It Takes Time / Reaper x fem!OC

8. Saviour

Refusing to have him disappear in the middle of the night and bleed out somewhere else, Sienna kept herself awake to watch him. Popping to the basin in the corner of the room, she looked at herself in the small mirror on the side.
A monster looked back at her.
A monster, black shadows under her eyes and blood up to her elbows, red stains on her chest, and dewdrops of red seeping from her fingertips -bleeding from stitching mistakes.
Not bothering to deal with her clothes or arms, she rinsed her hands, watching the water turn a queasy pink colour, and quickly returned to sit next to the sleeping man.
I won't let him disappear this time.
His chest was still bare so Sienna could keep an eye on how his wounds were faring, but the room wasn't so warm and she began to worry about his state getting worse. Shifting closer as so to be able to feel his body heat, Sienna realised she had left it far too late: he was ice cold. His breathing had slowed, too. Panicking, she wrapped his cut up leather jacket around him,

'Mercy help you if you die on me, Reaper. I am not having this today.'

All of a sudden, Sienna thought back to their scramble and fight. She'd kneed him, and it has been his leg that had failed to hold him up. His leg.

She cursed as she leapt to fetch the scissors and medical equipment again, damning herself loudly this time
'How could I have forgotten? I'm such an idiot...' She took a moment to watch Reaper's mask and then tacked onto the end of her statement 'but I'll still blame you if you die here.'
Shifting herself down to the man's knees, she found herself sitting in a wet pool of what she thought had been a shadow. Shit.

After trying and failing to get a big enough hold on his trousers to cut, Sienna would have sighed if she hadn't been so panicked. She couldn't get them off without cutting him with the scissors in the process. In true Edgelord fashion, his trousers were tight and clung to his legs like their life depended on it. Ironically, it was his life that depended on it. Seeing no other alternative, Sienna felt a wave of heat creeping up her neck like a pair of warm hands toying with her.

Taking a sneak peak at Reaper's masked face, she couldn't tell whether he was asleep or not anymore. Judging by the temperature of his skin he was probably unconscious. Hopefully he is otherwise I'm going to die of shame.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't, and when she reached for his belt and began to tug at it a low groan that managed to turn itself into a growl resonated around the space between them both.

'Leave it.'

Mercifully grateful for the darkness that masked her flaming cheeks, Sienna stopped, but didn't move her hand. In a rush of adrenaline, she spoke up.
'Either you do it or I do it. I have to treat your wound.'
She thought she heard a sigh of... Annoyance? when, with great effort, a black arm snaked down his side to his right thigh, and suddenly dug one claw in. Gawping in shock, Sienna made to grab his hand
'W-what are you doing?! Do you want to just die here-' He cut her off as he scraped his claw backwards, and grabbed the edge of the now torn fabric, ripping it back to reveal a blackened, deep wound covered in ash and splinters. Where his claw had dug in left a shallow, meagre cut that paled in comparison to his true injury.

'Happy now?'

His voice had been reminiscent of the first day they met, when he mocked and taunted her, but now it lacked strength. Silently, Sienna watched him turn his head to the side, looking away from her. Is he embarrassed? I thought that was my job.

Ignoring any of her questionable feelings, she got to work and managed to bandage him up quickly, but not without eliciting a few pained hisses from Reaper as she cleaned out the wound. Finally finished, she leant back against the sofa, her back arched over his legs. Mentally and physically exhausted, she'd gone further than the end point. Her hands numbed by the repetitive movements, weakened by excessive use. Feeling a very familiar feeling creeping up on her, Sienna couldn't keep her eyes open for much longer. Really, exhaustion is not a feeling I want to get used to...
But that was her last consious thought as exhaustion in the form of sleep overcame her, and the world became as dark as the shadows of the man she'd just saved.

~

Reaper woke up first, feeling uncomfortable and stiff. Scratchy gauze covered his bare skin - somehow his makeshift leather blanket Sienna had covered him with had slid off onto the floor, bunching up at his side.

He ached. Everywhere. But at least he was alive... Thanks to that girl. Remembering the girl in question, he suddenly became paranoid and violently lifted his head up to look for her. To his great surprise, she wasn't preparing to kill him, or finding an exit strategy, already half out of the window. Instead, he noted equally aghast that she was curled up on his lower legs, her arms wrapped around him but managing to avoid the wound on his right thigh thankfully. Reaper shoved the thought out of his mind that she looked comfortable in her sleep, somehow.

Reaper's first thought was to kick her off immediately, but as he watched her twitch in her dreams something stopped him momentarily. Whatever the feeling was that stopped him, it couldn't beat the anger that welled up in him at this sign of weakness and he promptly whipped his legs out from underneath her and dragged himself backwards.
Her head hit the floor with an audible crack, and she sat up slowly in a pained, sleepy daze.

'Heyy, whatcha do that for? That hurt...' Her words were slightly slurred, and she was rubbing her eyes, not having opened them yet.
Immediately after he'd done it, it felt like someone was twisting his guts, the guilt was overwhelming. A thought popped into his head: just like kicking a puppy.
Not understanding what was happening to him, he muttered under his breath, still watching the girl as she fell out of her post-sleep daze. 'I'll kick as many fucking puppies as I want'.

Hearing his voice, Sienna seemed to snap out of her dream world and come to quickly. Trying to compose herself, she sat bolt upright, her knees tucked underneath her, cheeks - yet again - flaming with colour.
Looking anywhere but at him, she gazed around the room they'd both fallen asleep in. It wasn't much, and was nearly pitch black due to large, dark velvet curtains hanging from the ceiling. Just like in his main room. He really doesn't like light, does he?
The sofa took up most of the room, and Sienna regretted not sleeping on it instead of the floor:
'Would have saved my aching butt, and also that hella awkward situation just then' she muttered it so quietly she was sure Reaper wouldn't hear, but she saw him tilt his head out of the corner of her eye. A small part of her mind told her it looked cute. A very large part of her mind consequently punched her in the face.

What have I gotten myself into? Aw hell, Sienna.

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Hello! I'd just like to say a big thanks for getting this far into this story, especially if you've been here since the beginning. I'm really grateful for all the views, and this is just a small promise that I'm still here, updating often, so please keep reading!

Love and thanks,
Wren xx