A/N: Hiya! So another chapter yay! Sorry for the gaps between them, stupid school and life gets in the way of writing them. But hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think. I love receiving feedback, so r&r please :D


Chapter Twelve

"Xav, are you sure okay?" Karla asked him. Xav had lost track a long time ago of how many people had asked him this, and how many times he'd answered "Fine."

"Yes, mom, I'm fine." He wasn't. He was anything but fine.

"No, you're not. Ever since you came back from London, something has been different about you. You don't talk, or smile, you prefer your own company to any of ours. I'm worried about you."

Xav couldn't argue. There was no use trying to convince his mom that he was truly okay. He'd only be lying to himself as well as Karla.

"I've been worried about you, Xav. Really worried. And I don't know what to do. You won't talk to me, or anyone. So I, erm," she hesitated, "Look, Xav, I didn't know what else to do. So I hired a therapist, I thought maybe you would open up to someone..."

Internally, Xav snorted. A therapist? Seriously? Like talking to a therapist was going to help him. Xav knew the only thing that would heal him would be being able to be with Anton again, and that would be only possible when he plucked up the courage to tell is family about him.

"Mom, no offence, but I don't really think that will help."

"Well, I don't know what else to do. So you are going to try, and you may actually find it to be helpful. Promise you will try. Promise, Xavier." A stern look passed over his mom's face, and Xav's shoulders sagged.

"Okay, okay. But to be honest, I really don't think it will do anything."

"All that matters is that you at least attempt to let someone help you. That's all that matters.


"So, Xav, I'm Maria." The woman sitting opposite him had glossy blonde hair styled into neat curves, and piercing green eyes. She was around Trace's age, and was dressed stylishly, with a perfectly made up face. Xav knew that his brother would find her attractive, but he didn't see the appeal, not that he thought of himself as the best judge of feminine beauty.

"Your mother hired me to be your therapist, as she was concerned about some of your behaviour. She said it all began after your recent trip to London, a few months ago, but you've told no one about what happened there."

"That's right."

"Would you tell me about it? Or is that too much to ask? Maybe we should start with something else. Tell me about your life before. How were you?"

"Fine. Honestly. Completely normal. Loved my family, had great friends. Knew what I was going to do with my life."

"So there were no problems, nothing to concern you before you went to London?" Maria's voice was sickly sweet, and mock concerned, and Xav was tired of listening to it already.

"No. Well yes, but I didn't identify them as problems until afterwards..." He was trying to be honest, he really was, but he a) didn't want to talk about what happened with Anton, as all it would bring would be pain, b) most of it Maria wouldn't even understand, as he couldn't exactly tell her about Savants and soulfinders, and c) he would rather go tell his dad about Anton than talk to him to this stranger with the fake face. It just felt innately wrong, spilling his secrets to this woman.

"It seems that whatever happened in London was the thing that made you unhappy, then."

Xav wanted to fucking scream. Something about her was really getting on his nerves. Maybe it was the fact that she was trying to pry into the personal details of his life, that she was trying to get him to talk about Anton when the whole problem stemmed from him not being able to talk about Anton.

"Yes. Well, no actually, I was more happy in London than I ever have been in my whole life, it's the circumstances that followed that made me like this, okay? I know exactly what is wrong, because my mind will literally not think about anything else, and I know exactly what I have to do to fix it, the cure is just quite hard for me, but I think that eventually I'll be able to do it, I just need time, and I already have a reminder that I need to fix things fast, so I really don't think spilling my guts to you will help me whatsoever, no thank you. You can leave if you want, you're not going to get anything out of me. There is something that I have to do, and I know that is what will help me; it may take a while, but I will get better. Tell my family that, and to leave me alone, because they are inadvertently making things worse. Now go."

He was done. He was done with Maria, with her attempt to get him to open up.

Maria looked shocked, but luckily didn't press the subject. "If that's what you really want, then I'll leave. But you missed an opportunity here, to talk to someone who wasn't a member of your family about whatever it is that is bugging you."

"Thank you, but I don't really care. Now leave."

And she did.


Maria looked worriedly back at Xav's closed door. How would she be able to explain this to his mom? She'd essentially failed at what she had been asked to do, but there was no way that Xav was going to talk to her about whatever had happened in London, that much was clear.

She sighed, knowing that she could do nothing but tell her the truth.

As she walked into the room, Karla stood up, looking up at her expectantly. "Well? That was quick..."

"Yes, I know. Look Karla, your son is really troubled. Something happened, something that he won't talk about, but it seems to have affected him deeply. He refused to tell me about it though, so obviously it's a painful subject for him."

Karla looked dejected. "That's what I suspected."

"From the symptoms you've described, and from talking to him myself, I can say that he has some form of depression. I can give you some medications to try, but there's no guarantee it will work, because he refused point blank to talk to me."

Karla looked so sad that Maria wanted to comfort her but didn't really know how. "We can try it but... I just don't know what to do about it! He won't talk to me, or anyone, and he just stays in his room all day."

"Well, Xav did say to me that he knew how to fix himself, but he needed time. So I think the best thing, honestly, would be to trust him and give him time."

Karla let out a long breath. "Okay. I'll trust him. He's my son. Of course I trust him."

She handed Karla a prescription. "Try this and let me know what happens. Although Xav kind of...made it quite clear that he doesn't want to see me again."

Karla gave her a small smile, and Maria left her with her troubled son, with no ideas of what to do for the first time in her life.


No matter how hard he tried, Xav would still not leave his mind. It was only putting Anton in more pain thinking about him constantly, but he could not put his face out of his mind. Although it only caused him pain, Xav was the only person he could think about.

Well, Xav and the Conners brothers. Chris had told him that the other two had seemed to have vanished off the face of the Earth. Alistair has no idea where they are, which, unfortunately, is good for him, because they can't be found. Alistair's threat was gnawing at him, and he was constantly scared that the other Conners brothers would find him and punish him for spilling all their secrets.

Despite the fact that he knew it was ridiculous, that Alistair couldn't possibly tell his brothers to go after Anton Blue when he was in a locked cell, the fear still pumped through his body. Dealing with criminals, criminals who threatened him, was nerve racking, but he would do it again, because he knew it was the most useful thing he could possibly do with his powers.

While each day was increasingly painful, the longer their connection was severed, the worse it seemed to get, he was beginning to get used to the pain in his heart. He was beginning to talk to his family more, he was trying to get back to normal life.

It had been six months. Six long, hard months, knowing his soulfinder was halfway across the damn world. But Xav held the key to fixing things, so he knew that he had to get on with his life until Xav came back to him.

Whilst he was waiting for that to happen, he resolved he would try and carry on. He began to talk to his family, and even see some of his old friends. He was empty inside, but trying his hardest not to let it show so much. It was hell, but he just had to bear through it. It would get better soon. Well that's what he kept telling himself.

"I'm going out!" he called to his family, heading out of the door. He was meeting Chris, who had become a good friend over the past few weeks, but he still hadn't told him about Xav. It was like an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't talk about their soulfinders.

He'd been to Chris's house quite a few times, so he knew the way. The quickest route would take him past Xav's apartment, and he couldn't handle going there yet, so he took the long way round every time.

The street he was walking down was bustling, people seeming to be crammed into any available space. Anton squeezed past everyone, not really thinking about anything. The all of a sudden, out of the corner of his eye, he could've sworn he saw Alistair Conners standing watching him.

His heart began to quicken; he could hear it pounding in his ears. Impossible. It's impossible. Alistair Conners was in prison, locked away behind bars. There was no way he could be roaming freely around London.

Anton turned to face him, but he was gone, lost in a flurry of faces. Was he even there to begin with? Or was Anton's fear just turning the situation into something it wasn't. He had to laugh, because otherwise he would be too scared to move. Of course he wasn't really there. He was just being ridiculous.

He had to keep telling this to himself as he carried on walking, careful not to look to closely at the faces he passed. His heart rate had still not gone down.

Finally he reached Chris's street. It was considerably quieter than the ones he was on before, and for that Anton was grateful. There were only a few people milling around, but it was alright as he was virtually at his destination now.

He let out a long breath, relieves, and then someone grabbed his arm.

"Are you Anton Blue?"

The person who had grabbed him was a middle aged man. He was fairly pudgy, with thinning brown hair and round spectacles. His grip was clammy and his face red, he seemed to be sweating out of his mind, it was dripping off him in rivulets. His voice was shaky, and there was fear in his eyes. Anton's eyes narrowed. Something was going on here. Something wasn't right.

"Who's asking?"

"Are you Anton Blue?" It seemed that the man could not say anything else, and his grip was awfully tight, so he had choice to answer, even if it might be dangerous.

"Yes. But who are you?"

"This is bad. I'm sorry," said the man, shaking his head.

Now Anton was extremely confused. What the hell is going on?

"I'm so so sorry about this," he said as he lifted his fist and put a cloth over his mouth. Anton barely had time to comprehend what was happening before he felt the world fade, and he blacked out.


Xav had become even more of a recluse since the disastrous visit from Maria the therapist. His mother had given him depression tablets which he did not even bother to take. Yes he might be depressed, but it was his own fault, and he knew how to cure it. He just needed to find it within him to come out, somehow, and all his problems would be solved.

There was something else too.

He supposed that he had a bit of a bad habit, because he would often find himself reaching out to Anton. He couldn't telepathically talk to him, but he could feel his presence, knew he was okay. It should be reassuring, but in truth it was only worsening Xav's current state. It was so painful, being able to feel him but knowing that he's not with him.

Xav was just about to reach out to Anton, but something stopped him. Why continue doing things that only bring you pain? A little voice in his head said. And it was right.

Sighing, Xav decided he would stop constantly reaching out to Anton, as it was only making him worse.

There were bigger problems at hand.


Pain, concentrated between his eyes, seemed to burn through his skull. His eyelids felt as if they were sewn together, he couldn't open them even if he wanted to. Everything was foggy, and he couldn't think straight. Panic was overwhelming him. Where am I? What on Earth is going on?

"Wakey wakey."

A sickly sweet voice coming from uncomfortably close.

Anton moaned, still confused. His eyes opened a crack.

"Come on, open your eyes. Then the fun can begin."

Slowly, Anton opened his eyes to face the grinning face of Alistair Conners.


A/N: I'm sorry for the evil cliffhanger ending, btu sometimes authors have to be mean mwahah ;) hope you enjoyed!