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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 7, 2017 14:12:47 GMT -5
Lyra was in and out of consciousness when she was moved from the hospital to the Montgomery estates where Samantha insisted she be treated privately. Dr Reed, the Montgomery family's private physician and Dr Nadeer, Lyra's psychologist had both been in to check on her and were also staying nearby to ensure Lyra was taken care of. Mimsy had gone back to Lyra's apartment to take care of the mess that Lyra had left, and was surprised to see an additional mess that looked as though a fight had broken out.
Still connected to machines, the sounds were mingling into Lyra's dreams. The sound of the heart monitor beeping was now mixed with a strange woman's moans of pleasure as Julian pawed at her. The slow, steady drip of the IV bag became the background for Julian's tirade about how he never loved Lyra and he was only using her for sex. Even the footsteps that approached her now managed to filter their way into her dreams as it sounded as if Lyra were running for her life as Julian and his mistress chased her and taunted her for being so stupid.
Her eyes fluttered open and took in the room around her. Everything was hazy but the sun was pouring in through the window. It had been a day since she'd been released to Dr Reed's care from the hospital. There were still visitors that hadn't come and their absences had not gone unnoticed despite Lyra's weakened state.
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Samantha Montgomery
 
Sixth Year[M:10]
We do not choose love. It claims each man as it will.
Posts: 1,542
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Post by Samantha Montgomery on Jan 9, 2017 12:44:57 GMT -5
"I don't care what he has to say to her he's not going in there!" Sam said in a raised defensive voice, still muffled by the door.
There was some more muffled sounds of a heated argument. Nik's voice could also be heard in a more placating manner, but the words were indistinguishable. Finally a third voice cut through the arguing and there was silence.
The door opened and Sam entered the room, "Lyra...are you awake?"
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 9, 2017 16:45:11 GMT -5
Lyra strained to listen to the voices on the other side of the door but for the most part they were too low to make out. Her heart sunk a bit as Sam's voice came through clearly, refusing someone entry. Lyra could take a guess at who that someone was.
It hurt to know she had caused such pain and chaos amongst her friends. She had only ever wanted everyone to be happy; a lofty goal for sure but certainly not impossible. Or so she thought. La vie en rose, as Julian would say. Lyra gave a depressed sigh.
As the door open Lyra turned her head and nodded. "Awake and ready to get out of bed," she said with a dark smile. She felt trapped by the machines that monitored her and by her own lack of strength. If she could have managed it, she'd have been at Julian's house already, apologizing for the mess she'd made.
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Samantha Montgomery
Sixth Year[M:10]
We do not choose love. It claims each man as it will.
Posts: 1,542
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Post by Samantha Montgomery on Jan 10, 2017 1:28:41 GMT -5
"Soon." Sam smiled glad her friend was feeling better, "I can talk to Dr. Reed about the machines, but he'll probably have something to say about monitoring you for a few days. And...Dr. Nadeer too." she said hesitantly.
She didn't want to bring up Lyra's brush with death, it was too emotional a topic for Samantha. Instead she brightened, "You have a visitor."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 1:45:18 GMT -5
Lyra blinked and looked away for a moment as Sam mentioned Dr Nadeer. He was a wonderfully nice man and a perfectly good therapist (she assumed, she'd had no other experience in the area) but he had already spoken with her about the accident. Lyra understood Sam's desire to not mention it outright.
Lyra too brightened at the mention of a visitor. Her parents had yet to seek her out and she felt a deep hole with their absence. But judging by Samantha's outburst from the other side of the door, she suspected it was not her parents that had come to visit. Lyra pushed herself up on the bed to sit up a little more and smoothed her hair.
She was secretly glad she did not have a mirror as she would have been horrified by her appearance and would have refused any visitors, especially Julian, in her current state. Her hair was messy, the styled curls having been washed out at the hospital and a natural, tangled wave replacing it. She had no make up on and her skin was still paler than usual. She had dark circles under her eyes, despite having slept more than enough since the incident. And in place of anything resembling her normal attire, she wore a baggy Slytherin t-shirt that Mimsy had found in the back of her wardrobe. Her legs, though currently covered by a blanket, were bare except the large bandage that was wrapped neatly around her right thigh.
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Samantha Montgomery
Sixth Year[M:10]
We do not choose love. It claims each man as it will.
Posts: 1,542
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Post by Samantha Montgomery on Jan 10, 2017 1:50:39 GMT -5
Samantha smiled at the action. They were vastly different creatures, but Sam adored Lyra, and even though she was a few years younger, she felt protective over the girl.
"I'll let him in, and if you need anything, just pull the tassel next to you." she gave a firm nod then moved toward the door.
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 1:57:17 GMT -5
The beeping of her heart monitor quickened its pace ever so slightly as Lyra smiled at the door. She smoother her hair again and pulled it behind her shoulders, then changed her mind and pulled it all forward to sit over her left shoulder. She cleared her throat quietly as she sat up a bit more. Lyra bit her lower lip, smiling in the process as she waited for her visitor.
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Samantha Montgomery
Sixth Year[M:10]
We do not choose love. It claims each man as it will.
Posts: 1,542
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Post by Samantha Montgomery on Jan 10, 2017 2:07:04 GMT -5
Samantha left the room, and as soon as she saw Lyra's 'visitor' she scowled. A few veiled and not so veiled threats later she let Julian pass into Lyra's room.
Julian thought she looked beautiful. The sun was hitting her admittedly pale skin, but it made her look luminescent and childlike, angelic and pure. He could see her flaws clearly, she was seriously ill and he felt that illness as a sharpness in his chest, but it didn't detract from her beauty.
Julian, on the other hand, was a mess. The man had aged ten years in two days, and he did not wear the stress well at all.
He gathered his wits soon enough and gave her a small sad smile, "Hello love."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 2:18:03 GMT -5
Lyra thought she was ready but the second she Julian she felt a swelling pain in her chest and her skin tingled uncomfortably. Her smile instantly quivered and she began to cry. She reached her hands out to him.
"I'm so sorry!" she said, her body shaking. "Dr Nadeer told me what I did but I… It was an accident, Julian, please believe me. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't leave you like that! I'm so sorry!"
Lyra was ashamed of herself and terrified that she'd never be able to repair the damage she had done. Julian's worst fear was losing the woman he loved, again, and Lyra had nearly done just that. He had already lost so much when Belle died. Lyra knew that. Although she was often jealous of the ghost who kept Julian's heart captive for so long, she knew that what was between Julian and Belle had been real and the pain that her passing had caused was long lasting. Stupidly, selfishly Lyra had weaseled her way into Julian's broken heart and then managed to smash the remains to rubble.
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 2:27:17 GMT -5
It was a valid argument, but Julian knew better. He had shattered her heart first with his cruel idea to stage a scene. He should have known better. A million times since he found her in her apartment he had realized the truth. Lyra would never do that to him, not when it had happened to her before with Rystain. It was true that she had technically cheated on Mason with him, but it wasn't at all the same thing, and Julian knew that.
When she began crying and threw her arms out to him, he had no other choice but to meet her and hold her tightly.
"No." he said brushing her hair back keeping her face against his cheek, "No, Lyra. There's nothing for you to apologize for. This was my doing."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 2:42:15 GMT -5
Lyra held him as tightly as her feeble arms would allow. She clung to him with every fiber of her being and felt as though it simply wasn't enough. She tried to stop the tears. She was happy to see him. She needed to see him to know that he still loved her, that her horrible dreams were nothing more than her anxieties eating at her as she slept. But she couldn't stop crying.
She shook her head as her fingers tightened on his shirt. Lyra knew what she had done wrong; she’d made the same mistake before. When Rystain was sleeping with Lyra and Lani simultaneously the situation blew up in Lyra’s face because she insisted on having Rystain to herself. She might have been happy sharing Rystain but she was selfish and didn’t know how to properly handle the feelings she felt toward him.
But with Julian maybe she still had a chance. She could reason with him, explain that he could be with Lucy and anyone else he wanted, but he could also be with Lyra too. She would love any portion of his heart that he deigned to give to her and she would love that fraction with everything she had. She couldn’t lose Julian. He was her everything.
"It's okay, Julian. I don't care. You can have her or as many others as you want." As long as you have me as well. "I just want to be with you!"
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 2:54:07 GMT -5
"Lyra, no." He said pulling back to look at her. He was disgusted with the very idea that Lyra would sell herself so short.
"God no." he said still aching and angry that he had caused that insecurity in her, or if not caused it at least gave it reason to grow.
"Listen to me, there was nothing between Lucy and I. Ever. I..." he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, "I was a fool..."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 3:05:13 GMT -5
Lyra didn't understand. She had seen Julian with that woman. She heard them together. It wasn't some jealous figment of her imagination. She wasn't that far gone that she was seeing things that weren't there. So how could there possibly be nothing between them?
Julian was trying to protect her, as he always did. He was rescuing her from herself. Her knight in shining armor.
"I pushed too hard," she said through the tears. "I know that. I was selfish, but I promise I won't be anymore. You don't have to hide her from me. You don't have to hide anything!"
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 3:12:14 GMT -5
"Will you listen to me?!" he asked standing up and moving away from her. He honestly couldn't stand her impassioned pleas. It hurt him on a physical level in addition to an emotional one. He had reduced her to this and he couldn't fix it. He didn't know how.
"Lucy meant nothing to me...not like that. I was a fool. I was jealous." he admitted, "Of you and...Nik." he averted his eyes in shame, "I thought, it doesn't matter what I thought. I was wrong. I know that now, but I was never with Lucy, not in the way you saw. It was an act."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 3:23:11 GMT -5
She was loathe to let him slip from her grasp but she was too weak to keep him near. She whimpered slightly as he pulled away from her and his demand that she listen caused her chest to ache.
There were too many facets to his words, she grew confused and the expression was clear on her face. Why was he jealous of her and Nik? What was his purpose in putting on an act? Was this whole time an act?
"I...I don't understand," she stammered, clearly puzzled.
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 3:29:27 GMT -5
"I saw you." he said trying to explain, "I saw both of you. You were on top of him...well I didn't stay long after that."
There was still some heat in his words. He didn't get the explanation from Nik, and he still didn't know what was going on, but he was certain Lyra hadn't been cheating on him. The sobering reality that she had hurt herself cut through any bitterness he may have felt.
"I made an assumption...I was jealous...I arranged things so that you would walk in on Lucy and I. But it wasn't real. I was a bastard. I wanted to hurt you, because you hurt me."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 3:37:55 GMT -5
There was a moment of tense silence as Lyra tried to figure out what he was talking about. When he could have possibly seen anything that would have been interpreted as sexual between her and Nik. But just as she realized the only opportunity there would have been for such a misunderstanding was their sparring lesson, Julian admitted what he had done.
"You...you set it up? Like I was one of those cheating bastards you rescue women from? Like I was Rystain?!" There was horror in Lyra's eyes as she felt betrayed by his actions. And then there was anger.
"We were sparring! Nik's been teaching me to defend myself! He actually cares that someone tried to kidnap me. He doesn't ignore it because it's uncomfortable or messy!"
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 3:44:35 GMT -5
"Don't you think I know that?!" he yelled back at her. Any anger she might have felt toward him was nothing compared to the self loathing he felt on her behalf.
"I f*cked up! I just...reacted." he said defeated and bitter, "Don't you think I know I f*cked it up? I knew before I did it. I knew I would do it. I tried to walk away from you before, but I couldn't. I knew I would ruin you, ruin anything we could have. I fought so hard to ...it doesn't matter Lyra." he sighed and looked out the window.
"It's over now. For good."
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Post by Lyra Newbury on Jan 10, 2017 4:02:00 GMT -5
"No, Julian, please!" She clambered onto her knees, her legs becoming tangled in the blanket as she moved around on the bed. The bandage on her thigh was visible now but she didn't notice. It was not important, nothing was important compared to Julian.
"I can be better! I swear! Please don't tell me it's over, it can't be over! I love you! I love you, Julian! Please!"
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Post by Julian Faust on Jan 10, 2017 13:20:03 GMT -5
It broke his heart to see her so distraught, but it was further proof that he needed to get out of her life. It almost made him angry in an irrational sort of way. He was a flawed man, he knew that. He was prone to rash actions and having a temper, even though he kept that part of himself pretty well under lock and key. But Lyra hung the moon and the stars on his shoulders. She was so desperate to be with him that he could do no wrong, even though he had clearly done much wrong to her. He couldn't be with her, he would hurt her again and she wouldn't stop him, she would make excuses for him, or worse she would finish what she had started and Julian couldn't bear it.
"I love you Lyra." he said somberly, "And it's because I love you that I can't be with you...please try to understand...I just can't do this anymore."
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