Wear your heart on your skin in this life [C]

For the second day in a row, William woke far earlier than he was ready to walk the Earth again with the rods of white-hot pain piercing slowly at the skin of his back, making him think that coming back to the wretched dorm room was nothing but a dream and that the actual truth was that he had somehow managed to fall asleep, though how he would managed that he had no idea, while the guy he had paid yesterday was still working on his tattoo. Once he had opened his eyes however, he had found himself faced with a dully colored wall of his dorm room, reassuring him once more that he actually was here, at some school which was literally in the middle of nowhere, all because he had... He shot down that train of thought before it had even had time to form. He refused to let himself to think about that.

Hissing in pain as he slowly moved to stand up, something he would never thought about doing if he didn't need to use the bathroom so badly he thought he would burst, he thought about how the guy down at the tattoo place had told him that it would hurt, having such a big tattoo done in once sitting and in such a place. He had not been in a mood to listen that night, however, so he could only pray and thank Heaven in which he was not so sure he believed anyway that Spirit had listened, and remembered, all the other things that the guy down at the shop had said, mainly what he was supposed to do so the pierced, coloured skin wouldn't soon get infected.

''You should not move yet if you can help it, William'' Spirit quietly said from his place by the foot of the bed. He looked like he had not moved since the last time William had seen him, which was about four hours ago, when he was actually glad to be woken up by pain from yet another nightmare. ''Well, can't exactly help it right now, so, move'' he ordered. God, how he hated this room, and the fact that the space between his bed and the bed that would eventually belong to his room-mate (room-mate!) was so small that Spirit could completely block it with his body, effectively stopping William from reaching any other part of the room, which included the bathroom he was currently aiming for.

''Be careful'' the wolf warned him and William bit back on the smart-ass remark forming on the tip of his tongue. He knew that the only reason Spirit spoke at all was because he was truly worried, and that had he wanted to, he could have found a way to stop him from getting the bloody thing on his back in the first place, as he probably thought he should have. Instead, he had sat there by his side, giving him something to grip on as the needles pierced through his skin, silently watching, remembering, helping him. Just as he always had.

''Okay'' William replied sullenly, still angry from running on too little sleep and acting like it despite everything else that he might know or think. He was tired, and sleepy, and in pain, and as far as he was concerned, everything else could go to hell.

''Get me some pain meds, Warrior, would you?'' he asked as he disappeared into the small bathroom, closing the door behind him with a strongest thud he could currently manage. ''God, I feel like I'm dying...''

''Hello, Lulu'' the wolf said, his large, calm, bright blue eyes following her carefully as she walked deeper into the room, her face hidden both by the shadow made by her hat and the almost darkness of the room itself which had been created in hopes of helping William sleep past morning; a thought that, unfortunately, did not have the desired effect.

''I am Spirit. This is Warrior'' he continued speaking, calmly introducing himself and his fellow spirit, hoping that the girl would have enough sense not to start screaming, for it was the last thing they needed with William being in a mood such as he was, for the somewhat frail looking girl in front of him did not seem strong enough to survive the shit storm a scream was sure to cause. Ever since he had heard that William was almost completely sure to get a room-mate, he had hoped, probably against all hope, that whoever ended up sharing his room, turned out to be just as strong and stubborn as him for he truly saw no other way for another human being to survive sharing the space of an angry, bitter being William had become ever since he had heard he was to be sent here, even before he was in so much pain he probably felt like death would be preferable to it all. This girl however looked like she didn't poses much in the way of those qualities however...

''Your new room-mate, however, is currently locked in the bathroom. He should be out soon'' he added, knowing that the situation been same as it was just a few months ago he would be sitting in front of the bathroom door right now, urging William to come out already because he was not to be late for school <i>again</i>; the situation, however, has greatly changed in those few months and he dared not jab the boy too much, fearing that he would see darkness rising up in his eyes again; he would not be able to take that again. He could do nothing, thus, but hope that William would either ignore the frail looking girl, or that she was stronger than she seemed.

Just as he was about to introduce William despite him still being absent for the main room the door hiding him from view finally opened. William, still blind to anything but his own pain and how to make it stop, completely failed to notice the new person in the room at first.

''The meds?'' he asked Warrior hopefully, in a thin voice, the skin around and under his tattoo hurting more the more he moved, making him silently cry for bed and sleep he knew would not last. Warrior offered him the small, blue-white piles he had been holding in his left hand. ''Thank you'' the boy whispered, the word more of an unwilling instinct than a willing thought; he did not say neither thank you nor please willingly any more.

Sighing as the fast spreading relief of meds he had just swallowed dry spread quickly through his blood, he turned towards Spirit in order to ask him something, thus finally noticing the girl, a deep dark frown forming immediately on his face.

''Who the fuck are you?'' he asked in a sharp, gruff voice.

''And why the fuck is the fucking light on?!'', William continued speaking, his voice becoming even deeper as he groaned, the pain which he had thought would stay away at least for a few hours more suddenly returning as the bright, artificial light met with his eyes, though in a much milder form. After suffering for hours to no end during the last two days, however, William's mood was such that a paper cut would be more than he could currently stand to bear. ''Turn it off'', he snarled, in a quite voice, trying to control himself, for he had learned in the last few months to hold himself at briefest of bys, even when anger threatened to overwhelm him whole, and thus he knew that a bloody light-bulb, no matter how much pained it caused him, was not worth him doing to the dorm what he had done to his family home. Warrior moved with swiftness of a hunter, pressing the switch again before the boy that was his Summoner could explode. Spirit immediately approached the boy, offering comfort, along with a bit of judgement, and something to hold on. William burring his hands in Spirit's fur was something that has proven most effective when the boy wanted to avoid getting into trouble; that, at least has not changed since the rise of darkness.

''Who the fuck names their daughter Lulu?'', William asked rudely, eyeing the small girl handling sweaters under his quickly darkening look. For that, however, he received a reminder from Spirit to at least try and act like a human being, for even though he turned a blind eye to some things in fear, the wolf would not do it completely.

''Please excuse him'', the wolf than spoke in the name of a human. ''He is irritable when he is in pain'', he added, glaring at the boy, daring him to say something against that. ''He would also prefer if the room stayed dark, until at least until he fell as sleep again.''

''As if I could fall asleep like this'', William groaned once more, reminded again of his pain. It was gone for now, everything but his head at least, but it was not just the pain keeping him awake as well, it was the nightmares too.

''So this shit of a school not only had to assign me a room-mate but it also had to make it a bloody girl?'' he asked, lowering himself carefully on the bed. ''Figures. Damn my life...''

''I don't care'', William spoke suddenly before Spirit could get a word in, his voice suddenly dead, emotionless and cold. He was no longer groaning about his pain. Instead he turned, moving like the skin on his back wasn't still burning like it had been set on fire and then left so for days, crossing the small room in three large steps, switching the light off again. ''I do not give a fucking damn if you trip over your own feat and fall dead. The light will stay off, even if I have to kill you myself to get it so.''

For a moment, he thought about calling out to Warrior and ordering him to guard the light switch from the damn girl; he gave up, however, knowing that he would get nothing but a silent mock in return.

''And you don't have to worry your pretty little head about Spirit making excuses for anybody but himself'', he said, moving once more so he was standing right in front of Lulu, towering over her with his height. ''I do not want a fucking room-mate. I do not want to share my space with anybody but myself and Spirit and Warrior. I do not want you, or anybody else here, and I am more than used to getting things to happen my own way, and I expect things to stay that way'', he said, scoffing, knowing that even here there had to be a place where his parent's money and name would get him enough say to change anything he did not like, even after all that he had done, he thought, cringing as the dark bottomless pit in which he had stored his fear and guilt threatened to throw up its content back at him, for such things would never be made public. The only thing he wished the most however, he could not change; being stuck on this island, however, did not mean he would have to bend his will to the wishes of some stupid little girl.

''And you shall not utter another word about things you do not know a thing about, the things I paid for and why I am in pain being, obviously, one of them'', turning around, he stalked back to bed and laid down. ''Now shut the fuck up all three of you and let me fucking sleep while the meds are still working.''

Spirit watched as the boy raged in silence. He had tried to stop it, both before it had begin and while William was talking, but once he had started, there was almost no containing the boy, especially now, especially when the girl had gone and done it for herself by mentioning the bloody thing on his back.

''You shouldn't do that'', he said, turning towards the girl. If he could not make excuses for the boy, he would at least keep him safe from anything but himself, as was his nature in the end. ''Mentioning his tattoo will only get him angry. I also recommend not touching the lights until he is properly asleep. He won't be out for more than four hours, but that should be enough time for you to unpack.''

''As for your question'', he added then, curling his body at William's side, between his and the other bed. ''We are not students. We are both manifestations of William's power, his summoned spirits.'' Warrior had stayed in the same place he had been standing in since last night, more or less, by the end of William's bed as well, leaning at the wall, and with both of them around him, it seemed like they were crowding him in, guarding him by keeping the world as far from him as possible, which, in the end, was what they were going to have to do. Sending William to school was a bed idea, giving him a room-mate even worse; he was going to get hurt by hurting others, and that too was in the end the fault of his parents and no one else. He had wanted to control William's behaviour, to guide him and help him get better. If the boy wasn't ready for that however, he was not going to let him go insulting the world unprotected.

''He's asleep'', Spirit said, listening carefully to the way William's breathing changed. It was slow now, deep and calm, or as calm as it was going to get with him at the moment; even now, when he was freshly down he was having nightmares, or at least, some kind of beginnings of them. This was why Spirit knew he would be up soon: he had not been able to hold more than four hours of sleep together ever since the things that had happened at his home. And sometimes, in his sleep, he held onto Spirit so tight that the wolf himself could not breath (thankfully, he didn't need air anyway, not really), reminding him of something the boy would never say while awake: he loved and needed them, and everything that had happened had happened for the two of them.

''You can turn on the lights now'', the wolf said, his eyes moving away from William's form even though his ears were still dead locked on his breathing; the minute it had changed, he would be there.

Before the girl could respond to his words however, Warrior moved. Turning on the lights, he made a small detour as he returned to his post, kneeling by Lulu's side as he spoke, his voice clear and almost like silk even though it was seemingly coming from under a cloth mask.

''He had been hurt'', he said, trying to hold Lulu's eyes as he spoke. ''And as any animal that has been hurt, he lashes out on the world. We are a part of him, yet aware of ourselves. It was both his gift and his need of us. Perhaps it would do you some good to know that'', having said that, the man like spirit returned to his post by William's bed.