I'll Protect You (Re-Edit #2, 2016)

Introducing Flynn Darkwood, the boy who ran away

"I think we should go search for him," I suggested as Zen finished off his drink. 

"I think that's a terrible idea," Minnie shot down, giving me an incredulous look. 

"We won't be able to get anywhere in this weather," Sophia chimed in.

Bless their cautious souls.  

"I'm with the bird," Zen shrugged, flinching as thunder cracked through the sky. "We can't just sit here."

"Let's hail a cab and book a night at a hotel. Flynn could be in trouble, and we've got a timeline to stick to," I urged. Everyone was depending on us to carry out our part of the plan. The second day was coming to an end. With or without Flynn, I was seeing this through. 

We got to our feet and after hauling our bags over our shoulders, we exited the airport. My friends followed me as we marched down wet pavements to find a taxi that wasn't already taken. It was a long task, but finally, a cab pulled up besides us and we scrambled in, with me in the passenger seat while everyone else crammed together in the back.  

"Where to?" the driver asked in a deep voice with a Cimerian-Irish lilt that had me lifting my gaze up, wondering in utter disbelief if this bastard made us wait four hours just so he could fulfill his dreams of being a faux-taxi driver. 

"Flynn!" three of us snapped, and I lunged towards him from my seat with every intention of strangling him. Unlike his punctuality, Flynn maintained his cobra-like reflexes. His hands came off the wheel to wrap around my wrists like steel cuffs. The silver family ring on his finger pressed against my bone. 

"Sparrow, don't you know better than to distract your driver?" He clicked his tongue in disapproval, his jade eyes flashing in the darkness of the cab. "I'd hate to tell your brother that you all died in a car accident."

The last time I had seen Flynn, his hair had been a black curtain falling into his eyes, his bones jutting out from his skin. Now, the angles and features of his body were toned, and his hair--a dark red shade--was a tousled mess upon his head, pushed back by a pair of sunglasses. His eyes were the same ghostly jade as his brother's, but there was no guarded look about him. Instead, his gaze was alive with excitement, a gleam in them as sharp as a sword made for the wars of the world. 

"You're not even driving," I scoffed, wrenching my hands away. I took off my sunglasses, seeing as how it was Flynn and not a stranger. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought it was my job to pick you up," he replied. 

"Sorry, I forgot you were a technical smartass. I meant, why are you finally meeting us in a taxi rather than showing up on time using a normal car? How'd you even get this taxi?"

"So many questions," he said, pretending to sound overwhelmed. "You're giving me a headache, Sparrow. I won't be able to drive you in this storm if you keep talking."

"You won't be able to do anything if you don't give me a straight answer for once in your life."

He sighed. "And here I thought your big brother was the dramatic one." The line began to move and Flynn eagerly cut off another vehicle to move ahead in the line. "I'm sorry for being late," he began, sarcasm lacing his tone. "When I  was heading towards the airport, I ran into a couple of guys that were following me. So, to make sure that they didn't come close to you, I decided to turn around and have some fun--"

"Please don't tell me you committed murder in broad daylight," Minnie said. 

He glanced towards the backseat, grinning. "Ever the supportive tone, Minnie Mouse.  And no, I didn't do it in broad daylight. You can't call this weather broad daylight. I prefer to say 'in broad darkness.'"