I'm so sorry this took so long. It always takes me a bit to get used to school, and now that I am, things will get updated a little more quicker. This took a long time because CT29 took a long time, so bare with me. ^^;
This episode includes information - yeah, no action, but we got loads of that last chap. ^^; Enjoy...I hope. *thinks it's crap*
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Chap 4
The sun arose from its watery, horizon covers, ready for a new, twenty-four hour cycle. Through the curtains shading the glass doors to the balcony, the sunshine peered in and stained the carpet with its light-yellow glow. As a morning type, May was up with the sun, although her smile wasn’t. Yesterday was still on her mind and it was quite a pity Misty’s party had nothing to do with it. That Demon – he still clung to every one of her thoughts and she just had to talk to him. She got dressed quickly into her normal, uniform-like attire and slipped out of the room so that her Pokemon could sleep soundly until noon.
It was Sunday, so instead of having the downstairs all to herself, May found the entire family had been ready before her. Caroline was at the stove burners cooking breakfast things, Norman was at the table with the paper, and her brother…well he wasn’t around, but the sound of the TV not too far off let her know Max was up as well. Her father would soon be off to church, her mother with him, and Max would be…wherever he wanted. That meant she’d be able to go in search of her dark savior for most of the day…that is, if he came out in the day.
“Good morning,” May chimed as she walked into the kitchen.
She sat at the wooden dinette across from her father, who was at the head, and leaned her bended elbows on the glass protecting the finished wood. She swayed her feet back and forth in anticipation.
“Good morning to you as well, May,” Caroline said, scraping scrambled eggs into a plate, “You ran up to your room so quickly yesterday we didn’t get a chance to figure out why you were so late.”
Her mother put a clenched fist to her hip curiously. May jumped in her chair.
“Oh, um,” May contemplated her answer quickly and lied, “I lost track of time. Misty and I were having such a great conversation. I’m sorry.”
Her acting skills were indeed impeccable. Her parents nodded, knowing May to be honest, but May herself felt badly about it. Unfortunately, even if she didn’t owe anything to the Demon, it was too late to report them. It would start a pandemonium and she’d be accused of siding with them for not telling of their kind’s reappearance as soon as she had spotted them. Although, among all of this, she still wanted to find that Demon again – he seemed to carry a lot of answers with him, if only from how he looked. May snapped out of this thought process as soon as the food was served to her and the smell had risen to her pixie nose.
The family ate breakfast together as they made sure they did every Sunday. The family spoke of normal things at mealtimes, but May wasn’t a part of this conversation – she only listened intently. It was soon that breakfast was over and everyone would be off, although Max had left as soon as he had cleaned his plate. May got up and cleaned off the table as her parents continued whatever they were talking about. The two of them then got up and May knew they’d be off shortly, which finally relieved her. May left the sink and stood with her parents as they got ready in the foyer.
“Don’t forget, May, you’re still grounded,” Norman said as he pulled on a jacket, “I want you studying for that test all day.”
Caroline added, “If you want to take a break, dear, you can always get the things on the shopping list that’s on the refrigerator door for me.”
May nodded, “Okay, I’ll get all that done.”
“Good,” Norman said softly and then kissed her on the head, “We might be late, so start dinner and call Max in.”
“Okay.”
“We love you honey, try to make it fun,” Caroline said soothingly, kissed her daughter on the cheek and followed her husband out the door.
May heard them drive away in their expensive, black car to the church. She waited for a second and then ran to the kitchen. She grabbed the shopping list off the refrigerator door, slipped on her shoes, and ran out the back door. She locked it with her key and off the Angel went to get those things her mother wanted. They’d be back at about five-ish, she knew, so she had the whole day to kick back. However, the Angel also felt badly here, going against her father’s wishes and all, but, in reality, she was still doing what her mother asked - just with a few pit stops!
As she walked to the open markets a few blocks from the Angel community, she wondered what she’d say to the Demon if she saw him. This worried her – she knew she’d end up not being able to get a word out before he disappeared on those black wings into the shadows. She decided then to just forget it.
May picked out and bought a few things on her mother’s list and then went on her way. Her face sagged a bit, just thinking about the rest of the day locked up in her room having to study a bunch of lies most likely. She checked the list in her hand and found there was one more thing she had to get – a Spoink pot roast. She walked into the butcher shop a little further from the fruit market. As the door opened, a little bell chimed above her head and the mortals working there perked up above the counter to see her.
A fat, dark-haired mortal in a white apron greeted her, “Good morning there, missy, how can we help ya?”
They had no idea she was an Angel and in earlier years, that would have made her giggle.
“Hello,” she greeted back, “I need a medium sized Spoink pot roast, please.”
The man frowned, “Aye, we’re all out of that. But I will tell ya where ye can get some. You’ll have to go to the butcher shop just beyond the Horizon Line.”
He wrote the address on his notepad for her.
“I figure it might be a wee bit too dangerous over there for a purty lass like yourself. You can come back tomorrah and we’ll have some more of that roast then,” the man said handing the paper to her.
May wasn’t listening though, and said in a slight whisper, “Of course!” thinking that was most likely where she’d find her guardian Demon. She thanked the man for the information and then headed for the city’s split where the Light property ended and the Dark territory began. She walked confidently and felt a little bit lucky to have such a great excuse to go over the in-city boundary.
The neighborhood seemed to change almost immediately as May crossed the Horizon Line – garbage was all over the cracked sidewalks and most of the windows on the buildings were dark and musty. Every other business was closed down or boarded up tightly. She concluded that the Darkie alley-ways were about the scariest things she had ever seen even though they were mostly empty. May trudged through her fears, however, for her main goal right then was to find that Demon…and get a pot roast.
…
On the other hand, Drew had all but forgotten about last night in hopes to ease the loss of his best, or rather, only true friend. He pulled on his shoes in the dim glow of the light bulb that hung over his head in the dining room. He heard Harley snore a few boxes over. The short-winged Demon slept in late everyday as if it were his last weekend and this astonished Drew. How it was possible that a Demon that lazy had not been consumed and slain but Sloth he had no idea. Perhaps the sin was as lazy as its definition described? Nevertheless, Drew took this time to fly out after passing rotten scraps out to Flygon and Grumpig beforehand. With Kelly gone, Drew knew he was the only responsible one left to take care of the orphaned pig Pokemon. He also made sure to let Roselia out so that she could soak up some sun. With that done, the Demon was then gone from the warehouse for the rest of the day.
He flew out to the city with little care if someone saw him – they’d take his silhouette as a mirage first, if anything. He landed in an alley-way next to his favorite butcher shop – that is, his favorite one to raid at night to get a decent meal. He folded his wings into his back for safety - this way if anyone did spot him, they’d take him as a dark magician or something of that nature. Drew then took the liberty to walk out onto the sidewalk. He had not done this in a long time since Kelly had always liked to live on the edge and hiding wasn’t a part of that. It felt refreshing, yet sad in a way.
Drew’s thoughts crumbled to a chime nearby from the door of the shop. A white, fair figure skidded out and in mid-stride, tripped over a raised slab of concrete sidewalk. She fell to the ground on her knees, scraping them up real well. As she fell, her groceries went flying, including an orange that shot toward Drew like a bullet. With fast reflexes, he blocked himself and caught the fruit before it made contact with his forehead. The Demon then sighed and walked up to the girl who held a bleeding knee.
“What are you doing?” he asked, knowing well that the Goblins that owned that shop had probably harassed her before handing over whatever it was she needed to get.
She looked up at him, and although her cerulean eyes did not faze him, her helplessness broke some sort of tension in him. He normally couldn’t care less for others, but no one deserved to be treated like crap and then again once they had escaped the crappy situation. May, on the other hand, gasped, instantly recognizing him.
“I-I’m really sorry about that!” she said, trying to sound as apologetic as angelically possible.
Although her clan had successfully trounced his, she still felt weak next to him. He was taller than her and if her memory served her well, his wings were much larger than any Angel she had seen. She had stood up and bowed respectively which had only raised a quirked eyebrow from the dark acquaintance. May couldn’t say anything else – what was there to say?
“Well, it helps to watch where you’re going,” he said in a low tone, and dropped the orange that was still clutched in his hand into her brown paper bag.
“Well, yeah, but…d-don’t you remember me?” May choked out, trying her best not to let this moment go to waste.
“Should I?”
“Yes! Last night!”
Drew raised his eyebrows, shocked and appalled at the coincidence. He then sweat dropped nervously as his memory of the Angel Kelly had attacked matched with the picture he saw before him. Almost frightened of what could come next, he hid his fears and chuckled in her face.
“You must have me mistaken for something else,” he said turning to walk away as fast as he could, but May wasn’t about to let this fish off her hook.
Before he could even start a stride, she jumped in front of him and said, “You can admit you remember – I’m not gonna tell anybody.”
This only confused Drew more, and although he didn’t exactly trust her, he figured if she hadn’t told on him yet, she wouldn’t tell. Angels were notorious for their loyalty and strong family bonds. Had he been lucky enough to find a rebel amongst the army of brainwashed souls? He knew Kelly would not have agreed, for she had purposely targeted an Angel for Harley. He sighed.
“Look - what do you want?” he asked quickly, trying to get the conversation over with.
“I want to thank you first,” May mumbled, “for last night and all.”
“It wasn’t about you…” he trailed.
“I know, but I’m still here because of you and it still deserves a thanking.”
Drew shoved his hands into his pockets, “Okay, you’re welcome, I guess. Anything else?”
“Yes!” May said excitedly, “I want to know more about you De-”
Drew covered her mouth before she could finish, “Shut up! Are you insane?”
May pushed his hand away, “No! What’s your deal?”
“Um, survival? One peep of that word and my ass is being cooked by you damn Angels!” he gritted in a whisper, “And besides, I’m no extra help teacher. Good day to you.”
With that he walked away from her and back into the alley where he widened his wings to lift himself onto the roof. He still didn’t want to go home but he had to get away from that Angel. It was a tough decision. He stayed there on the roof on the opposite side of the street-facing corner where he looked down at an extended ally. He figured the Angel would give up at that and get out of Darkie territory before she was raped in broad daylight. Unfortunately, this was not true. She had just as easily spread her wings and followed him to the top carrying her groceries with her.
“Do I really have to fly a few blocks in order to lose you?” he asked, almost jokingly because if he had really wanted to, he would’ve pushed back his Sloth and gone the extra block.
“I just…want answers,” she said softly standing far from him, her wings sagged in a helpless sort of way, “They’ve always taught me that Demons were little, disgusting creatures with jagged teeth and slimy skin…but with you I see that’s not true.”
He turned around with a sarcastic, shocked face, “You just figured out now the Angels lie? Damn.”
“It’s not funny!” May complained as she heard him snicker, “And I really want to know more. Before last night, I didn’t care about Demons because I didn’t think it was important to learn about something that didn’t exist…but now that I know you do and that you’re not what you’re said to be, well…I’d like to know if there is anything else…?”
Drew had become serious and listened intently to what she had to say. For a second he felt sorry for her – it was almost like those times when the mortal children find out their parents are behind all the holiday heroes.
“There’s a hell of a lot else,” he answered, “Like, for instance – you all lie about how they’re messengers of God. No you’re not, but it makes you look good and powerful - that’s why they say it. You Angels are just as power-hungry as we ever were. Hell, you kicked us out so that you could rule both sides of the city…like the large Lightie section wasn’t big enough for ya.”
As he started a calm tangent, May had walked up to him and now sat although still far away. She wasn’t supposed to be in the Darkie area to begin with, let alone talking to a member of the forbidden species. Even though she knew she was disobeying her father and going against her entire clan, she stuck around. There was something about this new flow of truth that made her stay and listen carefully. She was much more interested now, perhaps because what she was learning in school was false propaganda where as this was fact…or at least it was a little more interesting.
Drew knew he could leave at any time, but it wasn’t as if he had anything else better to do – what could be better than ranting about the Angels to an actual Angel? The exchange worked well for the both of them.
“But, I’ve always heard you were the ones who were power-hungry…so to stop you, we banished you,” May said, confused and all turned around.
Drew shook his head, “Stories could be different…but the stuff that goes on now would suggest my story’s truth.”
“Oh really?” May challenged, “Give me one good example!”
She felt a certain pride in her clan, and that sort of talk from a Demon was something she wouldn’t take lightly. He sounded right and had proven to her that the Angels lied when they said they despised the act, but that didn’t mean he was all right. Or was he? Unfortunately for May, this Demon was well equipped with examples.
He sighed, almost annoyed, but ready to lay it down flatly, “Your clan rules this city in a tight grip and you claimed the entire city out of…what did you say? To save it from us? So that you could govern it ‘properly’? Well, I have yet to see some sort of government in these parts. You only wanted this territory to have it, not that you’d do anything about the constant anarchy here. It’s called Greed.”
May huffed, but she couldn’t conjure up a good comeback. It had only taken her a few minutes in those parts to realize the area was at a cliff’s edge with complete chaos at the bottom. All inhabitants were out for themselves – there was no “good of the community”. It was also common knowledge to her that the poor mortals there were treated like seasonal game – what kind of community was that?
“Well? Need I go on?” Drew asked.
May shook her head, “Not really. I’ve never been around here before and from what I see, you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right, I live here,” Drew mumbled.
May didn’t hear him, “I…I could really use your help! I know you said you weren’t interested in helping me…but it’d be really great if you could…”
“With what?”
“A test I failed?” May sweat dropped as she gave a bashful grin.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Drew asked, sarcastically rolling his eyes.
May felt her face become red in embarrassment. She looked down and caught a glimpse of her watch.
“Oh, Christ, I have to go,” May said quickly, realizing she still had to be at home studying when someone came home.
Whether or not her new acquaintance was telling reality in rant, she still had to answer her test in the way her teacher had taught it.
“Can I meet you here after school…um?” May asked a little hesitant.
Drew thought about it and then said, “It’s Drew…and why not? I have nothing better to do than give you a reality check.”
His sarcasm wasn’t pleasing, but it was still an agreement.
“Okay,” May said, and then added, “I’m May, in case you were wondering."
“Wasn’t wondering, but thanks anyway,” Drew said as he waved a goodbye.
May said goodbye, shaking her head, and then flew off back home in a hurry. What she was about to do over the next week would be dangerous work – spending peaceful time with a Demon was like mutiny and punishable by death in the literal sense. But, it was only for one week - not even - and if she kept a low profile, nothing would go wrong. She only hoped Max wasn’t home to tell her parents she had taken ample time to grocery shop which would lead to a difficult explanation. Luckily he wasn’t home and she had the rest of the day to study, or rather, procrastinate with it.
When her parents came home, she had already started dinner. At the table, as her parents ate in peace, May couldn’t help but look at them in a different way than she had that morning. They were liars…every last one of them.
…
The next day, May found it hard to concentrate, not that it had been difficult to get distracted in the first place, but now all of the things she learned yesterday were buzzing around in her mind. They filtered out anything else that said otherwise.
After school, May was reluctant to waste her time in Brock’s tutoring session and she was relieved to find out he had a previous engagement and couldn’t be there that day. Since her parents still believed she was to go to tutoring, she used that time to meet up with Drew. She hadn’t done so much lying and sneaking around her whole life, but, according to what Drew had told her yesterday, she was due excessively.
So, she went on her way down to the Horizon Line and crossed it, still hesitant with images of her father passing over her eyes reminding her she was disobeying him as she walked on. The Angel pushed the memories away and made it to the building she had been at the day before.
Sure as morning sun Drew was there waiting with his head propped up on his crossed arms on the roof’s edge. His wings were carelessly drooped behind him and it took him a while to drag himself from the afternoon scenes below on the street to face her.
“On my way here I had doubts you’d be here,” May said, “Thank you…unfortunately, I don’t have much time today.”
“And when you get home, are you going to lie?” Drew asked, a crooked grin across his face, as if he were her accomplice.
“No!” May shot back.
“So what are you going to say?” Drew continued, “I know for sure this isn’t where you’re supposed to be.”
May huffed and ignored his question – she simply answered with her rummaging through her school knapsack. She emerged with a folder, one filled with papers but not to the point of bulging.
“It’s not any of your business!” she whined and then handed the red folder to him, “Here…this is the stuff I want to know…from your point of view. I want to know if they lie about this too!”
Drew took the folder gently and then opened it. He looked down at the contents and a laugh escaped him for a moment. He quickly recaptured it into his hand, but couldn’t keep it under control.
“What are you laughing at?” May snapped at him.
“Your drawing skills are simply to die for!” he cackled and then showed her a picture of a supposed Demon she had drawn as a model in class.
The creature was horribly drawn, but, somehow, Drew could make out what it was…or at least he thought he could.
“Don’t laugh at that!” May whined, “It obviously isn’t for Arts!”
“I can tell!” Drew cracked another joke on the poor, defenseless piece of work, “But it’s not even correct! We Demons don’t look like that!”
“Well, I know that now!” May said with narrowed eyes, “Well, then, what is it? They had to get the design from somewhere.”
“Hey!” Drew turned to her with a smile.
“What?” she asked bewildered.
“You actually figured something out!”
May’s brow furrowed, “And you’re very mean!”
Drew’s face twisted in confusion and he said, “Um…Demon?”
“Right. Whatever,” May growled, “But, can we get back to this? What is it?”
“It’s a…” Drew trailed, “Well, I’ll show you.”
…
They had folded their wings and walked the streets as mortal look-alikes toward another alley-way further into Darkie territory. There, May followed Drew into the alley and turned a corner into an extended area where the buildings from the street showed their small back exits. The area was smelly as garbage sat in bags forgotten, left to rot.
“Jim? Where are you?” Drew called looking around the garbage bags.
He then came to a large, navy-colored dumpster hidden behind the first building’s metal stairs from its backdoor. Drew knocked on the top of the dumpster with a knowing smile.
“Jim, come on out,” he pleaded.
“You have something for me?” came an old, scratchy voice from inside the dumpster, “You know the deal.”
Drew sighed, “No, we had to bury it…but I’ll bring you extra next time - promise.”
The side of the dumpster began to slide, though reluctantly in its old, rusty age. May looked harder and she could see two clawed hands pry the metal home open. She backed away ever so slightly as the abomination walked out of its disgusting living quarters. The creature was only about half her height and wore no clothes to speak of. It had a skinny body, though its stomach hinted that it ate well, with scrawny limbs and a big, round head. The creature’s skin was the color of yellow puke with brown patches only present upon its back and bald head. It had large, rabbit-like ears upon that head as well as a few white hairs and a terrifying face. With big, black, slit-like eyes, jagged teeth, and long claws, the creature was even more terrifying than what the Angel community had depicted. Of course, any fright was only a real fright in person.
“Who’s your friend?” Jim asked, and then, almost figuring something out, he yelled, “I am not your god damn petting zoo!”
Drew only laughed as Jim tried to shove him, “Relax…although you kinda are a presentation, I’m proving to this Angel that Demons and Gremlins are far from the same thing.”
The Gremlin practically took that as a joke and giggled a bit before he spoke.
“Well, of course!” Jim said, “Shit, you’re closer to her than you are to me in the grand scheme of things!”
The Gremlin walked up to May and then said with a toothy smile, “Miss, I’mma Gremlin, close cousin of the goblin…but in no shape or form am I a Demon. I’m a scavenger, not a hunter…I scavenge off him. And come to think of that, I really need that body.”
The creature had now turned to face Drew in a way that the Demon just knew he’d be talking about business. Drew rolled his eyes – he didn’t want to deal with this. It was so unexpected.
“For what?” Drew hissed, “We already buried it.”
“I need to pay off a vampire…I figured I’d ask since you usually don’t finish them off…you haven’t have you?”
“No…and what do you need to pay a blood-sucker off for anyway?”
“She gave me money that I could give these bastards to let me live here!”
Jim pointed at the building his dumpster was propped up against.
“You know goblins are only nice when they know they’re getting something out of it! This body will keep everyone quiet…all you have to do is dig it up. Believe me, this broad doesn’t care if there are worms already at it.”
May stood listening to the conversation and finally spoke, “A body? You murdered someone?”
Drew and Jim turned towards her with little care on their faces.
“Kid’s gotta eat,” Jim said, lifting his hands toward Drew, “It’s the Darkie way.”
“It was just a mortal; chill out,” Drew told her.
May was utterly disgusted.
“I know you’re not used to it because you don’t live in these parts, but all the Darkies here have come to an agreement that any food we get will go to the mortals. That way, we can…well…ya know…eat them,” Jim said with an unfazed shrug.
“Besides – they can recover their population,” he snapped his fingers, “like that.”
May accepted it and knew that it was the greatest example Drew had given her. The Angels only claimed that part of the city to have it…but they hadn’t done anything to govern it. It just wasn’t a society. The stronger inhabitants were literally domesticating their neighbors for food purposes.
Jim turned back to Drew, “Do we have a deal?”
“Yeah,” Drew said, “But as a bonus…I’ll deliver it myself. What’s the address?”
May watched as Drew and his Gremlin friend exchanged information. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and, on the other hand, couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it coming. Why had she viewed her Demon acquaintance in an innocent way? It was obvious that he wasn’t just from their very first meeting…
May snapped out of her thoughts as her watch began to buzz its little alarm. The session was over, and they hadn’t even begun covering the material May had wanted.
“What is that?” Drew asked, turning back to her.
“I need to get home,” said May in an apologetic manner, “I guess I will see you tomorrow.”
She then spread her wings and flew into the sky without looking back. Despite what she had witnessed, it made little difference to her views of her new friend. She only hoped Brock would go on another date so that she could meet up with Drew once more. His life seemed to be so exciting and underground, and he’d only watch that world he hid from on a roof top while she was at school being taught useless stories.
Drew watched her go and then turned back to Jim who was staring at him, as if trying to figure out his motives.
“Why are you hanging out with an Angel? She could slip the edge of a word about you and you’d be staked faster than you can blink,” Jim inquired.
“So what? I haven’t got anything else better to do,” Drew told him, “It’s a great opportunity to do some useful ranting. I feel relieved, almost. I’m just hoping that maybe through all this, I can change something around these parts.”
“Everything ‘around these parts’ is fine! We’ve been doing this for years!” Jim practically shouted and then shook his head, not letting Drew get a word in edgewise.
He knew that for a Demon, things weren't 'fine'.
Jim held up his clawed hands, “Well…ya know what? All I have to say is that you better be careful and not get attached to her. More hell will break loose if you even think about touching her.”
Drew rolled his eyes, “Jim, you know damn well Lust and I never hung out. Why now?”
“You wanna change somethin’; she wants answers; everything’s falling into line and shit’s gonna hit the fan,” the Gremlin said as he thought of it.
“I’ll tell you what, Jim – if I do do some crap, and some huge…thing starts up because of it, I’ll give you a hundred bodies. Deal?” Drew gesticulated
“Deal,” the Gremlin said as he walked towards his dumpster, “But for everyone’s safety, I hope I don’t see those bodies.”
He then shut the slider closed and left Drew alone in the empty ally-way. The Demon looked up to the darkening sky.
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=3! Oooooo, irony! I think I will start the Explanation page...Monday. We're gonna start to need it over the next few chaps. <3