♤SPRING SHIELD (MxM) ~fantasy~♤

Door to the past

Elijah

"Will the land lady let us in?"I ask once we're infront of his old apartment building. Originally he was going to do this all on his own but then he got scared and called me apparently.
It's a tall old style building that probably dates back to the industrial age of Ferrez. By the black bricks and patterns bent into the metal holding up the window. Overgrowth is winding up the right side of the building with small white flowers half blooming.
"I think so,"he says pulling his trench coat over himself. It's windy today and the clouds are fogging over the sky,his red hair his dancing in the air like elegant ribbons.
"Something about this place is... off."I say looking up at the door to the lobby,something is cold and dark. Like what I feel in the aftermath of an attack,how the creatures burst into clouds of dark smoke,the smell is horrible and it gives you the chills.
Maybe not Shane though,he searches through the rumble for creatures he can turn into figurines.
"I'll go and see if anyone is in."Kristian says as he walks ahead of me,he knocks on the door and calls out for someone. No answer. Just as he starts to walk down the stairs in disappointment,the sound of keys jiggling stops him,
An old woman with thin glasses opens the door,her hair is blonde. Like a screaming blonde that must be dyed to be real,styled into a simple braid hanging on her shoulders. She seems like the type to have more than one peculiar pet,
"Hello? How can I help you two?"she asks,walking down the small flight of steps,to meet us,
"Oh,I used to live here and I never came to get my stuff so- I'm not asking for any money or anything,I just want to look at the items. If they are any that is,"as Kristian speaks she comes closer to him and a look of disbelief sparks in her eyes,
"Kristy? Is that you?"she throws her arms around him and hugs him,whispering things like 'I thought I'd never see you again,' and 'I missed you,' awkwardly I stare at the exchange from the sidelines. "I thought you would never come back,"
"Yeah,it's been a while."
"Seven years,isn't a while in my books."she starts to walk back up the stairs gesturing us to follow her into the novel building,
"I apologise,I just wanted to know if maybe my stuff is still-"
"Oh,it's still there sweetie. All of it just the way you left it in,no one moved in after you disappeared,they all thought it was haunted."Kristian goes quiet as we walk behind the woman,lost in his own thoughts.
Soon we get to apartment number three hundred and two and she opens the door,"I'll have to warn you,it's dusty in there."then she just leaves going back to her desk job.
"Okay,step back."I say pulling him back,my arm around his torso,
"What? The dust bunnies are gonna get me? Oh,I'm so scared."
"Very funny,but this isn't about dust. Dark creature love abandoned areas."I say as I start to open the door,"So stay behind me and duck if you see anything like I'm your shield,don't worry about me,"
He rolls his eyes but does as I say. The door creaks so hard I think it's going to fall off and dusty is one hell of an understatement. The place is covered in cobwebs and dust that spills as we walk,
Covering my nose with my hand I walk over to the window and pull the curtains which makes the dirt clouds worse but we need light at the very least.
A spider tries to jump on me and I back hand slap it out of the way. "Ruthless,much?"Kristian says as he looks at the bag that's open just at the door. It's a carry on,
"Do you remember planning to travel in the past?"I ask and he walk toward the bag and looks through it careful not to touch much because it's moldy.
"No,not much. It doesn't look like I was going to travel for too long though."he says,leaving behind the bag as he walks further into the house. He's clearly in search of something specific.
I take this time to look around. It doesn't look like an abandoned house,it looks like it simple was left in time.
There's dishes in the sink. There's throws and blankets on the couch. There's pictures on the walls of Kristian,so many pictures of him. Even though the pictures can't talk I can feel them,the person he used to be and the man he is now and two very different people.
One is powerful and the other found power in his soft nature. So similar yet so different all at the same time.
This place is so different from where he is now. There's all these luxury bags and clothes hanging around,like the old him had a liking for nice things.
"I found what I was looking for,"Kristian announces as he walks back into the room with a box in his hands. He sets it on the floor and opens it.
"What's that?"
"A box of me and my mother's letters."I freeze because I thought for sure that his mother was- well gone. He never talks about her,"I know,I know I've never talked about my mom but it's because we're just like that. She doesn't like to talk on the phone,or text too so our only form of communication is snail mail to Tiliger. Means we can only have one conversation in a month."he explains lifting up a giant stack of letters from Tiliger,
"So your planning to use that to jog your memory? Why not just ask your mother about what you used to be like?"
"Well,I could. But when I was bedridden like a vegetable and couldn't remember a thing,the doctors told my mother to try not to force information on me or try to get me to remember. It could send me into a psychotic break."
"That makes sense for a case like yours. So what? She never wants to tell you anything because she's afraid?"I join him on the floor looking through a letter beside him. It's between him and his mother complaining about how his late dad didn't leave anything behind. It's cute how they're including him in the conversation like he would have something to say about it,
"Exactly! And I left Tiliger when I was eighteen to live life the way I wanted and go to college,I rarely had time to visit."
"And you're dad..."
"My dad died when I was twenty? Twenty one? Can't remember it all happened too fast."he doesn't seem taken aback by the topic like his death doesn't affect him anymore. I can't imagine being like that- whenever my sons ask about their grandfather I just... shut down.
I don't want to talk about it. And I won't.
"Do you miss him?"I ask,flipping through more letters,
"Not really,he wouldn't want me to miss him."he states,"I think we should take all these back to my place,there's a lot of dust. I'll look for some more stuff then we can go look for cctv footage."
"Why don't I go? It'll speed things up,"I suggest getting up ready to go,
"Cool."

__________

The woman who runs the lobby let me go through old tapes of surveillance footage. Back in the headquarters we have to check all sorts of boring footage for clues and I happen to be good at skimming through it.
I've been looking through footage and seeing which tapes are important for Kristian to see for the past half hour,"Still going through it?"the woman's voice startles me and I turn around to find her at the door,staring at me,
"Yeah,there's a lot. Just need to make sure I'm not missing any thing."I explain turning back to the screen,my hand lazily on the keyboard,
"Are you and Kristy together?"when she asks this my hand pauses,hovering in the air like time has stopped,
"Me and Kristian? No,no. We're not-"A pause,"I'm his boss,actually."
"Boss? You came all the way out here for an employee?"she asks,shocked,
"I owed him a favour."that's true at least. He tended to me while I was sleeping and took care of my children for me while my own sworn brother abandoned me. I owe a lot to Kristian. He doesn't want gifts or thank yous,so I'll just help where I can.
"A favour? The way you were looking at him..."
"I was not,miss. I just like to keep my eye on him,he's my subordinate."
"Whatever you say then,"