t w e n t y t h r e e ;

The next morning, Raven's family was the first in line to give blood donations to the boy who was in need in the Garden. His mother, his two brothers, his step father, and his sister in law, all went together. His mother Ebony wrote him a letter, telling him about how much they all missed him and wished him well. She told him about his younger brother, who Raven never got to meet because he was born a year after he was sent to the Garden. She told him about Jet getting married with Sable and their little two year old Jetta. She knew he would be happy for them, and though she would probably not get a response back from him, she asked him how he was doing, and it he had anyone special in his life.

They didn't have any money to bribe any of the nurses into doing them a favor, but Jet was a good looking man. Very much like Raven in appearance--tall, black hair, black eyes, tanned skin, a nice jaw line, strong eyebrows--only slightly taller and not as athletic because his brother had been doing physical training in the garden for eighteen years. But still, he was able to talk one of the nurses on the hospital staff to take the letter and the photograph back to the Garden for Raven. 

The Garden staff were stationed in Province of Mines for two hours, which was the amount of time it took for them to collect blood donations from the people. They collected enough for Raven and then extra to keep on reserves for further incidents. Then they packed up their things and boarded the aircraft that would return them to the other side of the country where Raven was waiting for his new blood which he did not suspect would even come from his family.

Back at the Garden, Raven slept well into the next morning. When he awoke, he looked around the room groggily and a bit full of confusion. It then dawned on him where he was and the memories of the previous day came back to him. He was likely in the hospital after Cedar recklessly chucked axes in their direction. He remembered one had taken course directly towards Roseanne and he stepped in, pushing her behind him and out of the way. He remembered, if his memories were still intact, that the ax had gone straight through his left arm, severing it completely and his heart sank into his chest. He knew that with the advanced technology they had now, there was a chance they could give him a prosthetic. But they would need to ensure that it would work properly in outer space. A part of him did feel bad about losing a limb though, he felt as less than a person for it.

After a few minutes of steeling himself and engraving the thought in his mind of the possibilities, he finally slowly turned his head towards the left. He couldn't simply attempt to move his arm in order to confirm his suspicions. The whole left side of his body had been numbed down to keep him immobile until they could bring the blood donations to him. As his black eyes fell upon the place where his arm should be, he found that part of it was missing from the elbow down. His breath hitched in his throat, but there was nothing he could do about it now. 

He looked to his right now to see Roseanne soundly sleeping by the side of his bed, in a chair that looked very uncomfortable. Her hands were closed around his right hand and he found himself gently tugging on her hands to shake her awake. As she rose from her sleep, she lifted her head, her cotton candy colored hair falling past her shoulders and down her back in messy waves. She sleepily looked up at him and a smile formed on her lips. "Oh, you're awake now. How are you feeling?" She asked him gently and with genuine concern to her words. 

Though she had fallen asleep immediately after going into his room, she had been woken up at least three times during the night by nurses either checking on him or changing his bandages. At one point one had murmured to her colleagues that it was better for the staff to bring in the black blood from his province as soon as possible, since it seemed like his body was rejecting the white blood. Roseanne wasn't sure what they meant exactly by that until that moment she was waking up now. She looked at his eyes--his irises were no longer black. They were a dark grey, as well as the blood that was seeping through his bandages. There were little drips of blood emerging from his eyes, nose, and mouth. All of it a very light grey, almost white, like his body was trying to weed out the blood that wasn't black.

Roseanne instinctively pulled her hands away from him and used the sleeve of her training jacket to wipe the blood residue off his face. She almost pulled back with a gasp when she saw her jacket was still smeared with black blood from when the incident happened. As she saw the blood, she was once again reminded of the horrors they had lived the day before. She had flashes burned into her mind about the ax going right through his arm. The training ground went silent except for her horrified cries. The way Raven fell to his knees and there was suddenly a blood bath, black blood squirting everywhere from where he had been cut. She would need to go back to her room and change into something else, but it just pained her to have to leave his side. 

She removed her jacket, which was the part that received the most damage and folded it neatly, setting it down at the other end of the room. Even the dried blood had a heavy stench that burned into her nostrils. The only reason she hadn't really noticed it before was because she was so worried about Raven's well being. Underneath, her white training polo shirt with pink buttons and a pink collar was pristine. No blood had soaked through to stain it. Her pink tennis skirt had seen some blood stains on it, but it was nowhere near as bad as her jacket. Raven's eyes followed her around the room intently. She seemed so tired, and so distraught, he felt so bad for her. He couldn't imagine the worry she went through for his sake. 

Roseanne returned to sit by his side and soon a nurse came in to check on him again and change his bandages. She informed the two of them with a cold demeanor that there had been a lot of support and blood donations from his province. The team was headed back and he would have his blood restored in no time. She also informed that the weapons department of the Garden already had a light weight prosthetic that was designed to feel like a real arm, and that would work perfectly in space. Both things made the two of them very happy, and Roseanne excused herself to go back to her dorm for a bit. She told Raven that she wanted to take a shower and change into a fresh set of clothes.

He nodded and she left the room, feeling much better about the situation.

-

When she returned to his room a bit over an hour later, she saw none other than Ivory in the room with him. She smirked cockily as she saw Roseanne enter the room, and she had taken her seat next to Raven's bed. 

"Only one visitor at a time, and since I was here first, I think you should leave." The girl with straight white hair told her team's co captain, her voice an overly false sickly sweet. Raven at the moment had no say in what was happening. As soon as the sedatives wore off, the nurses came in with another high dose of them for him. They had been so strong that they knocked him out into a cold slumber. To him, it was better than the excruciating pain he was starting to feel as the medicine started wearing off. Anything was better than that. And it wasn't until after he fell asleep that Ivory slinked into his hospital room not only to check on him, but to piss off Roseanne as well.

Roseanne heaved a frustrated sigh at her words. "Don't you have something better to do with your time, honestly? Do you really have to be here, being an annoying pest all the time?" She really wasn't in the mood and did not have the energy to argue with her at the moment. She knew Ivory was like that. She was constantly putting her down, invalidating the things she said, always trying to make her feel stupid in front of the rest of the team. While she was a little white dove in front of the male team members, pretending that she was completely innocent. Unfortunately for her, the only ones who saw past her act were Ciel and Raven. They knew better than to trust someone who was like her.

Ivory rolled her eyes at Roseanne. "Maybe you should watch how you speak to the person who saved your precious little boyfriend. I don't think he would appreciate you treating me like that." She snarled, her arms crossed over her chest. 

"You can throw that in my face all you want, which is what I already expect will happen." Roseanne told her in response, not even flinching at her team mate's words. She had long since gotten past the idea of trying to get along with her, or even being civil. After all the horrible things she had done to her, to Raven, to Cedar, and to Indy, she didn't deserve anyone's good intentions. She was an entitled little girl who thought she could get away with everything because she was good at talking to people and making them think she was innocent. That was what she did to Cedar, Scarlet, and Seville to get them all on her side. 

"But that doesn't change the fact that all of this is your fault in the first place. Raven isn't interested in you, yet you continue to try to force yourself onto him. You touch him without his consent, you make jokes about our private life, you make him uncomfortable. And the boys who are interested in you, you treat like complete shit. Just look at Cedar and Indy. You don't care about anyone. You only care about the attention you get, and since Raven doesn't give it to you, it makes you angry. Am I wrong?" Roseanne didn't find herself stuttering even once, as she gave Ivory another piece of her mind. This time, Indy wasn't around to try to stop her. He said it was because Ivory wasn't worth the trouble. But Roseanne just felt that if no one held her accountable for her actions, she would continue doing with people what she wanted.

Ivory once again rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous that I'm prettier than you and that Raven clearly prefers me."

At that, Roseanne couldn't help but let out a laugh that echoed throughout the sterile white hospital room. She wasn't sure if Ivory was just saying that to bother her, or if she genuinely believed that to be the truth. Whatever it was, her laugh struck a nerve with Ivory and she shot glares in Roseanne's direction. Roseanne didn't even have to say anything. Her initial response of laughter was enough to make the other girl in the room very angry.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something more, the door swung open and one of the nurses walked into the room. Roseanne stepped aside as the nurse walked over to Raven and undid the latch locks on his bed to wheel him out of the room with the monitors and IV. She informed the two girls that the blood donations had arrived, and that he was going to get three blood transfusions within the next couple of days. They would also be keeping him in observation to see how his body responded to the new blood as well as the prosthetic arm the scientists were going to attach to his body. It was supposed to cling to his nerves which would help his brain send signals to the new limb for movement. 

Roseanne wanted to go with him, but the nurse informed her that it wasn't possible. That she was welcome to wait in the common area of the hospital wing. Ivory said nothing and turned to leave. She would likely return again once Raven was awake, retelling the story of how she saved his life by donating her blood to him. 

Roseanne knew Raven well and she knew he was a very kind person. She didn't want him to fall into her games, merely because he was grateful that she had saved his life.

-

a pretty filler ish chapter for tonight.

im feeling quite happy because my team defeated their all time rivals in the league quarter final and are advancing to the semis. alsoo, obviously this chapter is all made up. i haven't included any dialogue from my personal life.

since im pretty fired up and dont have a lot to share in the a/n, ima tell you all about a time when raven got harassed at work. so one time a man came in and told raven he was very handsome. this guy gave raven his number and asked him to text him if he wanted a better job opportunity. raven said it seemed sketch. but we got in my car one night anyway, and got a fake # and texted this guy. it turned out he was a producer AT A PORN AGENCY. i forgot his name and the name of the agency but it was legit bc i remember we looked it up on my phone. 

he offered raven $50/hr to appear in adult films and $100/hr if he agreed to show his face in the films. so raven declined and told him he was underage, even though he was 20. but he didnt want this guy bothering him. the man said he was willing to wait for raven to become a legal adult. then he spent DAYS stalking raven at the restaurant and filming him on his phone until we talked to our boss about it and she told him to leave or she would call the police. it was insane. 

i should do a face reveal of raven tbh. maybe one day. maybe a face reveal of the whole gang.

-clary