As the loud voice from the kitchen called out cheerily, "Brennan!" Chris's blood went from cold to boiling. Zeven hadn't even stepped out of the kitchen area before she had landed her first punch. With a burning intensity, Chris landed a blow directly into Brennan's gut. As he doubled over she rammed the palm of her hand up at his nose. The loud snap of the bridge of his nose didn't dissuade her, if anything it spurred her on.
Brennan knew what was coming the moment he saw her on the stairs. He knew but he did nothing to stop her. When the first hit landed he felt himself bend over, his body instinctively collapsing on itself. He tried to fight the urge to block her next blow, keeping his hands glued to his sides. With each hit he wanted to cry out to Chris, but there was nothing he could say to change the things that he had done. He deserved this, he knew he deserved this.
Blood oozed from Brennan's nose and there were bruises forming everywhere she had hit. He sunk to his knee with the next hit, his body desperately trying to find relief. His eyes started to swell, distorting everything he could see her face, but it looked like she was crying. Brennan felt her hands reach around the lapel of his shirt and failed to catch his breath as she slammed him against the front door. Chris was screaming now, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. Her voice sounded wet, so different from what he had heard when she commanded the army.
Brennan lifted hand nor finger to defend himself. He took every hit like it was his duty. And when they stopped coming he opened his eyes and lifted his head. Zeven had appeared from the kitchen and was now in the process of trying to restrain a hysterical Chris. Zeven kept his voice even trying to coax Chris back to her senses, his voice was hardly louder than a whisper. He held Christopher's hands behind her head with one arm as he tried to wrap the other around her waist. Christopher was still screaming, straining against Zeven's grasp. She kicked her legs frantically trying to make contact with something.
After a particularly strong kick Zeven released his hold of her arms and she broke free. Flinging herself back towards Brennan, Zeven caught her mid descent and flung her back. "Chris-" His plea was cut off as she swung wide catching him across the left side of his face. Zeven drew a sharp breath as he felt his cheek start to sting. Chris reared back for a second hit, but this time Zeven leaned out of the way and she over shot her target. As her fist whizzed past him, Zeven grabbed her arm and sharply drew his knee into her gut.
Christopher crumpled to the floor, the breath knocked out of her, she heaved desperately trying to fill her lungs. "Gunter. Take her upstairs and clean her up." Zeven's voice left no room for questions. He stood upright, his hands firmly at his side as he watched Gunter practically drag Christopher upstairs. Gunter slipped his arm around Chris grabbing onto the waistband of her trousers to help keep her upright. His other hand grabbed a hold of the arm slung over his shoulder. She put up no fight, having just exhausted herself. The pair slowly made their way upstairs and out of earshot.
Zeven turned back to his friend who was propped up against the door. He sighed as he crouched down to get a better look at the damage she had done. Brennan's nose was definitely broken; blood was still streaming out of it and the area around his eyes was beginning to discolor. Carefully so as not to strain him, Zeven took his hand and reached around the back of Brennan's head. He used his fingers to check for swelling or any sign of injury. Finding a large swollen bump but no blood, Zeven began to pick up the man. Saving Brennan's dignity, he did not sweep him up into his arms. Instead he pulled him upright in a similar fashion to the way Gunter had picked up Chris. Making sure to go slowly, Zeven moved Brennan into the kitchen area.
When Zeven had placed Brennan on a bar stool and propped him up against the wall, he grabbed a clean wash rag and wet it before bringing it over to his friend. He sat the cloth on the counter as he pulled up a second bar stool. Positioning it closer to Brennan he looked up to find that Brennan was looking back at him. Zeven smiled softly reaching his hand to Brennan's face, trying to see if he'd need to set it back in its rightful place. "You should have stayed asleep. If I have to realign your nose I can't imagine it will feel too good." Brennan winced as Zeven's hand gingerly floated across the bridge of his nose and down its sides.
"Zeven you are one of the dumbest people I know." Zeven removed his hand, after feeling it, nothing was out of alignment just fractured. "How do you figure?" His voice was very civil, sounding like a true question instead of a snarky comeback. "How could you bring her here? You've always been one for rash decisions but this… this is... " Brennan couldn't find the words, he was frustrated with Zeven, but more so angry with himself.
Still listening to Brennan mumble Zeven took the cloth and wiped off the blood on his face, Saving his nose for last so as to keep it there to help catch the flow of blood. Zeven grabbed Brennan's arm and guided it up to hold the rag to his nose. Zeven stepped away. "Zeven," Brennan caught his arm, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
This time Zeven's voice sounded less in control and more frustrated, "Are you questioning my judgement?"
"You bet your ass I am." After his small outburst, Brennan winced from the throbbing pain in his chest. "I spent nearly eight months with her Zeven. Her father's insanity rival's your father's. She's not like the other women who you can manipulate with charm and status. I thought you'd at least be sensible enough to turn her over to your Kingdom, and what do I find, not only have you brought her here, you have given her free run of the house. It's not safe, it's idiotic truely."
"There is no need for you to worry about me."
"You're not the one that concerns me."
Zeven took a deep breath and looked Brennan in the eyes. Brennan, his friend since childhood, held a pained look in his eyes. More than just his body was aching, it was obvious that whatever happened on Chris's side during the war had resonated with Brennan in some way. "You understand that she-" Zeven chose his words carefully, "tried to kill you?"
Diametrically opposed in their opinions the two of them refused to back down. "She could have if she wanted to. I had a knife on me, in the same location I kept it when I served by her side. That knife is now thrown embedded in the wall across from the front door. If she wanted to serve the traitor's punishment she would have done it with the knife."
"Are you sure, because from where I was standing, it looked like she wanted to kill you with her bare hands."
"I'm telling you Zeven, that's not what she looks like before she tries to kill someone!"
Brennan was frustrated. As much as it hurt, her outburst was not meant to kill him. He didn't know why, but she had spared his life. He pulled the now red rag away from his face checking to see if the bleeding had stopped or not. It hadn't.
"You've seen her kill people?"
"She was commander of the Ametade army Zeven, what do you think she did?"
Zeven ran a hand back through his hair. Taking a deep breath as he did it. "She's a girl."
"She's both, and if you keep refusing to acknowledge that fact, it will come back and bite you in the ass."
Brennan was not one to recklessly give his opinions, and from the insistant way Brennan kept protesting it gave Zeven pause.
"She's also not her father, you can't hold that over her. I'd bet that she hates him more than you do. She could truly be a good ally to you, if you just get over yourself."
Zeven and Brennan had been close friends for years, but every so often Brennan's words cut deep enough that Zeven wanted to break his nose. Again.
"Put yourself in her shoes for a minute. You can't expect me to believe you would act with much more decorum in this situation."
"What was your relationship?" Zeven quickly turned the conversation on its heels. Brennan looked uncomfortable, the blood soaked rag hid the frown, "What does that matter?" Zeven inched closer, not touching Brennan, but invading his space, "What do you feel for her?" "I didn't even know she was a woman for the first several months, I assure you she is nothing more than a friend to me."
"I am your friend."
"You're more like a bitchy cousin."
Zeven frowned, and Brennan pushed past the silence, "You could stand to have more friends. And quite frankly so could she. My advice- get over yourself and learn to cooperate with her."
Zeven cocked his eyebrow, "I already offered my hand in friendship, needless to say it was not reciprocated."
"Did you really offer friendship, or did you offer a ploy? I'm telling you Zeven, she doesn't trust easily, you have to mean it or she will see straight through the bullshit."
"I have nothing to say to her."
"Like hell you don't, I don't know what has gone on these last few days, but I was there at the beginning, or did you forget the stunt you pulled. You could have had an ally but now you are lucky she doesn't try to kill you in your sleep-" the last sentence was muttered under his breath as he looked away from Zeven.
"Look, I think that we both know that this entire situation has gotten out of hand… it just comes down to if you want to fix it. Or not."