Collateral Damage (bxb)

20. Plans

A.N. This chapter begins from the perspective of Ian.

Wolf had to drag me out of the room by the scruff of my neck, or it at least felt like that. I could not bear watching Aidan struggle with his demons, but there has to be another way than to watch him suffer. Aidan... I almost had you figured out, but then there is a curveball like that.

I looked to Wolf who was just as defeated. He wore a white tank top and his black Jeans, but his hands were emitting a reddish glow of hot flames. He must have noticed me staring him down so he closed his palms and turned away from me. This was a subconscious act by me, knowing that they had struck a promise on our ride to this place. Wolf sighed with his aura defeated and battered by guilt and sadness. Guess he couldn't do what Aidan asked of him.

"There is nothing we can do to help. Let him deal with it by himself." He said, painfully somber. Wolf always was the upbeat one who always rushed ahead, wasn't he? What has gotten into him?

Wolf opened the next door over and stepped inside, leaving it open as an invitation to follow him, so I did. Was there anything else I could do? There has to be something!

He yoinked the tiny refrigerator's handle and grabbed a handful of ice. By the amount of vapor coming off it could be dry ice or was his arm so hot that it evaporated the ice before it had the chance to melt? Wolf sighed in a defeated manner, his aura darkening the old and withered wallpaper behind him.

"There is nothing we can do." It sounds like he was trying to convince himself.

"We have to do something!" I snapped at him. He sighed once again, but this time frustration followed suit. I pressed the issue even further, "Aidan is suffering, he is in pain o-or something!" There was no easy way to phrase our friend's position.

I saw it coming before it even happened, but it still managed to surprise me. "Don't you think I know that?!" This time, he was the one snapping back. The ice in his hand turned to vapor instantly, hiding the glare as it rose that bore deep into my soul like hot knives.

I flinched, recoiled back at what Wolf said, but I had to stand my ground. "Then why aren't you doing anything?" I asked, shaking to the core. I could swear that the temperature in the room rose by ten degrees.

Wolf huffed and grabbed another handful of ice cubes with the handle of the fridge glowing bright red where his fingers landed for that split second to open the refrigerator. "We don't know shit, Ian." His sadness turned to anger. "You are just some straggler that we picked up!" Wolf's aura blazed red but then sank back down and then some. "Sorry, it's just the heat... ugh!" He grunted and the ice reacted, but not as violently as before.

It pulled at my heartstrings a bit, but that wasn't important, was it? Yes, I was just a clueless bystander a few days ago who knew nothing, but now I am involved in something, something that feels way bigger than anything I have ever done in my life. And Aidan... I'll figure this shit out.

"No, I get it, I am just a nobody, but let me help pull my weight..." I tried to match his volume from before, but it grew meeker as I continued. "I am worried and care about Aidan..."

Wolf smirked with a tiny bit of joy sparking life around him, but it was snuffed out. "Cute, but there is nothing we can do. I have no clue what's going on, and even if I knew, Aidan would be listening in on us." He pointed at the thin wall separating us.

"You just write it down then!" I tried to contribute, but I was shot down by a stare.

He sighed, "You forget that he sees through walls. But that's beside the point." Wolf took a few deep breaths calming himself down like we had finished what we were talking about.