Love in the Remains of Hell: 5

It almost seemed impossible… no, correction: it WAS impossible. Almost everyone saw what happened… limbs torn off from his body, cut in half just below the chest, pinned to the wall, wires tearing at his skin, bleeding to death, and then stabbed in the heart with a broken pipe. He was dead… he had to be, no one could survive that! It was probably the most horrible and gruesome death anyone has ever seen… yet he didn’t die. It was the most confusing thing, Luke Valentine living though that horrific attack. And what was even more confusion was that Dok knew he could save him.

But, though he could be saved, the procedures to fix him were not very pleasant. All his limbs and half his body were torn off and, although Hans tried to sew them together like Frankenstein’s monster back in the city, the nerves were still damaged and Luke could hardly move them, besides the finger twitch from a while back. Dok would have to fix everything, from bones to muscles, connecting the nerves back together and get a regular blood flow to his body. And that also meant Luke had to be awake to see if he regained any feeling in his repaired limbs. And that also meant he would be in total, complete and horrific pain.

Rip had her hands pressed hard against her ears, shuddering and flinching at each shriek of pain that shook the house. It had been going on for almost three hours and she was forced to stay downstairs, whimpering and rocking back and forth in her seat. “P-please stop,” she begged under her breath. “P-please stop the pain… please, please make it stop…” She jumped when another scream was heard.

Walter sat across from her, staring at her sadly and sighs. “M-Miss Van Winkle,” he murmured. “I-it may not be much of comfort, but… i-if you can hear him, you know he must be alive… so there is some hope he will be all right.”

Rip glanced up and gave him a look that would boil water.  “Wow, that made me feel SO much better,” she growled and turned away from him. It was like a slap in the face for Walter and he flinched at the coldness in her voice.

“Wow, really smooth,” Schrödinger chuckled and appeared next to Walter. “Look, you’re very bad at comforting a depressed woman. Watch and learn from the experts.” He disappeared again and appeared next to Rip.

“Rip,” he whimpered and snuggled next to her. “I didn’t mean to make fun of Luke, please forgive me… I hope he’ll be okay… I j-just want you to smile!” He snuggled against her side and, to Walter’s surprise, Rip didn’t flinch away.

The Dandy Man strode over and leaned against the arm of the couch. “There, there, senorita,” he murmured and handed her a tissue, which she gladly took. “No need for a pretty girl to cry… your little Valentine will be all right, no need to worry and waste precious tears.”

Walter watched in awe as the two men comforted/flirted with the poor girl. They’ve done this before, he knew it. He rolled his eyes and sighed, suddenly sitting up and listening carefully. “Gentlemen,” he said calmly.

“P-please leave me alone,” Rip sobbed and tried to squirm away from the men.

“But don’t you want a hug from a cute little kitty like me?” Schrödinger asked, letting his ears wiggle and purring softly. Rip shook her head and turned away from him. “Awww, you made the kitty sad,” he whimpered and his ears drooped, pouting and making his bottom lip tremble. To Walter’s amusement, Rip put a hand out and pushed his face away from her, making him fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Walter quickly shook his head. “Miss Van Winkle… gentlemen, please listen to me,” he begged.

“Not now, backstabber,” Tubalcain argued and patted Rip’s shoulder. “Can’t you see the poor girl is upset? She needs our comfort and our kind words to get though this horrible time.”

“Well, I understand she’s upset, but can you just-.”

“YEEP!” Rip shrieked and slammed her fist hard into Tubalcain’s face. “Don’t you dare grab me there again, you horrible man whore!!!”

Schrödinger giggled. “See, I told you he was a man whore!”

Tubalcain glared at him pinching his nose together to stop the bleeding. “Shut up, you weird creation of a cat and a human!”

The cat boy’s ears drooped. “Oh… that was hurtful… completely not needed, Tubalcain… not at all.”

“What are you talking about!?! You called me a man whore!”

“Could be worse… I could have called you a-.”

“Cut it out!” Walter cried out, interrupting the stupid argument. “All of you listen carefully.” They leaned close and waited for him to say something. He sighed, “Not to me… the air, listen. There’s no more screams…” Everyone froze up and listened hard… he was right… Luke stopped screaming.

“Oh my God… Luke,” Rip whimpered, jumping from her seat and about to run up the stairs before Walter grabbed her arm. “Let me go, you murderer!!!”

“Dok said not to come up unless he gave you permission!” he said calmly, still holding her arm tightly yet gently. “If you go up there, you might interrupt a procedure and he might not get any better! Please, just sit down and-.”

Rip slapped him hard in the face. “How dare you…” she growled. “You have no right to talk to me, you traitor! He is dying up there and you’re going to hold me back!?! I hate you!”

“Rip Van Winkle,” a voice barked, making both Walter and Rip jump and snap their heads at Dok. Rip’s face paled to see almost his entire white coat was now stained dark red. “You’re making such a racket… calm down, damn it! I was coming down to get you! Don’t you want to see your little boy toy?”

Rip gasped and nodded quickly, following close behind and forgetting about Dok calling him a boy toy. Dok reached the door and before he opened it, he turned towards her and glared at her over his glasses. “He is alive,” he whispered. “But he’s not well… no hugging, no grabbing, nothing rough that can cause any little bit of pain or anything that can break his stitches. A kiss is fine, but on the cheek… he’s too weak for… what did Jan call it… tonsil hockey.” Rip gave him a look and he smirked a little. “You can touch him, but very softly and NOT on the left side of his face… I had to rebuild all that by hand! You must be careful or else I’m kicking you out!” Rip shuddered and nodded slowly. Dok sighed and opened the door. “Get in or I’m changing my mind.”

Rip trembled and stepped in quietly with Dok following close behind her. She flinched to hear sharp, weak gasps from across the dark room. “Don’t mind,” Dok whispered. “He’s in pain… plus, while repairing him, he kept begging to see you… it was almost pathetic, but if you calm him down, I’ll finish bandaging his wounds, got it?” Rip nodded and he sighed. “Go on… get!”

Rip swallowed hard and crept to the bed as quietly as she could, wincing at every small whimper and cry she heard. She didn’t want to see his injuries… she’d start crying and Dok would send her out. Thankfully, Dok draped a blanket over his throbbing body, showing only his head and neck. She tiptoed closer and stood over where his head rested on a blood splattered pillow. It wasn’t a pretty sight… the entire left side of his face was thickly bandaged, his visible eye was shut tightly and his teeth were bared, gritting with the pain that burned under his skin. She winced to see how much he was suffering… there were even bite marks on his bottom lip from all the times he bit it to block out the pain. Luke…

Very slowly and gently, she brought her hand up and let her fingertips graze along his visible, swollen cheek. He cried out and flinched to feel more hands touching him, awaiting the pain that would follow. “Luke, no it’s okay,” Rip cooed and stroked his cheek gently, wincing to feel how hot his skin was. He stiffened at the voice and shuddered weakly. “Luke… it’s okay… no one’s going to hurt you anymore,” she murmured, leaning close, pursing her lips and gently blew a small, cool breath onto his forehead. His tightly shut eye loosened and he shivered to let out a small moan.

Dok looked up form his medical bag and nodded. “Good, keep him distracted,” he whispered, grabbing cotton and a roll of gauze. Rip flinched to see him walk over and pull the blanket aside. “Don’t look, you stupid girl! Keep him distracted!”

“Shhh,” Rip hissed, tracing around his jaw and forehead to calm him down. Luke’s eye finally opened, bloodshot and glassy, and it blinked several times to focus on Rip’s face. “Luke… guten tag, libeling,” she murmured, gently brushing his hair back. His eye widened and the bottom lid trembled before a tear slid from the corner. She smiled sadly and felt tears burn in her own eyes.  “Shhh, darling it’s all right, I’m here don’t cry.” He weakly leaned against her hand which softly cupped his cheek and more tears fell down her face. “I’m here and I’m not going to leave you… you’re going to be all right… we’ll be together again in only a little while… I’ll take care of you… I love you.”

Luke shuddered and coughed weakly. “R-Rip,” he groaned, leaning closer to her hand and brushing his lips against the palm of her hand. She shivered, leaned down and kissed his forehead gently. “I-I… lo-love you… Ri-Rip…” He quieted down when she softly planted kisses all across his warm, injured face. Her lips brushed against his and he quickly tried to lean up to kiss her back.

“No, darling,” she purred and let her fingers softly trace the bandages on his face. “Don’t stress yourself, you must rest… don’t worry, I’ll be here to take care of you.” He smiled very weakly and she tried to smile back, still stroking his face and brushing his hair back.

“Miss Van Winkle, I need to have a word with you,” Dok murmured, putting a red hand on her shoulder and nodding towards the door. “Outside… right now, and then you can take care of him as long as you want.”

Rip frowns and glanced back at Luke. “I’ll be right back, don’t worry darling,” she purred, kissing the corner of his mouth before leaning up to follow Dok.

“C-come b-ba-back so-soon,” Luke croaked weakly and shuddered with pain. Rip narrowed her eyes sadly and nodded before following Dok out the door.

“Rip, I’m going to put this bluntly,” Dok sighed when he closed the door and made sure no one was around to hear. “Luke is dying.”

Her stomach dropped and she felt the color drain from her face. “Wh-what…?” she gasped and shuddered. “But… he was fine! He was moving and talking… what do you mean!?!”

“He lost too much blood, during and after the war,” he sighed, sounding a little annoyed. “His muscles are deteriorating and he’s going to get weaker and weaker, dying a slow and painful death. The chances of surviving are… one to one thousand.” He glanced out the window and twisted his mouth thoughtfully. “He probably won’t make it to see winter end.”

“No, there has to be a way!” she cried and shook her head, tears streaming down her trembling face. “Anything, there has to be something!”

“Well… blood, of course,” he murmured, scratching his chin. “Of course, he’ll have to drain almost the entire person, but there’s a higher chance he’ll survive.”

“He can take mine!” she said immediately. He flinched and she quickly grabbed his coat. “No, I’ve done it before when he was sick and he was better in several minutes! Please, I’m begging you! Let him drink from me!”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “No,” he growled and pulled away. “Not you… it’s too dangerous.”

“I can handle it!” she cried, clasping her hands together as if she was praying. “I’m a strong girl, it won’t take me long to get better!”

“I said no,” he repeated, getting more annoyed. “Besides, he needs human blood since it’s stronger and more pure… almost all the humans are dead now or in hiding… and no way he can drink from the werewolves or the others… your blood is weaker than a human’s… it’ll take possibly ten times longer to heal if he drink from one of you.”

“Then let it be!” she begged, pulling her sleeve up to show her veins. “I don’t care how long it takes as long as he lives! He can take mine!”

He shoved her arm away. “How many times must I tell you!” he yelled, feeling ready to slap her hard in the face and struggling to keep it back. “No means no, and that is final, you stupid girl!”

“And why not!?! You won’t give me a good reason, so why!?!” she yelled back, almost shrieking.

He couldn’t take it anymore… she was so stubborn and stupid! “Because if you give him your blood,” he screamed, “then your baby will die!!!”