Chapter 16

Warm.. so.. Warm.. Jade thought to himself as his dazed mind could barely force itself awake.

"Hey! It's time to wake up!" A familiar voice called out to him from the endless darkness that his mind could see around him.

Who is that..? Jade thought once more before forcing his eyes to slowly slit themselves open. The place was dark but familiar as he took in the sight of the bar he spent so much time in. In the back of his mind he began to recall the recent events and that he had just passed out in the bar as Noel watched over him at the counter.

"You're up? It's time for us to get you home so let's get going now." Noel's voice rang out from behind him.

Ah.. He's warm.. He thought as Jade's eyes began to slightly gloss over as his attention shifted to the feel of Noel's hand gently shaking his shoulder where his hand was grasping firmly. Inbetween the gentle shakes the bartender made his hand seemed to never let go of his shoulder and remained in place until Noel had realized he woke up for sure. The bartender's hand seemed to shake slightly as he was obviously nervous about his reaction and it made Jade want to tease the man even more as he found it intriguing to him how far the man was willing to push himself past his own comfortable zone.

"You coming or not?" Noel started to head for the door as he glanced back at Jade with a questioning look.

Does he seriously lack any warning signals to dangerous situations or does he just simply get a jolt out of such situations? Jade asked himself as he slowly forced himself to stand up regardless of how much his own body protested for him to remain down. He could feel a sharp pain in his back as he shifted his stance to make himself more comfortable and followed behind Noel as they left the bar.

Noel shifted the blue scarf around his neck until he felt a bit more snug and warm from the cold night's air. From a glance he could tell that it looked like it would be getting colder around this time of the year. They were at the start of October in the world that Jade had arrived in not that long ago. Winters were something that he had never much cared for in his own world so he had not paid much mind to the thought of what time of year it was himself. Time was something that Jade never liked to think about considering how much of it was full of pain in his previous life. Noel on the other hand was the type of person who loved winter with a passion and the thought of it caused his own eyes to light up as he cast a glance up at the night sky as they walked along.

"I know you wont give me your name, but can I at least ask.. What kind of demi human are you?" Noel asked while glancing over his shoulder slightly to look at Jade's silhouette in the corner of his eye.

"I've warned you before-" Jade's face slightly crumpled up as he followed behind the man. It was not so much that he refused to answer in that moment as it was simply that he still had no clue what he was. There were few species that had wings and talents such as his own and most of them weren't favorable to the public eye. Was he a Tengu? Was he an Angel? It did not matter whether or not he was something dark or something born of the heavens above because whatever past the body had it was not who he was to begin with so he felt no desire to find out at the end of the day whether his body was something from heaven nor from hell.

"I know.. I should think of you like some wandering ghost and ignore your existence, right? I should pretend as though you don't even exist or something bad could happen.." Noel mockingly finished Jade's response for him as his frustration slightly got the better of him without him meaning to so he quickly tried to change the subject as their building came into view. "Come on, let's get you home safely so I can do the same as well."

Noel's frustration towards Jade was something that he did not expect to let slip out so easily. The rest of their walk to the building and as they entered the elevator to go up to their floor he felt uncomfortable. There had not been a single word or retort that came from Jade's mouth the entire walk but his eyes seemed glazed over as he kept glancing in his direction with an expression that Noel could not help but ponder over. He was certain that his words had caused the man to become annoyed with him so he was worried about opening his mouth again for the time being.

As Jade began to type in the code for his door and open it Noel felt more at ease knowing the man had made it home safely. He knew Jade was stubborn in many ways but he felt he had one less thing to worry about and decided he was safe to move on past Jade now towards his own room. Suddenly Noel felt a tight grasp on his black coat as a strong force pulled him backwards. His eyes widening in the shock of it all he soon found his body being flung into Jade's apartment. Noel's body collapsed on his back on Jade's living room floor as his eyes were faintly shut from the pain of the sudden rough landing. Slowly his blue eyes began to raise until he was staring down Jade nervously as he saw the man suddenly slamming his door shut with him entrapped in Jade's apartment.

Jade stood there in front of the door in silence as his jaded eyes slowly turned to glance in Noel's direction. It looked as if he was pondering something in his mind and it caused Noel's body to shudder in confusion. All kinds of questions and swears at himself for ever opening his mouth to begin with began to well up inside of his mind as he tried to think of a way out of his situation before he could be killed.