Paws of Fire: Tiger in Town - Chapter 6
#8 of Paws of Fire: Tiger in Town
Chapter 6: Broken Apart
"So...how are they, Daniel?"
Daniel glanced up at Uraku, meeting his unfriendly gaze with one of his own. He felt like he was reading an actual story and was interupted. He quickly returned to reality...whatever crazy reality this was. The book had real creatures that he had met. The tiger on the other side of the car of the frieght train they were riding was from the book too.
"Oh, they're fine..." Daniel didn't want to talk to the tiger. The brute was acting unusually hostile after Daniel made his mistake to run from his duties to his world and Uraku's. Sure, Uraku had a right to be angry, but to completely reject everything they had built up in terms of friendship and love...that was too harsh a punishment. Daniel felt his heart breaking again. He still loved him, but he didn't want to. He looked back down at the book, covering his eyes from the tiger with the book.
He was at the last page already, just staring at the blank space that would be filled later. Uraku's world was in peril still, and he felt a pang of sympathy for the cheetah that seemed to take the book's interest. He had a crush on another male, only to lose him shortly after to the darkness that had engulfed that world. He closed his eyes and laid his head back against the hard wall. He closed the book and concealed it in his overcoat as he napped.
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Daniel dreamt vividly. He was clinging to Uraku's white tiger form, cowering as he heard bullets whiz past his ears. The tiger was rushing through an alley between two large buildings. They exited the alley quickly, only to be halted in the middle of the cleared street. The two of them were surrounded by two large tanks, apache helicopters, and high armored military personell. Daniel screamed something, feeling himself directing his words at Uraku, but he wasn't sure what he was screaming.
The tiger was growling as he looked around. Daniel was waiting for him to let out a roar that would destroy the contain...but the roar that Uraku let out was nothing compared to the roar he used the other day. He was weakened...greatly.
Daniel looked up, squinting as he looked into the lights of one of the apaches. He then heard the order...
"FIRE!"
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Daniel was awakened by the prodding paw of Uraku. "We've stopped...it's time we got moving."
Daniel shivered a bit. The dream seemed a little too real for him. He chopped it up to his memories for giving him such a dream. "Fine..." Daniel stood up, following Uraku out of the freight train after the tiger checked for anybody watching. They were alone, thankfully.
Daniel checked his surroundings. It was nighttime, but there was light all around him. His exact location wasn't as well lit, but he could see the gentle glow in the night sky that told the tale of a city. Several train tracks stretched around him. He wasn't sure where they were, except that it was a train station. Uraku stood still for a moment to let Daniel take point. Surely the tiger didn't assume Daniel knew his way around the entire world. Then again, Daniel is the only one who knows what to avoid. His dream reminded him of what lengths the world would go to right now to be rid of the 'serial killers' that they had become by now.
The train station transitioned into woodland nearby, and the two of them set off in that direction. Daniel walked through the wooded area, hands in his pockets as he carefully watched where he was going in the dark area.
Nostalgia flooded through him. He remembers of the days he used to walk through the woods behind his house as a kid. He always stayed in the forest for so long, far after dark before he would return home to parents who scolded him for being in such a dangerous place for so long. The woods were not dangerous to Daniel back then. Perhaps it was luck, but he enjoyed watching animals frolic in the clearings, or take notice of him and act curious.
Daniel stood still on a patch of fallen leaves, breathing in deeply as he let his mind drift back to a better time. All that he needed to be happy then was something to do. His imagination was at its peak and curiosity uninterrupted by the trends of teenage and young adult society.
"Why have we stopped?" The tiger pushed Daniel lightly, jostling him from his trance. Daniel shot a defiant glare at Uraku. His heart twisted again as he made the mistake of looking into his eyes. Those eyes betrayed any sense of companionship between them still. He turned back, walking briskly away from the tiger as he stifled another cry. He wanted Uraku to feel what he felt. He needed him to feel it...he wanted them both to share this unneeded suffering, reaveal it, and become even closer after overcomming it. Uraku had called him a traitor...but was it really he who betrayed, or was it Uraku?
The tiger betrayed everything that mateship stood for. He treated him like a tool. He was nothing more than a business deal with destiny to save his world.
No...he wasn't betraying a thing...he's doing nothing wrong! He's not Daniel's mate now. Uraku made sure that was shattered with the tigers word, 'Traitor!'.
They were walking again, slower than before as they approached the edge of the forest. Just beyond lied a busy city, lights turning the streets and the grassland around it into daytime. If he didn't know better, he'd claim he was looking over New York, but there was no way the train travelled THAT far in such a short time. They stopped there, looking around from the cover of the trees at the vast expanse of buildings that lay just ahead and a little below them.
"Let's go...we need to make it to Maine as fast as we can." Daniel sighed as he walked down the grassy slope to enter one of the dark alleys. Uraku stayed close behind.
"I'm sick of this, time to end this the way we did before, Daniel." Daniel's evil side shouted in his head. He began to shiver with a sudden burst of rage. The injustice that Uraku was showing burned him to the core more than ever, and he turned to face the tiger. He glared into those heartless eyes, almost challenging him.
"I'm not taking another step until you take back what you said..."