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[Amayasama]

^^ Aww I seriously love these two, they're just awesome together. ;3 Oh and to let you know dear you put Either instead of Eight in your last post

[whisperer]

Gah, what the heck? D: Thanks for pointing that out!

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"So, Zela, what time is it?"
"Umm... Twelve... thirty... two."
"That's right! You got it!"
She gave a smile. "Now what?"
"Now, le-"
Knock
"What was that?" Zela asked, beginning to shudder.
"Don't worry," I said mostly to her, partially to myself. "It's just the door. Stay there."
"What's a door? Aiden!"
"Shh..." I hissed as I approached the door. "Hello-" I began, opening it just a crack.
On the porch were my parents.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. What're they gonna do when they see Zela? Should I even let them see her? But she's on the table, plain as day right now! I stood there, torn between what to do as my father interrupted my thoughts.
"Here." he said plainly, as he shoved a suitcase into my chest and walked past me into the house. "Stop gawking, and take this."
His frame just barely made it through the door. It's not that my father's a fat man, he's just big. Sure, he's got himself a bit of a beer belly, but there was a good amount of overall size, too. There was an odd-looking combination of fat, wrinkles, and muscle. But he did stand above me by about three or so inches, and I like to consider myself tall.

My mother entered next. She, on the other hand, was very petite, with limbs that resembled branches. Small branches. Like the kind of branches you'd see on a... small tree. Standing at about five inches lower than me, she was definitely the short one of the family - or whatever you'd want to call us. But the most striking of her features was her hair. And that wasn't because it looked so good, no, it was because it looked so blinding. Her hair would normally be gray, like my father's, but she was much too vain for that, so, she instead bleached it blonde.
Yes, bleached it, just like a professional wrestler from the 80's.
"Honestly," she began. "I don't get what your deal is. You act like you've never seen your parents before."
I've got to distract them. "Well, hell!" I started, which caused them to both turn and face me, surprised by my use of a taboo word for our house. "It's not like I ever do!"
My dad responded with an annoyed grunt. "It's thanks to us that you have a roof over your head. You're a big boy now, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but-"
"And your mother and I had places we had to be for work. Aren't you old enough to handle yourself?"
"Yes! But-"
"But what?" asked my mother. "If you want, we could always hire a babysitter again."
Long story. "That's not even the point!"
"Aiden, spit it out now. I just got back from a three hour plane ride myself, and I'd rather not spend my time back listening to you make up excuses." my dad berated.
"I-"
"Besides, don't you have friends or something you could invite over?" my mom interrupted. "I mean, it's like you act like we leave you in a cave or something."
"Mom! I-"
"Whatever you have to say, I don't have time for it. Come on, dear. Let's go upstairs." my dad said, pushing off one last time any attempt I could make to say anything.

________________________________

Isn't he eloquent?

________________________________

Sure, the original plan was to distract them. But it turned into an attempt to get my feelings out to them, to let them know how stressful they made things for me. I clutched my hair into balls of fists and let out an irritated sound.
"A-Aiden...?" came a small voice from behind a book on the table.
"Zela..." I began, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I settled onto a sitting position in front of the table. "I'm sorry you had to see that." I said with my brows curled into a worried look.
Zela slowly snuck around from the book. "Are you okay? Who are they?"
"No, I'm not really okay. But I'll survive. And those were my parents."
"Aren't they "the ones who brought you into the world" like you said?"
"Yeah," I replied with a sigh, "but that doesn't mean they have to like me."
"But you like me!"
"Of course I do! But that's different."
"Kinda! You're not my parent, but you brought me into the world."
"Hmm?" I questioned, stealing her favorite line. "I don't think so, Zela."
"Yeah!" she said, as if she just had some sort of epiphany. "When I was sleeping, um..."
"You had a dream?"
"I think that's it."
"What happened in it?"
"Uh-um-hmm..." she mouthed, twitching uncomfortably, in distress that she didn't know the words to voice her thoughts. "Come here!" she snapped.
"Yikes! Okay..." I quickly responded. Every time I moved my head closer, she beckoned me closer and closer, until I was nearly an inch away from her. She then rested a hand on my temple.

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Zela's remembering bits and pieces as she keeps learning things, so we'll just have to wait and see if that's a good thing or not o:

And his parents are either jerks, or suffering severe jet-lag.

[whisperer]

Now, I know that I've said that Zela and I touching gives me a funny feeling before. But multiply everything that I've said by about, oh, a hundred, and you'd get what it felt like now. It didn't feel good, and yet it didn't hurt. A chill buzzed from the point of contact, and flurried to the rest of my head. My vision blurred, and I could swear that my head was vibrating. And with that, everything pitched out and turned black. I floated in this darkness for about two seconds before a small flash in the far distance erupted into a near-solar flare effect, and lit up everything within sight. Once again, I was in the Dularow Woods.

"Wha-?" was all I could get out, thoroughly confused by my situation. Exactly what just happened? One minute, I was at my home with Zela touching my head, and the next, I was here. Did she somehow do this? As far as I know, she never exhibited any sort of powers. As a matter of fact, she was pretty ordinary, aside from the whole being able to fit in my hand thing. And how quickly she learned everything. Alright, so she's not so ordinary, but she certainly wasn't... teleportational. I stood up and took a look around to confirm that it was indeed the Dularow. Not only that, but in the same clearing I found Zela in. And another thing; everything was lucid, as if I was dreaming. The trees surrounding the area swayed, and yet I felt no wind. I felt nothing. I faced backwards towards the large tree in the center and was surprised by what I saw.

My pulse skipped a beat as soon as I laid eyes upon it. It was the same giant I had seen in my nightmare before meeting Zela. This time, however, it wasn't even looking at me. It was sitting down with its legs crossed, and looking off into the distance, seemingly at nothing in particular. Unlike the first time I saw it, the sun was now fully shining, and I got a look at its face.

This was when I could finally stop calling it "it" and start calling it "her". And rather than a monsteresque face I thought she'd have, it was actually very pleasant. She had a button nose, although that description didn't really seem to fit with something bigger than a beach ball. Even from the profile view I had, I could see that her head was heart-shaped. From the top of her head to shortly below the shoulders sprawled a mass of curled black hair. She was wearing something that resembled a modest green dress, but seemed a little out of place.

She looked like Zela. Exactly like her. In every way, except size, and that was a big, big, big difference. But what was I gawking for? At any given moment, she could notice me. I took a slow shuffle backwards, keeping my eyes on her the whole time. Not once did she look over, but she rather just kept her attention away from me and did nothing but blink every now and then. She still hadn't seen me; I was lucky. Just as I thought this, I took another step back, and walked on a stick that caused a loud snap to resound throughout the area. She stiffened from her relaxed stance and turned her head in my direction, not at me, but just in my direction. Her gaze scanned the area for a bit, until it appeared that she was just going to disregard the sound and go back to staring into space. I was not that lucky.

It was then that we made eye contact. She was unmoving for a while, as if she was in shock. I, on the other hand, was definitely in shock. No question. The familiar shivers from our first meeting rendezvoused with my spine and left me paralyzed. I was about to fall over due to my now jelly-like legs, when her hand shot out and caught me.

My eyes darted all around me, searching for any sort of escape. Her grip was relentless, my useless thrashing proved that. I was left helpless as I was lifted higher and higher into the air, the drop to the ground getting all the more deadly by the millisecond. The lifting halted, and I shot my gaze to her face. We were eye-to-eye, locked in something more unsettling than I could describe. It was like she was overpowering not only my body, but my eyes as well, as if her amethyst were eating my blue.

I broke the eye contact, feeling extremely nervous. I looked at her face, and noticed that it bore almost no expression. If I had to say it did, however, I'd lean towards slight awe, as her lips were parted ever-so-slightly. Not a very inviting sight, when you're talking about a mouth bigger than you are.
"P-pl-" I sputtered out. I cleared my throat and tried my best to calm myself however much I could. "Please, whatever you're gonna do, just let me go when you're done."

Her mouth sealed up and pursed into a smile. She then started speaking, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin, and cover my ears. She noticed this, and began speaking again, in a softer voice.
"P'wing agah tak Qree crik?"
She then looked at me with an expectant look on her face.
I didn't even know what she was saying, and she was expecting an answer?!
"Uh-uh-uh, yeah, crik right back atcha and all that, but I'd-" I let out a short nervous laugh, "I'd really appreciate it if you put me down."
A large grin plastered over her face, the type of grin that told me she had no idea what I was saying.

She switched to a fond smile with a tilt of her head.
"I'm letting you go now."
The next thing I knew, I was free falling. And at that moment, I felt as if something had grabbed onto the back of my head, and violently pulled my away from the scene at a dizzying speed. Everything faded to black.

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Woo, this is where everything changes from the first draft, so I'm finally writing new stuff again, rather than editing old ones. This was loads of fun :D

And did I forget to mention Aiden has blue eyes? And Zela has black hair? Yeah... whoops.

[Amayasama]

o.o OMG is Zela from a different planet/portal thingy?! ^0^ That'd be so coool!

[whisperer]

>____> Mayyybe.

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I was awake again, in my living room, but lying down, rather than sitting like I last remember. I sat back up, doing so slowly, and shook the blackness out of the corners of my eyes. The same eyes that found themselves staring at Zela's limp and unmoving form on the table next to me.
"Zela!" I cried out. I huddled around her frame, begging that she was okay. Her face looked contorted, as if she were in suffering. Although I couldn't tell if she was okay or not, I could however, tell that she was alive, as indicated by her small breaths. Directly after I sighed a breath of my own in relief, I shot up out of my comfort by the sound of someone coming down the stairs. I shifted over so my back was covering her, but I didn't dare touch her. Not after that dream.

And there he was. My father. His forehead was as big as the fake teeth in his mouth were not. The few hairs he had were grayed by years of a plague called "a job". The giant glasses on his non-protruding, yet splayed-across nose amplified the blue eyes behind them to make them seem just as large. The stubble on his chin proved his lack of care for self-beautification, something my mother was to thank for. And the giant forehead itself was now furled in an annoyed look, with a dash of rage in his eyes.
"What the hell are you yelling about?! And why the hell are you yelling?! It's eight!"
Well that's news to me.
"I was just-"
"Forget it! Just get a shower, and go to bed!"
"... It's only eight, ya-" I began, muttering under breath to make sure he couldn't hear me. Although, even if I did say that out loud, it wouldn't have mattered, as he was now walking up the stairs.

Good news, my dad was gone, and off to bed. Bad news, I still didn't know what was wrong with Zela. I turned back to her, seeing that she was indeed still lying unmoving on the table. But I couldn't stop thinking about my nightmare. Before I had it, Zela had touched me in the temple -- was this some way she was trying to communicate with me? Did she somehow share her thoughts? Was that really how scary things were for her? And what did this have to do with her insisting that I brought her into this world?

I regarded her form. She looked like she was caught in a restless sleep, as indicated by her expression and the occasional moan.
"Zela?" I whispered.
No response.
"Zela? C'mon, you gotta wake up..." I repeated, and reached a hand slowly towards her.
No, I couldn't touch her. Not after experiencing how horrible it was for myself.
I retracted my hand.
Right? I couldn't touch her - I shouldn't. But how else would I get her to my room?

Figuring there was nothing else I could do, I slipped my hand under her. I always was careful, but this time was different. For the first time, I was scared of holding her. Not scared of hurting her, but just holding her was frightening. I took a long look at her face. She appeared to be in pain, and that pain was shared by me. I didn't like to see her like this, in fact, it just made me realize that I've never seen her this way. Before, she was just carefree and... maybe even happy. Everything I'm not.

After a slight quiver of my lip, I took her with me up into my room. I walked up the stairs carefully, as to not jostle her in her vulnerable state.
This must be how I was when I was in that dream-state. But if it is, why is she like this? She gave me a dream, not the other way around. What's going through her head right now?

As soon as I entered my room, I set Zela down gently on the shirt that was used as her bed. Once she touched the shirt, she curled within herself, but never opened her eyes. One of my plans for today was to buy her a bed from the Toy Store, but it turns out that being unconscious really cuts into my bed-buying time. How long was I out? I remember that sun being out when Zela touched my temple, and yet it was 8:11 on my clock right now. And if I was out for hours, how come my parents didn't do anything? No, they couldn't be that uncaring. They said that they just came from a plane ride, so they probably had jet lag, and went to sleep. How lucky is that?

Speaking of my parents, one of them just yelled at me to take a shower. Sure, he's a jerk, but he's a jerk with a good point. I walked on over to my closet, looking for clothes for the next day. What I ended up pulling out was something I honestly had forgotten I owned: pajamas. Respecting Zela's apparent wish to not see me without proper clothing, I knew it'd be necessary. I took the pajamas and left my room to the shower.

Well, at least the warm water finally brought some much-needed relief. I thought back to the day, however short it was. My parents were back, so that meant that I needed to stay on my toes to keep Zela safe. And how did she make me see her dream? And on that note, what is she seeing right now? And, on top of all of this, how was I going to convince my parents to let me drop out of school, like I've been planning?
Okay, so the water wasn't really as relieving as I'd like. I finished my shower quicker than I probably should have, anticipating Zela's status more than preferring to be clean. I half-brushed my teeth, got into my pajamas, and left the bathroom.

"Zela?" I whispered into the room. When I received no response, I opened the door all the way and walked in. "Zela?" I repeated, in case she didn't hear me the first time. The room was far too dark for me to even see anything, so at this point I couldn't tell by sight if she were awake or not. Although, when I still didn't hear her reply, I could guess that she was still out of it. A flick of the switch on my bedside lamp illuminated the room, and proved that her body was still flatly against her stand-in bed. I bit my bottom lip in worry; would she ever wake up? How was she doing right now? I remember well how stressful being like this was for me; how would the poor girl take it? I knew that any emotion she experienced was one she was quick to project into a situation, so I could only hope that whatever she was seeing was more pleasant than what I experienced.

I walked over to the windowsill, and got a closer look at her. Her face showed deeper distress. She was suffering. I placed a fingertip down onto her forehead, but the touch was returned by a shudder. I yanked my hand back, and rubbed my hands against my face, in one final attempt to relax before going to sleep. I flipped the switch again, turning off the light, and laid down on the bed. "Goodnight, Zela." I whispered. "Hope you wake up tomorrow."

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This chapter was significantly less fun to write DX

Well, I found out the May 31st deadline is actually June 31st. So there's some good news! Bad news? June is gonna be a busy month for me. Editing Gods, give me strength.

[whisperer]

It was comfortable, not remembering how bad of a yesterday I had, and not having to worry about today. That's one of the good things about being asleep. It was not comfortable, however, to have sunrays shine directly onto my eyelid, forcing me awake with a warm feeling and an orange vision.
"Ohh, man." I grumbled. Two days in a row that I haven't waken up under the best of circumstance. Which reminded me. Zela! I darted my gaze over to her area, to find it empty.

The second I noticed that, it felt like a log hit me in the stomach. I bolted up and over to the windowsill, carefully sifting through the folded up shirt to find that Zela definitely wasn't in there. A glance downward revealed that it was about a four-foot drop to the ground.
"How--?" I muttered to myself, frantically looking side-to-side to see if anything could give me a clue as to where Zela was. And then I noticed that the cord for the blinds was draped over the windowsill, and reached down about a foot from the ground. Even if she used that, it'd be like me falling twelve feet.

I shot my eyes around the room, my glance ricocheting off anything that didn't tell me where Zela was.
"Zela?" I whispered breathlessly into the open. After receiving no reply, I repeated it with a bit more effort. "Zela??"
And still nothing. As far as I could tell, she wasn't anywhere in my room. But the door was closed, as was the window. Where - how - why-

My parents! Oh, for the love of... They must have walked in here, and-
No, how could they do that? They'd probably wake me up and ask me about her, right? Not just, "Oh, here's a little person in Aiden's room. Nothing questionable about that! Well, I'm just gonna go kill her."
Okay, morbid sarcasm, you can shut up now. They might not have killed her, but maybe they...

At that moment, I shook off any thoughts, and replaced them with action. Fueled by worry and a slew of other emotions, I flew out of my room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. In there were my bewildered looking parents.
"Mom - uh - you haven't - er - have you seen anything... weird?" I said in between breaths and awkward pauses.
"Other than you?" she asked, cool as a cucumber.
"Yes, other than me." I said exasperatedly.
"Dad shaved. That's pretty weird." she calmly replied.
"Dad?" I asked, directing my questioning towards him.
"Yeah. I did."
"What'd you see?!" I snapped.
"No, I mean, I did shave." he said with a rub of his now-smooth chin.
"Gaah!" I shouted as I turned around to leave the room.
"Aiden, what're you so worked up about, anyway? Lose something?"
"You... could say that." I said over my shoulder, while looking around in the living room.
"Your mind?"
"No."
"Your marbles?"
"No."
"Your faith in humanity?"
"... Not yet." I said with a sigh. Zela was nowhere to be seen in here, either.
"Well, you can come in here and eat breakfast." offered my mother. "I mean, I'm not going to cook for you, but you can make something yourself."

I turned back to face the kitchen. My stomach was empty, after missing lunch and dinner from yesterday. But so was Zela's.
"I'll eat later."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't come complaining to me when you finally realize how scrawny you are." retorted my dad.
Thanks, you cow.

I ignored any further comments made by them, and went back into my room, feeling awfully defeated. It wasn't a big house. There weren't many places for her to be. And yet, she didn't seem to be in any of them. I laid down on my bed, and left my gaze calmly go to the ceiling.
"Maybe she flew." I joked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. It was very minimal, as if something the size of a mouse had shifted a fraction of an inch.
I sat up, and looked in front of me. It was the shelf on which I kept my miniatures, and nothing was moving.

Upon a closer inspection though, I could tell something was off. Or, rather, something was on. As in, something that wasn't normally there was on the shelf. And extra miniature, keeping just as stoic and placid as the rest. I got off the bed, and slowly crept forward, before coming to a kneel in front of the shelf.

"Stay away from me, human."
Those are some new words.
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Can I just say that I've never seen a cucumber, and thought, "Man... that cucumber is cool. That's like, the hippest cucumber since Larry from Veggie Pals. That cucumber should be an extra on "Bananas in Pajamas"." Where the heck did that expression come from?

Yes, that's the kind of stuff I think about when I'm not writing.

Also, his parents are now magically sarcastic! Now you know where he gets it from. They're less mean, too. Maybe it really was just jet-lag. Oh, the continuity. At least it's back in fun-to-write mode. With a capital :D!

EDIT: New title! I've actually been playing around with about five titles, and I like the double-meaning of this one. To be honest, Peanut Butter (For anyone reading this after 6/1/10, that was the original title) was what happened when I thought, "What's something really random from the story?..."

[Amayasama]

o.o Oh my god did Zela recall her memories, is that person her? *flails*

[whisperer]

Sorry to disappear on y'all, and leave you with this! But I came to a bit of a dead-end, and had to do some thinking of how this next scene would go down. I considered a lotta ideas (Including Ama's one of it not being Zela), and settled on this.

_________________________________

Out of instinct, I leaned back a little. "Zela? What's wrong? Where've you been?"
She didn't say anything, but backed away with an odd expression on her face.
"Uh, Zela? You alright?" I said, leaning forward once again to get a better look at her.
"I said stay away!" she snapped back.
I was so surprised by her outburst, and she was so surprised by my advancement, that we both fell backward.
I gave a little grin, in a "looks like we're both idiots" sort of way. She didn't really seem to want to return it. Instead, she kept focused and unwavering, her expression nervous and untrusting.
"Alright, sorry. Sorry!" I said with my hands up to my chest, palm-forward to display that I'd keep my hands to myself. "But what's gotten into you, Zela?"
"Why-" she said through grit teeth as she began to stand back up, "do you keep calling me that?"
My eyebrows rised a little, "That's your name!" And then it hit me. "Unless..."
Her eyes grew wider.
"What is your name?"
At that moment, all her fear, and all her hidden frustration vented out. "Why would I tell you?! I'm not giving my name - or anything about me! - away to some, some," she said, gesturing to me with frenzied motions, "whoever you are!"

I put a hand on the back of my neck and began to rub it. The action startled her, and she drew back into herself in a defensive pose.
"Don't you know who you're talking to, Ze-" I caught myself before I called her the wrong name again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, looking genuinely caught off guard.
"It's me!" I said a bit too loudly, causing her to grimace. "Aiden? That guy that found you in the woods? There was all those lights, and... and the toy store? Remember the peanut butter?"
Whatever emotion she once had dissipated. She looked down to the ground and rubbed a hand against her temple.
"I, I remember, just," she paused, clutching a bit deeper against her head, "not that much."
"Okay..." I tried to wrap my head around what happened. "Can you at least tell me where you learned all those new words?"
The hand against the side of her head slid down to her chin and worked up to her forehead. "A dream." she said with some apprehension, as if she didn't believe it herself. "Yeah. A dream. I wasn't myself, though - in the dream. I don't remember who I was. But I was, uh, standing there. Just standing there for a long time. And I started knowing things."
"Things?" I asked. "Things other than words?"
She noticed my curiosity, and backed away again, still nervous. "Y-yeah. Emotions. I didn't know what..." Her eyes darted to the left, breaking eye contact. "Fear."
And then it hit me. She was afraid because I was.

It was as if I felt every downhearted emotion at once. She learned words from me while awake; she learned words from me while asleep. That's what the dream was! We, somehow, were sharing. She must have tried to share something with me, but instead, I was just afraid. And the link we had caused her to feel the same way.

I shuffled forward, sitting in front of the shelf, but below her from her perspective, causing her to look down to me.
"Whatever your name is," I began, all the while searching my head for ideas to say, "I want you to know that I care about you. Look, it's all my fault that you're scared and all, but it won't happen again. I'll-" and this is where I ran out of steam. I ran a hand through my hair.
She clearly had lost her nervousness at this point. "You'll what?"
I knew what to say. But could I mean it?
"I'll be strong for you."

________________________

And there's some lousy character development for you! Zela - or whatever her name really is - now seemingly has a full vocabulary (Yay for easy dialogue!) but it comes at the cost of Aiden's own fear of giants. Or something. She also remembers more bits and pieces from her past, but isn't too eager to share. Aiden himself realizes the cost of his actions - being afraid in the first place! Especially when it was someone you'd figure he could trust. Ah well.

Chad's still a jerk, though.

[whisperer]

She bit her lip. "What are we going to do from here, Aiden?"
"I'm not really sure." I said, being honest. How does one go about handling a situation like this? I've got a girl in my room who might not even be from this planet for all I know, parents who aren't the greatest, bully problems, and a sore back. Yeah, that list got less important as it went on, but still. "We should just try to figure out where you're from."
"But I don't know!"
"Neither do I! But that doesn't mean we give up, right?"
"Well... how do we do that?"
"We'll," I started, not being entirely sure myself, "we'll try to get an expert's opinion. Someone who'd know about this sort of thing."
"And who's that going to be? A UFO scientist?"
I looked at her with a shocked expression. "Just how much English do you know now?"
"As much as you do, I think. When I was asleep - dreaming - all I did was learn, remember? Learn from you."
"So you're going to start talking like me? Because I'm pretty sure this house is already filled to the brim with sarcasm."
"A little more never hurt."
I laughed at her joke. It was a cheap pun, just the way I like it. "I don't think we should go find some UFO scientist. First off, because who knows what they'd do to you. Second off, I have no idea where I'd even find one-"
"Right. You don't see many buildings around with "UFO SCIENTISTS CO." on the side of them."
"Yeah. Third, I don't even think that'd do us any good, anyway. I mean, I never saw a UFO when we met. You were just in a tree, remember? Like an unidentified tree. A UT."
"So, a botanist?"
"I dunno. I'd have to ask something along the lines of, "Hey, do you know any trees around here that grow little people?""
"You'd be put in the loony bin for sure." she said with a smile.
"And that's why we're going to the one place where you're allowed to be crazy."
"The loony bin?"
"Okay, the other one place where you're allowed to be crazy. The library. At least I won't get any weird looks asking about you. They'd probably mistake you for a fairy."
She looked at me with slight annoyance. "I'm not sure why, but... that offends me. I don't have wings, y'know. And you're not going to show me off, right?"
"Because that's the only thing stopping you from being a fairy?" I teased. "And of course not! I'm just going to ask stuff like, "Have you ever heard of some little person that comes from a tree?" and see what I can get from that."
"That, and... uh. Well! I don't... Who cares, anyway? I'm not a fairy!"
"Alright! Definitely not a fairy. Just remember, if you end up being some wingless fairy, you owe me."
She narrowed her eyes. "Right. How are we going to get there?"
"It's a small town, so I'll just walk." I gave her a look-over. "You trust me, right? Would you let me carry you with me?"
"Now, after all that, and I'm relaxed again, yes. Of course I trust you! I was just scared for a while. Which reminds me - I still haven't told you my real name!"
"That's right! It's totally Rayne, isn't it? Holly?"
"Two strikes, Aiden."
"Your name is Two Strikes Aiden?"
She started giggling.
"Hey, your last name is my first name! Imagine that!"
She continued giggling, but tried to regain her composure. "It's not. And if you don't stop that, I'm not telling you." she said, suddenly going stonefaced.
"Please?" I said, putting on the best puppy eyes I could.
Her façade relaxed into a smile. "It's Una."
"And I thought Zela was weird."
"Yeah."
"But I'm kidding! I don't know exactly why, but it just... fits you. A lot better than Zela."
"Zela sounded too much like zebra, anyway."
"Well, sorry! I never had much experience naming things before." I said before I glanced away in a far-away stare. "... Except that turtle I named Shelly."
I heard a small slapping sound, and looked back to Una. Her face was buried deeply into her palm.
"Oh, come on! That one was clever."
"That one was awful." she said, never removing her face from her hand.
After a short while, she did remove her hand. "So... you're definitely not going to hurt me, right?"
"Definitely not." I said, emphasizing my honesty.
"Then I'm ready to go."
"Now? Already?" I said before taking a look down at myself. "We should probably get dressed first."
For the first time, she looked down, too. "Good idea."

I tentatively set my hand palm up by the shelf. My eyes drifted back up to Una, and her expression read nothing other than calmness. She wasn't afraid anymore, as evidenced by her walking right into my hand. Once she got in, she sat down cross-legged, and looked up at me.
"So, what are we gonna do after we get dressed?"
I pulled my hand closer to my chest, and said, "I guess we'll just eat breakfast or something." I took a look at the clock. 12:42. "Nevermind, lunch. I-" and then it hit me. I mean, figuratively. Almost literally, though. You ever smell something so bad, that it's not even really a gas anymore? It's pretty much a solid? Like, it smells so bad that you feel like you've been punched in the face?
I was now plugging my nose and holding Una at an arm's length.

"I'm really sorry, but... you reek."
She took a whiff of the air, and immediately after, plugged her nose as well. "Can I get a bath, please?"

________________

So, "Una" calms down, we learn a bit more about her, and how much she's changed since the dream. She's telling her own jokes, but I doubt she'll stop being as silly as before.

And Aiden really doesn't know much about how to handle a situation other than through dry humor.

STORYTIEM: I got the idea for Una's name from Úna, an old Irish name for unity. Why is her name unity? You'll have to wait and see, because I'm all mysterious like that |D

[Amayasama]

^0^ Aw I'm happy to help you a little dear x3 I have to say I'm curious in what Zela-er...Una really is o.O If she's not a fae how can she preform all those magical thingy-ma-gigs?

[whisperer]

Maybe she's a troll. The world's smallest troll, sure, but still a troll.

__________________________

A few minutes later, I was standing on the front side of the bathroom door, waiting for Una to give me the signal that she was done. I'd left the soap and shampoo within her reach, and filled the bathtub up slightly. The water didn't reach the end of the tub, and the dry end was where her change of clothes were and a hand towel. I was honestly a little proud of my own idea.
My pride was cut short by the sound of my father stomping around the corner. Without so much as a 'Hello' he mumbled, "Get out of the way."
"Uhh..." I mouthed, trying to quickly come up with a reason to not let him in. "No?" I asked, more than told.
"For the love of... don't tell me you just took a crap."
"Yeah! I totally did!" I responded, probably coming off as too happy to say it. I narrowed my eyes and finished with, "It reeks in there."
"Dangit, kid..." he said before walking down the stairs.

"Everything alright, Aiden?" I heard Una yell from the bathroom.
I was a little shocked to hear her voice, just getting over the encounter with my father. "Yeah."
"Alright, I'm almost done!"
"Take your time." I replied. I was patient, despite that it was going to be a busy day. I'm not really sure how I'd get her into the library without anyone noticing. And with my parents back home, I couldn't leave her here with them. Or by herself, for that matter. And a bed! A bed, she needed a bed. As soon as she was ready.
As if she could read my mind - something I'd been a little worried about her actually being able to do - she called out from the bathroom, "I'm done!"
I opened the door, and looked down to see Una standing on the floor of the bathtub, grinning up to me. "Happy?" she asked, before motioning towards her clothing, the normal kind gotten from the store, rather than her leaf suit.
"Definitely." I said with my own grin. And with that, I set the bottles and all away, and took Una up in my hand.

"So," I began to ask Una, "do you want an actual bed, like mine?"
"That'd be nice." she said with a flashing smile.
"Great. Because I was thinking about getting one for you."
"From the Toy Store?"
"You guessed it right!" I said with a smile.
Una, however, wasn't smiling.
"Am I gonna have to go in the hood again?"
"That's what I was planning. I'm not to thrilled about the idea of leaving you here alone with my parents."
"But I'm not too thrilled about being in the hood again."
"I'm really sorry about that, but I promise you that Chad wouldn't try to pull another stunt at the Toy Store."
She didn't look like she wanted to remember that. "Why can't you just carry me around out in the open, anyway?" she asked, changing the subject.
There's something I never really thought of. Hiding her was almost more of a subconscious thing. "I just want to make sure you're safe. Who knows what other people would think if they saw you?"
"Right." she said, more trying to convince herself rather than respond to me.
"Aw, don't worry. It's fine." I assured. "So, you ready to go?"
"Whenever you are."

I went back up to my room, set Una down on the bed, and grabbed a few things I'd need for the trip. Another hoodie, and my wallet. I opened the mouth of the wallet, to discover that it had an amazing three dollars and twenty six cents in it. "That's... probably not enough." I said to myself. I slipped the hoodie over my body. "Alright. Let's go get lunch first, Una."
"Let's." she agreed.
I placed her behind my neck again, raised the hoodie, and made a mental note to speak quietly. I left the room, but as soon as I approached the stairs, I was met by my mother. Her and I'd never quite seen eye to eye, and that's mostly due to her eye being consistently bloodshot.
"Where do you think you're going?!" she half-asked, half-yelled.
"I was going to get lunch. Then go out for a bit." I plainly stated, in a quiet tone.
"I don't know what you pulled with your father, but I'm not letting you go anywhere until you tell me why you're not at school."
Holy Toledo, is it Monday? "Uhh. I'm sick?"
Her face didn't exactly look like something I'd define as 'convinced'. As a matter of fact, it looked more like 'unimpressed', really. "Aiden. Get back to your room. Now."
It was then that I heard a light whisper in my ear, hardly audible. "Run!" came from Una, as I felt a tug on my hair, indicating that she had gotten a handful of it to hold on.
"Uh, yeah. Bye." I blurted out before I broke into a dash past her, and down the stairs.
"Don't bother running! You're gonna have to come back sooner or later!"
I broke my stride at the front door. She was right. I definitely didn't have the means to take of myself on my own. "Gaaah." I mumbled out before settling my mind on the most proper response I could think of. "Whatever." And stepped out the door.
__________________________

Originally, there wasn't a scene where she ended up remembering stuff quite yet, so now I get to have fun changing her name from Zela to Una every time I see it! Woo! -_- I need to use pronouns more often...

[whisperer]

I heard giggling in my ear. "You're in trouble, huh?"
"You betcha." I said with a smile that surprised myself. "And for some reason, I feel really good about that."
I was so caught up in this that I didn't notice a man walking towards me. "Stop talking to yourself." he snapped.
"I'll keep quiet." immediately said Una.
My smile was gone, and I was irritated that some random guy could ruin a short high I felt. But it's not like being annoyed was any better, so I forgot about it and continued onwards to the library. It was a dully organized neighborhood, so it was just a matter of walking down the sidewalk. When I was younger, I'd imagine that the pavement was a dirt road along a path leading to a viking village. The buildings were disguised monsters, and if I made too sudden a movement, they'd attack. Of course, none of that ever happened. In reality, it was a boring town. So boring, in fact, that if a tornado tried to hit it, it'd be repelled away by the fact that nothing exciting is allowed to happen here.

After my daydreaming, I came upon the library. It was one story, made from brick and painted brown, and all in all, not very big. Above the entrance were the words "INKBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY" printed in red. As I entered, I was hit by the musky smell of old books. Most people didn't like it, but to me, it was inviting. But the best part? There's literally no chance of running into Chad in here.

I went over to a desk with a few people behind it, and ran over my options. There was a balding man looking over a handful of papers attentively. A middleaged woman that was looking off into the distance, maybe at some other people. A younger woman who was reading some book. A man who didn't look more than a year older than I did, who was sweeping some dust off the shelf behind the desk.
"Uh, can someone help me?"
They all looked up, except the balding man. Although, it was him who answered. "That depends on what you need help with."
"Well, I'm looking for..." I gave a quick moment to decide how I'd word this. "I'm looking for a fairytale."
"Denise, that's you." he said with a flick of his wrist towards the middleaged woman, the whole time not having looked up from his papers.
I looked over to Denise, who was standing up and smiling. "Let's go over there, to the computer desk." she said.

Once we got there, we both took a seat. "So, what fairytale are you looking for? Something with dragons? Trolls?"
"See, that's kinda what I was hoping you could tell me." I said while I reached a hand back to rub my neck. I quickly stopped though, when I remembered Una was back there.
Denise gave me a weird look as she saw my hand in midair. "You can take your hood down, if you like."
"No thanks, I'd rather keep it on." I said while trying to sound convincing.
"Whatever you want. So, what did you mean by that?"
"Well, uh, a friend of mine told me about this creature. And I was wondering what it was, so I could find a story about it."
"Uh huh. And what's this creature like? Does it have fangs? Claws? Wings?"
Una pulled a clump of hair at the mentioning of wings. "No, it's... it's kinda like a fairy-"
She pulled again.
"-but not."
"So, it's a tiny person, like a fairy?"
"Yeah! And they come from trees."
"Huh. Sounds like a dryad. Are they part tree?"
"I don't think so." I said, while imagining Una with twigs coming out of her head.
"Then you've stumped me! They come from trees, are as small as a fairy, but aren't dryads? I don't think you'll find that in a fairytale. Maybe it's not from a fairytale, though."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It could be from something else. I mean, that sounds more like science fiction. And that's more Dale's area of expertise, not mine."
"Is Dale the balding guy?"
"Yeah. But he's really busy right now. But earlier, he was talking about something. Some TV show about portals."
I gave her a stare, in a "what-are-you-talking-about" sort of way.
"I know, I know. I'm getting to the point. He said that, in this show, these portals link up different planets. So maybe that's it. Maybe this thing is from a different planet, and the tree was a portal."

Okay, imagining Una as an alien was honestly a little scary. If she was just some other fairytale creature, then the worst I had to worry about was her stealing my gold and cows. If she's an alien, she might vaporize me.
"You alright?" asked Denise.
"I just dunno about that. Kinda scary."
"Yep! That's why I stick to fairytales." she said with a wide grin. "So, want me to get the name of that show?"
"No thanks. I don't watch any TV."
Because my parents don't let me. My parents! Oh man, they're gonna kill me.
I stood up from my chair and gave a small wave goodbye to Denise. "Thanks for everything. 'Preciate it."
"Come back any time! And maybe get a book while you're at it."

__________________________

She's an allllien and she's going to eat your braaaaaains.

Okay, maybe not. But I think Denise is on to something!

[Amayasama]

XD Aww I was wrong about the Dyrads then huh? x3 Oh well, it makes me even more curious if she is an alien or something else

[Neon]

I find it very cute that the library staff all have their specialties in a specific genre. I wish our librarians were like that.
I like the way this story is steadily building. ^^

[whisperer]

@ama: I still think she's a radioactive squirrel in disguise. That'd be the greatest plot twist ever.
@neon: I like the idea, too. Makes me wish my library was like that.

And thanks for the comments!

____________

As I walked through the streets, I came across the same electronics store where I was laid out by Chad. I haven't seen him since the incident at the Toy Store. Granted, I'd been inside the whole time, but it wasn't against his character to come after me in my home. Luckily, it was another school day, so I wouldn't have to worry about it. But, that didn't stop me from taking a hesitant look around, praying that he wouldn't show up out of the blue once more. Lady luck was once again on my side, as I didn't see him anywhere around me. With a chuckle, I wondered how he looked after getting to know the knuckles of the owner of the Toy Store.

The same store that I now entered. The bells above my head rang their familiar jingle as I opened the door.
"Hello?" came an unfamiliar voice, sounding as if it came from behind the counter.
I walked past a shelf filled with robotic action figures, and took a look at the new man behind the counter. He looked similar to the one form before, but with more color in his hair and a less wrinkled look. "You wouldn't happen to be the brother of the other guy, would you?"
"I am!" he responded. "And that other guy's name is Gilmore."
I couldn't help but stifle a chuckle.
"It a weird name. I know. Anyway, I'm Alfred. Yet again, go ahead and laugh."
"Nah. Yours just reminds me of a butler."
He smiled, showing off his own wrinkled face, and continued, "Gil's in some trouble right now."
"Wouldn't happen to be assault, or anything like that, right?"
"You guessed it." he said, still smiling.
I stared at his face with a bemused look. "And I'm willing to bet that this sort of thing isn't all too uncommon for him, huh?"
"Nope! He actually knows the judge pretty well, at this point. They were in a bar fight in '93. I was sitting in the corner, laughing, of course. Good times."
I smiled at this man's story-telling. He seemed to me to be the kind of guy who stays out of trouble, but loves to watch it.
"But forget all that. You probably came in here for something, right?"
"Yeah, actually. I was wondering if you have any..." I paused, being a bit nervous about asking for tiny furniture.
"Go on, out with it. I've been here for no more than twenty four hours, and I've heard some odd requests. Trust me. Some guy actually made a custom order for a life-sized Fig Fighter. You can't surprise me."
"Alright," I said with another laugh, "I just need a little bed. About six inches should be good."
"That's all?" he asked. "Do you want a plastic one, a cloth one, or what?"
"Just a... whatever-real-beds-are-made-out-of one."
He gave his own laugh. "I think Gil' told me about you. You're the kid that wanted some little clothing, right?"
The color left my face, and I responded, "Uh, yeah. That was me."
"Yeah! He told me about how that other kid was calling you a fairy, or whatever. Y'know, right before he punched him in the face."
"That's me alright." I said before rubbing my forehead, but making sure to not bend my neck after remembering that Una was on it.
"Alright, kid. The toy house stuff is over there, by the helicopters and whatnot." he informed before, before adding, "Great organization Gil's got in here, huh?"
I laughed one more time, gave him a "Thank you." and went on my way to the part of the store he pointed at. Once reaching there, I skimmed through the shelves and found a little bed of appropriate size, and went back to the counter.

I fingered my pocket, before settling on my wallet and pulling it out. 'Would $3.26 even be enough for this?' I wondered to myself.
"You found what you were looking for?" asked Alfred.
"Yeah..."
"You got no money, huh?"
I was shocked. Jeez, was it that obvious? "No, I got some, but-"
"Don't worry. Toy house stuff is dirt cheap. Here, I'll show you." he assured, taking the bed out of my hands and then scanning it. The cash register showed 2.49 on its screen. "See?"
Feeling relieved, I pulled out three dollars from my wallet. "Just barely have enough."
He took the money with a smile, and said, "Just barely enough is enough. Have a nice day."
With that, I thanked him once more, and walked out the door, sounding the jingling bells one more time, and went on my way.

"What color is it!" Una immediately questioned.
"Umm." I mumbled, sneaking a look at the bed.
"You don't even know?"
"Well, I know it's a good size for you. And it's white."
"That's boring!"
"Are you kidding me? This is designer! Probably. I think." I said while flipping around the bed, looking for a tag or something that'd tell me this bed was special. "Okay, probably not. But it's a bed, right?"
She replied only with a slight annoyed sound, but kept quiet.

I started thinking again of what would happen when I got home. 'Ohh, boy. Your parents are going to be so glad to see you.' I told myself. All sarcasm aside, they might be happy to have me within beating range. No, they never beat me before. But it seemed like a great new habit to start, especially considering the circumstances. How was I going to get out of this one? I wracked my brain for possibilities, but came short of any real idea or excuse. I obviously wasn't sick. I couldn't lie about today being an off day; they'd see through that. But I also certainly couldn't not return home. For Una's sake, above anything else. They had food and shelter, a few things I wasn't ready to deprive her of, just because of my own fear of my parents. That's it! I'll take the offense, as soon as I get home! I couldn't care less about how stubborn they were, they needed to get an earful.

But that wasn't going to happen. They wouldn't listen, and as soon as I got home, they'd unload on me. I let out a deep sigh at this realization. There really wasn't much of anything I could do; once they have their minds set on yelling at me, it's pretty much impossible to change that. And yet, I was used to it. Una, however, was not. And her sensitive ears would get the worst of it. At that moment, I reached my porch, and just stared at the door handle. My heart rate quickened, and my vision buzzed due to my own fright. This was going to suck. It was then that I felt a familiar tug on the hair on the back of my head.
"Tell them." came Una's voice.
That couldn't be a good idea. Yet, I trusted her, and opened the door.
____________

What's this? The Toy Store owner has a name? And a brother?! That's the most shocking thing I've ever heard! Oh. And I guess that Aiden being about to tell his parents about Una is pretty out there, too.

I really wish my muse would show up at times other than the ungodly hours of the night ;__; 2am isn't a good time to be doing anything.

[Amayasama]

D: Noooooesss Aiden! Una is being brave to her but I'm sure she's scared!

[whisperer]

"You're cute, you know that?"
"What's cute?"
"It's... it's what you are."

Remember that? Good.
_______________________

The moment I opened the door, a shout came from the couch. There were no words behind it, just a near-bestial yell. I saw my father leap from the couch, and glare at me, just glare at me. My mother stayed sitting.
"Where the hell have you been?! What's that in your hand?! Why aren't you at school?!"
The barrage of questions only made me tense more, my frame locking up and my throat closing. "I-i-it's-"
"Speak!" he yelled.
I took a deep, deep breath and replied, "I went o-out. It's a bed. A-and I can't go to school."
"Where?! Why'd you get a bed?! And why can't you go to school?!" His voice raising louder, and louder.
This only frightened Una all the more, confirmed by her pulling on my hair.
"I got it at th-the Toy Store. And if you just stop yelling, I'll show you why." trying my best to bargain for a more agreeable mood for Una.
"It's my house, and I'll ye-"
"Dear, my headache's bad enough. Just quiet down." calmly stated my mother. She didn't look all too happy herself, but stayed seated.
My father took a deep breath before glaring at me once again, and saying, "Fine." in a quieter, but still angry, tone. "What is it?"
I could feel Una's slight tremors. She was trembling. And for good reason. "First off, sit down."
He looked over to my mother, who gave a curt nod. He sat down.
"Just don't freak out. Okay?" I pleaded.
I put my left hand on the hood to keep it balanced, and slowly, ever so slowly, reached my right hand into the hood. I felt Una let go of my neck, and curl them around my fingers as they came within reach for her. Once my hand was securely around her, I paused and look up to my parents. So far, they looked puzzled, mostly due to anticipation. I closed my eyes, prayed they wouldn't hurt her, and then retracted my hand out.
She was now in plain view for my parents.

"Oh my gosh..." whispered my mother. My father, on the other hand, only increased his puzzled look.
Una herself was now set at my chest-level, being carefully cradled by both my hands. And her own expression was not one of wonderment, like my mother's, one of confusion, like my father's, not even one of worry, like mine. But hers was one of fear. Not true and absolute horror, but just a look of the sort of fear that told you she wasn't too trusting of these two.
"Aiden... what is that?" questioned my father.
"Uhh..." was all I could stammer out.
"What are you?" asked my mother, but not directed at Una, more towards herself.
The two questions that seemed to consider herself as not a sentient person actually managed to boost Una's confidence to the point that she took it upon herself to answer the questions. "I'm cute." she simply replied.
If my hands weren't holding her, I'd've slammed one against my face. That's the last time I tell a five inch girl who didn't speak English that she's cute.
My parents, on the other hand, didn't respond with slight embarrassment. Instead, they both leaned back a bit, as if they were reacting to a heated object. My own expression changed to a slight grin at my parents' shock from Una.
"She doesn't bite." I assured them.
Una grumbled.

"Aiden, honestly, what is it?"
I looked towards Una, our eyes meeting for a moment of uncertainty. Neither of us really knew how to answer that question. "I really don't know what she is, dad. And you should stop calling her 'it'."
"Did you name it?" asked my mother.
"Why is it-"
"We'll get along a lot better as soon as you stop calling me 'it'."
My parents looked at each other for their own brief moment.
"I did name her." I answered. "Or, well, she picked her own name, actually. But then she remembered her real name."
"And what is it?"
"Well, first it was Zela."
They both gave me an odd look.
"Now it's Una."
"And I thought Zela was weird."
"Yeah." I said.

"Well, Una," began my mother. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but instead kept quiet. My father took his eyes off of her for a second, and looked up at me. "Where'd you find her?"
"Uhh..." I said, with an air of uncertainty. "I found her in the woods." That was enough. I didn't quite trust them myself to disclose the full details of where I found her.
"So," laughed my mother, "this explains why you didn't go to school." Thank goodness they were fine with that. "When did you find her?"
"Saturday." I answered.
In unison, they both backed down and sat on the couch. "Just... go upstairs, your mother and I have things to talk about." stated my father.

[whisperer]

"Well, that could have gone a whole lot worse, huh?" smiled Una. She was sitting on my bed, and I was on the floor next to it, smiling back myself.
"Yeah. I'm just amazed that they took it so well."
"Well? Aiden, they looked like they were going to pass out!"
"At least you got to tear into them." I chuckled.
"I know!" she responded giddily. "That was good, wasn't it?"
"I was sure they were going to drop, right then and there. They're so used to being the ones doing the telling off, and then you come along!"
"I think they're scared of me! Right now, I be-"
"Aiden!" sounded a loud yell from the living room below us. The volume made Una jump, and land flatly on her back.
"... You okay?"
"Everything but my pride." she wearily replied.
I chuckled quietly, before returning to a more serious face. "I'm pretty sure they're done talking to each other. You ready to go?"
She sat up with a serious look of her own. "Yeah... let's go."
"Don't worry." I soothed as I picked her up, "We can take 'em."

I stepped off the last step, into the living room and faced my parents. Their questioning glances had stayed, but they seemed to have calmed down.
"We've decided that you can't keep her."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"We're turning her over." my father explained.
I was offended, to say the least. Did they really think I was 'keeping her'? As far as I was concerned, I wasn't. At least, I sure wouldn't call it that. You 'keep' and object. You 'take care of' a living creature. And Una was certainly not to be treated as anything less than that. And another thing - what did they mean by 'turn her over'?
"Dad! She's a person, you know!"
Una looked up at me.
My father was himself confused. "Aiden, we've discussed it, and we're not ready to believe that she's a 'person', or anything of the sort."
My jaw dropped.
"That's right," began my mother. "and besides, even if she were, we'd have to give her up to child services."
"You two-" I got out, very agitated at their opinions on the matter. "I can't believe it!" I lifted my hands a bit higher, displaying a hurt looking Una to them. "She's more human than you two! I mean, come on!"
"Aiden, don't be stupid." replied my father, himself getting agitated.
"Hey! What about me?!" snapped Una.
"We're sorry, Una." replied my mother awkwardly. "But, quite frankly, we don't think it's healthy that our son keep you. We're going to turn you over."
"Turn her over to what?!" I asked, drawing her back near me.
"We don't know for sure, so we're just going to take her over to the police station, and let them decide what to do with her."
"Forget that!" yelled the girl in my hands. "There's no chance that I'm letting anyone take me away from Aiden! I trust him!"
"He's never owned any pets before, and we're just uncertain about him being left in charge of something." replied my father.
"Pets? In charge? Dad! She is not my pet, and I'm not in charge of her! For the last time, she's a person, and she's with me on her own free will!"
"Yeah!" added Una.

"Aiden. I'm not continuing this argument. Just because she can talk doesn't make her a person. Hand her over." he simply stated, then reached his arm out, palm open.
I looked at him, bewildered. Una looked up at me again. I glared directly into my father's eyes, and said down to her, "It's okay, Una. There's no way that he's going to touch you." I stepped back, slipped my hand around my back, and placed Una down on a table behind me. I then took a step forward, still having eye contact with my father and said, "Right?"
My father then placed a hand on his face, and slowly ran it down. "I'm not going to fight you. But if you can prove to your mother and I that you can take care of her, I suppose..."
"Yes...?"
"That we'll let her stay."

___________________

Typical parents, eh?

EDIT: And with this post, we are officially at the halfway point, wordcount-wise! How in the heck am I gonna finish this thing by June 30th?!

[Ezzabezza]

wow i love this story!!! ;D please continue!

[aspired2inspire]

O.O

Why the heck are Aiden's parents so thick? Una IS a person for crying out loud!!

And I just got through reading the whole story so far. It's great! But why exactly do you have to meet a deadline....?