Unrequited Chapter 10: Saving Her, a mediator fanfic

A/N Yes, it really is an update! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, but some of my more popular fics have been higher up the priority list. But I found this earlier, and fancied writing. I hope you enjoy it - this was definitely a cool one to write.

Chapter Ten

"I want you to listen very carefully, Romeo," Paul said, and I did. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't. What's going on?"

"What's going on?" Paul repeated. "What's going on, is that you're going back in time. To the night where Juliet died."

I shook with nervous laughter as my father's words sunk in. This was it - Paul Slater had finally cracked. I closed my fingers over Juliet's necklace and threw a punch to his jaw, causing him to reel backwards with shock. He held his jaw, massaging the skin with an innocent expression.

"What the hell was that for?" he demanded. My chest was rising and falling with anger.

"You're making stupid jokes whilst I'm here grieving!" I cried, throwing myself backwards against the wall and holding back tears. It wouldn't do any good for my dad to see me crying. "I mean, I know you've never been one for fatherly behaviour, Dad, but geez..."

Paul's face was deadly serious. "I'm not making stupid jokes, kid," he said gravely. "You think I'd joke about something like this? I played around with this crap when I was your age and it nearly killed me, and I nearly killed the girl I loved. Do you want to get your precious Juliet back or not?"

Only one part of my scolding had hit me. "The girl you loved?" I repeated. "That would be Mom...right?" To my surprise, Paul's head shook. "Then who was it?" My father looked up with flashing eyes.

"That's irrevelant," he dismissed quickly. "Time is running out. Do you want to save Juliet?" Suddenly, I was determined.

"Yes." No other answer had ever crossed my mind. "Just tell me what to do." Paul looked down at the necklace I was holding. I lifted it up to the light, and watched the diamante jewels sparkle.

"You hold on very tightly to that," he informed me. "And then you follow me."

"The Mission Academy?" I asked, incredulously. "Dad, are you serious? It's after school hours!"

"Shut up," Paul snapped, coldly. He slid a key into the lock of the main entrance (God knows where he found the key. I decided I wouldn't question it right now), and the door swinged open with a satisfying creak. I looked into the dark school doubtfully. My father pushed in front of me, and I pursued.

"My Player of the Year medal," I mused, as we passed the awards cabinet. Paul nodded, and stopped. Suddenly, a snippet of Chanel's gossip came back to me.

We passed a team of guys in white, examining a blood-splattered area behind the curtains next to the award cabinet. "Are they forensics?"

"Yeah," said Chanel, rubbing gloss into her lips. "I heard some geek got murdered because she got a failing grade."

"This is where Juliet died," I whispered. I snapped my head in Paul's direction. "This is where you killed her." His face was solemn.

"Yes," he said quietly. "This is where your journey begins." I raised an eyebrow.

"You're not coming with me?" I asked. He shook his head, and told me I needed to go alone. I gazed down at the necklace I had kept clasped tightly in my hand. "What do I do with this now?"

"Keep it," Paul advised me. "Now I want you to think of this place a couple of months ago. Dark, like it is now. All the lights off. But there's a girl running down the corridor, running for her life." I winced as a vision of a frightened Juliet whizzed through my mind. Paul checked his watch. "You'll be a little early, I guess, but maybe that's best..." He knelt down before me, and clung to my jacket. I felt him slip something into the pocket of my jacket. I watched, bewildered. "Romeo," he said. "Will you promise me something?"

"Maybe," I replied. "Depends on whether its legal or not." A faint smile played on his lips.

"I want you to do anything you have to so that Juliet stays alive," he said. "Anything. Will you do that?" I nodded, not really understanding. Tears filled my father's eyes. "And I want you to know that I do love you, Roms. You're my son, of course I love you. Maybe I haven't been the best father..." He trailed of miserably. "But I do love you." I crouched down to his level.

"I love you too, Dad," I answered. "Thankyou for doing this." I straightened. "Well, I guess I'll see you on the other side." He didn't reply. I thought furiously of the place he had told me to, of Juliet running through the halls...

I opened my eyes, breathing hard. The school was no different; my father had gone. I turned around and examined the cabinet for the latest cheerleading medal. I couldn't find last week's. Which meant only one thing.

I'd done it.

My heart suddenly began pumping fast. Juliet was out there somewhere, still alive. But Paul was on his way to kill her.

I thought hurriedly of my father's whereabouts on that night. It had been a Monday, which would mean he would be holding the weekly poker night at his bachelor pad. Maybe that was a good place to start. I sprinted out of the school and a couple more blocks down the road, unsure of how much time I had. Paul could have passed me in the darkness, and could be already in the school, pointing his gun at Juliet's head...

But then I spotted his car, on his driveway, and knew I was safe. Paul never went anywhere on foot; always in his shiny Mercedes Benz. My running became faster, and I crouched in a shrub as I waited for him to leave his house.

I didn't have to wait long. He emerged within minutes, calling and jeering to his poker-playing friends. He waved them off, one by one, before walking briskly to his car. A voice stopped him before he got in - a voice that made both him and me jump.

"Are you aware that Romeo's parent-teacher conference is next week?" My mom stood at the end of the driveway, with her arms crossed. I sunk lower in the bush.

"Jesus Christ, Lisa, you scared me to death." Paul did appear shaken. But that could have been anticipation of the task he was about to carry out. He had a hand over his heart for emphasis.

"I wish," my mom said, acidly. "Sadly, you're still here living and breathing."

"You're just sour because I divorced you before you could divorce me," Paul spat. I rolled my eyes and tried to move steathily out of the bush. This was so typical of a Mom-Dad bicker. I could probably recite it word-for-word.

"No, I'm just sour because you never stopped loving Susannah Simon," my mother countered. Or maybe I couldn't recite their arguement. This was a new development. Wasn't Susannah Simon Juliet's mom?

I decided not to hang around. I couldn't risk it. Paul could climb into his sports car at any second and speed away to the school, and I'd have no chance of saving Juliet. I snuck away out of the shrubs and into the dark shadow of the house. No-one had spotted me.

I made a break for it, my shaking feet pounding the pavement hard. I still had Juliet's necklace in my hand...what was I going to do with it now?

Before I had chance to answer that question, I collided with something and knocked it to the ground. I whirled around in surprise to see a shaken Juliet on the floor. I gasped. The real Juliet. The alive one. My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered nervously. I offered my hand to her wordlessly, too taken-aback by her presence. She stared at my fingers as if I was offering her five swords. "Are - are you sure?"

"Yes," I replied, laughingly. "I won't bite, promise."

"But you're Romeo Slater," she said, taking my hand anyway. She stared at the hand that was still holding hers. "Why aren't you rushing off to disinfect yourself?" I frowned.

"I'm not like that." I was offended. She considered this for a second, before spotting her necklace in my hand.

"That's mine!" she cried, and reached for it. I surrendered it, but then realised that she was already wearing one. I pointed, and she clutched her chest confusedly. "Oh." She flushed pink with embarrassment. "Oops." She dropped the chain back into my hand. "Sorry."

"It's...fine..." I was still a little dazed. Juliet jumped as if she had suddenly remembered a dentist appointment, and made to run off again. I, however, seized her arm. "It's O.K," I assured her. She shook her head, distressed.

"It's not," she wailed. "I have to go, someone's looking for me..."

"The Mediator Council," I answered, simply. "They're coming to kill you." She gazed at me in astonishment.

"You're...you're..." She didn't seem to be able to finish her sentence. I nodded, and her eyes grew big. "You have to let me go - they'll kill you!"

"Let them try," I scoffed. "I won't let any harm come to you." She looked down at the hand still closed around her arm and sighed, terrified.

"I'm not sure..." She trailed off, then gasped. "It's him!"

I spun around to see my father's Mercedes Benz crawling down the road, his headlights scanning the road. "Quick!" I hissed, giving Juliet a quick push into the nearest hedge, but it was too late. Paul had seen her, and he was out of his car.

"Romeo?" His low, menacing voice made me shiver. "What are you doing with the De Silva child?"

"What are you doing coming to kill her?" I demanded. "You love her mother!" Paul flinched, but didn't hesitate to pull the gun from his pocket.

"Move out of the way, Romeo," he commanded, raising the gun at Juliet. I moved in front of her, shielding her from any bullets. Paul only smirked. "Stupid boy," he growled. "Get out of the way. I have business to attend to."

"Business." I spat at the word. "That's a load of baloney, Dad."

"Move out of the way," my father repeated. "Or I'll kill you." His earlier words to me came rushing back.

With a pang of grief, I finally realised what he meant. I felt in my pocket for the thing he had inserted there earlier, to find a knife there, lying in the interior. My fingers closed over it, whilst still in the pocket. I also realised why he had had tears in his eyes.

I turned my head over my shoulder to whisper to Juliet. "Run," I advised her, loosening the grip I had on her arm, only to tighten it again. "I love you, Juliet." She blinked back in bewilderment, and I realised that my declaration had been pointless. "Run," I repeated, and I released her. Paul's eyes followed her irately, before he made to chase after her. I, however, was faster.

"Oh no you don't," I hissed, before pulling the knife out my pocket and plunging it straight into his chest.