The pain of the initial stab was bad enough but the burning heat radiating from the wound, spreading through his skull was unbearable. “What the fuck!” Klaus snapped. He tried to pull away but Ruel was still holding his ear and every tug made the pain worse.

“Hold still, you baby.” Ruel pulled on his ear again and Klaus cried out in pain. Ruel forced the other shard through his other earlobe.

Ruel let him go and took a step back, letting Klaus collapse to his knees, clutching both ears,a few tears leaking from his eyes. With both ears pierced by the glass, his entire head was throbbing in pain.

Ruel’s apathetic voice, muffled by Klaus’ hands over his ears, made the building pressure in his skull worse. “Don’t be such a whiny bitch, people get their ears pierced all the time.”

Klaus looked up, prepared to snap that this couldn’t possibly be what piercings felt like but the motion of lifting his head sharpened the pain and he let out a groan.

Ruel’s teasing smirk turned a little inquisitive as they tilted their head to the side. “Well that’s a bit overdramatic.”

White-hot, shame-laced rage thrilled through Klaus and he forced himself to his feet, stumbling at the dizzying weight of pain and pressure in his skull. Ruel caught him with an arm around his shoulders, an ‘oh’ falling from their lips. Then they pressed a cool palm against Klaus’ forehead and the pain instantly retreated to just a dull pinch in his ears. Ruel’s hand traced along the curve of Klaus’ face, brushing aside some hairs and cupping his cheek. After two little condescending pats on his cheek, Klaus shoved them away.

“Why didn’t you do that to start with, asshole?” Klaus automatically reached his hands up to touch his aching earlobes, wincing at the thankfully brief but still intense stab of pain. And winced again when he saw the bright red, tacky blood on his fingers.

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“I really thought you were being a baby. I’ve not seen anyone so sensitive to it before.” Ruel crossed their arms, staring at Klaus with narrow-eyed contemplation.

Klaus didn’t notice the look, too focused on wiping the blood on his fingers off on his undershirt. “What’s ‘it’?”

Ruel loosely gestured at Klaus’ head, “the mirror... energy? Magic? The Reflections would call it some stupid poetic shit, doesn’t matter. But if... when it happens again... just come get me.” Ruel combed their fingers through their wings, plucking a single white feather and holding it out to Klaus, “toss this in the air when you need to find me, it’ll lead you right to me.”

Klaus took it hesitantly, half-expecting pain like the shards. But it just felt like a normal feather. He was still careful when he tucked it into his pocket, trying not to break it in case that would ruin its little trick,

Ruel flapped their wings, an easy grin settling back on their pale features, “now! Let’s see what your shards can do!”

Klaus crossed his arms, cocking a hip to the side, “and how do I do that?”

“Just pull them out. They’ll do the rest.”

Klaus winced deeply and obviously, “won’t that hurt?”

“There are a lot of things here that’ll hurt.”

...

After she led him to his new room, Klaus asked Giovanna for some ice for his aching ears and she laughed before closing the door in his face. With a sigh, Klaus turned to face the pathetically bare room. There was nothing but a bed with a single blanket and a dresser with a mirror on top. A mirror that directly faced the door he was leaning against.

He could actually see his legs shaking. His face was paler than usual or maybe it just looked that way due to how red his ears were. His white shirt collar was stained with blood that was still dripping from his earlobes. He pushed away from the door and trudged over to the bed, collapsing face first and passing out instantly.