Heat Haze

No Wine and Dine

A/N

Well, school was cancelled for the rest of the week, so I have enough time to finish this. Before I was told DDawn's accent was supposed to be French, I honestly thought it was Russian, mainly because it was super, SUPER harsh, which is usually associated with Russian or German.

This probably going to be one of the longer chapters, and OH GOD I hate writing DDawn.

UPDATE: I also made a few changes so that it flowed a little better. I need to stop editing this stuff.

Don screamed when he woke up. Flames were licking at his skin, tearing him apart. The pain was unbearable, his whole mindset dripping like a leaking faucet out of his grasp. There was just fire everywhere. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, he couldn't-

It ended as soon as it started.

He frantically looked around. His heart leaped out of his throat. Seeing his room for the fifth time was perhaps the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. He was cautious at first, questioning his surroundings, but what was the point? If he left his house, he would die. If he stayed in his house, he would die. And that stupid fucking unheard message always waited for him, taunting him with the voices of his friends and others. The voices of the only two people he really trusted. His phone slipped against his sweaty palms as he played the message.

"Good morning, Don. I presume you had no plans today, even if you do, I don't care, so I've booked us a reservation at The Thirteenth Hour. Be there by noon, SHARP. DON'T BE LATE,"

Oh no no no no! No, not at all! He was NOT going to lunch with DDawn. And definitely NOT now. He could feel his heart beat faster. The thought of DDawn sitting across from him at The Thirteenth Hour, a restaurant so expensive Don couldn't even imagine himself there, and talking to him like there was nothing wrong horrified him. The well-kept...thing...was something else entirely, something that could even make Duni shake in his boots. What was he going to do? If he didn't go, what else could he do? Either way, he'd die, right?

"I can't believe I'm doing this, what is wrong with me?" Don asked, opening his closet. As he expected, there were only seven striped hats hanging. He couldn't wear one today. Don rummaged through his closet, sliding a few jackets away until he pulled out powder blue dress shirt and a sleek black overcoat. He then opened his drawers and took out his dress pants. These were the nicest clothes he owned so they would have to do. After changing, Don looked at himself in his bathroom mirror. What was he doing? He looked out of place, downright weird! And it didn't help how long his hair was. Normally, he would tie it in a messy ponytail, but that wouldn't work, would it? He needed to think of something fast.

Don nervously clenched his fist on the elevator ride up to the 21st floor of a hotel. The restaurant DDawn told him to meet him at sat on that level, which was the second highest level. Don didn't care about the environment and perhaps the strange looks he would be given, no, he feared the man who invited him. DDawn was intimidating, to say the least. He was calculating and rarely spoke. It didn't help that when he did, his incredibly thick accent would only frighten you more. DDawn didn't understand compassion and clearly had no wish to. He was towered over you, both literally and psychically. He was an impressive six foot two**, and although rather lanky, he wasn't scrawny like Don was. DDawn had crimson red hair, a trait he shared with Duni, but everyone knew he didn't dye it. His white eyes were always covered by a red visor, which also put color in his unusually pale skin. Perhaps he would be summed up in one word: robotic. DDawn was cold and uncaring, but he was also actually a robot. Being a Dawnbot, DDawn was incredibly intelligent and cunning. And while being a Dawnbot didn't mean you were cold and calculating (Don could vaguely remember DDawn's other half), it certainly was the case for him. He was the puppet master, and everyone knew it. All this, wrapped with a neat bow tie, would be sitting across from him in only a few moments. The elevator doors opened, opening Don to a brand new, foreign world.