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* * *
Ajax didn't get to sleep. Instead, he headed towards Azame's last class for the day. He waited near the huge pillar closest to their math class as he saw Azame's head amongst the sea of boys rushing last minute to their lockers to get their stuff and bail out of the building as fast as they could. Azame's eyes glanced over the crowd and finally landed on Ajax and the Siren seemed to grin as he rushed through the crowd.
"You ok?" Azame asked as soon as he neared Ajax. "You've been gone all morning. I was worried."
Ajax didn't really know if he missed Azame whenever they were apart was because of their bond, or if it was more. He often suspected that they'd become family, found family at least that meant the world to him. It was hard to find any family connection for him, when he existed in a society that deemed bonds of intimacy as something demonic. His people didn't feel and Ajax felt everything. So perhaps, that feeling of him missing Azame when they were apart, was because of that need to be seen. And because Azame saw him as a person.
"I was out scouting," Ajax said mildly. "I just had an odd feeling and took off early this morning. Sorry."
"It's fine," Azame reassured. "You didn't miss much, save for a pop quiz that I no doubt bombed."
"Don't tell me," Ajax mumbled tiredly.
"Government sucks," Azame finished with an exaggerated sigh. He rubbed at his brow. "I hate it."
"We all do. It's fine," Ajax said peacefully. "How was math?"
Azame fake gagged in response as he clutched his own books close.
They laughed as they rounded the corner and headed towards the marble staircase leading towards the entrance. He could hear the other boys above them. One teacher screeched at a group for running, and Ajax couldn't help but laugh. At the top of the stairs, Azame paused and turned towards the front doors. A few boys were snickering near the entrance, but that wasn't what Azame felt. His whole body turned stiff and his hand raised as it pointed straight for the entrance. Ajax glanced towards the door, then back at Azame, before whirling in front of him. Azame couldn't even move his eyes on his own, but he felt his partner close by with a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Beyond that, Azame could see the monster that had triggered him. It looked human, crushing an innocent woman's skull with long, dark tendrils. They thrusted through the poor woman's heart, tearing it clean from her chest before bringing it up to its mouth to devour. He was in the city, and Azame could hear other people screaming and running. Just barely within his reach of vision. A man tried to drag the monster away from the unconscious woman, but it merely snarled and tossed the man like a sack of rice. It bashed the woman once more and finally her head split out onto the pavement. Sirens wailed around them, but the damage had already been dealt. In broad daylight, the Shadow was unimaginably strong. Not quite a Promised One, but not just some mindless Shadow either. It had chosen a human this time to feed on. With Sirens becoming so rare, Shadows had adapted to eating other things. Anything Supernatural gave them more energy and power, but they settled on humans to satiate their appetite. Like a pleasing bag of potato chips. Perhaps, the woman had supernatural blood in her from a lineage she most likely knew nothing off, making her a prime target. Or perhaps, the Shadow just decided on her for dinner.
"I see you," Azame said, but it wasn't his voice. "Looking. Looking for you. Where does the little lamb hide…" the rest of the words were muffled by Ajax's hand.
"How far away?"
"Madison City, Lancaster Street," Azame said before it jarred him back to reality. His hand sank to his side.
The boys near the entrance gave him a dismayed glance before shuffling up the stairs as far away from him as achievable.
"Freak," one said beneath their breath without looking up.
"This one was closer," Ajax said before holding his hand out to Azame. "If they keep getting closer, I'm going to have to skip school to take care of it regardless if I want to or not."
"No," Azame said. "We stay together, no matter what, even if we have to run. We fight together. That's too far out. If you get in trouble, I won't know how to reach you."
"But if I leave it, we risk the chance of it gathering allies to come after us when our guard is down. Our best bet is to go after it first, and deal with the repercussions later," Ajax said, but Azame shook his head stubbornly.
"No. Ajax, this thing fed on someone in the sunlight. Do you know what that means?" Azame whispered under his breath. "Not only was its form strong enough to throw an adult man, but it could maintain not only its shape, but its tendrils in the sunlight. That means it's too strong for someone like you to go against it alone."
"I've fought a Promised One before," Ajax said, because he had.
To get Azame out of the Manor, he'd fought one head on and nearly died. If it wasn't for the other Protectors who came to their aid at the last minute, he probably would have died. It took everything he had in him to drag Azame out of the Manor and run for the forest, he had been heavily wounded and could only stumble as he took off after the boy. At least there was experience fighting Promised Ones. And it wasn't like Ajax took that failure in stride. He trained harder and worked harder to overcome the same hurdle he had hit. Still, Promised Ones existed on an entirely different level of darkness. Azame shivered.
"We stay here. It's far enough away. It'll miss us, I'm sure of it," Azame replied as he reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow.
"Fine," Ajax hissed before he turned to Azame. "Let's get you to the room before another incident occurs."
Ajax couldn't help but eye the door warily. His blue eyes were etched with concern.
"It didn't see me," Azame said as they neared the doors. "I don't think it did."
"We don't know that for sure," Ajax reiterated nervously. He'd heard stories of Protectors who thought themselves safe only for Shadows to burst through their walls and kill their Siren while they were out. He hated that.
"I know for sure that they didn't find me," he said in confidence. "We're fine. Everything's fine. It was pretty far out and it's fine."
Ajax wasn't too sure; however, he couldn't argue with Azame any longer. Azame was amazingly persistent when it came to arguing.