Okkkkk, so I wrote this to practice doing research before writing to sound more accurate in my stories, so this isn't going to be my best work, but I'm posting it bc I know that someone actually wanted to read it, so here it is!!!
The Story Where Nevan Saved Cassie After She Got Hypothermia.
“They make me sick.” Cassie complained to the redhead who was looking over emails.
Maddie looked up at the two men in front of her. One of which was her uncle, who she never really knew about until about a couple years ago. The other was her Auburn haired friend’s father. They weren’t paying much attention to Maddie and Cassie, they were making drinks in the kitchen in front of the living room where their niece and daughter were.
“Seriously. He has his own place, so why is he always here?” Cassie continued to complain.
“Rian doesn’t have many friends, and the only other one he lives with, he hates. After Cyrus moved in with us here, he got desperately lonely.” Maddie answered, typing aggressively on her computer.
“Okay, but why my dad? Why is my dad the only one he enjoys talking to?”
“Everybody else treats him like he’s a child, and apparently your dad doesn’t.”
Cassie groaned. Her father already lashed out on her for questioning him about it. Of course her father was drunk at that time and there was no way Cassie was willing to get another injury due to someone else’s drinking habits. Instead of trying to argue about it, she decided to complain to her best friend about it. Even though her father does not care for Maddie for a reason he hasn’t explained and has told her thousands of times to not hang out with Maddie, Cassie still hung out with her.
“Could you tell him Dad’s already in a relationship?”
“Cassie. Come on. Something you don’t really seem to understand is that your father doesn’t actually care for your mother. She’s really just for show. She’s not even your mother, she’s your step mother.”
“That doesn’t matter. Duvessa treats me as if I was her daughter by blood. I don’t understand why nobody sees that. If Dad leaves her for Rian…what’s going to happen to me and Vessa?”
Cassie was only fourteen. It did concern Maddie whenever Cassie brought up serious conversations such as these. Maddie looked up again to see that Cassie was staring at her father and Rian having a genuine good time together.
“Well, I hope she’d see that none of this is your fault. If she truly loves you, she’d see that.”
Cassie still groaned, annoyed. She turned away and turned to her phone. Just as she looked away, her father looked up to see his daughter. Maddie noticed when he turned his focus to glare at her. For some reason, Nevan doesn’t exactly care for Maddie. It could be because of how terrible she was when she first came to Hell. He set the drink he was making down then came over to the two girls.
Cassie strained her eyes to the tiktok she was watching, trying to ignore her father looking at her. He knew Cassie was purposely ignoring him, but he chose not to say anything to her specifically. He turned to face his daughter’s redheaded best friend.
“Is she still mad at me?” He asked Maddie.
“Are you still mad at me?” He then asked, turning to Cassie.
Cassie looked up at him, turning her eyes to look widened and confused.
“Mad at you? Why would I be mad at all?” She asked.
She’s trying to gaslight him, but she still hasn’t gotten the hang of it yet. With the rank she’s at, she could possibly gaslight Rian, but not her own father.
“Cassie, stop gaslighting me.”
“I’m not gaslighting anyone. Why would I gaslight you?” If I was mad, you’d know.”
“Cassie, I’m sorry for lashing out.”
Maddie chose to stay silent during the bickering. She had too many work emails to take care of to get involved in an argument.
Now it was starting to piss Maddie off. She finished typing up the email she was sending to her boss, then clicked ‘send.’ She knew Cassie was being a little dramatic even though her father came to apologize to her first, but Maddie understood more than anyone what it’s like to be in Cassie’s position.
“She’s not ready to talk yet. Give her some more time.”
Nevan turned from Cassie and glared a dagger at Maddie. Maddie only stared back with a monotone expression.
“Who are you to talk for my daughter?”
“Your daughter’s best friend.”
“You’re her only friend because she scares away everyone else.”
That wasn’t exactly the truth. Cassie had other friends. Like…two… maybe. The way her father said “she scares everyone else” kind of stuck on her. She didn’t see herself as scary. She knew she fought the other kids her age a lot, but that was because fighting was a way of surviving where she used to live. None of those fights were her fault though! The other kids started them. In some ways, her father believed her because he never got mad at her for the fights she had, but he wasn’t making an effort to help her not do that either.
The stab she felt in her mind broke it in half. She stood up from the couch and walked past her friend and her father.
“You know, I don’t really need this right now. I’m going on a walk.”
Nevan stared at her. She wasn’t wearing anything besides a zip up hoodie, t-shirt and shorts. It was the middle of winter, she’s going to freeze out there.
“Are you planning on changing clothes?” Nevan asked even though it was a dumb question to ask someone like her.
“Cassie, it’s below thirty degrees, you’re going to need more than a hoodie.” Maddie insisted.
“I’m not going to be gone long.” Cassie replied even though she did not want to come home for at least a couple hours.
“If you freeze to death, I’m not going to save you.”
“Thanks for your support, Dad. I can always count on you for that.”
She walked out of the doors of the apartment and started walking down the streets. She wasn’t really supposed to go too far, but she decided to walk as far away as she could from the hellhole she lived in.
They were right about the cold. The second she closed the door behind her, the cold hit her like a thousand bricks. Although the last place she wanted to be was home. She continued walking even though the sharpened wind ate at the cracks of her hands. Due to the cold, she zipped her hoodie up and pulled the hood over her head.
As she walked, she realized that there was almost nobody else out. Sure she saw a few cars here and there, but there was nobody else aimlessly walking around. Well, duh, it’s the middle of January and it’s heavily snowing outside. It’s miserable to be outside right now, and yet a fourteen year old girl is walking around by herself and the only thing that could keep her the slightest bit warm is a
zip up hoodie that was meant for design more than actual warmth.
The cold started to numb Cassie’s face as she walked down the streets. How long has she been gone? She checked her phone and didn’t realize how numb her hands were until she tried typing on her phone. She left at 4:15, it was now 5:00. She had been gone for forty-five minutes. Not too long, but probably long enough to worry Maddie at least. Maybe she should start heading back.
Nevan watched the clock turn to 5:01 PM. Cassie had been gone for forty-five minutes already. Which is odd. She said she wouldn’t be gone long. Shit. She was really upset with him. He’s not a mind reader, he can’t tell what Cassie’s upset with and she refused to tell him.
Although, the whole thing with her anger worries him. Even if he’d never admit it. Cassie is different from the other kids. She has admitted that she would walk past dead bodies when walking around her neighborhood. Some of the way she acts might have been from that.
She fights when she feels threatened. She gets the flight or flight and she chooses to fight. That could just be from what she had to do to survive, but she wasn’t in that environment anymore. Sure she lives with a bunch of demons, but some of them actually care about her. Why would she still be triggered by everything?
The worst part, she thinks it’s funny to ‘ragebait’ (as the kids these days love to call it.) If it was a sport, she’d be famous for it. Nobody really knows how she got so good at it. Rian theorizes that Maddie taught her, but Maddie didn’t ‘ragebait.’ Maddie just lashed out all the time, she didn’t try to push people over the edge like Cassie does. Is that a trauma response? He could get her therapy and seen by a professional, but he refused because of what happened to him when he was her age.
The clock just struck 5:08. He turned to Duvessa, the only one besides Maddie and Cyrus that Cassie actually likes. She should know if Cassie has texted or returned home. He walked into their bathroom, trying not to choke on the stench of hair dye.
“What?” She asked, not interested enough to look at him.
“Have you seen Cassie at all?”
“No. Last time I saw her, she was still upset that you drunk lashed out on her.”
“Has she texted you at all?”
“I’ve been at this for the past thirty minutes, I wouldn’t know if she texted me at all. Is there any specific reason you’re asking?”
“Don’t worry, she’ll turn up soon. She can’t go an hour without ragebaiting one of us.”
Duvessa turned back to dying her hair. Well, if she didn’t know where Cassie was, then Maddie or Cyrus would be the next best option. Although Nevan doesn’t care for Maddie, and he hates Cyrus’s father, so he didn’t feel like talking to any of them. He decided to go with Cyrus because at least he didn’t try to kill Julius.
He walked down the hallways and found Cyrus’s room door. He knocked on the door, then was greeted by “come in,” rather than Cyrus opening the door himself. He has gotten more trusting of people now that him and Maddie have been working on it together.
He opened the door to see Cyrus sitting at his desk, looking over something on his laptop. He had his back turned to him and wasn’t exactly paying attention to Nevan.
Cyrus turned to face him. His face explained the confusion he was feeling. Nevan never talks to Cyrus because of what Cyrus’s father did to him. Not even Cyrus talks to his father anymore.
“What brings you here?” Cyrus asked, confused.
“I’m wondering if you know where my daughter is. She’s mad at me at the current moment and she’s not going to respond to my texts.”
Cyrus’s eyes widened with concern.
“Uh, no, I haven’t seen her since this morning. Maybe Maddie knows?”
“Do you know where Maddie is?”
“She left for a meeting with her boss and some of her other coworkers.”
“Maddie’s pretty good at navigating it. I wouldn’t suggest bothering her right now. Do you know if Cassie went anywhere?”
“She went on a walk nearly an hour ago.”
Cyrus’s face went pale. He turned to his window and looked at the heavy snowfall coming down. He turned back to Nevan and got out his jacket.
“I can help you look for her.”
Cassie turned to walk back home, but she didn’t even realize how much the snow picked up. Her eyes couldn’t really see more than four feet ahead of her. She could text Maddie to see if she was willing to drive to find her, but the second she was about to open Maddie’s contact, her phone displayed the screen that told her that it was going to shut down because of the cold weather. She rolled her eyes and put her phone back in the pocket of her hoodie.
Well now she was lost in the middle of a snowstorm, so that’s great. She walked down the snow covered streets, trying to find a landmark that could tell her where she was and where to go to find herself back home. She really doesn’t remember if she went left or right after the doors closed behind her.
Her hands were beginning to feel numb almost as if she couldn’t feel the cold from them. She looked down at her hands, realizing her hands were shaking. She was confused as to why they were shaking, they’ve been in her hoodie pockets, why would they be shaking so violently? She tried to get them to stop, but they were so numb, she couldn’t feel them.
She put her hands back into her pockets and began to continue walking to where she was going. She still couldn’t find her way back. The road seemed to stretch out further and the snow falling down was covering her vision.
She then found herself breathing way too harshly. Her chest felt sore and it hurt to breathe, but she continued breathing quickly. Her ribs tightened over her lungs and felt as if they were going to cut into her lungs. The feeling confused her. She didn’t feel like she was out for that long, could it be the cold? Or it could be her power working against her because she knows that happens to people with power like hers.
She then remembered with her power that she could just teleport with someone or something’s shadow. She looked around the space around her, there weren't any shadows she could use. It was too cloudy to cast any. Well shit.
She tried to walk, but she stumbled over her feet and then felt an extreme pain in her left eye. She squinted her eyes to see better, then realized she walked into a street light. Her body began to feel like it stopped shivering. That could be a good sign.
Although Cassie was losing herself. She couldn’t remember where she was. She couldn’t remember why she was even gone. Cassie’s breath was starting to feel weak. Her lungs filled with cold air, which felt like glass was cutting her lungs apart.
All it took was tripping over what seemed to be a rock on the ground for her to pass out in the middle of the sidewalk.
“She has Stage Three Severe Hypothermia.” The constantly overworked doctor explained. “I can treat it, it’s not the worst thing I’ve dealt with here.”
Nevan remained silent. There was nothing he could say without Maddie blowing up at him. He never expected her to be upset to the point where she refused to come home and ended up getting injured.
“God, how can I be so fucking stupid?!” Maddie asked herself. “I was in a place like her, I should have said something!”
Her hair was black and ink-like and her tears looked the same.
“Maddie, honey, it’s just hypothermia-” Cyrus started.
“I know, but…she doesn’t deserve this. I was literally in the same place just two winters ago. I knew she was going to get frostbite if she went out like that, but I didn’t say anything! It’s not just frostbite either! She has stage three hypothermia…and-”
Cyrus cut her off by embracing her in a hug.
“Maddie, come on, let’s go.”
He then left the room with her, leaving Nevan alone with Simon.
“When is she going to wake up?” Nevan asked, starting to get worried.
“Once her body temperature rises, she should wake up.” Simon answered. “I’ll leave you alone with her, if she wakes up while I’m gone, please don’t overwhelm her.”
He left the room, leaving Nevan to sit in silence with the regret of causing his daughter to rather get hypothermia than to come home. He knew once Duvessa got done with her work, she was going to get frustrated with him as well.
For the next several hours, he sat in silence with only the heart monitor beeping. It was silent until the heart monitor started displaying his daughter’s heart rate starting to stabilize. He realized that that must mean that she was going to wake up soon. He didn’t even know what to say to her after she woke up.
Maybe “Sorry for pissing you off to where you would have rather gotten hypothermia than come home to see me.” Or maybe a simple “Sorry” would suffice? He didn’t know.
Not that he even tried to make any effort to show he cared about her. He really just stayed in his personal bubble. That was until Cassie would come over to him and annoy him until he got pissed and told her to go away, which never worked until Cassie got bored then went back to either Duvessa or Maddie.
Before he could even begin to think of what to say to her, her hands clenched onto the bedding. Her nails cut deep within the sheets as she opened her eyes after five hours of unconsciousness.
“Holy shit!” She gasped out, realizing she was in the infirmary.
Nevan was in shock for a couple seconds. He tried to tell himself she wouldn’t sacrifice him to the shadow realm and to just make sure she was okay. He got up off the chair in the far corner of the room and made his way towards her.
“Cassie.” He hesitated. “Calm down.”
He reached to grab her arm, but she flinched back. Her eyes were shaking and seemed like she was about to break down. After she realized who was talking to her, she sighed, then put her knees to her chest as a form of comfort.
“What happened?” Cassie asked, confused and anxious.
He stared at her for a couple minutes. She seemed to get annoyed that he was taking so long, but he struggled to find the right words to say to her.
“You got hypothermia. You should be fine now, but your body temperature is freezing, so try to stay warm, okay?” He answered as he pulled the blanket back over her.
Cassie was too exhausted to really come up with her own opinions. She stared at her father with a vacant expression. She was wondering where her mother and Maddie were. She didn’t exactly want to be alone with her father. Although she can’t exactly remember why she was even mad at him to begin with.
After some more confused silence from her, he decided to step out of his comfort zone a little. He grabbed her into an embrace, confusing her. This man didn’t even know she existed for eleven years. He didn’t even want to take her with him. His boss had to force him to. Why does he care that she was close to dying of hypothermia?
That confused her even more. She thought it was weird he was apologizing even though she doesn’t remember what exactly happened to cause this. She then gently pulled herself away from her father.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” She started, pushing him off her. “Where’s Mom?”
“Seriously?” Nevan asked, annoyed. “I’m trying to have a moment here, and you push me away and ask where your mother is?”
“Well it’s weird getting any sort of affection from you. Also, why are you so close to me, don’t I have the bubonic plague?” She asked, purposely trying to annoy him.
“You have hypothermia, Cassandra.”
“That’s not the same thing?” Cassie asked, still trying to piss him off.
“Don’t test me right now, Cassie.”
Realizing she was fine now, he decided to walk away from her and over to the door.
“Seeing that you’re fine now, I’m leaving to get your mother because you probably don’t want to be alone with me. Don’t do anything crazy while I’m gone.” He told her as he opened the door.
With that, he left the room.
Yet again guys, this is all fanon, like come on, literally nobody in hellcrew cared for their kids (except Cian) but hope yall enjoyed anyway and please tell me if there was something you liked, or I could do better. Thank you for reading!!
Nevan and the rest of the Canon hellcrew - @sanityshorror
