our family is unlucky [solange]

Hadley was lying listlessly on a hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling without actually seeing it, covered in bruises and bandages. He was hooked up to an IV pumping him full of some admittedly nice drugs to keep the worst of the pain at bay, but he was still sore and achy all over.

He had woken up a day after the attack in the hospital with Remy crying at his bedside. That wasn't the first thing he'd noticed though. The first thing he noticed was that he couldn't see a thing, which his doctor later explained was the result of a severe head injury that had almost killed him. After learning that the damage was probably permanent, he kind of wished that it had.

He thought about the man who had done it to him. Who had so casually destroyed his life. And even more, he thought about the person who had sent that man. He had a pretty good idea of who it was, but even if he was right, what could he even do about that now?

Fuck. What was he supposed to do now?

Solange ran into the hospital, asking the clio at the front desk hurriedly where her brother was. She was directed, and she burst into his room.

"Hadley!" she said, out of breath. She had heard from the doctor that Hadley had lost his sight, but it was hard to understand and believe as this abstract thing. She knew it wouldn't really sink in for her until she came and saw it affecting him, saw that it was truth. That's how it had been with her leg.

She walked to his side, taking a look at all of his bruises and cuts and bandages.

"Hadley..." she whispered this time, taken back by how bad he looked. "What happened to you?"

Hadley flinched slightly in surprise at the sudden sound of his sister's voice. She sounded as if she had just run the entire way here, which honestly wouldn't surprise him. He could also hear the shock and sadness in her voice, which made him wonder just exactly how awful he looked. If it was half as bad as he felt he wasn't sure he actually wanted to know.

"Hey Sol," he said miserably. "The doctors didn't tell you?"

He hated this. He hated being like this, and he hated Sol seeing him like this.

Solange softly slipped her fingers around Hadley's.

"They told me..." She paused, not sure how to say the words to him. She knew it was better not to talk around things. "They told me about your eyes. But...not why you suffered the trauma to the head."

She tightened her grip on his hand just slightly, showing her concern. "What did you get yourself into, Hadley?"

They hadn't told her anything else? Nothing about his multitude of other injuries or how he had gotten them? "Guess I'd better get used to that being the first thing anyone says about me," he muttered irritably.

"I got attacked on Theodore Lane," he said to Solange. "It's all still pretty fuzzy, though. What makes you so sure I got myself into something?"

It was almost funny that his own sister couldn't even fathom him being an innocent victim in all this. Did he really have the right to feel offended by that, though?

Hadley wrote:"Guess I'd better get used to that being the first thing anyone says about me," he muttered irritably.

"Well, I didn't really give them much time to tell me anything else," she said with a light laugh. "I ran over here as fast as I could and was more concerned about getting here. I knew our parents wouldn't be here for you." She knew how that felt.

When Hadley said that he had been attacked, she rolled her eyes. She would have done the same thing, even if he could have seen it.

"So you got a taste of your own medicine," she said frankly, her finger rubbing against his skin lightly. "I always told you that messing with clio would come back to haunt you."

She had to admit, she never thought anything like this would happen to him.

For one of the first times in his life, Hadley was momentarily at a loss for words. Solange had never, ever been one to bullshit him and pretty much always said exactly what was on her mind, but he wasn't expecting her bluntness in a situation like this. He assumed this would be the one time she would keep her thoughts to herself and just be sympathetic. He was obviously wrong.

A taste of my own medicine...?

How many times had he ordered an attack like this one in the past? He didn't even keep track of them. He had always just done it without a single thought for the target. But...those people had all done something to deserve it. Wronged him, or Sol, in some way.

"You think I deserved this?" he asked quietly. He wanted an honest answer and Sol was probably the only person who would give him one.

Solange sighed. It wasn't necessarily that black and white, like he had done something in particular to deserve this specific consequence. But...yes, he did deserve this. And she absolutely hated seeing him like this, but she had expected something to happen to her brother for a long time. He couldn't go on forever acting in the same way and never have anything bad happen to him.

"Do you have any idea what happens to the clio you send others to follow or hurt? They do their job and you're content, but who knows what's really happening out there. Who knows what long-term damage could be caused, whose lives could be uprooted by what you do. I've been telling you to stop for years -- maybe now that something bad has happened, you'll actually start listening to me."

Being honest with her brother didn't make her happy, and she didn't feel good about it. But it was what he needed, and he didn't have anyone else to tell it to him like she did.

"So, in other words, yes," Hadley said bitterly. He guessed he shouldn't really feel bitter, he wanted an honest answer and he got it. But still, it would be one thing if he got the shit beaten out of him and eventually recovered--that was bad enough--but now he was blinded for the rest of his life. His entire life. He was never gonna see again.

"I just thought..." he said, before trailing off. He sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his free hand. "I never thought this would happen to me. What am I supposed to do now?"

Solange took her free hand and ran her fingers through Hadley's hair.

"I don't know," she said softly. "But we'll figure it out together. I'm here for you, okay? Just like you were there for me. But...I can't get anyone to build you magic fire eyeballs. That'd be pretty cool though."

She dragged a chair a little closer, sitting down next to his bed. "Whatever you need, just let me know and I'll help."

Somehow Hadley managed a weak laugh at Sol's "magic fire eyeballs" comment. He had a hard time feeling comforted by her offer for help though, because now he was going to need help for everything. And as much as he enjoyed being waited on in the past, he wasn't really looking forward to needing someone to read his paperwork to him, or help him navigate his own house.

"Do you know if mom and dad know yet?" he asked. When Sol had been the one in the hospital, they hadn't shown up to visit her for over a week. He figured it would be the same now, if they showed up at all. Would they be upset? he wondered.

Solange frowned and looked at the ground. Her hesitation was probably enough to answer his question.

"I haven't really reached out to them. I came here as soon as I knew. I...didn't see them anywhere in the hospital."

Solange had no expectations of their parents at this point. She hadn't expected to see them at the hospital when she came, and she by no means expected to see them from here on out. She was surprised Hadley had even asked about them.

"I'm sorry, Hadley."

"Don't be sorry, I was just curious," Hadley replied. He'd never been close with their parents, even as a child when he should have been dependent on them. Even now, on the rare occasions that they did try to make contact with him, he usually just tried to throw money at them to get them to go away. "Wondering how they felt about have two crippled kids, now."

Their parents had never really shown any disappointment in either of them for any reason. Though to be fair they never showed any pride, either. Just a weird kind of indifference that made Hadley wonder why they'd had them in the first place.

"They probably won't feel much," she said with a light laugh. "I mean they didn't feel anything about the fact that their son was the god damn Overloridian of Earalas! You run a fucking country and they couldn't care less. Ugh."

Now she was thinking about the lack of direction or care or anything that their parents had offered them growing up. Kids aren't meant to just grow up on their own, they're supposed to learn from their parents. She couldn't imagine not having Hadley there while she was growing up -- which is how he grew up, without anyone or any stability. And their parents take no responsibility. It was all so messed up.

"That's true," Hadley agreed. "They didn't even tell me."

Well, if his parents didn't give a shit, which he figured they wouldn't, then the only people who would probably visit him were the two that already had; Remy and Sol. He was going to go crazy sitting here by himself in this hospital, in complete and total darkness. Nothing to look at, no one to talk to.

"Will you keep visiting me?" he asked Sol, turning his head towards her even though he couldn't see her.

"Of course," she said immediately. "I can't leave you here for too long by yourself. Who knows what you'll plot in all this free time."

She gave his hand a little squeeze. "I know things are different, but...things get better after a while. You adapt and you figure out what works and what doesn't. You keep going and things become clearer. We'll work it out."

She knew losing a leg couldn't really compare much to losing sight, but she hoped he'd at least hear her out. She had been through something physically that not a lot of people could relate to, and she wanted to Hadley to know that she could at least sort of sympathize.

The two talked for a little bit longer, and even when they weren't talking anymore, Solange stayed with her brother. She was glad she could be here for him, but she was so incredibly sad that this had happened in the first place.