It's a promise...

[Ayli Murdock]

A chilling wind swept through the scantily furnished cavern. Ayli awoke with a start and shivered, rubbing her arms quickly. She looked towards the opening, but couldn't tell the time of day it was. With the sky always dark and the fact that no light penetrated the forest's canopy anyway... She sighed and shook her head. Pulling her cloak and the one blanket she had closer about her she laid back down on the bed she made of moss and leaves. It was the best she could do under the circumstances. At least she had a 'bed' of some sort. She knew others were going without one all together. It was a fact of war.

She sighed and pushed back tears that she had been avoiding for ages now. Though she had awoken when the wind blew, it was merely coincidence. What truly woke her was her dream... her nightmare. She almost thought she saw Xavier... what happened to him that day in the castle. Again. She was plagued by dreams of different scenarios every other night since it happened. It made the year that passed an excruciatingly long one. Had it really been a year already? She hated to think she had been living this way... alone... in fear... for a year. It seemed to drain all the last remnants of hope she had right out of her. A year. Xavier had been gone for a year now.

"If you promise not to follow me, I promise I'll come back."

His words were still burned into her find as fresh as the day he had said them. "I promise." She murmured to the night.

"I promise too."

Came the automatic reply from her mind. His voice once more. Ayli closed her eyes and buried her head into the pillow below it. "Liar! You liar! I told you you wouldn't come back..." She hissed to the darkness quietly. What more could she do though except accept that he was dead. Yes, he lied... but she couldn't be angry with him for that if he was dead... it wasn't right. Hell if he was dead it was her fault. She should have pulled him into that tunnel with her... the witch would have closed fast enough... Ayli hit her head a few times against her pillow and let out an angry breath. She had to stop dwelling on the past and worry about living to see the future.

((ack... umm... to be continued. I know don't you just hate that? probably not... bed time for me though or the power cord goes bye bye... o.o))

[Cecily Caoimhe]

Why have I come back here? the vampiress thought, standing at what was once the front doors to Hogwarts. She wasn't here when Harry was defeated. Hell, she hadn't been in this school for almost ten years since her own graduation. Immediately, she had gone back to Ireland for Auror training then transferred to the ministry one year before the attack. Or was it two? She couldn't quite recall the details.

Lately, her brain had been fuzzy, feeling like it was trying to disconect itself from the rest of her. Normally, a pint of blood from one of the animals took care of that problem but the animals had been sick. She guessed it was having an affect on her as well.

She was hoping to run into a death eater or two here but, nothing. Or was there? Muffled thumps from the direction of the forest caught her ear and, swiftly as a vampire could, she made her way to the sound. She stood just outside a cave now, her back to the wall, listening to the sounds of the person inside.

They sounded..distressed. Upset. Why? Cecily frowned and shook her head, sticking a hand in the pocket of her black pants and using the other one to take the black golf hat off of her wavy brown hair. Retying it back into the ponytail she always tucked underneath the hat, she set it back on her head, pulling it low over her eyes. A child at the Military Base told her her eyes glowed and shined like a cats with enough shadow and, hopefully, she would scare whoever was inside into telling her the truth about why they're so close to the school.

She readjusted the black tanktop she wore and, after a pause, she picked up a rather straight stick lying nearby and stepped into the entrance, pointing the 'wand' towards the back of the cave. It wouldn't work for shit if she tried using magic but thats not what she was counting on.

"Alright. I know you're in here. Come out with your hands up where I can see you and no one gets hurt," She said, her Auror self peaking through and giving her voice a tone of authority.

Boy she hoped they didn't have a gun. Or fire. That would be bad. The first one would hurt like a bitch and the second? Yeah. Lethal.

[Ayli Murdock]

It wasn't long after Ayli tried to calm herself that she heard movement outside the opening. It wasn't loud and she was surprised she heard it, but living in the dark and quiet for so long had made her more aware of the things around her. She stiffened, waiting. Maybe if she just pretended to be asleep... but no. That could be potentially hazardous to her health. Besides there was a reason they came there. They either smelled or heard something... most likely her idiotic mummuring to herself. Either way they knew she was awake.

She waited and then... someone stepped from the wall beside the entrance into the opening. Her eyes thought the facial structure - what she could see of it - fit a girl, but she couldn't be sure. Then the voice came and it sounded female too. Ayli watched as a wand was pointed at her. She rose slowly, hands before her. Stepping to the entrance before the woman a few sparse lines of moonlight broke through the canopy as the wind blew again. Ayli felt strange in the light, though it was still dark. To be able to be seen by this woman... She hadn't seen anyone else nor been seen that she knew of...in almost nine months. maybe ten.

"I... I'm..." What? What was she? Who was she? What was she doing in the forest? She knew the girl would most likely want to know... but did she trust her enough? Of course not. She didn't want to tell her anything. Instead she sighed and turned her head away, eyes focusing on the ground. Should she ask the girl not to kill her? Why? What was the point? Xavier was dead. Her family was missing. The world was Hell on Earth. There was no reason she shouldn't die. Besides begging wasn't her style. Though something told her Xavier wouldn't want her dead. There was a reason he did all that he could to make sure she survived that day in the castle. She couldn't just let this woman kill her now and unravel that work. Make useless his sacrafice.

"Don't kill me." She whispered softly, hating herself for saying the words. Though she sort of more commanded that she not rather than beg that she not. Ayli would never beg for her life. It wasn't worth that dismissal of dignity. The bad guys never listened anyway if they were any kind of evildoer. She waited, bracing herself for an attack. Her bright blue eyes forcused on the woman whose face she couldn't see so clearly now that Ayli stood up and the light, what little there was, shone towards her and sillouetted the woman's figure.

((blahhh. crap.))

[Cecily Caoimhe]

Cecily watched the girl emerge and, to be honest, felt rather silly for threatening her. But then, always be on your guard, thats the auror way. She lowered her 'wand' keeping it partially hidden so the girl didn't see what it really was. She stuck her hand into her pocket and dug around for a moment, finally pulling out the shiny badge all Aurors wore. To check the authenticity, all one had to do was hand it to a non Auror and the voice of Rufus Scrimgeour would shout at them, demanding them to put down Auror Property.

Cecily tossed it in front of the girl with a sigh. "Y'may not believe me," she said, rubbing the back of her neck, frustrated. "I won't harm ye. You're unarmed and...well...so am I." with that, she dropped the stick to the ground.

"I was checkin' for survivors. Wanted t'see if there was anyone out here. I usually don't find people in the forest. Usually they're hiding in the school." She shrugged and started searching her pockets again.

One of the younger girls at the Base had made her a corned beef sandwich to take on her trip. She didn't quite get that vampires didn't eat normal food but Cecily took it anyway. Cecily pulled the sandwich out and held it out to the girl. "If you're hungry. You can have it."

[Ayli Murdock]

Ayli watched the woman rustle around in her pockets for something. She threw something to the floor of the 'room' and Ayli looked down, noting at once the badge of an auror. Her father had been an auror before all this had happened. Before everything went downhill.

She merely stared at it unseeing. The woman said she was also unarmed and Ayli looked back up in time to see the stick she had used as a wand hit the ground. She nodded and sighed. "I figured the good guys wouldn't be the only ones checking the school for survivors. I mean maybe not... thinking it dead. At the same time though... best not to take the chance. Besides who would be stupid enough to live in the forest when creatures once roamed freely before they could go everywhere?"

She smiled a bit and shrugged. When the woman offered her a sandwich she was going to decline, but it was corned beef... and her stomach growled. She took it with a bigger sheepish grin. "Heh, thanks. I haven't had a corned beef sandwich in ages." She bit in and sighed contently. A small groan of approval sounding from her. Her smile grew more relaxed and her shoulders visibly dropped.

((Sorry it's crap I know. My muse is exhausted. Calculus homework fried it.))

[Deacon Frost]

(ooc- hey do you mind If I join?)

[Cecily Caoimhe]

(feel free. post away.)

[Ayli Murdock]

((Posttttt!!! Yessss!!! Haha. I swear if you do I'll reply... really... just because I haven't been on doesn't mean I won't.))