The Crimson Prince： Awakening

Having woken up in such a sweat, Will grabbed a new set of clothes before heading to the shower, he was long overdue for one since he just went to sleep last night instead of taking a quick rinse before bed. He couldn"t help how tired he was.

Getting in the shower, his thoughts went to the odd black cloaked men he saw yesterday. It was one thing to see them outside and on television, but why was he now dreaming about them? Or the man in his dream that seemed to know him? This move was starting to get on Will"s nerves for more reasons than just moving.

Finally clean, Will put on his clean white t shirt and blue jeans as well as his black leather jacket from his room before heading upstairs. Reaching the kitchen he saw Jonathan already at the table with his cup of coffee. "Hey bud, you sleep okay last night?" He said with a smile. "I thought I heard screaming, another nightmare?"

Will shrugged. It was an odd dream, but nothing too odd to have his dad worrying about it. "Still no food in the house?" He asked hopefully. It had been so long since he had a home cooked meal, he"d almost forgotten what his favorite scrambled egg and cheese meal tasted.

"Sorry Will," Jonathan said with an apologetic look on his face. "I only just got up, but I was planning on heading out in a minute to go shopping." Jonathan took his cup of coffee to the kitchen sink. "You could come with me if you want, it won"t take long." He said looking back at Will.

"Actually I was planning on just going to McDonald"s for breakfast and taking the walk to familiarize myself with the town." Will said as he headed towards the front door. "Thanks for the offer though."

Will opened the door, looking back to see his fathers disappointed face. Will knew he wanted to spend at least a little time with his son, but Will had to first get used to the idea of living somewhere other than home yet again.

Shutting the door, Will headed down the stairs leading to the driveway and went to the street. In the morning time, Will could see the rows of trees on either side of him which their leaves were already turning orange due to the autumn weather setting in. As he walked, Will yet again familiarized himself with the street signs. Walking past the street which the fire happened, Will decided to take a quick detour from McDonald"s.

Will stopped in front of the wreckage which was blocked by hazard tape. The house had been completely burned to a crisp. It was lucky no one lived in it. Ducking under the tape, Will decided to take a closer look. Going through what was supposed to be the door of the house, Will took a look inside the wreckage. Nothing was completely out of the ordinary, it seemed just like a normal fire. The closer he looked at the few standing walls, something was off.

On the few walls left, there were what seemed to be slash marks through them. What was strange was not the slash marks, but the singed sides to them, as if a flaming object was slashed at the wall.

Seeing enough, Will left the wreckage to get back on the main street. He was interested in the accident, but at the same time, his stomach was screaming another idea at him.

As he walked, Will remembered the black cloaked swordsmen he had seen on the street and then on the television. Though he had never seen them wielding any type of flame thrower or anything, Will couldn"t shake the feeling that they were involved.

Turning back on to the main street, Will continued his walk to get his breakfast. It wasn"t too far away from where he lived if he remembered correctly, just around eight blocks away from the house. As he walked, he couldn"t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

Will sideways glanced past his shoulder to look behind him. Nothing too out of the ordinary, it was just him and one other traveler on the sidewalk. "This is a city," he thought as he kept walking. "There are bound to be other people walking."

Though Will accepted the fact that there was yet another person walking the same direction as he was, he failed to get a good look at the one following. The man in the business suit backed off just a little more to stay out of sight. It wasn"t time yet for young William to meet him. He had to ensure the boy was in an isolated area before confronting him. If he did anything before then, the boy could easily run. The man sighed, "there"s a time and place for everything." He grumbled to himself.

It took less time than Will thought to get to the restaurant, only around ten minutes even with his detour.

Walking through the door of the restaurant, Will went straight for the counter. "h.e.l.lo, Welcome to McDonald"s what can I get for you?" Asked a girl close to the age of Will.

"I"ll just take three sausage burritos with a medium drink please." He replied to the girl. He was about to pay for his meal when he realized he forgot his wallet at home. Sighing, Will was about to cancel the order when a stranger came to the counter.

"Double what he"s getting and I"ll pay for it." he said as he handed the cashier his own card.

"You didn"t have to do that sir, but thanks I"m starving." Will said with a smile as he turned to thank the one who helped him. The man was wearing a dark business suit with a black overcoat. He had his long hair in a ponytail and a trimmed up goatee. Will"s heart skipped a beat when he saw a pair of deep green eyes meeting his gaze. "This can"t be real," He thought as he realized he was staring at the man he saw in his dream.

"h.e.l.lo William, would you bother to give me a moment of your time over breakfast?" The man said as he took the tray of food to the nearest table. "If you indulge me with a moment of your time, I can tell you about the cloaked figures you"ve been seeing around you."

Will paused for a moment. Suddenly the so called hallucinations became much more real. "They"re real?" He asked shortly. The man just patted on the seat next to him. Seeing he didn"t have much of a choice, Will joined the man for breakfast. Taking one of the burritos, the man smiled while looking at Will.

"You seem to be a bit older than I expected you to be." He said as he unwrapped the burrito. His eyes shown with many stories waiting to be told.

"Do you know me?" Will was curious about this man he had only seen in his dreams. He intended to get some answers. "Or do you always comment on someone"s age when you just meet them?" The man just chuckled at Will"s response.

"I believe what you truly want to know is of the black cloaks that have been following you since you got into town." He said as he took a bite of his breakfast. "We"ll get to the rest later." There was a gleam in his eyes that almost looked like pride.

"I started seeing those cloaks yesterday when I got into town as you said." Will started. "Then I saw them again when I turned on the television to the news, there was a huge fire." Now that Will thought about it, he had also had a dream about them though he figured if he didn"t want to be thought of as insane he would probably have to keep that to himself.

"That fire was unavoidable unfortunately." The man said with a sigh." They were following your car, I had to confront them in order for you to get away, luckily Jonathan noticed them when he did." Will froze. He remembered when he stopped at the wreckage, he saw the slash marks in the walls. "So there was a fight there." he thought to himself. Will could only imagine the kind of fight that had to have taken place, he couldn"t even think of the weapons that could be used to start the fire and keep it going for as long as it did. It all seemed impossible.

"Wait," Will said with a troubled look. "How do you know my father"s name?" growing suspicious of the man he was sharing a table with, Will narrowed his eyes, searching for the exits just in case he was in trouble.

"Relax William," The man said with a soothing voice. "I served in the Army with Jonathan years ago." He stated plainly as he took another bite out of his food. Will was getting annoyed with the way he used his name, yet he had not introduced himself yet.

"Do you have a name?" Will asked with a rather flippant tone. "Or should I just call you creepy business man?" The man laughed as he set down the wrapper for another burrito.

"I do suppose it was rather rude of me to not introduce myself," He said. "Though you can"t blame me for not knowing when would be the best time. My name is Michael Devereux."

Will experimented with the name in his mind, thinking whether or not he had ever heard the name. Nothing really came up, but whenever he saw Michael"s eyes, he thought he might know the man. "I"ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now." he thought as he set down the wrapper for the last burrito. "He did pay for my food after all, he can"t be that bad."

"Let me take a guess William," Michael started as he looked at the troubled man next to him. "You saw those creatures while watching the fire." Will met the mans gaze, he hadn"t told him that part yet. He had only just met the man, but it did seem Michael knew much more about the cloaks than him.

"It seemed like they were trying to get to me through the television." Will said as a chill went through him. Michael nodded for him to continue. It seemed unavoidable to mention the dream, Will took a deep breath before continuing. "Then I had a dream about them last night, it seemed like even there they were trying to get to me." He looked at Michael, expecting him to be on the phone with the hospital declaring the young man to be insane, but he just sat there nodding as if he understood.

"These creatures are not of this world William," Michael said as if it were the obvious answer. "They can sense you even through a television because you too are not of this world." Michael looked at Will with a serious expression.

What met this tense stare was a laughing Will. "I"m sorry but you must have the wrong person Michael," Will said as he stopped laughing, yet held a smile of amus.e.m.e.nt. "I"m from Minnesota, the last time I checked people thought they were Canadians, not aliens." Will couldn"t help but chuckle a little more about the accusation.

"Unfortunately this is no laughing matter William, your father had contacted me the moment you arrived at your new home." Michael said as he watched Will regain his composure. "I have been following you since your mother disappeared and have been protecting you since."

"So you knew my mother too?" Will was starting to get annoyed with the man. "If that"s true, could you tell her she sucks for leaving us?" He said, feeling his temper rise. "Thanks for the meal Michael, but times up." Will got up from his chair to leave.

"William wait," Michael called out as the door closed. "It seems this will be more difficult than I thought." he grumbled to himself as he brought the garbage to the trash.