AU: In Another Life (Oriel)

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Choking, drowning, cold, terror, death...

The scrawny boy's limbs flailed frantically in the freezing water of the Puget Sound, grasping out to grab onto each beam holding up the pier above him as he tried to pull himself towards the bank. Land seemed so far away; the darkness didn't help, making near seem far and only intensifying the terror that Phoenix felt as he struggled for dear life. He could feel his limbs growing numb, his body shut down as the water seeped into his clothes, through his skin, to the bone...

How he'd gotten here was a blur. The thirteen-year-old still couldn't grasp what had happened; the abandonment, the apathy, the desertion...

The Seattle skyline bobbed up and down in his vision as he slowly thrashed his way to the edge of the water. Finally, somehow, Phoenix managed to reach the bank, but then he was greeted with a new terror - the edge was incredibly steep and slick, and he was already exhausted and barely functioning after his long period in the frigid Sound. The bank was only a few feet above him - but he couldn't reach it, try as he might.

"H-h... Help!" he wailed weakly, quickly losing the little energy he had left, until he was left just scrabbling, trying to find a handhold on the barricade in front of him. "S-s-someone!"

Of course, no one in their right mind would be down here in the dead of night. No one except the people that had already left him to drown. Terror seized Phoenix's heart again, and he began to sink even more.

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Oriel was probably going to get in trouble again for being out wandering in the middle of the night. But it couldn't be helped, the 11-year-old boy was a restless, independent little brat and going out helped tucked the little boy out so that he could sleep soundly in his room. By now, his mother had gotten used to it, but she still harped on the former orphan for sticking to his disorderly ways after all these years. Well, it'd only been 3, but old habits died hard. Back in New York City, Oriel got away with a lot with his foster granny. That old lady was a bit kooky and probably senile, but he liked her. She taught him a lot about how to be his own person, how to question authority, how to value his apologies and not to give them up so cheaply. She was also the one who taught him how to cook and sing and got him dreaming about performing on broadway.

But all that was in the past. Now he was here, with a mother and father, going to school and just barely making it with his special education classes, going to the dentist and the doctor regularly, wearing clothes that fit him and getting new ones every six months....It was a change, transitioning from the care free, spirited old lady into this structured lifestyle, but Oriel didn't hate it. He just got anxious sometimes and needed to take a walk. Or a run. He liked to go down by the piers and docks along the Puget Sound; it was easy for him to find his way back home from there.

The view facing out to the water, beyond the dim lights from the road and the piers, was pitch black. If he looked over the edge into the water, it looked much the same. Even though it was summer, Oriel imagined it was freezing down there. The night was relatively quiet too, with only the ambient sounds of midnight traffic in the background and the occasional car passing by on the road that lined the banks. With all the quiet, Oriel could hear the waves sloshing around below him. Though it was also because of that silence that he even heard the gasping cries for help in the distance, down by the banks.

Oriel moved quickly, following towards the voice, sliding his hand gently along the steel barricade until he could see a small shadow in the the darkness down near the edge of the water. Was...was that a kid? Oriel ran and hopped over the barrier, keeping one hand gripped tight on it and reaching his other down to that clambering form. "Hey! Hey, grab my hand, I'll pull you up!"

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Phoenix was starting to lose hope that he would make it out of this alive. He started thinking about the choices he'd made in life recently, the people he spent time with and the activities he participated in. He didn't know if there was a God, but if there was any deity up there, he started praying to it.

Please, please let me live, I'll do anything! I'll stop the drugs, I'll do good in school, I'll get out of the gang... I promise! Please don't let me die!

But with his chances looking weaker and weaker, Phen didn't know what else to do. Safety was so close, but impossible to reach...

Wait, was that...!? Holy shit! "H-hey!" he cried out again, thinking he saw a figure approaching. The person must have saw him, because Phoenix watched him leap over the barrier and selflessly reach down to pull him out of the water. Desperately, the scrawny boy clung to the offered hand, scrambling with all his small might to help propel himself up out of the water and onto the bank. After several moments of struggle, Phen was gasping on the ground, thin chest heaving up and down as he lay on his back, shivering like mad. He was safe from drowning, but not from the cold.

"Th-th-th-thank-" Phen tried to tell his savior, but his teeth were chattering so much that he couldn't get out more than a word. The young boy curled in on himself, desperately trying to get warm. He couldn't feel his extremities; he could hardly move his fingers. "C-c-c-cold," he whimpered, looking blindly around for the boy that had saved him. Would he show the same selflessness once more?

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Oriel might've only been a kid, but he was a healthy one and at least had enough strength to pull another kid up a few feet to safety. The two of them clambered back over the barrier and fell to the concrete. Oriel was up as soon as he was down, hovering over the thin boy and placing his hands on his shivering arm.

"Hey!" he shouted in a young voice not yet broken by adolescence. "You okay?" Of course he wasn't okay, but Oriel was just a kid and didn't know what else to ask. But he could understand when someone was cold. Oriel pulled off the boy's wet shirt and tossed it aside, then followed up with taking off his own hoodie and wrapping it around that slim figure. "Here, put this on," he instructed.

Now what? What was he supposed to do? Oriel had just found a kid trashing about in the water in the middle of the night. His heart was thumping and his head was spinning, not knowing what he should be doing. There was nobody else around so calling for help would be useless. He felt around in his pants for his cell phone and dialed 911.

"I'm calling an ambulance, kay?" He leaned forward to look the boy in the eye. "What's your name?" he asked, brushing the boys wet hair back out of his face. "I'm Oriel." He heard the phone click as the operator picked up the line and started speaking on the other end.

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Phoenix vaguely heard the boy shouting at him through the pounding in his ears, and he tried to jerk his head in some direction to alert the boy to his continued peril, but his body wasn't listening very well. "H-hey what're you-" Phoenix's first, delirious thought was this kid was stealing his shirt as he was rid of the soaked cloth, but he soon realized that he was just still trying to help. His bony, malnourished figure was exposed to the chill air for several moments as he struggled to get the article on; as soon as he managed to wrangle it over himself, he tucked his knees up inside as well, still shivering.

This would be enough, right? He'd get warmed up, thanks to this stranger's kindness, right? Surely the jacket would draw away the cold and there would be no need for anyone else to get involved...

The continuing chatter of Phen's teeth and the cold that was still seeping deep into his bones told him otherwise.

"N-n-n-" he tried to protest weakly as the other boy began calling for help, but he stammered off into silence as he came in closer. Phoenix only now got a better look at his savior - the kid looked his age, if not younger, and just as scared as Phen imagined he looked. "Ph... Phoenix," he managed, squinting his eyes at the brush against his forehead. Oriel. That was the boy's name. Phoenix would never forget that.

"D-d-don't l-leave me, please," he mewled, raising a shivering hand towards the boy. "Don't l-leave me like th-they did..." He didn't want to be alone, not now, not even with other help on the way.

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The boy seemed confused, twisting his head back in forth, and Oriel wondered if maybe he hit his head on something and that's how he fell into the water. Because people didn't just go swimming in the middle of the night in freezing cold water, right? There no way somebody would do that of their own free will. Right? At least, Oriel couldn't think of a reason why. Then again, there's no reason why a kid would be out in the middle of Seattle in the dead of the night. Unless they were "bad kids" like Oriel could sometimes be. But he wasn't all that bad anymore, just the occasional fight and walk off to who knows where at random times of the day and night, and that was just because he couldn't stand being collared by the things he was "supposed" to do, as if that was the only option for how to live his life.

Oriel just didn't like being told what to do, especially not without a good enough reason to do it aside from "because I said so". Because when they said that, Oriel just got the impression that they were "saying so" because they liked telling kids what to do. Just a bunch of big bully adults, picking on little kids who had no choice but to listen because they were kids. Maybe if they asked nicely.

But the truth was, Oriel was just a kid and he didn't know any better of what to do in this situation than the kid he was probably helping short of just calling for help out into the darkness. But Oriel knew that would be useless. No, the best thing was to call 911. They would know what to do...even if the idea of the sudden flux of adults and flashing lights made him hesitate. The boy gave his name and Oriel's eyes lit up. "Phoenix?" he repeated in a transient wonder, for he had no time to admire the pure awesome of such a name before needing to speak to the lady on the other line. "Help! I-I don't know what to do! There was this kid in the water, he was drowning, and I pulled him out but...." But now he didn't even know what to say. His hands were shaking, though whether that was from the cold that was now hitting his bare shoulders or from the panic he couldn't tell. "I don't know what to do!" he repeated. The operator tried to calm him, she seemed very in control, though had a very harsh voice that just made him more anxious. He provided their location when she asked for it. He gave the boy's name when she asked, then gave his own. "How old are you?" Oriel repeated the question the operator-lady asked, pointing at the phone. "They wanna know. Do you live here? Um...what's your parent's names?" Though Oriel wasn't sure if the boy would answer that. He knew he wouldn't.

It took about five minutes, but soon Oriel could hear sirens in the background. Then he could see the flashing lights down the street. Resisting the urge to run, Oriel stood and started waving his hand. He hung up the phone as soon as he was given leeway to do so and knelt by the kid again. "Don't worry. I'm not leaving. I promise." Oriel had every intention of staying right there. Unfortunately, for a kid like him, he had no choice but to be shuffled around and out of the way. Things after that happened in a bit of a blur and before he knew it, the boy Phoenix was hoisted up in a stretcher and was put in the back of the ambulance to be taken to the nearest hospital. And Oriel was quickly being pulled away by his mother.

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Phoenix just continued to sit and huddle and shiver as the other boy started speaking on the phone. He nodded in response to the repetition of his name, but said nothing otherwise. He was still scared, scared of what would happen when they took him in, terrified of hospitals and... Oh, no. What if they found out about the drugs? Could they do that? Phoenix was sure not all of it was legal, oh, fuck, oh no... What would happen!? Still, it was too late now, and Phen was in no position to protest. He winced at the panicked sound in his new friend's voice, clutching his arms more tightly around himself. "U-uh, thirteen," he replied meekly at the first question. "Y-yeah, I live h-here, near King's Street Station... Uh, my mom's name is Myndi." No dad, obviously. Phoenix didn't know what to do besides answer honestly, so that was what he did. He was already screwed anyway. At least he hadn't snorted anything for a while...

The sound of sirens sent a thrill of terror through Phoenix, and he clutched onto Oriel's shirt, eyes wide with fear. "D-don't leave...!" he kept begging, even as the younger boy reassured him he wouldn't. Phoenix felt himself start to hyperventilate, and he didn't know if it was from the shock of what he had just gone through, or the anxiety of what was coming. Everything that came next, he would hardly remember later - there were people talking hurriedly to each other, people lifting him, laying him out, asking questions that his terrified brain couldn't answer. In the midst of it all, he lost sight of Oriel; his panic increased. "Oriel!?" he cried out, struggling a little; one of the adults held him down, telling him to stop. "ORIEL!"

Then he was shut inside, inside the cramped, scary environment of the ambulance, and Phen was sure his heart would burst from how fast it was beating. He eventually managed to calm down somewhat (the people bustling around him might have given him something to help with that), and was sluggish and bleary by the time they reached the hospital. Fortunately, he hadn't reached a critical stage of hypothermia or anything that would otherwise cause lasting damage, but they still had him spend the night to keep and eye on the young, malnourished boy. Somehow, the traces of drugs in his body managed to stay out of their notice - blood tests weren't necessary. They talked to his panicked mother when she arrived, and she fawned over him, asking a thousand questions that Phoenix pretended he was too tired to answer. Eventually he managed to sleep, and his dreams were filled with the image of that young, selfless boy that had saved him, that Phoenix might never see again. Oriel....

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Dammit! All this chaos was going to make Oriel break the first promise he'd made his his new…friend? They barely knew each other, Oriel had only just fished him out of the Puget Sound, but already Oriel was thinking of the two as friends. And because Oriel was just a stupid little kid trying to do the right thing, the people who had the real say in things, the police guys, the EMTs, even his mother, were all making him a liar. Oriel didn't want Phoenix to think that! But no matter how he struggled, there was no way they were going to let him through to see the other boy. And no matter how hard he ran, Oriel wasn't going to catch up to the ambulance. "Where're you taking him?" he demanded at some point. Oriel wasn't sure if they answered. If they had, he hadn't heard.

Oriel spent the night crying in his room, basically throwing a kind of fit he hadn't thrown in ages, not since before and just after he was adopted. He'd already been having trouble sleeping that night, and now it seemed like the night would never end. Oriel didn't even know how he managed to sleep but throwing a tantrum apparently took a lot more energy than he anticipated. Oriel woke then next morning to his mother knocking on his door. He didn't want to see anybody but when one was only 11 years old, one didn't have a choice when these people called parents wanted to impose. Oriel ignored most of what she was saying…until she finally suggested that they go and visit the other boy. While Oriel had been screaming, his mother had gotten the information they needed from the officers.

Oriel practically threw himself into his mother's arms, crying and thanking her for being so awesome. By the afternoon, Oriel and his mother had arrived at the hospital, getting permission from the nurses and some asian lady(who Oriel assumed was the kid's mother) to go in and see the boy. His mom stayed outside with the lady, so Oriel went in by himself to find the boy Phoenix still asleep. Or was he? He couldn't tell and Oriel was….too hesitant to wake him up. So he just stood there, staring at the boy and watched him sleep.

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Phoenix slept the night through fairly well, all considering; he only woke once or twice, panicked a moment when he didn't remember where he was, and then fell back asleep from exhaustion soon after. Most of his sleep was filled with dreams - dreams of falling, dreams of drowning, of his 'friends' laughing as they turned their backs on him... Those were more like nightmares, though. The dream portion came with the appearance of Phoenix's savior, that small, young boy that had thrown himself into danger's way (at least, Phen saw it that way) to help him, without a second thought.

Why couldn't he make friends like that? And now... Now he'd never see the kid again... Maybe if he went down to the pier again every night, they would run into one another again... But the thought of being near the water again at night sent such terror through him, he didn't know if he could do it.

Phen wasn't aware of when Oriel arrived. He was still passed out in his hospital bed, various contraptions hooked up to him to monitor his vitals. Everything seemed to be normal, now that he was warm and fed the previous night, and he would likely be leaving that afternoon unless something drastic happened. It was a good ten or fifteen minutes after Oriel got there that Phoenix stirred, blinking blearily around him as he once more tried to remember where he was. And that was when he saw him. Phen stared at the younger boy, disbelieving, and then rubbed his eyes. Nope, he was still there.

I must be dreaming.... Or hallucinating... he thought, mouth slightly open as he gawked. It wouldn't be the first time of the latter, though he hadn't had a hit in... A while... "O.... Oriel?" he asked anyway. He couldn't help it. "I-is that... You...?" Phoenix lifted his hand weakly out towards the boy. "Please.... Tell me this is real...." He needed to touch him to believe it. "You pr-o-o-mised you wouldn't leave..."

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Oriel watched the boy for what seemed like ages. He had no idea when he would wake. Oriel had no idea if his mom would make them leave before he did. But while he watched Phoenix's face seeming to twitch and contort every so often, Oriel wondered what he was dreaming.

Oriel himself had been plagued by nightmares. Nightmares about the days before his mom had finally taken him away from the terrors of the foster care system. Oriel still didn't know how she was able to think so differently than everyone else who came across the violent and feral-like boy, how she was able to see the scared and suffering child underneath, but he owed his life to her. And for that, while Oriel was still far from being the perfect child, still far from having those old wounds healed, and still unable to control a lot of his outbursts, he would at least do what he could to make things as easy as possible on her. She was a good mom. Especially for indulging in the boy's childish desire to go and see the boy he'd pulled from the water.

Watching Phoenix's face the whole time, Oriel noticed when he seemed to rouse, sitting up and leaning forward expectantly. When the older boy looked at him, Oriel's face spread into a wide and relieved smile. He couldn't tell, but there might've been tears in his eyes too as he felt a slight prickling within them at seeing that the boy was indeed safe and doing well. Though it stung when Phoenix said his name, and again when he spoke of how Oriel'd broken his promise to not leave him. Even thought the young boy knew it couldn't be helped - he was just a kid, after all - it filled him up with guilt for having left Phoenix behind.

"I-I'm sorry…." he stuttered with a sob, sliding his hand into the one Phoenix had stretched out to him. Oriel interlocked their fingers and held their hands up against his cheek as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the hospital bed. "Are you okay?" he asked, completely blanking on anything else to ask or say.

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In the back of his head, Phoenix knew he couldn't blame Oriel for leaving. There had been adults all over and probably rules about who could come with him to the hospital, so there was no surprise that Oriel had been pushed out of the way. Still, it hadn't stopped the ache Phen had had in his heart until he saw the younger boy upon opening his eyes. Now, it was like all the worries and fears were washed away upon seeing that tiny hero.

"I... it's okay..." Phen replied in a slow, raspy voice, feeling himself become more awake. Was it his imagination, or did the boy's eyes look moist? This made Phoenix frown. He didn't want anyone to cry because of him. "I'm... Okay," he breathed, lifting his free hand to pass through his mussy black hair tiredly. Phen looked around, and shivered, grasping onto Oriel's hand once their fingers intertwined with nervous desperation. "... Hospitals scare me..." he admitted in a whisper. He refused to look at any of the wires hooked up to him.

He tried to just focus on the contact between the two of them, staring at his hand against Oriel's cheek. Even though they barely knew each other, Phoenix felt a bond in that moment that he'd never experienced before, one he couldn't put into words and knew he'd likely never experience again. None of his other 'friends' would have lifted a finger to try to save him, yet here was this stranger, who had done it without thinking. "Th... Thank you," he choked out, turning his hand to brush his fingers underneath the boy's dark, watery eyes. "F-for savin' me..." He gulped and looked out the window for a moment before turning back to Oriel. "Y... You won't j-just leave, will you?" he whispered. "I... Wanna see you again..." He couldn't imagine living without the boy now. Not when he was alive because of him.

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It was what he hated most about being a kid. Kids were never allowed to just make their own decisions, they moved and lived and breathed at the beck and call of the adults who reigned over them. The only reason Oriel gave any lick of respect for the woman who adopted him was because….well, she pretty much rescued him from the shit he was in. She'd been as patient with him as if she were his real mother, whoever the fuck that was. It's why he could listen to her and do what she said…most of the time, it was a work in progress.

But his mom definitely earned some brownie points with Oriel, taking him to the hospital to visit the boy he saved. So he wouldn't break his promise.

Oriel wished he could do more to help him, but the only thing he could think was to just be there, hold his hand…talk to him, but what to talk about? "It's okay. Hospitals are supposed to make you better when you're sick." Though the truth was that Oriel didn't like them much better. Oriel tightened his grip on Phoenix's hand as if the harder he held on, the better the other boy would feel. But the other boy only seemed to be getting sadder. "I won't leave you. I don't want to make you sad anymore."

"You're name's Phoenix, right?" He remembered from last night. "That's a pretty cool name. Like the bird, right?"

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Phoenix... Well, he knew his mother tried her best, but she had to work so much that he was getting into far more trouble than she knew about, what with the gang activity and drugs and everything else... She'd tried to scold him for being out by the Sound so late, but she'd been so worried it hadn't lasted long. Phen didn't know what he would do now... He couldn't trust the people he thought were his friends anymore, but he was still hopelessly addicted to the shit they provided him with. Even now, he was starting to feel the panic settle in, and clung to Oriel even tighter for support, even though the younger boy wouldn't know that was part of the problem.

He blinked as Oriel spoke, trying to take comfort from his words. "... I know..." he murmured, pulling his blanket up more snugly around his chest. "I just don't wanna think 'bout... People dyin' or anythin'..." There was an unmistakable slur in his voice that wasn't just from sleepiness. "Okay..." he breathed, his eyes wide and trusting as he gazed at his new friend. "I'm not sad... Now. Because you're here." Phoenix brought one of Oriel's hands to his chest, holding it against his heart. "I can never... Repay you for what you did. Just... Promise you that I'll be your friend. If you want." A light flush came over the teenager's cheeks, and his eyes dropped.

He nodded at the question, and a tiny smile touched his lips. "Yeah... My mom thinks it's good luck, or somethin'," he replied. "Y... Yours was Oriel, right?" He remembered screaming it out when he was being taken away. "Um, wh... Where d'you go t'school?" Maybe they were close. They had to be, since Oriel had been walking by himself at night, right?

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Oriel knew that there were these street gangs running around, drugs and stuff, but he'd managed to keep himself away from them. After all, who tried to recruit an 11-year-old kid? But because he'd never been a part of that world, he was also ignorant of the effect that it had on those who were. Since he was living with his mother, and owed that woman so much, Oriel was more likely now to just stay out and away from that world altogether. But if Phoenix was trapped in it….well, Oriel just have to pull him out.

Oriel felt Phoenix grip tighter to him and returned the favor in kind. "Yeah…I don't like thinking about that either." People dying. That was scary to think about, though that was another thing that Oriel hadn't been exposed to first hand. "But it's going to be okay. They're gonna make you better." Oriel didn't know what else to say other than just repeat the same thing over and over, hoping that it would help. "You…you don't have to. I mean, we're already friends." At least Oriel thought so. He wouldn't be here if he didn't think of Phoenix as one.

"It's gotta be," Oriel agreed. "I mean…you're alive. 'cause I found you." Definitely lucky. If Oriel hadn't been there at that exact time, what might've happened? If Oriel hadn't been feeling anxious enough to leave the house in the middle of the night, where would they be? "Uh, yeah…Oriel," he confirmed with a smile. People never really remembered his name, because it was so unconventional. "School? Um…I'm starting junior high in August. At…" He told him the name of the school. It was the local one for his neighborhood. He'd have to take the bus there still, though.