#brightcliff

Pairing: Kevin x oc

Word count: 1,489

Warnings: Angst, talks of chronic pain, grief, medication. Very much angst.

Summary: A simple gesture to take away one’s pain.

Mini Series; Part 2, Part 3

Paralyzed - NF

Violet sat in her room, waiting for the soft knock on her door by Natsuki or Spencer for meeting in the library again. Hearing the ghost stories that everyone created. Being on the edge of her seat with Kevin's story. The thrillers that Spencer made. The heartstoppers that Natsuki told. She enjoyed listening to Anya's stories. Sure, she was bitter at times and snapped whenever Violet was messing with her deck of cards, but it didn't matter. Anya's stories were always her favorite.

She's flipped through cards, trying her best to keep them squared and tight together. No seams to reveal cards. The strength in her hands before her diagnosis was strong. She was a master of keeping the deck tight together. The deck she had in her hands was her own personal one that she made. Painting the backs and tiny edges of the deck in black ink. Then painting golden design that made the deck a one of a kind. The design itself was ironic to her. Foxgloves. A beautiful, but deadly floral.

When she was messing with her cards once, Ilonka had come into her room to grab her for dinner and noticed Violet shuffling the cards. Violet didn't mind Ilonka walking into the room, sitting on the edge of her bed, watching as she cut the deck and was shuffling the cards each way. Ilonka was transfixed on the design of the cards as she spun the Ace of Hearts between the cut deck. Violet told the girl what the flower was. How people forget that something as small and beautiful as the foxglove can still kill you.

Ever since she started her treatments, trying to keep up with her practice and skill of card tricks started to be stripped away. Little by little her hands began to shake with quick movements. Jerking the cards from her grip.

She tried to laugh it off when she got to Brightcliff, trying to show them what had been keeping her from falling apart. Ironic, Anya said to her. Glancing down at the spilled cards on the floor. Kevin had to stop Anya from being bitter, but Violet just picked up her cards, easily showed she still capable of doing magic. She fanned the cards out in front of everyone, told one of them to pick a card. Amesh picked a card, didn't show it to Violet, but to everyone else. She shuffled the cards, making them face each other, until she found the natural split of the deck where the backs of the two cards face each and flipped them over. Ruffling the cards, showing that only one was facing up. Amesh's card, the King of Diamonds.

Now, Anya was gone and Violet felt empty. Sure, the two sometimes snapped at each other, but the two held a mutual respect for what they did. What stories they told. Violet always seemed to bring her cards when joining them for the Midnight Club. Her shuffling the cards sometimes caught Anya's eye. The wonder of how someone so sick could still break deck into sections without fail half the of the time.

That soft knock came, Violet didn't say a word just kept shuffling the cards into the palm of her right hand. The pain in her thumbs was too much for the bridge shuffle. There was more pain in her hands since getting treatments at Brightcliff and it chipped away more at her heart when it affected her love for the cards in her hands.

The door opened softly. "Violet you coming?" The whisper of Kevin's voice made Violet stop shuffling her cards. She knew she had to get up from the bed and follow. But she also didn't want to move. She didn't want to feel the pain that had put strain in the muscles of her legs. The pulling in her back whenever she turned. Or the odd pull of muscles in her chest she never thought would hurt until now. She didn't want to get up from the safe hunched over ball she was on the bed. She didn't want to show them she was in pain. The physical and emotional.

"Go on without me." She mumbled, putting down the deck onto the comforter of her bed. "I'm going to stay put tonight."

Kevin took a quick glance over his shoulder at Amesh and Natsuki that waited behind him. They had noticed first when she wasn't there in the library. The sound of her cards shuffling. He didn't walk away, just gestured them to go on without him.

It took the pair a moment before they were walking down the hall, hand in hand.

He took the first step inside the room, the floorboard creaked in a greeting. Violet still didn't look up from her shaking hands. The pile of cards on the bed. He sat on the edge of her bed wanting to reach out to her. "Everyone was wondering where you were." He told, his voice carried exhaustion.

"I'm good with being here tonight. Go join them. I bet Spencer has a good story for everyone." At the end, Violet's voice broke. Violet was grateful it was dark because she felt the first tear fall from her face.

Kevin placed a gentle hand on her back, moving in small circles. He could feel the shuddering of her body when she tried to choke down her sobs. The grief of losing a friend, but also losing herself.

"It wouldn't be the same." Kevin scooted closer to her, getting Violet to finally look at him. He saw stages of grief in her eyes. A blend that broke his heart. When she first came, there was fire in her eyes that showed she held some form of hopefulness. Sure, the acceptance of death was there, but hope was brighter. After Anya died and Sandra went home, that fire had turned into embers barely holding on. Now, more than ever.

She lifted her hands and her smile was weak. Broken. Just as she was. "This will never be the same."

Kevin took one her shaking hands into his. Digging his thumbs into the muscles that screamed when she tried to shuffle her deck. Small and firm figure eights that made the pain in her hands momentarily subside. Nothing that a maxed out dose of morphine could supress.

He didn't know what to say to her. Only gave her silence as he dug at pinched nerves, screaming muscles. Violet didn't watch him massage her hand. Didn't let her eyes fall when he switched to the other hand, continuing the same pattern. She just traced the pattern of his robe, the lines of overlapping blue and red on the article with her eyes. Anything to keep from staring at him. How his eyes burned into the skin of her hands.

That silence was broken when there was a knock on her door again. Kevin stopped his movements, but didn't let go of her hands. The friction he created brought warmth to her cold skin. They didn't need to look up to see who was there.

"Go to bed, both of you." Dr. Stanton spoke softly, leaving the door wide open.

Kevin didn't let go of Violet's hand though. He didn't get up from his spot on her bed. Just stayed there. Five more minutes he wished. Five more minutes, give him time to say three words to the girl beside him.

"You need to go." Violet looked Kevin in the eye, that same weak smile on her lips.

He sighed, moving slowly as if it will make time between them stop for a moment. Those words are caught in his throat as he moved towards the door. The thought of kissing Violet got him to stop before he stepped out of the room. He had a second thought come to him.

"The Mad Hattress needs a partner in crime." He spoke over his shoulder, turning to her. He was hopeful she'd get his words. The main character of her story falling off his lips.

Violet looked towards the door, tears in her eyes. "The Mad Hattress is gone though, he could never find her even if he tried to. Not when the shadows have already taken her." She then started to pick up her deck of cards.

Kevin bit into his cheek. "Violet," saying her name got her to look up back at him again. He breathed out nervously. "He'd go after her into the shadows, even if it meant he disappeared too."

His words made Violet's chest tighten. Was he talking about her characters or themselves? "Even if it meant death?"