CHAPTER 4

CHASE

I need to get out of here.
If I don’t prove myself in time, it won’t be good.

“What time is it?” Lex asked and Anouke pointed out the clock.
“About quarter past one.”
“I see,” Lex whispered; Anouke didn’t hear it.
"Why do you ask?”
“No reason. I just prefer knowing the time.”
“Hmm. Okay.”

The clouds from the early afternoon cloaked the sun, not allowing the light to leak through the clear windows. Lex peered at Anouke out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting on the chair next to the sofa where Lex was laying down. Will this dude ever leave? Lex thought to himself, the seconds of the clock Anouke had pointed out ticking slower.

With closed eyes, he sighed a long, dramatic sigh. “Bored, Lex?”
“Be quiet for a bit,” he paused and opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. “I’m thinking.”
“About what?”
“Nothing that concerns you,” he replied bluntly.
“Hm. I wonder.”

The clock seemed to tick slower and slower… and slower. Amidst the cluster of clouds, bleeding sunlight in delicate string-thin ribbons poured onto the disarray of leaves on the forest ground whilst time passed. The braids of everlasting light danced across the floor, barely blooming the flowers, weaving its way through the cracks in between the grandiose trees, ostentatiously growing altitudinous.

 2pm.

3pm.

3:30pm. Time to go.

Anouke yawned. “I’m so tired, Lex,” he sighed, dragging out Lex’s name.
“Uhm, okay?”
“It’s your fault,” he sighed dramatically and pouted. “You kept me awake all night.” He folded his arms in a joking gesture. “I don’t care. A-and don’t say such a misleading phrase, moron!” He awkwardly shouted, flustered.
“Pfft,” Anouke chuckled. “I didn’t mean it. I swear.”
“A-anyway…” Lex rubbed the nape of his neck sluggishly, fumblingly.

“Haha, why are you so embarrassed, hm?”
“It’s nothing,” he sighed.

“Whatever you say,” Anouke replied, as if trying to agitate Lex. “I’m going to the bathroom real quick.” Anouke lifted himself up from the fairly capacious chair. He cleared his throat as he strolled past Lex. Neither of them said anything more. Time to go. Lex hauled himself off of the seat he was lounging on and looked to the back door where Anouke had brought him back inside after his escape attempts. His steps were sotto voce. After creeping his way to the door handle, the floorboards not creaking fortunately, he grabbed the door knob. It was locked the last time, so… Moment of truth.

He heard Anouke moving around, his footsteps against the wooden floor notifying Lex that he was returning to the lounge. Now or never! He told himself and swung the door open, the hinges screeching with the force, just barely staying latched against the door-frame. Shit! He ran out into the forest, no longer bothered with how much noise he was making. The leaves crunched beneath his feet like when humans play in winter, crunching snow beneath their boots.

 A twig snapped. Lex panted breathless. Anouke was on the chase.
He ran as fast as he could, mindlessly running, vision blurred by the speed. The roots of trees threatened to trip him up as he constantly stubbed his toes against them, as if they were zombies crawling out of their graves, reaching for his ankles, trying to pull him down; he could almost hear their whispers; ‘Get back here, Lex.’  He whined, trying to block out the sounds.

His wings burst out of his back posthaste. He took to the skies, looking back to see the flash of white chasing after him. I need to get out of here! He groaned, running out of whatever remaining air he could salvage through his clamorous breathing. “Lex, no!” Anouke yelled. He dove down, back into the winding maze of never-ending trees, swerving around the trunks, blending in with the shadows.

That was it. He lost sight of Anouke, and it appeared Anouke had lost sight of him.

Phew…

He fled the scene, running now. This part of the forest had many more leaves as it was more packed with trees. Rushing through the dense forest with hardly any sense of sight, he let his feet carry him, trusting his natural instinct to avoid crashing into anything and falling over. He could no longer sense Anoukes presence, but another one, now. Familiar, but unidentifiable. “Who’s there?” He growled, pausing amidst the forest, feet sinking in the mist levitating above the ground.

“Come on, you recognize me, don’t you?” A silhouette emerged from the darkness. Only the outline of whoever was standing there was on show. It was as if they didn’t want to be seen. “You’ve forgotten me already? Come on, Lex. How rude of you.” The voice speaking was low and deep.
“Well, if you showed yourself, maybe I would recognize you. Moron.”
“I see your attitude still hasn’t changed, eh?”
“Who the heck are you? Stop being a coward and show yourself.”
“Fine, fine. If you insist.”

He strolled out of the shadows. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Hah, thanks for the warm welcome.” He muttered, whole body now out of the shadows.
“Dayle, what do you want?” Lex asked, not wanting to see him.
“Oi, that’s no way to treat your old pal.”
“Do you want something, Dayle? You never speak like that, and we’re not pals. I’m trying to do my job, so piss off out of my way.”
“Can you just hear me out?”

 “I don’t think I need to.”
“I think you do.” Dayle persisted. As Lex began to walk off, the opposite way of where Dayle was standing, he spun around after he stated his next line. “It’s about Akuma.”
“What do you mean?” Lex interrogated, now suddenly interested.
“He wants to see you again. To make sure that you killed ‘that one.’ Whatever that meant.”
“Shit!” Lex pegged it. Before Dayle could even step forward to chase after him or stop him, he was out of sight, hidden by the growing mist.

“Okay, I need to go back to Anouke. I need to end this bullshit,” Lex began talking to himself, running through the opaque forest. There was the familiar sight. The flash of white. “Now who are you? You look like Anouke, but how am I supposed to know? My senses are a mess round here.” He was right. Anouke appeared from within the trees. “Found you.”
“Yup, guess you did.”
“Does that mean our game of hide and seek is over, hm?”
“I suppose so,” Lex sighed. “I’ll follow you back.”

“No, you won’t.” He grabbed a hold of Lex’s wrist and dragged him along the obscurity of the darkening forest. The air was esoteric. Different. Almost new. It was calming.
“The air feels nice,” Lex whispered, inhaling the clear oxygen, feeling a sense of calmness and safety. The left corner of his mouth tilted upwards. “Yeah, it does,” Anouke agreed.
“I have to say, Lex… You’ve definitely changed, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Whatever.” He muttered and mustered up the courage to take a peek at his wings.

Anouke was right. He was changing, maybe not his attitude when speaking, but he was still becoming different. Dayle just hadn’t spoke to me for long enough, nor saw me properly, to notice. For the worst or for the best, Lex still had to wait to find out. The scales were turning white – they were already nearly half way up. This is troublesome. Lex thought to himself, knowing that if he didn’t hurry up and finish his job, the worst was still to come.

So, what was holding him back?

He clenched his left fist, the right one still in Anoukes grasp. They reached the entrance of the cabin; the lights were still on, pouring out of the windows. “I don’t like it when you run away from me, Lex. It makes me feel insecure.”
“Sor--” He paused. Was I about to apologize?! “How so?” He said instead, tilting his head to the side and up.
“Pfft,” Anouke sniggered.
“What’re you laughing at!?”
“Er, nothing. Don’t mind me.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to repent, don’t bother me.” 

“Yeah, sure – you can use my bedroom if you want. I know you can’t escape from there for one, and you won’t be interrupted. It’s almost like it’s soundproof, depending on how close somebody gets to it.”
“Good to know,” he exclaimed, walking off to his room. “Finally, some alone time,” he whispered to himself, falling back on Anoukes bed. “What am I really doing?” He asked himself.

Why don’t I want to hurt him? Or I do… But I can’t. It feels wrong. He took a deep breath in and out, inhaling a sense of his brewing angelic spirit, and beginning to exhale his demonic one. This is worry-some. The Angels Antagonism will all start their hunting next month which is in a few days. They’ll all be after Anouke for the same reason I am. I’m not letting those bastards steal my prize… If they find me with Anouke like this, I’ll be their next biggest target. I may be stronger than them personally, but ‘power comes in numbers’ as they say. And if Dayle or Akuma want to be the ones to fight me – or Anouke – we’ll probably lose. Dayle is just below Akuma strength wise, but I’m smarter. Akuma, however… Just the thought of him coming for me scares me to death. I’m not ready. I need to do this. I can’t face Akuma until I do. No, I just can’t! 

He took a deep breath again; mind a jumble of thoughts of horror and fear. Akuma… You’re not somebody who would forgive, are you? He closed his eyes, clenching the duvet with his fingers in a tight grip, veins popping out like a stem of a thorned rose along his arms, blood rushing through it like water feeding a blooming bud.

Why can’t I do it? Not even the fear of Akuma can drive me to do it. It’s just wrong. The Angels Antagonism… I don’t think I can be a part of it anymore. No, I really can’t.

What’s happening to me!? It hasn’t even been that long from when Anouke out-played me when I tried to kill him, so why am I like this already? He must have done something. He has some kind of absurd power over me, doesn’t he? Tch, that bastard.

Lex left the room to find Anouke sprawled out on the chair which he always sat on, fire no longer crackling in the hearth. The metal fire-poker was there next to the dead fire. He strolled over to Anouke and poked his forehead awkwardly. “Uh… You can sleep in your room if you’d like to now. I’m done using it,” Lex suggested, though Anouke would probably decline since he most likely doubted Lex wouldn’t try to escape.
“Lex, you really didn’t think I was asleep did you?”
“Huh? You were awake!?”
“Haha, yup. Just testing if you’d try to sneak out if you had the chance to. It makes me feel good to know that you didn’t try to escape!” Anouke said to him with the sweetest smile, which was quite adorable, even to Lex. His cheeks flushed a little and his eyes were wide. Whoa… That smile was… “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care how you feel,” he lied, trying to force down the feeling which pooled in his stomach. I don’t want to feel like this. I want to hate him, I want to despise him, I want to kill him. But these are all things I ‘want’ which I cannot receive if I can’t accomplish them myself.