❝ Silly me! For a moment I thought I was good enough! ❞

For formal matters were they here.

He had rolled his eyes at the fact that his two sisters just suddenly showed up in Ishgard. He wasn't amused, but wasn't angry either. He probably couldn't get angry at those two. Cause like, just... Look at them? They were menaces, one and the same in there own right. Ve never understood them. They acted barbaric a lot of the time and generally weren't fond of anything he did. He knew for sure that Rán hated his guts more then anything else in this world. For Nerys it was different story. His younger sister was always very reserved and he knew little about her. Where as he knew what to expect of his elder sister, the younger was just filled with mystery.

He tried to avoid the estate as much as possible, but he couldn't be out of the house forever. So, eventually, he returned home. A maid approached him, offering him a meal, but Ve kindly declined the offer. Even though healers had told him that skipping meals wasn't something he should do, he still did it anyway. He wasn't a big eater, wasn't a fan of most dishes and just prefered a simple piece of bread over anything else. As he silently went up the stairs, he noticed that most of the people in the house were either out or already in their room. Ve decided that he would also call it a day and went straight to his room.

Even though it was quite peacful in the house, he still felt relieved as he closed the door behind him. For a short moment he leaned back, letting a loud sigh of his lips as he slowly went through his knees. He descended to the floor faster then expected and after letting out some silent curse words, he lifted his gaze. As his one good eye looked around the room he wondered what he was even doing here. What he was even doing at all anymore. Going to Ishgard was a way of escaping all of this. But here he was again, trapped in a house with them. He shook his head a little. In a way he knew that there was no escaping whatsoever. No breaks allowed, nothing at all. But damn he would lie to himself if he didn't notice how damn tired he was getting of it. Being overshadowed truly was the worst feeling of all.

It took him some time to get back up and change into a more comfortable atire to sleep. Ursa, his loyal dog, looked up for a moment. His movements had waken her from her sleep. As soon as she noticed who it was, she got up and nuzzled his hand for a bit. A soft smile appeared on his face as his fingers went over her head for a quick pet. With a deep sigh he sat down on his bed, before eventually laying down. The big white companion pressed her nose against his leg, before jumping on the bed and taking her place next to him. Having a dog next to you really helped during the colder times. Not only that, but it made Ve feel more secured then when he was sleeping alone.

And maybe it was a good thing that Ursa was always sleeping next to him. The animal had already noticed the young lady entering the room as she slowly lifted her head to take a better look at the person approaching the bed. It had only been a couple minutes, so the subtle movements of the dog woke Ve up immediately. He blinked for a moment, feeling drowzy and generally disoriented as he always did when waking up. That was until a shimmer was noticed in the corner of his one good eye. For a moment he felt nothing, before panic had striken him. He gasped for air as he lifted his hands quickly in a way to protect himself. The dagger swiftly finding a way through the palm of his hand.

Ve gasped again as he started to scream, which set off Ursa in turn. The big white dog leapt forward in an attempt to try and bite the arm of the young lady. As Ve pulled back his hand, which was now being impaled by a dagger, he felt as how a warm substance found his way towards his arm. He was bleeding. He was bleeding a lot. As adrenaline rushed through his veins he jumped up from his bed, awkwardly trying to shuffle away towards the door. "RAAAAAN!!!" was all he cried out for as he ran out of the door. He had to hide, quickly. Help. Oh dear Ranaan. Oh Dear. Fuck.

❝ Silly me! For a moment I thought I was good enough! ❞

He found his way to another room and quickly closed the door behind him.

Shaky breath and a quickened heartbeat, his entire body was shaking. What in the name of Ranaan was that about? And more importantly, who even was that? He took a deep breath as he slowly pulled his wounded hand towards his chest, using the cloth of his shirt to try and stop the bleeding. The knife had made a clear cut through it and he knew that whoever was doing it, was aiming for the chest. He was sort of happy to have remembered the tips his teacher had given him in self defense. You rather want a lethal strike to be directed at something else, let it be your hand or lower arm. If his upper chest had received the wound, then he wouldn't have gotten away. The same could be said about his legs or face. The arms and the hands were the safer bet, as he wasn't very skilled when it came to combat. Yea, he knew the basics, but he was scrawny and just not built for that stuff.

He leaned back slowly, hearing the wood creak a bit under his shifting weight. He gasped, held his breath and tried to listen for footsteps. However, it seemed that the entire house was eerily quiet. As he blinked a few times he slowly turned around. Lucky for him he found a key on the lock of this door. Without hesitation he locked the thing, before taking the key out and taking a few steps back. As his back met the wall behind him, he slowly went through his knees. He leaned a bit back, looked around and saw some cloth lying around. He grabbed it and made a make shift bandage for himself. It wasn't the prettiest of things, but it would do. As long as the bleeding would stop, he would be fine.

His gaze went back to the door as he started to hear footsteps and some voices. For a moment Ve froze in place as he shifted his weight forward, ready to jump up and run again. He expected his attacker to bust through the door at any time now. Paranoia overwhelmed him as his breath hastened again, rational thinking being somewhat out of the picture. Not realizing these were just the maids that were waken up by his screams from earlier.

A knock on the door made him almost jump up. As he held his bad hand against his chest, he held the other out, with the key. As if the object was supposed to be some sort of... Weapon? A soft voice asked for him, mentioned they saw the blood on the floor leading directly to this room. He blinked a few times as the soft voice continued to ask questions. For a moment Ve felt like he was gonna throw up. Realizing that the maids went to his room and didn't even see anything. No windows open or such, as they would have most likely mentioned it, or even any traces of struggles. It hit him faster then he thought, realizing that someone in this house tried to kill him. They didn't have any problem getting in. They knew their way. It could even be the maid at the door right now...

"No!" He shouted to her as his face went over in a determined expression. He felt some sort of weird feeling overwhelm him. Was it hate? Anger? Or something else? Maybe it was just survival instinct. "I'll come out in the morning, leave me be!" He yelled at her. For a moment the maid fell silent, before continuing her chatter. "Leave me be!" he let out more stern then before. His voice being raspy as usual and skipping a tone. The maid fell silent again, after which she quickly left.

He gasped for air for a moment as he felt his tense muscles relax again. He took a step back again and simply fell down to his knees. As he curled himself up he tried to close his eyes and catch some sort of sleep. Wasn't very comfortable, to say the least. A wooden floor wasn't really made for that kind of stuff.

---

He couldn't sleep after the incident, at all. He would doze off now and then, but every single sound would wake him. When he noticed that the sun was finally up, he jumped up and opened the door to the room. He looked around, before finding his dog, Ursa, in front of him. She had followed him and had laid in wait for him at the entrance of the room. For a moment he gasped, as he realized the maid couldn't be the culprit, for Ursa would have surely attacked her if she tried to enter the room... Right? He kneeled and petted his dog for a moment, before going towards the washing room to freshen up.

After freshening up a bit and washing most of the blood off of himself, he started treating his hand more properly. He had a lot of experience with wounds. He had enough knowledge to even match that of a healer. But he didn't have all the skills whatsoever. Luckily for him, using bandages was one skill he had used a lot back in the day. It didn't take long before his hand was properly wrapped up. As he took care of his outfit, he decided that he would wear something light. He found something simple, put it on and went downstairs.

Ursa went towards the kitchen as Ve sluggishly walked past the table where his sister was enjoying her lovely morning. Not even making eye contact or wishing her a good morning, cause why the hell would he, he continued on his path towards the kitchen. That was until she mentioned what happened last night. He froze for a moment, tilted his head and looked at her. "What?" was all he said, more quietly then he had initially expected from himself. He sighed as he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "None of your business," he said simply to her before continuing towards the kitchen. She wasn't much better then Rán anyway. So what was the point in even trying to explain the situation to her?

❝ Silly me! For a moment I thought I was good enough! ❞

The sudden noise of a knife hitting the table made him flinch. He rapidly blinked and looked behind him as Nerys had just planted her weapon in the table, which she was using to cut her apple. His muscles tensed up, but he let out a sigh and restored himself. It was fine, she wasn't gonna hurt him, right? He moved his shoulders a bit as he turned back towards the kitchen, moving in closer. Whatever was he gonna eat now. Blegh, breakfast.

There were some fruits and some bread. Some meats aswell... And some fish that the maids had prepared. He tilted his head and simply grabbed some bread. He reached out his damaged hand and tried to tear off a piece of the item... But he wasn't able to... Seemed like getting stabbed in the hand wasn't very good for general grabbing and tearing power. Dammit. The voice of his sister didn't really phase him as he continued to try and get a piece of the bread. "I d-did not!" he said as he sighed, putting the bread between his legs so he could use both hands now in his endless struggle to try and get a piece off. Come the fuck on how hard could it be???

"Also- If you wanted to sleep you should have stayed in Norwyn," She could have gotten plenty of sleep there if she wanted to rest that badly. You didn't travel to the capitol of the city to just sleep. In a way he knew he was wrong since well... He did shout like a pussy for Rán, but she didn't need to know that, neither did he have to confess to her.

❝ Silly me! For a moment I thought I was good enough! ❞

How hard could it be to get just tiny piece of this stupid bread? It was a huge struggle, that much was for sure. He could have used a knife or something but after what happened last night he would prefer to steer clear of any knives. His bandaged up hand was already shaky enough and he didn't need to cut his other hand as well. Whoever jumped on him last night made some pretty decent damage to his hand. He was sure that the thing wasn't gonna be useful for a couple of days. And it seemed his sister thought so too.

Her words cut through the air as quickly as her weapon did. She sounded sweet and he knew something was up the moment she even held up that tone. But before he could even say or do anything-

A clean straight forward throw had pierced through cloth and flesh, opening up the wound once more. The sharp edges of the weapon delving deeper and beyond his hand, into the bread, where it remained for a couple of seconds. Ve's eyes widened as he let out a pain filled scream, his body shaking as he felt the warmth on his hand growing by the second. Shit- "What the fuck Nerys???" Was all he screamed out as he lost balance. His shaky legs were no longer able to keep him up and he fell to the floor.

He couldn't properly move his hand, but atleast he felt a bit stable now that he was on the ground. His breathing hastened as his shaky, free hand went for the knife, swiftly pulling it out. He let out a painfilled whimper as he lowered his head, throwing the knife beside him as he leaned forward. The bleeding was heavy, so he tried to desperately apply pressure with his good hand... That... Didn't work that well. "Yo- you're a bitch! I'm te- telling!" his voice was shaky as he had started to cry. Crybaby Ve, such a baby.

Erek had woken up early so he could check on his dogs before breakfast. They had servants that could do it, but he liked to feed them himself and spend some time with them. Especially these days it was nice to be able to get away from the family drama for a bit to clear his head. When he went back towards the dining hall it became clear that the peace had already been broken once more.

Screaming echoed to the hall. Erek picked up his pace and hurried into the dining room. The sight that greeted him there was impossible to believe, even now he was looking at it. Nerys was held back by Rán who’d twisted her sister’s arm behind her back. But none of that mattered when he saw Ve. The boy lay on the ground, crying, holding his hand to him, blood spread out in a small pool around him.

Erek sprinted to the boy, took his hand and wrapped it with a napkin he grabbed from the table on his way to Ve. Once bandaged, he pressed the hand between his to stop the bleeding. Trying to comfort the boy, he pulled him closer while he looked at Nerys who was still being held by Rán, anger clear in his eyes. “What happened here?”

❝ Silly me! For a moment I thought I was good enough! ❞

The bleeding, it didn't stop. Not when he put his good hand over the wounded one. Tears streaming down his face as his shaky body tried to help himself, but failed miserably. It just kept coming and coming... And there was nothing to be done about it. His attention was fully set on what she had caused, so he had never noticed that she stepped forward. Ve let out an almost silent sob as his hands separated, both covered in crimson red. His breathing heightened as he looked at how his arms and the floor beneath him started to colour more and more into the warm shade that was pouring from him. He let out a whimper once more as he stabilized his position with his good hand. The wounded one desperately shaking and doing it's best to keep up with the other. But Nerys found him and stomped right on it. The weight she put on the wounded limb caused the young man to open up his mouth and let out a painfilled yelp. He gasped for air as he toppled over, his eyes wide open as he put his other hand on her shin, pushing as hard as he could to get her off. His blurry gaze getting more unstable by the second.

He gasped for air and let out painfilled sounds with every motion he made. Trying desperately to get her to move, to get her off from him. His two coloured eyes shot up at her for a moment. Tears filled his gaze, blocking out a clear vision for him. But there was a certain anger to be found beside the pain that had found its way in his gaze. But it would seem that lady luck had set her eyes on him as the weight was removed from his hand. As soon as it was, he pulled it towards himself, rolling on his side as he tried to stabilize his breathing. His shaky hands pushing against his chest. He closed his eyes, focusing himself on the pain that was pulsating from his hand, as to have something to focus on. He tried to count his breathes, tried to regain himself. But it was difficult, and hard, and before he knew it he could her voice. Rán had saved him... He carefully looked up to gaze at his big sister holding the other against the wall. And at that moment, he didn't know what hit him, but the sight of it seemed to calm him down. Was it his subconscious that did feel some safety about seeing her at his side... Helping him in her own... Way...? His breathing slowed down as he blinked. Perhaps it was no coincidence that he had screamed her name last night, when he was in danger. That realization... It-

Someone grabbed his hand and Ve turned his head. He saw his uncle who wrapped the wound in a napkin. The boy just stared at his hand as Erek did his work. After he was done he was pulled in closer, hearing the all too familiar words that Nerys shouted at him. He slowly let his shoulders down. His weeping had already come to a halt and he... He didn't really know what was happening. He felt a bit dizzy, but beside the pulsating pain that came from his hand, he felt... Strangely at peace. The blonde man just let it all happen to him as his little sister went on and on, choosing to go for their uncle now. She just went on and on in a sort of rage that he couldn't understand. She was the one who had acted out towards him, he had done nothing wrong. Or... Not recently. "It's okay," he said softly. "It's not fatal," his hands were still shaky. His upper body completely covered in blood. He looked like a mess, but that didn't differ much from how he felt on the inside. He slowly looked up at Rán from the position he was sitting from. Looking over the other with... He held his breath, before letting out a sigh. "L... Leave uncle Erek out of this," He tried to speak out as he let his gaze go to Nerys. He tried to sound strong, but his voice was still shaky. He didn't feel so good.