Pearl
2.

Adrian Kirok yawned, stretched, and looked around to gather his wits. He was half-lying, half-sitting on a faded green couch, in the middle of a small, cluttered living room. The couch and the room surrounding it obviously saw a lot of hard use, everything was worn, faded, and old.

The previous day seemed a blur in his mind. The restaurant. The gun... Adrian remembered his job offer. He remembered going home with Max, and meeting his rather large family. Aside from his wife, Francie, there were four sons, raging from age nineteen down to nine, and two daughters. One was an eleven year old, the other appeared slightly younger than Adrian himself.

He'd talked to her, Leia, more than the rest. She had been up late in the living room, studying. "I'm going to learn all of this," she said, motioning to a stack of text books. "And graduate from high school. I'm a senior this year--If I can get good grades for the rest of the year, maybe I can get a scholarship." She'd explained about how her parents couldn't afford to send her to college without a lot of help, and there weren't many colleges that wanted someone from Outside.

Something gnawed on Adrian's memory. What in the world? he thought, brushing a strand of green hair from his face. He felt as if there was something enormous he should be thinking about, something just on the edge of his conscious mind. But every time he almost grasped it, it flitted out of his reach, laughing at him.

It had something to do with where he had been before wandering into the restaurant, but he couldn't remember at all.

Odd, Adrian reflected, as one of the girls made her way into the room, and sat down at a table cluttered with books and papers. "I hope I didn't wake you," she said.

"No," he said. "What time is it?"

"Five-thirty. I'm up a little early..." She grinned at Adrian's black expression. "My brothers think I'm sick, too, but this is when I can concentrate the best. No one else is up, until Daddy has to get up for work, so I can finish studying and have a little time to myself."

"Oh..." He shrugged, lay back down, and stared at the ceiling for an indeterminable amount of time. Again, he got the same feeling that there was something he should know, or at least be thinking of, and it was even worse now that Leia was in the room.

She seemed oddly familiar. Adrian felt as if he should know her already, as if they'd met before. But where? Until yesterday, I was... I was... He gave up, having no idea where he was from.

After awhile, the rest of the house began to get up. Max pointed him to a shower and offered him a change of clothes, both of which Adrian accepted gratefully. Breakfast was hectic, understandable considering the amount of people crowded around such a small table.

After the meal ended, he found himself whisked away to work. Belle greeted Adrian and Max briefly, gave Adrian a set of instructions, and went about her business. Adrian's job mostly consisted of sitting in a corner, glaring around conspicuously, moving only if needed. It left him bored most of the time, and sensing it, Amara would occasionally come over to talk with him.

There was something about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Again, a feeling of familiarity, but it was more than that. Adrian found himself suspicious of the brown-haired girl, unable to tell why. He found most people avoided her, and those that seemed to know her- the restaurant's regulars- didn't like her very much, for no discernable reason.

But, Adrian was polite and she was nice enough, and after several days, they grudgingly became friends. Belle watched them carefully, not sure if she could trust Adrian around her daughter, but saw nothing to complain about.

Time passed quickly, days blurring into one another. Sometimes, Adrian was called upon to disarm a gun-bearing fiend, or at least kick someone out of the dining room, but nothing really marked the passage of time. Everyday was breakfast with Max, sitting in the corner, home and dinner with Max's family. The nights were spent on the couch, and Adrian insisted on giving Max and Francie part of his salary to pay his rent. He also found himself feeling quite a part of their family, almost as if Leia was his own sister.

Days blurred together to form weeks, and eventually months. Whatever Adrian had been so worried about alluded him, and eventually the nagging feeling left him. Things were pleasant and relatively uneventful for about three months.

After only several weeks, Adrian began to be able to pick out troublemakers as they walked in. Three months after his appearance, he saw one such troublemaker immediately- a teenager who was on the tall side, blond and wearing way too much leather. He swaggered more than he walked, with a brainless blond girl giggling and snapping bubble gum following him.

Upon seeing him, not only did Adrian peg him as a troublemaker, but also he felt somehow that he'd seen him before. He watched as the man demanded a table, snapped at Amara, and waited patiently for the youth to make his move. It came when another customer accidentally tripped over the man's chair on his way out.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly.

"Not as sorry as you will be," came the answer, as the man had apparently taken the disruption to his meal personally.

The blond stood violently, knocking his chair to the ground in the process, and there was a knife in his hand now.

Time for Adrian to step in.

"Get out," he said calmly, wading through the sea of tables to stand in front of the blond.

"Who the Hell are you?" the blond demanded, sizing up his new opponent.

"My name is Adrian, now get out. Unless you want more trouble than you can handle," he challenged.

"Trouble's my middle name," the blond replied, and the fight began. At first, it seemed the two were evenly matched, despite the blonde's knife. Adrian was adept at avoiding the blade; darting in and out for a quick but heavy blow when he got the chance.

The fight escalated as the two slammed each other around. Adrian managed to grab the blonde's wrist, twisting it until he was forced to drop the knife. Taking advantage of this, Adrian slammed him on to a table, balled his free hand in to a fist, and drew back to punch.

The blond winced in preparation of the blow, but it never came. He opened his eyes, to see Adrian giving him a very strange look, and then all of a sudden, he knew why. "Jeremy?" Adrian asked.

"Adrin?"

To Be Continued! (Someday.)

Author's note: Jeremy in leather. ::purrs:: Oh, wait, that isn't what I was going to say. I meant, Ocean of Dreams and all characters therein belong to Rei Helen; the concept of Pearl is mine. The mischaracterization is on purpose, and actually is part of the plot. I promise. ^^