We are Tyrhelwyr

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

betwix Applemistress and RES

---

Another day, another waiting game
A little different but it's still the same
I am here, but where's the one I'm longing for?
I'm having trouble feeling all alone
Will my heart ever find a home?
I want to hope but sometimes I just don't know
I know I'm not the only one
-For Those Who Wait (FIREFLIGHT)

---

Pushing the squeaky screen door open to the heavy curtain of cold droplets of water, Saraph took one glance outside and then sighed heavily with frustration. In the driveway he watched as Sasha's car was backing out of the wet gravel driveway in a black truck, year 3008. His older brother worked at a real estate firm up in the northern district of New Atlantis.

Pulling out his 8G Zirex cellphone, Saraph starting texting to his brother's phone since Sasha always had it turned on, 24/7 for home calls and messages while his other work phone was forgotten in his office, hence the haste to leave home.

'You suck turds big time, Slash' to Slushy from Rayf.

He sent the text to his brother before glaring down at the ground where he could see the heavy raindrops actually ricochet off in noticeable splashes!
Zipping up his dark green windbreaker and pulling his sweater's hoodie over his head, Saraph shouldered his backpack and ran out into the rain. Behind him, his mother shook her head and closed the door, not bothering with the screen as it swayed in the rain.

---

His shoes were mushy, squeaking and making wet streaks as he walked through the tiled hallway of New Vangelis once entering through the side door of the building. His baggy clothes and sweater felt heavy with all the water the fabric soaked up. Knowing well that no teacher of his would want him making puddles wherever he went, Saraph headed for his locker where he kept a extra pair of clean clothes, a towel and a brush. It took another half hour but at least now he was less waterlogged except for his hair, and his wet clothes were on the way to be cleaned in the lower level's laundry mat.

Running long fingers through his damp purple hair, Saraph jogged towards his next class while shuffling through his notebooks for the papers he needed. Logistics wasn't bearable unless you had the paperwork to bore your time with. As he pushed the classroom door open, he didn't bother apologizing to the teacher since the first twenty times he tried, the teacher just pointed to his seat while not breaking stride in the lesson. Effortlessly sidestepping the stretched out legs in the walking aisle, he sat down at his seat and wiped the moisture from his fogged up glasses. In front of his seat, he could hear some of the bullies in his class already pointing at him and planning his next beating probably. Sighing, he rolled his shoulders and looked up towards the erase board, noting his homework for the next two weeks.

A vibration in his pocket made the young man pull out his cell underneath his desk. Scrolling through his inbox, he clicked on the recent text message from his brother Sasha. He cringed as he read the text.

'Whatever, RAPHY. Be a good baby and do your homework.'-from Slasher to Raph.

Glaring murderously at the little screen, his teeth ground together in his anger. Both his brothers knew how he couldn't stand his pet name from their mom. After a few minutes of cursing and playing little fantasies of beating up his brother in his head, he looked up and saw the letters of his homework, essay and text book hovering an inch above the pages. Cursing under his breath, Saraph concentrated with a narrowed gaze on the letters and watched them fall slowly back to their original places on their papers with relief.

He didn't want to get yelled at by the teacher again for goofing off with his powers and for his wonderful bully friends to bend him into a pretzel for no reason at all. He was still getting feeling in his arms from the last go around...

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley jumped in revelation as she felt an abrupt tug at her primrose sweatshirt sleeve, tiny wisps of her dream vanishing as she opened her hazy emerald eyes halfway to glare at her expectant friend from across the table. Ainsley immediately straightened her posture and hid her face in her hands, trying to rub the sleep from her fatigued eyes. “What do you want?” she grumbled. The soothing melody of the raindrops pelting down against the roof must have put her to sleep. That, and she hadn’t gotten even a blink of sleep the following night. Her ginger locks were tousled and dark purplish-blue circles were forming under her eyes. And to make things worse, Chase left early, meaning she had to sprint to school in the rain in order to make it there on time. She was soaked to the bone, and sincerely hoped that she’d be dry by at least second period.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” Ella giggled, propping her elbows down on the table before setting her chin in her palms. “You’ve been dozing off all morning.”

“Beauty?” Quinn scoffed, rolling her eyes and snorting jokingly, “You look like a zombie. When the hell did you go to sleep last night?”

Ainsley lowered her hands from her eyes, letting out a long yawn before leaning back nonchalantly in her chair. “None of your business.” She replied curtly before shifting her gaze towards the front of the classroom. Everyone seemed busy, working on his or her projects. And because she finished her project early, there was really nothing for her to do. The teacher probably wouldn’t even care if she decided to sleep during the class period. If only her annoying friends weren’t around to wake her up…

“She’s in one of her moods.” Quinn jabbed suddenly, halting her train of thought. Her friend stood before gesturing behind her shoulder with her thumb. “C’mon, Ella. We’re going in the darkroom. I have to print these photos or I’ll fail miserably.”

Ella followed Quinn’s action, looking down at her sympathetically. “Feel better, Ains!” she chimed in her oh-so cheerful tone, “We’ll see you at lunch!”

And just like that, they were gone. A pleasant silence followed. “Good riddance.” She murmured absentmindedly to herself. Ainsley sighed, stretching her arms out in front of her as to ease the stiffness that began to build up in her back. And since she didn’t want to doze off again, she needed something to occupy her attention. After a minute or two of glancing around the room, she noticed an opened box of colored pencils laid out on the table in front of her… And a bottle of glue was right next to it. Bored and somewhat mischievous, she dumped the colored pencils’ from their box, and began gluing them onto the table one by one.

Gluing the pencils to the table only took about fifteen minutes, and again, she was in need of something to fulfill her tedium. Giving in to her temptations, she stood, and headed to the teacher’s desk to grab a pass for the library. Using one of the school computers or reading a book of some sort would be better than sitting around doing absolutely nothing. The photography teacher liked her anyways, because she was productive and always finished her projects before the due date. He’d let her do almost anything she desired by now. She was sure that she’d be successful in retrieving a hall pass.

And she was indeed successful. Relief washed over her as she scampered down the hallway that stretched before her after she exited the classroom, damp sneakers squeaking against the tiled floor as she walked. Spending some time to herself on her lazier days was a huge comfort. She was unaware of who the other gifted students in the school were, and that just made her feel like an outcast. No one really understood what she was going through. Well, of course, no one she knew personally. She was sure there was someone out there who had a similar mind-set. She still had yet to meet this certain person, though. And when she was as tired as she was, it was usually because the voices would come back. The unexplainable, scary voices that haunted her whenever she tried to sleep at night. No one else would share the same fears, as no one else could hear these eerie echoey voices. And that’s why she preferred to keep to herself as morbid thoughts and whispers filled her tormented head.

She entered the school’s library discreetly. Only a few students were using the computers, two or three were reading at the round tables in the back of the quaint room, and the librarian sat behind the counter, filling in papers. It was so quiet, she could only hear the sounds of the clock ticking, the rain pecking at the windows, and the clacking noises the keyboards made as students typed their projects and reports. It was so relaxing; it made her eyelids feel a thousand times heavier than they felt before. Caressing the back of her tense neck with her pallid fingers, she made her way over to an aisle of books. She was merely browsing aimlessly, unsure of what she’d pick from the wide variety. Being a creative art student, she was open to almost any genre, and had never really preferred a certain topic over another.

She felt her phone vibrate in the rectangular shaped pocket on the front of her sweatshirt. Luckily it wasn’t loud, no one standing by appeared to have heard it. The redhead merely dismissed this, though, and continued her search for a book. Having her phone taken away at the beginning of the day would not be pleasant. Whoever was texting her could just wait for a little while.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

After an hour of lectures and boring discussions of numbers, formulas, measurements and applications, Saraph was relieved to hear the dull sound of the bell that meant it was time for lunch. As everyone was filing out of the room, he took his weekly route to the library where he would spend any of his free time when not in class.

As usual, his shoulder was forcefully bumped against by the preps and jocks of the school who loved picking on him. He sighed as his glasses became crooked on the bridge of his nose from the last jolt against his sore left shoulder. Readjusting the optics to its original place as he walked into the library, he nodded to the librarian, Mrs. Demonte, as he headed to the far back of the library to the farther most corner of the room behind the many aisles of books. He couldn't afford to waste time eating since that would just get his food taken away, another ragging by whomever wanted to pick on him.

His older brother, Zevias, is rather disappointed with the fact that he won't fight back. He just takes it. That one night at dinner didn't go well between the two brothers since it resulted in a near fistfight, their mother banning her homemade ice cream from their dessert options and serving them cold leftovers for the next week. He swore some of the food had ice crusted on the top at certain points before he heated it up in the microwave.

He didn't want to fight back though. If he did, it would only call more attention to him even more than his powers of Script did. He didn't need to suddenly show that he could run or push even harder than normal guys did, or that he could remember what things smelled like, its exact position or exact detail by just glancing at for a second. He was considered a freak for being able to make letters peel themselves off pages and dance in front of him alone. He didn't want anymore attention on him then was needed and it was how he wanted it.

If his brothers had to be disappointed with his choice in simply surviving how he wanted, then he let them. He gave up trying to get their approval or attention a long time ago. He had nothing to prove, didn't want to prove anything to anybody and just wanted to blend into the background so everyone would forget he was even there.

Sitting down at the round table set near 'his' corner, Saraph set his notebook and supplies down then sat down himself. He only relaxed for a moment when he suddenly tensed up and leaned away from the tanned hand that reached for his ear from behind.

"Isis, stop that," he murmured while closing his eyes in mild irritation. Behind him, a beautiful older girl with silver hair and sparkling blue eyes in the school's uniform chuckled behind a hand as she sat down beside her cousin. Isis Norfeytik was his direct cousin from his father's side and senior at Neo Vangelis. She was one of the few allies he had in the building of random four walls, despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Treasurer on the Student Council and a practitioner of Kung Fu.

"Oh come on, lil cousin! Have a sense of humor! You used to be so funny until everyone found out you had powers."

Smiling mischievously, Isis reached over to tickle at his ear and smiled when he batted her hand away.

"Seriously though, Raph. What's with the turtleneck? Where's your uniform shirt?"

"I got caught in the rain so I had to change my clothes."

"Your brother didn't give you a ride again? What a jerk! I should kick his ass at the next family reunion." she mumbled to herself with a slight curl of her plump lips.

Opening his notebook and then the dictionary his cousin had filched from the Resource section for him whenever she decided to visit him, he began concentrating on the blank pages of his essay paper. The words from the dictionary that he wanted began floating with copies of the words, then rearranging themselves on the blank paper in the way he wanted his paragraphs to be written. Isis watched for a few short minutes before becoming bored with the whole show. She'd seen it enough times to not really be surprised by her cousin's ability.

"To think you get beaten up and pushed around all because you can make some letters float, dance, and switch places. I honestly don't get the abusive appeal."

Saraph looked at her with a blank look as the words continued to rearrange without his direct gaze. Smiling back at him, she stuck her tongue out and her arm flashed across his vision, along with his glasses' weight suddenly missing from his face. Blinking, he looked to the side where her arm was holding his spectacles and he looked back at her face again with a eyebrow raised.

"The point of that action was?" he asked sarcastically, the words speeding up a little while he twitched a finger at a certain word without looking at it. The word, exponentially, flew from the steady stream of words flowing from the dictionary and settled back on its assigned page, melting into the paper.

Looking through the lenses at him humorously, Isis tapped her long painted fingernail on the lenses.

"To point out that you pretend you're nearsighted with these fakes when you have perfect 20/20 vision and act like a different person that you really aren't. Your clothes, your mannerisms, even your looks are all just a gimmick to fool those stupid bullies of yours. Probably fool everyone. We both know you can take them no problem but you being stupid for whatever reason your over logical brain has, won't do that."

Reaching forward to gently tweak his nose, Isis tapped the tip of the soft appendage and smirked. "Your whole appearance is fake. I forget how you do it but I know this isn't what your really look like, besides the hair. If any of the girls in this school, this whole city even, saw what you really looked like..."

The girl trailed off as her cousin's eyes flashed with emotion at her meaning, she rolled her eyes with exasperation and tossed him his glasses.

"They'd eat you alive." she finished, frowning at him as he replaced the glasses where the belonged, on his oily nose while flicking his damp bangs out of his line of view.

"At least come with me to go get a sandwich! You need to eat something since I know you avoid eating here."

He shook his head and continued to work with a bored look, gazing down at the letters. Isis weakly glared at her cousin then stood up with a huff.

"Fine, can't say I wasn't nice to offer. See you later, Raph. Good luck at work tonight!"

Waving her off, Raph rested his cheek against his hand as he continued to manipulate the words for his paper. He didn't care if no one understood why he went through such lengths to cover up his appearance and acted like a completely different person when outside of his room at home. All his true self caused was drama and complications that attention stirred up.

His father is still considered 'hot' by some standers. A fact that make Saraph cringe with disgust. Considering Malach Alesander is CEO of a large and successful law firm, he supposed there had to be a appearance bonus to get ahead of the game like his dad did.

His brothers loved their appearances, having no problem with their faces being printed on front covers of magazines and numerous photos of girls who can't get enough of them. Zevias (or Zevi for short) happens to work as professional actor and Sasha is constantly voted 'Employee of the Month" because the women in his building demand he be so they can ogle a picture of him when he's not at the office. Which happens most of the time since he works out of the building and on call. The guys who bully Saraph happen to be jealous of his reputation of being the twins little brother and expect him to be as pretty as they are. When they found out he "looked' like a oily, sloppy teenager who was sure to be nothing like his brothers, they reminded him of those facts every single day.

"Look at the loser, guys! The Alesander reject!"

"Nah dude, he's the ugly duckling of such a successful family. Have they disowned you yet, Sarphy?"

"Reject! Loser!"

"Duckling! Duckling!"

Closing his eyes while reaching up to massage his forehead, Sarpah willed the stupid voices away. Its not like their words had any real harm laced in them. All the facts they tried to hurt him with were lies that were in no way true.

Glancing down, he realized his concentration had completely stopped and the words he had been controlling had now melted themselves into all spaces of his papers, supplies, the table he sat on and parts of the floor around his table.

Great, now he had to clean it all up.

Sighing he flicked up two fingers and the words jerked themselves up into the air again.

'Stupid Isis, she just had to ruin my concentration. I swear she loves making me think of stuff I'd rather forget.'

Snapping his fingers, the words zipped back into the dictionary and he pulled the large tome under his arm to return it back to its original place. Lunch time was almost over and he might as well get ready for English. His paper was due and he needed to edit whatever errors he made before turning it in.

Looking down at his fingers with disinterest, he wondered what it would be like to just be normal. To not have some freakish amount of powers that made him different and have him stand out. There were a few other 'Special Cases' as the school liked to dub them n their school ID cards with red letters to specify the difference on campus. He didn't know them nor did he care. None of them had anything in common as far as he knew. The world had long since adapted to the fact that some people out their were different and stopped going through a media crazy over the strange phenomena of random people with powers.

They were nothing special, and he made damn sure he was definitely at the bottom of the 'unimportant' spectrum. There were four Alesanders out there that made a name for themselves and were media sensations in their own right. Did there really need to be a fourth?

Hell no.

[AppleMistress]

Stuffing her compass in the front pocket of her bag hurriedly, Ainsley felt her heart banging recklessly against her chest. Ripping a paper towel from the box nearby, she instantly began dabbing the cut on her arm, wiping the fresh blood away as fast as she could. She could hear footsteps and laughter outside the door; someone was going to come in. They would deem her crazier than she already was if they saw the red lines she drew on her pallid arms. Of course, she felt what she was doing was right. She was inflicting pain on the outside in effort to kill whatever it was that was beginning to build up inside her.

She wasn’t suicidal. No. She never would be. Especially after what had happened to her dead mother. She just felt that she needed to do something to remind herself that she could be worse off. When Chase found out, he thought her reasons for cutting were idiotic. But he didn’t rat out on her; he didn’t really seem to care anyway. He was her stepbrother, he never considered her his flesh and blood. He didn’t even consider her a relative. They just happened to live under the same roof, and that was all that really mattered. Of course, she didn’t care much about him either, so the feelings were mutual. They never fought or interacted with each other unless it was absolutely necessary. And really, she was thankful for that.

Ainsley stuffed the towel she used to tend her wound in her pocket, knowing that someone would find out about the blood if they saw it lying in the trash. She looked at her reflection in the mirror for only a moment, brushing an auburn strand of hair behind her ear as the giggly, chatty girls came storming in. There were approximately three of them, each taking their own place at a mirror to check their hair and make up. Ainsley rolled her eyes at them, wrinkling her nose slightly in distaste as one of the girls’ squirted fruity perfume everywhere.

‘You should get out of there before you die of inhalants.’ A voice said, ‘I don’t want you to die. Not yet, at least-- mediums are hard to find these days. You need to deliver a message for me.’

“No.” she replied out loud to the voice stubbornly, noticing that two of the three girls whirled around to send her puzzled glances. One of them shrugged and turned around, and the other continued staring on at her in confusion.

“I don’t even know why they let these freaks in our school.” The girl said, rolling her eyes at her before turning around to face the mirror. “They’re so distracting.”

“And I don’t know why they let plastic faced Barbie dolls in the school. Brainless play toys are so distracting.” Ainsley scoffed, balancing the weight of her messenger bag on her shoulder before turning to leave. She wasn’t the type to lash out at her classmates, but today she was just tired. And she was sick and tired of being treated differently because she had a few abnormal traits. Of course, that’s just how it was. If people found something that affected their normality, they’d crush it with harassment and jokes.

She let out a breath of utter relief as she exited the girls’ washroom. Noticing that there was only a few moments left of lunch, she decided on walking to her locker. Having a head start before the hallways were overcrowded with a sea of students seemed ideal to her.

‘Please reconsider. I really need you to deliver this message—‘ the dead voice in her head spoke up again, making her cringe visibly.

“No. You’re dead, you shouldn’t communicate with the living. Now go rest in peace or something.” She snapped to the empty hallway, “I’m not a messenger. Stop bothering me.”

‘I can’t go away, no matter how hard you try.’ The voice spoke up confidently, ‘I’m dead; I can wait forever if I need to. I’ll bug you until you do as I say.’

Ainsley reached her locker, letting out a groan as the voice continued to bother her troubled head. She banged her forehead against her locker, wishing that the impact would make the voice go away. The collision was harsher than she expected it to be, and the redhead instantly staggered back, holding a hand to her throbbing head. “Ow.”

‘Silly girl.’

“Shut up.”

Determined not to listen to the voice anymore, she entered the combination into her locker’s lock, and swung it open carefully. She gathered the books for her next class into her arms absentmindedly, trying to focus on something else. Something... more pleasant. She almost dropped her books when she felt her phone vibrate.

Sighing, she dropped the books by her feet and checked the message on the tiny screen.

‘I know something you don’t know.’ It was from Chase. Ainsley raised a brow in slight interest and suspicion.

‘What the hell are you talking about? I'm not in the mood for jokes today.’ she sent back before closing the small devise and dropping it into her sweatshirt pocket. She leaned down to grab her books, closed her locker gently, and began to walk down the long boring hallway that stretched before her.

Finding others like her seemed like a pretty good plan. The only problem was that she didn’t know where to start her search.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Saraph was glad his last two classes for the day went by fast since he threw himself into taking notes and ignoring the minutes passing by thanks to the clock. He had skipped lunch entirely again, only sipping water occasionally as he kept his gaze on the papers in front of him to keep his mind from the dismiss bell that rang all too soon. He knew the routine they went by as easily as it was for him to breathe.

They would stalk him on his way home since he avoided four wheeled vehicles, got him alone and beat the crap out of him while spewing the usual useless taunts that made his head ache more than their weak punches did. Afterwords when he was sure they were gone, he would use more words to mask his bruises and injuries from view while looking like he was perfectly normal the next day. One of the reasons they beat him now was to see how many bruises they could make appear on his body before they "magically disappeared" the next day.

He kept this image up to avoid drawing attention to himself like the media and the press. He didn't want to turn into a bug and constantly have a looking glass on his person all the time.

Tugging his bag over his shoulder and glancing down at the clock on his cellphone screen, Saraph decided today should be a little different. He won't leave out the usual door but the front one and then take the much shorter route to his workplace through the alleyways.

Make them actually work for their right to beat him.

Jogging through the front entrance of Neo Vangelis, Saraph made it to the edge of the parking lot when he looked through his frizzy bangs to see his personal group of bullies hanging out near the east doors, waiting to pounce on him and drag him off.

Crossing the street, he looked back again over to the group as they starting regrouping in front of the doors. Looking to their leader who was a redhead by the name of Tavick, who was yelling at one his followers, paused and then suddenly jerked around to face spot Saraph across the parking lot. Wincing at the murderous glare the boy was giving him, he decided to get a head start with a bang. He could use a work out while racing to work since he got a text at third period from his boss asking him to come over right after school. Turning back around, he lifted his right hand and flipped them off as he kept jogging to work.

---

Cursing with annoyance as he weaved through the thin alleyways of the sub-district he was having to sprint through with a trail of angry, testosterone filled teenagers racing behind his heels. It figured that anger would fuel a boy's energy level. They must really want to punch something if they were able to track him down this friggin, fast!

What bothered him the most was not his situation of behind hunted down by these almost rabid mob of boys, but the moment earlier when Tavick looked straight at him without any indications from his group of cronies. He found that really odd. Could the redhead be an Other, like himself?

There wasn't any up to date research of their unique 'Mutant' kind having a radar that was able to distinguish them from other humans. Maybe it was a new strain of developments in the newer generations of Others.

The purple haired young man rounded a corner, only to choke from a solid fist sinking into his belly and being forced backwards by the same, meaty fist. Groaning as he curled over his aching stomach while wheezing from having been winded by the punch, Saraph looked up to see a smirking Tavick glowering down at him.

"Thought you could lose us, huh trash?"he sneered as his foot flashed up and caught Saraph in the forehead, snapping his head back first and then the rest of his body followed as he fell onto his back on the alley ground.

As he lay there wheezing and clenching his sides, the rest of the bullies came huffing up and surrounding their purple hued victim. His gaze flickered over to the walls making up the alley and realized he was a block away from work since these were the backstreets of one of the smaller shopping areas in New Atlantis.

He was so close to food...

Tavick smirked as he reached down and pulled the scruffy boy up by his hair, sneering in his face.

"You know you can't avoid this. Its your daily dose of hurt. Good thing I'm not as weak as you. Its almost boring to beat your ass. Only perk is you heal over night so you get have more."

'Not as weak?' Saraph thought, frowning in confusion despite the throbbing pain in his gut.

"You have powers?" he croaked as the redhead slammed him against a wall, the other boys around him jeering.

"Yup and they trump your pathetic healing any day. Ghosts are bad spies, I think."

The large hand that was fisting in his shirt and pressing him hurtfully against the brick wall felt like it was going to break through his very ribcage. His more recent injuries haven't fully healed and started to add to the dull pounding in the back of his skull. He could feel blood drizzling over his forehead and light flickering at the edges of his eyes.

Damn, but his strength was severely weakened. Saraph had miscalculated in thinking that not getting a refill of painkillers and properly treating his bruises for the last three days while outrunning his bully fanclub would work out. He seriously believed he could make it though. More colors swam before his eyes as two more clenched fists buried themselves into his kidneys while a foot slammed against his temple. When colors swam and the energy around his body began to shift and flicker from his lack of strength and concentration, his illusion would fade to reveal his true appearance and all the proof of his beatings he had covered up with his power of Words. It was only a matter of time.

Slumping against the wall, trying to push all the hurtful limbs away, Saraph wondered if his mother's words would stop bouncing around his aching head at a time like this.

"Son, is pretending to be human really worth it for you?"

"Yes."

"You have such precious gifts, Raphy! Instead of scorning their existence in why they make you different, use them. Turn what you were born with into an advantage that no one else can do. You are different but it doesn't make you weak. It will make you strong."

"How can I be strong when the world makes it so easy to be weak and hopeless?!"

"Only if you really care what they think. At the end of the day, the world isn't the one closing your eyes and letting your body rest for the night. You are."

He wasn't weak like his father assumed he was.

He wasn't stupid or mentally retarded like his brothers believed he was.

He was....

Grunting as they let him slump down the wall after every one of them had a chance to take a punch, he opened his eyes through the thin curtain of blood that for sure had coated his eyes. He knew cuts on the scalp were minor since their bleeding only looked serious and the skin covering the skull was paper thin anyway. As they were all laughing and congratulating each other on their moves, he pushed himself back of the wall.

Breathing was hard but he was forcing himself to move. He needed to get to work and they were in the way. They would have go down for him to walk over them though.

Blinking through the blood that coated his eyelashes, Saraph felt air whooshing by his ear and glanced over to see a fist denting the brick behind him. Tavick was eying him from his towering height.

"You're not suppose to move, worm. We're not done."

Narrowing his eyes, he shifted against the wall. Placing his hands fully flat against the wall behind him, Saraph readied himself to strike.

He would make them go down, but they would be hit harder then all the times he had in these past three weeks combined. Another Other be damned.

---

---

---

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley paced on the sidewalk aimlessly, her cheeks tainted a somewhat vague vermillion color in anger as she searched the parking lot for Chase, her stupid stepbrother who was supposed to be giving her a ride home. She kicked a rock so it clattered against the sidewalk as she hunched her shoulders against the gentle wind. She sunk her teeth into her thin lower lip, suddenly worried. Although she never cared all that much for Chase, what if he was hurt? What if he crashed his car while doing something completely foolhardy? She halted her pacing for a moment to analyze the area, looking about for the familiar silver beat-up truck he usually drove around. She fiddled with a strand of her auburn locks as concern began to smolder in her large set of bright bottle green eyes.

Her concern for her stepbrother was short-lived, though, when he quickly drove past her. The truck’s tires squeaked as it swooshed past, rushing over a large puddle, which unfortunately managed to spray her with a wave of dirty water, thus leaving her in a completely drenched state. Overcome with annoyance at her own will to even worry about the jerk she called her stepbrother, she balled her hands into tightly compressed fists, running towards his truck enough so that he could possibly hear her from where she was standing on the curb. She could already feel her sweatshirt sticking to her skin and drips of water descending downward from the tips of her unkempt tresses.

“Go to hell! I swear, I’ll kill you when I—“ she stopped her yelling upon noticing an officer standing nearby. His middle-aged face scrunched up in suspicion, and she could tell easily by the look on his face that he was intending on questioning her because of her recklessly violent threats. Of course, she was only saying her words out of impulsive resentment, when she said she was going to kill him, she didn’t mean it literally. But it seemed that the officer felt differently about the scenario as he made a move to turn towards her.

‘Stupid girl! Get out of there!’ the voice rang suddenly, forcing her to cringe with surprise. ‘Create a diversion!’

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Ainsley exclaimed in reply. She found herself swallowing a lump that formed in her throat as she noticed the police officer was thinking that her previous words were directed at him. Now she was in even more of a dilemma. Fantastic. Unfortunately, no one else could hear the voices. And because of that, she was sure she’d be in trouble if she stayed where she was.

‘Crap, crap, crap.’ She thought uneasily, beads of nervous sweat rolling down her forehead as she noticed the officer inching closer. Desperate to find some sort of a distraction, she finally noticed a group of bullies ganging up on some spectacle-faced young man, who was probably her age, give or take a year. Determined to divert the police officer’s attention elsewhere and to even help save the poor victim of the bullies, she jolted over towards the group on impulse. Quick and small, she managed to wedge herself in between two of the antagonistic figures, and positioned herself firmly in front of the group before they could proceed to inflict harm on their purple haired target.

With her impulsive action, it had actually dawned on her that she’d have to think this through a little more. These guys were obviously bigger than her, what on earth could she do to assist? And now that she was faced with them, what would she do? What would she say? She clenched her fists in order to keep her pallid fingers from quivering.

And that’s when she sensed something. A spirit. It was vauge, and she couldn’t tell exactly if it was just the voice inside her head playing with her. But for some reason, she pinpointed her gaze to the malicious redhead of the group, the one who appeared to be the leader. She studied him for only a moment, and instantly sensed a strong vibe.

‘Could it be…’ she thought, inquiring that this young bully could have actually possessed ability somewhat similar to her own?

“Anyone there?” she asked the unfamiliar presence, unaware of how uncanny she might have appeared right then. The vibe was much stronger. Although she had no way of seeing spirits, she could always tell if one was somewhere close if they wished or knew they were being acknowledged. Her eyes narrowed just slightly at this. “In fact, I know you’re there. Speak, I can hear you.”

The air was quiet, as though the spirit was hesitating to speak at first.

‘A medium? I haven’t seen one of you in years.’ The new voice started cautiously, ‘What are you doing here? This isn't your fight.’

“I can’t see you. Tell me, what exactly is going on here? What are you doing here?” she inquired, avoiding his previous question.

'Assisting, I suppose. I was summoned, and now I must assist.' The voice replied circumspectly. A confused look came over her features, and the voice sighed, 'The redhead. He’s an Other, like you. He uses spirits to gain their abilities and strengths. It enhances all of his strengths and senses. And since he called me, I must assist in injuring the young man you are defending. What exactly is your business here?'

Ainsley brought her hands together in thought. The officer and her long walk home were far away from her mind now. This ability seemed strange. And it was definitely odd to stumble across someone like her. An Other. Could she do anything about this? She bit her lip, conflicted as she glanced at the wounded purple-haired young man for a moment. He was being picked on. She had to do something. Feeling a little bold, she looked away.

“Would you be interested in making a bargain?” she questioned. Maybe she could keep this spirit from assisting the leader by delivering a message for him. A favor for another favor. “Perhaps there’s a message you need delivered to one among the living?”

And of course, the voice that had been in her head all day had to intervene into the conversation.

‘Indeed! What can I do to make you deliver my message!?’ it boomed excitedly, making her grimace visibly.

“No, not you! Go away!” she exclaimed, directing her voice at the irksome voice that rang in her head.

‘Excuse me?’ the newer voice asked, confused, ‘What exactly are you trying to say here?’

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t meant for you. There’s another one…” she started, unable to finish as the voice cut her off.

‘So you do not wish to pitch a bargain with me?’ the newer voice sounded a little irritated and confused.

“Yes, yes I do! The go away statement was directed at another voice, I’m sorry for the confusion.” She twiddled her fingers together nervously. Things were not exactly working out the way she hoped they would.

‘Thank you, thank you! I need you to deliver a message to—‘ the voice in her head began to speak again. At this, she closed her eyes tightly and rested her palms against either side of her head to keep her from doing anything impulsive out of her frustration.

“Not you! Again, I was not talking to you!”

‘Do you wish to make a deal or not?’

‘Are you going to deliver my message?’

‘Who else are you talking to?’

The voices both continued to speak at the same time, overwhelming her to the point where her head began to swirl with confusion. Of course, she was oblivious to the fact that the people standing around her could not hear the voices. She was talking to invisible people, and they wouldn’t understand what she was screaming about. She would be deemed a freak, as she usually was. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them, determined as though she was bracing herself for a punch in the face. Actually, she didn’t care much of what the bullies would think of her. People who stooped as low as to bully or physically harm another without a good purpose to do so never really mattered much to her. It was the young man she was defending who’s opinion seemed to matter. He didn’t really seem like such a bad guy. Of course, one couldn’t always judge a book by its cover. She knew that all too well.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

The muscles in his legs began to bunch together in their preparation to spring as Tavick took a step closer. He leaned back to get ready to throw himself forward when a sudden sound of footsteps halted his movements and then he had an eyeful of red hair!

Blinking, Saraph realized a girl had just ran in between him and Tavick. It was getting easier to breath since the girl had appeared in front of him, thankfully.

However, he joined the bullies in sweat dropping as she began to argue...with herself. Was she crazy? Did she just happen to escape from some crazy house? They didn't have one in New Atlantis, at least as far as he knew. Then as he took in her clothes, he realized she was from their school.

Tavick meanwhile narrowed his attention on the new girl. Their same uniforms didn't escape his observation but didn't care. She got in his way from pummeling Alesander and was obviously talking to his spirit partner. He didn't have much time.

"You can hear him, huh? Too bad for you sweetcheeks, but now we've got to get rid of you." Tavick murmured as he reached out for the new, red haired girl. He needed the satisfaction of beating his human punching bag himself before his time was up!

Realizing his recover period was approaching an end, Saraph gritted his teeth from the pain in his chest as he slumped to a crouch behind the girl, slanting his eyes so he avoided looking up her skirt while his fingers searched for the smooth siding of his shoe's treads. Planting the words he wanted on each shoe, he shot to his feet just as Tavick moved towards the girl.

The last thing he needed when going to sleep tonight was a ton of guilt by getting this girl involved in his problems. And his mother raised him better, most of the time.

Lunging forward, Saraph slid one harm under the girl's legs and the other around her back, picking her up bridal style. Ignoring her, he raises his left leg and kicked against Tavick's chest, forcing the guy backwards. Jumping up, he uses the boy's bent chest as leverage and jumped further upward into the air. However, instead of stopping two feet up, he kept rising until he was a few seconds higher than the ledge of the roof of the building opposite of the one he was beaten against.

"That Alesander! Get him!"

"He's flying!"

"Don't gawk! Find a way into the building!"

Holding one foot out during free fall, he caught the ledge with the toe of his shoe and leaned forward before gravity could pull them back down. Look downward to the wheezing Tavick and his group running out of the alley to get into the building, he scoffed.

"Stupid."he murmured as he jumped over to another rooftop and set the girl down.

"Sorry about that." he said and stepped away from her, leaning over his knees to catch his breath. He could already feel his illusions weakening. Sure enough his purple hair flickers to a darker shade of blue. When he stands up again and rubs at his bruising sternum, the flickering stops.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he rotates one arm to get the blood flowing while walking towards the door that leads inside the new building he took them to.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

The muscles in his legs began to bunch together in their preparation to spring as Tavick took a step closer. He leaned back to get ready to throw himself forward when a sudden sound of footsteps halted his movements and then he had an eyeful of red hair!

Blinking, Saraph realized a girl had just ran in between him and Tavick. It was getting easier to breath since the girl had appeared in front of him, thankfully.

However, he joined the bullies in sweat dropping as she began to argue...with herself. Was she crazy? Did she just happen to escape from some crazy house? They didn't have one in New Atlantis, at least as far as he knew. Then as he took in her clothes, he realized she was from their school.

Tavick meanwhile narrowed his attention on the new girl. Their same uniforms didn't escape his observation but didn't care. She got in his way from pummeling Alesander and was obviously talking to his spirit partner. He didn't have much time.

"You can hear him, huh? Too bad for you sweetcheeks, but now we've got to get rid of you." Tavick murmured as he reached out for the new, red haired girl. He needed the satisfaction of beating his human punching bag himself before his time was up!

Realizing his recover period was approaching an end, Saraph gritted his teeth from the pain in his chest as he slumped to a crouch behind the girl, slanting his eyes so he avoided looking up her skirt while his fingers searched for the smooth siding of his shoe's treads. Planting the words he wanted on each shoe, he shot to his feet just as Tavick moved towards the girl.

The last thing he needed when going to sleep tonight was a ton of guilt by getting this girl involved in his problems. And his mother raised him better, most of the time.

Lunging forward, Saraph slid one harm under the girl's legs and the other around her back, picking her up bridal style. Ignoring her, he raises his left leg and kicked against Tavick's chest, forcing the guy backwards. Jumping up, he uses the boy's bent chest as leverage and jumped further upward into the air. However, instead of stopping two feet up, he kept rising until he was a few seconds higher than the ledge of the roof of the building opposite of the one he was beaten against.

"That Alesander! Get him!"

"He's flying!"

"Don't gawk! Find a way into the building!"

Holding one foot out during free fall, he caught the ledge with the toe of his shoe and leaned forward before gravity could pull them back down. Look downward to the wheezing Tavick and his group running out of the alley to get into the building, he scoffed.

"Stupid."he murmured as he jumped over to another rooftop and set the girl down.

"Sorry about that." he said and stepped away from her, leaning over his knees to catch his breath. He could already feel his illusions weakening. Sure enough his purple hair flickers to a darker shade of blue. When he stands up again and rubs at his bruising sternum, the flickering stops.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he rotates one arm to get the blood flowing while walking towards the door that leads inside the new building he took them to.

[AppleMistress]

She crossed her arms in effort to sooth the chills that began to run up and down her spine. Ainsley took long breaths in order to calm herself—she’d just experienced the unbelievable! The joy of flight. Even if it was for a short period of time, it was absolutely breathtaking. She gazed out at the tiny cars and people from below in astonishment. The view from the rooftop was amazing. Perhaps she’d have to try drawing in the perspective of ‘bird’s eye view’ a little more. Inspiration filled her veins as the exhilaration of the scenario danced in her blood.

‘You’re acting like a ditz. He just asked you a question, miss medium.’ The irritating voice spoke up. Ainsley furrowed her eyebrows together in annoyance.

“Shut up.” She snapped. Noticing that the purple haired man would probably take offense to her words, she looked away stubbornly. “I… I wasn’t talking to you. Just sayin’.”

Ainsley then realized how many Others she’d encountered in such a short instant. It was highly unusual. And this young man… His ability seemed fascinating. She pinpointed her gaze on his retreating form before making a move to keep up with him.

“I’m fine.” She decided to answer one of his questions. When she was next to him, she’d suddenly realized how tall and strong he appeared in comparison to her. He seemed to have no trouble holding her earlier either. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “You could’ve easily beaten the shit out of all of ‘em. Do they corner you like this every day?”

‘You shouldn’t assume things so quickly, kid.’ The voice spoke up again, causing her eyebrow to twitch.

She sighed after inquiring. She probably seemed like a random crazy person who was trying to drive herself down into his personal life. Prying way too much would push someone away, and that’s exactly what she was starting to do. She scolded herself inwardly for it, and decided against replying to the voice’s warning.

“Alesander. That’s what they called you, right? Is that your name or something?” Ainsley asked, her voice thick with stubbornness as she looked away sheepishly. Her abnormal behavior tended to drive people away, after all. Ella was a nice person, and accepted her. Quinn was Ella’s friend already, so she decided to be nice to her as well. They were her only friends, but unlike normal friends, they would never really ask to include her whenever they went off to do something. And now, she finally found another person like her who actually attended her school, and she was probably just starting to repel him as well. She cursed at herself in her head, deciding that she probably looked really dumb. The spectacle faced boy seemed smart, he probably just wanted her to go away.

She sighed, driving her pallid hands into her pockets, kicking at air as she walked alongside him. “Whether it matters or not, my name’s Ainsley.”

‘He won’t care. He probably just wants you to leave him alone, stupid girl.’

'You keep treating me like crap, and I'll never deliver your message.' She thought, deciding to ignore the voice again, thoughts drifting towards the antagonistic figures she’d encountered earlier. Someone who used a spirit’s strength? The ability seemed a little sick and immoral to her. In fact, the leader, the redheaded guy was just annoying in general. Sweetcheeks? Who the hell did he think she was? Simply thinking about the way he spoke to her made her ball her hands into tightly compressed fists. That guy had another thing coming. And hopefully, if the bullies managed to obtain the officer’s attention, he’d be taken care of soon. It seemed like it was normal, this kid being beaten up by that dumb redhead and his minions. And she didn't like that. Not one bit.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

"Almost every day. They are smart enough to not jump me too close to my house or we both get our asses burned,"he murmured his reply, popping the gas pockets built up in his spine.

Opening the door that led to the stairs from the roof, Saraph stepped to the side to let the redhead enter before him. Once they both were through the door, he closed the door firmly behind them and headed towards the stairs that led down. Since this building was old, it didn't have a decent working elevator and he didn't feel like being boxed in for a few minutes anyway. He needed to bandage up his ribs as soon as he got to work. Heading home in this shape wasn't an option either.

Flexing each finger to test for any nerve or bone damage, Saraph looked over his shoulder at the girl behind him. She seemed familiar. His brain must recognize her from the many faces he passed in the hallways but none he bothered to socialize with.

"If I don't," he paused, wondering why he was even bothering telling her his reasons for keeping a lame but low profile anyway.

"If I don't," he tried again,"I get even bigger problems. Thanks for helping out, Ainsley but it is best if you don't stick around me. You'll just get in trouble."

Not to mention he blew a lot of hard earned effort in keeping his true strength under wraps. That was the first time he bothered to fight back since their crappy beat downs started. He could only predict that their numbers will quadruple in an effort to recover Tavick's stupid 'top dog' image and carry out his revenge or he become the new delinquent who fights with other kids because he has powers that trump their pathetic ones.

Turning around after they walked a flight of stairs, he face the girl who saved his bacon from frying not half an hour ago. She looked reclusive but smart and intuitive. f anything, an average B grade student who he tried to look like every morning. He wasn't sure if it was pure lock or providence that she happened to come between him and his stupid bullies, but it had happened. She was affiliated with him, but not for long if he could help it.

"I'm pretty sure you know I'm an Other, right? Now I don't know if talking to yourself seriously freaked out turd Tavick back there or if its some nervous disorder, but they'll think you're with me. We can't leave this building together or that will pretty much seal the deal. You leave by the front entrance, I leave by the back and draw them to where I work where they again, can't touch me. Deal?"

He honestly wasn't sure what it was with her random outbursts of "Shut Up!" and "Not you!" but it was over his head and from a completely other country for his comprehension. The troubled look Tavick gave her still came back to his brain though. Why did talking to something to herself bother the ass?

Besides, he could fry these newbie jerks faster than a popcorn kernel turns inside out. Its just aside from getting beat because he allowed it, the option of turning to his family again to pull his ass out of the fire was something he didn't want to do even more.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley tugged at her baggy sleeves, suddenly noticing how uncomfortable the fabric felt against her freshest self-inflicted wounds. She shifted on her feet uneasily, feeling somewhat guilty that she even thought of bringing herself to ask about his personal matters. She knew how awkward she would feel when someone would inquire about her mother’s whereabouts or any other sort of family matter. If by chance she was doing that to the young man standing in front of her, she’d feel terrible.

Her apprehensive nerves left her mind instantaneously when she comprehended his last statement. Leaving through separate doors? She brought herself into this, and she did not want to risk him being caught by that idiot Tavick kid again. He was wounded, and she’d feel responsible if she knew she could prevent something from happening. Stranger or not, she felt the absolute need to offer any possible help that she could. But he seemed just as stubborn as she was. She needed to make it seem like she was doing as he said, and then somehow watch over him in secrecy. Really, she didn’t care much if she brought herself into this mess. She was in need of something to do, and she needed a friend, as much as she hated to admit it. He seemed unaware of the fact that she herself was an Other as well, though. A kindred soul, in a weird kind of way.

Ainsley was always an excellent liar. It kind of went along with the cutting thing. If someone gave her a pat on the arm and she winced, she would merely shrug it off by saying she bruised it when she tumbled down a flight of stairs. They fell for it every time—they were either gullible, or they didn’t care enough about her to question about it even further.

And so, she narrowed her eyes slightly to show her suspicion before sighing heavily while nodding her head. She held both of her hands out, as though to say that she wouldn’t bother him any longer. “Fine, whatever. If you promise they won’t find you again.” She stated firmly, “I know it sounds stupid and cliché, but you should probably talk to someone about this. Bust that stupid Tavick kid before he can do anymore damage.”

She wasn't going to question him anymore. If she showed anymore interest in his situation, he would probably begin to feel a little suspicion towards her as well. And he would probably realize that she was going to end up following him if she continued to be analytical... He seemed smart enough to figure that out.

Tavick. He used spirits to gain abilities. Ainsley wasn’t quite sure whether the spirits helped him by choice, or if he had to force them to do whatever it was that he wanted by choice. She could easily distract him, though, considering she could communicate with his spirit partners if she concentrated enough. But Tavick also seemed about a thousand times stronger than she was; he could easily knock her out before she had the chance to do any damage. The thought was troubling; but for some reason, she felt the absolute need to put this guy in his place. The young man standing in front of her seemed sensible; he probably did nothing to deserve such treatment from the redhead and his idiot minions. People like Tavick disgusted her.

So that was why she wasn’t going to go through with her little promise. She would fake an exit, and try to follow him out the back. Sure, it would probably make her seem like a crazy stalker, but Saraph already seemed to think that she was a loon for talking to herself. It wouldn’t really damage her reputation.

She turned sharply on her heel, almost stumbling in the process before she could let him respond. She waved a hand behind her shoulder as she took slow steps towards the front entrance of the building.

“I guess I’ll see you around sometime.” She lazily said, making it sound like an exit line. She continued to walk slowly, and listened carefully for his retreating footsteps. As soon as he made a move to leave, she would turn around and follow him discreetly. That was the best strategy her tired brain could conjure at a time like this anyway.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

For a minute, Saraph thought it was too easy to convince this girl to listen to his rather simple orders. But he didn't have the time to make sure of every doubt he had for people. Nodding at her agreement, he jogged over to the back entrance and made sure to add a large bang of the door closing as an obvious signal to his bullies which exit he was using.

The alley way behind the building he exited was rather wide, considering it was built with garbage trucks in mind. He ran maybe thirty feet to the eastern direction of the alley towards the corner that would lead him straight to his workplace's front door when he tripped.

His skin felt like it was being grated as he slid along the rough gravel ground filled with loose earth and sharp rocks. When he finally stopped moving, he blinked away the dust while forcefully sneezing rough particles from his nose. Of all the times for him to trip! Glaring, he turned around to see what snagged his shoe so he could kick it when he saw clearly what had been in his way.

One of Tavick's cronies lay in front of him with what was left of his body. The only way he knew it was one of the bullies what that half his face was still in tact. How did he miss the smell of blood? As he looked farther back, he noticed several other mutilated bodies.

What?

He'd escaped for a max total of twenty minutes. Sure he had originally been up on the roof of a five story building, but it was still too quick for that whole group for have been attacked? Leaning heavily against the wall, forgetting all about work which was just across the street from where he was standing, Saraph shakily reached for the his shirt collar and dug his nose inside his shirt. He was already feeling nausea from the smell of fresh blood, and this was also the first time he had the chance to sample such an order.

Just who attacked them? He didn't see Tavick anywhere. Did their own boss do them in? They were just young men, like himself. Was it the girl?

His mind was going into overdrive with panic. From the lack of onlookers, he would say that however they died, it was quiet. Nor he or the girl, Ainsley, heard any kind of screaming aside from Tavick's orders to get him. Speaking of her, maybe it was the girl? He couldn't rule her out since she appeared rather suddenly. But to what motive?

Thoughts were whirling and chasing each other until he heard a whisper of movement. It was very faint but it was almost like a breath of movement of...air?

Frowning, he looked back the way he came, over the bodies and into the dimness of the alley. Was the attacker still present? He took a step forward, back the way he came when a vibration from his back pocket made him jump, followed by the loud ringtone of his phone: the old X-files tv theme song.

For some reason, the whispering was getting louder. The feeling of a presence in the air was getting heavier. Saraph slowly rose the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Raph, where are you? You're late!" yelled the angry voice of his boss, Rye. Saraph could hear the man's words but it was not registering in his brain. When he didn't answer right away, his boss's voice began to become worried?

"Raph? Saraph, can you hear me? Answer! Answer me!"

For some reason,he felt it. It was there. He couldn't see it, but it was there.
Tightening his grip on the phone, Saraph inhaled through his nose and used the air he gathered to utter the words he hoped would help.

"Help me." he uttered into the phone as his grip went limp from lack of strength, and the phone's back that covered the battery broke off as it hit the ground. His boss's voice cursed just as the receiver died. He looked forward, and then to the right. He couldn't track the whispering when it went completely silent and then appear again. Just what happened here? What was going on?!

What the purple haired couldn't see was a bug like spirit fluttering in the air in front of him. Its front appendages were sickle like claws that were sure to slice into any kind of flesh. When the young man in front of it took a step forward, stretching out an arm to try and feel the space in front of him, the spirit raised one of its wide, sharp claws to slash at the boy's throat. The antennae on its head twitched for a few seconds, as if communication with something, and then lowered its claw but began to lengthen some slimy appendage from its mouth.

The more Saraph walked forward, unknown to him that his throat was getting closer to the slimy needle that would knock him out cold. Just ripe and limp to be carried away.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley pressed herself back against the musty vermillion brick wall of the building nearby, hiding in the shadows as she watched the terrifying scene unfold before her. She had been following the purple haired young man for quite some time, just as she had planned, only to see him attacked by a strange bug-like monster with large, menacing claws. She took in shaky breaths, trying her best not to inhale the metallic scent of blood that sailed through the night air. She thought Tavick and his buddies deserved to be punished, but not in this sort of way. The redhead couldn’t help but notice that the main bully of the pack wasn’t even present—at least, not as far as she could see. This made her a little suspicious. Was this abnormal creature working for Tavick?

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she noticed Saraph walk closer to the large needle that was beginning to lash out at him. It seemed as though he was blind… Either he was suicidal, or he really just couldn’t see what was going on. Ainsley was sure there would be time to think about this later, but at that moment, she knew she had to act quickly in order to save him.
And then she felt it. It was a weird kind of connection—almost like she had with a spirit. But she’d never been able to see a spirit like this before. The whole moment seemed surreal in a sense. She moved a little closer.

“Stop, if you can hear me, stop.” Ainsley started in a steady voice. She couldn’t seem to come through to it at first. Perhaps she’d have to try and communicate with the strange creature after she saved Saraph from accidentally plunging himself with the outstretched needle.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed further away from the wall, and darted towards the purple haired young man as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. When she was a foot or two away, she launched herself into the air, pushing him out of the way only a moment before the needle would have made contact with his skin—though in the process, the needle managed to graze her arm just slightly. She landed on her stomach, scraping both of her knees on the ground beneath her. Feeling as though the world was spinning around her, she sat up slowly and uneasily, rubbing the back of her head. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Saraph had landed nearby before slowly looking to the strange creature again.

“What are you?” she asked in a drowsy and somewhat raspy voice. She clutched her arm where the needle had managed to gently scrape her, inwardly wondering what its’ side effects were, if any. She pushed herself away from the creature from where she was on the ground, feeling as though her eyelids were beginning to droop. Lack of sleep… She did have a tendency to fall asleep randomly. But it seemed strange, to suddenly feel so out of it. She mustered up all of her strength to try communicating with this monster. “Can you understand me? Did someone send you here?”

Ainsley turned her head towards Saraph, still fighting to keep her eyes open. “You can’t see it, can you?” she wondered aloud. She was pretty sure the guy wasn’t suicidal, but it did seem rather strange that she was the only one who managed to realize its presence.

She knew she was asking too many questions, and her head was throbbing harshly to an uncomfortable extent. She rubbed her arm, ignoring the surges of pain she’d receive whenever she brushed her fingers over a self inflicted wound.

‘Look at you, you’re vulnerable! You’ll be killed if you stay there!’ the irritating spirit’s voice suddenly erupted in her head, his tone filled with urgency. ‘I don’t want to find another medium. You need to deliver my message!’

The redhead ignored the voice, deciding to focus fully on the newly found monster-like spirit. She didn’t want to encounter another slew of confusing phrases like she did earlier, after all. She hoped with all her heart that this bug-like thing wouldn’t try to eat her or the purple haired young man she had recently met. If they were lucky, she’d be able to distract the monster for long enough, and maybe Saraph could come up with another getaway plan. Of course, that was only an improvised strategy. For all they knew, this spirit monster could probably slash both of their throats in one swing. The very thought of it sent shivers of paranoia down her spin

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Was he being paranoid? Was there nothing there? There was a good chance the killer was still here since the bodies were still fresh. He could be a current disposable witness.

Suddenly he heard Ainsley's voice and turned towards the sound just as he caught a glimpse of her lunging herself at him then crashing to the ground. He bit his limp to keep from screaming out as the landing jarred his already beaten and bloody body, although some places were starting to feel a little better already. Not enough to perform at 100% though.

Couldn't see what? Was there something seriously here? Turning towards the girl to ask her, he noticed her staring toward a certain spot in the air where they had previously been. Was it there?

"You can see it?" he asked, slowly pushing himself up while coughing from having the air pushed from his lungs again.

"Where is it? Can you attack it or anything?"

Already he was thinking of several other options. If she could take care of whatever it was, he would let her. Saraph couldn't do a damn thing if he couldn't see it. A stuttered vibration came from his decimated phone. Seemed like his boss was trying to get a hold of him again.

Then again, maybe he could wait for it to come to him? No, too risky. Noting how Ainsley was holding her arm, chances were she was hit by something. Even with running at what decreased speed he could, he had little chance of getting any sort of attack in. Still, if something couldn't be seen...

Looking down at his clothes, he grimaced at the large smear of blood on his pantlegs and lower of his shirt. Must of been when he tripped and made contact with the first body he saw. Luckily, the blood wasn't fully dried yet.

Squeezing what he could from his clothes, Saraph pooled the sticky substance in the palm of his hand and stood up. Ainsley was still staring the empty spot in the air, although her head had moved twenty degrees to her left which was closer to him. He only had one chance to try this.

Raising his hand, he curled his fingers over the small bit of blood and squeezed. The thin stream squirted out across the space where he assumed the thing to be. He had only used half his storage of blood and so far, nothing was coated in the air. Quickly switching tactics, he moved his arm farther left and squirted in a horizontal line that could cover more with less. Sure enough, the blood hit something that was in the air.

He didn't care what it was as long as they knew where it was. The hovering piece of blood shook a few times and then streamed around in a circle above them. Probably gathering momentum for its next attack. Stepping closer to Ainsley, he ignored the fact his hands were covered with blood and braced himself for an attack.

"What's it doing?" he asked her, ready to defend himself at any moment. From where the street was at the other end of the alley, he faintly could hear running feet along with a voice yelling out his name. Great, his boss was on the way. He would be able to defend whoever was struck down in the next couple minutes. Seconds, whatever.

All he could do to keep his vision on the flying blob of blood.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley continued to watch the creature in apprehension as she slowly brought herself to her feet, releasing her grip on her injured arm, letting it limply hang at her side. She watched a smear of blood cover the monster’s backside, biting her lip as she turned her head to briefly glance at the purple haired man. That was smart—he had an idea of where it was. But she was still bewildered that she could see it, and that he couldn’t. Why was that? He looked severely injured as well, though. If they lived through this, she’d have to apologize for pushing him over.

She quickly turned her attention to the insect-like creature that was circling them from above. “You’re kidding me, right? I can’t attack it.” She managed to squeak. The redhead glanced at the unmoving bodies of the strong antagonists they encountered before, swallowing the bile that filled her throat before looking up at the thing again. All of those guys could probably beat her to a pulp—if they were so easily defeated by this thing, she was sure that she wouldn’t stand a chance. The creature seemed to be studying her. Could she somehow communicate with it? Tell it to stop?

Trying to muster up even a little courage, she decided to answer Saraph’s second question before doing anything. “It’s circling us… Studying us. Probably trying to think of ways to slice our heads off with those huge sickle-like claws it has.” She started, her voice drenched in nervousness. On instinct, she grabbed her arm again. “I’m going to try communicating with it. Once more, just in case.”

“Is there anything you want? Can you understand me?” she asked as firmly as her quivering voice could manage, fighting to keep her heavy eyelids open. She blinked a few times, tightening her grip on her arm. ‘What was in that stupid needle?’ she pondered to herself, looking down at her arm. She’d normally pull up her sleeve to take a look at it—but that’d most definitely reveal her self-inflicted scars that covered both of her arms. Wincing, she turned back to the creature. It began to approach her, and she found herself panicking. She tried her best to keep up a calm demeanor; her tiredness kind of helped her out in that aspect. She took a hesitant step back every time it moved closer. She held both of her hands out as though to tell it that she meant no harm.

“Please, please don’t kill me mister bug mutant thing.” She murmured before pressing her tongue up against the roof of her mouth. She took a quick glance at Saraph as though to ask for help—and noticed the monster raise one of its’ claws from the corner of her eye just in time to dodge.

She stumbled, moving away from the thing quickly. “I-It’s attacking again. I don’t know if it can communicate with me or not.” She explained to him quickly. She noticed the bug-like creature swing one of its large claws towards Saraph. “Dodge, quick!”

Ainsley didn’t want to push him again, fearing that she’d probably injured the poor guy enough already. She was sure that he’d know what to do in time—he seemed smart enough. The redhead shifted her green eyes around, searching for something to attack with. A rusty pipe, an old shovel, anything. They needed to do something before this thing managed to kill everything that crossed its’ path.

The redhead realized that she did have some old pepper spray in her pocket—she’d carry it around whenever she walked to school. Chase got it for her on her birthday for some odd reason. Maybe it’d prove to be useful… she knew that that was probably only wishful thinking. But hey, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out if she needed to.

“Do you have anything you can… you know, fight with? Like a weapon or something?” Ainsley breathlessly inquired. She was sure he would’ve taken something like that out by then, but it would never hurt to ask.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Saraph heard the sound of buzzing wings grow louder and threw himself to the ground as a reflex. This was starting to get annoying. Now 'he' was making his body ache and groan from moving, and only the smaller scrapes were healed! Not that he had any gaping wounds of any kind but being in pain was not fun, and he didn't like the feelings.

Looking up, he looked frantically around for the floating dot of blood only to realize that while it was flying around, the blood must of dried or dragged off the bug's body. Shit. This was not good-

BANG!

Flinching wildly in surprise at the sudden, loud sound, Saraph covered his head.

"Oi, Raph! You okay?!" yelled a familiar voice from the end of the alley way. It was Rye, his boss. Raising his shaky head, the young man noticed his boss was holding at smoking, long barrel pistol in one hand. As the older man jogged closer, he blinked at the triangle shaped glass spectacle he had covering one eye. Was that how he was able to spot the bug thing?

Raising a shaky hand, Saraph forced his lips to move in the form of a half smirk, "Hey Rye. What took ya?"

"A crowd that was starting to gather at the way you came in. Someone uttered 'gangs' so I figured it was you and your bullies again."

Glaring as the taller man pulled his employee up, Saraph muttered under his breath, "They aren't mine."

Looking over his shoulder at Ainsley, he frowned to himself. Was she okay? Before he could pull his arm from Rye's grip, the older man was pulling him in the long detour towards the store.Probably to hide from the crowd and sirens of police that were heading their way from the buildings that he jumped over.

"Hey! Wait! The girl, she-!"

Pausing, Rye glanced back and his face was completely blank of emotion. For a few uncomfortable moments, Saraph seriously thought Rye was just going to leave her there! Sighing heavily, he motioned for the girl to follow since she looked like she was able to walk fast enough.

"Come on, kid! Unless you wanna be mobbed by police-damn they sound too close-follow us."

Gritting his teeth from the pain, Saraph was firmly pulled into the shadows of the alley as flashlights lit up the dead bodies with bright spots of light just a couple feet away. Hoping Ainsley wasn't caught since he felt sort of responsible for her, Saraph chewed on his tongue to keep the hisses of pain away until they were safely in the store.

As Saraph flinched as he sat down on a chair after entering the store through the back, Rye went about covering the windows with the shades and turning the "Close" sign on. Peeking through the blinds, the older man noticed the crowd had gotten a bit larger than when he had left his store previously.

Glancing over at the beaten boy, he crossed his arms and frowned at his employee....and responsibility. Considering Rye is actually a paid bodyguard of the young man, he was responsible of the boy's safety outside of his home. Tugging the spectacle off his face, Rye stuffed both the glass and his gone back in his black backpack. Reaching back inside to search the med kit, Rye silently pulled out bruise cream, some painkiller shots and a new set of clothes for Saraph.

---

In an dark office, sitting in the plush chair chair behind the orderly desk, sat a middle aged man with flinty green eyes and slightly weathered skin. He glared with fierce annoyance at the flat surface of his desk, his hands twitching as he drummed the appendages in a random rhythm.

His connection with his commissioned spirit had been severed several minutes ago. His new target on his list had eluded him, which was rare in and of itself. Although the idea of a chase heated his blood, it was annoying at the same time since it took longer than he liked to get things done. He was punctual and was very content when things worked out how they were suppose to be done.

Dark, blueish strands brushed the cloth covering his back and he reached over for a pencil that was sharpened and ready in its holding cup to his right. Carefully pulling the long slip of paper list, he circled the name of his current target and then writing the letter F after the name.

Blinking his narrowed eye once, the man set the pencil aside and folded his hands lazily in his lap.

"Saraph Alesander, just who have you added to my chase?"

Flinty eyes read the name a third time and then the letter F, which stood for the worldwide symbol of the Female gender. He remembered seeing through the spirit's eyes before it died and noted her distinct red hair and interesting ability to talk to spirits. He needed more information before his next move since this certain Other was protected rather diligently. It seemed only natural that the girl would eventually be as well. The hunt was becoming more elaborate, but he would squeeze its complexities until only the most simplistic of components remained.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley watched after Saraph and the other unnamed person whom she didn’t know as they disappeared in the shadows, dumbfounded by the series of events that had just played before her. Registering the loud sirens and the yellowish glows of the flashlights managed to snap her out of her trance, though, and she began to stumble off after the two as fast as her short legs could carry her. Her heart pounded recklessly against her chest in fear of being caught.

Fortunately for her, she made it out before any of the officers could question her. After her minor offense to the officer before, standing in the middle of scene involving a bunch of dead bodies would definitely make her a questionable suspect. And since she yelled a death threat at her stepbrother, it wouldn’t seem all that wild to think of her as the killer.

Saraph and the other man were moving too quickly, and she was growing tired at a rapid pace as she tried to keep up. Whatever that bug thing had injected her with was really wearing her down. She slowed her footsteps, holding a hand to her heaving chest as she panted. The redhead decided that Saraph was in good hands now—if she followed, she’d just be another problem for the two to worry about. The newcomer didn’t seem to care much if she made it out safely or not anyway.

Feeling as though she was too tired to move a muscle, she stopped by a brick building, pressing her back up against it as she slid herself into a sitting position on the sidewalk. She sighed, letting her head rest on her shoulder while closing her dark emerald eyes.

‘You’ll be kidnapped if you’re caught sitting vulnerably on the street like this.’ The voice spoke up for the first time in a while. ‘Get up.’

“Honestly, being kidnapped is one of the least of my problems.” Ainsley muttered to the spirit in an irate tone, “Just shut up and get the hell out of my head.”

‘Your phone’s ringing.’ The voice spoke up again. The redhead looked down in realization, slowly pulling her cell phone out of her pocket to check the tiny glowing screen.

“Is it?” Ainsley responded, glaring at the screen. Chase had probably gotten in trouble for leaving her behind again, and now he was probably checking to ask where she was so he wouldn’t get in any kind of trouble.

‘Where are you?’—it was, indeed, from Chase. She rolled her eyes, scrunching up her nose in disgust.
‘Why should you care? You left me on the street. I hope Lorraine grounded you.’ She texted back quickly before closing the device and dropping it in her pocket.

She swallowed bile that formed in her throat, sucking in a deep breath before looking up.

“Saraph, what kind of mess have you gotten me into?” she murmured gently, hugging her knees to her chest as she let a gentle yawn. Actually, she’d gotten herself into this mess for involving herself in his problems. Really, though, she was glad that she managed to help him out—even if her assistance wasn’t necessarily fruitful. Still, he would’ve been done for if she hadn’t gotten there right when she did.
She wondered where he went, for a moment. He did say that he was going to work earlier on that evening. Perhaps he went there. Or to that other guy’s house. Wherever he was, she hoped that he was safe.

After a few restless moments of sitting and pondering the events she had witnessed earlier, Ainsley’s eyes closed, and she slumped off to the ground on her side, asleep. It was the needle’s light stab at her arm taking affect. She was out cold— unable to hear the constant pleas of the voice in her head, telling her to wake up.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

The next day, Saraph wanted to feel relieved at having (nearly?) stood up to his bullies had it not been for Ainsley's interference and his depression when Rye rescued them. The whole night, he kept thinking of the sudden attack and his helplessness in the situation. How little he could affect anything because the fear was so nerve numbing and distracting. At least the girl had the gall to actually do something about the...whatever it was they faced last night. He couldn't even see the damn thing so he had no idea what it was, besides the fact it could fly.

Now he just felt awkward with himself and his surroundings. His pattern of normalcy had been cracked and then scrambled to a crispy mass of unknown substances. Sure, he figured he would have to stand up to the jerks who he let hit him almost every day. But, sick as it was, he had gotten used to it. The painful contact, the daily, weekly anticipation to feel them gang up on him, thinking in their pathetic minds that they were the superior ones.

Rye claimed he developed some sort of masochistic streak from the beatings. Better yet, he needed a 24/hr shrink for his mental health which was outside the bodyguard's skill range.

And what about Ainsely? Once his bruises were rubbed down in scentless ointment and his ribs were braced with bandages for the next two days, he kept glancing at the door they came through and expecting her to trudge on through. But she never arrived. Once midnight blinked on his cell's LCD screen, he figured she either got caught by the cops or made her way home. Something good because he would be racked with guilt it something bad happened to her. It was his fault she was even in that alleyway in the first....wait she followed him.

He wanted to smack himself for having just realized that one fact. It was her own fault for having gotten caught up in all the shit that went down concerning last night. Even after he had warned her. A brief spell of anger ripped through him, then left just as it appeared. Saraph, pathetic as he was, couldn't stay angry at her since she didn't deserve that.

He'd have to find her, and at least make sure she was all right. It was the very least he could do. If his cousin or mother found out he'd slighted a girl and forget his duty for being a decent gentlemen (urg!), they would make skinning an murderer look easy.

Patting at his clean, purple hair for the third time that morning, Saraph jogged down the hallway of dabbling students before the first bell rang. Seriously, how many redheads in this stupid school was there?

[AppleMistress]

While opening her locker, Ainsley did her best to ignore Ella’s consistent pleas for information about the following night. Her head throbbed mercilessly; she slept for a few hours on the sidewalk until Chase managed to find her. What bothered her the most, though, was that her dad and Lorraine didn’t even seem to notice that she’d been missing hours past her curfew.

“Chase called me last night to ask if you were at my house. Did you get lost? Is something bothering you?” Ella continued to try squeezing information out of her. The curious girl was like an annoying fly to Ainsley. How could Ella possibly understand the madness that occurred last night?

The grumpy redhead dropped her bag in her locker and reached for her photography binder that rested on the highest shelf, having to point her toes in order to do so. She swallowed hard, closing her locker once her supplies were tucked under her arm. Ella had every right to be concerned, in a sense. Her red locks were tousled and blackish purple shadows could easily be seen underneath her wide set of emerald eyes. She looked worse than she usually did, that was for sure.

“Look, Ella. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Ainsley started; holding her hand up in effort to stop her concerned friend from protesting, “I’m just going to the bathroom before class starts. I need to… uh… freshen up a little. See you later.”

The redhead ducked into the sea of students in the halls before Ella could offer to join her. She weaved her way through the crowds of conversing students, desperate to hide away in the washroom to check on her injured arm. The fabric of her uniform was irritating her self-inflicted wounds, as well as the fresh one that the strange creature created last night.

‘You need to bandage those. You don’t want an infection, do you?’ the voice spoke up suddenly, causing the redhead to cringe visibly. ‘I think you’re trying to get yourself killed. Standing up for that kid, sleeping on the streets, slicing your own flesh.’

“Afraid I might be intent on joining you in the afterlife? Go find another medium if you’re so concerned.” She grumbled under her breath, hoping her voice was low enough that she wouldn’t earn any questioning stares from her classmates.

Ainsley turned, and then someone peculiarly familiar caught her eye. His purple hair and his figure was most definitely distinct, it was hard to mistake him for anyone else. Saraph. He was wearing the school’s uniform yesterday; she should’ve considered the possibility that they’d meet again. Her heart pounded a little faster. He told her not to follow him, and she did. Was he mad at her? Was he wondering why she didn’t follow him like he asked her to? Should she say something?

Taking a breath and mustering a bit of her courage, she squeezed her way between a few students in order to get a little closer. Hesitantly, she gave a little tug on his sleeve. She inwardly panicked. What if he wanted to put last night's events behind him? What if he didn't want to be seen talking to her again?

“Hey. Good to see you made it out okay.” She managed, hoping that her greeting wasn’t all too strange. Her arm stung, but she supposed that she could check on it later. She took another look at him, a little concerned. He did look better than he did the day before, to her relief. It was nice to see that he could recover so quickly.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Saraph had underestimated the chance of there being few redheads in their school and had nearly been slapped a few times for choosing the wrong one. Luck seemed to tolerate him for the girl he was searching for had appeared out of nowhere from the surrounding crowd full of bustling students.

"Yeah," he mumbled after recovering from seeing her so suddenly, "I heal pretty fast. You don't look to banged up either."

He wasn't flirting so it wasn't meant to sound nice, he justified to himself. His gaze immediately took in her clothes and any skin he could see. To anyone else it looked like he was leering, but he was just checking to make sure she wasn't hurt. When she had not followed them back to the shop, he was worried he would see her on the news later that night for whatever reason connected to that stupid alleyway.

Not to mention he felt guilty even though he had every right to be mad at her for ignoring his advice for her to leave when he said she should. Still, he was curious just what happened to her. Ignoring the fact that the bell was going to ring any second for the first class of the day to start, Saraph reached forward and grasped her wrist and then began to tug her towards the nearest exit. So far no teachers or monitors were paying any attention and he would be able to get them to the far side of the school where there were few windows and was out of sight from the gym.

He wasn't even sure they had any classes together and if he simply just left things they way they are, he'd be thinking about all the 'what if's' of all his possible actions later.

Sadly, they never made it to the door. Just as they were maybe five feet away, the principal, Raphael Micheals, seemed to turn the corner leading into the walkway from the adjacent corridor at that exact moment. Saraph's grip on her wrist slackened from defeat.

They had been so close.

Arms clasped behind his back and his eyes sharp while noting where they were headed, the principal gave the two students a bland smile.

"Now now, there will be no hooky or intimate sneaking out when classes have just started." chided the older man in a voice that was deep and grainy sounding.

The bell chose that moment to ring and Saraph figured Luck really didn't want to help him out this time. Dropping Ainsley's hand, Saraph took a step away from her and tried his best to look troubled.

"It wasn't like that, sir."

A bushy brow rose to join the wrinkled folds of his forehead, "Is it not?"

"No, sir. We'll head to class now. Please pardon us?" Saraph gave a wide eyed look of hope and held back the urge to cross his fingers behind his back like he did as a kid.

Chuckling, Micheal's made a shooing motion with one arm toward the direction they came and his eyes were a shade lighter than before, "You are pardoned. To class with you, now."

Turning back around, he tugged a little on Ainsley's sleeve to signal her to follow him. When she did, he leaned his head closer to hers in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Meet me up on the roof at lunchtime?" he asked, catching her eye with a serious look. They had to talk about yesterday. He wouldn't relax otherwise.

---

Principal Micheals watched the two young teenagers walk back down the hallway before heading towards the school's front desk to the far back where his office was located. Closing the door behind him, he sat at his desk and waved his hand in front of the computer's flat screen monitor and it instantly turned on to show the plain and spartan desktop with Neo Vangelis' mascot logo.

Picturing the boy's face in his mind, a search screen of the school's archives popped up and began opening different files and windows of the database of all the students in the school while his hands rested on the desktop, not moving at all.

When he couldn't find the boy in the regular human students records, he opted to search in the small file that held a handful of records concerning the humans who were Others, or humans with powers.

Sure enough, the boy appeared under the name of Alesander and he remembered that was the surname of a rich family who lives in the celebrity sector of mansions and high priced real estate. Makes sense since although the young man dressed as subdued as he did, no one could mistake the quality in which his clothes were made.

He himself had seen a great many of these special humans throughout his time on Earth and still could not fathom as to why such an Event could still be producing such mutations in this modern age.

Threading his fingers together and resting his chin on top of his knuckles, Micheals wondered why Alesander gave off a constant stream of power. In his human form, due to its frailty to his intense powers, he could not use his enhanced sight to see past any defenses of the young man. The older man would investigate another time since he could sense one of the secretaries heading for his door to deliver more mail from the board of directors that he "answered" to.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley was in shock that the principle just let the two of them go like that. It was very rare where staff member would let her go like so. She was almost always late, she knew by now that the lady that worked the front desk held some sort of a grudge against her.

She pursed her lips for a moment, studying her newly found acquaintance’s face intently after registering his request. What could he have to say? Did something else happen that night which she was completely unaware of?

Great. She huffed, causing her long vermillion bangs to flutter above her long eyelashes. These questions would just continue to torment her sleep-deprived soul until lunchtime. She closed her eyes, letting out a long yawn as she nodded her head grudgingly.

“Fine, fine. Rooftop at lunchtime.” She agreed with little hesitation. She opened her eyes as she rubbed the back of her head; wearing an exasperated and somewhat amused expression. “I’ll just tell my friends that I’m finishing an art project during lunch… Or something.”

The redhead couldn’t help but notice the red stain formulating on the annoyingly lengthy sleeve of her uniform. She held back her breath to keep back a noise of utter surprise, immediately gripping her side in order to cover the wound. She was already late; a trip to the restroom wouldn’t be very troublesome at this rate.

She heaved a sigh, glancing at Saraph for a moment before looking on ahead. “I’m going to the washroom.” She announced bluntly, turning on her heel. She looked behind her shoulder, offering him a half-witted smile, “I’ll see you at uh… lunch. On the roof. Yeah.”

‘Wow. Way to be casual.’ The spirit mocked her. Her brow furrowed.

“Shut up!”

‘Why do you think he wants to meet with you? He’ll probably lecture you for following him. Or maybe he’ll accuse you of stalking him.’ The spirit’s voice was bouncing with life and amusement, ironically enough.

“This isn’t a reality show…” Ainsley felt her left eyelid twitch just a little as she clenched a fist. “Be quiet. You’re going to get me in trouble.”

She sweatdropped upong noticing that Saraph could probably hear her embarrassing conversation. She was unaware sometimes that no one else could hear the strange voices that lurked around in her head. If only she communicated with spirits through some kind of telepathy instead… That way she wouldn’t make such a fool out of herself.

Hunching her shoulders, she let out a sigh. Nope, she’d never be normal. She accepted that fact a long time ago.

The rooftop at lunchtime. She couldn’t help but wonder what Saraph would have to say. As long as she could get past her annoyingly inquiring friends, there'd probably be no trouble in arriving there on time. At least, she hoped so.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Lunch seemed to take forever in coming around, Saraph figured. Maybe because he was actually counting down the minutes that it felt longer? Usually he slept or worked the hours away.

Not bothering to really bother the energy of ignoring anyone this time, he shouldered his bag and was out the door two minutes after the bell rang. He wasn't sure if she would be just as quick, but he had to make sure he claimed the roof so they could talk. They didn't need to run into any necking couples or depressed kids who sometimes use.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Saraph readjusted his bag and licked his bottom lip. After scaling the last flight of stairs, he opened the door leading to the roof and took a look around. So far, he was the only one here. No one felt like skipping earlier which is good. It was their spot until lunch was over.

Leaning his back against the cement wall, Saraph pulled out his bottle of water and guzzled down half the amount. As he waited, he nibbled on the apple he grabbed from the fruit bowl earlier this morning. No use starving himself.

His phone gave off the jingle for a text message and he checked his phone to see that his dad sent him a message, letting him know that only him and mom will be at the house tonight so leftovers were for dinner.

Great. He could live off spaghetti if his mom made it.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley huffed heatedly as she nudged her way past the bothersome giggling group of girls that had inconveniently stopped in the middle of the hallway. Her mind was filled with questions—and she hoped that talking to Saraph on the roof would help her fill in the gaps of information she’d been missing from their encounter the previous night.

She expressed a heavy sigh of utter relief as she reached the stairway. Taking a moment to compose herself, she closed her eyes. Her lunch was merely a peach—one that she’d picked randomly from the refrigerator before dashing off towards the school. The redhead hadn’t any time to wheedle her stepmother into giving her some lunch money or even to make one for herself. And considering she didn’t have any dinner or breakfast either, she was particularly hungry. She took a quick bite of her peach, savoring the sweet taste on her tongue before sprinting up the stairwell.

Ainsley reached the top, feeling a little winded as she weaved a hand through her messy vermillion locks as though to tame them slightly. She looked up, her emerald eyes ablaze with recognition and acknowledgement when she noticed Saraph.

She caressed the soft surface of her peach with her thumb as she approached him, her shoulder bag hanging low and banging up against her legs as she walked on unsteady feet. The redhead let a sheepish, crooked smile play across her features when she came to a stop. With a gentle puff, she let her weighty bag drop to the ground by her feet.

“You haven’t been waiting long, have you?” she inquired, tipping her head to the side curiously as she leaned back against the wall. She took another small bite of her peach as she awaited his response, scuffing her feet gently against the cement.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

The sun was covered by a decent amount of light, gray clouds and the air wasn't cool enough for rain so he pulled out his Ipod and checked the battery. His lunch was a hastily made, dry sandwich and a bottle of water that was slowly but surely depleting.

When he heard her voice, he twitched a little as his eyes were on his Ipod when she spoke. Saraph looked up to see her standing there and shook his head to her question.

Gesturing for her to come closer, he tucked his Ipod back into his small bookbag and crossed his legs to get comfortable.

"Hello, Ainsley. Glad you can make it."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Saraph met her eyes and gave a slight half smile to reassure he that he wasn't mad, sad or anything like that.

"We both know you followed me when I clearly asked you not to. I'm still a little irritated that you didn't listen but in the end it saved our lives so I'll eventually ignore that fact."

Tilting his head to the side so his light purple fringe fell out of his vision, Saraph narrowed his eyes lightly.

"You didn't follow us to the shop. I want to know why. I had no way to contact you when it was clear after an hour when you did not show up to check whether you were hurt, interrogated by the police or what. If anything, I felt responsible for you last night so please tell me what happened after we got separated."

Saraph waited for her to answer, at the same time wondering if he should ask her for her cellphone number since he didn't know any Others he was comfortable talking with. The few he was able to meet were angry or antisocial kids who were shunned about their conditions even worse off than he had gone through.

From the short duration of time during last night, he felt that she was nice if not hesitant in showing her feelings. He was also curious if she had any idea about their situation as Others. The term itself was the only decent word that described their type of human. Other words that they were called were mutants, demons, supernatural beings and even spirits. As annoying as the notion was, he wanted to know if there was any information or some type of history that could be dug up.

He avoided the internet because his last couple searches were filled with theorists ideas, rumors, and just farfetched stories that he was sure wasn't even close to the truth, whatever the truth was. Looking at Ainsley, he wondered also if she could help him search. It might be a long shot but he was sure she had to be curious too. At least all of them who survived had to ask one similar question at least once.

What am I?

[AppleMistress]

The gentle wind gave Ainsley a sensation of paranoia as it caressed her skin, making her shudder as she contemplated Saraph’s words in her head. Her deep green eyes widened slightly and then closed as she let out a gentle sigh. Why did he feel responsible for her?

‘Well…’ she considered, ‘I did help him out. And I followed him when he told me not to…’

The redhead opened her eyes, offering him a sheepish glance. She honestly hadn’t meant to make him worry. She was hesitant to answer his question, though, considering the night before had been a little fuzzy after she’d fallen asleep on the curb.

“I tried to follow you, I really did. But you were moving so quickly, I wasn’t quite sure where you were headed.” Ainsley pinpointed her gaze at her feet, kicking them back and forth as she thought about how she should put her next memory of the night into words, “I assumed you were safe, because that man was with you. That was the only thing that mattered to me right then, I guess.”

She paused, taking a generous bite of her peach to keep her stomach from growling. The redhead was actually surprised that she’d admitted that fact out loud, really. She put his wellbeing before her own, even though she didn’t know him very well. Perhaps it was because he was an Other? Someone whom she could possibly relate to? Of course, she also did something wrong in the process of letting him get away—he actually seemed kind of concerned. There weren’t a lot of guys who would admit that kind of a feeling of protection out loud nowadays, unfortunately enough.

“That monster we encountered last night struck my arm when I pushed you out of harms way—I think it injected me with something soporific.” She wrinkled her nose a bit at the very thought of the disgusting creature, “I was too sleepy to move… I fell asleep on the sidewalk, or something.”
She racked her brain to think of what might have happened next. She suddenly realized how lucky she was that no one found her lying there—perhaps she’d fallen asleep in a deserted part of town.

“Nonetheless, my stepbrother found me and brought me home.” Ainsley looked directly at Saraph for the first time in a while, “That’s all I remember.”

The redhead decided to leave out the fact that the spirit had pestered her all the while—that part wasn’t very significant.

Ainsley couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted her around or not. He could have invited her up her primarily out of guilt—or maybe he was genuinely interested in actually making friends with another Other… she shook her head a little. She had to stop thinking of the ‘what ifs’ in the situation. She just had to wait and see what would happen next.

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

Listening to her side of the story, Saraph was relieved that she had been relatively safe since the attack. It was one curiosity solved, but opened doors to many other questions and uncertainties. In a way, they both were floundering in the seas of the unknown with how lost they were in this world.

Threading his fingers from each hand together, Saraph frowned a little to himself.

The mysterious monster they encountered unanswered questions as to its purpose last night. Why was it there???

Shaking his head lightly to rid the pointless questions at this point, Saraph looked up at the girl and blinked a few times.

"Well I'm glad you are alright. Did you get your arm looked at? Maybe I should take a look at it. My mom did try to get me into the med career from job shadowing."

Getting to his feet, he briskly walked near the red head and reached to the arm he sort of remembered was the one that was injured. All the memories were a blur and swam together every time he tried to really focus on them which irritated him too.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley’s emerald eyes flashed with panic when she noticed Saraph reach for her arm. Although she was completely fine with telling her new companion about her ability and being an Other, she wasn’t quite ready to explain to him why she cut herself.

‘He’s gonna find out!’ The spirit piped up. She decided to ignore the comment, just so she wouldn’t confuse Saraph.

She swallowed the bile that suddenly formed in the back of her throat with trouble, jerking away from him instantly. Her face burned with a faint blush, as she was a little fearful that she might have offended him.

“I-I bandaged it myself! I don’t want it to start bleeding again at school, it’ll be hard to explain the bloodstains on my sleeve to my friends…” she was completely aware that her words were just slightly garbled together as she shifted on her feet, “I’ll… I’ll make sure it’s tended to. You don’t have to worry about it.”

The redhead rolled her shoulders to ease the tension that lingered on her muscles before wrapping her arms over her chest for comfort. She looked up at him, hoping that all traces of fear and suspicion had vanished from her features.

She chewed at her lip, hoping that she could bring up something else to take his mind off of the subject.

“So…” she looked off to the side, appearing a little more casual, “Where exactly do you work? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

[Rogue.Ember.Shadow]

His arm paused a hair's breath from fully touching her when she moved away. Saraph noted her reaction for later thought but for now, respected her wishes.

Lifting his hands away from her to show he wasn't going to try again, Saraph took a step away with a menial smile.

"I work on the east side of town in a bakery with my guardian/boss, Rye. If we had moved faster, you would have realized it was just a ten minuted walk from where we were attacked. I'm thinking since you're another....one like me, that we could.....stick together would be an easy way to call it. Being alone isn't an easy way to survive, now that we know someone is out there willing to attack us."

Jogging back over to his bag where is items were, Saraph opened his bottle of water and gestured for the girl to sit beside him. What was it his uncle Freyr said? You bond best through adversity? Something like that...

Pulling up his phone number from his info records on his phone's memory, Saraph showed it Ainsely.

"Here's my number. Call me anytime. Its the least I can do."

The bell rang again and for some reason, he felt a little disappointed. He wanted to talk with her more. Ask her if she felt the same loneliness he did when he was shunned for being different, both at school AND at home.

Packing what was left of his sandwich and water, Saraph shouldered his bag and met the girl's eyes.

"I....." He never was hesitant, not when he was in a decent conversation. Saraph may ignore people and conversing irritated him, but he was by no means antisocial. Just intensely introverted.

"I hope you don't see this as being...too nosy but would you text me when you get home? I'd like to know this time around."

Scuffing his shoe while glancing at the clock on his phone, he inwardly calculated the time it would take him to jog to his next class which is located on the other side of the building. Quantum theories, yum.

[AppleMistress]

Ainsley let out a breath of relief when Saraph let the situation slide. She’d have to be a little more careful—if someone found out, then she knew things would only get worse for her in this school. She’d get another label… People would think that she was crazier than she already was.

She nodded her head as she comprehended what Saraph told her about his workplace, reminding herself to keep note of it, just in case. When he mentioned working together, she contemplated it for a moment, looking down at the ground before looking back up at him.

“Sure. It’s better to survive in numbers, I guess.” She nodded more firmly after her hesitation. Before yesterday, she thought that Others were harder to come by. But she’d met two in one night. Were some better at hiding their ‘abilities’ than others were? She shrugged off the thought, deciding to further examine it later… if she remembered.

‘He’s telling you to come over there, girl.’ The spirit decided to speak up. Again. ‘And don’t you forget about me… and my message! I say you skip your next class and help me with it…’

“I’m not going to deliver your message. Not now. Just leave me alone.” Ainsley muttered through her teeth, hoping that Saraph wouldn’t hear her. This spirit was really just a big chip on her shoulder. Brushing off her irritation, she turned, following Saraph’s gesture, and sat down next to him. She briefly took out her phone and added his number before turning it off and slipping it into the front pocket in her bag.

“When I get home?” She repeated.

‘Oh, you sound so smart.’ The spirit mocked.

She ignored it. Her ‘friends’ would probably go off and do something without her anyway. Lorraine told her to stay away from the arcade this afternoon… As much as she didn’t want to go home after school, she knew she’d have to anyway. Maybe she'd get some studying done… As long as a weird bug-like monster didn’t stalk her on her way home or anything. She wanted to shudder at the thought.

“Sure, I can do that.” Ainsley moved her head to keep some of the loose red strands of her hair out of her eyes, securing the strap of her messenger bag over her shoulder. “I guess it makes sense and all, after last night.”

She brought herself up to her feet, brushing off the invisible dirt on her uniform. “So… I guess I’ll talk to you later?” Her words sounded awkward, but that’s all she could manage as parting words. To skip or not to skip... She wanted to skip, but knew that getting to class would be the right thing to do. Especially after the trouble she found herself in last night.

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