The Boy Next Door

Savior

!TW! Mentions of abuse

Alastor sat against his headboard reading to Anthony as the blonde let his head rest in his lap. Although Anthony was only half paying attention to the story. As he was also thinking. A lot had happened in the last few hours. And he was already so spent trying to understand, even if he had already slept most of the day. Alastor simply enjoyed gently playing with his blonde hair, he liked this sort of time. They had never hung out like this before, even though the circumstances weren't exactly pleasant.

"Hey smiles." Anthony called quietly, Alastor glanced down at him. "Yes?" Anthony looked up at him. "You're not gonna hate him now, are you?" He asked, tilting his head. Alastor sighed, placing the book down so he could turn his attention to the blonde in his lap. "Anthony, I can't like a man who's hurt you." He said simply. Anthony narrowed his eyes at him. "Ya didn't have a problem when I was eight." He said, frustration clear in his voice. Alastor looked at the ceiling for a moment, taking a breath. "I didn't know when we were children. And I assure you. If I had, I wouldn't have liked your father at all." He said solemnly. He really did feel stupid for not seeing it sooner. There were multiple occasions he should have gotten the hint, yet he looked past all of them. "And if I had known I would have done something." Anthony shook his head. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. I don't care, you don't gotta either." Anthony said in a very confident tone, yet at the same time dead serious. Alastor bit his lip, staring down at him. "I can't promise anything Anthony." He said nervously.

Elisabeth looked through the window at the house next to her's. Anthony's mother didn't really seem too in love with her husband. But she never questioned it considering she wasn't either. But she never pictured him to be that kind of person, and I made her scared to know he still had all three of his children living with him. Was he like this with the other two? Was it exclusively Anthony? She sat down on the couch with a sigh, glancing around the room. "Are you here?" She called not to loudly. Seemingly to no one, because she got no answer. She stood up and looked around. "Okay little devil, are you hiding?" She asked. Still no answer. She thought for a moment. It did like to play games, so she wasn't sure whether it had left or if it was just hiding. After waiting another minute she concluded it simply wasn't there.
It interested her, wondering what the shadow did when it wasn't present. Did it have a life outside of Alastor? Did it have a home? A name?

The entity blinked it's eyes, seeing that it was in a dark void. It looked down at itself to see it was in a physical form, it's clawed hands being real, his antlers back on its head. It's black and red hair blowing in the strong winds that seemed to be coming from somewhere beside it. The creature looked up to see a being it knew all to well standing over it. It's platinum blonde hair slightly messy in the strong winds, the dark pink dress with a skirt reaching it's healed boots. Those empty black eyes staring down at it in pure anger and disbelief. "Have you gone mad?!" Rosie's entity yelled. "Why did you take me here?!" It yelled back, standing up stumbling a bit with the added force of the wind. "Why did I bring you here?! Do you realize what you were about to tell him?! Have you learned nothing?!" It asked, tugging at it's hair. "I could have helped them if you didn't interrupt!" It yelled, glaring at her shadow. Rosie's entity stumbled back. Staring at him. "Helped? HELPED?! You think that will help them?! You are putting them in so much danger!" They yelled, taking off it's hat and throwing it at the red creature in front of it. "Do you want him to die?!" The entity yelled, staring at Rosie's shadow. It shook its head, tugging it's hair. "That's what this is about? You're trying to fix a problem before it starts?" It asked. Alastor's entity nodded quickly, motioning violently at the world around them. "We are here to help them! Why don't you want me to save him from decades worth of burden?!" It asked, pointing at Rosie's entity. It scoffed in response. "Oh, NOW you care about burdens? After you tell Alastor when his time is up? You expect me to believe you care about their feelings when you put that on a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD BOY!?" It yelled. Alastor's entity sighed, looking at its feet. Rosie's entity took a deep breath, stepping forward. "Some events are out of our control. We can't fix these things. I know you want to help them, I wish I could too. But some people just can't be saved..."

Anthony spent the rest of the evening at Alastor's house. He often attempted to help out with anything, but always got turned down and told to go sit down again. It wasn't treatment he enjoyed, but he had experienced worse, so it didn't matter. Anthony didn't necessarily like being treated like a child, he never enjoyed the babying complements he got from Alastor's mother, even if she was only being her motherly self. Even though hearing someone call him cute in front of other people was slightly annoying. He didn't take it personally, she was the closest thing he had to that sort of guardian. His mother cared about him, but she seldom spent time with him. Often busy with housework, or molly. Neglect was just a common practise when it came to him. To the point where he almost felt out of place when people fussed over him in such a way. If he was sick growing up, he was told to just stay in his room until he was better. Never anything else. Here, Elisabeth came to check on him once every ten minutes or so. Was this how normal families worked? Or was this just how Elisabeth was. Elisabeth walked up the steps to bring Anthony dinner. Having decided it would be better for him to just eat up there. Anthony thanked her for the meal, finally something he was used too. He didn't mind the way Alastor's family liked to do things. But he was accustomed to his routine, and eating alone was a very familiar situation. It was almost relieving to be alone. Having clocked out socially an hour earlier.

Alastor and his mother sat at the table, simply eating dinner. Alastor glanced at the stairs every couple of minutes, just questioning whether or not he should join the blonde who was currently in his room. Ultimately deciding to have this time with his mother. "So Alastor, where does the shadow go when it's not here?" She asked. Alastor shrugged. "It goes wherever it wants. I'm not entirely sure where it is now if that's what you are asking." He said plainly. Elisabeth shook her head. "Fair enough. When it comes back, please find a way to make it apologize to Anthony." She requested, bringing her glass to her lips. Alastor nodded in reply, gathering his dishes. "I will clean up. Please tell Anthony I'm going out." He said briefly. Elisabeth sighed. "Alastor, we have company. Are you sure now is the time to go out?" She asked. "Just something I need to do mama. I'll be fast." He said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head and walking to the door.

Sorry for the short chapter, just some back story. Buuuuuuut considering making fanart for my own AU's. Any thoughts? Also

Really funny to see my two stories right fuckin next to each other on the radiodust ranks. That made me laugh.

Also please please please do not go read radio demons dilemma until i have had a chance to edit it, and give you the okay to read it. Because boy does it need to be edited... I fucked up proofreading it so much. That shit needs to be dealt with. It's embarrassing, please do not read.