Data Corruption Chapter 2

Chapter II
“The Song I Wrote for Him”

Avril sat at her desk staring at the blank paper that sat before her. She furiously tapped the pencil against the side of her head, occasionally chewing on the end of the eraser. What could I write that would possibly do him justice? What in the world could I write and sing in order to give my fans the picture of him in their minds?
“Oh this is so annoying. I can’t think of anything to give you justice. Ovan…if I could just meet with you and talk with you then maybe this would be easier. Ack.” She fell back over the chair and just lay on the floor.
At that moment, her producer opened the door to the bus and approached her. “What happened? Are you taking up the circus?” he asked giving her a sarcastic smile.
Avril looked at him, lifted herself off of the floor and dusted herself off. “What am I going to do Rai? I need to think of one more song for the new album and I think I found who I wanted to write it about.”
Rai, a twenty-seven year old man with short brunette hair and chocolate brown eyes, sat down on her bed and gave her a raised eyebrow smile. “Who? Have you found someone to give your heart to finally other than that jerk, Mark?”
She picked her chair up and sat back down in it. “Yeah. The problem is Rai, I don’t think he would ever love me. He seems like he is too scared to open up to anyone. I invited him to the concert tonight but he didn’t seem interested in coming.”
Rai stood up and walked over to her and touched her shoulder. “Don’t worry Avi. If he is the one you are destined to be with then nothing will stop him from coming tonight. Now, speaking of that, don’t you think it is time for you to get ready for it?”
Avril smiled and then stood up to get ready. “Now look Rai, you have to leave now so I can get ready for tonight’s show.”
Rai took his leave and once again Avril was alone.
“Okay, what am I going to wear tonight? Let’s see. Hw about this?” she said picking a pair of black jeans and a black skinny mini t-shirt with a picture of a black panther that said her on-stage name underneath it and two black studded wristbands with crosses on them. She spiked her hair with hair gel and put on makeup and a small amount of mascara. “Don’t want to look like those other goth pop queens out there. I hate that style.” She laughed at the thought. She slipped on her jeans and black studded boots.
After inspecting herself in the mirror, she decided to oust the mascara. “If you are here tonight, I want you to know the real me.”

******************************************************************
Rai stepped onto the lighted stage in front of a massive crowd. He took a microphone from a stagehand and proceeded to yell. “Are you ready for Panther Makeay?!” he screamed raising the microphone.
The crowd responded with a loud thunder of applause, yelling and twirling glow sticks and raising banners.
“Alright! Here she is! Come on out Panther!!!” he said and ran off of the stage.
An electric guitar began playing soon followed by the drums and then an electric keyboard.
Avril was raised via a platform into the middle of the stage. She stood with her head lowered and then raised it as soon as the crowd cheered. “Hello out there Sieanna, Neo-Washington!!! Are you all ready to rock out loud!!!?”
The crowd started screaming their want to begin.
The band revved up the first song and Avril began to tap her foot. “Alright, ya’ll all know this one! The first song I am going to do is titled: Broken Wings.”
The crowd began to yell even louder.
Avril began to sing the lyrics at a very happed up tune. “ Baby, I see you standing there…your eyes lowered and your smile gone. I wander why you decided to leave me, the source of you joy and you happiness. You pushed me away, you chose another but she let you down. Now you wonder who can mend…your broken wings.”
As she came to a musical break in her song. She began to dance in a hip hop dance manner.
When the music break stopped she began to sing again. “Yeah baaaaaby, you left me for another! You pushed me away, hoping that you could fly towards the sky on your own for while! Now what are you going to do with the things you are facing now? How are you going to continue with your broken wings?”
Another music break began as he walked into the stadium. He took a seat towards the back and crossed his arms and legs to watch the show.
Avril entered into the final verse of the song. “Broken wings can only carry you so far before they remind you of the pain that you brought upon yourself. Broken wings can only lift a heart so far before you get dropped from your that throne you sat yourself on! Come back to me and let me mend those broken wings. Woah, those broken wings.” Her words began to fade as the song ended.
The crowd screamed wildly hopping and hollering.
Avril bowed and pushed her hair back away from her face. “Thank you! Let me tell you I am so happy that all of you guys came out here to see me tonight! Let me take a few minutes to introduce some of the guys that make my career possible because without them I could never do what I do! Alright, starting behind me, on the electric guitar is the fabulous Sphen Makinsky, give it up for him!”
The crowd wailed as Sphen walked forward and played a melody on his guitar. He stepped back as Avril introduced the next member of the band.
“Next is the magnificent drum player Kian McElvin, a very good childhood friend of mine and one of the starting members of Panther! Let im know you love im!!!”
Kian pounded away on the drums in an amazing manner. He moved so quickly and efficiently that not even Avril believed it sometimes. He twirled his sticks and altered them from hand to hand never once losing the rhythm of his playing.
As he faded into the background, Avril clapped for him. “Thank you Kian! I still have no idea how he does that guys! Give it up, let him hear you!”
Again the same response.
Avril made her way over to her keyboard and bass players. “Okay guys, these two are the King brothers. Don’t ask me how they have the same last names because they aren’t really related. Give it up for Matthew and Jordan King! My keyboard and bass players!”
The two played in perfect sync and then let Avril take back over.
She went back to stand in the middle of the stage and scanned the crowd. A look of sadness filled her eyes. “Okay guys, I am going to take this time to low it down a little and sing a truly touching and important song that is very near and dear to my heart. This one is called Chains Surround.”
The crowd stood silent as Matthew began to play a slow and sad melody on his piano, followed soon by Kian and then Jordan and Sphen.
Avril lowered her head as she began to sing. “I once knew the feeling that makes us all happy. I once knew the feeling that made the lonely darkness retreat from my heart. But now that we are apart, the only feeling that remains is filled with pain and a heart surrounded by chains. I tried to keep living after that tragic day, the sun felt so cold and even though a person could be found. I could do nothing because the chains…. Surround.”
She raised her head and looked towards the back of the stadium. Her eyes came to rest upon a single person. Her expression changed and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him. “O….Ovan.”
Tears fell from her eyes as a smile lit across her face. She sang her heart for the rest of the song and when it was over requested a brief intermission.
She made her way backstage and asked Rai to bring Ovan to her. “Please Rai, give him a special v.i.p pass. He is a friend of mine.”
Rai hesitantly nodded his agreement. “Alright Avi, if you say so. I will arrange for him to meet you backstage after the show. Now get back out there and give your fans what they want to hear.”
Avril thanked him and returned to the stage to continue her show.

******************************************************************
After the concert, Rai brought Ovan backstage to Avril’s dressing room. “Please wait here, she will be here shortly.”
Ovan looked back over his shoulder and nodded.
Avril walked into the room to see Ovan sitting on a chair in the corner. His eye was closed as if he was in deep thought. “Thank you for coming. I am glad you did. I was scared that…”
“Why did they attack you?” Ovan asked without opening his eye to look at her.
“What? Who? You mean those guys two days ago?” Avril asked, a little sad that he had come to get information.
“Yes, them. You said one of them was your ex-boyfriend did you not?” Ovan asked rather coldly.
“He was, why do you ask?”
Ovan opened his eye to look at her. Seeing the sadness in her eyes he decided to attempt to lighten the mood. “You sang good.”
Avril looked at him and then at the ground. “Oh. Thank you. I am thinking of a new song for my next album but…I don’t know what to right about or what the title should be.”
Ovan didn’t answer. He didn’t know how. All the training he had received didn’t prepare him for the outside world. He decided to just let her talk and give advice only when he felt it to be needed.
“Ovan? Would you…would you like to go out sometime?” she asked nervously.
“Why?”
She walked over to him and bent over to look into his face. “Because I want to get to know you, as a friend. I want to know who you are and have fun with you. Can we be friends?”
Ovan didn’t respond. He just stood up and walked to the door. “I require no friends. My objective was to collect data on the ones that attacked you.”
Avril followed him to the door. “Will I see you again? I mean, maybe sometime soon?”
Ovan didn’t answer but just walked out of the door and closed it behind him.
“Ovan, please, let me in. I know we just met…but….already I….I love you.” She said and turned to change back into her normal clothes.

******************************************************************
As he unlocked the door and entered his apartment, Ovan threw his bags over to the side and then went to sit down on his bed. He could not seem to get the image of her out of his mind. He had been so cold to her and he knew that it wasn’t her fault for what had happened to him and he had no right to treat her that way.
“Why did I act so cold to her? And why, whenever I get near her, my heart?” he fell back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. “Why?”


On her way to school, Avril pondered the title and lyrics of the song she had been thinking of for him. Ugh, why is it that I can’t put it into words? I want to bring life to my feelings but I have no idea how. I love him, I know I do and I have no idea how to say it. What the heck? I have never had any problems with it before!
Only the sound of Shara’s screaming her name brought her out of her thoughts. “Avi!!!! I found him!!! I think I found your guy you like!”
Avril watched as her friend bounced up and down in front of her with excitement.
“Shara, calm down, what are you talking about?”
Shara calmed herself and slowly spoke. “I think I found the guy you are looking for. I saw him go into the apartment complex right down the street from me! What you said to me was an understatement! Oh wow, I have never seen such a hawt guy! Why didn’t you tell me more about him?!!”
Why? Because not even I know what to say about him, that’s why. I can’t even write my feelings in a song and I am a damn musician.
Avril didn’t answer her. Instead she just lowered her head and kept walking.
“Avi, look out!” Shara screamed bringing Avril out of her thoughts again but this time, not in time.
“Oof.” She said and hit the ground flat on her butt.
Shara ran to her friend and knelt down to Avril to help her.
Avril reassured Shara that she was fine before looking up at who she had run into.
A look of shock fell over her face when she saw his soft, sky blue hair. The sun gleamed off of his sunglasses so she had to cover her face. “O…..van…..”
An awkward silence fell between them. So much so that Shara was even too stunned to say anything. She only watched as Ovan extended a hand to Avril to help her up.
“Are you hurt?” was all he said when Avril took his hand and hoisted herself to her feet.
She stood and stared at him in awe of his beauty and strength. Come on. Say something Avril. He is here, right in front of you. Say something, please.
Ovan let go of her hand and proceeded to walk past her. “Later.”
Shara watched as Avril let the one she had an extreme crush on get away from her. “Avi, are you nuts?! He was right there!!! You had a chance to spill your guts on him and you freeze up like that?!!!”
Avril turned around to see Ovan walking away. She dropped her book bag and ran after him leaving Shara standing alone on the sidewalk.
Only the sudden thump of something against his back and knocking his sunglasses off brought Ovan out of his spaced out state.
A pair of arms wrapped around his chest accompanied by a rubbing against his back threw a look of shock over his face.
Avril stood there behind him holding onto him like he was the only thing anchoring her to the mortal world. “Please. Please don’t do this to me.”
Ovan didn’t know how to respond. He had never felt anything like this before and it scared him. He pulled her arms off of him and bent down to pick up his sunglasses.
Avril stood trembling behind him. She watched as he rose to stand up straight.
An awkward silence hung in the air between them until Avril said something. “Ovan. I…think…I….that is…I…uhm…” the words wouldn’t come so she just dropped her gaze. “Nevermind. I am sorry. Forget it. Good bye!”
Before he knew what he was doing he reached out and grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against his chest.
Avril didn’t know what to do, her heart pounded inside her chest as her eyes trembled with fear at what his answer would be to her forward advance. That’s it. It’s so over. He hates me and now I will never have him.
She looked up at his shaded face hidden by his sunglasses and bangs. Thoughts of what he would say to her filled her mind and fear took over. She watched as he lifted his hand from his side and brought it up to the side of her face.
He brushed her hair behind her ears and then lowered his head so that his mouth was ear level. “I do not need things like that. I am sorry.” He whispered, released her and continued walking down the street.


She watched him as he left her alone in the middle of the sidewalk. Rain began falling gently from the swollen sky along with the tears that slid down her face. “Why?”
Rai approached Avril and held an umbrella over her head. “Avi, where have you been? Your professor called me and told me you hadn’t been to class.”
Avril didn’t say anything. She rose to her feet and walked away from him and out from under the umbrella. She smiled a sad smile and looked up into the sky. “Without His Amethyst Eyes.”
Rai looked at her confused at the words that she had just said and realized that it was the name of the song that she had been planning on giving him. Avril always had a pause before mentioning the title of a song to him. “That is the last song on your next album right?”
Avril turned back to him and nodded and together they walked back to her apartment the music company had been renting for her.
“See you tomorrow Avi. Take care and don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t. Thanks Rai. See you tomorrow.” She said and closed the door behind her.
She sat at her writing desk and began planning the lyrics to her final song before her recording studio visit the next morning.
Only two hours have passed since I have seen your eyes
The cold hunger that burns my heart still sears its fragile form
The sorrowful thing is oh baby

Chorus:
Without your amethyst eyes looking at mine
How can you expect everything to be okay
Without the gentle sorrow that they hold
How can you leave me alone?
My love
I am not strong enough to be on my own
Without your amethyst eyes

I tried to live without you
Tried to let it go
My incompleteness said one word
Oh no

Chorus:
Without your amethyst eyes looking at mine
How can you expect me to be okay
Without the gentle sorrow they hold
How can you leave me alone?
My love
I am not strong enough to be on my own
Without your amethyst eyes

Bridge:
Please lift my spirits
Please lift my soul
Let those amethyst eyes
Never let me go
Chorus once
Repeat without your amethyst eyes

Avril sat staring at her song. The words touched her broken heart as she thought of Ovan. “This song suits you. Even now, your gaze touches my heart and hurts it. Ovan. I know I can win you, I just need to try a little harder.”


At his apartment, Ovan sat on his bed with his left leg extended and his right bent upon which he rested his left arm. His right arm lay useless beside him. He buried his head into his arm. A searing pain in his neck made him jump and grab a hold of it.
He fell to the floor pressing his hand hard against the pain. He grimaced as he tried to suppress the agony he was in.
Only one thing hurt worse than the mark on his neck, his heart. His thoughts kept going to the girl. Why was she on his mind at a time like this?
The sound of his cell phone ringing caught his attention. The pain had subsided leaving only a pulsing in the wound on his neck. He looked at the caller id seeing that it was Kun.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Nice to hear from you too. Look, any luck, this side has been pretty quiet. I have only had a few skirmishes but nothing I couldn’t handle. What about you? Anything?”
Ovan recalled his days as a civilian. “No. This is very odd. Things are very quiet. Have you heard from Midnight?”
There was along silence at the other end followed by a few hmms. “Come to think of it, no. He hasn’t called at all. Ryder said she ha tried too but he never answered.”
A look of shock and fear fell over Ovan’s face. “Call you later.”
“Bye.”
Ovan opened up his laptop and connected to the internet. The Corrupt Data Recovery Association’s web page came up.
He quickly opened up his e-mail and scrolled down the list.
There were e-mails from Angeline, Kun and Ryder. He had read those already and moved on.
He scrolled down until his eye fell upon one e-mail. His eyes widened with absolute fear as he read the encrypted name: BladeEdge.
“Bastard. Why do you keep e-mailing me?” he opened the mail and began reading it. It was written completely in computer code so it took Ovan a while to translate it.










As he read and re-read the e-mail he kept getting confused at two things. “What is this Tomb you keep talking about and just what the hell is your Eve of Twilights?”
He was going to respond but he knew that attempting that was futile due to past experiences.
The words of the e-mail kept running through Ovan’s mind as he got ready to go to bed:

Hello my dear Ovan,
It seems that you have gotten lost a little on your path to hunting me.
Let me put it in simple terms.
Get back on track or lose those most dear to you.
Simple and easy to remember.
Come to my Tomb and let the Eve of Twilights begin.

“What do you mean you freak? What Tomb and just what is the Eve of Twilights?” he closed his eye as the pain came back to his neck. “Ugh….BladeEdge…..what…. are you….planning….to do?”


The next day was a Saturday so Avril decided to sleep in. Her meeting with the recording studio wasn’t until noon so she decided to nab a few more hours before getting up and ready.
The feeling of her cat, Ringo, pawing at her face woke her up so she turned over and looked at the clock: 6:30 am.
“Ringo, you are a dead furball when I get up but…thank you.” She said stroking the cat’s short black fur.
She got up out of bed and slipped into a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and blue jean jacket. She debated between a pair of tennis shoes and sandals and eventually decided on the tennies.
On the way out she grabbed her car keys and cell phone and locked the door to her apartment.
Opening the door of her car, Avril turned to see a group of fans rushing her way. “Oh heck!!!” she screamed, jumped into her car and locked the doors as quick as she could. “Great, I forgot my sunglasses again. No hiding today.”
The engine revved up and she was on her way to the recording studio.
On her way she got stuck in traffic by a wreck that occurred due to the rains the night before. “Great. Why is it that people can’t seem to drive in this weather?”
She put her car in park and looked out the window.
Ovan was walking down the street dressed in a pair of gunmetal grey jeans with vertical black stripes running down the sides with a black trench coat, a pair of black gloves and leather boots with belted studs on the outside. Her mouth fell open at the sight of him.
“Okay. Now, this is a war and I want to win it. Fine Ovan, let the games begin.” She said, got out of her car and ran towards him.
It took him a while to recognize that she was there but when he did all he said was a lazy ‘hey’.
“Hey, do you mind if…I walk with you?” Avril asked in a shaky and unsure voice. Please say yes, please say yes.
Ovan got a little embarrassed and swallowed a silent gulp. “Sure.” He said in his original cool tone.
The two walked in an awkward silence all the way to the park.
Ovan offered Avril a seat on a park bench that she gladly took and he sat down beside her.
Ovan was the first to speak. “ So, I have heard some of your music on the radio on my laptop. Do you like to sing?”
Avril’s eyes began to shine with hope. “Yeah, I love it. It gives me an out that not a lot of people have. I guess you could call it an art. I do it to relieve stress and sometimes just for fun. What about you? That day you saved me with those other people, what was that?”
Ovan clenched his fists. “I…can not tell you. That is personal information.”
Avril smiled sadly. “Oh…I…see. Can you at least tell me some things about you? Like, who was your father, mother, and do you have any siblings?”
Ovan placed his finger over her mouth. He had never heard someone talk so much about things that were personal to a stranger.
He looked at her intently. Something in the way she looked at him made him feel safe and secure. He took her finger away from her lips and began to speak. “I do not remember anything about my past. Not my father or my mother. All I know is that I had a little brother.”
Avril rested her hand on his knee. The warm feeling it brought him let him release all he knew to her.
“Something happened that took my brother from me. He got kidnapped and now I do not know where to find him. I guess you could say that I am searching for him.”
Avril gently laid her head on his shoulder hoping he wouldn’t push her away. “You sound like you are in a lot of pain. I understand. My mom and dad died in a car accident and my little sister disappeared too. It was only a month later that they found her dead in a lake. She had been shot twice and left to die.”
Ovan didn’t respond. He just let her talk.
Avril glanced at Ovan through her peripheral vision carefully analyzing the details of his face. She had to fight herself to keep from touching him and taking him into her arms. I can’t. He would just run from me. But he is in so much pain. I just want to take him into my arms and hold onto him. All I can do is comfort him and hope he begins to trust me.
Ovan heard the sound of the fountain start up and stood up to go stand beside it to watch the lights dance across the water like he did most of the nights he had alone.
Avril got up and followed him over to the fountain side. “It is beautiful isn’t it? My mom and I used to come here quite often when I was little. I guess you could say that this is where I wrote my first song.”
“I come here to relax and calm my thoughts. It takes a lot of strain off of me.”
“Ovan.”
He turned to look down at her just in time to see her hand reaching to his face. His mind screamed at him to forbid it but his body refused to respond. The feel of her hand on his face released every ounce of strain that lay in his neck and back.
Avril brought his lips down to her level and planted a gentle kiss on them.
Instead of the retaliation she expected to receive, she felt the muscles beneath her hand relax and surrender their tension.
Ovan wrapped his arms around Avril’s lower back as she released his lips. He suddenly felt very fearful. So much so that he pulled away from her and turned his back to her. “I can not do this. It would only get you in trouble. I…can not.”
He ran away from her as fast as he could never once looking back. Thoughts ran through his mind of how he had doomed her to an early grave. The Pure Dark Data Corrupts that he hunted would not doubt go after her if they knew. What have I done? I have gotten an innocent girl in danger.
A terrible thought ran through his mind. BladeEdge, what if he knew? He would try to harm her under a false assumption. I must watch her but avoid her at all costs. My mission objective: Hunt Pure Dark Data Corrupts and eliminate them and restrain all Dark Data Corrupts.


As Avril entered the recording studio, Rai was pacing the floor with impatience. “Avi! Where were you?! We nearly dispatched a search party to find you!”
Avril snickered at his concern. “I am fine Rai. I just needed some time to think of a song and I think I may have found one.”
Rai heaved a heavy sigh. “Fine. Well now that you have successfully given me a heart attack, can we please start the recording?”
Sphen, Matt, Kian, Jordan and Avril entered the recording studio and set up to get started.
While Rai was trying to get everything set up, Sphen snuck over to talk to Avril. “Where were you girl? You really worried Rai there. You are almost an hour late. That is so not like you.”
Avril closed her eyes and raised her head towards the ceiling. “I had to redo it Sphen.”
Sphen blinked two quick times out of curiosity. “Redo what?”
Avril looked over her shoulder at him and smirked. “The song I wrote for him.”
Sphen smiled and returned to his place.
Avril stood at the microphone and put her ear phones on.
Rai announced over the loud speaker. “Alright Avi, whenever you are ready, love.”
She smiled. Ovan, beloved, this one is for you. I re-wrote it. I hope you will like it.


Ovan sat in his apartment in the corner of the room. Tears flowed down his face after years of being suppressed.
He raised his hand to his lips. Warmth filled his heart as it hadn’t since the disappearance of his brother.
He stood up, slipped his boots back on, grabbed his jacket and cell phone and sprinted all the way down to the recording studio.


“That was possibly the best one you have ever done Avi! That was so touching it had everyone choked up and balling like babies! Superb!” Rai said excitedly all the way down the hall to the coffee room.
Avril giggled as they walked. “I only wrote what I felt Rai, like I always do. There was nothing different you goof.”
Rai smiled a wide grin. “But there was just something different about this one! The emotion you sent through everyone just sent chills up my spine!”
Avril blushed.
Matthew’s yelling snapped them both out of their talk. “Avi, there is someone here to see you.”
Avril’s eyes widened with expectation and she shot away from the two men and sprinted down the hall and through the front doors.
She was out of breath when she looked up at him. He too was out of breath and as the two stood there panting across from each other they smiled happily.
Ovan dropped his jacket and walked up to Avril. He placed his hand on her face and smiled. “Thank you. Thank you for reminding me that I am allowed to be human.”
Avril smiled and tears formed in her eyes as she took him in the tightest hug she had ever given anyone. “Thank you too. For saving my life more than once.”
Ovan looked down at her and she looked up at him. They met each other half way for a kiss.
She ran her hands through his hair and clasped them around his neck. She gently pulled away from him to ask him a question. “Can I…take these off, my love?”
Ovan hesitantly agreed and flinched just a little when she removed his sunglasses.
She was met with another of the soft amethyst opals that she had first seen, only this one had a scar on it that had bits of computer data in it.
He feared she might pull away from him but instead she kissed it lightly.
“It’s okay. I know of this disease remember? You don’t have to wear these around me anymore.” She said and smiled at him.
Ovan once again felt tears fill his eyes and hugged her even tighter. He had never had anyone except him as a person and not a weapon. For the first time in his life, he could actually be happy.
************************************************************ The shadowed figure stood in his void with his teeth bared into an angry snarl as he watched the image from one of the security cameras outside the recording studio that he had hacked into.
The data dragon re-formed itself and flew over to its master.
Once again it buzzed at him but this time he grabbed it in his corrupt claws and tore it apart into its separate data bits.
He shattered the video and turned to walk towards a rainbow portal in the corner of his realm.
“Y….o…..u…..br…..ou….ght…..thi…….s…..upo……n….y….ou…..r…..self…….bro….ther…..” he said as he walked through the portal and took a step into the real world.
His form shifted to accommodate his new surroundings into a young man with purple hair and all black clothes on. “Fool. Now…I will make you hunt me.”


Shara turned around in the middle of class to speak to Avril.
“Hey Avi, nice song! I love it! Where did you get that inspiration?! She asked in an excited whisper.
Avril looked up from her books. “The song I wrote for him, Shara. It was the song I wrote for him.”