Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and my plot. Otherwise, I do not own any of the cities named in this or previous chapters, nor do I own any of the characters from Black Cat. Oh, almost forgot that I don't own IHOP, as tasty as its food is.
A/N: Sorry that this chapter came in late (again -_-;) and/or seems messier/worse than usual. After two long weeks of tests, homework, and crushes, (o.o..don't tell anyone; that's a secret) it's a relief to sit down and lose myself in typing. Thank you for the reviews! Even if they're only a few, they are extremely encouraging...:D
Chapter 9 (Part One, left hanging so that I could finish the whole section.)
Luna's POV
We finally stopped bickering, allowing for a relatively peaceful and extremely delicious brunch. After the fish, we ate omelets, pancakes, quesadillas, and a couple of waffle sandwiches. When I finished my plate, I leaned back in contentment. I was filled to the brim with enough food to last the rest of the trip and then some. Train stretched and sat back in his seat as well. "That..was..delicious," he managed to get out. My eyes widened at the stacks of plates laid out in front of him. His capacity for food ceased to amaze me. Everyone else seemed equally satisfied with the meal. Seeing that we all were just about done, Buck walked up to our table. "Y'all ready to pay for your order." Sven nodded as Buck pulled a small notebook and pen out of his shirt pocket and scribbled down our bill. He than ripped the page out and passed it to Sven. Sven's eyes bugged out when he saw the total. He glanced up at Buck nervously. "Umm...you wouldn't be willing to give an old friend a discount, would you?" Buck chuckled and shook his head. "Sven, you and I both know my policy. You're paying, fair and square." Sven reluctantly pulled out a checkbook. "Darn, I never had to pay this much before.." he muttered as he wrote out the payment. Finally, he gave it to Buck. Buck took it happily and gave us a charming smile. "Much obliged to do business with ya', and I hope y'all enjoy yourselves in Fort Stockton."
Sven sighed and got up from his seat. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought we told you that we're just passing through." He looked up at the manager. "In fact, Train and I wanted to ask you a favor." Buck didn't look surprised. "I just about figured as much. I'm guessin' this has something to do with these kids you brought in with ya'?" He indicated towards Ryan and me. "Guessed right," Sven confirmed. "They'll be tagging along with us for a while, so we're going to need some supplies for them." He paused and looked carefully at Buck. "I presume you haven't given up your hobby for inventing have you?" A glint came into Buck's eyes. "I see..." He checked outside all the windows before locking the door and turning off the neon OPEN sign that hung next to it. "There won't be much business today anyway." Then he walked up to the door that led to the kitchen. "Hey Katie! We've got guests!" He turned to face us and he winked at Sven. "You remember Katie, right?" Sven smiled. "'Course I do. You two were so lovey-dovey, it made me sick." He glanced at the gold band around Buck's ring finger and shook his head, chuckling. "I should have known you two got hitched after you left." Buck started stacking up the plates from our table. "Y'all go ahead while I clean up here. You know how riled up she gets when you keep her waiting." "Don't I know it," he mumbled. We all followed after Sven into the kitchen. "She'll be in the first room on your right!" Buck called. "Can't miss it!"
The door led directly behind the counter. As we kept going, we walked into the kitchen, filled with the smell of grease and egg. The vents were still running, trying to get rid of the lingering steam and smoke from the cooking. Two rows of countered stoves and deep-fat fryers ran lengthwise through the room. Just before it, a space between them and the wall led to thick oak door. Well, I thought it was oak, from bis and pieces of wood I could see beneath the layers of posters, magazines, and newspaper clippings pasted onto the door. At first glance, the collection looked like a simple insane mess someone decided to put together, but as my eyes followed the lines of text, I saw that it wasn't a mess at all, but rather a huge collage.
The various colors meshed together to shape out different animals against a landscape of paper trees, pasted sky, and magazine grass. In black-and-white text, I could distinguish the silhouette of a small cat with its tail curled at its feet. Deep blue cut-outs – made up of photos from snow-covered mountains, dark forests, and the night sky – formed the figure of a wolf howling as it sat at the bottom of the display. Pieces of cloud fluff took the form of a tiny white mouse, scurrying behind the cat. To the right of the three, a golden lion lounged in the grass, his head held high in nobility. Pictures of gold and treasures of Egypt gathered to from his body, his head formed by golden waves of wheat. A cheetah sat behind the lion, upright and attentive as it faced us newcomers. Its face was covered by the picture of a dust-storm, its body made up of, strangely enough, pictures of bronze and gold medals and trophies.
A former student of different arts, I was intrigued by the piece, wondering how much effort had gone into putting the whole project together. I didn't think much more of it, though, as it swung back, startling me out of my daze. I'd forgotten that I was staring at a door the whole time. We were greeted by a red-headed woman in an apron, jeans, and a cream blouse. Her waist length hair was a tad ruffled here and there, but that simply added to her energetic aura. Everything about her made her seem bright and peppy. She smiled brightly at us, and, once she laid eyes on Sven, instantly pulled him into a hug. "Long time no see!" she chirped.
Sven, taken by surprise, gave a simple "Hey!" The red-head looked up at us and gave a small wave to Train. "'Afternoon, Train. How is that Hades of yours?" Train nodded appreciatively. "Shooting fine thanks to your extra parts. Works like a charm ever since we passed through last." She gave him a thumbs-up sign. "No problem! If it ever needs any more repairs, y'all are welcome to stop by for repairs again. That gun there is a piece of art." She let go of Sven and walked up to Eve. "How are you doing, Miss Eve? Were you able to finish that book I gave you?" Eve gave a small, somewhat shy smile. "I'm doing well. And thank you again for the book. I enjoyed it tremendously." The woman smiled "Glad to hear." She then turned to face us. "And who are these two? New sweepers?" Sven straightened out his clothes as he explained. "These are friends of ours. We're helping them out for a while, and..." He looked at Train. "Yes..we plan on helping them become sweepers and letting them join us afterwords."
"Then introductions are in order."The lady stuck her hand out towards Ryan. I am Mrs. Katie Davis. You can call me Katie for short." We were both a bit taken aback by how forward she was with everyone. She acted more like someone our age than an adult woman, let alone one that's married. Ryan slowly, but surely took her hand and shook it. "My name is Ryan. It's nice to meet you." He gave a polite smile. "Nice to meet you. You have a firm handshake. I like that in a man." She winked and Ryan, not able to help himself, blushed. She giggled before turning to face me "And who might you be?" "My name is Luna," I said politely.
She raised her eyebrows a tad and looked at me curiously. "'Luna,'...like the moon." The way she pronounced my name made it sound..different. It gave an essence of mystery to the word. She grinned warmly at me. "It's a beautiful name." Then, she blinked, taking a second glance at my face. "Your eyes are beautiful, too," she commented thoughtfully. "Like pools of pale moonlight," she said wistfully.
"Thank you," I said, a bit uneasily. Though I was used to people reacting to my light aqua eyes, they were quite an unusual color when compared with my oriental appearance, this was a strange thing for someone to say. I tried to make nothing of it. She's just a bit forward, that's all. It was just a tactless remark. Yet in the back of my head, a memory of the dream's voice echoed. Hitomi-san. The way she had said it made it sound as if it meant something more meaningful and mysterious, the same way Katie was speaking about my eyes . Hitomi: a name commonly given to a child as a compliment to her beautiful eyes. I remembered the definition by heart when I looked up the meaning of my real name. Such a small connection is nothing to worry about. How could she know about the voice in my dream? But wasn't it just moments ago that the bell at the entrance had sounded exactly the same as the one from my dream. Buck had even mentioned something about spirits lingering inside the building. Don't be paranoid, Luna. It was just a dream. These are Sven and Train's friends. I couldn't comfort myself out of my worries, so I avoided them for the time being.
Katie was unfazed at the hesitation in my voice and continued with her antics. She noticed how closely Ryan and I stood together. "Are you related?" Ryan nodded, a bit surprised she'd picked up on that. "Siblings." "Oooh," she said as she nodded. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet both of you." She gave a small curtsy, elegantly pulling an invisible skirt behind her and then quickly looked up again. "Now, come in. Y'all came to talk business, right Sven? There's little else you come 'round here for anyway." Sven rubbed the back of his head nervously. "You don't have to put it that way." Katie turned and raised an eyebrow. "So you're not here for a favor?" Sven sweat-dropped. "We are," he admitted sullenly. Katie laughed. "Don't worry about it Sven. What are friends for, right? Besides, the criminal underworld doesn't exactly give people a break now, does it?" Sven smiled, reassured. "Thanks Katie." She raised her hand in front of her. "Hold your thanks until after I hear what you need, alright? I can't guarantee that we'll be able to help you." She motioned for us to follow her into the room.
The room had a fair amount of space. It was about half the size of the dining area. The back wall was lined with three bookcases. Two were filled with books, while the third held cases upon cases upon cases. A few more chairs sat against the side walls under frames that held photos and paintings. I read the signature at the bottom corner of one of them as I got myself a seat. KGD was initial in slanted cursive. The paintings were amazingly detailed, clearly picturing various natural landscapes. A chestnut horse and her colt drinking water from a trough. A bobcat peeking through the tall grass. A wolf staring at us from a distance, lit by the full moon. Katie noticed me staring at the wolf. "That's one of my favorite paintings. Took me forever to get a good pose from that wolf, though." "How?" I asked, amazed. Painting scenery was hard enough, but to paint a living, breathing wild animal in front of you was close to impossible. "You didn't take a photo of it and just paint it from that?" She shook her head. "How I painted that one is a secret," she said, holding a finger up to her lips. "Let's just say it helps to be friendly with animals."
I looked back at the picture. What caught me in the painting was the wolf itself. Whiter than the snow around her, the she-wolf seemed wise and strong. She seemed to be staring straight at the viewer, trying to tell me something. I looked at her eyes, how the moonlight shone off of it, and reached up for my own. The wolf's eyes were enchanting, almost the same color as mine, reflecting silver where the light hit it while the rest was an almost white light blue. Up until then, I was still tense, suspicious of this overly friendly person, but her wolf put me at ease. Its expression was calming, though stern. Trusting and watching protectively over whoever was on the other side of the easel. They made the whole picture captivating and ambiguous. "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul," Katie said, breaking me out of my trance-like state. "Yeah,.." I murmured as I lost myself in the picture. The wolf's eyes seemed to draw me in closer. The landscape is so vivid..It's almost like the whole thing is alive.
The rest of the world seemed to slip away, leaving only me and the wolf. The way the wolf held itself, I could feel the snow beneath its bare feet as if they were my own, hear the wind whisper its tragic melody against my ears, breathe in the icy cold air. My fur bristled as I sensed an oncoming gust of piercing sleet. Far away, the sister clan howled in salute to the moon along with nature. Pointing my snout towards the sky, I saw the pure white circle, surrounded by swirls of clouds in the night-sky that only emphasized its light. My lips parted, and I joined the beautifully haunting chorus of voices, cuing the rest of my pack to join as well. We honored the moon in its full majesty. The white world listened as we sang, and all were made aware of the presence and power of our kind – the wolves, connected by both spirit and blood. We were inseperable and would always protect each other, even in the face of death.
Finally, our voices died down, leaving the sky silent. Even the wind had subsided. All was still and peaceful...or so it seemed. A figure shifted in the darkness of the forest further down the mountain. He seemed tense, though there was no scent of fear in the air. At the sound of its footsteps through the snow, the others turned their heads in the direction of the intruder. They remained quiet, instinctively keeping from drawing attention towards themselves, though it was clear that whatever was moving was coming towards us. As it moved in closer, I could make out the silhouette of a human. A low rumble began in the caverns of my throat. Visitors were seldom welcome here, let alone the likes of greedy humans.