don't trust the dark (open)

[Emmanuelle LaBeau]

Em smiled as she left the studio stepping out into the cold, dark. Her lesson with Reece had gone wonderfully and she was walking on clouds. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed dancing. She never even knew that she really had much of a talent for it until she met Reece. He was a great teacher though and they seemed to have a good chemistry. Their bodies read each other perfectly making the moves and the music flow through their bodies like magic.

She shivered as the chill wind of winter blew, sending a haunting whistle over the town. She hated this part, walking back to campus after a late lesson. It was strangely quiet this late November night. All the shops were closed and there didn't seem to be a soul in site except the shadows that seemed to dance all around. The wind blew again, but this time the lonely cry of the wind seemed to be accompanied by something else. She slowed down, and held her breath. Surely she was hearing things. As the wind settled she listened, footsteps. She was hearing footsteps. Hurried footsteps. She gripped the sleeves of her coat tightly trying to calm herself down. It's no one Em stop being a baby... Every shadow starting to grow more and more menacing. Lights flickered in the distance and the footsteps seemed to grow faster and closer. Em's pace started to grow faster as well but she was afraid to see whatever, or whoever was behind her.

It's no one! THey aren't chasing you stop acting ridiculous! She told herself finally willing herself to take a peek at the figure behind her. The dark figure was growing closer. Closing in on her with speed. "Shit!" She screamed seeing that the person indeed was running towards her. She bolted, happy for once that she'd taken her trainers advice and started jogging again. She willed herself to go as fast as she could praying she could draw water from somewhere. She spotted a puddle and drew the water from it forming it into darts and freezing it the best she could with the frantic energy she was harboring and thrashed it back at the figure. She could hear a groan and slowed down steps. She'd hit him.

Her heart was pounding fast but she didn't slow down. "Stupid bitch!" She heard the man shout as he sprinted in her direction. She made the mistake of looking back. It'd slowed her down too much giving him the opportunity to close in on the blonde girl.

It all happened so fast. She was on the ground and he was punching her before she could grab for more water. "Stupid meta bitch!" He shouted as he punched her in the stomach. Em grabbed at him and started screaming for help among other unrecognizable words. She was screaming for sound just to get someones attention. The man was big but well kept. He wore a suit and a watch that suggested that he was by no means poor. "F*cking meta's running this town to the ground!" He shouted as he grabbed her hair in his fist. Em reached up to punch him, grabbing at him with all she had and pushing to try and get him off her. She bit his arm and he slapped.

"HELP!" Em squeaked out as he punched the air out of her stomach and reached for her hair again readying to slam her against the concrete.

[Basil Zivaen]

Rosemary had gotten out when he left the door open. It had only been for a moment, but the little ball of fur was unnaturally quick. He only slapped his face and went outside, thick coat covering his lean form. Basil was cold, and he hated this chilly November evening. Of course, he hated the cold anyway. He locked the shop door behind him so that the other two cats wouldn't get out and proceeded to walk down the street to look for the little thing. As the wind blew he got chills up his spine, not liking the dark and cold put together. It was just too much for one evening. Of course, as soon as he recaptured the little creature he could go inside and make himself a cup of tea, and then maybe go to sleep.

He heard a little mewing noise, not the sound of plants. It was Rosemary, huddled under a piece of newspaper. She looked miserable, and as soon as Basil called softly she bounded over. It was then that he heard heavy breathing and footsteps. Basil thought that maybe it was some one who was just getting home late from on of the bars, but only a few moments later that theory was proved wrong.

Basil heard screams, and something in him triggered. The normally slow moving man ran like lightning to where a young girl and a man were fighting. He was saying some rather unsavory things to her. Basil dropped his kitten as gently as he could and rushed over, knocking right into the man. The two of them went flying into a building wall, smashing against the brick. As soon as it had begun it was over. When they hit the building the man hit his head on the wall, knocking himself unconscious. Basil noticed there was a cut on his own head, and his shoulder ached from a punch he didn't remember recieving. The older man turned, walking back over to the girl who was sitting on the pavement.

" Are you okay?" He asked, his voice rough from the cold. Basil really hoped she was okay, and wondered why the man had attacked her. He didn't have a phone with him, so he couldn't call the police yet to come pick up the unconscious filthbag.
" It's dangerous to be out so late! Are you a student at the Institute?" He asked, trying to figure out if he needed to call someone from there to come pick her up so that they knew she was safe.

[Emmanuelle LaBeau]

She continued to scream and kick, punch, scratch at the man who seemed to be determined to kill her. She was exhausted already from trying to fight him off and knew that she wouldn't be able to much longer. She'd never been in a fight before. Not like this at least. She'd never had to defend herself against a man who was twice her size and hated her for no apparent reason. Images flashed through her mind, him raping her, him killing her, her mangled body in a casket. Tears found their way down her face mixing with blood and dirt only proving to be more harm than use. Her eyes stung.

Sh was about to give up, accept her fate when another man shot at the one assaulting her like a rocket, knocking him off Em and into a wall. Em laid on the ground trying to catch her breath before forcing herself to sit up.

After what seemed like only moments her assailant was knocked out on the ground leaving only Em alone with her rescuer. Her mind was reeling, the adrenaline was starting to subside and the pain was setting in. Are you alright? He asked. She looked up at him and nodded.

The normally pretty girl was a wreck. Her blonde hair was died red with blood and matted with dirt. There was a cut above her right eye brow and blood dripping down over her eye and down her cheek. The rest of her was covered in scrapes and bruises were already plaguing her fair skin. "Yeah..." She managed to say through heaving breaths. "Yes..." She was trying to hold back the hysterics. She was already crying but she wanted to sob.

"Thank you." She managed still sitting on the ground. All of her hurt. She nodded, "i know... i..." She was having trouble breathing, her ribs hurt terribly and breathing was strained let alone speech. She was cursing the man in her mind. This better not hinder her dancing, she couldn't afford that... she was finally happy and had something going for her and if this man took it away from her for even a day she would be sure to hunt and kill him. "I.. I'm a student yes." She finally said.

The street light from the street lamp bounced off the mans injuries and Em frowned. She was so embarrassed. "are you hurt? I'm sorry." She said feeling terrible.

She reached up and wiped the blood and dirt away from her eye and looked for her bag that was thrown about 50 feet away, the contents spilled over the dark ground. This was not her day...

[Basil Zivaen]

Once he moved closer to where he could see her properly, Basil realized this girl was a wreck. There was a cut on her forehead that was bleeding pretty badly. Her light skin was already bruising, making purple splotches all over. He leaned down next to her. Basil's own cut was bleeding more than he liked and the warm dark blood dripped down his face. He nodded when she thanked him and tried to see how badly she was hurt. The unconscious man had given her quite a beating. Her speech was very strained, and he guessed she had at least one broken rib, if not more.

" I'll be fine,m don't worry about me. It's just a little cut. You should be more worried about you. I think we need to get you to Maddock." The young girl confirmed she was a student, making Basil worry twice as much. Someone would be looking for her before too long. All her belongings were sprayed across the sidewalk. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her, hoping it would help fend off the chill winds.

" Do you think you'll be able to stand? My shop isn't too far from here. I have a car I can use to take you to the hospital. Once there we can contact Mrs. Morgenstern and the other officials to alert them of your condition. Unless you have a cell phone." Basil never carried a cell phone with him because he didn't like them. So if anything ever happened to him he'd be out of luck. But right now he just wanted to make sure she was okay

[Emmanuelle LaBeau]

Em was feeling overwhelmed by the questions. The pain was rushing to her faster and she couldn't decide what part of her hurt the worst. And then there was the dirt. The dirt was probably the worst part for Emmanuelle. She was never good with dirt and just the thought of germs and the disgusting things that were inside made her want to throw up. She was a tad bit O.C.D..

"My cell phone was in my bag." She told him. The combination of her southern drawl and her injury induced mumbling making her difficult to understand. The wind blew hard as Em put on his coat over her shoulders holding it closed with her chewed up hands. She slowly started to get up, using a bench to help hold some of her weight. She was nervous about the damage that she was sure to find. She found that her legs didn't harbor much pain. They throbbed but she could put weight on them. The majority of the damage was from her waste and above her torso hurting the most.

Blood continued to drip down in front of her eye and the cut behind her head was staining her hair deeper. She was feeling so light headed but knew that she needed to do her best to at least get out of the street. Normally she'd never trust a stranger, she wasn't particularly fond and was too nervous to not think of every possible horrible thing that could happen. But she was sure that noting worse could happen tonight.

She closed her eyes tight for a moment the world feeling like it was going to spin and was forced to sit on the bench. Standing had proven to be a horrible idea. With every passing moment she discovered more and more injuries. Her throbbing head was now the worst though upstaging her strained breath.