Maiden of Night, Knight in the Dark

[Flygoedla]

xoxoxoCarter Owen Johnson

Carter sat at the table and stared blankly at the wall opposite of him as Malena tried to explain about her death. He couldn't help but feel guilty for it all, because of his stupidity. Jumping into a fight between to Were's wasn't his smartest move, and it caused him to be sent to purgatory. Someone he considered a close friend ended up suffering for it all. Before he could say anything, Malena scurried upstairs. Tyr sat there, finishing his meal quietly.

Carter brought his plate, still half full with food; to the kitchen. The mornings topics left him without an appetite. Quietly he cleaned up the pans and dishes. His mind was racing, and chores weren't helping. Quickly he headed to the door, slid on his shoes and coat. Carter was out the door. Tyr had witnessed it all, but was still sleepy. "Malena!" He yelled out, jumping awake and hurrying to the base of the stairs. "Dead guy just went out the door. Someone might see him."

-

Carter headed down a few blocks to a park. It was a strange feeling actually being seen by people, an occasional friendly smile - or someone stepping out of his way. He came to rest on one of the swings and used his legs to push the swing back and forth. The mindless action helped him slow down enough to gather his thoughts.

xoxoxoTyr Erikson

[MykaDreams]

Malena O'Neil

'Run away, far away, leave me behind, no hope for the cold world'

Malena had been too busy gathering her things to even hear the front door open and close. It was not until Tyr shouted up at her that she dropped the clothes she had in her arms and ran into the hall to look at the werewolf. "Did he say where he was going?" She grew nervous and threw on some jeans and a sweater. What was he thinking? Surely her dying for him had not effected him that bad. She dashed down the stairs and shoved her feet into her boots, her coat thrown on just as quickly as she glanced at Tyr. "I'll be back shortly..."

With that, she was gone and following Carter's scent. It did not take her too long to find him, but she came to a stop when she found him sitting on a swing. Her head tilted to the side as she tried to figure out if approaching him was a good idea. She bit her lip as she walked over to him and sat on the swing beside his. For a while, she remained silent. Malena worried about whatever was going through his head, but asking seemed inappropriate. Instead, she held onto the chains and looked up at the sky. "You know...I've never been on a swing before." She commented softly, not wanting to bring up her death or his trip to purgatory.

"Are you okay?" She finally brought herself to ask, but she did not look at him. It was too difficult to do so and she feared what he might say. Was he angry at what she had done? There was no way that she could have just let him stay in purgatory, no one deserved that.

[Flygoedla]

xoxoxoCarter Owen Johnson

Carter had been lost in thought as he sat on the swing, he hardly noticed that Malena had come to collect him. It wasn't until she sat down on the swing next to him, the jingling of the chains - that caught his attention. He looked over at her. Despite the crooked smile he gave her, it was clear on his face that his emotions were conflicted. "Swings are pretty cool." Carter answered, looking back down at the ground - his knees bent at such an angle because he was too tall for the swing. "But I haven't been able to use them since before puberty."

'Are you okay?' She had asked. Finally someone was addressing the Elephant in the room. As much as he wanted to lie to make her feel better, he wasn't okay. There was the whole experience of dying, then being a ghost. It had its downfalls, but being a ghost did have a lot of perks. Then he had been sent to purgatory, it was the closest thing to Hell he had ever experienced. Of course, he felt conflicted about being alive-again, as being alive meant he could and would die again at some point. However, what had upset him the most wasn't that his friend had sacrificed herself for him , "I don't know what I am at this point. I don't know if I'm upset, terrified, or grateful." Carter bit his lower lip out of nerves. He noticed she wouldn't look at him, so he stood up and sat down on the ground in-front of her. With puppy-dog eyes, he looked up at her. "Malena, I'm not saying that I'm ungrateful for you bringing me back. It's just that you could have died forever, and I would have been alive-again alone. You know as well as I do that I can't ever go back to my family, there's too much conflict about being dead and then un-dead. It would probably give my parents a stroke. Plus think of all the back taxes, and the credit card debt. Do you have any idea how my finances probably went to s**t? Please Malena, you can cut me off at anytime here" He rambled on, speaking quicker and quicker. "What I'm trying to say is, you're the only person I have anymore, and I'm scared to lose you!"

[MykaDreams]

Malena O'Neil

'Run away, far away, leave me behind, no hope for the cold world'

Malena looked down at him and frowned. She had not really thought about what would be in store for him when he came back to life, but she could not have left him in purgatory. What kind of person would she have been then? She gave a sigh and shook her head, everything that had been said made perfect sense, although his comment of being afraid to loose her made her raise her eyebrows at him. "I could not leave you in purgatory, not when there was something that I could have done about it." She stated simply, before trying to lessen the idea of her death. "I hadn't known originally that a death was required, it was a last minute notification."

She leaned down to look him over closely. The entire idea had really seemed to bother him and she did feel a little bad about it. "Carter, I could not let you stay in purgatory. I felt responsible in a way and did you consider that I did not want to loose you? You are everything that I have right now, probably the only one that I will ever have. Even if I got my sight back, my family would not take me back...not after everything that happened. Sure, stealing money from my clan could be easily forgiven, but there is a code that has to be followed and I did not follow it." Malena tried to explain herself, but she doubted that she could ever explain it fully to someone that did not live the life. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "I just couldn't live with myself knowing that you were in purgatory, not if there was something that I could do about it.