This is an idea that has been swimming in my head for a few days now. I don't know if it will really go anywhere or if it will be any good, but I do know it needs to be written! It's kind of a slice of life type of story but at the same time it isn't. Kinda hard to explain. I guess you could say this would be a bunch of stories which connect to a bigger one. Also this is an AU story based of my ask blog on Tumblr. The video game TOME doesn't exist but the mains have their TOME appearances. All will be explained. (I hope lol) I'm just writing this for fun so updates might be a bit irregular, and this my first shot at something angsty so here's hoping I don't mess it up. :) Enjoy!
I don't own TOME or the characters.
It's not easy being a hybrid.
More often than not they are shunned and ridiculed. All because they happen to have an unusual skin tone or a set of wings. Hybrids are a relatively new phenomenon, having only started appearing in the last couple of decades. No one knows how it happens because the fathers of the hybrids disappear without explanation shortly before they are born. Hybrids are also extremely rare. Only a handful of occurrences have been recorded. Not only that, they're all hybrids of creatures previously only believed to be myths. Dragons for example. Hybrids also inherit some of the powers of what ever mythical creatures they share DNA with. However they can't do anything fatal with them.
Although people were fascinated by this at first, many people suddenly began to brand these unusual people as "freaks" They would get called terrible names and even attacked on the street. Some shop merchants or ticket sellers even refused to serve hybrids. Which is why a hybrid girl in her late teens was walking down the street in the heavy rain. She was wearing a bright orange coat and was on her way home from a grocery store in the next town about an hour and a half away. She didn't really have much of a choice, as none of the shops here welcomed hybrids. She wasn't having any luck in getting a driving school to accept her either so driving was out of the question at the moment, and last time she took the bus a middle-aged woman threw her eggs at her. She'd rather not go through something like that again so she was stuck with one option; walking.
The teen clutched her grocery bag close to her chest in an in vain attempt to keep the contents dry. The harsh winds threatened to blow the hood of her head and leave her hair exposed. It was hard to believe that the sun was out while she was walking to the far off grocery shop, so you can imagine her surprise and annoyance to find the sky as black as a void upon leaving the shop. It was a good thing she had decided to buy a new coat on the way home or she would've been drenched.
Sunny all day my foot! She thought bitterly. Even the weather is against me.
Despite the deplorable weather conditions, there were still a fair few people out. Some with coats, umbrellas or both. Some were even unfortunate enough to be caught off-guard by this sudden storm and were now dashing about with their arms over their heads desperately trying to find shelter. One of them actually bumped into the teen from behind, causing her to drop her grocery bag and spilling the contents. The offender continued on with no offer to help or even an apology.
The girl growled in annoyance.
"Great, what else can go wrong today?" she grumbled as she began picking up her now soaking wet groceries. She finally got to the apples, which were probably gonna be bruised now, when she noticed that one was missing. She clearly remembered counting out five apples and she could only see four. She glanced down an alleyway right next to her.
"Must've rolled down there." she said to herself. At first she was just gonna leave it and make do with four apples, not wanting to spend anymore time in the rain than she absolutely had to. That is until she heard a sound. The girl figured it was just a rat, but something was telling her otherwise. Woman's intuition had never failed her before, so she decided it wouldn't hurt to have a quick look.
The alleyway was long and narrow. Discarded cardboard boxes, empty glass bottles and other rubbish littered the pathway. As she got closer to the end she heard a munching sound.
So it was a rat thought the teen Or some sort of animal at least.
Deciding to at least find out what it was so that her curiosity would leave her alone, she continued on to the very end and was shocked at what she saw. It wasn't a rat, but she was almost wishing it was. Right in front of her was a teenage boy, barely her age, sitting cross legged with his back to her eating what she assumed was her missing apple. He had bright red hair that went past his waist. It was also mattered and sticking out all over the place. He was wrapped in some beige linen which did nothing to protect him from the elements. The speechless girl could only stare at this poor boy. Was he homeless? What happened to him? Then she noticed something even more shocking. Poking out from the linen was a white, fluffy...tail.
The girl blinked a few times in case her eyes were playing tricks on her, but it was definitely there. This boy was a hybrid just like her. She slowly moved closer but accidentally kicked a glass bottle. The boy flinched, dropping the half-eaten apple. He turned around and his eyes widened at the sight of the girl. His linen wrapping slipped off him revealing something heartbreaking. The girl covered her mouth in shock, feeling like she was going to be sick at any moment. The boy only had a thin grey sleeveless top, if you could call it that. About half of it was torn off, exposing most of his abdomen. He had thin light brown trousers in the same condition. On leg was longer than the other and looked very tatty. Then there were his shoes. No, they couldn't possibly be called shoes. They were just planks of wood tied to his bare feet with rope. They didn't even cover his feet entirely.
He looked a bit thin, but not dangerously, thank goodness. The poor boy also looked very pale and judging from the bags under his blue eyes, he hasn't had a decent night's sleep in days. The boy's arms, legs and what she could see of his abdomen were covered in scars. Some old, some fresh. There were some particular scars on his abdomen that seemed to spell something. An F then an R, an E, then an A, the rest was hidden under what remained of his top, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what the last letter was. The girl felt her blood boil. How could anyone be so cruel!? So heartless!? She then saw that the teenage boy had a pair of white angel wings. Did that mean he was half angel? Who knew that was possible? Then again she talks to a half dragon via Skype, so maybe it wasn't so far-fetched.
The girl couldn't stand this a moment longer. She approached the boy, but the moment she stepped forward, the boy quickly bum shuffled away from her as if she was going to bite him. This surprised the teen girl. Was he scared of her? What in the world had this poor boy been through?
"Hey, relax." she said in her most gentle voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you."
But the boy didn't seem to believe her and continued to back away as she got closer, until his back hit the brick wall behind him.
"It's alright." said the girl coming closer to him. Then the boy seemed to panic and wave his arm out in front of her. The girl then found her self hit with a jet of water causing her to fall backwards.
"Ouch, that hurt." the girl complained. Though to be fair it was only falling on her backside that hurt. The water was just an annoyance, and she was already soaking wet anyway so what difference did it make? She looked back at the boy who was now breathing heavily and looked ready to attack again if need be. The girl looked into his eyes. She saw no signs of hostility, only fear. The poor boy was utterly petrified.
I can't just leave him out here though. She thought sadly. He could catch pneumonia, or worse. The boy already looked well on the way to getting sick, so she had to think of a way to calm him down. Then it hit her. She felt stupid for not coming up with this sooner. She knelt down until she was at eye level with the boy.
"Hey, It's okay." she said gently, removing her coat and exposing her black bat-like wings. "See? I'm just like you."
The boy's eyes widened slightly and after a moment seemed to calm down a little. However he still wouldn't move away from the brick wall.
"I promise I won't hurt you." said the girl. "I want to help that's all. I can't just leave you out here in the rain. My place isn't too far from here. You can stay with me for tonight. Somewhere nice and warm. Wouldn't you like that?"
Neither teen moved for awhile until finally the boy shakily got to his feet, not taking his wary gaze off the girl. His legs were wobbling a bit but he seemed to manage to gain his balance. He then stood there seemingly waiting for the girl to lead him wherever.
The girl smiled and pointed out of the alleyway.
"Alright, it's this way. I'm Stephanie, by the way. What's your name?"
The boy just stared at her with distrustful eyes, not saying a word.
"Alright you don't have to tell me right now." said Stephanie. "Let's just concentrate on getting out of this rain."
Stephanie wanted to put her coat over him, but when she tried he backed away from her. Stephanie felt sad for him. He seemed willing to follow her, but still wouldn't let her near him. They were now walking down the street towards Stephanie's apartment. They got a mixture of odd and disgusted stares along the way. Stephanie being used to this, ignored them, though the boy, who kept a considerable distance between himself and Stephanie, seemed rather uncomfortable. Then all of a sudden his foot slipped causing him to fall on the pavement.
"Are you alright?!" cried Stephanie as she rushed up to help.
However the boy quickly got to his feet and backed away from Stephanie.
Stephanie could see that the boy had grazed his knees from that fall. Those would need tending to later. If she could get close enough to him anyway. She sighed sadly. She had a feeling this might happen. Those sorry excuses for shoes definitely had to go.
"Well you seem okay. Let's keep going then." she said with a smile.
After a few minutes they made it to Stephanie's apartment. It was a pretty old building covered in graffiti. The windows were filthy and certainly haven't been cleaned in some time. Inside wasn't much better. The plain wallpaper was peeling and the green carpet had no end of stains on it and there was very little light.
"It's not much, but it's better than being out there right?" said Stephanie with a laugh, but the boy just stared at his feet.
The duo took the stairs to the forth floor. The lift hadn't been working since Stephanie first arrived. Once she finally reached her door she unlocked it and invited the boy inside.
The teen boy however, stepped back, seemingly having second thoughts about this. Before Stephanie could reassure him that everything was okay, there was a sudden thunderclap. The boy yelped in fright and darted inside.
Great now it's thundering too. Stephanie thought as she went into the apartment herself and shut the door. The boy was in the middle of the living area looking around. There was an olive green sofa and armchair which looked really old. On the other side of the room was one of those box TVs that by now were ancient. There was a very thin green carpet not unlike the one in the hallway. There was no wallpaper just a plain plaster covered wall.
Thanks to the weather it was also pretty dark, so Stephanie switched the light on. The boy yelped once more as the room suddenly brightened up.
"Whoa, relax. They're just lights." Said Stephanie with mild amusement.
The boy took one look at her then walked to a corner of the living area and sat down. Stephanie looked at him, puzzled.
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the sofa?" she asked.
The boy didn't say anything he just sat there hugging his legs and keeping his blue eyes on her. Stephanie sighed sadly. Whatever this teen has been through, it left him utterly terrified of any human contact. Stephanie took off her dripping coat and placed it on a drying rack. She was wearing an orange tank top and mustard yellow jeans. She then went into her bathroom, grabbed a towel and headed back to the living room.
"Here, at least get yourself dry." she said placing the towel next to the teen. He stared at it for a few seconds before cautiously picking it up and wrapped it around himself. Stephanie sat on the sofa, watching the boy play with a bit of loose carpet. Where the heck did he come from? What could have happened that traumatized him so much? Well that didn't matter right now. For now she just wanted to help this poor boy and get him back to 100 per cent.
I think I'm gonna need a little help with this one. Thought Stephanie as she got up and headed for the kitchen. She needed to make a phone call.
Let's leave things there for now. Hope you're enjoying this so far. I know it's super different from the show's original concept, but I just couldn't help writing it. lol