Author's note~
Hello! I'm Alice, your author for this work, nice to meet cha! I would just like to warn you that this will be a looooog chapter, I'm not even kidding. Just so you know, I won't have any of the Yuri!!! On Ice characters in this chapter. It's more of a explanation chapter anyhow, lots of information. The chapter may seem a bit slow but I hope to make things flow faster once my oc is actually within the YOI universe, at least, that's what I'm hoping. By the way, I don't own any of the Yuri!!! On Ice characters. This is my first book if you can't tell, I will be updating in a somewhat spontaneous way, and without further interruptions, onto the story, enjoy!!!
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It had been as if the days seemed to blend together, bleed together, all the same boring sequence. First, the teenager would get up from her comfy bed, untangle her legs only to let the previous warmth she had attained escape from within the sheets. Then, she would sit there and contemplate whether or not she should play the sick card and stay home. If she felt, she would get up and go to retrieve her clothes for the day, a simple maroon shirt and a pair of black sweatpants that just barely appeared the smallest bit navy. She didn't mind, and the teachers hadn't ever stopped her before for a measly pair of pants.
After she had dressed, she went to brush her teeth and hair before briefly checking the mirror for how she may look, hopefully well enough.
At the first sight of her face, she paused, looking back at her was of a questionable species. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, damn . . .she hadn't even been thinking before she fell asleep about taking off her makeup. Of course, it was only a bit of mascara that had done the damage . . . With a sigh, the girl lethargically reached for a pack of wipes before using one on the smeared makeup and continuing her usual morning routine.
When the blonde had finished, she didn't seem any less tired and, if possible, she had felt twice as tired even after her rest.
Looking to the clock that was displayed across the glass screen of her phone, she held a look of mild disappointment, there was no time for her to sleep unless she missed her ride to the school.
Aside from the walk out into the cold air, she was relatively fine with walking a bit far to meet the person that drove their small white saturn down the girl's driveway each morning.
After a bit of walking, the girl had met the classmate, pulling the handle and opening the passenger door before sitting down. The car had been in good shape aside from its owner's forgetfulness for cleaning out any stray wrappers.
The boy sitting behind the wheel smiled brightly, "Hey friend!" Lucas always seemed to be so upbeat in the mornings, she almost couldn't help but to feel slightly happy being near her one and only real friend. Smiling a bit, she nodded before speaking in a slightly scratchy voice, "Hey person." Shutting the door behind herself, the girl got situated before leaning against the car window. The boy scoffed lightly, "I'm hurt, just person?" Of course, they always had a morning banter that brightened Nyx's mood a bit.
Though after that, there were no other words had been exchanged between the two for the rest of the ride.
"Miss Young, are you with us Miss Young?" the teacher spoke in a somewhat mirthful tone as he watched the dozing student slightly straighten up and look up in attention. A light shade of pink dusted her cheeks in her embarrassment as she shifted slightly, "Yeah, still here . . ." The brunette, Mr. Wilson smiled, a somewhat expecting expression fell upon his face, "Well, continue where Mister Jones left off." The awkward blonde had felt her heart skip as she looked to the page in the textbook that had contained numerous paragraphs . . . She hadn't even been listening beforehand. Nibbling at her lip, she frantically glanced at the dark words that were in fine print across the white page.
The sound of someone coughing caught Nyx's, formerly known as Miss Young's, attention. Nyx blinked, a few words spewed from the lips of her classmate in rushed, quiet words, causing the blonde to almost double take. Nyx had always thought she had great hearing, however, at the overly stressful moment, she hadn't caught a word and as if sensing her confusion, her classmate had coughed again, before drawing Nyx's attention to their finger which pointed to the third paragraph of the second page. Nyx quickly caught on before beginning to read, her previous anxiety washed away with her sense of stress, if only for a moment.
The day continued on in a similar fashion of the girl dozing off, though, she wasn't as pestered by teachers as before and, for that, she was grateful.
She was even more grateful when the final bell had rang and signaled the end of her day. Being that her final class was drug education, Nyx didn't find it particularly interesting at all, reading through the book and answering the sections' questions before moving onto yet another assignment.
Returning home wasn't much of a hassle as she simply rode the bus, sitting in the back in the one seater, against the window with a pair of earbuds playing music. Since Lucas was staying after school for his band practice and then a later meeting for his drama club. Anyhow, on most days she would have fallen asleep, though, fourth period had been a free period and so she felt refreshed from her thirty minute nap.
So, Nyx had settled for closing her eyes and letting her imagination work its magic of making her little daydreams and wishes seem so real, almost achievable. Daydreaming had always been a way for Nyx to relax and take things easy.
After she had gotten through the throwing war between the seniors and middle schoolers, Nyx had made it to the front ot the bus after it had pulled up at the long road that eventually led to the house in which the teenager had resided. A smile blossomed across her lips and she was off, down the road and toward her home. It was always a relief to be home.
That was how things were expected to go, she was supposed to come home to a small modest home that was the ever so chipping periwinkle shade but instead, she found her aunt standing in front of the light oak wood, her eyes set to glare at the man who had his arms crossed in a relaxed manner, as if oblivious to her aunts obvious unease. A sense of nerves began to swim at the pit of Nyx's stomach, why was there a stranger at their doorstep? Had her aunt gone and done something again? No, Aunt Lucy had promised and she never, never, broke her promises.
Curious eyes looked on at the scene before she sighed and looked forward in a nervous fashion, almost awkward way, "Am I interrupting something here or . . . ?" A hand came to fiddle with one of the bracelets that decorated her left wrist, a nervous habit of hers. Any other day, she would have been fine, confident even, though, that day had been less than enjoyable and the less sleep she had gotten, the more jumpy she would get.
Lucy looked up to see her niece, a lazy smirk replaced her once hostile look, "No, nothing at all, I was just taking care of something."
Taking in a breath the girl looked around for a moment before catching sight of what she assumed was the stranger's car. It was nicer than anything she had seen, though, that hadn't been what caught her attention. She had seen the slightest movement from within the car, someone sitting in the passenger seat, a woman with fiery hair watching intently through the windshield. Turning away from the sports car, she looked back to the conversation between the stranger and her aunt.
The man seemed to huff and grumble a few words beneath his breath before turning and taking hold of a piece of paper that had been slipped into the breast pocket of his suit.
That was a strange sight, why get all dressed up for . . . Whatever it was he was doing at her home? Nyx didn't dwell long on the detail before nodding slightly and continuing forward, walking passed the man and beside her aunt.
The man who had surprisingly golden locks of hair, maybe dyed even, shifted as her aunt reached for the folded paper, taking it in her grasp. Unfolding the paper, Nyx's curious eyes tried to steal a small glance at the paper, at least, until her aunt had folded up once again, "And as I said before, it'll take at the earliest til next week."
That was it, Nyx had visibly relaxed, this man wasn't trying to buy the land from beneath them or get her aunt in trouble . . . Just a customer. See, her aunt was a bit of a wedding planner and good at it too, though, not so open to the public as one might think. Aunt Lucy tended to stay with her little community of people. With that the man smiled, nodded, and before long, retreated to his silver sports car.
Nyx couldn't help but to feel the relief course through her body, sleep would be a fine thing, and so, she passed by her aunt and into the home. Through the living room, down the hallway and last door to the right, and she was back in her tangle of blankets, bookbag discarded in the living room. Her aunt would no doubt complain later, but that was later. Nyx closed her eyes and fell asleep.
When she had woken up again, she was faced with the dim light of her multicolored Christmas lights that she had used from the year before. Rolling over, Nyx had patted around the bed and eventually found her glasses which had been discarded from her face. The dark turtle shell patterns along them would go with everything she wore and the big frames would keep her from the bothersome habit of looking over the glasses' frames and making the whole purpose of wearing them void. That and she liked how they appeared, Nyx put them on her face, avoiding her now tangled locks of dirty blonde.
Tired eyes blinked a few moments before she was finally able to wake up enough to sit up, letting the comforter fall around her legs. She looked around for the sticker infested black case of her phone and before long she had finally shifted around enough to find said object. "Gotcha~" she sang out triumphantly as she gripped the surface of the device. Clicking the power button, she found that it was far later than she had expected, eleven at night.
Hmm, curious, she would have expected her aunt to wake her up by eight at the latest. Maybe she did and Nyx didn't remember it. She had definitely done that before. Otherwise, Nyx had only ever woken up because she had something to worry about. It wasn't as if she had any homework to worry about so that was out of the question. Nyx checked off the various classes she had, math was done, there was no homework for drug ed and health, she had already done the papers . . .
Her eyes widen and as if suddenly filled with energy, she jolted upward, almost falling over herself as she did so. Her health science project was due the next day! And while the teacher may have been more pleasant than that of the rest, she wasn't very lenient with slackers who had over two weeks to make a poster on the given assignment. Of course Nyx hadn't waited til the last minute for everything but without the poster board . . . There wasn't much of a project to look at, only sheets of paper that had been numbered and filled with as many words as she had found useful. That hadn't made the fact that her forgetfulness would be her downfall in the class. Mrs. Johnson wouldn't accept that! Damn it! She needed the A! If she kept all A's then she could avoid the end of the year exam.
Looking at the clock on her phone that had now shown eleven thirteen, she, without wasting anymore time bolted from her bed. Then, she messily dressed in one of her jackets to throw over her worn t-shirt and took hold of her dirty converse.
Nyx, with jerky movements, sped out of her room and into the living room in an attempt to find sight of her aunt. She wasn't there. Not sitting curled up in the rocking chair, not laying sprawled across the couch, hell, Nyx even checked for a note. Still, there was no sign of her aunt.
After checking the kitchen, and the small upstairs which had been remade into a workplace, Nyx still came up empty handed.
Visibly disappointed, she went out the front door and onto the porch. Yet, it wasn't her aunt to greet her, no, just the crisp night air to wrap itself around her. Zipping up her jacket, Nyx looked around for the familiar blue Kia that usually sat near the side of the house. It was nowhere to be found. That left the question of where Lucy had gone . . . Nyx let out a shaky breath before reluctantly, she began her way off the porch, phone in hand as a few fives sat tucked away in its case, a great idea in her opinion.
Taking one last glance around, she moved forward, shivering as the dew covered grass quickly began to coat the fabric of her shoes and dampen her mismatched socks. She shivered, it was much warmer inside . . . That thought alone almost tempted Nyx to go back inside and fall asleep and miss school the next day. Though, she had quickly brushed away that thought, the school had specifically told her aunt that Nyx was absolutely not able to miss any more of her classes unless she wanted to receive a few threats of being arrested for such. Not that they would actually follow through . . . Not her school anyway, they would only 'Bitch and moan' about it, her aunt's words, not her own. Either way, aunt Lucy had expressed her opinion about the outcome and Nyx didn't dare push it.
Nyx quickly checked her phone, looking for any texts from her aunt and when she didn't see one, she sent a quick one out asking where her aunt was. Nyx seemed to stare at the device for what seemed to be hours, waiting for a text back, or even, at the very least, an indication that she was online. After a few minutes of standing around, without a text sent back, she pressed the power button, put in a set of earbuds and began her walk to the closest store.
Said store was about a good ten or fifteen minutes down the road by bike. Though . . . Her bike at the time had a flat tire and not to mention the black widow infestation under the seat and in the handle bars. It would seem that she would be walking quite a bit, maybe a good twenty-five to thirty minutes if she was lucky. Even then, she would be walking at a faster pace, she wasn't very fond of walking in the middle of the night, especially when most of the way was near the woods.
Without further delay, she began walking, her eyes focused solely on the lit up road ahead. The light was the only thing that kept her moving forward. The night was dark and her legs had begun to burn from exhaustion only after the first ten minutes. Not to mention, once she began to sweat and the fine curls of her hair began to stick to the side of her face constantly, she quickly pulled it back into a mediocre bun that served the only purpose of keeping her hair back.
Nyx kept at her task, though, at even the slightest sound such as a twig snapping, she would stop, listen and then run forward a few paces. Afraid of looking behind her and finding something unpleasant looking back, she simply rushed her actions, her breathing becoming accelerated. She would get through this.
The amount of solace she felt was almost unbelievable as she finally stepped into the air conditioned store with bright, fluorescent lighting up the simple set up. The dark woman, probably a teenager, slouched behind a desk with an iPhone's bright pink phone case on display while the cashier's face was hidden behind the screen. Nyx couldn't seem to help the faint smile that grew with her sense of comfort as she walked passed a few isles before finding the small section of shelves dedicated to small crafts and such.
She had looked over the small set up at least five times without luck. Her shoulders sagged visibly as agitation began to build, she had walked all this way to not find what she needed! Hell, looking at the clock up on the wall, it was thirty minutes til one! She was supposed to be done and over with the project, worrying about what to say and how to present it in front of fourteen other classmates! Biting her bottom lip in order to keep her spike of frustration at bay, she continued looking, music playing in her ears in attempt to ease her emotions down a bit.
Another few minutes passed by and she had snatched the earpiece from her ear and rising from her previous crouching position to look toward the front counter. If she couldn't find it, maybe she would have luck with simply asking the worker. Although, instead of walking forward to the front of the store, her mouth fell open slightly and her body frozen in place as she watched the cashier stand, hands raised, tears streaming down her cheeks as her chest heaved.
Blaming her music for her ignorance, in which she had turned up since the store's music was slightly annoying and not at all her taste. All Nyx could do was stare, as the cashier eyed the barrel of the pistol, flinching when it was moved in a jerky fashion and the stranger shouted something akin to money. Nyx took a moment to collect herself, her shaky hands fumbling with her phone as she quickly keyed in the four digit password. Never in her life had she been so hate filled toward a measly password or her phone, not thinking once to simply slide up to immediately contact the police. She wasn't calm, her mind was going haywire.
She let her fingers shakily press the green phone icon before typing in the emergency contact information. She messed up several times and by the third time she was crying herself, she finally pressed the three digits and called. A shaky sigh of relief found her lips as she heard the sound of an operator's voice on the other side of the phone. She felt her legs give out, causing her to fall to the ground in what was a mixture of relief and terror. "9-1-1, what's your emergency?" Nyx spoke quickly and held up the mic attached to her earbud, "T-There's a man trying to rob the store-," her eyes watered further and her throat seemed to be closing as she spoke in choked up words.
"What was that?" The girl almost cried harder at the question, "A robbery! At the general store right off the highway, near the Attendance center." The operator had gone quiet for a moment before speaking again, "Alright, calm down, I need you to stay-" a gunshot interrupted the clearly male voice on the phone as Nyx flinched and covered her mouth to withhold a scream. The booming shot was followed by a distinct thud against the counter and then the floor, she didn't even want to imagine what had happened, she wanted to stay oblivious, painfully oblivious.
"What was that? Can you tell me what that was?" The girl shut her eyes tightly and took a few long moments before speaking again, "I think she's dead . . . the man shot her-" Looking from her place behind the shelf, she found the strange clad in black shaking with what she assumed to be anger. That alone scared her. She didn't see that poor cashier though, she didn't want to either.
"Oh my god, he shot her! He really shot that girl!" it had been as if she hadn't quite caught onto the situation at first until a few moments after. "Please, you have to help . . . that man he's still here and he's not leaving . . ." Her voice was scratchy from crying and her throat sore as another sob tore through her body. This couldn't of been happening.
Nyx would have continued had she not heard the thudding footsteps of the murderer began to come closer and closer to her hiding spot at the back of the store.
They knew, they had to, there was no other reason for them to come looking otherwise.
The problem with her position was that of distance between her and the front door, she had never hated being in one place so much, not even school.
Something fell from the other side of the shelf she was hiding. Her anxiety felt crippling at the moment, though, her will to live was stronger, and so, causing her to do irrational things, such as getting up and attempting to run to another isle. For a few moments, she was close, so very close.
Somehow, she had made it to the front of the store, a booming, scratchy voice shouting behind her. That wasn't enough, she needed to keep going.
So close, she touched the metal of the door, then, white hot fire spread from her torso and throughout her body. It was like the feeling of fire that ripped and tore at her skin, causing it to burn and give off the scent of burning flesh. Such a smell made her want to gag.
She had been shot. Nyx Young had just been shot in the store for a damn poster . . . Wow, what a stupid reason.
Her breathing had become ragged and her legs had failed to support her any longer as she slid to lay against the cold, tile floor. The said door had been parted slightly to let in a stream of fresh air inside.
Though, the smell of bleach was still fresh from its last cleaning . . . huh, she always doubted they even cleaned the floors . . . She had been so close.
Her hand reached to feel the fresh wound decorating her body, the ever so quick blood trickling from her wound and through shaking fingers that weakly clutched to the fabric of her shirt.
Her mind had not quite caught onto the situation yet, causing her to harshly breathe, and then sending her into a fit of coughing. She felt like she was trapped, she couldn't breathe. Had she really been hit? Was her chest really bleeding or was this a painfully detailed dream? Did she accidentally take too much sleep medicine again?
No . . . even then she wasn't so cold, so aware of her surroundings.
Tears gushed from her eyes, she was beginning to get more and more tired, she just wanted to sleep.
As the time passed, the more she coughed and eventually she had begun to spit bright red liquid from her mouth, the sight alone made her breathing harsher and more ragged. She knew she was supposed to stay calm, stay calm and figure things out rationally.
What time was it again? She tried to glance over at the clock, it was a blur.
The forgotten operator had been repeatedly asking what had happened and where she was, or was she alright. She couldn't find the strength to speak, her lips merely quivered.
She squinted forward, toward the expanse of the tiled floor. It was so cold, making her think of ice, very cold ice. She shivered lightly, it was so cold even with her jacket.
Her body tingled with a sort of numbness she had never felt before, it was draining.
Hazy eyes looked around with blurred vision making Nyx squint.
Was she really going to die here? It was almost a foreboding thought that she was so at peace at the moment and yet, her mind rebelled against it.
Admittedly she didn't want to die, as much as she joked around with her friend, it was never true.
It was so scary, no, terrifying. The worst sense of fear causing her to suck in a harsh breath before moving her arms to force herself to sit up. She was supposed to graduate next year, in the spring . . . No, happy thoughts, calm down, she is going to graduate this year.
And she was making progress until her palm had made contact with the slimy blood that had collected on both the floor and her hand, causing her to fall back down in a rough motion and sending a jolt of pain throughout her body.
At the moment, it was so tempting to fall asleep. Just a small nap.
To give in was tempting, she wasn't in control anyways, and there was no one there to help. No one to help, she wished so much that she could hug her aunt at the moment, so she could make it better. Aunt Lucy was always good at that.
Napping always helped when Nyx didn't have anyone to depend on.
And so, her eyes slipped to shut, cutting off the flow of tears.
Opening her eyes she felt a frantic pair of hands putting pressure on her wound, the blob mixed with bright blue called out but she couldn't hear them clearly enough to know what exactly they said.
How long had she been there?
The man clad in black was nowhere to be seen. Had he left? Where did he go? That didn't matter now.
She remembered trying to speak, trying to ask for help, ask for them to save her because she didn't want to die.
She was scared, so scared. Her weak hand which had fallen to the cold floor, had flinched just barely when she attempted to move.
Her eyes threatened to close for a second time, and before she could even fight it, they shut close.
That time, she had taken in a slow, shaky breath before letting it all go.
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Yet another note~
Hello again! Sorry for all of the sadness so far, I will be trying to make things happier and lighter from here on. I hope you enjoyed, though, I'm not so happy with how I paced this. Maybe I could figure something out to improve.