I Won't Fall Forever (Riley)

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Kinsey wasn't sure when she first realized what was going on around her. All she remembered was the pain. Her entire body ached. Her head throbbed and it hurt to breathe. She didn't really even remember why. All she knew was pain and the sound of voices around her. Her eyelids fluttered momentarily when they first moved her, but she was unconscious again in seconds, sinking into the deep black of oblivion. 

The next time she woke, the pain was spiking again, though Kinsey was also being lowered onto something soft. She couldn't open her eyes, didn't even want to be awake. Her breathing came in light, airy gasps. Anything deeper than that hurt. Kinsey let out a soft moan and as she lay there, memories started to return slowly. Memories of the astronomy tower, of Priscilla Rosier confronting her, of the girl's wand pointing straight at her, Kinsey flying and then nothing. "Riley," she gasped his name. Kinsey could assume she was in the hospital wing by now, but she wanted him with her. The voices around her were still all mixed together, but Kinsey didn't care. There was one voice she wanted to hear right now. 

@riley

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Riley has been walking up to the Ravenclaw common room when Penelope Bainbrisge came running up to him. Kinsey had been attacked and they were rushing her to the hospital wing now. Riley didn’t know what was happening but he bolted down the hallway, back the way he came, down to the hospital wing and got there seemingly minutes after they had Kinsey there. He supposed they had taken some sort of secret passage way back down since he hadn’t seen them on the way.

She wasn’t awake and the healers asked him to keep his space and that she wasn’t accepting visitors right now. “she’s my fiancée I’m not leaving her.” He fibbed. But the ring on her finger seemed to have them convinced enough. She might as well actually be. There was no question in his mind. They agreed to let him stay but told him he would have to step aside if they asked him too. He agreed.

She woke up with a start and called his name. His heart broke seeing and hearing her like this. “it’s okay Kinsey. I’m right here.” he replied, taking her hand gently.

@kinsey

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Kinsey sighed with relief when she heard the sound of Riley's voice nearby, then cringed at the pain in her ribs. He was here. At least she wasn't alone. Kinsey wasn't quite sure what was going on, though she was pretty sure that she was in the hospital wing. She still hadn't opened her eyes. For some absurd reason, Kinsey thought that if she didn't open her eyes and see her surroundings, she wouldn't have to deal with what was going on. She turned her head so it faced the sound of Riley's voice, forcing herself to ignore the pain as she did so. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Riley. She could hear the worry in his voice and didn't like it. She didn't want him to have to worry about her, but she couldn't change that. She'd been attacked. It was only natural that he'd be nervous for her. If their positions were switched she would have been nervous. 

She didn't even notice that a healer approached them until the woman spoke. "Miss Bainbridge, we need to diagnose what all is wrong. This shouldn't hurt at all. Sir, please step back for a moment." Kinsey stiffened, not wanting Riley to go. Even though she knew he would stay nearby. "Just relax Miss," she said softly. Kinsey opened her eyes, looking up at the woman for a second before glancing to the side, looking for Riley. If she could see him, things would be all right. Wouldn't they be?

@riley

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The first thing that Kinsey said was that she was sorry. He shook his head. “don’t you be sorry.” he couldn’t imagine that she would have done this on purpose. Penelope said that she had been attacked. As much as he hated it, it didn’t surprise her that something like this had happened. He knew something would. It wouldn’t be easy on them now that he was making his own decisions.

The healers were running tests and asked him to step back. He did but he didn’t like it. He didn’t want to let her go, even though he trusted them to do their job. And he knew she was safe now. “I’ll be right here Kins. I’m not going anywhere.” he assured her.

@kinsey

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Kinsey smiled at Riley when he told her not to be sorry. It was a small smile, but she was just glad to have him here. "I'm going to be fine," she told him. Of course, Kinsey didn't know what all was wrong with her, or even if she should say something like that, but she woke up after falling didn't she? In her mind, that meant that she was going to end up okay. Not that she'd tell Riley if she thought the opposite was true, but she didn't. 

Kinsey nodded when Riley said he wasn't going anywhere, then whimpered at the pain on her head. She tried to hold still for the healer, but now that Riley wasn't close, it was like all her pain was magnified. Everything ached and hurt, some parts of her body much more painfully than others. The healer stepped back, frowning. "What is it?" Kinsey asked. The woman smiled instantly. "I'll be right back, dear. Going to go get some of the potions you'll be needing." Kinsey felt her nerves rising again. Was it that bad. "Riley?" she wanted him to come back, since she wasn't being examined any longer. 

The woman returned a short while later, "All right, you've got some nasty broken bones and a bit of internal bleeding. A bad hit on your head, but nothing that can't be sorted out. It'll just take a while to fix it all." She smiled. "First I'm going to have you drink this potion to help with the bleeding," she said, handing a bottle to Riley before walking away again. 

@riley

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Riley hates having to step back and be away from her, especially because he saw her looking at him the whole time she was being examined. He didn’t take his eyes off of her. He nodded when she said that she would be okay. He knew she would. Magic was capable of fixing almost anything. But he still didn’t like seeing her like this. After the healer said she was going to get some potions, Riley stepped back over, standing by Kinsey’s head and careful about where he touched her. He didn’t want to hurt her, so he held her hand gently, not lifting it off the bed. “it’s okay.” he insisted.

The healer came back and explained what was wrong with her, while it sounded like a lot, Riley knew it wasn’t too serious and she’d be fine in a few days. That was a relief. She handed him the potion after instructing that Kinsey should drink it and he nodded. “here. Nice and slow.” He said, holding the bottle to her lips and carefully helping her raise her head to sip it.

@kinsey

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Kinsey hated this. Every second she sat in that hospital bed, she wished she could be somewhere-anywhere- else. She didn't like being the focus of attention or having so many people clearly worried about her. It stressed her out. Besides that, the fact that every part of her hurt wasn't helping anything. She just wanted Riley to pick her up and hold her like he had after the dragon attack, but at the same time Kinsey knew that wasn't possible. Then, she'd only had a broken arm. Now she had a broken arm, along with a whole bunch of other problems. 

He moved forward to hold her hand when the healer left and Kinsey's hand tightened around his, though she didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say anymore. The healer was back quickly, telling Riley to help Kinsey take the potion and he let go of her hand to do so. She nodded before drinking, but her head pounded when Riley touched her head to help her drink the potion. He couldn't know that the back of her head was what hit the wall when Priscilla attacked her, but it did. She followed her directions, drinking the disgusting potion and making a face once it was gone. She stopped trying to hold her head up, turning her face to look at Riley. "Tell me a story or something? I ... don't want to think about things anymore." Rather, she didn't want to remember what just happened. She knew it was likely that she'd have to recount the story soon, but she didn't have to now, so she was going to try and think about something else while she could. 

@riley

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Riley saw the wince in Kinsey’s face when he held her head to help her drink the potion. She must have hit it. He wanted to let her be but he wasn’t sure she could support herself. So he just let her down gently once she had finished the potion and he set it down on the table beside her head where her wand and other possessions sat. She asked him to tell her a story. Something to distract her. He wasn’t sure what to say, but he was fully ready to make something up about a hungry unicorn or something when a group of staff members rushed into the hospital wing. They stopped briefly to talk to the healer before making their way calmly over to the two of them. They asked Riley to give them some time to talk to Kinsey and he shook his head defensively. “I’m not going anywhere.” He stood his ground, playing not so subtly with the ring on her finger. They sighed but didn’t press it further. One of them pulled up a chair next to the bed on the other side of where Riley was standing and sat down before calmly asking her what happened and who had caused this.

@kinsey

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Kinsey was so glad she had Riley with her. Being here in the hospital wing was kind of terrifying, but since he was with her she felt like she could relax a little. She asked him to tell her a story, but Riley didn't have the chance to do so before people were coming into the hospital wing. It took a moment for her to realize it was the staff. Her hand tightened around Riley's. She wasn't ready for this. She shook her head along with Riley when they asked him to leave. He spoke, so she didn't have to but Kinsey was very glad that he wasn't going to leave. Someone approached the other side of her bed, asking what happened. Kinsey glanced over to Riley again before turning her attention to the guy. 

"I was finishing some homework in the astronomy tower and uh, Priscilla Rosier showed up. She was mad at me," did Kinsey really have to explain why? It was pretty obvious to everyone that Riley left Priscilla and now he was with Kinsey. "She was angry about what happened at her engagement party, that Riley left her for a dirty halfblood like me ... and she was angry about my ring." Kinsey blushed. Even though Riley had all but shown it off a few moments ago, it still sounded silly that this whole thing started because of a ring. "She started to attack me, threatening to throw me off the tower, or kill me painlessly," Kinsey shuddered. "I shielded myself from her attacks until we could hear people coming toward the tower for class. I thought it was all over then. I went to the stairs and she told me to go faster. Then ... she pointed her wand at me and I flew backwards. I got knocked out when I hit the wall, then I guess I fell down the rest of the stairs," she explained. Kinsey shivered as she remembered everything. It was over and they were taking care of her now, but it was hard to remember that feeling of fear. Her hand squeezed Riley's and he looked over at him, hoping they wouldn't ask her any more questions. 

@riley

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Penelope had told Riley that Priscilla had done it but a part of Riley couldn’t believe that she really had. Priscilla had been obnoxious. Annoying. Childish. But the girl he knew wasn’t capable of such things. It infuriated him to no end. He knew Kinsey. Anyone who knew Kinsey at all would know that she wasn’t violent and she wasn’t someone to edge on an attack either. Priscilla had to have planned this, at least in some way. The whole thing made him sick and the churning in his stomach just got worse as she continued talking. And it was all because of him. All because of what he chose and what he did. He blamed himself but he didn’t make it obvious. He knew that something like this would happen. He knew he wouldn’t get away with this without a fight. That’s why he went along with it in the first place. Kinsey was safer without him. He just held her hand as she spoke. Not saying anything. Biting his lip to keep from scoffing. His eyes stayed fixed on the blanket by her hip. His whole body wanted to run, to find Priscilla. To make her pay. But he stayed still. He stayed with Kinsey.

@kinsey

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Kinsey was glad to have the ordeal over with. She didn't want to have to talk about Priscilla or the astronomy tower. She didn't want to think about what happened. Really, she just wanted the people to all go away. She wanted them to leave her here with Riley, to relax and let the healers do their job. She also wanted to get Riley to look at her. He wouldn't meet her eyes and Kinsey felt nervous about that fact, though she couldn't quite place why yet. Her mind wasn't working as good as it normally did.

After seconds that felt like hours, the professors were all looking at one another with guarded expressions. They finally stood up and left, nodding to her as they went. Kinsey sighed, exhausted. Then she looked over at Riley. "I'm so tired. If I fall asleep ... you're not going to leave me, are you?" she knew he loved her, that he would always be there for her, but in this moment Kinsey just needed his reassurance. She knew that if Riley was here, she wouldn't need to worry about anything. She'd really be able to relax and sleep.  Her eyes started to drift closed, even before he gave his answer.

@riley

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Eventually the professors all left and their head of house had a few words with the healer on his way out. They both glanced over at the couple and nodded to each other before going back about their business. Making arrangements for Riley to stay with Kinsey, he assumed. Once they were on her own she looked up at him and asked if he would stay with her. He nodded. “Kinsey I’m not leaving until they let you out.” he promised her. “you go ahead and rest. I’ll just make myself comfortable here…” he let her hand go momentarily and pulled up a chair. He set it by her head, sat down and then kicked his feet up on the side of her bed, half attempting to prove his point and half attempting to make her laugh. “at least you had your books worth you so I’ll have something to do. he gave her a wink before leaving over to give her a careful kiss.

@kinsey
(the end)