She would've made such a lovely bride...

To say that Nigel went his one way, was almost not sufficient to describe him, everything he could go against he did, and especially when it came to the people closest to his heart. So when he had heard that Mariella was set to marry one of the older hunters from the village, he had already then had a sour mouth in his mouth and was on the offence of even joining the ceremony.

“Oy Nigel, are you even listening?” a man around his own age, looked like a good damn mountain shoved his shoulder to get his attention. “What? Yes?” murmured the hum and looked up towards him – “So are we going out for drinks or what?” that was a good question, but as Nigel was about to answer he looked at his phone, the display lit up and showed him that he had one missed call and a voice message – who was calling him? Quickly he opened the phone up and pressed the button that would let him hear this message, and the only thing he got was – crying? His brows curled together as he took the phone away and pressed so he could hear it again. Suddenly the dawned to him who it was, and his heart sank to his stomach. “Yeah sorry, not going to make it” Nigel answered without looking up at Tim who started to protest, but Nigel didn’t stop throwing his bag over his shoulder and marched towards the portals that was only used for the high-ranking hunters, and sadly to say that he wasn’t a part of that crowd, yet.

Though the portal had gotten him far enough into Tibet, it was nearly close enough to the village he was aiming for. A curse left his breath, as he started walking towards his family home – home, so many memories was tied to that place, and most of the bad which had been why he never went back after that day he had decided enough was enough. “You should have brought her with you, you asshole” Nigel whispered under his breath, before a car pasted him and slowed down. Nigel raised his brow and started walking faster, it wasn’t often that he saw the kindness of people, but as he went up to the passenger seats window, he was who it was. “Long time no see cousin, here for the wedding?” right ofcourse it was a family member, “Yes, give me a ride the rest of the way?” he lied, opened the door, after he had to injure half an hour morbid lessons on how the older cousin had slaughtered a coven of vampires. Oh joy

As the cousin had locked the car, Nigel had quickly swiped the keys from his pocket “Well see you tomorrow” Nigel said with the fakest smile he had worn for ages, making sure that he didn’t see as Nigel went for the window that would be Mariella’s room. Thank god for only one storey houses. Hopefully she would still be up “Marie?” he whispered as to fingers knocked on the window.

His lips curled up in a slight smirk, as the words left her mouth “Of course I came” he said in a hushed voice, and waited till she would open the window far enough so he could get in. Still wearing his gym clothes, a grey pair of jogging pants, a black t-shirt and his black hoodie. For a while he just looked at her, not really knowing how he could make it all better, at least not right now. Because the plan had formed, now it was just a question to make her follow it, or if she even wanted to go the way that he felt was the only way out of this. He let out a sigh, when he saw how she put her arms around herself and looked so much smaller than she was. His bag fell to the ground, and in a swift movement he took her into his arms, being a tall man almost reaching 190 centimeters, he had that aura around him that would either intimidate or comfort a person. Hoping that this would help her, he let his nose fall into her auburn red hair and closed his eyes, just for a moment. “Im getting you out of here, that’s what I’ll do – pack a bag” he said quietly and let her go again, looking at her face testing the waters if he had said the right think.

A slight chuckle left his own lips, as she said that it was the best idea she had heard in a while, he had to hold back a snickering comment about that he was good a finding stuff that people would think was a good idea. Until they were in the situation, to which he thought, that he did not hope that Mariella would regret this. But as she packed her things that quickly, the doubt in his own mind slowly disintegrated. He nodded as she said that she was ready.
“Alright – lets get going, cousin Tommas saw me, and drove me here, so it won’t take long before they’ll put two and two together, but before that happens, we will be long gone” he said with an reassuring smile and, took his own bag over his shoulder. As they both had crawled out of the window, he slowly closed it behind her. With long strides he walked over the gravel and opened the car. “Get in” it was a nice car, he had to give that to Tommas, and he was almost in that mindset of getting the car all the way to Gaia instead of taking the portal – that might be the best idea.
He threw the bag into the back of the car, and instead of taking place behind the wheel, he instead walked over to all the other cars and started slicing the tires.

“Extra precautions, so it takes longer before they follow” he said and blink with her left eye, the engine started and a soon they were on the road, back to Gaia, and getting as far away from the dreaded place. “Still feeling okay?” he finally asked after a couple of minutes, and for a brief second looked towards her.

It was like it was taken straight out of a movie, as the car moved almost silently down the main roads of Tibet. No one were thinking that they might find a hunter family with ties to Scandinavian, would make their own village in china. Good thing that portals was an option, or else they would be in for a very long trip back. Even though Nigel had taken that road himself, not knowing where he should, he had traveled by hitchhiking and walking from town to town.
“You can put some music on if you like, that might help take the edge off” he said without looking away from the road, changed gears and the motor went silent again. A small laugh left his throat when she asked how Gaia was. “A relentless and brutal place, I’ve had my ass handed to me more than I can count, but it’s a nice pace of change” just what I needed he silently added in his mind.

What was he doing before getting here? That, was a more complicated question “Hm, I was finish up some training and was about to go out for a beer with the guys, nothing mayor.” he shrugged his shoulders, there had been happening so much in his life, and it was hard just to put it down in words. Especially when it came to Nigel. Like Cecilia, what a shit show that had been. Normally he never left people behind that he loved, unless they wanted him too. But things had been taken out of his control, and when he finally came back, he hadn’t gotten himself around to actually apologize to her. Clearly thinking about something else, he still didn't leave his eyes from the road and was very focused getting them back in one piece.

He rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle when she teased him, it was nice to hear that she wasn’t all gloom and doom. So, for now he would take it, without any cheesy comebacks.
But it didn’t keep that way, as soon as she said that he hadn’t spoken to her, his hands grabbed hard around the wheel on the car, and his eyes narrowed. A classic Nigel sign that he was dealing with his inner demons, that some would just call emotions that you couldn’t control. But for a person growing up with parents always telling you, that emotions that was irrelevant shouldn’t be something that you should show.

He licked his lips and swallowed, “No” he said and took a deep breath “But before you say anything, I wanted too! And I tired, many times I just - what the hell do I say?” he asked, but didn’t really give her time to comment on it, it also seemed like she was giving him is time to formulate a good answer when she started looking for a channel on the radio.
“And when I tried to look her up, she already had a new guy, so I, though I missed my chance you know and I, besides she’s better of” there was nothing Nigel wanted more, than to take her in his arms and tell her it was not her fault. That he had to take care of thing so fast, that he didn’t had the time to tell her about it. But how did you then leave, when you still had feelings for the person, and she had moved on? That was what he was most afraid of, the emotion would tear him into pieces.

His eyes were glued to the road in front them, but that didn’t mean he was not hearing what Mariella was telling him. A little part of him, wasn’t sure it would bring anything good for him to talk to her, he had a very annoying way of always saying the worst things – or things he didn’t mean, just to get away from an unpleasant convocation. So, in the end time would heal her wounds that he never came back, she would find a nice guy that would make all the bad ones in her life fade in the background. So maybe an apology would help, but would it make it better? He was not sure.

“I know, I’ll think about it some more, but I’m not promising anything” he breathed out and leaned back into the seat, trying to make him more comfortable. But the hole in his stomach and how he felt, after being called out like that was very obvious.
“You are welcome kid, no matter what you can always count on me” he said and smiled towards her. His fingers was tapping on the wheel to the music; “Its going to be around and hour before we reach the portal, so you can just relax, get some sleep or whatever you need” he removed his one hand from the wheel and tussled her hair with a big smile on his face.

His fingers drummed on the wheel as he listened to the music that came from the speakers, her voice started to sound more and more drowsy as she spoke, which made Nigel sneak a glans at her silhouette. It was almost like he had his daughter in the car, she also had the tendency to try to stay awake when she was with him. The situation was different though, as it were a clear sign from Katelyn that she just missed her dad.
“sleep” he laughed and pushed her shoulder and not long after she did. The smile on his lips disappeared and he let out a deep sigh. How did he even end up in this mess, everything had been fine with Daisy until it hadn’t. Then things were going smoothly with Cecilia, house and all that until it broke apart. Maybe he just wasn’t meant to have relationships, because whatever he touched, he spoiled. Deep breath Blanchard, one day at the time remember that.

It took around two hours before they arrived too the portal, what a shame that they had to leave the car. Maybe he could come pick it up later, but know it was more a matter of getting Mariella to safety. He didn’t even want to think about what the family would do, when they figured out what had happened. If he wasn’t already an outcast, they would cut his hand off now that was sure. “Ella, we are here” he said softly as he shook her gently. He stood out of the car and took their bags out of the car, we walked over to the passenger-seats door and opened it “Don’t make me lift you up like Katelyn, I will do it though” he teased, and reached out his hand to help her out.

“good” he said with a warm voice as she told him that she was awake, he chuckled lightly as she asked him where they were going. “Gaia of course, where else?” he asked with a slight teasing tone to his voice, as he closed the door behind her and locked the car. Maybe it would still be here if he came back another time, it really was a nice car and that douchebag of a cousin deserved having his car taken away.
“In here” he told, as he took Mariella towards an abandon barn in the middle of nowhere “The portal is in there – just a fair warning, I wasn’t really allowed to use it, so there might be some problems when we get over on the other side, just let me do the talking okay?” he said and put an arm around her shoulder “ready?” he asked, before they slowly walked towards the portal and stepped through it.

Luckily for them, there wasn’t anybody on the other side. A breath of relief left Nigel, as he quickly guided Ella through the organization headquarters out on the parking lot where an older pickup truck was holding as the only car there was left. It was early morning, luckily most of his work was around the night so that was why he had still been up when he got the call.

“let’s get you home, and then we can get some well-deserved rest” he said, as he put the bags into the trunk of the other car and hoped in behind the wheel.

He put the car in gear and turned the engine on.
Driving back home here in Gaia with Ella sitting beside him, it was weird, because he had never brought any from his past here. Not that he would ever leave the fire fairy there, in his past. But it had been a nice break away from everything he hated. The clan, the parents, the horrible family. He hadn’t much love for what once had been his whole life.

“We need to find something new to live in, my apartment doesn’t really - have the room for two persons” he laughed and smiled towards her “But that would make a great excuse to finally buy that House that needs a loving pair of hands and making something that’s ours” he then remembered that Mariella might not even wanted to live with him. She was a grown woman and had the right to do whatever she wanted.
“Or we could of course find you something for just you, I’m getting ahead of myself” he laughed, and wasn’t that embarrassed to admit that he looked forward to actually living with someone again. That had always been very weird for him. Going from living with so many people at one place, maybe in different houses but in the end they all behaved like one big family. To live with Daisy, to find Cecilia – and then all alone. It had been hard.

He smiled when she told him that she would be with him right now. To be honest he really needed that, more than she might even realize.
“I’m really glad to hear that, so it seems like we know what my free time is going to be used for, looking at new houses, and your job is to find good fits for us” he smiled towards her, as he turned down a street, it wouldn’t take long before they would be at the apartment.
This wedding might have been a blessing in disguise, more than both of them wanted to admit. If he was being completely honest, he should have taken her with him when he first left. And why he hadn’t, would be something that could keep him awake at night. But you couldn’t change the past, so there was only thing they could do, that was looking forward, and those years they had lost would now become something productive and much better.

They finally got to the apartment, he could feel how his entire body was tired and was begging for a night’s sleep. He pulled the bags, yet again, out of the car and walked towards the edgy looking door that would lead into the apartment’s hall. “One moment” he spoke, as he opened the mailbox and got out all the bills and other letters he had gotten. “Alrighty, we are going to the second floor”

Finally, they could sit down in a somewhat comfortable couch “I think I could sleep for a year now…” he mumbled, and pointed towards the bedroom, that had a curtain as a door. “You’ll take the bed, there is washed linnets in the closet, and no I don’t want to hear about it, you are taking the bed, end of discussion” he smiled, and got up again stretching.

Sleep for a year, yeah right. His eyes were glued to the clock on the wall telling him that it was five in the morning. At least it was an hour more than usual. He groaned and got up and put on some jogging clothes. He was back two hours later from a long run, and after he saw that Ella was still sleeping, then he took a bath.
Around 8 he was done and started looking into what he needed to do for the next couple of days. He had a new contract and needed to study up on the abilities for the species that he was hunting. He had made a cup of coffee and some light burned toast. After a few more hours, and Ella still wasn’t up he decided to go shopping for groceries. Hopefully Ella was a better cook than he was, and he could really go for some homecooked meal instead of takeaway which had been something he had been eating every day, for, well a long time.
Nigel put the key in the door, just as Ella woke up and walked in with arms filled with bags, toilet paper and paper towels. “Morning sleepy head” he said as she popped her head out of his bedroom. “Maybe you could help?” he asked, and almost dropped one of the four bags that he was shuffling with. “Never shop when you’re hungry, I’ll never learn that” he laughed, as he put down some of the bags, and sighed.

He looked at all the groceries as she said it was so much more fun. He nodded slowly “You can say that again, I think I bought the whole store, and I’m dying to try these!” he laughed and pulled out a package of cookies. Most people would look at the well build guy and think he was someone that put a lot of effort into taking care of his body. Truth be told, the only reason that he ran every morning and trained as he did, had something to do with habit than him actually enjoying it. And then there was the food, well he wasn’t a great cook, and he always went for the easy version so being so healthy wasn’t really something he was, and then there was all the sweet treats you could get.

He sat down by the small dining table and then shook his head, when she asked how long he had slept. “Well” he said with a smirk and made a shrug with his shoulders. “I slept until five, which is an hour longer than normal” he laughed and put a cookie in his mouth and made a small sound of pleasure “That is the stuff” he said and closed his eyes, so he could really enjoy the sweetness that was exploding in his mouth.
“How are you feeling this morning, with everything?” he finally opened his eyes and looked towards Mariella, he knew that a city would be something of a challenge with her powers. Maybe the needed to find someone that could help her close some of it off, so she could breathe without always having the feelings directed in her mind not being able to escape.