Crimson Truth

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a Hex story, so I hope it's not too bad. I hope the characters aren't off too much either. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot unfortunately.

OoO

It was a warm spring day, and the Medenham school grounds were a beautiful shade of green. Ella was walking passed the many new blossoming flowers on her way to visit Leon. He had been distance with her ever since Malachi arrived at the school, but Ella was determined to change that. She knew Malachi was trying to break them up, and she wasn't going to let that happen. Just as she was ascending the stone steps to enter the school, Malachi hurried to her side.

"Ella," he greeted.

"What do you want?" she asked continuing her pace up the stairs.

"I want to talk to you," he said as he hurried to catch up.

"That makes one of us," she spat.

"You're upset with me?" he asked causing Ella to stop and turn to him.

"No, Malachi, I'm not upset with you," she began, "I despise you. You think that snug little grin of yours and pretty face makes you the greatest thing that's ever happened to this world, but you're wrong. You don't know what it's like to feel for someone the way I feel for Leon."

"You and Leon can never be happy together," Malachi retorted. He was a bit put-out by Ella's speech.

"You're wrong," she replied. "It's true that there will be many complications with our relationship, but he's willing to try. And so am I."

Ella entered the school leaving a dumbfounded Malachi on the stone steps outside. He ran to catch up with her as she began to make her way to Leon's room. He grabbed her arm to halt her pace.

"You can't honestly believe you'll be happy with him?" he asked.

"I know I will," she answered.

"Ella, be reasonable," he whispered. "Leon isn't going to be around forever like you and me."

"That doesn't matter," she said.

"Well, it should," Malachi persisted.

"Malachi, I don't want you," Ella said. "I am sworn to kill you, and that's what I intend to do."

She wrenched her arm away from Malachi and continued on to find Leon. Malachi was struck dumb by all that had just happened. He was sure that Ella was in love with him; not Leon. He felt his stomach lurch and his heart plummet to his feet. His breath was shallow and fast as he made his way back to his room.

Ella knocked on Leon's door gently. She heard someone shuffling just behind the door, and, a few moments later, Leon emerged from the door. The two of them stared at each other for a long time until the silence became too uncomfortable.

"Can I come in?" Ella asked.

"Sure," Leon said as he stepped aside for Ella. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk," she said giving him a sweet smile.

"About what?" he asked.

"Us," she said simply.

"What about us?" Leon asked.

Ella gave him an exasperated look, and he turned his attention toward his shoes. He could feel her eyes boring into him, but he continued to exam his shoes. She walked over to him to close the distance between them. Only when Ella was too close to ignore did Leon look at her. Her eyes engulfed him in a sea of his own thoughts and hopes.

"I choose you," she said.

"What?" Leon asked taken aback by her statement.

"I choose you," she repeated, "not Malachi. It's you that I want to be with."

"But I thought you said it wouldn't work out between us?" he said. "What with you living as a seventeen year old forever and everything."

"Do you love me?" she asked.

"You know I do," he answered.

"Then can't we try and make this work?" she asked. "Can't we make us work?"

Leon looked at her in surprise but smiled and said, "Yeah, I think we can work something out."

He embraced Ella with a tight hug for several long minutes. It was the first time in weeks since they last held each other like this. Leon broke the embrace just enough to kiss her. He was inches away from her lips when they were interrupted.

"Oh, sorry," Thelma apologized as she saw the state of Ella and Leon, "but I thought you might want to come and see this."

"See what?" Ella asked.

"Malachi," she replied.

"What about him?" Ella asked.

"He's tried to kill himself," Thelma said simply.

Leon and Ella exchanged looks before following Thelma back to Malachi's room. Ella couldn't wrap her mind around why Malachi would want to kill himself. Her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach as a sudden thought struck her. She sprinted the rest of the way down the hall. It was all Thelma and Leon could do to keep up with her. By the time they caught up with her she was in front of the door.

Ella burst open the door to reveal a bleeding Malachi lying on his bed. All three of them rushed over to his side to assess the damage he had done to himself. He was barely conscious. He had cut both of his wrists deeply, and blood was staining the white sheets on his bed. His breathing was very slow and shallow.

"Leon, I need you to go to the headmaster's office and tell him to come here now," Ella ordered. "Thelma, I need you to get me some bandages. Hurry!"

Thelma and Leon raced out of the room and went in opposite directions. Ella turned her focus back to Malachi. She threw off her jacket and began to examine his wrists. Both had one deep gash on each of them. She took the end of the sheets and began to wipe away some of the blood.

"Ella?" Malachi breathed.

Ella ignored him and continued to mop up his wounds. Thelma flew through the door seconds later and shoved the bandages into Ella's hands. Ella tightly wrapped a considerable amount of gauze around both of his wrists to stop the bleeding. Leon was soon back with the headmaster in toe.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Leon said Malachi tried to kill himself?"

"He has," Ella confirmed. "We need to get him to a hospital."

"Right," he said. "Leon, come with me so you can tell the paramedics what's happened."

Leon shook his head and followed him out the door. Ella looked back at Malachi's ghostly white face. Thelma was watching the two closely from beside the door.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" she asked.

"I think so," Ella answered looking at Malachi. "Thelma, could you go check on Leon for me?"

"Why?" Thelma asked a bit confused.

"Just to make sure he's alright," Ella said.

"I suppose I could do that," Thelma said.

"Thank you," Ella said as she turned to Thelma with a smile. When she left, Ella turned her attention back to Malachi. "You think you're quite clever, don't you?"

"What?" Malachi breathed.

"If you really wanted to kill yourself you could have done it in an instant," Ella explained. "You wouldn't have needed to slice open your wrists. You thought I would suddenly realize I love you if you tried to off yourself. You're pathetic, Malachi."

"I…love…you…Ella," Malachi gasped.

"And I love Leon," she said.

Two paramedics came rushing into the room and loaded Malachi onto a stretcher. He was rushed down to the ambulance, and half the school watched as he was transported to the hospital. Ella watched from Malachi's window until the ambulance was out of sight. Leon wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the side of her head.

"Why do you think he did it?" he asked.

"No idea," Ella replied.