Chapter Text
You should have known it would come to this.
Out of the few interactions you’ve had with him, all his messages and emails, and greedy attempts at contacting you, shouldn’t you have seen this coming? It fit with his character, his behavior, even his morals (did he even have any? They seemed few and far between).
You had bumped into each other again, purely by accident mind you, and you had attempted to console him again. All your previous efforts were fruitless, so why would this one be any different? Why would any attempts to heal that relationship be any different? Why didn’t you know this would happen? These questions flitted through your mind as your face creased in discomfort, your back burning cold in the shape of a handprint where he pinned you to the dirt and snow beneath you. It was goddamned cold.
“You fucking bitch. ” Kody leered, leaning over your frame and grabbing your hair by the root. He yanked your head from where it was pressed into the semi-melted snow, which was mixed with the mud at this point. “You thought you could walk all over me, ruin my life and then come back and lie- I’m not gonna fuckin’ take it anymore.” He laughed darkly, and you bit back bile at the sound of his belt buckle rattling.
You thrashed, screaming and biting and clawing, desperately trying to get away from his hands. Your nails drew blood, your teeth left bruises, but he only laughed at your efforts. He shoved his elbow in between your shoulder blades, knocking the air out of you as you came into contact with the ground. You tried summoning some sort of magic- fire, earth, something to throw him off you, but you were so exhausted from training and classes and fucking everything. Nothing came up, not even a spark of energy. You had nothing.
You thought of Gavin. His smile, his support, his words. Gavin was gentle, ever-pliant, and constantly listening to any concern you had. He was kind.
You thought of Damien. His hands, his attitude, his shoulders. Damien was defiant, warm, and willing to go out of his way to help you whenever needed. He was kind.
You thought of Huxley. His back, his reassurance, his eyes. Huxley was predictable, stable, and always wanting to be a person in your corner. He was kind.
You thought of Lasko. His chest, his hesitance, his mouth. Lasko was intuitive, all-knowing, and all-willing to aid you in any problem that came your way. He was kind.
Kody was none of these things. He was strong, sturdy, unmoving, but in a force that acted against you. He was something to be feared, never something you could lean on.
And most of all- he was never kind.
You came back to yourself to feel the sudden mid-winter air at your legs, clawing at the ground in a last-made attempt to get away. He didn’t laugh this time, rather huffed. He’s had enough of you. Each touch felt like ice through your skin, and you realized you couldn’t breathe.
“I’m gonna ruin you like you ruined me ,” Kody growled, grabbing your hips up and into him with a blistering force. “And I’m going to enjoy every single goddamned second of it.”
-
When the Freelancer hadn’t come home that night, Gavin tried to push the worry away. They were probably studying with Damien for their upcoming exam, he figured. They were impossibly stressed about the test, the knots inside them tightening with every second that brought the date closer and closer. He looked at the calendar by the door and saw the red-circled date on the third Friday of the month. They had two days until the exam, so it was perfectly reasonable to assume that they were studying.
So when Damien arrived in the shared flat, without the beloved Freelancer in tow, Gavin began to worry a little more. Okay, so they’re not with Damien , he thought, then they must be with Huxley. They must be out on a night walk- a strange idea for bonding time but I could never judge.
But then Damien reminded Gavin that Huxley was already in his room, snoring the day away, and Gavin worried even more. He dialed the Freelancer’s number and it rang seven times before going to voicemail. Damien began to fret too, Gavin could feel the temperature in the shared living room rise by a few degrees as he began to pace back and forth. Gavin rubbed at his temples. So, not with Huxley. They might be studying on their own, in the mess hall or the library not too far away. He checked his phone for the time- 11:36. Nope, the library closes at ten. Shit. He was about to put his phone away before Lasko’s contact flashed on the screen, the dial tone cheery and light. Gavin answered it quickly, trying to put on his typical flirty tone.
“Hey, Lasko, why aren’t you back yet? I’ve missed my favorite little-”
“ Shut up! Just- please, shut up and listen to me.”
Gavin stood quickly, catching Damien’s attention. The fire elemental mouthed a quick what’s going on, but Gavin held up a hand to stop him.
“It’s okay, I’m listening. What happened, are you okay?”
“ No! I mean- goddamnit- I’m fine, but you need to get here, now! ”
“Alright, where’s ‘here’?” Gavin grabbed his coat and motioned for Damien to as well, shrugging it on quickly. “And what’s going on, why are you so frantic?”
“ It’s- fuck! I’m sorry, i-it’s the- ” Lasko took a gasp of air, the sound crackling over the speaker. His voice sounded wet. “ It’s the Freelancer. Someone fucking- fuckin’ did this to them and I can’t-”
“Where are you?” Gavin asked again, firmer this time. Damien looked more anxious by the minute.
“ The courtyard, i-in front of the fountain. Please, hurry.”
The line went dead with a click that echoed through the air. They, Incubus and Elemental alike ran.
-
When they both arrived, out of breath and fingertips trembling, they found Lasko kneeling in the snow. He looked back at the pair with teary eyes, and that’s when they saw them.
The Freelancer, collected in Lasko’s lap, bundled in the Air Elemental’s coat with their pants clumsily fastened just beneath their hips. Their neck was bruised and bitten, their hair was tousled and yanked out of its tie, their lips parted and colored a worryingly stark shade of blue. More bruises and cuts littered their body, and the smell of sex made Gavin want to vomit. He could feel the Freelancer’s knots from here, stuck frozen in place as Damien falls beside Lasko. The Fire Elemental had his hands on their shoulders, summoning every ounce of warmth that wouldn’t burn the Freelancer out from his palms. Gavin watched, near numbly as the Freelancer began to stir.
“K’dy-” They coughed out, turning in Damien’s grasp. “No- get th’ fuck away-”
“He’s gone, Freelancer, you’re safe.” Damien’s voice sounded thick, tears turning into steam as they fell down his face. “You’re okay, he won’t hurt you anymore.”
The Freelancer opened their eyes, rimmed red and bloodshot. They brought a steady hand ( shouldn’t it be shaking ? Gavin remembered asking himself. It’s fifteen degrees out, shouldn’t they be cold? ) to Damien’s cheek and wiped away a stray tear.
Then, they broke.
Gavin had been there when they broke down because of Vega, he had seen them rage against their assignments and scream in frustration when classmates were assholes to them. But even when they did cry, they were stone-still, unmoving. They bottled everything up so tight it was hard to believe they could even react in such a way.
But here, in the frigid weather of Dahlia, they howled . They screamed and sobbed louder than the whistling air and clutched so tightly to Damien that the seams of his coat might have started to pop. Damien carried them back to their shared flat as they cried themselves to sleep, and collectively, they decided that Kody needed to be dealt with.
Immediately.