day 12 was to draw what i saw out of a window

FTLOAP: Chapter 50: Just One Chance, Just One Breath

For The Love Of A Princess Masterpost

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AN:

! 3 YEARS! !

Today (April 3rd), it's been three years since I posted the prologue to this story. Meeting this anniversary served as a great deadline for me to finally finish editing this chapter.

Also, I can't believe it's really been that long! I never planned for this story to grow so big or to only write so little for it. But I'm going to power through, I still love this story very much.

I want to apologise it again took so long. January and February were bad for me, mentally, and I barely had enough energy to get through the day, let alone do just about anything in addition. Even the 'short' one-shots I posted in this time took me weeks to write instead of the usual one or two days. And I can't predict how long the next update might take, life is just chaos these days.

Now to this chapter. Finally, things are happening! I'm very excited about this chapter and the following event, and about your reactions, too.

This chapter's title comes from the song Far Away by Nickleback. It's one of my favourite songs all around, and the sentiment of this one quote felt very appropriate for this chapter.

. o O o .

There was a constant drizzle coming from the grey sky above them. It made Hiccup wish he was already wearing his warm travelling coat instead of the colourful attire that marked him as Eret’s squire so he could pull it tighter around himself. He couldn’t concentrate. Right at this moment, the King was giving his opening speech for the Dragon Hunt, with them all being packed and ready to get going any minute now. He should listen, should pay attention, if not for any important information then at least out of respect.

But no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t hear a single word; his heart was beating in his throat and drowned out every other sound. His eyes kept shifting away from the King too, constantly moving a bit to the left to where Astrid stood a step behind her father and beneath a hastily built canopy. As if she was too delicate to be subjected to the weather. She wore her mask of a pleasant smile, her eyes gliding around slowly, resting nowhere.

Gods, he hadn’t even left yet, but he missed her already! They hadn’t really talked since their saying goodbye in Eret’s suite two days ago. Yesterday had been busy with the journey to Oramond—which Astrid had been made to spend in a carriage—and she’d taken all her meals with Eret, Dagur, and their fathers. Frigga, they’d barely even seen each other, and he’d missed her so much. Could he really leave and endure several days without her? It felt so wrong.

But once again not being able to interact with her in over a day had reminded him of just how much he needed her in his life. It reminded him of why he had to follow through with their plan. They only had this one chance to ensure their future by following the path the Gods had wanted him to take, by doing what came naturally to him. He could do this! He had to…

Eventually, the King ended his speech with a reminder of the glory and the new life that was waiting for the winner—as if he needed that reminder. Then he, Eret, Dagur, and their small group of guards rode through the crowd to set out as the first participants. They all turned their heads as they rode past the King and the group around him. Silent nods were exchanged and to satisfy those watching, Eret even blew a kiss in Astrid’s direction. Her smile grew a little warmer, making Hiccup’s heart beat in his throat. Then her gaze glided on, over the rest of their group, and eventually, their eyes met. It lasted for less than one second before she looked away again, but to him, the emotions and the meaning in that brief exchange were tangible. Real, full of love and reassurance. The promise that they would soon be together again. It was a moment he would cherish, something to hold on to.

Then he took a last deep breath and turned away, toward the road ahead of them.

It felt like ripping out his heart.

. o O o .

Hiccup wasn’t sure whether to call it a lucky streak or just good preparation, but as everything worked out as planned, he was willing to go with either.

Both Eret and Dagur had been given a group of three guards from their fathers and a couple of pack horses. They rode hard—trying to bring as much distance between themselves and the other participants that would follow—and by noon, they reached their first stop.

It was a village of medium size. The people here obviously expected visitors, the hunt was no secret, after all, and it didn’t take long until the high lords and their entourage had gained rooms to stay in during the following days.

Hiccup spent an hour visibly busy with getting them settled in. He unpacked his and Eret’s things, arranged for them to get their food delivered to their rooms, and made sure that Cassie, Crusher, Squish, and the other horses were taken care of. But once he was sure that nobody paid him much attention anymore, he focussed on his main course again.

Back in the room he was supposed to share with Eret, he quickly changed his clothes; out of the flashy attire of a squire and into nondescript but practical travelling clothes made of wool and leather.

With his hand lingering on Astrid's key around his neck, he gave himself a moment to think of her. Now that there were actually dozens of miles between them, he felt their separation even more acutely. It felt as if something was tugging at him from the inside, urging him to get back to her, to hold her, to never let go. And a major part of him wanted nothing more than to give in to that urge, too. No matter how confident he was about this whole plan, Astrid had been right as well. Being apart from her was just wrong.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed these thoughts and feelings aside. He couldn’t afford to be distracted now. Now, he had to concentrate on his plan; being with her had to wait until he was back. Until he’d killed a dragon and returned to become a count. Until he had the land and title necessary to ask for her hand. Until he was truly worthy of her. Oh, he couldn’t wait.

Feeling a little lighter, he reached for the bundles he hadn’t unpacked earlier. They contained all he needed for the Hunt, some weapons, a few emergency rations of food, and more practical equipment he needed for a couple of days in the wilderness. And, most importantly, the bola shooter.

He threw the bags over his shoulder, then reached for the last thing he needed, the cloak Astrid’s servants had provided him with. In itself, it was an ordinary cloak, black with a blue border. What made it special however was the badge and sigil that came with it, marking the wearer as an official royal courier. It would allow him to change horses whenever he needed and ensured that he got a bed and a meal as long as he travelled along the road. He even had a letter to top off his disguise, complete with a wax seal of House Jag’r. He just hoped that he wouldn’t need this and that Eret wouldn’t get into trouble for providing him with this false message.

He didn’t pause to say his farewell to his cousin. Too easily someone could overhear them, could stop him, or could pin his leaving without permission on Eret. He and Dagur already had done enough for him; he didn’t want to risk any further trouble.

Instead, he sneaked into the stables and readied the two pack horses Eret and Dagur had brought, then left without anyone paying him any attention.

Being on the road then was a relief. It meant another part of their plan had worked perfectly. Hiccup rode for another two hours before he changed the tired horses at the next way station. A part of him wished he could take a break as well, to eat and to warm up at a hearth. He’d missed out on the meal he’d ordered for Eret in that inn and the drizzling rain was wearing on his strength. But taking a break wasn’t possible, not if he wanted to stay ahead of everyone else and out of reach of whoever might or might not be following him. So instead, he just switched to the well-rested horses a helpful stablehand provided him with and, chewing on some dried meat from his travelling rations, continued on his way up north.

He again got remounts in the evening, then rode on until long past nightfall before he stopped at an inn for the night. But despite being tired to the bones, from the second day spent in the saddle and the cool drizzle having crept through all his clothes, sleep didn’t come easily to him. His mind couldn’t find rest and for a long while, he just kept shifting from one side to the other. His thoughts kept circling around the task that lay ahead of him, around the dull sense of someone possibly following him, and around Astrid.

Gods, he missed her so much. What wouldn’t he give to hold her in his arms now, to listen to her soft breathing and breathe in her mayweed scent? Trembling, he curled into a tight ball, his hand pressed to his chest, and took a few deep and calming breaths. She was always with him; he reminded himself. Within him, their bond was tangible, pulsing like a second heart. It was warm and reassuring and real. Nothing would ever come between them, not even distance…

And soon, he would be with her for real again, too. Just a few days…

. o O o .

On the second day of the Hunt, Hiccup’s lucky streak still seemed to go on. Or that was what he tried to tell himself, at least. He was still tired, even after some hours of rest, but after a quick but tasty and filling breakfast, he was back on the road in no time. And while the rain had kept on during the night, it had stopped by now. The sky was still cloudy and the air cool, but thanks to the trees and hills around them, the wind didn’t affect him too much.

Not once did he encounter other participants of the Hunt, not by chance and not someone who might be searching for him either. Apparently, he was safe from any followers, and all Astrid’s worries had been for nothing.

Around noon, he reached another village. Although, it wasn’t even that, really, mostly a way station and a few additional buildings around it. But it was nonetheless an important place as it was the last station of his journey before he would have to leave the road and head into the swamplands.

“Now, things are getting serious,” he murmured to himself, then chuckled. Talking to himself had been a habit he’d picked up during his years of travelling on his own, to not feel quite as lonely. Almost a year had passed since then, but apparently, old habits died hard.

Pressing his legs against the horse’s sides, he rode toward what had to be the stables. “Hello?” he called, looking around for someone to take over his tired horses.

There was a grunt followed by heavy footsteps, then a burly man in a brown leather vest and with a bald head came into sight. “Oi, stranger.” He looked Hiccup over, his eyes pausing on the badge on Hiccup's cloak. “A messenger, eh? We don't see many of you around here. I’m Owen. You need horses, boy?”

Hiccup nodded, but then directly shook his head. “I do. But before I ride on... Do you have a tavern around here? Somewhere where I can get something to eat?”

“No tavern,” Owen said, but nodded toward a building on the other side of the road. “But you can get food in the main building over there. There’s not much to choose from, but my wife makes a fine stew. Just perfect for this weather.” He threw a glance past Hiccup and up into the grey sky and grimaced. “I’ll have your fresh horses ready when you need them.”

With a grateful smile, Hiccup took his bags from the horses’ backs and wandered over toward the other building. He couldn’t agree more, a good stew was just what he needed, warm and filling. When he stepped inside, he was greeted by a wave of wonderful warmth, the scent of hearty food, and a middle-aged woman of a comfortably rounded shape coming over from another room.

“Oh, a visitor!” she exclaimed, looking him over with curiosity. “But look at you. Come in, come in. You look exhausted, boy. What do you need? A room to rest?”

With a tired sigh, Hiccup shook his head. He had no time to take a rest, no matter how appealing that thought was. “Just something warm to eat, if you would be so kind. I need to be back on the road as soon as possible.”

She frowned in motherly disapproval, but nodded when he inconspicuously turned so she could see his messenger badge. “I see.”

She ushered him in and before he’d even sat down, she placed a steaming bowl of stew in front of him.

“Must be a mighty important message you’re delivering when you can’t even take a minor break.”

Hiccup smiled into his spoon. Even tired as he was, the food and the comfort of the hearth fire was enough to refuel at least some of his energy. And the woman had been kinder than she had to be, so giving her some gossip in exchange seemed only fair.

“I guess it is,” he replied between two mouthfuls. “A wedding invitation, if I’m informed correctly. From House Jag’r. I’m supposed to deliver it and return with an answer right away.” That was the story they’d decided on, giving him a good reason to head back in a couple of days as well. Even as he didn’t look forward to the question that would inevitably follow.

The woman’s eyes grew and she leaned a little closer. “A wedding invitation, you say? So the rumours are true then. The princess is going to marry our young Lord Eret?”

Hiccup dug his head and had to bite his lip to keep himself from scowling. Of course, these rumours would have spread by now. And the fondness in her voice didn’t surprise him, either; House Jag’r was well-liked among its subjects. It wasn’t this woman’s fault, that the idea of Astrid and Eret marrying didn’t fill him with the same joy as her.

“Maybe,” he suggested casually. “Or it’s about Lady Esther’s wedding.”

“Lady Esther is going to marry too?” the woman exclaimed, and she clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, what wonderful news. Are you sure it’s true?”

Smiling a little more genuine now, Hiccup gave something between a shrug and a nod. “That’s what I overheard, at least.”

She seemed excited, but before she could say more, another woman called her over from the room next door and she left him to eat in peace. Clearly in a good mood now, she probably couldn’t wait to spread the gossip.

Content to have made at least one person’s life brighter today, Hiccup finished his stew, left a coin as thanks for his meal, and then headed back to the way station outside. Grimacing at the gust of wind tearing at his cloak, he waited for an older boy—surely Owens son, judging by his looks—to bring him his horses. He remembered the woman’s offer of a room to rest, and dreamily imagined taking her up on it, to get some sleep until the weather—hopefully—turned more agreeable soon. But he didn’t have time for that. He had to stick to their plan, couldn’t make an exception just because the weather wasn’t playing along.

As he rode on, his thoughts kept circling around the task that lay ahead of him, and slowly, he became nervous. Over the past few days, he’d repeatedly assured Astrid and the others that he knew what he had to do, that he had the knowledge and training necessary to hunt and kill a dragon.

But the truth was… It was years since he’d been out to learn how to hunt dragons, another life. He’d only been a youth, accompanying the experienced hunters to learn just like his father had instructed and everyone had expected of him. But back then, he hadn’t been interested in the best techniques to track and find wild dragons. Instead, he’d only been excited about seeing and studying them, leading him to pay little attention to what the more experienced men had tried to teach him. Now, he could only hope that enough information had stuck with him nonetheless.

. o O o .

When Hiccup reached the swamps, what awaited him was just what he’d expected. A vast plain where grass-covered hummocks seamlessly merged into muddy lakes as far as the eye could see, with lonely trees or small corpses strewn in-between. Sadly, the weather still hadn’t changed, the air cold and close to freezing. So far, the forest had kept him mostly safe from the biting wind, but out here, he wouldn’t have that protection anymore. Even his travelling cloak could only do so much in shielding him.

Hiccup grimaced but tried to focus on any advantages the wind could give him. It would carry scents and sounds over far distances, but maybe it would also confuse his prey, making it hard for the beasts to locate him. If he managed to track one down in the first place…

With a tired grunt, he dismounted and took the horses’ reins to lead them behind him as he made his way deeper into the swamps. He needed them to carry his equipment, but carrying him over the muddy ground would needlessly tire them out. So he went on foot, regularly leaving the animals fixed to a branch or rock when he found one to search the area for any signs that a dragon might be close by.

But there were none.

When dusk came, Hiccup was starting to feel anxious. For hours, he’d been wandering through these swamplands now, but not once had he spotted even the hint of wings larger than those of a hawk on the horizon, let alone found any traces of a dragon being nearby. And he was exhausted . The wetness from the ground had soaked into his trousers, his boots, and up his cloak, making it even heavier. Dragging him down. The sky had cleared, but without the sun that only meant the temperature was dropping even lower, further wearing out his remaining strength. And in addition, the three days of travelling hadn’t done his leg any good to begin with. By now, every step was painful, his back hurting, and his limps felt like jelly. He stumbled and fell more often the farther he wandered through the swamps, and soon, his hands were muddy and cold. Numb.

And still, there were no signs of any dragons. Which meant that he was wasting his time here anyway.

With a tired sigh, Hiccup sank down onto a damp rock and buried his face in his hands. Gods, he was so exhausted. He didn’t want to waste any time by just sitting here, couldn’t really afford to do so. But he couldn’t go on like this, either. He needed to rest , something to eat and some hours of sleep. Which probably was the more sensible thing to do, anyway. Yes, he would break off for today and get some rest. And tomorrow, he would travel farther north along one of the marked paths. Maybe he would have more luck there.

“It’s the only sensible thing to do,” he muttered to himself, reluctantly resigning to this plan. “But first, I need to find a dry place to make camp. And preferably something warm to eat…” The clear sky promised a freezing night, warmth would be essential.

Gathering his remaining strength, Hiccup fought himself back up on his feet and kept going. He wandered further through the swamps, but now, he wasn’t looking for hints or trails of any dragons anymore. Instead, he was looking for prey to hunt. A deer would be nice, enough meat to keep him full through the coming days. But just a rabbit would do, too. He still had some dried rations in his pack, but he would only touch those if he had no other choice.

This time, his search didn’t take long. It was less than half an hour, the sun gone and the night illuminated by stars only, until he spotted movement in the high grass ahead of him. The rustling of the blades of grass was distinctly different from that of the wind, and it seemed as if his tiny lucky streak was still going; from the size of it, it had to be a deer and not a rabbit.

He stopped, grimacing as he found nothing to tie the horses to, but it couldn’t be helped. He wouldn't be gone for long anyway. As quietly as he could, he took one bag off the nearer horse to reach the bow and quiver strapped beneath. Then, with one arrow loosely nocked, he sneaked up the hummock behind which the deer had disappeared.

Slowly, without making the slightest noise, Hiccup made his way to the top and looked for the deer. He’d heard the rustling of grass from the dip on the other side just a moment ago, the animal had to be here somewhere. He looked around, squinting to see in the near-complete darkness of the night—but when he spotted the beast, he barely believed his eyes.

From one moment to the next, Hiccup froze in fear, eyes wide and unable to move. The animal that stood with its head bent down to drink from a shallow lake just a few feet away from him was not a deer.

It was a dragon. And not just any dragon, no. Hiccup had never seen one of these before, but he’d heard stories and had seen drawings in old books. Deep black and almost invisible in the night, Hiccup could only make out its sleek body and powerful wings by the starlight reflecting on its shiny scales. A long tail with spiky tail fins, some odd earlike protrusion on its head, it was—

A Night Fury!

The ultimate prize!

Hiccup’s heart began to race uncontrolled. This was why he was here! For whatever reason the Gods had led his way here, this was it. It had to be! The legendary beast from the old stories, so tightly linked to his name. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Now, all he had to do was incapacitate the monster with the bola shooter, and—

And the bola shooter was still at the bottom of one of his bags, back with the horses.

At the last moment, he remembered to suppress his groan; alerting the dragon to his presence could have fatal consequences. But that was the problem. There was no way he could go back and return with the shooter without the beast hearing him. It was a miracle that he’d managed to sneak up on this stealthy dragon, to begin with.

His mind was working at a rapid speed. Only seconds had passed since he spotted the dragon, but it was unlikely that he would get much more time. Any moment now, it would notice him, hear or scent him. He had to do something now.

His eyes dropped to the bow and nocked arrow in his hands. A horribly insufficiant weapon to fight against a dragon, but it was all he had.

Feverishly, he tried to remember his lessons.

A downed dragon is a dead dragon.

The wings! If he incapacitated the beast’s wings and it wasn’t able to fly, couldn’t flee and could only attack him from the ground—then he might have a chance. He carried a hunting knife strapped to his belt; not much but, it could work. It had to!

Hiccup forced himself to calm down his breathing and lifted the bow. Archery wasn’t his greatest skill, but the shot should be easy enough. He just had to tear a big-enough hole into one of the leathery wings, that was all. Manageable from this short distance. Right?

Adrenalin made his hands shake as he pulled and aimed. But he only had this one chance. So he took a deep breath and held it, forcing himself to calm down. For Astrid! he thought, and released the arrow.

And for a brief moment, Hiccup thought he’d made it.

The dragon screamed—in pain or surprise, Hiccup couldn’t tell—and whirled around. Hastily, Hiccup dropped the bow and pulled his knife instead, and in rapid speed, instructions he’d thought long forgotten popped up in his mind. He had to keep moving, had to circle the beast, somehow corner it and if possible make it use up his shots. Now that it wasn’t able to fly, he had to attack its other wing, its legs, weaken it, and—

The Night Fury roared in his direction, its large black wings stretched wide. And to Hiccup’s dismay, they were unharmed. He’d missed. Cold dread filled his stomach, but he had no time to think about his failure. For the beast had spotted him. For an endless heartbeat, its cold eyes all but pierced him. Then it jumped into the air, wings covering the entire sky, and screamed. Purple light gleamed in its throat, growing brighter and brighter and—

Hiccup reacted without thinking. At the last moment, he threw himself to the side and out of the way of the dragon’s fiery breath, and the blast of purple light missed him by inches. However, instead of landing in the grass as he’d anticipated, the world was suddenly spinning around Hiccup, leaving him without orientation. Up became down, the ground turned into thin air, and as Hiccup tumbled down the hillside, he could hear the beast screech angrily.

The landing was hard, jarring. Icy darkness closed around him, the momentary numbness only pierced by a sudden sharp pain in his left leg. He screamed as something cut deep into his flesh and doubled over to reach for his leg, but jerked back a moment later, spluttering and gasping.

For an endless heartbeat, there was only chaos; the pain and cold made Hiccup blind to what happened around him. There was another scream from the dragon, whinnying from the horses, and a noise that sounded like a sudden gust of wind—and then, only silence.

With a low groan, Hiccup tried to sit up. It took him a few tries; the ground was muddy and slippery. He’d landed in a shallow pool, and the water was icy. It stung like countless needles and made his fingers go numb. His clothes, already uncomfortably damp before, now clung to his skin. They dragged him down, and crawling up the embankment was more difficult than it should be.

Between the pain and the freezing water, Hiccup had forgotten everything else around him. But once he was back on—relatively—dry land, he remembered that he wasn’t alone. Where was the dragon? Was it watching him, waiting in some shadow and ready to attack again? He looked around frantically, eyes darting here and there, with fear blocking his throat and making it hard to breathe. He was defenceless, wouldn’t be able to dodge another attack in his current state.

But no attack came. The surrounding shadows were empty, the dim starlight enough to see at least that much.

Slumping in on himself, Hiccup let out an exhausted sigh. The threat seemed to be over, for the moment at least. And if the dragon was still around… well, then there was little he could do to defend himself anyway. A quick search showed him that he must have lost his knife during his fall, and as poor of a choice of weapon it had been, without it, he felt even worse.

Accepting that he wasn’t in immediate danger, he took a minute to catch his breath, then shifted to inspect his leg. The sharp pain made him grimace. Adrenalin and the cold water had numbed the pain after the initial burst, but now it became nearly unbearable—and horribly familiar.

Hissing in pain, he peeled back the torn fabric and tried to inspect the wound as best he could without light. His fingers were shaking and he had to grit his teeth, but after a minute of prodding and probing, he had a relatively good idea of the state his leg was in. The wound was a clean and straight cut, matching the edges of the fabric. It wasn’t so deep that it was directly threatening, but he would need to treat it and pray that the wound didn’t get infected.

“Oh, wonderful, ” he cursed under his breath, as it dawned on him what must have cut him. “Just perfect! I manage to dodge the dragon’s attack, only to fall into my own weapon. Typical! I’m… I’m such an idiot!”

With a hopeless groan, he let his head fall against the knee of his good leg, feeling a horrible sense of déjà vu.

The night and the cold wind. The failed fight against a dragon. His injured leg.

It was all happening again.

But no! No, he wouldn’t mess everything up, not again. There was still time, he could still find and kill a dragon. He hadn’t failed, not until he gave up.

Gritting his teeth, Hiccup fought himself up to wobbly stand on his good leg. This new injury had hit his already weaker leg, which was good. Maybe his sort-of-lucky streak wasn’t over just yet, despite the mess he was in. He just had to focus on the positive things...

But the wound needed tending, and he was in dire need of some dryer clothes, too. Looking around, Hiccup found that his weird luck really hadn’t run out yet. Only a few steps away, he spotted a long branch. Crooked and not as strong as he would have preferred, it was still sufficient enough as an improvised crutch. It didn’t make walking easy, but at least it became a little more bearable.

Slowly, he made his way around the hummock to where he’d left the horses. In one of the saddlebags, he had clean cloth for bandages and a small flask of willow bark tincture. It probably wasn’t enough for a wound as big as this one, but it would have to be enough for now. However, even with his crude crutch, the way was difficult, especially on this uneven ground. Hiccup hobbled more than he was walking, putting as little weight on the injured leg as was possible. Time seemed to stretch endlessly as he went on and on, forcing himself to endure the pain.

Just a little longer...

Just until he’d reached the horses, then he could rest…

The way around the hummock seemed to take longer than was logically possible, but Hiccup passed that off as fatigue and the slight daze he was in with the pain and after the shock of the dragon attack. He felt like the beast had still to be around somewhere, and it took him way too long to realise his mistake.

The horses were gone.

He’d possibly rounded the hummock for the second time when he spotted a leather bag lying on the ground a small distance away from him. Hobbling closer, he recognised it as his own and after throwing a glance around was sure that this was the place he’d left the horses before he’d approached the Night Fury. Except that the horses were nowhere to be seen.

“ Of course, they aren’t here anymore!” he groaned, slumping down to the ground next to the lonely bag. “The dragon probably scared them and they ran away. And I run around like an idiot, looking for...” He trailed off, laughing at himself and shaking his head. “I’m such an idiot…”

Hiccup leaned against a rock and gave himself a few moments to regain his strength. He needed a rest… Just a moment to breathe, to gather his thoughts.

First, he had to find the horses. Maybe there was another silver lining waiting for him and they’d only run a little further away from the fight. Maybe, he could recapture them easily.

With more effort than he liked, he climbed back on top of the hummock, looking around, searching. By now, the moon had come out, a full moon, bathing the landscape around him in cool silvery light. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t spot the horses anywhere. Instead, he spotted a patch of burned grass nearby, right next to where he’d left the lonely bag. He let out another groan. If the dragon’s attack had hit this close to the horses, it was no wonder they’d fallen into a panic and run. They were probably still running at this very moment, and were irrecoverably lost to him by now. Walking around looking for them wasn’t just nearly impossible in his current state, it was entirely useless, too.

“Shit…”

The curse came as merely a weak groan. Without these horses, it would be difficult to get fresh ones at a way station. And without horses in general, it would be tricky to make it back to Eret in time for the Dragon Hunt. If he was lucky, the messenger’s badge and a good story of how he’d lost the horses would be enough but—

Then the full range of this development hit him. The horses hadn’t just been meant to carry him back.

“SHIT!”

This time, he yelled. With the horses gone, he had no equipment anymore either. No bandages or medication for his leg. No dried food for emergencies. No oiled blankets against the weather. In those bags had been everything, clothes, equipment—his weapons!

Burying his face in his hands and pulling at his hair, he let out an inarticulate scream. Astrid had been right, after all. He should have listened to her. This whole idea had been madness right from the beginning. He never should have left her side. No matter how bad the odds, holding her hand when they tried to convince Daniel to support them… that would have been leagues better than dying out here, alone. Never to see her again…

“No…” He looked up, a small flicker of determination blooming in his chest amidst the ocean of despair inside him. “No, I won’t give up! I… I promised that everything would be all right…”

Behind his mind’s eye, an image of Astrid appeared. He’d barely ever seen her truly angry, but he could imagine so well how she would look, with her fists in her sides, leaning forward a little and giving him a well-deserved scolding. He could almost hear her, telling him that she’d told him so, that he was an idiot for going through with this stupid plan, and that he should have listened to her. Oh, what would he give to hear her voice for real now… Even if she were to yell at him, he wouldn’t mind.

With a weak smile on his lips, he raised his hand to press it to his chest. There it was, the pulsing of their bond, warm and reassuring. Urging him on. He wasn’t defeated, not yet.

Looking around the top of the hummock, he spotted his bow where he’d dropped it before. That was something, at least. Taking it, he made his way back to the one bag of equipment he had left. Every movement hurt, but that didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that he wouldn’t let himself drown in self-pity now. He had to do the best of his situation, no matter how bad it may seem.

Just like with the injury being on his already weakened leg, he found that he was lucky in that of all the bags he’d originally brought with him, this one was the one he still had now. It contained little that was of use to him right now. A woollen blanket and a spare tunic occupied most of the space within—both things he would appreciate once he’d found a dry place to rest—but so much more importantly was what he’d stored at the very bottom of this bag. Hidden beneath the layers of cloth should anyone have taken a look, he’d stored part of his weapons. A few additional arrows for the bow, a spare dagger…

And the bola shooter.

Apparently, the Gods were still on his side. He still had a chance. The thought was reassuring, enough to keep the rising hopelessness at bay. He hadn’t lost, yet.

Studiously, he pushed all other problems aside and only focused on the next step. First, it was the spare shirt he needed. Putting it on beneath his other dripping clothes would be pointless, but at least it was clean. Using the dagger from the bag, since he’d lost the other one somewhere in that muddy puddle, Hiccup cut the shirt apart and used the cloth to put an improvised bandage around his leg. Not perfect, but it was better than nothing. At least it helped staunch the bleeding for the moment.

“All right,” he muttered to himself as he lifted the by now damp bag off the ground and onto his back. “On to looking for a place to rest. Maybe I’m even lucky and I find something to eat after all.”

. o O o .

Eventually, Hiccup’s lucky streak ran out. It had to happen sooner or later, but he still cursed that it had to happen now.

What he needed more than anything else was a fire to warm his body and to dry his clothes, a place that wasn’t too damp and wood and flint and stuff to light it. Food or treatment for his leg would be a welcome bonus, but those could wait until tomorrow. First, he had to make it until then. And that proved to be more difficult than he’d anticipated.

After last night’s rain, finding dry wood or a dry spot to rest was all but impossible. With the injury on his leg, he only made slow progress, the pain getting worse with every step. More than once, he cursed having lost the horses, not just because of his lost equipment but because them carrying him now would have been an invaluable help. But it was more than just that. The exhaustion of the long days of travel eventually caught up with him, and the blood-loss combined with his wet clothes draining his strength did the rest to leave his mind clouded and fuzzy.

Two times, he noticed the movement ahead of him too late, a rabbit disappearing before he even had the chance to ready his bow. But even as his stomach grumbled, he found it more and more difficult to care.

His crutch hadn’t lasted long, had broken and left a long gash on his forearm in the process. Since then, he kept stumbling and falling, jarring his wound even further. And every time he fell, it became harder to get up again. He was beyond exhaustion by now. The cold wind was tearing at his clothes and slowly draining him of any energy that was left, cutting into his hands and face, and oftentimes made it hard to keep his eyes open at all. Every step was agony, his arms and legs were growing weaker with every minute, and fighting himself back up on his feet seemed more and more futile.

What even was the point? What was he trying to achieve by stumbling through this hostile landscape? Killing a dragon? Earning himself the right to be at Astrid’s side? Regaining his honour, proving to himself that he was not a failure? How was he supposed to do any of that here?

Maybe it was impossible, especially the last point.

Maybe, he was nothing but a failure, after all…

The next time his tired feet got caught and he landed face-first in the dirt, he couldn’t find the strength to stand up anymore. Maybe he should just stay here, sleep for a few hours. His skin was so numb that he wasn’t even feeling the cold anymore. And he was so tired...

Somewhere in the depth of his mind, he knew that these were not good signs. It meant hypothermia, meant that he most likely wouldn’t wake up again if he fell asleep, if he didn’t get up right now. But he was just too exhausted to move, every part of him. His body, his arms and legs, his head, and most of all his mind. Everything was so heavy and slow, so exhausting. Maybe, he should just stay here. Maybe he should give up…

It was then, in that moment of resignation, when he sensed it. A whiff of mayweed reached his nose, seemingly out of nowhere, and with it came the memories. An impression of golden hair. Eyes as endless as the sky. The ghostly touch of fingers, so soft yet also strong. And a voice sweeter than the sweetest music.

You promised . You promised that you ’ d come back to me. Please, Hiccup. I… I can ’ t imagine a world without you in it.

Groaning, Hiccup rolled onto his back.

“I… promised…”

Moving was difficult. His arms and legs were so numb he barely felt them anymore. But he had to get up. He’d promised Astrid that he’d come back to her, and it was a promise he was going to keep, no matter what. Grimacing and with a shaking hand, he reached for his left leg and pressed his thumb into the wound.

“F-fuck!”

Hiccup screamed. The pain was intense, burning hot along his nerves and bringing tears to his eyes. But it also ripped away the haze around his thoughts and brought him the clarity he needed.

He couldn’t stay here, couldn’t give up and die. He had to go on, to live. For her. Sitting up, he found himself halfway up a low hummock, the ground here slightly dryer. Tentative hope bloomed in his chest, but this wasn’t good enough. Maybe if he found another hummock with some trees, some ripped-off branches and something to shield him from the wind and further rain…

Clinging to that hope, he crawled toward the hummock’s top. By now, the moonlight was flooding the land around him, so maybe the raised position would help him find what he was looking for; any form of shelter against the weather would do.

What he saw, however, made him doubt his sanity again. There, less than half a mile away, was the glow and smoke of a fire.

Hiccup stared in wonder and disbelief. With his eyes clinging to the flickering light, he even thought that he could feel the fire’s warmth on his skin, smelled the scent of food.

He made an unconscious step toward the promising campfire but then paused again. If he truly went there… what would await him? If he was lucky— very lucky一then it was just a group of travellers, hopefully friendly enough to share what they had with a stranger in the night. But he wasn’t fooling himself. Who would wilfully travel through the swamps, and this far off the paths no less? No, far more likely was that somehow other participants of the Dragon Hunt had found their way here as well. And if that was the case…

Biting his lip, Hiccup pondered his options. Going to this camp might very well end in him getting killed on the spot. No matter whether those were the same people who’d killed Snotlout’s squire or whether they were regular participants and trying to win County Ravenledge; if they saw him as a rival then they wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of him. After all, out here, nobody would ever find out what really happened. But if he didn’t go to this camp…

Hiccup’s shoulders slumped in resignation. If he didn’t go to that camp, then he was as good as dead. There was no point in deluding himself; without the warmth of a fire, shelter and care for his wound, and maybe even some food, he wouldn’t survive the night.

“I promised,” he murmured into the breeze, his decision made. “I promised I’d come back to you. And I will, Astrid. Nothing will come between us. Not even death.”

So he made his way toward the campfire in the distance. He was still just as tired and cold and in pain as before, but the hope that maybe he would survive the night after all gave him the strength he needed. The hope that he might see Astrid again.

However, when he reached the edge of the light, he paused, confused. As far as he could tell, the camp was empty. There was the fire, burning brightly, a shelter made of oilcloth, and to the side stood two horses tied to a tree. There was even something roasting over the fire, two rabbits if he wasn’t mistaken. But whoever had hunted them or had built this camp, they were nowhere to be seen.

Maybe it was a trap. But at that moment, Hiccup didn’t care anymore. All he cared about was the heat of the fire beckoning him over, the scent of meat that made his stomach churn.

Slowly, he came closer, eyeing the shadows for any hidden movement even as he had no idea how he was supposed to react to an attack. Stumble against them and hope they would hit their head on a rock when they fell? Yeah, that would totally work...

With a heavy sigh, he slumped down by the fire. Warmth soaked into the skin of his face and hands, and with his weight off his leg, it already felt so much better than just moments before. He eyed the roasted rabbits but left them untouched. He was no thief, after all, still hoped the people here might help him. Instead, he just curled into a ball and sat as close to the fire as was possible without burning himself, and stared into the dancing flames.

Time passed—minutes or hours, he didn’t know anymore—until the sound of footsteps made his head whirl around. With wide eyes, he gazed at the figure emerging from the shadows, his heart pounding. He recognised them immediately, their armour, and knew exactly who was standing in front of him.

At that moment, he knew that he was dead.

. o O o .

AN: Soooooo... I'm incredibly curious about the reactions to this chapter! Finally, we met a dragon, if only briefly. But Hiccup is in a bad shape, not good for hunting down a dragon. And who was it he met there at the end? So many questions...

I'm already working on the next update, but as always, no promises for when it might be done...

Next Chapter

* - . - * - . o O o . - * - . - *

If you want to leave a tip you can buy me a coffee. I love coffee 😊

(Ko-Fi)

Apr 2021 Wins

Started typing this on 4th apr lmaooo

1 - went to mcd. bought chicken + rice with the app promo. there’s a staff helping me on the order machine lol i feel badd there’s no need to do thatt. ate my lunchmade by mom at mcd’s muschola and went to sbux bcs its tumbler day. green tea latte w skim milk as usual. sent dr triya’s translation. ecmocard. started rereading goong (AGAIN. i probably have read it like 3 times minimum). still bring some feels

2 - its holiday today. spent almost the whole daylight rereading goong (turns out its pronounce ‘gung’ not ‘gong’ lol ive been wrong all this time) and finished it. the scene where they stare at each other, separated by the castle door, always gets me. got the old ipad charged (the screen are like 30% close to detaching and falling apart) and started AOT

3 - spent the whole day reading AOT. i like it when i have mini purposes in life (eg: finishing a manga series). AOT rly talks a lot about what do you want to do in life, the consequences of your choices and how you have to live with it. i felt triggered in a good way. the characters dont rly judge other’s choices, but they question them. discuss about it. give you some moral push. second gladi today. my vbg was still filpped hhhh. read aot until i felt sleepy and fell asleep. woke up very near subuh and prayed isya. my toxic trait is the horrible self care (and im talking bare minimum lol hehe lmao)

4 - finished aot. Asked irun about some aot explanations and she sent 5 paragraphs in one bubble. Slept. Flavola, kopsus coklat and somay. Also ate japota honey butter. Did 1 long input of ecmocard. Followed baepsae choreo. Moved my body a bit. Wow im not immediately sleeping. Amazing

5 - arrived at harkit 11-ish and went back about 1pm loll. super hungry when im arriving in kalideres. bought tahu colek worth 3000 (i wonder how the seller hears me through my 2 layers of mask), roti sisir and some ice cream in alfamidi. my fitlife protein powder ran out again. its my 2nd already. did some ecmocard, wasted my time after maghrib

6 - woke up late. did not have the mental strength to go to harkit so i decided to just stay home. bought sbux 1L green tea and macchiato. wasted the daylight and finally did some ecmocard in the evening,,,,

7 - off to harkit 7.30-ish pm in the rain. Took some data for ecmocard. Went to salemba to get tabung and surat bebas pustaka. Had breakfast slash lunch first, tried guudfuud (red rice, beef and omega egg). I like that the rice was not too much. Met up w ness ren and talked about isip dilemmas at sky. Afterwards went to flavola. Ordered mie rebus and roasted milk tea cause i somehow feel sooo hungry and in need of calories. It tasted so good, i was sitting in my usual seat facing the window, and the sky was a mixture of blue and grey. Brought croissant and sakura pocky at indomart. Ate the bread immediately after indomie. Went back home. Juan brought tahu gejrot that was delicious and crunchy. Internship files briefing by akis. Fell asleep

8 - woke up. Saw that dr retha was up for interview. Panicked. Thankfully it was at 12. I left home at 9:40 ish and arrived 11:50. Its a long ass way. Turns out i was interviewed with ka agassi. The doctors are so kind. They explained the gist of anesthesiology profession, and how its a choice you make, and its okay as long as you like what you do. Tried halo bowl for lunch. Sous vide chicken, rice, caesar sauce, beef bacon, and the deliciouss butter broccoli. Went back to kalideres and to starbucks. I only spent <2 hrs in there (a waste of money, i know). Bought decaf hazelnut latte (apparently the beans were kenyan something? Medium?) and butter croissant (need to cushion my stomach). Did GCP certification and sent it to the ever so kind mba Ai. Still got energy from the caffeine, did some ecmocard, read quran, read.... Toji fanfic 🤦‍♀️

9 - went to rsf w mom. We took the wrong way and had to take the long way but thank god theres still time to spare. Met dr rara. Some briefing. Went to rscm w agassi, submitted files for ijazah, went back to RSF. Girlll the cost of transport. MRT: 12K. Grab: 16-17k. Thats one way trip. Bought food at rsf canteen. Eocru briefing by the research coordinator. Ward tour w dr retha. Snacked on ovaltine provided by mba ai. Went home after maghrib by tj. Liqo along the way. Glad bersih (came late). Drank macchiato for some strength but still fell asleep quickly.i shouldnt have laid down

10 - kebakaran jenggot in the morning due to green screen positioning. Finally got the appropriate setup (after many fabric tries and cutting my mukena) at 08:30. Finished showering 08:45. Zoom was opened at 9 lmao. Somehow finished before 09:30. Zoompah w mom and dad along side me. After its ovee, some "photoshoot" w fam. At this point i was truly rly sleepy. Took of my makeup. Changed my clothes. And then racil silv dev showed up lol. I got gifts c: and then atikah came. And then i redid my makeup, this time with the help of friends to create fantastic eye make up look (which i can never pull off). Eyebrows by sil, eyeshadow and liner by cheldev lol. Took some photos. Dajen came. Talked. Videocalled w pupuy. A surprise gift from fianti came. And then chel dajen went back at 8. Still cant sleep. Slept at like 11-12

11 - lazed. Woke up, ate pizza (mom bought 2 of phd's 1m pizza) and bakwan, slept again. Matcha latte and ecmocard. Watched a bit of 2nd sinau

12 - off to rsf at 06:20. Arrived 07:15 ish. Lunch was ayam penyet accompanied by snacks that mba ai bought. Off to harkit at 14:05 (bcs my laptop somehow shut down and i lost all the unsubmitted data). And then off to kalideres at 15:30 ish to meet up w clara and search for clothes for almira's wedding. Went to lippo bcs clar saw this dress that kinda looks like the brokat given. We ate at ramen ya. It doesnt rly make you feel full, the filliny sensation was kinda like indomie. Saw that the dress looked different. Ate 1 boba pancake together at banban. Continued on to the tailor in kebon jeruk. The location was in an alley, and it was raining lol. Quoting clara: "the unnecessary struggles". The tailor was quite helpful (and she looks experienced). Arrived at clara's at 8 ish. Picked up by mom with car (it was raining) and arrived at abt 9. Hurriedly showered and tarawih and tidied up AND ITS ONLY 09:45. Its crazy how efficient one use time (and at the same time, how wasteful one can be)

13 - first day of fasting. The morning was spent taking samples. I stupidly took a sample thats not yet labeled im sorry :(((( i felt kinda tired and wanted to give up this. Give up anesthesia. Went back home at 14:00 and its cloudy. The bus was the nicer types and it was COLD. Read quran along the way. Picked up by juan. Opened laptop. And then its iftar time. I was sooo sleey and the tarawih was so long thst i closed my eyes along the way. Fianti called after tarawih, we talked til abt 21:30. And then i fell asleep

14 - went to rscm. Submitted serkom files. Met dr dyah and i hope we could somehow meet her again if we study in fkui again aamiin. Went to rsf by mrt. Arrived in lebak bulus just before it was raining. The bus took a while to arrive (usually theyre there, waiting). Its still raining like crazy so i took grabcar to AR from pesakih (39k). Played with my phone til iftar. Played phone again after tarawih and fell asleep

15 - i felt rlyy lazy and cant bring myself to wake up. Off to rsf at 07:15. There were coordinator ppl. Took sample. It was raining when i went back but i took grabbike from kalideres. Wasted my time and did not do ecmocard

16 - sampling. Snacked on keripik pisang at the room. Went back early at 13:15 ish. Picked up by juan. Sleeeept (and this is before the nightmareish mistake began)

17 - i did a mistake by telling dr retha (who took the sample today) the wrong patient (it switched in my unreliable memory. I feel terrible. Thank god shes quite chill abt it (?). Read jujutsu kaiseeen. Went to flavola. Did 1 ecmocard. Went to bandar jakarta baywalk by motorbike. Spent 135k and was quite full with many varieties. Arrived home at about 20:50. Turns out juan also had bukber with his friends. Phone call with fiiii, talked abt dimrob

18 - lazed all day, read jjk, finished my part of ecmocard (gave genky to ekal cause i was a dumbass at getting data). Ate mom's mentai rice, siomay. Drank green tea latte. Read jjk til 145 (mentok) at night. Proceeds to consume all things jjk lmaoo

19 - we took sooo long to get samples. Finished at 13:00. Went to rm with dr rara. Went back home. Watched the third sinau. Read the IMMACULATE jjk fics by celestialmechanics im IN LOVEEEE with the way s/he writes ughhhh

20 - samples took faster than usual. Mba ai did not came today. Went to RM and did some work there. Off to AR by 15:00. Arrived close to maghrib. Did not do any work afterwards lmao. Did not even wash my face

21 - magang as usual. Note to self: sit on the right side of the bus. Did nothing yesterday. Felt like shit after tarawih (but i showered before maghrib!!)

22 - todays problem was the swab sample not being there even though the staff allegedly already took it. Huft. Took a shower and out on vitacid (i cant remember the kast time i put on vitacid 😳 its probably been... a week or two?

23 - samples finished quite quickly. Already going home at 12. Lazedddd and lazed and lazed. Waited for emir to pick me up so i went to dm. Read an immaculate itadori x megumi fix thats just full of feels. Started demon slayer lets see

24 - literally just laid in bed reading manga and seeing tiktok and slept again and suddenly its 1 am. Showered. Still in a lazy mode. Havent begun clires work. Watched leah's vlog that said "go do things youve been putting off!". Finally finished the third and last video of Sinau Yuk ICU class with dr. Zeta, SpAn lolll even though the actual last class was on 7th apr. iftar was fish and chips and salad yuum

25 - woke up at like 1am since i slept too much yesterday. Ate tan ek tjoan bread and drank sbux matcha latte. Did some intern work. Read a bit of quran. Sahur. Cant even sleep again so i showered. Off with mom and dad (09:30) since dad’s going to get vaccinated at skk migas. Mom drove me to ara’s place (11:00). Talked a bit and even read quran again there. Off to GI (13:00) to meet up w regen. Walked around. Bought a discounted TBS green tea facial wash. Went back home by TJ (16:00). the bus station is a bit closer now. Arrived home close to maghrib (17:30). hurriedly showered and went to sleep (properly) after tarawih. A good good sleep since i got 9400 steps today and that tired me out lmaooo (bare minimum yall, i know). 

26 - woke up still sleepy. Slept again after iftar and woke up at 07:30. Skipped shower and off to RSF lmao. Went to medical record. Walked to the front of RSF originally planning to go to lebak bulus by angkot but i saw none. So i went through mrt instead. Stopped by at kebon jeruk and walked 800 meter (that tireeed me and made me feel parched under the sun) to risma busana for clothes fitting. Took gojek to jembatan gantung (turns out the closer halte to flyover was taman kota). Iftar was chicken noodle and risol and banana and i felt fullll and i slept

27 - today is off day since im alternating with agassi. read quran. watched shadow and bone (with 1,5x speed except for kanej and matthias nina scenes). didnt rly do any magang work except the table asked by dr retha. i feel like usually im operating on 70%. sleeping more doesnt rly add that. i need caffeine or physical activity. before i know it, its close to iftar.

28 - i ((felt)) like i had a decent amount of energy today. shouldve done some work between sahur and leaving the house but i ended up reading vampire knight lmaoooo the scenes had no business bringing so much butterflies. sampling together w agassi. mba ai didnt come in today. after agassi left did some magang work. i also went to RM to ask for more RM to bu dian. took angkot to lebak bulus for the first time. paid 5k. i had no idea which angkot went to lebak bulus and the driver (somehow knowing the right words to say) said “lebak bulus lebak bulus”. didnt read much quran on the way back. i just close my eyes and relaxed. felt kinda low on sugar. watched more shadow and bone on the way back and at home until close to iftar. didnt do anything after tarawih. slept hoping i woke up early (which i did, at 3am. but i slept again)

29 - im supposed to have ample energy but i just stuck around my bed until its time to get ready to go. read some kanej fic lol. I dont rly do anything productive after arriving home

30 - made intern log, magang as usual. Did not go to rm. Finished watching shadow and bone. Rested bcs tomorrow's saturdayyy

Phantom Limbs - pt. 1

From “And a Week is All I Need (To Fall in Love With You)“, part of @souyoweek2020​

Genre: supernatural, ghosts and hauntings, bittersweet pre-romance, M/M Rated: T Characters: Hanamura Yosuke, Souji Seta (Yu Narukami), memories of Nanako Warnings: implied/referenced past suicide in pt. 2 Status: drabble collection, incomplete

<- previous chapter | next chapter -> 

(prompts for days 3 and 4 have been done in reverse order; day 3 prompt in next chapter)

Day 3 4: Rainy or Sound

To say that Yosuke Hanamura is surprised to learn his new apartment is haunted, is a bit of an understatement. To say he freaks the hell out at the sight of a transparent, monochromatic stranger standing in his living room and staring out the window, even more so.

To say that Yosuke Hanamura is surprised to learn his new apartment is haunted, is a bit of an understatement. To say he freaks the hell out at the sight of a transparent, monochromatic stranger standing in his living room and staring out the window, even more so.

The first time he spots the phantom is just under a month after he's moved in, still riding the high of having his very own place back in the city he's been missing since high school.

He is woken by the sound of the rain.

It takes him a few seconds to realize he's awake as he blinks up at the ceiling in the dark; it takes him a few seconds more to realize that what he's hearing is the rush of wind and the patter of water hitting his tiny bedroom window. He smiles. It's comforting, in a way – he'd eventually grown to enjoy living in Inaba, yes, and even made a few friends, so despite how he'd always be a city boy at heart, the gentle storm outside made him think of lazy summer afternoons spent hanging out with his little brother and their friends. Rain, at least in Inaba, had always been his favorite weather.

The glowing red numbers on his alarm clock read 3:22 am. Perfect, he thinks to himself. Three in the morning is when all the rest of the world is supposed to be asleep, when everything is calmer, with the lights no longer beautifully glaring but a pretty, ethereal contrast against the darkness of the night sky. It's his favorite time of night, even if he isn't awake very often to experience it.

Right now, it's his first time being awake at 3am in the new apartment – plus it's raining! - so Yosuke excitedly rolls himself out of bed and goes to peek out his itty-bitty window. There not much he can see, what with the window facing an alleyway, but there is a sliding glass door in the living room that leads out to the world's thinnest balcony. Perfect for sitting on the off-white carpet with a mug of tea and watching the storm roll by.

So off he goes, eager to spend the first rainy night gazing out the window until exhaustion knocks him back out. There's nothing he needs to be up early for tomorrow; he doesn't have any classes just yet, won't until the start of next month, and hasn't gone out to look for a job just yet since he won't know his schedule once college starts. He grins to himself as he steps out into the open square that makes up the part of his apartment that isn't his bedroom or the bathroom, and pads across the carpet over into the little galley kitchen. Leaning against the counter as the kettle heats up, he folds his arms across his chest and looks over at the sliding glass door to look at the rain while he waits.

But... something is... off. He stares out at the hypnotic night beyond the glass, brows furrowing, and tries to put his finger on exactly what it is that's bothering him about the room. It connects a long moment later: he can see out the door.

Normally this wouldn't an issue – he's standing in his kitchen at three in the morning to look out the glass door, to drink his tea and watch the raindrops and count the distant car horns. The thing is, he distinctly remembers closing the curtain before he went to bed so that nobody could see into his seemingly-empty apartment. He also does not remember opening it back up again.

And yet there it is, pulled wide to expose the drizzle and the misty cityscape outside.

Something else is bothering him though; the only lights currently on in the entire place are two little wall-socket nightlights, one in the bathroom and one in the wall directly behind him in the kitchen. There's not much light, but there's enough. And in the gloom of the living room, just barely visible against the backdrop of far-off city lights, is an outline.

It's faint, barely even noticeable, (in fact, Yosuke's pretty sure he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been studying his sliding door so intently) and it looks more like dissolving traces of smoke or vapor than it does any kind of discernible object. Except... no, that's not quite right either. Yosuke squints at the shape, traces it with his eyes, and feels his stomach drop into nothing when he realizes that it's in the shape of a person. His breath catches in his throat and he instinctively croaks out a shaky, “hello?”

The thing doesn't move.

Yosuke releases his stalled breath and slumps back against the counter a little. The thing still isn't gone, and Yosuke is far from relaxed, but he thinks maybe he would have flipped out even more had it acknowledge him.

He's working up the nerve to inch closer and see if he can figure out if it's just a reflection or not when, out of nowhere, a huge crack of lightning shatters the darkness of the night and illuminates the sky like a flashbulb. For an instant, just barely the span of time it would take to blink, Yosuke sees it.

There is a man standing in his living room.

Yosuke jumps back in fright and bumps into the dish drainer by the sink, sending a wayward set of chopsticks clattering to the floor. He fumbles behind him for the switch he knows is somewhere along the wall, next to the plug that holds the nightlight, all the while keeping his eyes trained on the outline of the person still motionless by the door. Blindly he manages to locate the switch and flip it on, the lamp above the sink clicking on in a sharp burst of florescent yellow and rendering him blind for a few awful moments. When he finally blinks the spots from his vision and looks back to where the man had been, there's nothing there. The man – hazy outline and all – is gone.

Yosuke does indeed stay awake all night with his mug of tea, curled up on the couch instead of the floor after searching every inch of his tiny apartment for even a trace of his late-night visitor, and coming up entirely empty handed.

  ---

  It rains again the next night.

All throughout the day the sky had been teasing another storm, cloudy and gloomy-grey, and sometime just after 10pm is when it finally hits. There's no lightning at first, only the faintest echos of distant thunder, like a sigh on the wind. By this time, Yosuke has convinced himself he was simply dreaming the night before – he'd just woken up, the room was dark, it was 3am, nothing was amiss when he'd searched the apartment. Still, as he's coming out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth, on the way to bed, he stops. He lingers by the door to his bedroom for a few minutes and stares into the lightless living room at the siding glass door. The curtain is closed, he'd made sure of it, and hard as he looks, he finds not a trace of that pale, wispy outline. Another echo of thunder sounds from somewhere far away, and Yosuke, satisfied, turns his back on the curtain and heads inside for bed.

He is woken by his bladder screaming at him at 3:49. Groaning in both annoyance and the painful cramping of his lower regions, Yosuke rolls himself out of bed and off to the bathroom in a sleepy, stumbling haze. He's still out of it by the time he finishes and wanders blearily into the hall, so he almost makes it all the way back to bed before he notices the curtain.

It's open again.

Suddenly much more awake, Yosuke pivots back around on one foot until he's pointed himself directly at the sliding glass door. Sure enough, the curtain has been shoved all the way over on it's pole, the glow of the colored city lights now clearly visible beyond. And, just like before, standing in the barely-there glow of the nightlight and the cityscape, is the transparent outline of a man.

Yosuke feels like he's been punched right in the chest with how swiftly the air is pushed from his lungs. He stands there stupidly, hands flexing at his sides as nervous tension grips his limbs. If he wanted to, if he really wanted to, Yosuke knows he could probably chalk it up to another night of hallucinations from his groggy 3am mind; but he can't. This is twice now, and as much as Yosuke had managed to tell himself yesterday was simply a dream, he knows that he was awake enough to tell real from unreal – and maybe it could have been the case tonight, but adrenaline has snapped him fully awake and he's still. Seeing it!

Cautiously, before he's even fully cognizant of his own actions, Yosuke slowly begins to step closer to the ghostly figure, eyes never leaving its back. Just as it had the previous night, the shape doesn't move or react in any way, only stands there staring out the door at the rain; it's almost as if it has no idea that Yosuke is even there at all. Probably for the best, Yosuke thinks as he approaches. The last few steps are the hardest, because the closer he gets to the figure the more detailed it becomes. Even in the low light Yosuke can make out the shape of hair, the line of strong shoulders clad in what looks to be a blazer, the long fingers on the apparition's hands that hang limply at its sides. If it weren't see-through, it might have passed for a living, breathing person.

He stops a foot or so away from the figure, close enough that he can see his own reflection in the glass of the door – and the very vacant spot before him where the figure's reflection isn't. It's just Yosuke's own face staring back at him, even though Yosuke himself is staring at the back of someone else's head a scant twelve inches away. Maybe I really am hallucinating. He frowns.

...I won't know until I check.

With his heart beating in his throat, Yosuke slowly lifts his hand, fingers trembling, and reaches out towards the figure's shoulder. His reflection mimics his movements, and if the transparent stranger hasn't seen him get this close before now then he clearly isn't going to – if he even can at all. There isn't even so much as a twitch from the apparition as Yosuke hovers his hand directly above its shoulder, holding it there without touching the ghostly outline for a solid thirty seconds. Nothing happens. He lowers his hand, touches the tip of a finger to the the specter's blazer, feels the air turn cold and ever-so-lightly damp, like a patch of fog on a warm autumn evening. And still nothing happens.

There is a part of him that is slightly disappointed; after all the anxiety this thing has given him the past two nights, he was expecting something a bit more from this, something not quite so anticlimactic. He isn't even sure what he would have wanted to happen instead of this, but with a whole load of absolutely nothing, he really doesn't know what to do now. Yosuke exhales shakily through his nose and lets his hand drop from its hover, fingers sinking straight down through the figure's misty outline.

...and suddenly he is falling.

  A whirl of sound and color, the green of trees and the bright electric hum of street lights on a foggy evening, and a little girl in a pink dress and cute brown pigtails holding his hand and pulling him along through lazily falling raindrops; a child-sized umbrella and a giggle like home-home-home---

Why dID yOu MaKE me lEAve I WaNtEd tO StAY I WANT TO GO HOME

The apartment; cold and sterile-white and lonely and empty and so, so quiet, the only sound is the rain the rain the rain Nanako loves the rain but there's no one here and everything is so empty – I doN'T waNt To bE aLoNe aNYMore PleAse DOn't MakE me Be ALONE

  Y O U P R O M I S E D M E

  Yosuke reels back like he's been electrocuted, his entire arm tingling and cold as though he's dunked it in ice water. He lands on his back on the carpet, hard enough to knock the wind out of him for a second, leaving him gasping for air as the memories and thoughts and feelings that are very much not his go flashing through his head at breakneck speed. His lungs burn as he fights to get them back under control, and to either prop himself up on his elbows and reorient, or to roll over onto his knees and vomit as the vertigo takes over entirely. He manages to get his weight onto his wrists and pushes himself backwards along the carpet, scrambling away from the sliding glass door and the thing that started all of this.

He struggles to focus on his surroundings as he finally draws in a proper breath, gaze wild as the image of his apartment (his apartment, not the one from the vision that was his but not his, the same room but with none of his things, a different night with different rain and a different kind of sadness) eventually begins to settle. He blinks, and it's as he's opening his eyes again that they're caught by another pair – bright, stormy grey, wide and wild with fear and confusion.

A handsome, anguished face stares back at him, looking as if it's seeing him for the very first time. The transparent man, now facing him, is crouched on the ground by the door and watching Yosuke like he's scared of him. He raises his hands unsurely, and reaches them out palms down like he's about to try and plead with Yosuke, before he looks down at them in utter bewilderment. He pulls his hands back towards him and turns them over and over, inspecting them; with every passing second his face contorts further into a mess of agony.

He looks so hurt and so lost that, for a moment, Yosuke forgets to be afraid.

“...Who are you?”

The man looks back up at his whisper, phantom tears streaming down his face and mouth twisted into a desperate grimace. “What's happ---?”

And then he's gone.

In the blink of an eye, the man vanishes completely, leaving only the sound of the rain and his achingly sorrowful voice ringing faintly in the silence. The clock in the kitchen beeps 4:00 as Yosuke stares at the rivulets of water trickling down the outside of his sliding glass door.

First Rain

I made this a while ago and I keep forgetting to post it essentially its just when the slinkies first experience with rain, its kinda long so I put it under a read more.

Somehow you wake up well before your two bedmates, which is definitely rare on your days off but their probably still tuckered out from your guys outing at funland yesterday. Somehow they managed not to destroy anything, but that might’ve because you told them no kisses if they break something this time. You decide to get a start to the day seeing that it’s 9 but also mainly because your hungry, but to do that you have to get out of their grip first. Ever since Spinel and Spince started sleeping with you, you realized that they have a habit of wrapping you up in their limbs with you sandwiched between them. You didn’t mind one bit, in fact ever since they’ve started doing that your sleep has been amazing, only issue you have with it is when you have to get up. When you finally manage to get up and out of bed as your stretching you notice that they immediately snuggle into each other bringing a smile to your face, you decide to take a picture on your phone to save the moment ( and to tease em later but they don’t need to know that). 

On your way to the kitchen you look outside and notice the dark grey sky and realize it's going to rain at some point in the day, declaring today an inside cuddle day you move to get some breakfast started for the three of you. As your finishing up you feel a pair of arms wrap around your middle and a body and gem press into you from behind

“Morning”  Spince whispers into your ear with his accent heavy from having just woken up

“Morning sleepy head, she still sleeping” You ask him

“Nah she’s up, should be out in a bit though” he replies before yawning

“Good, now set up the table for me will you” giving him a peck on the cheek before moving back to get everything off the stove 

“Sure thing sweets” he replies before giving you a peck back and moving to set the table, right as he lets go of you Spinel walks in yawning before moving to hug you from behind just like Spince was not long again and nuzzling into your neck

“Good morning to you too sleepy head” you tell her while turning in her arms to hug her back

“Morning” you feel her mumble into your neck 

“Alright sleepy head I made pancakes and I wanna cuddle today so let me go so we can eat” you tell her, she immediately perks up because she fuckin loves cuddles and pancakes 

“Yeah Spins stop hogging y/n” Spince calls out from his place at the table 

“Shush let me love em” She hisses while tightening her arms around you making him laugh 

“Alright you two no fighting I’m hungry and I wanna cuddle and if you two start fighting I’m leaving this house to go find someone else to cuddle with” your warning shuts them both up immediately making you snicker. You give Spinel a peck on the cheek as you drag her to the table to sit.

 After breakfast they help you wash the dishes before you drag them to the couch proclaiming “Since today is so cloudy im making today a movie and cuddle day since this weather makes me sluggish” you say as you push em down on the couch before running off to gather blankets and snacks

“Doll are ya actually making today a cuddle day or are ya just messing with us” Spinel questions when your halfway to the bedroom 

“Yup, weathers gloomy so I wanna cuddle with you two all day while watching movies” You call back “Alright sweets, I am loving today already” You hear Spince cheer once you make it back to your shared room making you snicker, you gather up the blankets from bed before making your way back to the living room. You dump the blankets on top of them earning you a grunt from Spince and a yelp from Spinel before moving again to get snacks from the kitchen, no sweets though because your trying to keep them in one spot today. 

By the time you make it back to the living room they’ve both already covered themselves in blankets while leaving a space for you between them as well as set up the TV to watch movies. You set the snacks on the table in front of the couch before squirming your way under the blankets and snuggling up between them. “Alright what are you two in the mood to watch” you ask them as you grab the remote from Spince’s lap.

“Can we watch some animated movies I really liked those” Spinel perks up “Yeah! I love those they always have pretty colors” Spince adds on

“Alright animated it is then” you say as you snuggle in between them while scrolling through your playlist. 

Halfway into the fourth movie your falling asleep with your head on Spinels lap and your feet on Spince’s lap. You honestly didn’t want to fall asleep but with Spinel running her hands through your hair and surrounded by their warmth it's impossible to not fall asleep. 

Although not long after you fall asleep you wake up to Spinel shaking your shoulder and whispering nervously

“Doll wake up somethings wrong” she tells you while looking around

“What, whats wrong” you ask her as you sit up and rub your eyes

“Cant you hear it its so loud” Spince whispers from his crouched position next to the couch. As you start listening closely you realize that its raining, and its raining hard. Instead of answering them you decide to have a little fun with them and stand up from the couch. As your making your way to the door you can hear Spinel whisper shouting to you. “Y/n, where the fuck are you going, don’t go to the door we don’t know whats out there” As you reach out to open the door you hear both Spince and Spinel shout out your name. You decide this is to much fun and continue to just pull the door open and step out onto the porch. As your walking out you hear both of them running towards you to pull you back in. When you hear them reach the door you turn around and meet their panicked faces with a grin.

“DOLL/SWEETS WHAT THE FUCK” They both yell out at the same time while pulling you into their arms. At that point your just laughing so hard your wheezing while their giving you the most concerned yet confused look.

“Uhh y/n why are you laughing after running towards you know, danger” Spince questions you as both him and Spinel tighten their hold on you

“Because were not in danger, look” You say as you turn to look out towards the front porch

“Um y/n why is water falling from the sky” Spinel asks you while turning to face outwards as well “Its called rain and it happens when the clouds carry to much water and they need to drop some of it” you explain to them

“Sooo, were not being attacked then” Spince whispers into your ear making you giggle

“No, slinky we aren’t being attacked its just raining really hard” you respond while getting out of their arms. You start walking towards the edge of the porch and they start freaking out when you move to step into the rain

“Alright alright relax you two look its not gonna hurt me its just water see” you tell them while sticking your hand out into the rain “see perfectly fine” you turn to look at them and realize their both still tense and nervous. You think for a moment and come up with an idea that might make em both relax. “Alright slinkies give me your hands” You tell them while reaching out for them “What, Why?” they both question at the same time making you snicker “Just trust me alright this is gonna get you to both relax and i have a feeling your both gonna like it” you tell them while reaching to grab their hands. Once you start pulling them out into rain they seem nervous but when the first drops fall on them they start to relax and just get this look of pure amazement on their faces that just fill your chest with warmth and brings a soft smile to your face. Although its raining so hard your soaked in seconds, but you really don't care considering you love the rain and your too preoccupied looking at your slinkies being amazed by rain. You decide to get them a little more into the rain by running towards them and jumping in a puddle near them making them jump from surprise “Sweets what the hell” Spince asks while he and Spinel shake out some of the water from their loose hair

“Yeah doll what was that for” Spinel asks as well “Well ya see the point i brought you out here for was so you can see just how much fun you can have in the rain, and one of the things you can do is jump in puddles” you tell them while you stomp in the puddle your in “another is just a more intense way of playing tag” as you say that you stare at them before jumping at Spince and yelling out “TAG YOUR IT” before booking it “HEY I WASN’T READY Y/N” He yells out before chasing after you while spinel is just laughing but not before Spince turns around and tags her while she’s distracted 

“HEY” She yells out before running after the two of you. The game goes on for about 20 minutes until they both decide to team up to catch you. They end up cornering you and as you try to get away they wrap their arms around you and smoosh you between them, Spinel behind you and Spince in the front

“Tag, we win” they whisper into your ear making you shiver in response “Hmm i guess you two did” You hum back. You would move to go back inside the house but honestly you feel too comfortable and safe just being hugged between the two of them, especially considering since they started humming and swaying. As this goes on you lay your head against Spinces, chest right above his gem, and he rests his head on top of yours while Spinel rest hers on your shoulder. Your starting to get really sleepy when you sneeze, scaring the shit out of both of em. “DOLL YOUR GONNA GET SICK CUZ YOUR COLD” Spinel yells out after recovering from her scare “OH FUCK YOUR RIGHT LETS GET HER INSIDE” Spince yells out while picking you up and running towards the house.

“Ill be fine you two ive spent time out in the rain before” you tell them while laughing from how much they over react. Although you think its sweet how concerned they are for you.. “Yeah right doll, we aint risking ya getting sick” Spinels snorts out as she closes the door behind her. 

“Pft i dont get sick that easily” you huff out as Spince drys out your hair with a towel and Spinel is going through your drawers for some dry clothes “And plus we gotta get ya warmed up Sweets we really don't want you getting sick we heard that its not a nice feeling when humans get sick” Spince tells you.

“Fine, fine, but i want cuddles to get warmed up then” you give in “We can do that doll” Spinel tell you as she hands you dry clothes. After your changed you hop into bed and they follow right after you taking their place on either side of you before wrapping you up in their arms

“Good night slinkies i love you” you whisper after you get comfortable between them

“Good night love ya too y/n” you hear them whisper back as your falling asleep making you hum. Although, needless to say you ended up getting sick the next morning and lets just say they said “i told you so”.

Chapter 14: Helpless

Brooklyn Hospital. 6.30 AM.

Author's POV 

Beep...

Beep..

Beep.

Taehyung slowly open his eyes, squinting after it hit the bright light.

He looked around, trying to recognize where he is. The smell of medication and an IV on his left arm bring back the terrifying memory of last night.

El Diablo. The Crowds. The Tournament. Jimin. Youngji.

Y/N.

Taehyung's eyes begin to sting as he remember how Y/N’s voice pleads so El Diablo will let go of him. She still had the heart to save him, after all he had done.

He move the blanket that was wrapped around his waist carefully, knowing that he probably had a few injuries somewhere. He take a look around, when he saw Jimin and Youngji talking to one of the doctors.

"Jimin- he's awake," Youngji motion as their gaze turn towards him.

The doctor, a middle-aged man with a grey hair and a stethoscope around his neck approach him as well as the two.

"Good morning young man, you have a pretty rough night yesterday huh?" The doctor ask and he nods.

The doctor held his stethoscope and begin checking his heartbeat pulse to make sure if he's stable. Jimin and Youngji look at him worriedly as he had not been conscious since last night. The doctor give them an assuring smile as he stands up.

"How is he doc? Is he going to be okay?" Taehyung heard Jimin ask. The doctor patted Jimin's shoulder.

"No worries. Your friend here is a fighter. I assure you he's stable and for the record, he can be discharged in two days," the doctor inform them.

"Thank you doc, thank you so much." Jimin replied. The doctor turn to look at Taehyung.

"You're lucky young man, if its not because of your friends last night, you could have been seriously injured by now," He inform him as he exited the room.

Friends? Taehyung thought.

He stares down as he is too embarrassed to confront his former best friend again. He remember how hurt Jimin was when he found out about his betrayal. Jimin intended to mend things with Taehyung, since Youngji won't say anything to him.

Jimin took a deep breath and make his way towards Taehyung.

He slowly reach a chair and pull it beside Taehyung's bed.

That was when Taehyung finally look up to meet his old friend's gaze again.

Jimin let out a tiny chuckle. "You look awful," he starts to ease the awkward tension. Taehyung just let out a tiny smile. It was comforting despite the coldness is still there.

Jimin stared at him. He did look awful. There were cuts and bruises all over his face, not to mention his right arm was casted and he can barely move his legs.

"You hungry?" Jimin ask.

Taehyung shook his head.

"Did you feel pain, anywhere?"

Taehyung shook his head again.

Jimin sighs.

"Ok. Just call one of the nurse if you need anything and don't worry, I've already payed for your treatment," Jimin says, trying to end things warmly.

Youngji just stood there watching the two. No matter how much she hated him, she did feel pity for the boy seeing him beat to dead last night. Taehyung didn't dare look at her, as their last encounter didn't exactly end well. Youngji also, stood on the doorway, unwilling to get close to him.

Jimin stood up, thinking there's nothing more to say as Taehyung doesn't really want to talk or need anything. He excuse himself, when-

"Thank you,"

He turns to look at him. Taehyung look at Jimin and Youngji under his weak state.

"Thank you.. for saving me. All of you. I did't deserve your help, yet you did it after all. I'm.."

They waited.

"- I'm sorry Jimin. I'm sorry Youngji. I'm so sorry- for everything," Taehyung sobs.

It hurts them to see him like this but they knew, he deserve it. He deserve everything after what he had done. Jimin watch as a single tears roll down from the corner of Taehyung's eyes.

"She still hates me isn't she? She's right. I will never change. I'm the bastard that cause all this. I deserve to die," Taehyung sobs.

Jimin look at Youngji. They knew that he's talking about Y/N.

"Taehyung, years of a broken-heart is not easily repaired overnight. Y/N is not an easy girl that you think she is. You have to remember, it's not always about you," Youngji said strictly but in a calm tone this time.

Taehyung wipe the tears in his eyes with the sleeve of his hospital cloth. Youngji's word hurts, but it's the truth. He remember saying Y/N that, thinking she's easy.

Taehyung look at Youngji and Jimin with tears brimming in his eyes. "She must have hate me a lot didn't she? She hates me so much that she doesn't even want to visit me," Taehyung said with a sad voice.

Youngji and Jimin look at each other, but Youngji already had an answer to his question.

"Taehyung, i think it's better if you stay away from her like you never exist. You hurt her too much, it's way past her limits. Y/N have been fine all along, and she've promised to never believe in you again. So please, if you're really sorry, stay away from stepping on her trust and heart all over again."

With that, Youngji left. Taehyung felt a whole lot of emotion as Youngji said those words to him.

How much, did Lee Y/N, actually love him before?

"She really do love you- once Taehyung," Jimin said. "But i have to agree with Youngji, please stay away from her. Please don't make her go through the same hardship twice."

They left the room, leaving Taehyung wondering about Lee Y/N and how much he have hurt her.

...

After he was discharged from the hospital, Taehyung was brought back to his dormitory by his roommate, Minjae. He was on a wheelchair since he is not able to walk well yet plus his right arm is still casted but good progress, his legs are slowly healing.

After their last encounter, Jimin and Youngji never come visit him again. He knew, who is he, to be pitied when he used to hurt so many people himself?

And to his disappointment,

Y/N never visits him at all. He never saw Y/N after the fight that got him passed out that night. He had hope that she would come and talk to him, but he knew that's impossible. Yet, he still stare outside the hospital's window hoping that she would showed up but she never did. Eventually, on the last day, Taehyung gives up.

Taehyung was quiet all the way home while staring outside the car's window. The feeling of the cloudy weather's breeze hit his cheek but he didn't bother.

"Taehyung.. you okay?" Minjae ask, eyes still on the road. He didn't reply.

"I'm sorry for whatever that happened to you, but you need to accept things the way they are man, that's all i can say," Minjae advice him. Taehyung sigh, regretting all the things he ever done.

...

Taehyung's Dormitory.

Minjae open the door and held his arm out for Taehyung as a balancing support. Taehyung shakily steps outside the door and sits on his wheelchair.

"Thanks Minjae," Taehyung said to which Minjae smiles.

With one hand holding on Taehyung's bag from the hospital, Minjae pushes the wheelchair to the front door of their dormitory. But a surprise is waiting for them at their doorsteps.

Taehyung's eyes widened.

Why is his suitcase and personal belongings were placed outside?

Suddenly the door sprung open, revealing Minho, their head dormitory leader.

"AHA~ The problematic kid have return," Minho mocks him.

"How was it? The hospital? Good food?" He asks to which Taehyung lowers his gaze down.

Ever since Taehyung moved here, the only person he trusted is Minjae. Minho is a big influence, and that explains why his ego is big too. He is snobby and rich, acting like he's the one everybody should bow to. But even with the non-stop ego acts, Minho accept him as one of their dorm mates.

"Minho, Taehyung just got discharged, he needs plenty of rest until he feels better, now please let him be." Minjae said while trying to push past through him.

But he quickly stops them.

"Wow, wow! Don't you see what did I put here?? It's his stuff if you don't get it," Minho cuts him. Taehyung blink his eyes in confusion.

"Wha.. why did you put my stuff here? Did i do something?"

Minho laughs in a mocking way. "Wait- You DO something? You're not stupid aren't you? Nahhh you didn't do anything wrong, but- wait, you did!" Minho laughs.

Minjae look at Taehyung. He was about to speak up for him when Taehyung quickly defend himself, "Minho please, let's go inside first, it's going to rain soon and i'm too tired to argue."

Minho makes a straight face and out came his ass-kisser's friends from behind. One of them holds a white paper with something written on it while passing it to him.

"You're too tired to argue and I my friend, am too tired to explain," he said while holding the paper in front of Taehyung and Minjae's face.

"Read it. LOUD."

Taehyung begins to recognize the paper and read it for every single person there to hear.

"Whoever in the dorm that we found guilty of violence, illegal activity involvement, vandalism, gangsterims or even drop-outs will be exterminated from continuing their stay at the dorm and will immediately get kicked out by the fraternity members. The final decision will be based on the majority of the house member's decision to still keep the member or not."

Taehyung quiet down after that. It was clear that he did agree with that contract the first time he was accepted in two weeks ago. His sign was under the contract as the proof. Minho carefully folded the piece of paper and shove it to Taehyung's hand.

"Now you get it don't you? Or do you want us to escort you to the car?" Minho whispers rudely. Taehyung didn't say anything.

"What the..? Can't you see he's helpless? At least let him stay the night for god's sake!" Minjae raise his voice a little to defend his friend.

Minho and his friends laughs hardly, "There's no fucking way i'm going to let a troublesome person like him stay in my place, and if you dare say a word again Minjae, you can get out and stay with this guy too, i'm honored."

Minjae stares at Taehyung, pitifully. He is not capable of helping him since he didn't know where to let him stay the night. The motel here is too far away while other fraternity probably have the same contract too and with Minho's threat, Minjae can't do anything but watch. If he took another step, Minho will probably kicked him out as well.

Taehyung carefully look at Minjae, "It's okay, I'll find a way, thank you for your help Minjae."

Taehyung try to reach his bag with his left arm but Minjae quickly got it for him and put it on his lap while he sits on the wheelchair. Minho and his friends just watch the scene, chuckling as Taehyung slowly push his wheelchair with one hand.

"At least let me help him go to the bus station," Minjae told Minho.

Minho scoffs. "Whatever, go help that shit, 30 minutes top," with that, Minjae runs after Taehyung and push his wheelchair slowly.

...

The droplets of rain started to pour down and the lightning makes it even more terrible. Minjae look at his watch and begin to worry not for his safety, but for Taehyung's. Taehyung noticed and slowly smile.

"Minjae, you can go, i'll find my way to stay anywhere tonight, you have to get back before he kicks you out too," he advises Minjae. Minjae stares at him with a sorrowful look.

"This is too cruel. I'm so sorry i can't do anything about it Taehyung, I'm really sorry. I'll stay here with you, i'll say that my car broke down or it' raini-"

"No. Minho is not stupid. Go Minjae, i can do it. Don't worry about me, i promise you i'll be fine." Taehyung patted Minjae's back and smiled at him softly. Minjae stared at him and look at the bags around Taehyung.

Minjae got up and hug him. "Are you sure? If you need anything just call me alright?"

Taehyung chuckled. "I'm a man Minjae, i can manage, go before that douche kick your ass."

Minjae smiles and once again he apologized to Taehyung. He got inside his car and slowly drive away under the rain while still looking at Taehyung who waved goodbye at him. As soon as Minjae's car disappeared under the rain, Taehyung let out a huge sigh and a single tear rolled down his face.

Why is my life so miserable? He thought. His heart was hurting at the though of how everybody was treating him. So this is how it feels like, to be helpless.

He felt sleepy and cold because of the rain plus lonely at the bus stop since no car is passing by for it's almost midnight. Taehyung was coughing hard and the weather is not helping to his health as well.

Eventually, he passed out.

...

Taehyung cough awakens him from his deep sleep and when he opens his eyes, he's laying in the back seat of someone's car with a jacket wrapped around his cold body. He rub his eyes with the back of his palms and that's when he heard two guys were talking to each other.

He didn't hear the whole conversation and see clearly the two guy's figure but he is sure, what he did hear is,

"I'll talk to her. She's not that cruel."

...

Jimin's Apartment

Taehyung's POV

I was once again awake at the sound of a loud thud! Which i realize was the car's door. I opened my eyes and cough a little when the door of the car is open, revealing two guys which i recognize right away.

Jimin and Jungkook.

"Hey Taehyung," Jimin said with a soft voice and look at me pitifully. I didn't say anything back, afraid that if i do, i might say something wrong. Jungkook on the other hand stare at me with an unreadable expression.

Jimin quickly help me by putting a hand behind my back and get me into an upright sitting position. It was raining heavily, so Jungkook held an umbrella on his hand while standing outside and i notice, my wheelchair is already prepared beside him. Jimin suddenly sat beside me in the car.

I grew curious, so i ask, "Whe- where am i?"

Jimin smiles softly. "We found you passed out at a bus station a few minutes ago so we decided to bring you to our place," he explains. I furrow my eyebrows.

"Passed out? I'm sorry, I- *cough* i didn't realize i cause you so much troubl-"

"Hey, it's fine. Besides, you're not feeling well right now and you just freaking passed out, i can't leave you there can i?" Jimin said. I lower my head in shame. How can he still be this kind to help me?

"Thank you once again Ji- Jimin." I thanked him.

He smiled but turn to ask me, "It's fine, but be honest with me Taehyung, please," Jimin stops.

I look at him.

"Why are you there with your bags? We found you with a few bags plus seeing you in your wheelchair and casted right arm, i know you just got discharged from the hospital. Don't you have a dorm Tae? A home?"

His question got me startled. I don't know what to say but honestly, i don't have any good explanation and it's better not to lie again.

"I.. i was kicked out of my dorm be- because.. of the recent event," i said with a shameful voice.

Jimin nods understandingly. I can see that Jungkook is also shocked, but didn't further any question mainly because they knew what i got myself into.

"So.. they kicked you out just like that, immediately? How cruel. Come on Tae, you're not feeling well now, your body temperature is down and you need a lot of rest," Jimin said and quickly took my left arm while Jungkook had prepared my wheelchair outside.

I felt some mixed emotion seeing how Jimin still cared for me and Jungkook, even though he didn't like my presence much, still pitied me. I felt touched at their kindness seeing as Jungkook is willing to carry my bags under the rain while Jimin pushes my wheelchair, covering my shaking body with his big jacket and hold an umbrella for me.

"I'm sorry Jimin, Jungkook. You guys don't have to-"

"Let's get you healthy first okay?"

Jimin cuts me to which i nod. Jimin pushed my wheelchair slowly while Jungkook walk behind us with my bag and suitcase. I won't lie but whenever i see Jimin, i wanted to ask him about Y/N but i remember that he ask me to stay away from her so it's better if i didn't.

We slowly reached what i guess is the lobby and Jimin push the elevator's button going up. I can feel the uncomfortable silence hanging in the air and that's when Jimin steps in to ease the tension.

"Jungkook, you know Taehyung right?" Jimin asks. I thought Jungkook was just going to nod but his answer surprised me.

"Of course i do, we dated the same girls."

As expected, I knew we'll be talking about this eventually since Jungkook still has that flame in him. He' still mad about the past but he's trying to ignore it for Jimin and my friendship's sake. I look down for a few minutes, embarrassed of my used-to-be reputation when finally, we reached the floor to the apartment.

Jimin pushed my wheelchair again. From the corner of my eyes, i can see that Jungkook is nudging Jimin with his elbow for an unknown reason. Jimin told him to calm down and he'll do the talking. I didn't interrupt for i didn't know what is going on. We reached the door of Jimin and Jungkook's place and what makes me confused is i saw a girl's shoes at the doorstep.

I didn't ask about it since i though maybe it's one of their girlfriend staying there but when Jimin knock on the door, and the door is revealed, my eyes widen, feeling all mixed emotions in the same time.

"Guys, where have you been?? I've cooked-"

Lee Y/N.

🍡

17/04/2020-Blackbird out the back in the rain 

With it being wet and cloudy until the last couple of hours when it dried up and the sun has started to come out, I’ve had a quiet day for photos compared to this week and all the other days since I’ve been working from home. My daily exercise walk today was still taken at lunch time, but was just a camera-less quick walk around the roads in quite heavy rain. It did feel very weird having my waterproof coat and leggings on which did take a bit of a drenching for me and I almost missed having rain fall onto me its been such nice weather for weeks. Within the house today you’d be forgiven for thinking I might not be tempted to take any pictures of garden birds through my window at all, because as it is I’ve pretty much exhausted options for unique photos of most species that visit based on my way of not taking too many photos of the same species over a short period of time as I’ve always done with the amount of quality time I am getting to spend witnessing, observing and being enthused by them during the lockdown. But also because I’ve photographed so many of them in glorious sunshine with blue sky behind this week and the weeks prior which I have really enjoyed. 

Indeed as I watched Starlings flying in numbers up onto the roof opposite visible from my bedroom window, something I photographed in lovely weather conditions earlier this week anyway so probably wouldn’t have tried again, I thought to myself how the photo wouldn’t be as good up against dark grey skies with no sun and rain lashing down based on previous efforts with this species in this circumstance as well. But there was one species I’d been after a picture from my window of for a while as a Blackbird kept flying into this area over the last few days. Today it flew in on top of the roof in question. Unlike the other times I’d seen it I had time to get my bridge camera it was at a fairly long distance away so I used this long distance specialist for it as I do for all birds I see on this busy roof that we see a lot of birds on waiting to come in the garden, another garden or just passing before the bird flew off. So I took this photo of the Blackbird, so far the only picture I’ve taken today. 

It was a goal achieved, only a day after I photographed a Blackbird with my bridge camera at Lakeside nearby on my daily exercise walk but I was very happy to take them both in two days and make this my moment to finally capture this bird from here. I have to say it was such a good moment because I am really proud of this picture especially in respect of how it used the rainy conditions. I like how the raindrops are visible against the bird in the photo. I don’t think I could have achieved that effect with many other species as the bright black colour of the bird means the raindrops stand out. I also was really happy with the way this picture allows you to see the water on the Blackbird’s feathers. So on a mostly dark day this is a photo that makes me smile and gives off a spark I feel which will be something to always look back on this day and remember happily. 

Ever since the lockdown began I’ve been timing my blogs to go out in late evening written up around now in case I take further pictures throughout the evening after processing and uploading on all the social media I put them on the main crop of photos from the day. This especially is sunsets from my bedroom window when the lockdown started this happened about 7 but it gets later and later now that I may take later on and want to add to the days photoset. But today I actually processed this Blackbird photo during my lunch break with the walk shorter and put it on Twitter and Facebook before I got back to work for the afternoon. I am writing this blog up now and posting it live for a change and any subsequent photos today whether I process them tonight or tomorrow morning I can always do another blog or just plain post on here to attach them to. It then serves the purpose of posting for Twitter friends at a time I more typically upload my photos in the days. 

I also usually give my day’s photos file names on my laptop that start with the same bit so like yesterday all my photos produced were at or on the way to Lakeside so I called them all “Lakeside” and they were named “Lakeside 1 .......” “Lakeside 2.......” the .... for the wildlife photos when I had a species name to give them. I usually just number them for landscapes. On Wednesday I took photos I knew I’d keep before the daily exercise walk and more during in it so all the file named started with “15th April” This means when I upload a batch from a day I can easily see the files located together. Today I just called this one “Blackbird Friday 17th April out the back” as I knew I’d get it on Twitter and Facebook later on so any subsequent photos didn’t necessarily have the same name as it. So this in effect is a little batch and any more photos I may or may not take tonight would be a batch of their own. Obviously if I took a sunset after I logged off my laptop it would be processed tomorrow and be in that batch with whatever naming system is appropriate. This all allowed this post to read more like one of my photo context posts than a regular photos/trip blog where I delve into a photo I’ve taken often one of my favourites that week and say what I like about it and any factors around how it was taken. I thought this was quite nice as I naturally had a lot to say in this post about this photo more so than normally perhaps as in a lot of posts I name photos I’ve taken simply which are attached to the photoset and there isn’t much need to say more. 

Alongside the Blackbird and Starlings birds I have enjoyed seeing from my bedroom window so far today are; Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and the regular light coloured Feral Pigeon we get in the garden.

— CHAPTER ONE — The Boy Who Lived   tr15

 Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense. Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that. When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away 8 HARRY POTTER happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. ‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four’s drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn��t realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, looking at the sign; cats couldn’t read maps or signs. Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn’t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr Dursley couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren’t young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills. Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn’t, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn’t see the owls THE BOY WHO LIVED 9 swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he’d stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker’s opposite. He’d forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker’s. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn’t know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn’t see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. ‘The Potters, that’s right, that’s what I heard –’ ‘– yes, their son, Harry –’ Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking ... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn’t such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure his nephew was called Harry. He’d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn’t blame her – if he’d had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks ... He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o’clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door. ‘Sorry,’ he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn’t seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into 10 HARRY POTTER a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: ‘Don’t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy happy day!’ And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off. Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination. As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn’t improve his mood – was the tabby cat he’d spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. ‘Shoo!’ said Mr Dursley loudly. The cat didn’t move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door’s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (‘Shan’t!’). Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation’s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern.’ The news reader allowed himself a grin. ‘Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?’ ‘Well, Ted,’ said the weatherman, ‘I don’t know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they’ve had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been THE BOY WHO LIVED 11 celebrating Bonfire Night early – it’s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight.’ Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters ... Mrs Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He’d have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. ‘Er – Petunia, dear – you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?’ As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister. ‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘Why?’ ‘Funny stuff on the news,’ Mr Dursley mumbled. ‘Owls ... shooting stars ... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today ...’ ‘So?’ snapped Mrs Dursley. ‘Well, I just thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her lot.’ Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he’d heard the name ‘Potter’. He decided he didn’t dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, ‘Their son – he’d be about Dudley’s age now, wouldn’t he?’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Mrs Dursley stiffly. ‘What’s his name again? Howard, isn’t it?’ ‘Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.’ ‘Oh, yes,’ said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. ‘Yes, I quite agree.’ He didn’t say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn’t think he could bear it. The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and 12 HARRY POTTER Petunia thought about them and their kind ... He couldn’t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn’t affect them ... How very wrong he was. Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn’t so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you’d have thought he’d just popped out of the ground. The cat’s tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore didn’t seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, ‘I should have known.’ He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn’t be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside THE BOY WHO LIVED 13 his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn’t look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. ‘Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.’ He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. ‘How did you know it was me?’ she asked. ‘My dear Professor, I’ve never seen a cat sit so stiffly.’ ‘You’d be stiff if you’d been sitting on a brick wall all day,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here.’ Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. ‘Oh yes, everyone’s celebrating, all right,’ she said impatiently. ‘You’d think they’d be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something’s going on. It was on their news.’ She jerked her head back at the Dursleys’ dark living-room window. ‘I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they’re not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I’ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense.’ ‘You can’t blame them,’ said Dumbledore gently. ‘We’ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.’ ‘I know that,’ said Professor McGonagall irritably. ‘But that’s no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours.’ She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn’t, so she went on: ‘A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?’ ‘It certainly seems so,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?’ ‘A what?’ ‘A sherbet lemon. They’re a kind of Muggle sweet I’m rather fond of.’ 14 HARRY POTTER ‘No, thank you,’ said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn’t think this was the moment for sherbet lemons. ‘As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone –’ ‘My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this “You-Know-Who” nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort.’ Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. ‘It all gets so confusing if we keep saying “YouKnow-Who”.’ I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort’s name.’ ‘I know you haven’t,’ said Professor McGonagall, sounding halfexasperated, half-admiring. ‘But you’re different. Everyone knows you’re the only one You-Know – oh, all right, Voldemort – was frightened of.’ ‘You flatter me,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Voldemort had powers I will never have.’ ‘Only because you’re too – well – noble to use them.’ ‘It’s lucky it’s dark. I haven’t blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.’ Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, ‘The owls are nothing to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone’s saying? About why he’s disappeared? About what finally stopped him?’ It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever ‘everyone’ was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer. ‘What they’re saying,’ she pressed on, ‘is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric’s Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are – are – that they’re – dead.’ Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. ‘Lily and James ... I can’t believe it ... I didn’t want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ...’ Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. ‘I THE BOY WHO LIVED 15 know ... I know ...’ he said heavily. Professor McGonagall’s voice trembled as she went on. ‘That’s not all. They’re saying he tried to kill the Potters’ son, Harry. But – he couldn’t. He couldn’t kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they’re saying that when he couldn’t kill Harry Potter, Voldemort’s power somehow broke – and that’s why he’s gone.’ Dumbledore nodded glumly. ‘It’s – it’s true?’ faltered Professor McGonagall. ‘After all he’s done ... all the people he’s killed ... he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding ... of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?’ ‘We can only guess,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We may never know.’ Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, ‘Hagrid’s late. I suppose it was he who told you I’d be here, by the way?’ ‘Yes,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘And I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me why you’re here, of all places?’ ‘I’ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They’re the only family he has left now.’ ‘You don’t mean – you can’t mean the people who live here?’ cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. ‘Dumbledore – you can’t. I’ve been watching them all day. You couldn’t find two people who are less like us. And they’ve got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!’ ‘It’s the best place for him,’ said Dumbledore firmly. ‘His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he’s older. I’ve written them a letter.’ ‘A letter?’ repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. ‘Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He’ll be famous – a legend – I wouldn’t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!’ ‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top

May I have a date scenario with 2p england? I’m a bisexual girl, I have long dark blonde hair worn in a side braid and grey eyes, I also have a baby face I am a very quiet, introverted person with my head often in the clouds and in my own little world, I am often labelled as the ‘cinnamon bun’ of my friends, sometimes I want to sass certain people but I can’t because i’m too polite all the time however when I do ‘burn’ someone I apologize afterwards because I was so rude! (½)

{ After an eternity, I finally wrote it but I had no inspiration and ideas so I waited for them and this is the result. Hope you’ll enjoy it! }

@pokemontrainerlars x Oliver Kirkland (2p England)

💙 FIRST MEETING:

It was a rainy day.It was always a rainy day here in London and you were getting sick of it but there were so many other beautiful things and complain about the weather was not a useful thing to do.While the drops of rain fell and you felt your hair so wet that you hoped not to get sick because of it, you thought to be out of luck. Other than the rain, there was a furious wind, so violent and turbulent that reduced your umbrella in pieces so you found yourself running for the streets searching for a place where you could hide and rest yourself and, especially, dry your clothes. You were running across the night until a light has captured your gaze, it came from a local so you decided that you could go there to find some calm and serenity. You thanked some divinity that passed through your mind that moment, and then you went inside.  A bell’s sound welcomed you while you opened the door, and the place appeared so candid and warm in its pastel and bright colours. The most used tonalities were pink and celeste, and it was comfortable and nice, you had to admit. Since you looked like a drowned rat, you thought twice before entering and you tried to clean your shoes on the doormat but it seemed impossible and you were leaving a trail of water wherever you went. A sweet voice invited you to come inside, «Good evening, lass, make yourself comfortable», you raised your glance noting a redhead man on the other side of the counter. He seemed so kind and friendly and he did not stop to smile. It would be impolite to refuse his invite, «Hello… Uhm…», but you did not want to ruin his place and you were still so wet. Noticing your embarrassment he spoke again, «Oh, dear, don’t worry and take a seat. We’re not that lucky with the weather. », he sighed, coming to rescue you. The English man helped you to take off your jacket, «The bathroom is there if you need to dry yourself. Could I bring you a cup of tea? you seem frozen, darling~», you thanked him taking a seat.This man was really gentle, and you were surprised by his chivalrous manners that you smiled instantly and he smiled back to you noticed it. Then, he performed a little bow vanishing behind the door to prepare some tea.

Oliver was a very cute person and for him was natural acting polite with the customers; it was not only some marketing strategy because he was truly a sweetheart. Actually, he preferred this version of himself than his past self.  Then, you seemed a fish out of the water so he felt compelled to help you and he was still a gentleman. After some time, he brought you your tea and you could admit it tasted delicious, «Oh, thank you so much. It’s so good! », and he was glad hearing it from you. Other than that, he brought also a plate full of sweets and cookies that smelled like Heaven.«It’s on the house», he said and you were so surprised and this food was so good that you devoured everything without any compliment. What seemed a bad day became something magical and so sweet, you felt so lucky and you were hoping to meet this nice guy a second time.

💚  SECOND MEETING:

After than day, you have not forgotten the gentleman of that Bakery, you have not even asked him his name, and maybe it could be a great excuse to make him a visit. Then, you had to thank him for his hospitality and kindness. You had to admit another thing, he knew very well how to gain new clients.You decided to go there this very day and maybe you could buy some other of his desserts since you found them so delicious and this visit would be worthy in any case.Even Oliver hoped to see you again and to have a conversation with you, yesterday the two of you did not speak so much because it was so late and you were so tired and nervous for the weather.The same bell’s sound welcomed you another time and your eyes lighted up the moment you saw the sweet smile of Oliver who was serving some clients. Then, he turned to your direction and you could notice the same light in his eyes because he was so happy seeing you.«Oh, dear, welcome again!» , his voice was so infantile but melodic, you could guess he was a good singer, but you kept this thought for you, «Good morning!», you answered observing the delicacies behind the glass. You did not know what to say without appearing stupid but maybe a “thank you” would have helped, «I wanted to thank you for yesterday, I was totally lost and you have been so kind…», his expression became as sweet as a puppy and you blushed without a reason.«Oh, dear. You don’t have to thank me, I was glad to help you and I realize only now that I’ve not been a proper gentleman yesterday, uhm…», you asked yourself what he meant but he answered before you could open your mouth, «I didn’t ask your name, so I take the chance now. My name’s Oliver, and yours? », the same thought you had this morning and you were relieved he was glad to see you as well. You presented yourself, he found your name so graceful, and then he asked what he could do for you.Actually, you just wanted to see him but eating something would have not been a bad idea so you ordered your favourite sweet and he served you with the cutest smile on his face.The two of you talked for so many minutes even if he was too busy to serve all his clients and he could not ignore his job. You should have thanked for this little incident because Oliver invited you for a date with him so you and him could converse in peace. Obvious, you accepted and you could not lose this occasion.

💛  DATE:

The day of the date finally came even if you and Oliver have chatted and had long telephone conversations and he had the power to cheer up your days, the sun shined for you every day even in a melancholic and cloudy city like London.Oliver has invited you in a sweet restaurant he knew and, in his opinion, meals were the best moments to know a person and you could see the real side of them because food was a pleasure and food made people happier. Like the gentleman he was, he presented perfectly in time at your home and you were ready for a while. He was so cute in his suit, maybe a little too flashy but it was his way to be and another thing you appreciated of him.Oliver escorted you in his car to reach the place of your date. There was not even a moment that you and him have stopped to talk and every argument with him seemed so interesting and magical. He was such a positive person and you were surprised a person like him could exist. In this dull world, knowing that a solar man like Oliver was real made you believe that everything was possible. You and him were so similar and in that moment you understood that dreams could come true and Oliver was there to realize all your dreams. Sometimes, he appeared so infantile or naïve but he was not so stupid and he was so smart and attempt but also so tender in his gestures and words. He was everything.This date could not go better than this and he confided to you so many secrets and memories of his past, what he regretted about his life, but now he was ready to change and become a better person. You said that you believed in him and he was truly a good person and not the monster everyone supposed he was, and they did not know a thing about him or his golden heart. That was the moment he felt in love for you and you did the same.

💜 CONFESSION:

There have been so many other dates between you and Oliver and the two of you still seemed a couple even if none of you confessed to the other. Oliver was not so naïve and he realized for a while that you had a crush on him but he was just waiting the right occasion to confess his red feelings for you.It seemed no moment was that special to declare to you and he was such a perfectionist. At the end, he decided to use his own method to declare his love to you and he prepared a special cake where there was written on it how much he adored you and that he has loved you from the first time he saw you. Oliver was so romantic and this was not the only think he did for you because he also wrote a letter where he explained all his feelings and he was so timid sometime and he would have cried if he had to say it aloud, just try to understand him. His heart was too big for his body, he was such a crybaby but he was so cute that you could not do anything but hug him and say that you loved him so much… And that you could not wait to eat his cake that looked so delicious.

February 16th, 2020

Day 2: Getting My Steps In On A Full Day Out In Hot and Humid Singapore

It was strange to wake up feeling completely awake in the middle of the night. But I guess that’s not strange when I fell asleep mid-afternoon yesterday and slept through the entire night until around 3-4am this morning. I chilled in bed trying to figure out what the plans were for the day and what I was willing to get up and do so early in the morning. I ended up looking at a bunch of websites for an hour or so, starring a bunch of food places to check out during my time here. Around 5:30am, I finally got out of bed with plans to seek out a popular hawker stall for kaya toast, a very breakfast-y thing here in Singapore, before visiting the marina for sunrise. 

By the time I left the hostel, the sky was still dark yet the humidity was still present. Thank goodness the heat had calmed down a bit. I walked to the MRT station and ended up waiting outside its doors for a bit until it actually opened. Once things were good to go, I hopped on the MRT and got off at the very first stop (I was feeling a bit lazy to walk there this morning). After wandering the streets for a few minutes trying to figure out where my Google Maps was taking me, I finally wandered into the hawker center I was looking for: Amoy Street Food Center. The center was pretty empty when I arrived as it was still pretty early. But after roaming through the center for a bit and realizing that the hawker stall had numbers, I finally found Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee, the stall I was looking for for their highly-recommended kaya toast with soft boiled egg breakfast (this place was highly recommended online because of the unique way that the toast is made, which is on a charcoal fire, leaving it with a unique texture and taste compared to other places). I was probably one of their very first customers of the day. And the greatest part about being one of the first is: no heat and no line! The stall was run by an old couple who had probably been running it for a while. The lady quickly took my order, got things going, and before I knew it, my kaya toast and soft boiled eggs were ready! And it was pretty tasty and surprisingly filling. 

After sitting and eating, I walked over to Marina Bay as the sun was rising, which was around 7am. I walked along the waterfront toward Merlion Park and stopped a couple of times for photos of Marina Bay Sands, the iconic hotel located across the marina from Merlion Park. As the sun continued to rise in the sky, I took a quick breather at Merlion Park and watched as people made quick stops to take photos of the iconic Merlion statue before continuing on their way. 

Once my break was over, I continued on around the bay and across Helix Bridge before making a turn to walk along the outside of Gardens By The Bay on the way to Marina Barrage. At this point in the morning, the sky was clear, the sun was high in the sky, and the temperature was climbing. I took in the views at Marina Barrage before making my way through the public part of Gardens By The Bay, where I found Supertree Grove, an iconic spot in Singapore most known for its beautifully-lit supertrees at night. I stopped here briefly to take a look, knowing that I was going to be back later in the evening, before making my way over to Marina Bay Sands to take a quick look inside from the hotel’s sky walk. After a quick peek, I slowly found my way to the closest MRT stop for a ride back to the hostel. 

I stopped by the hostel for a bit to hang out, cool down, and relax before meeting up for an early lunch with Stephanie and Tony, two of Julia and Austen’s ex-pat friends in Singapore. At first, the plan was to meet up and eat at 40 Hands, a western restaurant in Tiong Bahru, but once we met up there, they changed their mind and we ended up eating at Cheng’s @ 27, a nice little Asian restaurant located on the bottom floor of their apartment building. And the food they ordered was tasty! We ordered a vermicelli Singaporean noodle dish, leafy greens, crispy chicken with ginger, crispy pork cubes, and nasi lemak with a cup of cold herbal tea for me. And it was delicious, especially the crispy chicken with ginger! We sat and ate and chatted for a while about all sorts of things, from Singaporean life, their life as academics in Singapore (they are both professors teaching their own classes at the universities here), having babies in Singapore, and having helpers (i.e. servants, housekeepers).

After lunch, we walked and checked out a bookstore in Tiong Bahru just down the road from the restaurant before stopping for dessert at Plain Vanilla, a cafe/bakery further down the street with good cupcakes. There, we got a raspberry rose cupcake and an earl grey lavender cupcake, and I got a lemongrass jasmine iced tea to quench more of my never-ending thirst. We sat around and conversed for a while more before touring the neighborhood briefly and checking out the Tiong Bahru Market which, by this time, was already starting to close down. We walked through the hawker stalls before Tony and I ended up getting a soursop drink for further hydration. It wasn’t too bad. I bet my mom would love it. After a total of four hours of socializing with Stephanie and Tony, they had stuff to get to and so we bid farewell and I was on my own again. It was nice to meet some locals and talk about life in Singapore but it was also nice to run into some Americans who were familiar with the U.S. and the current state of things there. Once I made my way back to the hostel, I took another short break before planning my next moves as the afternoon wore on. 

I killed some time and rested my legs and shoulders at the hostel for a couple of hours as I recharged my phone. The break ended up being longer than I intended because of the weather outside. What was earlier a clear day slowly became more cloudy until the rain started to come down. I watched as the forecast and radars showed rain moving into the area and stayed put until the showers had passed, which didn’t end up occurring until close to 7pm. 

Once the skies were no longer dropping rain, I made moves to get to Supertree Grove in time to watch the wildly popular and famous Garden Rhapsody, a show of music and synced lights at Supertree Grove that occurs a couple of times every evening. And I got there just in time to see the super egg-looking things lighting up in the water and synced to cool, calming music right before the start of the main event. And it was pretty cool seeing the Supertrees light up to music (this time, it was opera). It was like watching a bigger version of synced lights during the Christmas season. Minh would love this! 

After staying put under the supertrees for a little more than an hour and experiencing Garden Rhapsody twice, I walked back and through The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, the large shopping center attached to Marina Bay Sands. I originally thought it’d be a good idea to cut through the shopping center, check it out, and stay cool, but it ended up taking forever to get through since I had no idea where to find the exits to the marina side of the shopping center. It was super confusing, but eventually, I did find my way out after spending way more time looking at the nice stores inside than I was intending to do. 

When I finally got to the promenade, I walked along the bay on the side opposite of the side I was on earlier this morning. I didn’t stop to take any photos this time since I knew the photos wouldn’t be all that interesting and because I was tired of lugging my heavy camera bag around everywhere. At this point, I was dead. Like dead tired. I pushed myself to get to the closest MRT (which wasn’t so close), and once I was there, I decided I would make one more stop before finally going home. 

The plan was to get off the MRT at the Chinatown stop and look for a specific hawker stall for wanton mee, a noodle dish I found online that looked like it was worth trying. By the time I got to the stall I was looking for, the stall had already closed for the evening. Darn. So I walked down to the Maxwell Center, where there were only a few stalls still open. I was hoping that the Hainanese chicken rice stall would still be open but it wasn’t either. But luckily, I found another stall, No.1 Maxwell, that was still open and that sold wanton mee. Sweet, I get to check out another dish before finishing up the night. I ordered my wanton mee and ate it slowly since I was tired. The wanton mee wasn’t bad. It consisted of egg noodles with meatless wontons (that part was weird, not sure if they cheated me out of meat or it was supposed to be like that or it was a mistake), char siu park, and some sauces with soup on the side. I sat there and finished it up before finally making it back to the hostel, with my energy almost completely drained from one of the longest city-exploring days I’ve had in a long, long while. Can’t wait to wash up and just sleep. Whew. 

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. Kaya toast is made of two pieces of bread with butter, sugar, and Pandan-fragrant kaya (coconut jam), usually served with soft boiled eggs that you can add some dark soy sauce and white pepper onto. This dish is typically eaten for breakfast. And it tastes like toasted wheat bread with sugar and jam. Oh, and most people get it with a coffee.

2. Marina Bay is a very popular location for a morning run or bike ride in Singapore given the promenade and how well the area is kept. It was full of people being active early in the morning.

3. What is Sanglish? It is Singaporean English slang. Based on what I was told, it’s a slang where people in Singapore use different words or sounds at the beginning or end of words or sentences to mean different things in English. For example, “la” at the end of sentences can be used to indicate that the sentence or thought is at its end. Like a verbal period. Another example. People can reply with the word “can” to signify affirmation of something or to answer yes to a question. Strange. 

4. Helpers in Singapore are essentially cheap servants/housekeepers that are hired through government-regulated programs. They are usually people brought in from Indonesia or the Philippines (countries where incomes can be very low, so these people can be hired for cheap labor) to help with things at home. It is regulated by the government so as to not break human rights rules, though sadly, like with anything else, people can bend the rules and not treat helpers in the humane way they should be treated. 

5. Supposedly, most Singaporean restaurants don’t automatically provide napkins for you when you eat with them. The standard is that you bring your own. Also, interestingly enough, napkins have a second use for many people here in Singapore. You can use your napkin or tissue packet to save a spot or seat at a table if you’re not there physically. And people actually respect it. Crazy. No way that’d happen in many other places.

Crossed Roads, chapter 5

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter I’ve ever made so far, it may be slightly or a bit more darker than the others because I love angst (even if it'll become more angsty later).

...

Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.

The respective OC's belongs to me.

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What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you? And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're ok? I'm falling to pieces, yeah I'm falling to pieces

Breakeven - The Script

...

It was day three (or five, since he found her of course), contrary to the previous days there seemed to be a forecast of rain with some grey clouds passing around the sky, it was still unknown if it was an actual storm coming as the clouds were just coming. Probably it could be for the next few days, maybe earlier, even later that day... it was still necessary some farther researches from his part to make sure he wasn't reading the patterns of the climate in a wrong way. Accidents could happen anyways, even more if he wasn't focused enough (something he should've learned when inventing so many times in the past as well).

Despite of being all busy with his own matters, he still wanted to go down and check on Alice and see if she was already awake; it wasn't that early, it was around 10 AM already, he didn't think she would be awake but at least to see if she was alright. The only reason he was actually awake was because he couldn't get so much sleep last night, there were too many things going on in his head once again and it was hard for him to concentrate properly, even less to fall back asleep after the first nightmare he had...

In any case, it wasn't the first time he remained awake an entire night, there were days where he didn't get a single minute of sleep by being too busy with his ideas and how to develop them; once upon a time it reached that point where he couldn't keep himself awake to go to school once he fell asleep back in sixth grade, having became a problem for a good while and even having to get an adviser to regulate his sleeping schedule back; it was hard, yes, it took a while to get all of that fixed, right; yet of course that didn't mean he stopped doing so, only sometimes whenever he felt like he couldn't get his head away from overthinking even if he wanted so...

And mostly, it happened whenever he felt stuck for some unknown/unconscious reason.

Sighing deeply, trying to switch back to his common happy-go-luck behavior, lock all the things that uses to bother him into the back of his mind once again and go all the way back on trying to focus in his own ideas, he made himself a morning coffee as his usual breakfast (pretty much, like a certain modern version of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes portrayed by a Benedict with a Cumberbatch as surname giving endless puns to his name, no wonder why he was that skinny). Steve was sleeping in his box, having been eerily calm for the last 24 hours – not like he wanted him to destroy half of his lab once again, it was just... yes, weird, but better than having him breaking important stuff around even if he was his beloved partner in science.

He sat down on his old, orange and trustful rooking chair, blowing to his coffee a bit to cool it down as if tea it was, then took a sip of it...

He won't hesitate to kill anyone if they disobey...

The sound of porcelain breaking against the floor woke the monkey up, scaring him because of the sudden loud noise. The cup of coffee was now shattered on the floor with the dark brown/black-ish liquid completely spilled on the floor as the inventor had his eyes wide open and his hands open in distress, shaking slightly as the tears started to drip out uncontrollably... some of what probably could be considered as his biggest fears were coming back in probably a harder form taking him with his guard as lower as possible, making him... anxious...

"No, no... no it won't happen again Lockwood..." He said to himself, placing his hands upon his mouth once again as his heart raced against his chest faster, "She will be okay... we will be alright... he won't do anything to us... we will be fine... it'll be alright..." He took a very deep breath, whimpering in the process as he tried hard to calm down, "It'll be alright..."

When was the actual last time he ever felt like that? It's been like a couple of years ago after she passed, right? Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome, also, a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks. Normally his anxiety used to come out from his energetic behavior that needed to release its energy through his inventions by building machines or downloading his ideas at blueprints, computer and real life...

And this time it was the second definition of the word.

His only relief right now was to know that danger was away from the island for a few more days, bur time was becoming thinner and he would eventually come back; was he the only one who forgot about everything he's done during the last years? Sometimes he wondered that a lot, if they all forgot that the Devil was the mayor of the town... or probably he was the only one who actually remembered that... he wasn't sure about it to be honest, in part he was sure that the situation of the town was somehow his fault, not just for the defunction of the local economy but for being incompetent to find another sources of money, pretty much keeping it for himself.

There wasn't anything to do against it now, right? Just bite his tongue and keep his thoughts for himself or pay (probably, very) hard the consequences of his acts.

Think about what she told him the day before gave him a slight sign of hope: everyone gets what they deserve at the end, so... everything could go to better too, right? Perhaps not today, neither tomorrow nor the next month, but someday in the following years...

Cleaning up his face with the sleeve of his coat, under the close gaze of his lab partner who still was in his box, he stood up to clean the mess and get himself another cup of coffee. Once done that and after also having washed his face to calm down, he just noticed Steve still looking at him, it wasn't the usual curious/playful stare, he seemed worried... "Stressed." He only said as he intensely looked to his owner.

"It's fine Steve... it'll wear off soon anyways..." It wasn't the first time either, it would wear off soon as much as he was sure about, "We know it will..." His voice cracked once again at the same time his breathing became heavier, he wasn't feeling right, he didn't know if he would though. It wasn't just an anxiety but a constant feeling of worry that didn't stop making him feel sick but something else, something heavy in his chest that was urging him to get out for once at all, related to all the things that she saw yesterday, related to the mayor and related, indirectly to him. His hand was back on his mouth as he felt his throat contracting and his stomach trying to pump up whatever was in its inside, he felt very stressed, much more than the usual... he then feel upon his knees trying to calm down, inhaling and exhaling deeply... "I can't tell her..." He mumbled, "I can't tell her yet..."

His stomach then tugged, making him feel more sick. It was becoming worse, it never used to become that bad, in fact it was the first time in two years he's feeling like being eaten alive... his trembling body wouldn't be able to handle much longer and would end up giving in at the pressure he felt. Steve quickly got out his box and went downstairs like looking out for help, leaving the scientist alone... he couldn't avoid shrink into a ball and hug his legs like a scared child, he wasn't used to feel like that and it felt overwhelming, it made him feel so... petty...

He made a royal effort to calm down, but it felt so pointless, it felt everything, so cold – even much colder than other times. As much as he's been trying to lock down some feelings, they were now coming back harder than he would ever want... and he wasn't even sure why, why he was feeling so... probably afraid would be the right word to it? Because the more he thought about everything, the more anxious he felt; it was a breakdown already...

Perhaps the mere thought of ending up being alone once again was the thing that was keeping him like that, that's all he could think somehow under the pressure of his mind, he didn't want that little girl to leave him alone, and of course, as much as she retired her word about forgetting about her in case she had to leave and not get attached, sooner or later it'd happen, right? Her family was probably looking after her, she wouldn't be able to stay and he had to accept that...

Besides, it wasn't the first time he was alone, right...?

First his mother, then...

"Flint!" A young voice called, "What's wrong?! Please calm down!"

The darkness that was starting to surround him and his view started to fade away as he (barely) could see Alice checking on him in despair, her face discomposed into pure fear calling out his name; his body felt so numb and contracted at the point he didn't feel able to move a single muscle, instead of moving him from his place she quickly moved his limbs so she would be able to hug him as tight as her arms could. It took a long while, she was becoming more and more afraid of his condition until he finally hugged back in the same way she was doing it.

Slowly he sat down, with the small girl crying uncontrollably against his chest due the obvious startle... "I'm sorry for scaring you like this, Alice..." He said, "I promise that I didn't mean to do it..." He couldn't cope with it this time, that was the problem. He couldn't cope with the idea of having to get used back to be alone (not entirely because he had Steve, but because of having a real friend having to part away). In part he blamed that to his moody teenager years though, all the hormonal changes going on and stuff were quite heavy, on the other hand that wasn't entirely the case even if probably had something to do there, "I'm fine now..." That was a royal lie he didn't know she would actually believe in, "I just... have way too much in my head... it's not the first time..."

"You don't have to deal with it alone..." She said weakly against his chest, "You have me to talk with..." He sniffed calling out her attention more, "Please..."

"I don't want you to leave the island..." He felt her surprise, "It's... stupid... I know... but I don't actually want you to leave... I think about it and... it makes me feel... stressed... I don't want to be alone..." There was much more he wanted to say, but his throat didn't let him say anything else either. "A-and I'm sorry for s-scaring you like this again..." He chuckled sadly, with his voice cracking up again, "I'm just... a complete mess..."

He made her release him and look at his eyes; her face was very red for the tears, it made him feel bad once again as it felt like playing with her feelings unawarely. He sniffed hard trying to calm down, the small smile he gave to her turned into a grimace, but other than that, it was alright... instead of cleaning up his face he did it with her, wiping the tears away with his thumbs and then clean up his with his sleeves, then apologized once again for his sudden breakdown; and softly he kissed her forehead, to proceed to hug her once again but less stressed.

Trying to get over that scene they went to wash their faces once again, with the inventor cleaning her face like his mom would, to then pass downstairs holding hands; it was cute indeed, how they looked like brother and sister and how he showed a more human side asides of his technical, science-freaky side. Once they were done with breakfast the young inventor told her that she could go to have some fun with her new friends which was taken with certain insecurity from her...

"Yes, I'm sure about it, Alicia." He said with a smile and using her name.

"I don't know..."

"It'll be alright, I promise I'll be okay. Just stop worrying so much about me and have some fun with your new friends instead," She was surprised that he actually sounded very honest in his words, like more than being a way to distract her mind from his previous breakdown, he did want her to enjoy, "You should enjoy your time with other people asides of me too..." Bittersweetness was palpable again, she hated it.

"You're not a weirdo for me Flint..." She said looking down a bit, "You're just too nice for them..."

Agh! That feeling of melting came back with her sweetness, unable to do anything else but needing to give her a tight hug in response, taking out a giggle from her. Out of sudden everything felt better, and it felt that his relation with her has grown up a bit more than before... her shyness was probably to not get attached to him, that's all what pretty much he could tell, and at least she changed her mind about her previous petition; his scientific side still wanted to play some tests on her, though, he didn't want her to get mad either. Whatever she had to tell he had to wait for it, and as much as it made him go to straight despair because of his cat-like curiosity, he understood her point too.

He had something to tell her too anyways...

It was quite difficult until he managed to convince her to go out and play with the other kids as he did a day ago (even if she broke into an abandoned house and met their former owners), interact with the others... school days were pretty much reaching its end and they had a few day offs as there was nothing else to study about asides of just filling the last remaining days of the school calendar. The only reason he wasn't going to high school anymore was because he struggled a lot to get himself promoted to superior grades due his intelligence, being pretty pointless to keep on stuck in a same place with stuff that he already knew and having ended it just some time ago. Yes, it was hard to convince teachers to allow him a promotion due his age, he didn't really know how he managed to do it, but part of him thought it was just to get ridden of him.

Maybe because he accidentally made the chemistry lab explode twice when he was testing some substances even if he was quite aware of how dangerous that could be, or when he accidentally created this garbage-bot with way too much sass (1) as a science project that at least self-destroyed itself after seeing itself into a mirror... or because his notes at anything related to science, math and derivative were clean and perfect at the point he was almost qualified to give a class himself, even if he kinda sucked way too much with P.E. Or because in the IQ tests he was simply outstanding...

In any case, whatever they were planning, they just got totally ridden of him before anything else exploded and costed them a fortune, getting his promotion ceremony at least... and that was the story in an an utter nutshell.

Why would they even want to keep an outcast/threat like him any longer?

"At least she already left..."

He had something else to do anyways...

.

Five minutes later...

Contrary to the previous clear days, that day was cloudy, with grey clouds passing by in the sky like getting ready to let their water pour down in a soft rain anytime later, making her calculations, it could probably happen at some point in the afternoon past noon, or even near the sunset; but for some other reason she felt like there was something else lurking around, wanting to come near... the clouds felt like telling there was a bad augury incoming, something bad going to happen, but she couldn't understand why actually... it was... odd.

"Wazzup with the gloomy face, Alice?" She looked at Cal out of sudden when he talked to her, snapping her out of thoughts, "You seem to be worried."

"It's nothing..." She hoped it was nothing and just her imagination, "Don't worry about it." Said giving him a smile, then received a look to see if she was being honest and then look away, apparently having believed it. Honestly, she was worried about whatever could be roaming at the point, it wasn't just a hope for being her imagination, she was wishing to be just it.

They were heading to Cassie's home, they were going to meet the kids from the day before for a soccer match as an arrangement they did after retrieving the baseball ball from the haunted house... they passed by there, she felt someone staring from the windows, and as much as she couldn't see them, it seemed like someone was moving the curtains to take a look outside. Maybe they were waving at her even if she was unable to see them, think about that and their kindness made her smile at the house and then back to her path, somehow, dragging the previous thoughts away.

Then they reached her house, finding her already ready to leave with a smile, "They shall put us in the same team!" She said excited, making them giggle, "And I'm being serious, the least they can do is pick the three of us for retrieving their stupid ball from that house yesterday." And she was right about it.

"I don't mind it anyways..." Alice said with a soft voice, "Oddly, it was fun..." She got a weirded out glance from her friends.

"You're still weird..." Cal said, "But you're still cool. Also..." He looked to the sides like paying attention and see if no one else was listening, "I asked to my parents about the house yesterday and... well... you were right when you said that the ghost said she knows my mom..." The lost one in the conversation was the hazel-eyed girl, who looked at them confused, "She said they were good friends as they were the first people to visit us when we first moved here when I was born and... how a few months later it happened..."

"Uh... Flint told me something similar yesterday... he said his parents were childhood friends," She proceeded to explain him what her friend told her before, and how his mom was the one who found out about their deaths in the exact way he told the whole story, showing up concern in the face of her new friends about it, because, of course it was, "And that's all..." The more she thought about it the muddy it felt, surely, at the same time she thought that the greed of a single man was the reason of their deaths.

Had him something else to do with Flint's breakdown...?

The voice of her friends made her snap from her thoughts as she looked at them, rubbing her eyes a bit as if she just woke up. They asked if she was alright, receiving a positive answer, to then get ready to go away to the soccer field behind the school. Sighing deeply she just remained behind them with her mind lost in thoughts about the last three days, taking a look to her surroundings like looking for someone... everything that she was told about the story of the island did something in her mind, being completely aware that there was danger around the place and also many other things buried under the pavements (not literally, but who knew).

His words the previous day when he was talking about Shelbourne put a huge question mark in her mind... he was talking like he witnessed it first-handed, and it felt... overwhelming... How? Well, it was hard to explain but... she could feel his pain when he said about not hesitating to kill if he wanted, which kept meaning that if he really was the one behind the death of the McHale because of their money to have full royalties upon the now defunct cannery (which in the end didn't matter if he had all the power of the world), what would ever stop him from getting ridden of the people he considered a nuisance?

The same fears Flint was experimenting before were coming to her, making her bite her cheeks as she tried to drive those thoughts away. As much as she wanted to keep thinking that everything was going to be alright, she knew that in reality there would be a point where they probably would end up crossing paths and even maybe having a clash having in mind his background could end into a disaster where he... could end immersed in a crossfire...

And he could die...

Unawarely her steps stopped in the middle of the pavement as her gaze went lost to the front, filling her eyes with fear when that possibility showed up... her body started to tremble a bit with the possible ideas of what can ever happen to him, just the idea was... overwhelming... the many things crossing her mind were too much, she wanted to get ridden of them and go back to her previous activities but she was finding herself unable to do so, feeling anxiety started to take over but unlike her friend previously, she wasn't showing signs of it asides of the lost, scared gaze and the trembling body.

It came back: the feeling of something dark incoming, lurking in the shadows like a black cat in a dark night waiting to happen, the weather has been making her feel like that too, but honestly, she's been having that feeling for a long while already, pretty much since she woke up. As much as she hoped for it to be just her imagination, instinct was hardly able to get fooled, it could happen that same day at the same time it was a chance to happen some day after.

There was an actual reason of why she asked him to not get attached, but because of her own feelings towards that teenager she barely knew, that stupid inventor that ended up being such a humble being and turning up the world upside down in certain mode, well, she ended telling him to forget about it. Yes, she ended up regretting about telling him that when she saw that he actually cared about her that much, and it wasn't just fair to make such kind of request when she was unable to not do the same.

It doesn't matter where you hide, I will find you and I will kill you!

"Alice!" The voice of her friends brought her back to reality, she looked to her sides to see that she was now standing in a corner of the street. How any more annoying could be to just unplug from reality out of sudden and get everyone worried for no reason? "Are you okay?" Cassie asked worried, "Gosh, you don't seem so good..."

"I'm alright..." Well, that was quite of a lie because she fully wasn't, "Don't worry..." An excuse to not make them worry about her because of her problems, "Just..." There wasn't an excuse to justify her disconnection from reality this time, "Nevermind..." It was complicated to explain in any way. There were still just many things she wouldn't be able to explain properly even if she wanted. They would probably be afraid of her if she tells them the truth... "Let's go..." The last thing she did there was give them a fake smile even if she was already way too tired of pretending...

She knew that she was going to reach that very point where nothing would be able to be hidden under the carpets anymore, and how everything would explode at some point... and what would happen next?

She made an effort to pretend she was okay for the rest of the way towards the soccer field even if her world was falling down into pieces from behind, but that was the thing she was good at... as long they were oblivious to her reality everything would be alright, right? It uh... had to be like that... right? The less they knew the safer they would all be, or was she trying to protect herself from their reaction? It wouldn't work anyways... as much as she wanted it wouldn't work.

Somehow she repressed the growing desire of running away from them and going back to the lab and hug Flint as tight as she couldn't and tell him the entire truth without caring his reaction or what he could tell her. It didn't matter anymore in that moment, everything she was looking for in that right moment was for comfort and cry, just cry as hard and loud as her lungs could until she couldn't keep going while someone was there hugging her so hard; as much she hated to admit, she became addict to his warmth and kindness...

It was hard to not become too attached to someone like him though, he was gentle, kind, clever, he wasn't just the weirdo everybody else sees, and of course she was agree with the ghosts when they described the young version they knew, because apparently he didn't change his ways from those days despite all the pain he went through... and it was very admirable that he didn't change his ways despite what life has done to him, how unfair were the ways he got treated for so long, and pretty much everything.

He was very admirable in her honest opinion, they just were too dumb to see it.

Then they reached the soccer field, she was looking pale, with her arms trembling softly – almost imperceptible, like holding an anxiety attack growing and spreading in her inside like a wild fire, and again, somehow she was managing to keep all of it down, seeking to have a good time even if she felt her own mood going from up to down in a mere fraction of second, completely revolving her stomach at the point she felt unable to lift up her mood. There wasn't anything she could think about aside of her head being a complete bunch of mixed nuts and utter gibberish coming from one side to another without allowing her to actually know what was going on... and it was becoming so... stressful...

"Alice?" The voice of Cassie made her snap for a moment, making her yelp out of sudden for the surprise, "Hey, are you sure you feel alright? Because you look... pale..."

There was a voice in Alice's mind telling (yelling) her to stop pretending and run all the way back to the laboratory, find Flint and cry at the top of her lungs until she couldn't breath anymore. And of course, again, she didn't...

"I am..." Lies, "I really am..." Secrets and lies, "Don't worry..." She wanted to scream out loud so hard, but all of that energy was stuck inside somewhere, "It's completely okay..." It wasn't even close to be okay, "Just..." She wanted her mom again, she and Flint together to comfort her as much as possible, "Don't mind my stupid arse, okay...?" The more she spoke the more she felt like screaming so hard in silence for help, way too hard, but unable to be heard.

Well, Flint could hear her screams of help since the second day after they heard Talk and how she talked about her life, but he didn't seem able to help her... not yet at least... not unless she told him what the actual problem was.

"Well... listen to me... if you really need to talk, do it with me... okay?" She said, "You're also a friend, and that's what friends are for, right?"

There her body trembled more than before, her face became red at the same time her eyes started to fill up with tears, to then look down whimpering slightly. The hazel-eyed girl then became worried, looking to the group she made her walk away from them to not drag anyone's attention and hug her so tight, receiving it back as hard as she could unable to handle her sobs... and that's where she felt helpless, just being able to handle her breakdown as much as possible. All she knew was that her friend was completely troubled and holding a lot down, and of course she also knew it could become worse if she didn't let it out... they were behind the wooden steps, a place where they would hardly spot them.

"I'm sorry..." Finally the new girl said, "I'm so sorry I... I can't..." Her breathing was way too heavy, having a lot of problems to not be close to choke between inhaling, her hazel-eyed friend made her look to her eyes and focus there, "Cassie I..." She swallowed hard, whimpering in the same way as she tried so much to calm down, "Please... if... if I tell you the truth... can you... please... keep the secret...? I promise to explain you later but... don't tell anybody... I haven't talked to Flint about this yet and... I really, really wanna but... I-I-I'm so s-scared..."

"Sure, what is it?" She asked curious, her friend looked to her sides like paying attention, to then receive another request about not screaming nor doing anything weird even if it was hard... Alice leaned to her ear and told her, for a moment, there was silence, the girl was looking down really stressed, "Alice, are you being serious? I mean..."

"I'm being honest... believe it or not... why do you actually think I could hear them yesterday?!" She asked with distress, the hazel-eyed girl was about to reply, but no word came out from her mouth "I know you may have questions but... please... just... give me some time... I promise to give you more answers later..." As much as she wanted to ask again, the fact of seeing her becoming more and more anxious about it made her hold it.

"Okay Al..." She said, "I trust you..." She gave her a sincere smile as she held out her hand to her, the new girl looked at it for a moment in some sort of disbelief, "Hey, even if it sounds so crazy... you're still my friend... and you have proven to be really nice..." And out of sudden he found herself being tightly hugged by Alice, who was clenching her back apparently not wanting to let go, "It's alright... you can trust me whenever you need it..."

The new girl thanked her over and over again, as if she found a rock to lean against for the moment... it took a few minutes until she finally managed to calm down, sniffing and cleaning up her face, to then crack up a small smile... "Thank you... thank you so much... you don't know how much this actually means for me..."

Maybe she did know, that's why she agreed to do it, right? Well, it could be...

It took a little longer before they went back to the group, who looked at them coming as they realized their absence. There were already two groups of people for the game, apparently, one side was full, and thankfully enough, they were at Cal's side... "What happened to you two?" He asked curious, "Alice? Are you sure you're okay?" She just nodded with a small smile, she wasn't exactly that fine either, but well enough maybe. "Alright, Alice you'll be the goalie, get ready."

He received a nod in response with a small smile, the two groups got ready as a couple of kids went to take seat on the grass. Just a friendly soccer match where rules didn't really matter that much, they all took their positions as she remained in the goal zone looking closely to every movement they did... oh well, at least she was going to be there, because she was normally really bad to tell who was a friend and who was from the opposite band when they didn't use uniforms to tell the difference.

Her senses became active when the sound of the ball being kicked was heard, starting up the match, her eyes darted to far in the distance, seeing them all playing hard trying to get the ball and take it to the goal area. It passed to the other side with a kick with a loud thud-like noise, to then bounce up in the air to middle field as the ones to her side went behind it, the ball bounced against the ground once, and then there was a clash that reminded her to two football players that tried to hit the ball with their heads, with one of the kids clashing with his elbow the chest of his friend making them fall down.

Oof, that must hurt a lot...

The fact of them standing back up and helping each other for it made her see that everything was alright, to then hear the sound of the ball getting kicked again towards her direction... she didn't move for the dismay of everyone in her team... and there was a reason: it bounced against the soccer goal and flew to her left outside, the opposite team made a groan and faces of disappointment as hers thought it was just pure luck, while in reality, she just made a fast calculation to realize that; she quickly then ran towards the ball as it was in her area, getting it, going back to her zone, placing it on the kick spot and take some steps back.

Her eyes searched for Cassie and Cal for a quick moment, spotting her right behind the line of the contrary side, and him closer to the goal zone... she smiled a bit and ran against the ball, apparently missing the kick at first; as a reflect, they all looked back to then realize nothing happened, and in that right moment where they realized is when she actually gave a hit to the ball making it fly straight to the other side upon their heads and right towards Cal, who apparently understood her play; he jumped and hit it with his head, marking a perfect goal that could barely get avoided. "Yes!" She exclaimed now with a playful bright in her eyes at the same time she saw her team celebrating, and tried to remember their faces so she wouldn't be that predictable next time.

And so the game went on, with her remaining in the goal zone, being probably the best gatekeeper they saw in a long while and also having an amazing couple of legs that were able to make long shots that could almost reach the other soccer goal easily, and then in the end an hour later, the victory became theirs! Of course they cheered her for the victory as she didn't let the ball get into her zone in any single moment – which was very impressive. It was almost noon now, Cassie took away Alice for a while with a wide grin upon her face wanting to talk to her...

"Hey, were you... you know..." She said, Alice only nodded, "That was awesome! You completely rocked there!" She said in a joyful manner, "Tell me, what else can you do?"

"Well..." She said blushed, "I also know martial arts and fencing... and I can dance too... well I can... uh... do a lot of things actually..."

"You have to tell me everything!" She exclaimed grabbing her arms and grinning widely, "It's so freaking awesome!"

"Uh... I-I'll do it in another moment Cassie..." Alice said, "H-honestly this is all still weird for me... d-don't get me wrong..." Her friend gave her a smile and a hug, understanding her point, "I'll... go back to the house and get lunch..."

There was another hug, a nod, to then part ways. The girl quickly ran back to the house feeling certain happiness mixed with a slight fear about what she told her... it'd be alright, right? She wanted to believe that, despite the fact she wasn't sure it'd happen or not. The only reason she told her about it was because she needed to let it out, but she was unsure about her reaction after telling her the entire thing and how screwed up the situation actually was... but well, there wasn't a way to back down again, it was too late to do that.

She felt stupid.

It didn't take long until she reached the Lockwood house again, it felt weird, as if something was out of place... quickly she went upstairs calling out the name of her friend, feeling damn tired of hiding it and needing to tell him the truth about everything before it was too late for it; he wasn't anywhere around... it made her feel... uneasy... something was wrong. "Steve!" She called out, his lab partner quickly arrived, "Where's Flint?"

"Out!" The vervet monkey exclaimed. How long did he actually leave? She looked to her sides like seeking for something to help her, to then go to his closet and get one of his clean shirts, "Sniff!" She heard him exclaiming again, she closed her eyes and sniffed the clothe, like trying to focus in his smell like a dog hound...

"I got it!" Twisting on her heels she left the shirt fall and ran out in the same way she came from, before going back inside the house, she got a roll of bandages in case he was hurt and bleeding and another couple of first aid stuff, having in count his wounded arm and in case it opened back, to then pass to the main street and run towards the old cannery...

He was in troubles...

.

A while ago

Now she was away playing with friends, he went back upstairs to get his morning coffee once again, this time having managed to hold up his anxiety and sigh deeply... it's been a nice way to start with his day, wasn't it? Completely break down out of sudden as he tried to keep all his bad thoughts locked away and get back to what he actually cared, to then remember he was still human and someone who cared about the people who approached to him like her and he didn't want to be alone even if loneliness itself was already a good ol' friend.

He looked at Steve, his trustful partner lab to remind himself he wasn't entirely alone, but at the same time, the more he didn't want to remember about it, he knew that despite everything, he was still just a monkey and he needed a real human friend to palliate that feeling more... yeah, his lab partner managed to do that, but just a bit... it wasn't enough, but later on he did manage to get himself over that feeling in part by talking to him and to himself. Subconsciously he still felt as lonely as usual, and there were times he felt brand more lonely than the usual...

It's been so different in the last days...

The reason he always repeated to himself that everything would be okay and it would just go away was because he was already too used to feel like that and make it wear off at some point... but this time... he got that nightmare, and she was there trying to wake him up, to then proceed to hug him as tight as her arms could out of concern; how he cut his arm with glass because of an accident and how scared she was for his condition, the way she actually cared about him... she really, really cared about him so much, and then, what'd happen if she leaves?

He would be alone again...

Come on, it wasn't the first time somebody leaves his side either, right? That's why he couldn't have friends in the way he wanted, because something would come and totally ruin it.

Someone comes, they befriended, something happens, and they're gone...

And it makes him want to cry...

Placing down the empty cup upon his desktop, he went to the bathroom to wash his face for a moment, when he looked to the looking glass all he could see was a beaten teenager with bags under his eyes and a pale skin that only lived with coffee and randomly sardines whenever he didn't have many options though.

His MP3 player was playing music somewhere in his lab, it was a song he heard a long time ago... how was the name...? Oh yes, Breakeven or something like that. The first verses, and mostly the first line of the entire song were the thing that fitted the most to his actual mood, "I'm still alive but barely breathing..." He sung softly, sitting around, with his hands together and looking down.

Just prayin' to a god that I don't believe in... 'Cause I got time while she got freedom... 'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even...

He closed his eyes letting some tears down his face. He remember he first heard that song a couple of years ago when it just came out, and it felt like a pain reliever after...

Her best days will be some of my worst She finally met a man that's gonna put her first...

Even if that wouldn't really ever happen anymore...

While I'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping 'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even, even, no...

He let out a sad chuckle, because it was true though...

What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?

Funny enough, that was a scream from him...

And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK...

Even if she would really never be okay...

I'm falling to pieces, yeah I'm falling to pieces...

Once again, after so long, he was actually crumbling down terribly... harder, stronger, louder... he hated it so much...

They say bad things happen for a reason... But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding...

Oh really? Sure, probably bad things happens for a fucking reason, and then everything it did was leave a crumbled mess out of him, a crumbled, crazy mess that was always hard to clean and could become worse and worse with time...

'Cause she's moved on while I'm still grieving... And when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven even, no

There it came again, with tears flowing down his face, and he was grieving a loss once again...

What am I gonna to do when the best part of me was always you? And what am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK? I'm falling to pieces, yeah... I'm falling to pieces, yeah...

Falling in small, tiny pieces that were almost like smithereens by a glass breaking down...

I'm falling to pieces... (One still in love while the other one's leaving)

That was his case in some way... even if she left long ago...

I'm falling to pieces... ('Cause when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven)

He had his face hiding against his legs, sobbing in silence as he couldn't handle his grief any longer... it's been so damn long since the last time he actually felt like that... of course he hated it so much... yet, it was the constant reminder of how he was still just a human being...

Oh you got his heart and my heart and none of the pain, You took your suitcase, I took the blame, Now I'm try'na make sense of what little remains ooh 'Cause you left me with no love and no love to my name...

The feeling was relatable, yet not exactly his case... it was... almost, very close to an actual experience of a break-up yet harder than that...

I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing...

Once again that was his case... and now he was trying to pour down all the possible pain to feel better at some point of the day, or at least, before Alice came back from the playground...

Just prayed to a god that I don't believe in... 'Cause I got time while she got freedom... 'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break... No it don't break No it don't breakeven no!

Someone make the pain stop...

What am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you and... What am I suppose to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK? (Oh glad you're okay now) I'm falling to pieces yeah... I'm falling to pieces yeah...

I'm falling to pieces (One still in love while the other ones leaving) I'm falling to pieces yeah ('Cause when a heart breaks no it don't breakeven)

Oh it don't breakeven no...

The song was fading away as he was on the floor now, curled up in a ball crying in silence feeling like a complete baby and also... uh... overexposed could be a right word for it? Well, probably it was the right word for his actual mood even if there was nobody around asides of his lab partner, he tried to calm down so much, but he entirely felt unable to do that at the moment. All he wanted was to switch back to his happy-go-luck/creative self and turn off this side of his he used to hate a lot...

It took around five more minutes before he decided to stand up and get back to the bathroom to clean up his face, this time avoiding to look at his reflex on the mirror. Sighing deeply he seemed ready to leave the lab, opening the windows to let some air get in; for a moment his arm felt like stinging, right in the spot where he got the cut last day, to then get another reminder of her kindness... "Stop it!" He exclaimed to himself, "Just stop it! Don't think about it anymore or you'll get it worse...!"

He felt so stressed... just, too much, way much more than he wanted... he was feeling horrible, like a complete wreck, he couldn't think right... shaking his head he went downstairs, cracking up his fingers one by one still seeking to calm himself down one way or another without success, biting his cheeks gently. He passed through the sliding door, with his eyes looking down in every moment as he kept trying to remain with a low profile, not wanting to people seeing him cry...

One thought: keep walking, just that. Then he mumbled, "Fuck..." He wanted and needed a flower... biting his lower lip he searched for a rose, whatever color it was from a bush, or whatever flower in his way – no, no... he couldn't just pick up one randomly, it had to be something special... where were those blue campanulas he used to get whenever he was going to visit her? There was one house that got those beautiful flowers in the front yard against the fence, being one of those few things that actually made the town colorful...

It was nearby his destiny so... he could pick up some...

So he did, once he reached the house, he gently cut off a branch full of those flowers he considered pretty, the owners didn't have any problems about it anyways, they've seen him doing that a couple of times, yet they never said anything about it. In a normal case, anyone would've kicked him away from there; slowly he kept walking, there was no one around the street this time, either in their works or still sleeping, he didn't know, he didn't care right now... the smell of the flowers were making him calm down, mixing up with a feeling of melancholy...

Looking to his sides, he reached a different house: a huge, two-floored house that was bigger to the back side, with a bright, white color and black roof; the porches was of the same color as the roof. Among all the things around the entire city, that... mansion was pretty much the only place that looked renewed and relatively fresh... he sighed deeply, knowing that he was safe as the owner – the crazy madman they had as a mayor was still away in the States.

He was still alone there, so he slowly stepped into the front yard, but instead of going to the front door he went to a side towards a spotlight... sighing very deeply, he slowly opened it and looked to the dark inside of the wide basement, which seemed quite empty in some parts. There was no one around neither nobody seemed to be at home, so he quickly turned around to enter... the air was cold, the ambient heavy, there were a few things around he couldn't see right, he didn't really care though and went to the darkest corner of the room... the closer he got, the slower he went... a few tears were rolling down his cheeks as he bit his lower lip nervous... then, there he was...

"Hey Mar..." He said with his voice trembling softly, "I'm sorry for not having came in a while but... I've been waiting for him to be away because... you know... I don't want troubles..." There was a brief silence as he teared up more, sniffing hard as he cleaned up his face, giving a grimace, "H-hey... how have you been...? I... I brought you some flowers..." He went closer to that corner, from what was seen, there was a white coffin surrounded with flowers of several kinds, he left his in a place hidden, "Heh... do you remember when you told me how much you liked these campanulas...?" There was an overwhelming pain growing in his inside, "H-hey... I-I met someone... nice a-a few days ago..." His body was shaking as he took a brief pause, swallowing hard once again, "Her name is Alice... she's... uh... ten years old... and... she's... amazing..." He was now shaking more as the words trembled out, to then sniff, "She... she's not... not from here... uh... she's from... far... away... and..." He whimpered softly trying to control his emotions, something he was miserably failing at, "You'd... probably like her..." He gave a small smile, sniffing once again, "I mean she's so different from kids of her age and stuff and... I wish you were still here..."

He couldn't avoid to fall down and sniff again, starting to cry in silence at the feet of the coffin... "I'm really sorry... you're here because of me... I should be the one down here and not you... you didn't deserve this..." It was really silly to talk to someone who was dead, right? Scientifically it was impossible for them to hear a living as they were already dead, regardless that, there he was once again, having done the same all over again during two years... and now he felt like he really, really needed to do it again.

He poured out his pain for a long while, he wasn't sure how long exactly asides of just needing to do it, he laughed, softly for a moment before it turned into a sob as his forehead leaned against the coffin... he tried to control himself, conscious that he didn't have long before anyone, maybe got in; he was good enough hiding though, yet, in any way he didn't want to get into any sort of troubles even if the owner – better said the mayor wasn't in the island... how long they still had freedom from him? Five, four days? It didn't matter in that moment if he was honest... he didn't care anymore, it was just... enough... besides who would even miss him in the island if he left to the other side?

Just... just... you and your father... don't get too... attached to me... because I'll only make you suffer...

She probably didn't really care about him though... everything she was doing was just pretend... "But why do you think she's pretending with you, Lockwood?" He quickly raised up his gaze and looked to his sides, swearing to God he heard this unknown voice that seemed to come from an old man... was he already nuts? Heh, he wouldn't be surprised anymore if he was... and he didn't have any strength to get up again, just leaning gently against the white, sealed case once again, sighing deeply, "She really loves you, believe it or not... why do you think she ended up regretting for asking you to forget about getting attached to her?" The voice said again, "There's nothing in this world that's been making her as happy as you, and she really, really cares about you... or you think she wouldn't have gotten scared when you cut your arm yesterday, or when you had your breakdows?" There was a brief pause, "She gave you his heart... don't toy with it..."

He didn't reply for a while, feeling just too low to think for an answer until he said, "I don't wanna lose her too..." He said, sniffing harder as he whimpered softly, "I just don't want her to leave me alone again... I'm so tired of being lonely and... I'm used to it but... it's so hard to go back there after someone approaches... I hate this feeling but... I cannot help it... not... right now..." His chest felt like aching, almost burning in pain, "I'm just afraid... because everything I touch gets ruined..." He sniffed again, "First my mom... and a few years later was her... I don't want Alice to be the next now..." Pour out all his pain to the nothingness like that was starting to make effect, making his chest feel less and less hurt and pressed, "I have to talk to her about her now... I really need her to know about this or else..." It would end up eating him alive in a worse way than ever.

Slowly everything became clear as his sorrow started to low down, lifting up his head as he stood up, feeling his legs wobbling like jelly with a resolution... he had to talk about it to Alice no matter how much it could hurt, because despite everything, she was smart and understanding – more than anyone of her age of course. Even with the darkness of the room, it was notorious his red face and his eyes in bloodshot for the tears, in part he felt like a ghost, but that feeling was less hard than it was a while ago; he really, and actually really needed more than ever to talk to Alice about her, because he already needed to let everything out... "Mar... before I go, I... I love you..."

Cleaning up his face he got ready to leave, feeling a weight having being lifted up from his shoulders and cracking up an almost imperceptible smile, to then shake his body a bit in order to feel it, cracking his neck releasing tension. Now he had it clear, finally, after days everything started to become clear... there he headed to the same spotlight where he got in and climbed out, carefully to not being spotted by anyone – mostly and even less from Earl who could actually now confuse him for a burglar and Brent who lived in the house, and never was aware of his visits... the coast was clear, he could leave in peace.

In normal cases he would wait until night was at its zenith to visit her, when everyone was asleep. Not at midnight, but somewhere during 2:00 or 3:00 AM when he couldn't have any sleep and he actually needed to get there. It wasn't the first time, neither the last, no one never saw him neither getting in nor out, otherwise, a long time ago he could've gotten himself into a list of disappeared people, that was for sure. This time the (his) situation was unhandable, one he couldn't take any longer because of the many things that's been passing through his head over and over again from here and then and his stupid anxious arse screaming things and whispering gibberish and... it was too much. Much more than he could handle already.

Who is she? What happened to her? Well... they–

"Hello nerd!" He heard a familiar voice from behind, this time it wasn't Brent but the voice of one of his annoying peers, "Where are you going? Huh?" He turned around, the two friends of his usual bully were now hanging out without him, "And where is your little girlfriend?" One of them was smiling, like telling that he was in serious troubles for what happened a couple of days ago.

"I really gotta go Alex," He said firmly, "I have something to do right now..." They started to laugh a bit at his statement, completely belittling it making the young inventor bite his lower lip a bit in response, feeling a growing danger in the air... he had to leave now.

Flint quickly turned around ready to run off, hoping to do it in time, but in that same moment he felt a grip around his arm, right where he got that cut a day ago making him flinch in pain even if the grip wasn't exactly that tight. Well it actually was and the pain there was worsening, making him hiss in pain as well, "Oh but we wanted to take you somewhere, Lockwood!" The other one said, the one known now as Alex held his arm slightly tighter with a grin, "Does it really hurts you? Oh, we didn't know you even were that fragile." There were more laughs from them as the pain kept growing, making him flinch more than before.

"Henry please let me go..." He yelped, sniffing a bit, "It really hurts...!" It wasn't until they saw blood staining his coat when they didn't let go, maybe that wound was closed, but it was still relatively new and sensible; he panted heavily, now feeling fear for whatever they had planned for him and Alice wasn't close to save him this time. That's why they came to him now, he didn't get out his house the day before, and now he was wandering alone again around, "Leave me alone..." He said again, stepping back from them like a scared cat.

Then he ran away, with them behind him. The pain in his arm was loud and horrible, as if something was constantly stitching his nerves over and over again with invisible needles, he first looked back and then to his way needing to hide and get back his way to home. Sadly enough, they were stomping his heels and he was right in the opposite direction from his house towards the cannery, but at least he had some distance from them... oh geez, where was Earl when he needed him?

On a bright side, his skinny-looking self was a good way to hide up his actual body shape: he was light and fast, incredibly, fast enough to get two football chasers away from him. Sometimes he thought that his constant accidents with his inventions, the falls, the hits, explosions and stuff made him gain a lot of endurance for those kind of cases... somehow it was surprising, such a shame his skin didn't become of stone or something, that'd be useful as hell. Anyways.

All the ways leaded them towards the cannery in the end, with the inventor having jumped the fence easily while his chasers took a few minutes to do it, giving him enough time to get in and find a place to hide; the inside was way destroyed than it looked from outside, with parts of the walls, ceiling and floor already down with large holes around; there were old conveyor chains around, old, rusty cans and many chains around the ceiling, with traces of fire left on what was seen from the walls... it brought... painful memories of course.

He had to be careful where he stood, or else he could fall to the ocean, and that wasn't pretty much an option – or was it? Oh, no it wasn't, as much it was a good idea that part had its dangers too. "Think fast Lockwood before they come..." He said to himself, who knew what were they planning to do this time anyways. He didn't want to find out either, all he knew is that they'd just humiliate him so much at the point he wouldn't be able to get out his laboratory for the rest of his life as a minimum. They always could get a way to mess up with him, even if they couldn't give him a wedgie, they still always found a way to hurt him...

Oh... tall places were good, right? He wasn't sure now, the rush wasn't allowing him to think straight either, yet in part he could... kind of. The platforms were unstable, rusty, damaged, and if he didn't have enough care he could fall and get a worse hit than the ones his inventions gives him already; he kind of wondered this time if the mayor paid them to torture him out of sudden, having in mind they were being slightly more aggressive and active than usual and of course they just loved to mess up with him as well, a good bribe was enough to get them working as he wanted. The only reason they didn't get him before was because he was either in his laboratory or with his father, and the affair of two days ago was with Alice... fuck.

"Lockwood!" The voice of Alex was heard from there, making him yelp. It was too late to hide upstairs, he had to sort out the gaps and dangers of the lowest floor of the entire cannery, which at the same time felt better than risking his life twice by sorting out the gaps up there, which was more unstable... he heard his own breathing becoming quick as he ran up the conveyor chains, to then land safely back to the floor being careful to not get it broken, already finding himself having ran half of the place and in a tall place when they arrived, to then keep going fast...

They were two against one, if they were just slightly clever enough they'd split their ways to get him one way or another, something they haven't done yet. He felt tired already, having not taken care of the wound yet now it started to bleed once again, just reminding it actually and still hurts a bit of pretty much a lot and how he shouldn't be forcing his muscles, but that wasn't happening and he had no other choice either, as everything had a limit, he would hit it anytime soon, and he was completely conscience of that...

There was a way he would be able to get out, which was get this hole on the other side of the cannery that would lead him outside upon a dock that would take him back to the shore which would be an Olympic lap towards his house. It was like a light at the end of a long cave, and he completely had hopes of getting away with it, isolating the pain of his arm away, the dizziness, and keeping himself focused on it... then, his foot got against something making him trip and roll a couple of times... getting him dizzy and his head spinning... without hesitating he stood back up, having to lean against whatever was next to him and keep going... it was so close... he was close...

"Lockwood!" He felt a grip from the collar of the back of his neck that made him turn around and get stomped against whatever he used to lean, his breathing was heavy as the ambient felt like decaying as well, "Were you going somewhere else?" Henry asked, receiving a scared stare from the inventor. "Oh, are we scaring you? Do you want your little girlfriend here with you?" He couldn't feel his wounded arm anymore, with the adrenaline rushing throughout his entire body and feeling his heart drumming against his chest... whatever they were planning... he didn't know...

"Alice!" He shouted starting to tear up, his voice echoed all over the place in an empty cry of help... he was just... scared as hell, "Help–!" There was a tight grip upon his mouth, even though maybe no one would hear him, they probably wanted to make sure no one would hear him. His blue eyes were wide open like plates as he let out a muffled whimper, breathing heavily and feeling how the air started to lack from his lungs at the point he felt like about to pass out...

This was going far from the usual... and it wasn't good...

The grips of Alex were tight, both the one upon his chest and the one upon his mouth, maybe he was a bit more superior than them in some physical stuff, but he had everything to lose whenever it comes for strength. The two first looked to each other like trying to decide what to do to completely humiliate him this time, he only wanted to flee somehow, there wasn't a way he'd be able to get away from them this time and he had to resign himself with the 'punishment' they had planned... "We can tie him up with his underwear!" Henry said, "You know, his 'wedgie-proof' underwear can be useful for some things!"

"He can also have a bungee ride from the roof! I'm sure he'd love it!" He tried to shake his head, but he couldn't, he hated the idea a bit of way too much, and of course they were getting him more and more scared.

"Yeah but how the fuck do we get there?" He relaxed just a little bit with the question, because it was fairly a good one. "Oh well we can find a way, can't we?" Shit... "Whatever. Get some chains to drag him upstairs then." There was a grin from his friend, who was ready to do what he asked and making the inventor get anxious once again, whimpering and trying to set himself free from them.

'Alice please... please come here...' He thought scared, 'Help me...' He could wish for somebody else maybe, but something deep inside was telling that she would be able to help him in case she ever realized where he was and how bad his situation was. He just wanted somebody to aid him before they could do their things on him...

Then they heard the sound of steps in a high place, chains being grabbed.

*whistle*

The bullies looked back, but they didn't see anything, Alex felt how his grip suddenly loosened as he then realized that the inventor was high in the air being held by feet under his armpits, seeing that oh surprise! Alice just saved him. Everything happened too fast, even for the scientist, who took a good moment to realize what just happened... the pair of bullies quickly ran behind them as Alice let go one side of a chain she was using to swing around and landed in a platform that almost fell down, to then pull the rusty metallic object and drag it with her as they went to the internal stairs; he was about to run down, but for his surprise she clashed against the wall in front of them opening a hole wide enough for both of them to get out. For a moment he wondered how, then he pretty much attribute it to the weak structure of the cannery...

"Flint, come here!" She said spinning the chain fast like trying to get towards somewhere, they heard the sound of their screams getting near fast, "We will be alright, just hold me tight!" Her eyes were looking all over the place looking for a ledge or somewhere safe to jump and swing, without hesitating and prisoner of the panic he did what she asked, completely aware of the closeness of the bullies, "Got it!" She found an old lamp up in the distance, aiming at it she tossed the chain, making it spin twice against it, carefully she pulled it to see if it'd be able to handle their weight, hearing the sound of their steps already going up the stairs.

"Alice they're coming!" He screamed scared, holding her tight.

"Get ready!" In the right moment the pair was about to get them, she jumped down as they swung from the backside of the cannery to the side, in direction towards the exit.

He couldn't avoid looking back, feeling tired already for all the thrills, seeing the chasers looking at them get away to then go all the way down once again, the wind against his face because of the friction made him have a very deep breath as he kept trying to hold her tight, about to pass out for everything that's been happening in the last... twenty minutes (?); near the ground she released the chain, making them fly and land upon an old container and roll... he was already tired of running, he didn't feel able to run any longer...

The girl quickly carried him on her back and jumped down, dragging him to somewhere out of sight to check on his arm, sniffing in the process to see how stained his white coat was... carefully she removed it, feeling sticky, she yelped a bit when she saw how bad it was: the bandage used to cover it was completely stained, showing that he did lose a lot of blood, and the lack of color in his skin could tell that a lot more than it should; he gave her a smile trying to ease her, but it was futile this time. Quickly she got out some of the things she took from the lab, ready to clean up his arm, removing the bandage she proceeded to clean his arm, with him biting his blue shirt to avoid screaming at the top of his lungs how much it stings, twitching in pain and holding it as long as possible...

They heard their voices then, making the girl rush with the healing and cover it with new and fresh bandages and securing them to last until they reached a safer place to check it in a proper way – maybe going to Waterfront Street and asking Tim to take him to the hospital even if Flint would refuse; they waited a long while, trying to keep low profiles and avoid being spotted, and it probably wouldn't take long until they could get spotted... "Liz..." He said, she looked at him, "I'm scared..."

He felt her hand holding his, trying to make him believe that everything's not lost and they'd be alright... slowly they got out their hideout and took a peek, looking around for the two chasers... wait, they just realized that Henry was in the distance, but where was–?

She then felt how someone gripped her from behind and got him away from her friend, making him yelp in surprise, to then feel how he was tackled down by the other one. "I can't believe it worked!" One said with a grin, the girl lowered her head feeling bad now for having lowered her guard as well, to then clench her fist as a few tears were starting to drip down her eyes. Flint on the other hand got his arms behind his back breathing heavily once again amazingly scared... he was just looking down as Henry held him tight... so much running for nothing... and he was already tired enough to fight back...

It was that moment where he had to give up... right? He already tried everything to avoid capture and now there they were... how pathetic... on the other hand Alice was trying to think on something; maybe she wasn't struggling, but that didn't mean she would give up yet... there weren't just ideas in her head to let them go. "What are we gonna do now?" Henry asked, Alex seemed to think on something.

"Why don't we play in the toilet with him and leave the girl locked somewhere?" He asked with a grin, making his peer curve one too, "We can lock them in the old abandoned house too afterwards!" Such a fine couple of bullies who didn't have troubles in dragging a girl into their bullying towards the inventor, which was something that made her feel sick, "We just have to be careful to not drag anyone's attention if we'll do it. Should we get tape for it?" Oh my fucking God they were totally nuts indeed, on the bright side, at least the couple living in the house would probably be nice enough to set them free afterwards. His friend's grin widened with the proposal; the girl gave a glance to her friend, seeing that he wasn't reacting and being just resigned to whatever they were still planned... it just broke her heart...

Flint wasn't just thinking on anything anymore, being totally emptied from his thoughts, completely resigned to cope with them, unable to think, already careless of their plans... for once he was about to get away with it, and even more with her but... they were at their mercy now, right? And he was already really tired, not just for the rush but for the blood loss as well, he couldn't act anymore, he reached his limits, he was done. Totally and completely done for the day – or even the week, he didn't know nor care. They were ready to leave, only to see Brent coming in their direction looking confused this time...

Alice looked to him for a moment, showing a serious face as his peers cheered him up as he 'arrived just in time for the fun', she again looked at her friend, he still wasn't reacting, she wondered if he passed out as she couldn't see his face. "I heard you were here, what the heck is going on?" He asked sounding slightly... annoyed, to then look at the inventor and the girl.

"We captured a nerd and his girlfriend!" Alex said, making the girl roll her eyes in response, making her mumble something in Spanish. The older bully seemed... actually hesitating between let them go and make what his peers wanted, that's where she wondered if he was like that to like them or if he was actually like that and he casually wasn't in the mood for it. "Let's have some fun with them!" He opened his mouth to say something, but then he noticed her glance and how she asked him non-verbally to leave them alone, "Come on Brent, are you hesitating this time? You love to play with this loser a lot!"

"Well I–"

"Brent..." the girl said, "Please leave him alone..." Her voice was low yet sweet with a hint of despair, "Please... just look at him..." He did the asked and saw him, seeing him so languid and pity and the big red spot around his right arm, with his head low, what looked like tears down his face to the soil... "Leave him alone..." She said, "I'll take his place instead..."

There was a dead silence for a moment, seeming all surprised with her request.

"Alice..." The inventor said in a weak way, "Please... it'll be alright..." She shook her head, "Let's go... I accept whatever you have planned anyways..." He heard her sniffing, "Just get her out of this... she got nothing to do here..." It was true, yet she didn't care at all. If it meant saving his already worn out friend from torture then that was alright for her, he really needed a break and recover again, let his arm rest, everything. He insisted them to go despite the pleas of his friend, raising up his gaze he looked at Brent with a tired glance that showed resignation, feeling ready to face it.

She felt helpless at that point... she had an option but... she didn't want to do it... there was this voice in her mind, one arguing with her about how much of no choice she had to prevent all of it without going wild, but she completely refused at it, wanting to find another way... she snapped a bit from thoughts when she heard one of them asking if by any chance he brought tape, to then look at all of them concerned as hell. They weren't going to go back to the town for obvious reasons, having to find their 'fun' there now they were alone, she looked at the fat one of the group like begging him to change their mind and let them go, something they'd probably do if he told them...

But he looked away...

Indeed, that completely felt like a bucket of cold water that enraged her...

"Brent let us go..." She said, her voice changed in that moment, sounding now slightly aggressive, "I swear to God I don't wanna go wild so let us go!" Indeed that non-verbal action made her angry, preferring to ignore his conscience and do it more than let them just go. Of course he statement made the other two laugh, just pinching her nerves already.

They only ignored her threat, in harsh movement Henry made the inventor move his feet, to then hold again the same spot where he was wounded, this time he didn't flinch but let out a scream of pain.

That just added fire to the volcano.

"Enough!" She shouted – roared angrily, she got an arm free surprising Alex, to then grab his arm and incrust her nails tight, making him flinch and lose his grip from her. With the other arm free, she hit his chest with the elbow to push him away with an aggressive nature she was trying to hold down but couldn't anymore, surprising all the others and receiving a confused and surprised glare from Flint. Her captor tried to take her down from behind again, only to get avoided and get a hard, amazingly hard punch right on his face...

If he could make a quick comparission before his mind completely shutted down, it felt like a big, heavy fucking boulder just hit his face damn hard at the point he felt his jaw broken. It was that hard at the point his body flew a few meters backwards, rolling around and fell unconscious, with his nose bleeding and being looked with fear by the two remaining teenagers and the half-conscious young scientist... Enough was enough, she didn't want to get there, but there wasn't another option. She looked now at Henry with fierce in her eyes, showing coldness and hate and looking completely open to beat his face if he didn't let go her friend... without hesitation he did it, making him fall down, and then feel a hit right on his stomach product of a header, making him fall backwards and cough for air...

And Flint saw that too, feeling impressed and... scared...? She was angry indeed, but he didn't think she could actually get that aggressive either... it was impressive and scary at the same time... he couldn't think straight... then she looked at Brent in the same angry way, yet, he swore he saw her eyes burning in rage towards him, "Alice..." He said, but it was late. When he realized she launched himself towards the remaining teenager and hit his face too, once, twice, and harder; the remaining bully tried to defend himself, but he couldn't she was somehow just stronger and agile than him...

There he fell to the ground as she didn't stop hitting his face over and over again in a blind rage, with every hit becoming heavier as the tears jumped out her eyes, clenching her jaws tight as if she was still containing a lot of rage inside, letting it burn wild... "I fucking told you to leave us alone! Didn't I?!" She screeched to not scream raging; from Flint's side, it took a good while until he realized he had to realize what was going on due the tiredness...

"Alice please stop!" He said, as if that was a command, in the right moment where she was going to hit him again, her punch stopped, remaining still like a statue... her eyes lacked of bright, looking like an angry beast in its lowest instincts instead of a person, something terrifying indeed. The inventor quickly went to get her from under her arms and drag him away from Brent, who was barely conscious and probably with his nose possibly broken... he didn't say anything anymore...

"You're not a human..."

"You're a fucking idiot!" She roared again furiously out of her temples, with her mind probably lost somewhere letting her indignation and rage speak instead, "I told you to leave us alone but no! Of course you had to keep going with this, right?!" The tears were streaming down her eyes uncontrollably, about to get back and keep punching his face so hard until he couldn't do anything anymore, but being held by her friend to hold that back, "Your parents would be so fucking disappointed of you..." She hissed that with all the possible venom in her voice, showing up her complete rage and disgust, that mention made him look at her surprised, "Because they're too good and sweet to have such kind of fucking human waste as a son..."

Without being able to keep it anymore, she took her friend's arm and dragged him away, being careful from not doing any more harm on him... it was almost noon and they were all wasted already – emotionally talking I mean. While she kept his glance up in her way, Flint couldn't avoid look back for a moment, seeing Brent starting to cry on the floor as Henry went to check on him and help him to get up, seeing, too, how he refused to it...

And he was still scared though...

It took a while before they reached back the laboratory, with her sitting him on his bed and taking off his lab coat, placing it somewhere safe ready to check on his wound again, but he couldn't think straight... when she was going to place her hands on him, he quickly rejected them with a slap, surprising and scaring her for his act and making Steve hide feeling strong, negative emotions filling the air... all she saw in his eyes was fear...

"Don't fucking touch me!" He shouted out of his mind, too. All the ups and lows of the day made him already unstable summed up with the lack of blood; it was still a surprise that he was awake, "Why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Flint I just..." She tried to say, gulping and tearing up again.

"Just what?! Eh?! Tell me!" He was completely out of his mind, making her step back in fear as the tears were just falling down her face, "You're a fucking monster! That's what you are!" With those words he got some realizations... "You're not even human..."

"I-I was going to–"

"Of course!" He said like a madman, she was scared as hell, "That makes sense! Why you ended up in the middle of the ocean out of sudden, why you don't wanna talk about your life, why you can hear fucking ghosts! Why you brought a fucking sword with you! It makes sense why you fucking have so much strength! Because you're a fucking alien! Aren't you?!" She opened her mouth to say something, but he didn't let her speak, "Why are you here?! Are your race planning on taking over the planet?! Are you planning to abduct me?! Tell me! Why should I keep trusting you if all you have done is lying to me?!"

His hand went towards his nightstand, and then the sound of a broken glass was heard... that was the thing that made him snap and look down, seeing the crystal heart she gave to him shattered on the floor... just that was the thing that actually made him realize he just commited a huge mistake by screaming at her after saving him from them, but it was too late. See her gift broken on the floor made her pass from a face of fear to one of rage once again... he tried to apologize, but she snapped at him.

"I fucking hate you!" She shouted angrily, "You're a fucking idiot! And yes, I am not entirely human, but all I've been doing all this time is run away from them! I'm not like them and all I want is some peace! Understand?!" She was completely out of her mind too now, and incredibly mad at his reaction, "I can't believe I actually trusted you!" Those words were worse than all the wounds his body could receive, "I knew it was a mistake...!"

She turned around and went to the window, opening the metallic curtain of it to jump down to the sides of the building as Flint tried to reach her and Steve following from behind too, then he tried to get her back by going down through his elevator, she just walked furiously to the inside heading to the front, door, hearing a soft grumble of a thunder in the distance... fuck. She called out her name in an attempt of trying to talk to her and clarify some things, but she didn't listen at all, pretending to not hear it. His monkey quickly got to her shoulders, she didn't only placed a hand upon his head and placed him down gently, reaching the front door and opening it, slamming the door right on his face. Not losing time he opened it and ran towards her, grabbing her wrist in order to force her to listen.

It didn't work.

Instead, she did quite the same of what he did before, shaking his hand away and looking straight to his eyes with rage, screaming to him to not touch her and leave her alone... he felt this invisible force coming from her pushing him backwards, but not violently, it was like a strong wind that made him slide his feet on the pavement... of course that dragged other people's attention, to see how the new girl and the freak of the town were having a strong argument...

And finally, after yelling him hurtful stuff, she ran away as fast as her legs could towards the forest, sobbing in silence with the tears covering her vision. Earl, Regina and Cal saw her, her friend tried to stop her, but she didn't do it, just wanting to escape from there...

He felt the stares of everyone upon him, he didn't care, only seeing her running away until she was lost from view. One raindrop, then two, seven, many started to fall as another soft grumble of a thunder passing by was heard in the distance, to then find himself alone in the rain, with his tears in disguise with the water falling from the sky... he heard Steve calling him an idiot for it, and he agreed...

Then there was just this small, only one thing that crossed his mind...

"What have I done...?"

...

(1): From episode five of the CWACOM series called "Who You Calling Garbage?"

...

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Rain, English & A City Without Cars

September 17th, 2017

Belgium is a very grey country, so I find days like today exceptionally beautiful. It’s odd since I personally happen to prefer cloudy weather, but while I love my cloudy Belgium, those days where the sun comes for a quick visit are still quite wonderful ^^. Especially since it’s been a week full of temperamental rain. Rain here is odd in the sense that it isn’t consistent, it could be raining like the end of the world, but then five minutes later it’s not even sprinkling? As someone from California, (where rain itself is odd) it’s going to take some getting used too, but I can already tell that I like this a lot better than California heat. This week hasn’t exactly been the most eventful so I won’t cover everyday, but I’ll touch on the main things. For one thing, they changed our Schedules and the one I got is complete and utter trash. Like I know my last schedule wasn’t the best out there, but it sure was way better than the one I have now. It’s almost like they shredded my old schedule and tried to piece it together again. Y'all are probably confused so let me explain. Basically, in my previous schedule I got out of school two hours early on monday and tuesday, but I don’t get out early at all anymore. Now I just start school two hours late on Mondays, but I still have to get up at the same time because of the bus. Speaking of buses, if it wasn’t for a girl in my Bio class, I don’t think I would’ve gotten to school or home on Thursday and Friday XD. Due to the Fête de Wallonie, the buses got moved around a bit so I’m so lucky that we take the same bus cause I would’ve been so screwed without her. I’d like to think that I’m getting used to the bus system, but the fact that I only know how to use on of the lines is a bit of a reality check XD. School has been pretty good, the fact that it’s mostly indoors is a blessing with all the rain that goes on here. I have to say that I’m not a big fan of the stairs though. It’s also kinda nice to have a locker even if I choose not to use it. The classes themselves are getting millimeters easier as the days pass, which is good because I happen to enjoy actually knowing what’s going on XD. I’m glad to report that my French, History/geography, and Religion teachers are all super chill ^^, especially my French teacher which is really nice since I’m definitely not very good when it comes to that class. I Manage (with a lot of help) though, which is pretty good for now and it can only get better from here! It kinda makes me sad that my level of French isn’t high enough to understand everything because he seems like a funny guy ;-;. Not to mention, that the book we’re reading seems like it’s so well written from what I can get out of it and I can’t even fully enjoy it. I can definitely say that I like it better than most stuff they make us read in California though. If anything, the only class I have a “problem” with is definitely English (which also happens to be my favorite) cause while I didn’t expect the class to be like my English classes back in Cali, I didn’t expect to have to actually learn to read that gibberish phonetic thing from the dictionary. Nor did I expect to have better English than my teacher, which I should have seen coming. It’s weird being taught by someone who isn’t fluent, but I’ve definitely  learned and noticed some things that I never knew/did before. The one problem I have with the class is that, while she asked me and Kaspars to correct her if she’s wrong, it’s not just a quick thing? She always gets pretty defensive and we end up having this long discussion about it all while she tries to convince us that she’s right even when she’s obviously not? Like once she said that “Pot” and “Cup” made the same sound and literally everyone in the class was confused, but it still took us a while to convince her of her mistake -_-. I don’t fault for any of this since it must be hard for her to be corrected in front of her class, but it gets a bit annoying sometimes. Once she brought up Shakespeare to defend herself and I was just like …ok? But other than that, it’s a good class except sometimes I feel like she gives us work that’s a little above the level of the other students. Yesterday, we spent sometime in Louvain la Neuve which was really nice cause I had some really good Peach  gelato and got a quick glimpse of city life without cars. I really wish I took some pictures, but I guess there’s always the internet.

See y’all next Sunday, 

Raychel

(P.S Yes I know its Monday morning, but Tumblr ran my original post through a cheese grater so)