Summary: "You changed my life and I changed yours, because when we met sparks flew, flowers bloomed, love blossomed. Forget the IOUs; we were destined to be together, forever and always."
Much thanks to reppad98, malory79080,GuiltyCrown09, pokegirl185 and imouto marichan for reviewing. I love you all and I hope you all like this chapter.
Sorry in advance if the theme of this chapter isn't to your taste, but it is an important part of the plot since this was the basic inspiration for it all.
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~ d◦e◦s◦t◦i◦n◦y ~
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~ Chapter 2: Stupid, Weak Adrenaline ~
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He stared below into the deep water, the gentle ripples, and the darkness of it all. It began to lull his mind, it felt soothing, and he began to feel more and more drawn towards it.
Without warning, his mind snapped and he had this sudden urge to plunge himself into the icy depths of the ocean, never to see again, never to breathe again, never to feel again.
He leant a bit too far and almost toppled over the low railing. He heard a muffled shout behind him, but didn't react to it. He had already closed his eyes.
It was as if he had already welcomed the feeling of oblivion.
But instead of feeling the cold water hit him, he felt a tug on his shirt. He was being pulled back, away from the railings by someone.
Thin, warm arms curled around his stomach and held on tightly, as if their life depended on it.
Oh, how ironic.
He opened his eyes in shock when he felt something tremble. It was those arms. Somebody had held onto him and had invariably saved him.
Suddenly he realized what was about to happen and felt sick.
"Don't you dare! I won't let you take your life! Please, please, please get a hold of yourself, I beg you!" The person furiously sobbed into his back, hooking their arms even tighter around him.
At hearing that, he turned sharply to face the speaker, eyes filled with confusion and anger. He couldn't comprehend what was going on. It was like his common sense had been turned off.
"Get off of me!" He barked suddenly and prized off the arms and threw them away from him, turning his whole body to face the imbecile who dared to utter such nonsense.
Dawn stood there in shock, rubbing her arms, tears still flowing from her blue eyes. Paul looked surprised for a second and then became even angrier at the sight.
"Why are you here? What the hell do you think you are doing? Why can't you mind your own business?" Paul roared, with the pitch becoming higher and higher after each question. He was livid and blinded by rage.
Dawn stood her ground, trembling, yet she squarely looked back into his eyes. The black eyes were angry as never before, but they were also filled with shock, fear, confusion and panic.
Her eyes softened for a moment and then went back to enraged as she held the stare.
"You think I was going to let you jump? You fool!" Dawn screamed at him, but didn't move from her place. The sight of his uncontrolled rage made her legs paralyzed with fear, yet she didn't let it get to her and stood her ground.
Her fury was stronger than any fear she could feel.
"You don't know me. So why don't you just mind your own business and get lost?" Paul sneered. He wasn't thinking straight. A part of him knew that he should be thankful, and that this was wrong, but his rage completely took over him and there was nothing he could do about it.
"So what if I don't know you? You think I would stand there and do nothing? Are you actually that stupid?" Dawn's legs were finally able to move and she walked up to him till she was just inches away from him, her glare matching his own, and her arms folded tightly across her chest, hiding the little tremble.
"You have no right to tell me what to do, you little-" He started snarkily, but was unceremoniously cut off by the girl.
"And you have no right to be doing what you were going to do!"Dawn's scream echoed even over the crashing waves and she angrily punctuated each word with a jab to his chest with her forefinger.
"You don't know anything!" Paul had then lost it. He didn't even recognize his own voice which came out as half a scream. Dawn's eyes widened in surprise and she began to stutter, but no words came out. Paul pushed her away roughly and walked away.
At that, she finally found her voice again.
"So this is what you do? Walk away? That's all you know how to do? Walk away?"
Paul ignored her screams and walked even further away. He had a lot of things he could yell back, but he didn't want to do something he'd regret.
No wonder he was told he couldn't keep his emotions in check.
He was pathetic.
By the time he reached the other end of the deck, the horn blew and the anchor was lowered. They were docking in at Virbank City for additional supplies before the long, long journey they had ahead of them.
Thankfully, all the loud noise from the waves and the grinding of the engines would have muffled their—uh, quarrel. Paul coughed at that in embarrassment.
He disembarked before any of the sailors could notice him and began his aimless walking yet again. The breeze now wasn't as rough as it had been and it actually felt good. He sighed in content.
And then, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in sudden understanding.
He didn't feel 'angst-y' anymore.
He wasn't angry either.
He had calmed down.
He looked as his hands in amazement. They no longer trembled, and his fists had unraveled too, showing the slightly reddish nail marks from when he had dug them deep into his skin and even drawn a little blood.
It must have been when he blew his top and yelled at the girl.
His eyes widened with the realization and then he felt angry again.
That girl. Who was she to poke her nose into other people's business and act like a stupid goody two-shoes? Hell, he didn't even know her. Meddling people like her were the ones Paul hated the most. She had been pitying him. The thought made him even angrier.
But, what if she was genuinely trying to help you? After all, you did manage to blow off most of your steam. And who was responsible for that?
And at that thought, Paul felt guilt wash over him. He had screamed at a complete stranger, an annoying stranger, but still, a stranger nonetheless.
Someone completely blameless for his inner turmoil.
He kicked a stone in his path in frustration.
And she did save you.
Damn his life. He was a real pathetic idiot.
A fool.
A moron.
"Stupid jerk, how dare he? After I save him and all that! And my arms hurt so much now! He was so rough with me!" She sniffed loudly and pouted.
But she stopped when a scary thought came to her mind.
What if he's still like that? What if he ran away to someplace no one can find him?
What if he tries it again?
She gulped. No matter what he had said or done, she couldn't just leave a helpless person like that. Hell, let him yell and kick and scream. She wasn't about to let something like that happen in her knowledge.
She couldn't let it happen.
She sprinted along the length of the deck, ran down the gangplank and into Virbank City, not caring that it was late in the night and that she had left all her stuff in the ferry.
It didn't matter for right now because as far as she was concerned, he was the only important thing on her mind.
It wasn't any of his concern, he told himself. It was her own damn fault she butted in.
He pushed away the guilt and walked forward, paying no heed to his surroundings or where he was headed. All he knew that he wanted to get away. Far away.
"Oi, wait up!" He stopped at the yell and his heart sank.
She had caught up with him.
Why couldn't she just leave him be and carry on with her life? Why was she being such a pain? Why did she have to make this so difficult?
But little did he know, she was one tough cookie, as she called it, who didn't know how to back down for things like that.
The truest example of a fool.
He kept on walking and tried to ignore her yells and panting and lengthened his strides.
Suddenly a hand caught hold of his shoulder and whirled him around to face the person. There she stood, angry as ever, with that flicker of worry showing in her eyes every other second.
This was unexpected and Paul was definitely taken by surprise. She had run the whole length like an Olympic Marathon runner even with that giant lead he had had and still had had the strength to pull him and make him turn around.
Paul was faintly impressed, but masked it well.
"I… told… you… to… wait…" Dawn wheezed and coughed, doubled over with her palms on her knees now and Paul felt guiltier, but kept up his stony appearance. He exhaled and his brow furrowed in annoyance.
"And I told you to not butt into my business. And I also recall telling you to get lost. But did you do that? No. So why should I listen to you?" He retorted coolly, and turned around once again to amble along his path.
"If you really want that…" The conviction in her voice made him stop yet again. Dawn stood up straight with a solemn look on her face, her eyes piercing into him, "If you really want me to not butt into your business and get lost, I will gladly do so." Paul breathed a sigh of a relief and was going to deliver a fine specimen of an insult, but it died in his throat when he heard her complete her sentence.
"But only if you let me help you get over whatever you are feeling and you promise to keep sane!"
Paul was beyond shocked at that. He didn't think those would be the words coming from her mouth.
He had never felt this moved.
By a stranger nonetheless.
But instead of being grateful, only the worst possible thing came out of Paul's mouth. He couldn't believe his own ears when he roughly grabbed hold of her and screamed in a near-demented pitch: "Just leave me alone and get the f-"
Thwack!
She couldn't take it any longer and had slapped him right across the face.
Paul's eyes widened and his cheek began swelling and throbbing with pain.
Dawn's fingers trembled and her eyes widened in fear, tears pooling the edges. She looked shocked at what she had done.
"I— I— I'm-" She stumbled over her words, scared at the way he looked at her, her fear now impairing her speech.
She closed her eyes tightly, too frightened to even move as she waited for the worst.
But nothing happened.
She heard a thud and whimpered unconsciously, and then opened one eye to see Paul had fallen onto his knees onto the asphalt, his hand holding his cheek, his hair hiding his expression, which was one of pure disbelief.
"I— I am sorry! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to-" Dawn frantically began stuttering but was cut off by Paul.
"I really needed that. Thank you." He looked up at her and gave her a look full of sincerity.
A look which spoke more than anything else.
"B-but-" She was cut off yet again when Paul lifted a hand to silence her.
"Just leave now, will you? Please." He knew he sounded desperate, because he was, but he also knew that he sounded too cold and harsh for the moment, and wanted to avoid further damage to the situation.
Dawn didn't say anything and walked away. She knew she had crossed a line and knew better than to push her luck. But before she was out of his hearing range, she whispered something and broke into a run.
Paul hadn't bothered to look back at her walking figure, instead preferring to stare at the cracks in the dusty asphalt and cradle his cheek, till he heard her. He turned sharply to look at her but by then she had disappeared.
The sincerity in her voice had left him feeling horrible. It stung him more than the reeling pain from his cheek.
It wasn't your fault, he wanted to say. I should be the one to apologize, not you.
But these words never made it out of his throat and died there.
He stood up and began walking away in the opposite direction, an expressionless mask now on his face.
She ran through the streets of Virbank, leaving trails of tears behind in her wake.
She had spoilt everything. Everything. And then she—
She gasped as she pictured it again. She was an awful person. A terrible person who couldn't even try and help someone. Instead she had made it worse.
She hadn't meant to though.
If anything happened it would be her fault.
She felt horrible.
She stopped in the middle of a lane, roughly rubbing the tears off her face, rubbing her eyes almost raw.
No, it wasn't her fault. The jerk deserved all of it. Why should she beat herself over someone else's mistake and inability to receive help?
Yes, she had done everything in her power to help him. A stranger at that! And yet she was here, crying her eyes out for something which wasn't even her fault.
She was the stupid one.
She slapped her cheeks a couple of times, wiped off the last of the tears and grinned with her old determination. There was no time to waste over feeling upset. She had to get home. She smiled fondly at the thought of her home and then suddenly frowned.
And then she panicked.
She didn't know where she was!
In her frustration and sorrow she had run into some part of the city which didn't seem familiar in the least. Even when she had been trailing the guy she hadn't paid attention to her surroundings and had just followed her instincts.
She was lost.
Horribly lost.
She let out a cry of despair, but then tried to steady her breathing. This was no time to panic. She had to stay calm and focus and then she'd be out of here and in the ferry in no time at all.
Oh why, oh why, oh why did she have to follow the idiot?
She began rushing to every turn she could find to see if she could spot the ferry but in vain. The fog had come down quite suddenly and she was utterly lost.
At the last by-lane, she crouched down and buried her head into her knees.
She was never going to get out of this city!
But before she could even start drowning in her self-pity, she heard footsteps. Startled, she looked up and scrambled onto her feet when she saw a dark shadow coming nearer and nearer towards her.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Are you lost, miss?" A boy around her age came forward suddenly out of the fog, looking faintly worried.
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. So it wasn't any stalker or rapist. Thank goodness for that. She smiled.
"Oh, thank you! I'm just looking for my way back to the-" But she was cut off by the faint scraping of leather against the ground.
"Ah, so you are lost, eh? You poor thing, you look so cold and forlorn, and your eyes are all red," he said gently, looking at her with sympathy.
Dawn suddenly felt a weird chill run up her spine. This couldn't be good.
The sudden glint in his eyes confirmed her suspicions.
"Uhm, on second thought, I just remembered that I have to-" She was cut off yet again by footsteps behind her. Her eyes widened as she turned around sharply.
"Oooh, a lost kitten? Come on doll-face, we'll show you the way back home. It's okay, we wouldn't hurt a fly now, would we?" A new voice spoke up from her right, the person's teeth glinting in the dim street lighting. Dawn gulped. The first guy's lips curled into an evil smile and she shivered.
"No, really! I can go by myself! I just remembered that I know where to go, eheh." But Dawn's pitiful cover-up didn't interest the guys in the slightest.
She slowly backed away and then turned and fled as fast as she could. Even though she could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her, the incidents prior to this had obviously tired her out and she was significantly slowed down.
But the men at her heels made her push her legs even harder as she ran for her life.
Never had she thought she would be in such a predicament. And this was all because of her own stupidity. Oh, how she wanted to smack herself silly!
But now was not the time. She had to outrun them and find her way back to the—
Oof!
She had collided hard with something and almost fell onto the ground.
It felt like déjà vu.
But this time, someone caught hold of her arm and pulled her back firmly onto her feet. The sudden jerk made her cry out in pain, but nothing beat the surprise as she looked up at the person who saved her.
It was him! The purple haired box of angst!
"What now, woman? Haven't you done enough already?" he snarled at her and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance.
The guy whose back she had collided with just had to end up being the same guy she had slapped just a while back.
Great.
But he was still better than those creepers who were bent upon being helpful.
Too helpful for her liking. She shuddered.
She fought the sudden urge to push him away and continue running, since the muffled yells of "She went that way!" made her change her mind.
"There she is!" Dawn whirled around to see the—now, four —men who had been pursuing her. She gave an inconspicuous cry of fear, but shook herself.
She then proceeded to act on her impulse and glomp the surprised guy with her.
"What the— ack!" Paul never would have guessed this was coming. He looked at her with wide eyes as she hugged him tightly and dug her face into his chest and began sobbing loudly.
Everyone sweat-dropped at the sight, including the guy being hugged, who was too shocked to even speak, let alone peel her off of him.
"Oh darling, I'm so glad I found you! I thought I'd lost you forever!" She cried harder making Paul freeze.
Just what in the hell was going on here?
The four men looked at the scene with incredulous stares and began backing away from the embarrassing thing happening in front of them.
Meanwhile, it took Paul everything to come out of his shock and try to wriggle out of her grasp. Man was she strong in abominable situations like this. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and grimaced.
At that, something clicked in the minds of the four pursuers and they looked grimly, obviously not falling for Dawn's pathetic display, especially when her co-actor was as dumb as they get and even more clueless than they were.
They began advancing on her which made her let out a squeal of fear when she had lifted her head to look at them, and Paul looked at scene in front of him with a hint of surprise on his face, still not getting the scene. But a sudden beseeching look from Dawn, who had then turned to look at him, made everything fall into place.
And even though he didn't want to get involved in such a cheap trick, he obliged, since deep down, he knew he owed her.
And so, he did the first thing that came into his mind.
He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, something which surprised not only the other guys, but Dawn herself, who didn't expect this in the slightest, and quickly began to make his way back to the ferry.
Paul had wheeled around and began walking in the same direction as before with the creepers staring at the scene, not knowing what to make of all that, or what to even do.
They were taken aback. They never expected that.
Meanwhile, Paul cracked his first smirk in a while.
This was revenge.
Dawn blushed and panicked simultaneously, for obvious reasons. She wanted to kick and scream and punch and yell, but before she could act on her instinct, suddenly it all made sense.
So instead of that, she also did the first thing she thought of.
The guys, who were sweat-dropping at the entire thing, suddenly shook their heads and frowned. They were definitely not amused. They made their way to grab hold of Paul and beat the living daylights out of him, but before they could act on that, they saw their worst nightmare ever.
She winked at them, flashed a brilliant smile, licked her lips and stuck out her tongue at one corner before giving them a peace sign.
The lowlifes gulped nervously and shuddered, and then with a yell of, "Run for your lives!" fled back into the foggy by-lanes. They didn't even wait for her to blow them a kiss.
"Huh?" Paul turned back a little when he heard the weird commotion, but only sweat-dropped at the scene. Before he could wonder about it, he was met by the same dazzling sight as Dawn turned and looked up at him.
Paul gulped.
It was blood-curdling.
So he did the sanest thing he knew.
He pushed her beanie onto her face and dropped her.
Right onto the hard gangplank of the ferry which they had reached in that time.
It hurt.
He then proceeded to walk up the gangplank, whistling nonchalantly, with his hands behind his head, ignoring her yell of, "Hey!"
The horn blew and the anchor was raised as Dawn jumped onto her feet and ran after the boy, fury in her eyes, a new power in her feet since her running was now fueled by anger, not stupid, weak, adrenaline.
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Um, yeah, so this is going to be slightly AU-is, as in, they haven't met before…? Yeah. Sorry I didn't make that clear before, but that was because I myself was in two minds about it. XD And I'm gonna change the chapter names soon. The ones I've thought of are getting boring for me. :P
Review for DP cookies, custom-made by Harley, for all of you! (JK!) See you on the- *squints at calendar* -5th~! I better get to work with the future chapters. *ties headband*
Edit: Also, I've dropped by today just to update; I barely have any time so I will get back to your PMs later. I'm very sorry for the delay but this week was too hectic and the coming one is even more so.
Dated: 21st September'13