Ranger [ON HOLD]

Chapter Seventeen - Wide Awake

He'd been awake for hours after leaving her room.

And every book he poured over seemed to lead him to nowhere. And while the chair he sat in was comfortable, he was starting to get what could only be described as the mother of all kinks in his lower spine.

Though that wasn't exactly the reason he was awake.

Grey-blue eyes in a soft pale face filled his vision once more, and he shook his head rapidly to disperse them. And his scowl deepened. 

His eyes hurt from all the reading and re-reading, but he was determined as ever. When it came to people appearing in his life, rarely did something good happen. And usually death was the outcome.

"You still haven't gone to bed?" Ethan's voice spoke up from his right, and he didn't have to look over to know he was standing by the doorway. He could picture his friend in the same accusing stance as always. It was so frequent he didn't have to turn to know the dark haired male's arms had just crossed over his chest.

"No." Ranger replied, moving to turn the page of the current book now resting in his hands.

"I know from experience that its hard to do research half asleep." Ethan frowned, yanking the book away - much to Ranger's annoyance.

"I'm fine." 

"If we were attacked right now, you'd be dead."

Ranger let out a sigh, setting the old leathery book down on the overflowing table before him to pinch the bridge of his nose and squeeze his eyes shut momentarily.

"If we don't figure this out... we could die. She could die." He said, almost as though speaking to a young child who didn't quite understand they couldn't have cookies for breakfast. 

"Probably why its better to wait until you can understand what you're reading." The dark skinned man sighed, striding forward to take the book from the table and flip through it. His eyebrows shot up. 

"Can you even read this?" He shoved the title in his face, and Ranger only had to peek his eyes open for a fraction of a second and actually absorb the cover before he groaned in defeat.

"Von is the only person who knows Russian here. You've been staring at a stork for the last three hours."

He set the book down once more, clasping a hand on Ranger's shoulder firmly.

"Get some rest. I'll wake up early tomorrow to work on it." He promised before dropping his hand and moving to the doorway. Only instead of leaving directly, he paused.

"You know... I can see why you're working on this so hard."

Before Ranger could ask for him to elaborate, Ethan was gone and up the stairs, leaving him to stare blankly down at his knees. His eyebrows drew close together, a hand running through his hair as he struggled to piece together his thoughts.

He was working hard for a reason.

She didn't belong here. The way she handled the Ghoul couldn't be mistaken for strength; it was cold fear that kept her from losing her mind. A switch that flipped and told her to tune out reality. He could see that now. After her contact with the Reaper that much was proven. 

Now thinking of the incident, he let out another groan to follow the dozens that had come before.

Something had been strange about the Reaper; he had noticed it right away. Usually they couldn't very well touch real surfaces without their bodies becoming fully tangible. And when he had seen it, it appeared to be coming through the mirror. If it had become tangible then, half of it would be completely covered with concrete and thus unable to move.