Turn to Stone

Selling out
Is not my thing
Walk away
I won't be broken again
I'm not
I'm not what you think

Dream away your life
Someone else's dream
Nothing equals nothing

Letting go
Is not my thing
Walk away
Won't let it happen again
I'm not
I'm not very smart

Why should I feel sad
For what I never had
Nothing equals nothing

Turn to stone
Lose my faith
I'll be gone
Before it happens

*~*~*

Chapter 1 - Captured

She started walking over to her favorite spot, glancing at the TV inside the Radio Shack store for a moment, watching the news. But, since Chinese wasn't a language she had learned, she turned around and sat down on the ground, exhausted. She hung her head in thought; ignoring the people tripping over her widely sprawled feet on the sidewalk and sat up more comfortably. One of them shouted back at her angrily in Chinese, but again she dismissed anything around her.

She couldn't stop staring at him.

Amazingly no one else had noticed someone floating in the sky, wearing a black cloak and holding some sort of short stick in his hand. Though she couldn't see his face, she knew his eyes were locked with hers. She breathed heavily, getting slightly nervous. Who is he? What does he want? she thought fearfully, standing up slowly and moving her hands behind her to the Radio Shack wall, feeling as though his eyes were pinning her to it.

"Who ... are you?" she spoke softly, a tear flowing down her right eye. Those black eyes of his were so powerful, so menacing; it was like they searched deep into her soul and scorned her insignificant life. She trembled as he lifted the stick into the air, suddenly someone around her screaming for help. She looked around to the interruption suddenly; noticing the man that had shouted at her earlier was stealing a woman's purse. For some reason she felt her body moving towards the man, and she stood up and ran off to catch him.

Her muscles were weary; they had not been used to this much exercise in a long while. So long had she been sitting in that spot against the Radio Shack wall, it was almost like she lived there. But that was impossible, she had no home. Because of this she had no job, no money, basically no life. Everyday would pass on just like the last day, and she would remain a homeless, hungry tramp.

She caught up with the Asian, pouncing on him and taking the purse from him. Before she could go take it back to the woman, though, she felt the presence again of him. Slowly she turned around, and there was the black-eyed man staring right back at her.

Still the man floated in the air, but landed softly in front of her, walking towards the woman. Scared, she backed away, fearing he would harm her. At this the man frowned, but to the woman's surprise, not in an evil way. It was almost like a concerned, fatherly glance, and he thought of something as he spoke. "Allura. Don't you recognize me?"

The woman blinked, wondering what he meant. "My name's ... A-Allura?" Still, she didn't trust him. She felt so strange staring at him, she felt like she was in a different place, somewhere far away, and he was there with her. Both of them had the same weary black eyes, and both of them had jet-black hair. Suddenly she got out of her dream state to realize he was talking again.

"You don't know your own name? What's wrong with you?" Again the man's face filled with concern.

She felt so confused, seeking his face for refuge, any hint of some sort of what he meant. And yet he was in as much pain as her, their gaze never lingering. Quietly she stuttered to him she didn't know what he meant, and his face turned stern. She realized he wasn't looking at her, though, and instead at the man that she had stopped from stealing the purse, which was still in her hand. She watched his eyes as he lifted up the stick he had, screaming strange words, and memories started filling her head.

A bright green light filled the alley, high-pitched laughter coming from the man as he stuck out the stick towards the Asian, who was shrieking with pain. She looked into the man's eyes again, and they were filled with cruelty and malevolence. After a moment the Asian stopped moving, and fell to the ground, never uttering another word ever again.

She allowed herself to breathe, but fear still kept her from moving her eyes back to the man still living, who turned to her. His eyes turned sad at the expression on her face, his face turning old and worn. Finally, as if after a long while of deciding, he walked over to her, making her look at him. "Allura, don't you recognize me? It's Tom; you know, Tom Riddle? Do you at least remember that?"

To her amazement, his face turned much younger, his face softening. She shivered, feeling his arms wrap around her gently. At last she turned her eyes to him, and his eyes reflected back at her, full of love and tenderness. No, that can't be right, a voice said in her head. Tom was never like this. He's too cruel, too evil ... But the memory vanished, though the woman tried as hard as she could to recall it. A small, blurry image came into her mind ... two eyes ... eyes of longing and mourning ... eyes of pity ... and then another pair of eyes reflecting them. She realized the other pair was hers. "You're the one with the black eyes! I remember now!" But she knew this didn't make sense; he had black eyes already, looking at her with them oddly. This didn't give either of them any information.

His face turned cold, letting go of her. "Then do you remember anything?" His voice was soft, and his face turned old and weary again. He turned away from her, staring at the ground in thought. She paused a moment to examine him. She had noticed a long time ago he had a black cloak over him, hiding his fair-skinned face and black eyes. But as she looked deeper, she found his arms around her were long, slender and cold. But when he had held her, there had been sudden warmth in them, and it was like he had completely changed. This is so confusing, she thought, covering her face with her hands. Why does he remember me and I don't remember him? The thought troubled her, and she looked over to him. Slowly he moved his face to gaze at her.

Their thoughts were the same, and silently they moved towards the other, Tom putting his arms around her again. Pain filled Tom's face as he recalled the memory, but he treasured that he had found her. Tom pulled her close to him, touching his lips to hers, surprising the woman. To her this man was a total stranger, just faintly addressed to him. But she felt herself closing her eyes, reaching out to him, not knowing why. For a moment everything seemed still.

After a moment she broke the kiss, looking at him curiously, he doing the same. "Tom?" she said faintly, tightening her arms around him, "Why don't I remember you?"

Again the pain filled Tom's countenance, hanging his head. "That can be explained later. I don't want to ruin this moment," he muttered. Suddenly as if in a desperate plea for it to go on, he moved her face to him and kissed her again, deepening it to his choosing. "Allura," he whispered, "Remember our love. Please, please remember me ..."

She was surprised again by this stranger's actions. Moaning softly, though, she felt her instincts make her move closer to him, a smile appearing on her face as she kissed him back passionately. Tom, relieved about this, broke the kiss suddenly and stared at her, pleased about something. "I'm glad you remember, Allura. Will you join me?" The concerned/fatherly gesture went back on his face.

This guy has multiple personalities or something, she thought randomly, but her smile was still there. "Join you where?" she asked, now curious of what he meant.

Tom returned the smile. "I'll show you when we get there." Suddenly voices started shouting around him, yelling in fear and terror. Some were crying for help as well. She looked around curiously and glanced at Tom, who was grinning amusedly at the screams. "It seems they know I'm here," he turned to her, his grin widening, "with you. It's time we left this place. Then I will explain everything." Suddenly he lifted the stick high in the air, shouting out strange words, the two disappearing.