Rain

Chapter Three

***AUTHORS NOTE: Hello! I've made some updates and changes. More detail is being added and I have moved around some sections of the story. Thank you for reading!!!***

Halloween was a huge deal in her area featuring a costume parade, all day street festival, haunted night market and midnight horror movies. It's when she felt the most alive. Her and Nes had been working on their costumes for months, they were both very handy with patterns and sewing. They were going to join the living as members of the Vorettes. They decided to start working on the outfits the day they bought the concert tickets. It has been quite a journey for them, the details were hard to get clear shots of online but after seeing them live they were able to fill in some missing details. She was both excited and nervous to leave her apartment. She couldn't wait to show off all the hard work but she was also nervous about it being damaged. It was quite the feat to get pieces of the costume to stay put and hold position like they need to. It gave her huge respect for the band's costume department, they were incredible. Nessa kept boasting about how amazing they look and how they have the best costumes in town, Ruby was quite prone to agree.

At the Halloween parade, as the floats went by Ruby thought she saw a dark figure standing on the other side of the street looking at her but they vanished with the next float. She just shook her head and chuckled to herself. While walking around the busy street market. She stopped at one of the stalls to look at beads when she was suddenly flooded with that scent, his scent. She carefully turned around and came face to chest with a slightly modern take on The Crow. He added a leather jacket and straps around his chest and ditched the shirt, she wasn't upset with the slight changes. Her face was somewhat hidden under the hood of her outfit, she was extremely thankful for that at the moment, it offered her some comfort. She nodded an "excuse me" softly as she passed him, she didn't want to just start talking to him and come off like a creep. She's pretty sure he wouldn't remember her from the bookshop. That scent stayed with her...and so did the mental image.

He saw her as she entered the bead stand. Her costume floored him, it was incredible, she had almost every detail nailed. He was dying to know more about her, she has occupied his mind ever since that night. He's walked past her shop probably a dozen times, unsure of what to say and how to tell her who he is. He didn't want it to be a big deal, yes the attention is a lot but it has helped him heal small parts of himself but it's not who he is. For him it's just about the music, the pain bleeding out every word. That's why the band never shows their faces, it's not about them. He wanted her to get to know the man. He was about to compliment her costume when she suddenly turned and faced him, he felt the world dissolve for a brief moment before she walked away. He turned and watched her rejoin her friend and continue through the street fair. He kept his distance and followed them slowly through the stalls out towards where artists and performers were set up. He had to keep turning around quickly and look at something on a table or in a stall to avoid being seen.

"He's still back there." Nessa quietly mused as they walked through the crowd towards a beautiful woman belly dancing. They had been aware of him trailing behind for some time. Ruby's mind was going a mile a minute. She couldn't tell if he was deliberately following them or just happened to be walking the same way as they were, she was hoping for the latter. Her flight mode was trying real hard to take over, thank you Dylan.

They stopped and were enjoying the belly dancer when the mystery man slowly came into her peripheral vision. He paused slightly before turning to them to compliment their costumes. "I don't think I've seen better Vorette's before that weren't the real deal." Ruby and Nessa both turned, eyes sparkling in the setting sun as they looked up at him "oh, thanks! 3 months to get these bad boys right" Nes answered, she knew Ruby would have been too shy to respond. "We saw them live last month and that was the final piece we needed. You can't find good photos of the ladies online, had to see them in person." She has slowly moved to Ruby's side, looping their arms as reassurance. "Did you go to the show?" Ruby asked softly, her eyes locked with his, heart pounding in her chest like it wanted to leap free. Asher can't look away, he could only watch the storm that turns behind her honey eyes "Yeah...yeah I was there, it other worldly ... until the show ended early." He tried not to sound too knowing.

Ruby tried to hide her embarrassment, her eyes breaking from his. She didn't want anyone to know that it was her. Thankfully, any videos online focus more on the action and you can't really see her. Nes stepped in "Tell me about it, I didn't really think there were those types in this fan base. It was crazy to watch Asher leap down and just level the guy, that's a stand up dude right there." Asher shifted in his spot, "yeah, I didn't think they could see the crowd like that." "Neither did I..." Ruby's voice trailed off slightly, "I guess that's a good thing for that girl's sake. Who knows what could have happened if he hadn't done that..." her eyes quietly looking past him.

He felt his heart crack when she broke her gaze, thankfully his hands were in his pockets and they couldn't see his clenching fists. He didn't like how that stuck with her. He hated that the last show ended like that, her left with that memory. He wished he could change it.