Dare to Love

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing

A/N: So originally this was going to be for a friend of mine, but I decided to post it here. It's a bit of a spin-off/twist to "Hunt for Sviederbach" (Which was the sequel to "Flames of Love"). This follows after the end of HUNT, where in an attempt to save the antagonist's soul, she seeks the help of a woman practicing black magic. This is a bit of a what if, following the antagonist, Martin Lamont, if faced with something that changes things for him drastically. How his family reacts, and how he attempts to escape them. Kelly Nukpana, you may not recognize is from the later chapters of "Hidden Beneath the Mask", she is the one who, with her friends, murdered the primary antagonist for his womanizing ways.

Chapter 2 (Changing of the Tide)

The house wasn't all that big inside, the living room was about fifteen feet by twelve feet, with the front door on the south side. There were two four pane windows, one on either side of the door. The windows had long brown curtains over them, matching the sandy brown walls and the dirt brown floor. Straight across from her was another oak door with a long, slightly bare wall. Decoration was clearly not Martin's strong suit.

To the right of that door was a fireplace and a two seat loveseat a few paces in front of it. Closer to the center of the room, on the wall to her right, was a long vanilla colored couch. There were two tall standing lamps nestled behind end tables, and a glass coffee table directly in front of the couch. On the wall across from the couch, several feet from the fireplace, was a flat screen, hi-def television. She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at Martin. "For the future, you're not very advanced."

"Oh we are, I'm just old fashioned. Plus this is just my little hideout." He moved forward and lifted his shoulders. "Not much reason to decorate the hideout." What was he hiding from, besides his absurd family? She looked to the shelves on either side of the television stand, shocked to see several western movies on DVD. She started to point at them and Martin walked past her. "I'm a western fan, I have to have my John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. You know, some channels still air their movies!"

"Amazing…" Westerns bored her to tears, but she wasn't about to complain. She didn't want to alienate the one person in the future that she knew.

Kelly followed him through the doorway and was stunned to see the kitchen had a relatively decent size. There was a island counter in the center, a refrigerator and stove on the wall across from her. The stove had two counters beside it, one with a metal sink. On their side of the room was a brown table, square, and enough space for four people to sit down at it. Although two seemed to be the general preference. The brown carpeting was on their side of the kitchen, but the white and black tile floor began after the island.

As she followed, she caught a glimpse of the laundry room within an entry way on the wall to her right. Next to the entry way was another that led into a hallway, leading into a bedroom. Between the kitchen and the bedroom was a closet on the left and a restroom door on the right.

The bedroom didn't seem all that big in size, it had a window on the left wall with a twin bed propped against the wall. There was a dresser on the right wall, and a desk on the front wall in between. "So what do you think?" Martin asked curiously. She hummed to herself and studied the bedroom. She wasn't going to be rude and turn down the one person that could help her out.

"It could use some decoration, but it's nice…for your designated hideout…" Quaint would have been a much better term, but even still, it was lacking. If Dakota were here, she'd go shopping with her. Her heart stopped for a moment and her lip tucked beneath her teeth as the realization of her fate dawned on her. "Oh my god…"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm never going to see Dakota again." She turned to Martin, fighting back her tears. Obviously she didn't want him to think she was an emotional hack. "Dakota, Chloe, Megan…they're all gone." She wasn't sure if they'd be in prison or not, or even alive. After what they'd done to Spencer, would they really have been released? "Dakota said her future self wanted me to come here, for what, I don't know."

"Maybe something happened that they wanted you to avoid." Martin walked over to the desk and took a seat, opening a small looking computer. Kelly took the moment to walk over to the small twin bed, the window overlooking it had the same curtains from the living room. The mattress had a thick brown comforter and a chocolate brown pillow. "What's your full name, Kelly?" She pressed her lips together and glanced over her shoulders, uncertain if she wanted him to know so much about her life. "I'm only looking to see if you're around in this era, so don't worry, I'm not going to check up on your past or anything. I pride myself over my word, so you can trust me there."

"Okay…Nukpana, Kelly Nukpana. I really want to change that last name, actually…" Martin raised an eyebrow and typed her name in some search bar. She moved over to the brown dresser and ran her fingers along the smooth surface, smiling as she breathed in the pine and lemon scent. Did they still have pine-sol here? "Do you think my future self would be here? Or well, in America at least?"

"I don't know. Actually, I came from America. Moved here with my culture class…" Impressive, but something told her it was his family urging him to make that move. She looked over to Martin and watched him lean back in the small chair. His eyes were wide, as though he'd just found out some incredibly terrible news. "H-Hey Kelly…I found an obituary."

"An obituary?" Her body went numb and her heart stopped in mid beat, she wanted to collapse to the floor. Her knees were giving out. She was dead in the future? "The picture looks a lot like you, it says you uh…you died in prison back in 2013." Her hands moved to her mouth and her eyelids slammed shut. She wasn't surprised, considering she could have killed herself back then.

"I…" Martin slowly moved over to her and put his hand to her shoulder. She quickly looked up to him, glancing into his dark blue eyes. "I don't think I want to die…" His expression was mournful, as though he'd seen more in that obituary than he said. She didn't want to know how she died, as she was so certain she already knew.

"No one ever wants to die…come on, let's go to the living room, maybe we can find you a show to watch or something. The westerns always calm me down." She let him lead her back out into the living room, she noticed a bookshelf between the television stand and fireplace that she'd not taken notice to before. It currently had several books lining the shelves. All more interesting than westerns, but at least this guy was being hospitable. "I know I said I'm mostly holding out at the castle, since that's where the camera monitors are all set up, but I'll come by and hang with you on occasion if you'd like."

"Do what you want." She moved to the couch and folded her arms over. She would like someone to be around for her, but if he didn't want to be, then she didn't care. "I mean, I guess you're busy doing whatever it is your family's got you doing." She saw him looking towards the door with a thoughtful expression. Did he need to go somewhere? Back to the castle, no doubt. She shifted uncomfortably and glared over at the fireplace. "I'm not going to stay here by myself forever. I know we just met and all, but if you're going to leave me alone, I'll find someone else to talk to." He looked back at her with an arched brow and turned up a subtle smirk.

"You're serious? I mean…"

"I don't even know what day it is, Martin. I don't blame you for leaving me alone though, you know I was a prison rat. You know I killed some people. I wouldn't want to be with me either."

"Oh…it's not like that at all." He looked back to the door, a look of fear and concern shot through his eyes. What was he so afraid of? Martin moved over to the couch and slowly sat beside her. "I won't leave you alone if you don't want to be alone-"

"I'd really rather not be right now." Her eyes misted over as she slapped her hand in the direction of the bedroom. "I just found out that I was apparently dead! Do you think I want to be alone in a time and place that I don't even know?" Her voice started to rise, and she was beginning to lose herself in a rant. Martin lifted his hand and reached up, lowering her hand down. She sucked in a deep breath and glared into his eyes.

"Relax Kelly. Calm down, you're fine."

"I am not fine! I killed my parents, I killed a man, all of my friends are in prison, and I'm in the future…just finding out that I had no future. So where do you have to go that's so important?" He scoffed and slowly shook his head. The silence in the air was deafening for a full minute as he leaned back, trying to think of what he could say. She was managing to keep her own anger down, simply due to the fact that she didn't want to alienate someone she'd just met.

"It's September 20th, 2030. My grandmother and my aunt were killed today, and I broke up with Mala. This was just a couple hours ago, I dropped her off here on the campus. My family realized I broke up with her and started ordering me to take her back…these are some very violent people, Kelly. Believe me." She frowned and studied his tense muscles. He was speaking softly, a gentle tone, yet looked ready to punch out the nearest wall, if he could. "So that's what I was doing. I was going to get her back, then you appeared out of nowhere…kind of caught my attention."

"You don't want to take her back?"

"No. If you asked either of us, there never was any relationship. It was forced together by my family. They had her under their custody…not even their kid…they basically took her from her when she was a baby. So all her life, she was subjected to them."

"Mind if I ask what they did? I mean…I know my family was bad, but…"

"I really don't want to get into it right now. Sorry." She understood his point on the issue, considering she didn't really want to talk about the things her family had done either. She was stunned he didn't feel any great sorrow for his grandmother's and aunt's death. If his family was as bad as he was saying they were, then she could guess they were just as bad. "To answer your question. No, neither Mala or I feel anything for each other. I broke up with her because, well…I'm the monster. I'm the demon. I didn't want her to be involved in my family's whole mess against the royal family."

"That doesn't sound like a demon to me." He chuckled and closed his eyes, shrugging his shoulders while moving his hands behind his head. She folded her hands over in her lap and looked off towards the bookshelf, then back to him. This was the most she'd talked with anyone other than her best friends, and she liked it. "If you don't want to get back with Mala, then don't. Don't let them force it."

"They'd kill me, and they might kill her too. There are things they would probably wind up doing to me that, well…let's just say death is better."

"Freedom is better than death, maybe."

"Yeah, but what can you do when you can't gain that freedom?"

"I don't know…try? If you're so sure that your family's going to mistreat you, then avoid them. I know I killed mine, but…I live with that, Martin." He frowned at her and turned his eyes towards the ground.

"This big plan that my family has…I purposely left Princess Aveline and Prince Astor out so they can find their family and…kill my relatives." Kelly's heart thumped in her chest and her mournful eyes turned up to him. She was sad to hear that he'd resorted to it, but she knew how he felt. It was hard to feel that you couldn't escape, so hard to be abused and tortured to the point you think killing your tormentors is the only way out. "I think the problem is, I don't have as much control over them as I could."

"Look. Call them up and tell them you're not taking Mala back. I'll be right here. If they don't know this is where you stay, then stay here…they won't find you." What was she suggesting? He only had one bed, a small twin sized bed, so where would she stay? Martin looked terrified from her suggestion, and even she had a little amount of fear just thinking of what his family could do. They sounded like the monsters, from his description, but she could hold her own if she ever met them.

"If they found this place, they'd probably hurt you if they saw you."

"I can handle myself, Martin…I'd rather stay away from my own problems, but if push comes to shove…It's your life. You deserve to be happy." If only she could take her own advice, then maybe happiness would come to her. She wondered if Martin could really be there as a friend for her if he was going through so much hell himself. It was possible to help each other, maybe, she would have to see where this 'friendship' was leading to. "Don't let them tell you who to be with or what to do, do what you want to do. Simple as that. Plus, I could use someone around, I guess. I mean…no one wants to be alone, right?"

"I guess." He smiled slightly and moved his arms onto the top of the couch, sighting heavily. "It would be rude just to leave you here without your knowing where you are, wouldn't it?"

"No shit. I already have anger issues, and I'd rather not show you how angry I can get…"

"I'll take your word on that. Maybe I can show you around town. Give you a tour of the place." She practically jumped up, ready to go and look around, she loved the thought of not being cooped up in a house all the time. He looked at her with a quirky smile, laughing once. "You seem excited…"

"I would love to see what this place is like. First, do you want to call your family?" Martin tapped his finger to his chin, humming to himself.

"Nah, not right now. They probably expect me to call when I've picked up Mala, but you're right…I don't need to do that. It's none of their business."

"Exactly!"

"I'm sure I can tell them no later, but right now, I kind of had this thought to show you the university. It might be good if you wanted to start college or something around here." She liked the idea of that, but didn't think it was possible due to the fact that she didn't have any money. Of course, she had money in a bank account that hadn't been used since 2012. There was an accumulative total of ten grand, only from having to work and support herself. She didn't know what could have become of that money over the years, or if it was even accessible.

It wasn't the first thing on her mind. "I'd love to see the university. Maybe if I had a job, I could pay for college, but we'll see…"

Well tell me what your observations were on this chapter, how'd you like everything? Seems things are definitely changing, and clearly, Martin's not taking Mala back. Already he's straying and pissing off his family. Another thing, how do you like the cover image I have up there on the top next to the name? I really wanted something like that, the best image I could find was all asian, but that doesn't matter, I still say it captures the essence of what this story will be.