*Back to first-person! I think it kinda vital to the plotline, or whatever… sorry it's been a while since I've last updated, but… stress, drama, crap like that. Having a hard time over here. Anyway, on with the show!*

It had been a few days since my… failed suicide attempt. On days when I'm resting, Sam and Tucker would come and visit me and Danny. They'd tell me that they came across my dad and he always asked about how I'm doing and how my injury was. Finally, I was okay enough to walk around… at least in my opinion. Jazz keeps getting pissed that I get up and walk around the house and even tried going to school. I win most of those arguments, others I end up not feeling good and sometimes even throw up. So… Jazz wins those. But this time- Jazz went out for a job interview, so I can get up without her getting onto my ass about trying to recover. I decided to go out to check on my dad and to let him know I was okay. Talk to him and explain… He's the only one that knew I tried to end it. Danny doesn't know, Sam, Tucker, Jazz…

Not even Bleu… I got to know her a lot over the past few days, she had just moved to Amity Park from California. Her parents got a good job opportunity here and decided it was a good idea to accept it. Apparently Bleu didn't have any friends in Cali and was usually picked on by all of her bitchy classmates. And she doesn't fight, so she ends up letting them pick on her. As opposed to me- I'll punch somebody in the face if they try hitting on me, thinking I'm a girl. And I've fought people because they picked on me because of my dad. People have quickly learned that they shouldn't mess with me. I rarely lost a fight.

I finally reached the front door to my dad's apartment and walked in. "Dad? I'm back!" I announced, "I wanted to talk to you about what happened." I sighed and listened for a moment, hearing no responses. "Dad?" I called out again. I rolled my eyes and figured he was asleep… maybe. I wandered through the apartment and looked around for him. I sighed after finding the place was empty, "Probably at work…" I declared.

As I passed the kitchen, I heard something fall behind me- a piece of paper. In response, I whipped around with green flames in my hands ready to attack. I found nothing. I sighed and put out the flames, picking up the fallen page and looking over it, double-checking what it was because- honestly, I couldn't remember if I left my dad a note. Or maybe it was a grocery list and I was just paranoid.

It was neither of those things… honestly, I would've preferred a suicide note over what this paper said.

I'll just have to take Fenton myself, then.

That was all the piece of paper said. I heart began pounding in my ears. That son of a bitch took my dad and was still going after Danny… I dug around in my pockets and looked for the note that Bleu brought me from Vlad. I remembered that at one point he had an address written down someplace. As soon as I found it on the page, I changed forms and flew in that direction, however, I didn't get to leave the block, much less town. Danny managed to pull himself out of bed and go out flying. And as soon as he saw me, he was pissed. I'd never seen that kid so angry before. He was looking for a fight and I knew it. I stopped in my tracks, frozen. I didn't want to hurt him again. I shook my head, "Not in the mood, kid." I tried to fly around him, quickly covering my stomach with my cloak

"Not in the mood?!" he growled, "Who are you going after now?!" he demanded, "My sister? My parents? Hazel and I weren't enough?"

"I'm not after anyone, now back off." I growled, "I don't wanna fight you." I tried moving around him again, but again- he got in front of me. "Listen- if you must know; I'm doing you a favor and getting rid of Vlad before he finally comes to capture you and hurts Kurt."

Danny paused, "Wait- how do you-"

"It doesn't matter how I know about all of that- but get out of my way." I growled and finally got around him.

"I'm not done with you!" Danny growled and hit me with an ice-covered fist, knocking me off-course for a moment. I pulled my cloak around my stomach, keeping my bandages hidden. I flew faster, determined to lose him. I ducked and weaved between buildings, hoping to shake Fenton off my tail, but he wasn't letting up. I finally turned the corner and checked behind me, finding that Danny was nowhere to be found. I let out a sigh of relief and looked forward.

This happened too quickly for me to process, but Danny was actually in front of me. He had gone invisible and waited in front of me. When I got close enough, he became visible again and was holding a baseball bat with a green label- something I thought was Jazz's. With a powerful swing, he managed to hit me in the face and send me crashing to the ground. It took me a minute to recover and figure out what was going on. I pushed myself to my hands and knees and held my forehead. This was it…

I was gonna blow my cover…

Danny approached me, I looked up and tried focusing my vision on him. He got right in front of me and held up the bat.

I flinched, "Fenton, stop!" I yelled.

He paused, "Fenton- how do you- who are you?" he growled, "You're not just a ghost too, aren't you?" he lowered the bat.

I looked at him fearfully, "I-I'm sorry, Danny…" I looked down. Though I was only staring at the asphalt below me, I could tell he was confused.

He took a moment to finally speak again, "Wait- your stomach…" he commented, "You're not…?" he breathed and took a step back.

I closed my eyes and let the flames engulf me, changing me back to my feminine, human self.

I heard him drop the baseball bat, shocked with what had just happened, "H-Hazel…" he stammered, "Y-Y-You're Acid?!" his tone changed, "Wait… you tried to kill me!" he quickly went from shocked to furious.

"I didn't mean to!" I defended myself, but this wasn't ending well, "I lost my temper! I black out when I lose my temper. I only stopped myself because I realized that I was about to kill one of my only friends." I looked down, still sitting on the ground, "I went home after that and faked an 'Acid attack' because of all of the shit that's been going on." I confessed, "Only my dad knows I tried killing myself again and I haven't even gotten the chance to talk to him about it." I explained, "I'm sorry…" I began to sob.

He knelt down next to me, "I… I'm so confused… why were you terrorizing people?"

"I never was!" I snapped, "I was just flying one night. You know- just moved to the neighborhood, I wanted to explore town. But people got scared and that's when you showed up… everything I did was to protect myself…" I wiped my eyes.

He kept opening his mouth to speak, clearly he was still processing, "Wait- so you used your own powers to try to…" he apparently had a difficult time saying it.

"Yes, I tried to kill myself, the night I could've killed you." I buried my head in my hands, "I'm a horrible friend…" I whispered. "I couldn't handle the thought…"

I sensed him looking at me.

"You've been nothing but nice to me. You've been nothing but nice to me, but in turn, I almost killed you." I sighed, "I'm not coming back to the house… aren't I?" I looked up and him hesitantly, seeing that he was on his phone as his human half. "Danny?" I asked after he didn't answer me, "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Bleu…" he said, "In order for me to process what I just saw, I'm gonna need you to stay somewhere else…" he held the phone up to his ear. He stood up and began pacing.

I felt something trickle along the side of my nose. I wiped the side of my nose and found blood. It didn't surprise me- Danny hit me pretty hard with the bat. It only made sense that my forehead was bleeding. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in my arms, barely able to hear Danny talking to Bleu over the phone. Eventually, he walked back up to me, "Get up, Bleu's going to come pick you up at my place." He said emotionlessly. "We're walking." He declared.

I nodded silently and followed him. He walked in front of me, where I noticed he was still limping. His right hand still wrapped in bandages and under the collar of his shirt, I saw he wore bandages on his left shoulder. I sank and looked down.

He grunted and fell to the right, raising his arm so his elbow caught him against the wall. "I shouldn't be out of bed…" I heard him mutter and continued walking.

I felt hesitant to ask, but I offered anyway, "So you want me to fly you home? It'll be easier on your leg…"

"We're walking." He repeated firmly.

"Well, do you at least need some-"

"Hazel."

I instantly shut my mouth. I was going to offer to support him on the way back. "Just trying to help…" I muttered.

It wasn't long until we reached his place. There, I packed my homework and everything else into my backpack and sat on the couch where I waited for Bleu. Danny quickly explained to his parents that Bleu offered for me to stay at her place and didn't say anything about his discovery of my powers. Jazz was skeptic about the whole thing. No doubt he was going to tell her, and Sam, and Tucker. I'll tell Bleu if he hasn't told her already.

Before long, there was a knock on the door. Sure enough, it was Bleu coming to take me home with her. Nothing much at all was said, except a small thank you before I was ushered out the door and into her car. The drive was quiet. She kept shooting glances at me. I was going to assume that Danny did tell her, but she was still trying to process. But then she finally spoke. "What did you do? Why is he so upset?" she asked.

I sank, holding my backpack close to my chest like it was the only thing I had left.

"Hazel?" she asked.

I looked away, then I shook my head, "I…" I sighed, "He didn't tell you?"

Bleu shook her head, "He just said to come get you and have you stay with me while he processes what just happened. What happened?" she asked.

I sighed and held out my hand, barely flickering the green flames in my palm. She gasped as she glanced over. "I am Acid…" I confessed.

It took her a while to think about what she just saw and heard. "Wait-" she shook her head in bewilderment. "But Acid is-" she started, "He tried to- He attacked you, though, how it that-" it finally hit her. "I'm going to slap you when we get out of the car." She said firmly.

I got confused, I won't lie. Probably because it occurred to her that I could've killed Danny, or that I never told anyone before… I wasn't sure, but… Honestly, I think I deserve it anyway.

Once we finally got out of the car, she went around the front to reach me and, as she said, she slapped me. My face stung and I'm pretty sure my cheek was bright red, "Suicide isn't an option, Hazel. You have several decades ahead of you and who knows, everything will turn around!" she snapped at me, "You have so many people who care about you and you're just going to leave them? What about your dad? Jazz and the others?"

I wanted to argue about Jazz, Danny and everyone else, because I was pretty sure that we weren't going to get along after that. I looked down, "My dad is the only one…" I barely said, "And the others aren't going to like me after what just happened…"

Bleu paused.

"Nobody cares about me except for my dad… I figured that out a long time ago and I've come to terms with it." I said, "Why should I worry about people who don't give a shit in the long run?"

"I care about you."

I looked up at her, then shook my head, almost laughing.

"I'm serious." Bleu stepped in front of me.

"And so am I." I looked at her sincerely. "I've never told anyone this: but when people found out I was a guy and not a girl, and that my dad's on drugs, and they find out that my last shower was probably three weeks ago, they had literally told me to go kill myself…" I growled, "Sometimes, it's after someone had told me that they cared about me." I said, "This is why I don't trust people. This is why I don't even try to make friends. This is why people shouldn't trust me." I dropped my bag to my feet and grabbed my head, "I was better off alone… Better off…" I sighed, "Better off dead…" Suddenly, years of ridicule and bullying rushed through my body and forced their way out of my chest. I sat down against the side of the car and buried my face, crying like the damn girl I was. "And now my dad's missing and I just lost a few of my only friends." I sobbed. I never bring that up, nor do I like to think about it. I didn't bring it up before for a reason. This was exactly it.

I felt her sit next to me at one point. She wrapped one arm around my shoulders and made me lean towards her. "You don't know if you lost them." She said, "And we'll find your dad, I promise..." then she moved to kneel in front of me, "Look at me." She suggested.

I kept my head buried in my arms.

"Hazel?" she called and moved my arms away. I didn't fight her. I just opened my eyes and looked at her.

"Things may seem bad now…" she said, "But please, believe me when I say this, everything will be okay. I promise." She leaned forward and planted a small kiss on my forehead, "I will help you fight through this, okay?"

I don't know why, but the kiss made me stop crying. I… was more shocked and confused than anything… but some part of me was intrigued.

She wiped the tears from my eyes, "You have a lot of potential, Hazel. You're only seventeen, a lot can turn for the better." she said, gently holding my face in her hands.

"And what if they don't?" I asked, "What if things only get worse from here on?"

She looked at me for a good, long while. She gently pulled me forward and let our lips touch. My heart began pounding, I became short of breath, I wanted to pull away, but I found myself giving in. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her. I'm not one to really care about anything like that, but that was my first kiss, and it lasted a long time. That was probably the best feeling I've ever had in my entire life.

She finally separated herself from me, looking me in the eye and brushing my hair back, "Does that answer your question?" she asked.

It took me a second to catch my breath and start seeing straight again.

"Hey- what's going on out here?" a woman called, snapping me back to reality. I backed away from Bleu- as much as I could, anyway. I was still sitting against her Impala. She stood up, "Hi Mom!" she greeted innocently.

The woman came around to the other side of the car where she could see me, "Who's this?" she gasped and knelt by me before Bleu had the chance to answer, "What happened to her head?"

Bleu paused, "Yeah- what did happen?" She looked at me.

Her mother was trying to clean up my forehead from the blood. I tried getting away, but again- the Impala… I stammered, but decided to go with the half-assed truth, "I got hit by a baseball bat…" I started, then I sighed, "It's a long story, I don't wanna get into it…"

"Miscommunication with Danny?" Bleu asked.

"Sure…" I looked down.

"Oh- get in a fight with your boyfriend?" her mother asked.

I waved hands quickly, "He's not my boyfriend, we're not dating." I quickly rejected the possibility, "I'm not even seeing anyone."

"Uh- Mom? This is Hazel." Bleu finally introduced.

Her mom turned red, "Oh, goodness, this is Hazel!" she confirmed, "The boy you told me about who gets mistaken for a girl." She hugged me, "I'm so sorry! That must've been so awkward!"

I shrugged, "Kinda used to it…"

"Well, first, you need a haircut." She said, "Or did you mean to grow it out?"

The thing with my hair- I don't care how it is. The only reason it's stayed long for as long as it has, was that we never had an electric razor, never had the money to get me to a barber, and neither me or my dad have the skill to cut hair and not fuck it up. The Fentons have offered to take me to a barber. The same barber Jack and Danny go to apparently. I kept telling them not to worry about it. "I- I don't care either way."

"My sister goes to beauty school!" Bleu pointed out, "If you wanna cut it, we can ask her." She grinned, "She'll do it only for the experience. She won't charge." She ran her finger through her short hair, "She did mine." She beamed.

"Well, let's get his head taken care of." She said and helped me up.

"I need to find my dad…" I shook my head and wiped off a small trickle of blood that made its way around my nose.

"Did he go missing?" Her mother asked.

"He was captured." I answered.

"Call the police." She said simply. "You can use the phone inside."

I shook my head, "He's wanted by the police…" I argued.

She sighed, "Better to call them and know where he is than to not know where he is in general." She stated, "Wait- what is he wanted for?"

"Drugs…" I said, "He's been affiliated with too many big drug busts across the country."

The two nodded and looked at each other, "No… death penalties waiting for him… right?"

I scoffed, "Of course not, he's never killed anybody." I sighed, "Just… He's always managed to escape whenever the police got involved…"

The Stevens nodded and finally ushered me inside. There, Bleu's mother sat me down, had me tie back my hair and cleaned off my forehead. She showed me a hand mirror and let me check my reflection, who I saw… wasn't me. I hardly recognized myself. And it wasn't even the massive bruise one my forehead, or the cut in the center of that. Not even the band-aid that had been taken off of my left cheek a long time ago, the bags under my eyes, or the fact that I didn't have hair draped over the right side of my face. I looked… like… I don't even know how to describe it. My eyes were open, I wasn't glaring at the mirror like I normally do. I looked as though I was more relaxed, and not so fucking stressed out. I still didn't like the bruise though… it only reminded me about how much I pissed off Danny… I turned the mirror away and handed it to Bleu's mother.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Um…" I sighed, "I'd rather not get into it…" I said. "It's too long of a story." I shook my head, "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."

"Michelle." She answered with a a smile that closely resembled Bleu's. Then her expression changed to be more serious, "Let's get you some band-aids…" she reached into a small box and pulled out two large band-aids, carefully sticking them to my forehead in an 'x' pattern. "There…" she began putting everything away, "Well, while Bleu is talking to Mykenna about your hair, let's see if we can't call the police about your dad… okay?"

"That'd be great…" I sighed. "Thank you…"

Michelle reached into her pocket and dug out her cell phone. After she punched in the number into the key pad, she handed me the phone. "There you go…"

I took a deep breath and held up the phone to my ear.

"Amity Park police." The woman on the other end answered.

"Um… My dad went missing..." I started. "I uh…"

"You wanted to call in and report a missing person?" she answered.

"Well- the thing is-"

"What does your dad look like?"

"Uh- brown eyes, faded blonde hair… he's pretty skinny, about six-foot-two-" I started describing Dad as best as I could, but then she cut me off.

"Would this happen to be Kurt Richards?" she asked.

My body froze, "Y-yes, ma'am…" I barely voiced the response.

"Kurt Richards was found tied up and unconscious this morning at our front door. He was arrested and we are processing his paperwork now."

I let out a deep breath.

"You do realize that he was a wanted criminal, right, ma'am?"

"I do…" I looked down, "Is… is there any way I can see him?" I asked, knowing it was a long shot.

There was silence on the other end for a while.

"Please?" I asked. At the moment I had completely forgotten that Michelle was still sitting in front of me. "I just need to talk to him… I wanted to make sure he's okay… I was scared that… y-know with…"

"I understand, ma'am… let me see what I can do for you. Please hold…" she said, then was followed by a long pause.

After Michelle noticed my long moment of silence, she gave me a curious look, "Everything okay?"

I shrugged, "She put me on hold. She's going to go see if I'm able to come visit my dad…"

She nodded.

"Ma'am, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here…"

"Okay, so you are Kurt's daughter, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm his son." I said, "But… don't worry, I get a lot of people confused…"

"I apologize for that." She seemed to sigh on the other end, "I spoke with my supervisor and they are not allowing any visitors to come see Kurt. I did the best I could…"

My eyes watered as I squeezed them shut.

"Hello?"

"I'm here…" my voice broke.

"I'm so sorry, sir…" she apologized, "I really did what I could. But he is alive, and he is safe. Are you a minor?" she asked, "Under the age of eighteen?"

"Yeah…" I nodded, "I'm seventeen."

"Okay, do you have any family or relatives here you can stay with?"

"I'm staying with my friends…" I wiped my eyes, "Um… I've been staying with them more than I was with my dad lately…"

"Alright then, that's fine. I will be able to deliver him a message, if you'd like. Is there anything you want me to tell him?" she offered.

"Tell him that I'm okay, and that I love him… and that I'm sorry…"

**Okay, so this chapter was longer than anticipated, but a good majority of this needed to be covered. Reviews, please? I hope this didn't come out too rushed… but let me know! Stay awesome, guys!**