bruised and broken, but together again ;; joel

A few days after Kole had made his way to her home to beat her almost to death, Kole had summoned Arizona, Reid, and Luka to his horrid night club again, to discuss better security measures of his expansive mansion. The whole time he made sure to direct most of his hatred toward Ari, but she just sat there and soaked it all in like a sponge.

Once they were dismissed, Arizona had to hold herself back from bounding out of his dark meeting room. She needed air, and needed to get out.

When she exited the building, she weaved her way through the clio walking on the sidewalks, and she averted her eyes to ignore the stares that she was getting. She probably looked like a zombie to them. Both of her eyes were black, one so swollen that she couldn't even open it, he bottom lip was puffy and split open, and her cheek was so enlarged that it looked like she had just recently gotten multiple teeth removed. Her body was also riddled with bruises and cuts, but she made sure to wear jeans and a long sleeved hoody to hide them. She pulled her hood up over her crazy blonde hair and buried her hands deep inside of the pocket of her hoody and continued to walk as fast as her sore body would let her out of the city of Deilig.

After Joel's failed attempt to assassinate Kole and steal back the star pieces, he'd been trapped in Deilig. The outer wall was constantly manned by guards, soldiers now patrolled the streets in search of "dissenters", and Joel was still too injured too evade them and escape. On top of that, he still wanted to find some way to try and stop Kole, and he wouldn't be able to do that from outside the city.

Despite probably being one of Deilig's most wanted now, Joel was able to blend in with the many homeless clio in the heart of Deilig. His face had been smashed up enough that most clio wouldn't recognize him just from a picture. His clothes were torn and dirty. He was trying his best just to lay low until he was recovered enough to try something crazy again.

But that all changed when he saw her. She was a mess, and trying to hide her bruised and swollen face, but it was her. She was walking down the street not twenty feet away from the stoop he was sitting against. "Ari!" he choked out before he could stop himself. What had happened to her? Had Kole done that!? Joel felt that white-hot anger flare up in him once again.

Arizona stopped dead in her tracks when she heard somebody call out her name. Her heart swelled when she saw the source. Though his face was badly swollen and bruised, she recognized the love of her life immediately.

"Joel!" she rasped. Then she ran to him, despite the pain in her body. She didn't care, he was all she needed, all she wanted. Arizona wrapped her arms around his body when she reached him, and buried her face in his chest. She didn't care how suspicious or odd they looked together, all she cared about was that he was there.

Joel wasn't prepared for Ari to run into his arms. He hadn't thought he'd ever see her, let alone hold her in his arms, again. He thought she hated him. She would have been right to hate him, but here she was, wrapping her arms around him. He didn't deserve this moment. He gently held her, hearing how labored her breathing was. He squeezed his eyes shut and just stood there with her for a short time.

"Did Kole do this to you?" he asked quietly, already knowing the answer was yes. He opened his eyes and slowly guided her into a nearby ally, where they wouldn't be seen by the passing clio. "I tried to kill him, Ari. To get your star piece back. Everything that's happened to you is my fault and I am so, so sorry."

He brushed her hair out of her damaged face. All Ari had ever wanted out of life was to have fun and enjoy her time with her family. She didn't deserve to have any of this happen to her.

Arizona didn't want this moment to end, being in his arms made her forget about what was really happening. For a split second, all was right in Amelia. Only when he mentioned Kole, did Ari return to reality. She allowed him to lead her to the alleyway before she spoke.

"Joel," she breathed. "I'm sorry."

She looked up at his face and reached up to gently stroke his wounded cheek. She winced when she lifted her arm. This was all of her fault. Why did she ever force him away and out of her life? He would have never gone to steal back the star pieces if she hadn't of sent him away.

"Joel, this is all of my fault," she said. "I should have never made you leave."

Tears started to slowly pour from her blackened eyes. She took both of Joel's hands and weaved her fingers between his. She shook her head. "You big, stupid, idiot," she laughed through her tears. "What if he had killed you? What would I have done without you?"

Joel raised his eyebrows when Arizona said she was the one who was sorry. What on earth did she have to be sorry for? She was nothing but a victim in this situation. "Stop that," he told her when she began to cry and blame herself. "None of this is your fault. None of it. You didn't do anything wrong by making me leave. You should have made me leave the very first time I ever walked through your door."

Of course, Joel knew that if it hadn't been him, it would have been a different Deilig spy who would have been sent to Adhbhar. One who might not have been so willing to change his views.

Ari wrote:"You big, stupid, idiot. What if he had killed you? What would I have done without you?

Joel looked down. At the time, he'd thought that Ari had never wanted to see him again. He realized now that even if Ari had been furious with him, even if she'd kicked him out and said she hated him, his death would have hurt her terribly, and she'd already been hurt more than enough. "I just wanted to make things right," he said with a heavy sigh. "For you. For all of Amelia."

"I regretted it," Arizona replied quietly. "As soon as you were gone I wanted you back." She reached up and gently raised his chin so that she could look him in the eyes. "But I thought you would have never taken me back after the way I sent you away."

Joel wrote:"I just wanted to make things right," "For you. For all of Amelia."

"Well..." she replied. "Don't you ever do it again, understand?"

While the security in her eilemaiden was tight and crawling with Kole's lackeys, Arizona was able to secretly send messages to a few other overloridians. That was how she knew to send her father away to Ughdarras. Aspen was taking in refugees. She just prayed to the Gods that Kole wouldn't be able to infiltrate the water eilemaiden. However, with this knowledge it gave her hope that there was a strong resistance building, and they would be able to defeat Kole once and for all. Joel didn't need to risk his life alone for all of this.

"I've missed you so much," Ari said softly. "It's been so hard without you, without my brother." She sighed shakily before continuing, "Everything has  fallen apart."

Ari wrote:"Don't you ever do it again, understand?"

"I need to do something," Joel replied, shaking his head. He looked at Ari sadly. "Look at what he did to you. How can I stand by while he hurts you like this?"

There had to be something he could do to help without getting himself killed. When he tried to think of what, however, he came up blank.

Zona wrote:"Everything has fallen apart."

"It has, hasn't it?" Joel said quietly. He wanted nothing more than to comfort Ari, tell her everything would be all right, that there would be a happy ending for them both. But he wouldn't patronize her like that. Kavi was dead, and there was no bringing him back. Ari was at the mercy of his murderer, and Joel hadn't been strong enough to protect her.

Joel wrote:"I need to do something,"

Despite the swolleness and puffy eyes, Arizona's face became stern and serious.

"No," she replied, her voice hard but waivering. "I cannot lose you." She squeezed his hands as tightly as she could, "You and my father are all I have left."

Ari was getting slightly angry now, a feeling she hadn't felt since Kole told them they were going to kidnap unsettled children. Joel brought passion back into her life. Before she was numb and unemotional, like an abused dog that lost its will to live, but now she felt her fire return. Something had to be done.

"We have to get you out of here," she told him suddenly. "It's not safe for you here."

Joel looked down at Ari in surprise when he heard the slight anger in her voice. "No, I'll be okay here for a while," he told her. If she tried to help him escape, it would only put her life in danger as well as his. "Trying to escape would be even more risky. They've probably got soldiers looking out for me along the entire border."

Arizona chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully, running her tongue over the cut automatically, tasting the coppery taste of old blood.

"I'm going to get you out of here," she  decided. "Whether you like it or not." She grinned mischievously at him, and ignored the pain in her cheeks. "And I have the perfect plan."

Joel was right, there were guards all over the boarder of the city, but while they couldn't get through the boarder, they could get under it.

"I need to dig a hole," she finally said, all matter-of-factly.

Ruined though her face may be, Arizona's smile was the most beautiful thing Joel had ever seen. "That...could actually work," he had to admit. There obviously wouldn't be any guards under the ground, there was plenty of secluded woodlands within the wall, and naturally Ari was so talented with her eilemaiden that making a tunnel would be a piece of cake for her. He smiled back at her. "Alright. Let's do it."

Seeing Ari smile had reinvigorated the hope within Joel. Maybe he wasn't strong enough to defeat Kole for her...but she was strong herself. She could survive this. And he would support her every step of the way, in whatever way she needed him to.

Ari felt giddy with excitement. It had been a little while since she used her eilemaiden. She was itching to get to work!

"Where should we do it?" She asked, while looking around. They alleyway they were standing in was paved, but that wouldn't be a problem for her. If it had rocks or dirt in it, she could control it.

"Once we're under I'll have to try and repair the hole as best I can," she explained. "It may be harder to make a cement alleyway look exactly the same."

"No, we should go into the woods," Joel said. The alleyway might be empty now, but it was still far too conspicuous. A clio could walk by and see them at any moment. Not to mention the noise of boring a tunnel into the pavement. "C'mon, I know where we can go."

They discreetly left the alleyway, with Ari following several paces behind Joel to keep anyone from recognizing them together. Of course with how badly they were both beat up it was unlikely, but still. Eventually they reached the city limits. They had to be a little more careful now, as Joel knew there might be some guards patrolling near the edge of the forest. Somehow luck ended up being on their side, and they made it into the woods without incident.

"Here should do," Joel said, looking off into the distance. "The border is about half a mile west of here. Think you can tunnel for half a mile?"

He wasn't serious. He knew she could do it without a problem.

"Hmmm," Arizona hummed thoughtfully, while surveying the ground around them. "I might be able to do that, if I could just have something to motivate me."

She turned to face him, and tapped her lips absentmindedly, trying to hint to him that she wanted him to kiss her. It felt nice being able to joke around with her boyfriend again, even if it was just for a short time.

Arizona put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot expectantly.

Luckily Joel wasn't as dense as he had been back when Ari used to flirt with him when they'd first met. He grabbed Ari by the shoulders and kissed her, not as hard as he wanted to, because they were both pretty hurt. "How's that?" he asked her once he'd pulled away.

Arizona's heart was about to burst when his lips touched hers. It felt so amazing to kiss him again, even with their badly damaged faces. She wished she could stay in that moment forever, but she knew there was work to be done. She smiled up at him, her eyes still closed when the kiss was broken.

"Perfect," she replied.

She took a deep breath, then turned and concentrated on the task at hand. She held out her hands, and within seconds the earth before them shifted and a hole appeared out of nowhere.

"Are you ready babe?" Ari asked, looking back at him over her shoulder.

Joel watched as Ari effortlessly bored a tunnel large enough for two clio to walk through. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd be able to keep it up long enough to get them both under the wall. "You're incredible, you know that?" he asked her. Together the two of them descended into the tunnel. What little light there was vanished as Ari closed the opening behind them. Luckily Joel could still see just fine, and directed her where to dig.

Arizona grinned at his comment. Joel put a fire into her heart that she forgot that she had. She had been so lost without Joel or her brother's guidance. The only thing that had kept her going was her clio of Adhbhar, she knew that if something had happened to her, nobody would be around to protect her eilemaiden. Sure, a new overloridian would have taken over, but what would have Kole done to them? Adhbhar would crumble.

Once the hole she created was sealed, Arizona couldn't see a thing. She was thankful that her boyfriend was able to see in the dark, otherwise this would have been a failed mission. The two of them were under the ground for maybe about twenty to thirty minutes (or however long you think works, I can edit later if you think it should be longer), and Ari barely tired.

Before the two of them even knew it, they were out of the city, and far from the boarder. Ari was able to quickly create an exit for the couple, just as she did for the entrance. She wasn't sure about Joel, but it was nice seeing the sunlight again, even if it was shining through the intimidating trees of the Linius forest.

Ari climbed out of their hole and brushed the dirt and leaves off of her legs. If their calculations were correct, they should have been facing west, toward Nottingham hills and Adhbhar. She wasn't sure where to go from here. She wanted Joel with her but she knew it wasn't safe to bring him back home to Adhbhar, Kole's bugs were crawling around everywhere there. He couldn't go back to Deilig either.

She turned to watch Joel climb out of the hole, a look of sadness and worry suddenly etched across her bruised and swollen face.

Eventually, Joel and Ari ascended back to the surface. Joel blinked several times and shielded his eyes from the sunlight as they stepped up and out of the ground and into the open air. Many feet behind them loomed the outer face of Kole's wall. They had made it. He smiled at Ari at first, proud of their accomplishment, but then saw the sadness and worry on her face. It caused his relief to be short lived as well. Tough times were far from over, especially for her.

He reached out and took her hand. "You saved my life, getting me out of there," he said softly. They may be out of Deilig, but Ari and her clio were still trapped in Kole's clutches. "I wish I could have done more for you."

THIS THREAD IS CONTINUED IN THE FOREST OF LINIUS