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Lilith was taken back when Saul pulled her towards him and pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes. She had seen it done so many times and wanted to know what it was like to feel that spark. The woman always closed her eyes and leaned in, a foot kicked up slowly or their hands moved to the man. But all she felt was Saul's lips on hers, his warmth against her cold face. She felt only emptiness inside her that was meant for something...something that she didn't have.

When he pulled away she opened her eyes and watched him. She then took a step back and breathed out. "I wish I could want to do that before you did. But that's what's wrong with me. I can't feel or want anything. I'm sorry..." She then turned around and walked away, faster than usual, maybe in hopes that she'd get away faster before she hurt him even more.

Mei laughed a bit and watched Alice. "I like how you guys call him Gabe. Makes him seem more human." She grinned and stood up. "I should go and at least make sure he's alright. If you need anything, yell at me. I take loud noises easily." She grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and went upstairs.

She sat outside of Talen's room and put the paper on her knees as she wrote him a letter, hoping the silly way of communicating might ease him more into talking. She scrawled out her letter, her handwriting more like a boy's than most girl's.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you weren't dead. Killing yourself won't get you to him faster." She wrote in a morbidly humorous tone and then signed her name . She then tore it off and folded it neatly. On the front she wrote. "To: Talen" and underneath she wrote "From: Your Girlfriend" with hearts around it. Afterwards she slid it underneath and knocked on the door.

"Mail delivery." She then slid the pad of paper and pen under the door as well for him to write back. "It's urgent."

((What a weirdo...))

((Awww...I love Saul. He's like a little puppy. Haha. And I am going to use Lilith a little more so we can get things running with her and Caine a bit...so we can set stuff into action for when abel comes back and what-not. I have nothing set in stone, so if you want to make things happen too, DO IT.))

Lilith had ended up running back to the apartment. She hadn't expected the sudden pumping of energy through her veins as she had walked away from Saul. But the minute she turned the corner she knew if she didn't expend that energy somewhere, it'd end up doing something worse than twitchy muscles or high heart rate.

When she had gotten back she came to a walk and went into the lobby. Sweat was no where on her skin. Her constant cold temperature prevented the need for sweat. Even her skin was just as it had been if she were walking, not red anywhere or no sign of exertion. The only noticeable difference in her was the brightness of her eyes and the constriction of her pupils, almost into slits.

To her relief there wasn't a crowd of people in the lobby as usual. It was a fancy apartment building which made for constant get togethers and parties, all of which Caine and Lilith were never part of, were never invited to, nor ever put any effort into getting invited to. As far as they were concerned this was only temporary and there was no need to mingle with anyone that wouldn't provide immediate benefit to them.

She took the stairs up to the eleventh floor and opened up the door to their apartment, 1101. She breathed heavily through her nostrils, a cloud of visible air coming out like smoke from a dragon. Already, she knew Caine wasn't home yet. There was no warmth in the room when she had entered, only the cold tile beneath her and blank white walls around her. After a moment of standing in silence she moved to the stove and turned on two burners. Without hesitation she slammed her hands onto the heat and closed her vibrant eyes. The heat only was cooled down by her hands to the point that ice began to form on the metal covering. Something inside her pulled and she thrust her hands away from the stove in what seemed agitation.

An idea came to her. She walked over to the window and pushed it open. She had seen this done before and wondered if it might work for her. Maybe if she did what everyone else did to feel something...she would too. After taking a deep breath she let out a scream. It was an eerie sound filled of nothing but just one single chord. After a few minutes of just screaming she felt nothing. Shutting the window she kicked the glass table, shattering it, shards splintering the cold skin on her legs. Still nothing.

Her eyes closed and she walked limply to the kitchen to get the first-aid kit. When Caine got home, she'd tell him she was ready to move again. He'd probably jump at the opportunity to get her away from Saul as soon as possible. She no longer had any reason to disagree with him. Let him do what he thought was best as she had done ever since Abel had come. Just follow him around.

((She's scary...))

Lilith took the paper and read it with a sad smile. She knew he was trying to joke back, but somehow the words seemed all too true. Underneath his words she wrote back.

"I don't think crying fist sized tears is physically possible." Below that she wrote, "Mind if I come in to mop them up?" And slid it back under the door. She then knocked. "Mail Delivery." She called again.

((Now back to reading. D: ))

((UGH I am so bad...I NEED to be reading...hahaha and studying...))

Lilith had pushed herself up onto the counter, next to the burners as she opened up the bandages. She roughly ripped each shard from her skin. The blood that dripped out frosted fast and never made it to the floor, sticking to her icy skin like red icicles. She could feel Caine coming and she looked up from her legs to the door just before he walked in.

"I always knew I didn't fit in." She replied back in her usual, calm, cold manner as she began to unravel the bandages. As her brother spoke she remained placid, staring up at him as he came over and took the bandages from her hands. With a sigh she leaned back and let him wrap over the frozen blood and scratches.

"Your way with words is so poetic. For a moment there I was sure you were reciting something to me." She said in that blank tone. The only hint to its sarcasm was the fact it was so far from truth that it had to be sarcasm.

"I can't hate. You always forget that." She dropped her legs when he finished and she looked him in the eyes as he stood before her. She could actually feel the warmth radiating off his skin and settling on her own. He was warm enough for her to actually feel it. Maybe that was what made her stay with him all this time instead of going away on her own. Or maybe it was that remaining kinship. That bond that she knew she'd never have with anyone else. He was basically half of her. Even if she didn't feel anything or have any sense of connection or care, there was something that kept her there. It made her wonder if she once felt that connection when they were still normal. Maybe there was one time when she actually had that want to tag along with him or to talk to him. Maybe he actually had talked back. She would have asked Caine himself...but she knew he'd think she was crazy and avoid answering her.

"I always knew you were right. I just thought with Abel there it'd be different...that they would be safe from..." She stopped and jumped off the counter. She nudged Caine aside as she moved to the living room. "It doesn't matter why I came back. We're leaving." She disappeared into her room and began to throw clothes and what little items she had into a duffel bag.

((That book is sitting...waiting for me...to read it...GO AWAY.))

Mei glanced to the side when the door cracked open and she got onto her knees and pushed it open all the way. She gazed in at him and then crawled in, closing the door behind her. She sat beside him and breathed in slowly. Whenever she breathed deeply it always seemed to clean her spirit out and calm her.

"I know you probably don't want to talk. I wouldn't want to either." She put her hands on her knees and tilted her head back, closing her eyes. "But I sometimes find that just having someone there makes me feel better. Like...you COULD talk to that person. There's a resource to use if anything sprouts out of your mouth so someone can here. But you don't have to...you know? It's just...nice." She smiled and nodded.

"So if you do want to talk, I'm here to listen."

Lilith had nearly finished packing when Cain came into the room. She zipped up the bag and straightened when he came in front of her. She was silent as she stared at him. The lack of noise in the room would have been unsettling to anyone. The coldness in the air settled heavily around them and she took a step away from Cain and moved to the dresser. She picked up a silver necklace and stuffed it into her pocket.

"Why are you so worried about why I came back? I just figured it was best for us to leave. What do you want me to say? I really have no emotional reasons for being here. If that's what you're getting at, or expecting. He loved me. He said it himself. I didn't love him. I can't love him. There was nothing for me there, and nothing for him but being killed when they caught up to us." She looked at Cain emptily.

"As long as we're leaving, it's fine. So pack what you need, and let's move out." She went around him and left the room, the cold air traveling with her. "Hurry up. They'll be checking on us soon, after hearing me scream."

((Hahaha. I finished reading...I just need to study now...))

Mei opened her eyes to looked at him and she smiled a bit. "How long? Hard to say. It depends on what you consider 'knowing' him." Her smile faded a bit as Talen asked how she met Abel and she looked away, back to the window. "It's kind of complicated. But I can try to explain the best I can. There isn't a straight going to hell or heaven after you die. It always depends on the person's ties with their life and others' lives. When someone is attached so much to someone they end up kind of stuck between life and the afterlife. What you guys would call ghosts, in the sense that they are still on earth, and aren't either in heaven or hell." She paused and closed her eyes, trying to figure out a way to explain things without giving away too much.

"Abel...he was attached to someone. His attachment really is what caused his death. From what Gabriel told me, Abel had found this person to be the only one that he ever really wanted to be around. He loved them. It was strange because this person wasn't really the type of person who is easily loved...but he loved them nonetheless. In short, Abel was drawn into this destructive way of life by the person. He got caught up in things that he couldn't get out of. His devotion to this person was so great that when they were the one who was supposed to die, Abel put himself in the crossfire and ended up saving her life for his own. And in that time he also ended the life of someone else as well. He was supposed to immediately get sent to heaven, or what you guys call Heaven, but he refused. Gabriel couldn't get him to go. The person has to willingly go. He didn't. He wanted to stay with that person. I guess he had the feeling he was still needed there. He needed to protect them. Which was really impossible in his state."

She licked her lips and swallowed. "Gabriel asked me to convince him. By this time though years had passed, so I figured it would be easier, since he should probably realize time was passing, while he wasn't. So I went and that's how I met him. I deal with a bunch of things, and passing over is one of them. I try to get the dead to move on. When I met him he was practically spiritually dead as well. He just stuck around this person, watching their life go on without him, with hopes he'd make contact." She opened her eyes and glanced at Talen, studying him.

"He was hard to convince. He's stubborn...and hard-headed. Anything I said he'd just ignore. Finally, the way I found to get through to him, was to just talk...about anything that interested him. We'd take for hours, even days about things, sometimes he'd even open up a little about his life. It wasn't until he saw the person he was attached to forget about him. I think that's when he understood that he had to go. There was no point for him to stay." She nodded and sighed.

"I personally don't think he ever really recovered from that. When you're that emotionally attached to someone you leave a part of yourself behind with them. I always wished there was a way for him to get what he gave that person back. But there isn't. And I think he found a replacement for that here with you. You weren't what he lost, but your damned close to it. You actually got him to smile...genuinely smile...and to actually care a little bit about himself." After a moment she frowned. "And now I probably just made you feel worse..." She rubbed her forehead.

"I'm too long winded...get me talking and I go on forever."

((SURE DO.))

((Ohhhh. I kinda want to know in what ways they were interesting!))

Lilith moved to the kitchen as Cain packed. She grabbed some food, bread, soda, chips, and apples. It was all they really had at the time. She was always the one who was the most hungry, strangely enough. Perhaps the need for food filled up the emptiness in all other aspects of her body and personality...or lack thereof. When Cain finished she walked back out, biting into a red apple.

"Don't pop a blood vessel." She muttered to him and walked out the door, duffel bag slung over her shoulder. "The next bus leaves in ten minutes. I guess we'll just ride until it's stopped." She said as she walked down the hall. Taking another bite of her apple she got to the elevator and pushed the down button.

She was trying her hardest to believe this was the right thing. That leaving would make everyone better. But something told her it was all just running away from the inevitable. They'd find them no matter where they ran. It might take a few years more...but in the end they'd get caught. She had always known that, since the minute they made their escape, but there was that sliver of something inside her that masked that knowledge. Reality had a way of changing itself, so maybe, she thought, maybe her's would.

All along, she realized, she was just lieing to herself.

((Wishful thinking...hahaha. Too bad she can't TRULY wish anything.))

Mei laughed a bit and nodded. "Too complicated for my tastes. I always understood people I dealt with. He's the first one I never quite got a sense of." Her smile fell again at Talen's last statement and she looked away to her hands which she wrapped around her legs. "I think we forget people because it helps us live. But we just don't understand it. That's my theory." She rest her head on her knees and looked at Talen.

"I think Abel didn't understand it the most. He's got the strange selective knowledge. He knows a lot of things, things that not even I can wrap my brain around. He can understand people and even just living things. But he tends to lack common sense and the one thing he can't understand is himself." She pursed her lips. "I won't forget this one time. We had been walking when we finally sat down on a bench across from the main square of the city where all the vendors and markets were put up during the day. He asked me why some people are good and some people are bad. It sounds like a childish question, but it stumped me. We sat in silence for a long time until he answered for me. 'Because if we were all good, who would we do good to? We can't do good for someone who already does good, it won't affect them. They already know goodness. But since we have bad people, doing good to them give them a chance to change.' He was staring in the distance as he talked and I remember just watching him. It sounded so perfect, his answer, so simple. 'What about if we were all bad?' I responded. His eyes looked to me with this strange pain. 'That's the thing...we are.' He had told me and looked away. There was nothing I could say to him. He was so sure of that fact. He continued while I tried to think of something to respond with, 'No one person is all good. Everyone is bad. We all lie and we all hate. I've never met one person who did good just for the sake of doing good. There are always selfish motives behind everything. We are all just too blinded to see it, so we take it as kindness and understanding, letting the person feel upstanding and well-to-do. We're all sinners.'"

Mei was quiet for a moment, as if remembering it all over again. She then spoke in a more quiet tone, eyes downcast. "I was still silent. His manner in saying these things made me feel cold. What are you supposed to say to something so grim? I was trying to make this kid see that moving on was the best. And here he was telling me quite the opposite in everything I was meant to tell him. 'Abel,' I finally said, 'tell me something positive for once. You're always saying these awful things.' He laughed and shrugged. 'It's all I know.' I shook my head at him. 'You're wrong. I know you're one of the nicest people I've met. So can't you show me that I'm right?' His smile disappeared and he stared at me. 'That's why I'm dead. I've always had to do whatever I could to be liked, and this is where it got me.' He was so complicated in everything he said. He was so sure everything he said was true and nothing would change it. It made me angry. So I finally just narrowed my eyes and spoke firmly to him. 'The reason you're dead is because your time was up. You saved her, don't you see? You saved her, so stop your pity party and just toughen up! I can't sit here and listen to you speak this nonsense.' He stood up quickly and turned to face me. 'It's not nonsense! I've seen all people can do to each other! I've sat and let it happen! I am just as bad as everyone else. I don't belong there with you. I deserve every kind of punishment. I'm the worse. I didn't even have the guts to stand up for anyone, even myself. That's even worse than the people doing bad. I am a coward. I am a worthless coward. And you know it. So just go away. Leave me alone.' I remember that moment so well...because it was the first, and possibly the only time I can recall, that I saw him. His barrier had left and I saw the scared, afraid, and beaten boy beneath the fake smiles and knowledgeable talk. It made me feel sick. How the world could possibly do this to someone...you know?"

Mei shifted her body slightly and raised her eyes back to Talen, sadness in them. "I don't think I've ever seen him as at ease as he was with you. I saw him happy. I just hope that maybe it stuck with him as he went back. I want to believe that he'll find the happiness he found here, away from you. I want to...but I can't. He's too stubborn to bother looking anywhere else."

((Hahaha I get carried away when I talk about Abel's past. I haven't had a character with tragedies in such a long time that I think he's kind of like my sorrow dummy now. xD hahaha...poor guy.))

Mei laughed at Talen's obvious anger and she shrugged slightly. "I always ask myself the same things. He's just one of those hard-headed people who, no matter what you say, no matter how wrong they are, they refuse to listen to anything else." She pushed her lips into a straight line and breathed out though her nose. "I always told him how wrong he was but he never even seemed to take in any of it. Went in one ear and out the other. He can be the most caring and amazing person you've ever met. But at other times he can be the most frustrating, obnoxious person too."

She let out another laugh and a roll of her eyes. She rest her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, rubbing a hand over the side of her face. "That's why I always worry about him. He's so unstable that it's dangerous. He's got all this emotional stress that he collected over his lifetime, never letting it out and never telling anyone his problems, that they've just become kind of...glued into him. There's a breaking point when it just becomes too much and you just shut down. I've seen it. And I worry every day that it will happen to him. It turns you into someone you aren't...and I don't want that to be him."

She swallowed and smiled a bit. "That's why I wished he could stay here. It was helping him... I saw that he was beginning to understand that sometimes you have to let the past be the past. I could see that he was finally coming to the realization that there was more beyond the badness that unfortunately he was dealt and that maybe there was actually some good, something past all those horrible things that were in his own life. I think he felt that although he had such a bad life that maybe by making someone's life amazing and worth every second...he could live that happiness through them. He found something and someone worth doing everything for. I truly believe he saw you as the one person who was made of something more than just badness."

It felt relieving to talk about Abel like this to someone who felt the same way towards him. She never understood much of Abel except that he was this purely good person who had the indecency of witnessing the worst life had to offer. After a moment of recollection she smiled again and turned to face Talen. "I know you're pretty down and everything, and my stories didn't help much. But I know Abel, you know him. He may be irrational and crazy...possibly insane in some respects. But I know all he wants is for your life to be as happy and worthy as possible. If there was anyone he wants that for more, it's you. I understand that it's pretty hard, especially with someone like him to be there to make you feel like everything is okay. But you owe him the favor of doing your best to be happy and to live...you know? Just to live the life he didn't have."

Putting a hand on Talen's shoulder she squeezed. "He's not gone. He's just on vacation."

((THERE I made it more happy. Even though that probably made me want to cry even more... Goodness gracious.))

Lilith looked back at her brother and shook her head. "No. I don't need to come back anyways." The elevator dinged. As the sound rang down the hall there was this brief sickness within her stomach. It was as though she were forgetting something, something important. But when she realized what that was...the feeling was gone.

"There's nothing here for me. Nothing to come back to." She murmured as she stepped into the elevator and pushed the button labeled '1'.

She had realized, before she stepped onto the elevator, she was forgetting the one person who had, even if briefly, made her feel true warmth. She leaving that sliver of emotion behind.

((And there. Edited and done. Now time to find something to eat...))

((HAHAHA. Now you know how I felt those nights I read a whole book. Just manage your time wisely. And don't procrastinate. Or you'll end up like me and have to read those two books two days before the quizzes or tests. D:

Also, you don't have to post for Cain. I figured they'd stop about there anyways. And I also think we should do a time skip now. Since Talen and Mei got their little chit-chat out of the way...

If you want me to do it, let me know. But I figured it'd be easier for me to figure out how to work Abel back into the situation if you did it...so I knew where everyone is. You knooow?))

Yanmei breathed in deeply as he spoke and she watched him. When he smiled and touched her hand she grinned widely at him and shrugged. "You bet I will. I don't need to remind you, I will just MAKE you cheerful. I'm good at that you know." She said mockingly and then raised her brows.

"Well if he wanted us to make out, he has good things in that mind of his. I have been thinking that all this time. I just thought you were too depressed for me to give you some tongue action." She pursed her lips and then laughed. At his next question she looked to the door.

"Your sister is fine. And she will be. Saul...well he's probably on the same boat as you...maybe worse. He lost two things, while you only have to manage one." She frowned and then stood up. "You should probably continue to keep an eye out for him. I'll help...but you know...I have to keep an eye out on ALL of you at once. So a little help wouldn't hurt." She moved to the door. "You can stay here if you want. But I'm going to go downstairs to make sure everyone is still here." She rubbed her neck and walked out.

((Lalala. Okay. So...I guess like...7 or 8 years maybe? Or 6...whatever you think is best, I'll go wit' it. ;] Now I gotta sleep...))