Fate and Choices

Fourteen - Raphael

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I stepped outside of the town hall and sighed as I stare at my shoes.

The square is already booked by someone else today... so I suppose I'll just eat with Raven alone... I thought.

I looked up and searched for her thin figure in the city's heart. Strangely, it was empty and only doves were around. The roads had holes filled with water puddles everywhere, unlike when I last visited the town with Raven.

Where is Raven? Oh, no... she can't stay too far away from me... I thought, where could she be?

Then suddenly I spotted a man with patched clothes sitting in an alleyway. He was hugging his knees tightly as he rested his head on his knees. I walked over to him. I noticed that he was shaking a little.

"Excuse me, sir," I said.

He looked up from his knees and his brown eyes found mine. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he quickly backed away.

"Aaah! Please, please, don't hurt me!" he exclaimed.

"Hu-hurt you? No, I wouldn't hurt you, sir...?" I said, "I don't have any magic high in offense! Honest!"

"Then what were you doing on that street attacking people with water attacks?!" he said.

"But I was in the city hall! Please ask the mayor if you don't believe me," I said, "and what do you mean by water attacks?"

"You were there! With two other people, a man with long ponytail and a young girl with rose wreath!" he said, "you three attacked all the bystanders watching the three of you kidnapped a girl with black hair!"

A man with long ponytail and a little girl with rose wreath? Kidnapped a girl with black hair?! I thought, don't tell me...

I turned around and looked at the streets carefully. Only then did the traces of water which gathered on some puddles on the street rang a bell. Then I spotted somebody walking over to me from the distance. Slowly, I made out the figure of a young man with slender frames. His face was familiar, it was the young man with spiky gelled up white hair and a pair of icy blue eyes. It was Bill. His arms were crossed, and the moment the two blue orbs spotted me they looked alarmed. But I had no time to ask why and walked up to him briskly.

"Bill, over here! Hey, what's going on here?!" I asked and stopped right in front of him, "people said there was an attack? No, more importantly, have you seen Raven around?"

Bill looked at me from head to toe. Then he released his arms and sighed.

"I knew it. It wasn't you," he said and put two fingers on his forehead, "just like what you might have heard, two people and someone who looks like you took her and started attacking bystanders. I saw it with my own eyes too,"

He rolled up his left sleeve and showed me a bruise.

"Oh, damn..." I said, "hold your arm, I'll heal you in a sec,"

"You don't have to-" he said.

But I held out my hands before he could say anything else and quickly healed him.

"...thanks, Gabe," he said, his gaze quickly softened.

"No worries," I replied, "so... you were saying... you were there when it happened?"

"Yeah... and I saw the very same little blonde girl from before - the one from when we first met here," Bill said and pointed to a corner down the road, "the one with rose wreath... remember?"

"...yeah, that watercolourist huh..." I said and gulped, "did you see which way they go to?"

"Umm... they made a turn to the main road, but I didn't see which way they go to after," Bill said and tapped his chin, "in any case, Gabe, what do they actually have to do with the two of you?"