Fayte sighed nervously as she sat in her bedroom. It was 1:15, she had forty-five minutes until she was to meet Royal Pain outside the warehouse. She had packed all of her things onto Ron's bus. He was to take them to the apartment in London she and Linda had gotten via internet.
Fayte was to go into the warehouse and rescue Warren, then Linda, Mr. Boy, Mr. Medulla, and Coach Boomer were going to defeat Royal Pain once Fayte called and said that she and Warren were safely away. Then she would bring Warren to his home and say her final goodbyes before taking the winds to London.
There were only two things that Fayte was worried about. Saving Warren, and then saying goodbye to him afterwards. He was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. After so much pain in her life he jumped in with a massive Winnie-the-Pooh band-aid and fixed everything. She loved him so much, but she didnt want to endanger him or any of her friends anymore.
She sighed again as the alarm flashed '1:35am' and walked over to the balcony. She stepped onto the rail and summoned the winds around her.
It only took her about fifteen minutes to get from Sky High to the warehouse. She touched down in front of Pain, who was waiting for her.
"You're early." she said simply.
"Where's Warren?" Fayte asked softly.
"He's inside. You're father's allowing you fifteen minutes of alone time with him before he makes you choose. Quite generous of him, really." Pain sighed disappointedly. "And I thought his heart was completely black."
"Where's Warren?" Fayte asked again. "Take me to him."
"Quite demanding, aren't we?" Pain chuckled. "Fine. This way."
Pain took her to a side room. It was roughly thirty by thirty feet in diameter, and had a large steel contraption against the far wall. Fayte gasped when she saw Warren hanging there by his arms, shirtless, with whip marks all over him. His hair was down in a tangled mess in front of his face.
"Oh my god.." Fayte said breathlessly and ran over to him. "Warren! Warren, please, open your eyes!" Fayte reached a hand up to cup his face, then trailed it up to where his right wrist was in a metal cuff attached to the top of the circular frame. "What the hell have you done to him!"
Pain chuckled again. "Simply beat him into submission. He wasn't cooperating, so we had to take some more drastic measures." she took off her helmet and smiled cruelly.
Fayte gasped when long brown hair fell across an attractive young face. Gwen Grayson laughed again. "Shocked, are you? No matter. This is the last time you'll see my face. You see, along with the beating," she trailed off when Warren let out a soft groan, Fayte felt a tear fall down her cheek as she saw Warren's breathing become more labored, his chest heaving. "We also.. 'convinced' him that he didn't love you anymore. We've got him under our control now, so all we have to do is tell him to kill you, and he will, without hesitation." Fayte inhaled sharply.
"No! It isnt possible! Warren loves me, he would never-" she trailed off at the look in Gwen's eyes. She was telling the truth. Gwen laughed again.
"So you see? We've got it all planned out. Either you kill Warren and save yourself, or, you let him kill you. Pretty simple, no?" she grinned. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Remember, you only have fifteen minutes." Gwen was about to leave the room when she turned back. "Oh. Warren? You can kill her now." She snapped her fingers and the cuffs opened, dropping Warren in a heap on the floor. She smiled at Fayte and left the room.
"Warren!" Faye called and ran over to him, kneeling at his side. She cupped his face with her hand as tears streamed down her cheeks. Warren slowly reached a shaking hand up and brushed them away.
"Fayte..?" he looked lost, "Why are you crying..?" he said shakilly. He pulled his hand back as he cupped his head and shouted in pain. Fayte gasped when he looked back up at her, a sick smile was on his face and his eyes were blood red.
Fayte gasped as his hand grabbed hold of her wrist, squeezing tightly. "Did I give you permission to touch me?"
"Warren, stop.. You're hurting me!" she said, trying to wrench her arm free.
"That's the point." he said. His voice sounded so distant. He groaned again and for a moment, his eyes turned back to their dark brown, a scared expression within them, then turned back to red. He growled and threw Fayte into the wall. Fayte let out a pained gasp as the wind was knocked out of her.
"Warren.. What have they done to you?" she asked, pain in her eyes. "Why are you doing this? You told me that you loved me!"
"Love you?" Warren's red eyes widened and his eyebrows rose. "Why would I ever tell you that? That has got to be the biggest joke that I've ever heard. It's really quite funny, actually." he took another step towards her. "Why would I love you? You are a pain. You're a clumsy crybaby who constantly needs to be held. Why would I love a burden like you?"
Fayte felt her heart sink, and her stomach wrenched at his words. She tried to move backward when he advanced again, but he was too quick and seized her by the wrist. "Warren.. Please.. I don't want to hurt you..." she said, tears running down her face. "Please get a hold on yourself! You can fight it and I know you didnt mean what you sai-"
"SHUT UP!" Warren shouted. Fayte cried out when he drove his fist into her stomach, forcing what little amount of air she had taken in back out again. She fell to the floor and gasped for breath, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Warren.." she whispered hoarsely, it hurt to breathe. She wrapped an arm around her torso, she was sure that a few ribs had been broken and even more had been bruised.
The evil expression was back as he moved angrilly toward her. Fayte scrambled backwards, but found her back against the wall. All she could do was lean against it and take deep, ragged breaths.
He grabbed her throat and squeezed tightly as he lifted her high in the air. Fayte screamed as his arms flamed up, burning her neck and chest.
"Warren..." she choked, "forgive me.." she lifted her hands and called a bolt of lightning which struck him in the back. Warren gasped in pain as his eyes turned back to brown. He dropped Fayte and fell to his knees. He looked into her eyes, an expression of shock, sadness, and disbelief on his face.
"Fayte...? Why did you.." his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell to the floor, unmoving.
Fayte let out a shaky breath as she choked back a sob. He really had been under their control the entire time, he didnt know what was going on. She moved her hand to his face and brushed his hair back.
A second later, Pain walked back into the room, her helmet back on. "I see what you chose." she glanced over at Warren and chuckled. "I guess you didnt love him so much after all. Time for me to finish you now." she advanced but didnt get far before there was an explosion behind her. She turned to find Linda, Mr. Boy, Medulla, and Boomer behind her.
"I don't think so." Linda said, her voice dangerously low. "Mr. Boy, Boomer, get Fayte and Warren out of here. Medulla, you're with me."
Mr. Boy nodded and ran towards Fayte while Medulla threw a vial of purple liquid at Pain's feet. The purple goo glowed as it expanded and covered her feet. Pain tried to move but found her feet stuck to the floor.
"Come on!" Boy shouted as he grabbed Fayte's hand. Boomer moved over to Warren and lifted him with a bit of difficulty.
"Hey, sidekick, think you're strong enough to blow us back to Sky High?" he asked as they ran through the halls towards the main room of the warehouse, where the exit was located.
Fayte nodded. She didnt trust herself to speak just yet. She was about to summon the winds when a voice spoke up from behind them.
"Hello again, Fayte."
Fayte turned and saw her father. He was in a motorized wheelchair and looked very stiff.
"Father.." Fayte breathed. A part of her was happy to see him paralyzed, but the other part felt sorry for him.
"Is that all you can say?" he chuckled, he barely lifted a finger and the wheelchair slowly moved towards them. "I may have been paralyzed, but I can still use my powers." an evil glint came into his eyes. "I think I'll finish this now." he lifted his finger again and a large bolt of electricity split into three balls of energy and flew toward them. They all dodged and Fayte gasped in pain as she was forced to roll out of the way.
She stood back up slowly and clutched her ribs. "Do you know how much I hate you...?" she started weakly. "First, you killed mom, then you nearly killed my best friend. Now, you made me kill the one I love the most." she gasped as she moved toward him, the pain was almost unbearable.
William looked totally bored. "Ho-hum. Big deal." he yawned and smirked evilly at her. "Too bad you are so weak that you couldn't even save your mother. You watched as I went after her, but all you could do was run. You've always been a coward and you always will be. I don't think there was a point in time that I was actually proud to call you my daughter." Fayte felt tears sting her eyes as he spoke. Everything he said was true. "Never doing your homework, always bad marks on your report card. You are a lazy little bitch who doesn't know how to hold your own. What Warren said about you was completely true. You are a stupid crybaby who constantly needs to be held and coddled."
Fayte gasped as pain ripped through her heart. She squinted her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to spill. "Shut up.. Shut up!" she said desperately as she put a hand to her heart. "STOP IT!" she shouted as he continued to list all of her failures as a daughter. She couldn't stop herself as she sent a massive bolt of lightning straight at her father, who was too slow to move away.
"Fayte!" Linda called as she and Medulla ran over to her, an unconscious Royal Pain in tow.
Fayte fell to her knees as she looked at where her father had been. In his place, there was a pile of ash that was already being blown away by the breeze coming in through an open window. She couldn't stop the hot tears that fell down her cheeks as she sobbed into her hands.
"No.." she mumbled as Linda went to put a hand on her shoulder. "Daddy.." she cried softly into her hands. "What have I done.."
"Fayte, come on. We've got to get back to the school to tend to you and Warren." Linda said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"B-but.." Fayte looked over at Warren.
"He's not dead, Fayte. Not yet." Linda said. Fayte nodded and followed them out to where Ron was waiting. She paused in her walking for a moment, putting her hand to the wall for support. She moaned softly and put a hand to her head. A moment later, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the floor.
::Four hours later::
"Mrs. Powers, your goddaughter is in stable condition, as well as Mr. Peace." the doctor said as Linda walked into the large room that Fayte and Warren shared, their beds separated by a large white curtain. Linda nodded.
"When do you think they'll wake up?" she asked, looking sadly from her goddaughter to one of her best students.
"Its hard to say. But I should think that Ms. Forsythe will wake first. Her physical injuries were not as bad as Warren's." the doctor sighed tiredly.
"I see." Linda said with a sigh. "Thank you doctor." The doctor nodded and went to work on another patient.
::Two hours later::
"Linda...?"
Linda was roused from a light nap when a soft voice beside her spoke up. "Hey, Fayte." Linda smiled softly and brushed the hair away from her goddaughter's face.
"What happened?" Fayte asked, sitting up slowly.
"You passed out when we were on our way out of the warehouse. I cant say that I blame you, you had quite a morning." Linda smiled sympathetically. "How do you feel?"
"I feel a lot better, Linda, thank you." Fayte smiled softly, though her eyes were still pained. She looked down at the hospital gown she wore and grimaced. "Where are my clothes?"
Linda laughed. "They are on the chair on your other side." she said. She sighed and looked at her for a moment. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Fayte sighed and looked at her folded hands in her lap. "I have to. Mom would have wanted me to continue teaching at the studio. I have to get on with my life, I cant depend on you all forever." She slowly stood from the bed and took her clothes into the bathroom.
She stepped out a moment later. Her jeans were torn from her fight with Warren, there were a few bloodstains on her white t-shirt. She sighed and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
"Do you think you could call Ron for me? I left my cell phone at the warehouse." Fayte looked down at her feet and sat down on her bed. She seemed to notice for the first time that the large hospital room was divided by a white curtain. She stood and peered between them, then drew one half of the curtain back as she walked over to Warren's bed.
Her heart wrenched at what she saw. His lip was split and his face was a lot paler than normal. She could see the bandages wound around his chest through the hospital gown he wore. The IV was dripping constantly and the machine that measured his heartbeat was beeping slowly every few seconds.
"Oh Warren.." she sighed and sat on the bed next to him, taking one bandaged hand in between her own. "Please forgive me.." she whispered tearfully. "I really didnt want to hurt you." She leant down and softly kissed his lips, then carefully stood from the bed, trying not to bump him.
"Fayte? Ron said that he was on his way." Linda called from the other side of the curtain.
"Thanks, Linda." Fayte called back, then looked over at Warren once more, not bothering to stop the tears that fell from her eyes. "Goodbye." she whispered, choking back a sob. She squeezed his hand gently and grabbed her bag from the night stand on her side of the room. She gave Linda a hug. "You've gotten me all checked out and everything, right?"
Linda nodded, wiping away a tear. "Take care of yourself, love." she said, hugging her once more. She kissed her forehead then let her go. "I'll explain everything to Warren when he wakes up."
"Thank you." Fayte said. Taking one last look at Warren, she left the hospital and into Ron's waiting bus.
"Next stop, London." he said sadly as the doors swung closed, a harsh rain spattered against the windshield..
