Amber Memories, Forgotten

-Around You, My Heart Beats-

It had been unspoken words traded between us.

You would have never told me,

Wouldn't you?

That name, it sounds so sweet that it shreds my heart.

I should have known when you were bleeding in my embrace.

Shouldn't I?

And boy, did your butler piss me off.


The dark alley shone no light expect for a few clumsy street lamps that seemed to be only flickers away before they would cease to work. The miners were exhausted and hungry, having just completed a long day of work and were now moving on to next station, heading towards the train station. Shuffles made by their footsteps were all that could be heard in the dark night as the streets were abandoned and all that was left were dust and old structures. Not a sign of life could be seen, that was.

Argh.

"Ah-!" exclaimed the young boy, the only children in the traveling group, suddenly as his small fingers quickly grasped onto the sleeves of the man next to him. "Ezzz- Ezzz hears something!"

"What is it, Ezzz?" answered the man; his voice guffawed and tired though gentle. The boy was often terrified by imaginary noises and movements. Really, if the boy was to participate in some creative writing workshop, he would have easily taken the first prize.

"There's… a sound coming from that side, Tyki," muttered Ezzz as he pointed into the darkness. His voice seemed to be consumed by the darkness before being regurgitated back to them, making the man's name repeat involuntarily- echo. It seemed to make the atmosphere even creepier.

"Don't be silly. There is nothing-" The man paused suddenly as thoughts of monsters clad in gray armors and ready to kill appeared in his mind. No, he reassured himself, they would not appear with his presence unless called upon.

Arghh.

The sudden noise that pounced from the darkness sent all three and half a men skipping more than a heartbeat. It could not have been an illusion if all four of them heard it, wasn't it. The gloomy, wintry and hungry mood must have made them all hallucinate. Or was it?

Argghh.

"Tyki!" yelled the boy as his grasp on the latter's sleeves tightened.

The latter only patted Ezzz's head gently and fussed over his blonde hair. "We'll check it out. Come on, Momo. Crack, stay with Ezzz."

"..Sure," muttered Momo as he dragged his feet after his bespeculated friend.

"There is no such thing as ghost," said Tyki amusedly.

"No such thing…" repeated Momo as if he was trying to reassure himself. The worried tone in his voice continued while the two ventured into the darkness where the voice seemed to originate from. The sound was getting louder; the pain- like all banished monsters who were in some sort of agony caused by a missing eye or jutting jaw- was getting even more evident. Just then a shadow appeared out of the sudden, like an ant hill jutting out from a flat plain, and it seemed to be ignorant of its company.

Momo began to retreat backwards much to Tyki's bemusement. There were no such things as ghosts, only Akumas that were instructed to kill.

The object that caused the shadow soon came into light under those badly lit street lamps, and it began to unroll its bent body to form a proper human form, even though it was obviously in pain as one of its upper limb was placing its weight on those peeling walls.

A smirk crept over Tyki's lips. With his habitual gesture, he moved up the spectacles which were sliding off his nose and began to take large though cautionary steps towards the human. Whatever it was, it was alone and seemed to pose not much danger since it was injured.

Then it hit him. It had been a soft light scent that went undetected by his instinct, but as he approached near the object, the distinctive scent only got stronger and it was now so strong that he could barely hide his excitement. He looked hard at the human upon him, bent as it winched in pain, bleeding and dripping burgundy liquid onto the arid dusty ground. The moisture was quickly absorbed by the ground, as if the latter was a predator which had been waiting for the prey to fall expectantly and consume it in a snap.

"Who- who are you?" muttered the voice, as if each word took much effort to be mouthed and said.

Tyki's eyes lit up in surprise, away from the blood, and ran through the unknown human. By now, Ezzz and Crack had already made their way up next to him. There was an atmosphere of tension as the three and a half men wondered about the person. Shouldn't they be asking that question instead? It seemed, frail and soft as the voice might be, that the human was female- yet which lady in the right mind would be caught dead in such an abandoned street?

"Who are you?" The voice repeated once again, this time louder and alarmed. Her question was reflected by the walls and empty alleys, sounding even more desperate and demanding.

Then she began to run.

"Wait-!" shouted one of the men as they began to give chase, disturbed by the trail of blood the lady was leaving behind. It was too dark, too much, too painful to even look at the splatters. It must have been a severe injury for her to bleed so much, wasn't it? Yet the lady was running at a rapid rate, so fast that they were already panting half a street later. The group of men were about to give up when the lady, small as her shadow may be, began to slow down. She was bending even lower than she had been, as if the pain was too much for her to even straighten her back. One of her hands was clenching to her side while the other was on her head, struggling to find a support as her feet shuffled across the filthy ground to the nearest wall.

"Hey-!" cried out Tyki as he dashed to the lady. He had expected the lady to faint any moment after the run, but it shocked him nonetheless when the weight landed lightly into his arms, the faint rhythm from her frail body paling in comparison to his strong and firm heartbeat. He realized, as he peered down at the face concealed partially with hair matted with blood, that he recognized those features.

It was her, yet again.