AN: Well I'm officially, truly back. As promised, here's the first chapter of the re-imagined Steel Symphony (Once known as Hidden Meanings)
David sat at on his couch peacefully, watching the mind numbing screen called television, as he wound down from a day of work. Well… more like hacking into the local federal bank and siphoning money away into his account.
But hey, he worked hard to get past the firewall unseen, so it was work.
He sighed and ran his hand through his messy golden hair before glancing at the clock on the wall.
4:15pm. If any FBI agents were going to show up at his door, they would have arrived by now. He let the tension drain away from his body and turned off the television, allowing silence to reign in the house. He silently mused to himself about going down to the park and playing his guitar for tips, but quickly thought better of it. Kids would be arriving there any minute now. Not that he had a problem with children, it just seemed that they had a problem with him, or rather, their mothers did.
Admitted, he did look like a homeless stoner when he sat and strummed his guitar for hours at the park, and most mothers were wary of him, afraid he might snatch their precious (bratty) children away. He supposed it might have been his hair, the shaggy clump of gold that hung down to his cheeks, obscuring his piercing grey eyes, because he certainly didn't dress like a homeless man. That wasn't to say he wore designer anything, but he dressed nicely. He certainly didn't warrant any, 'Oh my gosh he looks like a pedo' looks that he got.
He continued to let his thoughts wander, reigning them in when they got too strange, even for him, when a sudden thumping at the door made him jump what he thought must have been 3 feet into the air.
"David, I snatched my brother's stash of sci-fi movies, open up!" A demanding female voice yelled from his front porch.
He relaxed again and wandered over to the door.
"You always scare the shit out of me when you knock like that Drake." He said softly as he opened the door, coming face to face with the white haired teen that had interrupted his thoughts.
"I know, that's why I do it." She smirked, and stepped inside, her twin tails bouncing as she skipped into his living room.
He gave a gentle sigh and closed the door, before walking into the kitchen to prepare the snacks she was no doubt going to ask for. He opened his fridge and laid out all the ingredients for a simple deli sandwich.
"Say David, are you going to enter that contest they've been advertising about?" Drake inquired from the living room, as she laid out the movies across the table.
"Contest?"
"Yeah, the one in Pendragon." She replied distractedly.
Oh. That contest. He sighed as he finished the sandwiches carried them out. He didn't really want to, he was confident in his guitar skills, but the idea of having people who don't even know why he plays guitar judging whether or not he wins some pompous prize, just didn't appeal to him. At the same time, Drake had been adamant about him entering, saying that even if he didn't win, he still gain a lot more recognition than just playing in the park. She knew that he wanted a record deal, and she wanted to help him get it.
For the life of him, he couldn't figure why she cared. He wasn't even sure why he had become friends with her anyways. He'd been playing in the park one day, and decided to stay a little later than normal, even if it meant being watched suspiciously by multiple mothers. He'd just finished his last song when a white haired school girl showed up beside him, dropping a hundred dollar bill into his case. Needless to say, he was astonished. Not so much because of the amount of money, just the fact that someone thought listening to him play was worth that much.
The next time he stayed late, the same thing happened. She showed up when he was finishing and dropped a considerable amount of money into his case, before moving on, without ever speaking to him. So he'd repeated the process, and that quickly became the routine. He would finish, she would tip him, and move on. One day he finally stopped her before she left and questioned her about it. He certainly hadn't expected to have been assaulted by a burly man in a stereotypical black suit when he did.
Drake had stopped the man shortly before he had demolished his face, and he was very grateful for that, before she introduced herself as Drake Wallbridge, daughter of the very well known, very successful business tycoon Samson Wallbridge, who ran a chain of department stores specializing in anything related to pokémon.
Evidently she'd heard of a creepy man who hung around in the local park, and decided to do something about it in an effort to clean up the neighborhood. She certainly hadn't expected to find a very talented guitarist struggling to earn a living (Which he wasn't, as she found out shortly later). She'd liked his music, and then pretty much asked him on a date, which left her bodyguard spluttering, and left him struggling to speak, afraid of insulting her by turning her down, while also afraid of being strangled by her guard. Not to mention she was still in high school.
Evidently she wasn't going to listen to him anyways, because she decided to drag him around the city, taking him to museums, art galleries, high class dining establishments, and pretty much anywhere else he felt out of place and uncomfortable in. She paid no heed to his complaints. Still, he couldn't say that he disliked her. She was charming and didn't seem to care if you were blunt with her or if you walked on eggshells around her. After the day finally ended, he went home, pleased that he had met her, but glad to be back to normality.
Then he woke up the next morning to the sound of banging on his door, a black Lexus pulled into his driveway. He had since given up trying to avoid her and just enjoyed her company, which really, wasn't bad. I mean, what kind of guy could complain about a very wealthy, quite beautiful, ivory haired bombshell wanting to spend all of her free time with them?
He could. But that was beside the point.
He set the plate of carefully made sandwiches down and slumped in the couch.
"I don't know, Pendragon is clear on the other side of Roxia." He mumbled softly, trying to worm his way out of it.
"It won't take long if we travel by air." The teen countered.
"First off, does it look like I own a private jet? And second, even if I do go, what makes you think I'll bring you along?"
She pouted. Oh God. She pouted. He crumbled immediately and held up his hands.
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"You sounded like you meant it…" She said quietly.
Jeez, this one girl really had him wrapped around her finger didn't she? He felt guilty about even saying that in the first place.
"I swear I didn't, you can come along if you want, I promise." He suddenly bit his tongue. Damn clever girl.
She smiled. "So you are going! Yes!"
He groaned and slumped even lower into the couch. He should have known she'd never make it easy for him to avoid. She always got what she wanted from him, always. He didn't know why he'd even tried. He continued to sag into the couch until she suddenly sat in his slap, and his eyes flew open.
"Wha-" He stopped, looking at the two movies she was holding up in front of him.
Of course she wouldn't have tried something like that, where the hell was his mind going? She was 17 for heaven's sake! Though… without her school girl uniform… no, even in her casual close, her small breasts made her look young. Wait… rewind, when had he glanced at her breasts!? He would have hung his head in shame, except, that if he did, his face would land in her breasts, which kind of defeated the purpose of being ashamed. Instead, he pointed to one of the movies she held up.
She smiled and popped the movie into his DVD player, before flopping down on the couch beside him. He sighed, she was the only one who could make him doubt himself like that. This was going to be a long night he realized, and he'd probably end up taking a cold shower.
Drake glanced over at him halfway through the movie, as he squirmed a bit. No doubt a result of her sudden closeness to him.
She smiled a bit at his expense. She knew that he wasn't aware of how she felt about him, but she knew that he considered her off-limits because of her age, unlike most of her suitors, who were only interested in brown nosing her father and couldn't really care less about her, unless they were gross, lecherous perverts. She wondered briefly if that was an overly cynical view of things, but promptly decided that it wasn't, that was how it truly went. That was why she was baffled by this man whose shoulder her head rested on. Even after finding out who she really was, he hadn't treated her any differently. Hadn't acted overly cautious, or two faced about her, nor had he tried to seduce her, and yes, that had happened.
Instead he'd treated her like a school girl who was partially ignorant of how the world worked, and would snap at her if she didn't follow his house rules or if she did something (admittedly) stupid. It had thrown her for a loop, but she quickly decided that she liked it. She had finally found someone who wouldn't try to manipulate her if she let her guard down. She couldn't quite place when she had begun to develop romantic affections for him, but she didn't care. If he had come to her as a suitor, she would have said yes immediately.
But… that would never happen. Not only would her father not allow it, but it seemed that David was adamant in his stance. She was nothing more to a friend to him. It… it actually hurt a little, when she thought like that, but she'd never let it show.
"Tch, that idiot, did no one ever teach him to run away from the creepy sounding noise down the hall?" David suddenly muttered, immersed in the movie.
She snickered a bit, drawn out of her thoughts. "Common sense isn't very common in movies."
"Or in real life for that matter." He retorted.
"Why, you can't be referring to me can you?" She asked, putting on the innocent face that she had honed to perfection.
He glanced at her with a small smirk tugging at his lips. "How'd you guess?"
"Hmph."
She pushed off of him and sat up. "You're not normally that cynical about things unless I'm somehow involved, kinda hurts a girls feelings you know?"
She felt him pat her back, one of his (few) gestures of affection, and she suddenly felt her heart skip a beat.
"I'm just teasing you. You've got a lot more sense than some of the smarter people I meet." He said in that ever so soft tone of his.
It made her skin tingle and her heart beat faster every time he spoke. She had no idea how he did it, but his voice was always low and soft, but never once failed to reach her ears. It was gentle and soothing, as though his tone was constantly switched to comfort mode. It was one of the many traits that had drawn her too him, and made her wonder why there wasn't a crowd of adoring females every time he went to the park.
She broke out of her musings when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to look at him.
"You okay? You kind of went blank for a while." He asked, concern in his voice.
"F-f-fine! I'm fine, sorry, I was just thinking." She stuttered out.
She watched him cock an eyebrow, but he said nothing, instead leaning back against the couch. She decided to use the opportunity and swung her feet onto the couch, resting her head in his lap. He only scowled at her in disapproval, to which she stuck her tongue out at him, before focusing back on the movie.
She kept running, she had to, or else he would find her, and then it would be over for her. He'd beat her again, probably a lot harder than usual, and accidently kill her. She had to find a safe place to hide, until he gave up. He couldn't put out a report for her, since he'd never captured her officially.
Her small pale legs burned as she ran down the alley, when a howl erupted in front of her. She skidded to a halt, noting the pair of malicious red eyes stared at her. Her master's Houndoom. Of all her master's pokémon, he was the cruelest. He was the one that nearly tore her leg off last time she tried to escape.
She felt tears gather in her eyes. She'd been so close, if she could have made it out of this alley, she would have made it to the pokémon center. There she would have been safe, the kind, pink haired lady would have protected her from her master. He would've never harmed her again.
She steeled herself, refusing to give up, and sprinted down a side alley, Houndoom hot on her heels. She ran and ran and ran. She felt her legs turn to lead and eventually numb as she ran, just barely staying ahead of him because of all the debris in the way. If she had been out in the open, she'd have no chance.
"You can't escape bitch! When he catches you, he'll beat you bloody! That is, if I don't tear you apart first." The Houndoom behind her said with cruel mirth.
She ignored him and knocked over a trash can, slowing him as she turned a corner. She wouldn't give in to his taunting. She would find somewhere safe, where she could live without the fear of her master coming back. She suddenly felt heat across her back and jumped onto a small ledge as a jet of flame rushed past below her.
Dammit, he was serious. He would kill her if he couldn't catch her. She scrambled up the wall of the one-story building and quickly running across the roof, leaping to the next.
The Houndoom below her howled in frustration, no doubt calling out to its comrade in the air. She didn't care though, she'd have a bit of time before her masters Skarmory located her, so she used the time to put distance between herself and the Houndoom.
She scrambled across the roofs that she could before leaping back into the congested alleys the second she heard he slight whistle that entailed Skarmory's approach, and continued running. She would not get captured again, not like last time, when her master had… she let her fingers drag across the scars on her stomach. She wouldn't get caught again, no matter the cost.
Then something brushed over her conscience, like a velvet blanket, and she immediately turned right down the next alley, without knowing quite why. She kept following the phantom directions until she came out onto the street, standing at the entrance of a two-story townhouse.
She panted heavily as she touched the minds of the two inside, a man and a young woman, both exceedingly kind, but the man frightened her. For some reason unknown, she felt a deep seated, burning fury, a pit of seething hate, buried deep in his mind. She wanted to keep running, but her legs refused to move, and before she knew it, her face was pressed against the cold concrete, as the corners of her vision darkened.
Am I going to die?
She panted against the concrete, her entire body burning with exertion, until her vision went dark, and she passed out on the doorstep.
AN: Well yeah, that's the first chapter. I know it doesn't have much meat, but that was kind of the point. I learned from a very talented writer that introducing your characters properly can make, or break, a story. If it feels rushed, feel free to point that out, so that I know to slow down my pacing. In any case, the pairings won't be as obvious as they were in Hidden Meanings, so keep second guessing yourselves. ;)
PS: First one to catch the little reference I left in there from one of the most spectacular animes ever, will get a cookie. Not that I'm going to tell you what kind of cookie of course. Spoilers. (Teehee, another reference)