Without Control ((FULL))

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Dr. Sirrah Rawlings

Trembling and cold with leftover fear, Sirrah got slowly to her feet. She looked back and shuddered at the sight of Richard Naruse lying there dead with Kevin's weapon in his hand. She might not have been fully human, but a bullet through her head would have killed her for sure.

Sirrah looked over at Kevin and gasped, running to his side faster than the human eye could track. "Kevin, you baka! Why did you do that? Oh, gods, Kevin, I'm so sorry... It's my fault you're hurt..." Sirrah took off her jacket and tore off a piece to wrap around Kevin's shoulder until they could get him to the hospital. She hugged him tightly around the waist and kissed him, tears running down her face. "But... Kevin... How did you know I would be here?" she asked before giving him a chance to respond to her other statements.

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Dr. Sirrah Rawlings

Sirrah kissed Kevin back, listening as he spoke to the woman, and hurrying him toward the other stairs. She was shocked to find that most of Richard's employees really, really hated him. She couldn't help but smile as she got into Kevin's car and drove him to her clinic. Now that all the Naruses were dead, she intended to see to it that the truth about them came out. And, hopefully, their deaths would bring down much of the corruption.

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Erin Joyce Lee

Erin woke on the eighteenth of September around seven in the morning, feeling oddly well-rested. It had been a late night; she and Trouble had stayed up going over a few details on the new paint job she was planning to give her car. She'd been training at the shop for a couple of months now, but already she knew she was going to love working there. Brian was a great boss, and the others kept things fun.

When the girl looked at the calendar on the wall, she remembered with a jolt that this was her birthday. She was now twenty one. Old enough to drink, she thought wryly. Birthdays had never been a big deal in her life. Oscuro had never been big on parties, and hadn't cared much about Erin, so she never got a birthday party. No games, no presents, no birthday cakes. In fact, Erin couldn't even remember her uncle saying 'Happy Birthday' to her once. She shrugged lightly and turned to make her bed. She didn't mind if no one remembered it was her birthday. It wasn't important.

Suddenly, Erin spied the package on the foot of her bed, like someone had slipped inside and left it there in the middle of the night. A shiver went down her spine at that thought; the door and window had both been closed and locked that night. No one could have gotten in or out. But how insidious could the visitor have been, to leave a present?

Erin carefully removed the paper because it was her favorite color; cerulean, a mild but lovely shade of blue. The ribbon was silky and black, so she saved that as well. Even the box was pretty; sleek and black, made of wood. A tightly folded letter fell out of the wrapping paper, and Erin picked it up, nearly dropping it again when she saw the handwriting on the cover of the letter.

It was her father's handwriting.

Could this be a trick? A cruel joke? But by whom? The Naruses were all dead, and none of her adoptive family was cruel. Erin unfolded the paper with shaking hands, running her fingers over the page lightly before beginning to read.

Dear Erin,

Happy birthday, my darling daughter! I hope this letter finds you happy and in good health. You are probably wondering how it's possible that I am writing to you. Don't worry; I intend to explain everything, from the beginning, starting with your mother's death and mine.

We will be ever grateful to Oscuro for saving you from that awful fire, but I'm afraid my older brother was not very kind to you as you were growing up. Oscuro was never fond of children, and was always a bit sore that he wasn't the one running our race. He came up with the idea to separate your mind. At first I thought that was a mistake, but I am happy to admit that it was one of his best ideas. You have excelled, my dear girl. Your daddy is proud of who you have become, and so is your mama.

Now, to how this letter and gift came to be. We met a young lady here in the Afterworld recently... A girl named Kyokai. She's quite the sweetheart; she told us about that awful boy hurting you and destroying your mother's necklace. We were horrified, of course; you have no idea how I wished to strangle him! But we decided to put our energies toward a more productive measure. You see, my child, each person is granted a single wish when they come to the Afterworld. One wish, and the only thing you cannot be granted is to return to life. So I used my wish to write you this letter, and your mother used hers to send you this gift. She hopes you like it. I know you will.

In response to your worries, Erin, let me say this. Oscuro could not have been more wrong in what he said before. Your mother and I are so very proud of you. You've become a strong, beautiful, kind woman, and we couldn't be happier with who you are and who you shall become later in life. You've chosen a good girl, who we believe will take excellent care of you, and whom you will make very happy. You're becoming quite the artist, and your mother and I look forward to seeing what you do with your talent in the future. We love you, our dear child. We could not be happier.

Well, you probably want to stop reading this and open your present! Go on, take a peek. And happy twenty first birthday, my darling girl. Your mother and I love and miss you so very much, but we hope not to see you up here for a long time yet! Enjoy your life, my dear. It always seems far too short, whether you have one year or one thousand years.

All my love,

Your Father, Chiaro Lee

Erin laughed and cried and hugged the precious letter to her chest, then smoothed it out to read it again and again. Every word, every stroke of the pen, was like hearing her father's voice again after all these years. Finally, she returned her attention to the smooth little box. Shaking more than ever now, Erin opened it and caught her breath.

Inside was a beautiful golden locket, inlaid with sapphire and emerald, in a heart shape. Half sapphire, half emerald. Erin knew that sapphire was Ash's favorite stone, and loved the locket at once. It seemed almost too pretty to touch, but she eventually picked it up and opened the locket to look at the pictures within. Her breath caught in her throat a second time.

There was a picture of her parents! They looked exactly the same as she remembered. Her mother, so beautiful, and her father, so kind and strong... They were together, their arms around each other, obviously happy and smiling. They both had wings; her mother's were a dark blue with white markings on the tips, and her father's were bright green with black markings along the insides. Erin realized that somehow, impossibly, this was a picture of her parents in the... what had they called it? Afterworld. Erin smiled and raised the picture to her lips, giving it a gentle kiss. That's when she noticed that there was another picture in the other window of the locket. A picture of her and Ash, also hugging and laughing. Erin remembered Trouble taking that picture the day that the shop guys went to an amusement park. Erin had been scared to go on one of the more threatening looking roller coasters, and Ash had flirtatiously promised to hold her hand. Erin had hugged her gratefully, and Trouble had snapped a picture with his digital camera.

Erin looked up at the ceiling, feeling well-past overwhelmed. This was beyond her wildest dreams; bar-none the best birthday anyone had ever had, and it had just barely started. "Thank you so much, mom and dad. I love the present, and the letter. I'll keep both forever, I promise." A small smile tugged at Erin's lips. "And thank you, Kai. None of this would have been possible without you. You've made this my best birthday ever. I hope we can be great friends someday, many years from now."

After she'd had a chance to gather herself, Erin locked away the gift and letter in her fireproof safe and slid it into it's place under the floorboards, then unlocked the door and went out to see if Ash was home yet. Ash had claimed that she had some early shop work to do, and might not be home that night at all.

Erin found a note on the bathroom mirror that said simply, "Went to the shop to see about a couple of things. Come see me there when you wake up. -Ash." Erin smiled and took a quick shower, then got dressed in a blue T-shirt, black jacket, and black pants, wearing her usual black boots. She grabbed her cell phone and car keys and checked her phone for messages as she walked outside to her car.

There were no new text messages on her phone, which was surprising in itself. Usually she had a text from almost every single one of the younger guys (Tank, Pitt, and Trouble). Maybe it was an extra-busy day at the shop. She drove quickly to get there sooner and help out if they needed her.

The second surprising thing was that the shop looked deserted. The boys' cars were there, and Ash's motorcycle, and Trouble's too, but no customers' cars. She couldn't hear the pneumatic drills going off in the shop... in fact, no noise at all. No clanking of tools, no playful shop banter, not a sound. "Weird," she muttered, shoving her keys into her pocket and entering the shop.

It was dark. Erin shuddered. She hated the dark almost as much as she hated fire. She groped along the wall for a minute, searching for the light, beginning to worry. Where on earth was everybody? The place was obviously deserted. But where would everyone go? Their cars and motorcycles were all here, and Ash's note had said she'd be here.

"Ha! Got it," she said quietly in triumph as she found the light switch, flicking it on and receiving the second shock of the day.

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Erin Joyce Lee

Erin got to her feet and blushed as she grinned down at Ash, spinning the girl slowly in a circle to look her over. "I love the outfit, sweetie... Looks great on you." She kissed Ash softly and smiled happily. "Thank you, Ash. This is... Amazing." She looked around at the others, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend's waist. "What's really amazing, though, is that Trouble could keep all this to himself. Sorry, bro, but you suck at keeping secrets." She grinned and winked at him.

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Erin Joyce Lee

Erin blushed and chuckled, shrugging her touche to her adopted brother, hugging him back. "Thanks, man... This is seriously the coolest thing anyone's ever done for me." She put on her own set of wings, then put her arm right back around Ash, intending to stay attached to the girl all day long. "So, what's the next item on the agenda, now that 'give Erin a ******** heart attack' and 'embarrass the hell out of Erin' are out of the way?"

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Erin Joyce Lee

Erin stared at Tank blankly until a few seconds after he finished speaking, and then started to laugh so hard that she almost fell over. Luckily, she managed to catch herself against the nearest wall, and simply slid down it into a sitting position, still laughing uncontrollably.

 

[Dreaming_Drifter]

Aaron Royce Lee

Erin (Aaron?) didn't understand anything that was going on. Her... or rather, his, last memory was of killing Tsubatsu. After that, it was all a blank. How he'd ended up sharing a body with the two slimiest men on the planet, he didn't know. But he did know one thing, and that was that he couldn't let them get anywhere near Ash.

Groaning, the boy struggled to his feet, stumbling out of the room and running down the hall toward the man who so eerily looked like himself. "You're not touching her!" he roared, tackling the male to the floor and aiming a punch at his face.