Of Cages and Misery

[Byron]

Elena saw Kyle rushing towards the door after the woman, apparently in hopes to catch her before she'd manage to get out of the apartment. She herself, in her current state, couldn't rush forward as he did, instead damned the circumstances as she saw Kiara running towards the exit. Though she tried to fasten her steps, she quickly realized that this was a physical impossibility. Mason could feel the grip around his shoulder becoming a little stronger as she tensed her whole body once more. "Kiara!" she shouted again, though she would probably just waste her breath again. This woman had been the reason why she was actually here, why she had been shot in her goddamn ankle, and now she wasn't able to even catch up with her. What an absolute mess this was.

Finally, Kyle managed to grab Aurora and push her against the walll. She produced a pained yelp and did not even struggle against his grip for a few seconds of reorienting, only after which she started trying to break free. "Aurora, please, calm down!" There were notes of pleading in Kyle's voice by now, yet he still spoke slowly. "Nobody here is going to hurt you now." As Aurora started trying to break free, Kyle had visible difficulty holding her. He tried to gently pull the woman away from the wall and position himself between her and the apartment's entry door, still holding her by the shoulders. "But we need you to stay here and discuss a few things with us first, ok?"
"Aurora?" said Elena sharply while she managed to come closer and comer to them with Mason's help. Everytime she touched the ground with her injured leg, she would sink in a little, pitching and tossing like a boat. It hurt like hell, but the sight of Kiara diverted her thoughts to some extent. If she was glad to see her or frightened by her absolutely alien behavior she was not sure about, though. With raised eyebrows, she looked at Kyle, her expression telling him that something was seething inside her. "Kyle, this isn't Aurora," she went on, if only to soothe herself. In fact, the worries about what happened to Kiara doubled the moment she said it. "What's going on here?"

Aurora did not listen to either of them at all. She started cursing and loudly demanding him to let her go in various, sometimes unintelligible ways, while her struggling became more violent. Kyle cursed too, as he was having more trouble holding the woman like he did. He turned her around again so that he could hold her from behind in a hugging manner, his arms around her belly, forcing her arms to her torso. He also put his head on her shoulder so that she wouldn't hit him with the back of her head. "Didn't you get my message, Voigt?" Kyle asked, with the strain of struggle reflected in his voice. "She calls herself Aurora Moreau now. She claims she knows nothing of Kiara Garlow, and didn't even recognize me!" Aurora just kept struggling, not stopping one moment, starting to scream frustratedly, hysterically. She also turned her head to the side almost far enough to hit him with it. Kyle actually moved his head closer so that she'd have a harder time turning to him. "Please, calm down, talk to me, promise you won't try to run and pull any stunts, and I'll stop holding you, Aurora," he said rather loudly, so that she'd hear him through her own screaming.

"I did read your message," Elena replied, a bit out of breath when she reached the two struggling with each other, still being supported by Mason who was half-carrying her. For a moment or two she just stared at them, not saying any word, though her jaw sagged slightly. There was confusion in her voice as she spoke up again. "For fuck's sake, look at her," she demanded sputteringly and waved her right hand about. "What the hell has this asshole Remy done to her?" Kyle then turned his attention to Elena: "No idea, we can discuss it once she calms down!" But she did not calm down, her attempts at freeing herself rather got more and more erratic and aggressive.

An expression of total shock blossomed over Elena's face as she peered at Kiara vain, yet aggressive attempts to free herself from Kyle's clutches. Words failed her at the sight, and the fact that the woman still looked exactly like the one she had called her best friend didn't help either. Gaping at her, then at Kyle again, she was unsure what to do, hell, there was nothing she thought she could do. Except perhaps one thing. After she had limped a tad closer to them, she would speak up, silently, after having gulped loudly once. "You ... you don't remember me, do you?" she asked rather unconfidently. She had no idea how to handle the situation, didn't know what to do, only that Kyle obviously didn't know either.

Kiara - or Aurora - apparently was too busy with the struggle to even pay attention to Elena's question. At least she didn't reply anything. Kyle in the meantime tried to get her into the living room. As he did that, he turned to Mason: "Get Elena in the living room, then stand by the door, make sure she doesn't make a run for it. She's too confused to listen to reason now!"
"Alright. I'll make this quick," he said to Elena as he turned to her and lowered so his other hand could reach the back of her knees, after which he picked her up. With a grunt Elena let herself get carried by him, obviously not enjoying it, even though she had to admit it was way easier than forcing herself to walk. Still, she felt like a little child when she was picked up and carried into the livingroom. With her hands she dirigated him to one of the armchairs. "There," she just said while pointing at it, indicating him to let her go there. Seconds later she would plunk down in the chair, heaving a loud sigh. Scratching her head, she eyed Kiara and Kyle again before she looked away again. The limp in her throat had returned again, and that's how her voice sounded. "We need to get out of here, as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, Kyle dragged Kiara to the free armchair and forced her into it - although she definitely made it difficult for him -, and he would raise his voice, for the first time tonight it'd have some ordering tone to it: "Calm down!" A few seconds later: "I'm letting go now. Then you sit here, okay? I'll explain who these people are and why they're here. You understand?" The last part was said in a somewhat caring manner, although it still sounded firm. As a response, she kicked him, aiming straight between his legs as she still desperately tried to get away. Kyle instantaneously let go of her shoulders entirely and fell on the floor next to the armchair, cursing loudly.

Aurora stopped yelling. She jumped up, off the chair, keeping her eyes on Kyle and Elena, and started sprinting towards the door. Elena had watched them with a certain amount of caginess, as she herself was unable to do anything, chained to the chair as she was. She sat there, up straight, as if she was about to jump up from her chair any second, besides her injury. The exact moment Kyle fell to the ground, she did exactly that, by pure instinct she sprang up to her feet, not wanting to realize it was to no avail. In an attempt to somehow catch Kiara, she jumped forward. The hard truth hit her one second later however, as she fell to the ground again, stumbling over her own injured feet. A sharp inhale, then a frustrated "Fuck!" when she hit the ground with her arms first. A punch on the ground followed as she clenched her fingers to a fist.

Aurora only realized too late that the door she was running towards had been blocked by Mason in the meantime. It was too late to stop, so she only had time to scream in shock before they collided As she hit him it would be like she hit a wall, as his right leg would have made a slight step back to secure he wouldn't get moved. His hands would quickly take hers and cross them over on her back to make sure she couldn't hit him or even reach for the rifle that was strapped over his back. "Come on", he muttered in a voice full of frustration. "Could you just knock her out? We'll have plenty of time to talk when we're off this bloody station," he said to Kyle whilst he also pushed her away from him and turned her around. His hold on here didn't look as gentle and thoughtful as Kyle's had been.