Hi guys :)

So I'm pretty sorry for dropping this story for so long, but I moved in to the final editing stages of my own novel and wanted to focus on that. It's off being reviewed by an agent right now, though, so I have nothing to do right now. So yay! Fan fiction time!

Anyhow, I know people want some Julian/Jenny love right now, buuuuut we're going to get a development chapter for Aiden. Sorry folks. Don't hate me!

The smell of his savior was still thick in the air. He was practically intoxicated by it. After everything that had happened, he couldn't imagine why they of all people would save him. He fell to his knees, then on to his side. This was all too much. His head was swimming. Why would they save him? Why were they back? Why would they do this? What had he done to deserve this?

Finally, his mind settled on one thing and one thing only: Jenny. He had to find Jenny. His savior had obviously done this to give him a second chance with her and he would certainly take advantage of that. He would do anything this time around. He would be anyone that she wanted. Tom would not stand in his way this time. He had grown wiser since his death and he knew what he would have to do this time.

He looked over in the direction of where his savior had been standing. They had left the runestave on the ground. He moved over to hold it as clothing materialized and slid in to place around his human form. It was still thrumming with pain and power where his name had been carved in to the soft wood. He held it in a comforting gesture, even though it was a simple inanimate object. He wasn't sure how they had gotten the runestave for long enough to carve his name back in, but he was happy.

It was only seconds later when he felt the shadows entering in to his cave. He looked up slowly, leisurely at the gathering creatures. They were all whispering in shock, staring at him through mist and shadows with wide eyes.

'How have you come back, child?' One of his elders asked him.

He met their crocodile eyes dead on without a hint of the knowledge that he held. He seemed completely innocent. 'I do not know, ancestor. One moment, I was oblivion, and the next, I was born again.' He replied just as innocently.

'Give us the stave.' The crocodile eyed Shadow Man took his vaguely human form so that he could grab the stave away from the reborn Shadow Man.

He allowed them to, and watched with only slight tension as they slowly turned it over and sniffed at it, looking for a sign. The smell of his savior was still everywhere, but none of them seemed to notice it. He didn't understand this, but he was glad for small miracles.

'I do not smell anything.' The Shadow Man said to the others.

'Give it here, your smell is not what it used to be, brother.' Another snarled. It grabbed the stave away and also smelled it. The smaller Shadow Man snarled in anger when it, too, did not smell anything. 'Who brought you back?' It snarled.

He shrugged in a very human way that further angered his brothers, 'I have already told you that I do not know. Nothing has changed since I stated that last.'

The crocodile eyed Shadow Man snarled at him, baring his pointed, ugly teeth. 'Do not back mouth us, boy.'

The smaller Shadow Man narrowed his eyes at the reborn Shadow Man, 'We should simply carve him back off. I never did like the boy. Too human for my tastes.'

The crocodile eyed Shadow Man turned his snarl on the smaller one. 'I created him that way so he could get closer to the humans to torment them. Do you doubt my creative decisions?'

The smaller one handed back the stave and backed off, completely terrified of the taller one.

Crocodile eyes met blue ones, 'What will you do now, child?'

'I will go back and take what I have claimed and is rightfully mine.' He said truthfully. He knew it wouldn't matter if he lied at this moment. If they did not like his decision, and he lied, they simple would carve him off as soon as he went to the Human World. Might as well state his intentions right now.

The crocodile eyed Shadow Man did not look amused, 'Leave the human. They are prey and nothing more. You must be very flawed to be so obsessed with such a simple and ugly creature.' He produced a very long and sharp claw, placing it threateningly on the newly carved name. 'If you continue to pursue her, I will be forced to carve you off the stave.'

'I will not stop pursuing her.'

The claw started to sink in the wood, and the stave began screaming. Several shadows cringed at the sound.

'What is the point in killing him, ancestor?' Another asked curiously.

The blue eyed Shadow Man turned because he had never heard this one's voice before. Wide silver eyes stared back at him.

'You expressed your wishes to bring him back. Why carve him off so soon?' It asked, looking curiously to the crocodile eyed Shadow Man.

After his elder so rudely abandoned him, Aiden sat still for a little while to think. He had to admit Julian never liked him. Julian didn't really get along with any of his Brethren, but he especially didn't get along with Aiden.

However, whether Julian liked it or not, Aiden did know a lot about him. Aiden had been there when Julian had been miraculously albeit mysteriously resurrected, and had been witness to the drama that ensued afterwards. His ancestors revealed Julian's love of humans, and while Aiden couldn't understand it, he found it fascinating.

Through small questions here and there, Aiden learned all about the wizard that trapped his ancestors, and about the angel who released them. Julian claimed the little creature while the others claimed the wizard. Julian was a very private person, apparently none of Aiden's elders knew anything of his growing obsession with the angel.

None of them knew until he actually brought the thing and it's friends to their land. His ancestors were furious, even more furious still when Julian made his lack of plans to kill the humans perfectly clear to his Brethren. Aiden supposed that was when his ancestors stepped in to rid Julian of his love of humans. Aiden was a little unclear on what happened next, but it involved one of their creations - a shadow amusement park -, the humans getting away and Julian being carved off the runestave.

When Julian was resurrected, Aiden's ancestors wanted nothing more than to know how he was brought back - it was by none of their hands, after all. Julian insisted that he had no idea who had resurrected him, but Aiden hardly believed that. The Brethren seemed to believe him and did not bother him further, even when Julian immediately ran off to Midgard. Aiden assumed Julian was looking for the angel. Whether he would find the human or not, he had no idea. Aiden was not sure what kind of time frame he was dealing with for the events before his birth, or how long humans lived when not being pursued by hungry Shadow Men. The angel could be dead by now for all he knew.

Aiden was still pretty surprised to see Julian just now, though. He would have thought he would still be pursuing the angel if he had not found it yet. Maybe Julian had discovered it was dead or something else.

Julian had been rather excited by the idea of food, though. He must have used a lot of energy to try and find the angel.

Come to think of it... Julian hadn't really seemed excited by the thought of food. He had seemed more... frantic?

Aiden's jaw dropped as he put two and two together.

The Shadow Men decided not to take Julian's life after a heated debate. They decided they simply didn't want to know and planned to leave him to his own devices, although they made it clear that they would most certainly take advantage of any slip ups. Many of them left immediately afterwards, taking the stave with them. A few lingered, but eventually left - except one.

"Who wrote your name back on to the stave?" The silver eyed Shadow Man asked innocently.

The blue eyed one cast a glare in his direction, then returned his attention back to tearing a hole in the veil. 'I don't know. I've already said that.'

"I smelled them. You smelled them too, I could tell." The Shadow Man persisted.

The blue eyed one froze, 'I smelled nothing.' He eventually hissed. He dropped his attempt to pierce the veil for now because he knew the younger Shadow Man would not leave any time soon and would not allow him the concentration he needed.

"The smell was familiar, although I can't quite put my finger on it. I know I've smelled it before."

'Why do you insist on speaking English?' The blue eyed one snarled, trying to change the subject.

"I'm practicing for when I play with the humans." The silver eyed one replied, taking the bait.

'Humans speak many languages.'

"Yes, but I have only learned this one so far."

'You are a pathetic Shadow Man. Human languages are simple.' The blue eyed one snarled.

"I have not seen very many humans yet. They do not allow me to interact with them." The silver eyed one replied.

This piqued the blue eyed Shadow Man's interest, much to his one distaste. 'Why is that?'

The silver eyed one blinked hard, "They created three of us to replace you, but they did not trust us because they feared that we would turn out like you. The others have proven themselves, but they still do not trust me with humans. I'm not sure why though." He paused, looking away as if thinking about something. His eyes turned back to the blue eyed one, wide and curious, "They have not told me what you did to the humans. Will you?"

The blue eyed one snarled, 'No. Now leave me.'

"I think you owe me an explanation." He insisted.

The blue eyed Shadow Man whirled on him, and the air around them grew thick with angry energy. 'And why is that, boy?'

The silver eyed Shadow Man blinked, looking unfazed. He was used to his ancestors acting this way. Many of them did not like him, said he was annoying and that they should carve him off of the runestave. Even his brothers that had been created at the same time as him and were also young and naive were known to say that about him once and a while. It did not scare him, especially not now that they had let this blue eyed one who had apparently committed some sort of heinous act live. "Because I saved your life just now. I told them not to carve you off and they listened to me."

'I have already been carved off once. I do not fear it.'

"But isn't there something that you wanted to do? You said you had something that you wanted and had claimed. Wouldn't you miss out on that?" He asked curiously.

The blue eyed one blinked hard and the silver eyed one knew that he had hit deep with that remark. A second later, the blue eyed one was hissing and forcing him out of the cave using only energy. He was impressed. This one was powerful, that was for sure. At the same time, the other Shadow Man had returned to piercing the veil.

"Where are you going?" The silver eyed one called before being completely forced away.

'The Human World.'

"What happened? Are you okay?" Aiden leaned down as he took his human form to look down on one of his elders.

'Piss off.' It hissed painfully.

"What happened?" He repeated a little more firmly, looking to another one of his elders lying crippled in the snow.

'The fool used a talisman on us.' Another snarled from behind him. That would explain the circle of toppled over and winded Shadow Men outside the house.

Aiden was certainly impressed. He would never be brave enough to use a talisman on his ancestors, much less one that probably would hurt him as well.

"Why did he do that?" Aiden pressed, his interest piqued.

Again, his Brethren didn't seem too interested in answering. Aiden picked up a shriveled fetus sort of Shadow Man by the wrinkles in it's neck. It made a shrill cry of protest, but his tactic eventually worked.

'He has the angel back in the Shadow World and he thinks he still has claim over it!' Then it wriggled out of his grip and dropped to the ground, skittering off.

Aiden looked up at the house in wonderment. The humans. Julian's humans were just inside that house. He found himself wondering briefly if he could find anything special about them like Julian had. Maybe the angel was a witch like the other human had been a wizard. Maybe it had cast a spell on Julian and that was why he was so obsessed.

Either way, Aiden was fascinated. He had to meet these humans.

By now, Aiden's ancestors had recovered and were again laying siege to the magical barriers that held them out. Aiden stood back and watched. Inside his head, he was already hatching a plan.

"What is wrong with Julian?" Aiden asked the crocodile eyed Shadow Man when he came across him after Julian left. "He isn't like the rest of us and I don't understand why."

The crocodile eyed Shadow Man glared at him, 'You are not like the rest of us, either. Don't get comfortable around me.'

"You said you created him differently." Aiden persisted.

'I created him to act more like a human so that he could get close to them when it's play time. It's more fun to play with their minds that way.' The Shadow Man hissed absently.

"Well why is everyone so upset about that, then?"

'Because he fell in love with a human.'

Aiden blinked. Love?

When Aiden saw his chance, he jumped through the barrier before any of his ancestors could. He could already feel Julian working on the barrier, so he hid his aura and helped the barrier along. It wouldn't help him at all if his ancestors killed the angel before he could meet it.

From the other side of the barrier, Aiden's ancestors snarled at him. His chapped, red lips pulling in to a playful smirk as he made his reply: the act of drawing a few runes on the barrier that helped reinforce it against his Brethren.

Once he was happy with the quality of the barrier, Aiden turned to look up. He could sense that the humans were in the second to last room away. He was currently in some kind of forest themed room. Aiden had never been inside the house, and as he shifted through the various rooms, his wonderment grew. What happened here?

Finally, he reached the room he needed. He appeared at the top of the stairs and tiptoed down, just in time to see Julian tear a hole in the veil, presumably to let the humans back through. Aiden had to stop him. He was so close to meeting these famous humans and they were going to leave before he got the chance!

"What's the rush?" He called.

Julian faltered and the veil closed.

Aiden smirked.

"The fun has only just begun."

So that was it. I'll have another chapter out soon and that one should actually have action!