Hey… I don't really know which demographic is going to like this story, but I can't say without giving away the ending… I promise a happy ending… for some. I'm sorry if this seems OOC at all, but this scenario wouldn't stop playing in my head until I gave it a satisfactory ending… Actually, that didn't work either. That's why I had to write it down. Oh, and if Gaia seems OOC, it's because I don't know much about how she'd act if she felt fear, so this is how I think she'd act. PLEASE don't judge it until you get to the end. It ends happily… well, not for everyone. But at least one person ends up happy, maybe more, I'm not TELLING, it's a SECRET which I will take to my GRAVE1!

The set-up for this… well, the situation in which it starts… There's not really a book into which this story could be interjected… I doubt whether the circumstances for this story ever take place, so I'll just tell you, they're as follows:

Gaia has fear now, so now she's carrying a gun around. (my idea)

Ed just got out of a coma and now they're together (the reasons for this are a whooole other story)

Sam's around, but not competing with Ed.

Ed has accepted that being with Gaia will probably lead to his own premature demise.

At any rate, I have read up to about 31, but I hope not to have spoilers. So here we go.

Oh wait, Disclaimer! I don't own Fearless. I don't own Gaia or Ed or anyone else I mention unless specifically noted, which I don't think I shall. In fact, if I had my own way, I wouldn't even know who they were. But it's too late, and I'm obsessed, so read the product of my obsession, and feel free to flame if you can be productive about it.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Gaia checked.

"No, one of us is going to have to walk home alone, and you're in more danger than I am. I'll walk you home."

"But I have…" she gestured toward her pocket, where the cold metal of her .45 had been comforting her while they'd been out.

"Err… yeah… I keep trying to forget that."

"Sorry."

"I'll be careful."

Gaia sighed. "Fine." They walked to the place where Gaia was currently staying (no spoilers, remember!) and kissed goodbye. "Call me when you get home, so I know you're alright, 'kay?" she prodded nervously.

"Yes, Mom."

Gaia hit him lightly on the arm. "Seriously, Ed."

"OK."

"I love you."

"I love you, too." They kissed one more time, and she waved goodbye and went in.

She went into her room and put the TV on to keep her company while she waited for Ed to call. When she woke up the next morning, some crappy morning show was on… and so was the TV. Ed had never called.

That wasn't necessarily a big deal. There were a lot of reasons for a guy not to call, right? Wasn't that one of the things normal girls were always going on about? Guys didn't call? She didn't want to call him this early in the morning… she'd sound desperate, and anyway she might wake him. She'd see him at school. She ran through all her morning preparations and hightailed it to school. She waited near the doors, carrying some book she'd grabbed on her way so she didn't look stupid standing near the door. What if he didn't show up? What if something had happened to him on the way home? There he was! He looked almost surprised to see her. Not happy to see her. She curbed her relief. Should she mention it? She had to. He couldn't just not call when there was every possibility he was dead or worse… wait, worse? That didn't make sense…

"Hey Ed…" She didn't quite know what to say, so she just said it. "You didn't call last night."

"Oh yeah," he said distractedly. "I guess I just forgot…"

She tried not to be hurt and looked more closely at him. "Is something wrong?"

"No," he snapped. "I'm fine."

"Jesus, Ed, don't blow a gasket."

"I'm sorry, I just—" He broke off. "Nevermind. I'm going to class. Bye."

OK, what the hell? What was that? Every possible emotion battled in her head until she'd decided on anger. She knew anger well enough, it was like an old friend. She went through class fuming until lunch. She found a nice table, alone.

After a few minutes, Ed sat across from her. Oh, right, he thought he could just waltz right up to her like nothing had ever happened! She greeted him with stony silence.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I don't know what all that was earlier, but I was hoping I could make it up to you. Later? I have something I want to show you." Silence. "Gaia?" Nothing. "I don't want to do this… but you've forced me." He made his idea of a puppy-dog face.

Gaia had to laugh. He looked like a total moron. "Oh, fine. But you'd better do some serious up-making."

"I will. I hope I can make up enough."

"Oh, you weren't that horrible."

"Right… I know… I'll see you today, after school?"

"Sure."

"OK. Bye."

"Where are you—" she began, but he was already gone. That was odd. He hadn't eaten lunch. It occurred to Gaia that he was eating with someone else, but he had left the room completely. She tried not to be distracted during class, but she was kind of worried about him. Maybe he was just nervous about something. But what?

After school, Ed caught up to her and grabbed her hand. "OK, this is a surprise." He put a blindfold over her eyes, grinning. She smiled nervously.

"What if there's… you know… trouble?"

"I'll tell you if anything dangerous happens. Come on." He led her to the street, where they got into a car that smelled like a cab. Ed whispered something to the driver and the car started. He held on tightly to her hand as if she was going to run away. Gaia couldn't tell how long the trip was, but it felt like hours. When they got out, Gaia couldn't hear anything. Not anything. No people, no cars, not even birds.

"Ed, I don't like this," she said suddenly, ripping off the blindfold. They were in the middle of nowhere. There was one nondescript cement building a bit away from the street. "Where are we?"

The laughter was now definitely gone from his face. "Gaia, I told you I'd tell you if you were in danger. And you're in danger now."

"What?"

Ed pulled out a gun.

"Is there someone behind me, Ed?" She turned around to see if the cab was still there. It was, but it wasn't a cab. It was a discreet black car; she couldn't recognize the brand.

"No. No one but the driver." He pointed his gun… at her. He pressed it into her back. "Start walking, Gaia."

"What? Ed, what are you doing? Why are you doing this?" Gaia struggled to keep her voice steady, but seemed to be failing.

"I have my orders, Gaia."

"Is this a joke?" she asked desperately. She knew it wasn't, but she couldn't wrap her mind around the alternative… that the man she'd thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with was… betraying her.

"No joke. Start walking."

"Ed, please, please don't do this! You can't really be… Ed please!" Her voice definitely wasn't steady any more."

"WALK, Moore."

He'd called her "Moore." She wouldn't cry. He had to have a reason for doing this. He couldn't really be stabbing her in the back. Well, he was. With a gun instead of a knife, he really was.

He really was.

Once inside, he transferred the gun, and consequently Gaia, to a large man with a tough expression on his face. Gaia thought about punching Ed in the face, but she couldn't make herself do it. And anyway, he couldn't really be bad. He was Ed. The tough man brought her into a little square room with one barred wall and one big window. The other two walls were solid cement with no windows. It had a cushy-looking loveseat by the wall and a small bed.

The man shoved her into the room and slammed the door. Gaia looked around. She tried to sit on the loveseat, but it was too cushy. She thought about sitting on the bed, but it didn't even come up to her knees. So she stood. She looked around some more. Then she collapsed, unfortunately conscious. She sat on the floor in the corner of the two cement walls. She didn't even think about trying to get out. Why bother? There was nothing out there for her. Just people who died or betrayed her. It occurred to her that maybe it was better that Ed had betrayed her, because the alternative was his own untimely death. Then she remembered that in the past, the people who betrayed her had died, too. So his fate would stay the same, but when he died they would hate each other. Maybe she should stop thinking altogether. That sounded good. She brought her knees up to her chin and brought her head down so they covered her eyes.

She must've fallen asleep at some point, because she distinctly felt herself waking up. She might not have, though, because the room looked exactly the same. She looked around for some kind of change. There was one. Behind the window. Ed was standing there looking at her with an indiscernible but decidedly unpleasant expression. When he saw her looking at him, he gave her what she naively took to be a sympathetic expression. Then she noticed that a masked man next to him was pointing a gun through the glass at her. When she looked back at Ed, she realized he was grinning. And there was nothing sympathetic in his expression now. He was grinning because this man was about to kill her. Great.

She put her head back down. She may have fallen asleep again, because when she'd been curled up there for what felt like two minutes, Ed and the masked man were gone. She realized suddenly that what had woken her up was yelling.

"Let me go! What are you doing?"

There was a taser-ish sound and the voice stopped yelling.

The tough-looking man threw in another prisoner. Gaia put her head back down, uninterested. It wasn't Ed, and it wasn't her father, and that was all she needed to know.

The prisoner was thrown in, grunting. He made a frustrated sound. Gaia tried to tune him out.

"Gaia!" whispered the prisoner. "You're… you're here, this time!"

Gaia looked up and did something she'd given up on ever doing again. She smiled.

Alright, chickadees, the story is about… 20 percent over, maybe. I can't tell how long it'll be until I've done it. Do they say "what are you going on about" in America? I should really know this, as I've lived in California my whole life… but I don't talk to actual people much. Tell me if I use anything non-Newyorkish or if someone sounds too smart. I swear, one time in my head Ed said this whole sentence with about 10 words he'd never actually use… Mental people are so silly sometimes. Err… and by "mental" I mean in my head. Right, so forgive me for making Ed bad. Don't bash me till you've read the end. And review, pretty please? It'll make me update faster, I promise. Oh, I just got in my head to a point where to add drama I have to either use spoilers or make something up… But I shan't tell you which it was, so unless you've read all 36, you won't know! Flan! I reserve the right to make stuff up that happened in the past if I explain what it was.