The Altima

Another Day Away

{Author's Note} okay so this is basically the story about my oc (original character) named Echo and her background story basically in Toby's, this boy she met when she was sent to boarding school, point of view. I also decided to add my friends oc to the story just to be sure that they become close in the end. And just to make things clear I did ask her permission. Now stick with me for this chapter is really long (over 3,000 words) and so might the other chapters. Hope you enjoy!

The bells rang for first break from class as the clock showed 2:30. Toby arose from his seat and noticed a paper that read "kick me" was taped to the back of his black Hollister Hood. He tore it off and a group of red-eyed demon kids laughed and pointed at him. He ignored there scams, as usual, for this wasn't the first time he had been picked on. He speed-walked on over to the library, his only peaceful hideout. He sat down in front of one of the computers and turned it on, hearing only the slightest noise of a button click. The computers were always slow at starting up, so he pulled out one of his mangas he checked out. Death Note, a young teen, named Light Yagami, found a death note and tried to use it for good, but when insane while trying to do so. He met a Shinigami, meaning God of Death, named Ryuk, who had dropped the death note, leaving Light to find it.
As Toby started to read where he had left off, he heard the door to the library open as the chimes hooked to the door started to make a soft musical noise. A girl with pure silver hair, and bright grey eyes walked in, carrying a book that had been titled Say I Love You. She had ears and a tail. She seemed like a harmless little werewolf, just like the other ones. She wore black high tops, black skinny jeans, a plain white shirt and a leather jacket with a small skull design at the top left. On her left ear were two silver ring piercings where as humans would say is the cartilage.
She had walked past were Toby was sitting and walked straight towards the manga section. He stared at her for a few moments, before realizing she was looking right back at him. She started to walk up to the counter, with the second book of the manga she had brought in before. She slammed the book on the counter as the lady behind the desk jumped at the sound. She looked absolutely terrified. Toby didn't really understand, she seemed so harmless to him. Maybe she just had a bad day, that's all.
"Y-Your number please..." The lady stuttered and the girl softly said six numbers for her. The lady typed the numbers in, checked in her book, and gave it back to her with an expression like she had seen a ghost.
"Thank," She paused and smirked, "you." She softly said as she walked out of the library. Toby closed his book and walked up to the counter.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Why are you scared of an innocent little werewolf?" Toby asked. "You looked so frightened."
"She isn't any other normal werewolf, ya see. The whole school is afraid of that bloody monster, even the principal."
"If she isn't normal, then what's wrong with her?"
"She is what people know as an Altima. Altimas have the powers to create or destroy lives with just the power of her eyes. It only happens if you look at her and they're scarlet. It brings fear to the human, or even a demon. Nothing scares demons! Her fangs also can transform someone into a normal werewolf, but can also take away a werewolves genes, cause it to become its other half or human. She's the last of her kind and everyone wants her dead."
"I don't wish for her death. Maybe we can become friends."
"Toby, you stupid boy, she's dangerous!"
"What's her name?"
"Echo Allan." She replied as the bells suddenly rang for lunch.
He exited the library and started to head over to the cafe and happened to see Echo on the corner on the sidewalk outside reading her manga she checked out. He built up the courage to go over and talk to her. He said to her in a small sweet voice, "Hey, I'm Toby Foster. Nice to meet you." and he held out his hand to her. She looked a bit scared, like she had never talked to a human before, or even anyone for that matter.
"You must be the boy I saw looking at me in the library." Her voice was small, but a bit rough. Other then that, she sounded completely harmless and sweet. "I don't understand how or why you're talking to me. Aren't you afraid like everyone else?" Her ears lowered.
"No. I've heard about you, but I'm not afraid. You look so harmless." Toby sat down beside her.
"You should look at me when my eyes are scarlet then." She didn't look up from her book.
"Well, if it means I'll be a handsome werewolf then go ahead." Toby smiled. Echo looked up from her book with a shocked expression.
"Being transformed is a very painful process. It can even kill you!"
"Would it be worth it?"
"No." Echo shut her book and stood up. She walked towards the back and Toby was tempted to follow. He turned to see if someone had seen him, but when he turned back to behind the building, Echo was gone.
"Hey, you! You know you're not allowed back there! The bell just rang so get to class." A teacher yelled while grabbing his arm. He turned and jumped at the sudden booming voice. Toby ran all the way to class and sat in his assigned seat. After the tardy bell had rung, Echo had entered the classroom.
"Mrs. Allan, you're late again! Your seat has been moved by Toby. Now sit." The teacher said.
"Again..?" Echo muttered as she sat down at her newly assigned seat. Toby stood up.
"I don't understand why you just have to move Echo out of her seat! Just her? Really? Why?" He confronted the teacher.
"She doesn't get along with other students."
"Bull! Just because she's an Altima you people think she deserves to die, but wake up and get to know her! She's not a actual monster and it's not her fault she was born this way!! She deserves to be loved just like everyone else." He looked over at her and she had a small, shy smile on her face. Toby sat down and everyone was looking at the connection the two had for each other. The teacher was still shock but started teaching the students about water barriers and dams. After the bell rang for the second break, Toby went to where he always went: the library. He sat at the computer then he heard chimes once again. It was Echo and she went over to sit by him.
"Thanks for saying all that, but no one will listen. No one ever does." She whispered to him.
"People are jerks. Don't listen to what they have to say about you. They might be scared, but they're probably just jealous they don't have the powers that you do."
"Toby, what makes you think I can't hurt you?"
"You wouldn't try, would you?"
"Absolutely not! I just can't control myself sometimes. Like if I'm depressed or angry I hurt other people. It's a werewolf thing." She paused and smiled. "We also have this thing with windows. One time I got really mad at this guy because he stepped in front of desk and called me 'princess' and blackmailed me into dating him. I said no and threw him out of the window. I was on the second floor in chemistry, too. He was a demon so he didn't get damaged badly." She slightly laughed. Toby laughed, too. He smiled and thought to himself, she's a cute girl. Toby loved her laugh, even if it was just slight.
"Sounds funny, huh?" He chuckled.
"Yeah! Echo suddenly frowned." Why am I even talking to you? I'm a nobody and I plan on keeping it that way." She grabbed her bag and left the library. Toby sighed and stood also. He pulled his bag over his shoulder and as he was going to leave he heard the lady at the counter speak.
"Her heart has a barrier around it, just leave her be."
Toby looked at her with sorrowful eyes. "I'm not giving up on her." He left the library with determination.
After the whole day was over he went to the front office and asked for his dorm number. He walked around the dorms and found the key F6 written on the door, which had matched the one on his card. He walked it, thinking he didn't have a roommate and saw Echo on the top bunk with a plushie crop top and track shorts reading her manga. Toby's jaw dropped as she turned to notice him.
"Oh goodness, Toby! Even if I did get the wrong dorm you can still knock!" She shot up and her ears lowered in embarrassment.
"Oh! I-Im sorry! They didn't tell me I had a roommate!" Toby explained. He couldn't help but to feel a substance run down from his nose. He ran to the restroom that the dorm provided and saw that his nose was bleeding. Echo followed him and lightly giggled.
"You know, Toby, in manga if a character gets a nosebleed he or she has seen something they like. A lot." She said. Toby blushed and though to himself, she really knows her manga. "But I highly doubt it was me, so what lovely lady did you see on the way over here?"
"I honestly didn't see any girls. Plus all the other girls are mean. Not to mention what happened between us in the library." Toby's nose finally stopped bleeding but he had a slight headache so Echo went and grabbed an ice pack from her mini fridge and set it on his head.
"I'm really sorry about that, but it's really hard for me to trust others. They want to be friends with you just because they want something like fame or money, but once they get it they turn their backs and leave you to rot." She looked down while also going down to sit on the bottom bunk and Toby sat beside her. He accidentally dropped the ice pack on his foot and he winced in pain. Echo lightly laughed, but Toby joined her, too.
Meanwhile there was a girl talking with her friend in the hallway.
"Abby don't you think that maybe Toby might be taken?" Her friend asked.
"Don't be stupid, Signe!" Abby snapped. She peeked through the peep hole of Toby and Echo's dorm and gasped as they were laughing and getting along. "This has to be stopped!"
"What did I tell you?!" Signe laid her hands on her hips.
"I will figure out how to separate them once and for all!" Abby walked away and Signe followed her to their own dorm.
"Story about the ice pack. It probably hurt.." Echo apologized.
"That's alright!" He slightly laughed. They then both realized it was a bit dark outside. "Maybe we should get some rest."
"Yeah, we should." She jumped up onto the top bunk then looked at Toby. "Oh sorry, you want the top?"
"No, ma'am. You go ahead." Toby smiled as he laid on the bottom. Echo smiled and laid down towards the window. She noticed that the sky was darker than before. She just though of it as a little rain so she quickly fell asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night to a loud boom of thunder and the rapid flashes of lightning that shook the whole school.
"Hey, Echo, can you sleep?" She heard Toby ask. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"Uh, no. Thunder storms terrify me." Echo said in embarrassment.
"Nothing to be ashamed of." He stood from his bunk and climbed to the top. He sat down and pulled her close to him.
"W-what are you-"
"I read that some werewolves love to he held when afraid. Am I correct?" He smiled.
"Well I like it sometimes for certain, but this is just a bother for you."
"Shhh." Toby pressed his pointing finger on her lips lightly. Echo felt safe for once in her life. She still didn't want to trust him. She didn't want to trust anyone under any circumstances. She shortly had fallen asleep.
The next morning she had woke up to an alarm the school had set up for every dormitory. She thought it was absolutely absurd and inconceivable.
She sat up and yawned. She noticed that she was on the top by herself and as she looked outside, it was dry and didn't seem like it had rained at all. Was is just a dream? She thought to herself. She got up and walked to the bathroom and Toby was brushing his slick, black hair back with a comb without a shirt on. Echo lightly blushed and instantly turned away.
"What a night, huh?" She softly said. Toby turned to face her and smiled that bright smile of his.
"Yeah." He looked back at the mirror and examined his hair.
"Did you...wake up to anything last night?" Echo asked.
"No, I slept like a baby." He went back into the main room and put his shirt on. "Did you?" He asked.
"No.." Echo said as she looked down. It was just a dream... She went into the bathroom to get dressed, grabbed her jacket, and bag, and left the dorms. Toby grabbed his backpack and walked out towards the breakfast hall hoping that was where Echo was going. On his way there he ran into Abby, causing her to drop her books.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" He apologized. Abby looked like she was about to snap, until she realized who it was. She smiled the evilest smile you could imagine possible and picked her books up.
"Got a thing for Echo?" She grinned.
"N-No." Toby blushed while looking away shyly. Abby lightly put her hand on Toby's cheek and lightly kissed it.
"Thanks." She said as she walked away while lightly laughing. Little did either of them know what Echo was just around the corner, watching both of them.
"I knew he liked someone else..." Her eyes began to water, but she then wiped it away. "No! I'm not going to let this get in my way! Love is stupid anyway. I'm used to being forgotten and alone." She snuck out of the room without Toby spotting her.
He had the look of disgust on his face. He couldn't bare Abby. She was just some complicated drama queen who had a thousand boyfriends and all relationships ended in a complete mess. He walked over to the cafe while mumbling "bleach" over and over again. He didn't see any sign of Echo anywhere. He thought that maybe she was busy so he went over to the library to search through the manga. He heard the sudden sound of the chimes and turned towards the door, in hopes of it being Echo, but instead it was Abby, Signe, and this other girl named Jade. Jade was half werewolf and half vampire. He rolled his eyes and moved to the other side of the selection.
"Ugh. Doesn't he know that anime is stupid!" Abby whispered while crossing her arms. "I'll act like I like it anyway." She walked away from her friend and towards Toby. "Hey, that one is a great eye-opener!" Abby fake smiled.
"Oh really, you've read it?" Toby asked politely.
"Yeah! It's even a great manga to watch!"
"Did you just say that you've watched manga?" Toby gave her that are-you-dumb look.
"Uhhhh, yes?" She started to sweat.
"Well, real anime fans would know what you READ manga and WATCH anime. Stop pretending that you know everything about something you haven't even seen." Toby checked out his book and went out of the library. Abby's face turned red and she stomped over to Signe in fury.
"What did he say?" Signe asked. Abby just death glared her a stormed out of the library. Signe shrugged and followed her. Jade was in the manga section looking at them when she turned to the noise of a slamming door. What is she planning? Jade thought to herself.
Toby was walking around the building when he suddenly heard the faint noise of a guitar and a voice. A familiar voice. He cracked opened the doorto the music room slightly and there in the dimly lit room was Echo playing a guitar with every perfect fret and cord while singing a soft melody. There was tears in her eyes as the words perfectly flowed from her vocal cords. When she stopped, she lightly laid the guitar down and walked towards the door. Toby hid behind it and watched her every move, but Abby suddenly appeared in the picture and seemed to have grabbed the collar of her shirt.
"You're the little brat who wants to take Toby from me!" She yelled.
"No, you can have him. I already had assumed he was yours since I saw you kiss him on the cheek! Love doesn't exist for me and it never will!" Echo ripped Abby's hand off her collar and started to run away while Signe and Abby laughed. Jade was walking when she saw Echo flash past her while crying. She looked back and looked at her run with sympathy in her eyes. What did Abby do to this poor girl...? She's just like me. Jade thought.
After Abby and everyone had left Toby walked out from behind the door and looked up at the sky.
"Echo, I love you, not Abby..." He whispered.

{Author's Note} Toby x Echo? TECHO. Ha. Sounds like Taco. Ship or Dip?