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Worth	By : Valisilwen Category: +S to Z > Saint Beast Views: 1336 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Beast, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Worth
- 2-Confrontation
- 3-Attack
- 4-Almost Escape
- 5-Pain
- 6-Return
- 7-Explanation
- 8-Truth
- 9-Comfort
- 10-Love
- 11-End?
- 7
- 8
- 9
Everyone was silent for a few minutes, until finally, Shin spoke up. "Kira," he said slowly, almost carefully, as if he was still trying to process the situation, "We haven't been on a mission in three months. Rei knew we were all here yesterday."

"W-What?" Maya said in confusion, having recovered from his earlier hysterics. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would Rei-san..."

Ruka had stopped listening and just stood there, not saying a word. Then, without any warning, he turned around and strode purposefully from the room.

Ruka could hear Yuda and the other calling after him, and then following him, but he didn't respond. His mind was spinning. He had no idea what to make of all this new information, so he decided to go directly to the source.

Rei.

Ruka came to a stop in front of Rei's door and pounded on it with his fist. "Rei! Rei, I know you're in there! We need to talk! Please open the door! Rei!"

Ruka continued banging on Rei's door until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Yuda and everyone else standing behind him, all of them staring horror struck at the area around his feet.

"Ruka..." Yuda said, shakily, "Look at where you're standing."

Ruka, confused, looked down at his feet, and froze.

The area of floor around Rei's door, the area Ruka himself was standing on, was stained a dark crimson color that could only be one thing. Dried blood.

Seeing that, Ruka decided to abandon his previous attempts at knocking. Instead, he gained entrance to Rei's chambers through a more...direct approach. He kicked down the door.

Rei probably would have jumped over a foot in the air at the sound of his door being kicked down, had he not had a broken ankle. As it was, Rei was fairly certain that it would take his heart a very long time to slow down and regain its normal rhythm.

Of course Rei had heard Ruka's frantic pounding on his door, but he thought that if he ignored him long enough, the silver haired angel would eventually give up. He had definitely not expected Ruka to kick in his door, nor had he expected to see not only the other Saint Beasts standing in his doorway, but Kira and Maya as well.

Rei felt his heart nearly stop at the sight of Kira and Maya. If they were there then that meant...everyone knew.

They knew why Rei wasn't acting like himself. They knew why he had come home so late. They knew he hadn't even been able to defend himself. They knew what a worthless angel he was. They knew.

Ruka knew.

Ruka couldn't move. He couldn't blink. He could barely even breathe. All he could do was stare at Rei. His Rei. His beautiful angel, whose face was covered in dark purple bruises. It took everything he had to suppress the murderous rage the sight of those bruises called up in him. There would be time for that later. After he'd talked to Rei.

Yuda, noticing that Ruka was dangerously close to losing his composure, shifted his position so that he was standing in front of Ruka, though still not entering the room. "Rei..." he called softly.

Hearing the sound of his name being called seemed to bring Rei out of his horrified stupor. He flinched away from the people standing in his doorway and took a couple of hasty steps back, wincing as he accidentally put weight on his injured ankle. "S-Stay away..."

Yuda stopped, surprised and confused by Rei's terrified reaction. Seeing that Yuda was not going to continue, Gou stepped out in front of him, entering the room.

"Rei," Gou said in a placating tone, "We're not going to hurt you. We just want to know what hap—,"

Gou felt a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off. He turned and saw it was Ruka, who shook his head slowly. They would eventually have to get Rei to talk about what happened yesterday, but right then their first priority had to be caring for Rei's injuries. Besides, forcing Rei to talk when he was clearly already scared would only succeed in upsetting the delicate angel further, which could cause him to further aggravate his already serious injuries.

"Rei," Ruka said soothingly, taking a few steps toward the shaking angel, "You don't have to talk about anything right now. However, why not let Yuda heal your wounds? That must cause you quite a bit of pain."

Rei relaxed a little at the sound of Ruka's voice. No matter how horrified he was by the other angel's presence, it did not lessen the effect Ruka's voice had on him.

Slowly and cautiously, Ruka walked over to Rei and guided him over to sit on the bed, careful not to touch him so he did not unintentionally hurt or further terrify the still-shaking angel.

When he had Rei comfortably seated on the bed, Ruka motioned for Yuda and the others enter the room. They all slowly cross the threshold into the chamber, but all but Yuda stayed close to the doorway, not wanting to get too close all at once, lest they frighten Rei again.

Yuda slowly approached and sat on the bed by Rei's feet. His gaze met Rei's and, in a gentle tone, he said, "Rei, I'm going to heal your injuries now, but I don't know where all of them are, so when I finish, you need to tell me if I missed any, alright?"

Rei nodded calmly, most of his earlier panic having already dissipated. "Yes, Yuda. Thank you," he said in a relatively steady voice.

Despite how calm his answer had been, it took everything Rei had not to fly into a panic when he felt Yuda's lips gently brush against his injured ankle. He couldn't help but remember the last pair of lips that had touched his skin. The lips that had disgusted and repelled him, and had laughed at his feeble attempts to escape.

No, Rei thought to himself. This is not Stheno. This is Yuda. Yuda's lips are healing me, not hurting me. Yuda would not hurt me. And Ruka's here. He would never let anyone hurt me. Rei both smiled and cringed internally at the thought. While he was still could not look Ruka in the eye because of his shame, Rei knew that he would not be able to handle this without the other angel's presence.

Yuda healed Rei's broken ankle, as well as other various cuts and bruises on the smaller angel's legs and arms, before sitting up and looking Rei in the eye again. "Rei," he said, his tone still careful and gentle, "I need to heal the wounds to your ribs. Will you open your robe for me?"

Rei stiffened a moment, then nodded. He was wearing simple long-sleeved, lavender satin robe with a single tie at the waist and reached down to his ankles. He could not wear his usual angel robes because of the wounds to his back and ribs, but this was loose and the material felt good against his bruised skin.

Slowly, Rei undid the knot at his waist and opened the right side of his robe, careful to keep himself covered while still giving Yuda access to the wound.

Ruka had to stifle a gasp when Yuda removed the bandages over the wound to Rei's ribs. Not only was there a deep stab wound where the metal star had previously been, but the entire right side of Rei's rib cage was covered in bruises ranging in color from deep purple to almost black. And, judging by the way Rei let out a strangled cry as soon as Yuda's lips touched his side, his ribs were not just bruised, but broken as well.

Ruka's murderous rage from earlier came back two-fold, but again, he quickly suppressed it. Revenge could wait. Rei could not.

When Yuda had finished healing his injured ribs, Rei closed his robe and let out a small sigh of relief. He then tried to get up off the bed, but let out a wince of pain. He'd forgotten about the wounds to his back.

Yuda looked at him in confusion for a few seconds, then realization dawned on his face. "Rei, you still have a wound on your back, don't you? Slide your robe off your shoulders, and I'll see what I can do about it."

Rei hesitated, his earlier panic starting to rise to the surface. He didn't want the others to see what Stheno had done to his back...what Rei had been to weak to stop him from doing. While Kira and Maya may have been present for the first blow he'd received, they had not seen the others, nor had anyone else, and Rei had wanted to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, Rei knew he had to let Yuda look at them. Even if Yuda couldn't completely heal them, at least he could bandage them, which was more than Rei could do on his own. Carefully, Rei pulled his long purple hair over his shoulder and slipped the silky fabric of his robe off his slim shoulders, letting it pool around his elbows.

This time Ruka could not fully suppress the strangled cry that escaped his lips when he saw Rei's back. Raw, jagged whiplash marks criss-crossed all across the pearly skin of Rei's slim back, some of them so deep Ruka thought they must have hit bone. Others didn't even look like whiplashes, just bloody expanses where the skin had been ripped away.

Ruka turned his head away, unable to bear the sight. The thought of his beautiful, innocent angel, going through so much agony without Ruka being there to protect him was enough to bring physical pain to the silver haired angel's heart. It also filled him with immeasurable, almost unbearable guilt.

Rei heard several gasps and stifled cries come from the angels behind him as the wounds on his back were revealed. Even Yuda was horrified by the sheer brutality of the marks scoring the petite angel's back, but he quickly shook away his feelings and pressed his lips against one of the gashes.

But nothing happened.

Much as Yuda tried, his healing powers had no effect on the whiplashes. He sighed, "I was afraid of this. Because the marks on your back were made through the use of angelic powers, my healing has no effect on them," He got up and walked over to the closet wearing Rei kept his medical supplies. "I'll just have to make do with bandaging them by hand. I'm sorry, Rei."

Rei just stared straight ahead, not even looking back at Yuda as he spoke. "Please, don't trouble yourself over it, Yuda," he said softly. "I knew there was a chance you would not be able to heal them from the start. It's fine," It's what I deserve is what went unsaid, but all the same, Rei knew it to be true. After all, he had let this happen, so it was only fitting that he have the scars as a permanent reminder of what a worthless angel he was.

As Yuda cleaned and bandaged his wounds, Rei stole a glance up at Ruka. What he saw broke what little of heart that still remained intact. Ruka had his back turned to him, looking completely away.
- 7
- 8
- 9
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Worth