A/N: Thank you Musichick06 and I Luv Hardy! I love you guys :D

By the time she had talked herself into silence, she felt exhausted. She ran her hands down her face and then looked at Matt and Gilbert, who were both looking thoughtful. The embarrassment hit her then. She'd kept all her thoughts and feelings to herself for all these years and now, in one day, she had told it all to two complete strangers. She flushed and lowered her head, trying to hide the shameful colour that had touched her normally very pale skin.

Matt watched her, frowning. He then sighed, reaching out to her with his voice. "You've been through a lot, Sevina. There's nothing wrong with letting it all out from time to time." Sevina's head came up and she looked at him. She could feel it again, that defensive instinct, the need to cover what she'd just revealed, the need to push them away so they couldn't use it against her. She felt the need not to care, or at least, to act like she didn't. She shrugged casually. "Shit happens. Worse things have happened to better people."

"Where did you hear that?"

"My dad." Matt nodded slowly. She was going to be a tough nut to crack. He could see already that she had thrown her defences back up. She didn't like feeling vulnerable. Gilbert suddenly stood up, stretching his aching limbs. "Matt, I think you'd better take this young lady home now. Her family are probably wondering where she is." Sevina's eyes grew wide with alarm. She knew she had to go home, but she really didn't want to. All that was waiting for her there was another argument. Gilbert looked at her, seeing her very obvious distress. "Now, you listen here. You can't run away from your problems. It wont help. You gotta face 'em, straight on. You gotta hold your head up and be proud of who you are. Don't let 'em beat ya, 'cause if you do, it's only you that's gonna suffer in the end. It's gonna be rough, but know this; you are always welcome here. You can come knock on this door whenever you need to, but you can't avoid it forever."

Sevina looked at him, she felt fearful, but found a kind of strength in his words. She could see why Matt had grown up to be such a strong person. Gilbert was inspiring, he was strong minded, but kind enough that you couldn't take offence from his words. Sevina took a deep breath and then nodded. "Okay. Okay, I should go home." Matt nodded, then stood up. He put her wet clothes into a bag for her whilst she put her boots on. She straightened up and then looked at Gilbert who had come to see them off. "Thank you." Her gratitude was completely sincere and Gil nodded, smiling at her. "You're stronger than you think, Kid. Don't doubt it."

"I'll try." And she would. She hated being the victim, but she'd never felt strong enough to stand up and do something about it. She still hated that she'd had to move here, but maybe it was best, if not for the reasons her father thought. She followed Matt out to his truck, the rain had died down a little by now. Once inside, she sat back and listened as Pearl Jam floated out of the speakers again. She was going to have to see if she could get hold of some of their music.

She gave Matt directions to her house. It wasn't hard to find. Nothing was in this town. She sighed as he pulled up outside and looked at the large building. Matt looked over at her. "Why don't you come over to Omega after you get done with school tomorrow? We'll talk some more." Sevina turned her head to him and frowned. "My dad wouldn't like that."

"So, don't tell him. Tell him you've joined a book club or something." Sevina snorted with laughter. She doubted her dad would buy that, but she shrugged. "Maybe." She then said goodbye, grabbed the bag of clothes and hopped out of the truck. Matt waited until she was inside before pulling away. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel thoughtfully. He wanted to help her, but right now, he wasn't sure how to do that. From what she'd said, there was no way her dad would let her train at Omega, let alone participate in matches. She needed some kind of outlet, somewhere to get her aggression out. He'd never met such an angry kid.

How did her father not see it? How did he not see what was underneath? Matt could kind of understand, he was a single father, trying to raise five kids. At least one of them was bound to get lost under the radar, especially the one that stood out the most, that didn't fall in line with the others. Sevina was definitely that kid. She didn't seem the type that went out of her way to stand out and be different, it just sort of happened. She was an enigma. A oddball that just couldn't find a niche to sit in.

Matt didn't want to aid her rebellion, but he knew something had to happen to tip the balance. She was on a downward slope. He'd seen it before. Kids that got themselves into a rut and didn't have that helping hand to pull them out if. There was something in her, but she just didn't know how to get it out, she'd never been shown how to express herself in a healthy way. She'd been taught to keep her real feelings under wrap because letting them out caused trouble. She wasn't a bad kid, she'd just fallen into bad habits.

Matt had already decided to talk to his dad about it. Gilbert Hardy was a fount of great advice and if anybody could give him some idea of how to help this girl, it would be him.

Sevina walked through the door for the second time and dropped her bag down. She took her time pulling her boots off and setting them neatly beside the door. She could hear the t.v in the family room, it sounded like a documentary, so she figured it had to be her dad. Well, she had to face him sometime. Gil's words returned to her and she took in a deep, steadying breath before walking into the family room.

Victor was sat on the couch, but didn't seem to be watching the show that was on. He was sat forward, with his hands resting on his knees. He didn't look up when she entered, so she waited. She hovered by the door nervously. Eventually, he spoke. "Where have you been?"

"I went for a walk." Victor looked over at her, noting the change in her clothing. "And miraculously found new clothes? Men's clothes, I might add." Sevina flushed a little, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She fought to keep her voice calm, she was determined not to turn this into another blow-out. "I fell over in the mud. A guy…from school, picked me up and lent me some clothes."

"A guy from school?" He didn't sound like he believed her, but she nodded none-the-less. "You were only in school for a couple of hours and you already met a guy you trusted enough to take you home and lend you clothes?" Sevina hated the scorn in his voice, but she didn't rise to it. She nodded again. "He's a good guy."

"What's his name?" Sevina hesitated, before reeling off the only name she could think of. "David." Victor nodded slowly, then stood up. Sevina backed off a step as he walked towards her. He stopped and frowned at her. "Sit." He pointed to the couch and she hastily obeyed. She sat down on the edge of the far end and didn't look at him. He stood over her and, though she wasn't looking at him, she sensed the stern look her was giving her. "Sevina, why did you cut school today?" Sevina flicked her eyes up in shock. It was the first time he'd ever asked the reasons behind her behaviour. She chewed her lip, wanting to be honest, but in a way that didn't anger him. She knew this was a rare opportunity to actually communicate with her dad. "I guess, I got scared. The others kids were all staring at me and making jokes about me. I didn't want to get into a fight again, so I ran." Victor shook his head, sighing with exasperation. "You can't run away all the time, Sevina."

"I know that."

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"I don't know…my head just…I can't think straight sometimes." She ran her hands down her face. This was uncomfortable. She hated these conversations with her father. They always ended the same way. "I don't understand you, Sevina. We moved here for you, to try and help you."

"I never wanted to move here."

"Well, what were we supposed to do? You got kicked out of all the schools in Raleigh! Is there something in your brain that just makes you have to misbehave?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know why I do it."

"Well, you need to start figuring it out! I had to uproot the entire family because of you, I am not going to do it again! You either settle down or I am sending you away to school!" Sevina's head snapped up and she stared at him. Sending her away? It wasn't a new threat, but the force behind it told her that he was serious. She stood up. "Dad, would you just listen?" She tried to say it calmly, but it came out angry. Victor shook his head, his own temper instantly flaring. "What's the point?! It's always the same thing over and over! You never listen, so why should I?!"

"Because maybe if you listened sometimes, I wouldn't be this way!" Sevina instantly regretted it as her father's face began to turn a very dangerous shade of red. "Don't you dare blame me for your bad behaviour! I've done nothing different with you than any of the others! You're just…broken!" Sevina gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. Victor's face was shocked by his own words and he reached out to her, but she ran past him. She grabbed her bag and flew up the stairs to her room, slamming the door and throwing herself onto her bed. She screamed into her pillow, fighting against her own tears. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was broken.

She didn't mean to be bad, she didn't know why she did it. Why she always did it. It was like something snapped in her head and she didn't have control of it. She wanted to be good, she wanted her dad to be proud of her like he was of the others, but she just couldn't find it in her to be like them. She didn't find interest in the things that they did. More importantly, she didn't look like them. She knew from old photos that she looked exactly like her mother. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the genetic malfunction that had made her mom such a waster had transferred over to her. Was she destined to be a never-ending screw up? Was she going to end up alone and desperate, with no-one to care? Did anyone care, even now?

She tried to get her brain to shut up. She didn't want those thoughts. She didn't want to picture herself in twenty years time, sat in some crummy, run-down apartment with no-one to call and no-one who cared. She knew that was where she was headed, some nameless street, in an unfeeling city where she'd be forgotten and wasted. No-one would ask what happened to her because by then, no-one would care. She'd have pushed them all away because she didn't know how to change.

She didn't want that. She didn't want that future. She wanted more, but she didn't know what. If she followed her dreams, she'd lose her family and of course, because it was her, they'd ultimately fail. If she fell in line, she would lose herself and become a person she hated. Which was better? Trying, losing everyone and failing? Or not trying, keeping everyone, but losing herself? She'd already made up her mind what she was going to do, because that image, that mental picture of being alone would not leave her. She had to change. She had to become a different person, if she wanted to keep her family.