Shun
When I walked through the door of the tenement building, I knocked the snow off of my pants and shoes. I had to admit, it was cold outside. Even for me. The heater was running in the main entrance of the building, and I sighed with relief to have the cold let up. I had gone out into the city to check up on as many of my Clan mates as I could find. After doing a quick count, I found the majority of them and everything seemed to be going smoothly between the two Clans now.
It didn't seem like anything could disturb this peaceful living we had acquired with the death of Tristan. An aroma filled the building, and I figured out quickly what it was. I double checked my guess and saw I was correct. Bertha was in the kitchen and cooking up what looked like soup. I walked into the kitchen and told her, "It smells good as always, Bertha."
I stood next to her and saw her smiling with her eyes closed as she stirred the contents of the pot on the stove. "Why thank you, Shun." I peered over her and thought it looked like vegetable beef soup. That was her specialty on freezing days like this. I asked her, "Need any help?" Bertha took a little of the soup in the wooden spoon she used to stir it, and sipped it.
"I've got it. But thank you for the offer." Her finger glanced over the spices above the stove and she snatched up the pepper and shook some into the stew. She was stirring in the new ingredient when she said, "Alice came by today. She seemed upset about something. I tried to tell her that you weren't here, but she went ahead up to your room. I think she's still there unless she snuck past me. Which I really doubt that happened." I left the kitchen and walked up the stairs to my room.
What could of gotten Alice all out of sorts? A fight with Runo or one of the others? No. Alice was too nice for them to get into an argument with. Then what could of done it? I couldn't of been me. I had made sure to tell her I wasn't going to be free today. I reached for the doorknob. It was locked. I knocked on the door. "Alice, open up. It's me." I stood there a few seconds before knocking again.
She made it quite obvious that she wasn't about to open the door. She might of fallen asleep. Alice will have to come out eventually. I made my way down the stairs and back to the kitchen with Bertha. A few other of my Clan mates had joined in there from the smell of food. I saw Thatch, Ebony, Serenity, Adam, and Len.
Len had showed up some time this morning because he was having issues with his roommates back at his apartment. I double checked the room. Mason wasn't anywhere to be seen. His absence was starting to become a pain. If he was still sulking from our argument almost a week ago, then he needed to find a new attitude. I suspected that he wasn't in the building, but this was his home. Bertha turned the heat to low on the stove and said, "Ok. It's done. Help yourselves, but don't make a mess."
My Clan mates jumped up and grabbed bowls and poured the soup into them and took a seat at the table. I didn't budge though. Something about Mason missing for so long sent a chill down my spine. In fact, everything that had happened lately gave me a bad feeling. All from Mason to Kiba to my dream. I couldn't shake the feeling of something big waiting in the shadows. Bertha held out a bowl to me. "Aren't you going to have some, Shun?" She saw I was troubled and was trying to get my mind away from my problems. I shook my head. "Not right now. Maybe later. I think I'm going to check on Alice again."
Bertha nodded and I walked back up the stairs. This time, the door was cracked ever so slightly. I reached for the knob and pushed it open slowly. I felt an icy cold crawl up my arm when I touched the knob. I bit through the cold and pushed to door open enough for me to slip through. The lights were off and pitch darkness filled the room. My hand felt around on the wall for the light switch.
I found the switch and flipped the lights on. I felt my stomach drop. Standing over Alice's sleeping body, was the angel from my dream. In the light, I saw him more clearly. The featherless wings were just as I had remembered, his body was covered with mist like shadows that made something like a robe covering him from his head to his feet, and the only part of his face that stood out were his glowing red eyes.
His hand was outstretched as if he were about to grab Alice, when he turned and saw me. I was frozen in place just like I had been in my dream. He stopped a few inches short of her, and turned to face me. His face was blacked out except his eyes, and he then disappeared into a dark mist and was gone. Alice's eyes opened and she sat up and looked around the room. She found me and said, "Shun?" My legs and hands were shaking, and I stumbled back against the wall and slid down to the floor.
Alice
All the color had drained from Shun's face when I woke up. He had slid down the wall and was sitting on the floor. His hands were shaking, and he was trying to get a hold of his breath. I quickly slid off the bed and ran over next to him. "Shun, what's wrong?" Everything that had happened earlier in the day with Damien flew from my thoughts. Right then, Shun was my top concern.
"I-I saw him. H-He was in here." He? I didn't know what to do. Had Shun lost his mind or something? I placed my hand on Shun's arm and said, "What do you mean he was in here?" Shun's hands had stopped shaking, and his breathing was starting to return back to normal as well. His voice sounded dry when he spoke. "That angel. From my dream. He was standing right over you and was about to grab you." I got a hollow feeling inside with the thought that this unknown being was standing right over me.
And it wasn't in a dream this time. It was for real. Shun ran his hands through his hair and said, "And I was too scared to move to help you. Just like in my dream." It was plain to see that neither of us were going to sleep easy that night. I didn't want to stay in his room knowing that I was being watched over while I was sleeping, but I also didn't want to be by myself at Runo's.
Shun wouldn't rest easy either. I took a deep breath. Now was as good of a time to tell Shun about the person Adam informed me of. "Shun. I know somebody that can shine some light on your dream. And he's willing to tell us everything he knows." Shun leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling of his room. "I'll try anything as long as I have an answer and can put all of this to rest and behind me so I never have to look at it again." I heard the desperation in his voice.
It was then that I saw how much that dream was tearing him apart inside. Shun looked at me and asked, "Who is this person you know that can help?" His voice sounded drained and tired. I told him, "He's one of Adam's friends. That's all I know. You're going to have to talk with Adam to learn more about him." Shun tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "Great."
Shun
How desperate had I become to where I was trusting one of Adam's friends? I opened my eyes and was faced with the ceiling of my roof. I didn't have much choice but to trust this guy. If he knew something about my dream and was willing to tell me, then I had no other option. Alice was still sitting down in front of me and looked completely lost on what to do now. The neck of her shirt had fallen slightly below her shoulder, and I saw a purple-bluish mark. "What happened to your shoulder?"
Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled her shirt back over her shoulder, but the other side fell low and revealed another mark like the other. "How did this happen?" She covered both shoulders up and stood up. "I guess that thing did this to me when I was sleeping." I saw the lie in her eyes. I had walked into my room before that mystery angel even laid a hand on her.
I got off the floor and stood in front of her. "Alice, just tell me what really happened." She placed her hands on her shoulders to cover the bruises. "I want to tell you. I really do. But it might be best if I don't. Not now at least. You already have enough stress going on at the moment." I was about to reach for her wrist when she said, "I should get going. Runo might start to worry soon."
I didn't have the chance to stop her before she had walked out of my room, and soon the tenement building. She left her coat and phone in my room. I shouldn't of let her leave. Not after seeing that thing stand over her and those bruises on her shoulders. She wasn't safe. Not at all. I growled and scooped up her dark blue coat and grabbed her phone and stuck it into the pocket of my jeans.
I'd chase her down if I had to, but I was going to make sure she was ok. I ran down the stairs, and ignored Bertha asking me from the kitchen where I was going. I steppe out of the tenement building and into the cold night.
The streetlights illuminated her footprints in the snow, and I followed them. She couldn't of gotten very far. I sped up my pace, not quite running and not quite walking. I made out her figure under one of the streetlights, and the shadowed silhouette of another person in the darkness.
Alice
It wasn't enough that I had to face Shun about the bruises that were made by Damien, but now I had to face Damien once more. He was standing in front of me, out of the light of the streetlight above me. His red eyes stood out against the blackness behind him, and he looked feral and wild. I asked him, "What do you want now? Can't you leave me alone? Haven't you done enough?" I couldn't see his face in the shadows, but I knew it wore no smile at all. "I told you I was sorry. Why won't you accept my apology?"
Was he serious? He wanted me to forgive him after all the trouble he had caused me? Because of him I had to face Shun about the bruises on my shoulders. I had lied right to Shun's face cause of him. I was done with this guy. "Get out of my sight, Damien. You've done enough." I saw his blacked out figure run a hand through his hair, and I heard him sigh. "You don't get it, sweetheart. I can't leave your side." I laughed with no humor, and would of slapped him once more if my hands weren't already numb from the cold air.
"You're joking me, right? You're telling me you can't leave my side? What's your excuse for this load of crap?" He stepped closer to me, and was now in the light. I saw the red whelp on his cheek where I had slapped him. "I have to be around to save you when the time comes. That's my sole purpose now." I wasn't believing the words he was putting into my head.
I was about to unload all of my frustration on him, when Shun stepped out from the shadows. He looked ready to attack the first thing that spoke to him. "What's going on here?" His words were directed more to Damien than me, and they were tipped with poison. Damien said calmly, "I was just asking her for directions." I backed away. Shun wouldn't of fallen for Damien's lie that easily.
Shun reached to grab Damien, and everything happened so fast. Damien had Shun pinned to the ground and a small pocket knife pointed to his throat. "You know what this is made of? Angel wings. All I have to do is slice open your neck and you'll die. I don't want to kill you, but if you try and do anything to me then you'd be hurting sweetheart over there. Without me she's as good as dead, because you sure as hell aren't going to be much help when she gets into trouble soon." I stood frozen.
Damien had actually gotten Shun to the ground and had the upper hand, and Shun was afraid. Damien told Shun, "I'm going to leave now. I suggest you don't try anything when my back is turned." He slowly backed away and shot me a glance. His eyes were telling me, "Sorry I had to do that." He turned and vanished into the shadows of the park behind me. I held out my hand for Shun to grab, but he swiped it away. He got to his feet and said, "I don't know what the hell is going on, and I don't think I want to."
Shun was about to walk off when I grabbed his wrist. His eyes flashed at me a warning glance if I didn't let go. "Shun, let me explain. I'm not sure what went on with him a second ago, but I can tell you everything else." Snow started to fall around us, and our breath came out in smoky wisps. His eyes narrowed at me and he said, "He's the reason you have those bruises on your shoulders. Isn't he?"
There wasn't any point in trying to lie my way around it again. I nodded my head. Shun sighed and I could see his breath. "Who is he?" Shun didn't take his eyes off of me. I felt like I was being interrogated for a crime that wasn't my fault. "His name's Damien. He's a Half-breed. Part Messenger and part human. I ran into him the night you had your dream and texted me asking if I was alright. He's the one I got the coat from." I then noticed the coat in Shun's other hand. He was clenching it, and I saw he wanted to get rid of it as much as I did when Damien brushed it off on me.
"Explain how he gave you those bruises." I let go of Shun's wrist and looked at my left shoulder. "A few days ago Damien gave me his number. I ripped it apart, but he had stuck a spare in the café where I'd find it. But within that time, I had started to figure out something was up with him. So when I found the new number, I called him up so I could ask him a few questions. When I brought up the topic of your dream, he snapped and grabbed my shoulders. He said something about Messenger angels not being able to talk about it. And that he wasn't even supposed to know about it either. After that I walked away from him, but he stopped me and…."
My voice wavered away. Shun walked closer to me and said, "And what? What did he do after you walked away?" I had no clue how Shun would react to me telling him that Damien kissed me, and how I didn't know whether I kissed back for a moment or not.
"He kissed me. I slapped him though the minute my brain registered what was happening. That's when I ran to the tenement building. He had texted me later saying he was sorry about what happened and if I'd forgive him. I didn't ever give him a reply." Shun started pacing back and forth and ran his hand through his hair. Was he angry that Damien kissed me? When it wasn't even my fault?
He stopped pacing and asked me sternly, "Why didn't you tell me this guy was harassing you like this? I could of done something to stop him! It wouldn't of gone as far as to him putting a damn knife to my throat and hurting you! Why didn't you just tell me?" His voice was soft and caring when he asked me that last question. Almost hurt in a sense. I felt a lump of guilt forming in my throat.
Guilt from not coming clean with Shun from the start. Guilt from allowing things to blow to these proportions. Saying sorry wasn't about to fix everything that had happened. Shun sighed. "I'm going to walk you back to Runo's to make sure you get there safely." I nodded my head and followed behind him without saying a word. When had things started to fall apart?
i almost hit a wall. went through like two or three ideas and it smoothed out in the end i think. new bakugan today. yay! something to watch! lol. ^^ i kept forgetting to mention this but please do check out my profile for a poll concerning an addition to the trilogy and to also check out the book cover. thanks. ^^ read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~
