Transmutate these leaden grudges into gold.

[hostage]

WHO: Jesse Pinkman, Joel Miller & Carl Grimes
WHERE: Xavier School for imPorts
WHEN: Afternoon of Tuesday, May 3
WHAT: Consequences catch up with Jesse during a drop gone wrong.
WARNINGS: Violence and blood.

[Delivering cash to the school isn't normally a job that requires a bodyguard. Jesse would have done it by himself, if not for the fact that he hasn't spent nearly as much time with Joel as he'd like. And FanPort was a minor disaster, as far as their relationship (or whatever it can be called) is concerned. The best way to mend it is a return to the familiar: Jesse doing business and Joel accompanying him as the muscle. Besides, it never hurts to have more than one person guarding a duffel bag full of $100,000.

But as far as drops go, this one's far from dangerous. It's a beautiful, sunny afternoon on a quiet school campus. Classes are over for the day, so the halls are quiet as the pair enter the building. Professor Callaghan isn't expecting Jesse at any specific time and the office might very well be empty, which means Jesse will unload the cash into the safe himself and be on his way. All in all, a very simple errand.

Which is why his attention is mostly fixed on Joel and not their surroundings.]

You hungry? I was thinking Cuban, after we're done here.

Comments

[112ounces]

[ Carl tenses as Joel stares him, his lone eye angry and wild and defiant. He doesn't know or understand how Joel is involved in all this - was he just a casual friend of Jesse's, or something different - but he knows the costs of attacking someone close to a fellow survivor. But that is exactly what Carl is doing, what any survivor worth their salt is doing.

He's not doing anything wrong. He's doing something right for a change. So he stares back at Joel defiantly, just daring Joel to do anything -

- which took him by surprise when Joel shoves him to the stairwell. He wasn't expecting that, not from Joel. He stumbles, nearly falling, and he gets a confused glance from Joel. He looks at the knife, glinting in shiny gore, tempting. And god, he wants to do it. One final stab in the heart, and it will be over.

But Joel is larger and faster. Carl knows this. And he would stop Carl before he could even take the first step.

It's already over.

Carl gives Jesse one final, cold look and pushes at the door, leaving behind partially bloody handprints. His shoes squeak red, making a trail. He goes up the stairs, the trail of blood becoming faint with each step, until he goes into his and Dad's apartment. ]

[shittybirthday]

[ Joel half expects Carl to fight him, or attempt to dodge around him in effort to resume his attack on Jesse. For that reason, Joel stands rooted on the spot, watching Carl retreat with that same hard, dangerous look on his face. It's only once Carl is fleeing up the staircase that Joel lets out a shaky breath he didn't realise he was holding as his shoulders sag, hard expression dropping to a numb, bewildered shock again.

He whirls around to Jesse and rushes towards him, his boots skidding through a thick puddle of blood as he drops down in front of Jesse. Alarmed worry is now written across his face, especially now he can see up close just how bad a state Jesse is in. He wedges an arm behind Jesse's shoulders, his other arm scooping underneath Jesse's knees. ]

C'mon. C'mon, I got you.

[hostage]

[Jesse had honestly expected Carl to take the opportunity to finish the job, Joel's presence be damned. Even if he couldn't get past, the scuffle between them might just have caused a delay long enough for Jesse to bleed out. It's lucky for him that Carl retreats instead.

By the time Joel reaches him, Jesse's lips have gone blue and his skin is freezing. His arms are too weak to keep pressure on the wounds any longer. They go slack as Joel draws him up.]

Don't let me - Don't let me...

[It's hard to get the words out around a mouthful of blood. But Joel understands, right? He'll die if he passes out.]

[shittybirthday]

[ The blue lips and how cold Jesse feels freaks Joel out. Joel has been there before, with someone he cares about bleeding out and dying in his arms. Sarah's lips had turned blue and her skin cold not long after she died.

He yanks his arm back out from under Jesse's knees to quickly slap Jesse's cheek a few times, firm and urgent with a trembling hand, to try and force Jesse to stay conscious. ]

Stay with me. C'mon, stay with me.

[ That arm snatches underneath Jesse's knees again with a hurried fumble, hoisting Jesse's limp body up into his arms. Joel isn't aware of it but his breathing has picked up, growing increasingly panicked.

Okay, he needs to concentrate. Needs to think about a place he knows where he can take Jesse. The living room in the beach house is the first place that comes to mind. He squeezes his eyes shut to concentrate on it hard. Black mist starts coiling up around him, enveloping Jesse and himself like ectoplasmic snakes. A second later, they vanish from sight and the black smoke clears.

(ooc: continued here)]