S

  I start picking up the papers on the floor.

  They were everywhere.  Under the couch, spilled all over the coffee table.

  I stack them neatly, grabbing my inkwell and quill.

  I don't know where to start.  Usually I just get into it, but I can't.

  All I can think about is her.

  Is she okay?  When will she be in her prime?

  I just get to work, ignoring everything.

  Week later

  I got more and more distant with everyone.

  My shadows noticed this.

  "Hey, you alright?"  One of them asked just as they were walking to thier assigned door.

  I shake my head.  "Im still worried about her."

  "Then go visit her. You have plenty of time while we are all away."

  He was right.  "Thanks."

  He smiled, walking through his door.

  I waited till everyone was at thier assigned human before I left.

  I walked to the door, but it was locked.

  Trying to go somewhere?

  That was my voice. But I didn't say anything.

  "Who said that?"  I say, looking all around.

  Oh, wouldn't you like to know?

  "Kind of why I asked."

  I heard snarling, then I was thrown back into a wall.

  My hands were pinned.

  I couldn't move.

  I try reaching for her blade.

  "Don't try anything."

  I look up, and it's me.

  "Who are you?"  I snarl, feeling my fangs grow.

  He chuckles. "Just someone who wants some payback."

  Payback?  Payback?!?!?!

  "What do you want from me?"

  He smiles, showing my snow-white teeth.

  "You to watch as I take the thing you care about most."

  Moon.

  "Ah, he gets it!"  My double laughs, grabbing my neck.

  "Don't touch her...." I wheeze, most air escaping me.

  "That's kind of the point, isn't it?" He smiles wider, cocking his head to the side.

  "If you hurt her...."

  "You'll what?  Scare me at night?  Hide beneath my bed?  Hide in my closet?"  He tightens his grip, leaning in closer to my ear.

  "She was supposed to be mine."

  I growl at him, claws growing.

  "Enjoy the show."  He cackled, letting go of my neck and backing away.

  A holographic screen showed up.

  She was walking.  More like hobbling, but it was still something.

  She was okay.

  She took flight, barely leaving the ground.  Then she started sending strong gusts of wind at her gurney.

  He grinned from the side, quickly changing his eyes to back, then going back to normal.

  He reversed the gurney, landing it like it was before.

He steps out from the shadows, walking behind her.

  "Aren't you supposed to be in the gurney, asleep?  Or is flipping things fun?"

  He taps his foot rhythmically.

  This guy was exactly like me.

She turns around, hands behind her back.

  She looks very guilty.

  I keep reaching for her dagger.

  "I...  Uh..." She smiles.

  He kneels and hugs her.

  He hugged her.

  I squirm and fight, finally grabbing her dagger.

  I cut myslef loose from whatever invisible force was holding me, and I look.

  He lifted her by the hips.

  Oh, I'll kill him.

  I made a portal, storming through as fast as I could.

  He was handing her a glass and she was about to take a sip.

  I make the glass explode, and he snarls, grabbing her wrist.

  She knows it's not the real me.

  She struggles, but she gets punched in the stomach.

  She got punched.

  Oh, he will pay.

  I will skin him alive.

  "You." I snarl, making my claws and fangs come out, her blade in my left hand.

  She falls, gasping.

  He yanks her back up, his knuckles going white.

  I run and finally dive for him, and he lets go of her wrist.

  I claw at his clothes, ripping them to shreds.

  He fits in a few punches, but I don't feel them.

  I claw at his skin, at his face.

  He will never hurt her again.

  I hear grunting.

  Two shadows are holding her, one with a blade to her throat.

  One of them was the same one who suggested I go visit her.

  She kept trying to break free, and it could have been possible if she was fully herself.

But that wasn't happening right after she was recovering from a deadly illness.

  I kick my double in the face, then dive for the two shadows.

  The one not holding the knife punches the side of her head, and she goes limp.

  "Idiot!  He told us not to harm her!" The one with the blade said.

  They were arguing.  This was my chance.

  I dig my claws into the one that held Moon with the knife.

  I dig them deeper and deeper into his shoulder.

  The other one pounced on my back, but I was too tall.

  He landed on the middle of my spine, using his claws as grips.

  I scream in pain, but I reach behind me, tearing him out of my back.

  I stand over Moon, protecting her.

  They would have to kill me to get to her.

  They are circling me, on either side.

  I decide to listen.

  The one with the blade snarls, while the other says nothing.

  I reach to the side, attempting to grab them both.

  One bites my hand, the other clawing into my tendons.

  I ignore the pain, grabbing them by thier collars.

  They both look startled. Scared.  I don't care.

  After what they did to her, they deserve it.

  I raise them to my face, willing thier hands to stay at thier sides.

  "Who sent you here?" I growl, my eyes going black, making them come right up to my eyes.

  They both don't say anything.  They are frozen in fear.

  My double rises, staggering.

  I lower them both less than an inch.

  He will die today.

  I slam them both into one another, knocking them out.

  I throw them to either side of me, my eyes locked onto him.

  He breaths heavily, all my clawmarks gone.

  His face is still healing.

  I am still standing over her.

  But I place one hand on the ground, crouching over her.

  He will die today for what he did to her.

  "You think you can stop me?" He laughs.

  I just narrow my eyes.

"Leave.  Her.  Alone."  I say, my heart pounding in my ears.

  "Oh, come now.  I just want her to be mine. It's that simple. Hand her over, and this will go down smoothly."

  I will never.

  She will belong to no one else.

  Except me.

  I am hers, and she is mine.

  He stares me down, watching me crouch over her.

  "Oh, I see how it is."  His face darkens.  "I have some competition, don't I?"

  I know he's just trying to make me leave her.

  He's trying to make me react.

  He will be very disappointed.

  "Then this will be so much more fun."

He teleports in front of me, but I take her blade, grab his shoulder, ramming the silver into his stomach.

  He looks down in fear at the hilt.

  "H....  How?"  He stammers, trying to break free from my grasp.

  I hold him right there, unable to move.   I clench his shoulder harder.

  I pull him to my face, squeezing his neck with my other hand.

  "Do...  Not...  Mess...  With...  Me..."

  I take out her dagger, and he flops on his back.

  He is next to her now.

  He reaches for her hand.  His eyes are desperate.

  I stomp on his arm, and he yelps, pulling away.

  "Go." I say, my eyes flashing black again.

  He evaporates into a plume of black smoke.  So do his two companions.

  He wasn't worth my time.

  He wasn't worth the bloodshed.

  I kneel beside her face, feeling her forehead.

  She was at normal temperature

  I put my hand underneath her head.

  I put my palm on her collar bone.

  "Wake up."

  Her eyes flash to life, and she jumps.

  She screams, scooting away.

  "It's okay!  It's me!  It's ok.  Don't be afraid of me...  Please...."

  She is breathing heavily, eyes wide.

  After she sees her dagger covered in his blood, she scoots back further.

  "What did you do to him?!?!" She screeches, her voice fearful.

  His blood was the same color as mine.

  "It's me...  Please, Moon....  Don't do this to me..."  I feel like crying now.

  She was supposed to trust me.

  She was supposed to never be afraid of me.

  Tears start coming from my eyes.

  I stab her dagger into the floor, realizing how bad shape I was in.

  My suit was torn to shreds, my skin torn open from claws and punching fists.

  I can't imagine how many bruises I have.

  I keep shaking, my head in my hands.

  She was scared of me.

  She was afraid of me.

  I weakly pound the floor with my fist, not knowing what else to do.

I hear her heavy steps.

  I look up.

  The lighting above her makes her look like the most beautiful thing anyone could ever imagine.

  She collapses onto me, her knees giving out.

  I catch her in my arms, cradling her close to my chest.

  I rock her, my tears splashing into her hair.

  She starts crying, too. She says something, but I can't hear it.

  "I love you."