Twilight Town was usually a peaceful place, usually being the keyword in this sentence. Usually one could stroll it's streets in the orange glow of the sun without having to worry about being attacked, seeing monsters erupt from mid-air, and observing strange men in black cloaks running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Unfortunately, today was not a usual day.

Drana peered around the corner, frozen by the strange sight in front of her. She had been walking aimlessly when she had heard the muffled sounds of a fight from up ahead and she had ran to see what was going on, only to see something incredibly bizarre.

A tall figure in a black cloak, holding spiked disks in his hands, was attempting to fight off what looked like three large black sock puppets. they had crooked black antennae and they wobbled about on crooked little legs. The sight would have been comical if they hadn't seemed so sinister. The cloaked figure ducked their blows, moving with a grace that pulled Drana's eyes. They spun and sliced through one of the sock creatures with their disk weapons, causing the black monster to vaporize. But then another one of the black things surged forward, body checking the person backwards. They flew through the air and hit the wall with a dull thud, sinking to the ground like a rag doll. The impact had knocked off the hood of the cloak, revealing that it was a man with ridiculously spiky red hair. He raised his head, eyes flashing, and hurled one of the spiked disks at the monsters bearing down on him, 'causing it to disintegrate into nothingness. But the third lunged for him, knocking his other weapon out of his hand. The red-haired man glared up at the monster and raised his fist as though he was going to punch it, but the monster slammed him to the ground and raised it's arm to strike him.

Drana didn't think, just pushed away from the wall and ran towards them, grabbing the disk he had thrown up off the ground and clutching it in her hand. She took two steps, like she was going in for a layup in basketball, and then sprang into the air.

"Die, sock puppet!" she said, and swung the spiked disk down onto it's head. Instantly the monster disappeared and she fell on top of the man in the cloak, the two of them tumbling together back onto the ground.

For a moment they lay in a tangle of arms and legs, both struggling for breath. Drana's cheek was pressed against his chest, one of her legs inbetween his, her head rising and falling with the rhythm of his breathing. He groaned, shifting slightly, the sound vibrating through both their bodies, and Drana looked up to see a pair of turquoise green eyes staring down at her.

Okay, Drana, she thought, slightly hysterically. It's time to get off of the strange man.

She scrambled backwards, using his stomach as a brace to push herself to her feet. Whoever he was, he had muscles like steel.

"Um, sorry, I mean, not sorry, I'm glad I helped you, sorry I fell on you," she babbled nervously. "I wasn't trying to feel you up, it was an accident, you know what, never mind, uh, yeah, who're you, and what were those things that attacked you?"

He sat up slowly, still staring at her as though trying to decide what to think. He rubbed a hand through his spiked hair.

"Thank you for helping me," he said, climbing to his feet. Shooting her a quick, broad grin, he turned around, and starting walking nonchalantly towards where his other weapon still lay on the ground.

'Hey!" Drana exclaimed, running to catch up with him. "You didn't answer my-" She broke off her sentence as she noticed a huge rip in his cloak that went all the way down the side of his torso, providing a very convenient view of the body underneath the cloak. She quickly peeled her eyes away and said, "Um, your cloak is ripped."

He stopped walking and glanced down at his side.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, grabbing at the cloak. He tried to force the two sides back together, but only caused it to rip more.

His eyes widened and he clutched his head, fingers sinking into his red hair.

"Shit! Shit!" he repeated, panic edging his words. "What the hell do I do now? I'm stuck here! Shit!"

"It's just a rip," Drana said, nonplussed. "You know, I could-"

"Look," he said, rounding on her. " It is not just a rip. If I don't fix this, I can't go back through the corridor of darkness to the castle because I'll freakin' disappear!" The fury faded from his eyes, leaving them abruptly blank, and he leaned back, smirking down at her. "I really don't need a child around right now. Thank you, goodbye, sayonara."

Drana's mouth dropped open, anger sweeping through her. She lifted the spiked disk that was still in her hand and hurled it at him, the flat side whacking him in the face.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, stumbling backwards.

"I'm not a child!" she yelled.

"Then why are you yelling?" he shouted.

"You're yelling too!" she cried.

"So? I'm 19, and that makes me an adult, so I'm allowed to yell!" he snarled, an arrogant smile tipping the corner of his mouth up.

"HA!" Drana said triumphantly. "I'm 17! I'm only two years younger than you. So you can't call me a child at all."

He narrowed his eyes and walked closer to her, towering over her.

"You don't look seventeen," he said suspiciously. "You're like a twig."

"I'm sorry I don't fit your perfect version of a seventeen year old girl," she said, refusing to back away and let him intimidate her. "But unless my birth certificate is lying, I am two years younger than you, therefore, not a child. And I was going to offer to fix your cloak, but now I'm not sure I want to."

"You can fix this?" the red-haired man said. "Look, I'm sorry that I called you a child. I really need this to be fixed or I'm screwed. Can you please fix it?"

Drana looked up into his eyes, expecting to see a tiny bit of remorse in them, or pleading. But his turquoise-green eyes were blank, as though there were no emotions at all behind them.

Without a warning, the world in front of her disappeared and colours zoomed over her eyes. They swirled faster and then suddenly parted, revealing a black and white image of two men in black cloaks. One of them was kneeling on the ground, and had long, light hair, probably blond, and a sallow face. The other one was standing behind him and had extremely spiky hair, and two markings underneath his eyes. It was Mr-I'm-19-but-you're-a-child! Except that he looked older. Harder. And as she watched, helpless, he surged forward and stabbed the blond man in the back with a spiked disk. He had just killed him!

The vision disappeared even faster than it had appeared and suddenly the world was in colour again and the red-haired man was staring down at her curiously. She quickly turned away, not wanting him to see her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He faked concern well, but Drana could tell by his voice that it wasn't real. It was as it he knew what emotions sounded like and looked like, but he couldn't feel them himself.

But then she remembered. His anger had been real! So had his panic before. When he had yelled at her, his eyes hadn't been blank. He could feel, she just knew it.

Ever since she was little she had been able to see the future. The visions came to her even if she didn't want them too, and no matter what she did she couldn't change what was going to happen. But this time she was going to do it. There was still hope, right? He wasn't a murderer yet. That future didn't have to come true. She could still change him.

Drana turned around, unsure as to whether it was a good thing or not that she had decided to take an early walk this morning.

"Yeah, I'll fix your cloak," she said to him. "On the condition that you answer every single question I ask you."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Agreed."

"I'm Drana," she said, sticking her hand out. "What's your name?"

He took her hand in his own, his long fingers brushing her wrist.

"Axel."