A childish promise

A regular Friday night at the bar, mostly people chatting with each other while others drank alone, alcohol was the best medicine for some on lonely days. 

Though Amelia was anything but lonely inside of the bar.

"Margarita, Miss Amelia?" The bartender asked the moment he noticed her.

She gave him a nod before adding, "Sensu's not here today?"

She picked a seat at the bar table, sitting down on the tall stool with her legs crossed. He placed a wooden circle coaster on the table before making the cocktail she ordered. There was no one else sitting near it, even those that just entered opted to sit at the other tables instead. The bartender would send a warning glare whenever a customer entered, especially ones that were not regulars, luckily no one wished to challenge him.

There was the natural air of intimidation around him, from his years of being part of a gang. 

He let out a soft sigh while shaking the cocktail shaker, "Boss is busy today."

"With what?"

"Business."

She scoffed, shaking her head at his quip. He had not taken any offense to it, pouring her margarita out on the martini glass, placing a thin piece of lime on top of it. 

"Your drink, miss." 

He grabbed it, placing it right on top of her coaster before giving a light push ahead. She took a look at it then grabbed it, taking a sip out of the cocktail. His eyes were fixed on her the entire time, even after she placed her glass down on the coaster. She gave him a glance, then looked around the rest of the bar. 

"Not bad." 

Her answer made him sigh in relief, his shoulders visibly slumped down once he was sure that her eyes were not on him at the moment. He did not exchange any other words with her from that point onwards, focused on making drinks for the customers and chatting with some of them. But he still scared them off, making sure that no one else would even attempt to occupy the seats near the bar table aside from her. She took a few more sips while observing her surroundings, her eyes focused on every little movement of their faces, limbs and the emotions that were discernible from their gazes. Her stares felt like a hawk, intrusive and heavily cynical —yet she ensured that nobody other than the bartender noticed, almost able to make one wonder if they had been overthinking it. 

"You will scare people off if you keep staring like that."

Yet, there would always be exceptions.

It was hard to mistake that voice — it wormed, ingrained itself deeply inside of her own mind — since she heard it often enough that it made an impression on her. But anyone's voice would, even if she had only heard it once before. So his case was special, he was special, in nearly every way she could think of. 

A short snort left her lips, she took a gulp of her drink before looking over to him. "It's better if I scare them off, no?"

"I'd say that that isn't the case."

Aeon followed up his words with a brief laugh, his voice came off soft, almost velvety. It could nearly be mistaken for a woman's voice if his voice was not rougher and slightly deeper than the common woman's voice. His lilac-like purple eyes looked up and down at her, she was in her usual choice of outfit. She finished her drink in the next gulp, then raised her glass at the bartender. The bartender took it from her hand, then looked over to Aeon. 

"What would you like to drink today?" He asked while going to grab a new glass.

Aeon glanced at the alcohol on display right behind the bartender, then pointed at a bottle of whiskey. "That one, thank you."

He flashed a polite smile at the bartender who just nodded at him in return. He sat right beside her, his taller and much larger stature made him look uncomfortable once he was seated on the stool. He was a whole head taller than her, his muscles somewhat visible on his forearm if he exerted a bit more strength, otherwise he simply looked like a big, tall guy.

"Had a bad day at work?" He asked, wanting to start up a casual conversation. 

She shrugged, "Can't really call it bad if it's just the usual."

"I assume that also means the Engineering Department blew up something today?"

 Her only reply to his words were a gentle groan, her eyes remained on the bartender and the cabinets behind him.

"Nobody's hurt?" He looked over to her from the corner of his eyes, raising his eyebrows up slightly. 

"They don't die that easily." 

She placed her arms on the table, her body leaned forward slightly to take a better look at the expensive alcohol on display. Her eyes were scanning through every word written on their label while maintaining a conversation with him.

"The girls?"

He gave the bartender another smile as the man placed his whiskey on rocks on the table. "They are doing well. April just came back from her explorations, so she is talking a lot more to us lately."

 He raised his glass to his lips, though he did not take a sip of it, instead deciding to stare at it. "And those three foxes?"

"They can survive without me." She gave a nod at the bartender as he placed her margarita down on her coaster.

He took in a deep breath, taking a big gulp of the whiskey. The whiskey went down easy though it still burned, stung his throat, making him let out a long sigh. She took a glimpse at him, being able to discern the thoughts running through his head just by looking through his eyes. His eyes landed back on hers, as if it was magnetic, unwillingly drawn over to her pair. Her eyes darted away, taking a sip of her drink. 

They were essentially doing the same thing. That realization alone almost made her scoff. 

"You know I came here for a reason," And you came here for that same reason, but the rest of his words never left his lips. 

"You really could have come here just for a drink."

He was not sure how to react to her little joke, his lips pressed together and formed a frown. His fingers gripped tighter on the glass, swirling it in his hands, hearing the ice collide with the glass. Every clink filled the air between them aside from the other noises in the bar, his head trying to form words to convince her to continue on the conversation. 

He knew pleading would not work, so he only had a few options left. 

She stood up abruptly, making his eyes widen in surprise. "I will return the glasses later. Put them on my tab." She said while looking over to the bartender before she left, still holding onto her martini glass. 

"Sorry." Aeon gave the bartender an apologetic smile as he grabbed his glass and followed behind her.

The bartender did not try to stop them, his eyes followed them along for a moment before turning his attention back to the other customers within the bar.

"Can I do that too?" One of the customers asked.

The bartender's polite smile was forced, his lips unnaturally stretched a bit wider to sell the smile. "Absolutely not."

Amelia ended up deciding to talk on the top of his old apartment complex, the fences lining the edge of the rooftop were starting to rust and no one had yet complained about changing it. She decided to lean on it anyways, holding her glass in her hand, taking a small sip of the cocktail. Aeon reached not too long after, holding his glass firmly in his hand. 

He was still troubled, obviously seen on his face. He was not the best at talking through her, yet he knew that he was the only one that came rather close to succeeding frequently.

Though perhaps he had worried a bit too much, as she started to speak to him.

 "People have nightmares—" She took another sip of her drink, her eyes looking at the people walking along the streets, "There are multiple reasons why people have nightmares, but in a way, it shows what they are afraid of. A terrible memory from the past, their partners leaving them behind, something they loved dearly dying in front of them."

"For some, nightmares are mere recall of memories, simply in a more twisted and grotesque way. They remember the ones they have wronged, the guilt that wears on their soul; They remember the ones they have killed, the screams of the dying haunt their every waking moment; They remember the ones they could not save, seeing the ghost of that person spew words that they only dreamt of."

Her head turned slightly towards him as he walked closer, she drank the rest of the cocktail before he stood right beside her. 

Every word she murmured sounded like nonsense, it was some sort of common sense after all. But Aeon understood her point and the reason why she said all of that first before actually getting into her point. 

"Then why doesn't a personification of nightmares exist?" 

She queried, an easy going smile stayed on her lips. She gave his glass a gentle clink, the sound rang in his ears for longer than he would like to admit.

"Is this why I keep getting dreams that feel more like prophecies lately?" He took a gulp of his whiskey, though making sure his eyes always remained on her. 

"I suppose Gaia is talking to you more and more often huh." She said while tilting her head. 

"It's not surprising considering what is happening." 

He decided to drink the rest of his whiskey in a single gulp, letting out a long sigh as it went down his throat.

"What would you name it, if you have the chance?" She asked while leaning towards him slightly.

He looked away from her, his eyes landing on the lights coming from stores and the bar they just went to. "You're asking a bit too much from me, Amelia."

"It's just a mere name." She replied while giving him a shrug.

"But it isn't just a name if you asked me to name it." He retorted.

He leaned on his side, the bottom of his glass was on the fence, the glass reflected the rust red hue. In his mind —in their mind —the hue was brighter, thicker, a familiar scent that permeated his nose. It had made its way there, and it would never leave, and that he would bring all of those foggy and fuzzy memories into his grave. 

He could see it; see the way the red painted every single wall that he had seen over his years in the city, the way it stuck to peoples' clothes, the echoing screams of the people. 

"Do you really want this to happen?" 

She let out a chuckle, her tone clearly of mockery and disbelief.

"Do you think that we have a choice in the matter?" 

He unintentionally sucked his breath back in through his teeth, his shoulders moved up while his eyes had the glint of guilt in them. She then continued on laughing, so much so that her body was slightly bent over. She wrapped her arm over her stomach as it started to hurt, tears gathered from the corner of her eyes. He looked back at the glass and ice, his mind reeling with images of what would possibly happen. 

But even he knew that it was an inevitable outcome. 

She shook her head then spoke as she calmed herself down, "You, of all people, should know that certain things are bound to happen no matter what."

She gently tapped on his forehead with her curled index finger, "You can't always choose. You know that."

Her action took his attention back to her as opposed to the thoughts that were continuously plaguing his mind. She could see clearly what those thoughts were —those nightmares that he could never escape from —and what he wanted to do, what he wished he could do. But he could not, they could never, because it was not something within their control. 

It was their will, and their will was absolute.

Her entire facial expressions went back to the usual nothingness, completely devoid of any other emotions other than being cold and serious about the topic at hand, which was different from how she acted earlier. She pulled her hand back although she placed her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Her hand moved from side to side slightly, feeling how tensed up his muscles were. 

 Child Of Darkness

"Aephiealias" He suddenly said.

"Thank you." She nodded after giving her gratitude.

Though before she could fully retract her hand, he grabbed her wrist. His grip was strong, making it very clear that he did not intend on letting her pull her hand out of his hold. She did try however, tugging her hand harshly to try and make him let go. But he did not relent, his eyes staring right at hers. It was rare for her to feel so naked —vulnerable, by someone else's gaze. He could not fully see through her, yet he could see enough to know how she was feeling at the moment.

"Would you promise me that you would call for my help when the time comes?" 

His grip loosen slightly but not enough for her to get her hand out of it. She lets out a long sigh, shaking her head. "I don't like making promises that I can't keep." 

HIs lips pressed together to form a frown once more, his eyebrows were knitted while he tried to think of any other method that would convince her to do so. His eyes glanced over to the glasses they still held in their hand and an idea formed in his head, although her eyes also caught his line of sight, immediately knowing what went through his head as well. 

"Hey…" She trailed off yet making sure her warning was clear. 

He ignored it however, managing to snatch her glass out of her hand. Even though he did let go of her wrist, he knew that she would not bother to try and waste her strength to catch up to him if he ran fast enough, which he did. 

His words came out a jumbled mess as he yelled, "You owe me one, Amelia!"

She was a fair woman, in some ways, promising a favor for another favor back. But paying for her drinks was too small of a favor for her to even consider actually going through with the promise he just asked her. 

But there were always exceptions. 

The only thing she could do was grit her teeth, clicking her tongue in annoyance as she murmured, "How childish…"