|
Post by spyder on Jun 20, 2006 6:23:32 GMT -5
Somehow I don't feel threatened XD Anyway, thanks I read your review...And I actually do know what it's like to be 2 miles away from a good computer, I live in Australia for god's sake! XD Anyway...
Chapter 24 - Where I Belong Rose's P.O.V There are many things in my life that seem to take awhile to get used to, that you have to take a moment to stop and think 'Is this real, or is it a dream?' Right now for me, was one of those times. Even though I could feel it happening live and in the flesh, I could see it with my very own eyes, after everything that had happened I still couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true!
Yet there we were, arms wrapped around each other, pulled together andour lips lockedas I felt Jake running his hands all over me, as if exploring every each of my body, though I didn't realize it at the time, but I was doing the same.
The feeling I got was unbelievable! Even with the cold wind of the morning lashing up against my bare arms and the gash I had across my chest, I felt no pain, I felt no cold. Nothingabout of me felt bad, it was all good and as Jake pulled me even closer to him, his lips soft yet firm still brushing against I felt an amazing warmth come over me. A sense of happiness, a sense of relief and most of the strong sense of relief that overwelmed me when everything I'd ever wanted was realized, was true, was a reality.
Jake and I overcoming every obstacle, making up and continuing from where we started. I guess I can't blame myself for not being able to believe. For feeling like my eyes had deceived me or that I was lost in a dreamworld, so convinced it was reality...But deep down, I knew it was and that was the warm feeling welling up inside of me. Realising this was all real...
And after what felt like an eternity Jake gently pulled away from me, rendering the kiss as nothing more then a memory, a symbol of our love and a symbol of us letting go and moving on.I took my hand in Jake's again and stared upon his face, deep into his dark eyes. Seeing him in that condition, seeing the emotionaland physical scarshe wore, I wished everything could just end here. I wish Jake and could be together here and now and that would be the end of it...But it wasn't.
There was still evil, there was still a reason to fight. Jake had come to rescue because he seemed to have made it his responsibility to protect me. But it didn't end there, things had gotten far more personal. Jeff getting roped in, his ties and pasts with the Huntsclan, Jake's ties with the Huntsclan, his thirst for revenge and now for me, it was about unraveling the truth behind my past and most importantly getting back at my Uncle for leaving me for dead.
It wasn't over yet. We'd barely won the first battle, we still had what was left of the war. And the biggest problem for me now was. I had nowhere left togo. I'd left New York two years ago and had no form of accomodation left here, my home, the only family I ever knew, everything I ever owned it was all in my home in Baltimore. But the worst part of it all was, I could never go back there. I could never predict what fate awaited me if I ever returned.
I sighed and looked away from Jake for a moment, who immediately noticed something was puzzling me and gently pulled my face back to his, so our eyes met again.
'Rose,' he said 'What's wrong?'
I stared Jake straight in the face and saw the cuts, the bruises and dry blood that had drenched his face. I could see everything he'd gone through, it was written clearly upon his face in scar tissue. The looks of determination, the overwhelming senses of urgency and desperation out of love he'd run on. I could tell how much Jake cared, he'd shown me clearly over the past few days and after everything I knew I couldn't lie to him anymore, that just made things worse.
I really felt I could open up to Jake, but I couldn't tell him everything just yet, I didn't want to freak him out, or overwhelme him anymore with shock or hatred. If I told him some of the things that had gone with the Huntsclan I could tell he would go and try to kill them all, but would just end up getting hurt again. I didn't want to have to see that happen again.
'I've lost everything,' I said sighing and sounding really helpless again 'I've got nothing left, and nowhere to go...'
'Don't say that,' Jake said, almost cutting me off 'You've got everything you need right here, you've got the life you left behind. Because believe or not Rose, this is your home, you belong here. The reason you were sad was because you didn't want to leave, but you knew you couldn't stay. You didn't leave out of choice it was practical forced upon you and you really didn't want to go that far, you really didn't want to make your life any worse, you just thought it might somehow make things a little easier...But what happened, happened and we can't change that now. All we can do is take life as it comes and hope for the best. Everything will work out, I promise, I will find somewhere for you to stay, even if it means you have to stay with me, I'll do it. Just to make you feel...Right, again.'
And he gave me another affectionate look with his dark eyes that made me feel warm inside, that made me believe everything Jake said because I trusted him, because I knew how much he cared and because he never had failed me before. I was beginning to get the feeling I could trust my life with Jake without any fret.
'First off though,' hesaid eventually'I've got some real bad explaining to do. C'mon!'
And with that Jake stood before a normal teenage boy one moment, but the next his body was covered with flames and he appeared before me asa fiery, red dragon,.I climbed onto hisback and he glided down onto the sidewalks below, just a few blocks away from his grandfather's electronics shop.
'In here,' Jake said as I climbed off his back and he powered back down into his human form.
I walked slowly over to the entrance of the building, but stopped when I heard the sound of ringing coming from behind me, it was Jake's phone.
Jake's P.O.V
I stared down at my pocket, listening to the ringing of my cell phone and suddenly I felt really pissed off. All this time we were helpless and in need of first aid, transportation, food and water and I had a phone with me the whole time without even knowing!
'Hold on a sec,' I said to Rose stopping her from going any further and digging my hand into my pocket, fishing out my cell. I stared at the number that was calling me, displayed upon the screen. It was Jeff, but what did he want? What was he calling me for? I shrugged and accepted the call, taking the phone to my ear.
'Hey Jeff,' I said
'Hey Jake,' he replied from the other end ‘…Listen, I need some help…’
'What is it?' I replied, slightly taken back by how serious his voice had sounded.
'Well...' he started, but then he stopped and I could hear him take in a deep breath from the other line, as if he was about to say something that wasn't easy for him to say.
'I almost died last time,' he started and the moment he did I knew this was leading somewhere. Jeff, being the unpredictable individual that he is, I didn't know where exactly but I knew it would go somewhere.
'I don't want that to even come close to happening again,' he continued 'and that's why I need your help.'
'What is it?' I repeated, even louder this time,starting toget impatient.
'I need dragon training...'
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jun 20, 2006 19:08:07 GMT -5
Really? Well at least the good computer wasnt messed up like mine, and u probably wherent grounded last week. Anyways: Updates soons!!
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jun 22, 2006 8:02:05 GMT -5
Nah, my computer's pretty stuffed too...Anyways:
Chapter 25 - Devil Gene Jake's P.O.V 'I've known that I was a dragon for as long as I can possibly remember,' Jeff continued from the other line 'despite the Huntsclan's efforts to wash those memories away, they stayed with me. Everyday, as the tortued me I knew it was the reason I was being treated this way, I knew it was the reason why my life had become a hell. When I was no older then ten I'd already made up my mind, and if it was in my power I would have changed my fate so I could not have been a dragon. Just to avoid everything that awaited me.'
'But why couldn't you get trained?' I asked
'There was only ever one person in my family who'd been a dragon,' Jeff continued 'and that was my grandfather Lei Irvine. He was part American-part Chinese, a Chinese dragon though. Anyway, one day during a battle he was having with an evil witch doctor he was hit by a curse of powerful evil, which almost killed him but that was not the intent of the spell. The witch doctor wanted to well evil up inside of him, in hope that it may completely consume him, even to apoint of which he may join his side. But it didn't work, at least, not at first. The spell didn't take affect until the day my grandfather got married and had a son of his own (my father). The evil may not have taken control of him, but when he gave birth to his son the evil had gone down through his blood, his gene, his DNA to the next generation and he gave birth to a child that in his young adult years became the spawn of pure evil. Instead of avenging his father's legacy, in hope that he will be able to one day pass it down to his own son (me) he turned his back on his father killing him and then started a clan of men and womenwho would go round hunting magical creatures, especially...'
'Dragons,' I said for him
'Right,' Jeff replied
'But that must mean that,' I continued, completely stunned
'Yeah,' Jeff said, sounding ashamed
'Your dad's the Huntsman!' I exclaimed, and even Rose turned to look at me in shock.
'Yes,' Jeff continued 'I carry inside of me in the blood flowing through my veins, the dark magic, the evil spirits that have consumed me my entire life. The evil from my grandfather, to my father, to me and that's where the devil gene started. I had to figure it for myself again as usual, everything in the early years of my life was a blur that I spent all my teenage years up to this point trying to make sense of. All the memorieshe'd washed away finally came back, in a dream, that at first a distant nightmare slowly drew clearer and clearer until...Until, the truth came out...'
'That's why I came with you. At first I thought I had revenge in mind, but really all this time I just wanted to try and make my dad good again, just so something about my life could feel right.'
'Is that even possible?' I said
'I don't know,' Jeff replied 'All I know is that if I find away to stop his evil, to stop him from controlling me I just might be able to bring him back and this evil spirit inside of me may finally go. That's why, if I ever encounter either him or the Huntsboy again I need to be ready, I need to be able to take them down! But first, I need your help...'
Silence cut over the line once again, as I took another good long moment to think about this. Jeff had a point, everything I'd ever asked for his help with he seemed to prevail in and I was going to need all the helpI could get in returning peace to the magical community of New York. The Huntsclan seemed to be getting more powerful then ever before and part of me wanted to see how this might unfold.
'Okay,' I replied eventually
'You'll help me?'
'Yeah, my grandpa can help me train you,' 'But not right now, I've got something important to take care of...'
'Okay, well um, I'll see you tomorrow,' Jeff said
'Yeah a'ight, bye.' I replied hanging up the call and turning to Rose again.
'You're going to help him?'she said still bewildered by what she'd heard 'How can you trust him? Didn't you hear? He's the Huntsman's son, not exactly what we're looking for in an ally.'
'Well aren't you the Huntsman's niece,' I replied '
'But it's different, he's got the devil in him.' 'An evil controlled by the Huntsman. He could attack us at any moment and...' I held my finger to her lips, silencing her.
'Look,' I said 'It's risky, I know and I can understand why you're worried after everything you've been through you don't know who to trust anymore. But the way I see it he's not like them,' I said 'He's someone we can trust, an ally, even if he is the Huntsman's son we need all the help we can get if we ever want to defeat the Huntsclan. Anyway, let's not go there just yet, i've already got enough explaining to do already as it is...'
And with that said, I carefully snuck over to front door of Gramps's shop. It was still only about 7:30 in the morning, Sunday. I'd being gone almost two whole days, I think it was safe to assume that everyone was probably getting worried about me.
Jeff's P.O.V
'I don't want to hurt him...' I thought as, I hung the phone back up 'I know what he did to me was really bad but he couldn't control himself...He was under influence of the evil from the devil gene. As am I...We both carry this evil with us, it's up to me now to stop it...'
'But what if you have to?' another voice rang, from another part of my mind 'What if the only wat to stop this evil is to hurt him, maybe even kill him? What can you do then?'
'I'll do what's best...' the first voice replied
'You'll do what I say!' (Translated from Chinese)
'No!' I yelled out, as that familiar gravely voice rang in the back of my mind again. I grabbed my hands of my ears, desperate to try and block it out but it was helpless. It was inside of me, where I couldn't get it.
'No?' it replied, snarling evily 'That's what you said the first time, and look what happened! You went all the way! Summoning all the evil you had inside, completely summoning the devil, all because you tried to hang on and push these thoughts away. Well, I suggest if you don't want the worst give up now, or the worst will come.'
I suddenly felt my wrist burn painfully again, and I dropped onto one knee clutching in terror, yelping out in pain, still hearing this evil voice in the back of my mind.
'Give in! Give in!' It demanded 'Give in and all the power will be yours!'
I felt the burning run all over my body and stared down at the scar on my wrist, which was turning bright red. I saw my skin break open again, and watch in horror as the tip of a horn, like a tooth through gum slowly pushed its way out. I fixated on it, watching it grow slowly, completely focused until...
'Jeff?' I jumped at the sound of footsteps, and the horn slowly slipped back into my wrist when I lost focus of my power of my evil 'Yo, Jeff, you here?' My older brother repeated, walking through the doorway into my room.
'Hey Shaun,' I replied 'What's up?'
'What are you doing down there?' he said looking at me knelt down on the carpet on my knees, I stop up sheepishly 'And where have you been?' he added.
'Huh?'
'Where've you been?' he repeated 'You're note wasn't exactly too clear...'
I looked over at Shaun who was giving me a suspicious, yet concerned look. I hated to lie to him, after everything he'd done to me and the divorceour 'parents' had been though he was always reasurring me everything would be okay. When he saw the injuries I'd gotten from been tortued by the Huntsman, he assumed I was getting beaten up and always asked me if everything was okay at school and with our 'dad' hardly ever being around and me having no...Let's say, friendly relationships with my biological father, Shaun became more of a dad to me then a brother and I had to lie to his face and keep all these secrets locked away from him. Everyday, I wished I could tell him, but everyday I realise I just can't bring myself to do it. (Note: In case you haven't already figured it out, Jeff's bro doesn't know about his dragon powers, or the devil gene either...He was never told about his family history, only Jeff knows and he had to figure it all out first...)
'Like it says on the note,' I replied eventually, 'I was just at a friends house for a few days.'
'How could you have a friend?' Shaun replied 'You've only been here a few days.'
'What can I say?' I said back, smiling 'I guess people are just naturally drawn to me...'
'Well, you are a pretty cool little brother,' he said, smiling too now and giving me a playful punch across the arm.
'Thanks,' I replied, returning the favour with a quick jab of my own and he turned to walk out, when I noticed something weird.
'Hey Shaun,' I said, stopping him at the doorway.'
'Yeah?' he replied, turning back around.
'Why are you wearing a glove on your right hand?' I asked
'What, you worried I'm trying to steal your look?' he said with a smirk 'Don't worry, I was just out riding,' he said producing another glove, one for his left hand which he'd taken off
'You want anything to eat?' he said from outside the door 'I still got some pizza left from last night.'
'Nah, I'm cool,' I replied 'I think I'm just gonna chill in here for awhile.'
'Alright, well just shout if you need anything,' Shaun replied shutting the door behind him.
I picked my guitar which I had propped against one of my walls and lay back on my bed holding it in my hands and staring at the ceiling as I gently strummed a few chords against the strings, watching the sun the sun beaming over the new day that lay before us.
'Maybe I'll be able to figure it out, maybe it will all make sense...Someday...'
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jun 22, 2006 15:56:17 GMT -5
Well at least computers like you!They hate me!!!No...really...they do...hate..me...*runs over to a dark conner and crys* THE COMPUTERS HATE ME!!! XD
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jul 14, 2006 7:46:37 GMT -5
^ Okay, you were right. You have taken too many chill pills! XD
Chapter 26 - I'm Here Now Jake’s P.O.V
‘Jake?’ Gramps’s echoed across theroom the moment I’dopened the door, my eyes darted across the room to see him a few feet ahead of me, his arms folded, I hadn’t been inside long before I’d been spotted out. Gramps had been sitting in a chair behind the counter, still fully dressed watching the door, looking as though he’d been up all night, waiting…Waiting for me…I didn’t realise how much of a fuss I’d caused.
'You better wait outside,' I said out to the door to Rose 'I've got some real bad explaining to do...' She stopped and waited, as I turned my attention back to Gramps who was still watching me from his sitting spot.
‘Yeah G,’ I replied eventually, feeling myself swallow, ready to take my punishment‘It’s me…’
‘What happened?’ he said, getting to his feet and making his way over to me. ‘And where have you been?’ he added starting to sound frustrated.
I took in a deep breath; all this wasn’t going to be easy to explain. I wasn’t sure how far into it I should go, what I should tell him and what I should keep locked in.
‘I was in Baltimore,’ I said eventually, starting all the way from the beginning. ‘The Huntsclan had Rose captured after she refused to kill me at the Grand Equinox Hunt. They were going to kill her…’
‘Ah, and you felt the need to help her,’ he replied
‘Well of course!' I shot back 'It's not like I wasjust gonna stand there and let her die,’
‘Alright, alright,' he said 'Calm down, young one. Now, how did you find out all this was happening?’
‘I don’t know really...’ I replied, pausing momentarily. Still unsure to this day, of what exactly had heappend‘It was...Kinda like some kinda...Magical message, I guess.’
He gave me a look that told me to go on, he could have very well known what it was.
‘See I had this picture of her,’ I continued ‘and well I’m not sure, but a breeze kind of came in and lifted the photo into the air, almost like it was hovering and then I heard her voice, calling for help….Something like that, I’m not 100 percent certain. I can’t really explain what was happening, I can’t really explain what came over me…I just knew I had to help her.’
More silence filled the ambience of the room as Gramps held his hand to his chin, perhaps trying to contemplate what I was saying.
‘I think I know what you are talking about,’ he replied eventually‘But I can’t tell you yet, not until you are certain you know how you feel. It's not really what you think, though...’
I felt a puzzled expression crawl across my face as I stared up at Gramps, trying to figure out what he meant. Certain I know how I feel, what did that mean? What was he thought I would automatically think? I could hardly figure out what I was thinking these days...I guess it was best not to ask now, apparently I wasn’t ready for whatever it was he planned to tell me.
'So,' I said eventually 'Be honest. Just how busted am I?'
'Jake you must understand,' 'What you did, granted it was for a good case was far to drastic, you left in the middle of the night, not even leaving a note, no description as to where you going so we could not go looking for you.We assumed it had something to do withthe Huntsclan, andhenceforth could not tell the police.You left unsure of what to do and worried about you for almost two whole days.
'I know, and I'm sorry,' I replied 'I don't know what came over me, and if I could turn back the clock and make the right move instead I would, but I can't. But I swear, I will not do this again. Just that night, I don't know, it was something about me...I just...Couldn't think straight, at the thought...The thought of losing her...' I sighed, unsure of how to explain it.
'Perharps it would be better if you explain it to all of us.' Gramps replied'Your mother should be here soon too.'
'Mom!' I exclaimed 'How does she know I was here?'
'I told her,' he answered simply
'What? In the time we've been talking,' I replied
'No,' he said 'I could see you through the window Jake, aftearall you were standing out there for almost ten minutes.'
'Oh yeah,' I said smiling sheepishly, but really feeling stupid.
'That should be her now,' Gramps said after a few seconds, staring out of the window. I didn't bother to turn my head. I could hear the sound of her footsteps coming closer, and eventually the sound of the bell ringing when she opened the door.
'Jake!' she said, running in and immediately wrapping her arms tightly around me.
You're okay,' she added
'Yeah, mom, I'm fine,' I replied 'It's okay, I'm here now...'
‘We were so worried...What happened to you?’ she said, pulling back, staring at the indiscreet cuts and other markings of dirt and scratches, upon my face.
‘The Huntsclan…’ I replied turningsome of my attention over to gramps(I think this concerned himas much as it did mom) ‘This is bad...They’re stronger then I’ve ever seen them before. The Huntsmen even recruited some of the men of the Huntsclan Community of Baltimore. Including his new apprentice, Scythe…He’s been trained, he’s almost an adult nnow, and he knows what he’s doing. He almost killed me twice, when I was fighting them in their lair, that’s how I got this cut…’ I said gesturing at my arm.
‘Were you fighting them alone?’ Gramps eventually cut in
‘No,’ I said ‘See, there’s this boy at our school (Jeff) who used to live in Baltimore, and I thought it need his help getting there. But it’s okay, he’s a dragon also, Scythe even turned out to be the Huntsclan member destined to slay him. He helped me fight of the Huntsclan, helped me rescue Rose, he even saved me, when I lost my dragon powers in midair… But there’s something about him you need to know, and please don’t either of you jump to any conclusions until I tell you everything…’
‘What is it?’ Mom asked
‘Well see, his dad is kinda…’ I started
‘What?’ She asked
‘The Huntsman…’ I added
‘What!’ She exclaimed
‘Hold on a sec, I’m not finished.’ I took a breath in, before continuing ‘Thankyou. Okay, so Jeff’s a dragon, right? And for that to be so his grandfather would have had to have a dragon, which he was. But years ago, when he was battling an evil Voodoo Witch Doctor, the Voodoo hit him with an evil curse hoping to turn his grandfather evil and having him on his side. But what neither of them knew was what the curse did not take immediate affect. It took years to kick in…'
'So when his grandfather gave birth to his son (The Huntsman) all evil that had welled up inside of him over the years, boiled through his veins, through his DNA and into the Huntsman. This evil took control of the Huntsman immediately, as his mind was venerable (seeing as he was just a child) and he grew up, not avenging his father but turning against him and eventually killing him. That was when he formed a clan, for hunting magical creatures and yes…Dragons. The Huntsclan. He gave birth to Jeff, hoping that he would be able to find the legend behind this evil inside and the power that came with it. But it turned out Jeff was a dragon, and when he found out he took the news really badly and in an attempt to summon the evil in Jeff, so it would completely consumed him, he tortured him.'
'Day after day, in the Huntslair, he gave him memory potions so he couldn’t remember who was doing this to him (mental torture, as well as physical) he had two men and women working for him pose as Jeff’s parents so he had less chance of uncovering what was really going. Everyday Jeff would wake up with several new scars or bruises upon his body and eventually he couldn’t take it anymore and when the evil inside of him completely took over, his body grew horns and wings, his eyes glazed over he became a devil…'
'This spirit inside of was known as the devil gene, Jeff had always known about. It had been a voice inside his head, telling him to give in, eating away at him day by day and Jeff grew weaker and more vunerable as the torture continued. The anger inside of him became overwhelming and that’s when the devil took over him and in a fit of rage he attacked and killed several Huntsmen and destroyed their lair. From what he tells me he couldn’t remember much, he just woke up the next day, lying across from a forest completely destroyed.'
'He said it was some weird visions and voices in his mind that made him release he was the one responsible…I want to help him, he plans to try and have one final battle with the Huntsman. He thinks may if he defeats him he might get all the evil out of him and thus, get all the evil out of himself. It’s not his fault his this way, and he doesn’t want to be. He’s the spawn of evil, yet deep inside his heart he knows that’s not what he wants...’
‘And you say he can keep control of this evil?’ Gramps eventually broke in
‘I think we can trust him…’ 'He managed to hold own most of the time we were out of fighting the Huntsclan, and he had a lot of reasons to be angry or mad their. I didn't even know he had this gene until he showed me what I thought was a huntsmark, but turned out to be the mark of the devil...Then he just, for some reason, gave in...I guess he'd been hanging by a thread the entire time...But don't worry, he's someone we can trust. He's going to help me, and I'm going to help him...'
'Well, if you believe he is okay, then I guess he must be fine...' he replied.
'Don't worry, I'm certain of it. Anyway, listen gramps,' I continued, walking back over to the entrance and opening the door.
'Yes?' he replied as I walked out momentarily and walked back in with Rose, holding her hand.
'I was just wondering now that Rose is here and all,' I began'If it might be cool, if she like, crashed with for a couple of days...Don't worry, it won't be forever just til we can't find a better place for her to stay...'
'Well I guess that would be okay, just for a few days though.'he replied 'Andyou musn't let this be a distraction to your dragon training.'
'Don't worry I won't,' I said
'Very well,' he said before turning to Rose (but still talking to me)'You can help her get settling in the spare room, other there.' he said, directing Rose to it.
'Thankyou,' Rose replied, walking over to the spare room
'Yes, we'll we better get you home too,' Mom said to me 'So you can get yourself cleaned up.'
'Alright, well I'll see you in a minute Rose, okay?' I said
'Alright, see you then,' Rose replied, as mom and I walked out of the shop alongside mom.
And before I knew it, the momentwe'd come home,she'd ushered meinto the bathroom by my mom and was know standing shirtless in front of the mirror asshe stood behind me, a cloth in her hand, cleaning the nasty gash down my arm (and any others I hadn’t noticed.)
‘So you say you were cut by one of those Huntssticks?’ she asked, after she’d finished wiping all the dry blood from my shoulder.
‘Yeah,’ I replied as she remoistened the cloth ‘It was pretty scary…’ I wanted to go into more detail as to why, but the feeling I had come over me was hard to explain. I felt cold over, I guess like all the life was slowly draining away from my body as my nerves scream at the sheer agony running down my arm.
‘I can’t really describe how I felt,’ I continued ‘Just lifeless, and in a lot of pain.’
Mum put the cloth back down in the sink and turn me to face her again, looking seriously into my eyes.
‘Look,' she said 'I know this has been hard on you from the start, and we can all understand that. It's not easy to learn that you're a dragon, and that you're responsible for protecting the entire magical community of New York, let alone discover that one of the people you care for most in the world turns out to be your enemy. I know that can't be easy, but you must understand...What you did last night, scared me, I was fearing for your life. You really had us all worried...'
‘Us?’ I said
‘You know,’ she replied ‘Everyone. Yourfamily, your friends, even members of the dragon council and many of your fellow dragons also were concerned when they heard of your absence.’
‘Yeah I know,’ I said, looking down, ashamed ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me it was just all like……An instinct. A part of me felt I really had to do this. I felt I had to show Rose I still cared. I know I should have done the right thing and seen Grandpa or the dragon council for less drastic measures, but I just wasn’t thinking straight…Will I ever learn?’ I said holding my face hands,
‘It’s alright Jake,’ she said ‘You made a mistake everyone does, you’re only human. It’s up to though to learn from them…You can’t rely on others forever…’
‘But who can I turn to when there’s no one left? Who will guide me when I’m in trouble? I can’t do this alone…’ I asked
‘Jake you must understand.' She said, still looking deep into my eyes. Hoping some of this might reach me. 'One day, there will be no one around to help you. That’s when you’ll have to look after yourself and account for everything you do. Realise what you’ve done wrong and what you should steer clear from doing again. But really, you will never be truly alone. We will always be with you, alive in your heart. You will still have friends, and parts of you family. But we don’t want to have to see you go first, which is why you have to be more careful with the decisions you make. You’ve got your whole life ahead; you should try and keep it that way.’
‘I try to mum, but it’s hard…’ I replied ‘Everyday I get up, knowing my life could very be on the line that it could even be over on this very. Which is why I want to make the most of all the opportunities I’m given. To me, saving Rose was an opportunity to prove myself, and my love for her. If I lost here, I don’t know what I would do. I’d feel like I had nothing left…That’s why when I heard she was in trouble I over-reacted, and drastically flew off in the middle of the night. I wanted to do it alone. Because I thought if I did that would prove how desperate I was to see her again and how much I need her…’
'Well I think it's safe to say that I did just that...' Mum said and I stared back at her in silence, until it was broken by the sound of someone running up the stairs and calling out my name in the process.
‘Jake!’ It was Hayley; she ran in looking overjoyed to see me.
‘Hey Hayley,’ I said in reply, back was almost cut off when she threw herself on me wrapping her arms around me.
‘You’re back,’ she said softly, her voice slightly muffled against my chest and I saw mum walk out the door behind her, a smile forming on her face.
‘Yeah Hayley,' I said 'I'm here
‘Promise you won’t leave like that again.’ She said looking up air, tears forming in her dark eyes andslowly runningdown her checks.
I stared back and could tell, even Hayley (who at times, could really get on my nerves) deep down really did care about me too. And as much as I hated to lie to her face, I couldn't tell I'd be leaving again sometime. She wouldn't me, none of my family would. They wouldn't want me to get hurt again (which I can understand) but this is serious. We have to finish of the Huntsclan for good and from what Jeff tells me the only way to do that is somehow get all the evil out of the Huntsman and release the evil spirit within...
‘I won’t, I promise…’ I said 'You don't have to worry about me, Hayley. I'll be fine, and I'll always behere for you...Afterall, I am your brother...'
'I know,' she replied and looking up at me again, smiling and I smiled back.
'Well, I've got to get going over to Gramdpa's Shop,' I said eventually,checking my watch
'Okay,' Hayley said 'Bye.'
'Yeah, I'll seeyou Hayley,' I replied as she walked out.
She'd seemed happy to see me, it was obvious that like me deep down she did really care, even though we acted like were enemies and gotten each others nerves all the time we were still brother and sister, and we always thought we loved each other because we had to. But really, that's never true. ButI was only now realises how this burden of being the American Dragon wasn't justaffecting me, but it was affectingeveryone I cared for. Whenever I had tolie to them just to make them feel better, tell them everything was being okay, even when I haddoubts of my own. I hated it, and I hated the way it made me feel.
‘Why do I always have to feel like the bad guy?’ I thought ‘Why do I always have to lie and deceive even the people I love? It's almost like it's the only way...'
I cradled my face in my hands again, feeling down about myself. I hated this, everyone I loved always turned out to be the people I had to hurt the most. It was hell...
I pulled back on my shirt and threw the strap to my backpack over my shoulder, heading out the door and grabbing my skateboard, setting of to Gramps’s Electronics Shop.
I came into the bedroom, checking on Rose to see how see was settling in. I step through the door and saw she was lying on of the bed, her eyes tightly shut, still fully dressed and even wearing shoes.
‘I guess she just crashed,’ I thought ‘She has been through a lot though…’
I dropped my backpack in the corner of the room and sat on my knees by the bed, looking down at her, watching her sleep as I gently stoked her long hair between my fingers.
There was something about watching someone you love sleep, seeing them so peaceful and contempt, you feel as if they’re perfectly safe in your hands, like nothing will ever happen to them, now that you’re here. That was just how I felt now, I would never let anyone hurt her again. I just hoped I could that promise this time.
I leant over and gently kissed her lips,in soft teasing pecks, again and again on her soft but firm lips. I continued to kiss her over and over, not want to stop as I continued to gently stroke my hand through herhair. I saw her stir, her eyes flickering open as she turned to look up at me.
'Jake?'
'Hey Rose,' I said looking over at her 'I was just coming over to see how you were settling in...'
'Oh I'm fine,' she replied sleepily'Just tired after that happened.'
'Yeah, you would be,' I said 'I better go, you probably need your rest.'
'No please don't,' Rose said grabbing my arm as I tried to leave 'I like your company,stay with me for awhile,please...'
'Alright,' I saidcrawling onto the other side of the bed on which she lay 'But just because you said please...'
I lie across from her and held her hand, gazing over into her eyes. She gently cuddled herself into me and put her free arm around me, as we both lay back against the soft matress. And after a few mintues, it was all quite inviting andI felt my eyes grow heavier, I looked across and saw Rose who was lying back contemptly and breathing soundly, her eyes closed again already. I couldn't tell if she was asleep or not but I lay back again anyway and rested my head back against the pillow, taking one final glance across at Rose. Who even with her face scratched and cut, her hair mussed up and dirty she still looked as beautiful as the first time I ever laid my eyes upon her.
'Good night, sleep beauty,' I said to her smiling, before shutting my own eyes and surrounding the world around me with darkness...
Meanwhile: Jake's mom had just walked into the shop and made her way down to the bedroom where Rose was staying. She walked over and opened the door, expecting she'd find Jake there...
'Jake you forgot your...' she began as she walked in, but stopped when she saw Jake and Rose both asleep on the one bed, arms around each other, breathing gently in out with smiles of content on their faces. She watched them looking as though as she had objections to what was happening, as if she thought what was going on between the two seemed innapropriate. Lao Shi too had seen this and had seen his daughter watching with a slight look of disapproval upon her face.
'Let them be, Susan,' he said, coming over to her 'Afterall, Jake is not 13 anymore...You can't expect things to always be the same.It's obvious how much happier they aretogether...And they are both cleary in love with each other...'
'Yes I know,' She said watching them with a slight smile 'It's just hard for me to see how fast he is growing up...'
'I felt the same way about you,' he said looking over at his daughter and smiling. And with that they both turned shut the door behind them...
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jul 14, 2006 17:55:16 GMT -5
Hahaha, very funneh dude...XD Notice the date..that was a longggg time ago..So shud up XD
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jul 15, 2006 2:22:33 GMT -5
XD Yes, but some things never change i.e: Your weirdness lol
Chapter 27 - The Dreams Rose’s P.O.V I thought lying here safe on this bed, alongside Jake, back in my old home of New York would far away from any danger would bring peace to my mind, would make me feel safe once again. But it didn’t. Even with danger miles away, across stateliness, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t seem to keep it from my mind. Visions and voices, some of reality and some figments of my imagination that had haunted the entire day would come alive again to haunt me once more, in my dreams.
DREAM
I couldn’t make out where I was, or what was happening. All I could see was a thick fog forming, clouding out most of the view ahead of me. It kind of looked like a forest due to the dirt track I was standing upon and the thick shrubbery, vines and other signs of wildlife upon the ground. But no matter how hard I gazed ahead, straining my eyes, trying to distinguish anything upon the path ahead, and then I saw it.
A single figure stood before me, lingering within the shadows of the fog. They came slowly toward me their hand raised and suddenly from within the mist I couldn’t make anything out about them, all I saw was two bright red lights shining from their face. They walked over at slow pace, staying in the mist, keeping their face from my vision. There was a strong wind blowing, rustling leaves, shaking branches and strangely, as if I was real standing right there in forest at this very moment I felt the cold wind lash against me, making me shiver. Or at least I thought it was the wind, I wasn’t too sure. There was a chill running up my spine and I was still shivering feeling cold all over, but I didn’t think it was the wind.
I was just getting a cold feeling running all over my body, not really cold temperature wise but more a coldness of darkness and despair, maybe even fear, or it could have even just be another figment of my imagination. I stared over at the clouds of mist and could see that dark figure standing there, the only moving appeared to be his mouth.
And despite the sounds of the branches rustling and the leaves flying in all the directions, I could still hear his cold, ominous voice, I recognised it the moment it left his mouth and could tell who this person was.
‘You are nothing to us now, not until you’ve learnt your lesson…’
‘The traitor will die…’
‘You will die in the blood of one of your own…’
‘Nothing will stop me…Alive or dead…’
Then suddenly, after those last words, the world surrounding me completely changed and I saw myself, lying unconscious on the ground, standing over me was Scythe, but something looked different about him, I saw it in his eyes when I caught a glimpse of the face. Though through his mask I could hardly recognise any of it, I could still make out something different about him. His eyes. Through the dark shadows that spilled over his body, making him look nothing more then a black figure lingering along in the darkness, I could make them out, shining back at me like two neon lights. Like two fireflies upon the starry sky. His eyes were bright red (just liked I see just a second ago in the forest), with cold black pupils in the middle of them, accompanied by a possessed look in his eyes. He stood over me and I heard his voice snarl something he’d said to me only a few days ago, and though I’d beenunconscious at the time, I could still make it out clearly.
‘In death..,’ he began ‘You will realise your whole life you were running on borrowed time’ He slowly rose his Huntsstick up ‘It’s all gone now…’ he added, before plummeting it down, right into my chest. Everything around me went black, and all I heard was a cry of sheer terror and anguish, long, shrill and blood curdling and suddenly, they were there one minute and then I heard skin break against steel blade once more and with that, the screams ended and my heart felt like it had stopped when I saw the image in my mind.
Jake and I lying on our backs, eyes snapped shut, blood seeping thickly from our chests. Scythe standing over us, his Huntsstick held tightly in his bloodied hands, laughing psychotically, he stripped off his mask and turned to face me. He was still laughing evilly I saw the horrifying vision of his mangled, sinister face that made my blood curdle and my heart skip a beat as the world around once again turned to black…
END DREAM
My eyes ripped open in terror, and I stared up the room around me, gasping in shock, beads of sweat slowly running down my face. I was still in the bedroom in Jake’s Grandfather’s Shop lying upon the bed, Jake still holding me in his arms, breathing lightly, a smile of contentment on his face. Seeing him there remembering I was him with, safe, made me feel comfortable again for a moment and for a second I almost thought I could just completely forget about what I’d seen.
But then suddenly, I felt a strange burn running up my right wrist. I stared down at my Huntsmark, it had changed and was now shining as if it was on fire, it felt that way too and something about that just didn’t feel right. Something about it was familiar…
Then, I remembered Jeff, just after he’d given into the devil gene; his Huntsmark (or Devilmark I guess) was burning and shining intensely as well, but why was it happening to me? I was his cousin I knew that, but did that mean I too had the devil inside of me? Could it possible? I did have a blood relation to the Huntsman, the one who carried the devil gene in his veins.
This was all just reminding me more of what I’d just seen in my dreams and it was building fret and tensions up inside of me, I knew I had to calm myself down, I knew I had to get these ideas out of my head.
‘No,’ I said to myself eventually, trying to rid myself of these thoughts ‘It’s nothing, it was…Just a dream,’
‘Just a dream…’ I repeated feeling my heart steady, and the intense light on my Huntsmark slowly die down as I lay back, snuggling myself back into Jake and resting my head against the pillow again I felt a flush ofcontentment return to me and I felt safe once again. And as my eyes grew heavy and slowly turn to darkness I looked across at Jake, he was the last thing I saw before they gently shut and the world around me went black and hopefully with him on my mind, I would be safe in the dreamworld...
Jeff’s P.O.V I hadn’t really felt that tired last night, or at least I’d thought I hadn’t. But I guess last night, lying back relaxing upon my bed must have been luring or something, because I eventually drifted off.
But after everything that had happened to me over the past few days, including giving into the devil gene had been really hectic, exhausting and at some points even life threatening, I couldn’t really blame myself for crashing. But with the ramifications of what had happened the past few days, for me a quiet night’s sleep was not going to easy. Even in my dreams I couldn’t escape the likes of the devil, and like I had many times before, I once again had an unwanted visitor appear in my dreams.
DREAM
It stood before me, in my very room, standing in the darkness of the shadows. I couldn’t make out its face, but I was certain it was in some way human. It stepped out of the shadows and I gasped at the sight of his face. It was literally white, with red scratches and markings across it; its eyes were bright red with black pupils half rolled back into its head. It was obvious he was somehow involved with the devil, but how? Was he like one of its followers or was he like a messenger of the devil?
Anyway, he (whoever he was) walked slowly forward to me his left hand raised pointing out at me snarling it me in a voice that sounded more like uncontrollable salivation and hissing, then a normal tone of voice.
‘Give in to me…’ (I guess he must be a messenger)
‘Give in to me…’ It repeated its tone of voice getting more and more sinister each time it did so, I shook my head, refusing to let it win.
‘Give In!’
‘No!’ I yelled back
He stared back at me, not speaking anymore just smiling sadistically and I soon realised why. It the hand it had pointed at me it held a claw, a dragon’s claw. He stuck out his other hand and dropped it from his left into his right (which was the hand that had the devil mark upon it) and clenched it firmly in his fist.
The skin on his entire body turned pitch black (almost like he’d had too much sun exposure or something), his eyes (as if they were sinister looking enough already) turned entirely white, the pupils in them just seemed to disappear, the skin on his fingertips broke and thick, sharp, black claws broke through and grew upon them the devil markings upon his chest and forehead shone an intense red, like balls of fire and finally, more skin, upon his elbows and either side of his broke and those dirty, pointed horns broke through and then he stood before and cried out a high pitched, sadistic scream, sounding psychotic like he was possessed, which he was. This man had no control of himself, the dragon’s claw, the dark skin, the pitch white, possessed eyes, this man was exactly what I feared, and exactly what I feared becoming, this man was now, full devil form.
‘You will fear…To the wrath of the devil,’ it snarled holding out his right hand and I saw the glow of white coming off of his Huntsmark. A light I’d seen at least once before, not on his hand, but mine.
‘And then, you will give in to it…’ he continued in a splutter, moving closer to me I tried to back away from it but there was only so far I could go. I was backed up against the wall nowhere to go from now. My back pressed against it I stared hard into the devil’s eyes, it staring back and stood before me, inches away. It then swiftly raised its left hand up to strike me? Who knows? Whatever he’d planned to do, he was interrupted before he got the chance.
Because suddenly, out of nowhere I saw a large brown dragon, fly into my room through the window and immediately lash at the devil, lunging down from the air and lashing out with a kick hitting in hard in the heard. The devil tumbled over and pulled itself back to its feet, slashing at the dragon in the air with its claws. The dragon dodged left and right, avoiding getting cut down the middle and retaliated engulfing balls of flame intended for the devil, who narrowly avoiding being hit. The dragon then dove down and landed on his feet on the ground, lashing quickly at the devil with a quick jab of his fist, which the devil blocked and slashed the dragon down his left arm making it cry out in pain. But despite this it stood its ground and was not intimidated by the devil. It retaliated a mere second after being hit, slashing a gash down the devil’s chest with it’s own claws. The devil went to kick the dragon in the gut, trying to avoid its own pain, but the dragon caught his leg and tripped the other one with its tail causing the devil to collapse in a heap on its back. The dragon grabbed the devil’s right hand and began slashing at it with its claws, I wasn’t sure why, but I do know the devil mark is the source of all the devil gene’s power so perhaps if you weaken the devil up on the hand it has its mark it was lose its powers (or something like that). Anyway, that must have been the case because the devil was struggling to keep the dragon off him. Eventually, he grabbed the dragon’s arm and pulled him to the ground, making him hit the ground hard. The devil got quickly to his feet and took a moment to wait, wait for the dragon to stand.
And the moment he did, the devil lashed out once more, swiftly, but not an once of his strength was spared when he viciously threw out of spin kick, catching the dragon hard right in the gut. It was thrown back was the force and but the shot in the gut caused the dragon to cry out in pain and when it did so, it inadvertently fired balls of flame out of its mouth which caught the devil right on it’s right forearm. The devil cried out in sheer agony as I stared down at its forearm. The flame had been directed perfectly at the Huntsmark on its right wrist and he was slowly losing his powers (Huh, I guess I was right). His skin returned to its ‘normal’ colour, his eyes, well I guess they look less scary in his human form, anyway basically he returned to what he would refer to as ‘normal’ before slowly pulling himself off of his knees and onto his feet, standing and walking slowly to the open window.
‘I’ll be back,’ Was the last thing I heard it snarl before it leapt out of it, unfolding his large black wings and taking off, still cradling his burnt right forearm with his free hand.
After a moment or to of staring out of the window, into the sky, making perfectly sure that the devil was gone the dragon suddenly drew its attention to me and I got a moment to carefully study its face as it stood still, staring back at me which a look almost like relief, almost like sympathy. I couldn’t quite figure it out. But as I took a moment to look over its face, the look in its eyes…It was weird, something about them seemed really familiar. Something about the entire dragon’s face seemed familiar to me, and I wasn’t even sure how I could tell (seeing as it was a dragon not a human). The dragon was brown, with a stomach coloured a short of light brown/cream colour. Its eyes were a bright, oceanic blue and it the scales that ran down its back were a dark black. I stood to my feet, up from my bed and slowly approached it watching it carefully as I slowly walked over. It stood still, watching me come closer and then eventually, when I stopped, a few feet away from it, it covered the remaining distance eventually standing right in front of me and staring down from where it stood. I looked up, curious as to what it was doing and then suddenly before it spoke, I noticed a smile come across its face.
‘Jeff,’ it said looking down upon me, before morphing down into his human form. He was a middle aged man, with short cut, slightly greyed black hair and wise blue eyes, but that wasn’t what I was interested in. It was the fact that he looked to be about 47 years old, the exact age my grandfather was when he was murdered. I had no doubt about it, This man was Lei Irvin. The man who was brutally murdered by his son, the Huntsman at the age of 47, my grandfather...
‘Grandpa?’ I said, recognising the man’s face.
‘Yes, Jeff,’ Lei Irvine said, standing before me ‘I am here,’
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, getting up from my bed. Still in my dream, though I appeared to have control over my actions.
‘I am here to tell that you must not give up, you must keep this up you’re doing great and I couldn’t be more proud of you.’
‘What for?’ I asked, still with some shock in my voice.
‘What for?’ he replied, as if it was a stupid question ‘You’ve overcome everything that the Huntsman threw at you, everything that I couldn’t overcome, I am proud of you. You stuck to your legacy when any normal boy would have just given up. This is what you must do, it is your true calling and you must follow it…’
‘What will happen if I lose? What if I can follow it?’ So many questions were running through my mind, and I wasn’t sure of where to start.
Grandpa sighed deeply, concern increasing in his voice.
‘If you fail, there is no telling what could possibly happen to you. All I know is you will give into the devil for an eternity, you will still be able to control your human form but the Huntsman will have dominate control over you. If you’re going to do something he disapproves of he will be able to stop you. He will be able to summon your devil form whenever he pleases and when he does so he will have complete control of you…’
He took another moment to pause briefly, and once again voice his concern, sighing deeply again.
‘And if he gains control of you, he will use your power to perform the most callous, evil actions, and if that is your path, you will turn against your destiny, and then there’s no telling what will await you in your afterlife…’
‘Afterlife?’ I replied
‘When you die,’ Grampa began ‘Your spirit will be carried away into the afterlife, where you go is up to whatever spirit is dominate over you if you die. So if you die, in devil form, the devil gene’s evil spirit will be dominate over you and will be taken to the fiery pits of hell where you will rot away, being punished for unfulfilling you duty. You can spend you entirely life making the right moves and trying to be as civil as humanly possible, but in the end none of that will matter. Your fate in the afterlife will be decided by your last few actions you live on Earth, so you should really makes sure yours are the right ones…’
‘Why did I have to get like this?’ I said helplessly, sitting up on the edge of my bed and holding my face in my hands yet again (It seemed I had a tendency to look down on myself the past few days, one that seemed to exist even in the dream world.)
‘Don’t worry Jeff,’ he replied, trying to keep positive ‘You will make it through this I know you will, and I will be following you every step off the way…You can see me anytime you want…You just have to believe…’
And with that he raised his hand into the air and stretched it out to me. I did the same with mine, outstretching my hand towards his, we both slowly moved our fingertips closer and closer together before they were merely inches apart. They when just about to touch when suddenly the image in my mind burned away like a photograph in a candle fire and before I knew it, it was completely gone…
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jul 15, 2006 15:33:57 GMT -5
^ two words...Shaddup! XD So what if im werid?XD :
|
|
|
Post by gojake on Jul 18, 2006 18:21:40 GMT -5
really good! Plz update, im hanging!
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jul 21, 2006 3:01:42 GMT -5
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the song "Behind Blue Eyes"[/b]
Chapter 28 - Old School Training, Again! Jeff’s P.O.V
My eyes flickered slowly upon and I took in the room around me. Nothing had changed since last night, it was completely empty, not another soul to be seen. Yet, in my dream I’d just witnessed a fight between my grandfather and a devil (who I hadn’t been able to identify) but I guessed it was some kind of message created by my mind.
The two voices, the two destinies, the two genes, instincts, whatever you want to call them. They were two separate paths they lay ahead of me, and I could only choose one. But in a way, I knew it mightn’t be up to me, or I mightn’t have complete control over the decision I make. Though in my heart I knew what I wanted. But I knew what I wanted might not be considered ‘right’ in some peoples minds.
This was the hardest decision my life had ever faced, my time for thinking about it was up, it had been up for the past 10 years or so. Yet I was still thinking of the consequences of what followed each decision. Following my true destiny of being a dragon would most likely mean death for me.
Yet following my destiny of becoming the heir to the cursed blood, the heir to the devil, the spawn of evil would guarantee a few extra years of my life but would it really be worth having to follow a path of torment, destruction and suffering cast upon innocent lives before being cast away to a world of torment and punishment myself, in the afterlife.
I decided to try and keep it off my mind for one day, just for one day I didn’t want to be the heir to the cursed blood, I didn’t want to be a dragon, I just wanted to be Jeff Irvine. A normal 16 year old kid, not worrying about the struggles of fitting in in life and just cruising along, doing it my way.
But I knew it would never be that way, I could never be ‘normal’ I eventually pulled myself of the bed and to my feet, rubbing what was left of the sleep in my eyes, and stumbled out of my bedroom door.
‘Hey bro,’ I heard Shaun say as I stepped out the living room. He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating his breakfast (If you could call leftover pizza, breakfast)
‘Hey,’ I replied pulling out the chair opposite to him.
‘Weren’t you wearing those clothes yesterday?’ He asked looking at the same jeans and t-shirt I'd changed into after coming back from rescuing Rose.
‘Yeah,’ I replied ‘I was just really tired last night and I just, kinda…Crashed.’
‘Rough weekend?’
‘Yeah, I guess you could say that…’ I replied, still wishing I could tell him the truth, all of it. Wishing I could tell him what really happened, but I knew I couldn’t. I tried to get my mind off of what happened again, just for a moment.
‘Did you get a new tattoo?’ I asked Shaun, seeing a few new black markings upon his arm. ‘Oh yeah,’ he replied pulling up his sleeve and showing me them. There were three of them and they were all kinda weird. They looked like they were written in Chinese or Japanese symbols or something I wasn’t too sure. Shaun was really into that kind of stuff, it was like art to him and I guess in a way it was.
‘Do they mean anything?’ I asked
‘Well sure,’ he replied ‘Like this one here,’ he said pointing to the one furthest up, just below his shoulder ‘That means peace, that next one below means mercy and that one means unity’
‘And you call me a sook,’ I joked, which caused Shaun to shove me playfully.
‘Anyway, speaking of new ones,’ he said looking at one of the fresh gashes upon my forehead ‘I don’t think I’ve seen that one before…What happened this time? Another BMX accident?’
‘Kind of…’ I replied (I hadn’t really come up with a cover story for my injuries yet)
‘Well, it either was or it wasn’t,’ he replied
‘Yeah, it’s kind of a long story,’ I reluctantly drawled out
‘Well, you’re lucky I don’t have time for long stories,’ he said pushing his chair out from the table and getting up grabbing his bag ‘I’ve gotta go,’
‘Okay,’ I said pulling the pizza box and pecking over what was left.
Shaun turned and half opened the door, but then stopped shut it and turned back to me.
‘Hey Jeff,’ he said
‘Yeah,’ I replied looking up.
‘Here,’ he said reaching to the back of his neck and unclipping something. ‘You could use this,’ he said handing me a necklace head been wearing around his neck.
‘What is it?’
‘Mom gave it to me before she left,’ he said ‘It’s supposed to bring good luck…Or at least, she says. But I was only little, I believed her.’
‘I can’t take it,’ I replied ‘It’s yours,’
‘Don’t worry,’ Shaun replied ‘I’ve made my use of it, and you look like you need it a lot more then I do’
‘Thanks,’ I saidlooking downat it balled up in my palm and looking back up at Shaun who was looking at me and smiling. There was something about Shaun, that whenever he felt happy you couldn’t help but feel the same way, whenever he smiled just something about him could make you smile too and I smiled back.
‘Well, I gotta go to work;’ he said eventually, breaking the silence ‘stay out of trouble, Jeff,’
‘Yeah,’ I replied as he opened the door and walked out of it, leaving me alone in the empty apartment again.
‘I’ll try,’ I said under my breath, looking at the necklace I held in my hand. It was comprised of a series of metal, and wooden beads. There was a pendant on the end of it, a metal one, carved out into a weird swivelling kind of shape.
In a way it almost like a spark of fire, an ember, but in another it looked almost like, a wing…What was that supposed to mean? Like an angel? A guardian angel? Is that what brought the luck? I couldn’t really figure it out…
I did remember it though; Shaun wore it all the time underneath his shirt. He always had it kind of hidden away and I don’t really know why. It could have been because maybe his friends considered it ‘cat’ to wear jewellery or maybe he just literally wanted to keep it close to his heart, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to take it thought because I knew it wouldn’t mean as much to me as it had to Shaun.
He’d got it from our ‘mom’. Don’t get me wrong, I love her and everything, she’s raised me for as long as I can remember, but she’s not really my mom. Just another victim of the Huntsman brainwashed or something into thinking so, from what I’ve found out my biological mother turned against the Huntsclan years ago and now, is most likely dead.
That’s why I hated it. Everything about my life was a lie, when I think I’ve figured it all out I uncover something new about my past, something more complex and this necklace was just a symbol of another lie I was fed. Not having real family, or not knowing them at least. As far as I know, Shaun is my brother, even if he isn’t biologically related to me (which he is, as far as I know), I would still consider him a brother just because of how well he'd treated me and how often he'd been there for me.
And I didn’t want him to know the truth, I didn’t want him to be in my shoes. He was too good of a person to know what a mess his life really was and I hated lying to him but I think it was for the best.
So when I changed I wore the necklace too. Not for me, not for my parents, not for the source of good luck it was supposed to bring, but for Shaun. I wanted to be as good of a brother for him as he had for me and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After changing, I packed my knapsack ready for school, threw the strap over my shoulder heading out the door and walking the stairs slowly down to the ground floor, still favouring my leg as it hadn’t healed from the damage it took a few days ago.
I’d have some explaining to do at school, and so would Jake…Missing the whole weekend, gashes and cuts upon our faces the whole thing was real suspicious. I knew Rotwood would definitely think something of this. He’s suspicious of Jake being a dragon, and suspicious of my weird past and all the ‘disruption’ I caused at my former schools and this, this was a bit…Well again, suspicious to say the least.
Anyway, I was making my way down the street when I saw Jake sitting outside of an Electronics Shop (it was probably his grandfather’s, from what I’d heard), looking like he was waiting for someone and for some reason I got a feeling that someone was me. So I walked over, I was hoping to talk something over with him as well. For some reason I felt the need to tell him about the dream I had last night…I really don’t know why, I just did…
‘Hey Jeff,’ Jake said, when he saw me walk over.
‘Hey,’ I replied
‘What’s that you’re wearing,’ he said noticing the necklace Shaun had given me.
‘Oh, it’s just something Shaun gave me,’ I replied ‘Uh, so are you coming?’
‘Coming where?’
‘Y’know…’ I replied ‘To school…’
And well, after those words left my mouth that was it. I didn’t really know at the time, but for some reason that got Jake irate and I had to find it out the hard way...
‘You’re seriously going to school?’ he said ‘How can you just do that? After we’ve been through you’re going to just pretend like it’s not happening? After what we’ve done, our lives are on the line, the Huntsclan know who we are, as humans and as dragons they can attack us at any time they want…There’s so much we need to think about, and so much we need to do and if we don’t do it and don’t think about it we could be dead! And you’re worried about missing a day of school…’
I stood there looking at him stunned (I could tell my eyes would wide and my mouth was probably hanging open.) It was all a bit sudden; he just randomly went off at me. Teenage hormones or something I guess, anyway. After I’d taken a moment to get used to what he’d just said, I sucked it in and took a moment to think about it. I knew why I was real going to school, Jake was right, but I was going to admit that. Well, not right away at least. ‘I don’t know,’ I replied, sounding pathetic ‘I just…I just want to return to my life. I just want to forget any of this ever happened… I don’t want to do this anymore…I just want to be normal…If any normal human was living my life they would’ve givenup years ago. I might not be a normal human but I know when I can’t take something, I know when I’m hanging by a thread. The only thing I don’t know is how much more of this I can take…If I try to end it, it guess worse in the process and I end failing and if I leave it, I’m guaranteed failure. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where to go from here…That’s why I just wanna forget it, that’s why I just wanna be normal…’
I looked down to the ground, down at my feet, as if to think I might find the answer down there. But there was nothing, nothing but the peak that my spirit seemed to have fallen to, beneath the surface, as though I felt lost…
‘But you can’t be,’ Jake replied eventually, snapping me from my contemplation ‘Because this isn’t over, none of this is…Yeah sure, if we go after the Huntsman, we will waste time trying to find and the devil will consume you more in the process, but if you just hide away and pretend like nothing’s happening, if you don’t try to fight back you’re (like you said) guaranteed failure. At least if we go after the Huntsman you’ve got a chance, it may be slim, but it’s still there. The Jeff I know would take that chance, he would make that risk, just to get what was best, just liked he’d done numerous times before in the past. You’ve taken the risk before, what’s so different about this one?’
He made his way back over to the door but turned and looked back at me to speak again before going back in.
‘It’s not over Jeff,’ he continued ‘you have accept that…And then you have to accept the fact that it may never be…’
And with that he swung the door open and walked inside, and I stood outside still staring at my feet, hastily scuffing my shoes against the sidewalk. Then the sound of the bells upon the door jingling when it was reopened came again, and I looked up to see Jake coming back out again with an elderly man walking next to him (I assumed that was his grandfather he’d mentioned to me.)
‘This is my grandfather,’ (Yeah, I was right)he said, gesturing to the man that stood next to him ‘He’s going to help you; he’s going to give you what you wanted and hopefully what you still want…The question is though, do you?’
And at that moment I looked up Jake, who looked back at me. I could tell Jake wasn’t really the serious type, just through simple things like the way he acted and the way his life’s motives seemed to work. But right now, he seemed to have changed, like the experiences that had come by us not only changed me, but also changed him.
He was serious about this; he was serious about defeating the Huntsclan, about returning peace and order to the magical community of New York and maybe even getting a little revenge for Rose, for me and even for himself along the way. He would need all the help him could though, to make certain that he would not fail. It wasn’t too long before I gave him an answer, and I’m glad to say I didn’t disappoint.
Jake was fighting for all the right reasons, little did I know he was even for fighting for me, he was trying to help me in getting what I wanted. In having a life that made sense, a family that wasn’t divided, a purpose outside of a fate, outside of a destiny, a reason that I could at least have a say in, that was all I wanted.
And when his grandfather said we would begin training, I didn’t know he meant right away. I didn’t think it had begun. But apparently it started the moment I step through the door. Well according to Jake it had started but, to be honest what he had my doing didn’t really seem like dragon training at all…I guess it was best not question his motives…Afterall, I'm sure he knew what he was doing...
Jake’s P.O.V Well I knew Jeff was sure in for it! I mean, don’t get me wrong Gramps’s training does have reasons, but some of his ideasare still completely mental! I would’ve been annoyed at him for taking it easy on Jeff after what I’d had to do. But I guess, Gramps didn’t make exceptions and his training sessions would be the same. I sure as hell didn’t envy Jeff!
‘Now before we begin,’ Gramps was saying to him ‘you must understand that a dragon student must obey his dragon master and do whatever he asks, without question…’
‘Wait,’ Jeff said ‘This isn’t going to be one of those cases where you have doingcompletely insanestuff just cause I said I’d do whatever you wanted is it?’
‘Trust me,’ I replied ‘It isn’t’
‘Okay then,’ he said ‘I will obey’
‘Okay well then you can begin in the bathroom.’ Gramps said dropping that same bucket, and brush I’d used a few years back (I’ve still got that bad taste in my mouth.)
‘You must clean the toilet in circular motion,’ he said ‘First clockwise, then counter-clockwise.’ I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Jeff's face.
‘Now what did I just say?’ Jeff said, staring at the bucket looking stunned and quite taken back. He sighed and reached out his hand to pick up.
‘No wait,’ Gramps said ‘you’ve got to use your dragon tongue,’
‘What?’ Jeff exclaimed.
‘Believe me,’ I cut in ‘With all the nets you get caught up in you’re gonna need this one.’
‘Aw that’s bullsh..’ I didn’t hear the rest, it kinda got muffled out when he picked up the toilet brush with his tongue.
So after about twenty minutes of hearing Jeff gag and swear from behind the bathroom door, he’d did the whole routine. Sweeping the floor with his tail, doing Gramps’s laundry (as usual, no reason behind that) and so on, and in a weird way Jeff reminded me of, well me, and I remembered the fact that because I didn’t know why Gramps had me doing all this stuff that seemed like it had nothing to do with dragon training I ended up skipping them on purpose and I didn’t want Jeff to end up making the same mistake.
So when he was done with his, well let’s say endeavours, I gave him the reason behind each little task.
‘Right,’ Jeff said walking up the stairs ‘So, you can use your tongue the same way I just did cleaning the toilet to reverse one of those Sphinx Nets being fired at you.’
‘Yep,’ I said
‘And the whole sweeping the floor with my tail thing is basically just tripping someone over.’
‘Yeah, pretty much,’ I replied
‘Alright then,’ Jeff continued ‘Oh, well what about when I had to do all his laundry?’
‘Yeah, uh, well there’s no purpose behind that he just wanted you to do his laundry,’
‘Oh, okay…’ Jeff said and I pulled open the door leading out onto the roof of the Electronics Shop where Gramps had been awaiting us.
‘Alright you young one,’ he said coming overto Jeff ‘It is time to put your training to test, against...’ he paused and looked over at me 'Jake!'
‘Already?’ Jeff said ‘But this was just my first lesson, how can I be ready? I mean, Jake's been doing this way longer then me and...’
‘You’ve been a dragon your entire life,’ Gramps interupted ‘you figured out how to summon the dragon and how to fight to survive as one, all by yourself, all alone. For you, this should be simple.’
‘Okay,’ Jeff said, taking a deep breath and walking out onto the open space of the roof then turning to face me, his hands raised in combat position ‘Ready!’ It was simple enough. Jeff and I just stood on the roof and sparred each other, practicing our one on one combat.
Jeff struggled a bit at first. Usually he relied on the fact that dragons were bigger and stronger then humans when it came to fighting. But it was a different story when you were fighting fire with fire, literally. Anyway, it wasn’t too long before he picked it up and was fighting quite well.
We were up there for about an hour, just ducking, and leaping around the circumference of the roof and after awhile it got quite tiring.
I’d fought the Huntsclan before, I’d fought countless amounts of magical creatures, I’d even fought professional wrestlers, but I realised this was the first time I’d ever fought another dragon. I’d fought the Dark Dragon before, but never had I fought another dragon for this long. I stood on the opposite side of the roof to Jeff, looking across staring him hard in the eyes, trying not to break focus as he did the same. One second was all it took, and before you could even blink one of us had lashed out and was already on the attack.
This time, it was Jeff who decided to come in early and try to gain an advantage. He flew right in and lunged at me with a kick, which I blocked and retaliated with a right hand of my own, Jeff caught it, and tried throw a punch at me, which I blocked.
It went on like that for awhile, neither of us being able to get a hit, neither of us slacking off in any slight way. Even though we were practically over and done with after having already done this over and over constantly we were still giving it all we had.
After about five more shots had been thrown and successfully blocked I tried to speed it up and catch Jeff off guard. I flew up in the air slightly and lashed out, attempting a roundhouse kick at his head, but he managed to duck last second. I could feel my leg brush his head, I was a split second too late.
I tried to take him by surprise again following up again with another right fist, but he was able to get out the way of that one too. Not matter how much I tried to speed it up, Jeff was able to adjust and get us to it, I knew that was going to work so I decided I’d have to outsmart him.
I decided to play Jeff’s little ‘distraction therapy’ game and quickly figured out what I was going to do. I blocked the punch Jeff threw at me and then retaliated with one of my own and I planned for it to go kinda like this.
When I went to punch Jeff, he’d readied his arm to block and while he was distracted by my punch I quickly snuck my tail around behind his legs, I did swiftly so he didn’t notice. So the moment his arm caught mine and he stop the punch from reaching, before he could respond and throw a kick or punch of his own, I tripped him onto his back with my tail and he crumpled onto the ground, landing hard on the back of his head. He sat up, rubbing his head and looking over at me hotly.
‘Sorry man,’ I said coming over to him ‘But I couldn’t help it. See you broke focus, you never know when an attack can come, so you’ve got to be alert at all times, like me.’
Suddenly I felt something hit hard in the back of the legs and I was thrown backwards on the ground opposite Jeff.
‘Really?’ Jeff said smiling sockily, waving his tail in the air, which he’d just used to trip me unexpectedly. The way he was acting, it was just like how I used to act (Well okay, still act.) man, I was annoying!
‘Alright young ones,’ Gramps said coming over and seeing how tired we were getting ‘I think that’s enough for one day.’
‘So…’ I said, pulling myself to my feet and helping Jeff up ‘What do you want to do now?’ ‘I dunno,’ he replied ‘It’s still pretty early…’
‘We could go back to your place,’ I broke out eventually
‘Alright then…’ he said ‘If you want...'
So he and I left the shop and walked over to his apartment block. His was about the fourth floor or so up and he opened the door and lead me through the living room into his room... ‘So this is me…’ Jeff said opening the door and walking inside. The room was pretty basic, average size, with a king-single size bed, a desk with a few hutches attached, a dresser and a small shelf built into the wall across from his bed that had like his alarm clock and a few books.
The room was blue, with floorboards and was decorated by posters, some of bands (Linkin Park mainly, among others though) and a lot of posters of some guy Jeff Hardy who was apparently a professional wrestler though from what I could see he also painted, played guitar and wrote poetry…
‘It’s pretty cool,’ I said walking over and looking at the desk. The desk was rather old and was made of pinewood with several markings engraved into them, apart from a lamp, stereo and sound system, the shelfs were lined not with books but more with CD’s and Video Tapes labelled stuff like ‘Smackdown - The Forgotten TLC’, ‘Survivor Series – The Elimination Chamber’, ‘No Way Out – Jeff Hardy’s last PPV Appearance’, ‘Wrestlemania 17 – TLC 2’ e.t.c. it wasn’t hard to tell that Jeff was a wrestling fan and it also wasn’t hard to tell that TLC probably didn’t stand for Tender Loving Care.
Anyway, apart from that I noticed there were a few scrap pieces of paper lying upon his desk, each with several lines written upon, a pen lying a few inches to the side of. I picked one of them up and read it. It was poetry, or at least it appeared that way. I could tell it was by Jeff, just something about it seemed very misunderstood and unusual, very like Jeff. This first one puzzled me a bit…
Make a believer, out of the make believe… Prove you’re for real, to reality… Shine yourself a light, when you’re blinded by it… Wonder through the darkness, in a shadow… Stare beyond the horizon, from the distance… Look to the heavens, from beneath the sky... Stare at the earth, with your feet firmly upon the ground...[/i] (It didn’t look finished to me…Maybe Jeff was still trying to figure out what it meant himself…)
I guess that’s Jeff, he seemed to send a lot of messages no one really understood. He had this other one, I didn’t really get either and I couldn’t really remember much of it. I don’t think it was finished. It went something like this…
Let the thoughts of this mind, make your day, Let the words of this song, take you away. Let this broken heart, lead you in. Let this serrated knife, cut your skin, Let the chill up your spine, freak you out, Let this never ending story, tell you what life’s all about. [/i] (Or something like that…)
Not all of them were really happy poems though, and I didn’t really expect them to be. The last one I read seemed to stick in my head the most, reading it just made me think about Jeff’s life, and what hell it had been for him. I guess that’s probably why he wrote it. I just didn’t know he could get so depressed…
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jul 21, 2006 3:02:52 GMT -5
Sorry to double post but here's the rest of the chapter (It was too big to fit in just one post)
Still running… Seeing how far we’ve come… Miles from danger… Yet are still miles from sanctuary… Middle of nowhere…. Yet, this place…Familiar, it seems… It is… The world I once knew…Gone… As I thought it once was… Completely vanished… Like the lost thoughts… Of this tortured mind… I’ve got everything I want… But have nothing I need… This life has marked my body with this scar… This life… Has made these insides bleed… But like everything… This time will one day end… The last grain one sand will fall… You will finally see around the bend… You will finally see it all… And they will carry me there, to this place… Where forever I lie… Burning slowly, they will watch me, one last time… As they see this spirit slowly… Die…[/i]
I guess it didn’t seem that depressing, I didn’t really understand the end of it though. Was it supposed to be happy, or was it supposed to be sad? I can never really understand these things…
‘Hey did you write this?’ I said to Jeff, placing the paper back upon the desk
‘Yeah, why?’ Jeff replied
‘Oh, no reason just wondering…’
‘Is that yours,’ I asked pointing to a Bass Guitar propped up against the wall
‘No,’ he replied ‘That’s my brothers, but I can kinda play it.’
‘Oh, okay,’
‘Yeah,’ he said and went over an acoustic guitar across from it ‘This is mine,’ he said, pulling the strap over his shoulder and holding it in his hands
‘It’s kind of old,’ I said looking at it
‘Yeah I know,’ ‘Well, that’s cause it isn’t technically mine but it was given to me, by my grandfather, I think. But not from my father’s side, from my mother’s…’
‘Oh right,’ I replied ‘Well?’
‘Well what?’
‘Well, c’mon! Let’s hear you, know any songs?’
‘Not really, I mostly just fiddle around…’
‘Oh…’
‘But I do know one,’
‘Okay then,’ I replied ‘hit me with it.’
‘Alright but you should know I’m not the best singer,’
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ I said ‘Just play the song.’
‘Okay, here goes,’ he said and he began to strum at the strings with his fingers and sang along to the music.
No one knows what it's like To be the bad man To be the sad man Behind blue eyes And no one knows What it's like to be hated To be fated to telling only lies But my dreams they aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance That's never free No one knows what its like To feel these feelings Like i do, and i blame you! No one bites back as hard On their anger None of my pain and woe Can show through But my dreams they aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance That's never free No one knows what its like To be mistreated, to be defeated Behind blue eyes No one knows how to say That they're sorry and don't worry I'm not telling lies But my dreams they aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance That's never free No one knows what its like To be the bad man, to be the sad man Behind blue eyes.[/q]
Yeah that was good,’ I said ‘You like that song?’
‘Yeah,’ he replied ‘and also, there’s just something about it (I don’t know what) but something about it I kind of feel like I relate to…’
‘Okay,’ I said and then locked at my watch ‘Well, uh, we better be getting back now…’
‘But we like just got here…’
‘I know,’ I replied ‘But Rose is all alone back at the shop, I think I should go check on her…She was really worked up last night about a dream, or something. I dunno, but we better go.’
‘Alright,’ Jeff said
‘So, you been doing okay?’ I asked him as we walked along the sidewalk, away from his apartment block.
‘Yeah I guess,’ he said ‘It’s just…These past few days have been a bit full on for me…’
‘Yeah, I know,’ I replied ‘but I guess sometimes life can be a bit full on.’
‘Hey by the way,' I said 'I never really got to thank you properly back there...Y'know, for all the stuff you did in the Huntslair, saving Rose, and saving me...I just wanted to say thanks. It meant a lot to me...'
'Hey no problem,' Jeff replied 'I was just doing what you would've done for me...'
'Although...' he suddenly said out of nowhere
'What?' I replied
'Well I don't know how to explain it...' he replied 'When it came to saving you and Rose from falling from the building that was just obvious, I mean it was instinct but when Rose was supposably about to get killed by the Huntsman I was practically out of it, I couldn't stand my head was killing me...Yet, something inside of me was urging me to go on, to keep fighting...Not for my sake, but for Rose's...Something, was telling me to protect her...'
I gave Jeff a puzzled look, I guess he could understand that I was unsure what he was talking about.
'Like how?' I asked eventually
'Well I don't know,' he continued 'It was just like instinct, like some little voice in the back of my head or something...'
He suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence and held his hand to his wrist, strangely, he was trying to hide the fact that he was feeling pain from me, as if he didn't want me to know. But I noticed...
‘What is it?’ I asked, seeing him holding his wrist and making quiet hisses of agony.
‘Nothing,’ ‘I mean…I think it’s nothing…’
‘What happened though?’
‘Nothing really,’ Jeff replied ‘Look I’m sure it’s fine. My scar was just burning a little bit, not much though, I’m sure it was nothing…’
‘Jeff!’ I cut off ‘The last time your scar was burning you became a devil! But now you’re saying it’s nothing…’
‘That is true,’ he replied ‘but that’s not always the cause sometimes it just burns for like no reason. I’ve never figured it out; it’s like a trauma or something.’
‘Look,’ he continued ‘if there were any Huntsmen or devils or anything around don’t you think they would have attacked us by now? We’ve been standing here arguing for close to a minute now, that would be a pretty good opportunity to strike.’
‘So everything’s okay as far as you’re concerned?’ I replied
‘Absolutely,’ Jeff replied and continued walking. But then suddenly, he must have spotted something out of the corner of his eye, because he suddenly froze on the spot. ‘Or not…’ he added
‘What?’ I said, the concern raising in my voice
‘Look out!’ he suddenly exclaimed and before I knew it I felt him sharply shove me to the ground and then dive out of the way himself as I saw that familiar explosion of green, almost like fireballs demolish through the concrete sidewalk.
‘Eye of the dragon,’ I said pulling myself to my knees and staring around, trying to find the attacker. I stared around and saw Jeff, pulling himself up. He was staring around the area as well, with his dragon eyes trying to see who shot at us.
‘You okay Jeff,’ I asked
‘Yeah, fine,’
‘There he is!’ Jeff cried out
He didn’t need to point I saw him, he was standing on the fire escape to the building across from us, a Huntsman, holding a crossbow with a bow that glowed with green fire. ‘What’s he doing here?’ I said to Jeff
‘I dunno,’ he replied ‘but it can’t be good, we’d better stop him.’
‘Right,’
‘Dragon up!’ We both said at the same time and we began to fly upinto the air over to him. He saw us and began to climb faster, up to the roof eventually he made it up a few seconds before we did, afew seconds to many.
Because the moment we made it up there, he'd gone. I couldn't see him anyway, he'd just run off! I began staring around in all directions, staring around at all the identical rooftops, trying to see if he was hiding atop any of them. I noticed Jeff was doing the same, scoping round the area. He'd didn't see the attacker, but he did see something else...
'Oh no,' I heard him exclaim when he saw it.
'What?' I replied
'They're headed for the shop!' He shot back
'They're?' I asked frantically
'Huntsmen,' he replied 'There's lots of them, they're breaking in!'
'Oh no,' I exclaimed 'Rose is in there, they're after her! We've got to stop them!'
'We better hurry then,' Jeff said 'They're already inside!'
And with that, we flew off down towards the shop as fast as we could, I just hope we weren't too late...
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jul 21, 2006 10:13:00 GMT -5
......
Update today or i shall hunt you down! Wtf? ARE THEY STARING AT ME AGAIN??XD
-__- Eh, sorry about not being on MSN last night when you got back on...I got sick and was out could by one my time..>>
Update soons! XD
-Ash
|
|
|
Post by gojake on Jul 21, 2006 13:07:43 GMT -5
a.. haa.. but... *drools*
|
|
|
Post by spyder on Jul 23, 2006 2:21:42 GMT -5
Chapter 29 - The Gauntlet Jeff’s P.O.V
Normally, at another other time on any given moment I would’ve been having a lot of fun right now. I mean, what’s not to like? Full dragon, soaring through the sky, the wind in your hair (or scales, whatever), struggling to keep up with Jake like it’s some sort of race, watching over the sunset stain the afternoon sky, a golden red. But right now was not the time to be having fun; this was serious, dead serious.
We’d been out of the shop for little over ten minutes, yet somehow within that short period of time Huntsclan had began raiding the now (defenceless, I guess) building, looking for their ‘prey’. It had only been a few days ago that Rose was snatched up by the claws of the Huntsclan and used as bait to lure the American Dragon in and hopefully have him by he got even close. But when that not only blew up in their faces, but Rose (‘The Huntsgirl’) call her what you want, turned against the Clan. After the ramifications of that, I knew they couldn’t be happy, and know I guess they wanted to did it again.
For all I know they’d probably been watching us on the rooftop the entire time, just watching and waiting for the precise moment to strike. These guys are cerebral, highly skilled hunters, and in some cases assassins, they wanted to single Rose out to a point where she was most vulnerable.
According to Jake, she’d still been asleep when we’d left (that’s a pretty vulnerable position to be in when you’ve got the Huntsclan on your back). But no matter how defenceless Rose was in her sleep, they didn’t want to attack while not only Jake and I, but also his grandfather, three dragons, not exactly easy to take down.
So anyway, Jake’s screaming along, a few ahead of me, running solid on a second wind he’s picked up out of nowhere, as I struggled to keep up (I guess the concern he had for Rose is building determination up inside of him) But now, thinking about how skilled and tactical the Huntsclan are and seeing the numbers of them standing upon the rooftop, awaiting our return. I’m not sure if it’s wise for us to just leap down on the roof and try and take them all by force, we would need some kind of advantage. I knew Jake was gonna hate this and maybe even hate me for it, but for once we needed to think about this logically.
Jake knew Rose was in danger and in another desperate act to try and prove his love for her ever the more; he was rushing in on instinct. Hoping to be the hero, the one to save her from what could turn out to be her death. But again, this is the Huntsclan; they always know what they’re doing. For all I know they might even be planning on killing (or even kidnapping for that matter) Rose yet. This could just be a scheme to lure Jake (and hey, maybe me too) back in and with the blink of an eye, with one slight mistake they could have dragon blood on their hands. I knew I had to stop him…
‘Jake!’ I called out to him, though he was just a few feet ahead of me
‘What is it?’ he said, the expression on his face and the tone and pace of his voice reminding me that there wasn’t much time.
‘Let me go…’ I sort of muttered out
‘What?’ Jake said, almost unsure of what he was hearing.
‘Let me go…’ I repeated taking a deep breath, unsure of what I was getting myself into ‘I’ll go first and while the Huntsmen are busy with me you can save Rose…’
‘…Are you sure?’ Jake eventually replied
‘Come on,’ I continued ‘Just do it…You want to save her, don’t you?’
‘Well yeah, but…’ he said
‘But what?’ I replied
‘This just seems stupid,’ he started ‘I mean, you’ve known had to fight as a dragon properly for a day at the very most. You’re entire life you’ve been running on instinct and on luck…Don’t you ever think one day that your luck’s, just gonna run out? You should, because it’s most likely going to happen and it could be on anyway, even this one…’
I took a moment to look over at Jake and took a moment to take in what he was saying
‘Don’t worry about me…’ I said ‘I’ve got a feel luck’s going to be on my side today’ and with that I turned back and continued flying over to the shop Jake still behind in midair just hovering over the one spot sighing and shaking his head as he watched me as I reluctantly continued to the journey over to the gauntlet the Huntsclan had planned for us.
Like cheese in a mouse trap, we’d be lured in and death would be our reward. But that hopefully wouldn’t be the case if my plan worked well for Jake and I, at least. But once we got on that rooftop, would we be able to get inside in time? I wasn’t too sure. I was trying to forget about thinking logically and decide to just go with the moment. It was weird though, at this stage I was putting my life on like it was something I had to spare, something I didn’t mind risking. I guess I was used to the thought of…One day dying…It had been a consequence and even in some cases and option that I had to consider and I guess today was no different.
I could see Huntsmen upon the rooftop as I flew over (and there were lots of them, let me tell ya!) They were all spread outupon the area of the rooftop, all on guard prepared for attack, waiting for our return. This had been a set up on the behalf on the Huntsclan! They were watching us the entire time and knew we’d have to live at some stage. But of course they weren’t satisfied with just capturing Rose the girl who turned against the Clan, no…They wanted Jake to be slayed, they wanted me to be slayed, they could very will even want Jake’s grandfather slayed, I didn’t know their entire plan. I just knew we had to stop it before it got too far underway.
So when I slowly began to make my descent down towards the surface of the rooftop I wanted to strike before they could see me, I was going to take every advantage I could and this one was no exception.
I swiftly covered a few more yards, getting as close as I could to the roof as I could without being seen, my eyes upon the Huntsman nearest to me. He suddenly turned, saw me and raising his Huntsstick, opened his mouth to yell out, warning the rest of the Clan. I saw him and swooped down fast, at full speed, lashing directly downward at him, hitting with a kick in the side of his head, sending him crashing hard to the ground.
And well, that was it…Just like I’d thought. The moment I’d made that one crucial move to annihilate the nearest guard in sight, everything just lost complete control. It was going so fast, I could barely make out what was going. But once that guard was down all the Clan surrounding me had whipped out Huntsstick, crossbows, you name it! Whatever they had on them they got armed and ready.
It started out for awhile with just out of control violence. I took hits and threw back as many as I possibly could, it was crazy! I was getting hit from so many different directions, no sooner would I take down one huntsmen with a kick, or tail whip, or something then I got hit from behind by another and had to take him down, which was when one came at from behind again, and when, I think you get the idea.
I was outnumbered, I realised that, but it was awhile before the Huntsmen themselves actually realised they had the numbers advantage. Which was when they all surrounded mein a full circle leaving me with nowhereleft to go. All I could do was fight and hopefully hold them off long enough for Jake to get in and out of the shop without any hassle.
The first guy who came at me was easy. One strike with his Huntsstick, I moved out of the way and kicked it from his hands, sending it flying across the rooftop far from his reach. I then lashed out with a spin kick directed straight at his forehead, scoring all out it and sending him flying back hard against the concrete roof.
Two more followed, coming in at the same time, each armed with Huntssticks. I went down low to duck the first shot that was directed at my head, but then had to sidestep a shot taken out from behind by the other Huntsmen. It was hard to keep focus on two guys at once. You didn’t know who was going to strike, when and from what direction, it was hard and was all about your reflexes, but I knew exactly what I had to do after narrowly leaping back and feeling the edge of a Huntsstick brush across my chest, almost making contact.
I landed on my feet and stared over my shoulder quickly and saw the Huntsman standing behind me, his staff raised and then looked back to see the Huntsman in front of me. Who’d not only already advanced on me but had taken a shot, slashed his Huntsstick out aiming right for my neck. I leapt up into the air, to jump over the shot that had been taken at my feet. But while I was still in mid-air I ducked to avoid the shot that was taken at my neck area. If I’d done this right I would have leapt in the air at the right time and would’ve been in midair, right between the Huntsstick below me and the one above me, avoiding being cut down the middle. My plan didn’t go exactly the way I’d thought, but I guess it wasn’t a failure either…
The Huntsman behind me had aimed his Huntsstick a little high and when I leapt up I didn’t jump high enough to get all the way over the blade. I felt a sharp stinging sensation in the soles of my feet as the serrated edges of his Huntsstick grazed against my flesh. But I didn’t waste time reacting to the pain.
From the moment my feet touch the ground again I had to spring back into life and fend of more of the Huntsmen that still surrounded me, isolating me from the rest of the world around me, keeping me from salvation.
I had two Huntsmen coming at me again, one on the right and one of the left. I dealt with them momentarily first kicking the one the right hard in the chest and then quickly following up with a swift kick to the other. That disposed of them momentarily. But after a few seconds of recuperation they soon were rushing at me again. I saw about three guys coming at me from all directions and I did the wise things of leaping into the air just above their heads and flying away from their reach.
Many of the Huntsmen were quick to react, wiping out their crossbows and fired at me. I flew along at full speed evading their shots and retaliating by firing fireballs as I flew along. But their firepower was much stronger. There were much more of them, I couldn’t hold out for much longer. I flew over to an apartment building across from the shop (which was slightly higher) and took cover behind one of the walls, secluding me from the Huntsclan’s view.
I leant my back up against the wall, griping it like I would fall if I let go, breathing heavily as I heard bricks and tiles upon the building I was hiding behind, crack and shatter against the continues explosions of green fire crashing right into them.
‘Wait!’ I heard a voice call (dragon ears are helpful) I recognised it straight away it was…My dad, the Huntsman (that feels weird thinking, saying, I still don’t believe it)… I knew he had something to do with this! ‘Hold your fire!’ he continued.
So the on pour and deafening sound of the Huntsmen’s bows hitting the solid brick wall, slowly died down and sound came to an end, followed by a dead-still eerie silence that filled the air. But it wasn’t complete silent to me. I could hear what was happening on the shop across from us (again, it’s good to have dragon senses). I could hear the Huntsman’s footsteps upon the ground
‘You brought this on yourself,’ he said to me fully away of my dragon senses ‘It didn’t have to be this way…And it still doesn’t…
I carefully stared around the corner of the wall, looking back over
There were just too many of them. I was having trouble keeping track, I wasn’t even sure exactly how many there were. About seven or eight from what I’d last seen but I could be wrong, there could more.
‘We won’t kill you…’ The Huntsman continued, now looking straight at me ‘But only if you follow your true calling…’
I looked down at my hand, and powered it down, back into its human form. I stared down at the marking that lay upon it, the dragon’s head that sat directly upon my palm and took a long moment to just stare at it, thinking about the option the Huntsman was placing me. I couldn’t even believe I was considering this! But it mightn’t have any choice; it might be my only way of survival, but for how long? And could I really trust the Huntsman? Or was this just a trap to lure me out and then kill me anyway? Questions flowed through my mind, I had thousands of thoughts and contemplations running all at once, but no real answer…I still didn’t know what to do…
‘So,’ the Huntsman said ‘what do you say?’
I looked back up at him again, and then looked up into the sky scanning the area trying to see if Jake was coming. Then I saw him, he was flying forward fast, but was it fast enough? I couldn’t tell. Jake was moving through the air really swiftly but he was a far distance from the roof top. I needed to buy myself some time, so I decided (for a minute) I would play with the Huntsman’s head a bit. I began to fly back over to the roof upon which the Huntsclan were situated, making my way towards the my father, the Huntsman. But as I flew closer, several of the Huntsmen raised their weapons again, suspicious of me, still not sure if I could be trusted.
‘Lower them!’ the Huntsman yelled, ordering the guards to lower their weapons again. I guess, the Huntsman trusted me, unless this was all part of some big conspiracy and he continued to look at me with a watchful eye, not letting me go out of his sight.
I slowly flew down and landed upon the rooftop, still carefully watching the number of Huntsmen surrounding me.
‘So,’ drawled the Huntsman’s cold, gravely voice ‘what are you going to do?’
'Yeah, I guess you could say I have,' I replied before lashing straight at the Huntsman with a kick knocking him right off his feet 'I think I'm quote happy where I am...'
'Are you sure about that?' I heard a voice behind me snarl, and well after that, I couldn’t really tell what had happened next…All I knew was I gothit from behind, hard, right in the back of head. I couldn’t tell whether it had been a kick or a fist, but whatever it was had been had a lot of force behind it and I fell forward, hard onto my face, my neck cringing from the impact as I hit the ground.
I got back up on my hands and knees I only to get kicked hard in the ribs for my efforts. As I collapsed to the ground again I felt that same boot place a kick right into the back on my neck (which was starting to throb after the ugly spill I’d had) and again, I crawled up on all fours and made the mistake of trying to get back up.
I got kicked hard in the side of the face, tasting blood in my mouth from where the tip of his shoe had met my lip and gashed it open, badly. I pull myself up againonly to receive another hard kick, in the ribs this time. Once I was knocked back the ground again, I got up much faster this time, and was actually able to get to my feet. But the moment I did, I saw an object (similar looking toa grenade) land before my feet and suddenly a thick cloud of smoke surrounded me, getting into my eyes and in my mouth into my lungs, causing me to cough.
I couldn't see what was going on through the smoke clouds surrounding me. I threw my arms out, whilst struggling to keep my breath, desperately trying to clear the sky of the smoke clouds, so I could see where I was. But it was hopeless, I knew what to do though...
'Eye of the...' I stared to say in between coughs and splutters, but was cut off before I could finish. Hit hard in the back of the head from behind, I was thrown forward from the force and strength put behind the kick and I had little time to get my hands up. I crashed heavily into the ground again, landing all the weight upon my right wrist. It hurt like crazy, I could've sworn I'd sprained it or something.
I clutched in my left hand, as it hung limply as I lay against the cold, unforgiving concrete, flat on my stomach, ivory liquid still seeping from my mouth, as my head still aching from the unexpected attack, ever since I’d been hit from behind I’d lost all momentum (not that I had any to start with). I hadn't been able to get a single move in, the attacker had taken complete advantage over the fact that I had my back turned, that I wasn't paying 100 percent attention to all my surroundings and the fact that I was no longer a dragon, and more vunerable in my human form.
My attacker stood over me from behind, and as I once again pushed my against the ground trying to pick myself up again, he drilled his boot into my back pushing me flat on the ground again and pinning me there, as I tried to struggled out, like a mouse in a trap.
‘You had enough, dragonboy?’ I heard them say…And the moment their cold voice left their mouth I knew exactly who it was.
I turned my neck and looked over my shoulder to see Scythe standing over me, his boot stillin the small of my back, pinning me down asthe Huntsman came over to him, his Huntsstick raised, his eyes fixated upon me, as he moved in for the kill.
‘You see,’ he said coming over toward me as I lie helplessly on the ground ‘If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times before…You’re either with us or against us, and if you try to medal in our affairs then you will be against us, and when you against us, you suffer…When you are against us, we torment you whenever given the opportunity…When you are against, you die..’
And as the Huntsmen rose his weapon high up above his head, looking todrive it throughme as Ilaydefenceless,with Scythe's boot in my back,Jake made the perfect time to make an appearance.
The moment the Huntsman began to drive that Huntsstick down towards my back I suddenly heard him shriek in pain and drop the Huntsstick aside and he collapsed to the ground, holding his own back where Jake’s fireball had just scolded his skin.
I then heard Scythe scowl as he removed his foot from my back and ran over to Jake who had just landed on the rooftop after just having saved me from almost being slayed (again)
I wasn't concentrating on this too much, I mean, I could hear it all going on in the background, but I was foucsed more on struggling to my feet, trying to regain my breath and take a moment to recooperate from just being jumped.
But as I was crouched down, I noticed something out off the corner off my eye...While Jake was distracted, busy fending off about four or five members of the Huntsclan, two of them had snuck away from him and were now heading through the door into the shop and heading downstairs. They were going after Rose! I had to let Jake know!
'Jake!' I called over to him, but he didn't hear me, he just kep on lashing at the Huntsmen around him.
'Jake!' I tried again 'Come on, Jake!'
But he couldn't hear me, or maybe he could he was just too wrapped up in trying to fight I wasn't sure. But I knew I had to warn him somehow, Rose was in trouble if those Huntsmen got downstairs fast enough.
I looked around, all the Huntsclan were focused on Jake and trying to take him out, they'd just all completely forgotten about me. Having realised that, I struggled up to my feet and stared around the area of the roof one last time. My body still ached in numerous places after Scythe's attack, I was still really quite tired after only having finished dragon training here less then an hour ago, I looked down at the necklace I still wore around my neck that Shaun had given me. I held the pendant in my hands and remembered the good luck Shaunsaid it was supposed to bring.
'God, I hope you are right,' I said,still looking down atthe pendant,before kicking through the door and running downstairs, hoping I could make it down their in time to save Rose, before it was too late...
|
|
|
Post by charles finley. on Jul 23, 2006 2:34:54 GMT -5
....
-____- XD
*grabs poking stick* DONT MAKE ME POKE YOU 'TIL DEATH!!XD
Update soons or else! *grabs poking stick* XD
|
|