Welcome to Gaia! ::

Veto stood and looked at Dante.

"Believe what you will. Aria!"

Aria jumped when she heard her name be called. She was more into the conversation than she had originally thought. She hopped off of the counter and walked into the living room, which seemed even more stuffy than when she had left.

"Yeah?" She said meekly.
"I have to go, I don't really feel welcome." he said looking at Dante then back to Aria. "We'll talk later hmm?"

With that said, Veto kissed Aria's forehead, who froze in response, then he walked out the door. Aria unfroze when she heard the door slam and looked at Dante.

"I...I really am sorry Dante." she said going back into the kitchen. She didn't want to be yelled at, not by the person she saw as her brother. She looked in the fridge but slammed the door shut. What a time to quit harboring alcohol in the house guys. she thought.

((Yay! Mention of Victoria! biggrin Me type again. XD ))

Victoria cautiously walked down the street, each sound making her jump. She looked from side to side, her eyes wide as she scanned the street. Suddenly she heard a low voice call out to her. "Hey, Little girly. Come 'ere."

She shivered when she turned to look at a frail old woman. When the woman smiled, she showed gold and yellow teeth, one missing in front. She had wrinkled skin, a beanie hat on, and torn up clothes. Victoria took a step back. "Um, really I have to get home."

The woman smiled again, and she flinched. "I need some help 'ere." The woman insisted, pointing down at her leg, which held a huge gash in it. Blood was coming from the wound quickly, and Victoria gasped, feeling bad for misjudging the frail old woman. She hurried to her. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. Are you alright? What happened?"

The old woman frowned and snapped, "They're will be plenty of time for talkin later, girl. I need help now!" Victoria stammered an apology again and bent down to look at the leg, the cat food now on the ground, leftover money lying in the bag next to it. The old woman sat on a nearby bench and gestured for her to come closer. Victoria did, and the woman shot up like a spring, bounded to the bag, grabbed the couple of dollars, and started running down the street.

Oh God, Victoria thought helplessly. She wasn't going to fight an old woman. Besides, it was only a couple of dollars. That I could of gotten myself food with, she thought with tears in her eyes now. She started jogging after the woman, but soon gave up as she saw her run around the corner, disappearing. The jar full of money was only for emergencies, she knew. Also it was only for her cat, most of the time. The cat could starve more easily then her, couldn't it? She sighed, tears falling onto her cheeks now, and felt in her pockets for any more money. The woman probably drew on her leg with a red marker, she thought angrily.

But the only things she felt in her pockets were the Dante's number, and only a couple of quarters. She pulled it out, glancing at it, and then smiled. He could help her out...maybe calm her down? She wondered again where he was. She glanced up after picking up the cat food and saw a pay phone. She sprinted towards it, went inside, dropped the quarters in, and dialed the number. She heard it ring, and became nervous. She wanted to hang up, but something inside her willed herself to stay there.

Dante picked up the bottle and finished it off. He put it in his back pocket so Aria's parents wouldn't find it. "Just imagine if your parents found this."

"At least the fight didn't start yet." he said as he looked at Aria.

Dante could not believe what she just told him. Why would he want her back after so long? He was not up for losing another friend to this piece of scum and he was not going to let it happen.....or he was going to try at least.

"So what do you think about that offer? And don't lie to me,ok? Just give me an honest answer no matter what it is." he said before his phone began to ring. He looked at the number and it was from a pay phone.

"Excuse me. I gotta take this call." Dante walked into the hallway and answered the call.

"Hello?"'he said in a polite manner. He wondered who would be calling him from a pay phone at this time of night.

((Sorry, I left you guys again. :/ ))

Victoria took a deep breath and squealed when he came on the phone. God, I sound like a pig, she thought with disgust. She stopped herself and answered softly, "Hello? Dante? It's...Victoria. You know..the girl you went to the zoo with?" She added extra information, in case he might of forgotten. It was possible, she was forgettable, she thought. Tears were in her eyes again as she looked down at her plastic watch. It was after midnight.

"I'm so sorry to call you this late. I'll just...your probably busy, so I'll let you go." Her voice quivered, but she had spent some change, and she probably should get a talk in. She sounded like she had been crying. But she always sounded like that, didn't she? Pull yourself together, a voice inside of her head demanded. She took the phone away from her mouth so she could breath out, and she put it back to her mouth when she was done. She hadn't heard an answer yet, so she waited patiently, her hand that was holding the cat food shaking. She should probably tell him of the break in earlier. He might want to be aware in case he lived around the area. But he was so nice, she doubted if he would of even think about living in a place like this.

Victoria heard his response a few seconds later and she almost crumpled with relief when he said he could come and get her. She would be safe soon. She said slowly, glancing around, "Um, at a payphone on..." She stopped and stepped out for a moment, still holding the phone, and saw the sign that announced the name of the street. "Harrison street." She finished, stepping back inside. "You don't have to come if you are too busy..." She insisted, not wanting to make him come if he was across town or someplace farther away. She saw houses down the block with lights on, seeming welcome. She sniffed. It was all a lie. You never knew if people were killers, criminals, or something worse just by looking at their face. She smiled. At least she knew Dante didn't hang out with people like that. She waited again, shivering with cold as she noticed the night had become chilly now.

Victoria nodded and then quietly whispered, "Alright. But, Dante?" She sucked in a breath, stared to death that someone was watching her. "I think you should know something." She waited a beat or two before continuing. "That gun store across from my apartment on this same street just got broke into. I don't know who it was or what they planned on doing-" She turned around as someone entered the phone booth beside her. It was too dark to see anything before she felt the phone being ripped from her hand. She screamed and the line went dead.

"I know-" Dante couldn't get the rest out before she screamed and the line went dead. Dante was jogging but he began to run. He ran as fast as he could. He took a quick left down a side street, then a right down an alley, and ran down another side street in front of him. He was now on the same street as Victoria and could see the phone booth in sight.

He got closer and could hardly make if she was in it, since it was so dark. The above street light gave a little confidence that she was, but it was destroyed.

There was someone else in there that she was struggling with. He finally got to the booth and ripped the guy out of there. He was bigger than both her and Dante. This did not matter to Dante. He was now fending for himself and that is when he lets loose. He gave the guy a few quick jabs to the stomach. The guy hit Dante in the face so hard that he staggered, but he quickly came back to his senses. Dante ran at him and speared him in the stomach and knocked him to the ground. He started pounding on his face as if he was trying to hit the sidewalk below him. The guy struggled as he became bloodied and wrestled with Dante. The stranger got on top of Dante and hit him a few times before pulling out what looked like a knife. He slashed at Dante but he rolled and the guy fell off. He got to his feet and blocked the attack by the stranger. As he blocked, Dante did a kick to the inside of the guy's leg causing him to buckle, and did a quick but powerful punch straight to the face face and forehead, knocking him unconscious.

Dante kicked away the knife and grabbed the guy by the shirt. He lifted the top half of his body off the ground and shook him. The guy came back around and Dante plainly stated, "Don't you EVER pull this bullshit again! If this happens again I will not go so lightly on you." He dropped the guy. You could hear him moan and Dante kicked him straight in the face and yelled, "Shut the ******** up."

He walked over to Victoria. He felt a warm, thick, wet stream running down his arm. He looked and saw that he was cut during the struggle and did not realize it. The cut wasn't to bad and just needed a bandage. He looked at her and he could feel the rage in his eyes from what just happened. This is just great. Now she thinks I'm sort of psycho path or something he said to himself as he lead her away from the booth and towards the gun store.

((Woah... O.o Intense. XD ))

Victoria stared in horror as a knife came into view as they were struggling. I have to get out of here, she thought. But her thoughts sat there, and her legs didn't move as she continued watching the two boys fight. What had the guy even wanted with her? Her eyes widened when Dante won. The guy had been bigger, but it hadn't mattered. As Dante led her away from the booth, she wondered who her attacker was as they walked on. She allowed a few feet of space between herself and Dante. Truly, she was stuck between her feelings of fear and awe for him. As she saw, when he was angered and protective, he could kill someone if he wanted to.

So he was dangerous. But on the other hand, he had hurt the big figure for her, and she smiled slightly. But it was lost on her as they neared the gun store, and she saw that the windows had been shattered and they're was glass everywhere. "Who did this?" She whispered to herself. She was disgusted someone would do this on purpose, and she backed up when she saw the glass come near her foot. She glanced at Dante, pure terror in her eyes, for him, for the store, everything. "I-I think I need to get home." She said quietly, glancing away from him now. The street was lighter than before, but not by much. She could see Dante's figure standing next to her, and she strayed away farther from him like a frightened deer.