Goodbye to you my trusted friend
"We are gathered here today…" Scar began as the summer sun beat down on all of their heads, the entire kingdom crying and holding one another, "To remember the loss of a wonderful king, brother and husband…" He motioned towards the casket and heard Elizabeth's cry, "And a great prince, child, nephew-" His eyes caught Victoria's and she frowned instantly, "and friend… Drake Ashburn." Victoria's wet eyes glanced over to their teacher, Mr. Harris. He frowned and kept his head down, as the other teachers around him didn't look as upset, the young brunette figured it was because he had been the hardest on him and prayed that he wouldn't get him again as a student… God has answered his prayers.
"Hey…" Ayden whispered over to Victoria and she glanced to the side seeing that the blond boy was right behind him, "Look who made it." His light olive finger pointed towards a crowd of people and the brunette's blue-green eyes fixated on Thomas Archer and his son.
"Wonderful." She said through a broken voice and sniffled due to all the crying. "I hope he chokes."
Ayden's blue eyes widened as they fixated on Victoria, "Victoria, I wouldn't say-"
"SHHH." Opal exclaimed, pulling her son back so that he was sitting next to her and unable to talk to anyone as the precession was going, half of Victoria felt pleased as she watched Scar continue on talking about the deaths of his brother and nephew, but the other half wanted this entire day just to be over so she could start moving on.
"James's death was a terrible tragedy, but to lose Drake, who had barely begun to live?" He shook his head and forced tears spilled from his light green eyes. "James died a hero, he gave his own life to save his son… but alas, both are dead." A frown tugged on Scar's face and Victoria's head hung as tears rolled down her cheek, "For me, it is a deep, personal loss… So it is, with a heavy heart, that I assume the throne." Everyone glanced up at him, their eyes boring into his light olive skin, "Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise-" Shadows from the sun allowed Victoria to fixate on three men that joined his side immediately, grinning to themselves, "To greet the dawning of a new era! In which witches and warlocks come together with shapeshifters and WEREWOLVES in this great and GLORIOUS FUTURE!"
Two dark eyes were glued to the T.V. as a news reporter began talking about a recent death. "Three bodies found dead in the Burenzine woods, all three of them were bitten and drained of blood. Investigators say that this was an animal attack and that all people should either stay out of the woods at all times or just be careful, the beast is still out there and hasn't been caught-"
A pale hand flipped the T.V. off and a darker man with long, stringy, black hair fixated on his friend with wide eyes. "D-Do yah think the animal is still out there, Riley?" Evan asked and the shorter man, whom had fiery red hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes jumped to his feet, grinning broadly.
"Of course it is, Evan!" He exclaimed and the other man raised his eyebrows, "But WE are gonna go out and find it? Can you imagine?" He paused and watched his friends reaction at first before adding this last part, "WE'LL BE HEROS!"
"But what if we get killed?" Evan asked with wide, scared eyes and the fiery redhead crossed his arms over his chest, sighing out of pure annoyance.
"My dear friend, Evan… We're not gonna get killed…" He smiled and glanced to the side eying an object that was hanging on the coat wrack, "We have shot guns."
Whenever Riley set his mind to something, there was absolutely no way to change it, but Evan was going to try, "B-But what if it's not eno-"
"YEESH, hakuna matata, Evan! No worries! Isn't that what your great…" His eyes shifted from left to right and added the last part in a mutter while deeply thinking, "…someone said…"
This caused some anger to bubble up inside the bigger male and he rolled his eyes only because he and Riley have been friends since kindergarten, "MY GRANDFATHER, RILEY!" Evan yelled and Riley snapped his fingers ignoring his friend completely.
"Got it! It was your grandfather... how could I have forgotten that one?" The redhead knocked on his own head, as if that would help for next time he forgot something he thought was unimportant, "I must be loosin' it… Ah well, at least I remembered. That's all that counts."
"Well you definitely are loosing it if you want to go out there!" The darker man grumbled while crossing his thick arms over his chest and glaring down at the floor, "I don't understand why you want all this attention…"
"TO BE SOMEBODY, EVAN!" Riley exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "C'mon! This could change our lives forever!"
The fiery redhead shot towards the door while grabbing his hunting shoes, hat and shotgun as Evan continued to sit on the couch, but this time his eyes shifted towards the ceiling of the boarding house, "Oh lucky ancestors… please help me… my best friend has lost it once more."
"Oh for cryin' out loud, Evan… How lucky can they be?" He paused and stared at his friend, "They're dead." The bigger man shot Riley a look and the eighteen year old redhead shrugged his shoulders throwing his friend his hat and shoes. "Better get goin'… I wanna be back in time for lunch."
"Can we eat out today, Riley?" Evan asked with hope filled in his dark eyes and the redhead shook his head, "Why not?"
"We're tight on money big guy." He stated as his friend placed his hat on his head and put his shoes on slowly, "BOY, IF YOU MOVE ANY SLOWER THERE'S GONNA BE WORLD PEACE… LETS MOVE!"
"ALRIGHT, I'M COMING!" The bigger man shot back and walked over to Riley, grabbing his own shotgun, "Lets get us a deranged animal!"
Riley's eyes widened with excitement and he jumped into the air, pumping his fist, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!" And with that being said, the two best friends exited the boarding house and walked down a dirt path to get to the woods. Trying their best to avoid the cop cars that surrounded the area, they slipped into the woods swiftly and once they felt that they were completely hidden from the trees, they relaxed but never took their guard down. "The animal could be anywhere…" Riley whispered as his eyes shifted, watching as Evan took a few more steps than he did.
"Maybe it only comes out at night…" The darker man suggested as he put his long stringy hair into a low ponytail. "The attack was at night, remember?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we wont see it!" Riley exclaimed, and searched around, kicking leaves out of the way as Evan stared at him with his eyebrows raised.
"I don't think the animal is that small, Riley." He stated with a roll of his eyes and the fiery redhead groaned, glaring over to his friend.
"I'M WORKIN' HERE!" He exclaimed and went deeper into the woods, hearing Evan reluctantly following behind him, carrying the shotgun close to him as his heart beat repeatedly fast against his chest. Riley bent down checking bushes and frowning, but that was only until his friend had stopped dead and the fiery redhead raised his eyebrows and stared at him.
"Uh, Riley…" He said loudly with fear building in his body, "I think he's still alive… He must have been with the others last night and ran off!"
"Hm…" Riley observed and walked over to Evan and the boy. He had an olive skin tone, dark, straight, auburn hair, though all of it was almost dark brown with a slight tint of red. "Slick kid…"
"Then we should see if he's ok, right?" The bigger man asked and the fiery red-head nodded his head, "He's bleeding… Look! It's all on his shirt."
Riley grabbed his water bottle from a pouch and squeezed it, allowing some water to pour on the kid's face. Being hesitant of any bruises or cuts, the shorter man placed his pale hand on the child's arm, gently shaking him.
Drake's eyes fluttered open after a few shakes and driblets of water hit his face. The boy's amber eyes fixated on a clear blue sky and he sat up quite quickly, almost inhumanly quick. Riley and Evan flinched backwards and Drake moved his eyes from the trees and sky, to the two human's who stood in front of him. "Uh… Hi, there." Riley smiled cautiously, keeping his distance. "You alright there, kid?"
Drake just continued staring at Riley and then his eyes moved up to Evan who gulped loudly, "A-Are you hurt?" He asked and the boy felt around his mouth, feeling his sharp fangs, but they weren't extended, instead, they looked like normal, yet sharp, teeth. This took him by surprise and his eyes widened as he jumped to his feet watching as Riley stood up slowly and Evan had his eyes wide.
"I'm fine." Drake lied, as he looked them up and down, "But thank you."
"We're you attacked last night, kid? Everyone else in here got killed..." Riley stated as he slowly approached the boy. Drake didn't say a word, he just kept his eyes focused on the ground, "Did you see what the beast looked like?"
"KARRIE?" A woman asked as she walked out of her tent, raising her eyebrows. "W-What the hell are you doing out here? Looking at the stars?"
"Actually, she's with the stars." The boy grinned and watched as the woman spun around quickly to face the voice that spoke, but no one was there... No one was around. "OVER HERE..." Drake's voice teased as he kept himself moving quickly, watching as the woman's head turned all different ways just so she can catch a glimpse of whoever was talking with her.
"WHO ARE YOU?" She screamed, pulling her sweater together, covering her body, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
The boy stood directly behind her this time, causing her to turn around and looking down at the ten year old boy who was filled with blood. Her light blue eyes widened and he cocked his head to the side, "Who am I?" He started laughing and shaking his head continuously appearing somewhat mental, "I DON'T KNOW!" The laugh became more sinister and the woman began backing up, her blue eyes glancing down at her friend.
"What did you do to Karrie?" She asked softly, gulping and the boy walked towards her at a regular human pace, "I-Is she alive?"
"I've already TOLD you." He growled and she grabbed something from her bag, "SHE'S WITH THE STARS..."
"GO TO HELL!" The blond woman screamed and pointed a gun at the kid. This made his eyes widened, though he's been a raging lunitic ever since he's left Ashburn, he knew what a gun was... and what it can do to you. "DON'T MAKE ME USE THIS!"
"Do it." He challenged and walked towards her, "I dare you." Truth was, he didn't want to live anymore. Quite honestly, he wasn't sure what was going on with his body... Sure, these were signs of being a vampire... but he had no contact with a vampire! Aside from the blood, but what he's learned... you turn from the bite... "JUST END ALL OF THIS."
"YOU NEED HELP!" She exclaimed and someone else shot out from the tent. "JEN, NO! GO BACK IN THERE!"
"Whats going-" Her dark eyes fixated on the boy and he glanced over to her, though, he didn't do anything, he didn't want to kill... he was in a right state of mind right now... until she asked the dreaded question... "Who are you?" That simple question made anger and hate bubble inside him and he growled, running over to Jen and snapping her neck. This, of course, caused the other girl to act and when she saw her friends limp body hit the ground, she didn't hesitate to shoot at the boy. The bullet went straight through his heart and this caused him to jump, but instead of falling, he glanced down at the wound as she started hyperventilating and running away from this area.
He cocked his head to the side and reached in the wound, grabbing the bullet out of his heart and body, feeling the wound heal. Drake's amber eyes shot up and watched as she ran throughout the dark forest, calling for help and panting rather loudly. While dropping the bloody bullet onto the green grass, he climbed up a tree, watching as she continued to run through the forest and once she felt that she was far enough, the stupid woman stopped, glancing around with tears rolling down her cheek. As a sigh of relief escaped her lips, Drake leapt from the trees, and sinking his teeth into her creamy neck, hearing her screams bounce off the night sky.
Shoving that flashback away, Drake frowned deeply and shook his head rather quickly, "No idea." He answered softly and Riley and Evan looked at one another, "I didn't see his face."
"His?" Riley asked with wide eyes, walking a little closer, "Y-You mean it's not an animal?"
An animal? Drake thought and remembered how animalistic he behaved last night. He supposed the rumor was that an animal had attacked and left the bodies drained of blood, "No, it was an animal… I just don't remember what it looked like." They stared at him skeptically for a moment, and Riley shuffled his feet in the leaves, but finally, Evan decided to speak up.
"Where are you from, kid?" He asked, finding the courage to go by him, "Anywhere special?"
"Nope." Drake answered smoothly and once they both opened their mouths to ask more questions, an annoyed feeling surged throughout his entire body, "And I don't wanna talk about it either."
"D-Did you run away from home?" Evan asked with wide eyes, completely ignoring the boy's wishes, though, Drake decided to go with that and he nodded firmly.
"Yeah, but like I said… I don't wanna talk about it." He growled and shoved past Riley, stalking deeper into the woods, praying that they wouldn't follow. They'd be stupid if they did.
"W-WELL IF YOU'RE AN OUTCAST… WE ARE TOO!" Riley exclaimed and Drake froze mid-step, turning around to face the shorter man, "Y-you can come live with us if you want... honestly... we accept everyone."
A crooked smile played across the kid's lips and Riley and Evan glanced at one another before settling on Drake again, "You wouldn't want me there..."
"What did you do?" Evan asked with confused eyes and Drake shrugged his shoulders, ripping a leaf off a tree that was close to him.
"Something terrible." He confirmed, allowing the green leaf to slip between his fingers, "You wouldn't want me in your house, believe me."
"I-Is there anyway we can help?" Evan asked and Riley shot him a glare, obviously not interested in helping this child out, "Oh, c'mon Riley… he's alone and he can't survive on his own, he's just a kid!"
"If you let me in, you wont survive the night." Drake admitted a little more bluntly than what he was used to and both of their eyes widened, though, the child's glanced behind them watching as two men approached, both in uniform. His eyebrows scrunched together, but when the other two turned around, they seemed much more frightened.
"Didn't you see the news this morning?" One asked, eying Riley and Evan's shotguns. "Are you supposed to have those? Are you a licensed hunter?"
"O-Oh… Well, not re-" Riley began and the cop trudged over to him, taking away his gun. "You're going to the station for this, I hope you know."
"And who are you?" The other cop asked as he walked over to Drake with suspicion, eying his bloody clothes.
"None of your business." Drake answered dully and the cop was taken aback, watching as Drake began walking away, obviously not caring about anything.
"HEY!" He yelled and shot after him, pulling on his arm roughly, "YOU CANNOT DISRESPECT AN OFFICER... WHY ARE YOU OUT HERE?"
Drake looked the peeved man up and down in a rather cocky way, and then rolled his eyes. "You should leave…" He stated firmly and the officer's eyebrows rose. "I'm serious. Leave. Now."
The other officer who had Riley's and Evan's arms in his hand glanced over to his partner and noticed the hard time the child was giving him. "Need help?" He teased with a slight grin and the officer glared at his partner, gripping the child's arm tightly and dragging him over to the other cop and the eighteen year olds.
"Please, I'm not afraid of you kid." He muttered with a slight smirk and the child willingly went with him as Riley and Evan struggled against the other cops grip, trying to talk their way out of it.
"You should be." Drake said innocently and shoved the cop away from him, kicking him into a tree. Once the partner caught attention of this, he let go of Riley and Evan, and ran over to the kid whose fangs extended in his mouth. The cop stopped dead and stared at the child with large eyes, "Are you sure you want this to be your last moment alive?"
The cop took his gun out and pointed it at Drake, Riley and Evan's faces were astonished as they remained frozen in fear, "YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!"
"Do I?" Drake asked, while walking towards the gun, "That's nice…" The cop started to shake and then cautiously, he pulled the trigger, aiming at Drake's legs, praying that would slow him down. Instead, he flinched backwards, yelped a little, but his light olive fingers went into the bullet hole, pulling it out of him and the cop watched as the child's leg healed.
"W-What are you?" He asked squinting his eyes together in a rather confused way and Drake grinned sinisterly, stopping dead in the leaves, watching as Riley and Evan began hyperventilating.
"Who cares." Drake replied with a giant smirk and tilted his head to the side, "You're screwed either way." And with that, the boy lunged into the air, knocking the police man off his feet and sinking his teeth into his skin, drinking the blood enthusiastically.
Riley and Evan watched with wide eyes, finding themselves unable to move due to fear, and Drake finally stood up, his fangs retracting. With a simple sigh, he turned around fixating his vision on the two boys, "I wont hurt you." He stated as they began shaking, "But you two need to get out of here before it looks like you did something..."
"W-What?" Riley choked with simple shakes of his head and Drake glared.
"Just go." He growled and with acute hearing, he heard footsteps making their way over to them... it was obvious that they heard commotion by the way they were running. "GO!" He said again, knowing what was next for them if they didn't get moving. The two best friends nodded their heads as they gathered their stuff, and shot deeper into the forest, but once Riley turned to glance behind him... the child was gone.
"Sweetie..." Isabelle moved through the bedroom door, watching as Victoria sat on her bed, hugging her legs to her chest. "I know today was difficult for you, are you alright?" Victoria's blue-green eyes shot over to her mother through a glare and Isabelle smiled gently, sitting next to her, "I know... stupid question."
While taking in a deep breath, the brunette exhaled quickly and picked her head up, hoping to pack up the courage to speak with her mother, "No... No, I'm fine." She lied with a simple shake of her head and Isabelle's smile broke, obviously seeing something that Victoria tried so hard to conceal, "I-I just miss him. He was my... My best-" That was it... the tears started to flow again and her throat began to tighten. The young brunette found herself unable to speak as she threw her arms around her mother, feeling the affection back in return, "MOM, I MISS HIM... I MISS HIM SO MUCH!"
"That little hole in your heart... it will heal in time." Isabelle said soothingly while running her fingers through her daughters hair, "Believe me... This is bringing back memories of when your father died... I had two kids, a single mother and had to raise you... But I got through it, because life goes on. Everyone lives their lives and dies..."
"I want to see him again, mom!" She exclaimed, finding herself unable to let go of her mother. "I want him to walk through that door right now..."
"We all do." She stated while kissing her daughters wet cheek, "But he isn't coming back, Victoria... I want you to realize this... I don't think it's sunk through your head yet." Victoria frowned and pulled away from her mother, wiping the tears from her beautiful eyes, "I hate seeing you so sad..." With this, her daughter still didn't talk, and Isabelle smiled over to her hoping this would cheer her up, "Isn't there any happy memories that you remember?"
"O-Of course." Victoria answered quickly while grabbing a tissue off her dresser, "Right here... He told me we'd be best friends forever..." Her voice broke, but talking about the good time was helping. She pointed over to the arm chair and sighed gently. "Right there... he fell asleep in my room and when he woke me up the next morning, he pretended to be you and he... he hit me with a pillow." She smiled softly and Isabelle smiled also, nodding her head, "... I remember one time... when we were seven... I was afraid of the monsters under my bed and he told me that there were no such things as monsters... You weren't around at the time, you brought Nick to Asaka because he broke his arm, but without being grossed out by hugging a girl... I remember he hugged me and told me that he'd fight the bad guys off for me... just so I could sleep."
"Honey, that's beautiful." Isabelle said quietly, taking her daughters attention away from all the memories, "Now think of all those memories... and try to dream big and this is the start of something new. Drake wants you to go on with your life and he wants you to be happy... Just promise me that you will never give up my darling daughter." She smiled and Victoria's eyebrows scrunched together, "You have so much going for you... Live for the both of you."
"Ok, mom." Victoria promised and her mother grabbed the sheets, pulling them backwards so that her daughter would get in.
"Dream big." She stated with a slight kiss on the head, "I love you, honey.
"Love you too mom." She replied and watched as her mother turned the lights off, and shut the door behind her. Quickly, the brunette turned the lamp on and swiftly walked over to her dresser, searching inside the jewelry box, pulling out a beautiful silver ring that had a red gem on it. She held it close to her heart and memories flooded back in thoughts:
"Happy Birthday, Vee." Drake grinned while walking over to the beautiful brunette holding a small box in his hand. Victoria's blue-green eyes fixated on it and she giggled jumping to her feet.
"WHAT DID YA GET ME?" She asked with wide eyes and he chuckled, shaking his head.
"Nice to see you too." He replied sarcastically and gave her a box watching as she unwrapped it and looked down at it with wide eyes, "My mom and dad picked it out... I don't know why... I would have rather gotten you like- like a bear or somethin' but-"
"I LOVE IT!" She giggled and hugged her best friend and he blushed slightly. "It's beautiful!"
"O-Oh... so you do like it?" He asked with confused eyes and she nodded her head over and over.
"It's beautiful!" She repeated and gave him a slight kiss on the cheek, which made them both become frozen and separate immediately, "Oh... um..."
"Yeah... We should-" He started talking and she nodded her head, blushing deeply.
"Yeah... lets go." Victoria interrupted and the two best friends, with out another word, never spoke of this moment again, but they went downstairs to join the rest of the party as she wore the beautiful ring on her right hand.
Victoria frowned and held the ring tightly in the palm of her hand before slipping it on her right ring finger. Giant tears escaped from her eyes and the frown only deepened as she continued watching the memories flutter inside her head. "I love you..." She whispered and felt her knees hit the ground from being exhausted and weakened by this entire day.
Drake walked through the dark woods, avoiding any sight of people or the police that seemed to be investigating the area lately. This wasn't him and he didn't realize what was going ON with him. When people ask 'Who are you' it only upsets him because he doesn't know who he is... He isn't a prince, a king... a son... he's nobody. Feeling somewhat weak, which was unusual since he found his supernatural ability, he felt his knees hit the dirt underneath him and a little memory of his best friend Victoria Morlet flooded back. "I can't do this..." He whispered, shaking his head, "I have to forget about my old life... My new life starts here..." Drake wasn't sure if anyone was around to hear him, he prayed that he was alone, he couldn't stand not feeling in control of his body and emotions...
The emotions were heightened and the main one he felt the most towards people was hatred... but it was funny... this new feeling he felt when he saw Victoria's face in his mind... It felt warm and fuzzy and he wanted to go find her and hold her throughout the night and- Shaking his head, he pushed that emotion aside, not wanting to feel it ever again, mainly because he wouldn't be able to see her ever again. "New life..." He reminded himself and wondered why everything felt so different to him. "New life, new people."
With a simple frown, he glanced to the side, with his sharp eyes he saw a giant boarding house across the way and he tilted his head to the side, hoping that no one lived there. There was no lights on in the house and this gave him hope that he could live in a house by himself. "I can't kill anyone..." He stated, remembering the people he's attacked as he began making his way towards the boarding house at a normal human pace, "I refuse to kill anyone else..." Another memory flooded into mind and he remembered his father and what his uncle told him, aside from accidentally killing his father... he came up with something that would help immensely. "I am NOT a murderer..."
AN: Aw, so how did you like the memories? Did you like how Drake kind of saved Riley and Evan's butts?
I also enjoyed the ending when Victoria admitted her love for Drake, though, she thinks he's dead... and she wears the ring on her finger. I also liked how they both grew weak and both of them hit the ground at the same time with their knees as they thought about one another.
Riley and Evan crack me up and I hope I got Timon and Pumbaa down well :) I tried really hard to do it haha.
Sooo, what was your favorite part?
What do you think of Drake? :)
-Shadow