Peter woke slowly, the soft feeling of his pillow under his head making him feel at ease. He had been having a horrible dream, what was it about. Sean's face flashed through his head, and his eyes snapped open. He wasn't laying in his bed, and the soft feeling wasn't from his pillow, but something soft and smooth that looked suspiciously like feathers. Where was he? Sitting up he looked around curiously.
His eyes widened, and he reeled backwards in shock. He was sitting on what looked to be a large white eagle, with a gold beak and talons. It was currently souring above some bueatiful pink clouds, that Peter got the feeling were there ro mask a possibly very long fall. Looking around he spotted several other white eagles flying nearby, all with people on there backs. Farther away, what looked to be a white castle stood amoung the clouds, shimmering in the setting sun. As one the eagles swooped towards it, gliding on their giant wings.
As they got closer, Peter saw that the castle had four towers, each with glittering golden roofs. The eagals began to split away from each other, separating into four groups, each one flying towards one of the four towers. Peter looking at the other people, saw that he had been sorted into a rough looking group. People who looked to have spent there whole life on the street or committing crimes.
The eagles landed on one of the towers many balconies, letting out loud screeches as there talans hit the marble. Peter didn't have a chance to look around before his eagle began shaking its wings, attempting to tip him off his back. Peter taking the hint slide down, his feet hitting the ground with a small thud.
Spreading his wings the eagle flew off the balcony, followed soon after by his companions, who had each dropped off the peron who had been riding on there backs.
Glancing around, Peter decided to make his way inside the building. He certainly wouldn't get anywhere by standing outside. He had only made it a few steps when he realized the others in his group were following him. He glanced over his shoulder to find them all staring at his back. He ignored them and continued on. People always needed someone to follow, Peter didn't really mind being that someone for a few minutes.
The inside of the Castle wasn't as fancy as he had expected it to be. The inside had plain wooden floors, which looked strange contrasted against the marble of the balcony. There were cobwebs on the ceiling and absolutely furniture in the room, save for a single desk and chair in the middle of the room.
Sitting in the chair was a small squat man, with a huge belly and mean eyes. He fixed Peter with a hateful stare as he approached him. "Name and age." He snapped, his voice reminded Peter of nails on a chalk board.
" Um...." Peter said, unsure of weather or not he should answer the man. " Where am I. What is this place."
The man let out a long suffering sigh, and had just opened his mouth to answer, when suddenly he gasped and his eyes widened. The next moment Peter felt fingernails digging into his shoulder. Letting out a hiss of pain he turned his head to look at whoever had grabbed him. Now it was his turn to gasp, standing directly behind him, a furious look on his face and blood dripping down his neck was Sean Dansford.
" Well, well, well. If it isn't the little failed hero. We meet again it seems" Sean's voice was deadly quiet as he leaned forward to whisper into Peter's ear. The knife was gone, but the wound on his neck was still opened and bleeding. For a split second, Peter got the urge to look down and see if his own wound was still there, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from Sean, who was still gripping tightly to his shoulder.
"Let me go" He said, he hated that his voice quivered as he spoke. The group that still stood several paces away were now watching the situation with interest. Peter really didn't want to cause a scene, so a little louder he added "Please."
Sean smirked, digging his nails into Peter's flesh. "Why?" He said softly. "Are you afraid to fight me."
The man who was still sitting behind the desk, had been ignoring the confrontation that was happening in front of him, sifting through a large stack of papers, quickly looked up at the escalating confrontation. "That I'm afraid will not do." He snapped his fingers, and suddenly Peter and Sean were yanked away from one another by some invisable force. " I won't be able to get any work done if you fight."
Peter cast a grateful look at the man, feeling relived. He glared in return pulling a sheet of paper off the top of his stack and reading it. "Alissa Gonzalez" He called looking around. " Is there an Alissa Gonzalez here."
"I'm right here." A young girl stepped forward. She was short, and looked to be around fifteen. Her hair was long and brown with several blue streaks throughout. She wore ripped jeans and a t-shirt with the name of an old boy band across the front. She looked nervous. "How do you know my name."
The man behind the desk let out a low humerless laugh. " Its my job to know, little girl." He said coldly. " Just like its my job to punish you for your crimes. Repeated theft from different stores and even from your mother, that'll earn you one long and miserable next life."
The girls expression shifted into one of confusion and she took a small step backwards. "Nextlife? Miserable?" Her voice was so full of fear that Peter couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
The man grinned, picking up a pen and scrawling something along the top of the paper. "Enjoy it." He said, and there was something about his tone that was so malicious that Peter felt goosebumps rise on his arms. He turned to give the girl a comforting look, she didn't deserve to be spoken to like that, and almost fell over. She was gone, almost as if she had simply vanished.
The blood drained from Peter's face as he turned around in circles looking for the girl. She was simply gone, vanishes into thin air as if she had never been there from the start.
The man behind the desk let out a wicked sort of laugh, before flipping to another page and reading out. "Juan Jones." He read out and a middle aged man let out a yelp that didn't suit his age hardened face. " For inflicting harm upon others, your do two sad miserable lives. Have fun." And again he wrote something across the top of the paper in big fancy letters.This time Peter was staring directly at Juan when he simply vanished.
Murmers went through the small crowd of people, and some began to back away as if they were preparing to run. The man behind the desk let out a warning cough. " I would not suggest attempting to flee. The.....creatures that would be sent to being you back are....less then pleasant." The murmers and movment stopped at once. Nobody moved, even Peter himself had stopped moving.
The man listed off more names and more crimes one after another, and person after person disappeared from the crowd, and still no one moved or said a word. It was obvious that something beyond any of there comprehensions were at work here, and there was nothing they could so except wait and see what happened. Peter's mind wandered into his own head.
Was there nextlives. Was that were the people were being sent, what kind of lives would they face. What kind of life would Peter face. And why did everyone in this group seem to be criminals of some sort, or at least have committed some awful crime. Why was Peter with them. Sure he had lied about a few things in his life time, but surely that didn't make him like any of these people. After all he had tried to be a good person, he had even gone out of his way for help people at the end of his life.
"Sean Dansford." The almost bored sounding voice of the man behind the desk pulled Peter from his thoughts. Sean stepped forward a large smirk on his face that didn't match the situation. Peter had somehow forgotten all about him, to lost in his own thoughts.
Senseing Peter's gaze on him, Sean turned and gave him a threatening grin. Murmers again began to spread through what was left of the small crowd. Most of them had odviously heard Sean's name before.
The desk man clicked his tongue, looking up at Sean. "It looks as if we have ourselves a special case." He smiled, and for a moment Peter thought he looked very similar to a snake he had once seen in a photo. A very venomous disgusting snake. "It seems that your next Lives are to be interwined with someone else Mr. Dansford."
Sean's eyebrow raised in question, but he kept his eyes locked on Peter. It was suddenly obvious to him that before Sean was sent on he intended to hurt Peter very very much. Well Peter wasn't some sort of pushover, he was going to fight back. After all he had already shown Sean what he was capable of, surely now that he was already dead and they were both unarmed he would have an even better chance.
"The person that will be joining you in your next lives will be...." Peter crouched down slightly preparing for Sean to make his move. "Peter Evans."
Peter felt the blood drain from his face again, and his ears began to ring as he turned to look at the man. "What?" He asked, just as a fist collided with his face and he fell to the floor.
The man snapped his fingers again and Sean was again yanked away from Peter, before he could manage to punch him again. Then the invisible force grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in front of the desk. It then pulled Peter to his feet, and dragged him over to the desk as well.
"I believe I already said... no fighting." He frowned. " Now the two of you...for the crime of murder shall live through life after life unt-"
"Wait." Peter said, rubbing his now aching jaw. "I never killed anyone. Just now you said 'The two of you' like we're both being charged for the same thing, but I never killed anyone."
The man sighed grabbing the next paper off the stack. Peter caught a brief glimpse of his own picture printed on the front. "It says here that you murdered...." He paused for a moment before lazily pointing his pen at Sean, who stood with his hands in his pocket and an irritated scowl on his face. "This man right here."
"B-but i did it to protect two people that....that he was trying to murder." Peter stammered, putting his hand desperately down on the desk. "Surely it doesn't count as a cri-"
"Murder is murder young man" The desk man said irritably. " No matter if it was done for an honorable cause or not." He looked back down at the two papers. "Now as i was saying...the two of you are to live out your next lives together, and the ones after that, and the ones after that. Your Fates will be intertwined until you can both manage to learn a much valuable lesson. But until then you will live life after life meeting each other again and again for all eternity." This time the man's smile seemed much more evil then before, as if it had been crafted by the devils own hand, if there even was a devil in this type of case. " This is a special case." He placed the pen on the top of Sean's paper as if getting ready to write.
"Stop" A hand shot forward as if to grab for the pen, but was held back by the invisible force from before. Sean struggled against it, his eyes wide and angry. " You said until we learn a lesson." He growled. "What lesson?"
The man sighed, looking first at Sean and then at Peter. " I suppose you'll have to find that out yourselves. After all the crime of murder is not one to be taken lightly." And with one last eye roll he signed the tops of the two papers. Peter opened his mouth to say something, but before he could he was thrown back into a whirlwind of colors, sound, and noise, being tossed around in circles, until eventually everything went black.