"What? How the hell'd she escape?" Melody demanded angrily.
"I don't know. Once when you left, Price thinks she had managed to somehow untie herself and she faked being tied up when I went in there last night, after I fixed you up. She escaped around an hour after the guys got back." He quickly explained.
"How could you let that happen? She was under our watch, Westbrook! I know her and I know perfectly well that she will not stop her plans until we're all dead! How could make a rookie mistake like that." Melody said furiously pushing Frost's shoulders.
MacTavish reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her back. He knew she was just worried and slightly scared and tended to let those emotions out in fury. He knew she'd get violent in a second if he didn't stop her.
"MacTavish let me go!" She growled looking straight at Frost like a hunter to its prey.
"Mouse, calm down, now! This was a slip-up, yes. But I am not letting you lose control like this. I said calm your arse down, Captain!" Price said appearing from the building; seeing and hearing Melody's screams and yelled at her.
MacTavish furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and forced himself to hold onto a steaming mad Melody as she pushed and punched against MacTavish's hold.
Melody groaned and ripped herself away from MacTavish. MacTavish took a step out thinking that she was going to take a swing at Frost, but when she began to walk towards the brick wall of the garage beside them he knew she was trying her best to cool down.
Melody could feel the boiling anger inside of her and she placed her hand on her forehead and ran a hand through her hair. She then turned and placed her back against the wall and let her head fall back against the brick; eyes closed and hands pressed in defeat on her forehead.
"What the bloody hell are we going to do now?" MacTavish asked slightly angry.
Price scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. But, if she were smart, she'd wait to attack. Even Makarov waited five years to really make an impact on anything." Price said.
"She's going to wait until we least expect it. I killed her husband when she didn't even suspect it. I betrayed her and our friendship. She lost her mother, the only person who understood her, in a matter of seconds. She wants revenge on all the terrible shit that was happened in her life." Melody said, eyes closed.
The three looked over at her with the same wary and defeated looks. They knew she was right. At that moment, Price remembered something and it was one of the reasons he had come out here in the first place.
"I should probably tell you that I've called in an old friend to help us. We're definitely gonna need it now." He said.
Melody sighed and walked up towards the three. "Who is he?" She asked. She was tired of surprises. She just wanted to be alone with MacTavish or just herself at the moment. At least MacTavish wouldn't tell her any bad news.
"She should be here any minute actually." Price said with a smirk thinking of the woman in his mind.
The three exchanged a glance. Melody ran over a list and thought about who they all possibly knew in the past.
As she thought over this, she saw a car then pull into the building's parking lot. She then thought that if the three knew this woman, somehow, then she probably wasn't going to know that Melody was alive. Melody quickly dove back behind MacTavish as she heard the car hum then stopped as a car door opened.
There was a tense silence between them all until she heard MacTavish in front of her. She furrowed her eyebrows when she noted the faint tone of laughter and amazement.
'Calm down, Johnston. You really need to settle your jealousy issues. This new woman's a friend.' She thought trying to calm herself down.
"Diamond? What are you doing here? Just couldn't stand being without me, could ya?" He said happily stepping out.
Melody gasped softly as she felt MacTavish's strong back, which she had used as a wall between the new "recruit" and herself, vanish from her and she stepped out, catching herself slightly. She looked up to see MacTavish walk up to the woman and hug her tightly.
Melody forced a grin and tried to let the burning jealousy inside her fade. 'She's just a friend… she's JUST a FRIEND.' She chanted over and over in her head as she heard the woman's voice.
"MacTavish… I can't breath! Let up!" She said happily.
Melody stepped back in between Frost and Price. She didn't want to be seen at the moment. She felt guilty for some reason and didn't want to explain this whole thing to her.
"Frost! Oh my God! I thought you were dead!" She then exclaimed happily. Frost left and stepped up towards her. He didn't know whether to hug her or shake her hand so it was a mixture of both.
Melody stood there, rubbing her left arm with her right hand nervously. She tried to make her fairly long hair curtain her face from the old friend. She knew it was ridiculous to try and hide from Diamond since it wasn't like she wasn't going to bump into her or work with her on any missions. Might as well get it over with, but she didn't like it at all.
"So, you guys miss me so much you had to rush me over?" She asked with a playful grin.
Melody peeked from her brown curtain to look at the woman before her. She was still the same as she remembered. Average height, tan brown skin, long brown hair and black-brown eyes. Her face was slightly different, a little more mature. Well, it had been almost four years so yeah anyone would mature in that long gap. Her body was just as strongly-built as she remembered, but one thing she noticed was that there was something different in both her smile and in her eyes. She secretly wondered if it was about Grinch and all the old memories when she saw Frost and the others in front of her. She decided not to bring it up any time soon, though.
"Melody? Is that you?" Diamond then asked, smile faded and stepping slightly closer to her.
Melody's heart raced and her face burned like a volcano. Why was she so nervous and scared? Diamond was a friend and practically a sister to MacTavish. She should be welcoming her, not hiding. Melody slowly looked up from her hair with a forced grin.
"Yeah, surprise." She said in a forced happy tone.
Diamond furrowed her eyebrows, she was completely confused and Melody could tell she did not like it. She was going to press for answers to her questions and Melody wasn't sure if she was ready to give her the backstory. She had already given it so many times now. Every time it depressed her.
"I don't understand. You're dead. It was on the news and MacTavish told me about it. How the hell are you even standing here?" She questioned taking another step towards her.
MacTavish glanced over at Melody and he could see the worry clear on her face. "It's a rather long story, Diamond. I'm not sure if she's ready to really explain it again." He said trying to interrupt the moment and swap it with another topic.
"I get it, okay? I'm alive and everyone's already pin-pointing me as a freak! I'm clearly not dead! Sorry, to disappoint some people. Now will you please, leave me the hell alone." She said looking straight into Diamond's eyes then glanced over at MacTavish.
Melody already felt guilty for treating her so harshly, but just shook her head and stormed off towards the street and far away from the building.
Diamond looked over at MacTavish, slight worry on her face. "I wasn't calling her a freak. I just wanted to know how she was even living." She said looking at his wary face.
MacTavish pinched the bridge of his nose and released a sigh. "Don't worry about it. Melody's been going through a lot right now. It's not you." He said trying to reassure her.
"But how did she survive? I mean, how does someone live through that?" She pressed on hesitantly.
MacTavish couldn't help but lift the corner of his mouth with amusement. After all these years, she was still stubborn as a mule. He knew she wasn't going to stop without answers.
"An hour after we left when she died, some of Makarov's men were scouting the area looking for any survivors of our squad. Well, one man named Anatoly found her body in the remains of the building she was last in and salvaged her body even though Makarov told him to leave her. After a month of painful surgeries, they had someone brought her back to life. She had been recently working with Anatoly until she was given a task to kill someone; she refused and the rest is too long and difficult to explain." He explained. His tone clearly said he was tired of both hearing and explaining her story.
Diamond just nodded though she wasn't satisfied with her new information about her old friend. She hadn't known Melody very well but sometimes thought of her as something close to a sister. Since MacTavish was her "adopted" brother it only made sense that when they were going to get married that she would become her adopted sister-in-law. She grinned slightly thinking how strange that even sounded in her thoughts.
Melody shivered slightly in the brisk air as she walked across the sidewalk of a busy street at night. She always hated walking at night alone. The dark held to many dark memories she forced to lock away and never be seen again. She still felt bad for what she said and thought about Diamond's return. She was glad she was back, really. But, thinking of the close relationship they had always made her slightly boil inside. She thought it was unfair that it took nearly a year for them to even touch each other, but only a small time for them to become best friends and practically siblings! She felt jealousy rise again inside her thinking of everything.
She sighed as she then began to think about an old thought. She surprised herself by recalling the moment, but thinking of jealousy; she couldn't help but remember it.
"C'mon, Melody. Why are you so upset? You know you can tell me anything." Margaret pressed again to the young girl lazily swinging on the empty swings.
Melody's long brown hair was split and braided down the sides and over her shoulders. She looked down at the ground to Margaret's side. She wore her new glasses that day at school. She hated them so; they were small squared, black frames with a butterfly pattern on the inside. She thought it was so horrible; they already didn't like her already and found something to mock her for and now she had the glasses.
"Melody, you will please talk to me?" Margaret pressed to the non-blinking, absentminded child in front of her.
She sighed and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back, Melody." She said stroking back a loose strand of hair then walked off towards the car some meters away.
At that moment, a small boy with wild brown hair and matching dark green eyes bounded over towards her. She jumped slightly seeing him come so quickly. He wore a light blue sweater vest and tan dress pants. He was growling under his breath and running both hands through his neatly combed hair.
"Man, I absolutely hate picture day! It's the stupidest thing in the history of the world!" He whined poking at his clothes.
Melody couldn't help but grin at the boy. "At least you only have to wear those one day. I'm stuck looking like a weirdo." She said pointing at her glasses.
The boy pursed his lips at her. "You do not, Melody! Crikies, do we always have to tell you that!" He exclaimed throwing his small, thin arms in the air before crossing them across his chest.
She just stuck her tongue out at him with a giggle. "Zach, why are you my best friend in the world?" She asked with a grin.
He smiled at her. There was a gap on the front row of teeth and others were uneven as he looked at his friend. "Because, my momma told me to never be mean to people. Some people are just big ole bullies. Like that stupid Jimmy. Belch, he is so nasty!" He said shivering at the thought of him.
Melody's grin faded to a frown at the name. She thought about earlier today and what had made her so depressed; besides the glasses. Jimmy had told her she was pretty and he said he liked her before, but when she came in that day he laughed at her with all the other children. She had cried in the hall and later at lunch he said that she wasn't his "boyfriend" and said that the new girl, Felicity Graham, was really really pretty.
"No, Felicity Graham is the nastiest person in the school." She grumbled. She felt hate and envy rise in her as she thought about the girl.
Zach arched an eyebrow at the girl but shook it off. "Hey, wanna go play on the jungle gym! I bet you can beat the boy who's been bragging on and on about how he is the champion at the monkey bars." He then said with a toothy grin.
Melody frowned at first then looked over towards the high monkey bars Zachary pointed towards. She didn't want to, but looking at her friend's happy and excited grin, she knew she'd do anything to make sure the only kid who treated her nicely could stay happy.
"Okay! He looks like he needs to be brought down a little." She said rolling up imaginary sleeves.
Zach giggled and tugged on her wrist as the two ran towards the monkey bars and towards the boasting ten year old.
Melody sighed remembering her old friend. He had been with her since first grade to graduation and was there the day she was sent off to the base where Shepherd had recruited her to. She remembered promising him that the day she had clearance she was going to come back so they could continue being best friends. She felt her heart tug in depression as she thought that she had broken that promise. She hadn't seen him in eight years. She still missed him, even this day.
'I should try to find him someday, maybe when things settle down. But will they ever settle down now?' She thought hugging her shoulders against the strong wind.
She figured not and kept on walking down the sidewalk towards the old building. She hadn't walked far from the building, just far enough to blow off steam. She smiled thinking that her past, Margaret and Zachary, still made her feel so calm and peaceful.
She then grew depressed again thinking of how much she missed them. She hoped Zachary had kept his promise to her that he'd talk to the one girl whom he had liked, Brittany White. She was a nice girl and they had sat beside each other in English for a year. She hoped he had someone through the time of their separation.
That brought her to another thought; did Zachary think she was dead? She had almost forgotten about the news that MacTavish and Price had spread to the world about her death and how she was killed in action. She felt awful for barely hoping that Zach was upset about that. She then scolded herself for thinking so, but she still wished that he was with her now. He always knew what to say to her.
She halted in her steps. "We're even." She whispered to herself.
MacTavish had Diamond as a "sister" and she had Zachary as her "brother". She knew MacTavish loved her and she wondered if she should tell him about her "brother". She then felt some of the jealousy towards Diamond roll down her back.
'Well, that's one thing off the list.' She thought with a grin.
She then walked into the parking lot of the building with a slight skip in her step; she then noticed that some lights were on towards the upper floors. Some were still here; good. She'd hate to come back to absolutely nobody.
A/N: Sorry it took a while to update. I was with family the past couple days.
Diamond does not belong to me! She belongs to Queenhks (hope I spelled that right:P) She is an awesome writer and also owns the story 'The Will of a Single Man!'. I highly reccomend reading it because it's 100% Awesome! Go read it now!
Welp, another OC introduced, huh? lol, seems like I have a new one every chapter. I won't really delve into him unless you want me to. Also, sorry if the beginning seems like it's dragging on. I'm just trying to get all the needed information in before I make a time jump. I know, sounds completely ridiculous, but I don't want to put about like five years of boring in like twenty million chapters, lol. I know that sounds lazy, but who wants to read a boring story?
Thanks for reading and sticking with me through this. Review please if you have any compliments or complaints or suggestions. Any kind of criticism is appreciated. Thanks again and have a great day!
