Upon Vestia: Chapter Eight

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Starr held on when the airlocks were opened, keeping her position.  She waited to see who if any of the slavers would reach her first. Shane, doing the same in his position.

~~~
Skye and Moone nodded, moving closer to the vent to be ready to get the younger kids inside

Thaila sheepishly used his foot to draw random things on the floor as Asher cleaned up the blood.

Kay would totally punch the shit out of punching bag, what d'ya know, it actually DID help a bit.

---

Matt frowned at Asher's reaction, winced again and pulled away. Yeah, his nose was probably broken. "It's nothing kinky okay? Sheesh."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions," Asher said peaceably. "Can I finish fixing up your nose, please?"

Matt nodded. "Just would be nice if for once people stopped assuming all we ever did was have sex. " He glanced to Thalia, I mean come on, the guy was in no state for that kinda thing right now.
Matt reached out a hand to him.

Starr glanced over to Kay and nodded, smiling a little. She understood his anger and the need to hit something even if it didn't cause pain. She hit her bag until she was tired and sweaty and ready to go wash then sleep.

Kay would bid Starr goodnight eventually and go collapse face first into his pillow. Oh wasn't absolute exhaustion great for not having to deal with your problems, it meant he didn't have to think.. at all. Just sleep.

"Please accept my humble apologies. I didn't intend to cause distress," the android said, returning to the task of repairing Matt's nose.

Starr nodded and headed for her room to shower and go to bed.

"I'm sorry Asher, it's... been a trying time for everyone, i'm in a lot of pain and i'm really tired. " He sighed. "At least you're more sympathetic..." He smiled softly.

Thaila would ne listen and hold this annoyed look but bite back his tongue. He sighed and took Matt's hand again.

Asher nodded. "You have every right to a short temper. It's been a difficult few weeks, and you must be exhausted."

Matt flinched, and shrugged. "Everyone is. " His expression softened a little. "Are you okay?" Had Kay tried to smack him one yet? He was kinda curious.

"I will be, eventually," Asher replied quietly. He sighed, "Kay deserved better than that. I betrayed him, and it hurts far more than anything I've experienced before."

"He's tough... and incredibly forgiving. "Matt sat still so Asher could work, even though it hurt like hell. "I've never known him to hold a grudge. I mean... our youngest brother has tried to kill him several times, he still gets pissed off if anyone else dares call him a psychopath. He IS a fucking psychopath, but Kay refuses to hate him. He's had so much hurt in his life, and he doesn't deserve any of it. But Asher... He loves you, and he trusts you so much. I don't understand why but he trusts you. And maybe he's wrong to, I don't know, I mean he's usually a pretty damn good judge of character. What you did was awful but i'm sure you had a damn good reason, and more than that, you know as well as I do that had you not, they'd have found something more horrendous to do to him. They wanted him hurt, and you've seen the amount of punishment he can endure. In the grand scheme of things, getting shot 6 times is... really not that bad.
A lot of us did pretty awful things back there out of necessity, because we felt we had to. Because all that really mattered was getting everyone else out. I know my brother, he'd have walked through hell itself just to get everyone else free.

He'll forgive you, because that's what he does. He's a substantially better person than either of us, but he will forgive you. Whether you actually deserve to be forgiven, well that's another matter entirely. But know this, you hurt him again like that, I will tear off your stupid robot head and use it as a football, do you understand me? "

His expression softened as he added.

"My point is, it could have been a lot worse and what you guys had, it's gotta be stronger than this. The Family wanted us all miserable and alone, divided and hating one another. Don't give them that. Call me a hopeless romantic if you want, but the two of you can work through this, because the way you feel about one another is stronger than the family's torment. It's stronger than that misjudged betrayal. You're gonna have a lot of grovelling to do to regain his trust, but I have faith in the two of you. Don't let me down. "

He looked to Thalia. "Love always wins in the end. It's stronger than any awful the universe can dish out."

Asher listened to Matt's words uncertainly. What he said made sense, but at the same time, the idea of Kay forgiving him was horrible.

He winced at the threat, but then nodded in agreement. "If I ever do something like this again, do whatever you want. I don't think any of us want me to become whatever that would make me."
"I don't want the Family to win," Asher added softly, "But what they did was bring out something horrible in me that was already there. I never want to do what I did again, and I'm going to try to change, but I just don't know what might happen if there's a next time. Kay should be with someone who wouldn't shoot him for any reason, not with someone who's so deeply mired in his past that he would follow the orders of obviously manipulative people blindly."

He never wanted to hurt Kay again, and he'd certainly try to avoid it in the future. The further they got from the Family's cells, the more clearly he could see that the Family would never have given him any freedom to work with, and that his actions had been clouded by biases he hadn't even known he had. Maybe with time and effort he could fix what was wrong with himself, and be able to avoid taking such pointless and cruel risks. He certainly was going to try to fix himself, for the sake of everyone he cared about, but what if it wasn't enough?

Thaila just listened, having no reason to soeak he let those two do it.

---

Silv noted Lai waking up, her movements jerky as she still was partly drugged.

Matt looked grim. "that sort of experience brings out the worst in most people. Everyone is capable of doing awful horrible things in the right circumstances. " He looked away. "We hide that darker part of ourselves because we know we have to, because we don't want to be that person. But it's part of us. Pushed deep down it's still there. All you can do is try to be the best you can be and Asher? " He looked back at him. "You are a good person. Try to remember that. We're all flawed, we're all broken. Take comfort in knowing you're not alone and those flaws? they make you as alive as any of the rest of us. " He laughed, it hurt. "Congratulations robot, you're just as fucked up as any organic being."

Asher smiled sadly. "One of the few times that being just like everyone else isn't a good thing."
He finished taking care of Matt's nose and stepped back. "Thank you, Matt. I needed to hear that."

Matt shrugged. "any time Asher." He cautiously reached up to touch his face. "So.. broken?" Poor Thalia so didn't need this guilt.

"A little bit, yes," Asher said. He thought dryly that Matt's nose was as broken as everybody on this ship, but he wouldn't say that while Thalia was here. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it heals properly."

Thaila grimly listened and pulled his hand away from matt, shoving his hand inot his pockets

Matt nodded. "It'll be fine. Not the first time i've had my nose broken." He chuckled and glanced to Thalia, looking worried. "Thalia... It's really not your fault." He stood up. "Thanks Asher, i think we're gonna go try to sleep again. Leave you to .. whatever the heck you do when everyone else is sleeping." He went to put his hands on Thalia's shoulders, leaning down to kiss his cheek carefully. "Come on. "

Thaila sighed amd reluntly followed, wishing to have some time alone he considered the closet to hide in.

"Good night," Asher said to them, going to clean up whatever blood had ended up on the floor.

Matt lead him back to Thalia's room. "Cheer up. You know one girl once broke my arm in three places." He was trying to sound cheerful for Thalia's sake. Yeah it hurt, but honestly he wasn't at all angry with the other guy. "Besides, you didn't mean it. I think it's gonna be a while before either of us can really sleep without a bit of trauma right? "

"Still I hurt you." He sighed numbly, focusing on remembering the layout of his room to find his closet.

"Thalia, for goodness sake, it was an accident!" He went to wash the last of the blood off his hands and face. "You remember you punched me in the face when we first met?" He laughed softly. "I totally accept the risk to my face okay?" He joked. "totally worth it."