Chapter 13

A few days later..

There was a slight knocking noise at the door of Jade's apartment. He was not sure who would be at his door so early in the morning and it caused him to grimace at the thought of being awoken from his slumber so early. As he pulled himself up from his warm blankets and paced towards the door he had a grave feeling that he would regret opening the door seconds before the moment he had opened it to see the face of his bartender.

Am I still dreaming right now? Jade thought to himself as he tried to quickly grasp the situation he had so suddenly found himself in.

"Why are-" Jade was going to speak but found himself caught off guard by the nervous stammering man that stood before his door. A part of him really did not like the fact that he was cut off before he could even ask the man why he was at his door so early in the morning. It was something that seemed to make him feel on edge as other than Logan nobody in this world had the nerve to so diligently cut off his words when he spoke.

"The other day you had a fever so I thought I'd make sure you weren't lying dead on your floor. Don't take it the wrong way I'm not trying to impose on you!" Noel shivered at the thought of Jade turning into a corpse in his apartment. In his mind he could easily consider the thought of Jade forgetting to properly take care of himself until the point of collapsing in his apartment just as he had in the hallway the other day. It something he really wanted to avoid at all costs. The last thing he wanted to do was see the man fail to get better because of his stubborn attitude.

"Hah?" Jade's face suddenly cast a confused expression as he tried to piece together what the man could possibly be thinking inside of his head to come to such a conclusion. As he thought about it for a moment he could recall even at the bar how the man would suddenly have bursts of wanting to insert himself into conversations with him. Was Noel just the assertive type? He thought this far and than shook himself back from his thoughts.

THUD... CLANK.

Jade's door was casually slammed shut and locked right in front of Noel's face.

Noel wanted to knock on the door loudly until the man would open the door back up and let him check on him, but he did not press the issue. When it came to safety he was not certain in that moment that pushing the issue with Jade would be safe on his own part. If he suddenly forced Jade to open the door there was no guarantee that Noel would even be left standing with his own life.

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing better, but I'll leave." Noel sighed heavily as he spoke through the door that blocked him from entering Jade's place. His brow twitched slightly as he tried to remain calm. It was not every day he had someone slam a door in his face for merely checking if they were alright.

"I don't need your sympathy." Jade muttered under his breath as he flopped down onto his own living room sofa. His gaze never left the direction of his door until he was calmly sitting down.

The warm sunlight shown brightly through the windows upon his home. A soft meowing sound came from the small calico who trotted its way over and climbed into his lap. Jade's hand gently stroked along the spine of the calico as it purred away it's affection for it's master. There was no other sound in the apartment aside from the loud purr of the man's small cat causing his own mind to wander.

After losing his one and only job to do in this new world he had begun to realize just how dull his new life could be. Should he go out and walk the streets at night as he always did? The more he thought about his life the more he felt he did not want to waste more time in his own apartment healing and staying under the radar. It could not hurt for him to simply take a night to himself to go for a walk.

"I don't see the harm in taking a stroll tonight, do you?" He thought out loud as he softly spoke the words in a gentle tone to the little calico cat. As if the cat had understood it's master's words it responded towards him with a soft and gentle meow. It's chin gently rubbed against his hand as he stroked under the cat's chin.

The more he forced himself to remain indoors he felt as though he was going to go mad at some point. Jade could not handle being kept inside at all times in his daily life with nothing else he could do. During Jade's previous life he had spent all his years indoors during his job as well as daily life. He did not want to lose the freedom he had taken such a liking to in this world and was not willing to waste his time feeling as though he was being caged up.

That night as Jade slid open the sliding glass door that lead to his terrace he held a firm determination in his heart. His eyes started to shudder in pain as a single black wing forced itself to appear upon his back. Across from his lone wing bore a still healing wound where another wing was meant to be but no longer could grow forth from.

His legs slowly climbed over the side of the terrace as his single wing positioned itself for his leap over the side. Jade could feel the wind rushing past him as his body quickly descended down from the terrace.

THUD

Jade landed at the bottom of the apartment building with his single wing just barely able to slow his fall enough to avoid harming himself. The landing had been difficult for him to maneuver but he had just barely managed it somehow. He was not willing to give up on himself so easily and was determined to manage with getting by in any way he had to.