Lee
Dreaming always felt like a swirling whirlpool of memories for Lee. But he could never tell if it was his, or that thing’s. That demon that lurks inside of him. It calls itself the Demon Lord, but he never bothered to ask it’s name. Ever since he could remember, he had been cursed with it’s soul. It’s soul always attached to him, like a parasite with no way to remove it. It was a monster, always coming out when he was the angriest, the most annoyed, or felt the smallest amount of destruction and chaos reigning in his heart. When he slept, he saw memories of it’s past life. But it was always angry, always in a rage. Slaughtering and killing things. Things he’d never seen before. Were they demons? Were they just monsters? Or were they something else? Regardless of that, life held no meaning for the thing. Yet, tonight was different. And he didn’t know if it was because of her. They were laying on a bed in an old style Engawa that came from a story book in Japan. The demon had laid there, peacefully with a girl who looked eerily like Monique.
Demon: You can’t remember, can you?
Monique-look-alike: I’m sorry.
Their voices echoed across his head. The demon comforted her, gently combing her hair through his fingers.
Demon: It’s alright, darling. It’s alright.
Was he in love before? Who were they, and why did that girl look like Monique? Before he could reach out to that pure memory, it vanished quickly. Was it something that it didn’t want him to know? Or was it a painful memory? Someone it missed dearly. Someone whom it couldn’t find, couldn’t see.
He felt his consciousness pulled to another memory. The day the house burned down. The day he and his sister became orphans. The house was set aflame, fires refusing to be brought down by the slightest of wind or rain. Like it was living, breathing, consuming. He reached out to Karin, surrounded by flames that went on roaring…but when he could finally see his hands, monstrous claws came to view. Blood soaked everywhere. Flesh bits on the claw’s tips. His parents ripped apart and covered in claw marks. Was this his doing? What had happened? Everything was so picture perfect.
Monique
A flurry of songbirds filled up the morning sky. The sun was so bright outside, how could it not wake her and pull her out of her empty dreams? She stretched her muscles and let out a huge yawn. It dawned on her that Lee had slept peacefully next to her. Literally with just about two inches away. Fingertips that she knew deep down in her goddamned soul were touching hers. If any telepath could hear her know, they’d hear a bellowing scream. That soon quieted down as she saw his nerve-wracking state. She nudged him a bit, slowly trying to wake him up.
Monique: Hey, Lee…y-you okay?
Though his eyelids were closed, she could see his eyes darting left and right. Sweat droplets appeared faster than ever. His entire bodied trembled. What was he so scared of? She took to violently shaking him. She didn’t know what else to do.
Monique: LEE! WAKE UP.
His eyelids opened wide, darting around. For a glimmer of a moment, she saw his panic. But only for a moment. As soon as he saw her face, a rush of calm came along.
Lee: Good…good morning?
Monique: I don’t know, is it a good morning? You looked like you were having some bad nightmares.
Lee: Just one long stream of it.
He got up and stretched out his legs. How could he so easily recollect himself? Was that his magical power?
Lee: We should start heading out, see where we’re at. Hopefully, civilization isn’t that far.
She tried handing his jacket back, but he refused.
Lee: Looks like you’ll need it more than I do.
He gave it back to her, dressing her up in his thick black jacket then zipping it up then putting the hood up for her.
Lee: Besides, if we run into anyone, I really don’t wanna stop to tell make up some story.
Monique: F-fair enough.
They left the cave and began to walk towards a destination. She had hoped he knew what he was doing.
Lee
He had no clue where the fuck he was going. He was praying his instincts were guiding him to somewhere. He kept walking with a purpose, a fake-ass purpose as to not alarm nor worry Monique. Deep down inside, he honestly wanted to look cool in front of her. Though, he couldn’t understand why. As soon as a dirt path was found, perhaps a good two hours later, he silently celebrated. Thank you, blind instincts.
Monique: You had no idea where we were going.
FUCK
Lee: I-I totally had every idea.
Monique: What a bad liar.
Lee: Nooo! I knew where I was going, now let’s go find a sign post.
They quietly followed the beaten path, looking here and there for a sign. A literal sign. Lee shoved in her hand whatever berries he knew was edible to keep their energy slightly up. He had noticed Monique was fidgeting around.
Lee: Anything you wanna talk about, Monique Obviously?
Monique: Well, I-It’s more like what you want to talk about…you looked terrified back there so I was worried about you.
Lee: Yeah, you would be too if you dreamt about your past.
Monique: Do you want to talk about it? I mean you don’t have to.
Lee: It’s only fair. You showed your scars, time to talk about mine
Monique worriedly looked at her arms but quickly realized he wasn’t talking about the physical kind.
Lee: I guess you could say, I grew up in a picture-perfect family. With all the fixings you know. Oh wait, sorry, bit insensitive.
Monique: It’s fine.
Lee: Well, it’s like this: Dad got famously rich. Mom was super sick. But none of the latter mattered. Everyone wanted to know how we were so on the outside, we were the perfect family. Son always did as he told. Daughter was always the perfect doll. We were always just oh so perfect. Then…mom died. And everything was suffocating. Strained. Like he didn’t really care he lost the love of his life. Like he only cared enough that we looked good, acted good. Like nothing phased us. So, dad really wanted both me and my sis to be the best at everything. For mom. Always using that same old fucking excuse. Get perfect grades. Score the perfect goal. Play the perfect instrument. Get the perfect awards. Be the perfect, PERFECT. Because if you're anything LESS, you'll be disappointing mom. God he always loved using that.
He felt her worried looks as he continued talking, keeping his gaze at the sky.
Lee: But…I guess I just wasn’t cut out for it. I snapped one day. Started a fight. Continued to start more. Can’t tell you honestly how many fights I got into during those days, too many to count at this point. Then there were the drugs. Mostly weed. I think? I started stealing things too. Just for the shits and giggles not cause I needed them or anything. I was maybe 15 when dad wanted me to get back in line. But what line was there to return to? So, I just left. But my sis? Poor Karin stayed behind.
Monique: How far apart in age are you two?
Lee: ‘Bout 2 and half years. She suffered more than I did. I was 9 going on 10 by the time Mom kicked the bucket. I had a good amount of time with her, knew she was always actually trying to look out for us and be there for us unlike dad. But she lost her at such a young age that she had to grow up without mom and essentially be the replacement. She looked so much like our mother it was uncanny. And I know deep down, to this day, dad knew that. Abused it even. Cause…she’s too nice. She couldn’t leave him no matter how many times I begged her to come with me. She wanted to stay at that god forsaken house. Be little miss perfect. Just so dad can smile again.
He started kicking a pine cone that unfortunately came our way. The roads started going downhill, he carefully navigated as he continued on.
Lee: Then one day, on her 16th birthday, she got the one wish she ever asked of him. A family dinner. Just the three of us. However, dad couldn’t follow all the way through. He just had to invite step-momma-Cruella. Think he married her as soon as I left. Karin tried so hard to not talk shit about her, but the moment I met her, I knew she just didn’t care about anyone but herself. I was invited unknowing how bad it was going to be. It was under the pretense my dad was going to apologize for how bad things had been between us. How he wanted us to be a family again. Little to my knowledge it was just to show off that he was happier being with someone who just wanted his money. The night went on, things got worse. Fights erupted between the two of us. Cruella just sat there and laughed at it all while swirling her fine glass of wine. She called me pathetic, useless. Said I wasn’t even worth the effort for apologies or anything in that matter. Like I hadn’t already known that. She acted like I didn’t even know that I fucking thought that!
He took a breather. Calmed his nerves that seemed to spike up further.
Lee: But how can you be enough for someone like Him? How can you even fathom being better than what he wanted you to be? We all have our limits. Even if we try so hard to go above and beyond them, we’ll hit the ceiling eventually.
Monique: How did Karin feel throughout that entire fight?
He stopped in his tracks. She did the same. He stared at her with the saddest of smiles. Eyes hollow. As if all the sorrow were drained away.
Lee: I had always wondered why she remained so calm. She just smiled. Sat there, perfectly like a doll. But little did I know that the moment Cruella said one bad thing about our mother…how little did I know that was when she snapped. Flames suddenly exploded from all around her. A flash of brilliant light shined hella bright and I blacked out. When I came to it, I reached out for Karin, her body was covered in so much fire, yet she wasn’t burning from it at all. It was as if the flames were hugging her, comforting her from her rage. And as I reached out, I saw inhuman claws covered in bits of flesh and blood. The wretched stench of iron finally hit me. I then saw what I had done. I tore them apart. Turned them into confetti. That was the day we both heard it. The screeching noises. The feelings of the entire world rejecting you as a whole. And yet, that didn’t matter to us as much as knowing we had to bolt out of there. We were the survivors. We knew deep down inside the blame was going to be put on us, so we ran. What was it that made us do that? Was it the hatred that stewed all of our lives? Was it the rage that festered in our hearts? None of us knew till they showed up.
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He turned quickly to continue the walk. He knew if he stayed in that position he’d start to break into tears. Remember any of that was just so difficult. Mostly because the blame he gives to himself. The fact that he believes any of it happened at all because he was never there for his sister. He ran away. She stayed…why wouldn’t he think any other way?
Monique: They?
Lee: You’ll get properly introduced to them soon enough. Alexis, Terra, Danny, Ben, and Ken. All five of them are actually natives to the world we’re going to be at one day. Hopefully by the end of the day. They came to get us on a rainy day. It didn’t take too much to convince Karin but man, I was in straight up denial. I guess they had to send five of them to keep me in check. See, Karin and I ended up finding out we were cursed. Cursed with beings that didn’t live on our world. They’re still trying to figure out how a sweet, innocent kid got stuck with the wraith of a Phoenix King and how I got stuck with the rage of a Demon Lord. It’s still a mystery.
Monique: What would happen if you didn’t comply…like if you didn’t go with them?
Lee: Elimination. It’s extraction or elimination. And we mostly want the former.
Monique: I-is there hope for being able to live your life in another world?Lee: For the vast majority of people, yeah. Some of us just get stuck in one singular place but it ain’t so bad.
Monique: I assume you didn’t put up much resistance.
Lee: Right you are, Miss Obviously. Right you are. I couldn’t bear to abandon Karin again. So regardless of my beliefs, I took their offer and we both left our world behind. The nice thing about it, all of our troubles stayed behind too.
Monique
They reached a roaring waterfall with a rainbow producing midway. As they passed it by, she stopped for a moment. Words escaped her. Was this the part of the conversation where it was alright to be silent? Being trapped inside a company filled with maniacs left her socially awkward. She decided to focus on something else, like the beauty nature had to offer. Lee kept on walking as she stood there distracted. She overheard voices of passerby’s and began to lose her composure. Hands reached out to her, intertwining with hers.
Lee: Beautiful, isn’t it?
Monique: Y-yeah
Why was it that every time he was near, all of her insecurities, her fears, seemed to melt away? How magical is this person anyway?
Random person: The Nevada Falls is beautiful, isn’t it?
Lee: It sure is. Its quite gorgeous.
Random person: One of the best Nature has to offer to us. You should check out the rest of what Yosemite has to offer.
Lee: Where can I find a map to it all? Lost mine way back in the trail unfortunately.
The random person gave Lee his map claiming he no longer needed it. He thanked him and lead Monique along the path, continuing to deescalate. As they walked past the many people who came to visit as the day dragged onto past noon, she suddenly remembered the last time someone held her hand. But it wasn’t like this at all. The way they held her hand were undeniably different. It was so distinct. He held hers to keep her from escaping. To keep an eye on her. Always acting like Big Brother, making sure she followed the path all along. But Lee? He held onto her for her safety. As if he cared for her well being. He hid her from others so her old “family” couldn’t find her. He held onto her to ensure he kept up his part of the bargain. And she knew, she wanted to believe it was so much more than that. She didn’t believe in a knight in shining armor or any clichéd fairy tale moment, but she did believe in him.
As they reached the end of the trail, they came across the entrance where people waited for a shuttle bus. She looked around the area, trying her hardest to find an area where there wasn’t crowds of people. As soon as she found an opening, she became the leader. However, socializing was not her strong suit, so rather than feeling like she was leading him somewhere, she was dragging him instead.
Lee: Uhh, where we going??
She didn’t answer. She kept marching towards the empty scenery. She felt his hands grab onto her tighter, like the sweat between them was going to cause his to slip off. And as she got to where she needed to be, a magical circle formed in front of them. The circle was layered, covered in runes and ancient drawings. A light swirled around the outlines of the circle.
Monique: Where to?
Lee: S-some place called San Francisco…d-do you need to know which direction?
Monique: No, just a location. Hold on tight.
They stepped through the circle. It was like stepping through a doorway where they appeared in an empty alleyway near buildings with Chinese lanterns.
Lee: Wh-where are we??
Monique: Chinatown, San Francisco.
Lee: And how are you sure about that?
Monique: Being on the run does come with some perks.
As she walked towards the streets filled with busy people, she lost her footing. Lee caught her as she was about to fall.
Lee: You okay?
Monique: That place we were at must’ve been farther than I thought.
Lee: Maybe you should sit down a while.
Monique: It’s fine. I’m used to this.
He pulled her closer.
Lee: Well I’m not. It’s not going the end of the world if you take a breather.
Monique: I said I’m fine!
She pushed him away.
Monique: L-let’s just find your friends…Lead the way.
Lee
He retained his frustrations for the time being. He knew it’d be bad to start an argument in the middle of an empty alleyway near busy streets. Not to mention they were just two weird young adults that could start a yelling match which might draw more attention to themselves. And he knew that’s not what she wanted. He was trying really hard to look out for her best interest despite the minor setbacks.
Lee: Fine
He led on, swallowing down his anger. But holding up his pride.
Lee: Just don’t come crying to me when you faint
You fucking idiot. Just keep your fucking mouth shut he thought to himself as he began to walk towards the busy streets.
Monique: I’m not that weak.
Lee: It’s not about being weak! It’s about knowing your limits and not going over it.
Monique: I don’t really need someone I just met telling me what I can or can’t do.
He turned to her and saw a flicker of flame come and go.
Lee: I’m not trying to tell you what you can or can’t do, I’m just worried about you and your well being. I get you’re used to this but if you over-exhaust yourself you could put yourself in danger and you might just keel over from it.
Monique: Look! I Don’t need you to be worried about me and I’ve already tried dying a million of times and it just doesn’t work so just stop and let’s just go find your friends.
Lee: What? What are you talking about? Do you still not trust me??
Dude if you can just shut up for five seconds, swallow your pride for a fuckin minute...
Monique: Dude! I just met you. And yeah, trust issues just don’t magically disappear over a single promise or even just because of your good looks!
Fucking use your head for one minute here man! Of course she wouldn’t just trust you imme— wait...she thinks I’m good looking??
He sees her pausing and turning her attention to the on lookers. He notices them too. It feels like they were a couple in a middle of a lover’s quarrel and have now made it everyone’s business.
Monique: Look…I-I’m just a broken person.
She takes another moment to pause. A sad realization came rushing in.
Monique: I’m a broken person with missing pieces. What was I even thinking? A place for me to belong? Somewhere to feel like I’m always home? Why bother? What’s possibly out there that would have me? They probably don’t. No one does. No one wants me. I’m a fucking useless pathetic waste of matter so why bother with me anyways?
She backed away. He tried to get closer to her, but she just kept pushing away. Please, please don’t go. I’m sorry. His thoughts couldn’t mount out to words. I didn’t lie to you. You matter. You do.
Monique: Just go find your friends. You don’t need me anyway.
She sprinted off in the opposite direction, pushing away the crowds of people who were observing their quarrel. Pushing away the very friends he was supposed to meet anyways.
Alexis: Oh shit dude, right on time!
He called out to her.
Lee: Wait up!
Alexis: Uhh, we miss something?
Lee: I couldn’t swallow my fucking pride for five fucking minutes and we got into an argument and now she’s—
Danny: Well, we know she’s gone so what now?
Alexis: It would be wise to chase after her.
Lee: So we don’t have the fucking time to be standing her chit chatting. She’s going to get away.
Karin pulled Lee to the side and gave him his belongings as well as the stuff Monique had left back at the villa. She then walked up to Danny and gave him her baggage, taking only her communicator with her.
Karin: I’ll go talk to her. Rendezvous at the original point, okay?
Alexis: Think you can catch up to her?
Karin: I can give it a try. Just catch Lee up with the rest. We’ll need to leave soon too. Celeritas!
As she smiles, a golden light emerges from her feet. In a flash, she had bolted into, presumably, the same direction where Monique took off. Lee tried following as well but was soon stopped by his remaining friends. As they started to converse with failed attempts at suggesting where to rest, Lee just stared at the area both Karin and Monique ran off too. He wondered if he could have said anything to keep her here. If he could have done anything to feel like she could trust him. She’s right. God…she’s right. How could she trust me? I’m just some guy she met. Someone who showed her an ounce of kindness and she’s probably had plenty of that. Plenty of people who just double crossed he. Plenty of people who made her doubt if she could be saved. He knew she lived a series of abuse and manipulation. All he could do at this point was leave it up to his sister, and hope she’ll return. Because he knew if anything, she would help her find a home. A home she belonged in. And he knew he wasn’t the right person to do so. He wanted to help her so desperately, but he didn’t know why. He just wanted to be there for her. Help her in anyway he can. But he isn’t a hero. No knight in shining armor. Just some kid, who at this point, is probably enamored by her. And maybe that’s why he’s so desperate to help. Because maybe, just maybe, that moment he crossed paths with her, he wanted to take her away. Because the moment he saw her determined face, the moment he saw how scared she was, and the moment he saw the depression settling in her mind, he wanted to take her to a place that was so much better than this. And maybe, just maybe, he wanted to save her from a spiraling madness he was so familiar with.