I own nothing. NightxBlossom wrote part of this chapter, much love to her! Go read her OC story, plz? After the Rain... now.
Review if you like? :D
Flipping another page, Relena pulled her feet under her as she read. Moonlight arched in through the tall windows of the room, and the shelves caused eerie shadows to fall around her. Silence surrounded Relena, occasionally punctuated by the footsteps of the librarian moving around to replace books to their proper places.
Relena finished her chapter and tore her eyes away from her book, hugging it to her chest. It was nearing twelve and she really should be going home before it got any later. She stood up slowly and walked to the front of the library, stroking the spines of the books as she went.
"See you tomorrow," she murmured - half to the impatient librarian who stood by the desk, waiting for her to leave and half to the books themselves. As she left, her eye caught on what seemed to be a bright flame emerging from the bookshelves. She turned quickly, but it was gone.
Imagining things, she thought to herself. The path was still slick from the afternoon's storm, and Relena's thoughts strayed to the handsome stranger she had met - wait, handsome?
She stopped midstride and stared at her feet, a few blonde curls falling over her eyes. He hadn't been handsome.. rugged, yes. But he was too strange.
And rude, she reminded herself, continuing her walk. Her house wasn't far from here, and the light from the near-full moon would guide her. When Relena was younger she had feared every full moon, insisting that her mother safety-pin a towel around her neck before she went to sleep so the werewolves wouldn't get her. But now, the moon seemed more serene - beautiful, even. The trees dripped slightly, the dewiness of the air pricking the fine hairs on her arms.
Relena's musings were cut off when she felt her foot catch on an uneven patch of sidewalk. Her books fell from her arms as she threw her hands up to protect her face, and she heard her elbows scrape against the harsh ground.
What she didn't hear was the clatter of books which surely would have followed.. Dazed, Relena pulled herself back onto her feet. She ran her eyes along the wet ground. No books in sight.
"Hello?"
"What horrible taste."
Her thoughts jolted to Axel, and she turned with a smile on her face, instead locking eyes with a brooding man in a black cloak. His blue hair fell far over his shoulders, in strange bangs. Amber eyes followed her small, uneasy movements, and as Relena swallowed nervously, his thin lips spread into a crocodile-like grin of pleasure.
"Hello, Relena."
"..." She took a step back. Her body told her to run - she had never been confronted by a stranger at night before.. "Please don't rape me.."
"Rape you?" The man laughed, and it was now that Relena realized he balanced her books in one gloved hand. "Beautiful as you are, it would grant me no satisfaction."
Relena stepped back again, stumbling as her foot caught again. "Ooomph." She feared what would happen if she were to find herself sprawled out on the ground in front of this man again.
Burning hands caught her mid-fall, and she breathed a small sigh of relief. The pair of hands righted her, and she heard their owner exhale in what seemed to be exasperation.
"Must you always ruin things, Saix?" The newcomer said, waving a peculiar item through the air to punctuate what he said.
"I don't ruin a thing, Number Eight." 'Saix' said coldly, holding Relena's books out to her. "Here, my dear, I assume you wish to have these back."
Relena tried to back up again, bumping into the man with the burning hands. He leaned down, lips brushing her ear.
"Don't worry; he's not going to hurt you." She jumped and turned to look at him, taking in the black cloak. It was very similar to the one Saix wore… and the two clearly knew each other…
"Well, would you like your books?" Saix said, moving forward with his arm outstretched still. His eyes flashed dangerously as a cloud uncovered the moon. Relena shivered and rubbed her bare arms, her eyes not meeting his.
"Come now Saix, don't scare the girl. I'll take her books for her." The stranger stepped out in front of Relena and snatched her books. She tried to make herself as small as possible when Saix snarled and moved to go around the other man.
"That's… quite… impolite of her." Saix said with forced sounding politeness. His head jerked up to look at the moon, angry at the cloudy night. Amber eyes, turning more yellow as anger marked his face, seemed to cut straight through her.
Relena backed away slowly as fire appeared around the stranger's hands, solidifying into two spiked circles. In an instant, he closed the space between himself and Saix and put one of his spiked circles dangerously close to the other man's neck. "She's going to leave now, and you're not going to stop her. Understand?"
Terrifying as it was, Relena felt less threatened now that the other man had come - he clearly didn't want Saix to hurt her.. unless he wanted to hurt her himself..
"You'd threaten me, would you? I meant no harm." Saix swallowed carefully as he spoke, all too aware of the weapon pressed to his throat. "She'd be perfect, you realize."
The cloaked stranger looked over his shoulder at Relena, cocking his head in the direction of her home. "You should be going now. Don't worry about your books."
- - -
Relena spun around so quickly that she almost fell down again, and hurried to her house. Not far now.. not too far…
- - -
Saix summoned a dark portal and backed into it, laughing manically. "How sweet of you to protect her…"
The remaining man let his now flaming weapons puff out and disappear, and summoned his own portal. He stepped into it after gathering up Relena's books, cringing as the darkness surrounded him.
- - -
Hurrying up her front steps, Relena fumbled with her keys, trying to unlock the door. She finally slipped the right one into the lock and scurried inside, quickly shutting the door and slamming the deadbolt across. Relena walked slowly into her living room, sinking to the floor in front of her couch in a daze. She pulled her knees up and started to rock back and forth, tears threatening to fall.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
"Go away." Relena sobbed quietly. "Just go away." She covered her face with her hands and continued rocking slowly.
"Relena, it's Axel." The rapping noise started again. "Please let me in."
Relena dried her face as well as she could. "Axel?" For a split second the thought flashed through her mind, questioning how he had found her house.. but hysteria brushed it away.
Uncurling her legs, she got up unsteadily and crossed the room, nearly falling into the door as she reached it. She turned the deadbolt and stepped to the side of the door enough for him to open it, sliding back down to the ground.
"Are these yours? They were…" Axel trailed off, seeing her on the floor. He crossed the threshold of the door and set the books he was holding on the ground. "Hey, you okay?"
Tears ran down Relena's face again, and Axel crouched down in front of her, turning his head to look at her. He lifted her chin, and looked at her eyes as she cringed away and tried to hide her face. "Come, what's wrong?"
"I… I don't… want to talk about it…" She sobbed, wrapping her arms around herself. "I was so scared… so… so scared…" In some small corner of her mind, she realized that his touch was as hot as the touch of the stranger from earlier. Or perhaps she was just too cold.
"You're alright now. No one's going to get you now. You're safe, at home." Axel pulled his sleeves over his hands, and wrapped his arms around her. "You're alright…"
