Imperfect Life: Arc 7

Chapter 10

It was a few nights later. Crys was out for a breath of fresh air as a werewolf, lounging around on the rooftops of the shopping district, occasionally changing up which rooftop she was seated on. At the moment, she was seated atop one of the small local stores and had a decent view of the walkways below. Not much was going on this late at night, but there were still a handful of people going to and fro.

"What a day." Crys murmured to herself as she watched the few people walking about the walkways. She tapped one of her claws on the concrete rooftop in an arrhythmic manor. "I wish Connor would just leave us alone. Stupid annoying narcissistic..." She scoffed. "What a jerk. Can't do anything about him or his goons. Can't do anything about anything! Can't do anything about Connor, can't do anything about Seinhou, can't do anything about school, my life..." Crys laid down on the roof and stared up at the night sky. It was a bit cloudy, but she tried to look for the stars. "I hate Seinhou." She muttered. "Him and whatever organization thing he's from. Waking me up in the middle of the night and threatening me. And he calls me the threat!" Crys gave a frustrated grunt. "I wish he'd just leave me alone! Or at least tell me what that organization is or who that 'other guy' is that he mentioned like, once... whatever... I hope things will just get better... and that keeping Tomas and Emma out of this is really the right thing to do. I mean, sure, Tomas is going to be pissed at me for not telling him, but if it keeps him and Emma safe..." She sighed. "And Brandon..."

Crys spent a minute in silence, just working through things without verbalizing any of it at all.

"Maybe I can take Brandon out to the ice rink this weekend. See if we can just try and pretend things are normal for a day... Maybe convince him to skate with me. Go out for ice cream. We could go out later that night to the overlook and dance..." Crys smiled a little, imagining what that sweet moment might be like. "That would be nice." She added on. She kept holding onto that happy thought for a few more moments before she was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot and an alarm going off.

Crys bolted upright and got up. She went to the edge of the roof and looked in the direction the sound of the alarm was coming from. It was just down the walkway to the right of her. Two men ran out from a store, both holding a bag of what was easily assumed to be stolen goods. Both wore ski masks to hide their faces, and one of them held a gun. They were both running down the walkway right towards Crys.

"Great." Crys muttered to herself.

The two robbers were rapidly approaching where Crys was looming, and once they both were just about under Crys' perch, she leaped down from the rooftop and landed right in front of them.

The robber with the gun immediately went to point it at the werewolf in front of him, but Crys already assumed that was going to happen, so she grabbed the wrist of the robber tightly and bent it until he dropped the gun as he gasped in pain. Crys swiftly swept her foot around and kicked the gun back to the right of her, far enough to where it wouldn't be a problem. The second robber went in for a punch and managed to land a hit in Crys' side, though it didn't hurt much. Crys let go of the first robber's wrist and used her now free hand to retaliate against the second robber by punching him in the gut. This punch was much more impactful than the one she had received. The second robber fell down, clutching his sides, groaning in pain.

The first robber started running away while his cohort had been collapsing. It only took a few meager seconds for Crys to catch up to him. She clutched him by the back of his shirt and spun him around to face her. She then clutched the front of his shirt and held him off the ground. Realizing there was nothing else he could do now, he began to plead.

"Please!" He begged. "Don't hurt me! I-I didn't even want to rob that place!"

"Oh, really?" Crys snarled in a quippy manner. "Then why did you? Lost a coin toss?"

"The man said he'd pay us if we did!" The robber blurted out.

Crys paused for a millisecond. "What man?" She asked, much more serious this time.

The robber, being held off the ground and staring into the eyes of a now seemingly very angry snarling werewolf, had no reason to keep anything back. "I-I don't know! He just showed up and offered us cash if we'd rob the joint tonight! He gave us a thousand each already!"

"Who was he!?" Crys demanded.

"I don't know!" The robber pleaded. "He didn't give us a name and just wore lots of black! He didn't show us his face! I don't know who he was, I'm telling you! Please, you've got to believe me! Just don't hurt me! Please!"

Crys stared at the robber in her clutches, he was obviously terrified, and she doubted he would be stupid enough to lie to her given his position. "Fine." She muttered. "You're not leaving, though."

"Alright! Alright! Please just let me down!" The robber begged.

Crys dropped the robber, and he fell to the ground. It wasn't much of a drop, but it wasn't pleasant. He curled up where he landed and didn't move. Crys looked up and took a look around. Several civilians and shop owners or workers were staring at her and the scene. Some had phones out, recording everything, others had definitely at least taken pictures. Some of them looked shocked, others excited, some indifferent. Crys knew she had to leave, and so that's what she did. She leapt up to the rooftops and made her way out of the city and towards the abandoned stadium.

On her way to the stadium, Crys was still too hyped up on adrenaline to think properly, with the only real thought going through her head being "get to safety" repeating over and over and over again. Once she did make it to the stadium, however, she landed on the roof and took several breaths before taking one final deep breath and letting herself relax.

"Some man told them to rob the store?" Crys asked herself, now that she was away from everyone and able to think clearly. "Why? I mean, I don't think any of that stuff was really valuable anyway, I mean, this city doesn't really have many really fancy rich things to begin with... well, except for whatever is in Techno Corp.... Okay but who was that guy then? Dressed in all black and couldn't see his face. Great. Another possible thing to have to deal with. Can't I just get a break!?" Crys went quiet after her little outburst and paced about the rooftop of the stadium for a bit. After a few laps, she sat down towards the edge of the roof and gazed out towards the forest. She sat there for a while, mindlessly staring out at the dark green sea of trees, then she got up, stretched a little, and made her way back home.

Arriving home, Crys entered through her bedroom window and shut it once she was inside. She sat down on her bed for a minute and debated on what it was she wanted to do. After silently debating with herself mindlessly for a minute, she got up and made her way down to Brandon's room. She peeked in through the doorway. Brandon was asleep. She slowly made her way into the room and over to Brandon's bed. She took a seat on the floor next to the bed and gently nudged Brandon's leg with her hand.

"Mmmnff?" Brandon murmured incoherently as he woke up. He turned and looked over to see Crys by his bedside. "Nightmare?" He asked.

"No." Crys said. "I just wanted to be with you."

Brandon took a deep breath, then scooted over in bed, only half-awake.

Crys got up off the floor and climbed into the bed. She draped an arm around Brandon and smiled a little before falling asleep.