Author's Note: In response to the anonymous reviewer "Reader": Hello and thank you for reviewing. :D Yes, I am aware that Jack was reborn in 1712. In this story, Cupid has no idea he exists yet. So by the time they do meet, he will have gone through over a hundred years of solitude. Don't worry, guys. I got this all figured out. :3

In other news! This chapter is the reason the rating changed from K+ to T! Yay! :D

Will

Yes, Hallow and I had our first believer – a young eccentric boy who was just as happy as we were. Hallow was able to visit him every single day, get closer to him than I could. I, however, had things to do. I had places to be and humans to influence. But even with my busy schedule, I found the time to come see William more than once a week. Whenever I was in the area, I would stop by and say hello. The longest I went without him was a month and that was because, well, I'm Cupid. I can't count how many people fall in love every day. In my absence, though, William was never alone. He had Hallow, and she couldn't get enough of him. Naturally she didn't spend every waking moment with him (Hallow liked to wander), but she saw him even more than I did.

After two months of befriending the boy, I found the time to go to the Guardians and tell them all about it. All of them were overjoyed for me, and North even called for a celebration. I declined, though, because I felt that a huge celebration wasn't necessary. Plus, it wouldn't be the same without Hallow. So we skipped the party and went on about our lives.

That following weekend I thought it was about time to go to William's house to play with him. When I entered the town, Hallow was the first to greet me. She stood on her broomstick in front of me, pulling me to a stop. I flapped my wings in a rhythm to keep myself hovering above the ground. Upon seeing her, I had expected her to wear her trademark smile. She did not.

"Lovey, can I talk with you?" she asked. I agreed cautiously. Turning, she directed her broom to fly to a forest just a mile away from town. It was quiet there, with no humans in sight. Nothing to distract us or go through us.

We landed and I turned to her, defenses immediately going up. "Is Will all right?" I asked.

Hallow nodded, running her fingers through her short hair. "Yeah, he's fine," she said, dragging it on.

"So, what's wrong?" I asked, fear crawling up my spine. What if Pitch returned?

"Look, it's nothing huge, just…" She took a breath. "I've been watching Will closely this week, talking with him. Lovey, he doesn't have any friends, not even acquaintances. He's bullied and lonely, and…" I squinted at her, not understanding what she was saying. "The chance of us getting other believers is pretty slim."

I went quiet. In the time I had known William, I never mentioned gaining believers. Of course we told him about spirits and what we who and who we are, but we never pried about him talking other children into believing in us. I wanted to take my time and not make it look like we're using him to get believers. No, I wanted to hold on to this empowering feeling of having my first believer. I would have mentioned it sooner or later, but like Hallow I, too, was growing impatient.

I folded my arms and held my elbows, leaning against a tree, blowing my bangs upward. "That's okay," I said with finality. Hallow looked at me like I had two heads. "We will have more believers, Hallow. William will talk to others and get them to believe in us; we have plenty of time."

"But, Cupid…" Hallow started.

I understood her desperation, but I figured that I had endured this for over a thousand years, I could wait a little longer. Though Hallow didn't really like the idea, she went along with it.

Years passed and our friendship with William Robinson only grew. We continued to be his only friends. For that, others only thought he was stranger. People often caught him "talking to himself" and were instantly repelled. Even his parents were beginning to think he was crazy. Even with all the hate surrounding him, Will never changed. He was chipper and optimistic. Because he had us, he never let bullies get him down.

When he was twelve years old, his mother and father decided it was time to pack their things and move to a different village. Hallow helped him and was able to follow. I was not. In fact, I didn't even know they had moved until his name and a new location popped into my head. I could not have raced to England fast enough.

When I arrived at the location, William hid behind a tree, watching a pretty young girl play with dolls in her front lawn. A crush! He finally had a crush. It was a new town, new beginnings. It was perfect. "Hold still, William, okay?" I said, stringing an arrow.

At the sound of my voice, he turned and gasped, raising his hands in defense. "Cupid, what are you doing?" he asked frantically, but trying to keep his voice low at the same time.

"It seems that you've got your first crush." Before he could react, I shot him. His body absorbed the arrow and he curled in on himself instinctively. When he saw that no damage was one, the boy was surprised. I collected his Feelings into a vial and showed it to him. "See? No harm done." Looking over his shoulder, I watched the girl with him. "What brings you all the way over here?"

Will hid behind the tree and continued to stare at the girl. "We moved." He shrugged. "Hallow helped. That girl is my neighbor now. What's her name?" I had to smile. The way his eyes twinkled as he watched her every movement was cute.

"Her name is Elizabeth," I supplied. "Perhaps you should go talk to her?"

"T-talk to her? Oh, no, no, Cupid, I couldn't. I-"

Suddenly the girl looked up from her dolls and stared right at him. William let out a squeak and jumped behind the tree to hide further. I had no fear of hiding because it was only obvious that the girl had no idea I was there. When she cautiously came over, Will tried to run, but I wouldn't let him. He needed to stop being shy and start talking to girls, make friends.

They didn't date, of course, but the love was there. Moving to that village was good for him. The boy came out of his shell and got to know people more, made friends. There were still bullies, but like before, he could handle them.

The older William got, the more I visited him. Not because I wasn't busy, but because he liked more and more girls. He started dating at the age of fourteen. Lost his virginity at fifteen. All of his relationships ended in disaster. He either ended up cheating on the girl or the girl cheated on him or he was confused on his sexuality or they just grew apart. Whatever the reason, William's heart grew colder and colder.

Hallow and I were the only ones there for him. By the time he was seventeen, he had lost the majority of his friends. It was weighting on him. To make matters worse, Hallow and I were one of the reasons he was bullied. When he became a teenager and he found someone he could trust, he tried telling them about Hallow and Cupid and the Guardians, but they thought he was crazy.

One day, when I found the time to visit him, I found him crying in his room. I phased through the wall and stood before him. "Will? Are you all right?" I asked. I knew the answer, but I also knew that someone had to be there for him.

"She cheated on me," he sobbed, wiping his tears. "I can't believe it. After I gave my all to her!"

I sat beside him and took him into my arms. "I'm sorry," I said. "I wish I knew a way to protect you."

"Why don't you just…stop shooting me with your arrows?" he asked, grasping at straws. "My life would be so much better if I could just stop falling for people."

I shook my head. "I can't do that, Will. When I have a target, I have to shoot them. I can't give you special treatment just because I love you." He looked up at me and we stared into one another's eyes. "You're my only believer, Will. And I love you. But I have a job to do and I can't stray from it. I know the consequences."

"That's not fair!" he snapped, standing. "You're my best friend, Cupid. It couldn't hurt much to just not shoot a goddamn arrow for once."

I stood with him, frowning concernedly. "I'm sorry, Will. I just can't-"

"You know what, get out." He pointed a trembling finger to the wall. I wanted to say something that would convince him that I had to shoot him or who knows what the consequences were. But by his glare I knew there would be no talking to him. So I turned, phased through the wall, and took off into the sky.

It was nearly a month before I thought it wise to visit William again. He was so upset with me; I wasn't sure how long he needed. Something was changing about him, and I didn't like it. On the outside, the only thing different was how attractive he was. On the inside…I couldn't put my finger on it.

One day, as I thought about this, Hallow came to visit me. I was in Zimbabwe on duty. The spirit came with news as if she knew I was thinking about Will. "Cupid!"

I turned to her, storing away the Feelings in my pouch. "Hallow, what's the matter?" I asked.

She hopped off of her broom and came over to me. "It's Will," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I was spending the day with him just fine until he saw that ex-girlfriend of his with her new man."

"And?" My heart began to race.

"And he flipped!" she exploded. "He beat the crap out of that guy and almost hurt her if I hadn't stopped him."

I shook my head. "Hallow, that's-that's insane." I didn't want to believe that. "Will wouldn't-"

"He did, Cupid. I was there." Her fists were clenched. "Look, Cupid, I don't think it's a good idea that we stay with him. I know you've seen it, too; he's a control freak and a pervert."

"Don't you say that!" I snapped, surprising the both of us. "Will is a good person. He's just going through some hard times. We have to be there for him…"

Hallow shook her head. What she said made my eyes widen. "I'm through being there for him. We've been with him for so long and nothing we could have done could save him. He's not a safe person to be around."

"He's our first believer."

"I don't care."

"You should."

"He's dangerous, Cupid! I don't care if he's our first believer or not. It's been eleven years and we still don't have any other believers. And it's all because he's psycho." She paused, staring me down. When I didn't say anything, she continued, "I am not going to stay with him. And I suggest you do the same."

I shook my head. "I can't do that. He's my friend. He's my only believer."

The Spirit of Halloween opened her mouth to say something sharp, but then she collected herself and narrowed her eyes. She dropped her broom, which never hit the ground. Instead it hovered in the air by her feet. "You do what you want, Lovey. But you better think if it's worth it or not."

With that warning, Hallow left me behind to mull on what to do next.

I honestly didn't know. I loved William. He was my first believer, my only believer. He brought me into his world when no one else could for the last thousand years. How could Hallow be so willing to leave him? She didn't understand. She hadn't endured a thousand years of this. I needed Will. I needed him to believe in me. I almost wanted to say I couldn't live without him.

One night, I asked Manny what I should do. He didn't answer. Over the last few centuries, he'd been quieter than ever. I took his silence as a chance to make my own decision. My decision? I would stay with William, no matter what Hallow said.

…Eight years passed and I still did not leave William's side. In fact, I became closer to him. I had to tell him that day that Hallow wouldn't be coming back. He begged me for forgiveness. What could I do? Of course I forgave him. I wouldn't give him up for anything. That, of course, was a bad move on my part. Because I spent so much more time with him to make up for Hallow's absence, something inside me awakened and took me over.

Love.

I didn't think it was possible. Sure, I was the epitome of love, but I didn't know I could actually fall in love with someone. I didn't let myself fall in love with Bunny, though I knew him all my life. But all it took was nineteen years with this handsome human man and I was hooked. How could I let this happen?

William, who never remotely showed he was interested in me; William, who was a womanizing egomaniac, stole my heart. I didn't want to love him. No! I tried to fight it as long as I could. I force-fed the truth to myself:

He's a human, you're a spirit.

He'll die without you.

He'll break your heart.

He'll never be with one person for long.

Even then, I couldn't help myself. I was rarely around him when he was with his new lover. But the times that I was, Will never excluded me. He didn't ignore me or pretend like I wasn't there. In fact, he tried to get the person he was with to believe in me. They had one of two reactions: They accepted the fact that he was insane, or they completely flipped. Whether I liked to admit it or not, I knew he blamed me for his failed relationships. But he never said so.

Instead, he allowed me to console him. Then, he got back up on his feet, and went back out into the world. It hurt me to be the one to tell him that the person he was with was in love with someone else. I was torn as to whether or not it was a good idea. In the end, I would be secretly blamed anyway.

For years, I longed to tell him how I felt. I wanted him to give up sleeping around and finally see that it was me who was there when no one else was. It was me who never gave up on him. It was me who let him cry on my shoulder. If he could just stop and see that I hated shooting him…

Sigh. There was no use in it. I kept quiet because I wanted him to realize it on his own. I would know when and if he ever fell for me. He never did.

When he was twenty-four, everything went downhill. His mother died that year, which brought him to alcoholism. He felt less love and more lust. The only good thing about this was that he never treated me any different. He cherished me when I was there, missed me when I was gone. I thought that as long as I was there for him when he needed me, everything would be fine. I could go on admiring from a distance. He would go on ignoring my feelings. I never made any moves for romance other than the occasional comforting kiss to the cheek. He never suspected.

By the following year, in 1889, I had accepted that we would never be together. What I did not accept was what would happen in the end.

It was a cool March night. I had just found the time to take to visit him. William had his own home in a big city. He owned a bank. He bought whatever he wanted. Bought everything money could buy, except love. As usual, he left his balcony unlocked for me. He had guards, butlers, and maids that would watch over the house. None of them said anything about why Master Robinson would talk to himself at random times of the day.

Inside his room, all was dark and quiet. I didn't turn on the light in fear of alerting the workers. Instead I left the balcony doors open, allowing moonlight to flood the room. Sometimes I liked to play with the lights. I was always so fascinated by electricity and technology. When I was human, we had no light bulbs or flushable toilets or any of those things. When William welcomed me into his life, he welcomed me into human evolution.

I sat on William's bed and plopped back onto the comfy mattress, spreading my wings. For hours, I did nothing but stare up at his canopy, wondering where he could be. The answer was most likely with his newest lover. This woman was his longest relationship. I almost thought that he would always be with her. That is, until I had to shoot her. And she did not fall in love with Will. No, she had another man on the side. I didn't have the heart to tell Will, so I didn't.

Just as I was debating if that was a good idea or not, I heard the workers' voices exclaiming in concern. I sat up in the bed and stood, turning to face the door. Suddenly, the door slammed open, making me jump, and William stumbled in. He didn't notice me at first. He turned to the maids and butlers and shouted, "Leave me alone, you insignificant curs! Or else I'll fire you all!"

All of them backed off with much reluctance. He slammed the door in their faces and locked it. Burying his face in his hands, he slid down the door and onto the floor. Upon seeing him, my heart naturally gave a flutter. His dark hair was naturally messy, his eyes always bright. Tonight his clothes were unkempt, his hair tangled. The smell of booze emanated from his firm and muscular body. I frowned. Oh, no. I knew what this meant.

I treaded closer to him, my sandals making no noise on the carpet. Before I could speak, he began to cry. "Will…?" I whispered cautiously.

With a gasp, he looked up at me. His expression changed so many times. At first, he looked like he didn't recognize me, and then there was a softness in his face. Then thoughtfulness and finally he glared. Standing on his feet, he growled, "Cupid…" Apparently he got up too quickly because he quickly lost his footing. I hurried forward and helped kept him steady.

"Will, what's wrong? Are you all right?" I asked. I can't tell you how many times I've said that to him.

He swiped at me and I backed away. "Get away from me, you evil angel!" he shouted.

I raised my hands in defense. "Will…Will, it's me Cupid. Lovey, remember?"

"I know very well who you are." I had never seen so much sadness in his eyes. He leaned against his dresser for support. "You're the one who's ruined my life."

My eyes widened and my heart stopped. He stumbled around his dresser, going through his drawers for I-didn't-know-what.

"It was you; it was all your fault," he slurred, throwing clothes here and there. "Ever since I met you, you've been nothing but trouble. You and that Hallow bitch."

I winced at his words. "Please, Will, you don't mean that," I tried. I came forward to stop him. "You're drunk. You-"

"Don't touch me!" he shouted, shoving back so hard I fell. I sat there, eyes incredulous. He'd never laid hands on me before. It took a moment for him to register what he'd done. For a moment, he looked regretful, but then he glared on hatefully. "No matter how many times I asked you to stop, you kept making me…feel. You kept making me want and need these whores. You wouldn't stop. You wouldn't just let me be alone."

He started crying again and I stood. "Please don't cry," I whispered. I had never seen him like this before. "Please don't cry. Just lie down and we can talk calmly."

In one swift movement, Will came forward and slammed me against the wall across the way, pinning me there by my arms. His hands squeezed my biceps, making me wince. His lips came to my ear, where he hissed, "Don't. speak. I do not want to hear you anymore."

I immediately went quiet. The whole room was silent a moment. And then he moved. One hand went to my waist, one went to my throat. I grabbed his shoulders tightly and pushed, trying to get him to let go. Before I could cry out an objection, his lips came down onto mine. The kiss was forceful and lustful. I didn't kiss back nor did I reject him. I was frozen. I didn't know what to do. I seemed to be in a trance until his hand tightened around my throat.

I winced and pulled away. I relished his kiss, but this was wrong. He was drunk and heartbroken. He was incoherent and I didn't want that. But even after I pulled away, he pressed against me, trailing kisses from my cheek to my collarbone, all the while, never relinquishing his grip on my throat. I struggled to get away. "Will, stop!" I exclaimed to deaf ears. When I felt his teeth nip my collarbone, I tried shoving him with all my might.

Suddenly, his hand whipped across my cheek. My eyes opened wide and I stood there with a stinging cheek. When I finally willed myself to look at him, tears were in his eyes. "I hate you," he growled. He backed away from me, shaking his head, sending his tears to the floor. "I love you. I-I'm in love with you, but I…I hate you. So much."

He wasn't making any sense. Tears formed in my eyes, as well. I took a step forward just as he bumped into his dresser. He turned quickly and went rummaging again. "Will, I'm so confused," I croaked, clutching my head. My brain felt like it was pounding against my skull. "Please stop this. What is going on?"

He didn't answer me, just kept muttering to himself – "Your fault, your fault. She cheated on me. All your fault." – until he found it.

His revolver.

I halted in my tracks. The man turned to me, putting the barrel to his head. His eyes showed there was nothing there but hysteria. He said nothing, just shook his head and smiled.

"Will. No…"

"You told me you loved tragic romances, right?" he asked.

"Will. No!"

I raced forward to stop him. I had to! I had to stop him! I-!

Bang.

I came to a sudden halt. Blood and organs spattered against the wall. Will collapsed to the ground, blood quickly forming a puddle beneath him, staining the carpet. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. I fell to my knees, trembling uncontrollably. That didn't happen. That didn't just happen. That couldn't have. Will…he…

I crawled forward on my hands and knees, ignoring the warm liquid that squished beneath my palms. I wanted to say something – anything – that might make him sit up and smile that smile I fell in love with, but my voice was choked, lost in my throat. I sat there for a long while, just staring at his lifeless form. At the door, servants were screaming, shouting, pounding on the door. Outside, sirens were wailing. All was chaos, except in the room.

All was quiet. It was just the two of us, yet it was really only me. Tears poured down my cheeks on their own. I hiccupped, choking on tears and emotions I had never felt before. Reaching forward, I went to touch him one last time. He was pale and stiff.

But when my hand got to his cheek, I went right through him. I gasped sharply and scrambled forward, trying to touch him anywhere I could. But I couldn't. I went right through him as if he never believed in me. He was gone now. Forever.

I clutched my aching chest and curled into myself. My screams of anguish went unheard by all.