I have some mixed feelings about this chapter. I'm not too sure why. Compared to the other chapters, this one is a lot more serious and serves to move the story forwards. If I'm still unsure I'll probably re-write it.

BORN BAD

"You were fighting!" Tam cried, "On your first day of school! Dante, explain yourself!"

Dante merely sat in the chair with one arm behind the back of his chair and one foot on Tam's desk, his leg outstretched. He was repeatedly rocking his chair back and forth, his gaze affixed to the side. He was staring intently at the crucifix which was nailed on the wall and Tam moved to stand in front of him, hoping to grab his attention. Dante merely lazily averted his gaze to the ground instead.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself, young man?"

He shrugged.

Tam was on the verge of exploding; however, he remembered his bad heart and merely returned to his seat, holding at his forehead with a loud sigh. It appeared he'd been sighing more than usual over the past few days since Dante's arrival. "...You were lucky I spoke to the principal and negotiated the terms. You were going to be expelled, but because you didn't initiate the fight, the punishment was alleviated into two weeks suspension. And thank the heavens that the boy's parents has also decided to drop this matter too."

Again, Dante shrugged half-heartedly in response. "Can I go now?"

Tam glanced up; the youth stared at him indifferently. He had never seen someone so impassive before. The youth's eyes held no remorse, it was though he had no sense of what he had done wrong. His eyes were glassy, as though they were a barrier to the world he was living in or as though everything he saw was a shadow, an outline in thick mist, a whisper in the wind. "...Dante, talk to me," He pleaded, "If you don't say anything, we can't help you. Tell me, why do you do these things?"

Dante lowered his foot from Tam's desk, all four legs of the chair returning to the floor, and slowly, he turned to the pastor, eyebrows furrowing.

"Are you lonely?" Tam asked, "Do you want attention?"

Rising to stand, Dante angrily towered over Tam a foot or so and with his palms under the table, he grabbed it from underneath and flung the table onto its side with so much force Tam immediately jerked away in fright as the table went tumbling effortlessly. Papers and pens went flying everywhere. Tam was in too much shock to move at the youth's frightening display of strength. The desk weighed a tonne! It was sculpted and made out of heavy, antique wood and when Tam had it moved to his office, it took three men just to carry it! The pastor gawped at him in sheer disbelief as Dante stood before him, seething.

"I - " He started; however, he stopped and briefly contemplated. When you see me getting dragged into Limbo. When you see the demons after me everyday. When you see me fighting them day and night...that's when I'll talk. He ended up saying, "I do these things because it's fun seeing that dumb expression on your ugly face."

...

Trixie heard a loud 'thud!' downstairs and glanced up from her magazine; a few minutes passed but nothing happened. Trixie then rolled off her bed, scampering to her door. She opened it and poked her head outside: at the same time Dante was skulking past her in the hallway.

"Dante? What are - "

Before she could finish her sentence, he shoved her back into her room by squishing his palm on her face and Trixie went stumbling gracelessly over her feet. After she managed to regain her balance, she scrabbled to her doorway again to see Dante making his way up the stairs to the rooftop, taking two steps at a time – she assumed he had wanted to be left alone – and Trixie watched his retreating back curiously and returned to her room.

It would be much, much later in the evening when she realized Dante hadn't come down since. She'd already had dinner with the rest of the children and Father Tam but Dante was not present. She noticed that Tam was preoccupied during dinner; he didn't finish his food and retired to his room early, asking the orphans to tidy up during his absence. Whilst cleaning up, Trixie asked Becky what had happened earlier on.

"Didn't you hear?" said Becky, "Dante was almost expelled. Father Tam spoke to the Principal and instead, Dante got suspended for two weeks. Father Tam's too nice, helping out a bad person like Dante."

Bad person? Trixie thought to herself. Although Dante was obnoxious and swore like a sailor, and despite the shower incident, the school-bathroom incident and the fact that he made her swear, she didn't think he was really all that bad. After all, Dante didn't start the fight at the canteen. He also returned her locket when she lost it. He was probably a rude person, a troublemaker...but that didn't necessarily equate to 'bad', did it?

"I don't think he's a bad person," Trixie found herself jumping to his defense, "Bad is when...you hurt someone deliberately, or-or you manipulate, lie, cheat...steal." Now that she thought about it, maybe she didn't hate him as much as she thought she did either, since here she was defending him.

"Well, yeah," Becky replied, "But Dante is still a bad person, and no-one's going to bother with him anymore. For your own good, Trixie, you should stay away from him too."

Becky's words would remain in her mind for the rest of the night until she went to the kitchen for a quick late night snack. I'm surprised, Trixie thought. No-one is going to bother with Dante from now on. They all think he's a bad person.

Tam said he'd leave leftovers for Dante again but Trixie went to the fridge and saw that the leftovers hadn't been touched. She took them out and held the plate in her hands, pondering. Today's dinner consisted of more potatoes, vegetables, gravy and some steak. She never knew if Dante never turned up for dinner because he didn't like the food Tam served. It was rather generic and bland and it was the same thing over and over again, but Tam had taught them to be grateful for the food provided.

Nevertheless, she put the plate of leftovers into the microwave, set the timer as appropriate and waited. She also took out a juicebox (unfortunately all they had was apple flavor) and she placed it on the counter. The microwave went to a stop with a loud 'ding!' and Trixie scooped out the plate of reheated food, covered the plate with a dome-shaped silver food cover (complete with handle) and put it onto a tray, then grabbed a set of clean cutlery from the cupboard along with a napkin and the juicebox.

With tray in hands, she made her way up to the rooftops, holding the tray as still as she could. As soon as she arrived, she nudged open the door with her foot and stepped outside.

"Dante?" She called out.

Glancing around, she saw him lying on the bench and approached him anxiously. He had his hood pulled over his head again, and he did not look at her as she neared; he was not smoking this time, either. Instead, he had a couple of empty beer bottles lying by the legs of the bench. She didn't know where he got beer from since Tam literally made beer illegal within the orphanage.

"Dante?" She tried again, setting the tray on the table beside the bench. She had to move some old newspapers and gardening tools to make space for the tray. "Helloooo? Earth to Dante? Can you hear me?"

There was no response; Dante continued staring at the sky, blinking slowly. However, a few seconds later and he slowly slid his gaze to her as she stood beside the bench. "...What do you want?"

"I...uh...I brought you some food."

Finally, he craned his head to her lazily, his piercing eyes lingering on her face for a few seconds before his gaze trailed to the tray.

Trixie stepped away and gestured to the tray, "Um...well, enjoy." Before she could turn to leave, he grabbed her wrist roughly, halting her in her tracks. She froze up all over at the contact, then turned round to him meekly. "...Yes?"

He was looking at her with a frown. "Did that pudgy fuck downstairs tell you to do this?"

She shook her head furiously. "No, I reheated the food for you. I was worried you'd be hu – EEK!" She squeaked when he suddenly sprang up, shoved the tray off the table and onto the floor with one massive sweep of his arm. The cutlery clattered loudly to the floor, the juicebox dropped onto its side. The food came tumbling out, potatoes bouncing, gravy seeping into the soles of her shoes.

"I don't need your fucking charity or your pity." He snarled, "Get outta here. Leave me alone."

Trixie stared at the wasted food and effort; instead of shrinking away in fear as she thought she would've, she felt the last shred of her patience snap and she turned to him, fuming. "What is wrong with you?! You think you can do whatever you want, whenever you want without thinking about other people. You don't realize that you might end up hurting people along the way and that's what I really hate about horrible, selfish and rude people like you! Becky was right; I shouldn't have bothered... clearly no-one else did! Fine then, you can continue to rot in your pathetic way of living for the rest of eternity for all I care!"

Following her outburst was a silence. A very long silence.

Trixie was panting loudly; she'd never been so angry her entire life. In fact, her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own and she realized she had spewed all that out without even considering the consequences. But for once in her life, or at least, since Dante's arrival, she felt relieved. Relieved to have let out all her bottled-up frustrations go. Her fists were clenching so hard her knuckles were turning white and her fingernails were digging into the curves of her palm. There was more to be said, that was for sure...but for now, that would do.

Dante was watching her closely now, and she thought he would be angry and yell and swear at her. However, all he muttered out quietly was, "...You don't understand."

Trixie stopped heaving and panting all at once. "Huh?"

Dante continued, as though oblivious to everything she had just said, "I could get dragged into Limbo anytime."

Limbo? Dragged? She continued gawping at him incredulously. "What?"

He grunted loudly. "Just leave me alone. Don't talk to me ever again. Stay away from me, for your own good. I'm a bad person. You don't wanna get mixed up with the likes of me. You'll just get hurt. Now go away, or else I'll – " He paused, rolling up to sit up properly on the bench before jumping off to stand beside her. "Shit."

Trixie stared as Dante glanced around left and right, whipping his head to and fro, thoroughly alarmed. "What is it? What?"

He ignored her. "Tch. They're here." He cursed under his breath, before he began to make his way to the one of the corners of the rooftop.

She trailed after him and stopped by his side as Dante glanced over the railing as though assessing the height. "Who is? Who's here?"

"Go back inside. Don't follow me. It's me they're after, not you, not anyone else. Me." He said quickly. Without another word, he hopped over the rails and disappeared down below before she could ask him any more questions. Who was here? Who was after him? She almost screamed as he leapt off; it was a three-storey high drop! Trixie rushed over to railings and glanced down in horror. To her astonishment, Dante had completely vanished before her very eyes.

...

Trixie waited for a long time for Dante to return. She was glad it was a Friday night or else she wouldn't have stayed up so late. By the time Dante returned, Trixie had propped up Little Toby's old, musty play tent in the rooftops and made a comfy, warm den for herself, lining the bottom with sheets and old pillows she got from the closet downstairs. When he left the rooftops, leaving her alone, it suddenly became colder and she felt a terrible presence lingering nearby. She had never felt this way before but after numerous chills down her spine, Trixie fixed up the tent, sat inside it and instantly felt...safer.

She had also cleaned up the mess Dante made (ie, the food he knocked over) and she brought her jacket, a lantern, and she had also made herself a hot drink and a plate of pancakes to munch on whilst she waited; she was sipping her drink leisurely whilst chewing on a pancake and flipping through a magazine when suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw Dante climb up to the rooftop although as soon as she saw him, she scrabbled out of the tent and stood up, startled.

He was hurt.

"Dante?" She put down her mug and plate to rush over to his side immediately and squatted down beside him as he slid over the banister, slumping against the wall in a heap. "Dante?" She tried again, but he did not respond. She helped him sit upright, pulling him to sit up properly by placing her hands on the sides of his arms. "Where did you go? What happened? You're hurt."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you."

"...Why?"

"Never mind the reason why - you're bleeding!" She exclaimed. What exactly was going on? What was he getting himself up to? She saw that he was bruised and battered, with those little cuts on his arms - it was exactly the same kind of wounds she saw on him the day when she lost her locket. Was he getting into fights regularly?

He averted his gaze, groaned and grunted whilst clutching at his side. "It's nothing."

"Where did you go anyway? I was worried." She said, and he turned to her and met her gaze; he said not a word, and she had a feeling he was inwardly debating whether to tell her the truth. She waited patiently, but before he could reply, he winced and grasped at his side where he was bleeding profusely. She gasped as soon as she retreated her hand to see that her palm was soaked in fresh blood. "You need to get to hospital right now!" She squawked, and she was about to loop his arm around her shoulder when he suddenly pulled away.

"Calm down. I'll be fine. Stop yelling." He grunted. "...Just let me heal."

"But - " She was interrupted when Dante sat up and did a mild stretch and all of a sudden – to her complete and utter shock – the wounds from his arms magically vanished along with the scrapes and bruises dotting his face. He was still bloodied, but as he lifted up his shirt a tiny portion, she saw that the laceration had cleared completely and as he cleared away the blood with his sleeve, letting the fabric soak it up, the wound had vanished. Her mouth dropped to the floor subsequently following the bizarre display. "...Y-you just... how did you...But...but how?"

He shrugged and stood up, pulling the rims of his shirt over his flat, toned stomach. He had healed in seconds. She continued gaping as Dante sidled over to the tent she had been sitting in and lowered himself to lie down, stretching his legs up over the length of the blankets and placing his dirty boots over her magazine which she had left lying open.

"Hey!" Trixie protested, rushing over to his side again and tugging the article from his feet. Once she saved her magazine, she looked at the muddy pages in disgust. "...What was that all about?"

He shrugged.

"You don't know? ...Well, why did you show me?"

"I dunno. I felt like it."

"...You 'felt like it'?"

He took a while to respond, before he uttered, "You're different. Different than all the others."

Her breath caught in her throat. Different? "S-so how long were you able to do that?"

"Since I can remember." Once more, he responded to her question as though healing one's body was a common ability in the world.

"Does anyone else know?"

"...No, just you."

She recoiled in shock, dumbfounded by his revelation; it took a while to sink in. Dante had never showed or told anyone before? Just her? She was stunned. "Really?" She squeaked out, "But how did you do that? Did you learn it from somewhere?"

"No, I've always been able to do that."

"T-that's amazing! It's like...magic or something."

He seemed genuinely confused, his eyes widening ever-so-slightly. "...Amazing." He repeated in a deadpan manner.

"W-well, yeah! You can heal! Not everyone can do that. It means you're special. Or is it your pendant that can heal? The one you have around your neck? How long have you had it?"

Dante threw his glance down to his pendant, "I've always had this. I was told it belonged to my mother."

"Me too; I've always had my locket, I'm exactly the same as you." She said giddily; excited for a change that they actually had something in common. She fished around her neck and pulled out her own locket and held it up for him to see. "I was found with this. They told me it belonged to my parents. I wear it everyday...Too bad mine doesn't have any special powers though, unlike yours. It would've been nice. Maybe I could do something useful for a change."

He stared at her for a long time following that interesting discussion. She didn't understand after all. Of course she wouldn't. She didn't know anything about him. She wouldn't know about the demons in Limbo, the demons that would drag him into Limbo, the demons that searched for him relentlessly, the demons that wanted to rip him apart day in day out...

Nobody did.

Dante turned towards the stairs whilst fumbling in his pockets for a cigarette and his lighter. She trailed after him as he lit the end of the cigarette, took one deep drag and whiffed out some pungent smoke into the air. "Dante, wait – there's something I still don't understand. Who was after you? Is someone...is there something chasing you? Is there someone out there who wants to hurt you? Do you want me to tell Father Tam? He could help."

He stopped abruptly and Trixie almost collided nose-to-back with him.

"...Dante?"

He did not move.

"Dante? Are you okay?" She sidestepped round him and peered up at him. His gaze was solely fixated on the floor in front of him; for the first time, he appeared...conflicted. It appeared he was mentally debating something, but just as quickly as Trixie went over, the confusion and perplexity that was prevalent in his eyes vanished and his expression darkened. His eyebrows furrowing, she glanced up at him meekly as he took the cigarette out of his lips and flung it to the floor before crushing it under his boot.

He took a step towards her and instinctively, she took one step back and gradually found herself being cornered against the wall. Dante slammed one outstretched hand by the side of her head and leaned close to her; Trixie's knees began quaking immediately as he neared and she turned away, unable to meet his eye. He did not stop, however; Dante came closer and closer and closer and Trixie suddenly found herself staring at his lips which were coming close to hers.

The lips moved and -

"...Didn't I say you were one nosy brat?" He growled, "Stop saying stupid things. You annoy me, your face annoys me, and girls like you really piss me off. You and I are not the same and I don't want anything to do with you. From now on, stay outta my sight, and if you breathe one word of this to Tam or anyone else, especially your brainless retarded friend, I'll fucking kill you, got it?"

Author's Note

Yay! My first author's note after a chapter :3 I tried to get Dante to open up slightly to Trixie in this chapter, but obviously he stopped himself before he could let anything else really slip out because she won't understand and she thinks everything is sunshine and daisies; he regains himself and returns to his outer coldness again and shuns her completely (although its more like he took what she yelled at him there, and threw it back in her face). It's the fourth chapter but I think it'd be way to soon if he starts telling her about demons and stuff.