He wondered why he’d taken this path home from school, as opposed to the bus or even getting a lift from a friend, as walking wasn’t even his usual mode of transportation. Today had just seemed like that kind of day he supposed, deep blue eyes glancing around as he checked to make sure he was even going the right way. Would be of no use to have opted to walk home for once only to get himself lost.
Wings rustling against his back, the young man turned at the sound of trashcans turning over. Probably a cat, he mused to himself as he turned to continue on. No since sticking around for a stray after all.
He found himself surprised when his feet turned him toward the sound instead of continuing forward as he had intended. This was something new to him as his body usually didn’t object against the path laid before him by his mind, but even his braid seemed confused by what was going on. Something else moved him for the alleyway and try as he might he couldn’t escape it. Here was to hoping it wouldn’t be a fool’s mistake.
—————
In said alley, a young woman staggered her way down the safety of the dark alley and some where in her mind there was amusement. To think she’d seen more monsters in her life that an alley that could have meant her death on the darkest of nights didn’t terrify her. Of course that thought came from a part of her mind that refused to have been broken like the rest of her and the comment only seemed to confuse the active part of herself. Such a shame that she might never find the amusing irony in that statement.
Stumbling as her vision faded slightly, the thoughts were shoved aside as the woman moved to lean against a brick wall for support. She felt as if she could pass out and yet adrenaline and determination kept her going. She had to keep going, had to find safety. Pushing from the wall she moved to continue but stumbled again, knocking into trashcans and sending them (and herself) tumbling.
The determination was slowly fading as she landed against the concrete, amber colored eyes closing behind pale lids as sleep threatened to take it’s hold. How long had she been running? How long had she been trying to flee from the monster in her darkly lit life that now she could go no further? The attempted fluttering of her wings made her cry out and she curled against herself until the pain passed.
Had the concrete always felt this cool?
—————-
As he reached the entry to the alley, a cry caught his ears and he rushed forward as something tugged on his heartstrings. He wasn’t an unemotional person, but at the same time emotions tended to leave him more confused whenever some one expressed them. He couldn’t say if before now some one had ever evoked such a need in him before but if asked he’d probably mention how up until this point he didn’t care. Very few could evoke such a need to be cared for like this and none of them had ever happened in such a sudden rush.
He didn’t get too far when he found a form curled on the concrete, the gender unknown but it didn’t matter. His eyes couldn’t pull away from the form’s back where a pair of charred wings attempted to settle and could only flutter slightly. It was a depressing sight and no doubt the person was in pain. Most of the feathers were gone, no doubt turned to ash by what ever fire had done such a thing, and what remained were an ugly brown that screamed they’d been scorched. The exposed arms of the wings had several blisters forming and in some areas it was hard to tell if the skin would ever heal to regrow those feathers again.
Kneeling down he reached out to touch the exposed wing arms but pulled away when the figure twitched then moved as if to stand. Immediately he stood and backed up, giving them room, and found the form to be female and only a couple of inches shorter then he. She looked worse for wear from what he could see and her skin was flushed. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had a fever on top of it all.
When she moved to try walking again and, unsurprisingly, startled to topple foreword he moved to catch her and tried to hide a smirk when she squeaked in alarm. It was apparent she had no idea he’d been there until now and she struggled to push away now that she was. Though his hold wasn’t tight, he immediately tried to keep her still.
“Careful, you’re injured and probably with fever.” Ah, seemed he was Captain Obvious today.
“You go,” she managed out brokenly. “Please, he’ll hurt.”
Dark eyebrows knitted together under his mop of hair, confused by what she was trying to say. “I’m not going to leave you here. You need help.” Even if he wanted to, now that he held her, he’d never be able to let her go.
“Can’t let him hurt,” she whined as she tried again, hoping that maybe the man would get it through his head she was trying to protect him. She’d all ready been through the wolves once, she’d do it again to make sure no one else ended up in that man’s hands. This time, though, she made to shove him away as she pleaded with this nameless man.
He seemed to get it this time, maybe, but the push failed to get him to let go. “Who will protect you?”
“Please.”
Another beg for him to understand it wasn’t about her safety. But he still refused to see it that way and even went so far as to pick her up as he stood. Holding her closer, though mindful of her wings, he left the alley and moved to continue on for home.
“No.” His tone was firm, gaze on the sidewalk before him instead of the girl he held in his arms. “If this man is after you, he’ll never find you because I won’t let him. And, by that token, he’ll never hurt me because he won’t be able to find you.” Solid reasoning.
“… Why?”
That was a loaded question and he found he didn’t have all the answers. Silent in thought until he reached the door to his apartment, he set her down enough to fish for his keys and unlock the door before leading her inside.
“Because no one else has.” And, as far as he was concerned, no one else ever would.
So, like the title says, this a tentative look at how chapter one of one of my many story ideas might go. This chapter is based more on the fandom creation of Caged’s creation, as opposed to the original rewritten version I’m still trying to plan out. I still have a lot of world building and character creation to finish.
I’m not sure how much more I’ll be typing up for this on here, I may make a tumblr account just for it, because it’s a very dark themed story with (what I feel) is a very interesting twist. I’m also aware that, while pretty good, my writing isn’t the best so if people are wanting/willing to have a look over and beta my writing I’m all for it. Anything to better myself!
