:) Chapter 9.

I forgot to mention this in chapter 8. Sorry. The song from Chapter 7 was Chelsea Smile by Bring Me the Horizon. I listened to part of it, but I couldn't understand what was going on. Very loud and heavy. Heavier than I really like. But, the lyrics are good.

The song from chapter 8 was Welcome to the Family by A Day to Remember. :D :D and we all know my opinion on this amazingly incredible fantabulistically awesome band! :D

Yes. So, now. R&R. Or I'll have my incredible, amazing, fantabulistic beta, Sierra156, come after you with her chainsaw, Sasha. :D

So...pretty please? :) :)

You'd said we'd never get this far
You said your words, we've played our parts
Said your two cents
Now It's my turn
So, sit down, shut up
Are you ready?

So, you think you know how this story goes
Are you ready for this?

Sit down, are you ready for this?
Shut up, are you ready for this?
Stand up, are you ready for this?
Restrain
Are you ready?

I thought you'd never come this far
I thought your words meant something more
Said my two cents
Now it's your turn
So stand up and scream
Are you ready?

"See?" I squealed as the two of us walked through our front door, Seth grinning eagerly as he came in, going straight into the kitchen to get the box of Cheez-Its I had gotten after school today, when we went by Wal-Mart. "You were worried it would take days, but what did I tell you?"

"That I would learn it just like everything else, way faster than anyone else," he repeated drearily. "Yeah, yeah, Ari. What do you want me to say? You were right?"

"Well, that would be nice," I mused, pursing my lips a little. "Now, all the stuff I put in the tree house, it's for tomorrow night."

"That's right," he nodded. "Tomorrow night. We have to get everything ready for that, don't we?"

I shrugged. "Technically? We can. But, seriously. The house is clean, so it's not like we have to do that. All that we might need to do is bring the stereo system in here, but that can wait until tomorrow."

He nodded. "Okay. Well, I need to shower at some point."

"Go ahead," I said happily. "I've got to figure out something to make for supper."

"Food," he practically drooled. "Sounds good. Whatever works. I'm just starving. I guess I should've known I would get your appetite too."

"You should have," I laughed. "Now, go on. With the way you take showers sometimes, I might just have it ready."

He stuck his tongue out at me as he slid off the counter and began walking back to the master bathroom.

I glanced around my massive, insanely awesome marble, stainless steel, and neon blue kitchen. Like the rest of the house, it was way too big for just two people. But, it was pretty amazing; I hated admitting that, but it was.

The counters and walls were made of white and light grey marble, whereas the ceiling was covered in stainless steel lights but was otherwise smooth and white. The stove was a flat top stove with a deep fryer in the middle of the two black stove tops. Then, there was an insanely huge stainless steel oven running underneath the stoves and the deep fryer.

That was just on the counter, and you can't forget the massive stainless steel refrigerator and cabinets on that side too. At the bottom of all this, there was a long line of bright neon blue floor lights running all the way across there.

Then, there was an island three feet away from all of that. It was made of marble, except for the stainless steel edges. On the farthest side, the side away from the counters and stove, there was another set of floor lights—same color and brightness too. On this island was the dishwasher—must I tell you it's stainless steel?—and the three stainless steel sinks.

Like I said, it's way too big for just two people, but it's amazing.

Quickly, I figured out we had the stuff for my awesome homemade pizzas, so I made one with lots of sauce, cheese, and bacon. Then, the other, I loaded up with lots of sauce, cheese, and more cheese.

Both are amazing. One because, well, bacon is good with anything. And the other because, like Daddy always says, you can't have too much cheese.

As I put the pizzas in the oven, I let out a deep sigh and leaned against the island, glancing around my large kitchen once again. I caught a glimpse of my black dining room walls, though, so I decided to make my way into there.

Oh. My dining room...

In the right lighting, you can make out elaborate, fancy designs on the walls. Jessie and Elizabeth had this done, so of course something had to be fancy. In the middle of the farthest wall from the kitchen entrance, there were three large grey rectangles with hot pink borders.

In the farthest right rectangle, there were little small pictures of Seth from when he was growing up, even some senior pictures.

In the middle square was a large picture of the two of us, right after his ball while we were waiting on the doctor. Seth was freaking out, and Sam took a picture to ease tension. My dress looked awesome...minus all the blood. The blood didn't go well with the other colors. But, I was smiling happily as I hugged him, and he was just lovingly looking down at me. As if nothing else mattered to him.

And I knew why.

Then, in the left triangle, there were pictures of me growing up. No senior pictures because, well, I'm not a senior.

The room was decorated with black furniture. Not really morbid or anything, because there were lighter accents around it. There was a black vase in the middle of the table she put lots of hot pink fake roses in.

Around each chair, there were two tassels wrapped around and tied together in the back. Why? I don't really know. I just know that's what Jessie did.

Can't forget the soft, almost suede feeling metallic grey carpet.

I continued out the other doorway in the dining room, on the opposite side. The metallic grey carpet turned to metallic grey, almost metal, tiles as I went into the living room. The walls and ceiling were the same color, for the most part, except for the metallic gold borders of the doors, leading to the actually normal sized laundry room. The living room, however, was massive.

Anyways, when you first come into the room, there's a huge black fireplace that seriously heats up the room—the whole house, really. There was also one part of the wall that was black, and one third of the wall had black shelves and a few cabinets for me to put stuff in. Other than that, the other two thirds of the wall was the metallic gold color. In the center of this part, there was a seventy-two inch HD TV. Thankfully, Jessie didn't get a 3D TV.

A few feet away from that was the beginning of the softest carpet. It was long and gold. There was a strange black coffee table on the left side, and two feet to the right of the coffee table—centered to the TV—was a massive and super fluffy black couch. It was a five-person couch, but the seats were really long. And, like I said, it was really fluffy.

It's amazing.

I went to the doors of the laundry room and took a right, because a left would run me into a bathroom.

It was kind of a boring bathroom. Tan walls, large clear shower, normal sized bathtub with wood styled lining on the outside. It was to match the counters.

It's not exciting, so I really don't even go there. It's just there so you don't have to go all the way upstairs.

The left took me to the front door, which was black with a dark tint to the glass. Even the outside of the house is the really dark red brick with black shingles on the roof.

Morbid house. Probably why they got such a good deal on it. I don't really know.

Anyways, as I was saying, when coming to the front door/entrance room, I also came to another door and a set of stairs. These stairs led upstairs, where all the extra rooms where. It was a three-story house—two stories and the basement.

No attic.

Well, the basement was through the other door. I didn't bother going down there, because it was just Seth's "man cave" that, really, we both spent equal amounts of time in. When we first got here, that's the first thing we did was set up our game systems, TVs, and started playing Modern Warfare: Black Ops. Killing Seth is quite fun, but he's pretty damn good himself.

Anyways, the basement is nice, because it's completely underground. It's got solid maroon walls with black carpet. There are two black leather recliners with a table in-between them in the middle of the room. It's where all the remotes, controllers, and stuff like that rest. The wall in front of the recliners is a screen.

Yes. We played Black Ops on a wall. And it's amazing.

Other than the dim lights and the acoustic panels to make the sound better, that's about it for this room. It kinda reminded me of a movie theater, to be honest.

That might be the point, though.

So, instead of going down to the basement, I went upstairs to the large grey hallway.

The first room on the left was my electric blue office. Well, the walls were painted electric blue. It had black trim, though, and the furniture was all black. They put a Mac in here, with all the latest Apple equipment to go along with it, including a twenty-four inch flat screen monitor.

They're ridiculous, but they assured me my parents helped furnish it. Which didn't help anything.

Anyways, unlike the white carpet outside of here, this room has hardwood. I have shelves above my desk for my school stuff, and whatever else I put up there. Basically, it's a black and blue office.

Which is amazing.

Directly across the hall from my office was the second bathroom. It wasn't exactly awesome, but it wasn't as bad as the last one. It had lighter grey walls than the hallway, and instead of the white carpet, it had white tiles everywhere, even in the bottom of the large glass shower. The counter was actually made of wood, except for the white square sink. And the toilet...yeah. Just a toilet. Nothing special.

To the right of this bathroom was the first guest bedroom you come to, the one Sam has claim to any time she's staying over here.

It has black wood floors, actually. Three of the walls are black, but one is a violet color. The ceiling is white, just like the bed is—for the most part. Half of the headboard is actually black, like the sheets.

Anyways, to go with the random purple wall, they put down a purple rug underneath the farthest leg of the bed and as far out as it went. This room had some pretty unique modern white furniture. Jessie and Elizabeth really had fun with this house.

Oh! You can't forget the huge window in the far corner, right by the far end of the bed.

Across the hall from that was the next guest bedroom—two of five, actually. Then, there was the master.

Anyways, this was another one of the more boring rooms. Light brown walls, wood floors, brown rugs, black furniture, brown comforters...not very exciting, but still comfortable.

To the left of that was the third guest bedroom. No, they're not numbered, but you get what I mean. The third one I went into.

It was the same color blue as my office, actually. The floors were grey carpet, and it had some pretty awesome black furniture. There were white shelves built into the wall. The comforter was mostly white, but it had black designs, just like the curtains did. It was cute, but I wouldn't use it as my actual room. Just a guest room.

Which is what it was.

Then, across the hall from that was another interesting room. It had white walls and off white carpet, but she put a black rug in the middle, at the end of the bed—which was only five feet or so from the door. The bed had a black comforter with those fancy designs, and at the foot of the bed, there was a solid black throw with a smaller lime green one on top of it. For looks, really.

And that's what colors all the furniture was—black with hints of lime green. It was a cool room, but once again, I wouldn't have it as my actual room.

To the right of that was the final guest bedroom. It had violet walls with gold designs put on it. It had white carpet also, and the furniture was the same wood. The comforter was the violet color, but it had a soft electric blue throw at the foot of the bed. And, there were purple and blue pillows accenting all of this.

Cool room, I guess.

Finally, the master bedroom, where I could hear the water turning off in the bathroom.

Black hard floors. I have no idea what they're made of, but they're black, and when I walk on them in heels, the heels clink like they do on rock, almost. Maybe marble? I don't really know.

Seth ended up getting his way, simply because I asked Jessie to do this. What I really asked her to do was give him what he wants with the walls, but also change it to where the heat wasn't an issue.

For the most part, the walls were black, but there were some charcoal grey parts, and then there were some stainless steel walls. When the sun came in, it reflected off of this and seemed to just go away, almost.

Besides the headboard, the bed was entirely black—pillows, sheets, comforters, and all.

Really, everything that wasn't steel or the charcoal grey walls, was black. It was pretty awesome.

Not gothic. No, no, no. It really doesn't look bad. It probably sounds bad, but it's not.

Wait. I did forget to mention the off white chairs just randomly sitting by the door. I'm not sure why they're there, but they're comfy, so I just leave them.

(A/N: I'm gonna put a link on my profile to all the rooms in their house. :D)

When I walked into the bathroom, Seth was in the middle of putting on a t-shirt. He was rubbing his face slowly, almost as if he was deep in thought.

So deep he didn't notice my presence, not until I walked behind him and kissed his shoulder.

He smiled half-heartedly. "Hey, you."

"Hey," I said quietly. "You okay?"

"Fine," he murmured honestly. "Just thinking. Hey, maybe I should grow a beard. What do you think?"

I grimaced. "No thank you. I mean, if you really want...but...I don't wanna kiss a caveman...or anything that reminds me of a dog. Daddy tried that once..." I shuddered, just thinking back on the memory. "Some people just do not need beards."

"Okay," he murmured, eyes drifting down to the sink. "I'll shave."

"Seth, seriously," I said gently. "What is it?"

"When I was in the shower, I got to thinking," he admitted in a low voice. "What if... well... no. It's stupid... probably sounds kinda heartless too..."

"Just tell me," I insisted. "You're not a heartless person, Seth. And I'm sure it's not stupid. I'm all ears."

"Do you remember back when we were trying to get our wedding in December and you were so stressed?" he asked curiously, looking at me through the mirror as I sat down on the edge of the bathtub.

I nodded. "What about it?"

"Our conversation on the four-wheelers," he whispered. Suddenly, he was no longer able to look at me, and that kinda worried me. "The one we had about truly evil people... what we would do."

"Oh," I gasped, because I did remember. Quite vividly.

"Ari, I think our problem is we have a view on things. If a truly evil person who is gonna continuing harming and scarring others in life-threatening, or just traumatically life-altering ways, is on the loose, we feel as if we're supposed to stop it, as if we're supposed to find a way to end it—or at least enjoy the ending of their terror reign."

"That," I nodded. "I know what you mean. What about it?"

He shrugged. "I was just thinking... when it's over... no. I-I don't know. It's not even possible. We're too well known."

"Seth, just say it!" I pleaded. "I don't care how twisted or maniacal you think it is. Tell me."

Once again, I had to bite back my guilt as I realized I was demanding something I wasn't giving him—the full truth. But, this was different. What he was holding back seemed to be hurting him, not me.

"What if we did just that?" he asked quickly, bracing his hands on the counter so he wouldn't panic or do anything else weird. "What if we made it our life goal to take out the evil? Killing the Eraser, Lance...it was so easy. I didn't have to think twice. You don't think twice about what happened at the ball. Why? Because they were truly evil, corrupted people. I mean, who are we to judge? We're not, but you know what? Sometimes, there's only one solution. Some people will just continuing hurting and killing. After we take down this company...why don't we move on past that, keep what we have and use it for more, well, good? If we start taking out the evil... more good will appear... and the world... it could truly be a better place."

I couldn't answer him for a minute. Not because what he was saying scared me. Not because what he was saying was sick and just wrong.

In my mind, it was anything but. What he was saying made sense. We're not anyone to judge, no, but sometimes, there's nothing else. Jail won't work, and they'll just keep killing. Sometimes, for the better of others, you have to kill the guilty. You have to stand up and defend the people who can't defend themselves.

It took me so long to respond, because I was imagining this. We would have to be on the run, find some way to move under the radar, become unrecognizable... but we could do this.

"I say let's go for it," I said honestly, smiling brightly as I stood from the bathtub and hugged him tightly. "But, one question."

His eyes were still wide with surprise—at my answer, no doubt. "What?"

"Can we get Sam and Alex to join us?"