Caroline heard the echo of the stairwell door and the ragged pants shortly before she turned to see the figure of a boy fall towards the floor. She winced for him, the floor was hard in the area where he had fallen, some spaces had mats but where he had fallen at the mouth of the stairs was certainly not where anyone would want to take a nose dive. She didn't even notice how quite it had gotten until she heard him speak.
"My name is Fenrir...and I need to see the Avengers."
She shook herself from her daze, stepping carefully towards him. Whoever this 'Fenrir' was he seemed to need help. If his labored breath was any indicator, she'd say he'd ran the whole way.
"Caroline, stop!" Dilan called from behind her. She could hear the small edge of concern seeping into his voice. His footsteps followed just behind her, mere feet away from her when she knelt beside the boy.
His breathing was still rugged when she gently brushed her fingers over his wrist. He didn't open his eyes though so she took the moment to look him over. His clothes were worn, mainly his shoes which looked as if they were coming apart at the soles. On his back he carried a blue backpack that looked almost as tattered as his shoes. Parts of it were sun-bleached and there were small tears and holes stitched closed along the back of it.
Outside of the wary traveler look he was sporting he wasn't all that rugged looking. His hair was dark with hints of red thrown it and freckles dotted his cheeks. He looked like he'd been outside in the sun for hours, and maybe he had, Caroline didn't know. Apart from a bruise forming above his eyebrow, it appeared as if he hadn't fallen at all, except for the fact that he was passed out on the floor.
"Caroline, come on, he's just another crazy dude of the street," Dilan reasoned behind her, she'd almost forgotten that the others were there.
"He's not going to hurt anybody, help me get him inside."
"Are you being serious?"
"Dead serious." she stood up and carefully rolled him onto his back, "Well?"
Dilan mumbled something she couldn't hear before he helped her lift him inside. They shuffled towards the stairs, feet slipping every few steps. They both struggled to get him into the elevator and when they finally did it wasn't long before Dilan was grumbling again.
"You're an idiot, you know that? He could be here to kill us all and you just invited him in."
"I'm not stupid, if he was really here to kill us, he wouldn't have passed out right where we could kill him. Ever think of that?"
"No...but how do you know it's not part of his plan, huh?" he argued back.
"I don't." she shrugged.
"And you trust him anyway? Wow, can't wait to hear what our parents think about that."
"I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He's unconscious and injured, we automatically have the upper hand."
"It's still stupid." he crossed his arms.
"Will you just shut up and help me?" she huffed trying to back out of the elevator with him in her arms. She may have some of her father's strength, somehow inherited, but she certainly wasn't quite as strong as he. Dilan rolled his eyes and begrudgingly helped her carry the boy to one of the spare rooms. It was another struggle until they got him settled on a bed and removed the bag from his back.
"Go get a glass of water will you?" she checked over the wrist he had fallen on, ghosting gentle touches over the bruising skin so not to wake him.
"Whatever," Dilan grumbled as he left the room.
She ignored his remark and sat carefully on the bed beside the boy. He looked about the same age as she was, maybe a little older. She checked his pulse for any abnormalities and silently wondered if she was just using it as an excuse to touch him, she'd be lying if she said she didn't find him in the least bit attractive. She noticed the wooden pendent around his neck for the first time as she sat there. Upon leaning closer she noticed it was in the shape of a wolf. She added to the growing list of things she wanted to know about him when he awoke, starting with why he burst in the way he did.
Whoever this 'Fenrir' was, she wanted to get to know him. There was something mysterious about him and it tugged at her curiosity.
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~~ Sorry it's taken me so long to update with a new chapter. So much has been going on, as I mentioned in the update I posted earlier. I wanted this to be longer but I'm currently working on another project and on some personal things so I decided to end it here. Hopefully I'll finally get around to writing something longer in the future. Thank you all again for reading.
