AN- WHAT? ANOTHER CHAPTER AS WELL AS DOING EYES TELL (MOSTLY) ALL? What is the world coming to?


"Sabina?" the four men and one boy burst into Sabina's new room, all looking around wildly, guns drawn and pointing around the area, Alex slipping in past them.

"It's-it's OK," came a trembling voice.

Noticing the voice, they nodded sternly but didn't make another move until they had made sure nothing was out of place in the room; only then did they put their weapons away and move over to where Sabina sat on the floor next to her bed.

She sat huddled, her blue eyes wide and looking haunted, a pale pallor smeared across her face as she shivered and trembled, a blanket wrapped thickly around her shoulders, her pink lips open into puffing breath after puffing breath. She hardly glanced up at them when Wolf and Snake came to kneel in front of her, peering at her.

"What happened?" Snake asked, reaching out to try and uncover some of her face from the blankets to get a better look at her.

Snake was surprised when her hand suddenly latched onto his and squeezed tight. His eyes moved over to Alex who watched them silently and he realised why he was so shocked. He wasn't used to someone responding to physical contact when he made it. Sabina was completely different to Alex in that regard- she sought the contact out like it gave her life- like it was the sunlight and she was the flower.

Trembling fingers still wrapped around his hand, the girl shook her head and glanced at Alex. "I-I thought I saw in the g-garden...s-someone," her face seemed to go even more pale at the memory, as pale as a washed out lily and again, disconcertedly, her eyes fixed onto Alex. Then, before anyone could say something, she blurted out: "Alex! I-I need to talk to you!" her eyes flickered onto the others. "Alone," she said quietly, hand still squashing Snake's own.

Warily, Snake and Wolf exchanged glances.

Was that such a good idea?

With the way Alex and Sabina were acting around each other?

And none of them wanted to see Alex like he had been just a few moments before.

"Wolf," Sabina broke into their thoughts with gentle lockpicking. "I did listen to what you said."

Wolf's dark eyes flashed and he suddenly stood up, stormy grey eyes focussed on the girl still sat crouched on the floor. Nodding stiffly, he jerked his head to the rest of his unit. "Right. Come on, guys. Let's give them some space," and with that, he turned on his heel and strode from the room, Snake frowning and following after gently prising Sabina's hand off of his own.

Cub watched them leave and tried to reciprocate Eagle's encouraging smile as the man brushed past him before his eyes went to land on Sabina.

The door shut and Snake had to pull Eagle and Fox away from the door with a hiss of "stop being so nosy!"

Wandering down the stairs (albeit some reluctantly) they went to go and sit down and finish off the now cold pieces of pizza.

"What do you think that was about?" Fox murmured, eyes flickering up to where Sabina and Alex now were, talking about things that they couldn't hear.

"Sabina's scream?" Eagle shrugged but his brow was wrinkled in thought. "No idea. It had to have been more than just seeing someone in the garden, though." his face turned into a self-righteous grimace. "Maybe she chipped her nail varnish," he said childishly.

"Eagle," Snake warned.

Eyes angry, Eagle glared at the blond Scotsman. "What? She hurt Cub! Of course I'm a little mad at her," he snapped before dissolving into bad-tempered mutters.

"We don't know what they've been through, Eagle." Wolf growled. "It's not right to completely dismiss her just because you don't understand what's going on,"

Scowling (but relenting a little this time), Eagle shrugged again but refrained from saying anything else on the subject.

"We've still got Jack's- Alex's guardians number, right?" Snake stood up and stretched after nothing happened for a moment or two. The nods he got in return and muttered "in the kitchen drawer" made him nod in return. "Right, well, I'm giving her a call. I want to see what she knows about Alex's recent breakdown. Maybe he had medication for it, before,"

"Alright," Wolf muttered, trying to explain to Fox that it was OK to leave them up there alone.

Minutes later, Snake returned with a thoughtful look on his face and looked ready to say something- but he never got the chance.

A roar from upstairs made them all jump up once again.

"I knew we shouldn't have left them in there," Fox said quietly and burningly as they swiftly made to the stairs again.

It was proved unnecessary because the shouting match suddenly got louder and then there was a crash of a door opening and then pounding footsteps on the upstairs landing, more screaming and shouting and then a rush of footsteps that came down the stairs with even more shrieking and yelling following after.

Gaping, the four men watched as two teens exploded from down the stairs, yelling at each other. Alex's face was flushed again and he was storming away from Sabina this time, bellowing over Sabina who was doing her best at keeping her ungodly volume.

"You two-" Wolf's snap was almost meek under the terrible noise of the two teenagers.

It was near impossible to figure out what they were saying to each other as their volumes clashed and made so much noise that it was deafening.

"QUIET!" all four men bellowed.

Once again, the voices stopped.

Chest heaving with exertion, Wolf pointed a finger at both of the teenagers. "You said a chat," he spat, fury rolling in tumulous colours in his eyes, fists clenched and shaking at his sides. "That was the loudest chat I have ever heard!" he shouted.

Neither teen looked cowed and still glared at one another, Alex stood (alarmingly, Snake and Fox exchanged glances and slowly slipped forward) by the door, his face contorted into one of fury. "I know you hate me," he snarled to Sabina, the amount of venom in his voice making the girl freeze. "But don't lie to me about that!"

"I'm not lying!" she screamed, taking a step forward. "You stupid idiot! I'm not lying!"

Wolf glared and made to cut in but the shouting match was starting again.

It was a blur when it happened. Everyone was yelling and shouting (and Cub's face looked so wild- like- like he could break at any moment that they just knew they had to tread carefully) and screaming and shrieking and screeching-

-and suddenly Alex had a gun out.

Everything froze.

The teen stood, shaking slightly, eyes oddly glazed but face frighteningly clear. As if he knew exactly what he was doing.

But that wasn't Cub stood there.

It was- it was some sort of machine.

Emotionless eyes pinned onto Sabina who lifted her hands slowly, eyes wide and face pale all over again.

"Cub...? Cub? What are you doing?" Eagle asked steadily, his face showing clearly that he didn't believe what was going on in the slightest. A slightly strangled laugh escaped from his mouth and he moved his eyes from the gun and back up to Cub. "Put the gun down, Cub,"

"Don't lie to me." Alex's voice was cold, gun never wavering from it's direction of pointing at Sabina, another dusty tremble shaking its way up his spine before he irately shook it off.

"I'm not lying," Sabina whispered, her lips dry.

"Put the gun down, Cub," Wolf ordered, taking a calculative step forward.

Cub's eyes flickered over to them, but in the main part, he stayed focussed on Sabina. "I said," everyone flinched as the safety was very purposefully clicked off.

"Don't lie to me," his voice was like a gale in winter and it even made Wolf, Fox, Snake and Eagle take a wary step back, some instinct in them screaming danger! Danger!

"You're not going to shoot me," Sabina said boldly, taking a step forward, her blue eyes locked onto Alex's brown ones. "You wouldn't,"

Alex didn't reply.

Sabina seemed to gain even more bravery from that and from the fact that she noticed Wolf gradually getting closer to Alex. "Don't you dare call me, a liar. Hypocrite."

Another tremble shifted its way through Alex and the glazed look in his eyes seemed to fill with something else that she couldn't discern. "It would be better if you were gone," Alex murmured, voice soft. As if he wasn't even talking to her anymore. The teen paused and his head jerked, a tiny frown passing over his face, lips moving. In a flash of coldness, Sabina realised that Alex wasn't even talking to her anymore. It was...it was like something was talking to him

"Better," he was speaking again, voice smoke on the wind. "It'd be better if you weren't here," his eyes were still clouded. "Easier. It wouldn't hurt. You-I- no. I don't want to do that. I just-" his eyes flickered and suddenly the gun that had been dropping shot up again and his eyes were blank. "Threat to health- elimination," his voice was soft but steely.

Two things happened at once- but no one knew which one happened first.

Wolf, who had been slowly getting closer to Alex suddenly dived forward. And then there was a bang, Sabina screamed as she ducked down, the bullet slamming into the wall right next to her head.

Or maybe Alex's finger had tightened around the trigger and then Wolf had dived.

For the life of them, no one knew.

(But each answer made all the difference in the world.)

(And the thought of finding out was frightening.)

But it happened, whatever it was and the gun had skittered across the floor to be swept up immediately by Fox and Alex was dragged up by Wolf whose face was like a thousand raging storms as he bellowed in Alex's face.

"What the hell was that about, Cub?" he roared, the tiniest firefly flicker of fear in his eyes (which was understandable! He'd just seen a boy point a gun at someone with the amount of casualness of him pointing someone out in a crowd!) before it was swallowed up by his immense rage. His hands dug into Alex's shoulders whose eyes had turned back from their foggy shade and back into brown again. "You do not point guns at people! Where did you even get that from anyway?"

Alex's hands moved up to push the man away, a frown crossing his face- a childish expression which was creepy in the context of what had just happened. Trying to push Wolf off of him, he scowled. "Let go! It's none of your business!"

That was the wrong thing to say.

"Room. Now." Wolf's voice was icy cold.

The teenager stared blankly up at him before increduility made itself known in a mocking shade of amber in his eyes. "You can't do that." the teens voice was dangerous.

"Oh yes I can," the larger (stronger) man hissed, gripping Alex's arm hard. "Room. Now,"

Frenzy seemed to flash into Alex's eyes ("go to your room, child. Perhaps when you come out you'll feel a little more...willing to cooperate") and the teen struggled away from him. "No! You can't make me!"

"Watch me," Wolf snarled and gripped the teen in an unbreakable hold, beginning to near drag the boy up the stairs.

"Get off!" he struggled and thrashed and shouted (he struggled and thrashed and shouted) but Wolf wouldn't let go (but they wouldn't let go! And he was being pulled-) and he was still being pulled (to his 'room' and suddenly he was fighting tooth and nail) though he fought tooth and nail -(it wasn't enough! ) and Wolf easily flung open his door (and he was thrown in) the door slamming behind him (and the darkness was suddenly crouching in a corner singing) twisted lullabies to him (in a torn and shredded voice-) songs that (he didn't want to hear) and then there was a voice ("back so soon, Rider?")-

The scream never left his lips.

(it's all in my head)

"This is ridiculous," Snake hissed, glancing at Sabina who sat with them, stubbornly refusing to meet any of their eyes. "The first evening and everything is already getting wrecked to pieces!"

"Maybe we should phone up-"

"And say what?" Fox interrupted Eagle though his voice held regret. Pressing his fingers into his forehead he glared at the carpet. "They made it completely clear that there was no way for us to back out of this!" he brought a fist up to his mouth and began chewing it. "Crazy," he hissed.

Silence pervaded in the area until Wolf came back down, his face stony.

"How is he?" Eagle asked after a moment of thick silence.

Wolf curled his lip at the question but answered nonetheless. "I don't even know." he spat. "Bringing out a gun," he hissed, fist slamming against the chair arm. "What the hell is going on in this house?"

Snake noticed the way Fox's eyes suddenly went wary and he narrowed his own eyes.

Fox knew something that he wasn't telling.

"You should go and check on him," the girls voice came out softly.

Eagle whipped round furiously. "I don't think you're the person who should be giving us advice on how to look after Cub!" he snapped, voice sharp.

Sabina flinched from the voice but carried on determinedly, her fingers tugging at her sleeves, hair falling over her eyes. "I mean that everytime..." she swallowed. "Dad tried to send him to his room he'd just...climb out of the window. Maybe- maybe you should just check,"

A pause ensued.

That sounded oddly like Alex.

"I'll go." Fox said immediately (that look still in his eye. Wary and thoughtful and a little guilty). "Maybe I can find out what's wrong, too," sharing a look with Wolf he nodded once and then left.

It wasn't long until they heard Fox yell "get off of the window ledge, Alex John Rider!" a slight scuffle, and then silence.

"Good call," Wolf muttered to Sabina, still not looking at any of them.

"What did you say to him?" Eagle finally asked, turning to look at the girl with hard eyes. "He was better before he went up to see you. What happened?"

Sabina swallowed again and briefly looked at them, even Wolf had torn his attention away from his dark thoughts and was focussing in on her.

Rubbing nervously at her mouth, Sabina's shoulders gave a little shrug. "I just told him who I thought I saw outside...and why it made me scream,"

Listening more intently, their lips stretched into a thin line. "Who did you see?"

Her eyes flashed up to them and then back down onto her lap again, some internal conflict waging in her mind- it was obvious through the tension on her brow and the way her hands fiddled on her lap.

"Sab-"

"Jack." Wolf's warning was cut off as she answered. Looking up, she fixed them all with a mixed confused, fearful and defiant look. "I saw Jack."

Frowning, Eagle waved his hand vaguely, prompting her to explain. "And that made you scream why exactly?"

Wolf and Snake gave each other curious looks.

Sabina stared at Eagle and her expression morphed into an angry scowl, her breath rasped in harshly into her lungs. "Because she's dead," she spat.

(Dead.)

What?

Eyes wide, they gazed at the dark haired teenager.

Snake's face had gone incredibly pale.

Dead?

Sabina watched them for a while, and the disgusted expression on her face gradually slipped off to reveal a surpirsed and bewildered one. Slowly, she turned her eyes over all three of the frozen soldiers. "No way," she breathed, leaning back. "Alex never told you."

Snake was the first to recover and he shook his head dazedly. "No," his voice was hoarse. "That's not possible." he was still shaking his head, shock still evident on his face.

"Why not?" Eagle asked faintly, hardly able to understand what he was being told.

He dragged one hand through his hair and then back over his face. "Because...I just spoke to her on the phone."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x (1)


When Fox entered Cub's room and he had safely gotten the boy off of the window ledge, they simply sat silently on the floor, backs against the wall and didn't speak.

A Hush curled around their feet, sharing their silence.

As minutes ticked by, Fox cast a look at Alex who sat stiff and still, his eyes fixed on the door.

"That was a bad move, down there, Cub," Ben said quietly.

Alex didn't react.

Shifting his legs up to his chest, Ben balanced one arm on his knees, and sighed softly into the silence. "You're going to have to tell them about your working with MI6 now."

"No," that certainly got his attention. Closing his eyes, Alex turned his head away from Ben, as if doing so would erase his presence and that of the words that Ben had recently spoken.

"If you don't tell them, I will," Ben said seriously, refusing to be ignored.

Alex didn't reply again and he remained with his head facing the other way.

"Where did you get that gun from, Alex?" Ben asked.

Turning around again, Alex fixed Ben with a look. "A while back..." he muttered, one hand pushing through his hair. "In the park when we were attacked. Someone dropped it,"

In the park...

Ben stilled as some memory tickled the corner of his mind. His eyebrows furrowed. What was it? It was right there...right there.

Frowning at the carpet, Ben tried to bring it to mind.

Suddenly, he remembered.

"We got tangled in a fight in the forest, but back-up came and quenched the threat- wounding one ad killing the other-"

"There were no orders to kill the target,"

A soft gasp left Fox's lips, and his eyes flickered over to Alex who gazed back.

Pieces clicked into place.

But Fox was unsure whether he wanted to see the final picture.

"Ben?"

"Alex," face serious (and he saw how Alex noticed his expression and schooled his accordingly). "I want you to answer truthfully, now. No lies. Remember?"

Slowly, eyes narrowed, he nodded.

"Good." he paused. "Did you kill one of the men in the park?"

Alex's eyes went funny again but he still answered in his voice that strained on perfection. "Yes. One man and one woman."

Fox stared.

That was too easy.

Way too easy.

Where was the uncomfortable pause? The ashamed look? Even trembling would be alright for that moment!

"Right, OK," Fox said faintly.

"I shot them both."

"OK." he murmured.

"They died." haunted eyes stared at Fox-like lanterns swaying in the depth of a long deceased night. "Doesn't that scare you?"

(Yes)

Fox swiped at his dry lips with a tongue but forced himself to keep his gaze locked with Alex's. "A little, yes," gently, he touched Alex's shoulder when the teen began to turn away again. "But, Alex, you're not the only one who killed people. All of us have. You can't just blame yourself because of that fact. We were all in a dangerous position- it was a kill or be killed situation,"

"Kill or be killed," Alex repeated weightlessly, eyes trailing up to the ceiling.

"Kill or be killed," Fox agreed softly, attempting to gather Alex's starfall attention. "But, Alex. You can't just go pointing guns at people. It doesn't work like that." he hesitated, another thought swimming around in his head. "Alex...when did you learn to shoot?"
Humming quietly, the teenager shrugged, voice like moonlight as he spoke. "Doesn't matter," his eyes were shadowy, walking in crumbling and lonely places that Ben thought Alex had no want to travel in. "It was a long time ago now."

Slowly nodding, deciding to leave it as that for the time being, he made to say something else but Alex seemed to not have finished speaking.

"Do you know why Mr Blunt decided to send me into school before he said he would? Why he decided to send S-Sabina here?"

Mutely, he shook his head, wary of the fact that words could frighten Alex back into silence.

A faint smile tickled Cub's lips but he remained gazing at the carpet. "It's because he's God," a weight fell around him and it suddenly seemed as if Alex was having trouble sucking in full breaths, his eyebrows crumpled and he pressed a hand to his forehead. "He's God," he choked.

Unable to bear such an expression (tortured- a slow and painful death) Ben reached out and tugged the teenager (boy, child) to his shoulder and buried his chin in the golden hair. "It's OK, Cub. It's Ok,"

"He controls everything." the teens voice was muffled and sounded damp- dewdrops dropping from a leaf tip. "Ben, I want her to go away. I don't want her to be here anymore,"

"I know, Cub, I know," Fox frowned above Alex's head, rubbing at the teens back and wondering at Alex's mood swings. This was more than usual teenage hormones. This was...deeper. This started with something that he hadn't been told; hadn't yet worked out. But what was it?

"I was going to kill her, too." the admission made Ben freeze momentarily, but it was only a lapse and his shoulders relaxed and he returned to murmuring words of comfort.

"Everything's going out of control," Alex whispered. "Everything's going wrong and I don't know how to fix it,"

"That's our job, Alex,"

The words weren't meant to be funny but it made Alex chuckle even as he pulled away from Ben's shoulder and leaned his head upon one hand, just examining the man and Agent.

His eyes sparkled with black stars. "That so?" he murmured.

Refusing to be daunted by Alex's full stare (too old for his age. It was like peering into a wizened galaxy, brimming with things his mind just couldn't comprehend) Ben levelled his own gaze. "Yes. Stop cutting yourself off so much, Alex. We're a team. If you have a problem, you need to tell us and we can work it out together. From now on, Alex, there's no more doing things alone. We work together. Deal?" he stretched out his hand purposefully and fixed Alex with a determined look.

For a while, Alex only gazed at the outstretched hand, a flicker of surprise on his face. But finally, a small smile slipped onto his face and he nodded, tentatively reaching out, his eyes flickering up to meet Fox's own, as if wondering whether or not Fox would pull back. When the hand didn't move back, the smile widened, apricot in colour as a tinge brushed his cheeks shyly and he grasped the hand and shook it firmly.

"Deal," came the paper kite word, ribbons tumbling down in rivulets of delicate marshmallow and duck-egg blues.

Smiling, near grinning, Ben nodded. "Well then, I guess you'd better go down there and apologise."

The smile on Alex's face dropped and he grimaced with a groan. "Oh no."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x(2)


Alex followed Ben into the livingroom with a not so neutral expression on his face, one that darkened even more when Fox told him to "stop pouting". Glaring at the mans back, he stepped into the livingroom with Ben and was surprised in the least to see the rest of K-Unit sat down talking in hushed voices.

From the look on Ben's face, it seemed that this wasn't how he'd left them either. Clearing his throat, he pushed Alex forward further into the room. "Cub's back,"

Eyes flashed onto him but Alex stood his ground, wary of the conspiratorial atmosphere in the room. "What're you talking about?" he asked instead of his apology.

"You haven't told us everything, yet," Snake was the one that spoke, and for some reason, his voice was hurt.

Nerves began making themselves known in Alex's stomach. "Of course I haven't. You knew that," his eyes moved to each one of the men in the room and he did his best to avoid Sabina's searching and hard gaze.

"You didn't tell them about Jack,"

Alex's eyes snapped onto her.

Self-righteous fury rolled and bellowed in his chest.

His eyes were flickering from cold to confused dangerously.

A hand on his shoulder stilled the raging feelings.

"There's nothing to tell," he growled instead, catching Ben's approving eye and trying to squash down the feeling of warmtinglyembarrassing that rushed through him at the look.

"No, Cub. There's a lot to tell," Snake's voice was weary. "Sabina told us who she saw outside,"

Alex's lip curled in derision. Oh, she did did she? Well that didn't matter! It was ridiculous! He didn't know why she was trying to hurt him (yes you do, you little liar) but that was the wrong way to go about it (what you gonna do? Kill her?)! But he quenched his thoughts down and stood in stony silence, waiting for Snake to continue.

"She said she saw Jack,"
Red hair, laughing eyes, smiling voice and scrambled eggs and pancakes.

"No, she didn't," he tried to snap back but his voice cracked and lost it's power halfway through. Screwing up his fists and forcing them away from scrubbing at his eyes, he glowered at Snake even though it wavered into devastated waters, eyebrows squirming, lips wriggling on his face, a hotchokypainful feeling squeezing his throat- squeezing- squeezing his throat and chest and- "She didn't," he wheezed. "Because- because she's at home making scrambled eggs!" he could see her there, bent over the frying pan, complaining of the wait as she sprinkled salt onto the dish, and- and she was still there.

(Who was it that died when she left? Me, or her?)

Sabina's voice was horrified as she spoke and Alex shifted away from the indigo words. "What's happened to you?"

"You left me." the words spilled out like muddy water before he could drag them back and choke on them. "They all left me." reeling the rest of his sentence back in on glassy threads, he spun them back to where they would forever coil and rest in his chest. "Why are you asking me this?" his voice was hoarse and he suddenly felt too tired to attempt to clear it.

Snake exchanged a glance with the rest of his team. "Because...Alex, I just spoke to her on the phone."

"That's impossible." Alex shot back immediately.

"Why?" Snake returned just as fast. "Can't she reach the phone from where she's in the kitchen?"
Alex scowled at the man, lips pulling back into a brutal and animalistic snarl. "Don't play with me. I hate being played with." he said viciously.

"I'm not playing with you!" Snake snapped back. "Now, tell us. Why is it impossible?"
Trembling in rage (why were they doing this?) he reared back. "Because she's dead!" No! No she's not! A howl in a windy place a screech and shatter of something made of glass. Alex clapped both hands over his ears (deaddeaddeaddead red hair lying in a brighter red pool of-) and his eyes filling with (hot and uncomfortable "I'll make it better," she whispered, gently holding-) and everything was suddenly ("JACK!")- no! Falling, falling, tumbling JackJackJack-

-and then silence.

(Jack?)

Trembling, face wet (Jack?) he stared at nothing because- because Jack wasn't at home making scrambled eggs, was she? No, no, no...Jack was...gone.

(put out the candle)

Just...gone.

(and the stars flicker and fall)

And she'd left him.

(all alone)

All alone.

"Why'd she have to die?" his face was crumpled, fists scrubbing at his eyes, knees sinking, falling, sobbing, crying (it's all a dream. A bad dream. Hush now. Close your eyes and it'll be better in the morning)

Except- except it wasn't better in the morning and she was never there. He'd fallen asleep so many times just waiting to see her there but she never was (never was) and she never would be again. How many times- how many times could he wait for her to come back to him?

(it's all a bad dream)


AN- (1)- Coulda ended it here. It was a close call!

(2) coulda ended it here!

I know it's shorter than usual, but I kinda thought that this was the best place to end it. Don't worry, I'm planning on the next chapter coming out on either Saturday or Sunday. Just, you know. (Aren't I working hard? :D )

Thank you for all of your reviews! Please don't stop!