•Wasting Away•

[Sky]

The Hog's Head may have been rid of Axel's body and eliminated of any blood since last week's incident, but Seth still saw the blood on his hands. He still saw Axel on the ground with his life fading. He was the one responsible. Though he wouldn't face any charges because Axel attacked first and had the potential to harm the other people in the bar, Seth had been given a life sentence of guilt and realization. Until that day, that moment, Seth didn't realize how much pain Axel had been put through. And he was to blame for a lot of it.

   He sat in the woods where he had left Alice, and his ring. He sat on the ground, his back pressed against a giant oak tree. In his hand was a bottle of alcohol. He didn't even know what kind he bought. He just asked for the strongest stuff and went here to drink his sorrows away. It was a dumb idea, and he would regret it later, but right now he didn't care. He didn't care about anything right now. He just felt so worthless.

Seth took a swig from the square glass bottle, spilling a little on his jeans. He had on a white tee shirt and black jacket and had no idea where he left his shoes. His hair was flat and combed down, not spikey like he usually had it. He had a five 'o' clock shadow from not shaving like he normally did either. He was just out of his typical routine.  He stared into the woods, staring at nothing, then took yet another sip.

[potter_fan122]

Alice was scared.

Her eyes were coal black. Her skin was cold. She didn`t feel hungry at all. She was running through the forest quickly, almost twice as fast as any normal person. The smell of alcohol was thick on her breath, and she held a huge half-empty bottle in her right hand. Her mind was slightly fuzzy, but her steps were even and sure.

-D@mn it all! Why couldn`t he just accept what had happened? Bastard.- Her thoughts were sharp and directed towards Seth, even though he would never hear here. She kept on running, just because she could. She had been running for a while now; she hadn`t gotten tired yet.

[Sky]

   "Why don't you understand?" He called with a drunken slur. "Trying to give me a taste of my own medicine huh!? Not going to come home for awhile to show me what it's like?" Seth brought the bottle back to his lips, dripping the yellowish liquid all over. 

   "Well guess what! I don't need you." He didn't even care that he was speaking to air. Inside he was hurting and he didn't even know what he was thinking anymore. He lifted the bottle and stood up, stumbling, then threw the bottle at a tree. Glass shattered all over the ground as it made contact with the trunk, liquid dripping down the bark.

   

[potter_fan122]

Alice stopped suddenly, leaning forward with her own momentum. She could have sworn she heard someone yelling. Waiting a moment, she became completely silent. There was nothing, so she ran again. She shrugged and took a swig from the bottle, wishing it would actually affect her as it would a human. When she still didn`t hear anything she took off again.

Just as she was running through a clearing she heard the sound of breaking glass and something sharp slashed into her side. She gasped with surprise as warm liquid started to spill from her side. She fell to the side onto her hip and pressed her hands to the wound. Alice looked up quickly, trying to understand what had happened.

Well, look at that. It was Seth.

[Sky]

Seth's eyes widened. The glass had struck Alice and wounded her. She made his way over to her and threw off his jacket. He pushed away her hands and pushed the jacket down on it, holding it down with his own hands.

   "Stay still." He said. The anger had disappeared only for a short moment. Seeing her blood brought another emotion out of Seth. He wouldn't look into her eyes. His weren't the same. They were almost hollow. He just wasn't himself.

[potter_fan122]

Alice gasped again as Seth pressed his jacket against her side. It hurt. She hadn`t felt physical pain in such a long time. Blood was soaking from her side; the cut hadn`t been that deep, had it? Good gracious, a little cut couldn`t hurt that much.

"Seth, I`m sorry." She said softly, trying to look into his eyes. She could see his face, smell him. He was just as bad as she was. They were equally disheveled, and they both had alcohol with them.

[Sky]

"Stop it." Seth replied sharply. He wouldn't look her in the eyes. Instead he focused on his jacket and putting pressure on her wound. He lifted the jacket slowly, to check out what was going on. How she got cut like she did, he didn't know. She must have been in the shard of glass' direction. He plucked a little bit of glass from the cut and put the jacket back on.
 
   

[potter_fan122]

Alice watched Seth with sharp eyes as he put his jacket back on. The cut had stopped bleeding, but it still stung. She moved backwards until her back hit a tree, then she looked down at the wound closely.

It was a clean slice and would heal without leaving a scar or anything, but it hurt. That was what amazed her more than anything. After being a vampire for so long, you got used to not feeling anything. Since it wasn`t exactly normal for a vampire to become a human, she didn`t know what to expect. In the past week Alice had spent away from Seth some vampiric qualities had come back. Her skin had gotten whiter and colder. She was faster than any human, but not vamp-fast. Her eyes were coal black again. Still, she wasn`t thirsting for blood, but she didn`t want human food either. The changes scared her, but she didn`t know what to do.

"Seth, you should probably lay down or something. You don`t look so good." Alice spoke in a calm and even voice, not letting much emmotion show through her words. She was still angry at him for the things he had said and done. There was no reason he should have acted that way, and so she had left just like he had done to her. But all of that didn`t mean she didn`t still love him. She did and she knew it.

[Sky]

For some reason, when she moved back, it made Seth hurt a little.

"Seth, you should probably lay down or something. You don`t look so good."

He shook his head and stared at the jacket where some of her blood was stuck to it. If he hadn't have thrown the glass, she wouldn't have gotten injured.

  "I hurt you...." He whispered almost inaudibly. It wasn't meant for her ears. "Why don't you just go back home?" This part, on the otherhand, was for her. He looked her in the eyes, her black eyes. But as soon as he said it, he realized just how rude and wrong his tone was.

[potter_fan122]

Even though he had spoke so softly at first a normal person wouldn`t have heard it, she did. Her senses had gotten better as well. She could see without hardly any light, and her ears caught everything.

"Because my home isn`t home right now isn`t a home," she replied, using the same tone. She couldn`t have kept the venom out of her voice if she wanted to.

[Sky]

Seth stood and glared at her for a moment. Then he took a step back, turned around, and started walking down a random path leading deeper into the woods. But as soon as Alice was out of sight, he realized that this was stupid. He was stupid. Seth started back the other direction and kneeled down in front of Alice.

 
   "I'm sorry." He said gently. "I really am."

[potter_fan122]

Alice looked up at Seth with her dark eyes. Was he really apologizing, or was he drunk?

"Seth, it`s okay," she replied softly, "We`ve been through a lot, and neither of us should have acted the way we did."

[Sky]

He picked up her hand and closed his fingers around it. He pressed his lips to her wrist and then look at her beneath his eyelashes.

   "Alice, I think I'm going to pass out." Seth said, suddenly weary. His eyelids became heavy and he released her hand as he passed out on the hard ground with a thump.

[potter_fan122]

Alice let Seth sleep for a while; he needed it. After an hour or so, though, she shook him back awake.

"Seth, wake up, mon amour. Come on now, you`re sweating," she sad gently, rocking him back and forth to wake him back up. He was sweating, but it was just because of the alcohol in his system and the heat. He probably hadn`t been feeling well the past few days, either.

[Sky]

   "Wha...oh...." Seth sat up suddenly, breathing hard. His forehead had been a little shiny with sweat, some hair sticking to his head. He had a little more life to his eyes, but they were a dull green, no longer as bright as they used to be. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, feeling slightly dizzy. When the feeling passed, he opened them to see Alice hovering over him.
          He touched her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. He stared into her eyes, apologizing over and over again with his gaze, hoping she'd understand. He put his hand down slowly and then just sat there staring at his lap.