Hey everyone!
I know I promised this by yesterday, I'm really sorry! But I hope this makes up for it :)
I LOVE MY NEW COVER COURTESY OF KITTYKATLOVESBOOKS!
Misty jumped up, her eyes locked on the figure stepping through the door.
He-because it was obviously he- was short, dressed in black with a ski cap mask over his face. Several locks of dark red hair stuck out from under the mask, and she could see cold grey eyes through the eyeholes.
In an instant, Misty sprang forward and pinned him to the wall, twisting his arm behind him.
"You" she hissed.
"Me" the stranger answered , sounding more sad than anything else. "Didn't expect you to recognize me, Mist."
"Idiot!" Misty shouted, dropping him with a shove. "You think I'd not remember the person who had my father killed?!"
"Misty, please. I'm on your side. We have to go." He took to his feet, looking her straight in the eyes as he slowly took off his mask.
Misty gasped, despite her anger, as she was faced with the face of her adopted brother. He looked horrible, as if he hadn't slept for weeks and his eyes were red from crying.
/He's playing with you/ Flame chided from inside her head. /He'll just betray you again once you turn your back./
Flame was right. He had betrayed her and her family.
"Not with you. I don't need your charity."
"Misty." He repeated, looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know..."
/You know, he sounds honest. If we didn't know who he was, you might actually believe him. / Flame commented snidely but Misty was beyond reason at that point.
"Didn't know what!" she shouted, towering over him. She was, in reality, only a few inches taller than him, but in her anger she posed an imposing figure. "Ever since you had found out that your real father was Giovanni, you gave up on us! You just disappeared! We looked for you. I looked for you, Silver!"
" Misty... Giovanni was my father. My real, birth father. He told me not to go back because you didn't really care. That you kept me because you needed me."
"AND YOU BELIEVED HIM!" If Misty had been shouting before, it was downright quiet against this.
"WE TOOK YOU IN. I TREATED YOU LIKE A BROTHER. MY FATHER TREATED YOU LIKE A SON. SO THIS DUDE APPEARS AND SAYS HE'S YOUR REAL DAD AND NOW YOU SUDDENLY STOP BELIEVING US FOR HIM? AND I THOUGHT YOU HAD A CONSCIENCE!"
/My, hon, you better calm down or you might kill him before we torture him!/
"Misty, you haven't met him. Please, you have to understand. When he talks, it's like he's describing the world to you anew... You have to believe him..." Silver was whispering at that point.
Misty didn't want to hear any of this. Him. Flame. She just wanted it all to stop. She couldn't take this anymore. She had been separated from other people and human emotions too long.
"IT WAS HIM OR US... Your real family." Her voice broke at that moment. "I trusted you. We both trusted you. And you betrayed that trust. "
Misty would never know how it came to be, but at that time she suddenly found herself comforting the now sobbing boy she had been shouting at.
Now, Misty was crying, too, because she realized what Silver had to have gone through these three months. He had had to live with knowing that her dad's death was only his fault. He had had to live with knowing he had ruined Misty's chances at having a semi-normal life.
All this time, she had been going on to Flame about how poor she was. She had never once thought about Silver.
It made spending that time in jail with Flame seem almost bearable.
Almost.
She drew away, remembering where they both were. Inside her prison cell. Surrounded by guards.
"We have to go" she said, grabbing his wrist. "I'm surprised we haven't been caught yet."
"Don't be. Sleeping gas." Silver answered hoarsely, reaching for his mask and handing her one like it.
"Here. You'll need this."
Misty grabbed it and hurriedly pulled it over her face, then finally followed her brother outside her cell.
It all actually looked sort of freaky, with guards slumped the walls in every odd direction, as if dead.
\Sleeping\ she reminded herself. \Sleeping.\
After what seemed like hours they made it outside the facility and beyond the gates.
They walked awhile longer in silence, until the prison was out of sight and they were hidden in a forest nearby.
Misty finally took a breath (she hadn't realized it, but she practically been holding it the entire time) and looked around, pulling the dark mask off of her face.
She was free. Finally.
/As free as a N°1 Highly Recognizable Fugitive From "Justice" can ever be/ Flame commented.
\Killjoy\ she replied.
She met Silver's eyes in the dark and they both broke out laughing. Nothing was funny, really, it was that this whole situation was so ridiculous- or so it seemed to Misty and Silver, neither of which had had a reason to laugh in a long time.
A pair of teens hunkered under some trees in the middle of nowhere trying to avoid an armed force most likely after them by now bent on retrieving them- it seemed just plain silly in retrospect if it hadn't been real.
And it was real.
So it wasn't laughing at something really funny as much as just venting excess emotions.
"Where are we going?" she whispered to Silver, since he obviously knew where they were going, from the decided way he was leading her.
"Somewhere safe. You'll have to stay in a plane hangar for awhile but I'm pretty sure I can work it out for you after awhile."
Misty was again shocked at how much Silver had thought about her while she had believed him to be heartless and cruel.
"I can take care of myself from now on. Thanks for everything."
They walked in silence for a while.
"It's here." Silver suddenly said, stopping and putting his arm out to stop her as well. He slipped through the hedge next to them and motioned for her to follow. He groped around inside the trunk of a hollow tree.
"Got it" he whispers, pulling out a rusty key and handing it to Misty.
"Get inside there with this key, you'll be staying there for some time. There should be some guys around our age next afternoon, they host some sort of a club there, but they can keep secrets- I've checked them out. And Misty." he grabbed her arms and turned her toward him. "Don't tell anyone I helped you. I'm a pretty hated figure right now and they can't connect you to me."
"But Silver, this could be your chance to-"
"Misty... Promise me." He looked her in the eyes pleadingly.
/He's hiding something.../ Flame warned. /He'll bail on you when you agree.../
\Sorry, Flame, but I'm gonna go with my gut on this one.\
/I happen to BE your gut/
\Not this time\
"Fine. But really," She began aloud. "I just think that-" Misty realized that she was talking to thin air; Silver had already disappeared.
/I told you so, Misty dear.../
"Brother" she muttered, inspecting the key in her hand and making for the door.
Like I said, there's another one coming today!
I'm at school so it might be in an hour or two :)
