Trinity Blood: 2007

Two Against The World: 2

Chapter 1
Joanne’s Surprise

The priest stood next to two graves as he spoke. He walked around the grave, his black cloak trailing behind him. A young boy, and a girl, even younger than him, sat on chairs facing the graves.
“This couple died young, and left behind two beautiful children. Don and Darcy will not be forgotten.” The priest spoke of Don and Darcy.
The young girl leaned to the boy and whispered, “Don, what‘s gonna happen now?” The girl seemed scared, so the brother smiled encouragingly, and patted her head softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll find out soon enough.” The girl smiled at him.
The girl seemed to be about four years old, and the boy seemed to be about eight years old. They both had black hair. The boy had ocean blue eyes, and the girl had dark brown eyes.
The boy wore a dark brown tuxedo, and the girl wore a black dress.
The boys name was Don Jr. and the Girls name was Joanne.
“Hey, Joanne, you want to go back now? You look too upset to stay.” Don was young, but he understood a girls feelings more than his father ever did, and mind you, this boy is eight years old.
Joanne shook her head and said, “Lets stay a while, then can we go?” Don smiled again and said, “Sure.”
The priest finished his speech, and Don and Joanne went home. They now lived with an old Ms. Trensen.
When they walked in the door, Ms Trensen said, “Welcome home, dearies. How was the funeral?”
They told her how it was and Don asked, “My dad said that he did a memorial for his mom. Can we do that for our parents? He took me to where it was once, I can raise the money for the stones myself. I can get a job. They take anyone there for a job, so please? Can we make a memorial?”
Ms Trensen looked at them with her old, and loving eyes, and said, “Sure. Why not? It’ll be a ‘Remembrance To Don and Darcy’ thing.”
She took her eyes off them. As her back was turned, something happened to Joanne to make her collapse on the floor. As Don leaned over her, trying to see what was wrong, a dark figure watched through the window, none of which the people in the room could see.

Chapter 2
Finding Joanne

Joanne hadn’t woken by the next day, so Ms. Trensen told Don to stay in the room with her. Ms. Trensen walked out of the room, and left Don with a sleeping Joanne.
Joanne, please get better. Please, I don’t want to live my life without you. I’m scared.” Don’s tears fell onto Joanne’s small hand. Although her eyes didn’t open, her hand reached over and lay on his. She spoke blankly, as if she was speaking from someone else, “Brother, I don’t want to live without you either.” Then she fell silent again, and Don broke into loud sobs. He sat on the small chair next to her, he fell asleep there. When he woke, he was in his own bed, and there was a note on his bedside table. The note read,
Don,
Joanne was taken to a hospital. I had to go with them. Please don’t be upset, I had to go, I didn’t want to.
Please watch over the house until I get back. I promise I’ll be back soon.
Love
Ms. Trensen

Don decided to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t get Joanne out of his mind. She was his little sister, and he was her big brother. They were family, and the odd thing was, Joanne acknowledged it more than he did.
Don loved his baby sister. He never wanted her to get hurt as long as he could help it. He decided right then and there, when he got older, he would not leave Joanne’s side. They would live together. She would not be left out of his sight.
Don fell into a reluctant sleep. His dreams went back to fun times he had with his dad.
A day at the beach, that was just him and dad. That very day, his father collapsed on the sidewalk coming home. His words were, “Go straight home, leave me here, go home and tell your mother that its here. She’ll know what I mean.” Don didn’t listen to his father though.
Don sat next to his father, trying with all his might, just to get him on his feet. “No! Dad, come on! Get up! Please!”
Don woke to the sound of the ambulances in his dream. Then he realized, there were actual ambulances outside his window.
He got up, and walked to his bedroom door, to see Ms. Trensen lying on the floor, covered in blood. Tears poured from his eyes, as if he was a walking water fountain.
He screamed with terror, not knowing what he was scared of. He dropped to the floor and said, “Please wake up! Please wake up! Please, Ms. Trensen!! Wake up!”
Five men walked into the hallway, it took two of them to get Don to let go. Even as they kept him away from her, he struggled to get back to her. His legs kicking frantically, trying to make the men let him go.
Then when they let go, he didn’t go back to Ms. Trensen, he stopped dead where he was, and said, “ Where is my sister?”
The men shrugged, then one said, “Does she have black hair, and brown eyes?”
Don looked at him, and said, “Yes, Yes! That’s Joanne! Where is she! Please tell me!”
The man could tell he wanted to know badly, but he shook his head. “I can’t tell you. I really cant. You don’t know how much I want to tell you. I’m sorry.”
The man left, and as he left he said, “Come with me. I want to ask you something.”
Don didn’t want to talk to him. He didn’t want to follow this man. The man who wouldn’t tell him where his beloved sister was.
Don noticed the tree branch that was next to the window. He wondered, if he could jump far enough….
Don saw that the window was open, and ran as fast as he could.
When he reached the windows edge, he jumped as hard as he could, and landed on the tree branch. The weird thing was, he didn’t land on top of the branch. His feet were on the bottom, and he looked up, at the branch he is standing on. “What the heck?! Why am I upside down!?!” Don was scared out of his mind, and then he remembered the reason he was even on the branch. He did a back flip to the top of the branch, then jumped down to the ground.
From there, he ran as fast as his feet would carry him, to the nearest hospital. He knew if Ms. Trensen took Joanne to a hospital, it had to be the closest one. When he burst into the hospital door, he asked the lady if she had seen a girl with black hair, brown eyes, small, and most likely, unconscious. The lady didn’t answer him and he said, “Lady! Did you hear me or are you deaf?! I asked you if you saw a small girl with black hair, and brown eyes! Answer me, or its not going to be pretty!” Don was upset now, he wanted his sister back, when the lady didn’t answer, he ran down the hall. Then he stopped at the first door and looked back. The woman nodded, as if she knew what he was thinking. Don walked into the room, and saw Joanne lying on a bed draped in white.

Chapter 3
Don vs. Priest
When Don saw his sister asleep in that bed, he was scared. He was scared for himself, but more scared that his sister would never open her eyes.
He shook her to try and wake her up, but she didn’t wake. So, he picked her up, not noticing how he had more strength than before. He saw the open window, and wondered if it would work again. He ran and jumped out of the window again.
This time, instead of landing upside down on the branch, he landed on the top of the branch. That was lucky, considering if he would have landed upside down, he would’ve dropped Joanne.
“Well, we can’t stay on this branch forever.” Don seemed to be talking to no one in particular.
He wrapped Joanne’s arms around his neck, and held onto her with one hand, as he used the other to climb down the tree.
Then he ran, with Joanne on his back, as fast as he could. He didn’t know where he would go. He couldn’t go back to Ms. Trensen, she was already dead. To top it all off, it was starting to get dark.
He saw someone up ahead. They had a black cloak on, that trailed behind them as they walked. The cloak seemed dirty, and ripped in places.
“Hey!! Excuse me!” Don ran up to him waving his hand. His sister still on his back. When he was a few feet from the man, Don stopped. He almost dropped Joanne.
“Well, I see you look like your father. So much innocence in those blue eyes. I can get rid of that little resemblance.” The man’s voice was familiar, and deep. Don couldn’t figure out where he’d heard it though.
The man lowered his hood. Then Don remembered, he was the priest who held his parents funeral…….
“You? No….no! Not you!” Don was ready to start crying. Then he noticed that the priests eyes were no longer his own. Some one had switched body’s with him. This person’s eyes glowed with an evil red color.
Don lay Joanne next to a shrub. Then he left her side. Don was only eight years old, but he didn’t want this guy to hurt Joanne. The only way that was to be assured, was if the priest left them alone.
“Hey! Why don’t you just leave us alone?!” Don was still scared the priest would hurt his sister. He wanted this guy gone. He didn’t care if he had to kill him to do it.
“Leave you alone? Now, why would I do a thing like that, when I’ve already got you within reach?” The priest seemed to be taunting Don.
Don started to get angry. Then his anger seemed to get the better of him. He felt a strange sensation inside of him.
His hair turned from jet black, to pure white. His light skin turned black with wisps of silvery white. His eyes went from deep ocean blue, to black with a white, catlike pupil. His teeth extended long and sharp.
Don looked at his hands. He didn’t know what had just happened to him. He just thought it felt…..it felt…good. He felt powerful. He felt that he could destroy this guy.
“Do you know what you are?” Don looked up from his hands to see the priest moving his hands in a strange motion.
“You….are a monster. From ancient times, like that thing you call your mother.” The last sentence got Don angrier.
“DON’T TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER LIKE THAT!!! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO MENTION HER!!! YOU KEEP MY FAMILY OUT OF THIS!!” Don really didn’t care who this guy was, “NO ONE TALKS ABOUT MY FAMILY AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!”
Don yelled in complete rage. He knew this man was right about him, why else would he be this…this creature? Don knew he was only eight, but he would do anything to keep his sister safe. Anything, even if it meant giving up his own life.
Don attacked the man with full force, “DIE!!!” Don didn’t know why he was speaking like that, it wasn’t normal to him.
Out of no where, he pulled out a sword, and tried to stab the priest with it. The priest, who’s hands had been pressed together, brought his hands apart. Between his hands was a sword, that was slowly lengthening.
“I think not, boy!” The priest laughed maniacally, and rushed at Don who deflected the sword. The sword was only close enough to pierce a small amount of his skin on Don‘s neck. Don kept the priests sword back with his own.
“GET OFF ME!!” Don shouted in the priest, who’s face was only inches from his own.
His voice seemed to force a wave of energy out of him, knocking the priest off him. The bad thing was when the priest was blown off Don, he dropped his sword, which plunged into Don.
Don felt the impact of the sword right as it had happened, and pulled the sword out of him. The wound was bleeding uncontrollably, then, a small hand reached up to Don’s shirt.

Chapter 4
Joanne’s Power

Don looked down to see who was grabbing at his shirt. He saw Joanne’s pail face staring at him through the dark night that had fallen, and he sat next to her.
Joanne wasn’t talking, but he realized that her hand was not its normal light tone. Her hand had gotten darker, almost as black as his skin. Then it slowly returned to normal.
Then as if on a whim, his skin returned to normal, and the pain from his wound returned. Don was covered in his own blood, and he held his side. Joanne didn’t let go of his shirt. She looked at him with her dark brown eyes, she looked like she was on the verge of crying.
“Joanne what’s wrong?” Don had completely forgotten about the wound on his side. He remembered when Joanne pointed to his bloody side.
“That. What happened? Something hurt you?” Joanne’s eyes were still shiny with tears. Don thought that his sister was cute no matter what she would say. Her voice just lingered you in like bait on a fish hook, and this time, he was the fish.
“Nothing that you have to be concerned with Joanne. Don’t worry about me.” Don didn’t want his little sister to worry about him, she was the one who he should have to worry about.
“Don,” Joanne looked into his eyes, and asked, “Do you know what we are?” Don looked at her with wide eyes, but didn’t say anything.
“Big brother? Are you okay?” Joanne spoke to him in that cute little voice again, and he just nodded.
“Don, we are…” Joanne stopped and said, “Whossat?” Her quickness in the way she spoke made her cute voice seem more cute, even in the present situation.
The priest looked at her, and bowed, “Many pardon’s, Miss. I am
Everneigne de lou'crouse.” Don looked at him.
He had heard that name before. Although his father never spoke of him much, remembered what his father said about him, “ He was known throughout the land as Zohar. He was no priest, but to those he knew, Father, was his given title.”
His father had warned him about Zohar, but although Don had heeded his father’s warnings, he never thought he would meet the man.
“Don, don’t move, don’t move big brother, I have a idea.” Joanne’s voice was light, yet for someone so young, she sounded so mature.
She put her light hand on his bloody side, and something happened. His side glowed blue for a moment, then the pain came back.
Don gasped in a small amount of air. This was his little sister, getting her hands covered in blood. Let alone, it was his blood that made it even harder for him to grasp.
Then, the pain went away….as if forced out by his sisters loving touch.
“Don? Are you okay now?” Joanne looked away from his side, and removed her hand. She lifted her head, and her jet black hair was thrown out of her face. Her small cute face shined in the illuminating moonlight.
“Yeah, now I am. Joanne how….how did you…do that?” Don was kind of freaked out. Joanne looked into his eyes, and said, “You and me both are..” Her words were cut off bye Lou`Crouse, “HEY! ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ALL NIGHT, OR ARE WE GONNA FINISH THIS, YOU MONSTER!?” Zohar rushed at the two small kids on the ground.
Don covered Joanne’s body with his own. Zohar was about to plunge his sword into Don, when some one came from behind, and plunged a sword into him.
“Hello. I don’t believe we’ve exactly had an introduction, have we? My name is Sir Mathew. I work for a hospital.” The man smiled at Don, who said, “You…you’re the one who wouldn’t tell me where Joanne was!! It was you!!” Don was upset.
The man tried to come closer to him, but Don would not let him come near him. “Get away from me! I don’t want you near me!” Don broke away from Joanne and Sir Mathews.
Don ran into the woods, and hid.

Chapter 5
Search For Don

The man stood and watched Don rush into the woods. Joanne didn’t go with him.
“Sir Mathew?” Joanne looked up into his eyes. She wanted to know what happened between him and her brother.
“Yes, Joanne? What is it?” Joanne noticed that Sir Mathew’s eyes were filled with worry, so she decided not to ask, “Never mind, sir.”
Sir Mathew started walking towards the woods. Joanne got up and tried to follow him, but Sir Mathew stopped her.
“Joanne, you shouldn’t come with me. It’s dangerous, and it’s late. Aren’t you up past your bedtime?” Sir Mathew smiled, and Joanne said, “But I don’t know where to go. Ms. Trensen is dead, and I cant find my way home in the dark. It’s too scary out here at night.” Joanne looked really scared, for her brother, and for her own safety.
“Ok, you. If you weren’t so small and cute, you would be on your way home by now, you know that?” Sir. Mathew picked up Joanne, and walked into the woods.
Joanne lay her head on his shoulder. She started crying. When Sir Mathew asked her what was wrong, she said, “I want my big brother! I want Don to come back! Sir Mathew, are you going to bring Don back?!”
Sir Mathew kept walking and said, “I’m going to try. Don’t cry so much Joanne. Your brother loves you. You don’t have to call me sir, you can call me Mathew or Matt if you want.”
Joanne nodded and placed her head back on Matt’s shoulder.
Matt walked into the woods with Joanne in his arms, and he saw a dark figure in a tree. He put Joanne on her feet, and climbed the tree.
He saw that the figure was on its side, and its side was making swift up and down movements. It had jet black hair. This figure that lay on its side in the tree, was Don.
“Don, I didn’t mean to…..to hurt you. Please talk to me?” Matt tried soothing Don. But when he heard sobs coming from the eight year old boy, he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know what you are?”
Matt heard the sobs stop and said, “Don, Please talk to me. I..I have to tell you something important. About your father, about you.”
Don didn’t turn to Matt, but said, “I’m listening.” Matt called Joanne to come up the tree.
“Don, Joanne, I have to tell you something.” Matt was about to tell them something that would change their lives forever. “I knew your father for years. Your father was a loyal man. He would do anything to keep you safe. Your father fell in love with your mother when she was only fourteen. Your father almost lost his life protecting your mother from her very own father. Your mother was a kohzin. A kohzin is a creature from long ago. It has the fangs of a vampire, but the blood of a human.”
Joanne looked at Matt and said, “I know this. Mommy told me a while ago. I thought daddy would tell Don, but since he died, I thought I would do it. But Don was always away, I never got the chance to tell him.”
Don inched over to his sister, and hugged her, “I’m sorry I wasn’t around for you, Joanne. I really am sorry.”
Matt looked at him, and said, “The reason I couldn’t tell you where Joanne was, was because you already knew. Or I thought you did. Not much of a reason is it? It’s what I call a hidden secret. I have been a friend of your father’s for a long time. We built a memorial in this very woods actually, him, Karen, and Ralphie. Ralphie died some time back. I take it, that he showed you the memorial, did he not?”
Don nodded. “Daddy showed it to me. Before he died. I miss daddy.”
Matt looked away from him, and said, “I know what happened to Ms. Trensen, so….I want you to come and live with me, and my wife. I want you and your sister to live with me. You won’t have to live alone, you won’t have to live unloved, like you were monsters. You are not monsters, you are you.”

Part 2
Dangers Untold

Chapter 6
The figure in Black

Don and Joanne had lived with Matt for a few months, when everything fell apart, with the death of his wife. Before his wife died, they had lived happy, with no troubles. But when his wife died, Matt became a different person.
Every night, Matt would yell at Joanne and Don.
“You animals! Get away from me! Get away!” Matt would yell at them, as if he were mad, crazy.
One day Matt had yelled at Joanne, and left her ready to cry. Don came in the door with, a heavy coat on, and saw his sister on the cold floor. Her long dress was folded in places, and she held herself, she looked determined not to cry. Don saw Matt next to her with his arms crossed. He looked like an overgrown child, and at his age, it looked strange.
“Hey! What’s your problem! Why are you yelling at my sister!?” Don was steaming at Matt. Though Matt was years and years older than him, Don was not afraid to stand up for his sister.
Matt didn’t say anything to Don. He walked out of the room.
Joanne sat on her knees, her tears leaking out over her determination. “Don! What’s wrong with Matt!?” Joanne didn’t look up, but she seemed as worried about Matt, as Don was about her. Don didn’t answer her, he was busy mauling that over in his head, as well.
Don wondered what had happened to Matt in the past few months. Don wondered if what Matt had said was at all true….. There was only one explanation, everything he said to him…living loved, not being treated like monsters, a lie. Joanne wouldn’t look into her brother’s puzzled face. Joanne didn’t say anything, but she was even more worried than Don was.
“Joanne, do you want to leave this place? Do you want the yelling to stop? Do you want to leave?” Don looked down into his sisters big, brown eyes. Joanne still wouldn’t look at her brother, but she said, “We can’t leave him lone. It wouldn’t be right, and I think you know, too.”
Don knew it wouldn’t feel right, but he didn’t want his sister to get hurt anymore than she already was. He thought that there was really no solution that would end happily for Joanne. He wanted to keep her as happy as possible. The only thing Don could do, was do as his sister pleased.
“Joanne, what do you think is wrong with him? Was everything he told us, that day, a lie?” Don took his eyes off his sister, so he wouldn’t have to see an upset face when she replied. Instead, he stared out of the window, into the dim, white light of the moon.
Joanne didn’t answer him. She stood up from the cold, hard ground, and walked down the hall. She seemed to be following Matt’s exact footsteps, from when he left.
When she came up to a door that was open a crack. She said, “Don, come here. What’s this inside?”
Don walked up beside Joanne and looked inside. Don saw a man, a box, pictures, and unopened letters on a bed with a dark red comforter on it. Matt walked pacing around the room. He had a sad, miserable look on his face. He seemed a different person from the one who was yelling at Joanne.
He seemed to be looking at no one in particular, and when he spoke, it was as if he was speaking to the wall. It seemed the wall was having a better hand in the conversation.
Then, he sat down on the bed, and picked up a picture. He seemed hypnotized to the picture.
Then all of a sudden, he got up. Don and Joanne ran as fast, and as silently as they could, away from the door. Matt walked out of the room, and down the stairs, some two feet off.
As soon as Don and Joanne could no longer see the top of Matt’s head as it disappeared as he walked down the stairs, they rushed into the room.
Don looked through the piles of pictures. He saw pictures of his dad, and pictures of his mom. Don wondered what had happened to his parents before they died. Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was black, pitch black, and tall. It stood on the limb of the tree.
Don told Joanne to leave the room. Joanne protested but Don raised his voice. He seemed to not only want her to leave, but to need to her to leave too.
Joanne got up, and left. Closing the door behind her, she said, “Matt looks hurt. Think I see if he’s ok…” Right when Don was about to object, he was knocked off of his feet.
He lay on the floor, his face to the ground, breathing hard. Quickly, he turned and stood. His blue eyes turned black, his hair turned white, his skin turned black, and he had wisps of silver circling his body like veins.
“What are you? Who are you?” Don was angry at the figure. The silver wisps spun in angry circles.
The figure wouldn’t speak. It only flew through the open window, and stood in front of the window. Eyes burned snakelike, and red under a black hood. The only thing of the figures face that Don could see, were its eyes.
Don asked his questions again, “What are you? Who are you?” Don got angrier every time the figure ignored his words.
Don figured the figure couldn’t hear him at first, but then as he asked a third time, with more warning, he lost it.
“You…….you…YOU ANSWER ME!!!” Don was only eight, but he was getting bolder, and braver.
“It seems you have your mother’s attitude on fights.” Don heard a light, woman’s voice come from inside of the hood. The figure still wouldn’t take off the hood, but it spoke.
Don didn’t reply to the figures words. He stood and watched as the figure stood in his place. The figure made no more sign of life after that.
Though there was no wind moving around the room, but the figures black clothes were whipping around the figures body quickly. From what Don could see, the figure had a slender body, and several layers of black loose robes, or cloaks on.
“Who are you?” Don was growing impatient. He wanted his questions answered, and answered quickly.
The figure denied to answer his question, with one swift motion of his head. The red eyes that Don had seen earlier, disappeared. Now, in their place, Don saw black eyes, with white pupils that resembled a cats. The figure now resembled a which that Don had seen in a story book his father used to read him.
“Dear, Don. Are you to say, that this black cloak means nothing? Do you not remember anything about this cloak?” The figure bared its teeth. The teeth were long and sharp, and so white that they shone through the blackness under the hood.
Then Don remembered something the figure had said, ‘Do you not remember anything about this cloak?’
Don recalled that his mother wore a black cloak, the same day she died. She had gone out with one of her friends, left Joanne and Don with Ms. Trensen, and gone out. That was the same night she had never come back.
Tears leaked out of Don’s eyes, and he reluctantly walked towards the figure. The unmoving figure seemed to say, ‘Come closer child, come to me. Come.’ Though Don was moving, he seemed to want to stop, but his feet wouldn’t let him.
The figure lowered its hood. A woman’s face appeared. She had large blue eyes, as deep and as blue as an ocean. She had long, jet black hair that dropped down her back smoothly. She had light skin.
Darcy stood before the eight year old boy. The mother who had been dead for years, now stood before Don. Though it was unbelievable, Don couldn’t think of any other person this could be.
Don’s very mother stood before him.

Chapter 7
Don’s Demise
As Dons feet slowly moved his body towards the figure, it removed its hood, Don saw what he couldn’t believe. His mother now stood before him, just as he remembered her.
Long black hair, the blue eyes he shared with her, and light skin.
“Dear child, you have grown lots haven’t you?” The woman’s smile seemed to reach from ear to ear.
Don couldn’t speak, he walked, slowly, to the figure. Without words to explain his amazement. More tears welled up inside him, and he couldn’t stop walking. He wanted to move to her, to the woman he had once called, ‘mom.’
“Come to me…….Don….” to woman stretched her arms out to him, as if gesturing him to come closer, as well as saying it.
Don opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a short breath. His eyes, more attracted to the woman gesturing to him. His black hair moving as swiftly as her cloaks the closer he got to her.
“That’s right, come to me, Don. It’s safe with me…..come here.” The woman kept her arms outstretched to him, and she smiled wickedly. Then picking her sweet smile back up, she said, “I’m here, now, come to me…….”
As Don was about to touch her outstretched fingertips, the door slammed open, and a small girl ran into the room. Joanne stopped short of Don when she saw who was with him.
“Mommy,” Joanne’s eyes were filled with tears, that made her brown eyes sad, and almost like a puppy’s. But the woman ignored Joanne, and kept her arms outstretched to Don.
His innocent face shined with tears, and his eyes flinched as if he was scared, but not only that. As if he was filled with wonder.
But as Don drew nearer to her body, something happened, something that made him stop dead, as he realized, it wasn’t his mother. Don looked the woman in the face and said, “My mother is dead. You are not my mother.” The woman ignored his words, and would not bring her arms back to her body. She kept them outstretched to him.
But Don tried to stay back as much as he could. However, no matter how hard he tried, his feet kept moving toward her. He couldn’t stop.
Soon his arms were outstretched to her as well, and soon he reached her. He wrapped his small arms around her, and said nothing. Joanne saw something in the woman’s hand when she had looked up. The thing in her hand was silver, and shiny. It gleamed against the light. “DON! MOVE!! SHE’LL HURT YOU!” Joanne screamed to her older brother, but Don wouldn’t let go of the woman. He was there against his will. He knew this wasn’t his mother, but no matter how his brain told him to move, but his feet and arms wouldn’t let go of their position. Before he knew it, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and blood dripping down his skin. He fell backwards, his arms letting go of the woman, and his feet letting go of their position, as well.
Joanne ran over to Don’s body, but the eight year old boy wasn’t opening his big blue eyes, and he wasn’t breathing.

Chapter 8
Near Death Rescue

Joanne put her hand to his chest, remembering what she had done before to heal his wounds.
Suddenly, Don’s whole body glowed blue, but he was still bleeding. He slowly started breathing again, but he still didn’t open his eyes. Then Joanne saw the woman change her shape. The person that looked like their mother, now had blonde hair, a wider face, and almost completely black eyes. The man in front of them now, was, Everneigne de Lou ‘crouse. Don lay on the floor, alive, but unconscious, his life in the hands of a four year old. Joanne used her cuteness to an advantage.
“Why you want ta hurt us?” Joanne’s eyes glowed brightly, and she kept her tears hidden.
“Because, simply, you shouldn’t have been born. It is my job to stop this from happening again.” Lou’crouse pulled out a sword, and said, “You have no business in this world. Goodbye, for good.”
“STOP!!!!!!!” A man had walked into the room. A man who had lived with two children, and no wife for months.
Matt had seen what was going on.
“What’s the matter with you?! These are children! You leave here, NOW!!” Matt’s anger had finally come out, not on Don and Joanne, but on Lou’crouse.
“What if I say no?” Lou’crouse said as he smirked, pressing his thin lips together.
“Then you leave me no choice. I will have to kill you.” Matt looked down to Don and Joanne, who were both on the floor. Matt stared at Don most, he wasn’t sure of why Don was unconscious, but he didn’t care. He had to get them out of there as soon as possible, or it was a great possibility, that they could die. Both of them.
“Joanne, get out of here. I’ll keep Don safe. You need to leave, now.” Matt didn’t look at Joanne, he had turned his head to keep his eyes on Lou’crouse.
Joanne protested, “But what bout brother?!”
Matt looked at her now, with an angry face, that resembled someone she knew. None the less, she forgot her attempts to argue with him, nodded, and left the room.
“Now, where were we, Lou’crouse?” Matt kept a stern look on his face.
Lou’crouse didn’t answer, he just charged at Matt with his sword.
Matt deflected the sword with his own hands. He had blood dripping down his hands, but he ignored it.
“Quite strong, aren’t you?” Lou’crouse smirked again.
Matt didn’t reply to his taunts, he just said, “If you are going to kill me before I kill you, then you’d better do it.” This time, Matt was the one to smirk. His words wiped the smirk off of Lou’crouse’s face.
Lou’crouse ran at Matt with his sword again, this time, however, Matt grabbed onto the sword. Though his hands were bleeding, he used strength to his advantage. He held the sword, and tried throwing it against, the wall, but Lou’crouse went with it.
Lou’crouse slammed into the wall, and dropped onto the floor.
Matt made his bleeding hands into fists, blood seeping through the cracks made between his fingers, and his palms.
“Leave, or I will go further. Leave this house and don’t come back, ever.” With those words, Matt began walking toward the door, but before he got there, an arm wrapped around his neck, and a voice said, “It seems that you have let your guard down.” There was an evil snicker.
Before Matt knew it, a sword had been driven into his back.
Matt fell to the floor.

Chapter 9
Lou’crouse and Matt

Lou’crouse exited the room, leaving it stained with blood.
Walking into the hallway, he had forgotten all about finishing off Don.
He walked down a flight of stairs, and into another room. He saw a little girl trying to escape out of a window, and grabbed her by the dress.
“Hello, it seems we meet again.” The smirk on Lou’crouse face reappeared.
Joanne was whimpering in fear. Lou’crouse thought she looked like a scared puppy. He took her by the dress collar, and lifted her in the air.
Lou’crouse scoffed, “Stop with that ‘oh I’m scared don’t hurt me,’ act.” Lou’crouse took out a pocket knife. “You’re too small to use a sword on, so I figure this will work on you…..”
He held the knife up to her throat, “One little slip, and your dead.” He brought to knife closer to her throat, and every time she tried to say something, he would bring it dangerously closer to her.
“Not one person to stick up for you now, little girl.” Lou’crouse smirked. He was right, no one was coming to her rescue, no one was going to be there again.
She screamed as loud as she could, and Lou’crouse tried to kill her. But before the knife even touched her, a gunshot came from the doorway, and the knife was blown out of his hand, into the wall.
The knife had its point in the wall, and the handle now stuck out from the wall.
“Don’t you touch her…” A week voice came from out of the door way. “Don’t you touch my sister. You leave her alone.” Don stood in the door way.
He stood up straight, but it was apparent that he was still in pain, because he was shaking.
Joanne didn’t know where he’d gotten skill with a gun, but apparently, he knew how to use one, and good.
“Put her down, leave, and you won’t get hurt.” Don knew what he was saying, but not why he was saying it.
“I thought I had finished you off earlier…….no matter, I will finish the job now!!”
Lou’crouse rushed over to where the knife stuck out of the wall, and tore it out, taking a piece of the wall out with it.
He threw the knife at Don, but someone moved in front of Don as it was about to hit him.
The knife drove into Matt’s chest. As Matt was about to hit the floor, he took the gun Don held in his small hand. He fired it at Lou’crouse, hitting him square in the chest.
Lou’crouse was blown off of his feet by the sudden shot, and he stumbled back into the wall, and fell over the window pane. Joanne watched as he fell. He hit every tree branch that hovered under the widow.
When Don and Joanne looked, it was at Matt, who lay on the floor. “Joanne, did you-” before he could finish his sentence the first time, he coughed up blood.
“Did you believe it was me who was yelling at you?” Matt didn’t open his eyes, so Joanne didn’t know what he was feeling.
“It wasn’t me. You saw how Lou’crouse transformed himself into an image of your mother? That was him that-” again, Matt couldn’t finish his sentence, due to blood in his mouth.
“He was the one yelling at you to try and get you upset, so it would be easy for him to kill you.” Matt opened his eyes, and looked into Joanne’s. Joanne sat down next to him, and nodded.
Don, who was still hurt from the wound in his back, sat down and leaned against the wall. The tears that leaked down his face, seemed to mix with his sobs, and say, ‘why did this happen?’
Joanne hugged Matt’s large adult body, and said, “ Thank you….”
Matt’s eyes closed, and did not open. Don got up, and walked over to Joanne, and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
Joanne stood, and Don picked up his four year old sister, and said, “You are very brave for your age, you know that?” Don smiled, and Joanne said, “No. That’s you.”
Don carried Joanne in his arms, and they left the house, not knowing where else they could ever go. For some reason, they didn’t seem to care.

Chapter 10
Hurtful Words
Don and Joanne left the house, and traveled the streets for days. Whenever Joanne would get hungry, Don would go find something for her. He had to steal a few times, but he never told his sister that.
His wounds hadn’t healed, and it seemed that they wouldn’t.
For a while, he had to stay in a tree, and watch Joanne while she walked around. He had told her she needed to stay close, and she listened.
He thought Joanne was too young to be walking around on streets like these, alone.
One day, Joanne stayed in the tree, and Don went out and found something for them to eat.
When he came back, however, Joanne wasn’t in the tree.
“Hey! Where’d you get to?! Joanne?!” Don searched by night to find her, if he was to search in the day, people would think something was wrong.
But he had to search in the day too, or he would never find her.
One night, as he was out searching for Joanne, he heard something. It was a rustling sound coming from behind him. He looked around, but he didn’t see anything. He decided it was some kind of animal.
When he heard it again, he started to get scared. He didn’t turn around this time, but he kept walking.
Then he heard Joanne’s voice call for him, “Don! Don! Big brother!” He turned around to see Joanne in the hands of a man with black hair, with brown streaks.
“Don! Help!!” Joanne had tears on her face from what Don could see.
“Let my sister go!” Don screamed at the man from some twenty meters away.
The man ignored him, and Joanne kept crying to Don. She was pleading for the man to let her go.
The man soon got an angry look on his face, and said, “ SHUT UP!!!!” with that, the man hit her, and she silenced.
Don saw the man hit his sister, and got angrier than he ever had before.
His anger forced his hair white. His teeth lengthened into fangs, and his eyes turned black with a white cats pupil. His skin turned black, and silver wisps that normally ran in angry circle’s, now pulsed with anger.
The man dropped Joanne to the ground, her small body hitting the floor with a soft thud.
Don didn’t speak to the man any further, without hesitation, he attacked the man. Pulling a sword out of nowhere, he tried to drive it into the man’s heart, but the man deflected it. With only a swift motion of his hand, Don was blown backwards, the sword landing some ten feet away from him.
The man walked up to Don, but he didn’t say anything.
Don tried to get up, but with another swift movement of his hand, a strong force held Don to the ground.
“You let me go, let me go so I can kill you! No body hurts my sister and gets away with it!” Don was angrier than earlier, he wanted this guy dead. He would kill him for hurting his sister.
“ ‘Nobody hurts my sister and gets away with it?’ Hmmm, if you want no one to hurt your sister, why are you still staying with her?”

Chapter 11
A New Enemy

The mans voice was deep, and full of evil. He seemed to be taunting Don. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Don’s voice was filled in anger, and it was as questioning as Joanne’s.
“You have hurt your sister more than you think. Do you really think that keeping her safe is really as good as keeping her alone? If keeping her from the outside world is your idea of keeping her safe, you’ll have some real problems with her.” Still the man’s voice was filled with sadness, but although it was deep, it was soft.
Don shook his head, “No, your lying! YOUR LYING!!!” The man had to be lying.
“I wish I was,” The man walked over to Joanne, and picked her up.
“HEY YOU PUT HER DOWN!” Don who was still on the ground, couldn’t do anything but yell at the man.
The man didn’t listen to him, he had Joanne in his arms, and walked back over to Don. He put Joanne on the ground again, and made a swift movement with his arm and hand again. The force that held Don to the ground was gone, and Don got up.
He went over to where the man lay Joanne on the ground, trying to wake her was no help, she wouldn’t wake. Don picked her up, and put her on his back, and ran away with her.
“Hey! Come back here.” the man called to Don from some ways away.
Don tried to ignore him, and keep running, but the same force that had held him to the ground, knocked him over. Joanne fell off of his back, and hit the ground again. Don knew that if she kept hitting the ground like that, she could die. And if that happened, Don wouldn’t forgive himself.
“I believe I told you to return.” The man walked over to Don again. Every time he got a foot closer to Don, who was too weak to get up now, Don felt a pain in his back. The pain was in the same place where Lou’crouse had stabbed him with the sword.
Don pressed his teeth together every time the pain got worse.
“Fight me, your strong enough from what I’ve seen in the past few minutes. If you want to get your sister back safe, then fight me.”
The man stood before Don, demanding a fight. Don didn’t want to fight him without a reason, after all, he was eight, and the man looked to be at least forty.
Don wondered why he was so ready to fight for his sister, but not ready to fight without a reason….It seemed strange to him.
The man picked Don up by the hand and said, “We can’t fight, if one of us is on the ground can we?”
Don took his hand away from the man, and said, “Don’t touch me.”
The man stood up straight and said, “Your call. I wont touch you. That doesn’t mean I can’t kill you, though.”
The man smirked an evil smirk that reminded Don of Lou’crouse.
That’s what got Don really upset.
The wisps of silver that had pulsed with anger, were now gliding up and down, in circles, in any direction possible.
Although there was no wind, the hair that had turned white, was now flying around.
“I’LL KILL YOU!!!” Don yelled at the man, and ran over to his sword. When he picked it up, the blade turned from silver to black, and the handle had gone from gold to a bloody red color. The sword that had once glinted in the moonlight, was now almost completely invisible.
“Then please do, after all, I want to see what a small Kohzin like you can do……” the man smirked, and laughed maniacally.

Chapter 12
Deadly Force
Don attached the man with all the strength he could muster. But, once again, with a swift movement, Don was blown back away from him. After that, Don got an idea, that, if you attack him head on he’d know what’s coming, but, if you make him attack you……YES! That was it!!!
Don stood up as tall as he could and said, “You really are perverted, aren’t you? You and a four year old girl, that don’t look good together.” Don was the one to smirk now, and he said, “Perverts like you make me laugh….” Don snickered, and watched to see what the man would do next.
Don saw sweat working its way down the mans face, as the man looked at Don in anger.
“Y-you…………I’LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!!” The man took his hand, and swiftly brought it to the side. Fortunately for Don, he moved fast enough to avoid it.
He threw his sword against the ground and broke off the tip. He picked up the broken piece, and rushed at the man with it held in the air.
When he came within feet of the man, something made him stop, he couldn’t move an inch.
His arms were pinned to his sides, and it was as if his feet were glued to the ground. His hand clenched harder to the tip of the sword, making it bleed.
With each time his hand clenched hard against the cold metal, he pressed his teeth together harder, too.
The man began walking over to Don. He made a swift motion with his hand again, and a cut appeared through Don’s shirt, and what was left of the shirt quickly became stained in red.
The man made another swift movement with his hand, and Don was knocked off his feet. Don fell, face first, to the hard ground. He tried to get up, but his hands and arms were still pinned to his sides.
Don couldn’t see what the man was doing, but, from what he’d seen, the man would use his hands as a force of power again.
Don felt a hard hit against him, and he tried to get up.
The more he tried to get up, the more the man used his power against him.
The man got Don on his feet again, but his hold on Don didn’t release. Don’s arms were still pinned to his sides, and as soon as he was on his feet again, but his feet felt nailed to the ground.
Don saw the man make another swift movement of his hand, and there was a hard blow against his face.
Don tried to break free of his invisible bindings, but it seemed impossible.
The harder he tried, the weaker he felt himself get. Then, when it seemed that all hope was lost, he felt the force loosening its grip, and tried harder to break free of it.
Then, Don felt the bindings break, and he felt himself loosen. Don fell to the floor on his knees. He felt his form change, he was now human once more.

Chapter 13
Fall to Reality

The man made another movement with his hand, and Don was in the air, hovering over the street.
Don was too weak to resist. The man let go of his hold on Don, and he fell to the hard ground. Before he hit, he remembered that he had the sword tip in his hand.
He threw the tip, and it hit the man. The man fell to the ground as well, and less than a second later, Don hit the ground.
******************************************************************************

Joanne lay on the ground some ten feet away from Don. When she woke, it was to see the man on the ground with some kind of metal tip in his chest, and Don lying in blood.
Joanne got up slowly, not sure whether what had happened to her was a dream or if it had really happened. All she remembered was calling for her brother, and her head starting to hurt.
She walked over to Don, who had blood on the side of his face, and she saw that his shirt was stained with blood as well. The blood shined in the off white, silver moonlight.
She tried to wake him, and realized that the wound on his back was gone.
She also noticed why there was blood on his shirt. Don had a large gash where his chest and edge of his ribcage met, and large open cuts on his right hand.
She couldn’t heal it though, she kept trying to make it heal, but the power wasn’t working.
Tears fell from her brown eyes, when she realized that Don might not wake up. She shook him, and shook him, but his eyes wouldn’t open.
She thought of the large blue eyes that were her brothers. She felt so small against a world so large, now. Her brother wouldn’t be there for her, if he didn’t wake up.
Joanne put her head on his chest, and there she fell asleep. Her long black hair, sticking together from her brothers blood.
When Joanne woke the next day, it was early, and it was freezing. She shivered from the cold, stiff morning air, and realized that Don had not woken up.
She lay her head back down on Don’s chest.
She wrapped her small arms around him, to keep them both warm.
Don lay in the same spot for minutes, until he woke. He woke to see Joanne laying on him, and he realized what was keeping him warm the whole time.
Don tried to get up without disturbing Joanne, but she was already awake.
“You okay now, Don?” Joanne didn’t look at him, but she spoke with a light voice. Don looked at her, but all she would let him see, was the top of her head.
“Yeah, I think so……….” Don didn’t want to tell her that he hurt badly, he didn’t want her to worry. He was more worried about her, she was small, and fragile. He could only imagine what would happen to her if he let himself die.
Joanne looked up into her brothers worried eyes, and said, “Don, why does this keep happening?” Don didn’t answer. The fact of the matter was, he didn’t even know.
He thought to himself, ‘Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell her. I wouldn’t want to make her worry.’
Then he remembered the man’s words, “You have hurt your sister more than you think.”
Those words hurt Don, even more than the injuries on his hand and chest.

Chapter 14
Don’t Let her Die
Don stood up, and took a look around. When he saw the man laying, dead, on the floor, he didn’t know what to think of himself. He kept thinking, ‘Am I a murderer? No, no I cant be a murderer…….I’m not a murderer. Am I?’
Joanne stood up, and looked at Don, who was now walking away from the man who lay dead on the floor.
Joanne had to run to catch up to him at first, but she realized that he wasn’t in the mood for talking, so she didn’t say much to him.
Don kept walking for a while, he stumbled a few times, it seemed he was still hurting from his injuries. No matter how many times he almost fell, he wouldn’t land on the floor.
He didn’t seem to want to do anything besides walk. It seemed, that he hardly had the motivation to breathe. He felt if he really was hurting his sister, maybe it was best if he wasn’t around anymore, but then what would she do on her own.
Would Joanne starve? They needed each other, he needed her for motivation to live. Joanne needed Don to keep her alive, period. If one of them disappeared, the other would surely die.
Don couldn’t find any other reason why he should be living. What the man said about him hurting his sister, did make sense. Keeping Joanne from the outside, would hurt her when she made her way into the real world. Don knew that, but He still didn’t want to let Joanne go. He was eight, and she was four. It was his job to keep her safe.
He would keep Joanne safe at any cost. He didn’t care if it would cost him his life. He would never let anything bad happen to her.
Don found an empty house that had been for sale, and had been taken off the market. He asked Joanne if she wanted to stay there for the night, but Joanne didn’t say anything. Don figured something was wrong, and turned around to look her in the face, and said, “Hey, Joanne? Are you okay? Did you hear me?” Don’s voice was gentle with care, but still, Joanne didn’t say anything.
Don picked her up and carried her inside, it looked like she’d had a tough night. When he picked her up, he felt a shaking in his arms, and said, “Hey? Are you okay? Is something wrong?” Don put her back down, and said, “ C’mon, what’s wrong with you? Are you hurt?”
Don was starting to get upset, and sad for his sister. She wasn’t talking to him, then he remembered, ‘ you are hurting her more than you think.’
Don turned his back on her now, and played with his wrists, wrapping them around each other, over and over again. He bit his lip, and tried not to seem any more hurt than he was.
While he was playing with his wrists, Don had time to notice the shabby flooring, the flight of stairs, and the dirty carpet that had been left behind.
Then he heard a small thud. When he turned around, Joanne lay on the floor, her black hair covering her face.
“Joanne! Hey! What’s wrong with you!?” Don ran over to her, and noticed that she wasn’t breathing.
He remembered that his father had taught him mouth to mouth when he was six, and used it to his advantage. The only thing that Don didn’t like about using mouth to mouth, was that it looked like you were kissing the person. He thought it was really gross, REALLY gross.
None the less, he used it on his sister. Each time he forced in a breath, he thought, ‘Come on! Breathe! Come on!!!’
Then he remembered the words again, but he chose to ignore them. All he could think about was keeping his little sister alive.
If he couldn’t keep her alive, he would be a murderer. Failing to keep his own sister alive, was a thing that Don couldn’t live with for the rest of his life.
On the last breath he forced into her, he felt her chest move slowly, and felt warm air coming from her nose.
He stopped forcing in breaths when he noticed she was breathing again.

Chapter 15
Don Reveals his Hurt

He picked her up, and using all the strength he had, he carried her up the stairs. He saw a narrow hallway, and dusty walls.
He saw three doors on each side, and tried opening each one until he found one that had a bed in it. The room had white dusty walls, a bed with no blanket, a chair in the corner, and a closet on the opposite side of the bed.
Apparently someone had forgotten some parts of their home, or left them there on purpose. Whatever the reason, Don used it to his sister’s advantage.
He walked into the room, having had trouble trying to turn the door knob and hold Joann, and lye Joanne down on the bed. The bed didn’t have any kind of blanket on it, so Don took off his ripped and torn shirt, and lay in on her. He figured it was too big for him anyway.
Then, as fast as he could, he ran downstairs, and got the old carpet he had seen. He took it upstairs, and so not to irritate her, dusted, and cleaned it off outside the door. Then when it was clean, he walked into the room, set the braided carpet on top of Joanne, and sat down in a wood chair that was across the room, next to a window. For the night, he would watch her while she slept.
All the time he sat there, he mauled over the words, “you hurt her more than you think.” No matter he tried to twist it, to find out what the man meant, he couldn’t understand it.
Don got up and walked to the closet. The way he figured it, there had to be something in there, that could help Joanne. A blanket, a heavy jacket. Anything to keep her warm, anything to keep her from dying.
He realized that they didn’t have any food. If he was going to keep her alive, he had to be able to feed her. He never got hungry, so eating was never a problem for him. He was more concerned about his sister now.
He didn’t leave the room for a while, and when he did it was when Joanne woke up.
Joanne opened her brown eyes, but they didn’t seem the same as always. They were a pale brown, and they didn’t have their normal shine. Her face was no longer a light tone, it was now almost as white as snow.
Don asked her if she wanted to eat something, and Joanne said, “Okay, Don. But where you gonna get it?” Joanne’s usually perky voice now barley cut through the silence. It was as if she were trying to cut a piece of wood with a butter knife.
Don didn’t tell her. He couldn’t. He was about to do something drastic. He planned to steal from some empty store, but before he went that far, he had to search the house to see if he could find any loose dollar bills. He had to keep his sister alive.
He searched the whole house, but not one dollar was to be found.
“Joanne, I’m going out to find you something to eat. I’m going to lock the window and door so no one can get to you, okay?” Don was trying to protect her. For her own safety, he was going to keep her in the house, at least until she got better.
Don walked over to the window, and closed it, then locked it down. He pulled down a shade, that he just noticed was there. Then he walked over to the door, and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t want you hurt. But I have the feeling I’m hurting you even more.”
With that, he walked out of the door. Joanne heard a click, and figured the door had been locked. Joanne stayed in the bed. She didn’t know what Don meant by, “I have the feeling I’m hurting you even more,” Joanne was too little too know what that meant. Maybe it was because she was too young, and maybe it was because she didn’t want to know.
All she knew was that it couldn’t be true. He had never hurt her as long as she was concerned. Her brother loved her, and she loved her big brother.

Chapter 16
Drastic Measures
Don walked for a few minutes until he saw small store. Luckily it was night, but unfortunately enough, the day would come soon.
Don walked around the roadside store, and found an open window next to a sign that read, “Morolie’s Bread and Deli”
He lifted up the window gently, and climbed in. He saw a wood table, a large knife, and an oven. The rest was things he couldn’t make out, either because it was too dark or they were too small.
He made his way, as silently as possible, around the table, and to something large, and white. He figured it was either a refrigerator, or a freezer. He opened it and a light came on inside. He saw a large piece of bread, and broke off a piece for Joanne.
It was somewhat hard to break it off, because it was cold. Don kept it in his hands to warm it. But he noticed his hand was still bloody, so he broke off another piece, and put it in his pants pocket.
He made his way around the table again, and climbed out the window. He had some trouble getting out, because he was trying to keep the bread warm and keep it in his pocket at the same time.
When he got out the window, he ran down the street, and finally came up to the house. He ran inside, and up he dirty, wooden stairs, and into the room where Joanne was.
He saw her where she was before he left, and brought the bread over to her.
“I’m not really hungry, you eat it Joanne.” Don really wasn’t hungry. None the less, Joanne broke half of the small piece of bread, and gave it to him.
Joanne ate her piece, and went back to sleep.
Don didn’t want his piece, so he left it in his chair, and he went to look out of the window.
Don watched as the sky went from a dark blue with millions of stars, to a splash of pinks, purples, blues, and the biggest star of all. He watched as the clouds slowly passed by, a muster of all colors wrapped into one sky.
Don was upset when it began to rain. Normally, he loved the smell of the wet asphalt, and the feel of the soft rain against his skin, but today wasn’t normal. He wanted to watch the sky turn blue. He wanted the white clouds to stay white and puffy, today, he didn’t want it to rain.
He sat on the window pane, and stuck his hand out the window to catch the rain. He had forgotten that he still had cuts on his hand, and when the rain hit them, it hurt.
He let the rain hit his hand, simply to wash off the dried blood.
When his hand no longer had the dry appearance of rust, Don brought it back in through the window. He wiped the water off his hand with the his pants.
His hand stung, but he ignored it.
He kept his eyes on the rain, with hope enough, the clouds would turn white again.
He kept up hope, then he saw a girl on the sidewalk. She had long red hair. He felt bad that she was getting her hair wet, but he couldn’t leave his sister.
Her long red hair fluttered in the light breeze. Her dress was white with pink frills on the bottom. She wore small slipper like shoes, that seemed to make her seem short. She seemed about Don’s age.
Don thought he had just spotted an angel in white.
He watched her as she skipped down the sidewalk. Her dress floating up each time her feet touched the ground, and getting soggier by the second.
Don had his head in his hand, watching her with interest. In his mind he was saying, ‘I wonder who she is………..she’s awful pretty.’
He was sad when she disappeared down the sidewalk. He wondered if she came by often.
He stayed there for a few hours, not even noticing that the rain had stopped. Soon the girl came by again, this time wearing a small pink bow in her hair, and a shorter pink dress with white frills.
Her shoes were now larger, and had the heels of platforms, but they didn’t seem to bother the girl as she skipped down the sidewalk.
The girl stopped and looked up. She saw Don looking at her, and blushed. Don ducked under the window pane. Don saw that she had large hazel eyes. He saw that her face was very cute, and her light toned skin brought out her dark eyes.
The girl, wondering who was looking at her through the window, went up the front door of the shabby old house.
The next thing that Don heard, was a soft, distant tap, that came from downstairs. He was reluctant to leave his sister, but it was as if the soft tap drew him in.
He walked out of the room, pausing to see if Joanne was still sleeping, and went down the stairs.
He came up to the door, stopping to think, what if the girl isn’t someone…good? None the less, Don turned the door knob, and opened the door.
The girl looked a little younger than him, now that he saw her up close, but his eyes kept her appearance locked in. Her hazel eyes were filled with question, and her cheeks were pink with embarrassment.
“My name is Canel, Canel Usary. What’s your name?”

Chapter 17
Meeting Canel Usary

Her voice was light as air, yet it seemed perfectly attractive to Don.
Don didn’t answer her, he just stared at her with his mouth open.
Canel smiled at him, no longer blushing, and said, again, “I’m Canel Usary. What’s your name?”
Don realized that she was talking to him, and he still didn’t say anything.
He noticed that he had given his shirt to Joanne, and looked down at his bare chest.
He blushed and said, “Excuse me..” With that, he ran upstairs, and back into Joanne’s room, where he realized his heart was beating like a drum.
He put his hand to his heart to try to see if it might slow down, but every time he thought about the girl downstairs, it beat faster and faster.
He heard footsteps outside the door, and opened the door a crack to see a large hazel eye looking in at him. Don gasped and jumped back.
The girl was on her knees and looked in the door with her head tilted to one side. She stood up straight, and said, “I asked what your name was….well? Aren’t you gonna tell me?” Then she noticed the girl in the bed, and said, “Whossat?”
Her cuteness made Don blush. None the less, he said, “My name is……..um, my name is…” Don blushed so hard, he near forgot his name, “Don. And that’s Joanne, my sister.”
Don took her eyes off her, turned around, and thought, ‘come on man! I’m not wearing a shirt! Oh Lord, make this over soon!!’ He turned around to see the girl walking to him.
Canel walked closer to him, and said, “Don? I like that name. Your sister is very pretty, you know.” She smiled at him again, and he blushed.
She got closer to him, and closer, and closer. The closer she got to him, the harder he found it to breathe, he was blushing too hard.
Don didn’t know what she was about to do, and as she leaned toward him, he said, “Uhhmm, what are you doing?” Don’s blue eyes got larger when she said, “Have you kissed someone yet?”
Don blushed so hard, and his breathing was out of control, his breaths would come, and stop when, in that pattern for seconds on end. His heart was pounding in his chest.
When she started to get too close to him, he moved to the side, and tried to catch his breath.
“Hey! What was that for!? I was just gonna kiss you.” Canel, looked disappointed, and hurt.
Don was still trying to catch his breath when he said, “Sorry, but how old are you exactly, Canel? I don’t wanna kiss nobody!” he had sweat coming down his face. His pounding heart wouldn’t slow down.
“I’m seven years old. Oh…really? You’re so cute though, Don.” She tucked her arms behind her back and gave him an irresistible cute face.

Chapter 18
The kiss
Don looked really embarrassed. He couldn’t breathe, and his muscles tightened up. The small amount of sweat that had sprinkled his face, had piled up on it.
“Umm, umm,” Don seemed to be at a lost for words.
Don couldn’t move. Canel walked closer to him, and touched his face with her small hands. Don found the strength to back up, but Canel followed him, and when he backed into the wall, she said, “Awww, come on……don’t be so modest. I bet you’re a great kisser, Don.”
Canel moved her face closer to his. She had to stand on the tips of her toes because she was too short. When her lips were about to meet Don’s, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fainted.
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When Don woke, it was to see Canel leaning over him. She put her hands on his face again, and seized her chance.
She leaned closer to him, and kissed him. When she broke the kiss, she saw that he had a surprised look in his wide, blue eyes, and his face had gone pale.
Even when she shifted her position, and was no longer leaning over him, he didn’t move. He felt like he was glued in his place.
His hands shook, but not with fear, with a slight pleasured feeling.
A goofy smile spread across his face, his ears were bright red, and his eyes had a different appearance in them. They didn’t look like the normal blue ocean type of eyes, they looked as if many rivers built into one big ocean. The lights that shone into his eyes made them seem magical.
He didn’t seem to look in one place at a time, he seemed to be looking straight up to the ceiling. He seemed to zone out into space.
Canel tried talking him out of it, but her voice seemed to be no more than a distant ring.
“Don? Don? Don!?” The last time she said his name, she stretched, it.
“Oh man, this has to happen, right?” She scoffed and sucked her teeth, then she slapped Don.
The next thing Don knew, there was a hard slap against his face, and his eyes locked onto Canel’s face.
“Good to see your back, Don.” She smiled as if nothing had happened. Don had a pink hand mark on his cheek, though.
“What was that for? Why did you hit me?” Don sat up from his position, and remembered that Canel had tried to kiss him, and he didn’t remember anything after that.
He laughed nervously, and said, “Hey, what did you do to me?” His voice was filled with embarrassment, but he had to ask. He wasn’t sure, he didn’t know anything after she tried to kiss him, but he was sure she failed.
“I kissed you. I told you, you’re really cute, Don. I knew you were a great kisser.” She smiled at him, and walked out of the door.
Before she could fully leave the door, Don grabbed her by the wrist, and said, “Where are you going? Uhmm, don’t you want to stay?”
His face had turned red again, and she said, “I can’t stay. You don’t want me to, remember?”
Her face was full of disappointment again when she said that, but all Don could do was smile, and said, “When did I say that?”
Canel turned around, and looked into his blue eyes again. Her hazel eyes had a happy shimmer in them.
Don leaned to her, and kissed her.

Chapter 19
The Memory
Joanne woke hours later. She saw the girl in the room. She saw Don sitting in the chair across the room, sleeping with his head in his arms. The piece of bread that she gave Don, now sat on the window pane. The girl walked over to her, and said, “Hello. My name is Canel, Canel Usary. You, I take it, are Joanne?” The girl smiled, but Joanne didn’t smile back. She didn’t know who this, Canel, girl was. Canel looked away from Joanne.
“Don, she’s awake.” Joanne heard the girl speaking to Don, and watched as she walked over to where Don sat sleeping. She shook him a little before he woke up.
“She’s awake.” Canel repeated.
Don nodded, and got up. He walked over to Joanne’s bedside, and she reached her arms up to him. He picked her up and said, “Feeling better, Joanne?” She nodded, and Don said, “Good.”
Don put her down, but held her hand.
“There’s a lake somewhere near here. You want to go, Don? Joanne?” The Canel’s voice seemed strangely familiar to Joanne.
Joanne didn’t answer her. Don looked at her, but said, “I only go if Joanne goes.” Don’s voice was firm.
But Joanne wouldn’t give an answer. She just looked away from both of them.
Don picked her up, and tried to look her in the eyes, but she wouldn’t look at him.
Don kept her in her arms. He figured that all she needed was some fresh air.
He brought her outside, walking slowly, so not to even have the chance to drop her. His arms shielded her from the cold wind. Don, however, was freezing. The only shirt he had with him, covered Joanne through the night.
Don followed Canel. Canel led them to the sidewalk, and into the woods that was quite a few meters off. While they were following Canel, they saw her go into the woods.
Don thought it seemed strange that she went into the woods, but he followed her. Joanne wrapped her arms around his neck, and held her face close to his chest. She seemed to be afraid of something.
Canel stopped walking when she reached the middle of a clearing. Something happened to Don as he stopped. The clearing became familiar, and Don felt a sudden pain in his head.
Canel kept walking, but Don stayed where he was, his eyes were closed as images of the memorial his father showed him, passed before him. His arms let go of Joanne, and Joanne fell to the ground, landing on her feet. His hands grabbed his head as he tried to ease the pain. Don fell to the floor, with his eyes closed tight, as if by force. Soon, his eyes became gentler, though they remained closed.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in his own memory. Don saw a man with dark skin, and black hair, with his back to him. He had his hand on a child’s shoulder. The child had light skin and black hair. The two people Don saw, were him, and his father.
He heard their words, but they seemed distant and slightly slurred. It seemed he had gone deep into his self conscious.
“When my friends and I were little, we made this memorial for the ones we lost a while back. We still need to add one person.” The man’s voice was deep, and soft. No matter how he tried to say it, his words sounded lonely.
A light breeze went through, and the child’s and his father’s hair ruffled in it.
“Who we need add, daddy?” The child’s voice spoke out clearly from the breeze that swept over.
The older man didn’t answer, but pulled out a picture, and pointed to a grave marker. He pointed to the picture, and the child looked at the man in the picture.
“Who that, daddy? You know him?” The child’s words were filled with question.
Don walked around to where the man’s and the child’s faces were. He saw the man’s face was filled with hurt. He saw that the child’s face was filled with innocence.
“Don, you’re too young to know what happened to him, but this is Ralphie. He and I were childhood friends.” He smiled, but it was apparent that he was hurting inside.
“Ralphie died some time back, I can’t tell you why, or how. I can only tell you, that this is the person I’m adding to the memorial.” Don saw his father hold in tears that were making their way out through his determination.
“Ralphie……..” The child now had hurt in his eyes, knowing that his father was hurting inside, made him hurt too.
The child took the picture, and looked at the man in it. Don watched over his shoulder as the child looked at every detail.
The man in the picture had short brown hair, he wore glasses over baby blue eyes, he had light skin. But there was a section in the background, a man with dark skin stood behind him.
The child gave the picture back to his father, and went closer to him. The man sat on one knee as the child stretched out his arms. When he reached his father, he was lifted up. He had his head on his father’s chest, and his small arms wrapped around his neck.
The memory disappeared, and the figures faded to black. His hand reached up to his heart. He felt like crying so much, but his tears would come.
He was three years younger when his father had showed him the memorial, and he hadn’t gone back since his parents died. Then he remembered, he had never gotten around to making a memorial for his parents.
He wanted to cry for not following something, something he had wanted so dearly to come through with.
He never knew how he would ever forgive himself.

Chapter 20
The voice, The Man, and Canel

He heard something out of the darkness that his mind had wandered into. But slowly the sound disappeared into the blackness too.
It was a small voice, but it didn’t serve as the bright light Don was looking for, that would lead him through the darkness.
“Don…Don!!” It was a small voice, and wouldn’t break through the blackness that plagued his mind.
He couldn’t see what it was.
He lost track of everything that he had heard, and he could no longer hear the person calling to him. Don couldn’t see anything, and he couldn’t hear anything, he let go of everything. He didn’t wake from the memory of blackness, the memory of loneliness.
**********************************************************************************************
Don opened his eyes. He couldn’t see anything clearly though, everything seemed as if he was watching it through a fog, although it was broad daylight.
He heard a deeper voice. It seemed to speak not to Don, but to someone else that was in the room.
“Looks like he’s back to normal!” A man’s voice, it was deep, and had the sound of relief in it.
Don heard a girl’s voice answer, “That’s good.”
Then Don remembered the little girl who had kissed him, and he remembered following her into the woods with Joanne. He remembered Joanne’s fearful face, and the way she held close to him.
His eyes cleared up a little, and he could see a man in white. Then he saw the man more focused. He could see that he wore a metal thing around his neck, and he wore glasses. He could see the color of his golden eyes very clearly.
“Where’s my sister?” Don’s voice was weaker than ever before, he could barely hear himself.
The man just said, “Sister? You have a sister? The only people there when we were called, were you, and this girl…” The man pointed to Canel, and said, “She was the only one with you when we found you. Unless, this is the sister you’re speaking of?”
Don shook his head, and said, “That’s not my sister. My sister’s name is Joanne. That’s Canel.”
The man shrugged and said, “I’m sorry, we saw no one but her with you. Oops, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Stevenson.”
Mr. Stevenson walked around the room. Don took in all the things in the room. The walls were white, there was a photo on the wall directly in front of him, and the blankets that covered him seemed to be made of white wool.
Don watched as Stevenson walked out of the door, stopping to put his hand on the door frame.
He didn’t turn around, and he didn’t say anything, and after a while, he walked out of the door. Don heard his footsteps, as they disappeared down the hall.
Don got out of the bed, and pulled off the white robe he had on. He pulled on his ripped up jeans, but he still didn’t have a shirt, and opened a nearby window. He put his hands on the frame, and brought his feet up to meet where his hands were.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going!? You cant go out there!” Canel was yelling at him from behind, but he wasn’t listening.
“The last thing I want to do, is stay here, and let my sister alone out there. I’m not letting you stop me.” Don didn’t look at Canel, but he tried getting himself out of the window. When he reached the window however, the cold air chilled him. He ignored the cold, and kept his sister’s life in mind as he endured the cold.
When he was about to touch the tips of his toes to the piece of wood that stuck out from the side of the building, a hand grabbed onto him.
“No!! Stay here! Please!!” Canel had grabbed onto his arm, and tears were falling onto him. Her pleading eyes sparkling with her own tears.
“I- I can’t! I have to find my sister! Now let go of me!!” Don was slightly angry now, didn’t she understand that he needed to find his sister?
Canel looked at him with an angry stare and said, “Fine! If you don’t want to stay, if you want to leave, maybe I should drop you!” She smirked, and let go of his arm.
Don was about to jump down to the branch some ways below, when he felt a shove against his back. He lost his balance, and fell from the window.

Chapter 21
The Boy who Knows Joanne

Don felt as if he was soaring like a bird, however, he was sure that a bird never had the sensation that death could befall it any second.
He almost hit a branch as he passed it. Right when he was about to soar passed another branch, he reached out his hand, and grabbed onto it.
Unfortunately, his hand that had healed a little after a while, was the one he used to grab onto the branch with. As soon as his hand rubbed against the rough bark, the bark dug into his hand, and made the cuts bleed again.
His hand stung a lot, but his priority, at the moment, was to find his sister. He didn’t know where she was, so he thought back to where he had last seen her.
He couldn’t think straight hanging from a tree branch, so he put his other hand on the branch, and used his arm strength to bring his whole body on to the branch.
He thought about when he’d last seen Joanne, and he remembered that she was in his arms as they were following Canel.
He jumped down from the branch, to the next one down, and did the same about four or fives times before his feet touched the ground.
From there, he ran down the sidewalk, but he didn’t know the way to the woods from where he was. He had to slow down, and search for a while.
When he came up to a woman, he asked her if she knew where the woods was, but she looked at him with a very disgusted look.
“Why do you want to know where the woods is? You have no principles for what people here will think of you, do you?” The woman turned up her nose, and kept walking.
“What’s wrong with her?” Don said to himself. He shrugged and kept walking. He walked for a long time before he came up to a line of trees. He couldn’t see anything past them, but he thought he heard crying. Crying, crying as soft as a Dove’s chirps.
Don walked in, slightly scared of what he might find, but he walked in past the line of trees.
He pushed his way past the trees, shrubs, and thorn bushes that blocked his way. His pants got thorns stuck in them, and his arms got scratched on them. He walked through the thorns and the shrubs and the trees anyway. Then he heard the soft crying again.
He looked everywhere, but couldn’t find who it was. He walked around trees, to find a small boy on his knees in the dirt. He seemed to be about Joanne’s age, so Don went up to him and said, “Hey, are you okay?”
The boy picked his head up and nodded. Don saw that he had tears running down his face, and said, “I’m sorry to ask, but have you seen a small girl, around your age, with black hair, and brown eyes?”
The boy didn’t answer him at first, but said, “Is her name, Joanne?”
The boy looked into Don eyes, and Don said, “Yeah, that’s her, how did you know that?” The boy didn’t answer, but Don saw his eyes change color. His eyes were a red color now, and looked angry and evil.
“Why did you leave her out here by herself!?” The boy stood up and jumped on Don, knocking him over.
The boy started punching Don’s chest, but it didn’t hurt. Don grabbed his hands after he hit the place between his ribcage and chest line, where the large gash still hadn’t healed.
“Don’t….hit me…….there…….again.” Don’s words came out in short breaths. He couldn’t catch his breath as he lay on the dirty floor. The impact from hitting the floor so suddenly, and having the boy hit his chest, knocked all the air he had, out of him.
Don tried to sit up, but the boy held him down. The boy was strong for his age.
“Hey, do mind…………………..getting off me?! I have to find my sister!” Don looked at him, his normally soft blue eyes, hardened, and seemed to make his whole expression angrier.
The boy got off him, but didn’t say anything. Don began to walk away, but the boy stopped him.
“The girl is sleeping. She has a shirt over her, it looks like it was dipped in dark red paint, and dried. I don’t know where she went after I left.” The boy didn’t say anything after that, he just sat by the tree again.
“Thank you. I just hope I find her soon, she can’t survive on her own.” Don was filled with sorrow at the thought of not being able to find his sister.
Don didn’t say anything, but walked passed the boy next to the tree. When Don was a few feet away from the boy, he looked back, and saw the boy.
The boy was standing, and waving at him with a smile on his face. Don saw the boy stop waving, and disappeared into the air, that’s what kind of scared him.
He didn’t stop very long, he stopped to rub his eyes and see if what he saw was real, but then he figured he was imagining it.
He kept searching for Joanne.
Chapter 22
Canel’s Betrayal

Don left the place where he saw the boy, and about five steps in past him, he heard a voice. It was a small voice, like the one he heard in his mind as he stood in darkness.
“Don? Where are you?” The voice sounded tired, exhausted even.
He couldn’t find where it was coming from, but when he didn’t hear it anymore, he searched more frantically.
He had to keep pushing his way through the thorn bushes, and shrubs that blocked his path.
As he pushed through one particularly large bush, he tripped, and his chin hit the ground hard.
“OW!” His whole face hurt after that. He pushed his way off the ground, and as he looked up, he saw a little girl sitting on her knee’s in front of him.
“You won’t find her. I won’t let you!” Don looked into her face, Canel stood in front of him, “If you won’t die yourself, I’ll just have to kill you!!”
Canel held up a silver knife. Don lowered his head, and closed his eyes, braced for the impact of the knife against him. The impact never came, though.
He looked up, but the Canel wasn’t in front of him anymore. He saw her, feet away from him, sitting in front of a tree, her face filled with fear, and her hands hiding her face. The knife in front of his face, he stared at her, not knowing what had just happened.
He tried to get up, but his jeans leg was caught on a thorn. He pulled at it, and a few minutes his pant leg was free of the thorn.
He got up and dusted himself off, but something wrapped around his ankle knocking him back down.
“HEY! WHAT THE…..?!” Don looked around frantically to see what had him trapped. He saw a rough thorn bush root wrapped around his ankle, and tried to free himself from it.
He tugged at it to get it off, but something came out of nowhere, and thumped against the side of his face, knocking his upper body backwards. Now that he wasn’t tugging at the root, it tightened against his ankle.
He bit his tongue to avoid screaming, because the pain that he had in his ankle, was almost unbearable.
Don kept trying to tug off the root, but it kept tightening. Then the knife that Canel was holding, he remembered where he saw it last. He tried crawling back enough to reach it, but he couldn’t get far enough. When his fingers were about to touch the knife, Canel got up, her whole expression had changed.
Her facial expression no longer carried fear, but a smugly evil expression. Her eyes which were once a light hazel color, burned with a fiery red.
“You aren’t going to cut yourself free, are you?” Canel stooped down next to him, and picked up the knife before he could reach it. She held the blade up to her face, so that her large hazel eyes reflected off the shiny silver.
Don ignored her, and turned back around to try and free himself. He pulled as hard as he could against the root. Yet again, the harder he pulled, the tighter the root became against his ankle.
He didn’t care how much it hurt, he had to find Joanne. No matter what it came down to, his death or anything, he would save her.
“Persistent aren’t you?” Canel smirked at him, and he turned around to face her. As soon as his face was to her, however, the root tightened harder around his ankle.
He bit down on his tongue, again, hard. He turned back around to try and force the root off, but then he felt something cold on his bare back.
“What are you doing?” Don said as he felt the cold object sliding softly around his back.
Canel didn’t reply, but Don kept trying to force off the root. Canel smirked again, and said, “If you proceed to try and force it off, you will die.”
Don didn’t listen to her, he kept trying to get it off. He tugged, and pulled and pushed, but the root wouldn’t slide off. Then, he felt a cold spark on his back, and then something warm sliding down his back. His eyes widened in shock, and he gasped in a small amount of air, before he fell backwards. When his back hit the ground, he felt the cold object slide further into his back.
He lay on his back, and felt the root loosen from his ankle. He could move though, he could only stare up into Canel’s face. She still had a smirk on, but her eyes had returned to normal. They had returned to their soft hazel, and her smirk slowly disappeared as she lowered her face to his.
She pressed her pink lips to his.
Don closed his eyes.

Chapter 23
Bad Guys One, Good Guys Zero

Don lay on his back, opening his eyes took too much energy for him. He kept them closed. He couldn’t breathe well, his pain in his back took away all the breath he had in him.
He couldn’t stop her from kissing him. He didn’t want someone like her kissing him, he didn’t know why he had thought she was someone worth of another’s trust.
He couldn’t forcer her off of him, he couldn’t stop Canel. He didn’t know why she had gone this far just to stop him from finding Joanne.
Canel broke the kiss, and stood up. She said, “Can’t you stand? You’re strong enough to search for your precious little sister, but when it comes to having to be strong for your own benefit, you have no strength. So, I want to know, are you phony, will you search for her? Will you sacrifice your life for her worthlessness?” Canel looked at him with stern, yet questioning eyes. She had a smirk on her face again.
Don still couldn’t answer her, and his breaths wouldn’t return to him. He still couldn’t open his eyes. If he tried, his back would hurt so much he had to close them anyway.
He heard footsteps, the footsteps were going away from him, and not towards him. He couldn’t say anything. He felt he had lost all hope.
He stopped trying to catch his breath, and stopped trying to stay alive. For the first time in days, those dreaded words crept back into his brain as he let go of everything. ‘You have hurt your sister more than you think.’ Tears crept up behind Don’s closed eyes. His eyes burned with tears and hate at the same time.
Don found that his strength was slowly returning to him. He had a right mind to die, let everything go for good, but the thought of his sister never being found scared him more than death.
His eyes slowly opened, a pain shot through his back again, but he ignored it. He stared straight up at the dark green leaves that sat in the trees above him.
He slowly retained enough strength to sit up, but he couldn’t get the knife out of his back. He couldn’t reach his arms back enough to pull it out, and he didn’t want to pull it out. He knew that if the knife came out, he would start bleeding uncontrollably, and he would never find Joanne like that.
He used the last bit of strength he had to pull himself up, by means of a branch that hovered low to the ground.
He started walking, but he got dizzy as he took his first step. He fell over back onto his hands and knees, and used more of his strength to push himself up again. He started walking, and didn’t fall over. He was a little bit wobbly, probably because of the knife that still lingered in his back, and the amount of times he tried to get up too fast.
He clung to many trees to hold him up as he walked. He thought he would never find Joanne at the rate he was going. He would die before he found her, which was probably Canel’s intention.
He wouldn’t let himself die before he found her, though. He would keep up the search, and make sure she was safe before he made his way through the afterlife.
The trees didn’t seem to be holding him up too well, so he didn’t try to rely on them too much.
He heard the soft voice that called his name again, and stopped walking. When he heard it, it sounded sad, but not a depressed sad, an upset kind of sad, “Don? Where are you?” The voice seemed almost dreamlike, and even more real. He didn’t know how the voice made him think of dreaming, and real life at the same time, it just did.
The voice seemed to grant him strength to keep going. He took his hand off the tree it had rested on for a few seconds, and tried to stand up on his own. The fact that he almost fell over again made him grab the tree.
He took a deep breath, and started walking again. With each step he took, pain shot through his whole body, and he winced as the pain in his back got worse. He wouldn’t stop to think about it, he had to keep going. He wasn’t doing this for himself, he was doing it for Joanne. If he stopped and died now, everything he would have gone through, every little thing, would have been for nothing.
He kept his head lowered, and his eyes focused on the hard, dirty ground below. He watched as small drips of his own blood hit the ground, and shined against it from the sun that blared through the leaves that covered the tree branches.
Before he knew it, the voice came back again, this time, it sounded closer than before, “Don? Don?! Are you here?!”
Don heard the voice break into sniffles and sobs. There was a slight breeze that blew some dirt into the air. It stung his wounds, but he knew it would hurt worse if he never found Joanne.
He kept following the voice. Soon the calls with his name stopped, and all he could hear were sobs and sniffles.
He knew he had to be closer to the voice, when he heard a gasp, and footsteps leading up to him. His head was still lowered, and his eyes still locked on the floor.
He felt something pull on the knife in his back, and yelled, “STOP!! THAT HURTS!!”
His hand slid down the tree trunk as his knees hit the floor. He let go of the tree, and held onto his arms tight to try and escape the surges of pain in his back. He started shaking, and punched the ground hard, as if trying to break it, trying to make it hurt as much as he was.
He didn’t know who had tried to pull the knife out, but he could tell it wasn’t Canel, so he chose the closest thing he could think of with small hands.
“J-Joanne?” He wasn’t surprised, but his voice broke. He wouldn’t life up his head, but he could still hear what the person said. His hearing hadn’t been affected after all..
“Hmm? What? Who’s talking to me?” The voice didn’t come from close, or at least as close as the figure was to him. That took him by surprise, and he looked to the figure. Canel stood behind him.
“Die, for good, why don’t you?! Stay down on the floor and die! Who cares about you, anyway?!” Canel laughed, and pulled the knife out of Don’s back.
Don took in a surprised gasp as he felt the cold metal slide out of him in one swift motion.
He looked as far into the forest as he could see, while his vision was blurring, he saw a figure in the trees, that made its way out. Soon, he saw a little girl, with black hair, and brown eyes, come out from the leaves that had once hidden her disposition.
His eyes quickly lost focus, but he was sure it was Joanne, and the figure seemed no more than a distant blur. He felt himself becoming weaker, and he felt the warm blood run down his back. His bare back clammed up in the cold air, as the warm blood made its way down his back.
He fell to the floor, his face hitting the ground hard, his right hand laying to the side of his face, and his left hand on a nearby shrub that stuck out of the ground.

Chapter 24
Joanne’s Despair, and her Sanctuary

Don fell to the ground completely, his body slowly being covered in blood. His bruised face loosing color as quickly as his fingertips.
Joanne sat down next to her brother, and rolled up the shirt he had let her use. She rolled up the shirt, and pressed it hard on the knife wound, trying to block the flow of blood. She tried as hard as she could to stop the blood flow, but no matter how she tried, the blood just soaked through the shirt. She let her tears fall to Dons body.
“Come on! Please! Please, don’t die now!” Canel hadn’t left, she seemed to be enjoying the pain that both of them were sharing. She laughed as Joanne tried to stop the flow of blood, and said, “It’s hopeless. He’s cursed. You will suffer the same fate by someone who loves you dearly….”
Joanne stopped pressing on the shirt, and her eyes hardened in anger. Her whole appearance changed.
Her light skin got darker by the second, her eye shape changed, and her hair color became lighter. Soon her skin was black with silver wisps, she had black eyes with white cats pupils, and her hair had gone white. When she bared her teeth in anger, they had lengthened into long fangs.
The four year old who had once looked so full of happiness, and serenity, had turned against her very ways. Her face, that was once filled with laughter, and smiles, was now darkened, and without a hint of a smile or laughter in it.
Her very appearance scared Canel to run. The girl who had been willing to kill to get what she wanted, the little seven year old who had given Don a first kiss, and tried to murder him, ran at the sight of Joanne.
As Canel’s image disappeared Joanne’s form returned to normal, and she turned around to see Don trying to push himself off the ground.
Don tried using all of his energy to stand up, but it was apparent by his face, and fingertips, that it was out of willpower alone. There was no force, it was willpower that kept getting him back onto his feet, again and again.
This time, his willpower didn’t seem to be enough. He was only able to go as far as to role over onto his back, and that didn’t seem good.
He kept trying to get back up, but when he hit the ground, his head flew back a little, and he spit out blood.
Joanne sat on her knees next to him. She took his hand, and held it. His hand was slowly loosing warmth.
“Please don’t die, please!” Again, Joanne pleaded to her injured brother, but he didn’t say anything. He opened his eyes slightly. The deep ocean blue eyes filled with tears, and seemed to say, “I’m sorry…….”
The hand that had once moved to protect her, was becoming cold, and Joanne held it close to her.
Don’s eyes closed and Joanne kept her pleads open to him. No matter how she tried to get her voice to reach him, he wouldn’t open his eyes. His face turned pale and ghost like, and tilted to the side.
Joanne bowed her head, to hear a soft voice coming from behind. The voice reached out to her, as if it was her sanctuary, her mind hid behind the voice.
“Don’t despair, Joanne, he won’t die. Remember what you are…use your abilities to your advantage. Tell me, if you be four, why does your brother treat you as if you were older than him? Older than eight?”
Joanne turned to see a boy. The boy seemed to be along her lines in age. Joanne could see right through him.
“Your brother loves you dearly. You are a diamond, and a rare one, at that, to him. A precious jewel. He values you above all other things. Your brother holds you close to him to protect you. His pride has been hurt by many people. Your brother was gladly going to give up his own life to save YOU. And because of this, is why I’m going to grant him life. Under my conditions, he won’t die.” The boy stopped talking, and smiled. Soon his smile disappeared, and he said, “My conditions are, he has to stay true to his heart. If, and only if, he does not keep his true heart to you, any damage done to him can kill him, and quickly. Help him stay true. He needs you to help him, your brother holds you dear to him, after all, you are the only one who was ever there for him after your parents died. Don’t let him stray.”
He smiled again, this time playfully, and a saddened look loomed in his facial features. His smile did not disappear the whole time as he said, “Farewell Joanne, your brother now has limits. Remember my gift to him, and use your abilities to your advantage.”
The boy waved, and disappeared through a silvery fog.

Chapter 25
Joanne’s Journey

Joanne took her eyes from where she stared at the boy. She now looked toward her brother who lay on the ground. To top it off, it seemed to grow darker every second.
She concentrated all of her energy into changing her form. Slowly, her hair turned color, her eye shape and color changed, her skin darkened, and her teeth slowly extended.
Soon enough, her skin was black with silver wisps, her teeth were fangs, her hair had gone from black to white, and her eyes turned black with a white cats pupil.
She placed a silver and blackened hand on Don’s chest, and tried to use her healing powers. She tried, but the normal blue that covered Don’s body when she normally did this, didn’t appear.
Instead, she placed the damp, bloody shirt on her hand, and slid her hand under Don’s body. She slowly and carefully lifted him to her back.
The strength she had as a human, were nothing, compared to the Kohzin strength.
With Don on her back, she pushed her way through trees, bushes, leaves, and large rocks. As fast as she could, Joanne got Don out of the woods, and into civilization. When she reached the road, she didn’t stop. She had gotten onto the street, but she was far away from a hospital.
As a last resort, she asked a woman she saw on the street.
“Can you please help me?! I need to find a hospital! Please help!” Joanne’s words were full of sorrow, and her eyes grew back into the brown ones she knew.
Her whole form began to change, again, but the woman became frightened. She pointed down the street with a shaky hand, and said, “Down the street.”
Joanne thanked her, and ran off. In her human form, it was hard to make it through. A few times, she lost her grip on don, but she managed enough strength to keep him up.
She stopped when she saw a large building with double windows. It was the same hospital Ms. Trensen had taken her to. She started to run as fast as she could, and soon reached the rotating glass doors, and walked in.
Joanne’s legs were shaking, and her voice was exhausted.
“Please……..help us…..please..” Joanne collapsed on the floor as men in white rushed up to help them.
****************************************************************************************************

Don lay in a white bed with a baby blue wool blanket, which covered his body. He woke to a dark room, and a woman standing by a window. He saw that she watched as the stars began to fade into a dark sky, and as the clouds began to disappear.
The woman was wearing a white dress, with short sleeves. On one of the sleeves, was a red cross on it. She was leaning over the window pane, and staring into the darkness.
Don heard a soft melody coming from her. The voice was soft, and reminded him of a Dove. It reminded him of a Dove that flew gracefully through the air, undisturbed by the humans below.
“The memories of you, floated in the sea, the things that I once knew, faded to nothing…” The woman’s song was full of sadness, and it brought tears to Don’s deep blue eyes.
He listened intently upon the song, wondering if the woman’s feelings were placed into it, simple feelings…
She walked away from the window, and saw that Don was watching her.
“Would you like something, sir?: /the woman smiled at Don who said, “I liked your song, you have a really pretty voice.” Don smiled back at the woman.
She blushed, and said, “Thank you sir.”
Don noticed that her eyes were a baby blew, and that they carried the stars deep and hidden within them.
The woman walked to the other side of the room, and back again. She leaned over the window pane again, and stared out into the midnight sky.
“Sir, that girl with you…….are you in relation with her?” She didn’t look at Don, she kept her eyes locked on the ever-changing sky.
“Yeah, she’s my sister.” Don didn’t stop looking at the woman, but he asked, “What’s your name?”
The woman turned to face him and said, “My name is Suzette Sallow. Your sister is in the room over, you can see her when she wakes.” Don nodded, and the woman walked across the room, and out the door. Don sighed, he was starting to get lonely already.
He looked out the window, to see that the midnight blue had turned to a dusky pink.
Don closed his eyes, and listened to the birds that he heard through the window. He listened to their song, it sounded strangely like the song that the woman sang. His mind drifted off into a light sleep. He wandered into pools or blue, and streams of pink swirls, mixed together to create a dazzling purple that clouded his mind like fog.

Chapter 26
Last Goodbye

Don opened his eyes, and saw a man walking around the room. He had a spray bottle in his hand, and a towel in the other. He was mumbling to himself, apparently, he hadn’t noticed that Don was watching him.
“Really, it was stupid to give up my career there, to come here and become a lowly scrub. I must be really pathetic.” The man walked over to the window, and sprayed it. He took the towel and wiped off the spray.
His voice didn’t have the sound of a seniors. He sounded young, older than Don, but young all the same. He had long brown hair. His eyes were so dark they looked black.
Don noticed that the room had light coming into it now. The sun had finally risen.
“Mister?” Don tried sitting up, but when he tried, a surge of pain ran through his body. He winced and sat back again.
“Hmm?” The man didn’t look at him, but he just kept moving about the room, busily wiping the walls and the windows.
“Who are you?” Don didn’t look at him this time, but kept his eyes on a bird that had perched on the window pane outside of the window. He noticed that it was white, with one spec of black on it.
He didn’t know what type of bird it was, and didn’t care when the man answered him, “I’m the assistant scrub here. Kind of pathetic when you think about it. My name is Ron. Ronald Sanyo the second. But I prefer Ron if you don’t mind. My name is so long, its hard to remember, and Ron is suck an easy name, so please, call me Ron.”
Ron smiled at Don, who would’ve smiled back, if it weren’t for the surge of pain in his back that came back every few seconds.
“Is my sister awake? Can I see her?” Don took his eyes off the strange bird, and looked into Ron’s. Ron didn’t say anything. He just kept busying himself about the room.
Don stopped trying to ask him anything. He set his head down on the pillow, and stared up at the ceiling.
He felt a soft thump vibrate through the bed, and looked toward the foot of the bed. His clothes lay cleaned, and completely stainless, on the foot of his bed.
Ron had one elbow on the bed frame, and looked at him with a slightly childish smile on his face, “I’m not supposed to do this, but I could risk it.” His smile reached from ear to ear, when he said that.
Don smiled back this time, and pushed off the bed covers. He pulled on his shirt, and pants. He left his shoes on the floor next to the bed.
Ron picked Don up and put him on his broad shoulders. Ron seemed to be having fun, as if he hadn’t had fun in a long time.
“Well, if we are to get there, lets go!” Ron laughed, unlike his voice, his laugh was deep, and as funny as whatever he talked about.
Soon, Ron entered a room, to see a little girl dressed in white there. It wasn’t Joanne, but it was someone else.
Don looked at the girl, who said, “Awwww, you got away? Oh well.” The girl pulled out a blood stained knife, and Don jumped down from Ron’s broad shoulders.
“What’s the matter with you, Canel? Why don’t you just leave me alone?!” Don saw that Joanne sat in a corner. Her teeth bared in anger, but she knew she couldn’t do anything with an adult there. She couldn’t change form and she couldn’t bite Canel’s head off like she wanted to.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone?!” She smirked, and said, “For the same reason you won’t let Joanne alone.”
“But I know what will make you mine, if I cant get to you, I’ll have to get to your precious sister!” She turned, and rushed at Joanne with the pocket knife held high.
Don ran up behind her, and knocked her over. The knife flew out of her hand, and slid across the floor. He held his elbow to her throat, with his teeth bared.
Canel struggled to breathe, and her face soon became purplish blue.
Ron pulled Don off of Canel, but even then Don struggled to free himself from Ron’s grasp.
Don wouldn’t stop struggling to free himself, he pulled at Ron’s arms as hard as he could to get him to let go.
Canel watched as he struggled to free himself. She couldn’t stop it, and didn’t want to. “Hey, filthy little girl!” A voice came from the corner, and Joanne began walking toward Canel.
Joanne slowly brought her hand up, and with her hand, up went Canel. The anger in Joanne’s eyes was nothing compared to the fear in Canel’s. Joanne brought her hand quickly to the side, and Canel flew into the wall, leaving a large dent where she had made impact.
Canel sank to the floor on her knees. Her head hung low, and her voice full of surprise.
“W-what was that? That…power..?!” Then she remembered running away as a black as midnight figure advanced upon her, after she had attacked Don.
She looked at Don, then towards Joanne, who was no longer coming towards her, but towards Don. Canel watched as Joanne made her way to him, reaching her hand to him as she got closer.
She shined with a light as bright as the sun, and her blackened eyes sparkled with midnight stars.
“Don, I have something to say to you……….despite the young boys words…” She reached her hand to touch Don’s arm, but when the tips of her fingers touched his skin, she disappeared. Don heard a whisper as she disappeared, “Goodbye, dear brother..”

Chapter 27
The Angel in the Clearing

Don struggled against Ron’s hold, which was now tighter on him. Tears rushed down his face as he focused all his energy on getting away. He wanted to Joanne, so that she wouldn’t have to share his memories filled with pain.
“Let……..me…..GO!!” Don yelled at the top of his lungs, and felt Ron’s hold on him loosen, Don escaped from his hold just before Ron’s hold began to tighten again.
Don touched Joanne’s near transparent body as she was about to fade to nothing.
He closed his eyes, as the light from Joanne shone brighter than before. He opened his eyes, when he thought the light had dulled, and saw that Joanne slowly regained her color. When he looked down at his own hands, however, his color was fading, and he could see straight through himself.
He smiled slightly, and his eyes shone brighter than the rest of him. He disappeared as he said, “Don’t ever say goodbye to me…..never.”
He silently watched as Joanne became herself, once more, in human form. Silently, he watched as he faded to nothing. It was the most wonderful feeling he had, he never wanted to leave Joanne, but he was so very happy she was safe.
Joanne would never know what Don did for her, what he had given up, what he had gained, to protect her.
When Joanne regained her full color once more, she passed out. Don faded into the air, and Canel’s eyes filled with tears. “Don!” She rose from her place on the floor, and ran to the quickly disappearing Don. She jumped to try and pin him down, to stop him from disappearing. She ran straight through the mist that replaced where Don’s body was, just seconds before.
She knew she had tried to kill him, but only because she didn’t want him to be taken away from her. Canel scratched the floor with her fingernails, trying to see if somehow, he had somehow dissolved into the floor.
Her tears dropped to the hard flooring each time she took in a breath.
“No….no!! It’s not true! He’s still here!” Canel yelled to nobody in desperate, and willing attempts to bring Don back. Canel gave up after five minutes, her teary eyes, hidden in her hands, as she sobbed.
Over by Ron, who had moved silently, Joanne lay in his arms. He tried to wake her up by waving air into her face using his hand.
“Come on, wake up! Wake up!!!” Ron began to get frustrated, but Joanne wouldn’t open her eyes.
Canel went over to a window a few feet away. She picked herself up onto the window pane, and said, “If he won’t come back, I’ll have to go to him!!!” Canel looked down to the tree branch below, and down to the ground some forty feet below.
She put her hand on a branch close to the window, and lowered herself to it. She repeated her strategy five or six times before she reached the last branch, which was ten feet from the ground. Canel closed her eyes, and took a leap, landing almost catlike on the grass below.
From there, Canel ran off, down the street, as if heading towards the woods.
Canel kept her eyes focused, though things were becoming fuzzy, she kept moving, as fast as she could. She reached a line of trees soon, and pushed her way into them. Canel ran passed bushes, low branches, large rocks, and slender trees.
Soon she came to a clearing. She saw nothing more than a clear area of land. Then figures appeared in the clearing.
Grave markers sat all around her, in a complete circle. Canel saw two figures slowly appear, they both had dark hair, one had black hair, the other had dark brown hair. One of the figures seemed to be an adult, the other a small child. The adult like figure had dark skin, the child had light skin. Canel couldn’t see the colors of their eyes, but she could tell, that these figures had to be a father and son.
She looked straight ahead to one of the grave markers. She saw a bright light, and then one more figure appearing. It had black hair, and as far as she could see, light skin and blue eyes.
“Don……..” Tears came to her hazel eyes, and she saw that he looked different. Canel saw that behind him, were large white wings, that created an fluorescent looking light. He seemed to glow with the fluorescence.
The new Don looked at her, but he stared at her with cold eyes. He didn’t say anything to Canel, and Canel didn’t say anything to him, she felt that his cold stare served as a warning.
Don turned his glowing back to her, and walked off. The strange thing was, his feet weren’t touching the ground. He seemed to be floating, only inches above the ground.
Canel tried to follow him, but something held her back. When she came within feet of him, a blockade farced her back.
She could only watch as he made his way, slowly, away from her.
Then he stopped, and looked back, to see Canel standing there with tears in her eyes. He walked back to her, not showing any emotion, his eyes were no longer cold, he had no expression on his face.
He came close to Canel, and put one of his glowing hands to her face. His hand felt warm to her, yet it had an heir of sadness in it. He slid his hand softly up and down her cheek, as tears began to run down her face.
Don opened his wings, and feathers began to fly around. Beautiful glowing feathers that illuminated small areas around them. He brought his hand back to his body, and turned his back on her. Canel watched as he pushed off from the ground, and let his wings do the rest of the work.
“DON!! WHAT ABOUT JOANNE!!!??? YOU CAN’T LEAVE HER!!!” Canel yelled to the departing Don, and he stopped for a minute. Then he kept flying away.
Canel didn’t try to stop her tears from falling. She turned around, and tried to hide her tears behind her arm as she ran.

Chapter 28
A Gracious Angel

Don didn’t know where he was, he was on his back, on soft sand. Don looked up to see a man. The man had soft, yet stern eyes, and blonde hair. He had a few long lengths of hair that protruded in front of his face. His face was thin with a light tone to it, but it seemed to darken, and then become light again every few minutes.
The man carried a long staff that had a Crescent Moon on its head. In the center of the moon, sat a star. The star had many points, but the two on opposite sides were the longest. On the other end of the staff was a scythe like blade. It had thin sides. The top of it looked as if it were coated in some kind of stained metal, because it was metallic, but it was black.
The man wore long robes that looked almost like long white sheets. The hem of the robes was a golden ivory color. His robes swished, and spun in different directions, as a gentle breeze made its way through. The long robes stopped short of his feet. His feet were bare, and on the backs of his ankles were golden wings.
Behind the man, Don saw wings. The wings had a lining of gold on the tops and on the edges of the feathers that poked out in uneven angles at the bottoms of the wings.
“Who are you?” Don’s voice was almost dreamlike, and it sounded slurred in the light breeze that flowed through. The man walked closer to him, and said, “Stand. I have little time.”
The man’s voice was deep, and it was strong. His voice carried a strong sense of power, and serenity at the same time.
Don obeyed the man, and stood.
“Young Don, devoted to saving your only sister, I see? You are a brave creature little one.” The man smiled wryly, and Don looked at him, and said, “Who are you?”
The man’s smile slipped away a little bit, as he said, “I am a master of death. I have no name. Subjects call me, The Black Angel, because I administer death to those who deserve it. Some call me the Mercenary, because although I administer death, I have good reasons, and I do give exceptional conditions. I give mercy to those who need it most, those who have lived a good life, and died in a freak accident.” The Angel’s face turned stern, and he said, “In other words, I am Death from Above, the St. of Mercy.”
Don stared at the Angel, and said, “Was your name, in life, Yuchui Kashini? Born and grew up in Tokyo Japan?” Don realized what he had just said, and looked away from the Angel, fully ashamed of himself.
Don heard a small laugh behind him, and turned to see the Angel smiling at him. “Yes, that’s me, but I try to forget that. Well, you’re a very gifted creature, and for that reason…………”
The Angel snapped his fingers, and wings grew from Don’s back, and feathers flew to the sandy ground under their feet.
“W-what the-!?” His wings began to grow with each second. They grew larger, whiter, and glowed brighter.
“You see? You have grown on my good side, and have not varied from your sister. You were faced with many challenges, and were willing to sacrifice your life to save her. For that, you have earned a high ranking, as a Jr. Saint. You are on my right hand side, and you will choose what a person’s sentence is. You are to protect your sister, and keep up with the duties you will have as my right hand man. Can you handle these conditions?” The Angel looked into Don’s eyes with a stern look on his face, and Don couldn’t find words to express his gratitude.
“I- I- thank you…!” Don looked into the mans eyes with much gratitude in his. The man smiled and said, “Can you handle the conditions?”
Don nodded, and said, “But how will I know when Joanne’s in danger?”
The man smiled again, and said, “Trust me, you’ll know.” The man waked away and faded to nothing.
Don stared after him, and wondered what he meant by, ‘you’ll know.’ Soon after however, he didn’t care.

Aftermath……….

Ten Years Later

Chapter 29
Joanne’s Special Angel

Joanne had never been the same after the disappearance of her brother, she had aged, and become more beautiful with every year. She hid her sadness behind her beauty, and her misery showed more every day.
Joanne got more and more depressed as the days went by.
At night, she would dream of a black haired angel, that would tell her that Don was safe, and proud that he could save her life.
Joanne was hounded constantly by older men, and something strange would ward them off, and as they were backing away, they would say, “What’s with that thing next to her?! Keep it away from me!!!” They would always say something along those lines.
One day as a particular man began to mess with her, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It glowed brightly, and had dark hair. It was gone before she could get a good look at it, but one thing she thought of when she saw it, was Don.
When she looked back, the man was walking away, and when he got far enough away, he said, “Girl, I don’t know who you are, but whoever you are, you got a pretty good angel on your side. Just my luck.”
She stared at the man confused, and the looked up to the sky, where she saw Don. She saw him with bright white fluorescent wings, a white suit, and carrying an hour glass on a belt. He waved at her, and turned his back, where his wings spread wide, and lifted him higher. Nothing new had happened to him, but the feeling of becoming an angel made him feel special.
He saw the gracious angel that had given him his gift, and flew over to his side.
Joanne watched as Don stopped in midair. She didn’t see anyone else, all she saw was Don. Don however, could see the man in plain site.
Small feathers floated down to her, and tears flowed down her face.
She smiled, and watched as the Angel and Don floated away, their wings spread wide to show the golden lining on the tops.
Joanne’s eyes sparkled with tears, but none the less, she smiled. As far as she was concerned, she was the happiest girl in the world, even if she was only fourteen. She felt a warmth inside her, that made her feel special, and the knowledge that her brother will always be there, made her even happier.

The End

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