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Yanna read a lot of fairy tales when she was a child. The hospitals always had pictured storybooks which she would read through before and in between appointments, before and after dad adopted her. It was something that helped her forget or avoid thinking about the pain.
In those stories there was always a prince or a knight. She mostly preferred the knights, they were always fighting for something, for someone. Going on adventures, trips and saving people who needed it. When she told that to the nurses, they would smile and say she was a knight herself, fighting so strongly to survive, living a battle each day.
That encouraged her, it also made her want to fight for others like her. Reason why she decided to become a doctor, to research and understand that pain she lived with every day.
Some rougher days, though, she wanted to have a knight herself. Someone who would carry and protect her when she was in pain. Someone she could trust. Her dad did that to her, but it just wasn’t the same feeling, she wanted… she wanted the… care.
Like, finding someone who would care for her even if they barely knew each other. It was a strange wish that she held close to her heart.
On that sunny, warm, dizzying day, it finally became true.
Yanna woke up in pain, naturally, the “new blood” helped, but never got rid of it all. That morning was difficult, she rode with her dad to the university and walked very slowly to the class, because her legs were on fire. It hurt.
She could not concentrate at any of the lectures, it seemed that by each hour the pain got stronger and it spread to other areas. She looked inside her bag to find no pain meds, simply great. It also wasn’t Ms. Carlyn’s class, the old teacher was the only one she could talk with without feeling like a bother, so she had to be strong and wait a little while longer to go home.
Dizzy, the heat didn’t help. Actually, nothing was helping at that moment. Her bus stop was two blocks away from campus, the campus was already large, the heat helped her blood pressure drop, her legs were almost giving out. It was just the most horrible of all the circumstances.
She could have called dad, but he was all over the place the past days because of a meeting that’d happen today. It wasn’t necessary to bother him with this. It was… barely bearable. However, she felt worse before.
She just wanted to take her legs away to see if the pain passed. Not like she wanted to die.
Yanna’s mind started to go blank after a couple of minutes of walking, seconds later her legs became jelly and she started falling towards the floor, she was just waiting for the impact to cause more pain, but…
She never got to the ground.
There was an arm on her waist. She sighed relieved, but at the same time confused. Just who? She glanced to the side without strength to move her head and… Neon. Neon green hair falling almost at her face, like a waterfall.
“Are you okay? What happened?” The voice was feminine, harsh. It wasn’t a gentle tone, it was the kind of voice of someone who had been hurt and just didn’t care to hide it anymore.
Or maybe that was the pain talking. Yanna really didn’t care.
“Are you listening to me? Should I take you to a hospital? Gregory, come back here!” The girl screamed the last part, from the flow of her hair, she noticed that she was moving her head a lot.
The girl moved her into a carrying position, an arm around her shoulders and another under her knees. Yanna rested her head on the stranger’s shoulder, she had a good smell, it was… a men’s cologne. She liked it, not so strong as others she knew.
She was placed on the back seat of the car, the mysterious girl sat by her side.
“Okay, last chance, blondie. Hospital, or can you tell me a place?”
“Home.” She whispered. “I have the address on my textbook.”
“Why would you even… Forget it.” She saw the girl opening her bag and telling the place to the driver, after the car started moving she felt the girl shift. “So, you’re the med girl from monday?”
“Hum?” She frowned, adjusting her head on the other’s shoulder.
“You said that the cold bath wasn’t a great idea. Boomer.” The girl replied, Yanna chuckled lightly remembering the discussion they had a couple of days before on the group chat.
And in private a little after.
“Oh, so you’re Arachne.” She smiled. “Thank you for the help.”
“I thought you were at the hospital, why did they release you if you’re sick?” Arachne questioned, from her tone she could imagine a frown. Even if she hadn’t had a clear look of her face.
“Chronic invisible illness, I was just making the treatment. Pain is everyday.” She sighed. ”Today is just worse than normal.”
“I see...” She said, an understanding tone, not a pitiful one for a change. “Which?”
“Sickle cell.”
“I heard a little about it. There was an interview with the B Positive Choir, they explained what it was.” Yanna lifted her head curious to stare at the heiress.
If she had to choose a single word to describe Arachne, it would be sharp. Her jaw had a defined line, her bangs were cut in asymmetrical sharp angles, her green eyes also gave the same feeling. Like they cut through every obstacle to focus on one objective.
Again that could be the pain talking.
But Yanna even lost her breath for a second, when people talked to and about the girl in the group she seemed… Older? But her face was so young. As young as hers. Maybe it was the way she spoke too, with all those fancy words and ominous sentences.
“What?” She inclined her head, the brown and green ponytail falling off her shoulder.
“Nothing.” She breathed out and glanced outside the window, they were almost at her house.
Yanna inhaled sharply, the pain was still as strong as before. She just needed to be strong enough to find the meds, take a blanket and lay on the couch for the rest of the day. She didn’t have to do anything else besides that. Talk to no one else, just wait for her family to arrive back home. She settled back her head on Arachne’s shoulder to enjoy the last few minutes of rest.
She looked down and saw that the other was holding both hands on her lap, her long thin fingers intertwined.
“Is it here?” The spider asked, pointing to the two lofts, she hummed in agreement.
“Block B.” She answered.
It was a nice home, for the five of them. She liked that her aunt lived next door, she could just walk over to train her Egyptian, or go upstairs to her uncle's absurd stories from his previous encounters with Love and Death (dramatic) or talk to her aunt Daph that had incredible stories from her trips.
When she looked again Arachne was outside reaching out a hand to her, she accepted it gratefully. Her entire body shook with the motion, her mind going almost black with the unexpected pain that shot through her entire body the moment she touched the ground, making her cry out and fall. Just to be caught again.
Her breath was coming out in gasps, she closed her eyes pressing them together trying to make the pain go away. It just wasn't. She wanted to rip off each inch of her skin just to make it stop. It was too much. Too much too much.
Her feet were lifted off the ground for the second time that day.
“Where are your keys?” She could see the strain of supporting her weight on Arachne's face.
“Here.” She said, picking them up from her dress' pocket.
“Thank you.”
The door opened and she was embraced by the feeling of home. Her mind finally relaxed, there she could stay at any corner that it would be safe. Her safe space. Arachne let her down on the couch, placing her bag next to her.
“Where are your meds?” Yanna raised her eyebrows surprised at the question, the other narrowed her green eyes. “The right medication is the most important, right?”
The blond made an effort to smile through the pain, recognizing the quote she had sent to the other.
“Kitchen, the drawer next to the stairs.”
Arachne walked there, Yanna used those few seconds to observe what she was wearing. Black high waisted pants, high boots and a white social shirt. It really really fit her, made her small curves show.
What was she even thinking?
She sighed loudly. Really? The pain was so big that she was checking out a stranger to have some sort of relief? That was simply great. She let her head fall to the side, and stared at the coffee table, there were a couple of Uncle Lord’s books, one of her dad’s class notebooks, they probably stayed until late at night organizing the things.
“What’s the name?”
“Fentanyl.” She answered.
“Didn’t know you did drugs, med girl.” She laughed with the unexpected comment, at least she wasn’t expecting her of all people to say it, she seemed so uptight about everything.
“Just the best.” She commented, grunting when another pain shot through her arms. “Did you find it?” She whimpered.
“Just empty boxes here.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh no indeed. How can you forget that?”
“We got a recipe the other day, but the drugstore we usually go was closed.” She sighed. “I don’t want to bother him with that...”
“Can you control your pain?” The younger girl walked back and leaned on the back of the cushion looking down at the blond. “If not, don’t stress about it.”
Yanna bit her lip.
“My phone is on the bag. Dad is emergency contact 1.” The pain was too much. “Alexander.”
“I’ll call him.”
Yanna closed her eyes, every joint of her body was aching with cold sharp pain. She really should have told her dad it wasn’t a good day in the morning. Or maybe aunt Daphnae, who she saw during break time. Or uncle Lord who was loudly explaining the lecture in one of the classes she had gone by when she was leaving.
Arachne sat on the armchair next to her.
“You father said he will buy the medicine.” She crossed her legs and leaned back. “I will wait for him to arrive.”
“You don’t have to.” She looked up to stare at the other’s very green eyes. “I can wait here.”
“You can’t even move.”
“Isn’t your driver going to...”
“Gregory is already going to his house.” She interrupted. “I can call an uber if anything.”
Yanna smiled.
“Then let’s talk. Be my distraction.”
“Do you usually demand things from your saviors?” Arachne raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “Why should I?”
“Please?” She pouted, making the other chuckle amused.
Talking never hurt to her, it was a good distraction and it had been quite a while since her company was a stranger. Getting to know someone like that might not be the best of the first memories, but it made her discover a lot in a short time.
Like how Arachne was afraid of spiders, even though she really liked the aesthetic of webs to put as a pattern in clothes, or how the only things she could actually cook were salads and a variety of eggs. It was interesting to hear about her trips, what she liked about each place, her favorite food and movie. How she enjoyed the animation and musical of the hunchback of Notre Dame and had the villain's song memorized by heart. Fun to know that them both had the same passion for vampire stories, which ended up being most of their talk. She wanted to keep hearing the others voice, it was nice.
Arachne was nice, despite all the misconceptions she gave in her first days in the chat.
Hours later, after she was finally medicated and her pain was almost totally gone, her dad asked who was the girl. Like, how would she describe the stranger who decided to spend hours by her side.
“A knight.” She answered in a daze, the green of the girl's hair was burned into her mind.
Neon green.