Touch and Go [Kameren Family/Rowena]

[Max Kameren]

NPC - Milton Bonham, Head of St. Mungo's Hospital

---

The first night was always the hardest one.

Max Kameren had burst out of the lifts and into his girlfriend's arms only eight hours ago, but much had happened in that time; the staff moved him, cleaned him and mended what they could; whoever had attacked him had been thorough in their research, and unfortunately most of his injuries couldn't be easily fixed. They'd closed the gashes on his torso and reset his ribs, though marks remained. They'd had to give up entirely on his left hand, removing as much shattered bone as they could and resolving to regrow what remained from scratch.

There was little to be done for his right hand: whatever he'd cut into the Potions Master with it was resistant. The ring finger was lost but most of the muscles were able to be reattached in his middle finger the muggle way letting it heal naturally, though it was unclear what movement he would have when he awoke. The runes, the healers wouldn't dare touch: they needed to be checked out by aurors beforehand, just in case. Milton had seen it before: it was likely the runes and whatever affect they had could be permanent.

As much as there was to mend, the boy was still lucky. Lucky to be alive at all.

Milton sat in the corner opposite Max's bed in his private hospital room, hand over his mouth. He'd made a promise, once, to his old friend: take care of my son. See he doesn't get into trouble. They'd shared a jovial laugh in that moment and a decade of mutual pride in the healer that boy had become. And now, here they were. His old friend gone, his son near-death. What trouble was there to get into at a Hospital? Rest assured, if there was some to be found a Kameren would sniff it out.

Rowena Covington would be rising from her sleep soon, he mused. Whatever this was, it revolved around her; every time something happened, it routed back to his Spell Damage Head. Max had been wrapped around finger this last month, every incident tying them tighter together. Looking at him now he regretted pushing them together. Would he have been safer away from her? Would she, was it the combination? It wasn't good for the hospital, regardless. They were a volatile combination, and it wasn't just their personalities. Something needed to be done.

"Healer Bonham?" A mousey trainee poked her head in the door, careful to avoid looking at the maimed body of the hospital's Potions Master across the room. "We need your help at the front desk, there's a muggle here."

"A muggle?"

With a frown she gestured her head gently towards the bed, her eyes welling at the very mention. "His mum, I think. She keeps saying she's Max's mum."

Milton nodded silently, pushing himself up and following the trainee out to the atrium where a short bleached-haired woman could be heard yelling from the connecting halls. When Milton pushed the doors open to the Atrium he spotted her immediately. She was impossible to miss.

"I don't fucking care what your laws are or whether or not I'm allowed to be any-fucking-where, let me in to see my son or you'll wish some deranged wizard attacked you rather than me." The receptionist at the front desk shrank back when faced with Amelia's accusatory finger, and Milton stepped between them.

"Amelia Beauregard, correct? I remember you, from Cur-is's funeral." Milton took her finger-pointing hand and turned it into a handshake, trying to appease her temper. His chocolate-brown eyes darted around, thankfully finding a few friendly figures in the Atrium who could recognize the both of them and beckoning them over. "You must understand, your visitation is sort of a legal grey area for our hospital. I can help you, though. I'm Max's boss, the Head of Hospital."

"Where is he? I want to see him." Amelia ignored Milton's pleasantries, pushing forward with her inquiry in her thick Scottish lilt. "I got one of those animal messages: they said he was attacked." Milton nodded curtly and gestured behind him, leading the muggle woman through as many back channels in the hospital as possible: the less she saw, the better. 

Finally, he deposited her outside his room, taking her by the shoulders before they entered. "He's inside, but I warn you: Please don't go inside alone. The rest of his family will join you shortly, and his girlfriend as well. I need to go fetch them, but you can't come to some parts of the hospital." He let her go and she leaned against the wall, glaring at him but unmoving. "Thank you. Please, don't go inside alone."

Milton turned away and as soon as he rounded the corner Amelia turned the knob of her son's door and slipped inside. At the sight she saw she sunk to the ground, sobbing with her face in her hands.

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena stirred as consciousness returned to her and she shuddered at the memory of that awful nightmare, of finding Max in such a ruined state. She told herself it was just a remnant of that first nightmare and reached out blindly in the bed for the comfort of his healthy warm body. But the sheets felt wrong and her hand found nothing. Amber eyes shot open as she bolted up, nausea sending her retching over the edge of the bed and she remembered the awful truth. Not a nightmare, it would have been impossible since she’d taken that Dreamless Sleep potion. Max had been attacked, torn apart, marked and she had fallen asleep. Why had she done that?! She should never have left him.

Well she wouldn’t be kept from his side any longer. Milton had taken advantage of her shock, but not again. Neither Hell nor high water were going to keep her from him until he was better. And then an awful thought hit her. What if he hadn’t made it? What if she’d peacefully slept through his last moments? She had to find him. Rowena ran from the room, eyes wide in panic.

Long term care. That’s where he’d be. She ran to the Ward, into the small room that served as that floors Staff room, her amber gaze scanning the board anxiously looking for his name. Someone moved in the corner of the room and she registered the familiar form of Mary, her face full of pity as she stepped towards Rowena. But by then Rowena had found Max’s name and she left without a backwards glance, focused solely on her task.

She found the room, opened the door and almost tripped over the woman on the ground sobbing. Rowena’s hackles rose instantly. Stranger. Who was this? She put herself between the woman and Max, watching her suspiciously. And then she caught a glance of Max and she forgot about the other woman, overtaken by the need to make sure he was still breathing. It was only the fact that he looked marginally better than the last time she’d seen him that allowed her to take those few steps further into the room so that she stood by his side, hand reaching out to touch his cheek briefly. He looked like shit but he was alive. A great shuddering breath left her as she sagged in relief. Alive.

And then Healer training truly kicked in, instincts that had disappeared when he’d first emerged from the lift, replaced by pure emotion. Now with the initial shock gone, she could control herself. It didn’t stop the tears rolling down her face though and she brushed them away angrily. He was alive. She just needed to focus on that fact.

But oh his injuries were so many. He didn’t look like a Healer anymore. He looked like all those Aurors they’d patched up only two weeks previously. The angry swelling and redness of a hand that had no bone left in it, the ugly bruising spreading over his ribs and that awful rune on his chest staring at her, cut into his flesh. She couldn’t do anything for that; despite everything, or maybe because of it, she was not as rash as Max, couldn’t bring herself to further mutilate him without knowing if it would harm him further.

She glanced up and remembered the other person in the room with them.

“Who are you?” she asked. And where was Max’s family? She definitely remembered sending the message to his uncle. Then again, Max had always been pretty adamant about not letting her meet his family yet and this situation was quite possibly the worst way to meet them… But she couldn’t leave him. Not until she heard him speak, saw those bright green eyes look at her again.

[Alecsander]

He was furious. No, he was so far beyond furious that that was the only word he could find to describe the storm raging inside them. When he'd gotten the message, he'd raced to the hospital, panic clutching at him with sharp claws. He'd only caught a glimpse of Max before being forced back by the healers, threatened with a stun spell or a body bind if he didn't listen. It had shocked him, providing him the,necessary impetus to start thinking again. He pushed away the storm, honing it down, down into a single bright point, a weapon.

And he had gone to the,nurses' station and askes about where Max had been found, and led a team of aurors down,there to scour the catacombs. Finding the second victim...well. It explained a lot. Warghollow. Alex felt sick. He forced himself to shove that down, feeding the burning point inside him, and worked.

---

Taking a deep breath, Alex stepped into Max's room. Amelia was already there, as was Rowena. Merlin knew he'd had a rocky relationship with Amelia, but he helped her up and into a chair. He looked at Rowena. "Ii tild Ari, told her,not to bring... The girls. But she might come." he looked at Max straight on for the first time, and felt his,face go pale as he traced over the rune with hesitant fingers. No... he reached for,his wand.

[Max Kameren]

NPC - Amelia Beauregard-DeVille, Max's mother

---

Amelia knew this would happen eventually. She knew her son, knew the father he was regrettably just like. She knew his heart, how he always wanted to help. How he was unlikely to step back when met with resistance from those who would mean him or his loved ones harm, even if it meant his life. She knew her son: this moment had always been an inevitability.

This quiet moment alone in his room with him was all Amelia would allow herself to be overwhelmed. She wanted to get it out now, so a clearer head would prevail when he needed her. Amelia covered her face in her hands as she sunk to the floor, heaving with sobs. She could barely look at him. How was this the same kid she’d gone for a walk with a week ago? Who she talked to on the phone days ago, mad about some girl she’d yet to meet? What happened? The animal message had said it was an attack, it had been naive of her to think it was so simple as a patient lashing out at their caretaker. Looking at him now, whatever this was was much worse.

Her moment with her son was disrupted as another woman burst in the room suddenly, pausing to look over Amelia suspiciously before turning to Max. Was she a healer? Her eyes moved so analytically over Max’s body, but there was too much emotion there; Amelia picked up on the little shakes and shifts in her expression as she took him in. When she touched his face in that caring way it clicked for Amelia: ah, this would be the girlfriend. Rowena.

Amelia pushed herself up, wiping her cheeks sloppily and crossing her arms. Watching the girl look over the broken body of her son. Amelia tensed when her eyes fell again on his hands: they were the worst. She desperately wanted to hold one, her little boy with his giant hands. She was proud of her son, he healed people with those hands. Or did, at least. With a shaky sigh the laid a hand instead on his forearm, looking over him worriedly.

“Who are you?” The girl finally diverted her attention from Max to Amelia, fixing her with a skeptical glare.

Amelia reflected a hard stare right back at her, looking over her son’s choice of mate skeptically. She was pretty, though Amelia couldn’t speak much of her personality at the moment. “I’m his mum. I’m assuming you’re Rowena?” Amelia gestured to Max, his slow breathing punctuated by the soft pulsing and blinking of spells surrounding his bed. “You’re a healer, right? Can… can you explain this to me?” Amelia didn’t elaborate; in all honesty, she wasn’t really sure what she meant by ‘this’. More than she wanted to know how he was injured, she needed to know why.

Another soon joined them and Amelia shook off the surprise of Alex Kameren’s entrance. It was always haunting, any of them together in a room: Max looked like Kris, who looked like Alex.

Amelia immediately turned on him and he took her by the shoulders and directed her towards a chair, ignoring her balled fists and set jaw. Whatever this was, it stank of Kameren. Kris wasn’t here to instigate, so Alex was the next of kin for Amelia to pin this on. “What the fuck did you people do to him this time?!” She hissed so only he could hear, meeting the tall wizard’s eyes coldly.

"Ii tild Ari, told her,not to bring... The girls. But she might come."

Good, Arianna was coming. Amelia could use another sane voice in the room. She leaned into the arm rest, pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to keep emotion from welling up inside her again. She diverted her attention when she saw Alex pale and reach for his wand. That never meant anything good; Amelia stood, watching him warily.

[Alecsander]

“What the fuck did you people do to him this time?!” She hissed so only he could hear, meeting the tall wizard’s eyes coldly.

"He's an adult," Alex hissed back, hard eyes meeting hers. He was mad, worried, and guilty, and. And so much else. But he couldn't hold Max's hand and lead him through life or lock him up in a padded room. Merlin's sake, the boy was nearly 30!

He turned away, forcing himself to confront the reality of his nephew's broken body. The right hand was bandaged, but the left was extremely mangled and swollen. Would he be crippled? He hovered,a,hand over Max as he inspected his wounds. Then he saw the rune, left uncovered on Max's chest. No... he felt the blood leaving his face as he drew his wand and slashed through them, being careful to go just deep enough to negate it.

He turned to Rowena. "Where is Milton?"

[Rowena Jones]

“I’m his mum. I’m assuming you’re Rowena?”

Rowena sagged as the readiness to fight to protect Max left her. His mum. Shit. Great first opinion there Rowena. She nodded, looking back at the still form of her boyfriend and smiling sadly. So he’d told his mum about her. It was comforting to know. With his original insistence that they go slow, and the distance he kept between her and his family, it was nice to discover that he must like her at least as much as she liked him.

Amelia gestured to Max, and Rowena looked back at her. “You’re a healer, right? Can… can you explain this to me?”

Rowena let out a loud breath and bit her lip as she considered the question. How much had Max told his Muggle family about the War that was brewing? She had chosen a drastic route, but Max had been evident in his disapproval of such tactics… maybe he just hadn’t told them anything at all.

“I don’t know. I think maybe, maybe this is because he annoyed some very bad people. Or person. Or thing.” Rowena choked out, the guilt threatening to overwhelm her. He’d done it to save her life, and it had almost cost him his. And when she looked at his scared body… It was almost too much to bear. She pushed down her turbulent emotions, falling into routine family updates instinctively. “We can heal a lot of things. They’ll be regrowing the bone in this hand. But…” she looked sadly at his other hand. That the finger was still missing, the cut still looking angry and raw told her much. “…magical injuries are so much harder to treat.”

She was going to say more when Alex arrived into the room and directed Amelia to the chair. Rowena turned away, examining the more technical information relayed through the pulsating spells floating around Max’s bed, giving the other two some privacy. Then there was a brief flash in the information and she whirled around just in time to see Alex slash through the rune.

The growl that escaped her throat surprised her. Was it a genetic thing?! This need to slash runes on sight without any thought as to the consequences?! Or maybe it was a male thing. Either way, it was completely stupid. “Why did you do that?!” she hissed, even as she waved her wand and healed the cut he had just made. She looked at the fresh scar on his chest in frustration before glaring up at Alex. “The last time he did that there was a bloody Earthquake! Why can’t you just not cut things! Why do you Kamerens always have to do something?!” she continued ranting, not thinking about who she was talking to, a man she only really knew professionally.

And then she realized he might not even know about how the Earthquake was related to her and Max’s own rune slashing talents. She shut up abruptly, a small flush creeping up her neck as she realized she’d just scolded Max’s uncle. “Sorry” she whispered, “This..I…” she huffed, unable to look at Alex in embarrassment. Her gaze always returned to Max. She wasn’t sure what medication they’d put him on, if he was due to wake up anytime soon or if he’d stay like this for a long time still.

"Where is Milton?"

Rowena shrugged, she’d like to know too. He’d likely know more about what exactly was going on with Max.

[Alecsander]

“Why did you do that?!” she hissed, even as she waved her wand and healed the cut he had just made. She looked at the fresh scar on his chest in frustration before glaring up at Alex. “The last time he did that there was a bloody Earthquake! Why can’t you just not cut things! Why do you Kamerens always have to do something?!”

"Do you know what that is?" Alex demanded, again tracing a finger just above the now-ruined runes on Max's chest. "I do." He generated bandages that wrapped lightly around his chest, obscuring it from view. "And I do not want him--them, to come back and finish it."

“Sorry” she whispered, “This..I…” she huffed, unable to look at Alex in embarrassment. Her gaze always returned to Max. She wasn’t sure what medication they’d put him on, if he was due to wake up anytime soon or if he’d stay like this for a long time still.

Alex nodded, looking away, at Amelia, who was gripping the arms of her chair and glowering at him. No quarter there. He sighed, rubbing his face. He had some very important questions for Milton, some of them being why haven't you renovated the catacombs and the catacombs are a death-trap even without homicidal maniacs running loose but most importantly why didn't you call me when you saw those runes?

He brushed the hair from Max's face, his thought churning. Warghollow...

[Max Kameren]

“I don’t know. I think maybe, maybe this is because he annoyed some very bad people. Or person. Or thing.”

“That sounds about right.” She’d raised a kid with a habit of kicking hornets’ nests, unfortunately. Without a proper hand to hold Amelia reached out and touched his cheek, trying to make order of his untrimmed beard. The irritation with Max’s facial hair choices brought a small bitter smile to her lips; a bittersweet taste of the mundaneness of their day-to-day lives. She hoped to argue with him again soon.

“We can heal a lot of things. They’ll be regrowing the bone in this hand. But…” she looked sadly at his other hand. That the finger was still missing, the cut still looking angry and raw told her much. “…magical injuries are so much harder to treat.”

Amelia bit her lip, still unable to look at his broken hands for long. She moved back up to his peaceful face. She moved to cup his cheek but recoiled when she felt a scabbed over wound. She pushed off the bed and hurried around the foot to the other side to get a better look. “Fuck, his ear’s half-gone too…” She glanced up at Rowena in concern before her grey-blue eyes darted back down to Max. Gently she moved his thick dark hair out of the way to get a better look: were those teeth marks…?

Alex Kameren suddenly entered and took charge of the situation. Amelia glared; this was far from the first time she’d had to respond to an emergency for Max, only to quickly find the culprit in Kris or his brother. Max took after them, and what’s worse, he’d idolized them. Grown man now or not, a big step in the long walk to this hospital room had been the Kameren brothers’ adventures. “What the fuck did you people do to him this time?!” She hissed so only he could hear, meeting the tall wizard’s eyes coldly.

"He's an adult,"

“Oh fuck off,” She scoffed angrily, turning away for only a moment before Alex slashed her son across the chest. Max didn’t wake, but he did react; his chest shuddered and he wheezed, his eyes pressing tighter closed before relaxing back into his slumber.

Amelia’s reaction was also immediate. “What-the-fuck-d0-you-think-you’re-doing?!” She turned and punched Kameren on the arm with each word, glaring up at him in fury. She may not have magic or a great understanding of the magical world, but she would be damned if another wizard cut into her son today.

Rowena earned instant points with Amelia when she responded in kind as well, though less violently: “Why did you do that?! […] Why can’t you just not cut things! Why do you Kamerens always have to do something?!”

"Do you know what that is?" Alex demanded, again tracing a finger just above the now-ruined runes on Max's chest. "I do." He generated bandages that wrapped lightly around his chest, obscuring it from view. "And I do not want him--them, to come back and finish it."

“Sorry” she whispered, “This..I…”

“I’m not sorry.” Amelia turned to Alex, pointing at him with an accusatory finger, “I don’t care if you’re magic, you cut into my son again without permission from a doctor and I will cut you.” Her eyes narrowed on him as the door opened.

[Rowena Jones]

He'd only been gone for ten minutes. Ten minutes to go and fetch Arianna and stop by Rowena's room only to find it empty. It didn't take a genius to know where she'd be. Only ten minutes and when he returned he could feel the tension coming from the room, hear hissed voices raised in anger. And Amelia was not outside which meant she hadn't listened. Why had he thought she would? He really should have locked the door but what was done was done.

Milton shared a look with Arianna and pushed open the door to see Alex and Amelia glaring at each other and Rowena looking torn between frustration and complete loss as the older adults fought. What a mess. And amidst it all, Max slept on... with fresh bandages around his chest? Just what had they done in ten minutes?

"Right. Every one calm down. You're all distressing our patient." Indeed Max's heart rate was slightly elevated and several other spells were flashing around Max's head. He caught Rowena's eye and shook his head slightly to tell her to keep quiet just a moment longer. Concern over Max's well-being would be the quickest way to diffuse the tension and give Milton a chance to get everyone on the same page before Max woke up.

He'd already guessed what Alex had done from the bandages and the tail end of Amelia's threat so he turned to her first hoping to calm her further with an explanation. "We would have done the exact same thing Amelia. It's the only way to negate any possible magic residing inside. We just had to wait for the Aurors to see them first." He glanced at Alex, "Though it would have been nice to wait for a Healer to be present..." At Rowena's protesting look Milton continued, "...one that isn't so close to the patient. Same should go for anyone doing anything to Max," he finished firmly, looking pointedly at Alex.

"But it is done, and it's for the best. Unfortunately we won't be able to heal those scars, nor the ones on his eye." A thought occurred to him then and he peered at the aforementioned runes, letting out a sigh of relief that Alex hadn't added more scarring to the area. The eye was so delicate, it was a wonder Max's sight hadn't been impaired by the knife making those marks but in this at least, Max had been lucky. Not for the first time did Milton wonder what had been the end game here. These runes were a mystery to him but were becoming too fast a regular occurrence in his hospital.

"Before he wakes up, does anyone have any questions?"

[Alecsander]

Amelia’s reaction was also immediate. “What-the-fuck-d0-you-think-you’re-doing?!”

He raised his eyes to the ceiling as if to ask for patience. He certainly was needing a lot of it lately and didn't want to take his own anger at Max's situation out on Amelia or Rowena. Let them yell at him if it made them feel better.

"Do you know what that is?" Alex demanded, again tracing a finger just above the now-ruined runes on Max's chest. "I do." He generated bandages that wrapped lightly around his chest, obscuring it from view. "And I do not want him--them, to come back and finish it."

"Right. Every one calm down. You're all distressing our patient. We would have done the exact same thing Amelia. It's the only way to negate any possible magic residing inside. We just had to wait for the Aurors to see them first." He glanced at Alex, "Though it would have been nice to wait for a Healer to be present..." At Rowena's protesting look Milton continued, "...one that isn't so close to the patient. Same should go for anyone doing anything to Max," he finished firmly, looking pointedly at Alex.

Alex sighed, itching absentmindedly on his chest, torn between staying here to look over Max and getting back out there to track down his attacker. He'd found him once, he would catch him again.

"But it is done, and it's for the best. Unfortunately we won't be able to heal those scars, nor the ones on his eye. Before he wakes up, does anyone have any questions?"

"You should have called me." Alex said only, closing his eyes as he focused on his words, counting his breaths not only to help bring the right words to his lips, but to focus and tamp down his raging emotions. He imagined the last thing Max needed when he woke was to feel the storm of varying emotions that was raging inside Alex right now. Maybe he should leave. He opened his eyes, reaching up to scratch his chest again. "They're dangerous." His fingertips came away wet as blood seeped through his shirt.

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena watched the drama unfolding between Alex and Max's mum out of the corner of her eye, trying to occupy herself with checking on Max. She agreed very much with the other woman, but would never have dared to hit the Auror. Then again, Elle had mentioned having to slap some sense into the man... was this a regular thing - hitting Kameren men? She had some catching up to do in that case... she glanced at Max sadly. Maybe once he was better she could hit him for scaring her so much. If Bryn's dead body was forever scared into her memory, she wasn't going to forget Max emerging from that lift any time soon either.

But the threatening was getting a bit much and Rowena was beginning to feel very out of place by herself with the two glaring adults. It was with relief then that Milton finally appeared followed by another woman.

"Right. Every one calm down. You're all distressing our patient."

Rowena frowned, glancing critically at the spells that monitored Max's condition. Distressed? Her heart paused a beat. That wasn't distress, those were signs that he was waking up. She opened her mouth to correct Milton but caught his look and closed it again abruptly, slightly confused about what her boss was doing. She listened halfheartedly, watching Max for any further signs of consciousness, though shot Milton another look when he mentioned waiting for a Healer. What was she suddenly? Chopped liver? 

"Before he wakes up, does anyone have any questions?"

She had several, but as she glanced up to ask them, she caught the sight of blood on Alex's fingers and soaking through his shirt. "Urm, why are you bleeding?" she asked suspiciously.

[Max Kameren]

Max pushed himself up onto his elbows in the dirt, spitting out flecks of grass from his fall. His green eyes didn’t have to look further forward than a few inches before taking in the familiar scuffed sneakers; he turned his head to look up, but his shoulder eclipsed the afternoon sun behind him and Max squinted. A hand was offered but Max pushed himself up to a sitting position instead.

He was fourteen. His one quiet year, after the War but before Empathy. The dirt he sat in was the back yard of the home in Godric’s Hollow, too-perfect in the midafternoon sun.

“Need help?” The hand was offered again, but Max couldn’t take it. There was finality to taking that hand; it led him somewhere he couldn’t go. Not yet. He breathed for a moment, waiting until the attending hand was taken away. “Good. What do you do, when met with adversity? What did I tell you?”

“Stand and defend.”

“Then what will you do?” Max looked up and for a moment his shoulder covered the blaring sun and they could see each other. He nodded, smiling knowingly and pushing himself up from the dirt. “Good.”

When Max got to his feet he was twenty-seven again, broken and bloody. He put his head down and turned away from the home, feeling the fade of a familiar aura as he stepped away.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Max Kameren came back into the world of the living with a quiet gasp, turning to a groan as his chest protested the sudden intake of air. His eyes fluttered open and darted around unfocused, trying to make sense of what was happening. His right eye was swollen and he reached up to try to touch it only to start at the sight of his mangled right hand. His brow knitted together as he inspected the bandaged damage, his heart rate speeding up the spells surrounding his bed with alarm. It was coming back to him now. He knew where he was.

After inspecting his hand Max’s attention widened in scope to the room itself and his eyes darted from face to face. His attention focused for only a second on each important person from his life gathered together; with the adrenaline of his alarm and medications not much was registering. There was an irritating buzz behind his ears that was his Empathy, so frazzled from the potions he was on that he couldn’t make sense of the emotions being transmitted to him.

Rowena stood closest to him on the bed and he reached out for her with his left hand, but dropped it when he noticed the mess on the end of his wrist also barely resembled a hand. His voice was a quiet wheeze, too quiet for anyone else to hear. “Are you okay? I’m sorry.”

Milton turned from healing Alex’s chest to his patient on the bed, sighing sadly but smiling with reassurance. “Welcome back, Max. Stay put, we’ll have pain potions on the way."

It suddenly occurred to him that all eyes in the room were now on him. Max looked around blankly, unsure what had been asked of him. It was overwhelming. He didn’t have the capacity for everything he was absorbing right now, so he tried to ignore as much as he could. Instead he focused on what he’d needed to ask: there were warnings he hadn’t been able to give before the blood loss took him.

Voices were being drowned out in the white noise of his sixth sense. Instead he ignored whatever had been the discussion and turned to Alex: “He threatened the girls.” His voice was a labored rasp, his airway still healing under his set ribs. “Have they been checked on? At Hogwarts?”

[Max Kameren]

It felt too early to be doing this again. Rushing down a hospital hallway, listening to healers. Opening a long-term ward door to find a broken Kameren body on a bed. They’d paid their dues; they’d done their time here. They put their bodies on the line and suffered enough in the last war.

But here we were again. Arianna Kameren sighed softly before stepping into the room behind Milton. A wave of despair hit her at the sight of her stepson on the bed, but she bit it back for now. There were already enough flaring emotions in the room to navigate: Arianna could be the anchor in the storm.

As Milton lectured the other members of Max’s next-of-kin Arianna stood still at the foot of his bed. Her round dark eyes were still as she tried to control her emotion, stoic as she took in his pain. As a runes expert for Mysteries Arianna had read about rituals like this before; as the widow of an auror she’d seen too many of their effects first hand. She never, ever thought she’d see them gouged into the skin of one of her children.

"…But it is done, and it's for the best. Unfortunately we won't be able to heal those scars, nor the ones on his eye."

“The point isn’t if it was necessary, the point is that he just did it.” Amelia glowered at Alex, swearing under her breath and coming to stand next to Arianna; over the course of their relationship as a blended family the two women had become something like friends, united in their common exasperation with Kris Kameren and his progeny.

“Alex was right to slash those runes,” Arianna bent her head close to Amelia to explain: “It was an unfinished spell, thankfully. Meant to prolong…” She glanced at Amelia, unsure how to explain. It was plain just by looking at him that Max had been tortured, but Arianna wasn’t sure how much detail to go into. His attacker had been trying to preserve his soul, to stay alive long enough to feel the torture. How much of that description would make sense to Amelia? How much would Max want her to know? “Pain. It makes pain last longer.” Amelia’s shaky breath told her she’d been right to worry.

"Before he wakes up, does anyone have any questions?"

"Urm, why are you bleeding?" Arianna’s attention turned briefly to the third woman in the room, who she assumed to be the girlfriend Evie had told her about. Her concern for Max was evident in how she oriented herself in the room, standing over him as caretaker and towards the others as guardian. The observation brought a small bittersweet smile to her lips for a small moment.

“Hold still,” Milton pulled out his wand from his robes and mended Alex’s cut, arching a concerned brow up at the Head Auror.

"You should have called me. They're dangerous."

Milton was about to reply when stirring on the bed diverted his attention: Max was awake. Slightly earlier than he’d expected, but the chest-slashing may have had something to do with that.

“Welcome back, Max. Stay put, we’ll have pain potions on the way."

“He threatened the girls.” Max croaked, and Arianna’s heart skipped a beat. She turned to Alex, silently pleading the same question Max had: “Have they been checked on? At Hogwarts?”

[Elle Callahan]

It was suppose to be another day at the hospital. Another boring routine shift in the spell damage ward. Reverse a few spells, heal a few cuts. Normal. War was not normal and war had come.
Elle’ shift had just started when Max walked out of the lifts and into Rowena’s arms. She’d been doing rounds in spell damage when the emergency sparks flashed. She’d been part of the team that had responded. At first, Elle hadn’t realized it was Max Kameren. The damage had been so extensive. All Elle had been focused on was reversing what spell damage she could. After the worse was over she went back to spell damage, avoiding Alex Kameren by mere seconds. She heard the sweet tones of his voice as he demanded answers. That had been hours ago. The worse was over. Max was stable and awake.

Elle took a deep breath, stealing her shoulders before walking into Max’s room with a tray full of pain potions. Elle tried not to look at Alex as she entered but it was hard not to glance at him as Milton healed a cut on his chest. Of course he was hurt. Bleeding was like breathing to him, a part of every day life. A part of Elle wanted to scold Alex for getting hurt again but she had to remember it wasn’t her place to scold him anymore. Or was it? After the earthquake, when Alex pulled her out of the collapsed building, they’d kissed. It had been harsh, desperate and yet sweet. But that had been then right after something major. Now? Where did they stand? Elle didn’t hate him. She no longer wanted to hex his eyes out for not telling her he had a son. For lying when she’d asked if he had a secret kid. She understood his reasons. His motivations. He was protecting Jamie from danger. From the people that came after them because of their last name. If Elle were sane she would stop this flirtation she had with Alex. Forget his face, the way he touched her. Forget him and find someone else. Find someone her own age. Find someone who was not targeted for their last name. She was stupid to yearn to be a Kameren.
“I have the pain potions you requested Sir for when he woke up,” Elle said to Milton showing him the tray she held for inspection. Elle put the tray on the bedside table. It was odd tending to a patient while everyone was staring at you. Should Elle just leave the tray and go? Milton and Rowena were present. They could administer the potions as well as she could. Elle hadn’t seen Arianna Kameren in years. It was hard to believe that they use to be the same age. Elle offered her a comforting smile. Elle poured out the right dosage of meds wondering if she should say something.

“SO Max, are you going to take your medicine like a Kameren or like an adult?” She joked as she held out a vile of nasty tasting pain meds. Elle’s eyes flickered to Alex briefly. It was hospital legend that Kameren men were very bad patients. Complained about everything, checked themselves out half healed and were notoriously bad at following directions.

[Alecsander]

She had several, but as she glanced up to ask them, she caught the sight of blood on Alex's fingers and soaking through his shirt. "Urm, why are you bleeding?" she asked suspiciously.

“Hold still,”

Alex sighed, allowing Milton to heal him as he wiped his fingers on his shirt--it was ruined now anyway. He hadn't even noticed the slicing pain in the chaos. It hadn't even occurred to him to worry about it in his concern for Max. "I cut Max." He answered Rowena, not elaborating more than that. He was grateful to hear at least one person in the room didn't have it out for him as Ari took his side, talking to Amelia at the foot of the bed. Just as Milton had finished healing him, Max croaked back to life.

“Welcome back, Max. Stay put, we’ll have pain potions on the way."

“He threatened the girls.” Max croaked, and Arianna’s heart skipped a beat. She turned to Alex, silently pleading the same question Max had: “Have they been checked on? At Hogwarts?”

"Eden is there." Alex said, to reassure both brother and mother. Elle entered the room just then, and Alex froze. She'd been there, working on Max, but surprisingly it hadn't been her but Milton who had finally chased him off with a threat to knock him out or put him in a body bind. Something Alex couldn't afford. He couldn't avoid watching her. It was only a few days ago that he'd pulled her from a building in Hogsmeade after an aftershock had trapped her and a student inside.

“SO Max, are you going to take your medicine like a Kameren or like an adult?”

He rolled his eyes and stepped back from the bed so she could access Max more easily. Rowena didn't seem like she was planning on moving at all. Not that he could blame her. Really a lot of people were standing around the bed, all eyes on Max.