...𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 || gameknight999

CHAPTER FOUR

DRESSED UP IN SHADOWS, ONE LEG AT A TIME

===

On any other day, Angel would have taken quite some time to wake up. There was no time for that, however - Erebus was alive, and she had plans with him.

Angel was already freaking out as she leapt out of bed. Was Erebus already awake? Had he been waiting on her for long? Why was she getting so excited about this? Erebus was probably not even thinking about this at all, if he was even awake at this point. Besides, it was just a walk around the town, what was the big deal?

"Good morning, Clara," Angel greeted as she walked into the kitchen. Clara was standing in the corner, sipping coffee from a mug.

"You're quite energetic today, sweetpea," she commented. "Does this, perchance, have something to do with our guest?"

Angel grabbed a loaf of bread, pulling out two pieces of toast and putting them in the toaster. "I've got some plans," she told her. "I wanna take him around town, get him used to everything."

Clara nodded as Angel walked over to the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of orange juice. "That sounds lovely," she mused, smiling. "What sort of things are you planning to do with him while you're out and about?"

"I have ideas," Angel said. "First off, I wanna go down to the record store, and see if I can get Animals by Pink Floyd - I can rant to him about music and stuff while that's happening. I wanna go down to that one milkshake and soft pretzel store, I can't remember the name, but I wanna go there... then we can go to the park and hang out there for a bit."

Clara couldn't help but chuckle a little. "You've got this all planned out, don't you?"

Angel nodded, pouring herself a small glass of orange juice. "I thought of it all last night. I have to admit, I'm excited."

A knowing grin spread across her aunt's face as she sipped her drink. "How romantic," she murmured.

Angel choked slightly on her juice at Clara's words. "What?!" she exclaimed, coughing loudly.

"Oh dear," Clara said, moving over to Angel and rubbing her back. "You must know where I'm coming from when I say that... you did talk about him all the time."

"Clara, I will grind your liver into a fine slurry," Angel muttered, clearing her throat as her face burned. "This is not a date, I just wanted to show him around the town so he can get used to everything!"

Clara shrugged, still softly grinning. "Alright, dear, I believe you," she told her. The toast popped out of the toaster, and Angel set it to the side on the counter before pulling out two more pieces of bread. "Are those for him?"

Angel nodded. "I'm not sure what he'd want on it, so I'll just give it to him plain," she explained.

"You really do care about him, don't you?"

Putting the bread in the toaster, Angel smiled softly to herself. "I've never really met anyone like him," she said. "Yeah, he was a dick when we first met, but he wasn't that bad... plus, he was being forced to act that way, I know that now. I just wanna make sure he's safe and comfortable here." She paused briefly, taking another sip of her orange juice. "He reminds me of myself, a little."

"How so?" Clara asked.

"Well, just like... the thought of being made to live a life that's not for him, I suppose," Angel explained, shrugging. "Reminds me of my parents a little, really, in more ways than one..."

She glanced down, shaking her head as if to rid herself of whatever she was thinking about. "But yeah, he's cool. I like him, just not in that way."