dazlious | There's an anchor round my heart, dragging me down

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: On the side of the road somewhere
Current Music: "Halo", Oleander

Entry tags:

There's an anchor round my heart, dragging me down

WHO: James Sunderland, Laura (Silent Hill) and Harmony Cello (OC)
WHERE: On the road.
WHEN: Gravityverse, November.
WHAT: Lost people have a way of finding each other.
RATING: Probably PG.

The first snowflakes of the year were drifting down.

There was a time in his life when he would have been excited about that-- which was a very long time ago.

More recently was the time when he would have regarded it with apathy. Aside from being reminded that he might need to put on a coat, for the past three years, snow hadn't evoked much emotion in him.

But that was gone, too.

Now the sight instilled a flutter of dread in his stomach.

"JAMES! Hurry up, I'm cold!" came Laura's impatient shout from the car door.

"I'm trying, Laura," he muttered through gritted teeth, plunging his head back into the open hood of the car and reaching for the wrench again.

It had stalled on them for the third time this week, and he was starting to get worried.

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It had been a long, bumpy ride from Hawksaw MS to...wherever this was. The little angel had been beating himself up for miles and miles. How STUPID he'd been to allow himself to get shut up in the back of a truck. He was sure that the truck would stop in an hour or so, but it didn't. It just kept traveling and traveling.

The circumstances that had led to this impromptu vacation were now just a muddled memory. At least the truck didn't smell terrible--it was full of boxes and big plastic tubs. A moving van, he'd discovered, as he phased through some of the boxes. For as long as he held his breath, he could remain incorporeal if he really tried.

He'd gotten that bored.

But eventually, the truck did open and the first thing the poor man sliding up that rolltop door saw was a blur of screaming white. The angel zipped from the back of the Daring to Move truck and disappeared.

It had't been a very good idea.

Harmony had just zipped and zagged over power lines and treetops in a blind panic and gotten himself swept up in a harsh northern wind--a real northern wind. In the north. This was how he came to the pine-speckled area that James and his little passenger were stuck in.

Like an oversized robe and pajama-pants clad snowflake, something circled and spiraled down from the heavens and PLUNKED onto the car hood. It bounced onto the road. A ringing sound, like someone running a wet finger around the rim of a wine class whined from where the thing lay as his halo spun like a coin.

Wearily, James shoved the brow of his hat out of his eyes. The wool itched obscenely but he needed both hands, and wasn't willing to expose his ears to the bitter chill. He puffed on his hands to warm them before reaching in to continue tinkering.

All things considered, he didn't think of himself as an exceptionally skilled person. He was no craftsman. But he'd kept this car going for years and he'd be damned if it was going to die on him now.

Maybe the problem was in--

There was a BANG as something small and feathered hit the car hood-- and then another, somewhat more muffled bang as the hood promptly took that opportunity to drop shut on James.

He let out a startled curse and lurched backwards, clapping his hands to the back of his neck where the edge had come down.

"What the devil?! Hssshhk..."

The creature on the ground groaned. "I am...not..." Barely conscious, he was still defiant. His halo finally settled and its glow dimmed as he himself teetered between the dreaming world and the cloudy one James lived in. He was tired and cold. And his head hurt.

It was the first time he'd been hit by a car and it wasn't even moving.

Harmony refused to pass out. He couldn't just lay down on the road and give up. He had a family to get back to. Unless they'd all died of some terrible infection because he didn't check the date on all the meat in the fridge and it would be all his fault.

"Salmonella, nooooo...." he wailed into the dirt.

It took a second or so to realize that the ringing noises in his head were... not actually in his head. ... Nor was that voice.

Blinking slowly, he looked around.

First at eye-level.

Because, quite frankly, that was where he was used to seeing things. Unless they were bugs. Or those horrible straitjacketed monsters, scuttling out from under cars like weird, gangly land-frogs.

A shudder ran through his entire body and he found himself automatically directing his eyes towards the ground.

What he saw was simultaneously more pleasant and more confusing than the images that had skittered through his mind.

"... Uh..."

It was...

It was... a bird?

A little white bird.

That was talking.

"... Oh... oh no..."

Was it dying?

He reached out slowly, not sure if he should try to touch it or not.

Harmony sure felt like he was dying. The angel pushed himself up on shaking arms and spat out grit from the road. His wings were splayed haphazardly and his feathers were muddy. He gave them a flap and cried out. One snapped shut against his side but the other stuck out at an ununcomfortable angle.

Of all the times to get a Charley horse... Harmony swore copiously inside his own head and sort of scudded in a tight circle like a fly on a windowsill. It was then that he noticed he was in a shadow. Even if it was gloomy in this world, he could tell that something very large was looming over him and that was enough to distract him from the tiny pity party he'd started to throw for himself. He looked up.

...oh, cheese and rice.

James stared down at what he'd thought was a bird.

It was definitely not a bird.

Birds didn't wear clothes, and, more importantly, didn't have tiny people faces.

"... Uh..."

It wasn't the first time he'd seen faces where there shouldn't be, but it didn't make sense for this to be a hallucination. The faces he saw were all ones that he knew, and seeing Eddie staring up at him from underneath the soapy water of a sink full of dishes was completely different from randomly looking at the ground and seeing a tiny winged man in a bathrobe.

"... I... huh."

When a gargantuan, green-sleeved fist didn't come down on top of him, Harmony stopped dragging himself across the road. He panted next to the front left tire and warily reached out to drag his halo closer to him. He'd been seen. He was still being seen. Harmony's feathers ruffled up, appearing as two dingy white Koosh (tm) balls stuck to his back.

Why wasn't this guy screaming? Or kicking stones at him? Or going for a stick? THEY ALWAYS WENT FOR A STICK.

There was something about the blonde man's eyes though, now that Harmony had a good look at them. As he slowly sat his halo atop its orbit, it dawned on him. James's were eyes that had seen shit.

Harmony wasn't sure if that made him lucky or not.

He coughed hoarsely into a fist and spoke up, his voice creaky from disuse during the long ride. "Ah. Hi. I can explain..."

No, you cant, Harmony.

James rarely screamed at anything these days.

In Silent Hill, screaming at things that scared you was about as effective as sprinkling yourself with paprika, banging a tambourine, and yelling 'COME AND GET IT!'

So when James was alarmed now, the strong and silent approach was what came out by default.

Which was why he was staring down at the angel with a surprisingly bland expression. And in the middle of it were those eyes that had seen shit.

"Are... you all right?"

He wasn't sure why asking a hallucination if it was all right seemed like the thing to do. But nothing ELSE was coming to mind, so....

That was not the question that Harmony expected. He was expecting something along the lines of 'what are you' or 'are you real' or 'am I dreaming'. Not a question about his well being. A painful twinge rippled through his wing and his face betrayed him. He wasn't nearly as good at being stony and unreadable as his mentor.

"Ahah...wing cramp. I'll be outta your hair in...just a second." Harmony climbed to his feet using the rough surface of the tire and fixed his sandals.

Don't you worry, Harm, he's already asking those questions in his head and it's only a matter of time before one of them makes its way out of his mouth.

For now, he just watched the little angel with a baffled, bleary-eyed stare.

"... Th- ... that looks like it hurts..."

Shoes in order, Harmony set to attempting to flex the strained wing. He could fold it just a little, but too far stretched or with drawn would send horrible jolts all down his side.

"It does...Lord, I'm an idiot. If I ate more potassium, this wouldn't happen." IF ONLY HE ATE MORE BANANAS. HIS ENTIRE HOMEWORLD WAS AT STAKE HERE. "Don't-- don't let me interrupt you!"

"... Po... potassium?"

He was talking to a little winged man and it was spitting out words he hadn't cared about since tenth grade chemistry.

This was so surreal.

"It keeps you from getting cramps. My diet is awful, there's nothing nutritious in that house!" Harmony's meek disposition faded for a moment as the feathers on his wing shoulders bristled. "The boss either doesn't eat a thing or he sits around smoking that--that-- devil plant and staring at the patterns in the wallpaper! It's disgusting! It's infuriating! He's killing us!" The long ride up north had kind of gotten to Harmony and now that he was out in the open air, it was time to spout out a bit of that steam.

His temper exstingusihed itself pretty quickly once he remembered he was in the presence of a stranger. He coughed loudly, patted down his feathers and robe and regained his (in Harmony's opinion) regal stance. "Can you tell me where I am, young man?"

Really.

You know those times when you need to apply for a loan or get extra help from the teacher or whatever, and then all the person does is talk at you and it all sounds like total gibberish that you've never heard before in your life?

That was happening right now, and James just sat there, looking dumbfounded and feeling dumb.

Was he supposed to know what all this was about?

Had he forgotten something really important again?

Oh no...

"... Uh... it's... it's New York. The state, not the city. Up off the north pike. Are you real?"

THERE it was.

"New York?" Harmony's voice developed a squawk and he felt like he'd topple over again. His good wing sagged behind him. "I can't be in New York! That's-- that's-- It'll take me days to fly home!"

He'd never been this far north of the Mason Dixon line. He was going to die.

James's question finally fluttered down to him as the angel clapped a hand to his chest and did the breathing thing the Professor had taught him years before everything went all to shit.

"I'm real and I'm going to be in even realer trouble if I don't get home. Can you...point me South?"

... Wellp.

If it SAID it was real, it had to be real, right?

Maria had been real, in her own twisted way, hadn't she?

Slowly, James rose to his feet, wincing and looming around.

Which way was south?

"Um..."

He turned around and looked back the way they'd come.

".... Um..."

James honey you're on the north pike, it's that way.

Harmony dared to venture out from the safety of the car's shade to look down the long road. Even though the weather was bitter, it wobbled in his vision like a heat mirage.

Then he looked up to James.

"...You're not lost, are you?"

"Uh... well... not... not in the traditional sense, n--" James started to say, unconvincingly, but he was interrupted by the clunk of a car door opening.

"JAMES! What's the holdup?!" demanded the voice of a little girl.

A voice that Harmony would probably come to fear.

Harmony's arms fell limp at his sides. "What do you mean? You either know which way South is or--"

Uh oh.

The angel's wings fluffed up again. He hadn't counted on James having anyone else with him. Why hadn't he thought of that? He was garbage! If he'd had the sense, he would have asked that first! He quickly scurried under the car again and pressed himself against one of the wheels, still unable to tuck his cramped wing.

James's expression quickly turned to alarm.

He started to turn around.

"Uh, Laura--"

"What's that?"

HERE COMES YOUR DOOM, HARMONY.

In the form of a precious little blue-eyed girl trotting towards the end of the car.

"A bird? Didja find a bird?"

Harmony held his breath and tried his best to shrink into the shadow of the wheel. He was cold and hurting and it was impossible to stay still. He wondered if James would bail him out.

James would be a bro, right? Right?

James didn't often think fast.

But today he did.

Reaching out to grab an empty soft drink cup that they'd gotten at the last gas station, he snatched it and then bent down, swiftly scooping Harmony into the cup whether he liked it or not.

"Uh... nothing. Nothing, Laura. It's cold, get back in the car."

Harmony could feel his heart beating in his throat. Oh, God, it was a little girl too. He didn't have any experience with those and--

everything went dark.

It was a wonder Harmony ever survived the dark and broken streets of Center City because as he was shoved into this sticky prison, he let out a strangled scream.

James froze as the cry of horror and despair emanated from the cup.

And Laura stared.

"... Is the bird in the cup? Did it die?"

"I-- no, Laura, and-- it's hurt, so let's just--"

He started to get back into the car, cup in one hand and wrench in the other-- ignoring the following deluge of CAN I SEE THE BIRD CAN I CAN I SEE IT I WANNA SEE THE BIRD CAN I SEE THE BIRD from Laura.

Harmony clapped his hands over his mouth once what was happening registered. The voices of the big people echoed off the white walls around him and made him feel like some weird hum was in the very base of his skull. Okay. He was an injured bird. He could go with that.

He would be a very still injured bird. Or try to be. The tacky insides of the cup pulled at his feathers and the few drops that had been left behind in the bottom edges gummed up his sandals.

Bleeeuughh, good God.

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