she's got a lot of nerve

Vaughn hated to see his sister in such a state; and he knew he had to intervene before her thoughts got the best of her. He’d seen that happen before; and he was terrified of seeing it happen again. He never again wanted to hear his little sister say she wanted to die nor did he ever want to watch her try and gouge her own eyes out because of hallucinations and flashbacks. He just wanted her to be okay. He needed her to be okay. She was all the family he had left in this world. Standing up from where he’d been sat, he walked over to where she was sat, pulling her up into a standing position before pulling her into a hug. He felt her body go weak, knowing he was now the only thing supporting her. He tightened his grip around her small frame, his hand finding its way to the back of her head as he pulled her against his chest. “I love you, Ellis. Never forget that, okay? I’m always gonna love you; and I’ll always be your big brother. No matter what happens, I’m always gonna be here for you… I love you, Elli.”

Nerve felt weak. Her body was shaking; and she felt like she was going to fall over if Vaughn let go of her. So she stayed as still as she could manage, her face buried into her brother’s chest, as she continued to cry. Coughing every couple seconds, she tried her hardest to steady her breath and compose herself; but it wasn’t working out too well. She considered opening up and telling her brother the truth about what had happened and how she got injured. Maybe talking about thing would help calm her mind and keep her thoughts from racing so badly because of what that man had said. “The, uh, the man who, uh, who a-attack me... I, uh, I don’t know his, uh, his name; but I-I-I knew him...” Her words were muffled by her brother’s shirt; but she hoped they were still audible enough for him to hear. She didn’t want to repeat herself. She didn’t think she’d be able to without triggering something. “He w-was from... He was from H-Holt.”

Vaughn didn’t want to leave; and deep down, he knew his sister didn’t want him to either. But her hand needed to be cleaned and bandaged; and he knew she needed a few minutes to compose herself. So with some hesitation, he left her room, heading to the Headquarter’s makeshift ‘hospital’ to retrieve what he’d need to tend to Elli’s wound. He decided to take the long way back to her bedroom, figuring she could probably benefit from a few more minutes to herself. Though when he finally reentered her room, he didn’t expect to see her crying. “Elli…” His voice was gentle as he didn’t want to startle her. He hovered a few seconds in her doorway before walking towards her bed and taking a seat on the end, placing the medical supplies beside him. “Are you ready to talk now; or do you want me to take care of your hand first?” Either way, he wasn’t gonna leave this time without clear answers. 

Nerve had buried her head in her hands, not even caring if that meant getting blood from her freshly cut hand smeared onto her face. What did it matter? She was already a mess. She’d been nothing more than a mess since Holt- a weak, broken mess. All the times she tried to come off this strong, tough woman, she was actually hiding that scared little girl; and the man she’d run into not that much earlier had to go and remind her of that. Now her thought were rasing. Maybe everyone at HQ was right; and she really couldn’t fully care for herself. Maybe she’d really be better staying trapped away forever. At least then she wouldn’t always be getting hurt, right? But what if that just made everything worse? What if she got bad again and the psychosis and paranoia took over? She didn’t want to be a burden on her friends, her family. Maybe she’d be better off running away. Or dead. Then she could get away from Port Silver and that evil ‘doctor’ who had destroyed her life. 

All these thoughts swirled around her brain, causing her to completely miss whatever Vaughn had said when he came back into her room. She hardly registered his presence. She just sat in her desk chair, head buried, as she continued to cry, not caring that her breaths were becoming shaking and uneasy due to her hyperventilation. 

“I’m always gonna worry about you. And I’ll admit that recent events have increased my worry tremendously.” Vaughn frowned licking semi-nervously at his lip for a moment before continuing on. “But believe me when I say you’d feel the same if you were in my shoes… I worry because I love you; and I don’t wanna lose you again.” He took in a deep breath, moving to lean on the edge of her desk, his hand reaching out to take her now bleeding one in an attempt to inspect the wound. “It’s obvious you’re not telling me the full story; and it’s even more obvious that whatever happened really got you shook. So I’ll, uh, go get some bandages for your hand; and you can take a few minutes to calm down while I’m gone.” With that said, he stood back up and started towards her doorway, sincerely hoping she’d stop him before he had the chance to fully exit. 

She didn’t want him to leave. Nerve didn’t want to be alone right now; and even though that wasn’t something she’d voice, she still had her ways of indirectly showing how she felt. “Hurry back, okay?” Her words were a lot less harsher than before; and she knew he was right. She did have to calm herself; but that was much easier said than done. So as Vaughn made his exit, her eyes merely trailed him until he was completely out of sight. Then they began to well up with tears.

Vaughn folded his arms across his chest as he moved to stand beside his sister, glaring down at her with an undertone of annoyance masked by the worry in his eyes. “I’d believe that if it wasn’t for the handprint-shaped bruises wringing your neck… So you wanna try that again, Ellis? What happened?”

“I got punched, kicked, and thrown into a window, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?” Nerve’s eyes narrowed as she finally looked up to meet her brother. “You and Tracker and every other fuckin’ person here was right. I am this fragile little thing; and I can’t so much as go for a walk by myself without ending up a bloody mess.” She snapped, raising her voice as she slammed the katana down on her desk, not noticing that she slit her hand on the blade in the process. “I’m not as strong as I like to think I am; and I should probably just stay here in HQ for the rest of my goddamn life... That’d make you happy, wouldn’t it? That way you wouldn’t have to worry about your baby sister running off and getting herself killed.”

“Elli? You in here?” Vaughn had been all over Headquarters looking for his little sister; and now he was back to where he began, looking for her in her bedroom. Only unlike the first time he checked her room, he saw the brunette seated at her desk, in the middle of sharpening one of her many blades.  “Hey. I was looking everywhere for you… I wanted to know if you-” He paused, just then catching glimpse of the cuts and bruises on her face. “So do you wanna go ahead and tell me what happened; or do we gotta play Twenty Questions?” His tone changed as he walked towards her, an obvious mixture of concern and disapproval.

At first when she heard the footsteps approaching her room, Nerve paid no mind to them; but when she heard her brother speak up, obviously aware of her injured appearance, she knew there’d be no ignoring him. “I’m fine, Vaughn.” She muttered, not taking her focus from the katana in her hands. “Just fucked up my parkour run, alright? Overshot the bench and made out with the concrete instead.” Of course it was a lie. She wasn’t going to tell her big brother that one of the ‘doctors’ from Holt was here in Port Silver. He’d flip shit.

Micah was out for vengeance he had punished his son and now he was looking for her;he remembered her and it clicked in his mind as to why she offered his son the card. Not saying a word he roughly pushed against the wall stopping her dead in her tracks. He stared at her for a good two minutes before speaking, “What did you say to my son?” His voice filled with anger afraid she had warped J.P.’s mind.