The Victim | INVITE

4th Year Girls' Dormitory

A trail of outer garment led from the door to the bed in the corner. Robe, shoes, shirt - all showed signs of having been exposed to extreme heat.

Aria huddled under the bed, garbed in a tank top and pants, though the flagstone floor must have been cold. Back pressed against the wall, she hugged her knees to her chest with one arm, shivering uncontrollably.

"You can ask your friend why you're being treated this way," Djinn had snarled at her after he had summoned her to him. Then, he had grabbed her by the arms and -

A hand came up to clasp tightly over her mouth, but it did nothing to silence her terrified whimpers.

Karma walked into the dormitory, tired, and ready to sleep. However, she heard the sounds coming from under the bed and peeked under, gasping when she saw what it was.

'Aria?" She asked. "What's the matter?" She reached for the girl. "Are you alright?"

Aria gave a startled cry as a hand reached towards her, cringing away from the contact.

"Please! No, I - I can't come out!" she exclaimed. The girl began to cry, murmuring the same three words under her breath in endless litany:

"He burned me."

Karma was suddenly terrified. "Who did this to you, Aria? Who?" She demanded, running to her trunk and throwing it open. She dug through it, pulling out this and that before finding what she was looking for. A Burn-Treating potion. She used her vampire speed to do all of this, so she was back in her position as the things she'd thrown hit the ground. "See if you can rub this on it to make it better."

The name caught in her throat. She wasn't supposed to talk about him, to tell anyone about him. But...

"Dj-Djinn," Aria rasped. "H-he said..." The blonde trailed off as Karma returned almost as quickly as she had left.

She shook her head, tears streaking her face. "I don't th-think it'll work," she whispered. "It..." Aria's hand had reached towards her upper arm, stopping at her elbow. The flesh between her elbow and shoulder was marred by a large blackened hand print that had been branded into her arm from the heat of the contact.

There was a matching one on the other side.

"Djinn...." She said softly, questioningly. "Who's..." Her eyes widened as she looked at the girl's burns. There was only one person she knew that could do that.

"Arsen." She whispered. "Can he help you? Aria? ARIA! Can he help you?!"

Aria began to frantically shake her head before Karma had finished speaking.

"No, no, no no no no," she muttered, her trembling growing worse. "He'll be a-angry. Not s'posed t-to seek him out... Haven't, though, I haven't... No no no... Don't mean t' be a bother. I'm sorry. I don't mean to. I'm sorry..." Her voice turned small and plaintive.

Karma's eyes narrowed. "He won't be angry with you." she promised. "I'm seeking him out, not you." She gingerly took Aria's hands, pulling the girl out from under the bed. "You are not getting in trouble, I promise."

She sat the girl down on her own bed and looked her in the eye. "You're my sister. I will protect you." She said. "I'm getting him. He'll heal you."

"Djinn'll be angry," Aria whispered. She allowed Karma to pull her from under the bed without struggle, wrapping her arms defensively about her middle as she was set atop Karma's mattress.

She could still feel the flames - see them - phantom tongues licking at her flesh, burning her entire being... Yet the only evidence were two blackened hand prints.

The pain was real enough.

"Promised I wouldn't bother him anymore," she croaked, the pain she was feeling allowing the suppressed memory to surface. The blonde fixed her gaze to a spot on the floor, huddling miserably in on herself.

Karma shook her head. "I don't care." She said. "You will not be in pain because of me." She refused to explain, but instead hugged the girl and ran. She was in the Common Room, her eyes frantic, almost panicked.

"Arsen?" She called, not even in control enough to keep her voice neutral. It was starting to get to her. He'd attacked her sister. Ethon had to be behind this. She looked around, her speed unchecked. "Arsen?!"

Arsen looked up from his homework at the sound of his voice. It was Karma, that much was clear. He threw the book to the side and got to his feet faster than any human could and was heading towards the stairs to the girls dormitory. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up.

"Karma whats up?" He asked feeling the urge to shove his hands into his pockets, but if there really was something wrong he expected he'd need them for something else.

She heard his voice and nearly melted with relief, hugging him. "Promise you won't be mad at her... I need you to heal her... She..." She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, her heartbeat so fast it sounded like a hummingbirds.

Then, she took a deep breath, gaining some self-control and was standing across from him, looking in his eyes and holding one of his hands, ready to lead him upstairs. "I need you to heal Aria.... I need you to heal my sister." Her heartbeat was still too fast, her feet ready to dash in any direction. "Will you?"

He looked at her confused. Who was she talking about and what had they done to get him angry. "Wait slow down." He said folding her up into his arms. He'd never seen her like this, maybe that night in the tent made her be more open with him. He knew he wasn't the same around her anymore.

"Aria? Whats wrong with her?" He asked looking up the stairs towards the girls dormitory. He still felt a little responsible for the girl even after his father had told him he didn't need to look after her anymore. Who ever hurt her would pay in the most painful way he could think of without getting caught. "Is she okay?" He asked before finally answering her question. "Okay, but your gonna have to go up there first so i can run up before the stairs disappear. Or bring her down here if she can." He said letting go of her hand so he could step back and get some space to do a quick run up.

Karma bit her lip and nodded. "She was burned." She said worriedly. "She's freaked out, and..." She shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned and ran up the steps. She called down that she was up before returning to Aria, holding her hands.

"You'll be fine. I promise." She said softly, soothing the girl. "I'll kill whoever did this to you."

Aria looked up as Karma reentered the room, mismatched eyes overly bright and expression drawn in pain. She was still trembling.

"You can't," she said quietly. "Even if he can be killed, he..." Aria shook her head. "Don't t-try. I just... won't make him angry, again."

Burned? How on earth did she manage to get herself burnt? Without a seconds thought he ran just a little faster than a normal human right up the stairs and just made it to the top step when the stairs turned into a slide. He just managed to catch himself at the top before he would begin to slide.

Once he pulled himself up he walked into the dormitory and unzipped his coat to give himself better movement. "What happened?" He asked looking at Aria, he'd never seen her thins bad. Not even when he got mad did she look like this.

"I'll find a way to kill him." Karma said, an angry fire in her eyes, all evidence of her vulnerability gone. "If it takes every breath I take for the rest of my life."

She moved out of the way for Arsen, sitting beside her sister instead. She took one of her hands and ran her fingers over it in a calming motion. "Everything will be alright, Aria." She said softly.

The blonde turned to look at the person who followed Karma into the room, her gaze drawn immediately up to his eyes.

Aria gave a startled shriek.

She tried to jerk away, staid only by Karma's hold on her hand. "I'm sorry!" she cried. "Please, don't burn me again - I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please... please..."

Karma's eyes widened. What...?

She stood suddenly, standing in front of Aria, protective, defensive. "You did this?" She demanded, her eyes filling with hatred and distrust. "Arsen." She practically growled. "You aren't Djinn, are you?" She dared him to say he was, her hand already on the hilt of her biggest dagger, though it looked like she was just placing her hand behind her back.

"Woah, calm down Aria im not going to hurt you!" He said raising his hands so they could see them. "What? Of course not!" He said looking at her in annoyance. How could she even think he'd do this, yes he'd killed in the past but he still felt something for Aria. "How can you even think i'd do such a thing!" He said taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"Djinn? No thats my father. Wait so he did this?" He asked moving so he could see the burns properly and he automatically felt the urge to leave. "Urmm..." He said looking at the burns uneasily. "I don't know if i can." He said narrowing his eyes to look at the burns closer.

"If my father did do this, he's way more powerful than i am." He said sitting on one of the bed away from the girls, he was still annoyed that Karma thought he would do something like that. "I don't think fire will go against his word, not even when i ask them too."

Karma stood up straight, eyeing him suspiciously. She sat back down next to Aria, whispering comforting words into her ear.

She paused and looked back at him. His father....? "Why would he do this?"

"What do you mean, you don't know?" She said, sounding disbelieving. "You have to try." She sighed, her mind already made up. "If you can't, I'll just have to go ask him to do it." She said under her breath.

Aria peeked hesitantly around Karma. It wasn't Djinn. It was the boy from her classes; his son, Arsen.

"Sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "It's just..." The girl sat as still as she could as he studied the burns on her arms.

"Y' gotta tell him I didn't seek you out," Aria implored softly. She leaned against Karma. "I avoided you best I could, just like he said. I didn't disobey. You gotta tell him..."

She bit her lip, terrified mind scrabbling for something, a response she'd been told to give... "He said i-it was a message from Ethon," she murmured. "I don't even know who that is!"

He shrugged. "I don't know Karma, he's a demon he doesn't need a reason." He said remembering the first time he met his father, that hadn't ended too well for him.

"I've never gone against him before. I don't even know if its possible." He said getting to his feet to kneel down in front of Aria. "I will, i'll tell him." He said before he realised what she had said.

"Wait he told you to avoid me?" He asked, he now understood why she had stopped following him around. What he didn't understand is why his father told her to do that. He gritted his teeth and held out his hand for her. Screw his father, if he wanted to cut everyone he knew out of his life then he'd cut out all the pain he caused others. Even if everything about him told him to leave.

Karma's eyes softened as she looked at Aria. She was the only family she had, and she'd be damned if she was in pain for any longer than she had to be. She looked at Arsen, an apology in her eyes.

She froze, recognition flashing through her. So it was Ethon.

She was at her trunk in seconds, looking through it, trying to distract herself. She needed... she needed...

It wasn't there.

Cursing, she went to her wardrobe, opening it so fast the doors creaked and started pulling out her things, trying to find it.

It wasn't anywhere.

Then she remembered.

Pulling out her biggest dagger she went for the wall to the right of her bed, moving aside a snake tapestry, and stuck the dagger between two stones. She cut it out, pulling the heavy cinderblock out with no or little resistance. She glanced inside it, pulling out a small crown of wilted flowers.

Her mother's wreath.

It was still green, as she'd weaved new flowers and sage into it once a month, but the flowers had died.

"I'm going to kill him. Both of them." She said, her voice dark. She was trembling with fear, anger, rage. "I'm going to kill them over and over again if I can!"

Aria flinched at Arsen's question, nodding hesitantly. "I d-don't know why, though. He doesn't want me to remember you.

The blonde watched as Karma tore about the room in search of something - a wreath, as it turned out. She didn't understand. Granted, she wasn't exactly in the fittest frame of mind.

Her mismatched gaze turned to Arsen's hand. Distrustful and wary, she started to reach out her own to take it, hesitating partway. "You w-won't burn me again, will you?" Aria asked, the thought clearly terrifying her.