Raven Wolf - 04 - The Wounded - Chapter 05 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1174008, female 1064119, fox 244273, cat 210369, wolf 190599, feline 148059, raccoon 36037, jackal 11671, series 4576, mink 3029, novel 1250, chapter 504, raven wolf 329

Chapter Five

Grey clouds fill the sky as a heavy rain pours down, drenching anyone unfortunate enough to be outside.

Dolly drapes her jacket over her as she tries and keep her and her bag of groceries from getting soaked in the rain, she quickly walking through the parking lot of a store with a paper bag of groceries in her hand, loading them into the back of her car as soon as she reaches it and getting into the driver’s seat to start heading home.

She sighs to herself as she leans back in her seat. “The weather forecast was saying that today would be sunny with clear skies… so where the heck did all this rain come from!?” She shudders from being cold and wet, starting her car and preparing to leave and get home when the rain didn’t matter, there nothing that she could do about the weather after all.

It had been a week now since the assignment to capture the missing targets had begun, this meaning that Dolly’s sick leave was finally over and that she would be returning to work the following day, Dolly very unsure about this, it not going to be easy to continue to hide the fact that she was sheltering one of the targets that they were looking for when she was back in the military again, especially with General Dmitri breathing down her neck, Dolly debating if she should go back at all, but not knowing what she would do or what would happen to her if she didn’t.

She stops her car at a red light, a confused look filling her face when she sees several bewildered spectators braving the wet and cold rain as to stare down at something on the ground, Dolly taking a closer look and recognizing the uniform of the Domestic Military. “What in the…?”

She drives to the side of the road parking her car before getting out and running over to the figure that was laying on the ground in the rain, Dolly sighing once she is closer, recognizing that the soldier on the ground as Chase Lockheart, who had clearly fallen asleep in the middle of whatever it was he had been doing. “Of course…” She shakes her head this unbelievable. “How can he fall asleep in the middle of a rain storm?”

She walks past the onlookers that he had gathered, shooing them off and telling them to mind their own business before kneeling down and placing her hand upon the mink’s back as she begins to shake him awake. “Hey, Lockheart, get up.”

Chase smiles to himself as he mumbles in his sleep. “Aw Dolly, I told you could call me Chase.”

Dolly frowns as she shakes harder. “When were the two of us ever on a first name bases?!”

Chase wakes up, slowly opening his eyes and turning his head toward Dolly, he letting out a yawn as he sits up. “Oh… hi Dolly…” He gasps quickly jumping back from her and correcting what he had said. “I mean Conner! Miss. Conner!”

“Were you having a dream about me?”

“Yes. I mean NO!!”

“You said my name in your sleep.”

“Oh… I did… well… I guess…” He sheepishly looks back to Dolly a little embarrassed. “Nothing bad happened in it I swear.”

Dolly gets back to her feet as she begins to question the sleepy mink. “What are you doing out here?”

Chase also pushes himself back to his feet. “I’m looking for my target of course.” He lets out another yawn. “But I keep falling asleep… I really wish there was a way of fixing this problem.” He puts his hand into his pocket turning it inside out. “At one point someone went and took my money from me when I was sleeping… Quincy is going to make fun of me for that when I get back I know it.”

Dolly seems a little worried about this. “What about your weapon? You still have that don’t you?”

Chase shakes his head no. “Oh don’t worry about that, I never had one to begin with, Captain Mort kinda of suspected that something like this would happen so he suggested that I not take one. Plus my target is the Super Solider, so guns would be completely useless against her anyway.” He pauses for a moment upon realizing something, Chase holding his hand out for the falling rain to hit. “Hey it’s raining… I feel asleep in the rain? Aw that’s got to be a new low for me…”

Chase’s stomach lets out a very loud and hungry growl, Chase groaning to himself as he tries to ignore it. Dolly looking him over a little concerned. “You’re hungry?”

“Yeah, but that’s ok, Super Soldiers like me can go weeks without having to eat and still be just fine.”

Chase’s stomach lets out another growl, Dolly questioning him about this. “Just out of curiosity, how long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

Chase frowns to himself as he thinks back. “I don’t know… I guess since I started out to look for my target about a week ago.”

Dolly is horrified to hear this. “A week!? Chase you’re the one that’s supposed to be finding that other Super Soldier! You can’t go trying to capture her when you haven’t had food to keep you strong and energized.”

Chase lets out a weak laugh. “Honestly Miss. Conner I don’t think that there’s anything that can keep me energized.”

“Well I can’t just leave you like this.” She turns back toward her car motioning for Chase to follow her. “Come on let’s go get you something to eat.”

*******

Shiya lays down on the sofa with a bored expression on his face, he not sure how much he could take of being trapped inside like this for so long, Shiya much used to not being confined to such a small area and going about as he and where he pleased.

He looks out to the balcony of Dolly’s apartment, the rain outside falling down hard. It felt like forever since Shiya had last had a breath of real fresh air, and the smell of rain as it falls, well that was always such a nice and refreshing smell.

Shiya pauses for a moment as he thinks hits situation over. Domestics were rather unfound of wet and dreary weather, so there was probably hardly anyone outside, perhaps he could go on the balcony for just a moment and get a few long overdue breaths of fresh air. He gets up, walking over to the window and pushing the curtains away ever so slightly so that he could take a peek outside. The streets looked completely bare, with no one in sight just like he had guessed them to be.

He sighs to himself, taking his hand from the window and stepping back, even though it was tempting he couldn’t endanger Dolly by making such a foolish mistake, she after all risking a lot to keep him hidden. He turns away from the window making his way back to the television.

*******

Fitz stays to the rooftops, hidden out of sight as he keeps his eyes on Captain Mort and the black cat that followed behind him, for almost a week now these two had been searching the city while looking for some kind of computer hacker, with absolutely no results yet.

Fitz sighs to himself this day not only looking to be just as uneventful as the day before, but leaving him cold and soaking wet. “Boy this Dmitri guy is working everyone like dogs… ever since he came into the picture everyone’s be constantly out looking for targets even on days like this. I’m hardly getting any sleep at all trying to keep an eye on Mort.”

He sighs to himself, though Dmitri was the new General and it would be more sensible to follow him now he was extremely illusive, and for some reason Fitz could never find him, even if he did happen to catch sight of him he would just mysteriously vanish from sight, it was like he was a ghost or something, Fitz having to tag along after the next best thing.

He shudders as a chilling wind blows past him, Fitz taking his eyes off of his targets and paying attention to the rooftops, a figure on the buildings across from him catching his attention. “It’s that fox again…”

He quickly ducks down hoping not to be seen, it looking as if the fox had not caught sight of him yet. Every day since their first encounter Fitz was constantly running into this guy, Fitz though always doing his best to keep from being spotted by him, this of course not always going smoothly and resulting in the fox driving him off. “I guess he’s still keeping an eye on Mort then…”

He slinks along the rooftop, being more careful than ever to stay out of sight, it always turning out badly for him whenever he was spotted by this person, the fox not at all taking kindly to having to share his prey.

Vaan lets out a heavy sigh as he looks back over to Captain Mort. “This is impossible! The hacker I’m looking for is hardly showing any activity at all… she must know that a task force has been sent after her and is laying low, as long as she’s doing that we’ll never be able to find her.”

Mort looks back to Vaan, he in the middle of speaking with several inhabitants of the city. “Something will eventually turn up.” He walks back to him beginning to explain. “No one I’ve spoken to has ever seen a girl even remotely close to fitting the description I’ve been giving them, but some of them do mention catching sight of a young girl that would dress so heavily in clothes they could never make out what she looked like. Lumia Masters knows that her appearance is bound to stand out, so this mysterious little girl that seems so shy about her appearance may just be who’s we’re looking for.”

Vaan nods his head that making sense. “Anywhere in particular where these sightings are more common?”

“So far I’ve only encountered these rumours on the East side of the city, where we are right now.”

“Well, that’s the closest thing we’ve had to any kind of a lead all week. Too bad it’s so vague. I wonder if the others are having any better luck than me.”

Fitz continues to follow the two along the rooftops, his pursuit stopped when the fox that had also been tailing the two steps in his path. Fitz lets out a groan as he rolls his eyes. “Great not you again.”

The fox nods his head while crossing his arms. “Yes, me again. How many times does this make it now? And you still haven’t learned.”

Fitz gives him a weak smile. “I’m a little bit of a slow learner when it comes to some things.” He looks past him toward the two targets that he was trying to follow. “Now if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”

The fox places a hand on his shoulder stopping him for going anywhere. “You really have some nerve you know.”

Fitz lets out an annoyed laugh at the accusation. “I have nerve. No my friend, that would be you. You’re the one that thinks you can just chase me away when I was here first.”

“You have no idea of just what you’re getting yourself into, believe me, you don’t want me as your enemy.”

“What? We’re not enemies already?”

The fox lets out a low laugh. “No, no, no, all of our little encounters so far have been me being nice to you.”

Fitz frowns at him. “Yesterday you threw me off a building.”

The fox nods his head, not denying that. “Yes, that was me being nice, now just imagine if you can what I would have done to you if we were enemies.”

Fitz slowly nods his head. “Yeah… gotcha… but you know, I’m just gonna do the same thing I did the last time you threatened me. Not care and ignore you.”

The fox is about to say something back, he getting interrupted when a phone in the pocket of his jacket begins to vibrate from him getting a call. Fitz laughing for a moment as makes a motion towards the pocket the fox kept his phone in. “Oh don’t mind me, by all means answer it.”

The fox frowns at him. “Don’t think that I won’t catch up with you!” He turns, walking away as Fitz takes off following after his targets, the fox reaching into his pocket and taking out the phone to answer. “Not right now love, you know that I’m in the middle of something…” He pauses to listen the voice on the other end, a concerned look now filling his face. “You’re where? No, no, that’s not good at all!! You weren’t supposed to come here I told you that! Trust me you do not want to be here! This city is a hot spot for Super Soldiers and Sources, you do NOT want to get mixed up in this!”

Fitz listens in on the conversation, keeping quiet and out of sight, choosing to stay behind and spy on this fox instead of continuing to spy on Mort and Berights.

The fox continues his conversation not realizing that he was being watched. “-yes of course dear, I understand but-… no I just-… yeah but-… You don’t get how bad it is!! I- …” A mix of confusion and surprise fills his face. “You found Shiya…? How could you have possibly- everyone in the city is looking for him right now! So how in the world did you manage to find him?”

Fitz holds his breath, this certainly not information that he would want to miss out on, the fox continuing with his conversation. “Well are you sure it was him you saw? I mean you’ve never seen him before in your life so-… alright, alright, fine I don’t doubt you I just think it’s a little bit unlikely. So where did you see him then?” A perplexed look fills his face. “Conner? What would he would be doing at Conner’s place? She’s one of the soldiers on the task force specifically made to search for him, she would have been one of the first to bring him in.”

He sighs to himself as the voice on the other end continues. “Alright then, I’ll go check it out, but after I’m done this! …Of course… yes… I love you too.” He hangs up the phone putting it back in his pocket before quickly making his across the roofs, moving in the direction Mort had gone in returning to following him.

Fitz smiles to himself as he watches him go, he already checking his phone for Dolly Conner’s address. “Alright then, you can go ahead and keep Mort to yourself friend. If your girlfriend was right then I already have the information I’m looking for.”

*******

Chase sits across from Dolly as he eats the meal that she had bought for him as well as a coffee to help keep him awake, Dolly watching him with a smile as he quickly eats his food, he having much less manners about it than Zack did, who seemed overly tidy when eating no matter how hungry he was. “Does that help you feel better any?”

Chase looks back to her swallowing his food before answering her. “Plenty better! It feels like it’s been forever since I last ate something.”

“Well… it has been a week…” She sighs to herself, resting her head in her hand as she begins to look around the small dinner the two of them are in. “You know… I used to come here with my brother every once and a while… a really long time ago.”

Chase stares at her, at upset look filling Dolly’s face. “If I would have known he would have just one day go missing I would have spent more time with him… even though I had come here with my brother the night before his kidnapping it had been five years since I had even talked to him. What kind of siblings don’t bother to talk to each other for five years?”

Chase looks to the side. “The busy kind? I duno… it’s not like you didn’t care about him, I mean you did a lot to try and get him back right?” He looks back to Dolly his fork still in his mouth as he talked. “Boy I wish I had the kind of drive you did, at least you have a reason for being in the military, I’m just there because well… there’s really nowhere else for someone like me to go.”

Dolly looks back to Chase. “Nowhere for you to go?”

Chase nods his head. “Yeah… I mean what Dmitri said about us was right, we’re weapons created by the military, for military use, there’s no other reason for our existence.” He sighs to himself. “What else could we do? Where else could we possibly go? I’m starting to think that Dmitri is right… I mean if a weapon can’t do what it was designed to do then what’s the point to having it?”

Dolly stares at him, in kind of sad to hear him say that. “You know… you may have been made with the intent of being a weapon, but you’re more than just that. You all have souls don’t you? Personalities and hearts as well, there’s a lot more to you then just being a weapon.”

“You really think so?”

Dolly nods her head yes. “Of course I do.”

Chase stares back at Dolly. “Gee… I don’t see how the others dislike you so much… you’re just so nice…” He takes a big gulp from his coffee before continuing. “Especially General Dmitri, I mean he never even met you before and he really seems to hate you.”

Dolly sighs to herself, her encounter with General Dmitri one that would bug her, the way he looked at her made her uncomfortable, and the accusations he made toward her, it was like he somehow knew exactly what it was she was hiding, but that was impossible.

Chase notices the uncomfortable look that Dolly now has on her face. “I didn’t say something wrong did I?”

Dolly shakes her head. “No not at all.”

Chase finishes the last of his food and coffee, he getting back up to his feet. “Well, I should get back to work then! Thanks for the meal Miss. Conner!”

“It was my pleasure. We should do this again sometime.”

Chase grins stupidly to himself, the idea certainly one that he liked, he looking back to Dolly while responding to her. “That would be great.” He lets out a gasp when he backs into a waitress carrying a tray of drinks, causing her to lose her balance, the drinks she was holding toppling over onto Chase, covering his fur and clothes in milkshakes.

The waitress starts to apologize while Dolly gets up making her way over to Chase. “Are you kidding me?”

Chase looks down at his uniform. “I guess that I’m lucky it’s raining… maybe it can wash this all off.”

Dolly looks Chase over. “You know what, I’m going to take you to my house to clean up. You’ve been out looking for a week without eating, changing your clothes and sleeping outside in the rain, that just can’t be healthy for you. You really look like you could use a bath, and though he’s not here to do a side by side comparison I’d say you’re about the same size as Magellan, I still have several uniforms of his at home, you can just borrow one of them.” She stops talking, immediately realizing what she was saying, Dolly having been talking and offering to help without thinking, Shiya still hiding out in her apartment.

Chase looks back to Dolly. “Really? That would be great if you could do that.”

Dolly nervously looks back to Chase, she not wanting to just suddenly say no to him after offering, he might suspect that something was up. “Oh, yes of course no problem… just… try your best to not get my car dirty alright…?” She looks to the side, Shiya having managed to keep himself from being found when the military had searched through her house when he had first gone missing, he very possibly of doing that just as easily again.

*******

Fitz jumps down to the balcony of Dolly Conner’s apartment, splashing himself from a puddle of water that had formed on balcony, it though not really bothering him much as he was already completely soaked through from standing around in the rain all day.

He tries to look inside of the apartment but is unable to see anything through the drawn curtains, Fitz reaching into his pocket and pulling out the tools he would need to pick the lock to the balcony’s door. “I wonder if he really is here…” He unlocks the door, slowly opening it and looking inside, the apartment quiet and empty.

He enters and begins looking over his surroundings while ringing the water out of his usually fluffy tail. “This rain is making me look like a rat…” He continues to spy over his surroundings, Dolly’s home clean and tidy, there no sign that anyone was home. “Lucky enough for me, Miss. Conner seems to have stepped out.” He silently searches through her house for any signs of the guest Dolly was suspected to have. He not able to really spot any signs that someone else might be living here off hand.

He begins to make his way down the hall, opening the door to Dolly’s bedroom and entering. Her bed made and room tidy just as the rest of the house. He walks over to the closet looking inside, uniforms and button up shirts all he could find inside. He now looking under the bed, finding nothing there either. He frowns while continuing his search, making a note about his surroundings. “I wonder if I got the address right… it doesn’t look like a girl lives here at all. No shoes, dresses, pretty clothes… skin or fur products.” He opens the top drawer to a dresser, letting out a sigh as he closes it. “Not even girl’s underwear, I’ve gotta be in the wrong place.”

He pauses when he spots a photo on the dresser, he picking it up and looking it over, the figures in it twins, with one of them looking exactly like the female soldier that he had run into at the museum. “Huh… I guess I was wrong… this is her place…”

He puts the framed photo back down as he continues to make his way through the house, there not many more places to look. He opens the door to the bathroom, that really the last room in the small apartment, a perplexed look filling his face when he finds someone asleep in the bathtub. “Well I’ll be…” He walks up to the tube kneeling down next to it and looking inside, his white fur and features exactly the same he had seen on the long gone inhabitants of the Eden of North. “This must be him… he really is a snow wolf.” He looks him over once more, alongside the fact that he was a snow wolf, with all others being long long extinct, his leg had a splint on it so help it heal from being broken, Shiya having been said to be suffering from a broken leg in the military reports. There no doubt that this was him.

Fitz reaches into the tub placing his hand on Shiya and gently shaking him awake. “Hey, hey wake up.”

Shiya’s eyes begin to open, he turning toward the figure that was shaking him awake, an unfamiliar face coming into focus. Shiya gasping as he quickly sits up lifting his arm and holding it up to Fitz, the air between them rippling for a moment as a freezing cold blast of air hits Fitz, sending him flying back out of the bathroom, down the hall, and crashing into the living room.

Fitz groans to himself as he pushes himself up. “Ow…” He holds the back of his head having hit it on something why being sent flying and tumbling back through the apartment, he looking back toward Shiya with an annoyed expression on his face. “Really? OW!!” He brings his hand back in front of him checking for blood, thankfully not spotting any. “Why would do that. Just… OW!!”

Shiya gets out of the bathtub walking down the hall toward Fitz, his leg still carrying a limp to it though having healed well so far. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Fitz pushes himself back to his feet, quickly raising his hands in front of him to show Shiya that he didn’t have anything capable of harming him. “Hey come on, just relax for a moment will you. I’m not a bad guy alright, geeze…” He limps over to the sofa to sit down, his body sore. “I’m a friend of Eve and Tahki alright!”

Shiya stares at him. “You know Eve and Tahki?”

Fitz nods his head. “Yeah, Eve is the daughter of my mentor, and Tahki is the Super Solider that she’s stashing in the basement.” He points to Shiya. “You know, they gave me descriptions, and said you were short.” He laughs to himself. “But man, I didn’t expect you to look like a girl, you are absolutely gorgeous you know that? Why I would ask you out in a heartbeat if the situation was different.”

Shiya crosses his arms staring at him with an annoyed frown, Fitz nodding his head and apologizing. “Yeah ok… I get it, no insulting the guy with the super powers. Anyway, we should get out of here before Conner gets back.”

Shiya shakes his head no. “I can’t go anywhere.”

Fitz stares back at him. “Don’t be stubborn you gotta get out of here, I only found out about this place from a conversation I overheard from some snarky fox talking to his girlfriend who apparently spotted you here.” He laughs to himself. “Let me tell you, that chick has that poor guy wrapped around her little finger, I’d feel bad for him if he didn’t annoy me so much.”

Shiya raises an eyebrow. “A snarky fox that’s whipped by his girlfriend?”

Fitz laughs as he nods his head yes while pointing to Shiya. “You put it so much better than I did.”

A serious expression is now on Shiya’s face. “What does he look like?”

Fitz reaches into his pocket for his phone, finding the picture on it that he had taken of him and then handing it over to Shiya. “Looks like that.”

Shiya takes the phone from Fitz, looking the picture over for a moment before looking back to him. “You saw Aither?”

Fitz takes his phone back from him. “Aither? You know him?” Shiya nods his head yes. “Is he a friend of yours or something?”

Shiya shakes his head this very bad. “Oh no… no, no, no, no this is not good at all… we need to leave, we need to leave now.”

Fitz gets up off the sofa that exactly what he wanted. “Good! Good! We’re on the same page then.”

Shiya looks around him, it not that simple. “It’s not that easy, I just cann’t leave without warning Dolly.”

Fitz frowns. “Warning Dolly…? What do you mean?”

Shiya is about to say something but stops when he hears voices, Shiya able to recognize Dolly’s voice as she makes her way down the hall of the building toward her apartment with someone.

Fitz looks to Shiya hearing the voices as well. “Please don’t tell me that’s Conner.”

Shiya motions for him to hide. “She’s not alone.” The two of them quickly make their way through the apartment searching for somewhere to hide, Fitz running over to Dolly’s room and crawling under the bed.

Dolly opens the door to her apartment looking inside and giving the area a quick look over, Shiya not anywhere in sight.

She looks back to Chase before inviting him in. “Just give me a moment will you?”

She enters her home shutting the door behind her as she runs over to the bathroom looking inside to make sure that Shiya was not sleeping in the tub again, everything looking fine. She gives a sigh of relief, she had made sure to talk loudly when making her way down the hall to her apartment so that Shiya might catch on that she was bringing a guest and go into hiding, it looking as if that is what he had done.

Dolly makes her way back to her apartment door opening it and letting Chase inside. “Sorry about that, I just wanted to make sure there was nothing laying around that would embarrass me, like week old food or something.”

Chase walks past Dolly, carrying the bag of groceries that had been in her car over to the counter in the kitchen. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not going to be here very long at all, I’ll be in and out before you know it.”

Dolly nods her head as walks over to a closet in the hallway, opening it and taking out one of Zack’s folded uniforms, walking back to and holding it out for Chase. “Here you are, the bathroom is just down the hall.”

Chase takes the uniform from her. “Thanks a lot Miss. Conner, I really appreciate it.”

“Try not to fall asleep in there alright?”

“I’ll try.”

Chase closes the door of the bathroom behind him, Dolly beginning to search through the house once she hears the water start up. She jumping with a start when Shiya crawls out from the cupboard under the kitchen sink. “Don’t startle me like that!!”

“Sorry.”

“How did you fit under there?”

Shiya frowns, this always a somewhat annoying thing for him to admit. “How do you think? Look at me! I’m short…”

“Oh don’t be so hard on yourself, I’ve seen shorter.”

Shiya looks to the side. “Oh yeah, I see them all the time too, when they’re under twelve years old.” Shiya moves past her looking down the hall in the direction that Chase had come in. “Who’s that? You’re boyfriend?”

“No!! He’s one of the Super Soldiers that you’re trying not to be found by!”

Shiya looks back to Dolly. “What!? Then why would you bring him here!?”

Dolly sighs. “I offered to help him out without thinking about it, by the time I realized it was too late.” She motions for Shiya to keep his voice down. “Just stay low and out of sight alright, he’ll be gone before you know it.”

She looks Shiya over for a moment, he now able to stand upright once more, though it was still in a splint and had some healing to go it was still strong enough for him to begin putting pressure on it. “You’re doing pretty good you know, I wish my body could mend a broken bone as quickly.”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve always healed faster since becoming a source… I’m actually lucky I do with the shaman my tribe has…” He shakes his head, that not important right now. “Listen I’ve kind of got a problem, you see while you were gone someone-”

Dolly’s phone begins to ring interrupting Shiya mid-sentence, Dolly letting out a tired sigh as she walks over to pick it up, there just no end to excitement today. “Dolly Conner speaking… hi Daddy, how are you feeling today? Did you take that medicine like I told you to help you with your cough?”

She lets out a sigh after hearing her father’s response. “Oh come on Daddy it’s just a few little spoonful’s… I know how much you dislike domestic medicines but it will really get rid of your cough before you know it.”

Shiya nervously remains quiet, as important as this was to tell Dolly he wasn’t about to speak up while she was on the phone with her father whom wanted to kill him.

Dolly pauses for a while to hear her father talk, she letting out a sigh as he again went over his reasoning as to why domestic medications were inferior to the natural remedies of his tribe. “Yes Dad… I know… you’ve told me about a hundred times by now… so what did you call for?”

A nervous look fills her face. “Coming over…? When?? Now!?” She looks over to her bathroom, her over protective father’s reaction to finding out that some guy he didn’t know was using her shower not something that would turn out well at all. “Oh Dad I don’t think that now is a very good time…” She looks over to Shiya, also aware that her father was right now very angry with him and had mentioned several times by now that the next time he saw Shiya he would rip him to pieces. “Not a good time at all actually… maybe another day.”

Dolly’s nervousness begins to grow as her father argues back with her. “Yeah… today is my last day before I go back to work…? Yeah… I guess it will be even more difficult to set something up once I’m working again… something to drop off anyway… half way here? Okay… well… then I guess… but you can’t stay long I mean, my house is a complete mess.” She looks around at her clean house. “I’ve just been lazing about relaxing so I never got anything done, it’s just trashed, definitely not visitor friendly right now… yeah… yeah… I guess you could at least drop off whatever it is you want to… ok Daddy… see you soon…”

She hangs up the phone. Shiya speaking up to continue what he had been trying to say. “As I was saying there’s a-”

Dolly holds her hands on her head. “My father’s coming here! What am I going to do?” She quickly tries to think of a solution Dolly turning back to Shiya with the first thing to come to mind. “Help me trash the place! Now!”

Shiya looks reluctant to do something like that, there no way he would feel comfortable making a mess of a house that he was a ‘guest’ in. “I couldn’t possibly…”

Dolly runs past him taking a laundry hamper and beginning to throw her clothes out of it and around the room. “Now Snow!! Put some dirty dishes all over my living room or something.”

“You don’t have any dirty dishes…”

“How could I not have-” She stops upon remembering that she had washed all of the dishes before going to get food, because she had wanted to bring the fresh food back to a clean kitchen. “Well, then make some dirty dishes or something!”

Shiya frowns there more important things to deal with. “There are more important things for you to be worrying about!”

Dolly stares back at Shiya. “Do you want him to kill you?”

Shiya quickly shakes his head not wanting that at all. “No… though I doubt I really have to worry about that, as Yula’s prophecy said that you were the one that would kill me, not your father.”

“Just do as I say or I will make that prophecy come true.”

Shiya growls to himself getting it over as quickly as he could before she could interrupt him again. “There’s someone hiding under your bed!”

Dolly stops talking for a moment as she stares at Shiya. “There… there’s what?”

Shiya tries to explain. “A raccoon, he broke into your house while you were gone looking for me. Apparently Tahki sent him.”

Dolly crosses her arms. “I thought you said you weren’t going to give your location away to anyone.”

Shiya shakes his head. “I didn’t. He overheard my location from someone else that had discovered it, meaning that your father isn’t the only one on his way here. The guy he overheard this information from, his name is Aither, and trust me you do NOT want to encounter him.”

Dolly is confused. “What? Why, who is he?”

Shiya begins to explain as quickly and simply as he could. “Do you remember how I told you how I only know who two of the other six sources are, well Aither is wind, and he is not someone that you want to run into.”

Dolly shakes her head, that not making any sense at all. “Wind… the representative of life and renewal, of the power love? Is someone that I should be afraid of?”

Shiya nods his head yes. “He is being sought after and hunted down just like me, we live in hiding not wanting to be caught. No one has ever been able to find or even catch a glimpse of him, because is an assassin, he kills anyone that knows or might know that he is one of the six sources, and he’s going to do the same to you if we don’t leave now.”

A voice comes from Dolly’s room. “Wow… he’s wasn’t lying when he said he was being nice to me.”

Dolly quickly looks back to her room. “Who was that!?”

Shiya tries to get Dolly to calm down. “That’s the fellow hiding under your bed, I told already remember?”

Dolly shakes her head this a lot to take in. “Ok… so how did this Aither person even find out you were here?”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders. “Apparently his girlfriend is here to, somehow she spotted me and gave the information to him.”

“Water… water is in the city too? She’s not an assassin too is she??”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders really unsure. “I don’t know I’ve never met her.”

“Why the heck are all the sources gathering here!?”

A sheepish look fills Shiya’s face. “Well… they probably found out that military is close to capturing me, so they’ve come to stop that from happening… and if by chance I do get caught… they’re gathering, so that they can attack.”

Dolly nods her head. “Ok, ok you’ve made your point. We’ve got to get out of here, but I can’t leave yet, my father’s coming, and Chase is still here. I can’t just leave them and run without making sure they’re long gone from this place first!”

Shiya shakes his head. “Well how do you intend to do that? Who knows when he’s going to show up?”

Dolly thinks to herself. “Alright, the house needs to be a mess, so that I have a reason to keep dad from staying here without sounding suspicious.

Shiya nods his head. “Right…” He makes his way over to the kitchen, taking the dishes out of the cupboards and placing them around the counter top and in the sink. He then taking cups and filling them with various amounts of water before taking them to several surfaces around Dolly’s apartment and leaving them there.

Within several minuets Dolly and Shiya are able to make Dolly’s apartment a complete mess, Shiya shaking his head as he glances over toward Dolly. “You are really going to regret doing this.”

“An assassin is headed toward my house! Cleaning up later is the least of my worries right now!”

The door to the bathroom opens, Shiya quickly dashing out of sight and hiding himself as Chase walks out, he fixing the cuffs on his uniform while making his way down the hall. “Thanks again for letting me-”

He stops talking when he sees the chaotic mess that Dolly’s house is in, it having not been that way at all before he had taken his shower. “Uhhh… what happened here…?”

Dolly glances over her house. “Oh, I was looking for my cellphone, you know how it is, you forget where you put something and then you go absolutely nuts trying to find it.”

Chase slowly nods his head. “Well… I guess…”

Dolly quickly places her hands upon Chase’s shoulders as she pushes him toward the door of her apartment. “It was great having you over but you need to go now.”

Chase is confused as to why Dolly seemed to be in such a rush to get rid of him. “Did I do something wrong?”

There is a heavy knock on the door, Dolly cringing as she stops pushing Chase along. “Oh great…” She runs over to the door looking through the peephole. “One of the neighbours must have recognized him and let him into the apartment again… I swear half my issues would never turn out this badly if they would only let me buzz him in!!”

Chase is growing more confused by the second. “Buzz who in?”

Dolly grabs onto Chase’s arm, pulling him toward the closet in the front entrance, she whispering him instructions. “You stay here! Don’t say a thing, don’t make a sound!! If Dad finds you here he is going to freak out alright!!”

She opens the closet shoving him inside before he could protest, shutting it closed and hiding him from sight before looking back toward the front door that her father was behind.

Chase lets out a sigh, the closet dark with hardly any light peeping through it. “Okay… sure… right.”

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Raven Wolf - 04 - The Wounded - Chapter 05

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