Chrome
A/N: Welcome to chapter 2!
XxX
Remus pulled his jacket closer to his body, it was getting increasingly cold and Remus was glad that he had thought to bring a jacket. He liked the coldness of the month that they were currently experiencing, September was always his favorite month of the year. Back where he use to live in the Bronze District, there would be a measly park where oak tress would grow. These trees were very different than those in the other parks in the nicer districts. These trees turned yellow in September and lost their leaves in December, unlike the ones in the nicer parts of the city that stayed green all year.
He breathed into his hands to generate more warmth since the dark was approaching quickly. He didn't mind it, he welcomed everything about the cold months. He looked up suddenly, noticing that the amount of trees in the area had thinned considerably. The university was situated in the middle of the Gold District which in itself was encased by a circle of trees that resembled a very thick ring of forest.
"I must be subconsciously going home..." He chuckled to himself when he saw the Bronze District sign a little farther off. He did miss home, but as a Chrome University Student he was forbidden from ever going there. He groaned to himself and decided that it would be a good idea to head back to his dorm. He turned around and jumped out of fright when he heard his phone go off.
"Hello?" He answered, hearing a loud boisterous laughter Remus placed the phone on speaker and held it a little ways away from himself.
"Remus! Where are ya?" Remus groaned to himself, it was his roommate Peter Pettigrew. He liked the guy, but he had a penchant for breaking the rules by drinking and sneaking into parties. Basically things that Remus avoided like the plague, alcohol and other people.
"Coming into the Gold District again, got kinda lost." He said and resumed walking back to the university, stopping every now and again to admire the forest.
"Dude, you know we aren't supposed to leave the Gold District!" Peter drunkenly chastised, Remus rolled his eyes.
"You're one to talk, now, where is this big party at?" He hoped it wasn't where he thought it was going to be.
"Our room! Come on, I got a couple of girls lined up to see you bro! Nothing's hotter than a guy who has his own stamp collection." Remus rolled his eyes again and decided that staying out a little longer and crashing out at the library would be the best course of action.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Remus asked, noticing that he had taken a forest path and shrugged it off. He didn't have anywhere that he needed to be.
"Yeah, I guess but in the mornings I just usually drink more beer and I'm okay." Peter answered, obviously not getting the question.
"No, I meant, like, with everything? Don't you ever wish that you...Lived a different life or..." Remus stopped and thought over what he was going to say next.
"Wished you hadn't taken an opportunity?" He finished with.
"Dude, you just need to get a girlfriend." Peter said and promptly hung up the phone. Remus tightened his fist and shut his outdated flip phone with a 'snap'.
"Of course that...Guy wouldn't know what I was talking about...All he ever wants to do is get drunk..." Remus huffed and stuffed his hands in his pocket in an effort to keep them warm.
"Maybe I'm just ungrateful...? I mean, I have everything I've dreamed for since I was a kid...But it's like I was...Given that dream...Like the teachers forced it on me and I accepted it...Damn, I don't even know what my major is! I bet it's something to do with either science or law enforcement, two things I don't wanna do..." Remus rambled as he walked, he stopped suddenly and looked over his shoulder. He felt like someone was watching him.
"H-hello...?" He tried, but no answer. Remus chuckled to himself and resumed walking until he heard a 'snap' of a twig. He looked back again but was blindsided by a hooded man whom was wielding a gun that glinted in the light from the gas lamps that hung off the trees.
"Give me your wallet and I won't kill you." Remus was about to say something, but the hooded man had covered his mouth with a hand. Shaking out of terror, Remus shakily handed his wallet to the man.
The man took it roughly and pocketed it, but he didn't release Remus, instead he jabbed the student even harder with the gun.
"The watch on your wrist to." Remus felt something stirring inside of him as he refused to take off his watch.
"No." He said firmly between the man's finger, that got him another sharp jab in his ribs.
"What did you say to me? Give. Me. The. Watch." The man hissed into his ear, Remus felt goosebumps rise on his skin that had nothing to do with the cold.
"Screw you, this is my dad's watch." Remus bit back at him and was turned around and pistol whipped. The student almost fell to the ground, but the man was holding his arm. To Remus's horror, the man slipped the watch off of his slim wrist and let the student fall to the ground with a dull thud.
"Hey!" Remus yelled and latched onto his assailant, the man merely pistol whipped again and a loud crack exploded from the gun. Pain bloomed in Remus's right leg. He screamed in pain as he held it and passed out when he couldn't take the shock waves of pain anymore. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the hooded man slinking back into the forest with the one thing that connected Remus to his family.
"I'll...find...you..."
XxX
"He's awake! Go get the nurse!" A murmur arose when Remus blearily opened his eyes to see the concerned faces of his fellow classmates. Among them was Peter Pettigrew whom looked like he was about to be sick.
"W-What happened...?" Remus asked as he tried to sit up and winced in pain when he moved his injured leg.
"Don't push yourself!" The nurse scolded him and helped him lay his back among the pillows. She offered him a cup of water, which Remus gulped down and asked his earlier question again.
"Well...Some of the forest workers found you passed out and bleeding from the leg. It seemed that you were mugged and...Shot." Remus blinked as he looked down at his leg and tried to move it gingerly.
"The bullet has been removed and you should be fine after you've rested a bit...Though, your leg isn't going to be as it once was, I'm afraid." The nurse said and shooed the students whom were dispersing now that Remus was awake and alive.
"Have they found the culprit?" Remus asked as he gave the cup to the nurse, she shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, no trail either. Sorry." She added as an afterthought, she regarded him oddly when she noticed that there was a growing smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.
"Oh, dear, you're shaking!" She draped a blanket over him and patted him on the back in a comforting manner. However, Remus wasn't shaking from fright or cold, he was shaking from excitement. He was excited because now something odd and unexpected had come to bless his dull life.
A few days later Remus was in the forest area that surrounded the Gold District, he had been hanging around there in case he caught a glimpse of the hooded figure even though it wasn't likely. He even had resulted to asking people whom frequented the area, like morning runners or forest workers. None of them had seen the mystery man Remus was referring to. Most looked at him oddly when he explained his predicament, but Remus found that once he mentioned his father's priceless watch and what it meant to him, their odd expressions would turn to one of understanding and sympathy. He felt bad though, the watch wasn't the reason (well the most important reason) why he wanted to seek out his midnight assailant. He wanted to meet this man, he wanted to see his circumstances, he wanted to see if this was the run of the mill mugger or someone who had resulted into mugging because of something happening to him. He wanted, no needed, to know this man's reason or his lack thereof.
After the third day of visiting the forest non-stop (and four days after he was released from the infirmary), Remus went home a little more disappointed than usual. He sighed as he unlocked his door and blinked in surprise when it was already unlocked.
"Peter forgot to lock the door again...?" He asked himself and entered the dorm, putting down his bookbag on the table and going into the kitchen for a quick snack before studying and possibly falling asleep to the nature programs on the CDC. Yup, that sounded like a pretty good end to an uneventful day.
After he had gotten his snack, he finished studying, and he scolded Peter when he came in about leaving the door unlocked, Remus decided to skip out on the CDC marathon on spiders and just get right to sleep.
XxX
A/N: Any guesses for the person who shot Remus?