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On his wonder, Halle look at the paper with pressed lips and and a small burst of internal screaming. It was followed by a quick exchange where he got the nearest cross street and in turn he asked Lisse to power down for now.

An injured Knight was a much more tempting target than an injured civilian.

Not too long later, Jason pulled up in their mom's SUV, towels already spread out over the passenger side and backseats. Good thing too, since it was...a lot of blood. Stepping out, Jason had to pause at the sight of it all and just, breathe for a long moment. He should have brought the Soothing Bell. Something. But breathing was good. Not yelling was also good.

Still, he knew a future series of nightmares when he saw one.

"Hey, let's get you in the car first, okay?"

Hovering nearby, Jason made himself just watch and wait as his brother got in. If Luke needed help, he would ask for help. At least he hoped so. And this time that hope was confirmed and in a moment, Jason was bent over the passenger seat, buckling his brother in and mindfully trying to avoid jostling him.

Much more briskly, he closed the door, then made his way into the driver's seat. Putting his phone on the mount, he let the driving directions begin to play, guiding them to the nearest open ER. The city at night was a lot different by car than by rooftop.

"So what happened?" Jason tried to keep his voice the right kind of calm, knowing full well how easy it was to take his words as accusatory. The last thing he wanted right now was for Luke to clam up out of defensiveness.

Jason's hands flexed against the wheel as he nodded and didn't interrupt, even when he heard his brother's voice start to thicken and then clear up. If Luke didn't want to cry in front of him, then Jason wasn't going to press.

How big was the youma? Were there any signs of venom? How far did it shoot the spikes? Why have you started cursing so much?

Instead of asking further questions, Jason kept reminding himself to breathe. Slowly. It was fine. His brother likely looked worse off than he actually was, but then again, how much of that was just adrenaline working overtime? No, it was fine. Or at least, he could treat it as fine, right now, in front of Luke.

Doing otherwise would just mess things up between them even further.

Taking another slow breath, Jason decided to focus on the things that were fine. "So you got to look cool in front him? That was smart use of your weapon."

And he drank juice. Sure, why not drink some juice? Jason wondered if he could coax his brother into taking a first aid class with him. Reims had gotten hurt too, but was apparently well enough to leave on his own. Or was he? Jason really didn't know him well enough to anticipate the other Knight's balance between getting help when needed vs hole up and hide all harm.

Eyes sliding back over to Luke, Jason added, "If you get really, really hurt? Like scary hurt? Contact Princess Lysithea first. She has healing magic and is..." He almost said reliable, but couldn't say the words. Not to his brother, who trusted him.

"She'll do her best to help."

A smile threatened to surface at the admission. The more he wanted the other to stay, the worse Luke's foot in mouth disease had probably gotten. He didn't who to feel worse for, his brother who'd likely ruined whatever cool impression he'd managed to make, or Reims getting drowned in strange babble out of nowhere.

Heh.

The smile grew brittle as he realized that Luke really didn't want to go to the hospital. It was probably why he'd contacted Jason to drive him there and basically have someone on hand to force him into it. And Jason, an idiot, had brought up a gleaming, magical princess of an alternative.

Slowing down, he turned into a parking lot with a sigh.

"I'll text her to see if she's up." She might not be. Or she might not even be in town. Or...maybe she blocked his civilian number. It's not like either of them had talked after that first time, and the last time they'd seen each other was

Well.

"If she's not, though, we're going to the ER okay? They must get all sorts of weird animal bites."



Please be too busy.

Slow, steady breaths. Not every breath has to be a sigh, not matter how tempting it is. "I've never visited her home," he replied quietly.

But, reading her reply, it seemed like he would be.



Pulling out of the lot, he did give into sighing. He owed at least one for all this, right? "She's waiting for us. Said she'll take you up to Lysithea for healing." And Jason couldn't help wondering if maybe he could just...wait to pick Luke up. Elsewhere.

"I guess it's good she'll probably have some cookies to go along with your non-donation of blood."

Jason had a growing suspicion that his brother had seen something alarming about rabies shots on tiktok. But it was true that avoiding their mom's notice was going to be the better route. She probably wouldn't be mad, especially not at Luke, but she might try putting them on a curfew, which would make all three of them miserable.

Caught between a laugh and another sigh, he replied, "You're the likable twin, Luke. The good one." Looking over at his brother's tired face in the red of the stop light, he rubbed his thumb restlessly along the wheel. Eventually, Jason added, "Thanks for trusting me to come."

He knew his brother didn't hate him or anything. But sometimes it seemed he didn't particularly like Jason, either. Or trust him very much. And it's not like Luke was wrong. Jason didn't tell him everything, hid things from him all too often, and was pushy. Was more likely to be critical than giving his brother the praise he knew Luke was hoping for.

On a certain level, those things were normal. It was just another facet of who they were and who they were to each other. But being knights had brought out a sort of extreme potential to it all. Breaking points were found more and more often.