Dinner

[Chris Strongheart]

OOC: Following Heartbreak and Hope

Christine let Sky guide her to a table and settled down in a chair, pulling his coat closer to her. "Sky... have you ever been afraid? Afraid for no reason?" she asked quietly. She could feel something, something tickling the back of her mind, and it was scaring the crap out of her.

[Sky]

Silent for a moment as he thought over her question, Sky then answered with a shake of his head, "I don't know . . . thinking back to all the times when I was afraid, I think there was always a reason. The thing about that is, honestly, I believe that if you're afraid, it isn't just because of something you've imagined in your head. You may not be able to identify what's causing your fear yet, but sometimes I think people underestimate their abilities in sensing danger." Reaching across the table, Sky gave Christine's hand a comforting squeeze as he added, "The good thing about that is that even if it isn't so fun to be afraid, at least you'll be on guard and ready for what's to come. That's got to be better than to be completely blind-sided by an attack, right?"

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine nodded slightly. Her right hand went to her temple and she rubbed it, almost as if trying to massage an ache out of it. There was that vision again, and it was growing more and more terrifying. Her eyes widened for a moment, before she hurriedly closed them, trembling.

[Sky]

Getting up from his side of the table, Sky crouched down next to Christine's chair as he asked, tilting her chin down so that he could peer up at her face, "Hey, you okay?" Worriedly, he continued, "Perhaps I should just take you back to Red Fountain so that you can lie down . . ."

[Chris Strongheart]

She hurriedly shook her head to the negative. "I'll be fine," she whispered, trying to convince herself as much as Sky. She slowly opened her eyes, which were still full of fear.

Pausing for a mere nanosecond, she launched herself into Sky's arms, and wept again.

[Sky]

So much for having comforted her, Sky thought with a mental sigh as he wrapped his arms around Christine's waist and began to run his hand up and down her back as he had done earlier at the lake. It had seemed to work then and hopefully it would work now. Because otherwise, he was at a complete loss as to what to do. Nothing he tried seemed to keep her fears at bay for long.

[Chris Strongheart]

Slowly, ever so slowly, she calmed down, but remained in the safety of Sky's arms. She looked up at him, her face stained with tears, her eyes slightly red from crying. "I'm okay," she whispered, trying to convince both of them of what was most likely a lie.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and tried to compose herself - and was obviously failing.

[Sky]

Frowning slightly at Christine's obvious lie, Sky raked a hand through his hair in frustration at his utter inability to help her through whatever it was she was going through. Keeping one arm firmly around her, Sky finally said softly, "I can't help you, Christine, if you don't tell me what exactly is going on - or at least what you think is going on; you know I want to be here for you and that I want to make you feel safe, but if you don't talk to me, then I can't do any of those things. I wish it was enough for me to just hug you, but clearly it isn't, so you need to tell me what to do for you. I'm a guy, remember?" Trying to inject a bit of humor into his voice, he finished, giving her a light squeeze, "I'm afraid you've got to spell things out for me."

[Chris Strongheart]

"It's just.. this vision... It's nothing like I've ever had before," she admitted quietly. "It's far more darker... This man..." she shook her head. "I'm not even sure if he is a man. He was in this prison realm... somehow... somehow he broke out..." She knew her voice was trembling and couldn't find a way to stop it. "He's broken out and he's planning on conquering all the realms... And... there's something else... he's a wizard. He knows magic... And he.. he does something to his victims.. Makes them.. makes them something..."

[Sky]

Trying to piece together as much as he could from Christine's broken reply, Sky felt his blood run cold. Conquering all the realms? Turning his victims into something evil, Sky presumed. The idea of it all was already overwhelming and sickening. Hadn't they all dealt with enough? Wasn't there already enough darkness in the world without this new addition? Apparently not, Sky thought with a pained expression as he squeezed his eyes shut in a futile attempt to block out the worry that was starting to eat at his mind.

[Chris Strongheart]

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to upset you."

[Sky]

Opening his eyes, Sky sighed quietly as he shook his head. "Don't apologize, Chris; it's better for me to be upset with you than for you to have to suffer alone. You know that." Brushing a lock of hair away from her cheek, Sky flashed her a tired smile.

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine gave him the faintest of smiles. "So... do we tell Professor Saladin? And what about the others?" she asked, trying to figure out what they'd do.

She froze for a moment, a name coming to the front. Her right hand reached for a candle that was dripping wax and wrote the name on a napkin.

Baltor

[Sky]

Having returned to his own chair, Sky rested heavily in his seat as he replied, his eyes following the movement of his fingers as he ran them up and down the edge of the table, "Notifying Saladin is a must, but as for informing the other students . . . well, we should leave that up to him. It'd be my guess that he'll want to make a formal announcement so that he can put a halt to miscommunication before it begins." Giving Christine a wry look, Sky added, "You know how easily the truth gets distorted when it travels by word of mouth."

Pausing to take a drink of his water, Sky then began to open his mouth to continue when the look on Christine's face caused the words to die on his lips. "Hey, what is it?" Sky finally managed to ask as he leaned forward slightly to grasp her hand once again.

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine's eyes blinked as she slowly regained her sense of self. She glanced down at what she had written and blinked again. "That's him.." she whispered. "The man from my vision." She shuddered. "He's bad, Sky. Nothing we've ever dealt with before."