Chapter 11: Old Friendship, New Dreams
Fresh clean air, sunlight that passed through the slits of the blinds on the window. Warm, white blanket sheets and white pillows would cushion her head. Her black hair sprawled across the pillow. The woman slowly opened her pale eyelids, revealing light blue orbs of purity to stare at the ceiling. A light breeze would brush against her smooth skin as she lay on the bed, blankets and pillows all ruffled about. She lay comfortably on the bed for awhile and decided to sit up, with eyes wide open.
"Oh, hey mom! Finally awake?" A teen male voice asked. Sara looked to her left, where the door to her bedroom was open and a boy could be seen. His messy short brown hair would hang down to the top of his eyes. He slid on a light blue dress shirt over his white shirt.
"Jayden? Where am I?" Sara remembered everything as far as the alleyway.
"Home." He stated, sliding one some shades over his eyes to block the bright sunlight which filtered through the blinds.
"How did I get here?" She asked, still a bit dazed.
"Some guy carried you here in the rain. You were unconscious, don't know why though." Jayden shrugged.
"A guy?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, he seemed pretty wierd. White hair, red eyes. I asked him what happened but he didn't answer me and just took off without a trace."
"White hair? Red eyes?" She repeated.
"Anyways, I promised Jen I'd go eat with her today, so see ya!" He waved, immediately running out of the doorway. Loud thumping and bumping could be heard as he made his way down the stairs. A slam indicated that he had gone out the door.
Sara crept down the stairs, only in a white blouse and a silver flowing dress. She took small rectangular device, black with many buttons and pointed it at the small television set, pressing the button which had the words, "ON" inscribed above it. The black box would flicker about with images as it revealed the news channel. A woman's voice would chime in within the television set.
"Robert Gorman, one of many government officials seemed to have been attacked just recently. Reports say that he was assaulted in an alleyway along Lakeside City. In the assault, his left arm seemed to have been severed by a knife. The victim said that he was defending a helpless woman from some strange man. Local police are on the look out for the man but there is no description what-so-ever. Apparantly, it was too dark to see the man..." In the images, a stretcher, carrying a large man writhing in pain, could be seen. The man was clutching his left side, screaming, yelling, doing anything possible to ease his pain.
Hey, that was the same guy at the cafe! I wonder what happened to him.
"Scion!" The door would tremble and bang furiously as a muffled female voice screamed through it. "Scion!" Once more with the knocking. "Scion!" The door opened as a girl flailed her clenched fist at mid air and hit a tall man with white hair. His hair still messy from sleeping.
"What?" Scion groaned, rubbing his two eyes.
"You jerk! You took off without me!" The girl yelled into his face.
"Huh?" He asked, his eyelids still heavy.
"Don't huh me! First I look for you and find out your back at the base! Then I find out that you took off for another mission just to get a head start!" The girl flailed about.
"Beatrice...now where the hell did you hear that?" Scion gave a long, drawn-out yawn and stretched his limbs.
"Sir Vega told me that you told him that you wanted to get a headstart!" She snapped.
"I...did?" He raised an eyebrow and scratched his messy white hair.
"So he told me you left before telling me!"
"He did?"
"Your such a jerk! Why did I have to get assigned to a dimwitted captain like you!" She swiveled around on her feet and stormed away from the door, her hand clutching the side of the door and swinging it closed.
"W-wait! Beatrice-!" Scion stumbled as the door closed in with a hard thud followed by a crash in the wooden door and a muffled groan of pain.
"Ugh...Jen! Wait up! Jen!" Jayden looked over the stacked boxes, all decorated with various colors that he held in his hands. "Aw, crap! I lost her. Jeez...why did she have to buy so many things? Ahhhh, ahhh!" He staggered everywhere trying to gain his footing as the tower of boxes began to wobble in every sort of direction. "Maybe I should just sit down, and stay here!" The Raven stumbled backwards and gently placed all of the boxes beside the bench and fell backwards into the bench, resting his back against the wooden spine. With his rough hands, he rubbed his throat, feeling a bit parched and licked his dry lips. "Damn...thirsty...need water!" With those thirsty eyes of his, he glanced to a vending machine on the opposite side of the mall. Running as fast as his legs could push, he made a break for the vending machine when suddenly his head collided with something else, soft yet very hard. Jayden fell backwards with a hard thud on his behind while the shades on his face would be sent flying with him as well. Placing his hands on the white tiled floor, he groaned and tried getting back up on his feet. "Sorry about that," He spoke as he dusted himself off without looking at the person whom he bumped into. There was a moment of silence before an abrupt female voice would respond.
"...oh my god! Jayden!" The tone of the voice was of surprise.
"Hm?" He looked up, seeing a girl about his height with medium sun-gold hair. The hair on her left side would be hooked behind her ear. The tan on her skin wasn't noticable, it was average to say the least. She wore a dark green hoody, one of those zip up the middle with a pouch at the bottom ones. A white skirt that extended down to her knees held her legs in place. "Who are you?" He asked, racking his brain to see if he recognized her.
"It's me, Beatrice! Remember! We used to play together back when we were about six!" The girl smiled, leaning towards the surprised Raven.
"Beatrice! Holy crap!" He stared a long while, checking the girl over from head to toe, his thirst for water was gone but his lips still parched and dry, maybe even more now. A look of astonishment on his face. "You...you...you've changed...alot!" Jayden blushed a bit as his stare ended on her angel like smile. "You look...nice..."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? And I didn't look nice back then!" She put her small hands against her hips and smirked.
"Ah...no! That's not what I meant! I mean you look...nicer!" He stuttered as he staggered upwards, his stare not even lifting off the beautiful gold angel in front of him. Beatrice giggled softly, a melodious chorus filled the air as she did.
"Come on! Let's go to that table over there, have a nice chat. We've got a helluvalot to catch up on! Drink is on me!" She laughed, a she helped him with the boxes.
"Yeah, thanks for the help!" Standing up, he suddenly felt awkward. A sudden stinging pain, would stab at his head. It felt like a headache of some sort, nothing he had ever had, and it was so sudden that he hardly had time to adjust to it. Like a thousand needles making their way into his head, he suddenly felt nauscious and unstable with his footing.
"Jayden...are you okay?" Beatrice's smile turned into a worried face.
"Uhhhh...whose there?" He staggered back and forth, sideways, holding his head with both hands in a drunk manner.
"What?"
"I don't...feel so...well..." Almost like a tree being cut down by those chainsaws, Jayden fell forward without much resistance. Beatrice extended both arms to recieve the falling Raven.
"Jayden!" She would yell but the voice never made it's way to the intended person.
He would stand there, but where was there? Jayden stood in the middle of pure whiteness. Not a spec of dust or anything of any other color in sight. Nothingness surrounded him, only pure white would fill his gaze. He stared outwards and yelled, "Where am I? Is anyone there?" No answer, there was no one there as far as he could tell. Yet, somehow, a feeling would pull at him, not letting go, telling him there was someone behind him. Jayden swiveled around, expecting nothingness yet again. But, there was something. Something black and human. It's back stood facing him. The long black coat draped over the figure, the pitch black hair that fell to its neck would wave through the air. But why? Theres no wind as far as I can feel! Jayden wondered to himself. The black figure shifted it's head a bit to the side so one of it's eyes could glance at Jayden, or more precisely glare at him. What Jayden could tell, was the black form was a man. But this man wasn't any ordinary man, for he had eyes of blood. Pure red irises that were shrouded in complete blackness. A scar, cross-shaped, zig zagged on his left cheek. The man was far away, but Jayden could see him clearly, unable to lift his eyes off of the man. The dark form smoothly and calmly stepped to the side, turning around to face the shocked Raven. As he did, his pitch black hair began to fade into a pure white, a phantom image. His cross-shaped scar began to fade away as well, his dark and rough skin turned to a pale and moon like shade. Now fully turned towards Jayden, the man's hair was pure white, but still remained pitch black from shadows that crawled on his hair. His black covered white hair would hang down to his neck and hid one of his eyes from view. That blood red eye still glaring at him with the same fervor, still hidden under the same darkness. But, there was no shadow, no cover to provide shade for his hair or his face...so, how could there be a shadow covering this man? Jayden would ponder on this mystery. What truly shocked Jayden was not the man's appearance, but how much he looked like Jayden. Aged a little, yes, but Jayden still felt like he was looking at a mirror. A dark reflection of himself when he would grow older. The man had a calm and emotionless expression on that shadow hidden face of his. "Wait! I remember you! Your the one who carried mom home!" He yelled but did not recieve any reply. In a calm motion, the mysterious man extended his pale hand which was also clothed with a pitch black sleeve. With the palm of his pale hand extending upwards as if waiting to recieve some gift from Jayden, he would face the wary Raven without so much of a sound or a hint of emtion on his face. What does he want? Jayden stood, knees bent, poised to dodge any move the mysterious being might make. Suddenly, a purple swirl of dark aura, electrified around his arm making its way to his palm. A small dark energy started to gather in his hands, emitting an even darker light as it gathered energy from the writhing snakes of blackness that slivered around the man's arm. If there ever was a degree to which black could make someone go blind, this was the point. The energy started to glow so dark, that Jayden's eyes would hurt begin hurting. Covering his eyes with that red sleeve of his, the Raven would squint at the black light. In mere seconds, the blackness would fade away. Realizing this, Jayden put his arm to his side and tried to focus on the man once again, now an object was firmly gripped in his pale hand. A long object, which would end at a sharp point at the end. A large blade, smeared with a crimson design in it with several carvings engraved in it, would hang at the man's side. Jayden took a swift step back, his senses now keen and alert. Glancing nervously at the weapon in the man's hand Jayden could only panic inside his head.Crap! What's he gonna do? Only closing his eyes for a second the man had disappeared when he had re-opened them. Whiteness would surround him once again. He heard an abrupt whoosh through the air and stepped to his left, listening to his instincts. Just barely avoiding the slash, Jayden turned around to find himself face to face with his aged reflection once again. However, it wasn't long before he saw total blackness as the man had used the flat side of his crimson blade to hit Jayden on the side of the head.
To think...that you hold even more power than me...and yet...you are drowned in emotions. How pathetic can one be...nevertheless, your time will come eventually...