch away, apprehensive of somebody who wanted to do her harm. But her body didn't move an inch. She was no longer in control over it, she realized. A realization that only drew her more into a panicky state that made it difficult for her to breath. The thought she would be trapped in there forever virtually pinched off her wind-pipe.
It was at this point that she felt a hand seizing her by the shoulder, and heard a couple of words, louder this time. "Voigt? Snap out of it!" it said calmly, yet loudly and with resolution. "We have a job to do."
It apparently managed to pull her back into reality, rousing her from her brusque spell. As though he had thrown a rope for her to climb up again. For a few seconds, she was completely confused and disorientated, for she had been ripped out of a nightmare that had overcome her. Still not sure what of it had been real and what had been not, she was shifty-eyed temporarily, darting about like mad. At the same time, when he touched her shoulder, she recoiled from him with shock. While her chest went up and down as she caught her breath again, completely out of puff, the look on her face took on a puzzled expression as she looked at him. Daze, anxiety, uneasiness, all of those senses were flooding her mind right now, and felt as though they were suffocating her. The pain in her ankle returned soon afterwards, which made her face further tense up in anguish again. Gulpingly, as soon as she had managed to regain her composure - at least to some degree -, she stuttered, rubbing her forehead in the meantime: "Where, where is she? What's with her?" she would say with some fear sounding by; she had evident problems articulating right now. Too much was going on in her head for her to think straight.
Kyle's relieve was writ large in his face as she looked at him, but some rest of concern remained on it as well. "Kiara is still in the bathroom, I guess. She locked herself up when things got... rough." He looked into the corridor briefly, probably to make sure that the door to the bathroom was still closed, before looking back at Elena. When she looked at Mason, she saw him crouching by her other side and eyeing her very carefully. "Yeah, she locked herself up in there," he added to Kyle's explanation. "You should try and get her out though." The look he gave Kyle said more than a thousands words. That he was the one who probably had the best chances at speaking with her and calming her.
Kyle replied in a calm, estranged manner: "Yeah, I'll get to it." He then heard Elena's comment; his mind told him to apologize again, but it didn't seem appropriate. That's why Kyle limited his apology to a sour and sympathetic expression as he looked at Elena briefly. He then turned his face to the guy: "Take care of Elena in the meantime, ok?" Kyle didn't wait for an answer and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
On his way to the bathroom he stumbled across the pistol that Mason had thrown into the corridor earlier in an attemnt to lure Kyle out of cover. Leaving a gun lying on the floor like that didn't feel right, so Kyle picked it up. The holster on the inner side of his jacket was already occupied with Elena's kinetic pistol, so Kyle made sure the safety lever was on and put the gun in the pocket for the time being.
As he approached the bathroom door, he hesitated for a bit, unsure what he should say or do. In a dozen of seconds he made up his mind and knocked on the door softly, his voice calm: "Aurora? Are you ok?" The door was closed and locked, no reaction came from inside. The only thing Kyle noticed was the sound of running water. Concerned, but still trying to stick to the plan, Kyle knocked louder, raising his voice: "Aurora? Please say something! There is no danger now, nobody here is going to threaten you anymore." If seeing Kyle alone had made her that frightened, he wouldn't know how she'd get over the way that the other two 'guests' arrived. That's why he attempted not to push her more than he had to.
Not getting a reply for a few more moments, Kyle got nervous. He had last seen Kiara wounded, holding a hand to her stomach. What state of mind could she be at the moment? Was she even alive? That last thought hit a switch in Kyle's brain. He slammed his fist on the door a few times, almost shouting. "Aurora, please don't be silent! I don't want to shoot the lock, but I'll have to, if you don't at least say that you're ok!"
As no reply followed, Kyle decided to act. He took out the laser pistol out of the pocket. After turning off the safety and setting the weapon to maximum power, Kyle pressed it against the place where the lock bolt would be. He then moved the weapon a bit higher, aiming at the supposed lock bolt from an angle so that the laser wouldn't hit anyone in the room by accident. He then pulled the trigger, and the weapon burned through the lock bolt along with a part of the door-post and the door itself. Ignoring the smell, Kyle opened the door.
A scream was heard from the inside and the flowing water stopped. Kyle saw the woman flee into the furthest corner she could find, and once again curl up with her knees up to her chin and her arms around her legs. She started helplessly sobbing in the corner. Kyle only sighed with relief as he saw Kiara in good health... physical at least.
Apparently, it wasn't Kiara's stomach that was hit by a blaster shot. Kyle was afraid to find her dead or unconscious, but with that out of the question, he could return to plan A. He lowered his gun, turned on the safety lock again, and put the laser pisto back into his pocket. As he stepped into the room, he closed the door behind him (although with the lock gone it was merely a formality) and sat down on the floor by the entrance, leaning his back against the damaged doorframe. "It's ok, nobody is going to hurt you now," Kyle said calmly, looking at the nervous wreck that was once his girlfriend Kiara Garlow. He tried to smile, but the rollercoaster of events has left Kyle almost burnt out emotionally.
"Then get out!", she yelled at him, in tears. "Leave me alone! Why can't people just leave me alone?!" She was hiding one of her hands between her torso and her legs, holding her legs with the other arm. She tilted her head down, laying it onto her knees, and hid her face behind her hair and knees, still crying.
Kyle sighed remorsefully again, but remained seated where he was. "Because they care about you... Well, some of them do." Kyle had to correct himself after remembering what that thug brought by Elena had done to Kiara. "In fact, that woman who came here... She is the one who told me about Kiara Garlow getting captured in the Taus by some Gallic slaver who demanded a big ransom." Kyle wiped his face with his right hand; he remembered that he had never said that part around Kiara's alleged 'husband', for better or worse. "That's why I went to Gallia. To save a person I care about," he spoke all that in a casual, almost emotionless manner, as if making a confession.
Apparently, Kiara wasn't even listening to him: "You broke into my home, you threatened me, you shot at me, you scared me to death and you still do. Get out, or let me leave. You can have this apartment, if you want, my jewelry, whatever you're after. Just let me go, please!"
"I didn't threaten you." Kyle put an emphasis on "I", hoping to bring the woman back to reality. "You let me in and let me have a shower, remember?" He made a pause, hoping that the thought would sink in. "Then those guys showed up because they were looking for Kiara Garlow, just as I am. And they only shot the door because they didn't know about your condition, I think. Either way, I won't let them harm you now." Kyle looked through the hole he made in the door to check if anyone else was in the corridor. "That's why I'm not leaving you alone."
"They shot the door, you rang and forced your way in. Where's the difference?", Kiara just continued, not calming down. "You're just as bad as they are, if you're not already working together, playing some stupid game. Why can't you just let me live my life?" Her last reply was rather loud, and it made Kyle wonder if anyone heard them through the door.
"If it was a game, we wouldn't have been shooting at each other. And by now I'm sure that the 'life' you mentioned isn't yours. Some things just don't add up." Kyle stroked the week-old stubble on his face before continuing: "For example, these two guys came here looking for Kiara Garlow, because some Gaul had asked them for ransom. Do you happen to know anything about that? I mean, you didn't seem like you were a captive."
Kiara didn't reply to anything he said, instead she pulled herself together and slowly stood up, still holding her hand close to her stomach, while she went along the wall, heading for the door that Kyle was sitting in front. She just tried to squeeze past him without any hint of response. Kyle stood up and put his hand on the doorframe, unwilling to just stop it here: "Look... Aurora... I'm sorry about what happened." Kyle still found it hard to refer to his girlfriend by her other name. "Those two guys are still in your apartment, they have just as many questions as I do, and they are more pushy than I am." He sighed, lowering his head for a moment, coming up with what to say: "It was just a fair warning. It's your home, so I won't stand in your way for much longer. But please, could we at least talk later, like you promised we'd do?"
The woman didn't reply to Kyle; instead she just tried to push him out of the way with a hand on his shoulder. Out of options, Kyle stood aside, letting Kiara pass. "I'll take that as a yes," he mumbled to himself as his girlfriend left the bathroom. He walked out too with the intent of following her.
As soon as Kiara walked into the corridor she looked around, noticed something by the door to the bedroom that caused her some concern. She then quickly walked towards to the damaged apartment door. Kyle exited the bathroom a moment after Kiara. He took a quick look to the right and saw the thughelping Elena walk of the bedroom. An expression of regret appeared on his face again, but he had nothing to say. He then turned around to Kiara, who was at that time by the entry door of the apartment. "Aurora, wait!" Kyle made a few quick steps towards her, not catching up with her yet, but close enough to rush after her, should she decide to run away. "I don't want you to disappear again."
Elena reacted to this attempt to flee as well. "Kiara!" she called, inhaling sharply. "Hold it!" It didn't at all sound like an order, but like a plea. Aurora jerked again as she heard the calls, and quickened her pace towards the door. She did not dare look back, only when she heard Kyle get closer she gave up the pretense and actually started running towards the door.
Elena saw Kyle rushing towards the door after the woman, apparently in hopes to catch her before she'd manage to get out of the apartment. She herself, in her current state, couldn't rush forward as he did, instead damned the circumstances as she saw Kiara running towards the exit. Though she tried to fasten her steps, she quickly realized that this was a physical impossibility. Mason could feel the grip around his shoulder becoming a little stronger as she tensed her whole body once more. "Kiara!" she shouted again, though she would probably just waste her breath again. This woman had been the reason why she was actually here, why she had been shot in her goddamn ankle, and now she wasn't able to even catch up with her. What an absolute mess this was.
Finally, Kyle managed to grab Aurora and push her against the walll. She produced a pained yelp and did not even struggle against his grip for a few seconds of reorienting, only after which she started trying to break free. "Aurora, please, calm down!" There were notes of pleading in Kyle's voice by now, yet he still spoke slowly. "Nobody here is going to hurt you now." As Aurora started trying to break free, Kyle had visible difficulty holding her. He tried to gently pull the woman away from the wall and position himself between her and the apartment's entry door, still holding her by the shoulders. "But we need you to stay here and discuss a few things with us first, ok?" "Aurora?" said Elena sharply while she managed to come closer and comer to them with Mason's help. Everytime she touched the ground with her injured leg, she would sink in a little, pitching and tossing like a boat. It hurt like hell, but the sight of Kiara diverted her thoughts to some extent. If she was glad to see her or frightened by her absolutely alien behavior she was not sure about, though. With raised eyebrows, she looked at Kyle, her expression telling him that something was seething inside her. "Kyle, this isn't Aurora," she went on, if only to soothe herself. In fact, the worries about what happened to Kiara doubled the moment she said it. "What's going on here?"
Aurora did not listen to either of them at all. She started cursing and loudly demanding him to let her go in various, sometimes unintelligible ways, while her struggling became more violent. Kyle cursed too, as he was having more trouble holding the woman like he did. He turned her around again so that he could hold her from behind in a hugging manner, his arms around her belly, forcing her arms to her torso. He also put his head on her shoulder so that she wouldn't hit him with the back of her head. "Didn't you get my message, Voigt?" Kyle asked, with the strain of struggle reflected in his voice. "She calls herself Aurora Moreau now. She claims she knows nothing of Kiara Garlow, and didn't even recognize me!" Aurora just kept struggling, not stopping one moment, starting to scream frustratedly, hysterically. She also turned her head to the side almost far enough to hit him with it. Kyle actually moved his head closer so that she'd have a harder time turning to him. "Please, calm down, talk to me, promise you won't try to run and pull any stunts, and I'll stop holding you, Aurora," he said rather loudly, so that she'd hear him through her own screaming.
"I did read your message," Elena replied, a bit out of breath when she reached the two struggling with each other, still being supported by Mason who was half-carrying her. For a moment or two she just stared at them, not saying any word, though her jaw sagged slightly. There was confusion in her voice as she spoke up again. "For fuck's sake, look at her," she demanded sputteringly and waved her right hand about. "What the hell has this asshole Remy done to her?" Kyle then turned his attention to Elena: "No idea, we can discuss it once she calms down!" But she did not calm down, her attempts at freeing herself rather got more and more erratic and aggressive.
An expression of total shock blossomed over Elena's face as she peered at Kiara vain, yet aggressive attempts to free herself from Kyle's clutches. Words failed her at the sight, and the fact that the woman still looked exactly like the one she had called her best friend didn't help either. Gaping at her, then at Kyle again, she was unsure what to do, hell, there was nothing she thought she could do. Except perhaps one thing. After she had limped a tad closer to them, she would speak up, silently, after having gulped loudly once. "You ... you don't remember me, do you?" she asked rather unconfidently. She had no idea how to handle the situation, didn't know what to do, only that Kyle obviously didn't know either.
Kiara - or Aurora - apparently was too busy with the struggle to even pay attention to Elena's question. At least she didn't reply anything. Kyle in the meantime tried to get her into the living room. As he did that, he turned to Mason: "Get Elena in the living room, then stand by the door, make sure she doesn't make a run for it. She's too confused to listen to reason now!" "Alright. I'll make this quick," he said to Elena as he turned to her and lowered so his other hand could reach the back of her knees, after which he picked her up. With a grunt Elena let herself get carried by him, obviously not enjoying it, even though she had to admit it was way easier than forcing herself to walk. Still, she felt like a little child when she was picked up and carried into the livingroom. With her hands she dirigated him to one of the armchairs. "There," she just said while pointing at it, indicating him to let her go there. Seconds later she would plunk down in the chair, heaving a loud sigh. Scratching her head, she eyed Kiara and Kyle again before she looked away again. The limp in her throat had returned again, and that's how her voice sounded. "We need to get out of here, as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, Kyle dragged Kiara to the free armchair and forced her into it - although she definitely made it difficult for him -, and he would raise his voice, for the first time tonight it'd have some ordering tone to it: "Calm down!" A few seconds later: "I'm letting go now. Then you sit here, okay? I'll explain who these people are and why they're here. You understand?" The last part was said in a somewhat caring manner, although it still sounded firm. As a response, she kicked him, aiming straight between his legs as she still desperately tried to get away. Kyle instantaneously let go of her shoulders entirely and fell on the floor next to the armchair, cursing loudly.
Aurora stopped yelling. She jumped up, off the chair, keeping her eyes on Kyle and Elena, and started sprinting towards the door. Elena had watched them with a certain amount of caginess, as she herself was unable to do anything, chained to the chair as she was. She sat there, up straight, as if she was about to jump up from her chair any second, besides her injury. The exact moment Kyle fell to the ground, she did exactly that, by pure instinct she sprang up to her feet, not wanting to realize it was to no avail. In an attempt to somehow catch Kiara, she jumped forward. The hard truth hit her one second later however, as she fell to the ground again, stumbling over her own injured feet. A sharp inhale, then a frustrated "Fuck!" when she hit the ground with her arms first. A punch on the ground followed as she clenched her fingers to a fist.
Aurora only realized too late that the door she was running towards had been blocked by Mason in the meantime. It was too late to stop, so she only had time to scream in shock before they collided As she hit him it would be like she hit a wall, as his right leg would have made a slight step back to secure he wouldn't get moved. His hands would quickly take hers and cross them over on her back to make sure she couldn't hit him or even reach for the rifle that was strapped over his back. "Come on", he muttered in a voice full of frustration. "Could you just knock her out? We'll have plenty of time to talk when we're off this bloody station," he said to Kyle whilst he also pushed her away from him and turned her around. His hold on here didn't look as gentle and thoughtful as Kyle's had been.
