lmao this is almost as long as the first story I wrote for this au @drcrane1048
This really wasn’t when or where Kay had expected to see one of her most hated rivals, Nicky Delano. He ran a gang, coincidently named after him, that had kidnapped Kay and her boyfriend in the start of the apocalypse. After he was killed, and Kay was to be next, she managed to escape and traveled around to start a name for herself. She wanted to be as tough as the mafia leader was; she wanted to get back at him.
But she wasn’t ready.
Kay was doing her annual routine of going around and asking the townspeople what supplies they specifically needed, but the sound of gunfire drew not only her attention, but everyone else’s to the gates. The two lookouts that were posted at the gate were shot down, one being killed immediately and the other wallowing on the ground in pain. With the sanctuary’s protection now disarmed, the Delano’s were able to storm in.
As she ushered people to the safety of their homes, Kay took notice to the fighters of the sanctuary coming out with their own guns, and she wasted no time in helping out. With the bat that never seemed to leave her hand, Kay mostly stuck with close-quarter combat with some of the people from the Delanos.
Both sides' casualty numbers increased as the fighting drew on. As Kay disarmed and killed another one of the Delano's men, she took the gun he had and hid behind a wall for cover. More of the sanctuary's people began to come out to help in the fight, and the rival gang soon realized they were outnumbered.
When the gun she had ran out of ammo, Kay tossed it aside and pulled out her own pistol. She leaned out from her cover and fired, hitting an enemy in the chest. Standing not too far away from the recently killed target, she spotted a familiar mobster and moved from the hiding spot to get a better shot. Though Kay soon saw that Nicky's own gun was aimed at another familiar being. The 7 year old girl named Maliah that Kay had took in was now held at gunpoint before her. It seemed Nicky didn't even acknowledge Kay's presence at first; because it wasn’t until she ran forward with a yell of the girl's name did he finally look up and decide to take the shot.
Kay had managed to throw herself in front of the 7 year old and shove her out of harm's way in time. The evidence of that was the newfound feeling of searing pain that erupted in her side. With hearing the shout of her name, Kay looked up to see a frightened Maliah running towards her, her mismatched eyes filled with tears.
One of Nicky's men came up to him, relaying the urgent message that they needed to leave immediately. With a sigh, he patted the man's shoulder and gave him the order of "finishing them off" before walking away. When the guy turned to do so, Kay fired three shots at him from her position on the ground, shooting him dead. She heard hollers of joy, and soon realized it was her own people yelling because of the Delanos retreating.
Maliah knelt by Kay's side, looking over her fearfully. She began to shake as she saw the bullet wound, to which Kay hurried to clamp a hand over to stop the blood from flowing out so rapidly. The adrenaline she previously had was disappearing and the pain became more evident, her breathing now growing labored. “Kay, you’re hurt-“
“I’m fine, Maliah. No worries.” Though there was a lot to worry over, such as when Kay struggled to sit up, her skin felt like it was tearing. At seeing the disgruntled expression upon her caretaker’s face when she struggled to sit up, Maliah cried out to the surrounding citizens for help. Soon the blue haired doctor rushed over to provide assistance.
“Oh my god. What happened to you, Kay?” Doc asked, moving her hand away so he could look at her wound properly.
“Gee, Doc, I don’t fucking know. Does the circular hole in my side with a bullet lodged in it not tell you anything?”
“You don’t have to be cynical, Kay… We need to get you to the clinic right away.” Helping her up, Doc and one of her group members was able to lead her away to the medical ward. The three entered the building, Kay being sat into one of the procedure chairs. As the man went to leave so Doc could perform the surgery, Kay grabbed him and told him to inform Count of the incident that happened. When he left, Kay began to shrug off her leather jacket and white t-shirt so the injury could be accessible to the doctor. “Now, y’know this is gonna hurt…”
“You say that like it doesn’t already. Just hurry and stitch me up already.” Her patience was running thin as he began to wipe away blood to better see the bullet that was lodged into her.
“Alright. I’m gonna make a small cut, pull the bullet out, and then stitch you up, okay? I’ll try not to hurt you too much.”
“Doc. Just get. It over with.”
“Okay, fine.” Taking a deep breath, Doc began the operation. Kay hissed when she felt her skin get cut open wider, and muffled a yell into her fist as the bullet was pried out. Another hiss left her as the alcohol used to clean the wound stung, trying hard not to writhe around during it. Doc then got around to stitching her up, soon, her painful endeavor finally being over.
Kay felt exhausted, the aching from the wound numbing her entire left side. The doctor began to tell her how good the surgery went and how great she did as he wrapped her torso, but she was too out of it to comprehend exactly what was said. She soon ended up passing out, and would be later returned to her own home before she awoke.
It was hours later when Kay finally began to show signs of life, a groan passing from her lips as olive green eyes cracked open. She blinked a few times, looking up to watch as her vision cleared to show white ceiling above her. What she didn't expect was a familiar voice off to the side say, "You are awake. How are you feeling?"
When she looked over, Kay saw that Count was sitting in a chair at her bedside. At first she was confused as to why he was there, but as earlier events flooded her memory, she remembered she sent someone to tell him what happened.
"... I feel like shit... But at least I got an extra pocket, though." Kay began to laugh at her own joke until it started to cause her discomfort. Sitting up, she hissed and held her side. "Fuck, this hurts..."
At her attempt to make light of the situation, Count chuckled. He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, laying her back down when she sat up. "Rest easy, Kay. You need it. To prevent future run ins, I have my knights guarding the perimeter."
With a sigh, she shifted a bit to get herself comfortable. Her moment of rest didn't last long; Kay remembered the supply run she was supposed to go on earlier. Sitting up again, Kay swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I gotta go. I still need to do that supply run."
"No, you need to rest." He warned, sitting her back down again. "The knights will deliver your supplies. For now, you need to take it easy. If not for yourself, then for your people."
"But-"
"Kay, please. Rest. You really do need it."
Begrudgingly, Kay agreed to finally laying down. Soon after making sure the woman was okay, Count made his leave back to Constanta. The Hawaiian had a plan in her mind on how to escape, eager to be out and about. When she finally put her plan into action and stumbled outside, she was met with a certain knight that she knew well. Sir stood outside her home, and at seeing her walking out the door, they were quick to usher her back inside.
"Ya need to rest, Kay! On Count's order, he wants ya to stay inside." Upon hearing that, Kay tried to get past the knight.
"I need to go, Sir. I gotta for my people-"
"If Count sees ya, we'll all be in trouble! Yer people will be fine, but ya need to take care of yourself." Guiding her back inside and to her room, Sir smiled apologetically. They helped her lay back down, covering her up with the blanket as well. “Please rest, Kay. Ya need it the most out of us all.”
With a huff, she agreed to appease the knight. As she showed no signs of leaving anymore, Sir went back outside to guard with a wave. The Hawaiian was already forming yet another escape plan, though. When she heard the front door close Kay was quick to jump up, tugging on her now bloodied leather jacket to cover herself and slipping on her combat boots. She didn’t have a reason as to why she wanted to leave the sanctuary so badly, the only thing coming to mind was to prove that she could do such a thing since she was practically on lock down.
Pistol in hand, the brunette snuck outside, sneaking past Sir and the other knights that were posted around the sanctuary. The journey to Constanta took a toll on her, by the time she reached the city’s gates she was holding her side and stumbling. She made it to Count’s home, knocking harshly on the door. When the Romanian answered, Kay pushed past him into the manor, her side throbbing.
“Where’s your room?”
“Kay, what are you doing here? You should be resti-“
“Where. Is. Your. Room.” She deadpanned, continuing down the hallway in search of said room. Kay’s worst fear was that she ripped the stitches in her side, and though she didn’t think she did yet, she wanted to lay down to prevent doing so. With a hand on her back to guide her, Count led her into the bedroom and sat her down. “Y’know, I’ll get up when I damn well please.”
“You really should not be moving in your state, you’ll ruin yourself further.”
“I’m already ruined. It doesn’t matter.”
“Stop that. Of course it matters.” Watching as she unzipped the jacket, Count’s eyes dropped to the bandages around her waist. He watched as she unwrapped them, quickly checking the stitches. Sighing in relief at seeing they weren’t ripped, Kay began to rewrap the bandages. “For God’s sake, will you lie down and take it easy? If you will not care for yourself, then I will.”
“Why, I’m touched, Count. It’s almost like I matter or something.” Kay rolled her eyes and glanced up at him, a small smirk on her face to hide the fact that her injury was setting her nerves alive with pain.
“You do. Now rest.”
“If I matter so much, will you stay with me?”
“I will. I am here.” He replied, lying down at her side. “Rest easy, the knights are more than happy to help with the supply runs.”
“Those are my supply runs, though. They’re for my people!” She whined, her head rolling over to look at him. “And don’t be mad at your knights for me sneaking out… I didn’t want them to know I was leaving.”
“… I won’t. You have done a lot for your people though, I’m sure they will manage without you just fine. They will wait patiently for your return.” Count moved his hand to intertwine his fingers with hers. As he began to speak again, Count lifted up the hem of his shirt, showing off scar that was located on his hip. “I have been in your shoes. Your wound is anything but okay and I know, because I was shot there too…”
“Then you know this really hurts like hell…” With a chuckle, Kay let her head rest on his shoulder. “It hurts, but I’m stubborn. I feel the need to be doing things despite my current condition.”
“I know. For what it’s worth, you are handling it a lot better than I did.” Sighing, he continued his speech. “I promise it will be better for you to relax. If you keep moving around, you will only stay in bed longer.”
Giving his hand a slight squeeze, Kay hummed. “For you and my people, I’ll try to take it easy and rest. I don’t want to… But I will.”
“Thank you. Now rest easy. I’ll watch over you.”
“I know. I trust that you will.” At hearing that, Count rested his head on top of Kay’s. He encircled his arms around her gently as to not cause further discomfort. Kay shifted a bit to lay curled at his side, and soon after getting comfortable she fell into a well needed slumber.
It was hours later back at the sanctuary of Rosaline when Sir decided to check back up on Kay. The knight soon came to find out that she was not in the house, but rather another person was. Maliah had been wandering around the place also looking for the older Hawaiian. Though Sir was worried about the absence of the person they were supposed to watch, they knew they needed to inform Count about the situation.
Just as Count was about to fall asleep as well, a knock at the door woke him up. Careful as to not wake up the woman beside him, Count slipped out of the bed and made his way to the front door. The knight that greeted him at the door was quick to explain themself.
“I-I’m sorry, Count! Kay got out an’ I don’t know where she’s at! I found this wee one in her house, but I’m sorry I-“
Holding up a hand, Count silenced Sir’s rant. He then looked down to see the young girl hiding a bit behind them. “She was in Kay’s house?”
“Uh… Aye, her name’s Maliah. She said she lives with Kay!” Glancing at Maliah, Sir motioned with their head for her to step forward. “This is Count, Maliah. Say hi!”
Giving a sheepish wave, she squeaked out a “hello”. Count knelt down to her height and offered her a smile to help ease her nerves.
“Hello, Maliah. Kay is here, she’s resting up.” At hearing that good news, both Maliah and Sir sighed in relief. Count held out a hand to the girl before asking, “Would you like to see her when she wakes up? You can stay here till she does.”
She agreed, and Count led her inside to watch over her until Kay arose, Sir going back to Rosaline to protect it alongside the other knights. Going over to the sofa, Count sat down next to Maliah, taking notice to the way she kept her eyes trained on her folded hands. She looked rather nervous and he felt the need to help her. “So, Maliah, is it? How old are you?”
“I’m seven.” She replied quietly, twiddling her thumbs and swinging her legs absentmindedly.
“Seven? That is cool. Do you know where you are, Maliah?” At seeing her nod, he decided to push further. “And where would that be?”
“… Constanta… Kay told me about this place.” She briefly looked up at him, but soon shyly averted her gaze back down.
“Oh? What did sh-“ Before Count could ask his question, he heard a yell and some thumping come from his room. Maliah looked in the direction of the sound, looking at Count with fearful eyes. He got up quickly and went to the room, Maliah following after him.
Kay was stumbling about the room, trying to leave though the ache in her side preventing her from moving too fast and too much. When she saw the redhead enter the room, she began to explain the situation. “Count, I left Maliah! I left the kid back at the sanctuary! I gotta go-“
“She is already here, do not worry.” As Count stepped to the side, Kay saw the girl that was standing behind him. When Maliah saw her, she eagerly ran towards her. Kay cringed as the girl jumped up and wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her head into her stomach, the pain flaring up in her torso more. “Sir brought her here…”
Kay went to say her thanks, but got cut off by the sounds of whimpering. Wetness flooded through the bandages and she looked down to find that the small Hawaiian had begun to cry. Shushing her, Kay pet her hair soothingly and lifted her chin up so she could see her face. “Ku’uipo, what’s wrong?”
“I-I couldn’t find you a-and I thought something ha-appened to you!” She buried her face back in Kay’s stomach as she continued to cry, hiccupping as she talked. Sighing, Kay murmured encouraging words in their shared language, Maliah seeming to calm down to hushed sobs.
She continued to pet the child’s head as she wrapped her arms around her tightly. Kay looked up to meet Count’s gaze. He offered a small smile and Kay returned it. She mouthed “thank you” to him, and he nodded. Exiting the room, he let the two have a moment to themselves. Kay began to calm down a worried Maliah, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright as she held her.
