Chapter 15 Scars


    Sarah sat at her desk,  her hair a complete mess, and her eyes had bags over them, like never before. to say she looked tired was an understatement. She was accompanied by the sound of a snoring teenager over in her bed, and she glanced over her shoulder to the teenager catching some zees.


    She remembered as soon as they got back to the apartment she was given a call from the mayor and told  to keep Maroo there, and about his mother. She spent the rest of the night calming down her adopted cousin who was pretty much like a little brother at this point. she didn''t even try to go to sleep that night, Once Maroo was asleep she decided to put her efforts into her work, it was the best way to take her mind off of things, but even so, it didn''t always work.  In front of her sat two open books her laptop and several papers to write down extra notes, her mind was completely elsewhere.


    Maroos mother was like her own for so long,  was now a mutant running wild somewhere, and yet no sign of her could be seen, The worry crept into her mind as the thought of what could have happened to her lingered.


    Once mutated, they all go berserk with an uncontrollable rage, that can''t be easily controlled without medication. And those who stay the longest in that state nearly lose all self-sense. The longest subject recorded in that state was the first ever to be captured and studied. On her computer were her notes on the subject with the photo of his original self and what he turned into.


    A man named  Bobby Whiskers who lived not far from the city. He often drove in and out of the city to work and home. One day he never made it to work and never came home either. Eventually, a missing person report was filed, but after six months of searching, he was presumed dead. Meanwhile reports of some large beast, once thought to be a bear, had people scared to death. Finally, a task force was put together to stop the bear and capture it humanely.


    But when they finally did, the bear was no bear. No, it was a rather large and out-of-control man, once DNA tested matched that of the missing Mr Whiskers, yet with his capture the reports of large and out-of-control wild animals were still coming in left and right, as were missing people reports. Once captured and DNA tested they were found to be like Mr. Whiskers. Something was going on. And after twelve reports, the mayor had to step in and address it, calling it a disease.


    that was months ago, in fact, it was the very same night, Maroo  was kidnapped by a mutated Sky. There was a question that still remained tho.


    Sarah sighed as she looked at the photo and then down to a book she had open on death. unlike the others tho she wasn''t recently mutated within the last year, she was mutated seven almost eight years ago now. She yawned as she slowly drifted off to sleep. The memory of when she first came back to her senses, played in her mind.


    …


    Sarah woke up as a young child to the sound of a heart monitor tracking her rhythm. She tossed her head slightly as a sharp pain hit her forehead. Still, she fought the urge to just stay asleep and gained consciousness, opening her eyes to a bright white light standing above her. her mind scattered as she couldn''t remember a thing. slowly she set a hoof over her aching forehead and she slowly sat up on the bed she found herself on.


    "Oh your awake, That''s good, you gave us quite the scare there." said a doctor.


    "Where am I?"


    "Your safe," he reassured her with a friendly smile "You''re in the hospital". Said a Doctor.


    "My, my parents, where''s my daddy?"


    the doctor at the sound of this grew worried in his eyes. he took a gulp and shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Umm well, you see,"


    "Thank you, Doctor," said a familiar voice, The two turned to the sight of the mayor, with a hopeful, yet exhausted smile.  "I''ll take it from here." the doctor left, relieved not to have to tell the filly anything else. Sarah raised an eyebrow at the sight of the mayor, She did know him well enough, she was a friend of her dads., Perhaps she knew where her parents were.


    "Sarah stone do you remember me?" He asked almost pleading


    Yes,Do you know where Mommy is? She asked.


    “Sarah," Miss. Kang walked over and sat on the bed in front of her. How old are you now?


    "Me oh uh eleven.  Why?"


    he smiled but her lip quivered as she tried to hold back tears. "Wow, eleven you really are a big girl.  Even so, I have something to tell you. Something that isn''t going to be easy to take even if you were an adult."


    Sarah tilted her head but the mayor softly grabbed her chin and made her look at her in the eye. "Sarah I am very sorry but your family has been missing for months now. And the only one they found was you. You''ve been in a coma."


    "Huh?" Sarah  said not understanding the true nature of the situation, how could, only being an eleven-year-old girl?


    "As your Godfather, I promise you, we will never stop looking, but  you''re going to have to come live with me now until we do find them, is that alright?" he asked with a reassuring smile.


    Sarah could only give a small nod, as she slowly came to grips with the reality her world had been shattered. strangely she only had one injury. On her forehead was a nasty cut that would leave a scar. Luckily it was easily hidden by her hair so she didn''t have to worry about it. Still, due to the intense pain she felt the doctors kept her on different medicines to help make it go away, mostly painkillers that helped the body relax.


    …


    As the months passed and time went on there was no sign of her parents. And she grew frustrated and angry as one would suspect. Anyone would, and at first, she as well as everyone else would think it was only her grieving.


    "You''re not looking hard enough!" She yelled at her care taker.


    "Sarah  I''m doing all I can."


    "No, no your not. Where are they, where are my mommy and daddy?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.


    "Sarah," he tried to grab her, to give her a hug and calm her down, but Sarah was having none of it as her rage began to overtake her, No, Twilight responded and ran to her room slamming the door. Once Inside, she sat next to her Time machine and began to ball her eyes out, not even noticing that from her scar a horn emerged from her head.  She opened her eyes in the dimly lit room and saw something glowing in the reflection of the window, that spooked her. Something had amber glowing eyes. She jumped back at first terrified and covered her face finding out about her new horn. she gasped as she felt it. She tapped it a few times, and she realized she could not only feel it with her hooves. But feel it as if it was a part of her as well..she then looked at the reflection in the window. The eyes were still there  against the backdrop of the city.


    As she moved, so did the reflection, and soon it was all too easy to figure out what the reflection was. It was her.  At this moment she should have been terrified and she was but she didn''t care. She felt rage build up inside of her, rage she just wanted to let out, and with her anger came a mighty roar as a burst of light shot from her horn, Suddenly a ball of fire hit the window. Luckily it didn''t break but around it left marks of ash.


    her eyes widened as she stumbled back falling over. She sat up even angrier now with tears In her eyes.  She grits her teeth as she lets the rage out of her once more. Another blast of fire blew up some papers she had on her desk, soon she blasted apart a few books, and her school uniform and was about to blast apart her smarty paints doll when she came to an abrupt halt, her eyes slightly widening as the anger subsided with the memory of the doll, and who gave it to her. She walked over to the doll on her bed and picked it up in her arms as the thought of Celistia giving her the doll crossed her mind.


    Her god father took her shopping once she was released from the hospital and she saw the doll on a toy shelf. she was much too short to grab herself, but he  noticed how she eyed the doll and with a smile picked it off the shelf and handed it to her.


    she curled up with the doll and within seconds fell asleep with it.


    ..


    Sarah woke up with the sound of the TV on in the other room. She quickly looked at the time on her computer, it was 8:27. She fell asleep for a few hours. it wasn''t enough but it would have to do. "Maroo," she called out softly to see where he was, but she did not find him on the bed.


    she walked out of her room with a tired yawn as she stretched out to get her day started. To her surprise she found Maroo playing some type of game with Eddie on the kitchen table.


    "Ok, man all you have to do is roll a six, and the," he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed their company. "Well morning sleepy," he tried to smile, but it was all too clear what kind of day it was for everyone in their expressions.


    "Morning you two, What are you guys up to?"


    "Oh, playing dungeons and dragons," Maroo smiled.


    his smile almost punched Sarah in the heart, but in a good way. She remembered how devastated he looked last night after finding out about his mother. While there was much sadness in his eyes, at least there was something to take his mind off the recent events, and she silently thanked Eddie for this.


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    she turned to the rest of the room to find Ray passed out sitting on the chair acon the TV, the news was reporting about the message that was sent last night after the attack, along with the ten still missing chimera, nine actually since they didn''t know where Pinky was, but Sarah  and her friends knew. Sarah made herself a bowl of cereal as she heard the message from the TV.


    "Hello all citations and all those in the world." Said a deep dark voice over a squiggly line that moved whenever the voice spoke.


    "I have seen this world turned upside down by war by all of you. Who am I, simple I am the Doom. I can make the world an equal place. How you may ask. Simple, the chimera. Your call it a disease but I call it salvation. Think of it. With everyone as a chimera, no one is weaker than or stronger, we''re all, well equal. There would be no more need for war or destruction everyone would know true strength and would feel the same pain and rage. The formula is not yet perfect but I can promise you soon I will be able to create the perfect chimera. Join me, join, and become one of us. A perfect world.  Be a part of the new revolution and salvation, of the NEW WORLD ORDER." yelled the deep voice before the video went Blank.


    …


    Sky finally came to her senses, with a thumping hangover. She yawned as she woke up to the bright sun on the horizon. She didn''t think much at first due to her headache, but soon panic took over as she realized she didn''t know where she was. She then felt something on her neck.  A faint wind she mentally hoped as she took a look hoping to find nothing. Instead her face almost went blue from lack of oxygen at the sight of whom she was sleeping next to. It was none other than Mr Wolfric, the reaper. She rolled over away from him and stood up,shaking, not only from the cold morning air but from the sight and thought of him. She mentally raced to find anything from last night''s events. They were so foggy in her mind. The last thing she could remember was singing at the bar. But what happened after… suddenly another images raced to her mind, making her head spin. She nearly fainted at the memory of her kissing him.


    Oh no no no no no no no no no  no no. she repeated several times, as she mentally cursed herself. But she had to admit it now more than ever how she truly felt for Mr Wolfric. What was it that fascinated her so much? Was it the fact that he saved her. Was she really that desperate for a man that all it took to fall in love was someone saving her. Or was it the fact that most men in today''s society wouldn''t do what he did. He was such a gentleman, and kind in his actions, despite his grumpy deminore most of the time. Either way her mind was racing of what to do. She could tell him it was a mistake, and that she thought of him as a close friend. That was completely true, it was a mistake, and she did think of him as a close friend. But what if after last night he fell for her to. What if he didn''t accept it. What if she wanted this two, what if they both wanted to be together, what then? Her mind raced with a thousand questions, along with a pounding headache caused by her hangover. Finally she sat back down and gripped her head letting out an exhausting moan of pain. Pain from both her hangover, and the situation she found herself in.


    She was so occupied she almost missed the fact that Mr Wolfric began to shake and shiver, twitching in an unnatural way. Mr Wolfric? She first questioned. Mr Wolfric, she cried out as she quickly ran over to him. He was having some type of seizure, or something by the looks of it.


    "Mr. Wolfric." She called out again and tried to wake him. Instead, he rolled over to the ground muttering something she couldn''t make out. She tried again but then realized he was breathing oddly, And if not, she could hear his heartbeat even though her ear was nowhere near his chest. If it didn''t slow down she feared he would have a heart attack.


    Suddenly, his eyes popped open, a look of fear in them as he muttered "Help. He said in a hushed tone, " Help me, someone help!" He said a bit louder but still it was barely audible as he shivered.


    He gripped the right of his stomach. "It hurts. God damn it hurts," he set his hand over his belly gripping it as if in pain, his breath becoming more and more frantic at the minute beginning to hyperventilate.


    "What hurts, what can I do? Please tell me." She asked him.


    "I''ve been shot. I''ve been," he took off his jacket and threw off his shirt revealing what he was talking about. “I''ve been shot,” he said, shaking.


    Indeed he had been shot. There were two bullet wounds just above his belly. Two small ones that left scars.


    Sky froze a bit from seeing him. He was skinny, even skinnier than she first realized. But he wasn''t completely out of shape either, being quite toned and muscular, But it wasn''t his figure that had her so in shock. It was the scars and tattoos all over him.


    She knew he was once in the war, but his body told a much more gruesome story. He had not only a few bullet wounds of different calibers, one large one on the left of his shoulder,  2  small ones just above the stomach. But above his stomach was a large stab wound, that must have been where he got hurt from saving Cornileus that day in the story from long ago.  As he tossed and turned she could see his back, two large wounds along with what looked to be burns, bruised and beaten that traveled over his shoulder and down his arms.


    but the worst one was across his chest. From the neck down in a straight line all the way to the stomach on the right side was a nasty scar that concaved the right side of his body. It looked almost as if he was cut nearly in half at one point, and it was terrifying to see. The slash looked like it could have been made by a sword or something. Between the two burn marks was a tattoo of a skeleton, almost as if the burn marks were its wings. In the skeleton''s left hand, a chain stretched around his entire body, in its right hand a scyth. On its head a hat not unlike the one he would often where sat on the left side  its head, while a horn sat on its right.  The skelton also seemed to be dancing on top of a piano. He also had tons of smaller scars, and scraps from the war.


    "Who, who are you, where am I?" He asked breathing erratic.


    "Calm down, you have to calm down." She said terrified for him.


    "Who are you?" He growled as he scrunched up as if in pain.


    He seemed to be going for something in his pocket but whatever it was it couldn''t help.


    She didn''t know what else to do but lunge at him and hold him tight. "Calm down!" She yelled. Finally a pack of cigarette and a lighter fell out of his pocket but he couldn''t move


    He turned about to toss her off but for some reason, he just stopped and stared at her.  As she held onto him, he could hear her heartbeat, He could feel it against himself and tried to match His breath to hers. It began slowly matching her rhythm and calming him down


    He didn''t know how long he sat there but when he finally had control of his breathing he looked at her.  She looked at him worriedly as he laid back against the end of the tree. She didn''t even realize her hand never moved from his chest. He sat for a moment catching his breath staring into her eyes. Relisting she was holding onto him for too long she immediately removed her hands with a slight blush on her face.


    He instantly wished she hadn''t. He enjoyed her, her warmth and wanted to hold on to her  if only for a moment longer, in the cold morning air.


    "What was that are you ok..should I call you a doctor well get you to the hospital!? She frantically shouted.


    “NO!” He yelled out, startling her. With a sigh he rolled his head from side to side. “No, I''m fine, i”… he didn''t know what to tell her. This situation couldnt be more embarrassing for the both of them. “I have a bit of ptsd from the war,” he finally whisperd just loud enoufe from her to hear. “Its made worse by the fact that I have a photographic memory.”


    “What do you mean?” She asked,


    “I can remember every once of pain, from every scar you see.” he grumbled.


    Her eyes widened at this, as she once again looked over his scarred body. “Is there something I can do,” she said with tearful eyes. He looked away a bit embarrassed of what he wanted her to do. He wished she hugged him again, held him, but he mentally let it go, as he lit a cigarette in front of her.


    “You shouldnt smoke right after,”


    “It helps,” just, he sighed a bit frustrated. “Don''t tell anyone about this ok.  They will try and take my license away if they know about my ptsd.i have already too many trying to ruin my good name as it is.”


    She finally gave a nod and he silently thank her. He stood up, re-dressed and jumped on his bike. “Come on I''ll take you home.” He groaned.” I have work to do,” he said as he exhaled a breath of smoke like a dragon.


    She wanted to talk to him more about both last night and learn more about his ptsd. She never heard of a photographic memory causing such pain. What did he remember? How did a photographic memory work? But something told her it was better just to let this go for now, as she hopped on the back of his bike.


    …


    As she got home she walked into Sarah eating her bowl of cereal. “Woaw did, did you just get home? I thought you were asleep in your room.” All Sky could do was give a slight nod, and quickly went to her room, so she wasn''t asked another question.


    By the time Sarah finished her cereal the mayor was about to give a speech on the tv.


    "Citizens of this fine city. I was just attacked last night by someone who called themself Doom, Their goal was obvious, to turn me and everyone here into a mutant..a raging beast. Yes, I don''t likeThis tho. This is real...we have a terrorist within our mits terrorizing this fair city. My assistant was one of 14 victims last night.. innocent lives were turned into beasts, and we will find a cure and we will put a stop to Doom, this I swear on my LIFE!"


    he stomped his foot. The reporters all jumped up excitedly to ask questions as usual.


    "Sir, sir, are we doomed? mayor, what will you do to fight back? Is the cure ready yet..., does that mean this disease is made in a lab?"


    Suddenly the reporters all stopped as a long black familiar car drove up. The mayor looked at the car with skepticism. The driver of the car got out and walked over to let its owner out. The crowd stood quiet as Mr.Wolfric came onto the scene. The crowd said nothing and made room for him as he walked up to the front of the stage. He looked tired but other wise was fressed as you''d expect, with a top hat and suit.


    …


    Sky saw this and thought wow, he must have changed quickly.


    …


    “Mr Wolfric.” Mr Drake  frowned.


    "Hello, mayor Drake My deepest condolences for what has happened to your assistant. He gave a slight bow. And to all those who have also suffered."


    "Oh thank you. But that isn''t why you came here today is it?" he asked in a dry tone.


    "Unfortunately no."


    "What is it, I''m in the middle of addressing the city.” the mayor asked skeptical


    "Oh, that''s the thing, While I do feel for your situation, and believe me I do. I am simply here to take your job." He smirked cockily.


    With that, everyone gasped and turned to him.


    Sarah still watching the TV from her home, angrily raised her eyebrows but said nothing, as Drake  shook her head in confusion.


    Wolfric grabbed a mic from one of the reporters. "Listen well, people of Dimmesdale. In these troubling times I must ask you, can you rely on your city''s leadership? Now while it is true Mr Drake has just lost a member of her staff and family, I have to ask, is he well enough to actually do what is necessary? Does he have a level head in all of this, or is the stress of running a city and seeing her own best friend turned into a chimera right before his eyes too much ."


    Mr. Wolfric  then turned around and got up on a chair so he could stand higher.


    "For too long this disease has plagued our city. For too long,  we have put our faith in her leadership and look at where it has gotten us.  Too many innocent lives, two many families now have been torn apart due to all of thisWhy? Because of him." He pointed at Mr Drake. "He has failed in his duty to protect this city. He has failed all of you. Will you let HIM fail again? He orders the National Guard. Those who are not even part of our city to help. But this is our city. Our home  are we really going to stand down and let the government take over while we sit and wait for a terrorist to strike again."


    He then pointed directly into a camera. "I say new leadership is needed, and yes I''m throwing my hat in the ring"


    He said as he popped off his hat, letting roll down his arm and catching it with his hand. "But if not me that''s fine. Just someone else. But before any other candidates decide to try to sit in that chair let me ask you this one question. Do you have a plan, because I do," he grinned, as he jumped off the chair, handed the mic back, and began to walk back to his car.


    All the reporters tried to get his attention but he ignored them as he got in, the car taking off immediately.


    The cameras still pointed at the spot that he left.


    In her home, Sarah narrowed her eyes at the television as she began questioning who Mr. Wolfric, think he was to come in there and say such nonsense. At the same time Sky, knowing what she knew of him, and his ptsd, feared for his life. She also feared for her heart.