The room starts to swim and sway and he closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around himself. "Vi… Violet-" He's cut off by a weak cough.
She looks over his sick face, riddled with pain, and puts her hands on his shoulders. "Benjamin?"
Her voice fades and after a swallow he goes limp, falling forward. Violet stumbles back a step, but shoves him backwards into the chair. Kissa puts a wing around the chair to support him so he doesn't fall out.
"Is he okay?!" She squeaks.
Violet bites her finger nail and breathes heavily before bending down to look over both wounds again.
"Pancakes." Miki replied, mixing ingredients together in a bowl. "I'm starving. And so will everyone else by the time this is over."
Silver stared toward the laundry room. "Ben just passed out."
"Stay." Miki ordered. "Kissa's in there. If Violet needs you she'll call for you."
"He bruised his lungs." Silver said, still watching the door. "Maybe I should tell Violet. She can't–"
"Sit." Miki ordered.
Violet gently presses her hands on his bruise, knowing it had to hurt, and closes her eyes to focus.
Lungs. Bruised lungs. That's where the blood was from.
Gabriel wanders into the kitchen, invisible, and stops at the laundry room doorway.
What
Is going on
is he dead?
Is she like trying to revive him?
He blinks, then turns to walk to Silver, standing beside her.
Silver jumped, feeling Gabriel as he stopped beside her, and reached out to find him. She found his arm and pulled him closer, leaning her head on his shoulder. Miki turned around to grab something out of a drawer and paused, blinking at Silver.
"Gabriel." Silver mouthed silently.
Miki nodded, retrieving what she needed, and gave Silver a weird look as she turned back to her mixing bowl. "I know he's right there but you look really strange, Sil."
Hearing Miki, Gabriel effortlessly turns Silver invisible too. He doesn't bother to ask what happened and instead stares at the Laundry Room.
"Is Ben dead." He quietly asks, although it sounds more like a statement.
Silver snorted in tired laughter. "Oh my goodness, Gabriel, no. He just passed out. He's all bruised and bloody and he won't tell us why."
Miki turned around and started. "Silver! Tell him to not turn you invisible too, that's even worse!"
Silver lifted her head and realized she could see Gabriel. A wicked grin spread across her face and she said, "Well, now I can kiss him and you'll never know."
Cage sleepily trudges to the balcony railing and squints down at them. “Uhhh, you guys know it’s like 4am right?”
Gabriel blinks, staring at the laundry room as Violet focuses hard to heal up the bruises on his lungs if possible.
Miki rolled her eyes at Silver and turned to look up at Cage. "Yeah, but I'm hungry so I'm making pancakes." she called back, not telling him about Ben. She glanced toward Silver and Gabriel again and mouthed, "We need to close the laundry room door." The last thing Miki wanted was for Cage to find out what had happened to Ben.
Cage's face twists with confusion. “Pancakes at four? You guys really that hungry??”
Gabriel blinks at the door for a moment before dragging a wing over to close it. He leaves his wing across the floor, spread out and limp.
Silver watched Gabriel use his wing to close the door, amazed that he could reach that far. She was always surprised at how large his wings were and what he could do with them. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
Miki shrugged and returned to her pancakes, dropping batter onto the hot skillet. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the door close and silently thanked whichever of them that had done it. "Yep." she called to Cage. "I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so, you know, pancakes." she waved her spatula at him. "You can have some if you want."
He starts down the stairs, stepping off of them and onto Gabriel’s wing. Gabriel gasps, yanking it out from underneath him so he fell to his butt.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” He shrieks.
Silver gasped, choking on her own spit as she laughed. Miki jumped, trying to flip a pancake and successfully dropping it on the floor. She turned to see Cage sitting on the floor and raised an eyebrow. "That was probably Gabriel's wing." she glanced toward the invisible pair, where Silver still sat on her barstool, coughing and trying to catch her breath.
Cage shakily stands, rubbing his tail bone. “That was RUDE that’s what it was!” He glares in the same direction Miki had looked.
Gabriel glares back, “Don’t step on my wing!”
Miki groaned as she scraped her pancake off the floor. "Gabriel, you're invisible. He can't see you. Can you please make sure my sister doesn't choke and die." She added as Silver continued to cough.
Gabriel looks Silver over. “Don’t choke.” He demands quietly.
Cage walks over to Miki, grumbling.
“What was all the shouting for? You guys woke me up.”
Silver had almost caught her breath but started laughing again over Gabriel's gentle command. "That… that doesn't help!" She gasped.
Miki tossed the ruined pancake in the trash and poured another one. "Silver was yelling. She does that sometimes."
Cage rubs his arm. “Geez, What was important enough to shout about at 3am? Pancakes?” He picks up a finished pancake and starts to sleepily gnaw on it.
A small grin momentarily crosses Gabriel’s face but only momentarily. He looks up towards the laundry room, eyes narrowing.
Miki made a non-committal sound and flipped a fresh pancake onto the stack. "Just in general. You know how she is."
Silver saw the look on Gabriel's face and slowed her laughter. "Hey." She said, leaning forward to get a better look at him. "What are you doing?"
Cage opens the fridge and pulls the orange juice out. “You guys are weirder than me.”
“I’m gonna go help Kiss, I’ll be back.” He quietly explains, keeping his eyes on the door and patting her shoulder before getting up and heading to the laundry room. He takes only a second to pull himself and his wings in before he closes the door and Cage doesn’t even notice.
Silver raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he actually answered and explained himself. She watched him go and turned back to Miki and Cage.
"Yes, we are." She said to him. "I thought you knew this, Cage."
Cage purses his lips and stares towards silver’s voice. “Could you like, un-invisible yourself so I can look you in the eye?”
He turns to Miki, “congratulations on finding her by the way. Where was she?”
"Oh! I'm still– I'm sorry, I forgot. Umm. I don't think– auugh, Gabriel, I'm still invisible!" Silver called.
"On the couch. Well, she came out of the library shortly after you went to bed." Miki replied.
Cage furrows his brow. “Library?”
From inside the Laundry room, Gabe holds Ben steady while Violet finishes cleaning and bandaging his wound. His bruise is not as dark, but his face his pale and there’s noticeable circles under his eyes.
Gabe heats Silver from the kitchen and glances at the door.
Ahck, I forgot.
He goes to turn her visible when Ben stirs a little knocking them both off balance and interrupting his focus.
Silver becomes a little more visible, but is still transparent.
Silver waited patiently. She couldn't see any difference in herself, but she thought she felt something change. "Is that better? Can you see me now?" She held up her hand.
Miki glanced over her shoulder. And screamed.
Cage throws his pancake at Silver with a jump. “YOU LOOK LIKE A FRIGGIN GHOST!”
Silver yelped as the pancake hit her arm. "What?? Why?? What's wrong??"
Miki shook herself as if chills were chasing over her arms. "I'm sorry, Sil, I just cant look at you right now."
Cage whips out his phone and takes a photo. He jogs over, shoving it in her face “LOOK SIL. HES TURNED YOU INTO A MONSTER.”
Silver snatched his phone from him to hold it steady and started laughing when she realized what happened. "Whoa, the camera actually captured it though! That's so cool!"
"NOT cool!" Miki said, her back still to her. "You're gonna give me nightmares."
Cage gently shoves her. “Go get him to make you fully visible. Where’d he go anyways?”
Silver wiggled her fingers at him. "I… don't really know. That's why I just yelled. Gabriel!" She called again. "I'm still ghosty!"
