Setting: Chase Young's citadel. The next morning.
Luckily for him, Chase awoke before Carmen the next morning.
She had slowly retracted out of the fetal position thru out the night, and now lay on her back with her hands on her chest. She seemed almost peaceful now, but Chase couldn't quite tell, because her hair was almost completely in her face.
Did Chase think that she was pretty? Not particularly. She struck him as unique. Not that it was a bad thing.
Not quite sure why he was doing it, Chase reached out in an attempt to brush her hair out of her face.
Before he could touch her, Carmen's crimson eyes snapped open, and both of her hands shot up and grabbed Chase's wrist.
"What are you doing?" She hissed. Well, it would've been a hiss if anyone other than Carmen said it. The way she said it, it sounded more like a mix between a laugh and a cry of anguish.
Chase didn't reply. He sat back and folded his arms across his chest.
Carmen sat up- her hair still covering the right side of her face. She looked like a girl from a horror movie.
"Don't touch me." She said in a menacing tone. "Ever. If you touch me, I will light you on fire."
Chase gave her a puzzled look.
"Light me on fire?" He confirmed.
She lifted up a hand, almost as if signaling for a high-five, which quickly burst into flames. Her eyes burned along with her hand.
"I will light you on fire." She repeated. Every ounce of insanity now left her voice. She was dead serious- making it very clear to Chase that she could and would burn him.
Chase nodded. "You will light me on fire."
Her hand ceased burning, and she lowered it. "Good."
She turned her back to him, got off of the bed, and began to walk out.
"Wait." He commanded.
She stopped and wheeled around- hair still hanging in her face.
"What happened?" He asked her (out of sheer curiosity).
Carmen mumbled something that Chase couldn't hear.
"What?"
"I said, it's none of your business. It's got stuff to do with my sister and her dad." She shot back.
"Well you owe me for the time we lost yesterday, when you were supposed to be training. Or did you forget?" He smirked.
Her frown was barely visible thru the dark curtain of hair.
"My sister's dad was the surgeon type of guy." She tried to explain. Chase interrupted her.
"Your sister's dad. Half-sister?"
Carmen sighed. "Technically she's not really my sister, and technically he's not her dad."
Chase lifted an eyebrow; almost encouraging her to continue…which she did.
"In her previous life she fell in love with my brother and they both got shot so now in this life they're 'connected'…so she's like my sister. The surgeon guy saved her life after her family was murdered and it's a really long story." She said, talking a few deep breaths.
Chase said nothing, and waited for her to finish.
She sighed again. "Anyway- he's this demon surgeon guy and he invented this operation which lets people be psychic. So my sister got the operation and almost died but then she made it and later was like 'Hey Carmen you should try this' and I was like 'Okay'."
Chase blinked while she paused. She was talking very fast. She went on.
"And so I tried the operation but the guy screwed up and only part way finished so now I have this."
Carmen brushed the hair out of her face to reveal a thick scar stretching from her eyebrow down to her chin on the right side of her face.
"And thanks to him, I'm now touch-a-phobic." She added with a pout.
"And crazy." Chase said to himself.
"So touch me and I'll light you on fire." Carmen re-stated. She seemed to like fire an awful lot. "Can I leave now?" She asked him randomly.
Chase sighed. "I suppose so. Be in the main foyer in one hour. I will show you to the weapons room, and we will start training."
Carmen now smiled- as if she had just walked into the conversation.
"Okay! Are you sure I won't be too much of a handful?" She asked him, laughing.
Chase had to resist the urge to scoff and roll his eyes.
"Of course not." He responded.
She nodded. "Okay. See you in an hour!"
With another laugh, she danced out of his room, closing the door behind her.
As soon as he was sure that she was gone, Chase sighed heavily and leaned back on his bed.
Terrific. Hannibal Bean had found him an apprentice who was an insane pyromaniac, with a built in lighter. He didn't even fulfill his part of the bargain. Chase frowned. He'd just have to prove Hannibal his ability to teach. He would have Carmen fight the bean…and he knew that with work, she would undoubtedly win. In any case, today's first session would show him what he had to work with.
As the next hour came and went, Chase was not disappointed. Hannibal Roy Bean had given him exactly what he needed.
Setting: Chase Young's citadel. The next day. Sometime in the afternoon.
Chase had given Carmen a break from training for awhile. He was busy devising the next part of his plan, when he heard the sound of her screaming.
He rushed to see what was happening, and found Carmen standing in the middle of the hall. Her crimson eyes were wide with fear, and she was pointing at something with one hand.
"What happened?" He asked her, looking around.
"I don't know." She cried, in hysterics. "I was walking and all of a sudden I saw all of this blood!!"
Chase looked to where she was pointing. There was nothing there.
"What do you see?" He asked her. "There's nothing here."
She shook her head. "That's impossible. Right here- my name written in blood. Don't you see it?"
Carmen looked up at him- her eyes glistening with tears.
"It's right here!" She insisted.
"Explain to me your past." Chase ordered. He didn't need a stalker coming after this girl and interrupting his plans.
"Well…quite obviously I'm not normal. I'm a demon, right? So where I come from, people are always born twins- a boy and a girl. My father had an affair with a woman from a different race other than fire, so when the other woman had children, it was a twin boy and girl. I was born alone because of this, so I was banished. My name written in blood is bad luck, and seeing it now makes me feel…"
She shut her eyes tightly and tears rolled down her face.
Chase saw this as a great opportunity to gain her trust.
With her eyes clamped shut, Carmen didn't see Chase smirk- only felt him wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace.
"I will protect you." He told her.
He heard her gasp lightly.
"Promise?" She asked him.
He smirked.
"I promise."