"You know," Jen said, pulling his arm a little closer, "It's nice of you to offer to walk me home."
"No problem," grunted Kraken.
In all honesty he hadn't actually asked her. What had happened was that he'd mentioned he needed to cut out little earlier than usual. She'd asked him where he was going and then exclaimed that it was near her house. After that, like many things with Jen, things had taken a decided course.
He snorted quietly to himself. Like he'd ever walk a girl home, especially when home happened to be only four blocks away through a safe area of town. If she lived in the part of town where there were muggers around every corner, then he might consider it. As things were though, she lived in the part of town where kids carried balloons and played hopscotch in the streets. He was pretty sure that there were puppies there too.
Still, it wasn't like he could shake her off anytime soon. Fortunately enough a way to her home was past Wok 'n' Roll so he could just take a choice peek in there. The fact that the restaurant was in a good area of town should have comforted him some. If anything else than he shouldn't have felt the need to go off and see how Vanya was doing. From his experience though, dates could get out of hand anywhere.
Kraken was fairly sure that they would be there. If not then he would have to check the other usual places, which he had a map to in his pocket. Failure wasn't exactly an option on this. Once more he had to remind himself that this wasn't spying; it was a completely different thing even if it felt and was a good deal like spying.
He was still trying to rationalize his actions when he heard Jen say;
"Oh, isn't that your sister?"
Kraken's head shot up. Vanya was outside the restaurant, arguing with someone he clearly recognized as John Perseus. His free hand clenched and slowly but surely he started to disentangle himself from Jen. By the time that Vanya had tried to walk away and John had grabbed her arm, Kraken was just saying;
"If you'll excuse me."
His original plan had just been to go over there and interrupt the conversation with false friendliness. While he did this he'd look a little menacing and perhaps loom. Kraken was very good at looming. The next part was to quietly usher Vanya out of there, take Jen home preferably with Vanya with him, and then go back to the house.
Things changed slightly when John grabbed her arm though. For one thing, instead of walking over there like he'd planned, he barreled over. Then, instead of simply looking threatening like he'd planned, he socked the guy across the jaw. As he made contact he vaguely wondered if he'd broken the damn thing again.
.
.
.
Slow motion. That was how Vanya saw events play out. It all moved so slow that she could drink in every detail. She was looking at his bruising fingers one moment, noticing that his fingernails had undergone a manicure recently. Her eyes then went to the space between his eyes (Which was far too large.), which was a good target.
Then, very slowly, a hand travelled across his face, knocking him down. She was in a good position to observe said hand. It was calloused, and there was a fingerless leather glove surrounding it. The nails were unkempt, cut sloppily. Vanya knew it. Normally she saw it hitting people around her and opening windows, so it was very, very familiar.
After that things sped up. John let go of her arm and fell to the floor. Kraken placed one very solid kick to his back. There was a groan and a few patrons of the restaurant started to come out. Unaware of the bystanders, or perhaps because there were bystanders, he kicked him again to make the humiliation complete.
"Don't you touch her," he snarled.
He got another groan in response. Satisfied, Kraken looked up.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
Vanya stared at him. Ever since things had slowed down she heard her own thoughts wailing in the back of her mind. It wasn't like the event here was a small thing, not by any means so neither were her thoughts. It had been building, little by little, until this very moment. Now it all exploded on her, practically engulfing her and dragging her into the depths.
She was never going to get away. She was going to be chained to him all her life. There had been a time where this was something she had dreamed about. However, it wasn't going to be like that dream. It would be her, desperately trying to get over him, and then things being ruined. Perhaps it wouldn't be by him in the future, but it would be ruined.
Even if John had turned out to be a great guy it would've been ruined. It would be ruined by the fact that Kraken would always be in the back of her mind. That had come to her with the comparison of his hands and the thousand secret ways she had been comparing John to him during the date. Normally she liked it when the guy paid. She thought it was a sincere gesture if they'd asked her out. Yet, it seemed cheesy since it was like roses.
That wasn't her opinion. It was Kraken's. The rest of her life would be spent making these little comparisons. She wasn't sure how she knew that it would always be like this. It might've been the sinking feeling in her stomach, the nausea, the headache, the heartache. Perhaps it would be because she just instinctively knew.
Vanya didn't want that, not by any means. She didn't want to be imprisoned by this, but she'd let it happen to her. It was a trap that she'd fallen in with no means to extricate herself. Much of this was her fault but she wasn't the only one to blame. So when Kraken asked her that question she simply answered;
"I hate you. I hate you so fucking much."
Without another word she took off down the street. She wasn't a particularly fast runner, and she knew that if he hurried he could catch her despite her head start. Vanya ignored this though, refusing to acknowledge that she couldn't just keep running forever. To her surprise it seemed like she would be able to.
The rain came and she ran on. She lost her shoes and still she ran on over the pavement. Her make-up was running, she cut through traffic, people were staring at her, but it didn't matter. She needed to get away, as far away as possible. Yet, something in her brain was still rational. That was why she made it to the manor, the only place she had. Once there she'd rung the doorbell, aware that she hadn't brought her keys.
Horror opened the door. He looked like he'd been having a peaceful night. How she envied him. When he saw who it was at the door though, all serenity slipped off. She pushed past him and into the living room, for the first time realizing how cold and wet she was. Horror followed her quickly.
"What happened?" he exclaimed.
Without a word Vanya hugged him tightly. Then she let the tears that the rain had replaced flow down her face. Seconds later the tears turned to full out sobbing. Horror didn't ask her any questions after that. They didn't actually say a word. He just let her cry, rubbing her back comfortingly every now and then.
