Broken Stride

Dead to The World

"Gangu?"

". . . I have to go."

Cassian stood quickly, practically tripping over himself in his haste. The thump of blood in his ears drowned out the red-heads reply. Cassian didn't much care to figure it out; he was far more concerned with getting his shit and getting out.

As he exited the cafe, the chill in his chest deepened. He had to hide.

Had to hide.

Had to hide.

Get away, get away, get away.

Wait, what was he running from again? He was. . .where was he? Cassian whipped his head around desperately scanning his surroundings for anything that looked familiar. Nothing. The signs—they weren't in English—where was he?

He had to go home, but where was it? There were too many people. He couldn't breathe.

Quickly locating a less populated road, Cassian stumbled into an unoccupied alleyway and fell back against the wall. A mixture of blood and bile splattered the ground as he gagged, coughing up what little he'd eaten earlier.

When the trembling subsided some, Cassian finally noticed his hands. They weren't flesh and bone, but rather a weird mix of flesh and metal digging deep gouges in the wall where he'd attempted to support himself. He hadn't noticed transforming.

"Moros? How long was I—" Cassian was cut short as another fit of coughs wracked his shivering frame. Why did he suddenly feel so ill? Oh, right he was bleeding.

"Jeeze, kid you're a right mess." Moros chuckled, appearing next to him after a moment.

"I noticed," Cassian sighed, carefully lowering himself so he was sitting up against the other wall of the alley," Did anyone see me transform?"

"No. There wasn't anyone around."

"Well, I guess that's one silver lining."

Cassian shifted slightly and carefully lifted his shirt to check the state of the old injury he'd angered. From what he could see it was only bleeding a little from one side where a few of the stitches had been pulled loose—the skin around them angry and red. An easy enough fix given he could get himself home without passing out.

"You should probably go before someone sees you—unless you plan to de-transform?"

"Just give me a minute, ok?" Cassian huffed, pressing a hand against his side as he squeezed his eyes shut.

It didn't help with the headache, though it did help to quell his nausea some.

He waited for a few more minutes, just sitting with his eyes shut in an attempt to slow his breathing. It did well enough to calm his anxiety enough to motivate him to stand.

"Hey, Moros? How quickly do you think I could get home from here with my shadow skills?" Cassian asked, gathering his things from where he'd left them strewn across the ground.

The spirit looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Maybe 15 minutes?"

"Bet, ok."

Cassian took a brief moment to secure his school bag and cane over his shoulder before skillfully scaling the side of the building.

~

As Moros had guessed, it barely took 20 minutes for Cassian to reach his apartment building traveling across the shadows of the rooftops as he had. He found an unoccupied alleyway to hide in and de-transformed before scaling the steps to the building.