Across the Wasteland

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Standing up after Emmet, he glanced at the sniper warily, not quite trusting him yet, before giving him a slight nod and helping Emmet away and back to the direction of the igloo. Now completely shivering from the cold, wishing he'd had the foresight to pull on his jacket, he wrapped his arms around himself, carefully with his injured wrist and broken ribs.
 
The sniper didn't even need to look at Xavier to understand the beasts's burial was necessary, he had understood it from the very beginning, when he had heard the wolf's cry. He walked up to the corpse and lifted him "Holy fuck, what DID this thing eat?!" he exclaimed surprised at the unexpected heavy weight "Damn, animals." he commented to himself and followed. Emmet just kept walking wordlessly, eyes hid under his hair.
 
Xavier sighed softly, his breath labored as he struggled to not move his abdomen as he walked. Each time he did, pangs of pain would run through him, causing him to stop and wait for it to pass. Hearing Emmet's silence, he went to him, taking his hand with his good one. "Are you hurt too badly?" he asked softly, forcing a smile for the boy. "And don't lie to me...you need to be taken care of first..."
 
Emmet didn't respond at first, but then he turned to him "It hurts. But my dad was worse than that.. I'll be okay..." he whispered barely enough to be heard, and then he turned his eyes to the newcomer who was clearly very light in weight, since he could hardly walk with the wolf on his arms, physically he didn't look all that strong... but looks were looks and reality was another. He didn't know him, but something just perked him about that man, that made him decide he was no treat, and he was desperately trying to send the message to Xavier, but being the nervous chihuahua he was, it'd probably take a pretty long time for that...
 
When they finally made it back, Xavier helped Emmet inside before following him, still wary of the stranger. Finding a roll of gauze, he frowned at his broken wrist, knowing that a cast would be needed if he wanted it to heal right. Of course, he had no such thing at the moment, and would have to make do. Binding his hand and wrist in the gauze, he made sure that it was tight enough so his bones couldn't move around before examining his ribcage, pulling his sweater up slightly.

His ribs were a mass of purple bruises, going from one side to the next. Breathing out slowly, he asked Emmet, "Are you cut anywhere? I don't know much about medical stuff, but I can try to clean them and bandage them."
 
The youngest of the three sat down besides him and shook his head softly, "it just hurts a little" he replied. Lies. It hurt so much speaking hurt, even breathing was an ordeal, and when the sniper entered the hut he gently put down the wolf's corpse where it wouldn't be in the way and looked at Xavier's arm.

"Ahh... you fucked up your wrist." he said as a comment. Then observed him a tad more "You're both screwed if you try to cross the wasteland like this." he said but didn't give time for a reply, he just waked outside, Emmet looked at Xavier for a bit and then came back with some wood bars and tablets, he took Xavier's hand and undid his bandaging without asking him even, he just did. Then he looked at Emmet and approached "Why are you hiding that broken rib?" he asked as if he were surprised, but actually the one surprised was Emmet. Was this man some kind of doctor...?

"Hey, hiding things won't help."
 
"Don't you fucking touch him," Xavier growled, taking a defensive position in front of Emmet. "If he needs treatment, you can just tell me what to do. I'm good at listening to instructions, so there's no reason you should touch him." Xavier didn't know why he was being so overprotective, but for some reason he felt like he would hurt whoever touched Emmet.
 
He stared but gave him a smirk "With your wrist parted like it's a broken doll's? Don't make me laugh." he coldly replied and moved away from him, gently taking Xavier's hand and making the correct sort of bandaging with the a wooden piece as a sort of "cast" or a holder, and tying it up tight and good. Then he checked slowly the rest of his arm, but when he got to the shoulder, Emmet intervened by taking his hand, however the young adult only looked at him with another mocking smirk, since at that sudden flail, the boy let out a moan of pain and retreated onto his left side.

He neared the boy, whom at first jolted when he did, but he spread his hands in front of him, to show him he wasn't going to hurt him, and at this, Emmet let down his guard, looking at Xavier, he clearly was showing him just how much he trusted him, as to allow another man to touch him, under his watchful eyes. "It's bad, I need to bandage it and he needs to lie down for a while ... except he could freeze to death if you let him do that... And I doubt you have that much bandages.. his left leg's pretty badly cut too" he commented, gripping on his thigh, making him let out another cry, "You need to trust your man you know" he said, this time directed at Emmet, who sniffed and nodded. "I can heal his wounds... but I don't guarantee that without proper feeding and rest, he will survive. You're not as bad because you're an adult, but this boy probably doesn't even eat." he finished, moving away, done examining him.

"I'm Cloud, by the way." he introduced himself "Who're you guys?"
 
"I can take care of him. He can eat my share of the food, I can hold him to me so he doesn't get cold, I'll rip up my clothes for bandages or give them tto him so he isn't freezing at night. I don't care what I have to do, but Emmet will live. No matter what, or how difficult it is...he won't die. I won't let him. I'll die first before I let that happen." Biting back the hopeless tears stinging his eyes, he forced away the thought, 'How would I live without him?' before it could even form. Emmet WOULD live, even if Xavier died in the process.

Glaring at his broken wrist as if it was the source of all his problems, Xavier muttered, "I'm Xavier...he's Emmet." Glancing over at him, he asked, "Do you want to go lay down? You can have my jacket if you want..."
 
He blinked and seemed surprised by such devotion, but still he had to respond to the last response "Emmet and Xavier then. Emmet the wolf boy" he grinned in a friendly manner, but the boy only looked down and shrugged, thing which the man took as a natural response. "You look quite withdrawn, wolf boy. Has anyone hurt you?" he asked, seemingly understanding of him, and Emmet just nodded, turning to look at Xavier. "...He trusts you a lot you know" he smiled and laid his back on the artificial wall. Looking to the neglected corpse "We need to fix the wolf boy first tough."
 
"He's the only person I know I can trust," Xavier replied cryptically, kneeling next to him and taking his hand. "Never has he betrayed me...and I know he'll tell me the truth when I need it." Squeezing the hand gently, he glanced up a moment to pray to whoever was up there that Emmet would recover, that he wouldn't become cold and mistrustful of him again. "Here," he murmured gently, taking off his jacket and laying iton the ground. Helping Emmet lie down on it, he asked him, feeling like he was ttalking to a child, "Are you hungry, Emmet?"

((Totally thought I'd replied already TvT))
 
The other man simply listened to the devotion spilt at every single word Xavier would say when it came to the boy, at first he felt quite creeped out, but it was obvious this young one was this man's last mental stand and he wouldn't allow himself to let himself think of the boy that way, but it was true he loved him, and deeply. However at hearing his tone in the last question, both him and Emmet alike frowned, although only for different reasons each. "Hey will you not ignore me? That boy needs me to fix that rib of his or it could pierce his lung and kill him slowly, is that what you want?" he growled, and Emmet only felt obliged to force himself to whisper back "I'm not a child... and I'm not hungry...".
 
"No!" Xavier said, raising his voice. Forcing it to lower, he said, "I'm sorry...it's just...I care about him so much, and I can't bear to think of him in pain or needing something..." Trailing off, he looked away, backing off a couple feet, pulling his knees to his chest. "Do...do what you have to," he said to the man, resting his chin on his knees dejectedly.
 
He nodded at him "The worrying is logical" he said coldly and began to work on Emmet's body, making him cry out more than once as he moved his hands on his ribcage and chest, he was most likely fixing the bones so they would heal where they're supposed to. His mind set on it entirely with no malice, he soon took whatever gauze they had and used it as bandage, keeping it tight on the young man's chest. He checked it was good enough for him to breathe painless and went trough the stock of medicine they had, giving him a pill in particular. "This is very very strong so you'll most likely fall asleep. Xavier's here so don't worry." he commented, and Emmet only moved his face to the side away from both older men. "..." He had fallen asleep almost instantly.

"..." the young adult kept quiet before covering him good and moving away from him, sitting agaisn't the tent's fake wall. "What's the kid's story? Were you two together when shit hit the fan?"
 
Xavier shook his head immediately. "No...he came to my home about a couple miles from here a few weeks ago. It was cold out and his wolf was going to bite me if I touched him, so he fell asleep of my floor before I could get him out. He's...unluckier than most out here...it's his story to tell you, so you'll have to ask him, but...he's my friend." Reaching over, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy, he ruffled his hair, a gentle smile on his face.

Placing his jacket over him so he wouldn't get cold, Xavier said, "Emmet's become the one thing I keep living for, I guess...without him, I'd probably be dead, even if I hate how he got the medicine I needed..." Just the thought made him feel a mother of a headache begin, and he reached into his pants pocket to pull out the bottle of pills that he had been taking for the headaches. Swallowing one, he relaxed against the artificial wall, closing his eyes as he sighed softly.
 
"...What he did to get your me.. he whored for you?" he said, both brows raised in absolute shock, he couldn't just calm down over that "The kid's like 15!" he complained angrily "How in your right senses did you allow that?!" he growled, something in his tone gave away some sort of experience on the matter, apparently it had happened to him as well, but he was obviously more concerned about Emmet, who was so far gone he wasn't even listening, he was stuck in deep slumber.
 
"You think I told him to do it?" Xavier said, voice raised in anger. "You should've seen how pissed I was! I killed the filthy bastard that did it to him! He left while I was sleeping and did it, and when I found out I practically raised hell. God damn! You should've seen the other kids that creepy bastard raped in exchange for help! I even told Emmet to stay the fuck away from him, but...he just doesn't listen!"
 
The younger one just grimaced at him shrugging. "..." he didn't reply at first but then he turned to Emmet "I thought so..." he mumbled, looking to the exit "It's damn early, we should bury the wolf, if you don't want it to rot here" he calmed down, he understood if the young man had had a good reason to do what he did... but he just didn't understand what exactly was their relationship, they were very much in love and that man had a 17 year old mind, that was readable miles away, but what he couldn't understand was just why had he done that... "Boys like him won't take orders... he must have forced himself to grow up in order to survive" he mentioned, but then he reflexed "Headaches? Are they severe?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
 
"Yes," he answered. "They'd be so bad that I'd have to stop moving entirely. The medicine helps, but I'm worried that I'll run out soon..." Trailing off into thought for a moment, he said, "Let's bury Vaughn...I want it to be done before Emmet wakes up. It...it probably hurts him to have to see him like this." Gently running his fingers along the wolf's fur, he sighed softly, wishing there was a way for him to bring back Vaughn. If it would make Emmet responsive to him again, he didn't care how it was done.
 
"I think what hurt the boy the most, is the idea of having no family" he commented, picking the wolf up and walking toward the exit "You stay here, I have my riffle anyway. The wind's blowing and you're not very protected.. if he wakes up, he'll want to see you." these words said, he walked away outside.
 
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