Okay so like the short summary said I am going to try and make a series of oneshots about the past lives of the characters so summary for this one will be below, but before you start reading, i don't own gone, only my characters and the situations i put them through and i am not as wickedly amazing as Michael Grant, but you guys know that (^.^) So please, enjoy, review, keep reading

"Cracked" - Oneshot about Drake's childhood and the day that he finally cracked and fell under the pressures of his abusive father. But sometimes those ideas never leave? I know that thinking of Drake with a girlfriend must be either scary for some or fearful for others, but it had to happed at one point right? But a sadist with a girlfriend can never end well.

"Nice picture, you son of a bitch." Drake's eyes flared, his artwork was always something he has been slightly proud of and his dad made it his hobby to use sarcasm to tear Drake down. This was subtle though, most times he would wait until Drake had a large portfolio, the best work he had done over months and months of nonstop work. And with a single flip of a switch, Drake's dad would take the portfolio and shred it to pieces. Pictures of guns and weapons flowed so swiftly from Drake's hand. His one and only passion. Pain, misery, and capturing this in a single picture is all Drake really wanted to show to express anything while he was at home, not like school was any better though.

"Hey, isn't that just insulting mom?" A witty remark was the only way Drake could respond to his father, he hadn't hated anyone more. It was dark in the room but Mr. Merwin could still see the perky expression that contradicting his father had left him. His dad wasn't pleased. With a single sweep of the hand he grabbed Drakes picture of the gun he's been working on.

"Maybe not so nice, I've seen better. Shame that you shredded that old picture of the gun, it was so talented." He crumpled the picture and tossed it aside knowing that Drake now couldn't help but talking back to him again.

"Dad-"Drake hissed but was cut off by his dad slapping him across the face.

"I said don't talk back to me son, you filthy bastard." Drake's eyes flared. He was simply what, 11 years old; he shouldn't be exposed to this. But then again, his father maybe shouldn't have taught him how to shoot a gun, let alone how to shoot a living, human being.

Click. Safe. Click. Deadly.

"And that's what you are Drake. A filthy bastard. How's it feel knowing your mother was-"

"That's it!" Drake snapped and tried to jump on his Dad, maybe try to teach his abusive father a lesson, but his father was faster, stronger, and smarter than he was at age 11. His father's large hands grabbed his arms and thrust him towards the ground.

"Don't aggravate me son!" His father screamed and kicked Drake in the side. Drake doubled over in pain and stared at his crumpled drawing on the other side of the room.

"Pain is power." He spat in Drake's direction and left the room.

"Enough" He whispered under his breath. He has learned to take this pain over time. All of the abuse had caught up on him. He was becoming numb, immune, and resistant to it all.

Mrs. Merwin saw Drake toppled over on the floor.

"You know your father had a tough day at work sweetie. He's the town Sheriff, and that comes with a lot of stress." Drake's eyes widened not believing what he had heard.

"So you approve?" Was this the right lesson to be taught so young? His mother's eyes softened.

"He has to do what he has to do." After daring to look in his deep gray eyes, Mrs. Merwin left the room.

Drake sat up and looked back over at his picture. His hobby, the only thing that kept him going, crumpled in the corner. His dad was in the kitchen, maybe his episode was over. Maybe he could successfully walk into the kitchen. But what was stopping him? He was Drake Merwin, and Drake feared nothing. Not, no especially not his own father. His own blood.

Drake crept into the kitchen to get a soda. His father was cutting the meat he hunted with a large butcher's knife.

"Hey, remember our hunting trip yesterday?" Drake's dad was defiantly bipolar. How could he suddenly be so cheery with Drake now, like nothing had happened at all? "Well it's going to make a delicious feast tonight, all thanks to you, son!" Drake glanced at his dad, then back at the large butcher's knife in his hand. Stared in fascination. Mr. Merwin noticed that but decided to ignore it this once. Drake's father lost focus when his mother came in. She herself grabbed another, smaller, knife and helped cut the meat. But Drake was one to hold a grudge. He wasn't going to let this go.

"Yeah Dad, kick your own son than congratulate him on hunting? I think you're the real bastard here. What, don't have the balls to shoot me? Is that why you hunt? Instead you abuse me because you're compassionate about the animals." Drake didn't know what he was talking about. He just wanted to be heard. The only place he was respected was school, and hardly. It was only because he was a bully. It forced him to be the big man on top, but at home, that was a different story. He wasn't even noticed, and when he was, he was abused because of it.

"I told you-"Drake's father's voice became cold and harsh. "Don't pressure me, son."

"No, you pressure me all the time, you kick me when I'm down, and does that give you the right to-"Drake's eyes froze when his own mother jumped in front of him with her bloody knife dangling in front of Drake's face. She held it to his neck and looked deep into his eyes.

"I told you." She whispered with a menacing tone, something Drake has never heard from his mother. Now the blade was touching Drake's neck. "Your father had a tough day at work, now squirm." Her eyes turned icy and the gray reflected the shade of Drake's eyes. Her face was cold and harsh and Drake forgot every time he had ever seen her happy. Drake grabbed the blade and ran, full speed, up to his father's room.

Drake finally cracked. His mother, the only person who had been supportive, the only person who had never threatened him, and the only person who had never hurt him, defended his father, the one person he hated the most in the world, and put a blade to his neck. Drake took the knife and laid it against his wrist. Pain is power the words kept playing through his head. I need power over my life. The knife pressed into his skin and he slid the blade across his wrist watching the blood drip onto the floor. Drake sucked in and smiled. This pain I control, I control the power in my life because I control the pain.

Something cracked in Drake that day, and his semi-sadist thoughts of guns and weapons were turned onto full blast. His sorrowful gray eyes turned hateful and his smile turned into one's of a shark. His eyes lay on his Dad's gun in the corner of the room.

"I can cause pain!" He screamed enlightened. "I can have all the power I want."

Drake ran outside, fury in his eyes. The only thing he saw though was his brat neighbor, Holden.

"Drake, I heard screaming, is the little baby neighbor okay?" Holden teased. He was 15 and used to baby-sit Drake. Drake hated him with every fiber of his being, he never wanted to be baby-sat, and there couldn't be a worse babysitter than Holden.

"Shut-up!" Drake warned, not daring to look in his eyes. It would give Holden satisfaction, and Drake was in charge from this point on.

"Yeah but wouldn't a little-"Drake had enough.

Click. Safe. Click. Deadly.

BOOM! Within seconds Holden was in the ground grabbing his thigh in agony.

"Don't mess with me". Drake warned, his gray eyes glowing with satisfaction. His shaggy blonde hair fell in front of his eyes creating a more menacing appearance. "Pain is power" He whispered again, but loud for Holden to hear.

Drake's parents ran outside after they heard the gunshot.

"Drake!" They yelled in an angered rage. "How could you?" His mother's eyes had tears in them. After everything that had happened, her son finally cracked.

Click. Safe. Click. Deadly. Click. Coates.

It was strange, but Drake enjoyed his new life at Coates. At least it was better than at home, he wasn't abused, and now he was the one in control. After a large, and violent, protest, the school board put in an art program. It was a better way for the students to express themselves compared to physical and emotional violence.

Drake walked in by himself and looked around. No Diana, no Caine; perfect. If Caine were to catch him in an art class then he would tell Diana, and if Diana were to find out, there would be no end to it. Drake spotted a blank canvas and walked over to it, it may sound cliché but it helped let his emotions out. It was how he coped at home and right now, the only way he let anything out was beating kids up. He was feared at the school, and fear was really something at a school for mess-ups, freaks, bullies, and failures. After all the grief he was getting from Diana, he needed this.

One of the girls trying to run this club looked up at Drake; she shuddered a little but then spoke up, "Hello, please sign in so we know how many students-"Drake punched her square in the jaw. He didn't care if she was a girl, he was in her way.

Drake picked up a paint tray and moved his brush against the empty canvas. He painted weapons, guns, blood, and a silhouette unnoticeable to anyone else, but to Drake it was the outline of his father.

A dark silhouette stood in the background, staring down what was thought to be an innocent young boy. Little did anyone know that the young boy had a knife in his hands with slits down his wrists. A gun was the focus of the painting, with blood surrounding it. Blood of himself, of his father, or Holden, but no one would know the true feelings behind this painting. The whole thing being mostly red. Red was a generic color, it could be anyone's blood. The next time Diana got on his nerves; this would be what he could use to think of her. The gun, her blood, thrusting her head against a rock, seeing red, his favorite color by far.

A brunette walked over to observe his painting. Someone he hasn't seen before, someone new at Coates. She had emotions bottled up inside of her. Her dark make-up and spunky stared fishnet leggings under her Coates uniform showed that she wanted to make a statement.

"I like this. It has passion." Drake looked at this girl, confused. Diana was the only girl who would even talk to Drake, the rest were either scared or disgusted by him. This new girl's wavy brown hair fell over her shoulders as she inspected it closer.

"The consequences of childhood abuse?" She looked up at him, satisfied with Drake thinking that she was a good guesser. Drake looked away, he wasn't that predictable but he didn't want anyone to know his secrets.

"Or the intensity of violence. The effects, how it can lead to pain and suffering, anti-war?" There was a tone to her voice, something in the way she looked at Drake to show that that wasn't the whole story. Drake's eyes met hers for the first time since she came over.

"Or passion for violence." He muttered under his breath, hoping she wouldn't hear. He wasn't ready to scare her off…yet.

"What?" Her hazel eyes met his and kept a strong gaze that Drake couldn't break.

"Uh, I said I haven't seen you before, are you new?"

The girl laughed and looked around the room, assuming everyone in here had a story to tell about how they got in. "Yeah, my parents were sort of sick of me. I always well…they're divorced. Let's just say I didn't deal. I just wanted to make their new relationships a little complicated. I'm Emily." Emily tilted her head and stared farther into Drake's eyes, letting him know that she still had some secrets up her sleeve.

"I'm guessing that isn't the whole story?" Emily smiled, it's like Drake read her mind, and maybe she wasn't alone in… "Drake." He announced as he smiled like a shark. Drake extended his hand but Emily took it and placed his hand on his painting.

"Call me crazy," Emily lowered her voice slightly "But I feel like sometimes you can just feel the emotions jumping out of pictures like this, so loud, so bold, so-"

"Filled with hatred, weapons, and sick sadistic thoughts. Drake I didn't know you painted!" Diana Ladris was standing with a smock over her uniform, a paint brush in her hand and a smirk on her face.

"I forced my father to get me art lessons because my paintings kind of sucked. It was a way to hide his mistress. Until he kind of, pissed me off, went too far. I only really cared for my mother." Diana was careful to choose her words carefully. She would use "love" but anyone who knew Diana knew that she couldn't possibly possess that emotion.

Suddenly she noticed the girl standing next to Drake, observing his painting. This girl was smiling at Diana in a way that slightly creeped her out.

"Diana Ladris." Diana extended her hand and her eyes went wide when their skin touched. Diana spun around quickly and looked curiously into Caine's eyes. She held up two fingers and looked back at Emily.

"Emily." She looked up and smiled taking her hand away from Diana's. "I like your style." Diana smirked like she was up to something, but then again, wasn't she always.

"Hey Em, meet us in room 307 in about an hour, okay?" Emily nodded in agreement and watched as Diana grabbed Drake's wrist to pull him away with Caine following behind.

"She's a two-bar Caine, what do you think her power is? Do you think she knows about us? Is that why she's trying to 'befriend' Drake?" Diana sent a nasty glare in Drakes direction. "Because no one in their right mind would want to deal with that!" Diana turned away and continued trying to figure this out with Caine.

"What if a nice girl actually wants to talk to me?" Drake was serious but it just brought a smile to Caine's face while Diana tried to hide her laughter. Drake was trying to hide his rage. Caine was the only person who could take him and he would defend Diana if his life depended on it. What if a girl actually wanted to get to know him? Drake had to admit, he was pretty hot, unless that was just his ego talking.

Diana and Caine were busy discussing possible powers she could have and how talking to Drake was only a cover. He couldn't take it; they always looked down on him. But Caine needed Drake now, and Drake didn't want to admit it but to make it to the top he needed Caine to. Caine had a way of talking to people, everyone liked him, and Drake couldn't dispose of him now, not yet. And if Drake so much as touched Diana, Caine would throw him through a wall faster than he even knew what was happening but, the first chance he got Drake would tear the skin off of that girl.

Knock-Knock

Emily looked genuinely confused, especially when the whole group stopped to stare at her with a suspicious expression. Diana grabbed her hand on sat her on the bed with the rest of them.

"So…" Diana was sly, confident, but Caine interrupted with a confident suave tone of his own. "Have you noticed anything…odd about yourself? Or anything weird that could have gotten you here at Coates?" Emily looked confused but yet like she knew something at the same time.

"Show her." Diana whispered like she had done this plenty of times before. Caine lifted his hand and thrust a notebook across the room. Emily's eyes lit up as she watched some invisible hand pick up the notebook and at the same time have enough force to toss it. Her mouth was gaping and her eyes were in awe. She looked up at Diana for explanation but all Diana did was take her hand and look into her eyes.

"By holding someone's hand." She whispered like it was a trade secret, "I can see their power level. Caine here is a four bar." Diana glanced at Caine while he smiled proudly, confidently, like nothing and no one could stop his reign of power. "And I noticed that you were a two-bar. Now have you noticed any weird powers that you might possess?" Diana acted as if she had this rehearsed. She said it verbatim every time she gave this speech to new kids with powers.

Emily was apprehensive but spoke anyway. She felt like she could trust these people, and she saw a light in Diana. "I can see…how do I put this? I can see people's auras." Emily looked up to meet Diana's eyes, see if she accepted that as a "legitimate" power.

"And you thought Drake's aura seemed interesting?" Caine started cracking up and rolled off the bed.

"Thanks." Diana said and let Emily leave but when she walked through the door Diana went after her. Her cocky smirk disappeared and her face looked concerned.

"Emily," Diana's dark eyes grew vulnerable, "I'm worried about you, because Drake is a bad guy. And this isn't because I absolutely loathe him." Smile came across her face but left a second later. "There's a reason Drake has never had a girlfriend and I just don't want you to get hurt. I'm surprised that you didn't automatically avoid him considering you can see auras." Diana wasn't so sure she believed this girl, but then again, Diana never trusted anyone but herself.

Emily sighed and decided to reason with Diana, "I know you care, I see determination, manipulation, but a sense of hope, in the end you care, and want to do the right thing."

"Whatever" Diana sighed and started to walk back into her room.

"Wait!" Emily ran back over to her. "In Drake I saw, so much passion I figured he had to be good, but touching his painting, it shown emotion and pain, and he's just so troubled I want to help him!"

Diana rolled her eyes, "You got troubled right."

"I saw evil, but not that much, I mean, I can change that."

Diana's eyes turned cold and harsh, not a good look for Diana. It was something that was usually expressed on Drake's face when he was annoyed, right before he causes pain to others. "You can't change him. You can try, but some people will never change." Diana stepped into the room without looking back leaving Emily alone in the hallway wondering what else Diana knew.

After about a week Emily and Drake have been spending oodles of time together. Doing schoolwork, well more of Emily tutoring Drake, watching TV in each other's dorms, or watching the newest horror movies together. But Drake, like anyone at Coates Academy, was deceitful. Whenever Emily wasn't looking he would bully the innocent kids of the halls twice as bad. Especially this one girl, Brianna, whom Drake thought was the biggest brat, almost as bad as Holden. He would have broken her arm but she escaped, she sprinted out of the hallway as fast as humanly possible.

Emily walked over, confused, "What's her deal?"

"I don't know." Drake lied, "I walked over to her, she looked at me and ran screaming; maybe I just scared her." Emily was skeptical but let it go. Drake was brilliant at lying; a lie was about every other word that left his mouth. Deceitful was right.

"So, new Saw movie came out, you in?" Emily smiled, "You know I'm up for anything you're trying to throw at me." It was true, Emily could handle almost every scary movie Drake could show her; Emily seemed nearly indestructible.

"Okay." His grin of a shark spread across his face as his gray eyes darted towards the floor. Drake couldn't be nervous, could he? "8 o'clock don't be late."

"I wouldn't think of it." Emily spoke like Diana, manipulative, with a plan, but the thing that was different about Emily was that she was just about as open as a book. She was devious and had her secrets, that's for sure, but she never had some intimate plan buried deep inside her, and she was never lingering around. Speaking of which, Emily brushed her wavy brown hair over her shoulder as she walked down the hallway, checking her phone to notice that she had an hour and a half before she had to go meet Drake. Diana peeked her head out of the room next to where Drake was standing.

"Spying on me Ladris? Jealous?" Diana's eyes filled with fury but then she backed off.

"You wish Merwin." Drake flipped his disheveled hair and took a step closer towards Diana, grasping her wrist. Intimate but threatening at the same time.

"Why else would you be stalking me, hiding in my room, finding out times for my date?"

"Drake Merwin, date? Please tell me you're talking about fruit." Diana laughed but snapped back to attention faster than it actually happened. She yanked her wrist away but Drake tightened his grip. She used all her self-control to hide the yelp that tried to escape her mouth. She tried one more time but it was not use. "And please Caine and I are studying."

"What did you say to Emily that first day, you stopped her in the hallway?"

"I told her you were a creep!" With his free hand Drake slashed Diana across the face. Diana broke free to feel the mark of his handprint.

"You ba-"Quicker than lightning Drake clutched the hair above Diana's neck and covered her mouth. He breathed heavily in her ear and whispered to make sure Caine didn't hear, not yet.

"You're scared of me Diana, you know it, I know it, and Caine knows it. Why do you think he's been protecting you? Surely not from the teachers or students. You're a strong girl Diana, you can fend for yourself. Besides you, the powerful people are who? No more than Caine and me. Caine can't be protecting you from himself and if he weren't there, oh the things I would do to you." Diana didn't care for his little speech of self-relevance. Caine was cocky enough; she didn't need this from Drake too. Drake had her mouth and hands but Diana managed to swing her knee up and before Drake realized what she was doing, it was too late. He was already on the floor screaming in pain while clutching his groin.

Caine rushed towards the door, "Diana, i-"Caine looked down and tried to suppress his laughter.

Drake absorbed his will power and looked up, "I need the room tonight at 8 so you guys have to leave."

"Sure thing pal." Caine smiled and tapped Drake on the head, leaving him out in the hallway cursing in pain.

Knock-kncok

Drake scanned the room before opening the door, no Caine, no Diana, nothing out of its place. Good

"Are you just going to make me stand out here?" Drake jumped realizing Emily was still outside and lunged for the door. She was wearing the same thing she had the first day, star-fishnet stockings, her chocolate eyes outlined with dark make-up and her hair flowing delicately past her shoulders. She pulled a bag from behind her back.

"Got a microwave?" Her eyes faded as her cheeks brightened, "I kind of burnt the bag when I made it in my room" Drake grinned with shark's teeth and snatched the bag of popcorn and turned around without saying a word.

"Leave your shoes by the door." If Emily knew anything she knew that Drake was a neat freak. She rested her hand on his strong shoulders to catch her balance while she took off her shoes. As soon as her fingers touched Drake's shoulders her eyes exploded and her pupils dilated more than Drake thought humanly possible.

"Something wrong?" Emily snapped back to attention and, in a dazed fashion, made her was sluggishly towards the couch.

"I'm…fine." Drake decided it was better to ignore her; he never had cared much for emotions.

"Fine, let's watch this movie." Emily sighed, shook her head and wiped off the face that made her seem like she had seen a ghost, "Yeah!" She screamed like nothing had even happened. Drake put the DVD in and jumped up, flinging his feet over the couch landing on it with a thump.

"I heard this one is supposed to be the scariest."

"Scared, Merwin?"

"Not a chance, do you really think I'm scared of anything?"

"No, but that's what I worry about."

"What?"

"Shut up, it's starting!" Drake looked at Emily suspiciously, but he was just going to ignore her comments as long as possible, what were they worth anyway?

Drake's muscles rippled as he reached over to put his arm around Emily, she flinched put got over it and let him do it. Their eyes met and Emily smiled, what could go wrong?

Drake glanced over, leaned on top of Emily and pressed his lips to hers. She went with it and put her hands behind his head. Drake pulled back and smiled for a moment but then put his lips back on hers and started moving his hands under Emily's shirt. Emily jumped to pull back but had nowhere to move to, he was on top of her.

"Just calm down." Drake's grin grew more devious and he grabbed Emily's shoulders to keep her in place.

"No, you're moving way to fast, let's just watch the movie."

"Come on, we've known each other for weeks!"

"I knew I sensed something, I just. Let me go!" She used all her force to push herself up put Drake kept her down effortlessly.

"Drake!" She hissed then shrieked out of pain.

"Pain is power" He whispered in her ear causing her to shut up.

"That's what I feared earlier, when I touched you, your aura it was just…" Drake loosened his grip for a second but it was a second too early. Emily rolled off the couch and sprinted towards the door before her wrist was caught and she was flung towards the wall.

Emily's eyes swelled up with tears as she looked at the monster she thought she saw a light in.

"I told you, pain is power, and you just gave me the power in this relationship."

"No, what relationship?" Drake took her by both shoulders and shoved her against the wall, "Emily, my dear, you don't mean that." With a lunging kiss Emily was helpless and used all her power to avoid him. Drake's gray eyes filled with rage as he shot his hand out and slapped it across Emily's face.

"Worthless, and I thought you were brave, I thought you were powerful."

"You don't need to do this, you can find other ways!" But Emily knew it was useless, she felt it when she walked through the door.

Hot streams of tears rushed down Emily's face spreading her make-up every way possible and she ran back to her room before anyone could see.

"Pain is power." Drake grumbled than continued to watch the movie that was still playing on the television.

Emily wasn't crying from the pain, she just thought she could change him. Her power, her stupid power. She should have listened to it though, but all other auras have changed or at least had some kind of hidden meaning. Not this one, if anything it grew worse.

"Reenacting that bloody movie too?" Emily stopped dead in her tracks. Diana saw her running but Emily wasn't scared of Diana. She wasn't intimidated she saw what lay underneath her mysterious exterior. Emily tried to cover her face and noticed Drake drew blood where he hit her.

Diana saw the truth in her eyes, "Oh gosh, he did that?"

"I must look like a murderer, dark make-up and blood covering my face." Emily laughed nervously but Diana didn't find anything humorous about it. She pulled her into a hug, not caring what she got on her uniform.

"Thanks." Emily whispered.

"That's what I'm here for." Emily paused, she wanted to wash her face but she trusted Diana, she wanted her opinion.

"I should have listened to you."

"What do you mean?" Diana's eyes grew from harsh to comforting.

"When I walked in, I bumped into his shoulder and it was just pure darkness, hatred."

"Sounds like Drake." Emily looked down again covering her face; she didn't want Diana to see her cry again.

"No, the power was just so…I just never felt anything like it. When I first saw him, I felt his painting and I saw how troubled he was. It was dark, but childish. Every day he just grew darker and the light was fading from inside. Someday, someday soon I don't think there's going to be any good left. I just, from that first day I thought I could change him, but I think I awakened a sleeping giant."

Diana whipped some of the dark rings from Emily's eyes, "Hate to be the pessimist here, but some people never change. Maybe some people are just destined for evil."

"But you're not Diana, I can see inside, I can see your-"Diana covered her mouth.

"Whether you can see auras or not, no one will ever understand me. You can look at Drake and see darkness, look at Caine and see a manipulative but misunderstood teenager, but you can never see my emotions."

"Maybe I have a lot to learn?" Emily gave a weak smile and Diana stood tall while a smirk reappeared on her face.

"Lesson one, some people will never change."

Hope you enjoyed, i know it's not a very "happy" story per-say but it is how i imagined Drake's life before the FAYZ. If you don't like Mary Sue's or OCC stories, i apologize but i hope i made the time you spent reading this worthwhile and please review, it means a lot to me

-Lindsey (^.^)