Chapter 14

I forgot to update for a little while. Oh well. I've still been writing, and that's the important thing. Or something.

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"Ohh crap…" Danny moaned, holding his head as a wave of pain crashed through him. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Opening his eyes to the dim light of the shelter, he vaguely made out the covered sun behind the leaves that sheltered them. Danny sat up, groaning again and holding his head. He was a little dizzy, and decided that whatever he had been given was the strongest thing he'd ever had to drink. As he prepared to stand, he felt a foot placed on his back, in between his shoulder blades.

"The drunk finally wakes." Jerad scowled and shoved Danny down to the ground with his foot, snorting. Danny growled, getting to his hands and knees before Jerad once again shoved him to the floor with his boot.

"Get away from me…" Danny warned, glaring at Jerad.

"You won't scare me like you did my sister…" Jerad said, a little menace in his voice, and leapt forward, grabbing Danny and pulling him up. Jerad's strength surprised Danny a little, but after the demonstration back in the church, he knew the young man possessed some strength.

"What?" Danny rubbed his head again, trying to remember the events of the night before but failing. Jerad motioned to strike Danny, but stopped himself, a smirk coming to his face.

"You don't even remember. You're pathetic. You assaulted my sister!"

The very idea of himself performing such a violent act against Aeris made Danny cringe. He rejected it immediately, positive Jerad was playing with him. After all, he would never hurt a woman. He convinced himself of this and shook his head. 

"You're wrong!"

His head was beginning to pound. He shut his eyes and growled in pain, trying to calm his breathing.  Jerad seemed not to care and continued berating Danny, his hands slowly working up towards Danny's throat. It wasn't until she was upon him that Jerad realised Aeris had come out of the shelter.

"Jerad! What the hell are you doing?"

"This is none of your concern… I'm teaching him to respect you." Jerad replied, still burning a hole through Danny with his eyes.

"What's… he talking about?" Danny wheezed, Jerad's hands had by now got him by the throat.

"You don't remember?" Aeris shook her head, sighing. "Well, you were pretty out of it. Jerad, put him down this instant."

Jerad turned to her with a scowl, but eventually did as he was told, turning back to glare at Danny with hatred. Danny returned the glare as best he could, still feeling dizzy from the aching in his temples.

"You got drunk, grabbed my arm and mumbled something very noble." She said, sarcasm evident in her last few words. She looked a little hurt, and turned to Jerad, her face becoming angry. "However, Jerad, you have no right to come out here and assault him!"

"I was protecting you!" Jerad shot back.

"I can take care of myself… I don't need you, Reno, or anyone else!"

The siblings stared at each other, each looking as determined as the other. Danny looked on, a little perplexed. He shrugged, sitting down as Jerad shook his head, turning away from Aeris and walking out of the shelter without another word.

"Yeah, run away Jerad, like you always do when you can't accept something." Aeris sighed, sitting down too. She hadn't made any more gestures to signal to Danny she even acknowledged his presence. He was a little nervous, not to mention tired, and was happy to keep it that way. She, however, was not.

"Danny… why did you get drunk?" She looked up at him, her look of hurt made him feel guilty. He tried to suppress this and shrugged nonchalantly.

"It just happened. It's a mistake I won't be repeating any time soon." His voice was barely above a whisper, more of a mumble, as his head hurt too much to speak any louder.

"Do you remember what I said to you last night?" She asked intently.

"No." He looked up at her, tilting his head a little. "What did you say to make me so angry?"

Aeris looked away, sighing. "I suppose I shouldn't have said it, but I questioned why you were here."

"Oh…" Danny felt like listing the reasons he was here, but figured he'd probably done that the night before, and instead lowered his head and closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. It didn't work.

"Where's Jim?" He said slowly.

"He had to go and meet some people about a job." She shrugged. "We don't plan to stay here very long, do we?"

"I don't know." Danny remembered that Jim had said they could play instruments. This was only just true. They had both learnt a little guitar when they were in their early teens. Danny could remember how to play very basic chords but nothing else. He hoped Jim had remembered more than he. Although, he knew Jim had still tried to practice a little guitar after they officially stopped lessons. Hadn't Jim also called him the vocalist? There was no way he was singing in front of an audience. He'd never sung in his life!

"What are you thinking about?" Aeris asked, breaking the silence once more.

"Jim signed us up to be a band…"

"A band?" She raised her eyebrow.

He sighed. "We can both do a little guitar, the owners can play instruments… he wants me to be the singer…" He held his head and swayed forward a little.

Aeris let out a giggle. Danny raised his head and glared at her. "It's not funny."

"I think it is. I wanna see you sing!" A grin had come to her face, he frowned and shook his head.

"No! I'm not going to do it!"

"I'm guessing Jim's going to sign a contract, once he does you'll have no choice. Maybe you'll surprise yourself!" She stood up and strolled over to the entrance, peering out. "Hope he comes back soon…"

"Aeris! You aren't coming to watch!" He replied, standing up also, but stumbling and having to lean against a tree.

"I am too. Maybe Jerad can come!"

"Yeah, right. He'd only come so he could mock me later!" He growled, attempting to go forward but feeling a similar dizziness and falling back onto the tree. Aeris giggled again and sat down, awaiting either Jim or Jerad to return.