Can you really separate people destined to be together?

Raven was shaking at this point, tears running down her cheeks as she just spilled as much as she could. How the one she had trusted had used her, kept her sister's death a secret. How her and Brock had gotten out of there, ending up staying at that strange house for the night. The stranger stabbing him, how she had managed to carry him to the border of South to flag down a taxi. "He's- He's all I have left," she said, "I haven't been able to protect anyone ... I'm a fraud ... And I can't go on if he dies now."

He spoke more calmly now that she was crying, but she knew this was a bad thing. She knew coming here had its risks, and yet she had come here anyway. He assured her that Brock wouldn't die as he wiped away her tears. Why was he like this towards her? Why did he allow her to break what they had agreed on? She just nodded, signalling she could understand his promise, but she was still scared, not quite able to shake the shock and the tears. She had been strong for so long, not allowing herself to mourn Jane and Dove properly. And now, faced with losing the last person in her remaining family, she felt so alone. "Thank you," she cried softly, closing her eyes as she tried calming down, but it seemed it would take her a little longer than usual.

After all this he still kept his distance, but she could still feel her cheeks warm where he had touched her. Deciding to just listen to what he said for once she nodded, walking out the door and down the stairs to find where they had placed Brock.
After checking up on him she got to the kitchen, the servant already having prepared a meal for her. She looked at the familiar faces, "I'm sorry," she apologised to them. They had just gotten back to normal and now she was back to stir up whatever it was she did to the household.

"I know he isn't," she said, but she would deal with the consequences when Brock wasn't in so much pain. She took the tea, taking big gulps even if it burnt her throat. Scarfing down her porridge she waited until she was cleared to go see him, and when she was allowed to, she came in to the room he had been taken to. Holding his bowl of porridge she walked to him, her cheeks had been dried off but her eyes were still red. "Hiya kiddo," she greeted him, walking over to sit down on the bed with him. He was being monitored, but she had been asked to help him get something to eat. "I brought you some food," she said, lifting the bowl up, her hands shaking a little as she scraped some of the porridge off of the spoon, not wanting to smother him in it. Holding the spoon to his lips she prayed he would eat. "I promise it's better than old canned beans."

She scoffed what he said he would prefer. Well she would have preferred that he hadn't been stabbed at all. Then he said something that made Raven grit her teeth. He had pulled down her mask? In that case she wanted a description, but just as she wanted to ask a servant came in with tea. She returned the smile to the servant before she left, turning her attention back to Brock.
He was right for asking, but she didn't know how much was safe for him. "I just need you to trust me on this ... Don't ask too many questions and focus on healing," she said, hoping he would understand. Maybe she would be able to tell him sometime, but saying it now might upset him. "They healed me, so they can heal you too," she assured him, helping him with the tea and porridge until both was finished.
When he had drifted off she would just sit there, holding his hand and caressing it lightly. Raven cared too much, that had always been her biggest strength and biggest weakness. Part of her never wanted to leave his side, but another part also knew that she had to figure out what to do with Samuel. He had sent her away, and now with her returning the staff seemed worried and yet relieved to see her again. Would the daemon punish her? Eat her soul or something?

Brock could rest now, even though he worried, she knew she could handle whatever Samuel threw at her. The servant entered to check on them and instead of talking in the room where Brock was sleeping, she moved out in to the hallway. Here the servant explained so much, and yet she was left with more questions. "Is he angry with me?" She asked. She knew she had broken whatever they had promised, but surely she could be no more than a poor girl in his eyes. Especially as he had offered so much to her and Brock already. "I know you say a nod and a thank you, but he's saved my brother's life, and offered housing, I can't believe that is all he would want," she spoke rather truthfully. No everything came with a price, even if you had money enough to stop word hunger. She then looked down, "he doesn't want to see me, does he?" Why was she saddened by that? Hadn't she been the one fighting her sickness to get out and away? And yet it felt like something would always draw her back. "I'll leave briefly tomorrow to go search for a job, and once I have it I'll go look for some place to live - but I'm not taking money from him and letting him pay for a place to stay," she shook her head. No. Now was the time for her independence.
She and Brock needed a fresh start, and she wanted to do it by herself.

She knew Samuel wouldn't be happy about her declining the offer, but she couldn't bear thinking that she owed him more than she already did. And then again, he was the one not wanting to see her, so she was not going to give him an excuse to, even though she really wanted to. The notion of a room made her hum, and yet she didn't think she would ever get used to this. Having someone do everything for you seemed a little excessive, but she wasn't trying to rob anybody of their job. No, that would be worse in her mind.
She went back in to Brock's room, washing his face gently as he slept, clearly knocked out from the tea, before she was told her room was ready. She headed there, still awfully tired, but it was the early mornings. The sun was over the horizon by now, and a new day had begun. She needed a shower, so she did, making sure to dispose of her clothes - or rather it was the clothes that she had gotten from here. A servant would perhaps eventually come and pick it up for cleaning.
Once her shower was over she focused on herself in the mirror. If she were to find a job they would want her to at least be pretty and smile, so she practiced her smiling. It was fake, but it was perhaps good enough to pass in a dark nightclub. Eventually she ended up out in her room, looking at the clothes that had been laid out for her. She appreciated the suppleness of it. A fancy designer thing would stick out like a sore thumb. Once she had gotten in to her underwear she sat on the bed for a while, carefully drying her hair with a towel. A couple of hours of sleep, that was all she allowed herself, and then she would have to head out. Early bird gets the worm, although she didn't know if that applied for where she was heading.

Raven didn't return until very late that night. She was exhausted, but she also felt a little happy as she went to Brock's room. "I got the job, and if all goes to plan we'll have a place to stay as well by the end of the week," she told him, sitting down by his bed, touching his forehead. He felt warm, "have they checked up on you today?" she asked. It wasn't without worry that she had left the mansion, but she hoped that she could trust Samuel to ensure Brock's safety. She looked at the bowl next to his bed, seeing that he had gotten something to eat at least, "you hungry? Want me to go get something for you?" she wanted to be there for him now that she had been gone most of the day.

Of course she had meant it. She was done with fighting for something that no-one else was fighting for. She wanted to keep Brock alive and safe, and perhaps getting out of the Blocks would mean he could have a real life. Humming she listened to him speak, nodding as it sounded like what she had gone through, though a lot of her memory was hazy from the fever. He lifted his shirt up and she scoffed, almost chuckling to see how nicely it came along. At this speed they could really be out of here by the end of the week, maybe even before that. "And you feel alright? You haven't had any trouble with any of the people here?" she needed to know. The staff had treated her nicely, but that didn't mean they would treat Brock with the same kindness, just because she had claimed he was her brother. Touching his stomach carefully she inspected the shrunken wound. "You would've been so proud of a scar," she scoffed.

Raven frowned, tilting her head to the side as she heard out what Brock told her. It was quite the claim to say that it had been Jane, mostly because Raven had been there the day. She had watched Jane fall down the ravine, and if the fall hadn't killed her, then the gas would've. "Even if she was Jay - which is very unlikely - then she wouldn't have stabbed you if she was our Jay," she reminded him. Maybe he had been seeing things too? They had lost so much already, and the news about Dove was bound to rip up some unpleasant feelings. What Brock was speaking of felt familiar, it was the same thoughts she had had when she had been stabbed in the building, and at best she thought it was some lame copycat. "From now on we put the Blocks on a backburner until we have settled in to Western," she told him. She couldn't be worried about that place when they needed to focus on their own survival. "Promise me you'll stay away from there until we both are ready to go back for some of the kids," she said in a serious voice.

He was right, of course he was, but right now neither of them were in a position that could benefit them if they went back right away. No, build a base, be smart, have a safe space, that was what Winston had taught them, and that was the rules to live by. "Alright, I promise, just ... Just don't get your hopes up," she said in regards to this person being Jane. If it was Jane, then of course Raven would want to do everything in her power to get her back to normal, but if it was indeed a copycat, then they had to be weary. She had already been willing to stab Brock, and perhaps something more, so who knew what this mystery person was able to do.
"You should get some sleep now; I need to get something to eat, and plan out what I'm going to do in regards to clothes," she said. Each dancer was expected to have some outfits to dance in, and she didn't feel like she was ready to just dance completely naked just yet. "And I might've gotten you a foot in to be a bodyguard at the place ... So you need to focus on getting healed up and strong," she smiled. Getting up, she leaned down, kissing his forehead before leaving to let him have his rest.

Raven had been working hard, taking extra hours, learning the routines of everyone. She had even started getting some loyal customers, some that tipped her quite well when she danced a certain way. This club luckily didn't sell sex, they sold fantasy, and Raven felt best when she was on stage. Though of course some of the girls had their side hustles, she kept to strictly dancing, either stage or lap dances.
During her last dance one of her stockings had ripped, so she was out in the dressing room, getting hydrated as she changed out of the stockings, cursing at herself because she should've known they would rip. She would have to see if she could borrow a pair from one of the other girls then. And she was in luck, Crystal always carried a spare pair, and she owed her from the lipstick crisis - a dark day in the club indeed. Here all the girls went by stage names. At least while on the clock. Crystal's real name was Mariah, just like Raven was called Siren and not her real name. She had gotten the name Siren, mostly in teasing, because the first time she had swung around the pole her hands had slipped and someone had to call an ambulance to check up on her.
"Well if they are coming here then Morty already has the girls picked out," Raven said, rolling her eyes. Brock had a shift later tonight, so she texted him, asking him to bring a spare hoodie for her for later. "When are you and Brock going to realize you two are meant for each other?" Crystal asked and it made Raven gag as she chuckled, "please, I see him as nothing else than my baby brother, so you can have a go if you want to." The girls at the club were happy to have a new and young bouncer, one that wasn't afraid to sling out some remarks here and there. Morty called for her and she sighed, the other girls wooing as if Raven would get in trouble.
"I know, I know, here are the last weeks money; They were in my locker and-" but Morty shook his head, "forget about the money, kiddo, I want you in the room tonight - Maryse just called in sick and I need one with dark hair like her." Raven frowned, but agreed. It would be stupid to not take the gig as money from rich businessmen was more than welcome in her pocket. "Alright but tell Brock that I'm working late too," she said and Morty just rushed her off to get cleaned and ready for the fancy men.

"Yeah, none of us." she sighed, rolling her eyes. It was maybe a bit of jealousy but how could you not be? Being chosen meant more money, more money was great. Morty calling for Raven definitely drew some eyes as everyone was quite snoopy. Well most were, some didnt seem to care for much else than getting money to feed their families.
As soon as Brock heard that Raven was working late, he excused himself to go check on her. Knocking on the door, he covered his eyes before entering. "What's Morty telling me? Why are you working late tonight?" he asked with a small visible frown, at least by the wrinkle on his forehead. "It's not because of all the fancy men coming in the backdoor is it?"

Brock arriving always made a bit of a stir. He had cleaned up quite nicely, looking stronger every day with the fact that he was getting a more decent diet. Raven was in the middle of changing, sighing as he came in to ask a lot of questions. "Brock think about it; With the kind of money that I can get for one night, we could afford maybe taking in a couple of kids," she argued. Sure, it was small steps, but it was better than nothing. She hadn't given up on the kids down in the Blocks just yet, and she still had to help him find the copycat down there as well. "Did you bring the hoodie?" she asked, grabbing it if he held it out, putting it on over her outfit. It was always a bit cold, and she usually brought a big shirt, but she had forgotten today. "I'm decent," she said, removing his hand from his face, letting them look at each other. "Think about it, it would be a bit more money on the backburner in case something happens," she said with a smile. She was a big girl, she could handle this, but Brock always got so defensive like he had to protect her. In her mind it was her job to protect him, and by making more money she could be sure of it. "Morty already said it would be no nakedness and he even discouraged side hustling," which was key for selling their bodies in other ways. This was as safe as she could be, right?