Two published fanfics in a week?! Wow. Um. *Cough* what am I doing with my life *cough* Or I should at least start writing for the bigger fandoms ... [sheepish laughter]

I'll stop babbling and get on with it. This also contains major Graevale spoilers, so please please please don't read because I would hate to spoil it for anyone. Which leads me into my disclaimer: I am not Lynette Noni! As much as I wish I was!

Twitterpated

Alexandra Jennings was going to break his best mate's heart.

Declan wasn't great with the opposite sex, but his gift meant he could clue into things faster than most other things. Of course, he'd known even before Kaiden had himself, that he was crushing majorly on the youngest and only female member of their Epsilon Combat class. There was no denying it - the way his usual poker face could begin to slip with a distracted smile, the way he stole looks at her and found excuses to touch or talk to her, the contented gleam that entered his eyes whenever Alex was in the room.

And if Kaiden's infatuation was obvious, then Alex's had to be the sort of knowledge, like a survival instinct, every kid was born with. You didn't need Declan's gift to know she was lying when she insisted that she wasn't interested in anyone, or that Kaiden was just a friend. How she could so blindly walk around like that, Declan didn't know.

But what Declan did know was that Alex was twisted up in something dark, something beyond dangerous, something sinister. Something that had been brewing for centuries, that was due to explode and make the world shake at any given moment. And somehow, the girl his best mate was falling for, was caught right in the middle of it.

Even from his brief insight into what, exactly, was going on in Alex's life at Sir Oswald's on the SAS camp, Declan knew it wasn't something she'd be able to wriggle out of, like all the rest of the trouble she routinely got snagged in.

And yet, that didn't deter Kaiden. In fact, it reeled him in even more.

Declan could understand why Kaiden was so willing to help Alex, even though he'd never experienced that attraction-induced blindness himself. The guy had had a thing for her ever since she'd first walked into Epsilon Combat. And with the forming relationship between them, a relationship that wasn't built on anything solid like an initial friendship, he was grabbing at straws for something real.

But Declan knew it might never happen.

To almost everyone, Alexandra Jennings was a mystery. Her upbringing, her past, the things that made her the girl she was - those were things only the people dearest to her knew about it. Declan was not one of those people, so just like everyone else, he was left in the dark, to speculate who that girl really was, under all the layers of sarcastic comebacks and boldness.

Whoever she was, the chances of her making it out of whatever, exactly, she was involved in, alive - were slim.

In other words, her hypothetical death could scar Kaiden in a way that nobody else ever had. And even before her hypothetical death - well, she hadn't outright rejected Kaiden, but she wasn't exactly giddy at the thought of dating him either. That was hurting him enough - as modest as Kaiden was, he had pride to bruise, just like any other guy. Declan couldn't imagine what he was going through - crushing on a girl for months on end, almost kissing her on multiple occasions, having to shred his secrets just to completely earn her trust.

Alex almost seemed like a bitch for all the anguish she putting Kaiden through, and if Declan didn't know her as well as he did, then he'd certainly call her that. But Alex was referred to as 'the angel' by some of the older boys in the Combat class. She was one of those rarely genuine girls, who didn't have a mean bone in her body (aggression probably didn't come naturally to her, which explained her lacking skill in Combat, as much as she'd improved), who wouldn't lead a guy on for the fun of it.

Alex had her reasons, he was certain of that.

But still, witnessing Kaiden pining for her - endless raving about how incredible he found her one moment, despairing recounts of seemingly unrequited love the next, and then concocting various scenarios and speculations.

His best mate had fallen for Alex, and fallen hard.

And then when Kaiden had done the unthinkable - accompanying Alex to another planet, mere days after the bloodshed at Graevale - Declan knew there was no stopping him now. He had no choice but to cross his fingers, praying that Kaiden's heart could be saved, just as much as the mortal population of Medora.

Because a love story as seemingly poetic as theirs, always resulted in tragedy.

Okay, I just love Declan sm. 6:

I'd also appreciate the reviews! Feel free if you have any suggestions for me that you'd like to read a fanfic about!