Opening the door to the room in the inn she glanced about. It was the same damn room she had when she left this place, to move in with Phillipe. The bag on her shoulder felt so heavy to her. Almond eyes gazed instantly to the window where she looked out into Rhy'Din.

"I thought I was finally out of here..." She muttered to herself, her french accent all to apparent. Her helmet was under her arm and she simply sat it down on the bed along with her bag and her guitar. The tears had stopped, but the pain in her heart was still as bad as when she saw what really happened to her book.

The room was quiet, but familiar to her so she felt somewhat at home... something was missing though. He was missing. It almost seems as if she had cried too much... no more tears left for it all. She wanted to cry more, but couldn't. She was mad, confused, and hurt.

For the first time in a short while she pulled out a pack of cigarettes she got from someone. Taking one out she slipped it between her lips, snapped her fingers so that familiar flame appeared above her fingertips. The flame was brought to the tip of the cigarette and she inhaled, dragging in the smoke with shaky breath, before shaking her hand and the flame dissapearing.

She exhaled, and sat down on the bed near her things, the smoke simply rolling from her lips. Eyes closed a moment as she sighed. Her breath was still shaky and heavy from all the crying she had done. She was hurt at this point. "I've never felt so... betrayed." She said to herself before pulling the picture out of her and Antonio. Almond eyes gazing to it as the cigarette was burning slowly.

For once, she didn't feel so sad about Antonio... it was almost as if it wasn't him she was grieving for anymore. It was Phillipe. She looked to her guitar and shook her head before standing, her feet carrying her across the room where she would lay the picture down on the dresser. She flicked the ashes off of the cigarette and moved back to the bed, putting out her cigarette, half smoked, in the ashtray by the bed on the night stand.

She picked up that guitar and pulled the pick out from its strings before playing a few notes. The song she began to play was almost out of instinct, a song she learned how to play shortly before leaving her home and winding up in Rhy'Din. Her fingers still would play the sound as she began to sing.

"I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh God it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head"

Her eyes started to feel hot with tears that were simply not forming, but yet her fingers still played the song. Her voice sounded so weak, but strangley beautiful at the same time.

"How do you feel? That is the question
But I forget you don't expect an easy answer
When something like a soul becomes initialized
And folded up like paper dolls and little notes
You can't expect a bit of hope
So while you're outside looking in
Describing what you see
Remember what you're staring at is me"

With the last words she sniffled a little, a small amount of teardrops forming in her soft almond eyes. Her fingers still continued to play after a moment and her voice picked up once more.

"'Cause I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
but No one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head"

Her voice became shakey, and her body began to shiver a little as she played. Hitting a wrong note or two, but not really destroying the song...

"How much is real?
So much to question
An epidemic of the mannequins
contaminating everything
We thought came from the heart
But never did right from the start
Just listen to the noises
Null and void instead of voices
Before you tell yourself
It's just a different scene
Remember it's just different from what you've seen."

Tears began to fill her eyes once more, before falling onto her pale cheeks that were already stained from previous tears, her voice was still shakey. She sounded so small in that room of hers, her voice barley heard over that guitar.

"I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
And all I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head"

With that last note she almost dropped the guitar, but laid it on the bed before she turned to grab a pillow, burying her face in it she began to cry heavily once more. Her body was shaking terribly with her sobbing. She felt sick... but she still loved him after what he did... She hoped he knew that much.

The creature turned and his agitation was clear. "My name is RaptorSoul. If you insist on abbreviating, then Soul will do."
"Fine! I dont care, whatever you want, Soul." Phillipe stated. "But the fact is that I want that book back."
Soul gazed at him. "Our business was completed. I paid you more than what was reasonable."
The bag hit the ground between them. "Take your money back" said Phillipe. It wont buy me back what I've lost. Only that book will.
Soul smiled as only a raptor could. "I'm afraid that is impossible."
Phillipe grew angry. "If you dont give me that book, the I will take it."
Soul's smile faded. "Is that a threat, Mouse?"
Phillipe hesitated for only an instant, then stepped into the raptor's face. "Giving you that book was the worst mistake of my life. It cost me the only thing in the world that matters. Aj is gone from my life, so you see, I've got nothing to lose." His voice was soft, but filled with intense anger. "Now give me that book back."
Soul watched him for a moment, then said softly, "You are a brave man, Mouse. Not many are willing to say what you just said. I admire that. But I must remind you of what I said to you before: Remember how I told you that the book was dangerous and that it may be harmful for Aj to have it?
Phillipe thought about that first night when he had gone to Soul's house. Soul had told him everything. How he heard about the book then because of rumors around town that Aj had been seen using it. When it's description had found it's way to Soul, he had immediately recognized it for what it was. The book had belonged to Aj's mother, Maria Smith D'Aubigne. And he knew this because Soul knew Aj's mother. They had met many years earlier....before Aj's birth...before her mother's marriage... and before Soul had been RaptorSoul.
Maria was just a young woman then, filled with ambition. Soul's name had been Sol, and he had been human. Maria had taken a fancy to him and made her feelings known. Sol had tried to be kind in his rejection, but Maria was furious. In her anger and pain she had used the book to call upon dark forces to curse Sol, swearing that if he behaved as a monster, then he would remain a monster forever. And Sol became Soul....RaptorSoul, and he had fled to Rhy'Din.
And now, having seen the book after so many years, here was his chance to undo the curse that he had been wrongfully forced to endure for so many years. And that's when he had approached The Mouse.

Phillipe looked up at Soul. "Aj is not her mother. She will not make the same mistakes that her mother did."
Soul shook his head. "You were not so sure before."
Phillipe took a deep breath. "I am sure now. She needs to be given the chance to prove herself. If we dont allow that... " Philipe thought about Aj's struggle with her parents. "Then we are no better than those who drove her here to Rhy'Din. The same ones who drove you here."
Soul was silent. He stood for a long time, looking at the small man in front of him. Then silently, he opened his cloak. Inside was a large pocket, and in that pocket rested the spellbook. Soul removed it and looked at it. He sighed for a long moment, and then handed it to Phillipe. "If I refuse you, then I have truelybecome the monster her mother intended."
Phillipe took the book. "Thank you." He thought for a moment. "If...If Aj ever forgives me for what I've done... I will tell her about you. Maybe someday, when she's ready, she can help you."
Soul smiled a sad smile, even for a raptor. "Perhaps." he said simply, and watched as Phillipe disappeared down the street.

Phillipe was sitting at the counter, trying to eat. He'd been neglecting food off and on for the last two days, hanging out around the Inn, hoping to see Aj. Somehow he hadn't seen her. He knew she was staying here. She had said so in her letter.
He lifted another spoonful of cereal and stared at it, not hungry. Suddenly a door opened at the top of the stairs and Aj appeared. She came down and went straight behind the counter without noticing him. When she finally looked up, Phillipe was shocked at the condition she was in. Oh man, he thought. What have I done?
He wondered what to say, before finally settling on the simplest.
"Hello Aj."