Crimson

II- Chapter 50: Mutual Exchange

A/N: Since it's been so long since a new chapter, I strongly advise reading at least the very last one, if not the last few. Chapters are richly packed so it's easy to forget things given how long it's been. Have fun, thanks!
~

The boy in the glasses was cleaning up his plates as you entered. With a mixture of guilt and excitement, you made your way to Eleanor through the crowded dining hall.

"Before supper, huh? I waited for you," he said.

"I'm sorry," you apologized. "Are you leaving?"

Eleanor shrugged with a sigh.

"Yeah... I have some stuff to do. Two assignments, one due tomorrow-"

"Shit!" You had forgotten.

"You said you would finish it after class!" Eleanor said, "What were you even doing? Or am I not important enough to tell?"

"Eleanor..." you began.

"Sorry, I know," he apologized. Your friend rubbed his temples and you thought if anyone was entitled to a headache it was definitely Eleanor. "I've just got a lot going on- I know you do too. But you have a tendency to say you're going to be somewhere and then you don't show up. It's really frustrating y/n. But I'm mostly worried- for you. How am I supposed to know you're at the very least okay?"

"I am okay," you told him.

Admittedly, a lot had happened over the past few days. It felt almost like a whole year had gone by. You decided it was in everyone's best interest not to detail your 'encounter' with Lucian, Roman walking you over the bridge, Dimitri kissing you atop your head and wishing you goodnight-

Instead, Eleanor suggested you work on the assignment together after you quickly grabbed something to eat. You had already disappointed him once today and that was one time too many for you to refuse; as long as Eleanor knew you'd be returning to the night dorm. Simone would be leaving the hospital within the next few days, and you needed to make the most of your time around your supernatural persons of interest- especially if the night patrol really was going to be disbanded after term like Sylabil said.

~
The sound of shifting glass in plastic bags was faint to the ears of anyone who happened to be outside Lucian's door. Just last night, (it churned his insides to think about), the night student's fangs pierced through y/n's flesh. How he managed to stop was a genuine miracle- one he wasn't entirely honest about with the girl. It crushed him too much to admit how close she'd nearly been brought to death at his hands. Lucian was barely able to get any of his own blood into her. The horrible images permeated through the forefront of his mind- until someone knocked on the door. Lucian stopped cleaning up the bottles of liquor on the floor, and, still kneeling, asked who it was.

"You sound better," Roman answered. "It's me- what are you doing in there?"

"Cleaning," Lucian replied. He wasn't sure whether to mask his voice or what to do or what to say about the fact that after y/n went to sleep and he took care of any 'evidence,' Lucian looked and felt better than he ever had before. Or at least, he looked almost as good as he did the very last time he saw his siblings alive.

"Well, I wanted to see how you were," Roman continued from the other side of the door, hands in his pockets. "But I also wanted to talk to you."