As soon as the door was unlocked Gil pushed his way in, a cocky grin plastered on his face. Close behind Matt followed, entering more tentatively, glaring quietly at Gil before looking apologetically at Al. Matt was the first to speak up.
"Sorry Al, I said I would visit in the morning but, well, I kind of over-slept…" he trailed off politely, smiling sheepishly. Al smiled back, not minding, he'd sort of forgotten he was going to come over anyway. Gil decided to choose this moment to but in.
"Yeah, so where's this werewolf you guys found? I gotta see it!" he said grinning toothily, ruby red eyes searching around the room. Matt sent him another mildly irritated look about to say something but his brother got to it first.
"His name is Arthur. And he's not a werewolf." Al replied coolly, not hiding the annoyance in his voice. He wasn't sure if it was just this guy's general attitude, or the fact he felt like he'd taken his brother away from him in some sense, but Gilbert always managed to piss him off somehow. Glancing behind him to where Arthur had been standing before, he didn't see him. Frowning he took a quick look around the whole room but didn't see any sign of him anywhere. Curiously he called out for him, a little worried he'd been scared away.
"…. Arthur?" at his voice a pair of emerald eyes cautiously peered out from behind the back of the couch. Quickly noticing this Gil strode confidently over to where he was, his impish grin growing even wider as he went.
"Ha! Wow… so its really true. This is so awesome!" he exclaimed excitedly, leaning close over the couch to him for a more detailed look at him. Arthur tensed and leaned back away from him, his teeth clenched and his ears pinned back defensively. Gil eyed him up and down with interest, looking overconfident and cocky, almost like he was purposely trying to egg him on. Sensing Arthur's discomfort he playfully leaned a little closer, red eyes boring into him and chuckling darkly when he was growled at in return. Arthur was feeling really unsure about this guy and was getting a little peeved now that he wouldn't just back away already. Irritated, he bit out his words, sounding weirdly snobbish for his scruffy appearance.
"You know, it's rude to stare at people you've only just met." at his words a look of surprise flashed across Gil's face, before he snorted suddenly and broke out laughing loudly.
"Hahaha! Oh my god, it can actually talk! Haha but-but what the hell's wrong with its accent!" Gil gasped between laughs. Arthur looked about ready to punch him, but at this point Al stepped in and quickly pulled Gilbert away, both from his own annoyance and noticing Arthur's dangerous expression. Gil stumbled back a bit from the force, still giggling and Matt gave him a soft punch on his arm as a warning and began saying something to him quietly. Sighing, Al ignored them and turning to Arthur he put a hand on his shoulder, trying to ease him up a bit.
"Hey, don't worry about him, he's just an idiot, best thing to do is just ignore him." Al said lightly and giving him his own grin. Arthur wrinkled his noise slightly in distaste, but still smiled back and letting himself relax again. This Gilbert guy seemed annoying, but he could tell he wasn't seriously dangerous and didn't have any bad intentions, so he didn't have to worry about him. Plus, just watching him interact with Matt, he could tell he wasn't a bad person as his disposition had softened considerably and his eyes actually looked oddly caring. Seemed Matt fully trusted him too. After a pause stretching and yawning slightly, Arthur got off of the couch, feeling a little tired and stood quietly close by Al's side, his arms crossed. At his movement Gil eyed him again, giving him a smirk before talking to him.
"Hey, I'm sorry for my rudeness before, I didn't realise stuff is all and my awesome self got carried away. It's nice to meet you Arthur." amusement filed his voice, but he still managed to sound polite yet taunting at the same time. Arthur met his gaze but didn't say anything, he was almost certain he'd only said that because Matt had guilted him into doing so. After a glance to his watch, Matt was the one to break the awkward pause between the two, speaking to Al.
"…So, um, me and Gil are going… somewhere now, but what's happening with you?" he asked tentatively, feeling a little rude for leaving so abruptly. He and Gil had already made plans for today, but in the morning when he'd mentioned about what'd happened the night before to Gil, he had immediately wanted to check it out and had left for Al's place before Matt could explain everything fully, which was pretty understandable considering it was him. But since they'd also over-slept it also meant they only had a short time to visit before they had to leave or they'd miss their train.
"Oh, well I was gonna take Artie and we were gonna walk around town and go out shopping for clothes and food and stuff…" Al said cheerfully, liking the idea. Matt looked concerned though.
"Um, yeah, Al, are you sure that's a good idea eh? Cause you know, the circus is still in town until it leaves tomorrow, and, well it'd be really bad if you ran into that man again… also I think it'd probably be better for Arthur to get a little more rest before walking around, he still looks kinda pale…. That being said you'd probably draw a lot of attention, walking around looking like that I mean…" Matt trailed off, feeling kind of bad but he was concerned for his brothers safety. Al frowned as the information sunk in. He had a point. After humming for a moment in thought he pushed his glasses up and replied.
"…I didn't think of that… well then, I guess we'll stay in today, if that's okay with you Artie?" he grinned down at Arthur who only grunted in response but didn't look bothered. In truth he was still feeling a little weak and tired, and also he was extremely wary of going outside if Scott was still about, so staying in sounded good to him. Taking the grunt as a yes, Al waved his brother and Gil out of the apartment. As they walked out the door, Matt turned to Al giving him a small smile and a 'see you later' before blushing when Gil wrapped an arm around his waist, grinning mischievously and led them away down the hallway. Al let out a sigh of relief as he shut the door.
They day passed by quickly. Arthur had managed to convince Al to clean up the apartment and as they cleaned it together they had talked almost non-stop. Al shared many interesting and funny story's from when he was younger, varying form adventures with his brother to times he'd apparently saved or helped people, which made Arthur smile a lot. He also talked about the many kinds of stuff he liked and didn't like, such as music, food, games, movies to colours, weather, beliefs, which superhero's would win in a fight etc… and by the end Arthur had learnt a lot more about him and his personality, he was extremely glad for it… along with lots of other useless and unimportant information, but it was amusing none the less. He enjoyed talking with Al and had laughed at quite a lot of his stories and rants.
Though when it came to talking about himself he kept it fairly quiet, feeling a little shy (though he'd never admit it) about opening up to him. Even so, he still felt a weight lift off his chest at finally being able to talk to someone about stuff. He told Al about how he'd never had a mother or father from what he could remember, his earliest memory's being of walking around alone in some woods. How at some point in time a very old lady (who had practiced a lot of witchcraft and had lived alone in a small hut in the middle of the woods) had taken him in and looked after him, even with his strange appearance. He told him a few stories about the times he'd meet with, and often argued with, an annoying and perverted French ghost who wandered around the woods late at night in search of some woman 'Jeanne' (though he didn't admit that he'd actually enjoyed his company and the many pointless conversations/arguments they'd had together). He told him how he used to play games with the little fairies that lived in the dead tree trunks and how his favourite (Faylinn, she always wore a green dress and had long wavy chestnut hair) used to bring him little trinkets and secretly hide flowers in his hair for him to find later. He'd also told him briefly about how he'd met Scott one day randomly and that he'd disappeared, coming back a few years later and taking him by force, but he kept the details short and quick that involved Scott, obviously not wanting to think to much about it.
Al had listened to him intently with interest and Arthur was grateful to him… even if he wouldn't believe him about the fairies, no matter what he said. After the cleaning was mostly finished (well, was deemed 'good enough') and Al had cooked them some food, they both sat down heavily next to each other on the couch with one of Al's horror movies. Arthur had found in fairly interesting, though he wasn't particularly scared of the ghosts that popped up (for obvious reasons) but he did find it entertaining how the 'amazing hero' Alfred was shaking by his side, whimpering and desperately clutching a pillow to his chest through out the film. Arthur couldn't help but snicker a bit when he felt Al completely freeze and hold his breath at one point in the movie where the scene had gone dark and creepy music had started playing in the background, signalling something was going to jump out. He turned to him, about to ask him if he wanted to turn it off when Al suddenly screamed loudly and lunged, grabbing onto Arthur tightly and hiding behind him, the shock from the unexpected scream and sudden contact making Arthur also shriek in surprise, which in turn set off Al again, gripping tighter around Arthur's waist and muffling a scream into his back. After a few silent moments that followed of Al clinging for his life and Arthur trying start his heart again, the pair slowly managed to calm down. Carefully Al pulled away and turned off the T.V, taking a deep breath and laughing, a little embarrassed for actually screaming. Though he felt better seeing how scared Arthur looked too, guessing that it was the movie that'd scared him.
"Haha wow, that was a pretty scary move, huh?" he laughed, running a hand through his hair. Arthur gave him a slightly odd look, but grinned in return anyway.
"Yeah, it was…" a wide yawn stopping his sentence. It wasn't very late but Al could tell Arthur was pretty tired so he stood up stretching and holding his hand out to help him up. Arthur took it gratefully and let himself be pulled up, making Al smile and ruffle his hair.
"So you wanna go to bed now?" he asked softly. Arthur swatted his hand from his head playfully and nodded, rubbing his eyes. Al smiled again, resisting the urge to hug him and walked him to his room before giving him a cheerful 'goodnight' and quickly ruffling his hair again and heading to his own room. Arthur snorted in mild annoyance, trying in vain to flatten his hair again as he slipped under the covers. They had both stayed in pyjamas so he'd didn't need to change. After shifting a few times to get comfortable, he snuggled under the warm blanket and fell asleep quickly, but he didn't get much peace before he started dreaming, wincing and twitching in his sleep. The unnoticed stress from the recent events causing an old memory to wake and rise up from the back of his mind.
A strange little fox-looking boy walked through the darkening woods, he was wearing an old patched-up green cloak and carrying a small brown rabbit preciously in his arms. He was alone and walked aimlessly around for a while, gently talking now and again to the rabbit about random things. He got no verbal response from it except its large brown eyes blinking back trustfully at him. He smiled petting it soft fur and held it closer to himself for comfort. He'd found the rabbit half-dead and all alone one night on a pathway when it was still very small, and since then he'd taken care of it. It had bitten him at first, leaving a scar on his hand, but he eventually became friends with it and soon it had began to follow him everywhere, like he was its mother.
It was a frosty night and the wind howled through the bare tree branches, shaking them and making them creak and moan moodily. After a while he stopped walking, sitting on a large rock and sniffled, shivering he watched as his breath formed cold clouds in front of his eyes. He wanted to go inside the warmer hut but the old lady was practicing some sort of 'summoning spell' and said he should stay away for the next few hours. He sneezed suddenly, making the rabbit twitch in his arms. Rubbing his nose on his arm and giggling he stroked its head lovingly, murmuring a few words of apology to it. He stayed there for a while looking up at the thousands of white stars that could now be seen in the crisp night sky. He could hear owls calling out to each other and many small rustlings around him and feel the rabbit curling up, pressing into his stomach for warmth. It was peaceful.
An hour had passed by in near silence, when he felt a chill run down his neck. It wasn't from the cold. Sniffing again and glancing around with his eyebrows furrowed, he didn't see anything. The rabbit woke up, sitting up on its hind legs alert now, with its ears standing straight and swivelling around in search of something. The boy gazed anxiously in the direction where the rabbit was staring, uneasiness growing inside of him. It was dark and he still couldn't see anything, so carefully he called out, wary of being too loud.
"… Francis? …. Is that you? Cause if it is, its not bloody funny…." he trailed off, swallowing. A dark chuckle came from the direction he was talking to. It defiantly wasn't the frog. A few twigs snapped as a pair of yellow dots flashed once, followed by a red headed boy who emerged, a few years older than him he looked. He walked slowly like a predator stalking its prey up to the boy, who had tensed and held the rabbit tighter, shielding in form the strange guy. Not liking the look on his face, the boy stood up and ground out his words, his tail swishing defensively.
"What do you want?" he barked harshly, backing away. The red-headed guy just smiled kingly at him, stopping a short distance away before speaking.
"My, what a cute we-rabbit ya got boy, what's 'es name?" his accent was thick and had a cruel edge to it. The boy narrowed his eyes slightly, he didn't like him but he could tell there was something off about this guy and really didn't want to make him angry. He answered nervously.
"His names Fiver… sorry but I need to go now-"
"Ahh Fiver, I see, an what's ye name, boy?" the guy cut him off, walking closer to him, his eyes never blinking or leaving the boy once.
"My names Arthur…" he said quietly, a wave of panic rolling through him as he felt himself back into a tree, trapped. The guy chuckled at him, a sadistic glint in his eyes.
"Arthur, aye?… well little Arthur. My name is Scott." his smile turned slowly into a grin as he closed in on him. Arthur could feel the rabbits breathing and its heart beating frantically against his wrist as Scott came closer. Taking in a breath and building up his courage, he was about to make a kick at Scott's shin and make a run for it when he was suddenly tackled into the cold ground, the rabbit flying from his arms from the impact. Scott laughed dementedly, straddling Arthur and pinning him down with his weight.
"Did ye think ya could git away from me just like that, little Arthur?… just running away won't work will et? Ya know if ye wanna get away yar gonna 'ave to kill me. That's how things work, aye?" Scott hissed into his ear and chuckled, slowly pulling out a blade. Arthur's eyes widened in fear at the blade and he struggled more trying to push him away. Scott ignored him, flipping the blade a few times around his finger, watching as the moonlight reflected off of it in sharp flashes. Leaning his head to one side he focused his eyes on Arthur's but instead of turning the blade on him, he gently took a hold of Arthur's human hand and pushed the hilt of the blade into it, closing the boys fingers around it so that he was holding it. Arthur looked up at him in confusion, his breathing laboured from struggling and from the guys weight pushing the air out of his lungs. Scott didn't say anything, quietly he lifted the boys hand up to his own throat, pressing the blade lightly against the life vein in the side of his neck. He laughed again at Arthur's confusion and shock, and spoke to him in a soft yet crazed voice.
"Well Arthur? Just push et a little more.." he sneered, putting force against the boys hand himself and causing blood to travel slickly down the blade and fall in warm little drop's onto Arthur's face. Arthur gasped and tried to pull his hand away, scrunching tightly his eyes as he struggled, trying to kick and scratch at him, wanting to escape. Scott looked down at him annoyed, his grin vanishing and being replaced with a scowl. He spoke through gritted teeth, his voice full of frustration and spite.
"What's the matter? I'm not good enough to kill, aye?…. Or are ye just too cowardly to do et? Heh, ye know, if ya not gonna kill me, ye'll be the one who's dead." he spat out his words, this time bringing the now bloodied knife down to Arthur's neck and sliding it gently along the side, just enough to cause the skin to slit and blood to flow out, but not enough to kill. Arthur gasped in pain and fear, whimpering and struggling, breathing heavily, his heart feeling close to exploding. Scott laughed as he began to press down harder, enjoying the boys prolonged fear, when hi winced and hissed suddenly, dropping the blade. The rabbit had bit him hard on his hand, its sharp little teeth piercing through his flesh, right down to his bone. Harshly and angrily Scott flicked his hand causing the rabbit to fly off, landing on its back and bouncing off the ground. Wobbly it got back up and dragged itself by Arthur's head, trembling with fear but refusing to leave its friends side.
"Fiver… r-run…" Arthur stuttered in panic, the fear and blood loss making his voice weak. The rabbit didn't budge, but nuzzled into his hair. Arthur felt tears brimming his eyes, terrified for Fiver's sake. Scott snorted in disgust and cruelly grabbed the rabbit by its ears, holding it off the ground, causing it to squeal. Arthur struggled desperately now, hatred and stress flooded him as he snarled dangerously, trying to draw Scott's attention to himself instead of Fiver, but he felt his stomach drop sickeningly when Scott smiled at him, an evil glint in his eyes. Scott's voice was even and calm when he spoke, sounding almost playful.
"Well, it seems little we-Fiver 'ere needs to learn some… respect, wouldn't ye say Arthur?" he giggled manically picking up the blade and poising it towards the rabbit. Arthur felt his blood run cold, desperately clawing at his legs and trying to bite him with all he had.
"No, s-stop, p-please… don't, just… d-don't pleas-e…" was all Arthur could get out between choked sobs, fumbling over his words as his mind clouded in panic. Scott laughed crazily again and licked his lips as he watched as tears ran down Arthur's cheeks. Without warning he lifted the blade and drove it quickly and violently into the rabbits eye. Fiver squealed loudly in pain, the sound echoing around the woodland and thrashed about madly. Arthur felt his heart clench, frozen. Smirking as twisted it and pulled the blade out Scott then cut sharply down its stomach, causing thick blood to flow out of the diagonal line and fall again onto Arthur's face, mixing with Scott's and his own blood. By now Arthur was hyperventilating, looking about to pass out. Scott snorted at the state he was in over a rabbit, and quickly snapped its neck, ending its life before dropping it carelessly next to the left side of Arthur's head. Arthur didn't even respond this time, he just stared emptily ahead of him, white faced and eyes half open. Scott smirked before getting off of him, he stood up, wiping some blood off his hands as he did and looked down his nose at the boy on the ground. He spoke normally, only a tint of malice showing in his voice.
"Ye know, I feel sorry for that rabbit, poor thing. It risked its life for yeh, an what did et get in return? Nothing. Poor little Fiver… abandoned by its only friend, who didn't even help him. And ye know Arthur if yer'd killed me at the start, he'd still be alive. It's all your fault 'es dead… you know that though don't ya? Ye killed him. Cruel bastard. No wonder e abandoned ye an died…" Scott babbled, sounding distant and lost in thought, his voice got quieter and quieter as he walked slowly away, fading into the darkness of the woods, leaving Arthur broken and alone on the frosted floor, bright red blood covered his face and the moonlight shone, sparkling and reflecting off the deep blood that pooled thickly around his neck and head. It looked almost pretty in a twisted way.
After a while. After the situation and Scott's words finally sunk in and his stunned daze had lifted slightly, he carefully turned his head to his left, wincing at the sharp sting in his neck. He was met instantly with a pair dulled brown eyes, one open, the other bloodied and gorged out, as the rabbit stared accusingly back at him in death.
Arthur screamed, shooting up in bed, shaking and his heart pounding in his ears. He crouched over, hands pulling harshly at his hair, hyperventilating. Slowly, very slowly, his breathing slowed down, but he stayed in that position for almost half an hour, not daring to move. He muffled chocked sobs that forced their way out of him and his heart ached dully but he eventually managed to pull himself together. Looking around the room, he twitched, giggling a little dementedly for some reason. It was dark and he was alone. He wanted Alfred. He needed to see him, needed to make sure he was okay. Sniffling and rubbing his eyes, he shakily made his way to Al's room, quietly opening his door. He smiled. Al was asleep, spread out on his back and snoring softly. Quietly Arthur kneeled down next to the bed and watched him for a while, Al's relaxed face and steady breathing was comforting and put him at ease quickly, eventually causing him to feel sleepy himself. Sighing he gave him one last glance and softly stroked his hair before curled up on the floor next to Al's bed, wanting to stay by his side, he slowly he drifted off to sleep.
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- end of chapter. Thankyou so much for reading! and thankyou so much to people who reviewed! it means alot~ (Tried to make it longer this time, sorry for spelling/grammar/mistakes/OCCness ect.) ^^