Chapter One: Survivor

Jackson

Nothing was ever how it seemed, everyone concentrated so much on outer appearances, perhaps they were all too scared to dig deeper, scared for what monster that laid brooding underneath all that perfection. He'd learnt long ago to look past the smiling faces and even as he walked the halls of Fray High, he could see the ugly heads of serpents lying underneath each and every fake smile, he could see the judgement thst laid within those pleasant eyes and he could hear the whispers that those plush lips had spread, but he couldn't care less, Right now Jackson Lane had one care in the world and highschool was not it.

The sound of bells caused him to wince slightly, the sound stirring a nauseating feeling in him that seemed to cause irritation to bubble up within him, not wanting to be in the halls any longer, he quickened his movements, but despite his haste, he found the class rather full save for two seats which were too close to the front for his liking, he was just about to make a silent exit when

"Mr Lane" His Math teacher Mrs Nelly called rather surprised "So glad you could join us"

There was a bunch of sniggering and catcalls as well as name-calling, but a hard glare from the teacher soon brought back the class to it's usually silent monotone. Quietly he made way to one of the available seats as the teacher began her usual boring drawl, he must have slipped the ropes of reality for awhile but when he came to again, she was there beside Miss Nelly and once their eyes locked, it was all over.

It was hard to describe what passed between them, the instant their eyes locked, an eternity seemed to go by with just one look into her hazel brown eyes, in that moment all of his secrets and fears seemed to lay bare in front of her.

"Jackson!" Miss Nelly barked out, dragging him back into his torturous reality "could please concentrate less on Miss Ava, and more on the class"

There was some indistinct chatter and a bunch of sniggering and whistling, but it died down as soon as she took a seat beside him, not uttering a single word.

It was safe to say that the rest of the class was absolute torture for him, in the end he couldn't stand the close proximity to her and found himself outside the building and as usual he was making a run for it.

Strange as it seemed, everyone has grown used to his somewhat erratic behavior, 'The troubled boy' they called him and everyone knew well to give him a wide berth after the incident. Angry hot tears spilled from his eyes as the shards of his broken memories found their way through the walls he'd kept up, using it as a propeller he burst into a run leaving school behind him.

He didn't stop running until he was past the trees, past the tiny stream and back at the clearing where everything shattered. His legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground whilst letting out a muffled scream, He hated this, hated remembering, hated coming back here, but he couldn't move on, he could never move on.

The crunching sound of branches breaking under boots roused him from his pity party, his body froze as he soon realized he wasn't alone here, Luckily for him, he was well hidden under the foliage, just as a face that had haunted his dreams stepped into the clearing.

Hot fiery anger coursed through his veins as the wounded yet still magnificent angelic creature stumbled into the clearing. Strangely every hint of fear in him had vanished and had been replaced with a drive that seemed to come from within. In a haze he reached for the small knife hidden in his pant legs and leapt out from his hiding place, letting out a loose crazed yell as he drove the knife deep into the creature's shoulder blades.

The creature let out a loose howl, swiveling left and right in an attempt to dislodge Jackson who held on for dear life. The creature roared something in an inhumane voice and an invisible force pushed him off of the creature and he landed with a thud a few meters away from the beserk creature.

The creature bellowed into the sky as he dislodged the knife from his shoulders and spread out his iridescent wings, His eyes now glowing red turned and stared directly at him, the creature's face once so beautiful had shifted into the monster that Jackson knew all too well.

"You!!" He growled "You're-, Impossible!!"

Some twisted feeling rumbled deep within him and he rose up to his feet and glared at the creature.

"I will kill you!" Jackson growled before charging headfirst at the creature

Due to it's weakened state, the collision knocked both on the ground and they tumbled down, He managed to land a few solid hits on the creature and it had begun to spew golden blood from his multiple wounds.

"I'll kill you!" he yelled again more ferocious than the last time as he began landing solid hits on the creature who did little to nothing to stop the vicious attacks of the weak human

"Die!" he roared as he pulled out another knife from underneath his other pant leg and proceeded to stab his chest multiple times whilst the creature proceeded to dig it's claws into his sides as they tumbled to a stop.

He didn't stop until the creature visibly weakened, even so it let out a weak laugh as the life slowly trickled away from his eyes

"Winged" he whispered satisfactorily as the light faded from his eyes and he dropped dead on the ground and the forest returned to it's deathly silence.

He rolled off the body, unable to stand as the blood spurted from his sides and his vision began fading into nothingness.

There was the sound of boots crunching or maybe he'd just imagined it, no he heard it along with a scream that seemed to come from far away

"Help me" he wanted to call out but gis strength drained off faster than his blood was and he slipped into oblivion.

Ava James

Strange

That was the only word she could have used to describe him, but in all that strangeness there swas some form of revolving familiarity that seemed to interest her, drawing her more and more into the abysmal black depths of his eyes. It made her visibly hollow as he left and deep down she knew he wasn't coming back.

She left, she couldn't believe herself, ditching school on the first day and for a boy, but still it had felt right, the connection was way too strong and too instant to ignore. She'd lost him after he'd broken into a maddened sprint but still she knew he'd be here, it was almost as if he'd wanted to be found specifically by her.

The forest was rather cruel and unforgiving, the branches and thorns kept on pricking and snagging at her clothes, dragging her back and marring her skin with abrasions and cuts. The forest itself was bitter filled with a sense of pain and injustice that it'd marinating in over the years, it filled her with a certain sense of dread that he'd find solace in such a place.

The sense of urgency spiked in her veins and her feet quickened in pace, moving faster, weaving through the forest solely on the instinctual connection she felt and with each step the connection became stronger until she started hearing the muffled sounds of yelling, she hurried her pace bm until she came bursting forth into the clearing.

She was rather late to the scene, and her eyes stung with unshed tears as she watched him lay still in a pool of his own blood mixed with something rather vile and inhumane. Tumbling down beside him, she stretched out her hands towards his torn torso and closed her eyes

"please" she cried pouring out as much energy as she could muster from within her "please work!"

The familiar tingling sensation bubbled at the tips of her fingers and it required all her concentration for her not to sigh out in relief as his body began to feed off the bright light emitted from her hands healing itself with it and soon the body had reknit itself with only a long thin scar as proof of the incident and even that would fade away given the time.

As for the creature that laid beside him, a knife still embedded deep into it's chest, she took one good look at it and a disgusted look crawled it's up way onto her face as she stared at it's vileness. she stomped on the wings still jutting across it's back and it crumbled to ash, leaving behind what resembled a seemingly normal person.

His brows furrowed as he began to mutter indecipherable phrases, she knew she didn't have much time left here, picking up her phone, she dialed the only one that came to mind.

"Hello" Came the deep baritone picking up "Ava, is that you?"

"I need a clean up" she said simply "I'm sending the co-ordinates"

"No small talk huh" the voice retorted whilst chuckling lightly "I'll be there soon!"

"One more thing" She said before hanging up "Don't hurt the boy!"

"The who?!" came the voice

The line went dead. She took one more look at him, he was lucky to be intact, even moreso to be alive right now, in the old days he'd have been recruited, but times were different now, she could not afford to put a Dud on the line, he'd probably lead a normal happy or unhappy life after this, but she wasn't going to let another die because of hee decision. She bid him a silent farewell as she left the clearing

'He will have a normal life' she kept saying to herself

She had no idea how wrong she was.