Shadows of the past (Closed to Brax/ Darren)

"I'm always careful." Darren smirked, when she ruffled his hair…he had to admit he had missed that from his childhood days. "You too…"

He headed out the door, his footsteps competing with the rain drops that crashed into the ground. His phone rang, it was his client.

"What?"

"I hope you are dealing with it, i'm paying you a lot of money to keep his mouth shut, so get it done. Make sure it can't be traced back to either of us." The client said.

"Fine."

With that, the phone call ended. Darren darted into an alleyway, waiting for a gang to pass by. He had no intentions of starting up a meaningless fight that would be notified to the police. Once he had exited the other side of the alleyway, he was nearly there. He could see the building from where he was and the adrenalin began to pump.

But he saw an alien figure dart into the building, no intentions of working there. It was darting around, nervous and jumpy…that was when the building burst into flames and for a moment, he could have sworn that the alien was wearing a bomb jacket. Darren began to run towards the building, unsure of whether he would be caught out or not, but it didn't matter.

Sydney went back downstairs because she had forgotten her phone on the kitchen counter. She wanted to be able to know right away when Darren called. When she got down to the kitchen, she heard Darrens voice outside. She pressed her ear up to the door and listened. She only heard him say 2 words, but she could tell he was Lots of planets have a north! about something. She decided to just let him be and go back upstairs. But she couldnt bring herself to fall asleep.

Darren climbed through the wreckage of the building, sirens were gaining on him. But for once, he hadn't caused this and that if the police had caught him around here, he would be interrogated and most likely, put in jail for all the wrong-doings that he'd done.

"There you are…"

He could see a faint shadow running off into the distance as he rose his head to look up. Darren got up, trying to avoid the flames but keep low enough so the police had not noticed him. Once clear of the building site, he pulled out his phone and began to call Sydney, the first time that it rung, it when to voicemail.

"Hi, Sydney. I will be late back, but if it alright with you, I'm bring back some take-away Chinese food. So, if you hear this, I'm alive and well. But will be late…okay, bye."

Darren slipped the phone back into the pocket, the figure was small but he could quickly gain some ground and see the cause of all of this mess. Thoughts ran through his head as he paused to think about why they would have blown up the building in the first place, his client could have set him up…made him go into the building and get the alien to blow the place to smithereens!

He growled under his breath, there was a change in who was to be hunted tonight.

Sydney was just about to fall asleep when she heard a crash from downstairs. She jumped out of bed and hid underneath her bed. She heard her phone ring and her eyes widened. Darren... She quickly rejected the call, but now she wished she had answered it. She heard strange noises downstairs, like alien languages. She quickly texted Darren: SOS! 911! HELP! Then she saw feet.... or what she assumed were feet.

Darren grumbled as he reached into his pocket and produced his phone. A text from Sydney. Maybe cats knocked over her bins and scared her into thinking that she had been intruded. I hate begin interrupted in a middle of a hunting session...

He noticed that he wasn't too far off from Sydney's house and immediately made tracks for her house. First, the door was, once again, smashed. Secondly, there was a foul odor reeking from the intruders' skin.

Darren crept into the kitchen and grabbed one of the knives and headed up the stairs. Once he had gotten to the half-landing, he could hear the languages and identified them from the black-market, but they weren't any aliens, they were the undercover police.

He slipped the knife into his back pocket and casually entered the room. Two large aliens turned to face him, tilting their head in curiosity.

"What the hell is going on here?" He exclaimed, trying to sound ever so surprised.

One of them turned on the translator on their chests. "We are looking for…Baron Culkin."

Darren sighed, but they frowned and rechecked their machines. "Sorry, no. We are looking for Darren Hughes."

He rolled his eyes and pretended to have fainted, the aliens bowed over him, curious to see why this human had fainted. With quick movements, Darren had stuck a knife in one alien's throat and a syringe in the other.

"Sydney…you alright?"

Sydney heard Darrens voice downstairs and crawled out from under the bed, "Darren? Is that you?" She ran down the stairs and jumped into his arms, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I wasnt sure if you were going to come." She kissed his cheek and hugged him tight. "Please dont leave again tonight. Please?"

Darren faked a smile. Things were coming back to haunt him, especially the federal police. He nodded, there was only one thing that he needed to take care of, the unconscious alien. The blood would easily come off the floorboards, even if some did seep into the cracks. Besides, he could always blame it on a bad nose bleed.

"Sydney, look. I need to take care of the alien and you don't want to be around when I do." Darren looked at her with emotionless eyes.

She couldn't help him, it was something she would have to live with. Darren couldn't promise that he would come back but he began to form a little idea in his head.

"Syd, I'll do it in the morning, alright? Then, I'll clean all of the mess up."

"Ok.... are you sure there isnt anything i can do to help?" She didnt wanna be around the dead bodies anymore. be she didnt want to leave darren. She needed him now more than ever. She grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes. They seemed.... empty. "Darren... whats wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. You don't need to help with anything, that piece of…that alien needs to be gotten rid of and you don't need to see how I intend to do it." Darren said, removing his hand from hers.

He went into the area in which the bodies lay and looked at Sydney. "Except…I need to borrow your car…"

Going to the sink, he bent down and pulled out some rather large bin bags and stuffed it into his jacket pockets. Darren needed somewhere that he could dispose of the aliens and still come back in time, Sydney seemed to be rather attached to him and he wondered whether it was the best of ideas to leave her alone again, whilst he went around his business.

There was that escaping alien figure that he was supposed to track down, he would have to make plans for that tonight. There wasn't going to be any sleeping for him...

Ok. Here you go." She picked her keys up off the table and tossed them to him. "But if you're not back here in 30 minutes, I will come looking for you, got it?" She smiled and hugged him before kissing him again. Maybe one of these days, he will actually kiss her back.

Darren sidestepped Sydney, dragging the bodies into the boot of the car, keys hanging from his mouth. He only came back in to grab another set of bin liners. "I'll try my best." Darren said, a small smile faltering on his lips as he went out and started the ignition of the car, pulling out of the driveway, turning left.

Soon, he was back at the unfamiliar 'den' of his as a friend had once called it. The body was laid out on the table, the other one already in disposed of.

"What the hell?!"

Darren glanced over, it was time to have a little chat. "So, you've decided to come back and play a little game and try to ruin the pieces of a forming relationship, although I wouldn't exactly call it that."

The alien sat up, glaring across at Darren. "I think you know all too well why I was sent for you? To eliminate you!"

"No one gets rid of me that easily…but you? I would say, almost too easy for an alien with your skill set…goodbye, Axel."

Darren revved up the electrosaw (Chainsaw but with electrical pulses instead of saws) and the screaming began. After that, he checked the bloodied watch. He had little less than five minutes before he had to get back. Darren spent it, cleaning it up and slumped against the wall, opposite the body and drifted off to sleep.

Sydney checked her watch for the tenth time. It had been 45 minutes since Darren left. She decided it was time to go look for him, make sure he didnt end up back in jail. After a while, she called him and heard the sound of his phone ringing. She followed him and found Darren slumped against the wall and a body that seemed to be cut clean in half. Sydney stumbled backwards and screamed as she fell down.

Darren awoke with a start, hearing a scream. He lunged towards the sound, believing it to be a random passerby who was curious enough to discover his den, wrapping his hand across her mouth. His head cleared and saw it was Sydney, backed off quickly.

"Uh, Sydney…I didn't…I didn't mean it…"

In his eyes, he was sure that Sydney could see the thunder clouds going around in his head, he wanted to change but had no other output…He slumped back down against the wall, staring at the corpse of the alien. He had to stop. That nagging voice wouldn't let him, only if he could be free from it for a week…that would make him happy.

"I was supposed to come back but I drifted off…you alright?"

Sydney stared wide eyed at the dead body... well techniquely bodies cuz it was cut in 2, then back at Darren. She did this a couple times before taking a shaky breath and nodding her head. "Yeah Im fine.... Just kinda grossed out." Sydney had the worlds weakest stomach. She felt her stomach churning and felt like she was gonna throw up. "What happened?" She said unevenly. Her whole body was shaking and she felt like she couldnt take her eyes off the body. "Darren.... this needs to stop. Now!" She looked him in the eyes and looked as serious as she could. "This needs to end here."

Darren growled. Avoiding her eye contact, it didn't make him at all uncomfortable but it was a similar experience to when he was very little, an incident with the toaster and the cat…He got up and put the separate body parts in the black bin liners and tied it with a neat little knot at the top.

"What are you going to do about it?"

The tone was almost challenging, he shrugged, going up the stairs and opening the lid to the dumpster, throwing the black bags inside. To rot and be forgotten about. Darren quickly handed her a bin liner, if she decided to throw up.

"Its not like a psychologist would even dare see me…" He scoffed, rocking on his heels ever so slightly. It stunk, but he was used to it. Maybe he'd have to set this place on fire, get rid of any evidence. No, it was almost his home, was his home. He did have that shack up in the mountains but he had not been up there for a while.

"Something's just struck me…you look seriously familiar…to the point of family…" Darren quickly shook off the thought, sounding ridiculous. He sat on the steps and extended his hand, holding out the keys for the car.

"I dont know Dare... We can get you help. Maybe therapy..." He laughed and said that no one would ever see him. "You dont know that." She grabbed his arm and jerked him so he was facing her. "I want to help you. But you have to want to help yourself before I can." She raised an eyebrow when he said she looked familiar, like family. "What family? All of my family is dead. Died when I was a child. Except...." Suddenly, Sydney remembered how her mother used to tell her that she had a brother who went and lived with her father after the divorce. "Did you grow up with both parents or just one? And was it your mom or your dad?"

Darren stopped, looking up at Sydney, surprised she had revealed something about her past. His past was blurry, most of the time, dark. He remembered the talks he and his foster father had when his parents had separated.

"My adopted Father…he wasn't particularly open about my past life, after the divorce…I was…ten at that point." Darren almost hung his head, trying to not let the strong emotions come and overwhelm him.

After that point, things changed. The adopted father that he had, sent him away to…it was a blur, he could not identify the place but it was always cold and dark. There was minimal interaction with the father and if a relative did visit him, it was the aunt, to tell him that the father had passed.

"Therapy…I'm willing to give it a shot." He said, barely any intonation in the sentence, making it sound monotone.

Sydney listened as Darren told her his story. He was adopted... The he couldn't be her brother. "My mom told me that I had a brother who went with my ad after my parents divorced. I only lived with him until I was 2 years old." Sydney always kept a picture of her brother and her when they were little in her wallet. She took it out and showed it to him. She sniffled a bit and teared up at the thought of he rlong lost brother. She smiled when he agreed to therapy. "I think therapy would help alot. And ill go with you if it will help you."

"Well, did your mother say anything about your brother? Description or anything? Besides, I didn't really know my family…I say that I'm adopted but i really don't know."

He glanced long at the picture as she handed it over to him, Darren didn't remember what he looked like but it seemed somewhat familiar, features were the same. But could it really be him? Did he have a sister? The thoughts made him giddy, lightheaded, so he focused on something else, like therapy.

He thought of therapy, more he did, more he wanted that annoying itch on his back to go away. He had just killed an alien and that feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins weren't going away. Darren turned and walked up to the top, the fading sunlight caressing his face, but then…if he was making an effort, why not go the full way?

You cannot be serious. It would never work!

"Oh shut up…" He said aloud to himself. "Anyway, Sydney, I parked the car around the corner, we can…go home."

"My mom said that my brother had blonde hair when he was born, but it turned darker over time. She said I would know it was him by a birth mark on his neck. Its shaped like a drunken monkey trying to draw a circle." She laughed at her moms old description of her brother. "How can you not know if you're adopted? Unless you're parents left you......" She raised an eyebrow and nodded when he said we should go home. "Yeah. Im tired." She raised her arms and smiled, "Carry me?"

Darren rolled his eyes playfully, picking her up and heading to the car. He opened the door with his free hand and placed her in, careful to not knock her head.

"I'm driving. So you sit tight,we'll be there soon."

He was debating to show her that birthmark, in which his cheeks turned a shade of red. He was always embarrassed of it, teased at school about it, resulting in a few deaths and that was the reason the father had moved him to another place, somewhere he couldn't hurt anybody.

They arrived home, it was rather late and his clothes soaked of blood. He took the shirt off and placed it in the laundry basket, walking upstairs, passing Sydney, giving a small smile. Darren was tired and wasn't in the mood to eat anything, appetite lost by the fact that he served himself something else. A kill.

"When does therapy…start?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't entirely happy about the idea and the fact that Sydney was trying to help him out with his 'problem', placing it as a disease which was easy to get rid of. It wasn't. But he was going to give it a go.

SYdney laughed as Darren carried her to the car. "Ok then Mr Darren." She sat patiently as he drove them home. She was totally tired and was starting to fall asleep. When they got home, Sydney watched as Darren threw his shirt in the laundry and noticed something on the back of his neck. She was tempted to ask him about it but decided against it. "We start on Monday." Monday was 2 days from now. SHe would make the appointment tomorrow.

Darren slipped into bed, but wasn't drifting off to sleep, his mind focused on the fact that he was getting help. Once he was sure that Sydney was either asleep before he slipped outside the house. Darren had that urge to kill but her knew that he needed to stay under the radar, just for the time being.

He could see the red and blue sirens of the hover cars, luckily, they weren't after him and even if he was, Darren would never be linked to the murders of 23 other aliens and humans. The breeze on the staircase outside at night was cool and he sat down, watching late night runners jog past him and disappear into the darkness and back to their home, where they would sit down, maybe watch TV or even have a late night dinner…but that would never work out between Sydney and himself. Old habits die hard and older ones even harder.

Soon, he found himself drifting to sleep on the staircase, his eyelids grew heavy and the thoughts of the possibility of making 'friends' at therapy…filled his mind as he allowed himself to drift asleep.

Sydney dreamt of her past that night. She found herself staring at her 2 year old self playing with her brother. Her mother sat beside them and smiled, "Darren be nice to your sister." Her brother, Darren, smiled back and hugged her. Sydney woke up with a jolt. She looked at the clock and saw it was 3 am. She groaned and went to wake Darren up, but there was no one beside her. She put on a jacket and walked downstairs to see if he was down there. "Darren? She got no response. She went outside and found him asleep on the front steps. "Darren. Wake up." She shook him awake and bit back a few tears. Darren was.... no. Darren is her brother.

((Just to say, Darren had gone out of the house and was on the front steps asleep, maybe you could add in more detail and possibly add in a time skip or something, to make it slightly longer?))