Hello readers! Long time, no contact. Anyways, I decided to actually turn one of my nutty ideas into reality (although my perception is skewed after seeing Inception). Came up with this on an airplane, decided to run with it. Sorta a song-fic, but not really… hope you enjoy and please review.
PS: Eclipse was awesome, saw it the day it came out…. It rocked.
PPS: I don't normally do disclaimers… but obviously, the only creation of my own is Kylah. Also, the song is Gotta be Somebody, by Nickelback
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"'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love, put my life in their hands
There's gotta be somebody for me like that…"
The radio from down the beach was the only sound pounding in Embry's head, and truth be told, it made him even sicker. He knew his limits- knew what Sam and Jake would say when they felt his raging hangover after he phased… but he didn't care.
Seth had imprinted. Seth. Jake too, and Paul, Jared, Quil, Sam… it wasn't funny anymore. Loneliness overcame him on a regular basis, though normally his nights didn't end with him puking beside a park bench. He often came out to the beach and wound up staring out over the ocean, hoping his soul-mate would sail up in some grand cliché and they'd live happily ever after.
But it was just a dream. A good dream, but a dream nonetheless.
Oh God. Alcohol poisoning was a bitch, Embry cursed as he heaved again, gripping the wooden bench for support. His hand met with cool, slick metal however, and slid right to the ground with something clasped in it.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Embry finally got to his feet and glanced down at the object now clenched in his fist. A heart-shaped locket, bound on a solid, strong chain. Nothing fancy, but… who did it belong to?
Embry stole a glance at the party goers down the shore with the radio still blasting. Could it belong to them? He hesitated however. He didn't have enough in him to go down and explain himself, or even make himself presentable, for that matter.
Finder's keepers.
Rinsing his mouth out with the remnants in his PBR can, Embry sat in his car and, with the locket still clenched in his fist, leaned his head back against the seat and fell into a deep, careless sleep.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Jake demanded as Embry stumbled through the forest for border patrol the next morning.
"It's nothing. Leave it," Embry growled, squeezing his eyes shut to still his pounding skull and stifle the sound of Jacob Black's loud, pissed berating.
"Like hell I'll leave it! Those royal blood suckers visited Forks three times in the last year and a half, and you stumble around drunk like it doesn't even matter? Some of us have people who need protecting-"
"Will you just shut the fuck up? I have my own problems, alright?" Embry knew it was a weak defense, but it was all he had. If he had his say, he'd be at home, in bed, wallowing in his own misery.
"Hey! Knock it off. Both of you," Sam ordered as he made his way over the hill and into the clearing.
"He started it," Embry grumbled, pulling his shirt over his head and preparing to phase.
"Well I'll sure as hell finish it. Put your shirt back on. I'm not letting you go around in that condition."
The pack was silent as Embry froze at the command. Was he being… laid off?
"No patrol, not today. The rest of you, head out and take your quadrants." Sam met Jake's narrowed gaze and gave him the nod to take off. Now he faced Embry, who stood squared off against him with his hands in his jean pockets. The one thing the alpha noticed in particular was the silvery chain dangling around the young wolf's neck and down into his grimy, second day t-shirt.
"What's the matter with you?" Sam barked, getting to the point. The one thing he made sure to enforce was good, clean behavior in his entire pack, and lately, he noticed Embry letting himself slide. But it wasn't just about the pack's safety. Sam was the alpha, and it was his job to keep all his pups from getting into trouble. They were his responsibility, and from what he'd read in Embry's mind, the kid's life was coming off the rails.
"Your mom says you're out all night, boozing, bad grades, no job-" Sam began a little easier this time before he was cut off harshly by Embry's interjection.
"Talking to my mom? What the hell-"
"She's worried about you. The whole pack is-"
"Well not everyone can have a huge family that loves and looks out for them-"
"You do have a family. The pack. And we're all worried about you." Sam walked toward Embry who stood coldly with his shoulder to Sam's approach. The alpha however, would not be put off. He placed a comforting hand on the younger wolf's shoulder and let out a sigh.
"We all get a little confused sometimes. You haven't found your imprint yet. So what? She'll find you, so don't worry." This time, Embry received a firm clap on the back and a comforting smile. One that made him feel like all hope was not lost. Embry's hand absent-mindedly went to the locket around his neck, and he grasped it beneath his shirt for reassurance as Sam left him to his own devices for the day.
For once, in a long time, Embry didn't feel like shit… that is, until Jake approached him on his way home. Once more, the whole pack was there to witness the confrontation.
Just perfect, Embry muttered as Jake crossed his arms and seemed to be sizing him up. They were best friends in high school, but Jacob had become all encompassing as the new alpha, and eventually, Embry had become just another grunt in the pack.
"You know, Sam might've been okay with your little stunt back there, but I'm not letting you get away with it," Jake growled, his arms shaking in anger as he siphoned off another phase while he spoke his mind.
Embry did not want to fight. He knew especially that Jake got like this after a fight with Bella, so he expected the worse.
And he was right. As an alpha, Jake was bigger, and stronger than Embry on every front, so it was almost better not to phase, or so he thought before the enormous russet wolf was standing before him.
"Shit!"
Embry heard the word called out from one of the wolves on the sidelines just as Jake came at him. The rock hard skull of the charging wolf smashed into Embry's left shoulder like a freight train out of hell. After that, three other wolves joined the fray, and double teamed Jake- backing him down from his tirade until Embry was left sprawling on the gravel road up to his car. It was right where he left it at the beach.
The pain was bad, but Embry couldn't bring himself to hold it against Jake, even though he'd caught him off guard, and in human form. Cheap, but forgivable.
"Holy shit Em, you okay?" Quil Alteara's shadow fell over Embry as he lay on the ground, defenseless, and a little dazed. His shoulder hurt like hell… and he probably needed a sling.
"Yup, just fine," he wheezed, pulling himself to his feet and cradling his arm.
"I'd get that looked at man-"
"Its fine," Embry interrupted, making his way slowly to his car. The sun setting over the beach cast a harsh glare onto the hood as he climbed in the driver's seat and sat staring once more at the ocean. His fingers unconsciously twisted the locket chain against his skin as he revved up the engine. His eyes wandered out over the horizon and his thoughts drifted back inevitably to his mystery imprint.
Now would be a great time for you to show up… whoever you are.
"This time, I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life: the one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough-"
That damn song. Again. Embry's good hand shot out and turned the radio off in one swift motion as he pulled into the parking lot of the Masi Shop. He wasn't going to drink anything now, but he might need a stiff one for later. Now that his arm was in a sling, he'd be set for a few hours, and he planned to spend them in his favorite spot.
When Embry came back out of the store with his fake ID between his fingers, he noticed that his car had been hit from behind. No information on the windshield, just a big dent in the side over the rear right tire. Swell. That's what underage drinking gets you. Bad karma, and a lonely night.
He'd go easier this time however. He didn't want another wringing out in the morning, plus he'd probably have double shifts if Jake had anything to say about it… which he did.
A tap on the driver's side window caused Embry to freeze with the beer can still in his hand. He jolted up in his seat as the police officer now standing outside his car gestured for him to roll down the window.
"What can I do for you officer?" Embry asked, trying to sound inconspicuous, but failing miserably. He was drunk, and he was not getting away this time.
Embry rested his head, defeated, on the steering wheel when the policeman told him he'd be brought up on MIP, DWI, along with an array of charges relating to his crime. Embry stayed idle, somehow mustering the most pathetic face the cop had ever seen, and earning enough pity for a bargaining chip.
"Crime doesn't pay kid," the officer began, noting Embry's injury, but trying to shake the compassion from his voice.
"Please officer. There's gotta be something I can do. I swear to you, if you give me this one chance, you'll never find me out here again."
Perhaps fate did have a heart.
"Look," the man started, looking around for witnesses. Once he'd scanned the scene, he leveled with Embry. "One night in the holding cell, and you're record will be clean, but if you slip up, all this comes back, got it?"
Embry prayed. He prayed and prayed and thanked God there was an angel watching out for him at that moment. He left his car at the beach and rode with the officer to the county office, then found himself locked up for 24 hours in a 12 by 20 room filled with drunks, like himself. He sighed and counted down the minutes to his release.
"One phone call, kid," the same officer informed him the next evening, handing him two quarters and leading him to the payphone. Although his phone call yielded him a ride, it didn't inspire much confidence as to the consequences to follow.
"Prison now, huh?" Sam began as he drove the troubled teen to the beach to pick up his car. The drive was full of heated silence. "That's why you missed your rounds? Jesus, Embry."
Embry remained silent, picking at the loose threads on the sling and watching the sun set once more. One thing he knew was that he was never, ever going to be in one of those cells again, but he really didn't have the foresight, or the courage to tell Sam that.
He was merely alone.
Sam sped away in silence, leaving Embry in a cloud of dust on the shore in the darkness. In one day (well, actually two) he'd gotten the entire pack to hate him, wrecked his car, messed up his shoulder, and gone to jail. Was this some kind of sick joke?
Ever since I found this damn necklace… nothing's been going right, Embry reminisced, pulling the locket out and squeezing it until his knuckles turned white. He knew he shouldn't have been blaming the necklace for his own mistakes, but sometimes denial was all there was to keep him sane.
He remembered, however, when he'd been in holding without the stupid thing… and it had felt like he was missing something all day- an indescribable restlessness and misery that only came with losing something very precious. He scoffed at his own memory. It must've been the alcohol.
"Well, time to pass on the misery," Embry decided, fisting up the chain in one hand and tossing it out into the sand. The echoes of a certain melody flooded the shore from the same campfire radio.
"You can't give up, looking for a diamond in the rough
You never know when it shows up, make sure your holding on
'Cause it could be the one, the one you're waiting on-"
The waves lapped over the charm until finally, Embry couldn't take it any longer. He lurched to his feet and dug the locket right out of the sand until he once again closed his hand over the familiar metal. It was familiar… somehow.
"Oh my God! You found it!" Embry turned his head to see the silhouette of a young woman racing barefoot through the sand towards him.
Embry's heart wanted to sing. That voice. He wanted more of it. Even before she was beside him, Embry had memorized every detail of her face and body through the darkness: small physique, wavy, light brown hair with just a few freckles on her delicate skin, green eyes that held his gaze and opened a door to his future.
"Hey, you alright?" She asked once more, noticing his peculiar staring.
"Y-yeah, no, I mean, I'm fine," he stumbled, feeling her warm touch as she took the locket from his hands and tried to fasten it around her own neck. Her long hair was swept one way over her shoulder. "Here, let me help." Embry's hands worked the clasp, securing it around her neck- whoever she was.
"I'm Kylah by the way. I can't tell you what a lifesaver you are! This thing means the world to me. Gift from my grandma, you know? Plus it's always brought me good luck," Kylah rambled, turning the locket in her fingers and looking up into Embry's complacent gaze.
Embry didn't know exactly how imprinting worked, but he could only suppose his significant other would feel the pull of his heart strings. The way she looked at him, the way time froze when she smiled in that moment-
"I know this sounds strange but… I definitely know you," she began, wringing her hands before jerking her head up to speak once more. Embry laughed, already noticing the height distance between them. It was just one of those things to note about her. "Well whatever, so, if you can still stand me after this conversation, do you want to get a cup of coffee or something tomorrow? I mean, like, to pay you back for finding my necklace? It was a one in a million chance you would find it and you did, so I guess that deserves a reward, right?"
Kylah was nervous. What in the heck had this guy, this guy who she didn't even know the name of, inspired in her? He was handsome; dark skin and hair, kind, deep brown eyes, strong…
"You don't have to say anything now, because I know that was really forward of me and-"
"Sure. 10 o' clock tomorrow at the place downtown." Embry could hardly bear to turn away from her to get in his car, but he knew if she was any other girl, he couldn't look too desperate… even if he was bursting at the seams to be with her. She was his soul mate after all.
"Have I grown two heads or something? You keep staring at me," Kylah laughed nervously at the undivided attention her date seemed to be giving her. But for some reason, it didn't particularly bother her. As a matter of fact, she liked the attention.
Damn. I just met this guy yesterday and already I'm gaga for him! Should I ask for his number? Should we meet up again? Does he even live around here? What if this was a one time thing? What if he has a girlfriend?
"Hey, anybody home?" Embry waved his hand in front of the dazed face of the girl seated across from him at the coffee house. The first thing he noticed when they were seated however was that she wasn't drinking coffee.
"I don't like the stuff personally, but it's not like I was going to ask you to come get tea with me, right?" Once more, she'd laughed like a nervous wreck at her own joke.
Doesn't like coffee. I'll have to remember that.
"Now you're the one zoning out," Kylah said, suddenly snapping Embry back to attention.
"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little tired today," Embry coughed, trying to hide the fact that he'd actually been up all night, counting the seconds until they would meet again. He couldn't wait to tell the pack.
"Well," Kylah began as she drained her cup, her bangles and other various bracelets making a clanging sound as she rested her hand on the table. "I don't know if this is weird, but maybe we can hang out again sometime? You don't have to tell me now, I'll just leave my number on the table and you can call me… or not." She added hastily, scrabbling in her purse for a pen and scrawling her number down on one of the brown napkins.
"I'd like that."
"Huh?" Kylah looked up suddenly from her writing and Embry locked with her confused gaze.
"No, I was just saying: I'd like to hang out again." A bright blush spread across Kylah's petite nose and she fiddled with the pen in her fingers as she spoke.
"Oh, okay, yeah, it's just that I haven't really had good luck with guys… whoa, TMI for you, sorry, it's just that I go on and on when I talk and I'm a little strange-"
"That's okay! A little strange is good for me," Embry consoled her, smiling at the idea of her being strange.
Yeah, you'll need an open mind to get to know me. The WHOLE me, fur, fangs and all.
Embry smiled as Kylah got up and pushed her chair in. The silver locket swung from her neck with her movement before settling back once more against her chest. It seemed like yesterday's nightmare had turned into a beautiful dream, and now that the damnable locket was back where it belonged, all was right with the world. HIS world.
He watched her with sheer adoration as she walked away, and as her car became a speck in the distance.
Now he had some other things to take care of.
The pack was probably going to kill him.
But he'd found his imprint, and that was all that mattered.
He parked his car at Sam's house and waved hello to Emily before heading out into the woods to meet his uncertain fate. Unfortunately, the first face he ran into was Jake's. Embry approached him with caution, not quite being able to read what mood the alpha was in. Surprisingly, Jake merely shuffled his feet in the dirt and waited for his pack-mate's approach.
"Hey," Jake began, averting his gaze from Embry's and sticking his hands in the pockets of his tattered jeans. Embry remained alert, but the tension eased from his shoulders when he realized that Jake wasn't there to start a fight.
"Hey…" Embry returned, licking his lips and waiting for the awkward silence to pass. To his dismay, it remained momentarily before the other wolf took in a deep breath and began to speak.
"So... about the other day, I'm sor-"
"Don't sweat it, I'm over it," Embry interrupted. Yeah, so Jacob dislocated his shoulder. They were still pack-mates. Still family. Jacob however looked confused by the brush off.
"You seem pretty happy about the whole… wait a sec-" Jake began before noticing the smile that spread across his friend's face. No wonder the guy was so happy. He'd found her. "No way! What's she like? How'd it happen?" Before he knew it, Embry was encased in an iron bear hug, with a slightly dislocated shoulder.
"Ow, ow, man, you're crushing me!" Immediately Jake's arms dropped. "Whew, that's better."
Once more, Embry's face lit up as he began to recall the past day's events… even the part about going to jail. Jake only nodded and listened. He remembered when he first set eyes on Renesmee. It was a feeling like no other, even if she was only a month old at the time.
"When can I meet her?" Jake pried, giving Embry a soft jab in the healthy shoulder.
"Uhhhh, not yet." Embry couldn't really think of anything else to say. Fear gripped him upon the utterance of the words as reality set in. What if she didn't really like him? What if after their second date, she decided not to see him again? He almost wished his imprint was a baby like Claire, Quil's imprint, and Nessie.
Jacob Black however, noticed his hesitation.
"Don't even think it. You're soul mates, remember? She'll want to be with you, just as much as you want to be with her. Just don't screw it up, okay?"
Embry gulped as the two wolves phased and began their patrol.
Two days quickly turned into two weeks, and two months. And in those two months Embry had learned that Kylah, Kylah Potter, was right handed, had green eyes, hated her wavy hair, loved denim purses, drank English breakfast tea in a thermos nearly every morning, and she loved working at her parent's campground just a few miles outside of Forks. Yes, he'd met the parents and they seemed fond of him, which was quite the stroke of luck in and of itself.
Thank God. Embry sighed as he pulled up in Kylah's drive way, shifting his spare change of clothes for after his shift into the backseat so she could take shotgun.
"Hey, you're early," she remarked as she climbed up into the truck and slung her backpack down on the floorboards.
"Yeah, well I thought it'd be a good idea to actually get you there on time for once," Embry laughed as they took off for school.
In the time they'd spent together, Embry and Kylah had gotten unusually close, unusually fast. Kylah had never really gone steady with any boy, let alone one as dark and mysterious (and handsome) as Embry, so her parents found it a little suspicious that he'd chosen a girl that didn't even go to his school. But as long as Kai seemed happy, and arrived on time for curfew at one a.m. they didn't complain.
"Wanna hang out after school on the Rez? Me and the guys are gonna stoke up the bonfire later, so you're welcome to join," Embry offered, tapping his fingers on the dashboard as they waited for the light to change at the intersection.
"My parents are freaking out because of my midterms, so maybe I'll just catch you at the bonfire? Besides, it's freezing cold out there!" Kylah glanced over at him, her green eyes filled with sincerity and guilt. She hated turning down his invitations, but her parents were pretty strict.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Pick you up at eight?"
"Nah, I'll drive myself. Why? You don't want me driving around by myself at night?" she joked, giving him a sly smile as the car pulled up at the front of her school.
"It's just all the wolves that hang around the reservation. There as big as bears, you know," Embry smiled back, however, his expression dropped when he noticed Kylah's wide, petrified gaze.
"I'm terrified of wolves. Open water, and wolves. I just have this nightmare about a huge pack surrounding me in the woods and… whatever. I'll see you later 'kay?" She leaned in and gave him a peck on the lips before she slammed the door shut and rushed off for her first period class.
The force of the door and of the cataclysmic revelation of her fear of wolves had Embry reeling on the drive back with a nervous headache. Okay, that was a major set-back. Once more, his heartbeat raced and fear gripped him. What if she didn't accept him? When was he going to tell her about him? All the other wolf girls had been close enough to the pack to learn right away… what was he going to do?
No outsiders can learn our secret. He heard Sam's mantra repeating in his head and he held his breath, trying to calm himself down. Sure, they all knew about Kylah and kept quiet about their secret while she was around, but now what? Would Sam not allow him to tell her for the sake of the pack? How would he live like that when they got married and had kids and he wandered off every night for patrols?
"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" Jake asked while on patrol with Embry and the rest of the pack that evening.
"You don't get it! She hates wolves! And-" Once again, Jake interrupted.
"Listen. Everything will be fine. You just have to pick the right moment, got it? Sam's cool with it." Embry stole a glance at the other alpha as they ran in formation, only to see the black wolf nod his head with a jerk and give a bark of approval.
Okay. One hurdle down, now… the hard part.
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