Sunset's Melody (Drake)

[madelyn]

It was setting. The sun. The orange, yellow, pink, and purples all cascading over the horizon beautifully. It looked like God's own paintbrush had swathed the sky with it's beautiful array of stained glass more breathtaking than any window in any cathedral in the world. It was here that it seemed the day began to die so that soon a new would begin. Yet, did the day really die or only continue the sun rising and falling in life. Was it humans that put a final note on a day. Saying that it was limited to exactly twenty four hours? It mattered little to the young blonde that sat on the bench watching the sky.

A word had not been spoken since that night. The night her husband, her angel, her love had died. With it he had taken part of her with him. And yet in the same regards she had kept just a little of him. Carrying him with her. Letting him live with her and through her. With her life he too would live a full one of his own. And when they met in heaven yet again, she would tell him, show him, sing to him of all the memories and beauty he had missed yet watched from above. He had been the sunrise in her life and perhaps that was why now, she tended to watch the sunsets rather than the sunrises. She still rose early enough to see them but the memories right now were much too hard to bear. Healing was taking time, a lot of time, and she knew that was the only way to do so.

*snap snap*

The sound of the clasps on her flute case almost echoed in the courtyard that over looked the city of Babylos below, the city where now the oranges were casting their final tints on the window of the buildings. It was beautiful, God truly had created a place that man could, if they looked hard enough, find what true beauty was. Her blonde hair was not down, hadn't been since he left. It seemed like she was afraid to let it down that it would be to let loose in some sense and she was still holding tightly to her emotions.

She small flute shimmered in the dying light of the day. The metal that glimmered a sliver in most cases now took on the beautiful array of the sky as it reflected as a mirror would the beauty that was the sky. The three pieces went together seemlessly and she closed the case without the slightest noise but left the clasps undone. It was time. Two weeks had passed without music in her life and it was hard.. hard to bring it back when that was something they had shared and loved so intimately together. Yet it was time. Time to become whole again, or any semblance of whole she could achieve. Bring herself back together. Be strong for the children that she would bring into the world come April. Not very long now really and her stomach was already showing when she sat. Twins took up a lot of room and she was a small girl.

Raising her flute to her lips she closed her eyes and played. Sunset's Melody. It was for him. The man she had lost. His memory in every note that came from her fingers the tears running down her cheeks as she played the most beautiful piece of her life. His smile, touch, his words. The way he held when she slept and the way he carressed her before he left for morning exercises. The way he cherished her and held her for his own every day since that one where they had met. That day had been magical two silent people finding each other and in the end their children would be born of that magic.

Her name was Madelyn Winters. And she was playing his song.

[Drake Sevnik]

Celeste had finally found peace with someone and though they were still very close like a brother and sister they knew that their chapter had ended when he died in battle and asked her...no...begged her to live a full life. They knew that leaving early that night would only leave Hadrian and her to bond but, he knew that deep down he did the right thing. He saved Celeste from a destroyer in the end fufilling his promise of gaurding her. It wasn't the way that Drake wanted it to turn out though and it was a bitter-sweet victory. Dark had been the only think that kept the young man from lurking on depression. Letting Celeste go had been a hard thing but, Hadrian was perhaps better suited. They'd learn from each other more and that was what both needed. To learn and live. Yet though Dark knew the choice Drake was still cut deeply.

A childish hope that he would have been the one to hold Celeste every night and keep her safe. To be the sunrise and sunset in her day. Yet when they died they had begged her to move on since neither had expected to be brought back to this plane of existance. Death had taught them both some bittersweet things. More bittersweet to Drake since Dark had already learned them before. Love though powerful could never give you everything that you wanted. Death in a world of magic was never permenant. Dark had to struggle with Drake each day in order to get the young man to at least leave his dorm and do some exercises. To get him from letting depression totally take him over. This was a hard lesson that Drake had to learn and one that Dark wished the young man never had to learn. Sometimes you had to let go to give the one you loved the happiness they needed.

Drake wiped his eyes his wings folded around him as he stood on top of one of the small garden buildings. A small building with an easy rooftop to balance on as he looked at the City of Babylos below. Pain...the pain of loss hurt. It wasn't some injury that you could just heal in the blink of an eye. It was silent only the end for company as he didn't hear the echoing clicks of a flute case being opened. There was another out here that Dark had noted but, he wasn't going to interrupt Drake's thoughts. Tears filled his eyes for a moment but, he blinked them back. He was a warrior right? Warriors weren't supposed to cry. A good guy was supposed to dissapear in the sunset when everything was set right the first love settled with someone and they off to continue their duty to justice.

Heh...justice.

A bittersweet companion that Drake would exchange for Celeste's tender embrace and kisses on the spot.

Snap out of it Drake you're only hurting yourself!

Just...just leave me only damn it!

Drake retorted and he closed off his mind for now Dark already hammering at the hastily erected mental walls as Drake's thoughts were pierced.

By a song.

A song that shared the pain he was feeling right now. He looked up with red eyes for a moment and looked for the source of it. He saw a soft and sweet girl with beautiful blonde hair tied back. She was playing a flute. A flute was in her hands and she was playing it. But, he saw the tears running down her cheeks she playing from a deep pain that he could feel. A feeling of losing someone. He closed his eyes and his voice rang out. A pure and heavenly voice rang out entwining with the music of the flute. Where it gave the heart-felt emotion and mood his voice gave that emotion and mood words. Words of a loss that could never be replaced. Of chances that would never be seen.

Of moments that would never be experianced.

He sang. He sang with everything he had in that moment. Whoever, the player was understood the pure depth of the pain he felt. He felt in a way a sense of companionship. So he continued to sing his song.

His name was Drake Sevnik.

He was giving words to Sunset's Melody. For he truly understood ultimate loss. The loss of someone that you cherished.

That you could never replace.

[madelyn]

The notes drifted through the air playing to the sunset. The sunset of a life the sunset of her love. It was setting into the dark night something she didn't want. To see the end of the day to know that lonliness was indeed to follow. Her life was no longer filled with smiles and carresses. No it was now filled with the harsh and bitter truth that her love had gone away. Swept by the tides of time while she was left on the bank.. left to watch him fade away.

Memories. It was all that she would have left. The pictures and the memories of the days and nights spent together. The joy that they had shared upon a special Christmas morning and the days they had spent underneath the tree where they had bonded with rings. The doves flying into the sky at their ceremony into the beautiful sky above. It was these that would keep her company but not warm on the cool winter nights to come.

Winters. It was her new last name. For once it had been Madelyn Moore but she was no longer that sweet girl that had started this academy. She had been changed, grown, developed, saved, and left. Tears fell down her small face and clashed with the soft teal fabric of the sweater she was wearing to keep her small body warm. Her hearth however remained cold. Not cold from people but cold from the lonliness.. the lack of another.

But it was then that a voice rang out. A voice of beauty and of loss. A voice that knew her pain inside and out. A voice that sang what she could not sing while she played what he could not play. Her eyes never once opened they had no need for the sunset she played was no longer in the sky. Yes the colors remained swathed across what was once blue but the colors she played to were her own personal sunset.

Minutes more it poured out of her soul through her fingers. Her breath showing in the ever cooling night. Beauty inside and out of the girl and her surroundings. When the song ended she let the flute sit in her case, still put together it just lay on the top yet she didn't want to hold it. Her eyes opened slowly. The violet blue that she possessed looked up into the last blue and purple rays of the dying sky. She knew those colors. They were her life. The way she felt now. Life was blue and purple shades of lavender and lapis lazuli. Azure and periwinkle. All slowly fading to the black and deep purples that were taking over her soul.

She sat there. She didn't move. For the Winter had truly set in on the girl. Her body wasn't cold but her heart felt as though it would never know the warmth again. Warmth of love and the carress of caring. She feared that what she had for her few months with the man she loved had been the warmth and the light of her life. Her children, it was what she lived for now. And her hand, the right, went over the bulge that was her sweet babies. Her beautiful perfect children. The ones that she loved already and couldn't wait to meet.

Was there a spring in this Wintered girls heart?

[Drake Sevnik]

Her notes magnified his words and his words personified her notes. It was a beautiful blend that would have been heart-felt to all had both musicians not been so devestated at the moment. Had both not felt that the celestial skies had turned on them and only given them the bitter winter of despair. Drake sang with everything he had his own soul shyly stepping forth in those vulnerable moments. Vulnerable? Yes he was he really was because he felt such a deep pain. She understood his pain that he felt as his own wings seemed to tremble in the whirlwind of emotion, the title wave of pain, the crushing despair of ice that weighed on their souls. They were one in that moment as the minutes ticked by he giving words to her notes. And she releasing the emotion that channeled his words. A powerful combination that would leave even the greatest of symphony orchestras in awe.

He opened his eyes and wiped the shedded tears that had stained his cheeks and showed evidence of what he felt. The crystalline drops falling away from him as he opened his gray eyes. They spotted the girl without a single comment from Dark his wings snapping open gently as he leaped off and flapped his wings a few times for a safe landing. The harsh snap of his wings had caused the feathers that had been molting anyways to scatter off. A feather as pure as the whitest of freshly fallen snow fell onto Madelyn's fingers as he opened his eyes and studied her. He looked into those soft eyes and felt the pain that she felt. He didn't know her name. He didn't know what had happened to her but, he could feel it. In some ways he did know her because she shared the burden he did. An irreplacable loss that would always leave a wound that weighed on them. A scar of memories that would never go away.

She understood what that meant.

She had the eyes. She had his eyes. The eyes that held a deep loss. He sat beside her and looked at her for a moment gazing into those violet-blue depths. They reminded him of the color of freshly-fallen snow in the shadow when nobody had touched it. Violet-blue depths that could rival the sunset in the depth and color that could touch your innermost soul. He shifted one of his wings unfolding and gently wrapping around her he not saying a word for a moment. For that moment words were not necessary as he simply wanted to protect her from the night's chill. This delicate girl who played the heart-aching music that he felt ringing in his ears it seemed. It was almost as if her soul lived in music as he leaned back against the tree. The warmth of his feathers acting like a cloak for her.

He didn't say anything yet he just gazed at the sky for several long moments before he turned to face her his gray eyes meeting her blue eyes. For several seconds he held her gaze.

"You understand what I feel," Drake said softly as he hadn't moved his gaze from her eyes. "Just as I understand how you feel. Both of us chilled from the loss of someone we can never replace yet..." he looked away and at the ground for a moment. "We have our reasons to live on and try to go without them. No matter how much it hurts. For it is our cause that is the only thing we have left. Your music was beautiful, there is no music that could rival what you just played."

[madelyn]

What happens to a body when a heart is torn in two. Two jagged pieces ripped apart by the loss of the one you hold most dear. You know in all honestly that they need to go on. To move without you for you are only holding them back. Lost here on earth until you can let them go. Angels are said to be born of those down on earth. The ones worthy enough for the wings and eternal lives. Yet, her angel was gone. The one that had made her life complete and the first to make her smile or laugh since her parents had gone.

A snap came from over head and she looked up. An odd sound coming so late in the evening. White wings above her spanned out and a lone figure was carried by the white folds of feathers. A feather drifted down and landed on the back of her hand. She broke the contact of following him to examine. Her fingers ran over the tiny hairs that made up the feather. Like pure spun silk it was soft and beautiful. Tears welled quickly in her eyes. She belonged to no one any longer. Her angel was gone he had always called her his wings... the wings upon which he could fly. But now she was a pair of wings.. on her own. No direction because there was no angel that needed her.

The boy landed and she looked up her tear filled eyes were locked in his gray ones. He knew. It was there. This was the boy that had sung with her. His eyes betrayed his heart. Both of them like lockets torn apart in the center searching for the one that matched yet they were already gone. For her.. it was Jonathan he had taken her locket with him when he had gone left her with a half that could make no whole. Broken and lonely lying against her ribs weaping and crying in despair. Yet he knew. The pain was there and she nodded softly. He knew.

She looked down at the ground not moving from her place as her right hand came up to protect them. Her sweet children so innocent and sweet to be born without a father would be hard for them but they would know of him. Oh they would know the legacy of their father. Everything he was to her and everything he did to bring them into his world. They would know thier father. A soft wing wrapped around her from behind and she closed her eyes. Had it come to this.. did she need wings now? Wings to carry the broken wings? Could two pairs of broken wings and broken hearts make a whole?

He spoke for the first time and her eyes drifted up to his and locked there. Such deep depths of grey that reminded her of the violent storms back in Kansas. There where the tornados raged over the empty farmlands and where the weather could turn on you in a moment. Yet, not anger was locked in the faceted depths that he carried. No instead it was filled with sorrow the same that she felt. For truly in this time of need she had found the only person alive that possibly could understand.

He told her that her music was beautiful and she nodded softly in thanks. She opened the small satchel on her side silently. It seemed even her movements were dogged by sorrow. She pulled out a tiny memo pad but her hand covered what was written on the front as she opened it to a blank page. Swallowing softly she clicked her green clicky pen, her favorite one and wrote.

-Sorrow breaks the dam of time,
our broken hearts are left to die,
yet in this time hope remains true,
that in this darkness there must lie,
another pair of wings to help me fly-

She handed it to him gently as she broke the eye contact and looked out over the ever darkening city. She held her bulging stomach gently her love for her unborn children evident in every move she made.

[Drake Sevnik]

Here they were two broken souls and hearts with no warm arms of a lover to hold them and call them their own. He shifted for a moment and looke at the girl. The girl who understood his pain as purely as innocent lovers understood each other. They knew each other only by the calling card that loss had left weighing so heavily on their souls. Her fingers had studied the feather that had fallen on her hand as did her eyes. As if trying to confirm that this was real and not some illusion that the mind was playing on them. Another cruel fantasy of their hearts that silently screamed for attention. For the touch of a lover to breathe life into their shattered souls and make them new once again. For the touch of a dearest one to truly give them a meaning that the loss of their previous love left in a gaping hole.

Meaning. A purpose to face the darkness that they knew lurked beyond not only them but, lay in the inner depths of their souls. Both were truly lost without the one person they had to fall back on and guide them to a new meaning and a new purpose. He shifted for a moment his wing moving a bit more tightly around this girl who understood him. He wouldn't let harm befall her as she was the only one right now who understood what he meant. He saw her touching her stomach and his eyes widened slightly as he already had a feeling of what she was. He shifted his hand gently over hers that was over her stomach. He shifted his hand very softly to where it was beside her hand. He could feel the life that was there.

She had a legacy that she could carry on. A legacy that he felt needed to be defended no matter the cost. His wing shifted a bit more around her. A bit more in the gentle touch to where it was holding her and shielding her from the wind. Keeping her and the young lives she carried from catching any cold. Again he found his gray eyes locked with those violet-blue depths. The kind of color you saw in the infinante vastness of the stars when you looked in a telescope. Looked at just how vast the universe really was. No harm would come to this beautiful young girl or the life that she carried. The cycle that she was beginning he would ensure was taken care of.

"I'll remember those words," Drake said softly as he pulled Madelyn into his lap and wrapped his wings around then like a feathery blanket so only their heads and shoulders were showing.

"You should keep warm you know, especially with the legacy that you carry, wings have some usefulness at times like this," Drake said with a light smile as he looked down at her. She'd have enough room to show him anything she wrote as he looked a bit.

"Forgive me names names I really am out of it...I am Drake Sevnik, the other half to me is Dark Lancaster...it's kind of strange...Dark and I share the same the body but, we are two seperate souls and minds. He is...kind of a Casanova but, he is very protective and has helped me through this hard time."

[madelyn]

And so in pain and loss there was care. Even when the darkest hours came down to the world upon her.. the stars going out because of her husbands' death. The death she never wanted and the one she remembered every day. It was hard still in this new stage to remember his life and not his death. That last night had been a night to remember forever. She knew that eventually she would move on and be able to remember all the good times they had shared. All the times that meant the world to her. The ones that he would probably frown upon because he thought himself not perfect but he had never been anything less to her and in her eyes.

She sun had fully set now and the boy beside her pulled her a bit closer. The wing. It was warm and all the feathers protected her from the wind that was stirring. She closed her eyes and looked down at her small bulging stomach. His hand came up and placed it'self next to hers and she looked up making eye contact. He knew. She wasn't afraid nor ashamed. These two beautiful children were being born of love and that in itself carried nothing wrong. She didn't regret becoming a mother so young. She didn't regret getting married or falling in love. Though painful now the bliss that she had felt while he was alive still to this day kept her going.

For Jonathan had changed her a lot. Bringing her slowly out of her shell. showing her love and gentle touches the like she had never known and if she had she could not remember. She couldn't help but take her eyes away from the boy. She looked up at the stars that were shimmering up in the sky and tears fell down her face. It wasn't that she was really crying but remembering a time when a friend had told her about stars. When one died their star too fell out of the sky only to be replaced by another. Their soul living on forever in the sky yet the star of life now burned out. Jonathan hung up there in the night sky. Maybe he was watching her. She could only hope that he knew how much even now that he was gone she was loving and devoted to him.

The boy next to her told her that he would always remember the words that she had written down and she nodded softly. Long gone were the happy smiles that Jonathan had given to her. A gift that he had taken with him as well as her voice again. For since his death after telling him that she loved him one last time she had not spoken a word. It was nearly like the Madelyn of old had come back. Yet she was still vastly changed, Jonathan's imprint would never leave her life. And she would never forget him. If in some strange universe someone loved her again they would have to understand that her heart would always belong for the most part to the sweet angel that she had first given it too. that day in the park when they had made the vows that bound them together.. she was his and he was hers.. forever.

Drake pulled her into his lap and her eyes went wide as his wings constricted around her. Her instincts kicked in. Male. Constrained. Not good. She paniced. Elbowing him in the ribs twice on each side with rather hard thrusts.. or hard according to madelyn's sheer lack of strength. she ran out of his arms and back into the night. Grabbing her flute she put it to her lips and began to play. Over reacting this might be but she had two others to protect right now and she wasnt about to let them down. She wouldn't let HIM down either. She was going to raise their children to the best of her ability. She began to play her entrapment spell. He would feel the constraints wrapping tightly around him keeping him in place as tears still rolled down her cheeks her eyes locked on him as she played her song.

She was scared. No one was left to protect her but herself. The children were too young to defend themselves it was her job. She was a mom already. They might not be born yet but she already had those intincts that came with her status as becoming a mother. The song ended and he would be trapped until she let it go or he broke it. She didn't care but she was trying to not be hurt. Too often in her past had she trusted one kind touch and recieved days of pain and suffering for being foolish. She had let her guard drop with Jonathan, but then she had been lucky. Now she wouldn't be so lucky.. at least it wasn't likely. Better to be safe than sorry. She gave him that look. The look that could kill .. shooting daggers at him as she wondered what he had wanted from her. Still she said nothing but she stayed away from him none the less.

[Drake Sevnik]

Twice she hit at him when he saw her panic he knew he made the mistake that something about men and keeping her close so she wouldn't catch cold wasn't good. He oomphed slightly as his wings were pushed aside and she pushed away quickly her flute coming out and his eyes narrowed slightly in worry as he could see her perfectly. The advantage of having Dark to guide his eyesight at night. He grimaced when she played that constricting song and winced when he tried to resist the air only constricting harder around him as testament not to move. He was slowly bound and held still by her spell his eyes locked with hers as he looked at her with a hurt gaze. She was shooting daggers at him her eyes ready to kill in amoment's notice. Those eyes of anger and being mad because he assumed wrong or made a mistake.

Yet he also saw the tears and the fact she was afraid it was that angry look that tore at him. He remembered when SHE gave him that look. He shifted unable to move his body only his eyes and do the necessary things like breathe if barely. He closed his eyes for a moment and didn't even say anything as holy energy charged around him he refusing to be bound. To be held. He didn't want to remember what it was like to be paralyzed. To be held to where you couldn't escape. That would only lead to death. A soft shimmering light glowed on his body and expelled outwards as his 'Dispel' ability worked. Normally he had to touch what was being affected by the spell but, since he was the one being affected he merely expelled energy to break the bindings. He was shivering as he remembered.

Donar had killed him when he was helpless. It was why he developed this ability. So he wouldn't be helpless. So he wouldn't be paralyzed by an enemy's magic. He closed his eyes and looked down his wings folded around him but, every now and then the feathers trembled. So she hated guys huh? In a way Drake couldn't find her at fault for what she did considering he was killed by someone that was a sick man and he had seen Angra's work. Nice to know that he could be assumed for their sins as well. He looked to the side. He had broken the bonds that much had been show when his wings wrapped around him but, he wasn't going after her. He wasn't even moving from his spot as he forced the memory away hearing that horrible laugh again in his echoing thoughts.

CONTROL YOURSELF!

I'm afraid...

He's dead, Bardy killed him you saw that in the afterlife.

Drake gave a mental nod and opened his eyes finally but, he only slowly moved his gaze to hers seeing her ready to kill.

"So even someone like me gets to be assumed for the deadly villian...in some ways I can't blame you if your reaction is a hint to what it was..." Drake said sadly and gave a bitter smile. "I can't blame you at all..." He remembered Celeste's agony when she had been beaten by Angra. Oh he remembered it and it still made him sick. He couldn't blame the girl...couldn't blame her at all...

"Understand one thing, read my mind if you have to, use some truth serum if you want, but, I will kill myself before I descend to that man's level..." He was refering to someone that she probably didn't know as his wings shivered slightly. He could still hear Donar's crazed laugh.

[madelyn]

The spell broke.. and she sighed. Gearing her body up to run. Run away from him before he could hurt her. Before he could unleash onto her what it was he was holding back. Before he could do anything to hurt her more than.. more than HIM. She began to cry softly her memories flooding back. Being tied.. restrained.. beaten over and over again. Birthdays were the worst. A scar on humanities name. She sunk down to her knees in the cold snow of the ground. It was winter and it was cold. Her last name.. Winters... how fitting. She let her hands sink into the snow as her warm tears fell to the ground. Melting.. it was like the ice that had once surrounded her heart.. to let it melt did it always mean so much pain? To have a heart.. to bear the burden of love.. it meant pain. Pain and lonliness .. sorrow and grief. She knew the happy times but .. but right now there was heart ache. She couldn't think of what to do.. her life had stopped. It seemed that the day he died.. .. she was alone.

No one. No one in this world would love her like he had. and she couldn't ask him to. She couldn't ask anyone to. Not love her for what she was. Imperfect. Jonathan had always told her that she was perfect but never once.. never once did she believe. She was tainted, hated, and impure. She was not good enough. Never would be.. wasn't worthy of the love that she had already have. Stains.. the tears fell down into the snow melting.. pooling beneath her.. staining the ground with her unpure tears.

-My life.. my life has been a.. .. a horrible mess!-

She cried out into his mind. It was a skill Jonathan didn't even know she had. She rarely spoke but Jonathan was the only one beside Keiya that had heard her voice. She was just not that kind of girl. She didn't speak.. couldn't.. her voice.. it was trouble nothing but trouble. She could sing.. yes yes she could but didn't. Speaking .. was evil completely evil it was what got her into trouble and what caused her pain. Only with Jonathan could she speak and not feel anything bad come of it. She cried softly collapsing into the snow curling up in a ball. Her tears they came harder. Her body shaking in the snow. Her blonde hair in it's pony tail soaking right through as she gripped her head and held it. It didn't hurt but she didn't know what else to do. The pain in her heart was very harsh.. a gripping pain that made her cry near daily. Every sunset. Every night without him she cried herself to sleep. Every time she saw the dog tags he gave her that she had never taken off. So many things of his that she had.. and now.. now he was gone and all she was left with .. were tears.

-One season.. one season of happines.... that's all and it was .. ripped .. ripped from me.-

-I want to trust.. love.. be with people again but how can I!? The world.. the world is against me.. against the little girl.. the tainted.. imperfect.. horrid little girl.-

-I don't . .... don't deserve anything.. people.. friends.. happiness..-

-Unworthy.. -

Madelyn was unaware that she had broadcasted those last four thoughts. She had meant the first but left the link open by accident. And as she lay there in the snow soaking up the snow cold and freezing her small pale body shivering as she began to truly break down. Truly break down like no other time, like she hadn't been allowed to do before.

[Drake Sevnik]

"Whatever happened in the past is something that should stay buried. That should not haunt you in the world of today. The world is not against you like you think it is only against you if you make it against you. If you try to take on the world the world will respond. However, there are people who would be your friend if you are willing to give them trust. If you are willing to show the trust that is long being hidden because of something that is weighing on you. Perhaps a past pain I don't know neither Drake or myself are psychics."

Drake had mentioned that he had two mentalities living within him. The first was himself the other was Dark. It was Dark that had spoken first with that smooth and sauve voice of his. Always the Casanova in things but, he could understand pain in it's most deepest form. She had lost someone who had changed her and now the loss was waying on her. Making her feel unworthy of anything when already she was vulnerable. Drake stood up and looked at her shivering made a wince since he knew the cold on that poor girl's body was horrific especially if she had a pair of babies. He walked towards her shaking off the snow that had been on him as he looked at her crying and it felt like his own soul was wrenching at those tears. To see the tears of pain was a deep and tragic thing. It only showed that people had the capability to create such things. To be so cruel and harsh no better then the monsters they hunted.

"You're not the only one who lost everything you know...who believes the the world is stacked against them. It is something those of us with the knowledge of how ugly people can be most bare with. Yet you know...you are not as imperfect as you think. You are not tainted like you believe. You have two beautiful lives growing within you, you have your whole life to meet people and see that there are more people out there who would be your friend. Who you could trust and have a laugh with. Everyone has a bit of darkness within them this is true but, there are more good people then bad ones. The academy is full of them. Full of people that for all you know could be waiting to meet you. If you only give them a chance. Will you give me a chance?[/color]

He asked as he reached her and took one of her hands slowly helping her stand. One wing came around this time not both and acted as a shield against the cold. Against the biting chill of this evening. Yet with the link opened between her and them she was probably able to see Dark within him. Not some darkness of the soul but, Dark Lancaster. The other him. The one who understood all to well the wretching loss and pain she was going through. The one that was guiding Drake each day. It was Drake though who he let touch her. She was going to have to get used to them one at a time. If she accepted Drake then he would come out. Not until then. She knew now of the two seperate beings that existed in this one body. He shifted for a moment and brushed the snow away from the locks of hair that had touched the snow his warm wing against her.

"You shouldn't stay on the snow like that..." He said softly to her as his eyes turned to look into hers his touch moving away once the task was complete so he wouldn't agitate her. His wing trying to warm her up from her kneeling on that cold ground. He reached out gently and very softly tilted her chin up to gaze into her tear-filled eyes. With a soft touch he wiped away the tears that had stained her cheeks. His eyes were once again gazing into those violet-blue depths. His own eyes gray with that touch of winter to them.

"You might catch a cold, and we can't have that," he said gently to her.

[madelyn]

A voice. It came to her inside her mind. No one.. no one before had ever done that with her. Though most didn't know she could.. a talent developed from her silence so the people at the academy told her. Even still she rarely used it. Not even once with Jonathan but then again, Jonathan had only to look at her and he would see her thoughts and feelings. They communicated in a way no others did. A way that no one else would ever again be able to accomplish with her. Both silent for their lives.. it was then.. then that they had found that connection so many would call magical and she knew it to be true.

Bt she listened to it. Because she wanted advice. Advice on how to go on.. how to survive without a heart. For the man.. her angel had taken her heart with him that day and she was barren. A whole in her chest where her heart once resided. She felt pain every time she moved, blinked, thought.. every time she was awake even just sitting lost in another memory.. she hurt. Only when she slept was she peaceful and free.. but then her dreams were chased by her nightmares and so..

Madelyn Winters was slowly falling apart.

Another voice, this was the man she had known all along. Not his alter personality but the man that had tried to hold her. Why had he not run away when she freaked out. Why had he stayed? She didn't understand why he didn't run so many others would have a long time ago. He didn't even seem to mind that she didn't speak or the invasion into his mind to do so when she needed to cry out and could not find her voice. She cried harder still her voice still silent even in her crying.

He took her hand and she looked up sharply. Her tears running like perfect diamonds down her sweet little face. He helped her up and she went. His wing. The beauty of it all came around her to keep her warm and he lifted her face. Looking into her crestfallen world to talk to her. To tell her she shouldn't be in the snow and that she might get a cold. She looked up at him. He cared? About her? But why?

Suddenly.. suddenly it didn't matter why. she thrust herself into his arms and cried. Someone.... someone hold me before I die. Someone talk to me.. tell me things.. keep me sane. I want to live but at the same time I"m not sure I can.. not sure I can keep going. This pain.. it wears on my every day.. it .. it eats away at my soul. Healed I was but now.. now so broken how will I ever get all the peices back together again? She thought all this to herself as she cried holding her small fragile body to him. She couldn't help it she needed someone to help her.

Love? Relationship? No. She was so far from ready that it was not even a thought in her mind. Friendship? Maybe. Companionship. Yes. This was what she sought right now. She new she would never find another that would connect with her like Jonathan did but she needed to heal and she knew.. that she couldn't do it on her own.

[Drake Sevnik]

Tears were the purest thing that a mortal could ever shed for it was a true standard of emotion. A pure expression that was nigh impossible to duplicate. For it was showing just how deep the pain was be it physical or emotional. For this girl that had thrown herself into his arms it was the latter and Drake felt pained. His arms came around her in a soft and tender embrace as he held her against him. Shielded her from the elements that would otherwise do her harm. There was something about her that he wanted to shield from everything. To forever shield her from anyone more pain. So that he would never have to see those tears marring her eyes ever again. It was hard seeing her like this with all this pain. Though he didn't even know her name he was already knowing what he had to do for her. He needed to be there for her to help her see the light once more.

He gave a soothing noise a shushing tone to help ease her and calm her down as his wings snapped back. He picked up Madelyn gently making sure she had everything before he took off with her in his arms. The snow swirling around the ground a memory of the tears that she had. The tears that this poor girl had shed and the unshed ones that Drake carried. Like an angel he took her up into the air Dark wordless at this moment as he flew with her to his dormitory room. He opened the balcony doors with a simple spell so that way he wouldn't let go of her as he walked into his dormitory room which had taken a newer appearance. It was soft and done in blacks but, with twinkles of silver and white to make it look more like a star-field. He turned on the lights and sat Madelyn in the window seat and covered her his balcony doors closing.

"I believe you can put the pieces togeather again," Drake said softly as he tucked her hair gently behind her ears and stood up straight again. He closed his eyes for a moment and his wings dissapeared in a flash of light. He opened his gray eyes again and gazed into the soft violet-blue depths. White flames were in his hand but, they caused no harm as they lept from his open hand and wrapped around Madelyn for a few moments in an attempt to calm her and warm her up again. He was going to try his best because that was who he was. He never let people face the darkness alone. Maybe she reminded him in some ways of Celeste with the innocence that she carried and he wasn't afraid of the past but...even if they didn't get close he would be her friend. He gave a warm smile at her as he cupped her cheek.

"I promise to be your friend so that way you have someone to go to whenever you need to, no matter what time it is you're welcome here," Drake said with a smile as he stood up and went to the kitchenette area. Drake's dorm never had a full kitchen just an area to cook using a toaster oven and a microwave oven. Both had worked just fine for him and he never needed much else. He worked in the kitchenette spot for a few moments and put two mugs of water in the microwave starting it to make cocoa. He came back and sat on the edge of the seat.

"All I ask from you right now is you willing to trust me, and perhaps your name so I know the name of the person who plays so beautifully," Drake said softly.

[madelyn]

She had never flown before. Because though Jonathan was her angel he had never had wings. She was his wings, so he had always told her and with her they flew together. She was missing him so badly now that her heart seemed to no longer exist merely a festering hole where it had once been. She cried because she missed him and longed to feel his arms around her. Longed to know that smile once again and longed to know what it was like to hear his voice say those three little words once last time.

How did a person recover from something like this. Yes, he had left a legacy behind and she had them, yes them, both her sweet babies that depended on her for nutrition and life right now, but she wasn't sure if she would ever smile again. It was so long that she had not smiled but he had done such wonders to her and now that he was gone she felt as though she was lost. A explorer without a compass in this massive life. Alone now when she had spent every moment she could with him over the months they had been together. She remembered Christmas and she remembered all the times that he had just looked at her and smiled. Words mattered not between them they knew what each other felt and a look or a touch did wonders for them. They needed no words to say the most important things.

Her heart had not belonged to her since she had met Jonathan. That day in her room when he had heard her music. He had said she had called to him with her music and it was then he had called to her heart. Love came fast almost in a rush but she would never forget him. No matter how long she lived Jonathan Winters had taken her heart to heaven with him. She would always be loyal. And even if she found love again they would have to understand that she had to love two and she could because a heart was just that big. But first.. she had to find a heart for right now she didn't have one and perhaps one day she would find him.. her heart.

Clinging to the angel that was not going to let her alone. The one that seemed to bond with her through pain of his own. She and he flew through the night and to a balcony of the academy. She felt a bit strange going into a room with a man but she wanted someone to be with her. Not to love her persay but right now her fear was to be alone and if he was offering her companionship for only a few hours more she would gladly take it and she would enjoy what she could letting her soul heal one moment at a time.

In the room he took her and sat her down with great care on a window seat close to the balcony. She looked at him watching him silently with her eyes. She was cold and shivering from the snow that had melted in her sweater. Shivering until he put a warm blanket around her and she blushed softly at the care he was giving a strange girl he didn't even know. She looked into his eyes her violet ones meeting his grey eyes as he cupped her cheek and told her that he was going to help her put her life back together. He was going to be there for her and she nodded softly. Dare she hope?

He asked for her name pulling back and sitting beisde her. Not wanting to get his cushion dirty she slipped her shoes off befor hiding her little purple socked feet underneath the blanket. The toes digging in and out of the cushion as she pulled out her pad. She opened it to the first page that had her name done on it in beautiful artistic way with vines and flowers for the letters instead of just print.

-Madelyn-

Was what it said and she nodded and pointed to herself before she closed it up and lay the tablet in her lap incase he wanted to discuss or talk further. She pulled out her trusty green clicky pen and lay it on top as well just in case as she closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fists and the back of her hand. She yawned sleepily but then blinked and settled into the blanket waiting for what would happen next as she watched the snow fall. Her face was desolate and distant as she watched the beauty of the winter day.

[Drake Sevnik]

Her name was beautifully written in an artistic script that could rival an artist's signiture in the way it was done. Flowery and artistic in a way that could probably never be duplicated except by a skilled artist or forger. There was just something unique to that name as he nodded when she showed it. Madelyn. It was a nice name that suited her well perhaps because it was delicate and soft just like the music that she played. The music that could call anything she wanted to her. Was that how she first met the person she lost? Through her music? He tried to imagine a smile on her face but, he couldn't see it. Not with that desolate face that she had. Would she ever smile again? Would she ever feel the warmth of spring or die in the cold winter of her heart. The heart that like a sculpture of ice had been shattered into a million no a billion pieces.

Dare he face the winter?

Dare he face the trial required to bring her with him to the spring warmth?

Yes.

That was a question you didn't even need to really ask the young man as he thought about it for a brief moment. In that brief moment he had decided that she would not die in the bitter cold winter but, once again feel revived in the lovely warmth of spring. In the spring where she would once again feel life warm her body and heart to give her the beauty of a smile. A smile sprouting from her lips like a flower would sprout from the ground. It would be a slow and harsh trial but, there he knew that he couldn't let someone fall into a place like that. A place of loneliness and despair. A place of darkness. His eyes gazed into hers and he offered a soft smile as he closed his eyes and tilted his head. It was a cute smile a memory of what it really could be. Even though he wasn't exactly in one piece himself perhaps helping another would give him a new goal in life.

"I'll remember the name then Madelyn," Drake offered as the microwave went off and he stood up walking over. When he was out of the way there was a picture on the nearby shelf close to the window seat. A picture of an innocent young girl who he was hugging from behind. Both of them all smiles and laughter having just finished building a snow castle. It was true happiness on his face. Not those memory-like smiles that he was giving right now.

C & D Always and Forever.

Those were the words that were engraved at the bottom of the frame. Drake eventually came back with two mugs of cocoa and placed one in Madelyn's hands and sat beside her once more as he looked at the snow fall and spoke again.

"I always watched it when I was a kid. Even though I lived in Russia I always found something magical in snowfall. Something just purely innocent and beautiful about it. Untainted like the heavens was purging the darkness of the world..." Drake said softly.

"Childish now but...sometimes dreams are what the world's next hope is made of."

[madelyn]

Drake moved and something caught her eyes. A picture of him with a girl and two beautiful smiles. She leaned over and picked up the picture frame as she studied it. This must be who he was singing too. She wondered if the girl had died or had something happened to her. She didn't want to be the only one being helpful even in her silence. She yearned to see him smile like he was in this picture and she touched the two people in it gently it was almost like seeing a different person than Drake.

It reminded her of Jonathan and her. She had a picture of their wedding day in her room with them so happy and looking into each others eyes with that perfect smile. It made her think about the picture she carried with her everywhere. It was one of them together that their friend Phae had taken without them knowing and sent it to her. It was of Jonathan and Madelyn happy and him hugging her to him as they came back from a picnic under their tree the day he proposed. She had a bright smile on her face as did he his long white hair blowing in the wind and her blonde hair down and blowing with it. Thinking about that she pulled out her notebook gently and opened it to the back where she had the picture in a protective sheet and she pulled it out.

She sighed softly as she sat the picture frame aside to get the cup he handed to her. She sat up a bit more and placed the cup in her lap since she was sitting indian style. He talked of the snow and she looked outside. It was dark now but the light from the window caught the white fluffly snow and made it glitter softly as it fell out of sight. She looked for a while and then she picked up the picture frame and pointed to the two people in it. She raised her eyebrows asking the silent question. She sat her picture of her and Jonathan on top of the one that he had and nodded. They had the same thing.. nearly and now she hoped he would tell her.

Setting the frame in his lap she picked up her hot chocolate and took a sip. It was delicious and sweet but not too sweet. She closed her eyes and savored the soft chocolatey flavor in the snowman mug that was slipping down her throat warming her from the inside. It tasted really good and she found her eyes dropping but wanted to hear his story and so she opened her eyes so she wouldn't fall asleep and looked up at him ready to hear his tale. She pointed again to the picture and then nodded as if to tell him he should tell her. She was going to stay right there until he did and she meant it too. It was written in her eyes she meant every word.