A/N: ...hey. So, I edited this whole chapter because I wasn't happy with it at all. I have no idea if this is how you expected or wanted the outcome to be, but I'm nervous about this chapter tbh. It's so different from the original but I'm happy with it, finally. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments, they really push me to finishing chapters! Thank you for all the follows and favourites as well, i appreciate it soooo much x


It began with the quiet sense of horror she often felt; a discomforting tenseness surrounding the two as he stepped into the flat. Something was to be said but she was too much of a coward to say it and Lewis fucking knew that. It hung, and it hung, and it hung until it snapped and Emily told him she was leaving. In retrospect, she could have been smarter. She could have lied, said she was going to the shops or to see old Mrs Hendrick on the bottom floor and bolted but she had to choose honesty.

Lewis had stared at her with flat eyes when he spotted her, hand clenched on the windowsill, backpack on her shoulder and fire ablaze in her eyes. It was easy to assume her intention. She knew that as she watched him place his keys and his wallet on the table, letting out a gusty sigh before turning to her.

She opened her mouth quickly "Lewis." She bit out. It was all she could manage.

"What are you doing, Emily?" He asked, voice patronising as if she didn't understand what she was doing when this was the first time in three years she knew exactly what she was doing and knew for a fact that she would never, never in a million years, regret it.

"You know what I'm doing." She said, trying to force her voice not to shake "Something that should've happened years ago."

He rolled his eyes "Don't be stupid-"

"Fuck you." She snarled, inhaling a gasping breath "I'm not. Not anymore. I was stupid, so fucking stupid for allowing this to go on for so fucking long!"

His eyes hardened, taking a step forwards which ultimately made her take a step backwards. As much as she wanted to be strong, be brave, she couldn't face him down like she wanted to. She knew what he was capable of and she was nothing against that. "Allowing this?" He sneered, lips pulling in a horrible, ugly way.

She swallowed thickly, throat dry as she hefted the bag on her shoulder "I'm leaving." She said hoarsely, trying to move past him and clenching her fist tightly around the strap when he caught her arm in his hand.

"This is ridiculous!" He barked, pulling her backwards so she stood in front of him again "This is coming out of nowhere!"

"No, it isn't!" She shouted, eyes stinging "It isn't-"

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Lewis roared, veins in his forehead pulsing beneath his flushed skin.

"I ALWAYS listen to YOU!" Emily cried, digging her nails into the polished windowsill until her nails started to bend backwards "All I ever did was listen! Now I'm telling you that this is over!"

His face turned purple "You are not leaving this flat, not when you could be preg-"

"For God's sake, I've been drinking non-stop since we had sex, you moron! There's no way a five-day old foetus could survive that!"

Lewis grinded his teeth together "How could you do that?"

"I don't know what you mean." Emily sneered, clenching her toes in her shoes as if that might keep her closer to the ground "Did you really think a baby would make me stay? With you? Don't be fucking ridiculous!"

Lewis let out a terrible laugh, hollow. It made the hairs on her neck rise "Was it them? The others at the centre. Did they say somethin-"

"Don't you get it?" Emily shouted, temples buzzing with the blood flowing in her ears "You put a cigarette out on me, Lewis! You humiliate me, you-you-ugh!" She threw her hands in the air, frustration and a bubbling resentment rendering her unable to form the words she wanted- no, needed to say.

"Em," Lewis said, but she backed away from his outstretched arms, circling around the sofa until she was nearer the door "Em, I've been having trouble at work supporting the both of us, you have to cut me some sla-"

"No! No, I won't! I don't have to." Emily practically screeched "I don't have to do anything! I am allowed to leave you, Lewis."

His face changed then. Maybe he realised Emily was dead set on this, and if she left, she wouldn't come running back. Emily swallowed the fear down, knowing she had to do this, she had to. For her mum, for her dad, for her brother, for her friends, for herself. She shouldn't have to live in fear anymore.

But that didn't change him.

He lunged out, backhanding her hard across the face so she slammed into the wall, clutching at her red cheek. Her glasses cracked, flying off her face and cluttering to the floor. Tears stung in her eyes at the sharp pain, knowing glass from the lenses nicked her skin but she had little time to comprehend what just happened as hands were wrapping around her throat, pulling at her hair and fingers digging in. She slammed against the wall, backpack falling to the ground, letting out a strangled sound, scratching and clawing at his hands, his wrists, anything to make him let go-

"You never learn." He hissed, face so close she could feel the spittle on her reddening face.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't inhale, fuck she was going to die here, she didn't want to fucking die here-

Emily could feel that her feet were no longer on the ground and the only thing keeping her down was Lewis hands wrapped around her neck. She thrashed with all her might, but he had a knee between her legs, keeping her still and prone against the wall.

With sickening horror, she realised she could do nothing.

Then suddenly, Emily's vision flashed, blurred and then Lewis' hands were gone from around her neck and he was slammed to the ceiling, head cracking against the surface. He shouted in shock and pain whilst Emily crumbled to the ground, spluttering and staring, eyes bulging from her skull in shock.

"What the fuck did you do?" He roared, thrashing mid air but unable to get down from the ceiling. She inhaled deeply, one hand instinctively and protectively touching her throat, fingers grazing her skin. She stayed silent, paralysed to the ground – which was new for her since recently she was the one stuck to the ceiling but now, now it was Lewis.

Slowly, like a rabbit sneaking away from a predator, she took her backpack in hand and put it over her shoulder then carefully tried to make her way past Lewis' hovering body. When she was under him, his arm shot out as if to grab her hair or knock his fist in her face but she jumped back, falling on her arse.

"Get me the FUCK down from here NOW!" He screamed, face purple in fury – or maybe that was the oxygen going to his thick skull. From where she had fallen on the floor, she felt a sick sense of satisfaction at pissing the cunt off.

"No way." She snarled, palming the floor until her hand came in contact with the marble giraffe figurine her dad had reluctantly bought for them when they left. She wielded it like a sword, unsure of the outcome of this situation but sure that she would do whatever she could to get the fuck out of this flat. "Now," She said, voice stern but wavering "Don't move."

Spit flew from his lips "You're too much of a fucking coward." He hissed, jaw locked and fists clenched. Emily ignored him, slowly walking the same route as before, keeping her eyes locked on his thrashing form. Her eyes trained on his floundering limbs, shaking breath escaping her lips "I swear to fucking God."

"Stay fucking still." She shouted, quickly raising the figurine higher and hoped he understood that she meant her threat. He gritted his teeth above her, eyes venomous and lips curled but he stopped thrashing and she made her move. Unsurely, eyes locked on him, giraffe figurine still high in the air. She was close to the door, she would make it-

Lewis moved, he might not have even been going to do something to hurt her but Emily's mind went blank. She swung the figurine without even thinking, without hesitation until it slammed into Lewis' head and with a startled bellow, he slumped forwards, head lolling to tuck against his chest before his body fell from the air and slammed into the ground again. Emily stared where she stood, watching his closed lids twitch and flicker but not open then stumbled back into the counter.

"Fuck." She panted, shoulders heaving as she licked her sweaty upper lip, grimacing at the taste of iron that filled her mouth. Emily felt a sense of unadulterated horror at what she'd done to Lewis, she'd reached his level, she'd become violent and made him bleed when she swore she would never do that to a person-

But then again, she was only recently an accessory to murder. And now she'd knocked her cunt of an ex unconscious.

"Jesus Christ…" Emily let out an astonished laugh, running her fingers through her hair, unable to tear her eyes away from the still but breathing body on the floor. What the fuck had she done? Should she regret it? She didn't but did that say something about her moral compass? Well, that was screwed anyway, she supposed.

Emily went around the room to avoid having to step over Lewis' body, afraid his hand might shoot out and wrap around her ankle. She picked up her cracked glasses and placed them back on, wincing at the damage then quietly unlocked the door, opening it. Without thinking, she lobbed the figurine down onto his back, feeling a small satisfaction at the painful sounding thud it made. She took deliberate steps out of the flat, locking it behind her with her set of keys and then walked down the stairs, fingers merely grazing the railing, not even gripping it as she left and refused to turn back. The lobby was empty when she turned up, the landlord was probably already asleep, which wasn't surprising since he was an early riser. The doors opened automatically, revealing the dark streets, streetlights yellows and flicker, roads riddled with cars zooming around in the night.

She'd done it, she thought, finally. She let out a deep sigh that loosened her shoulders and eased her heart, as if she'd been holding her breath. Maybe she had been holding her breath all that time. But she didn't have to anymore because she never had to go back and face him and pretend everything was her wrong doing, act like he was allowed to hold her arm tight enough to bruise. She was free to be herself, to live and thrive and-

Emily had screwed her life up enough for Lewis. Now was her chance to right that wrong. She had so much to make up for, so much she couldn't make up for. She didn't expect to be forgiven, but she would try if it meant she could see her family again.

Her life was small and insignificant, what could she build off of it? She was in community service, now homeless with only the clothes on her back and her rucksack and had never really had a proper job…Her teenage self never would've predicted this as her future, that was for damn sure. She imagined a university, maybe in Cambridge or central London, live life to the fullest as young adults should. She imagined a bright future with a steady, well-paying job that she didn't despise, stumble into a guy that she would inevitably fall in love with, fuck around, have fun before it became serious. Young Emily imagined falling in love and having children, living in a flat or a house, it didn't matter, maybe getting a dog (definitely getting a dog) and having a happy, fulfilling life. Average maybe, but still happy.

"Sorry, kiddo." Emily muttered, yanking out her pack of cigarettes and lighting it with a clip of the zippo. As bad as they were for a person, the minute she inhaled around the fag, she felt her limbs loosen and her shoulders slump, eyes lingering on the sight of the smoke disappearing into the dark, inky sky.

Emily, surprisingly, ended up outside of the community centre. Her feet seemed to just lead her to the most recent place she'd been, minus the flat of course. Though the lights were off and doors locked, so she would probably have to hide behind the building for the night until it opened and she could stay here.

"Hello?" Emily tried, knocking gently on the front door "Anyone in? C'mon, security guard, cleaning lady? Anyone?" She rapped her knuckles on the glass again, but nobody came to open the door to tell her to fuck off. Scowling, Emily slammed the toe of her foot into the door as if that would make all her problems seem a little bit smaller but ultimately it hurt her foot. "Fine." She pursed her lips, stalking away from the door and then pacing back and forth and back until she finally decided to try and find an open window or something. If worse came to worse, she'd lob a brick through a window and blame it on vandalism or a break in gone wrong.

She was honestly surprised at how well the locks worked in that shithole, you'd think that the locks would be rusted and easier to break than plastic but apparently she underestimated the shittiest community centre in south east London. They were supposed to be shifty and easily accessible! Emily muttered angrily to herself as she wandered around the building, yanking on a hoodie from her backpack and eyeing each window hopefully only to be disappointed. She shouldn't be surprised by that anymore.

But the light at the end of the tunnel was found by the garages, where a window that surely should be covered and locked by a shutter was wedged open and with enough strength, she rolled it up and clambered in, inwardly cheering when she made it inside. It was cold inside as well, but warmer than outdoors at least.

Emily lit up a fag as she wandered through the halls, wondering where would be a good place to kip until morning. A part of her hoped Sally smelt the undeniable scent of cigarette smoke just to bother her. Emily had no reason to hold this animosity towards Sally other than the fact that she acted as if she didn't know about Lewis and fuck did it bother her.

She splashed her face with water in the changing rooms, staring at a face that Emily no longer really recognised. Bags under her red rimmed eyes, her cheek was a vibrant red that would darken over time, her nose thankfully wasn't broken but there was a small cut on her cheekbone that stung whenever she moved her lips.

A part – a giant part – of Emily worried that she might start regretting her decision. She thought of Kelly telling her that Lewis thought horrible things about her, that Kelly thought she'd be better off without him, Sally's questions, Simon's expression when he saw the bruise, the burn. Nathan calling Lewis a cunt. She thought of it all, and couldn't regret it. But what if? Water dripped from her eyes, unwanted tears that glazed her eyes with a thin line of film, and suddenly, she was weightless and the world shifted-

Her back came into harsh contact with the ceiling, smacking into it with a loud thud and a bit back shout of icy hot frustration and pain. She supposed this was inevitable, but it meant more fucking back pain and memories of seeing Lewis hit the ceiling in the exact same way. Emily let out a groan, tucking her chin to her chest and grimacing, staring down at the far away tiles.

The door slammed open. "Holy shit." came a shocked voice "Four eyes? That you?"

Emily nearly jumped out of her skin, head jerking to the doorway where she saw Nathan on his knees, eyes groggy as if he'd just woken up but alert enough for her to know he wasn't in that 'when I wake up in the morning, I'll think this was a fever dream'. His Frodo Baggins curls were mussed, looking down at her in bewilderment, eyebrows furrowed and mouth open.

"Nathan? What the hell are you doing here?" She exclaimed hoarsely, hand on her chest as if that would steady her rapid pulse. She wasn't set out for shit like this, honestly. Emily could really do with people giving her a warning before trying to give her cardiac arrest.

"I-uh-what does that matter? What are you doin' 'ere?" He demanded. Emily shuffled on the spot, sending him a perplexed expression. His expression changed, eyebrows rising at the sight of the red blossoming on her cheek and the blood swiped on her cheek "Jesus Christ, who did this to ya?" He cursed, face twisted into genuine concern.

"Don't mind that right now," She muttered slightly pathetically, pushing her hair back from her damp face in frustration "Help a co-offender down?"

Nathan nodded dumbly "I'll never get used to that." He commented, voice trailing off as he began approaching slowly, arms raising just as slowly and grasping her trembling, outstretched hands, gently pulling her down from the ceiling then wrapped his arms around her waist to get her feet onto the ground.

It was the gentlest landing she'd ever had.

An awkward silence fell over them when she was finally set on the ground and he let his hands fall from her waist. "Funny story," She droned after a moment, tucking her hands deep in her hoodie pocket and averting her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, unsure of what to say in the presence of the almighty, uncaring Nathan Young when she wasn't sarcastic, witty. "It's a…It's a long story."

"Well, we have quite a bit o' time till mornin'." He scratched the nape of his neck. The movement made her press her lips together in a thin line.

She sent him a vexed expression, leaning against the nearby wall "Well, y'know my power? The floatin', hoverin' thingy. Well, turns out I can do more than just slam into ceilings when I'm piss scared."

"What the shite does this have to do with your shiner or your wrecked specs?" Nathan grimaced, gesturing to her, well, her entire face. She prodded her cheekbone that would bleed to her eye and inevitably become a nice looking black eye.

"Patience is virtue." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair "Lewis. My boy-well, my now ex. I sorta used my power on him, accidentally. He slammed into the ceiling, couldn't get down and then I…"

"And then you...?" Nathan persisted.

"I knocked him out." She finished meekly "With a giraffe figurine. Statue. Whatever." Realisation washed over her, so suddenly that she swear she almost felt lethargic or a wave of vertigo "Oh my god," She breathed, wide eyes meeting Nathans equally wide, baffled ones "I never have to go back!"

"No," Nathan agreed, his face clouding with anger, genuine concern and uncertainty "No, ya don't."

Emily let out a laugh of disbelief, then slid down the wall and onto her arse. Now that she was away from it all, from Lewis controlling her life like it was his own, like it was his to have, from Lewis' tight grip and backhanded compliments and cold remarks, she felt it all weigh upon her shoulders but left her weightless as well. A horrible, complex feeling filled her, glee at being free – free for the first time since she was nineteen to horror at the violence she just willingly and knowingly took part in. Disgust at how she let him drag her away from her parents, her brother, her friends. She tucked her chin to her chest, rubbing her face with her hands.

Her whole life was a complete clusterfuck, and she didn't know if she could fix it. She didn't know the method, the solution to this problem – the multitude of problems. What could she do? She knew she should call her family, tell them what happened but that felt like such a huge step and just the thought of hearing their voices made her throat dry up and her eyes sting.

It had been so long.

She was jerked from her thoughts when Nathan let out a grunt as he sank down beside her, lolling his head back gently against the wall and draped his arm over her shoulders. She would've assumed it would bother her, but the warmth emanating from his body and now over her made her sigh and lean into the touch.

"Look, four eyes, as shite as talkin' about it is, this is probably somethin' you should tell the local police force about. Justice and all that." He finally said, sighing out of his nostrils.

"I will." She told him.

"Good. Tha's good." He said "Just…don't forget to do it. Or I'll lock you in the storage cupboard an' can I say, it's fuckin' terrifyin' in there. Everythin' looks like a person and the door locks automatically."

"Warning noted." She snickered into his hoodie "Did you lock yourself in there or something?"

"Might'a done." He mumbled sheepishly.

She laughed breathily, glancing up at him through thick lashes "Why're you here then? Not bein' rude but I expected this place to be empty."

"But ya came anyway." He shook his head so his curls jostled "I-Well, I'm fuckin' stayin' 'ere, alright? I'm just lodgin'." He exclaimed, face twisting in discomfort, obviously not one for honesty or serious chats. She could understand that "I mean, c'mon! It's practically a mansion, free booze, lotta room to kick back and relax, free snacks-"

"If you rugby tackle the vending machine hard enough." She deadpanned "Why? I thought you lived with your mum and your stepdad? Sorry - Jeremy."

His arm curled slightly around her, making her look up at him and spot his tight expression "She kicked me out. The day we found that Gary bloke and were pulled into an episode of Mutant X."

"Jesus." She cursed "And we never even fucking noticed…"

"Don't beat yourself up over it." He shrugged uncaringly, glancing down at her "Ya see this, four eyes? Emotional matureness. We're practically responsible adults!"

"Pfft, don't be an idiot." She snickered "You've got the emotional maturity of a preteen with a God complex."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He huffed out a laugh.

"Without a doubt." She smiled softly "All this heart to heart bullshit…feels like it breaches the line between co-offender and friend."

"Worse people ta be mates with." Nathan shrugged "You're one o' the better shitheads. Can take shit as good as ya can deal it, unlike some 'a the others." He sent her a sheepish, regretful look that made her raise a brow in confusion "About that four eyes…I didn't mean ta go all girl-on-her-period to ya."

"Is this your way of apologisin'?" She asked but she knew that answer already by the look on his face "I get it man. Don't worry about it."

And she did get it. He was on edge after shit like that, she was on edge all the time so merging them two together just created something chaotic, a mess of emotions that shouldn't have touched. Emily didn't know Nathan that well, or at all really, so she had no idea how he reacted when he wasn't being a twat but actually upset. Maybe that was something she could work on; trying to understand better. She didn't know any of the ASBO shitheads except Kelly, who was undeniably an actual mate now instead of just a random co-offender she'd forget about when the 200 hours were up.

"So," Nathan started, fingers pinching the fabric of her hoodie "Is that why you've been downin' vodka like water?" He turned to her, eyebrows furrowed slightly "Hope you don't think you were subtle, I could smell it on you. I'm a bloodhound when it comes to booze."

"Partly." She muttered.

"Oh, now we've gotta put you suicide watch too? The list keeps gettin' better and better-"

"You're fuckin' hilarious, really." She said.

He sighed angrily, massaging his face with his free hand "Jesus-I dunno how to do this. I dunno how to comfort people. I'm screwin' this up."

"Nah." She told him, voice wavering slightly "I think you're doin' a swell job. But don't let that get to your head."

"I dunno what you mean," He replied dryly, lips tweaking into a small smirk "I'm anythin' but big headed. I'm the definition of totally modest."

"When you have to say you're modest, usually means you're not." She interjected, fingering the cracks in her lenses and deeming them a lost cause, slipping them off and tucking them into her pocket. Nathan eyed her, but said nothing. She wasn't sure if she appreciated it or if it bothered her that she might be making him uncomfortable "Well, where're you sleepin', then?"

He led the way to the balcony where a mattress with a thin blanket was strewn out, rucksack lying forgotten beside it. He immediately lunged for it, swinging his legs through the railings and over the side and beckoning her to join him. She slipped her legs over and swung them, pulling out her cigarettes and lighting one, offering him the box. He fingered one out, and she handed him her lighter.

"I'm not…broken, you know." She felt the need to announce, awkwardly tugging on a lock of her hair that pooled by her hip.

Nathan sent her a twisted expression "Never said you were." He frowned, looking away with a gusty sigh "Aren't ya allowed to be a bit, I dunno, torn up over it? Seems fair to me, if you were." Emily bit her lip, eyes troubled and glazed over as she sunk her teeth in hard and stayed silent. "Which you aren't, obviously." He added quietly. Almost placating.

The issue was, was that Emily didn't want to be broken. Who did?

For the rest of the night, Nathan blabbered on about hiding from the cleaning lady; Janice, who wore one of those red aprons and apparently listened to him rubbing one off in the toilet cubicles and touched herself to his youthful voice. She wouldn't deny the fact that his bullshit was a good distraction from the problems haunting her mind and whilst she wanted to do anything but laugh – maybe cry, maybe slam into the ceiling - she found herself snickering and giggling where she was curled up beside him on the mattress that he insisted they share.

"An' for once, I'm not offerin' sex. Just an easy-out of a night of back pain. These floors ain't comfortable." He told her, propped up on his elbow to watch her as she curled into a ball on her side, thin blanket spread over her body.

"Wow, I'm impressed at your self-restraint." She deadpanned dryly, smiling wryly when he sent her a scrunched up, goofy grin. As she lay there in the dark, body warm from the heat coming off of Nathan's body, she said "Hope you don't mind a roommate. For the time being."

She couldn't see his face due to her shut eyes, but she could hear a grin in his voice "Never had a roomie before. Y'know, I told me mum that I was staying with friends in a flat…But, I guess I wasn't even lyin', right?" She felt him shift to turn to her, but she kept her eyes shut.

"Totally." She nodded slightly, lips tweaking up "Just two mates, sharing a community centre."

He laughed a little breathlessly "Four eyes?" He began "I'm sorry, about yer ex, y'know, doin' that to ya." He trailed off, obviously unsure what to say next. Emily smiled slightly in the darkness, blinking her eyes open despite the darkness surrounding them.

She murmured softly "Me too."

That night, she found out two things. One being that Nathan snored incessantly and it was honestly the most obnoxious and annoying thing she'd ever had to cope with when trying to fall asleep. His snores fucking echoed for Christ's sake. She wondered if anyone had ever mentioned those anti-snoring chin straps or sprays and considered telling him to invest in one but then remembered he was broke and bunking in a community centre so it was probably a lost cause.

Two, being that she had reign over her power now. Kind of. Not really. But she understood it better now. After struggling to sleep, she started experimenting with it and found out that she could levitate herself, and levitate other things like objects and people (apparently, if what happened with Lewis said anything) so…score. She totally got a power from the A-List, much to Nathan's dismay, she was sure.

But despite Nathan's loud snoring and her sudden grasp of this supernatural, mutant power that resided within her, she found a certain sense of serenity, being here with Nathan. Whilst he was subdued and attempted comfort tonight, she still wanted to hear more of his bullshit because he made things seem so much easier when they just…weren't. She wanted to laugh till she cried which Nathan often brought to the table with his stupid comments and bizarre demonstrations.

She wanted easiness like that. Her mum always said accepting reality was the hardest part of life; ignoring impossible dreams and handling harsh truths was a part of survival. She had an adoration for Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' and believed that if you dreamt of fairy-tales, you'd die and you'd die unsatisfied. Honesty was key in this world, and if you said that you would pursue all of your dreams, impossible or not, then you were a fucking liar. So even if she wanted to laugh, maybe she couldn't.

That'll get you slaughtered in the real world, little warrior, Emily could imagine her mums soft, but stern voice cooing. It made her miss her mother in a way she couldn't describe, even if she wanted to stick her middle fingers up at the stupid motto because fuck that. If she wanted to laugh and have fun and live then she goddamn would.

So, fight! Make great efforts Emily, because it'll work out. I promise, Emily's mum's voice echoed in her head.

She could do with easiness like that, she finally thought, staring at Nathan's sleeping form, hopefully in a non-creepy way. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from him, which was something she never thought she'd ever say. That said a lot since she'd only known the prick for a week or two.


A/N: Emily is finally free of Lewis, fucking finally. So many ideas for this chapter sprouted but this one prevailed (in the end, after like five times editing it lmao) with small moments including her mum because i haven't mentioned her enough. I love her family though, do you guys want me to include them in future chapters? Sorry I kept going at it, I won't touch this chapter from here on, I promise! Shout-out to Alessandra.12 for guessing that Emily would go to the community centre! That's been in my head since chapter one! I appreciate comments like they're water in a drought, thank you for being patient with me! x