Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Tear ❯ Part Three ( Chapter 3 )

Title: "The Last Tear"

Author: Antoinette Robins

Date: Friday, April 18, 2003

Warnings: ......well, I suggest that for those of you that are extremely religious and are easily offended that you don't read. This story contains some content that is purely that of my own imagination, but it does deal with such sacrilegious ideas as evil angels and the like.

Disclaimer: THEY'RE ALL MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! sorry...my first time having bothered to write a disclaimer in an original fic. All characters, places, ideas, and affiliated things such as STORYLINE and PLOT are hereby the copyrighted property of ME. However I would like to make a note that NO I DID NOT get any of the ideas for my storyline and plot from "Angel Sanctuary".

And now, on with the show!

(PS~ I live for reviews, and I'm not kidding. I review my own fics if no one else does, I'm that sad. So please take pity on me and leave a review of your own! I love knowing what the audience thinks.)

Part Three

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After that day with the encounter and the alley attack, Amarette had gotten home, locked the door, and gone to bed. She was still in bed when a blaring and shrill sound grated her ears, forcing her out of the peaceful land of sleep.

Amarette opened a sleep-fogged eye. The sound had stopped. Not really caring enough to get out of her warm bed and investigate, she shrugged and closed her eye again. The same eye snapped open yet again as the shrill sound repeated. The sound kept repeating, awakening and annoying the over-tired 16-year-old.

Sitting up and putting her bear feet to the hardwood floor, Amarette padded around the amazingly clean apartment while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The sound was still ringing relentlessly somewhere in her kitchen.

Going to investigate, Amarette moved a small stack of paid bills and blinked at her discovery.

"I have a phone?" she wondered aloud. The object continued to ring, and then Amarette shook herself from her sleep-laden surprise and picked up the receiver. "Moshi moshi?"

The voice of her school nurse drifted to her from the other end of the line, "Amarette-san! Thank goodness! Are you alright?"

"Daijyoubu," Amarette assured her. Then after a moment, "Why do you ask?"

"It's more than half way through the school day and you haven't even called in sick. What with your normally spotless record, I was worried," the nurse explained. Amarette nearly fainted, and attempted to lower herself into a chair. She missed the chair however, and fell painfully to the floor.

The nurse at the other end of the line was rather perturbed when she heard tumbling, then falling, and finally a loud thud, punctuated with: "Itai~~~!"

"A-Amarette-san? Are you sure you're okay?" the nurse tried again.

Amarette retrieved the receiver from the table and sat up. "I'm fine. I was really tired last night, that's all. I know that's no excuse for skipping school~" she began to apologize when the nurse interrupted her.

"Stop right there! You're a very bright girl, and you work more than is good for you. It was only a matter of time before your batteries needed recharging. You just take today easy. Go back to sleep if you can manage it, and try actually eating something today!" with that the kind and helpful woman hung up.

Amarette replaced to phone in its cradle and stood there a moment. A subtle air of nonchalance quickly replaced the momentary shock at the ruination of her perfect attendance record. She needed a day off any way.

Although she was still tired and aching from work, stress, and having been slammed into a brick wall the night before, Amarette couldn't go back to sleep. Looking around her kitchen absently, she quickly brewed a small pot of coffee. Following that she began to straighten and tidy the already spotless apartment. Finishing in her bedroom, she went to take a long, hot shower to relieve the stress and pain in her straining muscles.

When she got out of the shower, she called in sick to both of her jobs. She knew that she shouldn't have done that, but today she just didn't want to go out. Outside was noisy and busy. Outside was tiring and painful.

However it wasn't totally because of her encounters from the day before that made her feel that way. True, she never wanted to see those boys and that man again, and she was definitely staying away from alleys and back streets for the rest of her life. But these things hadn't really scared her away from the outside world. As a matter of fact, both events had only strengthened her view of the outside world.

The reason she stayed away from the outside and people was because she always wanted to feel like herself. Another strange thing about Amarette is that she can feel what other people feel, or at least to an extent. What she feels is pain. If someone were heartbroken or distraught, she would only have to walk in the opposite direction on the opposite side of the street to feel what that person was feeling.

Staying alone was staying away from the pain. Staying alone was staying away from the sadness.

"And staying at home is staying away from the super market," Amarette sighed as she closed the fridge.

Unfortunately, you can't escape everything...

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Amarette had just gotten off the downtown bus and was starting to complete her journey to the store when something caught her eye. It was the bookshop across the street. She had placed an order about a week ago for a book from overseas (namely, America). She might as well check to see if the order had come in.

She walked to the light and waited for the signal to change. When the lights switched, Amarette began to cross with the rest of the crowd. About half way across the street however, the rest of the crowd suddenly stopped or ran to either side of the road as the sound of a revving engine speedily approached.

Amarette had frozen in the middle of the sidewalk. All of the emotions of fear had hit her like a wave crashing on a rock. With the emotional overload, she was too overwhelmed to hear the concerned shouts of people as an out of control motorcycle fell as the driver tried to stop it.

Jumping off the bike before it fell to continue sliding along the street at high speed, the rider ran to catch up. He had seen Amarette and known that she wasn't going to get out of the way. Increasing his speed, he pulled level with the sliding bike, and then passed it.

A split second before the bike would have swept Amarette away to her death, the bike's rider darted out and knocked her out of the way.

Amarette blinked, returning to reality. She was on the ground, looking up at the bright blue sky. But there was something else about her position that was making her strangely uncomfortable. She began to sit up and discovered what it was: she was in a guy's arms.

He brought his helmeted head up off of her shoulder and let her sit up. "Are you alright?" he asked in English, his young voice muffled by the black helmet.

Amarette shook her head to clear it, and then nodded in response to his question. She looked at the guy a moment, but she was still slightly dazed so nothing really registered.

"What the Hell's wrong with you?" he yelled furiously, removing his helmet. "Do you want to die?"

Looking him in the face to give a retort, Amarette's voice vanished when she saw his eyes. They were an electrified lime green, accented with the sparkling glare of his anger. After a moment of staring mutely at his eyes, she found her voice and gave him a glare of her own.

"Well that's a real creative way of saying `Gee miss, I'm sorry I nearly killed you'," Amarette replied coolly (also in English) as she picked herself up off of the pavement. The guy rose with her, a look of open-mouthed shock on his features.

He was wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket that was zipped up the front. He towered over Amarette at about 6ft 1, with shaggy golden blond hair and those flaring green eyes.

He was appalled by this girl's audacity, her total and complete gall. "What's you're problem?" he asked, bending to retrieve his helmet.

"My problem is that you just nearly killed me! That's my problem!" she retorted.

The guy almost dropped his helmet. This wasn't happening. First he thrashed his bike and now the girl he had saved was acting like it was entirely his fault.

"Look, it's not like I was aiming for you! It was an accident! Besides, you're the one who wouldn't move from the crosswalk," he recovered.

Amarette was not in the mood for this. She wasn't going to lose this fight though, not to this guy. "Well accidents only happen at the hands of incompetence!"

"Incompetence?" he echoed in disbelief. "Why you..." he stopped in mid-sentence, knowing that if he went any further he would really lose it.

At that moment a few police cars and an ambulance showed up. Seeing this, Amarette's eyes widened. She made to slip away before being questioned, when she felt a firm grip on her arm. Pulling away defensively, she looked up to see the guy watching her.

"What's your name?" he asked.

She wasn't about to tell him. He might sue her, or worse. File a complaint, which her parents could trace. Amarette didn't want to take any chances today, so she turned to run but the guy wouldn't release her arm.

"I'm not going to do anything," he insisted. He was well aware of the policemen coming up from behind him. "Your name?"

Amarette's eyes darted between the guy and the quickly approaching police. Finally her panic took over and she did the first thing that came to mind.

Ripping her arm from his tight grip she yelled "Hanashite! Ettchi!" and ran like the wind, turning only briefly to see the police grab the supposed "pervert".

After escaping the biker and the cops, Amarette decided it would be best to go to the market first. Hiding there for almost four hours, Amarette judged that the time was appropriate to retrieve her books from the store. Or at least that's what she thought until she actually came out of the crowded building.

As soon as Amarette was out the door a motorcycle pulled up to the curb. The rider had a black helmet, black leather jacket, and blue jeans. When he removed his helmet he shook the sweat out of his shaggy mop of golden blond hair.

Amarette groaned. "Oh no...Not you..."

The biker looked up, almost in surprise. "Hi to you too," was all he said, making no move to approach her.

Eyeing him with distrust, Amarette waited to see if that was all he was going to say. She was about to leave when he said, "You still haven't told me your name."

Turning on her heel, Amarette began to march down the street without giving a reply. Not expecting this, the biker began to roll down the street after her.

"Ma-Matte! Hey, wait a sec!" he cried after her.

"Why?" Amarette asked, not looking at him.

"Because you owe it to me," he said.

"Owe it to you!" Amarette yelled in shock. She did look at him this time.

"Yeah, you owe it to me! I saved your life~"

"You caused the circumstances that would require me to be rescued!"

"You humiliated me!"

"Big whoop."

"You're rude, and you nearly got me arrested!"

"I'm rude?" Amarette stopped walking and turned to him. "I'm rude? You're the one harassing me, and I'm rude? You ask for my name when you haven't even given yours, and~"

"Malcolm," he interjected.

Stopping in mid-rant, Amarette blinked. "What?"

"My name is Malcolm. Malcolm Guardia," he introduced himself. "And you are?"

Once again his brilliant green eyes captured her attention. They weren't flaring with rage now, but sparkling with ambition.

Amarette glared at Malcolm. You think you're so clever... she thought. "What would you do with my name?" press charges, sue, exedra.

Malcolm shrugged, looking away. "Nothin'. I would just like to know, that's all."

Amarette's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?"

"How about because you speak fluent English? I don't really care if you start cussin' like a New Yorker, it's still nice to hear the native language," he responded seriously.

Amarette sighed. "That is the lamest line I have ever heard," Malcolm's head snapped up with an almost hurt expression. "Amarette," she said and crossed the street to continue walking on the other side.

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After leaving Malcolm by the market, Amarette doubled back and circled around town aimlessly, just in case he had followed her. It was 6:00 p.m. when she looked at her watch. It would be dark in two hours. The bookshop closed in one.

Amarette entered the shop with 15 minutes to spare. She browsed the aisles of fantasy manga and novels, then headed for the import pick-up desk.

"Long time no see!" hailed the guy behind the counter. His name was Ryohei, he was a senior at Amarette's high school, and he was one of the only humans alive that she did not totally despise.

"Konban wa Ryo-chan!" Amarette smiled widely. "My order is in by now, ne?"

"Hai! Hai!" Ryohei brought out a small chapter book and placed it on the counter. "That all?" he asked, ringing up the charge when Amarette nodded. Handing the bag to her, Ryohei grabbed her hand to keep her from going. "Are you in trouble?" he asked.

"Huh?" Amarette blinked, almost desperately wishing that Ryo-chan would let go of her hand. His anxiety was seeping into her system like oil into the ocean.

"Are you in trouble? With the law I or somethin' I mean," he said again, not releasing her wrist.

"Not that I know of," she replied, gently taking her hand from his. "Why?"

"Because a couple of cops and a few guys in suits came here looking for you." Ryohei explained.

Almost all color drained from Amarette's face and her eyes got to be the size of tea saucers. "What did they want?"

"Your phone number and address. I was on my break so I didn't know what was happening until~~~ Oi! Where're you goin'?" he yelled after Amarette as she vanished out the door.

What a day. Nearly getting killed, gaining a stalker, and now her father might have found her. The men in suits had probably been FBI agents dealing with her disappearance. Being escorted by the local police would give them authority and access to anything they might think would give them a lead.

But how did they know to go to the bookshop? Amarette asked herself as she came to a gasping stop at the bus stop that would take her to her place. As she sank onto the sidewalk she felt the answer to her question brush her leg.

Looking down, Amarette blinked. The plastic bag from the bookshop that had her imported purchase. A book that had come from America...

"Of course," Amarette sighed in despair. "They traced the order back to me..." sighing again, she boarded the bus for home.

Why was she returning if she knew what would be there to meet her? Why was she heading into the hands of her father, whom she had successfully eluded for what was going on a year? She had to see for herself, she had to be sure.

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Exiting the bus at her normal stop, Amarette looked around wearily. She hadn't totally thought this through. Was she going to give up if they spotted her? How close was she going to get to be sure?

All of these things ran around in her head as she walked the two blocks to her apartment. She stopped by a pet shop that was right next to her apartment, and stared a moment.

I'm just so tired of running...

Then she noticed the birds in the shop. Brightly colored birds from exotic lands. For that instant she just watched the birds. Nothing else mattered except the beautiful feathers and the melodic calls that could even be heard outside the shop. She watched the birds. The wild, beautiful, extraordinary birds...that were confined in small, barred cages.

"I don't want to be a bird in a cage," she whispered aloud. She turned around to walk back to the bus station when she heard a shrill whistle behind her.

Amarette froze momentarily before swerving around to see a tall white man in a long coat, business suit, and sunglasses. He was yelling and pointing at Amarette, who at that instant became aware of the police and FBI agents that were on her balcony. She didn't need any verification beyond that.

Running in the opposite direction, Amarette ignored the shouts and calls that came from the men behind her. She made it to the bus stop, running past it in the direction of high traffic areas. That's when she heard the blaring sirens of police cars in her pursuit.

Increasing her speed with a new burst of energy from her growing fear, she ran straight out into traffic, nearly causing a 16-car pile up. Still she was being chased by the police and agents, as well as what she had come to identify as her father's personal security and bodyguards.

Amarette made it to downtown, taking a route the cars couldn't follow directly, and was heading for a garden she knew of. Upon entering, she startled many of the people who had come to relax among the plants and flowers. Sprinting through the grass and along the paved walkways, she went in circles until she switched directions and headed for the street.

She made it across the street right as the light changed, cutting off her pursuers. Amarette doubled over, gasping for breath. She needed to keep moving, but the stitch in her side was crippling her. Soon she wouldn't be able to stay on her feet, let alone keep running.

But she had to keep moving. The inspiration for her next dash came when thunder clapped overhear, opening the Heavens for rain, accompanied by chill winds.

Looking behind her, Amarette saw the blue-silver haired twins. She stood, petrified as they began to walk closer. At the same time, the traffic began to thin, and the human pursuers began to cross. Another clap of thunder awoke Amarette, who automatically darted down the street and away from both the twins and the police.

The pouring rain was seeping into Amarette clothes and slowing her down. The stitch in her side had also grown to an unbearable pain. Turning the corner and starting down an abandoned street, Amarette slowed to a stop, holding her side and coughing for gasps of air.

The agents, bodyguards, and police rounded the corner and were approaching her position quickly. She was getting ready to run again when she heard a familiar sound. It was the roar of an engine being pushed to top speed. Amarette look back and saw a black motorcycle rip around the corner, scattering the approaching police and bodyguards.

A spark of hope gave Amarette the breath to scream, "Malcolm!"

Sure enough, it was the same rider. He easily pulled ahead of Amarette's chasers and slowed when he reached her.

"Jump on and grab onto me tightly!" he cried in his young, helmet-muffled voice.

Not needing to be told twice, Amarette staggered over to the bike and swung one leg over, putting her arms around Malcolm's waist at the same time. As soon as he was sure she was on, Malcolm revved the engine and sped off, leaving the frustrated, pedestrian pursuers in the rain.

Observing the entire scene from the roof of a near by warehouse, Syth and Sin's faces were dark.

"This is not good," Sin stated, turning to leave.

"Mondicos won't be pleased," agreed his brother, disappearing after him.

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Author Rambles: MWAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! Gee, I wonder if any of you can guess what roll Malcolm has in the story...Some of you might think that he's going to be Amarette's love interest. Maybe... some of you might think that he's an Arc Angel. Maybe... I think that when I reveal his true purpose...all Malcolm fans are going to hate me. ^.^ That's okay though, you can hate me...Just tell me about it in a review!!! Also, in regards to the other Japanese words that I use, I decided that I'm just gonna post the links to a few Japanese Phrase dictionaries on the net so that I don't have to explain everything. It gets tiring. So, continue reading and reviewing!

Japanese Dictionaries:

Soon to come...(I need to find some X.X)