Finding Ellie

[Halle]

...

[Halle]

Ryan sat twisting her fingers together in the Jeep.

[B.L.]

Damien gets in beside Ryan and starts the car. He drives out of the underground parking and heads for the front of the academy. When he gets to the gates, the gates keeper Fae gives him a look, when the guard see's that its Damien he opens the gate quickly, not even questioning where they were going or why he was taking a young girl with him. It seemed Damien's reputation as someone to be both feared and respected was getting stronger with each battle.

[Halle]

Ryan gnaws on her cuticle until her nail-bed is raw. She fiddles with her seat belt and picks at her hair. She was a ball of nervous energy.

[B.L.]

Damien notices how nervous Ryan is and he turns to her 'what's wrong Ryan, when i saw her she was fine, just sitting on a rock, she seemed upset but she was safe, why are you so nervous?'

[Halle]

Ryan stops moving. "Nothing," she says. "Just fidgety I guess." It was half-true anyway.

[B.L.]

Damin could tell there was something else 'come on Ryan, i can feel how uncomfortable you are, you got the same look on you face that some of my soldiers get before we head out to battle, just tell me, it's not like im going to tell anyone' says Damien.

[Halle]

Ryan snags her lip in her teeth. "Ellie isn't... stable ," she admits quietly.

[B.L.]

'In what way do you mean?' asks Damien calmly. He looks over at Ryan.

[Halle]

"She's a cutter," Ryan says softly. "That's why she always wears chunky bracelets."

[B.L.]

Damien turns back to the road 'do you have any idea what has made her upset this time?' he asks.

[Halle]

Ryan shrugs. "It could be anything," she says. "Ellie gets hurt really easy."

[B.L.]

'Do you think it has something to do with Blake coming back...you said something about them before?' asks Damien.

[Halle]

Ryan blinks. "Oh, God," she says. "I forgot. Seeing him again could've destroyed her!"

[B.L.]

Damien frowns slightly and says 'what did he do?, he seems a bit...' Damien talils off not wanting to insult Ryan's friends brother.

[Halle]

"Unintelligent?" Ryan supplies. "They had dated for, like, six months," she explains. "Blake is a year ahead of us, but that was okay with both of them.. we thought." Ryan begins biting her nail again. "This new girl, a year ahead of Blake, showed up. Blake cheated on Ellie," she says. "Normally, you'd just hate someone like that, but Ellie feels more then everyone else. It broke her."

[B.L.]

Damien looks over at Rynn again 'But she got over it when he left yes, and if you dont mind me saying Blake hardly seems worth the upset, Ellie looks to be a pretty and strong willed girl' says Damien thoughtfully.

[Halle]

Ryan laughs. "She did get better, though it took around four months," she says. "But Ellie is hardly strong-willed. She always either agrees with me or Spencie. It's like she doesn't form independent thoughts."

[B.L.]

Damien nods in understanding 'a lot of my soldiers are like that, they just get so used to following my orders that eventulally they cant seem to function properly in the normal world' says Damien 'maybe she'll get better, she's still young after all, there's plenty of time to remake yourself'

[Halle]

Ryan laughs bitterly. "I doubt it," she says. "Ellie was a cutter long before she met Blake." She twists a curl in her finger. "Gave me quite a shock walking into a bloody bathroom one night," she mutters.

[B.L.]

Damien reaches over and touches Ryans hand carefully and says 'well at lest she has mates like you to help her', Damine smiles genuinely.

[Halle]

Ryan smiles back. "You British people always saying 'mate' and such," she says laughing.

[B.L.]

Damien smirks at Ryan 'im glad my accent amuses you Ryan...so how about your family, did they come from here?'

[Halle]

Ryan shakes her her head. "My dad lives in Manhattan," she says.

[B.L.]

'Do you see him a lot? I grew up in England, but when i was 14 we moved here for my dad's work, but then my parents died and i had to look after Xavier' says Damien.

[Halle]

Ryan blinked. "Wow," she says simply. "No, I don't see my dad much, but I do see my step-sister, Claire, a lot." Ryan popped her knuckles, which normally grossed her out. "She works at a hotel near here. She's twenty-four, I think."

[B.L.]

Damien smiles finding himself strangely interested in Ryan's life, it was hard to believe how much they had seemed to dislike eachother before.

[Halle]

Ryan keeps talking, strangely at ease. "Claire's a human," she says. "My dad was married before he met my mom, but Claire never acted like she hated me and my mom for home-wrecking," she says.

[B.L.]

'Do you feel like she should?' asks Damien simply.

[Halle]

"I don't know," Ryan said. "We screwed up her life, really."

[B.L.]

'She probably still loves you, my brother has done mny things to screw up my life, but i still love him' says Damien with certainty.

[Halle]

Ryan nods. "I know she loves me," she says. "But I feel like she shouldn't. I keep so much from her."

[B.L.]

'Everyone has secrets Ryan' Damien says darkly a shadow passes over his face 'dont feel too bad about it'.

[Halle]

Ryan shakes her head. "You don't get it," she says. "Claire has never lied to me, or kept something form me. It kills me everytime I see her."

[B.L.]

Damien says 'well maybe one day you'll feel comfortable with tellling her, things change Ryan' he looks over at her and smiles encouragingly.

[Halle]

Ryan snorts. "Yeah, that will go well," she says. "'Claire, I'm half fairy and Dad's a full fae. He's not actually your dad, contary to what you've thought your entire life!'" she says with false enthusiasm.

[B.L.]

'if she loves you I'm pretty sure she'll understand and still love you, I know nothing about your sister but I know family, those bonds are hard to break' Damien says.

[Halle]

Ryan laughed bitterly. "Mom's must not count," she said.

[B.L.]

'Me and my father never got on, he wanted me to go into politics like him, to join the council, but thats not who i am, i like fighting and leading my soldiers into battle, its the one place i feel like im part of something important, like im actually DOING something' says Damien strongly 'but i still loved my father, even though he disaproved of me, and he still loved me' Damien looks over at Ryan and squeezes her hand.

[Halle]

Ryan held back tears. "My mom and I didn't disagree," she said. "She left me."

[B.L.]

Damien takes her hand in his and says 'that isn't your fault though Ryan, it was hardly your choice was it'

[Halle]

Ryan glared at him. "Something was wrong with me and she knew it," she choked out. "I was some hybrid freak so she left us."

[B.L.]

Damien shakes his head angrily and pulls over on the deserted road. He turns fully to face Ryan 'your not a freak Ryan' he says certainly 'don't ever think that' he takes her hand again and looks right into her eyes honestly.

[Halle]

Ryan stared at him, trying to push away the tears in her eyes. "I'm certainly not normal," she said.

[Halle]

(( Isn't it 2 am where you are?? ))

[B.L.]

(yeah it was, im a bad sleeper though;)

Damien has to laugh at that, he takes hold of her other hand and says 'well neither am i, so at least you can feel comfortable knowing we're both a bit different' he smirks slightly.

[Halle]

Ryan cracked a small smile and noticed they had stopped. "We have to go," she said, motioning her hands forward.

[B.L.]

Damien turned the engine back on and continued to drive, he presses down so they go flying down the empty road. 'We'll be there soon' he says.

[Halle]

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, okay," she said.

[B.L.]

After about half an hour, Damien pulls into a narrow road. He stops near an opening of trees to a forest. 'We have to walk the rest of the way' he says.