Flashback - A Year Ago

Who: Seven and Evan
Where: Somewhere in Minnesota
When: About a year ago

The sky was cloudless and the moon bright as he came across vague signs of civilisation - a large farm. He wondered what he'd find - hopefully a car and some gas, he was sick of walking, though what was the likelihood they'd have anything they were willing to sell? Maybe they could just give him a lift to the nearest town. He'd had a bike at one point, but the tank had only been half full and it'd stopped miles from anywhere, then the car he'd picked up had broken down in a very permanent way, so he was back to being on foot.

He approached the farm carefully - it seemed quiet and he had the benefit of being at least half-demon - though that sometimes caused more trouble than less - but he wasn't looking for trouble unless, of course, it was trouble he could handle on his own. But that wasn't trouble - that was fun. It became apparent very quickly though that this wasn't a normal type of 'quiet'. This wasn't an 'everyone's asleep' kind of quiet. This was very clearly an 'everyone's fucking dead' kind of quiet - the first body he came across screamed that loud and clear. It had something to do with the fact that his guts were strewn over a wide area and his head was missing. That always gave it away.

Seven was watching. She'd seen this one. She'd seen him moving around before, and she'd waited until she had a good shot. Sometimes hunting was really just waiting long enough. Her eyes tracked his movement as she stayed utterly still on her perch from a first floor balcony of the farmhouse. Nothing breathed within it's walls now. The monsters that had killed the family who'd lived there she'd taken out. But she didn't know if she'd gotten them all. So...she was waiting.

The whispers in her mind recognized him--or some approximation of what he might be. Some of them, anyways. Some where whispering more loudly than others, though today she hadn't been hearing them as well as other times. In a move that was silent as a whisper, she dropped down as he passed under her, landing both feet at the back of his neck, going for knocking him down in one shot. Easier to get them that way.

He heard the whispering movement seconds before the blow hit, knocking him forward towards the road. The warning gave him just enough awareness to turn the fall into the roll, using his own momentum to propel himself back up. He danced round, assuming a defensive position as he turned, fists up and ready to fight whatever it was that had attacked him.

Seven was down in a crouch, bone saw in one hand as she balanced, one hand flat to the ground to keep it. She was ready to spring, sizing him up. He was better than some of the things she'd fought. She could see that already. The whispers were trying to tell her something. Those other girls she used to be, but it was distracting, so she didn't pay them much attention. Rosary beads clattered from her wrist as she shifted just a little, preparing to pounce.

He frowned slightly as he eyed her up, taking in her dishevelled appearance, his eyes darting down to the saw, then back up to her face. Watching her eyes, watching for what way she would move next. He wanted her to attack him - sure he could hold her off. After all, by the looks of things she was human and he wasn't in the mood for a kill - especially not some chit of a girl. So he waited, wanting to assess the way she moved, her style, everything to allow him to defend himself better before he made his counter-attack.

Seven held off for a bit. She started moving, but not towards him immediately. She circled, looking for a weakness first. He didn't appear to be injured, so that wasn't it. Couldn't play to that. Maybe she'd just have to give him an injury. Grasping a rosary in her free hand, she threw that at him, pouncing a second later, aiming to bury the saw in his upper right arm.

He saw the rosary and the way she was intending to use it as a weapon, but he hadn't tried to dodge it, all too aware of the greater threat of the girl with the bone saw in her hand. His hand shot up as her's arced towards him, catching her by the wrist, the saw suspended inches from his arm as he turned, flipping her over. "Now, now, girlie - no need to be like that. Not here to hurt you," he told her, moving back out of her immediate reach.

Seven growled under her breath as she was thwarted again. "Can't hurt me." she said. Falling into a move that she'd never been taught but knew instinctively, she went for a leg sweep, the memory of martial arts coming easily to her while she was in the fray.

"Don't want to hurt you," he pointed out, moments before her leg connected, sending him tumbling to the ground.

She didn't hesitate, sending the saw arcing towards his neck.

He rolled moments before the stake hit, crashing to the ground where he had been lying, a small cloud of dust rising up from the street, reminding Evan that that could easily have been the end of him. Springing to his feet, he turned to face her once more. "Right, girlie - that's just not funny anymore," he said, preparing to take her down.

Seven looked up at him, frowning. "Monster." she said. It was what most of the whispers were saying, one of the only things that came through clearly and without hesitation.

Evan took a step back, his head tilting slightly to one side. "You like to make snap judgements - don't think we've met before."

The next words she said she knew weren't in English. They weren't her words, either. Didn't matter, she said them anyhow. Then she threw another kick at his knee, and went for a side strike, switching styles between the two attacks.

"What the... bloody hell, wench!" Evan exclaimed, jumping backwards, any attack he had planned completely thrown out of the window by her sudden change in style. Sudden complete change in style. "Bugger this for a game of soldiers," he muttered under his breath as his face changed and he abandoned all pretence of a hands off policy and dove towards her.

Seven wasn't quite able to dodge the attack, getting hit and bowled over, though she planned to take him with her, planting her foot in his middle to flip him over her.

The throw didn't quite work and he had a flash of insight for a moment, realising that she'd made a move calculated by someone who was a lot stronger than she actually was. As he hit the floor and rolled, he realised that he could use that to his advantage - though he had no clue what she was playing at.

She seemed to realize her mistake too late, and rolled back over onto her hands and knees, sometime having lost her saw. She knew that was Bad. Losing that meant losing your Lifeline. Her saw was everything. Her weapon. Now all she had was Good Luck. She spun another rosary around her hand, laying the cross around the back of her knuckles so when she struck, it'd hit. It worked on some things.

He circled round her, waiting for her to attack, refusing to admit to himself he was relieved to see she'd lost her only real weapon. Still dangerous though. Need to take her out fast, before she did something stupid.

She did, waiting until she had a clear shot to kick at his ankle, trying to take that out while upper cutting with her cross-wrapped fist.

He stepped out of the way of her kick, crossing his arm between them to grab her wrist, dragging her arm down as his other fist arced across to hit her full force across the face.

Seven's head snapped back with the force of the blow, sparks snowing across her vision. There were several screams in her mind, though one did not emerge from her. Instead she tried to shake herself back to the present, but he'd rattled her good.

Pressing his advantage whilst she was dazed, he spun, sweeping her feet out from under her, hoping that once she was down he could find a way to overpower her.

She tried to sidestep the sweep but she was already off balance, and her back hit the ground seconds later, the wind knocked out of her. Pain hit through her back and chest, and she still made a grab for his leg, trying to pull him down with her.

Anticipating her move, he let her grab him, turning slightly as he fell to fall on top of her, pinning her to the ground. "Now, you want to stop for a sec here, girlie - gotta say, you're not my first fight and you won't be my last, but this wasn't what I had planned for tonight."

Seven glared up at him, quite obviously not liking being pinned, but she didn't have the strength she should have, and her struggling against him wasn't gaining her anything. It was simply tiring her out, and she abruptly stopped. "Monster." she ground out through clenched teeth. "Killed them."

"Killed a lot of people in my time, girlie - hoping you're not gonna be one of them, but if you don't stop fighting me, we'll have to see how that one goes." He waited for a second to make sure she'd properly stopped moving. Satisfied that she had, he pulled away slightly, but didn't loosen his grip on her. "Now, you wanna tell me who you are?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

She tried to struggle again, but stopped nearly immediately. It wasn't her moment yet. Not yet. She watched him speaking but it didn't look exactly like she'd registered what had been said.

He held her gaze, frowning slightly. "Anyone in there, girlie?" he asked, carefully.

Anyone in there? Too many in her head, sometimes she couldn't remember which one she was. She was starting to filter his question through, starting to understand his words. Who was she? Who was she tonight? There was a girl. She had a name. Many names, so many names. One floated to the top. She remembered. "Seven." she looked very confused, however, like she didn't understand the question. Didn't understand why he'd be asking.

"Seven," Evan repeated. "Well, Seven, you gonna stop fighting me now. If I let you up, you gonna behave?" he asked. "I'm not gonna hurt you - not unless you attack me again."

Her confusion was written all over her face, and for a few brief instants, total incapacitating vulnerability filled her eyes, her face. She shut her eyes and shook her head. "Can't hurt me anymore." she said, voice cracking a touch. "Can't touch me."

Evan blinked and drew back, loosening his grip on her slightly as he did so. "No, not gonna hurt you, girlie. Just want to talk to you," he said carefully.

She tried to get away then, not attacking, just trying to get out from under him. Her inner voices were quiet for the moment, the frightened child taking precedence. It wasn't calculated, it was ineffective, panicked motions. Little sounds escaped her as well, a soft, fearful cry. Wherever the fine tuned hunter went, who knew, but she wasn't present anymore right then. All that was left was a scared little girl.

He let her go completely then, wondering if it would turn out to be a foolish gesture, or a wise one showing that he meant her no harm. He hoped the latter as he straightened to a crouch, staying on her level, but back a little from where she lay. "It's okay, Seven. Not gonna hurt you, see?" he said in what he hoped was a soothing tone.

She scrambled back away from him, some part of her mind clinging to the Good Luck she thought she gained from the rosaries, and she pulled many of them from her pockets, some clattering to the ground as she twined them around her neck and arms, hugging herself and rocking a little. "Hold still, I promise it won't hurt..." she whispered, keeping her eyes on him, even if it looked more like she was seeing straight through him.

No bloody idea what the chit's rabbiting on about, but she's not attacking me, so that's an improvement, Evan thought to himself as he tried to work out what to do next. "Are you alone here, Seven?" he asked, hoping that his use of her name would keep her calm and somewhat focused. "Did you live here?"

"Cage. Magic colors." She muttered, steadily moving farther back away from him. She paused, looking at him as if her eyes were catching him again and she frowned, head tilting to the side. She didn't say more, simply looked wholly confused. Lost.

"Not a bloody clue what you're on about," Evan told her, but kept his tone friendly and light. "Do you have any family, girlie? Friends?" He found it hard to believe this wild-looking, potentially crazy girl cared for herself.

"They're gone. Daddy can't hear you. Mommy's gone away. The baby stopped crying and God doesn't live here anymore." Seven said, twitching a little and she looked around them sharply, freezing as she heard something.

Evan heard the noise at the same moment she did and he instinctively turned to face whatever was out in the darkness. His superior eyesight picked up a shadow approaching, but no detail as yet - save for the fact it clearly wasn't human. "Think the middle of the yard isn't a good place for you and me to be right now," he said, turning back to Seven.

Seven was trying to come back from wherever she was, still trying to track whatever she could hear. She didn't have heightened senses going for her, however, or even overwhelming physical powers, so she remained still, one hand blindly feeling around on the ground for her missing saw. Then her eyes went up to the balcony she'd leapt from. Her other weapon was up there. Hopping to her feet, she started to climb up to retrieve it.

Evan took another glance towards what was now clearly an approaching demon and decided that Seven's plan of climbing to the balcony was a good one. He sprung, catching hold of the balustrade and hauling himself up and over the railings, falling to the floor and, hopefully, out of sight.

Seven was there a second later, grabbing up her bonesaw and peering over the railing. She wasn't going to hide, it was her calling to kill things like that. Head. Heart. Keep cutting. She crouched up on the railing, preparing to leap down on it like she had Evan a bit ago.

He grabbed her by the arm, holding her back. Turning her face towards himself, he shook his head. Indicating that she should stay down, that it was too much for her.

Seven had one word for him as she tried to wrench herself away. "Hunter." she said, going as far as to use her body weight dropping over the railing to get to the fight.

Evan watched her drop to the ground. "Bloody women," he muttered, before following her, landing beside her softly. "We'll both be dead if we don't work together," he whispered in her ear.

If she heard or understood was completely unknown, as she merely dropped into a fighting stance, weapon at the ready as she waited, launching an initial assault to take the creature unawares. It worked, as it suddenly had a bone saw arcing towards it's face, and it barely got an arm up in time to take the blow.

"So much for having a plan," he muttered, before throwing himself into the fight, circling round slightly and jumping up onto the demon's back, grabbing it around the face, hoping to be enough of a distraction that the girl could get some blows in with that saw of hers.

She did, wrenching her saw free and going directly for it's throat, slicing open the greyish skin, showering her with blackish gore. It flailed, and managed to catch her on the cheek, three claws scratching into her skin, but if she noticed, she didn't stop. She was already slicing down it's abdomen, to spill it's insides onto the pavement.

Evan fell back as the demon's head went limp, cut almost right through. He landed on the ground, covered in gore, grimacing as he brushed at himself. "Oh, hell! Nothing like doing a neat job, is there? Couldn't you have just broken its neck or something?" he exclaimed. "No, guess you couldn't. Don't seem to quite have the stren... What the... What are you doing?" he asked in surprise as he stopped, suddenly noticing her work on what was now the demon's corpse.

Seven was making Sure. She was cutting it's heart out, reaching up through it's ribcage to get at it, squishing sounds coming from it's chest cavity. She pulled it out and dropped it at her side, then went to work on making sure it's head was quite separate from the rest of it. When that was finished, she reached up to streak the black blood down her features, stood, and kicked it's head down the street, it bouncing and landing in the gutter. She stepped on it's heart, then stopped, head hung and breathing hard from the effort. She blinked as red drops appeared on her arm, as if she didn't understand where it was coming from.

Evan looked across in what could possibly have been bordering on horror at the girl's actions. He'd seen a lot in his time, done half of it, but this was something else. "Think it's dead, girlie," he said quietly.

She wasn't listening, she was holding her palm down in front of her face, watching the red droplets hit it. Plip plip plip. She tucked her saw under her arm and started swirling her blood around on her palm, fascinated.

Evan took half a step towards her, then another, closing the gap between them. "Come on, let's find somewhere to get you cleaned up," he said, carefully separating her hands and leading her towards a nearby house. He wasn't sure why he was doing this - part of him was all ready to decide she was a bloody loony and leave her to it - after all, she'd tried very hard to dust him not so long ago. But he couldn't, and he found himself instead wanting to help her.

Seven allowed herself to be led, halting steps getting more fluid as she realized they were headed somewhere, and she looked around, a look of somewhat surprise on her features. She wasn't sure where she was anymore, and she was just realizing that. Everywhere was the same now though, and her attention turned back on Evan, who she frowned at critically as he lead her along. Her mind seemed to be spitting the name back out at her. "Monster." she said.

"Evan," he corrected as they reached the building he'd been headed for - an outhouse of some description. Maybe there'd be running water in there. He didn't particularly want to go up to the farmhouse - an air of bloody death hung round that building. He opened the door and listened - the interior was dark, but he couldn't hear anything moving around inside. As good as it was going to get. he gestured them both inside, closing the door once more before flicking on a light.

"Ev-an." she repeated, as she tried the word out, mimicking his pronunciation a bit, though it took on a life of it's own. "Ev-an." she said again, a little more firmly this time. She looked around the place as they entered, and pulled away from him to take a wrapped candy bar from a pile that someone - probably one of the now-dead farm hands - had left on a shelf. She opened it and bit in, starting to take others.

"No," he said firmly, as if speaking to a small child. "Wash first - then you can eat. This way." He wondered absently if the demon goo would be poisonous to her, though she didn't seem too bothered about the fact she was smearing from her hands to the chocolate. He reached out and took the bar from her. "Wash," he pointed to a door which appeared to lead to a bathroom.

She frowned at him taking her food away, and she made a grab for it. She was no longer on top of her game, however, and missed as he kept it from her reach. "Hungry." she insisted, then turned to look for something else. She reached up absently to rub at her bloody cheek and hissed in pain.

"Wash first - your hands are dirty, your face too. Clean up and you can have food." He looked down in disgust at the chocolate. "Something better than this crap too." He looked around. "You go wash-" he pointed to the bathrooms again. "-I'll find you something better than this. Go on then."

She eyed the door he was pointing too and frowned. Eventually, she moved to enter it, though if it was in accordance with his wishes or she just spied something shiny inside to investigate, who knew.

Shaking his head, Evan set off to look for something better for her to eat. He knew he was going to have to go up to the farmhouse, search the kitchen. That wasn't going to be pretty, but it couldn't be avoided and he set back off out into the night, having carefully checked the building they were in first - it was clear and there was no sign of anything else moving. Only then did he leave her. Maybe they could acquire one of the farm vehicles here, use it to get out. A thought which suddenly made him pause as he realised that he was already thinking in "we's". "Guess the chit's coming with me then," he murmured, grabbing a bag of chips and some bread from the kitchen - the first things he came across and heading back towards the shed and the bathroom there.

Seven was inside, the water in the sink running, her bonesaw and over shirt sticking out of the gently overflowing basin. She was staring at herself in the dirty, warped safety glass mirror. She was leaned in very close, poking at the gashes on her cheek, first on her face, then on the distorted image of herself reflected back. She seemed to have managed to clean some of the demon gore off, but had gotten distracted somewhere in the middle.

He knocked gently at the door, not wanting to walk in and surprise her. Don't want to knock her back over the edge he thought to himself as he waited to see whether she'd come out.

She jumped when she heard the knock, bonesaw immediately in her hand and she stalked silently back to the door, crouching low before she opened it, so she wouldn't be at normal strike height should one come. She saw black boots and then his jeans, and she peered up at him.

He stepped back, careful to stay away from the door. He was pleased to see she looked a little cleaner. "Found you some food, girlie - you coming out?" he asked, preparing to walk backwards if she did - he wanted her out in the open, not shut away in a little room.

She eyed him, head tilting to the side as she seemed to assess the situation, then she nodded, pushing herself to her feet and starting to step out. She glanced back at the sink, and went to get her overshirt. She splashed water everywhere, and struggled to put it back on as she headed back out into the main room, the cold wet material proving to be difficult for her.

Evan didn't say anything about her bedraggled appearance when she emerged, judging it best to leave it at the fact she'd made an effort. Instead he backed into the foyer of the store and sat down on the floor, laying out the food he'd collected in front of them. It wasn't much - but it was a step up from candy.

She followed, then sat down across from him, mirroring his position perfectly, down to his posture. She had managed to get one arm into the shirt, but had given up on the other. Her cheek was still dripping, and she reached up to rub at the wounds there, smearing her blood down half of her face, and getting it on the wet shirt.

He looked at her, then stood, moving swiftly to the bathroom, emerging moments later with a pile of paper towels. He sat down next to her and carefully started to clean the blood of her face. "There, see - there's even a girl under there somewhere," he said, gently.

She watched him, not being the most cooperative of subjects. She kept wanting to reach up and poke at the cuts, bruise from his punch starting to blossom as well. Flinching at one of the times he mopped at her face, she frowned. "Owie." she said profoundly.

He was the cause of most of her bruising, he knew, but he wasn't sorry for it - after all, she'd attacked him. "'S'what you get for attacking innocent bystanders," he commented, finishing the job and moving back to his original position.

"Demon. Hunter." Seven said, giving him what equated to a 'duh' look. She reached for the closest thing to her that he'd gotten, not seeming to care what it was. She laid her bonesaw down within her reach but not his; deciding food was the order of business.

"You're a hunter?" Evan asked, doubtfully, raising an eyebrow. This little girl covered in dirt, hair all over the place - she was a hunter? He wasn't sure that he believed it, but he couldn't deny the girl had skills.

She didn't answer him, content to munch on the crackers that she'd grabbed. "Hunter." she said firmly after it seemed she had no intention of answering him. Whether that was related to the old subject or not was up for debate. She reached for a cookie next.

Evan didn't bother to try and correct her again. If she wanted to think herself a Hunter, then she'd do it and nothing he could say right now would change her mind. "If you're gonna be a hunter, girlie, you're going to need someone to look out for you - work better in a team, y'know," he suggested, trying a different tack and surprising himself a little as he did so as he realised that he meant him. Evan. The guy who so far had always worked alone and bugger anyone who tried to change that. But then again, he'd decided a while back that she was coming with him, hadn't he?

That got her attention, and she looked up at him quizzically, pausing with the cookie halfway to her mouth. "Team." she repeated. "Partner. Ally." She added a few more things, none of which were in English. She stayed utterly still as she waited for his response.

"Yeah, something like that. You and me - looking out for each other." He wasn't sure that he needed anyone, but she sure looked like she did and he couldn't just leave her to it - she'd be dead in a week. "If you wanted," he added, casually, reaching for one of the beers he'd snagged off a shelf and popping it open.

"Partner." she said, with a decisive nod, then she mirrored him and reached for a beer as well. "Partner, partner ally team team player." She seemed to have forgotten about her cookie, it dangling forgotten between her fingers. "Sidekick!" she said happily.

Evan intercepted her reach and thrust a can of coke into her hand instead. "You'll prefer this, girlie." After all 'high on sugar' crazy Hunter wannabe was preferable to drunk crazy Hunter wannabe.

She took what he gave her, and stared at the can for a long minute before she figured out what to do with it. When she got it open, it foamed over her and she gave it a disgusted look. Then she started to drink it, remembering her cookie and finishing it.

"Now, will you stay here while I go find us a car or something?" he asked, looking towards the door. If he could find a car, they could get the hell out of this place - there was nothing that they could do here. Let someone else find the poor sods that had lived here.

She stared at him blankly. She shoved a few more crackers into her mouth, washed them down with her remaining soda, then picked her saw up. Seven pushed herself to her feet, and started towards the door, her wet shirt seeming to bother her since it was only half on, and she splashed as water was starting to creep its way across the floor. She frowned at the water, letting her shirt drop into it as she couldn't get it back on.

He looked at her, then at the water, as he got to his feet. Sighing, he shrugged off his coat and hung it round her shoulders. "You better bloody well take care of this," he admonished lightly, as he walked them both towards the door, figuring she was going to come with him whether he wanted her too or not. "No catching that saw of yours on the lining - taken bloody good care of that coat I have."

She seemed a little confused at the coat at first, then slid her arms into it, pleased that it worked better than her shirt. A smile even crept over her lips as she looked down at her now covered arms.

He looked at her a little sceptically, promising himself to keep an eye out for a clothing store when they got to a town. He'd have to dump any vehicle they took from here before they hit the next town - driving a stolen car from a farm full of dead people wasn't exactly smart, but that worked. That was the plan - he just hoped it'd run smoothly.

She started wandering out of the store, looking around both ways before exiting. Then she seemed to choose a totally random direction, and started walking off.

He was going to stop her - it wasn't the direction he would have chosen - but it was as good a direction as any. "We're looking for a car, girlie - preferably with gas in it. It's gonna be a long walk without one."

"Motorcycle." she said. Apparently, she was following this conversation. "Small. Gets through faster." Her whispers were telling her that. She didn't exactly know what she meant, but that's what they said.

"Well, yes - that would be good too," he said, skipping forward a bit to walk next to her. "Do you know where there is one?" he asked her, curiously.

She kept walking, not answering. She remembered seeing one, not that she knew how to make one work. She remembered stopping to look at it, someone satisfied with the colors on the shiny bits. The tank. her mind supplied randomly. It wasn't far, and she walked them there.

His heart leapt as the bike came into sight, incongruously sitting, polished and bright in the moonlight, even though the body of a man lay next to it. "You," he said, turning half towards her as he dashed over to the bike. "Are a complete star." He checked the bike and, seeing the keys sticking out from the dead man's pocket, stooped to pick them up. Placing them into the lock, he gunned the engine, relaxing as the bike roared to life.

Seven didn't seem to react to the praise, instead stopped as the bike's sound echoed through the empty night. She clapped her hands over her ears, frowning. Loud sounds were bad. It meant they could find you. She looked around, not looking happy about it.

"It's okay, girlie," he said, leaving the bike and going to get her. "Come on - like you said - faster." He led her over to the bike and climbed on. "You just sit behind me and hold on - we'll be away from here in no time."

She didn't look exactly like she was pleased with this plan, but after a few moments she complied, climbing onto the back of the bike and sliding her arms around him. She tried to be careful with her bonesaw, then thought better of keeping it where it was, sticking it firmly into the back of her jeans before replacing her hands.

He didn't catch where she'd put the saw - he might have had something to say about it if he had. Instead, he kicked the bike free and pulled out onto the road, accelerating up the away from the farm as fast as they could go.