Angelus's P.O.V

When I awoke Kin was gone this time. I was glad he was gone, he would get back with less difficulty but part of me was sad he was gone. I was really getting to like him, a lot.

I stayed in my bed, it was the best thing for me since I was sick and I knew that while I was sick I wasn't going to be punished for staying where I was. I felt dizzy, my head was spinning. I lifted my hands to my face, still lying on my back, and just held my hands over my face trying to make the world be still. I felt like I was going to puke but if I stood now I felt as though I would just fall.

When the world stopped spinning a little, I pulled myself out of my bed and began to walk on wobbling legs to the bathroom. Once I was there I fell onto my knees with a loud thud, my whole wight going into the fall. It hurt my legs but the pain of that was nothing compared to my other pains. Leaning over the toilet I threw up again, once the context of my stomach was outside of my body, I got to work replacing the dirty bandages. I wasn't told I could do this but I wasn't told not to either so all I had to do was hope it was okay. After all it was bad to have the same bandages on all the time.

Once I was done I went back to bed. I was still dizzy, I was sore everywhere; it was hard to tell what was and wasn't sore (or more accurately what was the most and least sore.) I also felt sweat dripping all over me but I felt colder than the coldest ice and was shivering. I got under the blankets and curled into the smallest ball I could. I just wanted to sleep but I couldn't, now that I was alone I was once again afraid. It was like I was a whole different person around Kin... and I wanted to be with him again, I never wanted to be apart from him.

I didn't know why I was thinking this but I was. It could be just because he was the first person to be nice to me in a long time but this felt too strong for that to be the only reason. I decided that thinking about all this was pointless I couldn't let myself become confused I had to keep a clear mind if I was to survive and escape.

The door opened quietly a while later. The first thought I had was that it was Kin as he always came in silently and Yokai would just barge in but after a second I knew that it couldn't be Kin, it was too dangerous to break in, in daylight, even for him... Which meant it had to be...

"You better be awake, slut!"

... Yokai...

I was facing away from him so I turned slowly, not really wanting to see him but knowing that if I didn't bad things would happen. I was pulled out of the bed and thrown onto the floor roughly once I had turned and then I quickly got on my knees and bowed down trying my best to ignore the pain.

"You'll get food soon, even though I'd rather not let you eat," Yokai told me. I already knew he didn't want to feed me but he seemed to want to rub it in.

"Thank you, Master," my voice was very hoarse and it hurt to talk but I just wanted this to be over with quickly. I hated it so much, I hated my life.

"I'm going to ask you something I've asked may times; use your power and tell me where Ara's son is going to be!"

This again. Yokai was seeming more and more desperate to find this boy and I was getting curious about him even Kin spoke about him saying Cynthia was asking someone about him. I wanted to know more but I knew that I couldn't; if I knew then Yokai would too, I was more determined than ever to keep him away from Yokai.

Still I had no choice but to try. I closed my eyes and focused on what I was searching for. I felt blackness close in around me as it did when I had a vision, normally when I looked for the boy the blackness faded right back and it failed, I always tried really hard and put all my energy into seeing and after I'd be too tired to see anything else. However, this time I saw something.

It wasn't clear, like looking through a keyhole but I saw what looked like the bottom half of a painting in a fancy golden frame. It looked to be of a woman in a gold dress, she was sitting with her hands folded on her lap but that's all I could see, I couldn't see her face. I did however hear a voice. It sounded like Yokai but it was muffled. "Do you see? This is why you must join me! You can help me gain power and in return you will live a life of luxury, you may have anything your heart desires as long as it isn't mine!"

There was another voice but I couldn't tell what it was saying or who it belonged to but it sounded as if Yokai was trying to make a deal with someone. Ara's child perhaps. I was afraid that if it was the missing noble boy and he was agreeing with Yokai then...

Just as my thoughts turned dark I heard a loud thud and Yokai came into my field of view it looked like the person had shoved him in front of the painting, as if he was rejecting him. I felt a little hopeful. Just as the person Yokai was talking to began to come into view; my vision ended all I saw of the other person was part of a dirty black boot...

I was enveloped in darkness again before the light came back and when I opened my eyes I saw the bedroom again. I slowly sat up and saw Yokai looking at me with a frown.

"That took a while. You better have seen something!"

I hesitated a little before I thought it best to tell the truth to avoid a beating, "I did," my voice was quiet, barely audible yet it was enough for my tormentor to hear.

"Well don't keep me waiting, tell me what you saw! Or do you need a beating?"

I gulped and took a deep breath before I told him, "I saw half of a painting, it looked like a woman in a gold dress... and I saw you, you were talking to someone I didn't see. You were trying to make a deal with this person saying that if they joined you then you'd give them a life of luxury." I didn't want to tell him that I saw what seemed to be the person rejecting him in case he decided to change what he offered the person and causing a new future where this person joined him.

"That's it?" Yokai asked me. I nodded my head and he glared at me. "Did you see the face of the person?"

"No Master, but since I was looking for Lady Ara's son I assume it was him..."

SLAP

I was suddenly struck on the face. The force of the slap and the shock caused me to fall onto my side, I stayed there afraid that should I move I'd be hit again.

"Assumption isn't good enough!" Yokai yelled at me, "you are useless!"

"I'm sorry, Master," I tried to speak louder while holding back a sob. Yokai didn't like me crying and I really didn't want to be hit again.

"It'll have to do. That painting could be the painting of Ara that's in the marmoreal room in this castle. If it was Ara's son that means he'll be here soon, hopefully it'll be easy. How long from now do you think it'll be?"

"I couldn't see much and the voices were muffled so my best guess would be in a couple of months," I told him honestly.

"Hmm, good... I suppose this wasn't a complete waste of my time. I'll have a maid bring you some food and medicine now."

He roughly gripped my arm and pulled me into the bed and then walked out of the room.

I sighed in relief that was one of the best visits yet. He only hit me once and other than that and being pulled out of bed I wasn't hurt too much. I wished that it would be like this all the time but I knew that the only reason I wasn't beaten more was my sickness once I recovered things would be back to normal. I hoped that I would remain sick until Kin rescues me.

I was shivering so I pulled the blankets right up and curled up into a small ball in the bed. I closed my eyes but didn't sleep, I couldn't, my fear made it impossible.

I didn't know how long it was when the door opened again. I had gone into a daydream about nothing. I opened my closed eyes and saw a small girl about ten years old. She was in the simple black and brown maid uniform and was carrying a tray. Her blonde hair was short it looked as if it had been chopped at randomly, probably some kind of punishment that was used regularly on maids. I also noticed scars on her face and hands and a look of fear in her eyes. She was most likely another victim of the new rulers.

She walked over slowly. It looked as if she was trying very hard not to drop the tray or spill anything. I let her walk over and carefully put the tray on the bedside table. She had been looking down the whole time, this was common for maids I had heard that Yokai didn't want them looking at me. But this little girl looked up at me. It was only for a second clearly she didn't want me to notice.

I didn't really want a conversation with anyone but meeting Kin and have and 'good' meeting with Yokai had me in a better mood than normal and talking to this girl might not be too bad.

"It's ok," I said to her trying to be nice.

"Huh?" she lifted her head and looked up at me her blue eyes wide.

"You don't have to be so scared it's not like I'm going to say anything about you to anyone. I don't want to be here so why would I be nice to the people forcing us to be here? Or go out of my way to help them or get someone else into trouble."

"Oh..." she said. She looked down again and then back up at me and spoke clearly "so it's true you can see the future?"

"Yeah..." I replied with a sigh.

"Cool!" She sounded excited. I didn't really like that she sounded so amazed by it. I realised the truth long ago, my powers are not 'cool' they feel much more like a curse.

"It's not really cool. It's the reason I'm here and it's being used for evil. This power is stupid and I don't want it."

"Yeah that's true but once you're free you can use it for good and to help people!"

"Huh? How do you know that I'll even get out or even use this stupid curse again. I have no desire to help people they managed fine without my far-sight so they don't need it besides what good have people ever done there'll be more evil there always is..."

"Hmm... You shouldn't think like that. Some people are good and you should always help the good guys, that's what my parents told me! And I think you will get away because the good guys always win in the end, right? And you're a good guy, aren't you? Yokai makes you do bad things and hurts you." The little girl seemed to be a bit too positive and energetic... In fact she remained me a lot of Hana which made me sad; I didn't want to think of what I've lost.

"That's all well and good in fairly-tales but in reality the world doesn't work like that!"

... That came out harsher than I had meant it to...

The little girl looked saddened by what I had said and went quiet before talking again. "I know. My parents died and I had to take this horrid job because my big brothers and sisters don't have enough money, I hate it all but I can't change it but the way I see it if I don't think positively then it'll be worse and nothing will change. I might not have your powers but I think you'll escape and help the Rebels save us all."

I looked shocked at the child. She seemed to speak like someone over twice her age. I felt respect and envious of her: I wished I could think like she did but all I ever concentrated on was the negatives. "Do what you like you can't change anything anyway." I muttered.

She sighed "that's sad, I really think you should have more faith in people and yourself. But excuse me but I've stayed here too long I should leave, it was nice to meet you Mr Seer."

She bowed to me, then reacted out a hand and gently touched my wing. It tickled a little bit and I flinched she laughed and muttered something that sounded like "soft, fluffy, cute." She turned on her heals and left in a hurry leaving me to watch her in a stunned silence. Weird kid...

I looked over to the tray she brought. Cheese sandwiches, salad and two cups of water. I looked closer and saw two white tablets next to one of the waters. It was probably my medicine and so I took a few bites of my food before I dissolved the tablets in one cup of water, drank it as fast as I could and then took the clean water and the rest of my food to get rid of the nasty taste. The food for once was really good and I was so hungry it didn't last long.

Once I was finished everything I walked slowly into the main room. I wanted to stretch my wings out. They were still very painful but I thought that it'd just get worse if I didn't move them so I very slowly and carefully moved them out behind me stretching them out as much as I could and moving them out to the side. The pain caused my eyes to water and I felt tears on my cheek. I bit my lip to stop myself crying out or making any other noises. I wanted to remain alone and making noise could cause the guards to investigate.

I stood still with my wings spread out to get used to the pain and then I flapped them and immediately felt the pain shoot though my whole body and I let out a small cry.

My wings were in worse condition than I thought it'd be a really long time before I could fly again. With the realisation I felt a crushing pain this was just another thing Yokai wanted to take from me; he hated me flying as it gave me a feeling of freedom and happiness, it was something I loved. The longer I was here the more I lost and soon I'd lose something that I couldn't lose to Yokai.

The feeling of hopelessness came again I wanted to give up...

But I knew that I couldn't give up, not after talking to that girl. Deep down I wanted to help people even if I could just save one person...

I realised that nothing would come of thinking about it too much so I decided to disconnect from the world for now and read a book. I can't do anything until Kin rescues me.