<blockquote><div><cite>CrossFire wrote:</cite>Blaze gasped in surprise as she saw Richard shoot past her in a blur, attacking the boy in the middle of the group. Quickly scrambling to her feet, she slipped and slid all the way over to him. Grabbing onto his shirt tightly and pulling on his coat as hard as she could, she shook her head quickly as he tried to get her to run away. "No! Not without you Wichard!" she cried, the red and blue whites bouncing off the walls of a nearby building catching her attention. <br/><br/>"Wichard! The woo woo's! We gotta go!" Blaze cried over the fighting and yelling of the other boys. Suddenly she was thrown backwards into the deep snow as one of the other boys tried t break in. No one seemed to notice the cops pulling up beside the curb and quickly exiting their vehicle before it was too late. Blaze struggled to get out of the snow, reaching out for Richard. She grabbed a hold of his coat just as a burly police officer grabbed a hold of her and the other called for back up. "WICHARD!!" Blaze yelled out, her nails tearing at the fabric of his coat as the officer tore her away from him, the only boy that ever cared for her. The only person she had left in the world. She was tossed into the back of a police car and locked in just as back up arrived. Four or five cops raced for the boys and started grabbing them up, keeping them restrained.<br/><br/>Blaze beat her hands against the window, leaving foggy handprints on the window as muffled screams could be heard from inside for Richard. The officer got in his vehicle and pulled away; the outline of Blaze's head could be seen from the back window as she yelled for Richard.<br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/>Blaze shot upright in bed, panting hard as sweat dripped down her face. The memory already fading, leaving her with nothing but the feeling of dread. She couldn't even remember what she had been dreaming about, but whatever it was she knew it was a horrible, painful nightmare. Suddenly her alarm clock turned on, the sound of orchestra music filling the room. Blaze stared down at her hands, her knuckles white from gripping the blankets so hard. <br/><br/>Shaking her head rapidly, Blaze pushed herself out of bed and shuffled her way over to her bathroom. Today was the day she was supposed to meet her fiancé. Speak of the devil, the doorbell rang downstairs just about the time the thought had crossed her mind.</div></blockquote><br/><br/>Richard had fought against the police with all his might, but it was useless, for he was just a child. He had been horrified as they dragged her away. As the car she was in drove away he could see her shouting something, but he hadn't heard what. His fists clenched at the memory, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel. Even years later Richard thought about that day, about what she could have been screaming. His mind would play tricks on him, he could hear her yell out in the memory something like: "WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM!? WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT ME LIKE YOU PROMISED! I HATE YOU WICHARD, I HATE YOU!" It often changed but whatever it was, it meant he failed, to him even though he was young that was still the most important thing for him to do in his life, help and protect Blaze, and she was gone. He used to look for her, it used to be what he did with any spare time he got. But after so many years going by, even if he found her, would he recognize her? Would it matter, he imagined she would hate him, after all she must have been taken to a horrible foster home like he had been, and she wouldn't have been able to survive on her own if she ran away like he did. So he figured she was either long since dead or brutally abused by some horrible father who maybe was even a pedophile. He could picture it in his head so clearly, Blaze's terrified face with tears running down her cheeks as a hideous man walked towards her as he took off his belt.<br/><br/>And it was all his fault, because he wasn't strong enough or because he hadn't just taken her and ran or any number of possibilities he had thought of since then. Richard has always hated himself, that day has tortured him every moment of his life. And he had reached a point when he didn't want to live anymore, but that's when he met his best and only friend, Edward Steele. He gave Richard a reason to live again, it may not have been something he felt was vital like protecting Blaze had been, but it was something to keep on breathing for. Edward gave him a job, a place to stay, but mainly he was just a good friend to him. Richard hated that he felt like he owed Edward so much, he wanted his life to have purpose, and not just being helped through life, the body guard job just wasn't enough to feel like he wasn't a useless waste of space. But at least he could be a good friend to Edward, it surprised him how little friends he had, Edward was a great guy, but most people only saw his money, assumed he was a snobby rich kid. It didn't help that Edward wore an expensive black suit but wore it sloppily, almost always wore sunglasses, and had messy hair, all just making him look kind of like a rich douche bag. His uncaring nature didn't help either. He was also a little socially awkward from never really having any friends growing up, but once you got close to him you could see a good guy underneath.<br/><br/>He looked to the passenger side of the Limo, where Edward sat. He put on a good face, but Richard could see that he was nervous. He decided to stop worrying about the past for now and focus on his friend in the present. He turned back to the road ahead before he jokingly said. "Worried this girl is going to outclass you in snobbishness? Or that she will be uglier than Medusa?" Edward chuckled, before leaning back and saying casually. "Snobbish, ugly, that I can handle, as long as she doesn't have the personality of a goldfish, that and she won't just hate me for having to marry me. I'm surrounded by enough people who hate me as it is." Richard smiled as he parked the car, he got out and opened the passenger door for Edward, then said. "I keep telling you to just let me place a few well hidden explosives in a couples peoples houses and you'd have a lot less haters." Edward just laughed as they both walked to the door of the house.<br/><br/>Once there Edwards smile had vanished, he was nervous again, he really hoped this would be someone who would like him and not just see him as a snobby rich kid. He looked at Richard and mumbled. "Why don't you ring the bell." Richard smiled devilishly as he spoke, he wanted to lighten the mood. "Good call, for all we know she is a paranoid demolitionist that has booby trapped her house." He then jabbed the door bell, turned around and tackled Edward, covering him with his body as if he was really worried there was a bomb. Edward hit the ground with a thud, he struggled to push the Richard off him. They were both about the same height, but where Edward was just fit enough to look attractive, Richard was very well muscled and though he wasn't bulky, he was still pretty heavy for someone as thin as he was, but that was simply because muscle weighs more than fat anyway. Edward yelled at his friend. "Get off me you idiot! As if I don't get bruised enough from our sparing matches, you have to go and tackle me randomly? Neither you nor the ground is all that soft you know! Worst Body Guard ever!" But he couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, the two of them always knew what to do to cheer the other up. Richard rolled off him though and just went on his back. They both just laid there chuckling, they pretty much forgot the whole reason they were here, they sometimes goofed off to much around each other, Richard being Edwards Body Guard was more just to keep his spirits up and to keep him from being lonely all the time, and in return it kept Richard too busy to be depressed over Blaze.