After the ending, which led to yet another beginning...

June, 2012.

The hollow within his chest was burning deep inside. The flames rose and licked up his throat. His heart raced threateningly fast as it beat against his chest, trying to pull free from his body.

Charles sat upright in his creaky bed with a jolt. Cold sweat had appeared on his face and he was panting. So many years had passed, yet the nightmares still haunted him wherever he went.

He turned his head sideways and looked at the calendar placed on his old wooden bedside table.

Saturday! I've got my date.

He jumped out of his bed with that same brightness in his eyes that he used to have so long ago. He walked barefooted in his pinstriped pyjamas and crossed to his cupboard in no time. Partly because he was excited, partly as he did not have much space to wander about in his little excuse of an apartment.

Charles opened the cupboard door. Three plain t-shirts and a couple of jeans were folded and placed neatly on the lower shelf while a white dress shirt and a blue tuxedo hung on the bar which he had hammered himself into the cupboard. He snatched it and skipped to the bathroom.

It took him less than five minutes to return with the suit on. He surveyed himself in the mirror which was placed opposite to his bed. He had always had a great built, but lately this suit was starting to fit a little too much. He opened the button at the front so he'd have easy movement. His well-kempt dark brown beard and hair complemented his personality- Quiet and powerful. He stared back at his round face and huffed. He looked good enough.

Charles glided towards the door and picked up the keys from a hook right beside the door. Some things never changed, for Charles, class was one of them. He closed the door behind him as he set foot in the small alley that was now his residential street, and walked towards his old blue car.

He sat in it and turned the key. The engine coughed and whimpered, then sprang to life. He turned around the corner and drove away.

Half an hour later, he had reached his destination. He killed the engine just outside and lowered his window. He reached his hand out so he could open the door from outside (it did not perform up to expectations from inside).

He stepped out with grace and buttoned the front of his suit in the flow. Then remembering that the suit was too tight, he left it alone.

"Morning, Chad!" Charles said with the faintest of smiles. He felt sometimes, that he had forgotten how to do that properly.

"Oh, Charles my boy! Morning. Here you go. A bunch of yellows and blues, just the way you like'em." He handed over a bouquet to Charles and he payed him.

"Thanks!" He mumbled and passed through the arch with an over-head sign that read 'Local Cemetery.'

Charles walked up the pavement till the point where it divided on all four sides. He took the right and then took the second left. After walking for another minute or so, he reached her. Lying there, waiting for her as she so sincerely did every week.

"Hey!" Charles kissed the gravestone and placed the bouquet on the grave. He sat on a small chair that had already been placed for him by her grave. Even the people who worked for the cemetery maintenance knew that he'd visit. Charles turned around and waved at an old man who waved back. That was his way of thanking him for the chair.

"So... how've things been going? Oh that... oh it's nothing. Really? You like it? You've been telling me that for so many years now, seriously. I know- I know it looks good on me." Chris talked to the grave, smiling for the first time in his week. Then he frowned, as if listening, and blushed slightly.

"Yes... I do wear it for you. Work? Yeah the same...killed a couple more this week. No-no. Still stuck at bronze rank. I don't know...I am just waiting for him to notice me and give me a chance. What? No...we can't do it yet. I've still got to reach platinum first. I have it thought out...can't risk it you see. After all, it's for my girl." He smiled teasingly at the grave.

"You look hot today by the way. Wonder why I never told you that while you were alive." He chuckled to himself, then his face softened and sorrow overtook him. He sat hunched up in the chair, looking like a blue action figure. "I miss you. I miss you so much Violet." A tear leaked from his blue eyes and the fire in his chest burned once more, radiating out from his bullet wound. He had not forgot in all those years, he had not forgiven in all those years. He still remembered what he had done to him. He still remembered the time when he used to be himself...when he used to be Alex.

-Questions? Well it's not that hard to figure it out...but if you still don't, then wait for the next chapter :)