fandomtownies | The Umbridge Arms, Very Late Friday Night

Momoko was doing her best to look normal. What she could remember of normal. She'd stayed mostly out of sight after her trip to visit Dinah, and was now hoping no one noticed she was coming home so late. Or that her clothes were bloody and stank of the dungeon that was Detention.

She kept her head low and walked determinedly through the lobby. Nothing to see here. Definitely not a half-hysterical Momoko.

Yeah. Because Jaime wasn't already on-edge, with his head snapping up as soon as someone walked through the door. He started to say something, then froze.

"Momoko?" Something was off. Very, very off.

"Yes?" Whoops, that was instinct. What should she say next? Ah! "Sorry to bother you so late. I was, uhm, at the school."

She tried to toss that off as casual, but even she could hear the crack in her voice as she told the half-truth. She started again towards the stairs.

Jaime started to nod, but froze yet again, his eyes going wide.

"Is that... blood?"

"Uhm." She really had no answer for that. Flashes went through her mind of dark rooms full of sad people laughing, including her, Jaime, Dinah, Priestly.... "Priestly..."

"Priestly...?" Priestly what?

She couldn't mean...

Jaime didn't use the Scarab much these days, but he didn't even hesitate before reaching deep inside and calling for an analysis of the blood.

Priestly.

He was on his feet and halfway across the room before he caught himself, stopping abruptly.

His sudden movements startled Momoko, and she turned to face him, backing away faster than some would expect. "No!"

And she had to hold her breath to keep from crying again. More memories were crowding her mind, mixing with what Dinah had told her and triggering her head to ache more than ever.

All of which was most likely very evident on her exhausted face.

It was hard to watch those emotions flit across her face, no barriers in place to obscure them, and not reach out to hug her. But Jaime managed to restrain himself. For the moment.

Instead he reached into his pocket and took out a pink compact. "I think," he said very, very softly, "that you might need this."

Momoko stared at the compact a moment, then laughed. Or rather, tried to laugh; it came out as more of a bark.

"Priestly was just murdered in my arms and you want me to fix my make-up?" Jaime was a friend but this was too much. "I'm going upstairs. I..."

She took a breath, rubbing her head as she struggled to keep her words from sounding so hysterical. "I'm going to my room. You don't need to worry how I look."

He'd guessed wrong. She didn't remember. Jaime's hands twitched, wanting to curl into fists, but he managed to keep himself from crushing the compact in his hand.

There was no point in objecting that he didn't care about her make-up. That the compact was hers.

So he tried to bury the stricken expression that wanted to force itself onto his face, and slipped the compact back into his pocket.

"Fine." He looked at Momoko for a moment, considering. She didn't remember, but she seemed different. Close, perhaps. Closer than she'd been in a long time. Maybe, just maybe, close enough.

"I'll walk you up." That wasn't an offer.

Momoko... Momoko didn't care. She was used to the chivalry by now, and it gave her a slight comfort, even if it wasn't from her boyfriend.

Without a word, she headed for the stairs, leaving Jaime to follow if he liked. Luckily she wasn't more than a flight up, because she wasn't sure she was going to be able to hold herself together much longer. She was already starting to cry again.

Jaime followed, barely a step behind her. And he could see her crying.

He wished Priestly were here. He'd always known how to do what could be done for Momoko, no matter how little that might have been, through the years.

Not knowing what to do (should he say something? touch her shoulder? pull her into a hug?), Jaime just followed.

Momoko was really past wishing Priestly was here. She was past most things, really. Her head hurt, her chest was tight, her legs felt like they were on autopilot. And she was still getting flashes of memories she didn't actually remember...

She shuddered as she pushed open the door to the hall where her room was. She just wanted to sleep. Curl up with the stuffed puppy that Priestly'd given her when she'd graduated, and pretend. Who knows, maybe that calming sensation would come back. "I need to stop thinking about it, don't I?"

He could see that it hurt. Emotionally, probably physically. The Scarab wasn't very good with magic, but Jaime could still see the energy crackling around Momoko. Angry, powerful energy, but also... frayed.

He took a moment before answering.

"No," he eventually said. "You shouldn't stop. This is as close--" he cut himself off, not wanting to push her if she wasn't ready. Not wanting to repeat the incident with the compact.

"Dinah said that too. But it hurts." Momoko stopped and turned to give Jaime a slightly questioning look. What the question was, she had no idea. "Dinah's in Detention. I put her there. In a dungeon. And she still hugged me."

Still not reaching out to touch her, even though his arm trembled with the effort of holding it in place, he nodded ever so slightly.

"Of course she did." Somehow he managed a smile. Weak, and utterly unconvincing. "You're her friend. She loves you." He hesitated a moment. "She's missed you."

They all have. Still did.

Even if there were fewer of them now to miss her than there had been.

"Missed me?" And wow, that hurt. "I don't remember very well. I'm sorry. My head..." She rubbed her temple again, closing her eyes. "The girl who died yesterday. I saw her too. She's in ice. Detention... did that?"

The energy crackling around Momoko was getting more intense, more violent. Jaime wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but he could hope. And that hope gave him the courage to push just a little bit more.

"Missed you. It's been so long..."

And Sookie... hadn't been the first.

Momoko was definitely not feeling right. Some of the panic from before was coming back and she didn't know what to do.

"I've been right here!" Her voice gave away some of her desperation. "With everyone!" Except those in Detention, of course. What was it Dinah had said? Something... a spell had made Momoko turn her in? Turn others in. Others that had probably been tortured, killed...

"Tschaa!" More pain, like her head was going to explode.

Edited 2012-07-28 20:26 (UTC)

Jaime had developed a lot of self-control during his years on the island. Not interfering, not intervening, not making waves. But he'd mostly managed that by not getting into situations where he couldn't help himself.

And, he suddenly realized, he was in just such a situation. He couldn't help himself.

He reached out, gripping Momoko's shoulder. He didn't know what he was trying to do. Trying to offer her some stability, maybe. Something like that. Only his grip was tight, hard, and maybe a little bit desperate.

"Not everyone," he pointed out, hoping that would jog more memories, shake off more of the spell, than his other gut response which was 'no you haven't been'.

"More?" The grip was actually helpful, grounding. A pain for her to actually focus on, do something about. Which of course, was to pull back, violently, and get angry at him. "Who else have I hurt? Tell me now, because I may as well cry over them, too! I can't seem to do anything but hurt people and sign reports that everything is totally fine at Umbridge High!"

He followed, grip tightening as she stepped back. Not letting go.

"Cry over them?" he snapped, getting a big angry himself. "You think that's what anyone wants you to do?" And he knew this was a cheap shot, but: "You think that's what Priestly wanted for you?"

Totally cheap shot, and it hit her full force in the chest.

Her voice was low and very deadly sounding: "Don't you dare bring Priestly into this. He died right here in my arms. I could hear his blood gurgling, see the life leave his eyes. Feel him suddenly just gone." She had to take a few breaths.

When she could continue, "I think I deserve to cry. What else should I do? Send a forceful email to security about renegade archers? Type up a form 260 for a maintenance call?"

"Died right there in your arms," Jaime repeated, voice low. "And all you can think to do is cry?"

"That's exactly what I mean! Missed you! Still miss you!"

He sensed that she was close, maybe. Approaching the surface, digging through where she'd been buried for so many years.

WHERE WAS MOMOKO?

"I'm right here! I always have been." Why did he keep SAYING that? "What else can I do? I'm just ME!"

I hate what she did to you, I missed you Dinah's voice from a few hours ago. And now Momoko's head was full of voices and images...

Edited 2012-07-28 22:07 (UTC)

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