Gifted Kids 1on1 (DO NOT POST HERE)

[AwesomelyOdd]

Alisha had Lily by the hand, and almost literally dragged her from her spot away from whatever was coming nearer to them from the Powers Arena. Though she could have bet that whatever came from there would have been something looking for the two girls, instead, she could hear sounds of moaning and groaning as they went further from the scene. She knew exactly what was going on despite the inability to see the, particularly because their auras were very close together but also because she was familiar of the sound as it was common to hear it in the slums of the city, a place Ali was all too familiar with.

It made her feel better that whoever they were were not after the two girls, she let out of sigh of relief as she slowed her pace and gave Lily a chance to actually walk with her now instead of dragging her. She let go of her hand and looked at Lily, red flooded her face from the weeping and her energy lacked. "I'm sorry, we can stop" Ali said to the girl as she almost literally collapsed onto the ground, weak and torn. Alisha rose her hand and placed it on the nearest tree and began to suck the life from it to revive herself, almost immediately she was filled with energy, though her emotions and feelings of the things before still remained.

"Give me your hand" Ali said, but took Lily's hand anyways and kept her other hand on the same tree. "I suppose if i kill this tree, it should not be in vein" she muttered as she used her power to pass through the remaining life force through her own body and into Lily. Though almost abundant, the tree would soon run out of life essence, just as instantaneous as both the girls would feel the energy from it did the tree dry up like superglue on paper. "That should hold us for a while" she said, as she lowered both hands back to herself and leaned up against the now dead tree. Ali was looking right at Lily to inspect her condition.

[AwesomelyOdd]

Still locked in the closet remained the man whom was knocked out earlier by the kid who always wanted the girls but could get none, suppose it wasn't his fault that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Razor moaned and groaned a bit as he placed his hand over his forehead and started to come back from an unconscious state, taking in things as he saw them. 'Where the hell am i?' he thought to himself as he stood up in the cramped space of the closet and made his way to grab the doorknob and turn; it was locked. 'Oh really' he thought to himself as he tried to turn the knob a few more times but to no avail would it budge.

The door came crashing down and out came Razor from the maintenance closet, but when he stepped out to look around the room, things just got weirder. 'Is that Shadow boy?' he thought to himself as he saw the kid in black laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious with blood splattered all over the floor and wall, some spots even on the ceiling. He moved over slowly, his steel toed boots made rather loud clunking noises as he stopped in his tracks right next to Zero. He tapped Zero with his foot, light as first but harder as the kid would not wake up. 'A pity, he had such potential' he thought to himself but in a rather sarcastic manner as he stepped over Zero's body and headed to the doorway.

Things felt so weird today for him, despite being on his mission both personal and other. Kids seemed to be over stepping boundaries and causing havoc, starting with that Arthur kid and now Zero being dead it would seem. It was a perfect moment for a drink, a time to sober his thoughts up. Razor walked across the courtyard and towards the bar which was open, but minimally staffed since it was daytime and hardly any kids came. "Vodka please, straight" he said to the bartender whom gave him a funny look at first, but obliged him with the drink and slide it across the counter. Razor took a seat at the bar stool and took the shot, and literally drank the whole thing in one gulp only to put it back down on the counter and slide it back towards the bartender.

"Rough day already mate?" the bartender jokingly said to Razor as he took the glass and ran it under the sink.
"You have no idea" Razor said, his voice low and raspy, hinted with a bit of understandable uncertainty that lingered about everything that had just happened, and what he could have missed.

[davidgrave]

"I need to feed...I need to get stronger..." Inside Zero, there was a craving to cover the world in darkness. "This boy...has no yet reached his full potential. He will need more..."



The headmaster walked into the cafeteria after getting so many complaints from both students and staff. Looking around, he saw a torn up cafeteria and a torn up outside. He thought ",at least the inside of the Arena is alright." He walked back into the cafeteria and using his psychic powers, moved the cracks on the ground back together. He cleaned up the cafeteria as best he could along with the lunch lady, who had psychic abilities as well. She cleaned up all the trash and piled them together, but that had to include the broken tables, broken plates, and broken...well...everything was broken. By the time they were finished, only a few tables remained, four holes in the wall, one on the ceiling, and...it was just a mess.

"Now, what happened here?" The headmaster asked the lunchlady.

"It seemed like that Arthur boy lost control of his powers. Zero dragged him outside and that was the last I've seen of them. What's going on with the students, Headmaster. A few cracks and small holes are normal, but the entire cafeteria? This is sure to give the government a clue as to where we are."

"It's alright. We have made plan after plan on what to do if we get a visitor from the outside. Let's just hope it doesn't go that far. As for Arthur and Zero, I will need to speak with them after this place is cleaned up."

"Well, the cafeteria is cleaned up. We still have the outside of the Arena is bad as well. I think we should keep students out of the area until we get all the blood cleaned up. I hope it isn't blood from one of our students."

The headmaster and ]lunchlady walked outside and down a path to the Arena. Most of the grass were bloodstained, the walls were somewhat destroyed, trees were pulled out or knocked over, parts of the ground had craters, and and the thing that made the lunch lady flinched was pieces of skin and hair on the ground. The headmaster examined the hair and gave the lunch lady a grave face. "Call all the students. Make sure they're all counted for. Keep the rumors down and make up something else. We don't need anymore students panicking or getting out of hand." The lunchlady nodded her head and ran off gathering every student to the Auditorium. One by one, the students came in, all questioning the sudden calling.

"I heard..."

"Oh, yeah? Well I heard..."

"No, it's..."

Now now, what are you children talking about? We've called you for a program to welcome all the new students. After this, we shall all have a grand meal," the lunch lady lied.

"Really?! Awesomely odd! But sure!"

The lunch lady kept a smile on, but when she reached her workstation, she sighed. "Out of all things...a grand meal. I'm gonna be so busy today. I just hope nothing else will happen."

(ooc:I'm really bored on my laptop since yall two are a bit incapacitated...so colored away...)

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

Lily struggled to keep pace with Alisha as she was dragged through the woods. She tripped and stumbled as she was led blindly, tears still hindering her sight. Her friend seemed to want to get away from something, but Lily wasn't sure what. She tried to clear her eyes of tears as they went, and little by little she could see her surroundings better and stopped stumbling quite so much.

Sounds drew her attention and she turned to where they came. Low moans, heavy sighs. There were two people, intimately wrapped around one another in the tall grass a ways away. Liy suddenly felt sick and tore her ayes away from the scene. She focused on other sounds. the sounds of birds, the wind in the trees, the rustling of leaves as they ran through the woods. Any sounds except THOSE sounds. The disgusting sounds that made her think back to Nathan. The moans and cruel chuckles, those noises he made as he...

Alisha came to a sudden stop and Lily almost ran straight into her back. She let go of Lily and turned, Alisha's face was red and wet with tears. ""I'm sorry, we can stop." Then the girl let herself fall to the ground. Lily went down with her, catching her breath as she laid back against a tree. She didn't say anything. She just covered her eyes with her arm, blocking out the sun's light. She didn't care why they had run deeper into the woods, she just wanted to rest.

"Give me your hand," she heard Alisha instruct a few moments later. Before she could offer her free hand though, Alisha took the hand that was blocking the sun. The sudden brightness stung, but the light felt good on her face. She could feel herself feeling much better, both from the light and from the energy Alisha was transferring to her through her hand. Lily felt bad toward the tree whose life was being sucked away. She nodded a silent apology and thank you. The tree's needles reddened and fell around the two girls, it was a sad and beautiful death.

Once they were both decently charged up. Alisha let her hand ho and leaned against the dead tree. She seemed to watch carefully as Lily put her hand on the maple's now-dark and lifeless bark. "This one is dead, there's no hope of regrowth." Lily felt around the ground and found what she was searching for. A pine cone. She took a seed from within the cone and held it between her thumb and index fingers. "The least I can do is bring forth new life from this death."

She looked at the seed, worriedly. She was scared to try again. This time though, Lily wasn't completely drained. She breathed out, and then inhaled again and held it. Come now, sprout. She willed the seed, but still nothing happened. She tried not to panic again and calmly smiled at Alisha. "it's ok, I'll try again later! I'm sure I just need more rest..." She put the seed into her pocket and leaned against her friend's shoulder. "That's all, just more rest." She tried to convince herself, but in the back of her mind the worst case scenario of truly losing her gift played out. She suddenly regretted ever wishing to be normal.

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

Athur didn't know what happened but as his head finally cleared outside of the dorm he came to a conclution. He needed Zero to explain, to snap out of whatever he was going through, and they needed to find the girls...

He barged back into the dorm and into Zero's room. "ZERO! We need to ta..." Arthur stared at a shirtless and passed out Zero in his bed. Arthur walked over and tried to shake the boy awake. "This is no time to be sleeping, damn it...!" Zero didn't even make a sound. Angry, Zero lifted the boy over his shoulders and took him into the bathroom. He set the boy in the tub and turned on the cold shower, hoping to shock the boy awake but Zero didn't so much as make an expression of discomfort.

With a heavy sigh, Arthur turned the shower off and stared at the still bloody and now drenched Zero. "Hmph, well I guess I can't leave you like this." Arthur kneeled next to the tub and stared at Zero's belt buckle. "Jeez..." He reached over the edge of the tub, unbuckling the belt and removing Zero's pants. "If this EVER get's out of this room, I'll kill you," he warned the passed out boy, glaring at him.

Arthur left Zero's boxers intact. There is no way I will go that far to help a friend. He turned the shower back on, making sure it was warm this time before rising the boy's body. He took the sponge and soap that was there and scrubbed off the stubbornly dried blood and the bits of what looked like torn flesh from Zero's body. Art even went so far as washing Zero's hair, since it was also matted with blood, dirt, and other things. When he was done, he turned off the water. Zero looked more normal now, except for the few cuts and bruises. Jeez man, what happened?! Arthur knew he wouldn't be able to get any answers until Zero woke up. By the looks of it, that won't be soon.

After wrapping a towel around the boy, Arthur carried him back to his bed, He threw the bloody cover on the floor and pulled back the clean sheet to cover Zero with since he was still wet. After he was put down and covered, Arthur looked down on his handy-work. Don't blame me if you get sick... Arthur sighed. He was tired and now hungry.

Might as well grab a bite to eat. Maybe I'll see the girls, though after Lily tells Alisha about what she thinks I did, I don't think either of them will be talking to me. Damn it. He balled his fists but released them again. I will get this cleared up. I don't want things to stay how they are between us.

Athur made his way to the cafeteria, but came to a sudden stop as he rounded the corner and dove behind a trash can. There, in the middle of the sitting area, stood the headmaster. Around the two adults, the place looked like a war had been fought in the room. There was barely anything left in one piece. Arthur had forgotten aboutthe little fight he and Zero had earlier. "Tch, damn. One problem after another," he muttered to himself.

From where he hid, he could hear what the headmaster and lunchlady spoke about. Arthur's face paled as the lunchlady recounted the entire fight to the headmaster. Deep s**t, my friend, that's what we're in...

He was about to leave, but mention of another clean-up caught his attention and he stuck around. Something had happened at the arena and it involved a lot of blood...He followed the two adults discretely. When they arrived at the arena, Arthur could not believe his eyes. There was blood all around and sprayed across the walls. Trees were on their sides and broken in half. craters littered the ground, and in some places, here seemed to be bits of flesh - hanging from tree limbs, clinging to the bloody wall, and even on the ground which he stood on now. It took everything he had for Arthur not to throw up. Zero was here. But....he couldn't have done this, could he?

He stepped back but slipped on something, falling on his butt. He looked to see what had caused him to trip. There, at his feet, lay a bloody sliver of scalp, White hair still visible. Nathan...Arthur thought instantly.

Zero...no.

Arthur was filled with fear. He could guess now what more or less happened here. But why it happened was another question. Zero wouldn't have done something so severe...so savage...if it weren't for a good reason. Arthur's thoughts turned to the girls. They could be the reason. Something happened to the girls, that was the only explanation.

He turned back and ran to Zero's room. He slammed and locked the door. I can't find the girls without Zero, and Zero can't help me if he gets accused of murder...

He picked up the bloody clothes and blanket then ran to the balcony. He raised a hand to the ground and the earth began to shift like quicksand. He threw the clothes and blanket at the center of the swirling sand and the ground swallowed the garments. Then he closed his fist and the ground became hard again, as if nothing had ever happened. There, that evidence is taken care of. He walked to the bathroom, checking the tub for blood but he had already rinsed it clean. Arthur waled around the dorm, checking for anything he missed but found everything in order.

Arthur finally walked into the living room and threw himself onto the couch, resting his head on the back. He groaned, tired and anxious. He turned his head toward Zero's room. He had left the door open and could see Zero still sleeping. "Hurry and wake up you a**. There's a lot of explaining and unfinished business to take care of..."

[AwesomelyOdd]

Alisha watched the girl as she smiled and tried using the pine cone bristle as a new seed for new growth, same results as before as she could not use her power, not then, and not now. "It's okay, we will come back later" Alisha said to her and she wrapped her arm around Lily whom seemed still disappointed about the whole loss of power ordeal.

A quick scan around the area revealed to her that the area was clear, they were out of danger for now, that is if danger lingered around them to begin with. Alisha had the idea of going somewhere more comfortable though, somewhere where they both could rest, and be out of sight from the rest. She stood up and looked down to Lily, "Lets go to my room" she said to her and held her hand out so that Lily would take it and they could leave.

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

Lily took Alisha's hand, smiling a bit sadly. "Yes, let's come back sometime..." But she felt that that it would be useless to try again. They started their way back to campus, going a round about way so as to not go back the way they came in case they had been followed. Nathan was still out there, and he would likely be pissed. Lily hoped they made it back to the room safely, without seeing his face again. She was scared to go back at all.

Once they cleared the woods, Lily jumped at every sound. Every voice, every footstep she heard, every door that shut, made her dizzy with paranoia. She clung to Alisha's hand for dear life, her whole body trembled. At some point, as they walked down the hall a Mr. Slinger waved at them as he passed, but in Lily's eyes she saw Nathan waving. She hid behind Alisha, who assured her she was okay.

When they finally reached the room, Lily breathed a sigh of relief. They were home. Alisha unlocked the door and opened it to let Lily in first. She began to step into the dorm, but stopped when she saw Nathan comfortably sitting on the couch. He looked at her quizzically then shot up to his feet. He started moving toward the girls. "Lily, Alisha! You two are okay! Where have you been?" Nathan reached out to her, and Lily's eyes went wide with horror. "Lily?? Are you okay?" His hand barely touched her shoulder and...

Black.

[davidgrave]

Zero stirred in his sleep. The fight replayed in his head. Everything that he and Nathan did, all the blood, all the pain, and the pleasurable sense of satisfaction. Finally, after dreaming and dreaming, he woke up, not remembering the dream like every other dreams he had before. He was surprised he was able to remember the dreams about Alisha...but they weren't dreams.

Zero opened his eyes, seeing the familiar ceiling he always saw for the past 6 years. He looked around him and found Arthur pacing back and forth like he was awaiting his doom. "What's wrong with him?" Zero thought. After getting his composure back together, he forced himself up, noticing that he was still a little wet. "Did I take a bath before lunch?" He asked himself outloud. He couldn't remember at all. By then, he saw Arthur leaving his room in a hurry. Wait...what happened? He couldn't speak. "Arthur? What are you doing in my room?" Zero asked, his voice still a little rough from just waking up. WHen he finally came to, Arthur wasn't in his room anymore. He sat up in bed, rubbing his head. It hurt like a M******F*****! He brought his face to his hands to rub his eyes, but his hand was hurting for some reason. When he looked down, it was bruised and a knuckle was broken. "What happened?" Curious now, he stood up and left his room, hoping that Arthur was still there. He saw Arthur laying on the couch in the common room and Lily and Alisha in the doorway. Lily was screaming bloody murder and had her hands up like someone was about to kill her.

"Lily?" Zero asked. His voice was still quiet and it seemed like no one had noticed him yet. Then, when Lily passed out, he finally made himself known. "LILY!"

[AwesomelyOdd]

Carefully Alisha lead Lily through the woods back towards the campus, though for a while it was seem that no matter how far they traveled, they would only be faced with more woods and bushes, not a single figment of civilization to be found. Alisha was never lost though as she could tell where the campus was from the faint images of the auras lingering, though now slightly amplified from the energy she took from the tree in the woods. She could feel the tightening on her hand as Lily clinged to it with her life it would seem, eventually engulfing her arm in the embrace as she guided her; Ali almost felt like a mother.

It was a peculiar thing though for Ali to feel the way she felt, yes terrible things had just happened but she was no where near the feelings of Lily. In fact, her composure was rather calm and collective, yet her expression hinted the fragmented feelings she truly felt from the things that had just happened to her, suggesting that she already had a grip on situation as if she had been through it before. Soon, the pair would reach the dormitory hallways and wrap around to the walkway and head towards her dorm, passing students by that would stare at them as if they didn't belong at times. At one point, a teacher passed by, Ali couldn't help but notice that Lily cowarded behind her body as he passed, "It's okay Lily" she would assure her to ease her mind.

The pair would soon arrive to the dorm room and Ali would find that it was locked, not a problem as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the key to open the door. She let Lily in first thinking that the place was empty, big mistake. "Lily!" exclaimed Arthur as he shot up, though the abrupt reaction caused Lily to pass out while standing. Ali quickly caught her and pulled her into an embrace before she could hit the ground, a small sigh let out as she used her other arm to wrap under Lily's legs so she may carry her the rest of the way.

Ali left the front door open as she was full handed with Lily now, and began to walk towards her bed room so she can place Lily on her bed. She walked past Arthur, though gave him a rather questionable look in not the greatest way as she passed him. "Leave us alone" Alisha said to Arthur, her voice lowered and obviously hinted with distress.

She carefully lowered Lily onto her bed, placed a pillow under her head and took her shoes off. She then walked back to the door to find a worried Arthur looking still at them, she said nothing to him as she closed her door in his face, and locked it shut. She let out a sigh as she walked back to Lily and pulled out the covers from underneath her, and tucked her into the with a small smile on her face, "Sleep well" she muttered as she pulled away. Ali was careful to close the blinds to disallow the light from coming in, turned on a small lamp so the lighting would be minimal, a perfect place to get some rest. She eventually plopped onto the bed next to Lily but on top of the sheets, rested her head onto the pillow but kept her sight towards a passed out Lily. Ali closed her eyes, but was not sleeping.

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

The black sea. She was floating in it again. She didn't mind it. The dark place was peaceful.
I wouldn't mind staying here forever...

"You can't do that. You have things you must do." It was only a voice. A woman's voice. It echoes all around her in the deep darkness.

Who's there? Lily was oddly not afraid. The voice felt calming and nurturing.

"I am not your enemy, that is all you need to know."

How do I know that??

"You don't. You'll just have to trust that I speak the truth..."

....and what if I don't trust you?

"....."

"Then I cannot help you regain what you have lost."

What I've lost??

Something suddenly appeared in front of Lily's face. It was a pine seed. She held it between her index and thumb, just like before and stared at it.

"This is your gift, manifested. It was lost...but now it has been returned. Beware, if you lose it again, no one will be able to help you except yourself."

Lily felt the seed grow warm and it sank into her finger tips, spreading a feeling that seemed to crawl through her blood. It was not scary or uncomfortable. It actually felt good. It felt right. She smiled as she looked into her empty hands, but she felt it there within her now.

"Why are you helping me? Who are you?!" Lily yelled into the emptiness.

"You need not know my name, only that I am your alli. You will need every bit of strength and power for what is to come."

"What is to come?" Lily was confused and it showed on her face. "What's coming?"

"The devourer...beware...he is closer than you know....beware...."

The voice faded away and Lily was alone again. She felt unsettled. "What is the devourer?!? Hey! Tell me more!" But there was no answer.

"WAIT!" The sound of her own voiceyelling startled her awake. She sat up and found Alisha laying next to her on a bed. It was Alisha's bed. Alisha's room. They made it to the dorm, but...
"Nathan!..." She grabbed onto Alisha's shoulders. Her eyes were wide with panic. I know I saw him waiting for us when we arrived! "Where is he?!?"

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

Arthur just watched the door close in his face. He was worried for Lily but was glad to finally see that she, and Alisha, were safe and back. He sighed and closed the front door, then walked back to Zero's room and sat on Zero's bed. The guy was finally awake and now Arthur could get some answers.

"Okay Zero, talk. What happened between you and Nathan..." He stared the boy down until he started to speak.

"WAIT!" One of the girl yelled from the other bedroom. Arthur jumped and stared at the bedroom door. He wasn't sure he should run in or not. Lily probably still didn't want to see his face. After all, just being around him was enough to cause her to faint...

"Nathan!" He heard Lily yell out again and this time there was no stopping him. He was at the girls' door and slamming it open before even he realized it. "Lily?!?" He looked to where both girls lay atop the bed, They both looked at him. Lily's eyes looked afraid. "No! STAY AWAY! Don't come near us!!!" She yelled at him.

"Lily! I...I never did anything to you I swear!" Lily looked at him in shock and disbelief. "How can you say that?! Just because you did those things in the hologram!?! Go to hell!"

Arthur stared, completely confused. Hologram?? What is she...? Lily raised her hand to the window and a vine broke in through the grass, wrapping itself around his neck.

"L....Lil..y...Why!!!" More vines twisted around his body, pinning his arms to his sides and some coiled around his legs so he couldn't run. The vines lifted him into midair as Lily bidded the vines to move him closer. Tears were in her eyes, but she didn't look afraid anymore. Her eyes glowed with rage and pain. "I'm going to make you suffer!"

A vine snaked around to his face. It wrapped around his entire head, making him unable to turn and forcing him to look straight at Lily. She glared angrily at him still teary-eyed, a wicked smirk across her lips. The same vine came across his lips also, forcing it's way into his mouth, gagging him.

Lily slowly closed her outstretched hand and the vines around his body began to wrap tighter, making it harder to breathe. With her otherhand she made a motion that looked much like a claw and the vines began to grow barbs. They dug into his skin, cutting him as they continued to constrict around his body. Tears forned in the boys eyes and he tried to shake the vines off, but only ended up making the pain worse. He tried to beg for Lily to stop but he could only mumble against the gag. Lily smiled cruely, Her eyes began to tear. "You deserve this Nathan."

Suddenly, Arthur stopped struggling against the torture and just stared at Lily. Her tormented eyes stared at him and he realized she wasn't seeing him. She didn't see arthur but instead, through some sort of disturbed haze, saw Nathan. What in the world did he do?!

Arthur bit down on the vine in his mouth and was able to tear it. He spat it away and took a deep breath. "Lily! Wake up! This is Arthur!!!" PLEASE!!!"

[davidgrave]

Zero tilted his head at Arthur's question. "Me and Nathan? What do you mean? What happened?" Before the conversation could go further, they heard Lily screaming in the other room. Arthur bolted and barged in Alisha's room. Before Zero knew it, Aethur was wrapped in vines with sharp barbs that were piercings his skin. Zero's eyes widened at the sight of blood. He slowly walked to Arthur as the boy tried to fight back. Zero placed a hand on Arthur's arm and stared at the cuts that barbs were forcing in his skin. Blood was seeping through his skin. He felt his heart thump. Suddenly, he felt like everything was double. His heart pounded louder as his face moved towards his arm. Arthur was struggling to break free and that enticed Zero even more. Without warning, or permission from Arthur, zero licked his lips and then licked the blood running down Arthur's hand. The rusty taste of the warm blood made his heart quicken. He heard Arthur yell again as loud as he could and Zero was broke. He looked from Arthur to Lily to Alisha. Something was wrong with Lily. She was quite unstable and was looking damn near frightened of Arthur. Her body was shaking from fear, like she had been violated in some way. "Lily! Snap out of it! What's wrong?! It's me and Arthur!" Zero yelled at her. Zero looked around and edit once his shadow wasn't there. Actually, his shadow had been quiet recently as if it just disappeared. He shook his head and raised his arms. A shadowy curtain fell over her. "I hope she's not scared of the dark..." As she couldn't clearly see them, Zero tried to reason with her. No. It was Arthur that needed to. "What are you waiting for?" Zero asked Arthur.

[xX Duskwhisper Xx]

Lily didn't even see Zero come in. She was too focused on Nathan. The botanokinetic girl felt mixed emotions of pleasure and guilt as she watched her subject writhe in pain from her thorny vines. She stared into his light purple eyes. But... the vines grip loosened a bit as she lost concentration and she began to hear the voices filter through to her mind. "....Arthur." The one name that kept hitting hard. She looked again at the boy's eyes. They were not blue, not Nathan's/ They were Arthur's soft purple eyes. Her vision blurred but she kept a hold of her captive with her vines. She rubbed at her eyes. The vision of the boy shifted between Arthur and Nathan. "...Ar...thur?"

More darkness. There was no one and nothing yet again. She lost grasp of the vines, could not feel any presence around her at all. This darkness was not a safe place. It as a deep void that swallowed you up. Lily could not see. Lily started to feel a bit frightened. Not because of the dark - she never minded the dark and even somewhat liked it. She feared being alone in this cold and unfamiliar darkness that was so much different from her cozy, blanketing unconscious. Please don't leave me. Alisha? She wanted to reach out but could not move. Zero? Taking a deep breath, Lily tried to fight back her tears. "Arthur..." She heard her voice, and someone grabbed her hand and held it gently. The hand was wet, warm, and sticky. The smell of blood was in the air and for a second she was stricken with fear.

"Lily, it's alright..It's me. It's Arthur." She heard his voice, gentle and soft. She could relax. It was really him holding her hands. She entwined her fingers in his and with her other hand, searched for his face. She foun his cheek and could feel where the vines had cut him. So it really was him. I did this to Arthur. Though she couldn't see, she could tell her vines had dealt quite some damage to him. She could smell the blood and feel the warm liquid running from his hand and onto hers before falling away. "Arthur....I'm so sorry."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Zero enshrouded Lily in darkness, her vines released him and left Arthur to fall to the ground. He landed on his feet and struggled to stay standing but steadied himself with the edge of the bed. Zero suggested that he should be the one to talk Lily down and calm her. He stared at Zero, but nodded in understanding. Somehow, something in her mind caused Lily to see Nathan when she attacked. He suspected that she likely saw the same thing when they had arrived to the dorm and she feinted just from seeing him. Something Nathan did had messed her mind up and he could only guess what it was. Nathan had without a doubt now, done what Arthur had been accused of this morning. Though she swore she had seen Arthur. Now it was very close to the opposite.

Nathan had now done something apparently far worse, and Lily very much knew but she was now projecting Nathan's appearance onto himself. The girl was insanely scared and enraged. Arthur saw it in her eyes that she could and would have slowly killed Nathan. I don't want to know anymore...I don't want to know what could drive a person like Lily to actually want to do so much intentional harm. She was smiling while she cried. Torn between right and wrong. She was hating the fact that she was enjoying the act of torturing Nathan...

He walked up to her and put his hand on the shadow. The shadowy curtain was lifted, leaving only her eyes covered in a dark blindfold. Arthur nodded to Zero and then reached to Lily, she was sobbing quietly. "Arthur..." she whispered.

The boy was surprised to hear his name come from her lips. Does she know I'm here? He took her hand and the girl stiffened. "Lily, it's alright..." He placed his other hand over hers and rubbed it soothingly. "It's Arthur."

Lily relaxed and took his hand in hers. She reached out to his face and he leaned forward so his cheek would meet her palm. Her hand was trembling and soft. She felt along the side of his face, finding the gashes where the barbs had dug in and torn at his skin on his cheek. He watched her face as she furrowed her brow in a worried expression and her bottom lip quivered as she fought to keep from crying. "Arthur...I'm so sorry."

He couldn't help himself. "He pulled her into his bloody arms and hugged her. "It's okay now. It wasn't your fault. I would never blame you Lily." She started crying, and hugged him tightly. "It's alright, you never have to worry. Nathan will NEVER bother you again..."

He held Lily as she sobbed, but glanced at Zero. Indeed, Nathan won't ever bother anyone...because he's dead. Arthur was certain Zero was the cause of that, but didn't care. Considering the state Lily was in, he would have done the same.

[davidgrave]

Zero sighed in relief as Lily gained her composure back. She was now embracing with Arthur. Zero let down the shadows and watched the 2 enjoy their company. He glanced at Alisha, but he couldn't look her in the eyes for some reason. He felt guilty and he didn't know why. Of course, he didn't remember anything that happened the past couple of hours. The last thing he remembered was...ah...Nathan had done something despicable to the girls. He remembered being worried and then, it was a blank. He thought, maybe he had passed out or was just a bit weak.

Arthur then mentioned how Nathan wouldn't ever bother them again. His mouth moved on it's own from curiosity. "What happened to Nathan?" Zero asked. He truthfully didn't know. It was something he wanted to know. Did Arthur...kill Nathan? Zero's eyes went open. Was that why he looked at me like that? Geez...what did he do? zero eyes Arthur in both a proud and 'what the hell did you do' sort of way. "I don't mean to interrupt, but...can I talk to you for a second?" Zero said to Arthur and walked back to his room, hoping Arthur would follow him. This would be a grave situation. If Arthur really killed Nathan, the Headmaster would find out and he would be in big trouble. Then again, Arthur had a valid reason for doing so. Zero sighed again, but it wasn't for relief, it was for worry for his friends.