.:.Torch The Ghost of the Past.:.

.:.No Mercy.:.

There was no mercy for me, therefore there will be no mercy for thee.

Not after the hell I have been through.

Laying on the floor of the training room inside the compound that had become her home, Angel for the first time in forever felt safe.

Protected.

Happy? If that was even possible in her life.

If you had told her nine months ago that she would be lying on the floor laughing as V told one of his stupid jokes to get her to break during their training session and instead waited to lose it as they both laid there.

“I knew...” V laughed, rolling over with that stupid smile on his face, those unusual brown eyes shining brightly, “I knew that would get to you.”

Angel, who is attempting to hide her face with her t-shirt as wiped the sweat away from her face with, swallowed the laugh on her lips and let out a breathy, “I hate you.”

V, not one to poke at a bear but will at her just tucked his fist under his chin, “Don’t lie, love...it never fits you.”

Angel looked up at him, and before he could see it coming, quickly grabbed his wrist, pulling herself over and after a bit of a struggle, he managed to find himself on his stomach, her forearm across the back of his neck and his arms trapped between her legs, soundly pulled a way that should only be seen in contortionist videos.

While he struggles, she leans down, she gives a wicked little smirk, “Just like you being in pain doesn’t suit you...” and just to add to the moment because this is our wicked little bitch, she licks the side of his face, “...love.”

V’s brown eyes go wide for a second, before he manages to pull his arms apart, tuck his legs under him and roll them both backwards, and after some more tussling she ends up on her back and him pinning her down. She struggles for a moment but he can’t help but lean down and he gets so close their noses practically touch, “Gotcha.”

An uncomfortable moment of silence between the two before we hear someone clear their throat. Both look in the general direction like they both got caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing only to see the good doctor and Muri standing there, “Hope we’re not disturbing anything.” Muri giggled out.

“We can always come back. Probably a good thing seeing as Muri is still a little too young to see this...” the doc said with amusement in his voice as well.

V looked like he was about to say something typical of him before Angel lifted a knee causing V to cringe and roll off her, “Bad form.” he managed to muster out, clutching just below the belt.

“Should put a bell on that door.” Angle mumbled before standing up and straightening herself out. She in good faith, reaches down and offers her hand to V who has managed to put himself back together again and lets her help him to his feet.

“Well now that that is over...” Doc said, clearing his throat, holding a folder out, “I have that file that you requested, V. Believe it or not, not as hard as you thought it was gonna be to get it.”

V limps over and opens it up and reads through it, “Closed cold case?”

“Apparently.” the doc said glancing at Angel real quick, who was watching and noticed.

Angel walked over and tried to peek over V’s shoulder, “What’s a cold case?”

V turned around and closed the file and tucked it behind his back, “Nothing,” he smirked, “I was just curious about something and had the doc find it for me.”

“If it’s nothing then you should have no problem showing me.” Angel said, trying to get to it.

V plays keep away, “I am allowed some privacy around here, ya know.” before Angel stomps down on his bare foot, “SON OF A BITCH!”

V drops the file to tend to his foot, and Muri barked out, “Angel, that was mean!”

“It’s what he gets for his earlier move...” she lets out as she picks up the file and Muri gives a curious look, Angel looks at her and because among them Muri is still innocent Angel just shakes her head, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“Now Angel, I really think you should reconsider this...” the doctor said before Angel glares at him while opening the file, “Nevermind...what do I know?”

Her green eyes focus on the file in front of her, and you can almost see her blood run even colder than it already does. She flips the page in silence and her eyes stop on a sentence.

The subject was already deceased before the crash.

“Angel? Are...Are you okay?” Muri asks, to break that uncomfortable silence. Angel doesn’t say anything and continues to read through the file before V stumbles up and rips the file out of her hands.

“I TOLD YOU-” he yells out, his temper flaring.

That only sets Angel off and she shoves him away, but V is like a statue made of marble and instead he just lets Angel take it out on him. It’s not everyday that you learn that your father was solely responsible for the death of not just your mother, but also your brother. The doctor goes to interfere but V holds his hand out to stop him through him being slapped, punched.

“YOU KNEW?!? YOU KNEW THAT HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DEATHS THIS WHOLE TIME?!?” Angel let out in anger.

V stands firm and the slaps echo through the room but Muri who is now crying, “ANGEL STOP!!!”

And almost like it was a magic spell, she collapses into V, who holds her up, and whispers, “I didn’t, but I had heard the whispers in the walls. I had only asked once I saw what their deaths meant to you, you still holding on to resentment for your brother...when in fact...”

“It was Thomas the whole time...” she let out in almost a whisper before looking up at V, “I want his head on the wall.”

“Well as macabre as that would be to add to our decor...” V said in jest.

Angel pushes herself away from him, her eyes cold in comparison to what they were while they were training, she looks V over for a moment and gives an apologetic look before simply saying, “Excuse me.”

Without another word she leaves the room as Muri runs up to her brother, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” he says, giving her a squeeze. He looks at the doc, “Well?”

The doc glances back for a moment and without missing a beat, “She’s gonna run.”

“Agreed.” V says, “Keep Muri safe, I’ll bring her back.”

V leaves his sister and the good doctor behind, following the way that Angel went. Muri just yells out, “BE CAREFUL!”

The Doc looks down at her and nods, “For both their sakes, I hope he will be.”

.:.Torch The Ghost of the Past.:.

The crack of wood fills the air in an old dilapidated home, the windows long busted out from vandals that busted in to squat inside the abandoned structure. It had snowed recently and between the dirt, the cobwebs, and the leaves that had made their way inside, a white fill from the snow almost decorated it even more hauntingly than if it had been warm.

The crack of the wood was even louder as it appeared whoever was breaking in finally did just that as they let it crash to the ground. Foot falls now filled the silence on what was marble tiling in the foyer as we see a pair of green eyes, looking around.

It had been over 10 years since they abandoned this place, leaving her mother and brother to grow cold. Thomas Wilde taking his screaming daughter from the ruin of the accident that he caused, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. She would never imagine that she would find herself back here to face her past, but Angel Wilde was never one to regret her history....until now that is.

The steps came to a stop as the female form knelt down and removed some rubble off of a bear that had just as long of dirt, dust and debris on it and picked it up and held it close, not caring whatever insects that were in its matted fur, “Robbie.”

She kept it close with her standing up, and looked down...the outline of her mother’s body still there. The marks that the police made. All still there...

She screamed, just as loud as she did back then. Her voice echo’d the halls and she stopped to hear it, closing her eyes like she was being welcomed home.

“There was once a little girl that had lost everything about her that made her innocent. In one moment, because of one man’s horrible choices, that whole life was taken from her. She never asked for it. She never wanted it. She had only begun to dream of her future...” she looks down at her bear, “A future that was never hers...especially once her father had his way.”

She shrieks loudly and kicks over a barrel that was left behind by squatters, “HE SCREWED ME OF ANY CHANCE! And because of him, I was never given a chance.” squatting down, she rocks back and forth, “Always being controlled, always being shoved in no other direction but his and his master’s way...and she tried to fight. Oh how she tried to fight. But instead she was given scars to remind her that if she remotely put a fingernail out of line, that she would be punished. And punished she was, for no amount of brainwashing was going to break her spirit.”

She takes a deep breath, reaching down and grabbing a half burned magazine that spilt from the barrel, “A spirit that she carried and it kept her alive, it was all she had left in the world...her life. Now she lives out of spite...”

Her breath shows through the shadow before she reaches into her coat pocket, producing V’s zippo lighter that she snatched a few weeks ago, lighting the magazine and eventually lighting the pile that is in front of her.

“Lachlan Kane has had me pegged as an evil cunt since day one and you know what...he’s right. After everything that I have done to him and his family, I deserved every ounce of the asskicking he gave me back then. I fucking WELCOMED it with open arms.” she laughs, “We brought out the absolute worst in each other and at that time, it is what we both needed. I saw something in him, he was a hero that was needed to the evil I brought. But then something new, a whole new evil that the man brought, I was ecstatic to see it because it proved that I was on to something. Lachlan Kane, despite that goody two shoes nature, those two beautiful girls and that gorgeous wife of his, had his own demons.”

Sitting back she grabs a book that was on the floor by her and tosses it on the fire, making it even brighter, “It seems as if we’re destined to do this forever, fate brought us together...and fate brought us back here again. Karma’s a funny fickle little bitch and combined with that cunt fate, they brought a little fire to go with the damage we have done to one another.”

“I have been through enough flames in my time to tell you that it doesn’t cleanse a fucking thing. It leaves scars on the weakest of souls...but we all know that deep down, it’s still damaged and ugly underneath.”

Smirking, she flicks a busted picture frame into the flames, “If you think for one second that I’m afraid of more scars? After everything, I can tell you that I have nothing beautiful left to give. You can keep burning me and beating me and because life is just that way, I will continue to live. With or without the Victory Title that I busted my ass for, I will continue to live just to SPITE EVERY SINGLE MOTHER FUCKER LIKE YOU LACH...that wants to see me dead.”

She stands up, still holding Robbie close, “I’m not afraid to face the flames...and I am not afraid to send you back to your pregnant wife and daughters in an urn.” she looks at the bear and drops him in the flames, “But I don’t want their innocence to die before they have a chance...”

“But I am not about to let it go, because for once I AM FREE. I’m not out to right wrongs, but I’m out to do what I have to do to make sure that I survive and that the Victory title stays where it rightfully belongs.” she exits the room for a second and comes back with a gas can, she stops in front of the flames and smirks, “And if that means giving you a taste of the hell I’ve been through? ...then so be it.”

She steps back, puts the can on the ground and as she glances at the burnt bear in the pile, kicks the can right into the flames. She then turns around and walks out of the house for the final time as we see V standing in the street. He goes to say something to her as she gets halfway up the walk before a loud pop can be heard and suddenly it’s obvious that the flames have spread rapidly through the first floor of Angel’s childhood home.

She joins him in the street and turns and watches as the house quickly, almost like a matchbook that had every match struck at once, goes up in flames.

She reaches over, grabs his hand without looking, “Merry Christmas, V.”

He looks at her for a moment, his face really showing no shock but only...peace, tightens his hand in hers, “Merry Christmas, love.”

And hand in hand they leave the scene together, as it is obvious that the house will be ashes soon enough and sirens fill the cold night air.