Mask Of Sorrows

Chapter Six

Alpha's POV

     I left Shadow to train and walked out of the training room. Immediately I saw the my friends standing there with sly smiles. "What?" I asked, confused at their behavior.

     "Why don't you just ask him out already?" Angel asked. I sputtered, trying to form a sentence while going extremely red in the face.

      "I-I don't like him t-that way!" I exclaimed, wringing my hands nervously. Shoot.

     "Yes you do." Night said, raising an eyebrow at me.

      "No I don't!" I argued, even though I knew it was pointless. Okay, yeah, maybe I had a small crush on Shadow. Okay, a HUGE crush on Shadow.

      "Guys, calm down." I heard Chaos' voice chime in from behind us. We all turned around and bowed our heads slightly. "Bah. Anyway, since Alpha forgot to break up the drunken brawl, I did it myself. But, I've been given a prophecy and it's not clear when it's going to happen, but I know its going to be thousands of years from now. It may be a long time away, but it's not going to be an easy battle." He warned. 

     "Do you want us to train harder?" I asked skeptically. If Chaos thought this battle was going to be hard, we may be in trouble.

     "Double training, at least. Except for Shadow. He's withholding his true strength from you, for reason I honestly don't know." He shook his head sadly. "Anyway, Alpha, I would highly suggest taking on your friends suggestions. He's going to need someone to be close to when this prophecy comes..." He walked away, muttering to himself solemnly.

     "See? Even Chaos ships it." Angel whispered, causing the rest of them to burst into laughter.

      I simply shook my head, blushing and walked off.

                                                                                      *****

     It was ten at night and I was laying in bed when a heard soft raps at my door. Confused, I called out "Who is it?"

      "Shadow." I heard a hoarse voice say. I jumped up and unlocked the door, throwing it open. Tears were falling from his blood shot, swollen eyes. I dragged him in and shut the door, locking it again.

     "What happened?" I asked gently, grabbing him by both his shoulders.

     Instead of answering, he pulled me into a hug and started to cry into my shoulder. I whispered sweet nothings into his ear and lead him over to my bed, setting him down gently. "C'mon Shadow." I whispered. "You can tell me."

      "I... I need to show you something." He whispered, not looking me in the eye. "But I don't want to burden you."

    "Remember our conversation earlier?" I whispered. "You could never burden me."

     He nodded slowly and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it off. His normal scars were there, making me sad at just the sight. "This isn't all of them." He whispered sadly. I nodded slowly.

    "Chaos told us you were using mist when you first arrived." I told him gently. He nodded and relaxed a little bit.

    "Can I show you?" He asked, still not meeting my gaze.

    "I want nothing more." I answered completely honestly. He nodded and blinked as his real appearance showed. It was more horrifying than I had thought.

     So many words were carved into his flesh, so many more branding. More scars, more welts, more everything. He remained silent, looking at the ground. "Why wont you look at me?" I asked softly. He took a deep shaky breath, looking down even more.