As you look up at the sky, think of me [Bella]

[Emmet Grady]

Sitting, waiting, watching. The harbour below Emmet moaned with the choir of the tide and the creaking of boats. Upon the forlorn wooden hulls were piles of rope, boxes, empty glass bottles and a rather dizzy looking woman, lying spread-eagled amongst the mess of the deck, muttering to herself. Her clothes were almost entirely absent on this one specimen, and her face seemed to have what looks like blood smeared on her mouth. He looked away hurriedly, feeling slightly sick at the sight. What a repulsive species that runs my life, Emmet thought bitterly.

Em seldom came to this place, not renowned for his love of the water. Some that he'd heard of loved the rocking of the boat as the waves crash against it, the calmness and solemnity being far out in the distance with nothing but the lapping against the hull, or the occasional caw of a gull. Not him. The times he stepped onto one of those creaking, slippery, mournful vessels, the ravenous water, all but pulled him overboard, desperate for his beating heart, the very soul on which he relied to stay untainted, unbendable to the yearnings of greed and envy. Emmet couldn't say that he always obeyed these regulations he set himself, but that’s the code he lived by. Nothing’s going to change that. Not now, not ever.

Emmet turned his gaze to the night sky. He always took solace in the moon and the stars and the velvety blackness. If he thought hard enough, he could be back home, with Greyfur and Greatpaw and the rest of the pack, and he could be Brownpelt again, and he could be happy again. The first five years of his life had been the best, and that had been taken from him. Mind you, he had been extremely happy with his father. Life had almost been the same. He found out about his heritage, his species. He knew what he was. That had changed when he came to London. There was no sense of packhood. The air was dirty, the sounds different. There was nothing to hunt (except the assassin) and there was nobody who really knew him. Flynn tried, Emmet knew, but he could never fully understand.

Bella. He had only known her for a few weeks, but their friendship was that beyond words. Apart from his dad, Emmet had found someone he could rely on entirely. She alone gave Emmet hope. Hope for the race of violent, indecent people he found himself surrounded by. They were all so bad at being good, it was pitiful. None of them bothered with anyone else's needs but themselves and their families. Nobody cared if someone died, as long as it wasn't them. If it didn't harm them, they were idle to let something terrible happen. Even if it meant the loss of a life. Hundreds. Thousands. As long as it didn't harm them...

[Isabella Watson]

The night had fallen quickly on London's skyline, yet the pollution emitting from the Lower District factories did not stop. From her view out the huge window covering the side of the apartment, Bella could see far out over the work sector of the Lower District. And it wasn't a very pretty sight. There was barely anyone out on the streets, most either still working or shut safely into the places they called home. It wasn't a sensible idea to be out at this time of night - shady characters walked the streets, ready to cause whatever damage they could to people and buildings. If she squinted slightly, she could see the shadows of prostitute's on street corners waiting for the business rush to start. To each their own, she thought. Her work might be considered unethical and dreadful, but compared to the women wearing barely enough to cover parts of their body she was an angel. London disgusted her. She sighed, turning away from the dreadful sight outside the window and looking around her apartment. The floor was littered with the usual amount of crap that no one could ever be bothered to put away, the sofa covered in clothes that Bella had only just washed, and under some of those was the form of her sleeping brother. No doubt he'd been out drinking in the early evening. She could hear her sister next door moving about, but where was Emmet?

Usually he would be back by now - in bed or staying up for another long chat with her. However, Bella knew not to worry: he was perfectly capable of looking after himself. After all he used to live with wolves, and that is one hell of an achievement. Despite the reassuring thoughts, she was still worried. "That's it," she muttered, heading towards the shabby front door and the stairs that would led to the street outside. It didn't take her long to jog down to the main door of the apartment building, and outside she was met with a few junkies who were dealing. They didn't seem to give a crap that someone was standing only a few feet away, but they had no worry. It wasn't like any law enforcement guys would be living in a run-down area like this: the only danger they had was their stock being nicked by people like her. Izzy walked past swiftly, not wanting to linger in any place for too long. It was dangerous out, and with a few minutes of her fast walk she could sense eyes on her from doorways, saw the prostitute's glaring at her as she passed, dirty old men eying her up. She felt sickened, and hastened to be out of the area quickly, anywhere else rather than here. As soon as she felt as safe as she possibly could, her mind turned to where Emmet could be. She doubted he'd still be wandering the streets - he wasn't an idiot, and only those that were drunk lingered in the streets after dark.

Izzy scowled in the darkness. So much for knowing Emmet as well as she thought. They'd only met a few weeks previously, but something between them had clicked and she felt as if she'd known him all her life. Out of all the people she knew in London he was one of the best. He was decent, unlike the beggars and scroungers of the city. Hypocritical, yes, but at least Bella made enough money to live on. Realizing she was getting a few stares from a group of hooded men in a doorway, she started to move again. Eyes scanned doorways and homes, yet still there was no sign of him. She sighed, feet scuffing the dirty path she was on, and then the sound of the waves reached her ears. Izzy made a face at the sea, trying not to breathe too deeply so she wouldn't smell the sickening salt. She despised anything to do with the ocean - she couldn't swim, and had never been on a boat before in her life. And she never would. Her feet brought her to the path leading down onto the harbor, and she titled her head slightly as she recognized a figure. A bright smile lit up her face, and she literally bounded down towards the harbor itself. A girl lay spread out on the wooden boards, and Bella felt sick to the stomach. Poor girl. Yet there wasn't anything she could do. Instead she banished all thoughts of the from her mind and another smile appeared on her face as she reached Emmet. "There you are," she spoke to him, giving a quick hug, "I've been looking for you everywhere!" The wooden boards below her feet swayed, and she looked down, startled. Ugh. She hated the sea.

[Emmet Grady]

Sitting here, on this boardwalk, watching the moon reflect of the vast ocean and hearing nothing but the lapping of the waves calmed Emmet for the first time in a long time. He used to love the sea before his father took him out in a boat. After that, he always remembered the sea being a terrible beast, snapping it's jaws, not quite managing to swallow the small child cowering on the deck. From here, Emmet remembered just what the ocean, along with most of nature was. Powerful but beautiful. That's what his father had told him on the night of his death...

"Everything is connected Emmet. Remember that. Everything you see around you depends on everything else to survive. One action instigates another. Nothing happens by chance Em, keep that in mind. Nothing is random, it happens because that's what's best. Like an ancient tree falling, which allows more light to hit the earth, which allows wild flowers to grow, which allows bees to pollinate them, which allows more of these flowers to grow. You see? Everything happens for a reason! One thing dies, thousands live. Remember Em, sometimes bad things aren't all bad. Like your mother dying. Yes, it was a terrible thing. Yes, I miss her greatly, but her dying allowed you to thrive with the wolves, becoming an extraordinary boy. Your mother dying has made you a better person. Powerul but Beautiful Emmet. That's what it all is. Powerful but Beautiful..."

Looking back, Emmet realised that Ronan Grady was talking about himself, as if he knew he was about to die, and in telling him that he had become a better person with one parent dying, he had set him up to become an even better person by the other losing their life. But Emmet couldn't see how. He had been left mostly alone in the world. He missed his dad, he missed his pack. How could losing everyone and everything he cared about be a good thing? How would this make him a better person?

A sudden voice and touch swept his senses into overdrive. His brain immediately sent him into attack mode at the sudden intrusion. Swinging his arm to his assailant's throat, he slammed them hard onto the boards, baring his teether and growling, pinning them to the floor.
"Do you want to know what happened to the last person who snuck up on me!?" He barked, eyes boring into the face of....Bella.
The red fog drained from his vision and his grip on her neck loosened and he pulled his hand away as if he'd been burned.
"SH!T BELLA!" Emmet gasped as he helped his friend up to her feet.
"Don't scare me like that! Jeez!"

[Isabella Watson]

Isabella knew from the first moment she saw him sitting on the harbor, that he was deep in thought. Despite only knowing Emmet for a few weeks she already knew many of his facial expressions and actions, and what they meant in regard to his emotions. You could see the moon through the thick smog, barely, and if it wasn't for the ridiculous amounts of pollution in the atmosphere it would be a clear night. No doubt he was thinking about his previous life with the wolves, or his father. But she wasn't entirely sure and wouldn't know for definite until she managed to get him to open up to her. He was a guy after all.

She had completely missed the fact that it seemed like someone was attacking him from her actions, and the next thing she knew was the abrupt pain in her back and the arm thrown across her throat. She was pinned to the floor, and there was no way in hell a 5' 1" teenager could throw off a guy that was a good few inches taller than her, and more than likely double her weight. His threatening words scared the hell out of her, and she squirmed under him, struggling to breathe. Finally she could again, and she took deep breathes of the sea air - it seemed like heaven, compared to the sickening smell she'd thought it was earlier - and was pulled to her feet by her best friend. Or at least, that was what she thought of him as now. His words made her smile.

"So is that how you say hello now?" she asked, rubbing her throat slightly and stretching. The pain in her back was throbbing, and she knew there'd be a huge bruise in the morning. She tended to bruise quite easily, and it showed up clearly on her pale skin. "Sorry Em,"

[/color] she apologized, feeling stupid for her blondish actions, "Should of realized how you'd react. Can never be too careful around here," at this her eyes slipped to the women lying on the wooden boards, and then back to Emmet. "Can I have that hug now?" she asked with a cheeky smile, arm already having slipped from her throat to her side. Izzy felt slightly embarrassed still by her actions, and she knew she deserved the pain. Never, ever startle people at night. A stupid thing to do. Especially, if like Emmet, they could defend themselves and hurt you without realizing who you were.[/size][/blockquote]

[Emmet Grady]

Emmet winced as he saw how red Bella's neck had gone. Taking a step closer he raised her chin with a finger and inspected the injury from what little moonlight managed to get through the smog.
"I'm really sorry Bella. Jesus, that's gonna be one hell of a bruise tomorrow. Sure you're gonna be ok?" Guilt twinged in his stomach as it finally sank in that he had hurt her. He never usually felt any regret for hurting people, often seeing people as no more than distractions, annoying distractions at that. Something must be changing in him, or maybe it was just this girl whom he'd befriended that was changing him.

Casting his eyes right, he spotted once again the prostitute laying on the deck of the nearby boat. Wrinkling his nose with disgust, he turned back to Bella.
"She'll be feeling that in the morning," He motioned to the cut at the woman's temple where she must have fallen and whacked it with something after her 'intimate relations' with a client. Raising an eyebrow at his friend, Emmet was slightly confused.
"You'd know how I'd react from only a month of knowing me? Bloody hell, it took me 10 years to know what my dad would do in any situation....but i suppose it took about 5 of those years learning what a human was, how to walk and talk, and stop eating raw meat. You should try it sometime. Really tastes delicious eating the juicy flesh right off the carcass!" He flashed a wolfish grin at her, knowing he was creeping her out.

"Why certainly," Em laughed, wrapping his arms around her, although keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. You could never be too careful in these parts. You never knew when some creepy old man was going to leap out of the shadows and try to touch up you or your friend, or a junkie would offer you a substance that could quite possibly kill you, or when some hooded youth would get the urge to stab you. London was filled with all these 'surprises'.

[Isabella Watson]

Izzy waved off his apology, rolling her eyes as he lifted her chin to check her neck. "Emmet, it's fine, leave it," she spoke, trying to push him away. She didn't need to be fussed over. "Don't worry, i'll be fine," she smiled, trying to reassure him. Bella hoped he wouldn't feel too bad - she doubted he would anyway - it was only a bruise, something that she obtained daily from her dangerous 'job'. Injuries were common in her 'line of work', more than not from her drastic escape attempts from being caught. Better to be hurt in the form of bruises than the punishment of stealing. It wasn't very pretty.

She refused to look over at the prostitute lying nearby - she felt sorry for the poor women, yet it was her own fault for choosing to become someone like that. "God. I wonder how she did that," Bella winced and then backtracked quickly, "No! Wait, no I don't wonder at all,"

[/color] she mentally facepalmed. Now it sounded like she'd been imagining the prostitute ... she cringed, feeling like an idiot.
Izzy shrugged at his words, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. "I just observe,"[/color] she responded. "Eww, Em!" she near on shrieked at him, blantently cringing from the mental images he'd given her. "Quit freaking me out!"[/color] she scowled slightly at him. The idea of eating raw meat made her feel sick, and she couldn't understand how he had ever stomached it.

A delightful smile lit up her face and she hugged him tightly, unaware that Emmet was looking around them. As soon as someone Izzy knew appeared, all sense of waryness disappeared out the window. "Hm. I can't be arsed with the small talk,"[/color] she stated after pulling away from him, "So what are you doing out at this time?"[/color] It would be interesting to see how he'd answer her, and whether he'd lie also.[/size][/blockquote]