THREE WEEKS LATER

The rift between the Eternal and the Feline was beginning to close after weeks of being forced to work together for survival. The rift started after the simple incident at the police station and was enhanced by Goose2’s inability to admit her wrongs.

As soon as they had escaped the station, Goose2 started to blame Ikaris for being an intellectually defective human – her own words. One thing led to another, and the duo came to blows.

Ikaris ended up in Goose2’s stomach for a week.

It was a simple conflict born from the fact that Goose2 was reluctant to admit that she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was. The entire time Ikaris had been running around the police station, it had never once occurred to Goose2 that The Eternal had been searching for her.

For all her intelligence as a very unusual cat, she was still a child.

Ikaris didn’t particularly blame her for not measuring on an intellectual stage, but when she refused to assume responsibility for the blunder, her stubbornness was not something he could tolerate.

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FORK’S THEATRE

MEOW

“I am sweeping more to the left,” Ikaris complained, casting a nasty gaze on the people in the middle rows of the theatre. “But it will not make any difference if we clean everything when those guys are still in here tossing popcorn on the floor.”

MEOW (Translation: Just kick them out.)

“I would, but she would come to reprimand us and you know how that goes,” Ikaris sighed. “We need this job for the time being.”

MEOW

“I know, I know,” Ikaris swept the accumulated dirt into the scoop that Goose2 was keeping steady. “I thought we were gonna be doing better things by now as well… but, this is the hand we were dealt. Let’s just save so we can get the bus ticket to New York – the good stuff always happens in New York.”

MEOW – MEOW (Translation: Like the Chitauri invasion?)

Ikaris frowned. “What’s the Chitauri Invasion?”

MEOW

“I swear you make up the weirdest things.”

Ikaris continued the cleaning, this time scraping the gum from beneath the theater’s seats. This was, of course, his least favorite job, especially since Goose2 would use the excuse of no hands to get out of the work.

‘Doesn’t she have an entire dimension in her stomach that can eat the theater?’ Ikaris thought but didn’t dare let the thoughts show on his face.

It was exhausting, always having to be the mature one of the two of them, but keeping his face expressionless was something Ikaris found himself strangely gifted at doing. It helped most of all when he was dealing with rude customers.

MEOW

“That’s none of our business.”

MEOW

“I don’t care how much popcorn they are spilling on the ground,” Ikaris rolled his eyes, mentally and physically exhausted. “All we have to do is clean everything later.”

MEOW – MEOW

This time the urgency in Goose2’s voice finally made Ikaris raise his head from the sacred duty of scraping gum from the bottom of the chairs. What The Eternal witnessed was a bit difficult to distinguish at first, but after about three seconds, it became apparent what was happening.

‘A scuffle? Too rough. Attempted rape? Not quite there yet.’

Goose2 hopped onto her person’s shoulder, and Ikaris leaped over three rows to arrive a few feet away from – what could only be defined as – a disturbance caused by an overly insistent male.

Ikaris examined the interaction for a couple more seconds, not wanting to intervene in case he was mistaken… and it was hard to tell if he was. The woman in question was clearly uncomfortable, and the male was clearly insistent, but it wasn’t like there was any outright resistance.

“HEY! HEY!” Ikaris’ Scottish accent ripped through the silence of the theater. “I am sorry, but there is a time and place for everything.”

--------------------------

Thomas Laghari had everything in place.

A month’s check ensured the theater would be empty for his conquest, and he had already talked to some of the teachers at the school, having them fill Julia’s head with only good things about him.

After two months of playing this game, Thomas was certain the only way he wouldn’t be taking Julia home would be if the woman had no interest in males, which would be a scandal of its own in a place like Forks.

Hence, even then, he was confident she would have to pretend.

The movie was reaching its peak. The surround sound was stimulating the nerve endings as the two actors on the screen started to touch each other rather intimately. Thomas had timed his assault with pinpoint accuracy.

A shoulder rubs here.

A slow hand rubs there.

A hand on Julia’s leg slowly made its way up to the faintly visible panty strings.

Everything was perfect, and Thomas could already feel his pants tightening as all the popcorn in his jumbo cup spilled to the floor. No doubt, the popcorn on the ground would soon be getting a topping of thick sexual liquids – he wouldn’t mind eating a bit more at that time.

Smooth went to smoother than smoothest.

It was as smooth as it could possibly go, and Thomas’s confidence was soaring, but at some point, it started to turn a bit awkward. Thomas didn’t notice it all at once, but he was able to tell when the mood was heading downhill.

Julia wasn’t reacting much in the beginning, then she stopped reacting altogether, and finally, Thomas started to feel weak hands pressing against his chest, trying to signal him to move back a little.

Usually, that would have been enough, but the paycheck to rent the theater for six hours didn’t agree to leave empty-handed. Thomas knew he had to press the advantage – he had done it a dozen times before, and this time would be no different.

Eventually, all women would give in.

That’s how he got his wife pregnant in the first place – some women were just so much against conflict and wanted everything to make sense that a little force would scare them into doing the deed.

But this time it was different.

The more Thomas’s pants tightened and the more he tried to press his advantage, the more Julia started to reject him. It was to the point that Thomas became aware of what he was doing, and as he tried to ignore the glaringly obvious signs, the man was aware of what he had to do.

There was no more turning back.

It had become impossible after he had invested so much time, effort, and finance.

‘Besides, the theater is empty anyway.’

“HEY! HEY!” Ikaris’ Scottish accent ripped through the silence of the theater. “I am sorry, but there is a time and place for everything.”

Thomas was startled and stiffened, giving a rather disheveled and partially terrified Julia the time she needed to break free of his control, sliding into a chair on the right where her face would remain mostly hidden by the lack of lighting.

Though, it did little to hide her features from the exquisite eyesight of an Eternal – not that Ikaris cared about them to begin with. Had it not been for all the popcorn spilled onto the ground, he would have departed the theater with no issue.

“Can you guys please leave?” Ikaris’ eyes scanned the duo.

And they, in turn, scanned him back.

Julia was frightened and trying to adjust to the new change in the situation, imagining the worst-case scenario where Ikaris would aid Thomas in taking care of her. Thomas, on the other hand, saw Ikaris’ youngness and mistook it for naivety, seeing an opportunity where there was none.

“Get out of here, kid!” Thomas’s voice grew rougher, and he slid from his chair to Julia’s, gripping the woman around the wrist. “Can’t you see adults are discussing matters around here?”

“No, please…” Julia’s whimper was pitiful.

Any normal human would be unable to hear, but Ikaris could hear it very well. As a matter of fact, Ikaris could feel the repulsion in Julia’s expressions, the panic in her heart, and the fear radiating from every one of her cells.

“She doesn’t seem to be enjoying this… what do you call it?”

MEOW

“Rape… no, date?” Ikaris was so casual with his speech that Thomas grew a bit concerned.

BANG

Ikaris took a single step backward as Thomas’s large hand blitzed across his face, smacking him with a force that was so out of the blue that The Eternal could not react for a moment.

It was too unexpected.

It was too decisive.

Memories flickered at the forefront of Ikaris’s mind for an instant.

There was an older Eternal, Zuras, dressed in black, towering over him – Ikaris was scared so when he was smacked across the face, he did nothing.

And another memory.

There was a younger Eternal, Hyperion, but better in every way. Ikaris was afraid of him but he dared to fight in defense of Sprite and Sersi – he lost in three seconds flat.

Unlike all his previous memories that flickered and vanished into the hidden depths of his Eternal psyche, these memories stuck around. Suddenly, Ikaris could remember in vivid detail the fear he felt in those moments.

The experience of facing beings much stronger than himself – moments when even breathing the wrong way could annoy someone who could kill not only Ikaris but his family and wife.

The Eternal froze.

“Didn’t you hear me, kid?” Thomas questioned again, smiling on the inside since he could see Ikaris was stunned – that meant one more slap would seal the deal, Ikaris would depart and Thomas would be free to do to the trembling Julia as he wished.

BANG

“Listen when I am talking to you!” Thomas insisted.

Ikaris saw the blow coming in slow motion but his body still didn’t have the will to dodge – the memories were still too fresh in his mind. Ikaris was experiencing the fear as if it was yesterday even though the memories felt infinitely old.

However, something did change this time around – the first time he was slapped, Ikaris took a single step back; this time, he remained in place but his face tilted a bit to the left.

‘One more slap and the kid will run away.’ Thomas thought. “Listen to me you brat!”

BANG

CRACK

This time, Ikaris looked Thomas directly in the eyes and as the latter’s hand blitzed across his face, The Eternal didn’t even move a bit. Thomas could feel the moment his hand fractured on the durable skin of the kid in front of him.

And suddenly, fear flooded into Thomas like a tide.

“Forget this,” Thomas suddenly shifted his tone, trying not to be the lesser man and show his fear, but the trembling was apparent. “I will contact your manager to get a refund for tonight.”

“No…” Ikaris’s Scottish accent was infinitely intimidating, and the subtle golden glow in the depths of his eyes caused Thomas to pause. “You will not contact my boss to say anything, and you will apologize to the young lady and depart here with haste, hoping for the rest of your life that I never see you again… because if I do.”

“I am sorry!” Thomas didn’t even wait for the threat to finish as he spun around, bent a full ninety degrees in front of Julia, and apologized. “Please forgive me for not noticing your discomfort.” Then, the large man was out of the theater as quickly as he had slapped Ikaris the first time.

A minute passed in silence. Julia was too scared to leave, now completely at the mercy of Ikaris and the growling cat on his shoulder; at least, that was until she realized that Ikaris was not entirely there.

Two streams of blood flowed from his nose.

A purple bruise appeared on his cheeks.

Both eyes were twitching as if trying to adjust to a picture that wasn’t there.

As a nurse at Fork’s High School, Julia could tell the signs were not good, and as much as she wanted to disappear from the theater with her reputation intact, it would be against her deepest principles to leave a having a seizure all on his own.

---------------------

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

Ikaris awakened to soft comforts that reminded him of a motherly figure from so long ago – of course, he could not remember who she was, just the sensation he felt back then, and it was just like this.

“Shshsh…” Julia brushed her fingers through The Eternal’s long dark hair. “You shouldn’t move too much – seizures tend to come back in microcosms. I would have taken you to the hospital had the bruise not disappeared from your cheeks as if by magic.”

Ikaris’s eyes narrowed a bit.

“It’s fine,” Julia continued caressing the Eternal. “When I tried to call someone, the cat started to act weird so I figured I might as well just stay with you for now and forget everything in the morning.”

“That was a wise choice on your part,” Ikaris mumbled, finally finding the strength to sit up. “The story would have ended in a rather dark void had your course of action continued.”

“I figured,” Julia shrugged and gazed at Goose2. “It’s not every day that you see a cat eyeing you as if you’re tomorrow’s meal.”

MEOW

“She said you would have lasted two days.”

Julia giggled thinking it was a joke, but the anticipation in Goose2’s eyes told Ikaris it was far from such a thing. If anything, Goose2 seemed eager to sample such a delicate and well-rounded cuisine.

“I take it that wasn’t some intense sexual play that you enjoy, earlier?” Ikaris had to confirm since he found intervening in human matters a strangely new sensation. “I feel like I should have left you be. After all, it takes a special kind of woman to trap herself in an empty theater with a guy she barely knows.”

“I know… knew Thomas,” Julia justified. “At least, I thought I did. I teach his son and all.”

Ikaris quirked a brow. “I was talking about myself – I am far more dangerous than that Thomas is, and yet you chose to trap yourself in here with me.”

“Forks is a trap of its own,” Julia shrugged her shoulders, the earlier tension gone. “It takes a special type of woman to give up her life as a top clinical psychiatrist to come to a shit town on the edge of nowhere.”

“So…” Ikaris took Goose2 into his lap and started to caress the small feline. “You’re running from something?”

“Why not 'to' something?” Julia inquired and slowly frowned, deciding to ask the question that has been internally killing her. “I knew you were here so I started spilling popcorn on the ground, hoping to get your help. I could tell where Thomas’s mind was going. But you ignored me all the way. What made you intervene so suddenly?”

“A friend of mine used to say – The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything,”

“That’s an Albert Einstein quote,” Julia frowned. “I think I should head out before you tell me you knew the Romanians as well. You need to get your head checked at the nearby hospital, just don’t mention I was the one who sent you.”

“I am fine… and –” Ikaris chewed on his next words until Julia had made sufficient eye contact with him. “I hope that when next we meet, you will not lie to me about being a psychiatrist. I can smell the strange mix of chemicals on your body – you’re a chemical engineer at least.”

Julia paused and stared at Ikaris in shock for a couple of seconds before slowly nodding. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide it per se, but more like people wouldn’t believe her if they found out why she truly moved to Forks to study – werewolves.