Evander held her tight against him, loving the feeling of her soft
skin against his. He kissed her. "I'll always love you. More than
you could ever know. I would give everything for you. As long as I
live, and even after that, you will always be special to me." He
soon drifted off to sleep, with her in his arms. When he awoke he
glanced at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it was almost
time for dinner.
Aroura walk up when Evander gently shook her shoulder.
"Huh? What is it?" she asked sleepily, "What time is it?"
Her stomach growled loudly just then. She looked up at Evander,
laughing, "Guess it's dinner time."
She kissed him. Then slid out of bed and got dressed. When she got
to the corset, she turned her back to him, "Help me?"
"Of course" Evander said, lacing up the item in question. When he
was finished, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind,
kissing her neck. "I would take you out again, but I'm thinking
that would be a poor decision. With the Lux out there looking for
us, I don't want to take any chances. I hope you don't mind eating
here. The dining area is quite nice." He said
She relaxed into him, loving the feel of his strong arms around
her. She put her hands over him.
"If you're there, I'll be happy," She turned her head, kissing him.
Aroura finished getting dressed. Her boots taking forever because
she had to undo them then put them on. When she was done, Evander
and her left the room. She held his hand as they walked down the
hall.
When they entered the dining room, Evander was slightly surprised
to see about fifteen others in the room, and was pleased when he
recognized all of them. A thought suddenly came to him. "Aroura I
didn't get around to telling you earlier, but there is about a six
month gap from the last thing i remember to when we showed up here.
In that time apperantly you lived here with us in the other world.
If other people act like they know you, it's probably because they
do." A woman with long black hair and eyes, and bleach white skin
walked up to them. "Hey guys! Been a while since I last saw you!
How ya been?" She asked, with a smile. "Hey Jane." Evander replied.
"Wait! Really?" Aroura couldn't believe she hadn't noticed the gap
in her memory. There were so many people in the dinning room. When
the women walked up to them, Aroura felt like she should know her
but she could figure out why.
"Um, hi," Aroura said lamely. She was glad Evander was there. She
felt embarrassed at not being able to remember these people.
"Uh sorry Jane. We both have a six month memory gap, so Aroura
doesn't remember anybody." Jane looked concerned, "That's awful! I
hope you can get your memories back." She smiled again. "In the
meantime, my name is Jane Killer, and that," she pointed over
shoulder at the man eating with Synthia. "Is my husband Jeff.
Hopefully we can be good friends again this time around!"
"Me too," Aroura smiled. Jane seemed so nice and warm. Aroura was
eager to see how Synthia was doing but the girl looked happy so
Aroura didn't want to bother her. She and Evander took a seat
between Hoodie and Jane.
"So, how was your afternoon?" Hoodie asked.
"Very nice," Aroura smiled at Evander, trying to play it cool.
While she was ready to be with Evander, she wasn't so sure she
wanted everyone to know they had been together.
Evander went to get plates for Aroura and himself. As he was
filling the plates with roast meat and potatoes, a boy in a dark
blue mask and a black hoodie came up. "Hey, Evander." He said
quietly. "Good to see you again." "Good to see you to Jack."
Evander replied, glancing at the boy, who had place several raw
kidneys on his plate. "How are things with you and Jill?" He asked.
The boy sighed. "Not so good man. It's been kind of rocky the past
week, though I'm not sure why." Evander felt sorry for the guy,
understanding how he felt about the girl. "Anyway, thanks for
asking." Jack said returning to his table. Evander returned to
Arouras side, placing the plate in front of her.
"Aw! Thank you!" Aroura smiled at him. She put some steak sauce on
the roast beef and buttered the sliced potatoes. Se pored a glass
of lemonade for herself and Evander. She devoured her meal, not
really caring how she looked. She was starving, and after the last
few days events, she needed the food. After clearing away the first
plate, she got another one, making sure to get Evander seconds as
well.
"So what's going on this evening?" Aroura asked, hoping she and
Evander would be able to spend the evening together.
"Well I wanted to ask Slendy a few more questions real quick, but
after that..." He paused, not wanting to embarrass her in front of
the others. He was pretty sure she would get the hint. Suddenly he
heard a ruckus behind him. Turning he saw Jeff and Jack on their
feet, staring daggers at eachother. "What is your problem man?"
Jeff asked. "My problem is you constantly hitting on my
girlfriend!" Jack growled back, crushing the half eaten kidney he
held. The girl in the matching blue mask still sat at the table,
though she looked quite impressed that Jack was standing up for
her. "Well then, if you can't take a joke, let's settle this." Jeff
said pulling a long knife out of his pocket. Jack went for Jeff's
throat, knocking him down in the process. Synthia kept shouting for
them to stop, but it was no use. She screamed. The blast of sound
threw both of the men through the nearby wall. Synthia burst into
tears and rushed off.
Synthia ran out of the dining room, down several halls and into her
room, locking the door behind her. She sat down in the corner and
sobbed. How could she do that? Jeff was her friend, and Jack was...
She cried even harder. As she sat, the black stuff spread even
further across the walls. Looking down at herself she realized that
she had grown quite a bit. Her hands had grown claws, and her skin
was an ashy black. Red sharp toothed mouths snapped on her legs and
neck, and spikes protruded from her shoulders. "I'm a monster."
"Sounds wonderful," she smiled sexily. She didn't mind going to see
Slendy. Maybe he could explain more about their memory loss.
Suddenly a fight broke out. Aroura didn't understand the why the
fought broke out, but when Synthia's powers got the best of her,
Aroura reacted.
"Evander, I'm going to check on Synthia," Aroura explained, jumping
out of her seat. She was glad she remembered the way to Synthia's
room. Knocking softly, Aroura called, "Synthia? Honey? Can I come
in?"
As much as Evander wanted to go see Synthia he decided to check on
the fighters instead. Jeff had been pulled from the rubble by Jane
and Jack was slowly getting to his feet. Jeff had come away with a
nasty set of claw marks on his face and some broken ribs, while
Jack was nursing several stab wounds. "You guys alright?" He asked.
"I was." Jeff said through teeth gritted with pain, "until Synthia
hit me upside the head with a concrete wall." "I'll be fine" Jack
replied.
Aroura was outside the door. She wanted to come in. How could she
let her see her like this? She was a monster! A terrible ugly
monster! "Go away! I don't want you to see
me like this." She sobbed, her voice sounding like several
people talking at once. The lock on the door clicked. Synthia
looked up to see Slender, with a hand on the knob, just before he
teleported away. She buried her face in her knees, sobbing. The
black had spread to cover about half of the room, with red tortured
looking faces mixed into it.
"Alright, I'll just talk to you through the door then. I know
you're scared hun, but we're all here for you. I know you don't
like looking different after using your powers, but you look
perfectly fine to all of us," Aroura sighed. "I know it's hard.
Growing up isn't easy for normal people. For us with powers, it's
crazy. But we're here for you. Hun, I have no room to judge anyone.
I pulled a dagger on my father, threatening to kill him. I..."
Aroura paused, "I threatened to kill the man I love if he hurt you.
But Hun, we only want the best for you."
She paused, waiting for Synthia to respond.
"Are you okay, Hun?" Aroura finally asked.
Synthia sniffled. Aroura was so nice. Would it be so bad for her to
see her like this? "Y-You can come in, but
you have to promise not to tell anyone." She put her head
back down
Aroura opened the door, she walked inside and shut it again. She
looked at Synthia and was terribly sad to see the girl so
upset.
"Hun, I'm not telling anyone anything you tell me in private. It's
just us," Aroura smiled, rubbing circles on Synthia's back. "Is
there anything I can do to help? I can sit here and simply listen.
I can try to make you laugh. We can share secrets and chat, just us
girls. Anything at all."
Synthia hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Everything bad that happened is all my fault! Both you
and Vany got hurt. John lost his home. And now I hurt my one of my
best friends, and... him." Tears filled her eyes again. She
wouldn't have ever told anyone else. She had fallen for Eyeless
Jack hard, and she didn't know how to handle her feelings.
"I don't know what to do. I-I feel like no
matter what I do I just end up messing everything up. I'm just a
monster" She looked up at the ceiling. "An awful, ugly, MONSTER!" the last word was
more of a screech of torment, than a human cry.
"Hmm," Aroura made a low, thoughtful sound. "Let's see, two eyes:
check; a nose: check; five fingers and toes: check. Well Hun, I've
got all of those features too, so it looks like we can be monsters
together," Aroura hugged Synthia. "But it's not appearances that
make people monsters. The most vile monster I ever meet looked like
a normal human. In fact he convinced the whole world he was an
angel! But you know what? He was evil. He beat and abused his
daughter for the fun of it. Now, you have never purposely hurt
innocent people. And when you accidently hurt someone, you feel
remorseful. Monsters hurt the innocent and feel nothing but joy.
So, I don't see any monsters here. Just someone learning to control
her gifts."
Synthia stared into the Aroura's caring eyes. Her a monster? She
was about as far from a monster as you could get! Synthia couldn't
help but wonder if Aroura could help her sort out her feelings
about Jack. But was what she said really true? Sniffling, she
asked, "A-Aroura? Do you really believe that?"
"Believe that you are not a monster? Of course!" Aroura confirmed.
She pulled Synthia into her lap. "You have love in your heart. Your
laugh is full of joy. Your tears show true sadness. Monsters can't
show any of those emotions."
Aroura held the girl as she worked through her emotions. She knew
the only way to get through this was to work through them.