In the Blue Season [CLOSED]

"And if I was?" God damn it. Why wasn't she expecting these witty replies from him? Every time she tried to turn it around, it backfired! She was dealing with a professional tease now; she had to watch her words. One wrong move and she could be in trouble. "What would you say?" And he continued it!? Her face reddened. She wouldn't say no, of course. For one, she wasn't the type to say no. She gave most people a chance, but before now she had never officially been asked out. This wasn't official though, or was it? Was he serious and using their teasing tactics as a way to hide his plans? If he wasn't serious and she answered honestly, she'd likely be rejected. If he was serious and she answered in a teasing manner, he could be the one who felt rejected. Either way, she felt like she could lose this battle! What to do, what to do?! "I don't know..." she said, playing the innocent card, "I don't know whether that is a serious question or not, so that will be your answer." She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him before moving on.

And then the topic switched up, exactly like she wanted it to. Well, it sort of did. She ended up frightened and watching something through the wall, using her sensory. Of course, she couldn't see it. She could just tell where it was, like something talking to her from that direction, and it was not happy. "I hate to ask..." Alain suddenly spoke up and Serenity jumped, startled by the sudden sound of his voice and clearing of this throat. She swallowed her current bit and looked toward him, clearing her throat to get the food down quicker. She sorta needed a drink. "Y-Yeah?" she said quickly, pretty much knowing what he was going to ask. "Is everything okay? You look like you saw and are following a ghost..." she said and she glanced over toward the kitchen, knowing who was on the other side.

"I was hoping he'd go away..." she said and then motioned over toward the fridge, "There... On the other side of that wall, there is a man standing. He's listening to us. I know him since he comes from the village and he's always been nice..." she said and lowered her head a bit, "... but he's angry right now. I don't know why. I just know he wants to hurt both of us." Letting him know this made her feel much better, but her stomach was beginning to curl from the nervousness. "He's moving again..." she whispered and followed him toward the front door. When doing this, the cloaked man would pass by one of the windows at the front of the house, but rather quickly, as if he was trying to prevent someone from seeing him.

Serenity was utterly confused. What on earth would make her not worry? Maybe him touching her shoulder? Yeah, that helped, quite a lot too. She looked to him and was able to calm down easily. She was even able to smile at him, at least before he chose to get up. Serenity tried not to stare, but how was that possible?! An extremely attractive man, in face and body, was now walking in front of her with a nicely toned ass just sticking out for her to enjoy the show. Was he doing this on purpose!? He had to of been! It wasn't often that men felt a breeze in their back side, right? He would be able to tell the difference, right?! Didn't matter, Serenity's face turned horribly red. She felt her cheeks heat up so badly and forced herself to look away. Keeping her eyes glued on an old crack in the floor, she waited until he sat back down. Once she felt his side of the couch sink in, she looked back toward him with her face still stuck like a tomato. "I-I'm glad you enjoy the food." she said before feeling a sickening feeling come over her. She slowly turned her head toward the window to the left of the door and saw the cloaked figure standing there. He wasn't hiding or sneaking around anymore and that made her heart jump.

"A-Alain..." Serenity said and began backing away from the window, scooting toward Alain on the couch. She could tell by the rage she sensed within the cloaked man's heart that he was ready to attack. Serenity's breathing became labored when she felt the rage hit it's peak. The man suddenly raised his hand and threw something toward the window. A rock came crashing through the window, shattering glass everywhere, and heading straight for Serenity's skull. After that, more came. Rocks, dirt, and anything the man could find to throw came flying in at both of them. "You bitch!" he yelled as he continued to throw things at the both of them, "What are you doing here with another man?! You are my woman! You are supposed to be with me! We were supposed to get married and you're here whoring about with some stiff!?" As the rocks were being thrown in over and over and over again, almost as if he had been preparing for this, some were aimed at her, others were even more aggressively aimed at Alain. "Carl, stop! Please!" she said, crying and practically begging for him to listen. "Shut up! You stupid bitch! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! YOU TRAITOR!" he yelled at her and then ran off, beginning to circle the house again.

Serenity was shocked to feel nothing happen. She expected a rock to smash into her head, but it didn't. Instead, Alain took a very quick action and put his body between her and everything that Carl was throwing. She begged Carl to stop, worried about something actually harming Alain. Her pleas were futile. He wasn't going to listen and she knew that. He had gone off the deep end and the likelihood of stopping him was low.

"Well he's certainly mad."

Serenity looked up to Alain with a few tears falling down her cheeks. She was trying to hold them back, but a few were still coming. Her flirtatious and joking mood had dropped completely, so she didn't catch the joke. "I wish you would have told me you were going to have another friend over. I would have changed into something more appropriate." he said and it only made her feel worse. "I-I'm sorry." she lowered her head, feeling guilty about the entire situation, "I don't ever know when he's going to show up. He just randomly comes around..." Serenity's head rose again when she heard Alain talking out to Carl. She was shocked at everything that he was saying. Was he trying to make Carl even more mad? "Alain, no! Stay away from the windows before he starts throwing more things and hits you!" she said, backing away from all the windows and toward her bedroom door. It was the only place that wasn't an easy target for Carl, at least she thought.

"And if you were to marry her, I don't think calling her such vulgar things is a very nice thing to do. I suggest going to anger management." "I told you I'm not marrying you, Carl! We're just friends! Well... we were..." she said. Serenity had lost track of Carl for a moment. He had run to circle the house again, but she stopped paying attention. A moment after Alain finished his sentence, she felt his presence through a massive rise in anger. "He's in my room..." she said in a horrified whisper. She glanced back toward the door, hearing a low thump sound. She could tell where he was in her room, so she waited to see what he was going to do. She felt him charging toward her and her eyes widened. She didn't hesitate to run to Alain, but stopped when she went to grab onto Alain's sabre. Because of this, as she did Carl busted through her bedroom door and sent it flying open with a loud crash and hitting her back. Serenity fell forward, Alain's sabre in hand, and then looked back to Carl. He was and overly large man and he stood in the door way with a large knife in his hand. His hood was off now, revealing a rather... poorly looking man that looked like he ate children in his breakfast cereal each morning.

"Trust me, I don't think even he knows when he's going to show up."

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Serenity asked Alain, hoping that they'd be able to help Carl. Eh, the name is an insult on Aurora. How plain! "Do you have to bait him into coming around? He could just leave when he calms down?" her tone was questioning her own statements. She knew he wasn't going to calm down. It was just a matter of time before he fully snapped. It happened before, even though she tried to deny it and just be friends with him. And of course, as she predicted, it happened. Within moments, Carl had charged into the house from her bedroom, obviously coming in through the window and knocked her to the ground. Her reflexes did allow her to grab Alain's sword, but she wasn't quick enough to get away. She laid there on the ground and looked back toward Carl with a disappointed expression.

"Carl, stop it!!" she yelled at him, begging again. "You were supposed to be mi-...AGH!" Carl attempted to speak as he also tried pointing his blade toward Serenity. The moment he did though, Alain charged him with one hell of a flying kick. Serenity didn't have time to see anything that wasn't Carl being kicked back and Alain landing on the other side of her, unfortunately, but she pushed herself onto her knees once he did. "I-Is he okay?" she asked, actually concerned for the monster in the other room. Alain came toward her and helped her to her feet. "Leave this to a professional." "Professional what?" Serenity wondered, unsure of what he could mean. At that moment, Alain took his sword and Carl got right back to his feet. "You traitor! You're mine! You will always be mine!" he yelled at her, stomping himself forward and raising his knife again. He just began swinging it wildly at Alain. He was doing his best to get to Serenity, trying to separate the two of them.

"I don't think that really did any damage to him. I'm not a superhero or a masked man in a spandex suit. My kicking power isn't the best."

". . . . . . . Huh?" Yeah, that flew way over Serenity's head. The momentary pause and silence was like one of those in a TV show. And then Carl got up. "Carl, stop, please!" Serenity begged and backed away as Carl came on the attack again. Alain stood his ground and the two began to fight. Serenity had not expected Alain to hold someone as large as Carl off, but he was able to. When Serenity saw a few of Carl's teeth fall from his mouth, her eyes widened and practically stayed stuck that way through out the fight. She didn't know what to do. If she asked Alain to stop, Carl would attack the both of them again. Carl wasn't listening to her, so there was nothing that she could do. She felt helpless. Alain was able to knock Carl back into the room again and make him lose his balance enough to fall. Alain walked up to Carl and Serenity walked up behind Alain. "I suggest you leave. I don't want to hurt you or this house any more than I have to." he said and Serenity stepped up a bit more. She was trying to trust her friend.

"Carl please... You're scaring me." she told him and Carl just stared down at her, soon a saddened expression forming on her face, "Look what you did to my home. There are rocks everywhere and you could have hurt us. Friends don't do that to each other." Carl stepped forward and looked over Serenity to the broken window and the dirt and rocks that he had thrown in. Serenity suddenly calmed down, her worry going away for the moment. She couldn't sense any hostility coming from him anymore. "I-I'm sorry, Serenity... I didn't mean to scare you. I was just mad." Carl said and Serenity smiled up to him. "It's okay, Carl. We all make mistakes, but don't do that again." she said happily to him as she stepped forward to give him a hug. As she did, Carl looked over to Alain and narrowed his eyes. Serenity realized the anger had instantly returned and that she was in a horrible position. Carl immediately reached out and grabbed onto Serenity, pulling her into him.

"Get away! She's mine! You can't have her, got it?!" he kept a strong grip on Serenity's arm, stepping back away from Alain and pulling her with him. "Carl, stop!" she said, trying to pull her arm away from him, but his grip tightened and she winced, "Carl, you're hurting me!!!" she placed her hand on his, trying to loosen it a bit, but hit grip only tightened more. "You're mine... MINE!" Carl said and pulled her toward the window, keeping his eye on Alain, "You try anything, I'll kill her! I'll kill her I swear it!" Serenity's eyes widened and she looked back to Carl in shock, like she wasn't expecting him to every say something so hurtful and cruel. At the same time, he was serious. She could tell. He wasn't letting her go. His grip on her arm was tight enough to cut of the circulation and she felt it starting to go numb already.

"Alain... Alain, help. Please." Serenity did not like calling on someone she had just met for help, but Carl was actually hurting her, and he wasn't caring that he was doing it. And then a clank was heard and Serenity looked up to see what had happened. She was shocked to see that Alain had dropped his sword. Was he gonna give up and let her be taken? She couldn't blame him; they didn't exactly know each other much. She had just hoped he wouldn't do it. Serenity closed her eyes and waited to be run off with, but she was suddenly dropped. She fell to the floor, placing her hands to the ground to catch herself. As this happened, she heard a heart-squeezing scream echo pierce the inner workings of her ear. With a horrified look, she turned over on her back, sitting up to see something she had not expected. One hand was gone already gone and his arm fell right at her legs. Serenity looked down to it, seeing it flop around and she raised her hands to cover her mouth in shock.

"Oh... my..." she said, but was suddenly interrupted. "No!! NO!! Serenity! MY LOVE! HELP ME!" Serenity's eyes shot up from the arm and toward Carl. Blood was squirting out at her, soaking her hair, clothes, and splashing all over her skin. Serenity couldn't even blink. She was horrified beyond belief. "Stop it..." she said as she backed away from Carl, "STAY AWAY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, covering her ears out of fear. She suddenly got up and darted out of the room, through the living room, burst through the front door, and then kept going from there. Carl tried running after her, but he fell and just laid there, squirming about and yelling her name over and over again. Serenity kept running, trying to get as far away as she possibly could. Every time she heard him yell her name, she ran faster and faster. She wasn't used to not being able to help someone. She wasn't used to someone not listening to her. And...

"The blood... It's everywhere!!" she screamed in her mind as she tripped over a root and fell. She got up again, ran passed her lake, and continued on until she couldn't run anymore. Which was pretty much when she slipped on some mud and went tumbling into a tree. Serenity hit her head on the trunk and then rolled away, holding her forehead. When she pulled her hand back, she looked at it and saw the blood. She knew it wasn't her own and began washing her hands off in the mud, panicking at what had just happened. The image of Carl reaching out to her without his hand and arm, the blood squirting all over her, the sound of his pleas for help. None of them would leave her head. "Get it off! Get it off!" she began crying, sobbing horribly as she looked down to her chest and saw the blood that had soaked into her clothing. "AHHHH!!" she screamed out and then grabbed her hair, realizing blood had soaked into it as well. Giving up, she closed her eyes, allowed her body to fall forward, and curled herself into a tight fetal position, choosing to lay there and just cry in the mud.

Serenity was sorta gone. Even if she was in his sight, she couldn't stop running. When she heard him yell out to her, she didn't hear his voice, she heard Carl's. It only frightened her more. When she finally stopped after falling and trying to get the blood off of her, she had not expected Alain to show up. When he did, she looked at him with the same expression of fear that she had looked at Carl with. Once she realized it was him and not Carl, that expression dropped and she began to cry harder. She felt his arms wrap around her and her head ended up on his shoulder. Her body was shaking horribly and it wasn't because of the cold. Serenity had never been so frightened in her life. Her heart was racing and she felt so tense. The image of Carl and the blood splattering all over her was almost too much to deal with. It was taking all of the strength she had at the moment not to just faint into Alain's arms.

"It'll go away. It'll all go away." he said and Serenity brought her arms up to wrap around him as well. She was still shaking a lot and it still wasn't just from the cold. She was having a panic attack and it wasn't something that was going to go away easily. "W-Why did this happen?" she asked, as if he knew the answer to that, "Why wouldn't he listen to me?! He was usually so nice..." It only made Serenity cry more as she stumbled over her words. Her breathing was becoming slightly labored because of how much crying she was doing. "I-Is... h-he dead?" she raised her head and looked up, straight into Alain's eyes, her arms still wrapped around his back. She was practically begging for him to tell her that he'd be okay, but she knew the truth. Alain did what he felt he had to do to protect the both of them. She understood that, even if it did make her lose a friend.

Alain wasn't answering her questions, but she could understand why. Who knew the answer to them? It wasn't something that you could just judge. Carl had snapped. He allowed himself to be thrown into a jealous rage after seeing Serenity sit and talk happily with another man. He couldn't take it, and so he snapped enough to threaten her life. And now he was dead. Serenity knew that by the lack of an answer received from Alain. The horrible part about this was that she didn't know if she could go home. She now had a large dead man bleeding out over her floor. Her home was gone, there was no way she could go back there. And realizing this now, she was screwed. She didn't have time to think much on it because Alain spoke up and asked her a strange question. "Tell me... his last name." Alain said and Serenity shook her head in confusion. What did that have to do with this? A man was dead, so why did his last name matter to Alain? "I will always remember it." Alain explained and Serenity's eyes widened slightly in shock.

"Macek... Carl Macek." she told him, her eyes not looking away from his own. There was a sadness in his eyes that she couldn't tear away from. She was locked in a sort of trance when looking at him. There was something much deeper to this sadness, something that hurt him. When she saw that, Serenity almost couldn't control her own body. She removed her arms from his back and pushed herself up to stand on her knees to make herself a little taller. She then raised her arms, moving them over his shoulders, and leaned into him, lacing herself around his head and shoulders, pretty much pulling him into her. (Example) "I'm sorry..." she said in a whisper and squeezed a little tighter, "I'm so sorry. If it wasn't for me, this never would have happened. You were protecting me. Because of you, I am alive and I am grateful for that, but I'm so sorry that you had to kill someone to do it." Serenity was obviously unaware of his previous killings, but that didn't matter. Even if he had told her about them, the fact that he had to take another life to protect her own would make her feel just as, if not more, guilty than she did now.

Serenity's apology was sincere. The guilt she felt over Alain actually having to take a life in order to protect her actually bothered her quite a lot. Even with the image of blood splashing all over her, the flopping around of an arm, and Carl calling out for her help repeating in her mind, it was some how overwhelmed by her want to comfort Alain. He didn't even need comforting. He was taking this a million times better than Serenity ever could. And as he went to stand, she loosened her grip on him. She looked up to him and went to stand as well, but felt her body suddenly pulled against his own. She let out a short gasp as their bodies met and soon found herself laying her head onto his chest. "No... it is not your fault. It is not my fault. I don't even think it is the fault of Carl Macek. No... It was simply a bad inevitability. Something could have been different..." Inevitable? Was this really going to happen one way or another? Serenity closed her eyes and began to tremble again. "Such as something in his life that may have changed the way he saw you. Or maybe I would have decided not to take a walk. Maybe. Maybe. But this... happened. There is no way of saying it didn't. It did. And we... no, I... will have to live with the fact that I have taken his life."

And with that, Serenity stopped her shaking. She leaned her head back to look up at him and just stared for a moment. "No." she told him, "You're not going to shoulder this on your own! It wasn't your fault, so why should you have to burden it?!" Serenity raised her voice a little bit, but she wasn't exactly yelling. She stepped back and stomped her foot in anger, unsure of anyway else to show her anger. "If you hadn't done what you did, I would be in a place I don't even want to imagine. If I hadn't done what I did, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to grab me. There is no way I will let you put all of this on yourself!!! It is not happening and it is not fair!" Serenity turned away from him, flinching as another roar of thunder crashed in the sky over the forest. The rain wasn't stopping, but it was slowing down enough to see a little more around them. "You didn't have to save me. You chose to. I am not gonna choose to let you carry such a burden on your own. I can't..." Serenity said and then lowered her head enough to allow her bangs to fall over her eyes, "It was my fault... I know that. I was told of his tendencies and I was warned of his jealousy and violent behavior, but I let him come around anyway. I thought people just didn't understand him. I thought he just needed a friend, but no. He even threatened to kill me. My foolishness... it put us in this situation and for that I truly am sorry."

Serenity turned away from him, looking back toward the direction of her home with an upset expression. She lowered her head again and fought more tears. "I need to stop crying..." she thought and wiped some water from her face. "You... you're not going to be able to return to that house, are you?" he said and she turned her head back toward him. "I have to. It's my home." she said and forced up an overly fake smile. Serenity suddenly became shaky again, but this time it was because of the cold. She turned fully toward him and looked at the blanket and then at her nightgown. She smiled, and then giggled, and then she began to laugh a little. "We're a mess, aren't we?" she said and tried rubbing some of the mud off of the nightgown. She was seemingly taking everything well. She was doing her best to keep calm and try to think of what she was going to do now. She really didn't want to go back to the house, but she might have to. "I guess... we... h-have to go... do something... about... that." Serenity blinked a couple times. Her tone was off, way, way, way off. It wasn't something she'd ever speak like. So, she began walking back toward the house with a blank expression.

Alain was just as stubborn as she was! He began patting her head a few times and she just stared up at him in confusion. "You're too nice of a person..." he said and she blushed a little. The blush faded quite quickly. The situation they were in didn't exactly allow her mind to stay in a place that would allow her to blush. "It wasn't your fault for wanting to befriend him to help him. It wasn't your fault for him thinking it meant more. I don't know why he did things like that... and it seems like you don't either. Don't blame yourself on it. Please. This isn't my fault either, I know that... but I was the one that ended his life... that's why I'm taking the burden." Serenity couldn't say much more. Well, she could, but she chose not to. It didn't seem like he was going to listen to her anyway, so there was no point in trying. It's not like she was going to just stop caring and be like "yep, your fault". No. She would carry the burden as well, even if he didn't want her to. This wasn't something that just went away because someone said it could.

"Why does he want to burden himself with something like this?" she thought to herself, her gaze to the floor as she clenched her fists extremely tight out of her own frustration. And so she decided to turn herself toward home. "No, it's a house. Home is wherever you make it. If you want another house near here, I will build it myself. If you need somewhere to stay for a while..." "If that's the case, then I don't have a home." she mumbled a bit. "...my house does have a spare bedroom or two. Unless you'd rather be in the master bedroom with me." he brought up and caught her off guard. She looked up toward him, then blinked a couple times. "Did you just give me an offer to come live with you?" she asked before the two began making their way back to the house, Serenity in her strange mood.

"There is no 'we' to that. I'll do it. I don't want you getting involved in something like this any more than you already have." he said. Serenity wanted to argue. She wanted to make him realize that she wasn't some porcelain doll. Sure, death and killing were not something she easily accepted, but it happened, as he chose to put it. There was no going around that. There was a dead man laying in her house and something would have to be done. And even though she truly did want to argue with him, she held back. She kept quiet and did as he said when he told her to stay outside while he went in. As he did, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, allowing the rain to fall onto her delicate skin. She enjoyed the feeling of water on her and could get lost in it. This time she would not get lost because she heard Alain speak out. "Holy mother of Rydia..." he said and her head dropped to normal and looked toward him in fear and confusion. "Wh-What?!" she said loud enough for him to hear through the hissing of the rain. When Alain came out, she looked at him with a horrified expression and then began making her way toward the house. "What happened?!" she asked him again, her heart beginning to race.

"And if I did, what would you say?" he asked and she looked away to think. "I... don't know. I haven't lived with anyone for a long time." she said in a saddened tone, "And honestly... I can't tell whether you're serious or not, so I'd rather not think about it." She was being honest. All today she had been teased, pushed to blushing, and joked with. All of it was kind and playful stuff, but she honestly didn't know when he was serious and when he wasn't. She didn't know him well enough. It might of even hurt his feelings a bit for her to say something like that, but it also hurt her to think that he might just be joking. "I... I don't know how to say this." Serenity just stared at him tensely waiting, "Carl's body... is gone." Serenity's face dulled and then confusion. "Gone?" she repeated and then he moved to the side to allow her to see. And when she did, she didn't know what to think.

"... I-I... don't understand. Where could he he have gone?" she said while stepping up to the house, but then stopped before she could see anything more. She was a little fearful about entering the house than she felt she should be. "His body, the blood, his arm... all gone. And there's a message that was scratched in with something, probably my sabre..." Alain explained and Serenity felt sick to her stomach. "A note?" she asked. "'I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. We can still be friends, right?' is what it says." he said and Serenity glanced away. "I can't be friends with someone who threatened to kill me." she said, mostly to herself. Shockingly, Serenity wasn't even confused by the situation. Her naivety was telling her that Carl snapped out of whatever mindset he was in, somehow cleaned up his mess with no arms, and then left. The fact was, Serenity was in denial and once she realizes that what she was assuming was impossible, there will likely be a few issues. One of those likely being a mental breakdown.

"I... don't think you should stay here for a couple of nights." he said. Serenity wasn't able to keep looking at him for a reason that she didn't understand, though it was because of her obvious denial. She looked to the left and toward the ground, fiddling with her fingers in front of her stomach. "... I don't have anywhere else to go, Alain." she said in probably the most serious tone she's spoken in this night, "I have no family, no real friends, no money, no clothes, no house, and no home." She had apparently forgotten about calling him a friend earlier and it was possible that it'd be hurtful when that was said, but she didn't mean it that way. She was more depressed over the situation and felt like everything had just been taken from her. And since Alain didn't exactly call her a friend back, what was she to assume? He also pretty much told her that this place was just a house, not her home, so now she felt like she didn't really have one. "I don't know what to do anymore..." she stood there, pretty much hugging herself and hanging her head. The fact was, Serenity was hurting in more ways than one...

"Well, if you don't know—how about I throw a choice at you?" he said and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to him with a defeated expression and waited for the choice. She could tell by the way he was acting that he really was serious too. "Although that offer before was a joke, now it's not. At least until I can figure out what happened here. I live far enough out no one will see you, but close enough to Rydian that in case something did happen..." Serenity looked away and thought to herself for a moment. Would this be a good idea? It's been quite a long time since she lived with someone. And she's never lived with a man before. Well, at least she wouldn't be alone? That's a good thing, but she still wasn't sold on the idea. He worked, so she'd be alone in a place she did not know for most of the time she was there. "I don't know..." she said with a skeptical tone. "I'd be a short phone call away. Because the way things are, the villagers would not know you were in any sort of trouble until it was far too late. And I don't want anything else to happen to you."

"I-I... guess that's not a bad idea, as long as you mean it." she told him and then pushed up a small smile. And then the thunder roared again. A flash of lightning lit up the darkened sky. "Well we can't go anywhere tonight..." she said and then hurried inside the house. When she did, she stopped near the couch and just stood there. A few minutes ago, someone was dead right in the room. How could she even deal with sleeping here tonight? And if he wasn't dead, wouldn't he return? Serenity stood there, her clothes and hair dripping from the rain soaking her. She was shivering again, but who wouldn't dressed in that. "What time is it?" she asked and looked to Alain. She was feeling tired. Everything that happened today wore her out.