Time - (Identity V-Elisop)

Chapter 23

The embalmer was in the living room, waiting for the participants of the previous match to return. He didn't watch the match, he preferred the way Eli explained them.

12 minutes had passed exactly, then eventually the door opened to the four survivors and participants of the match.

Tracy was helping Victor walk and she had her doll helping Eli. Emma was on the other side of Eli, he suffered quite a few major injuries in the match.

Emily was already waiting by the door when she saw them coming from the window. She quickly rushed to Eli's side and helped him to the living room. Luckily he still had consciousness, but barely.

"Here, come sit down," Emily rushed as she helped the seer.

The embalmer was sat across the room, he was watching carefully, his eyes following the doctor and her every movements. He didn't go to help just yet, Emily would often tell him if she required assistance of any sort. From what he could see, Eli had a gash on his back and his legs were scraped a bit as well.

"Aesop, you're good at medicine," Emily said, calling over the embalmer, "Come help me take him to the med office and heal him," The doctor spoke.

"Wha- Oh, sure" Aesop replied as he went to Eli's side with Emily. Whilst he didn't show it, he was awfully worried and even though he knew Eli wouldn't suffer any long-term damage, he was still concerned.

He helped Eli to the med office with the help of Emily and helped the seer sit down. Brooke Rose had gone back outside, enjoying the fresh air rather than staying indoors. Aesop sat down on a chair next to Eli while Emily took out her bag, full of medical instruments, medicine and pills of many sorts.

"Here," Emily said as she handed the seer two pills and a glass of wotah, "Don't worry, it's just painkillers, it'll help" The doctor explained.

Aesop stayed in the room with Eli, occasionally making some small conversation with Emily.

"Me and Eli are together, y'know," Aesop said after a small while of silence, he and Eli were discussing about telling a few people already so it wouldn't matter.

"I know," She replied, not even looking away, "I saw what you guys do together," Emily continued.

"By this point, I'm sure both Edgar and Luca know, along with Vera," The embalmer said.

"You two look really happy together," Emily said.

"We are.." Eli said, he was tired and drained from the match but still listening to the conversation.

Eli had his blindfold hanging loosely around his neck, silently looking towards the ground.

"Could Brooke Rose not have taken the hit for you?" Aesop asked as he looked at Eli.

"Yeah, but I think by that point I just under-estimated Violetta's hit range," He laughed it off as usual.

"You should be more careful either way," Aesop replied as he subtly put his hand on Eli's.

"I'll be fine, nothing can happen to us either way," His voice got lower and maybe a bit sadder in tone towards the end of the statement.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to need stitches," Emily spoke up as she examined the seer's back. The bleeding stopped being so bad by now, but it didn't stop entirely.

"Wow, what a surprise," Aesop laughed as he glanced over at the wound. It was more wide than deep, all across his back, which was stained with dried blood.

"Aesop you can go now, I'll deal with the injuries," Emily said as she turned back to face her patient.

"Alright, tell me when you're done and I'll be back," Aesop looked at his lover as he smiled, before leaving the room.

Aesop made his way to the staircase before he got stopped by someone, well, two people actually.

Tracy and Naib stood with eachother before the girls spoke up, "How's Eli? We were just about to go and check on him," she explained.

"Oh, he's fine. Emily's just giving him stitches at the moment from the hit he got at the end of the match." Aesop explained to them as he looked around the room, eye contact wasn't his strong point.

"That's good," The mercenary said. Aesop and Naib hadn't directly spoken in a long while, excluding matches they had together. One part of Aesop felt bad for being with Eli, since Naib ended up liking him as well. But Eli was the one to turn Naib down in the end, so he had no right or reason to feel bad.

Aesop went back upstairs, back into his room. He remembered leaving his window open, so he wasn't surprised when he saw Brooke Rose perched on his windowsill.

As he would usually assume Eli was looking at him through Brooke, Aesop knew he wouldn't since he had his blindfold off and was currently getting stitches.

He went to his bookshelf before selecting a book, one he hadn't read yet. He was a slow reader so he usually took maybe a week at most to finish a book.

The embalmer sat down on his bed, Brooke had flown back outside, going for a small venture to the woods. Aesop took his mask off and got comfy before opening his book.

Time passed. The only thing that could be heard for the last hour or so being the ticking of the clock and the occasional flick of a page.

Brooke had come in a few times, coming in to rest for a while before going back outside again.

After another while had passed, Aesop decided to go and see if Emily was done yet.

He walked downstairs quietly, hoping to avoid bringing attention to himself. Everyone was gathered in the living room, the fireplace was lit as per usual.

He managed to avoid everyone and eventually arrived at the med office. He hesitated for a moment, and held his hand up at the door.

**KNOCK KNOCK**

"You can come in!" The doctor yelled from the other side of the door.

Aesop entered the room, it had this strong smell of cleanliness, nothing bad though. Eli was now sat up, his robes were on and he had Brooke on his shoulder. His blindfold was also on, as usual.

"You coming?" Aesop asked as he lingered by the entrance awkwardly.

"Sure, sure," He laughed, "Just give me a moment, I just received like 30 stitches," he slowly stood up, Emily helping him a bit.

"Just please, for the love of God, be more careful Clark," The doctor said as Aesop left with Eli by his side.