Csoh: Hey! So we're talking 1 on 1 Prelude/Holly time. I haven't really gotten into detail about much of either's past and they haven't been together for a long enough time. (sigh. I really wanted to go all out on that fluff scene). U_U

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Chapter 7:

Holly couldn't understand why her mother was doing this. Her little brother ran inside. "Why am I not allowed to see you guys anymore." Her mother glared at her, her hatred pouring out in waves.

"You are not a part of this family. You never were. I allowed you to live here since you were little, but since you think you know best. GO! Have a GRAND time trying to live in the real world." She threw a ten dollar bill at Holly. "This should be enough for a couple meals. Have a good life." Her mother turned around and shut the door. Holly ran to the door and started banging on it. Her little brother opened the window.

"You're not my sister so GO AWAY!" He shut the window. Holly ran towards Nate's house, he would be able to help her. She pulled up short as she saw him lip locked with her best friend Laura.

"Nate!" He looked over at Holly.

"Holly think of it this way. I don't think your even the least bit cute and your friend Laura here... Well she's smokin' hot. Besides your family hates me so it works out. So why don't you go and keep trying to please mommy dearest." Holly kicked him and ran away. Laura's and Nate's laughter following after. Tears falling down her face as she ran to her elder brother's.

How could everyone do this? Why did she always end up getting crushed by everyone? It started to rain as she made it to her brother's. Leopold wasn't home so she sat and let her emotions consume her.

After a whole night in the freezing cold rain, Leo ran up to the house.

"Holly? What the hell are you doing here?" Holly started to cry again as she looked at him.

"I was disowned yesterday-" Leo interrupted her.

"I know that. Although to be fair you were never really a family member." He opened the door and pulled her in.

"What the heck does that mean!" Leo threw his guitar on the couch and threw a couple suitcases and her cello at her.

"Mom left these yesterday morning in case you came here. I'm not even suppose to let you in."

"Leo, what do you mean I'm not family!" Holly felt herself falling apart at the seams.

"We found you when you got in that car crash. The doctors didn't know who you belonged to and since no family ever came for you, father took you into the family." Holly felt fresh tears at the mention of their dead father.

"So-"

"Yeah since dad died last week, mom is taking things into her own hands and that means you're gone. She doesn't like you you know." Holly nodded. That had always been obvious. Leopold continued, "I can't help you. I want to, but I can't. All I know is that dad said he found this when they pulled you out of the wreck." He slipped a piece of paper into her hand. Written in ink was two words, the sides of the paper were burnt.

Acheron Parthenopaeus

"Who or what is-"

"Dad asked you when they pulled you out. All you kept saying was Savitar's friend. I assumed you knew about all this." Holly shook her head.

"I told you I can't remember anything before that day. I was distraught." Leo turned to her.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I think I need to get as far away as possible from mother. If I'm not welcome then I'm not staying." Leo nodded and pulled out a pair of keys and a couple hundreds from his pocket. "Leo I can't-"

"Shut up and listen. Peter gave me the money after I won a bet and the car is just a piece of crap from a garage down the road that was going to scrap it. I'll never see you again, Holly. After you leave in a minute, we will never be able to speak again. I just needed to thank you for all that you've done for me. Without you, I never would have been able to sneak out and play at night and that night you pretended to be me so that mom wouldn't yell at me..." He threw the keys into her hands. Holly choked back tears. This was too much too fast. Why? Why did it have to be this way. Leo pulled her to the door. "Goodbye Holly." The door shut behind her and she broke down. Holly dragged her things with her to the car and threw them in the back. She started to drive. Each sign a reminder of what she was leaving behind.

Finally she parked in front of a apartment complex in New Orleans. She rented an apartment and enrolled in a university. She watched as everyone else went home for holidays, as families came and went around the town. Each one a stab to the heart for her. She felt herself growing more depressed...

Prelude awakened from the nightmare of Holly's past...or not. He didn't know for sure that it was even real. He stared up into darkness until he recalled what had happened at the nightclub. The fire, he sat up to find himself on the couch of a bedroom. Holly was tossing and turning, tears streaming down her face as she slept.

He ran over to the bedside and pulled her into his arms. She woke up and looked up at him. "Prelude?" He hugged her close as she wiped her eyes.

"Holly... How did you end up in New Orleans." She looked up and he saw she was fighting back tears again.

"I... My family disowned me and my boyfriend deserted me so I drove down to New Orleans to get away." The nightmare had been real. He embraced her tighter as she started to cry.

"Holly... don't cry. I don't even know what's going on or where we are so please don't cry." She stopped and looked up at him.

"We're in Kalosis." He froze at the name.

"WHAT!?!"

"Relax. The daimons are elsewhere and there are two demons that are guarding the door to this house." He sat down next to her on the bed as she snuggled up next to him. "You saw my past with your dark-hunter abilities didn't you." He nodded. "So how did you end up a dark-hunter?"

Holly watched as he tried to pull away and hide the hurt in his eyes. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily. She held fast he looked at her, his eyes filled with uncertainty.

"We should get out of here."

"Prelude, your trying to dodge the question. You can trust me. Please, tell me."

"So what! Why do you want to know. There's nothing in the past that will make this," he motioned to the room, "any different. You have seen betrayal. That is how I became a dark-hunter." He was hurt. Holly felt terrible for sticking the nerve. She clenched her fists as she started to cry again.

"I had Savitar bring you with me so that you would be saved from the fire. I ran to save you from the fire because I found that I have feelings for you. You're right I have seen betrayal and I know how it hurts to be alone and," she paused as she felt herself getting angry, "for some stupid reason I thought that maybe you wouldn't be like most assholes in the world. Obviously though I was wrong." She got up and ran out of the room. Holly headed for the kitchen. She was hungry and it would be better than staying up there with that jerk.

Prelude sighed before opening the door and walking over to Holly. "Shanta." She looked up at him as he sat across from her at the table and looked at her. "I became a dark-hunter after being betrayed by my love Shanta's family." Holly nearly choked.

"I'm sorry."

"It was during the 1600's. I moved to France from Germany and my family was considered outcasts. We didn't have much throughout my childhood, but then I met Shanta. She was a musician at Paris. Her family hated me. They thought my family was filled with witches and in the end..." He thought back to the bloodshed. Shanta's family had butchered his without mercy and Shanta's death had been terrible. The worst part had been when he had found his little sister had stabbed him...as she died. Her betrayal mixed with Shanta's family had caused his current situation.

"So Shanta's family betrayed you?" His thoughts were pulled back to the present.

"Yes, they had told me that they loved Shanta and me and we believed them. They rallied Paris into killing Shanta as she performed." He watched as Holly grimaced.

"That's terrible! So I'm guessing Prelude is not your real first name."

"No, and everyone knows it's not. Ash is the only one who knows it besides me and I don't make a habit of telling others."

Holly nodded even though she felt like asking. His steel gray eyes shined mischievously as he looked at her. "You're not even going to ask?" She smiled.

"If you don't want me to know then I won't ask." He leaned close and Holly found that he was mere inches from her face as she too was leaning forward. His smile turned her breathless as he got closer.

"So you do want to know." All She could do was nod as his lips moved in to reach hers.

"NO!" Prelude went flying back toward the wall as Apollymi entered the room. Her swirling silver eyes narrowed at Prelude. Holly intercepted before she could do anything.

"MOM! It's fine he wasn't going to do anything."

"He won't after I'm through with him."

"If he gets bad I'll feed him to the demons." One of the demons poked his head up to look in the window. Apollymi calmed down.

"Fine, but none of that." She turned and left. Holly ran over to Prelude, he held up his hand to stop her.

"Let's not bring her back. It seems your family isn't keen on my being here either." Holly saw the hurt. This must be like what happened with Shanta. Holly stood back as he got up. He rubbed his back and looked up at her. His barriers started to come up as he settled into a chair and ignored her.

The silence continued for minutes as they ate and cleaned of their dishes, finally Holly couldn't take it anymore.

"Marco." He looked at her confused. "Your name, is it Marco?"

"No. You're not even close." He set the last plate in the cupboard and sat at the table.

"It's not a girl's name is it."

"Do I look like a girl?" She ignored his sarcasm.

"Herold."

"No." She went quiet as she thought. "Why not try the name Hieronymus."

"That sounds stupid, let me think." Prelude could believe her. He tells her his name and what does she say, it's stupid?!

"Rick. You could be a Rick."Prelude raised an eyebrow.

"Hieronymus is stupid, but Rick is completely fascinating." Holly laughed at him.

"You're name is Hieronymus? I can see why you call yourself Prelude." He tried not to strangle her, but it was hard.

"Of course Rick is a much better name." She sat on the counter and smirked at him.

"It doesn't sound like some exotic disease." He rolled his eyes. She was ridiculous.

"Naturally Holly Rheia sounds nothing like gonorrhea." To his surprise Holly laughed even harder.

"I guess you saw my memory of my elder brother's insult name for me." He watched as she tried to hide the hurt she felt, but he felt every bit of it like it was his own.

"Yeah, and yet you helped him sneak out at your expense." She turned serious.

"Naturally. I didn't care what happened to me. I was young and busy trying to get guys to go out with me."

"And I'm just another guy to you." She threw a bowl at him. He caught it and threw it on the table.

"NO! Unlike then I don't need others opinions to make myself happy."

"Just mom and dad's right?" If looks could kill, Prelude was damn glad he was a dark-hunter. Holly glared angrily at him. She was pissed beyond belief.

"I wanted to find my real family so that I could learn more about my past. You don't understand the hurt I went through as I watched the others around me be able to talk about their family when I didn't even know anything about mine. I was picked on constantly for it and I learned to keep everyone away. How dare you think you've summed me up after we only met the other day." Holly ran out of the room as Prelude took what she said to heart. She was wrong. He did understand better than anyone the hurt. It was what he had felt when he had become a dark-hunter. He turned to follow after Holly.

"Why are you after Holly so badly?" Prelude turned to find himself facing Ash or a shade?

"Acheron?"

"Answer me Hieronymus." Prelude sighed. "She's not Shanta. Artemis is just playing you against Apollymi and Savitar."

"Artemis has nothing to do with this and I know that Holly is not Shanta. It doesn't matter to me." Ash looked less than convinced.

"What are you planning on doing." It wasn't a question.

"I don't care if I have to wait months for her powers to finish developing. I-"

"Don't be a fool, Hieronymus. Get away now before you end up hurting both you and Holly."

"You don't believe I'm good enough for her do you." Acheron glared at him with his mercuric eyes. His gaze sending chills throughout Prelude.

"Hieronymus, I doubt every word you've spoken." He faded out of the room, leaving Prelude alone in Kalosis.