#ericdraven

Cold. That's what death felt. Laying in the dark, bleeding out from the wounds on your body. Loneliness crept up your spine and tied itself around your neck as the sharp droplets of rain water hit your dying corpse, in no gentle way washing away the streams of scarlet blood that spurred from your limbs. A broken and inaudible sob left your lips as life slowly drained from you, now you felt it from your head all the way to the tips of your toes.

This was the end for you.

Electric. That’s how the fire of rage and vengeance felt as they fueled your rotting corpse from the soil of the cemetery. And as was your death, your rebirth was welcomed with a hundred thousand droplets of breaking water that fell from the sky. This time it washed the dirt from your newly healed body. You felt every bit of your body now, hyper aware of every movement that you made, every cell in your body was awake.

This was the end for them.

You walked, for hours, and days. Pain didn’t bother you anymore. If anything it was only temporary, only lasting a few seconds before it vanished completely from your skin. So this is how you spent your days. Searching for the culprits of your death. For anyone who could help you identify them, a single clue, an address, a name. The only thing that had ever been present in your mind was the faces, the sick grins of sadistic pleasure as they threw punches and kicks, stripping you of any money or valuables on you before leaving you to die in an alley.  Nights were spent chasing low lives and beating their bodies until they told you what you needed.

It was one of these lone nights when you stumbled upon Eric. Or more so, he stumbled upon you, which is just a nicer way of saying his crow found you bleeding heavily from your abdomen in the back of an abandoned building and led him to where you were. “Who gutted you like a pig?” he spoke, a hint of sarcasm wove itself into his tone as he approached you from the shadows. “Leave me alone” you grunted, trying to lift yourself up but failing sorta miserably. He responded by closing the distance even more, grabbing your shoulder and letting you prop yourself up on him. “Yeah, whatever. I’m Eric”. Your eyes met his and you threw a small nod of acknowledgement as you let him lead the way to his apartment.

Eric let you crash his place to let you fully recover, taking notice of how the crow acted around you, so trusting, so carefree. “So, you got brought back too right? You’re Y/N L/N. You’re the guy that they found couple weeks back all beaten.” He spoke just as carefree, not really caring how blunt his words might come across. “Sure, and you’re that rock band dude, you got your ass thrown off a building.” You smirked. Familiarity floated around the room as Eric let out a small huff that could barely resemble a laugh, “Never..” he paused. “Never met anyone like me before. Strange in some ways.” Eric moved to a stool closer to you, sitting down and letting his long legs spread out in front of him. “It’s weird. It’s like I died but no one even remembers my face. Like I never even existed.” you sighed, realizing how lonely you had actually felt. “Yep, these damn nights don't make it any better. It’s a feeling you get used to as time goes by.” His agreement only sparked interest, comfortability. A sense of belonging. “I was so close. I had him cornered, but he got the best of me, knifed me before I could realize it.” Realization invited frustrations. Frustration that you were so close to revenge but yet so sloppy with it.

Another small crease formed on Eric’s face, his head dropping slightly and the long strands of dark midnight hair falling to cover him. “Just need some time. Get the hang of things ya know?”. You noticed the way he cupped his fist with his left hand, thumbs playing with each other as he looked back up to you. “I have some extra shirts. You should probably change from that one.” he suggested, standing up to leave the room you were in. In a few moments he came back with a plain black t-shirt, throwing it lightly towards you as he sat back down in his stool. “Thanks” You murmured. Slipping off the dirtied flimsy one you had and pulling Eric’s through your head, feeling the stare of his wandering eyes.

The cool night’s air felt so sharp, so brisk on your skin. He won't get away this time, he’s going to pay for how he let you die. In the rain, broken, beaten, bleeding like a fucking animal. Time’s up, it’s time to serve that bitter pay back. You were so caught up in your rabid fixation that you barely were able to register Eric’s yell. Key word: barely. Your senses snapped to your left, eyes focusing on the alley way that hid the struggling man. Three crooks, and suddenly letting this piece of garbage get away didn't feel like a loss, in fact, he slid easily from your fingers as you raced towards the very end of the alley. A single word ripped from your throat like a knife flying through the sky ready to impale the first thing that came in it’s way.

“Eric!”

You grabbed the first collar you could, grabbing a hold of their chin and fiercely turning it all the way back, only stopping when you heard that crisp snap of the neck, lifeless body falling from your arms with a thud. One down. You stopped the second guy before he could thrust a blade into Eric’s shoulder, switching your weight to throw him over your shoulder and into the hard concrete floor. With  watery eyes and a heave of breathlessness you plunged the same blade deep into his chest, eyes shooting wide and wild before freezing in the frame of time. Two down. Turning to the last man you raced to your feet, never losing your momentum and jumping straight to his shoulders, hanging off his back allowing Eric to end the miserable excuse of a man with one harsh, striking blow to the heart. Three down.

No words were needed, none uttered as you embraced his shoulders checking for any deep wounds as he did the same to you, both of you ignoring the simple fact that average cuts and blows simply had no effect on you. A deep, full body sigh left Eric’s lips s he brought you closer to him, holding you as your head rested on his chest and your arms around his waist fell. For once the night didn’t seem as dark. The rain wasn’t as harsh. The deep blue sky wasn’t sad and colorless anymore, it was shining with a million different stars, the clouds were dark and gloomy but vast and never ending. The sun didn’t need to shine for you to feel a new warmth spread through the nerves of your body. For the first time since you came back from the cruel clutches of death you finally felt something. It was big and full and beautiful, it filled you up and left you breathless all at the same time. Eric spoke into your ear, only letting you hear what he had to say because for the first time since his own death Eric didn’t need to yell into the night to express just what things were lurking in his soul, to feel like his words were being heard. They finally had some meaning again, even if they didn’t travel with the windy sunset. “Let’s go home.”