A/N: Nothing to say other than this chapter feels awfully filler-like.
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(…the King of all gods, he whom resides atop the mount Olympus, stood struck by awe in her presence.)
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Anna drummed her fingers on the book in front of her as she laid on the bed, bored, her eyes trained at the back of Beyond's head. He had spent half the day crouched on the floor, surrounded by sheets of paper in every direction. When she woke and first saw him in said position she smiled and said 'Good Morning'. He responded by roaring at her like a bear in a language she couldn't identify whenever she came within five feet of his paper based personal bubble.
Apparently he was doing some 'very important research' which was not even worth taking a food break for due to the task of moving. Anna deliberated passing him a jar of his beloved jam but then decided she was still offended at his outburst to commit such an act of kindness.
She let out a sigh loud enough for Beyond to hear – and she knew he heard her by the way his nose twitched- and rolled over onto her back, staring at the ceiling. She frowned, thinking back at the night of the teenage girl's murder. She realised that unlike the first murder, where he pushed a blade in her hand and commanded her to carve the roman numerals that will spell Quarter Queen's name, Beyond did not let her participate in the murder or mutilating process of the girl - not that she complained. She simply had a bad feeling that Beyond left some other clue. Surely he must have?
She voiced her question, asking him whether her musings were correct.
He replied with a simple "yes" without as much as giving her a sideways glance, his eyes focused on the paper in his hands.
Beyond found it hard to look her in the eye since he woke that morning. He stirred from unconsciousness, as always waking up suddenly but without movement - only his eyes opening to acknowledge his surroundings. He blinked, hard, for a moment confused as to why the world remained dark even as his eyes were open.
And for a second he wondered if he had finally died. Was this what life after death was like? No heaven, no hell, simply a dark emptiness void of feeling, sight and sound. He wasn't sure whether to be joyous or disappointed.
He hadn't even finished his case for L...
Yes. Definitely disappointed.
A groan emitted from near by his ear and he froze, suddenly painfully aware of the weight on his shoulder. He shifted, annoyed, and freeing his right hand from where it was in a warm spot wedged between his chest and knees he moved what felt like a blanket from over his head.
He recoiled as if burned once he realised how close Anna's face was to his. He stared wide eyed at the girl, surprised not only at how she managed to get that close without waking him up, but why would she do it willingly in the first place.
His face blanched as he frowned, standing up and watching as the girl groaned and turned to lay on her other side, unaware that anything has taken place.
Was she becoming comfortable around him?
His stomach flipped with horror. He couldn't possibly allow that! Fear was his hold against her – the best weapon of manipulation he had over her and not only that, but he also rather enjoyed the look that crossed her face whenever she was afraid.
More precisely: afraid of him.
Always like a sparrow that has been caught and was still surprised to see a cage.
Anna yawned, nuzzling deeper within her blanket and Beyond tilted his head to the side, annoyed. He knew the story about her friend but he wanted to hear it from her lips. Although it seemed like instead she decided to cry herself to sleep like a weakling he knew she was.
The girl seemed to mumble a word that he didn't quiet catch. Or was it a name?
He crossed his arms as he stood over her sleeping form, his shoulder still burning. How dare she use his shoulder as a pillow when she forced him to sleep on the floor?!
She was his to control, not the other way round.
Beyond shook his head, frowning at the memory and putting down a Wara Ningyo doll he was holding before picking up a sheet of paper, a thumb to his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he was that close to a human being without doing some sort of harm to them.
"So what was the clue?" Anna asked impatiently from the spot on her bed, penetrating his thoughts.
Beyond rolled his eyes, annoyed that she was too stupid to notice the glasses he placed on the teenager's face despite the fact she always wore contact lenses. It was obvious really.
Glasses = a townhouse in the West of LA, near the 'Glass Station' Metrorail.
Painfully obvious.
Anna raised an eyebrow, her hands crossed. "Hey, sleeping beauty, are you going to answer me?"
He sneered but bit back a harsh remark, making a show of shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "I told you I am busy: working." He tapped a pen against his temple, his eyes on the clock in the kitchen before he turned to Anna with a sly smirk, his teeth glinting. "Hmm, Work. Isn't that where you're supposed to be?"
Anna scoffed, sticking her tongue out. Beyond looked away with a roll of his eyes, turning his attention back to the task at hand but not before motioning pointedly to his arm, an imaginary watch on his wrist.
The brunette looked at the clock in the kitchen, convincing herself she was merely rolling her eyes rather than following his advice to check the time. Only after two minutes of straining – that was slowly pounding a headache into her brain and convincing her she herself might have needed a pair of glasses – she realised that her shift starts in ten minutes.
"Shit!" she cursed, jumping to her feet and rummaged to get ready, attempting to tame her hair in the mirror before rushing out of the apartment with her wallet in between her teeth, ignoring Beyond's yells when she stepped on a couple of his papers.
He stuck his tongue out at the door before recollecting himself and taking in a calming breath, looking at a scanned copy of a driver's license belonging to a brown haired female in her mid-twenties.
Anna on the other hand was not calm. She cursed a thousand times by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, waving goodbye to the landlord who was sweeping the front pavement, the fake grin stretching at her cheeks. Once on the main road she dropped the smile, crossing her arms.
She couldn't believe she lost the sense of time like that.
She huffed, looking down at the clothing she half-blindly pulled on this morning. A pair of denim shorts, a black baggy low cut t-shirt and her grey parka jacket. Great. Now all the old men were going to eye down her top as she passed them their change.
She rolled her eyes, her fast pace turning into a run, wanting to be late by as few minutes as possible.
Perhaps her clothing would give her more tips that night?
No. A ridiculous notion.
Kate was lucky. With her smile and bubbly personality she could as little as smile at a customer and they left a tip twice what their cup of coffee cost. Anna tried to do that, but then the men thought that it was her responsibility as a woman to take their number as they jeered at her through suggestive eyebrows and an empty tip jar. She scoffed. Disgusting. But she couldn't shake the selfish feeling of jealousy that told her with a silvery voice how unfair it was.
She sneered as she rounded a corner, Beyond in her mind again. She couldn't believe she was so focused on him that she lost the track of time. No matter how many times she reminded herself about the mistake she still couldn't believe it. She must have spent hours laying on her stomach and pretending to read a book - which Beyond threw at her so she would stop pestering him - wishing that she could drill a hole through the back of his head with her stare.
Maybe even something a little more drastic.
Like bashing his skull in with a metal rod…
Anna pushed the thought away when she realised people were actually jumping out of her way with yelps and wide eyes. But she didn't give them too much thought, focusing instead on her white sneakers pounding against the pavement.
Soon she was bent over in front of her coffee shop, her face flushed and deep breaths entering and leaving her mouth, her hands on her knees. She looked up, meeting the eyes of one of her managers who was just leaving and giving Anna a disapproving glare. The employee gave her a strained smile, watching as her boss mumbled out a "I am taking this out of your pay check, young lady" and left the scene with a huff, her nose high in the air as if she didn't even need to see where her feet were stepping. Anna rolled her eyes, straightening up before she opened the door to the coffee shop, breathing in the smell of coffee.
Her blonde co-worker waved enthusiastically as she passed a woman in a grey business suit a mocha with two shots of espresso, despite her eyes noting the big clock on the wall that revealed the fact her friend was late by seventeen minutes.
Anna waved back, hurrying towards the counter, pushing all thoughts of Beyond out of her head. The bastard didn't deserve any more of her time.
Kate bumped her hip with Anna's the moment the brunette put her hair up in a messy ponytail, a knowing smile to her lips. "Did you sleep in?"
Her friend immediately caught onto her train of thought. She raised her nose high, scoffing. "No such thing, I assure you."
Kate rolled her eyes, unsatisfied with the words signalling the end to the conversation that hasn't even begun. The two worked in silence, Anna frowning at the smile tugging at the blonde's lips.
She sighed as she wiped clean an espresso machine, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, biting her lip.
Anna's mind wandered to the dream she had. She scrubbed the appliance with more force, annoyed at the fact that Beyond just had to bring up her past.
She kept it buried for a reason. Even Dr. Foveaux didn't know about the real reason she was forced into therapy in the first place. Only two people knew: both of them resting six feet under.
And they couldn't exactly speak beyond the grave now, could they?
And Anna luckily haven't had nightmares about it for a while. Well. Until Beyond brought it up.
She growled, cursing him in her head.
"Such a pretty girl shouldn't look so angry, it doesn't suit you."
Anna looked up at the interruption of her thoughts, rolling her eyes at the man in front of her. Kate elbowed her to the side, her eyes warning her that even though she was in a bad mood, she had to keep her cool. But then she winked, as she took another order, letting her friend know that if the guy was an asshole she should put on a show.
Anna shook her head, biting back a smile as she turned back towards the customer. "What would you like?"
He was a tall man with Italian features and a 'bad boy' glint to his eyes despite the gelled back hair. He wore an expensive watch on his right wrist - must have been left handed - the brand of which escaped her due to having no interest whatsoever in men's designer watches. He wore a pair of jeans and casual, brown leather shoes, but on his upper body he wore an ironed salmon shirt and grey suit jacket complete to a blue square sticking out above the breast pocket.
It made it a little harder than usual to figure out his profession.
He smirked. "How about your number?"
As his lips moved around his words, his eyes slowly traveled down her body, lingering on her bare skin, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by her.
How typical.
Joke's on him - she didn't even own a cellphone. And if she did, she would have rather thrown it at his face than giving him a way to contact her.
"Well then," he started again, not dejected by her lack of response in the least. "How about I give you mine?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, a set of numbers shinning a bright blue.
She raised an eyebrow. Did he carry those around like business cards? She glared and crossed her arms in a firm stance. "If you're not ordering I suggest you move out of the line. There are customers waiting to order an actual beverage."
She might as well have told him she agreed to spend the night at his, judging from the smile that crossed his face.
He moved forward, resting his hands on the counter, putting his watch in plain sight for her to notice first. "Then I'll have a filtered coffee - white."
Anna nodded despite the unbearable urge to roll her eyes again and moved to a different coffee machine, already putting his order in. She ignored his eyes on her as she prepared his coffee and out of his line of sight, under the counter, she poured in cold milk instead of the hot milk as the recipe told purposely.
She flashed him a smile, putting the cap on loosely, Kate watching her clumsy work with a curious and a wary eye.
She outstretched the coffee cup towards him and he grinned, reaching for it but the moment his fingers touched it she swung it upside down, the liquid spilling all over his hand and his expensive watch. He dropped the slip of paper on the ground, hissing in pain.
The brunette inwardly rolled her eyes. The coffee was lukewarm at most.
He glared at Anna but she merely gazed back patiently, mock embarrassment on her face. "Sorry," she winced, already grabbing a rag from under the counter in order to clean up the mess she - he, in her point of view - caused.
His ears burned with embarrassment. "I will report this!"
The brunette simply rolled her eyes, waving. "I will surely be expecting that." He glared, opening his mouth to retort but couldn't come up with a good enough of an argument, instead settling on grabbing a dozen of tissues from the counter and wiping himself off as he walked towards the door to leave.
Anna frowned, wincing once her mind caught onto what she just did. She closed her eyes, face-palming. "Oh no. Our boss is going to fire me!"
Kate guffawed. "Fire you? She's going to to applaud you! He totally deserved it and I am your witness!" She looked at man as he ran out of the coffee shop, breaking his way through the wall of murmuring customers. She laughed, shaking her fist at his retreating form. "That's right, you bastard, you better run!"
Anna chanced a look through her parted fingers, seeing that some of the customers were laughing at the display. A few looked on disapprovingly but they were drowned by the cheer of the teenagers in the cue. She slowly looked up, giggling when she realised Kate hadn't stopped laughing, spilling milk all over the work table as she poured the ingredients in a blender for a banana milkshake.
She couldn't help it - her friend's laughter was infectious. The brunette shook her head, allowing a genuine smile to stretch across her face.
It's all the simple things in life.
