Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Fallen Angel
A fallen angel, in the dark
Never thought you'd fall so far
Fallen angel, close your eyes
I won't let you fall tonight
Fallen angel
- Fallen Angel - Three Days Grace - Human
Greason’s Garage
Bullet, Texas
2 am
The small garage wasn’t much to look at, though seemed far enough from the city that it was quiet. Off in the distance there were faint lights, enough to light porches, but nothing else. It seemed like another lifetime where he would have chosen a place like this. He just couldn’t remember why. All he knew was that he needed to find somewhere to lay low, to try to sort the thoughts in his head. Hell, to figure out who he was.
He moved closer to the darkened building, that had seen better days if one went by the faded signs promoting oil and snacks. Some of the building’s bricks were cracked, parts having had fallen. He wondered if the place was even used. The placement of it, made it too perfect to hide in. Part of his mind was screaming that it was still too close to the people he had run from. The ones that had tried to pin him down.
The thought had him shake his head, stumbling slightly and kicking a discarded trash bin. He tensed when it hit something else in the darkness, making planks of wood clatter to the ground.
“Too noisy,” He barely whispered.
I was right beside you
When you went to hell and back again
I was right beside you
When you went to hell and back again
And I, I couldn't save, a fallen angel
She had heard something outside the garage, it had woken her up, and Mira Greason hadn’t thought just reacted, she grabbed the baseball bat that she kept near her bed, moving through the old garage. If it was the local assholes again, she wasn’t going to let them make a mess. Her eyes fell on the clock, it was too early for their drunk asses to be out of the local drinking hole. They wouldn’t leave until last call, which was a good half hour away. Mira gripped the bat tighter as she made it out of the tiny apartment built into the back of the garage. A light above the back yard swung on its post thanks to the hot summer wind, casting shadows about.
Seeing the movement as she rounded the corner, the teen, dressed in only a pair of boy-cut boxers, and a black sports bra, realized that it was a shadow behind her. The person was behind her and she swung out, managing to hear a light “thunk”, the wooden bat didn’t break, but she did wince slightly at how it had felt in her hands.
When he turned she caught the angered look in eyes that seemed to glow green for a brief moment. She dropped the bat, scrambling back some. Those eyes scared her more than the fact, he just shrugged off her swinging a bat at his head.
He lunged for her catching her and pinning her against the wall of the building before she could move. With the garage being so far out of town, she was quite sure even if she screamed no one would hear it.
Mira struggled, silently wishing she had gotten a new dog, something she would be changing if she lived through it. Her last one, had been killed by the local talentless hacks when she had come back from college. Just weeks after her uncle had. The hand pressing her to the wall wasn’t tightening its grip, the stranger was watching her a moment, holding her still. Clawing at the hand she tried to get free. “Look, I’m sorry alright?” She barely managed to whisper as he held her wrists above her and had a hand at her neck.
Dark hair fell over green eyes, she closed them trying to fight. Stopping when the grip tightened ever so slightly.
He loosened his grip on her, but still held her still. “Why do you look like her?” The voice was raspy, as if words weren’t something he used often.
Coyotes in the dark howled, out for a hunt. The light above them swayed against a breeze, the wire creaking. Mira didn’t say anything as he released her. Though she did step back, cautiously, the fence should keep the wild dogs out… Unless he cut it, she’d have to check later. Right now, the door to the garage was a good ten feet to her right, she’d have to round the building to get to the apartment. Mira didn’t think she’d make it before he grabbed her again. So instead, she stayed, trying not to tremble in the cooling night air.
She wasn’t a threat; she would have attacked with something other than a blunt weapon if she was. He shook his head trying to clear the thoughts that were flooding him. A pool, lit somehow, from underneath maybe? He had come from it, but before…
There was a city, he remembered that, and a figure on a roof top.
His head was pounding, the harder he tried to remember the harder it hurt. He fell to his knees, holding his head screaming.
The girl, that looked like the woman that had been at the pool… No, pit, ran inside the building. Scrambling to his feet, he knew he couldn’t let her contact anyone. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t let anyone else know he was there.
Bolting up, he managed to catch the door before it closed. The girl was darting for another room. Probably for a phone, or another weapon.
He caught up with her as her hand closed around a phone on the wall. Spinning her around, he gripped the wrist with the phone. “Don’t…” The receiver cracked in his grip when he tore it away from her.
She tried to strike him with her free hand, only to have it caught. He forced her wrists together, holding them in one hand, steadying himself with his now free hand.
“Not, safe.” He growled at her.
The teen let go of the phone, and it shattered on the floor, the cord being far too long to help it. She looked up at him, getting a better look at the pained face that was staring her down, as if trying to recognize her.
“A-alright I won’t call anyone, please… Just don’t hurt me. Cops, will come here, it’s on the rounds… if you leave now, you can avoid them, and I, I won’t tell them.”
He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he had a feeling she was lying. She wouldn’t have gone outside if they patrolled the area. Gripping her wrists a little tighter he growled making her cringe. He wasn’t meaning to scare her, but he needed to know what she knew. He needed to figure out why she was causing him to think about the glowing pool… Or even the city of skyscrapers.
Reaching over after a moment, he grabbed the cord, yanking it from the wall, using it to bind her wrists. Without a word he pulled her over to a rack of tires, lacing the phone cord around it before letting her go. Pacing the room, he shook his head to try to figure out what was going on in his head. He glanced at the kid, who had sunk to her knees, anything she could use to cut herself free was out of reach. She didn’t look that old, let alone old enough to be running a place like this. The fact there were tires, and a phone that seemed to be working with how she had run to it, had him knowing it was working. The way she was dressed, told him she had to live nearby. Though no one seemed to be coming to her aide, meaning the kid had to be living alone.
When he looked her way, she pulled her legs together, watching him with fearful eyes. She didn’t say anything though. And even jumped when he slammed his hands against the counter, the loud sound startling her. Mira tried to tug at her wrists, the cord was cutting in too much to get any leeway to free herself.
“Please, you don’t let me go people will look for me.” She whispered low. She hated the fact she had actually cleaned recently, any discarded tool was put away and not within reach.
The cold green eyes fell on her again and she cringed slightly at it wishing she had kept her mouth shut. Though they softened after a moment. “I, I’ll let you go, but not yet. I,” He shook his head. Laughter filled his head causing him to put a hand to his temples growling. “Stop it!” He slapped the wall above her making her squeak as debris floated down at her. “Shut up!”
Mira stayed where she had been put, watching him seem to argue with someone he could only hear. She did her best to stay quiet, not wanting him to turn the anger her way again, and was relieved when he stalked away from her. When he went silent, he sank to the floor across the room from her, head in his hands.
She shifted, causing something on the rack to fall, and those strange eyes falling on her, looking more like a wild animal than anything human. Looking at what had fallen, it was some of the packaged lug nuts that she hadn’t put away, useless to her at the moment, but it had drawn his attention too for a few brief moments.
He watched her, the one with haunting green eyes, though she wasn’t the one that had hunted him. That one, was far more dangerous than the weak one that was cowering before him. Part of him, was enjoying watching her tremble.
Though as the sun started to rise, he watched her fade off, her head resting against her arms. The faint light, he could see a purplish mark on her neck, and her wrists… The part of him that knew the city… knew that what was done was wrong.
Moving to the girl, he was cautious. Her eyes slowly opened, and she tried to scoot back, seeming to have forgotten that her back was already against the wall.
He reached up, freeing her wrists. He had found a first aid kit, and opened it, pulling out gauze. “Here, hold one of your arms out.” He ordered. She did as he told her, trying to avoid him going off on her again. His hands were calloused, but gently massaged the tender skin, rubbing something she didn’t catch from the kit, then wrapping them gently. “I’ll leave. I shouldn’t have come here,” He wrapped the other wrist carefully, wincing when she hissed a few times.
Mira watched him move for the doors. “They’ll kill you if you go into town.” She had no idea why she said it, other than there was something about him. True, he had scared her, and the bruised neck hurt, but the wounds she had gotten were light, she had gotten worse from the locals.
He paused looking back at her. “Why?”
She wasn’t sure what to tell him, but something about him, she didn’t want him hurt. He looked familiar somehow, like she had seen him before, but was still trying to figure out where.
“Why will they kill me?”
“You’re an outsider, like I am. They kill most people who try to pass through here.” She added low, still not sure why she was bothering to tell him. “I, don’t want to watch anyone else die when it comes to them. I don’t care what you do, just don’t go through town.”