"Leo, run!", the white-haired boy shouted to the dark eyed one, running right behind him.
"I am running!", Leo gasped, running as fast as he could. "What is it?"
"I don't know!", Percy yelled back, risking a look behind him. "It looks like a giant dog!"
A black dog the size of a garbage truck with bright red eyes, Percy thought, but decided not to say it. He and Leo ran endlessly through the streets of Connecticut, and no one seemed to notice the giant dog, just the strange boy with white skin and hair and the Latin other.
The monster was on their heels, and the two boys could not run forever. What would they do when the black dog reached them? The answer was answered when they reached a dead end, surrounded between the wall and the monster.
Percy was the first to act in their defense. While the monster was running to get them at the end of the alley, he stepped in front of Leo protectively, took one glove and pointed his palm monster. An ice lightning flew into the black dog, which, in a second, was frozen into a thick layer of ice that covered him like a second skin.
Silence. Leo looked at Percy with wide eyes, then turned to the frozen beast. He was about to let out a sigh of relief when he heard the sharp sound of something cracking. He barely had time to blink before seeing the ice breaks and the monster jump up his new best friend.
The razor teeth of thing dug on Percy's arm, who shouted in hallucinating pain. Using the teeth still in the boy's arm, the monster turned his head, and Percy was thrown against the side wall of the alley, falling to the ground soon after with a heavy thud.
Leo's eyes flashed with new force: the power of hatred. He had just seen his best friend fall in a bloody and dirty snow-covered ground, and did nothing to prevent. He used to be a nice and friendly guy, but at that moment what he wanted most was to kill that beast who hurt Percy.
It was his turn to raise his hand, which, unlike Percy, was always discovered, and point it to the black dog. A wall of flames went straight towards the beast that howled as it was burned alive, before discarding in powder as the flames went out.
Leo stood panting for a moment, before remembering his wounded friend and run toward him, kneeling at his side.
A small pool of blood formed around Percy's arm, which, though conscious, still looked stunned. His arm was covered in blood and seemed to be been opened by a scalpel, and had the skin pulled to the side, showing the muscle of his arm.
"Percy!", Leo exclamed. He tore the hem of his shirt in a strip, wrapping it carelessly around Percy's arm, rising then and gesturing desperately. "Stay here, okay? I will look for something to treat this, alcohol and clean bandages, and...", his next sentences were spoken in Spanish, and of course Percy did not understand.
Leo made a small fire appear at Percy's feet before rushing out to look for something to help Percy.
If only he knew he was not coming back.
~~~~~~~ColdHeart~~~~~~~
Piper tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the woman behind the counter to return what she had just bought. Oh, she sure would act much more quickly if she knew who Piper's fathe wasr, but the girl wouldn't do that to the poor lady-
"Hey, boy! Where do you think your going with it?", a shriek interrupted her thoughts, making her turn to see what was happening.
The shop owner holding the arm of a boy with curly hair and dark eyes, which had a first aid kit on hand.
"Please sir!", he said, looking at the man with fearful eyes. "My friend is hurt. He needs it! Please release me and let me help him!"
"You can't fool me with that, boy!", said the owner of the store. "You think that were no others like you saying the same thing? C'mon, I'll call the orphanage staff."
"No!", the boy started kicking with wide eyes. "No, not again! Please!"
The man dragged the boy out to the back of the store.
The woman behind the counter handed what Piper had bought. Of course, she did not need that. She could ask for anything, and would give grace to know that his father was the great Tristan McLean, but she liked to act like a normal girl sometimes. She tried not to give much importance to the boy who tried to steal a first aid box, but was nervous. And if he was telling the truth? And if his friend really was hurt?
Piper left the store thinking about it, and after some time walking, she heard a low moan coming from an alley. She walked slowly and carefully to the dirty alley and saw a white-haired boy clutching a piece of cloth covered in blood to his arm, sitting near a small fire.
Piper would recognize that white messy hair anywhere.
"You!", she exclaimed.
The boy lifted his head so fast that Piper thought it would fall. She was greeted by bright ice blue eyes she only had seen once before.
"You." He whispered amazed. "What are you doing here?"
Piper slowly approached. She perfectly remembered her last meeting with him, and also remembered his rejection to the approach and the touch.
"Are you hurt?", Piper asked, feeling a spark of concern for him. "It is you that this Latin boy talking about?"
The boy's eyes widened even more.
"Leo?", his voice, despite the terror, was low and weak. "Have you seen him?"
Piper finally sat next to him, who shifted uncomfortably and tried to pull away, but Piper grabbed his good shoulder.
"Yeah", she tried to distract him. "Your friend Leo tried to steal the quite first-aid kit from a store. When he said he had an injured friend, the owner thought he was lying. He said he would call the police and that your friend would go to an orphanage."
The boy's face was sad, but he said nothing. The silence was deafening and seemed to last for hours, until Piper could take no more.
"You... won't try to do anything?", she asked curiously. "I mean... You have powers."
He frowned at her.
"I learned that my power has major consequences", he said, looking away to the ground soon after. "And Leo is not the first person I lose. I want him back, but... There's nothing I can do." At the end of his bitter phrase, he hissed at his bloodied arm.
Piper moved to help, but the boy did not allow her to approach, and she sighed in frustration.
"Look...", she looked at him with a question in her eyes.
He understood, but did not answer right away.
"Percy", he finally said.
"Look, Percy, I just want to help you. I promise you won't hurt me."
"How can you promise me that?"
Piper's face softened.
"I don't know you very well, but I already understand something", she came closer and touched his uninjured arm. "You're not a bad person, Percy, you have no intention to hurt. You won't hurt me."
Percy's eyes were glazed over for a moment, and he felt an overwhelming desire to do what the girl said.
"I won't hurt you", he repeated almost robotically.
Piper nodded, and he nodded back. She hid her smile.
"Let's take a look at this."
She took off her coat and pulled the long sleeve of Percy's shirt gently, but Percy still shrieked in pain. A question arose in Piper's head: If Percy was and was immune to the cold, why to wear warm clothes as if he wanted more than anything to warm up?
The cut was ugly and had a bite format, but Piper doubted it was a normal dog. She tore a strip from her clean shirt and tried to clean the wound of blood that had already stopped bleeding. When she had already cleaned everything up, she realized something.
On Percy's wrist, just above the black glove, the skin looked blue as ice. Weird. Piper risked a glance at Percy, who was distracted watching the cars moving at distance. Piper realized that if she asked the reason of Percy's skin is blue, he would answer that it was nothing, move away and she would never find out. The time to learn it was now.
In one swift motion, she yanked the glove. And she cried out.
"What is that?!"
Percy stared at her, noticing then that she said, and his face would have turned paler if it wasn't already so absurdly white.
Piper's reason to yelling, was that Percy's hand wasn't flesh and blood. It was solid ice.
A/N: *-* I think I'll leave you suffering with that one for a while }:3