Post by gemma on Mar 25, 2012 20:43:34 GMT -8
OOC Note: Permission was given by Orion to powerplay her characters in this thread for the purposes of keeping this a oneshot rather than multiple threads.
November 7th, 7:00am
Gemma awoke to delightful warmth and an unusually high sensation of security. She kept her dark eyes closed, pondering the feeling and trying to remember in her sleep-fogged state just why it was that she felt so relaxed, so peaceful... she hadn't felt this way for weeks, after all.
It was the sudden realization that the warm, rather heavy thing draped about her waist wasn't a smooth blanket or pillow, as she'd first thought, but an arm... her husband's arm. A slow, lazily pleased smile grew on her face as her memory fully returned: Orion was with her once more, and this time, nothing could take him from her. They were married and living in the City together... and his arm was around her.
Still smiling, she rolled over, intending to snuggle against her husband's chest, when a sudden jolt of nausea struck her. Her eyes flew open, her hand flew over her mouth, and a strangled sound escaped her.
Oh no... I forgot my potion last night!
”Ugh, Mon Dieu... not now, please...” she begged her stomach aloud, but an abrupt clenching of her abdominal muscles and a loud gurgle in her stomach had her moaning and leaping out of the bed to run to the bathroom.
Nearly ten minutes of painful retching and choking later, she staggered weakly back into the bedroom, heading for her bedside table, where she assumed her anti-morning-sickness potion would be stored. Concerned golden eyes greeted her, but she mustered up enough strength to answer them with a smile.
”G'morning, Ri,” she mumbled, digging the bottle of potion out of the top drawer of her table with shaking fingers and preparing herself a dose, ”Sorry about that... forgot to take my anti-morning-sickness potion last night... Won't happen again, I promise...” She took the dose, trying not to grimace at the taste and wondering not for the first time why a potion designed to relieve nausea tasted like vomit itself, before crawling back into bed with a sigh.
”So glad that's over...” she whispered into Orion's chest, then drifted back into sleep, her body already exhausted with the day.
November 9th, 9:50pm
Waiting beside the Eternal Flames for the rescue party was growing far more difficult than Gemma had ever anticipated. They were supposed to have returned nearly an hour before, but because of the secrecy of their mission they weren't able to communicate with her and the rest of the Syndicate. Still, Gemma had faith that Sullivan would pull them through somehow... she only hoped that none would be lost along the way.
She was just considering going home to grab a little food – she hadn't eaten dinner, since she'd been waiting by the Flames since seven – and also to let Orion know what was going on, when the Flames abruptly turned amethyst and began to belch forth people. A cry of relief left her mouth as she nearly ran forward, flanked by the Flame Guards on duty, to meet the group; a swift head-count told her that all were there, as well as one extra: a middle-aged man being supported by the woman known as Catrin Sinclair.
”Is everyone alright, Rat?” she asked the leader of the Syndicate after pushing through the group to meet him, but it was Catrin who answered.
”Fuckin' great, thanks, girl...” she growled, then, in sharp contrast to her words, almost tenderly helped the man she was supporting to walk off towards the City.
”Her father is returned to her,” the Nosferatu girl Selene put in; Gemma noted that her hazel eyes were even more keen than usual, and that her pale body was streaked with dirt, rubble, and what was clearly blood. She held her sword casually in her left hand, and that too was streaked with a similar mixture. ”Her mother has long since been no more. She is... unwell about this.”
”Er... I see... thank you, Selene,” Gemma murmured back, feeling the need to duck her head slightly under the Nosferatu's predatory gaze. The pale girl nodded back to her, then sheathed her sword in order to start off for the City herself. Gemma said little else, but she followed the group, wondering what on earth had happened to leave the group so... solemn. They had at least partly succeeded, and while Catrin was obviously upset over only getting one of her parents back, the rest of them should all be rather more pleased with themselves.
So... what went wrong? … I guess I'll just have to ask Sullivan or Ced later...
November 15th, 6:15pm
Gemma had discovered the unusual Muggle tool in their library earlier that day for the first time. Orion hadn't been around – he was still requiring visits to the Healer to make sure that the stab injury he had been given was completely healing.
She'd gone in, expecting to only find books, only to stare in surprise and confusion at the odd contraption on one of the work tables. It had a stack of very fine parchment beside it, and one sheet sticking out of the top. Knobs, levers, and odd buttons completed the machine, making it a picture Gemma had never seen before. Feeling like a child caught playing with a parent's prized possession, she'd literally tiptoed over to take a look. Gentle, curious fingers had mapped the machine, and a high-pitched squeal had accompanied the pressing of a key, which had resulted in a loud thwaking sound as one of the levers shot forward to strike the parchment. Gemma had backed away hastily, terrified that she'd somehow broken the thing, only to have curiosity overcome her once more when she spotted the letter H that had appeared on the parchment.
That's strange... the button I pushed had a letter H on it... I wonder if it does that with the other letters, too? There seem to be more of them on here... Another examination had her furrowing her brows. ALL the letters, actually... I wonder what this is for... She poked another button – the E this time, which took some doing to find – squeaking again as another lever flicked forward to strike the parchment's surface just beside the H. An E was made, and Gemma found herself grinning. She'd figured the thing out: it copied what you wanted written in an odd yet regularly formed script all its own.
By the time Orion returned home that evening, she had learned the order of the letters and was able to create an entire page in the odd writing. Changing out the parchment had actually been the most confusing bit for her, though the bell that dinged whenever she reached the end of a line still made her giggle each time it occurred.
November 26th, 11:02 pm
Gemma lay curled in a ball on the couch, trying and failing miserably not to cry. The night had begun splendidly, with her and Orion making and having dinner together – Gemma was a decent cook in the French style, and Orion was useful for chopping ingredients and mixing things, due to his expertise with potions – followed by an intimate talk on the very piece of furniture Gemma now lay on. Orion had revealed his interest in Healing to her, which she had received with curiosity: she hadn't known the profession was of interest to her husband. Still, as always, she had done her best to encourage him, telling him with a smile that he'd always been able to heal her, he ought to be able to do it with others as well. Her own frustration over not being utilized by the Syndicate had come out, also; she'd been waiting ever since the wedding to be given a job, but none had even been offered.
After that, they had headed to bed, where things had begun to turn a bit more romantic. Soft kissing had begun it, followed by more passionate caresses, until they wound up in a decidedly intimate position: Gemma on her back, Orion atop her, hands exploring, mouths seemingly bound together... that was, until Orion accidentally took hold of Gemma's wrists and pinned them to the bed slightly over her head.
The next thing Gemma had known fully, she was all the way across the room, her throat raw from an apparent scream of terror, her eyes mostly blinded with tears, her entire body trembling in instinctual fear. Orion had still been on the bed, his golden eyes wild with confusion and growing remorse. Gemma had tried to return to him, but her body had protested so much – causing her literal pain when he so much as brushed his hand over her arm in a comforting gesture – that she had been forced to retreat to the couch for the rest of the night.
This had happened to them before, back when they had been at Hogwarts, at least three times that Gemma could remember, but it had not yet happened to them since their wedding. The counter on Days Without Fear of Being Touched had reset for Gemma tonight, however, and despair was heavy around her. She knew Orion was frustrated with her but trying not to show it, and her own mixture of rage at herself and old terror at her mistreatment wasn't helping.
I just wish I could not be afraid... she thought, feeling tears slide out of her eyes and down her pale cheeks, Just once...
She was just falling asleep when a soft, warm something jumped up on the couch beside her. For a moment she thought it was Eclipse, but then Gemma heard the decidedly bass purring emanating from the vast cat beside her and she couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. She put her arms around her husband and curled herself around him, smiling still as she buried her tear-streaked face into his fur.
December 6th, 8:00am
Gemma awoke to find that Orion wasn't beside her. For a moment she panicked, thinking wild thoughts – he was ill somewhere, someone had come and taken him away, he'd left her of his own accord – but then a note beside the bed caught her attention. She snatched it up and scanned it, her eyes nearly cramping at the speed that they were darting back and forth, only to smile when she'd finished it. Orion wasn't ill, he hadn't been stolen, and he hadn't left her... he had merely chosen this day to begin to figure out how to get training as a Healer, and he hadn't wanted to wake her. She set the note back down, a small smile on her face, before laying back down. She had no reason to get up – there was nothing for her to do except perhaps read or play more with the typewriter, which had turned out to be the name of the strange Muggle machine in the library – so more sleep seemed the right thing to do. She blew a kiss into the empty room before closing her eyes, hoping somehow that Orion would sense her affection from afar and know that she was thinking of him.
December 13th, 7:00am
She was up a bit earlier than usual, but Gemma had been getting up rather earlier lately anyway, so that she could see Orion in the mornings before he left. She'd showered already, and was in their bedroom getting dressed... or attempting to. For some reason, she couldn't get her skirt to clasp properly about her waist; she couldn't even get the zipper to go up more than halfway, let alone get the hook at the top of the zipper to latch together.
”What's the matter with this thing?” she mumbled to herself, frowning as she rearranged the material for the fifth time and tried to tug it closed once more. Once again, she met with failure, and a loud noise of irritation left her. ”Ugh... zut alors how did this shrink?! I haven't... washed it... in a while...”
She gradually faded into silence, a sudden thought striking her and leaving her unable to speak. Slowly, she pushed the skirt down and ran one slightly trembling hand over her stomach, only to find that her hunch was correct: there was a definite curve to her abdomen that hadn't ever been there before... it hadn't even been there a few weeks previous. A smile was on her face moments later, and a giggle was obvious in her voice as she raised it to call to her husband.
”Ri! I'm... I-I think I'm... I think the twins are starting to show!”
December 18th, 5:00pm
Gemma couldn't suppress her rage at Sullivan any longer. He'd not given her anything to do over the past month, even though he'd specifically said before the wedding that he would, and now... today... he'd done something so shocking that Gemma could only react in horror and disgust. The Williams girls, daughters of the regime Lord Trevor Williams, had been kidnapped... by none other than the man she called the Rat. She'd even seen them earlier, without Sullivan's knowledge, when she'd been looking for him and been told to check the Werewolf Quarter; they were being hurried along as quickly as possible, so people wouldn't see, but she'd seen. She'd recognized Katya in particular immediately, due to the talk they'd had once in the Great Hall at dinnertime, but the look of fear on the girl's face wasn't something she'd ever expected to see.
Damn Rat... putting his nose where it doesn't belong... she thought, clenching and unclenching her hands in an attempt to keep them off her wand as she stalked to the Training Center in the Hub. She could still hear things behind her and around her creaking and groaning, though, and even once the sound of breaking glass; apparently she still couldn't control her magic when angry, even with the Occlumency lessons Orion had been trying to give her after the incident on the 26th of November.
Once in the Training Center, however, not only the designated targets broke but also several windows and one pillar. She was asked to leave, and she did so, but only after dueling the person who'd ordered her to vacate the premises until they were on their back, wandless, with her wand at their throat. She stood over the man for several seconds, breathing hard, her dark eyes burning, before she lowered her wand and flounced out.
She was done with being told what to do, with being ignored. It was her time to be happy, and nothing was going to take that away from her. Not Sullivan, not random people who thought they controlled her... not even herself.
December 23rd, 11:30am
Orion had left a bit earlier than usual that day to go to his Healer training in London, but Gemma didn't mind the arrangement; it left her more time to wrap her husband's Christmas presents, after all.
It had taken her literally weeks to decide what to get him, but finally she had decided a few days before. It appeared to be a small thing when wrapped, but the pocket watch she'd gotten for him was worth more Galleons than many of the people here had ever earned in even a three-month period. For her, due to her family's wealth, it was manageable, but still worth quite a sum. For Orion, though, she would've paid anything, all the gold in the world and more, just to get him something that would please him.
She had just finished wrapping it, along with the other gifts she'd gotten for her other friends, when a knock on the door caused her to jump. She got up to answer it, only to tilt her head in confusion when Selene was the one to be standing on the other side. The Nosferatu girl was, most unusually for her, out of breath, as though she had just run a mile or more at top speed.
”Mastermind... you must come... it is of utmost importance!”
”O-of course... just a moment, Sel,” Gemma answered, stammering slightly in her confusion. She slid into her shoes, grabbing her coat from the hook beside the door and wrapping it around her shoulders; the unyielding fabric and slender fit didn't quite button over her small bump. ”Whatever's the matter? Is something wrong with Sullivan?” Selene went even more pale than usual, which made Gemma's concern grow: she'd never seen Selene so upset over anything.
”It is... more than that, Mastermind... it is your husband...” The soft words made Gemma's heart freeze mid-beat. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound would come out. Finally, she darted out the door, right past Selene, who immediately turned to follow her, looking concerned.
She didn't even make it halfway down the street before she'd fainted.
December 24th, time unknown
She had no idea how much time had passed, only that every second of it had been agony. Her body literally burned all over, and she shivered uncontrollably, her body otherwise limp on the bed in the Healing Center. She knew that there were people in the room with her, but only in a vague sense of the word “know;” for all she knew, they weren't really there and she was imagining them.
It wouldn't be the first thing I have...
The pain struck again, and a low, guttural moan left her, her body curling more tightly in on itself. One of the people moved to lay a hand on her arm, apparently intending to be soothing, but all it did was make Gemma scream in terror and pain and flail against their hold. The other was there in an instant, and the two of them attempted to hold her thrashing body down, but she only screamed louder, fighting her way away from them and running for the door.
”Ri!” she wailed, scratching uselessly at the locked door of the ward, ”RI!!” But then memory, in all its horrible truth, came back to her, and she screamed all the louder at its arrival.
Orion was dead. Her husband was dead, gone, killed by a Muggle bus. Taken from her, taken from their children... gone. He could not help her. And she could not help him.
She wasn't even aware that she was bashing her head wildly against the door until she was pulled away from it and strapped down to the bed. She kept screaming, though, begging the people to just let her die, to let her take her own life.
”I have to!” she sobbed, not even fully aware of what she was saying, ”He needs me, please let me go to him!”
”We need to sedate her,” one of the people said anxiously, ”Syl told me this can happen sometimes when the Veela mating bond is broken... she said it's been known to sometimes drive the Veela mad, but that it's rare for it to go that far... let's hope this isn't one of those cases, eh? We've got to keep her calm, though, so that she can't hurt herself anymore...”
”Right,” came another voice, ”I'll get the Healer after that, she's done a number on her head... again...”
”Let me go...” Gemma begged, still struggling against her bonds, ”Please, let me go to him... let me go to him! I HAVE TO DIE, LET ME GO TO HIM! ORION! NO!!”
”Here, get some sleep, Gem,” the first voice said, sounding almost despairing, and strong hands grasped her face, holding her head still. A liquid was forced down her throat, and even though Gem did her best to choke herself on it they managed to force her to swallow it the proper way. She could feel her struggles growing weaker and weaker, but still she didn't stop them... not until her limbs were to heavy to even twitch.
”Ri... no... no...” she whispered, her eyes flickering as she slid into unconsciousness. Her lips twitched right before she went under, forming the barely audible words ”I'm sorry....”
And then everything was gone.
November 7th, 7:00am
Gemma awoke to delightful warmth and an unusually high sensation of security. She kept her dark eyes closed, pondering the feeling and trying to remember in her sleep-fogged state just why it was that she felt so relaxed, so peaceful... she hadn't felt this way for weeks, after all.
It was the sudden realization that the warm, rather heavy thing draped about her waist wasn't a smooth blanket or pillow, as she'd first thought, but an arm... her husband's arm. A slow, lazily pleased smile grew on her face as her memory fully returned: Orion was with her once more, and this time, nothing could take him from her. They were married and living in the City together... and his arm was around her.
Still smiling, she rolled over, intending to snuggle against her husband's chest, when a sudden jolt of nausea struck her. Her eyes flew open, her hand flew over her mouth, and a strangled sound escaped her.
Oh no... I forgot my potion last night!
”Ugh, Mon Dieu... not now, please...” she begged her stomach aloud, but an abrupt clenching of her abdominal muscles and a loud gurgle in her stomach had her moaning and leaping out of the bed to run to the bathroom.
Nearly ten minutes of painful retching and choking later, she staggered weakly back into the bedroom, heading for her bedside table, where she assumed her anti-morning-sickness potion would be stored. Concerned golden eyes greeted her, but she mustered up enough strength to answer them with a smile.
”G'morning, Ri,” she mumbled, digging the bottle of potion out of the top drawer of her table with shaking fingers and preparing herself a dose, ”Sorry about that... forgot to take my anti-morning-sickness potion last night... Won't happen again, I promise...” She took the dose, trying not to grimace at the taste and wondering not for the first time why a potion designed to relieve nausea tasted like vomit itself, before crawling back into bed with a sigh.
”So glad that's over...” she whispered into Orion's chest, then drifted back into sleep, her body already exhausted with the day.
November 9th, 9:50pm
Waiting beside the Eternal Flames for the rescue party was growing far more difficult than Gemma had ever anticipated. They were supposed to have returned nearly an hour before, but because of the secrecy of their mission they weren't able to communicate with her and the rest of the Syndicate. Still, Gemma had faith that Sullivan would pull them through somehow... she only hoped that none would be lost along the way.
She was just considering going home to grab a little food – she hadn't eaten dinner, since she'd been waiting by the Flames since seven – and also to let Orion know what was going on, when the Flames abruptly turned amethyst and began to belch forth people. A cry of relief left her mouth as she nearly ran forward, flanked by the Flame Guards on duty, to meet the group; a swift head-count told her that all were there, as well as one extra: a middle-aged man being supported by the woman known as Catrin Sinclair.
”Is everyone alright, Rat?” she asked the leader of the Syndicate after pushing through the group to meet him, but it was Catrin who answered.
”Fuckin' great, thanks, girl...” she growled, then, in sharp contrast to her words, almost tenderly helped the man she was supporting to walk off towards the City.
”Her father is returned to her,” the Nosferatu girl Selene put in; Gemma noted that her hazel eyes were even more keen than usual, and that her pale body was streaked with dirt, rubble, and what was clearly blood. She held her sword casually in her left hand, and that too was streaked with a similar mixture. ”Her mother has long since been no more. She is... unwell about this.”
”Er... I see... thank you, Selene,” Gemma murmured back, feeling the need to duck her head slightly under the Nosferatu's predatory gaze. The pale girl nodded back to her, then sheathed her sword in order to start off for the City herself. Gemma said little else, but she followed the group, wondering what on earth had happened to leave the group so... solemn. They had at least partly succeeded, and while Catrin was obviously upset over only getting one of her parents back, the rest of them should all be rather more pleased with themselves.
So... what went wrong? … I guess I'll just have to ask Sullivan or Ced later...
November 15th, 6:15pm
Gemma had discovered the unusual Muggle tool in their library earlier that day for the first time. Orion hadn't been around – he was still requiring visits to the Healer to make sure that the stab injury he had been given was completely healing.
She'd gone in, expecting to only find books, only to stare in surprise and confusion at the odd contraption on one of the work tables. It had a stack of very fine parchment beside it, and one sheet sticking out of the top. Knobs, levers, and odd buttons completed the machine, making it a picture Gemma had never seen before. Feeling like a child caught playing with a parent's prized possession, she'd literally tiptoed over to take a look. Gentle, curious fingers had mapped the machine, and a high-pitched squeal had accompanied the pressing of a key, which had resulted in a loud thwaking sound as one of the levers shot forward to strike the parchment. Gemma had backed away hastily, terrified that she'd somehow broken the thing, only to have curiosity overcome her once more when she spotted the letter H that had appeared on the parchment.
That's strange... the button I pushed had a letter H on it... I wonder if it does that with the other letters, too? There seem to be more of them on here... Another examination had her furrowing her brows. ALL the letters, actually... I wonder what this is for... She poked another button – the E this time, which took some doing to find – squeaking again as another lever flicked forward to strike the parchment's surface just beside the H. An E was made, and Gemma found herself grinning. She'd figured the thing out: it copied what you wanted written in an odd yet regularly formed script all its own.
By the time Orion returned home that evening, she had learned the order of the letters and was able to create an entire page in the odd writing. Changing out the parchment had actually been the most confusing bit for her, though the bell that dinged whenever she reached the end of a line still made her giggle each time it occurred.
November 26th, 11:02 pm
Gemma lay curled in a ball on the couch, trying and failing miserably not to cry. The night had begun splendidly, with her and Orion making and having dinner together – Gemma was a decent cook in the French style, and Orion was useful for chopping ingredients and mixing things, due to his expertise with potions – followed by an intimate talk on the very piece of furniture Gemma now lay on. Orion had revealed his interest in Healing to her, which she had received with curiosity: she hadn't known the profession was of interest to her husband. Still, as always, she had done her best to encourage him, telling him with a smile that he'd always been able to heal her, he ought to be able to do it with others as well. Her own frustration over not being utilized by the Syndicate had come out, also; she'd been waiting ever since the wedding to be given a job, but none had even been offered.
After that, they had headed to bed, where things had begun to turn a bit more romantic. Soft kissing had begun it, followed by more passionate caresses, until they wound up in a decidedly intimate position: Gemma on her back, Orion atop her, hands exploring, mouths seemingly bound together... that was, until Orion accidentally took hold of Gemma's wrists and pinned them to the bed slightly over her head.
The next thing Gemma had known fully, she was all the way across the room, her throat raw from an apparent scream of terror, her eyes mostly blinded with tears, her entire body trembling in instinctual fear. Orion had still been on the bed, his golden eyes wild with confusion and growing remorse. Gemma had tried to return to him, but her body had protested so much – causing her literal pain when he so much as brushed his hand over her arm in a comforting gesture – that she had been forced to retreat to the couch for the rest of the night.
This had happened to them before, back when they had been at Hogwarts, at least three times that Gemma could remember, but it had not yet happened to them since their wedding. The counter on Days Without Fear of Being Touched had reset for Gemma tonight, however, and despair was heavy around her. She knew Orion was frustrated with her but trying not to show it, and her own mixture of rage at herself and old terror at her mistreatment wasn't helping.
I just wish I could not be afraid... she thought, feeling tears slide out of her eyes and down her pale cheeks, Just once...
She was just falling asleep when a soft, warm something jumped up on the couch beside her. For a moment she thought it was Eclipse, but then Gemma heard the decidedly bass purring emanating from the vast cat beside her and she couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. She put her arms around her husband and curled herself around him, smiling still as she buried her tear-streaked face into his fur.
December 6th, 8:00am
Gemma awoke to find that Orion wasn't beside her. For a moment she panicked, thinking wild thoughts – he was ill somewhere, someone had come and taken him away, he'd left her of his own accord – but then a note beside the bed caught her attention. She snatched it up and scanned it, her eyes nearly cramping at the speed that they were darting back and forth, only to smile when she'd finished it. Orion wasn't ill, he hadn't been stolen, and he hadn't left her... he had merely chosen this day to begin to figure out how to get training as a Healer, and he hadn't wanted to wake her. She set the note back down, a small smile on her face, before laying back down. She had no reason to get up – there was nothing for her to do except perhaps read or play more with the typewriter, which had turned out to be the name of the strange Muggle machine in the library – so more sleep seemed the right thing to do. She blew a kiss into the empty room before closing her eyes, hoping somehow that Orion would sense her affection from afar and know that she was thinking of him.
December 13th, 7:00am
She was up a bit earlier than usual, but Gemma had been getting up rather earlier lately anyway, so that she could see Orion in the mornings before he left. She'd showered already, and was in their bedroom getting dressed... or attempting to. For some reason, she couldn't get her skirt to clasp properly about her waist; she couldn't even get the zipper to go up more than halfway, let alone get the hook at the top of the zipper to latch together.
”What's the matter with this thing?” she mumbled to herself, frowning as she rearranged the material for the fifth time and tried to tug it closed once more. Once again, she met with failure, and a loud noise of irritation left her. ”Ugh... zut alors how did this shrink?! I haven't... washed it... in a while...”
She gradually faded into silence, a sudden thought striking her and leaving her unable to speak. Slowly, she pushed the skirt down and ran one slightly trembling hand over her stomach, only to find that her hunch was correct: there was a definite curve to her abdomen that hadn't ever been there before... it hadn't even been there a few weeks previous. A smile was on her face moments later, and a giggle was obvious in her voice as she raised it to call to her husband.
”Ri! I'm... I-I think I'm... I think the twins are starting to show!”
December 18th, 5:00pm
Gemma couldn't suppress her rage at Sullivan any longer. He'd not given her anything to do over the past month, even though he'd specifically said before the wedding that he would, and now... today... he'd done something so shocking that Gemma could only react in horror and disgust. The Williams girls, daughters of the regime Lord Trevor Williams, had been kidnapped... by none other than the man she called the Rat. She'd even seen them earlier, without Sullivan's knowledge, when she'd been looking for him and been told to check the Werewolf Quarter; they were being hurried along as quickly as possible, so people wouldn't see, but she'd seen. She'd recognized Katya in particular immediately, due to the talk they'd had once in the Great Hall at dinnertime, but the look of fear on the girl's face wasn't something she'd ever expected to see.
Damn Rat... putting his nose where it doesn't belong... she thought, clenching and unclenching her hands in an attempt to keep them off her wand as she stalked to the Training Center in the Hub. She could still hear things behind her and around her creaking and groaning, though, and even once the sound of breaking glass; apparently she still couldn't control her magic when angry, even with the Occlumency lessons Orion had been trying to give her after the incident on the 26th of November.
Once in the Training Center, however, not only the designated targets broke but also several windows and one pillar. She was asked to leave, and she did so, but only after dueling the person who'd ordered her to vacate the premises until they were on their back, wandless, with her wand at their throat. She stood over the man for several seconds, breathing hard, her dark eyes burning, before she lowered her wand and flounced out.
She was done with being told what to do, with being ignored. It was her time to be happy, and nothing was going to take that away from her. Not Sullivan, not random people who thought they controlled her... not even herself.
December 23rd, 11:30am
Orion had left a bit earlier than usual that day to go to his Healer training in London, but Gemma didn't mind the arrangement; it left her more time to wrap her husband's Christmas presents, after all.
It had taken her literally weeks to decide what to get him, but finally she had decided a few days before. It appeared to be a small thing when wrapped, but the pocket watch she'd gotten for him was worth more Galleons than many of the people here had ever earned in even a three-month period. For her, due to her family's wealth, it was manageable, but still worth quite a sum. For Orion, though, she would've paid anything, all the gold in the world and more, just to get him something that would please him.
She had just finished wrapping it, along with the other gifts she'd gotten for her other friends, when a knock on the door caused her to jump. She got up to answer it, only to tilt her head in confusion when Selene was the one to be standing on the other side. The Nosferatu girl was, most unusually for her, out of breath, as though she had just run a mile or more at top speed.
”Mastermind... you must come... it is of utmost importance!”
”O-of course... just a moment, Sel,” Gemma answered, stammering slightly in her confusion. She slid into her shoes, grabbing her coat from the hook beside the door and wrapping it around her shoulders; the unyielding fabric and slender fit didn't quite button over her small bump. ”Whatever's the matter? Is something wrong with Sullivan?” Selene went even more pale than usual, which made Gemma's concern grow: she'd never seen Selene so upset over anything.
”It is... more than that, Mastermind... it is your husband...” The soft words made Gemma's heart freeze mid-beat. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound would come out. Finally, she darted out the door, right past Selene, who immediately turned to follow her, looking concerned.
She didn't even make it halfway down the street before she'd fainted.
December 24th, time unknown
She had no idea how much time had passed, only that every second of it had been agony. Her body literally burned all over, and she shivered uncontrollably, her body otherwise limp on the bed in the Healing Center. She knew that there were people in the room with her, but only in a vague sense of the word “know;” for all she knew, they weren't really there and she was imagining them.
It wouldn't be the first thing I have...
The pain struck again, and a low, guttural moan left her, her body curling more tightly in on itself. One of the people moved to lay a hand on her arm, apparently intending to be soothing, but all it did was make Gemma scream in terror and pain and flail against their hold. The other was there in an instant, and the two of them attempted to hold her thrashing body down, but she only screamed louder, fighting her way away from them and running for the door.
”Ri!” she wailed, scratching uselessly at the locked door of the ward, ”RI!!” But then memory, in all its horrible truth, came back to her, and she screamed all the louder at its arrival.
Orion was dead. Her husband was dead, gone, killed by a Muggle bus. Taken from her, taken from their children... gone. He could not help her. And she could not help him.
She wasn't even aware that she was bashing her head wildly against the door until she was pulled away from it and strapped down to the bed. She kept screaming, though, begging the people to just let her die, to let her take her own life.
”I have to!” she sobbed, not even fully aware of what she was saying, ”He needs me, please let me go to him!”
”We need to sedate her,” one of the people said anxiously, ”Syl told me this can happen sometimes when the Veela mating bond is broken... she said it's been known to sometimes drive the Veela mad, but that it's rare for it to go that far... let's hope this isn't one of those cases, eh? We've got to keep her calm, though, so that she can't hurt herself anymore...”
”Right,” came another voice, ”I'll get the Healer after that, she's done a number on her head... again...”
”Let me go...” Gemma begged, still struggling against her bonds, ”Please, let me go to him... let me go to him! I HAVE TO DIE, LET ME GO TO HIM! ORION! NO!!”
”Here, get some sleep, Gem,” the first voice said, sounding almost despairing, and strong hands grasped her face, holding her head still. A liquid was forced down her throat, and even though Gem did her best to choke herself on it they managed to force her to swallow it the proper way. She could feel her struggles growing weaker and weaker, but still she didn't stop them... not until her limbs were to heavy to even twitch.
”Ri... no... no...” she whispered, her eyes flickering as she slid into unconsciousness. Her lips twitched right before she went under, forming the barely audible words ”I'm sorry....”
And then everything was gone.