Happy Belated Mother's Day!
Yes, Mother's Day. The word "mother" is used in Mother's Day. Also used in the phrase "HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS?"
Yeah, that mother.
But DON'T KILL ME. It's not my fault that for some reason my school dumped a truckload of homework crud on me. And then Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload documents. So as of RIGHT NOW, this is officially NOT MY FAULT. ...And stop glaring at the screen. It will not help to have the computer explode from the force of your glare. So just read calmly, and don't shoot me through the screen. It would probably hurt. A lot. And my history teacher would hear me scream and wonder what I'm doing on my computer that I screamed so loudly. Since I'm in history class, and this is proving my love to all of you. TO THE DISCLAIMER!
DISCLAIMER: Four months of soul- and- document searching, and still no legal papers. I feel as though this is a government conspiracy...
And now, for the first time in months, ON WITH THE STORY!
-Max POV-
"Are you angry?" Fang asked, sitting on the ground and propped up against the edge of the roof that I was leaning on. He hadn't let me out of his sight for more than 3 minutes since we had gotten back together. He was sparkling –three words I never thought that I'd ever say—, and he looked up at me from under his bangs. I was kneeling with my forearms hanging over the edge of the roof, staring out at the water. A fire had broken out in one of the old, abandoned warehouses on the water-front, and I watched as the final little clouds of black smoke rose into the air. The fire department had finally managed to put it out.
I cocked my head to the side at Fang's words- that was the first thing that he'd said to me since he had come up here hours ago- and furrowed my eyebrows. If I was going to be honest, I had no idea if I was angry or not.
So I shrugged. I didn't like getting into the details when I didn't know them myself. All I knew was that it was awkward around Val and Skye now. They had gotten closer, yeah, but then they had come up with this entire elaborate plan of action that really made me sort of… I guess the word was "on-edge". I knew that they had done everything to make sure that the rest of us didn't end up six feet under, but then the fact that they had blatantly lied to us and then screwed around with our memories…
It just felt weird knowing that they could mess with my head without restriction. Yeah, it was nice knowing that I wasn't gonna kick the bucket officially, but that really was weird, knowing that people had to mess with my head to keep me from dying.
Fang's gaze kept burning into the side of my face for a few seconds, and then he stood up. "It was the same thing when Angel went "bad", you know."
I looked up at him. He mimicked my position- forearms on the ledge, leaning on the edge of the roof- and looked straight out at the smoldering buildings. "We had no idea what was going on—Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and me. And you guys had this plan that had to keep it like that, with us standing there wondering what the hell was going on." Fang looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, waiting for my reaction.
I felt the need to shrug again, so I did. Huh. Almost forgot about that. "That's why I get what they're saying. It's just to think that Skye could tweak memories and make us believe things hadn't happened when they did… It's like mind control." My eyebrows drew together again. "I don't have a problem with what they did. More like the way they did it."
Fang nodded. "But you forgive them." It wasn't a question. Fang already knew what I was thinking when he came up here. He was just keeping me company.
"So what's the problem?" Fang asked, and I sighed. That I can't understand why Val went and kissed Demon for the sake of the plan. Wasn't there some way to get around that?
"Val and your brother," I said shortly. Fang let out a loud and sudden breath, and turned his head fully to look at me. He obviously didn't like the topic any more than I did.
He let out a dry chuckle. "I have no idea what to do with the both of them. And the kiss came out of nowhere."
I nodded, still feeling a bit off-put. "I don't think that she needed to do that if she already knew what was happening. I mean—"
"Max," Fang interrupted me, sounding slightly amused, and I stopped talking before I started rambling my way into a hole. "Did you ever stop to think that Val and Demon could like each other as more than just best friends?"
"Don't worry. You're my violent Valerie." And then he kissed her.
"You arse-face, if you ever tell me that you're fine again when you're really in the process of dying, I will certainly kick your tall, skinny ass from here to South Park. Got it?... I'm glad you're ok."
"I started singing to him. On purpose. And I didn't even mean to…His voice sounds really good. We had the dance he promised finally, and he sang along to "Black Mamba". And then he helped me with my wings…" I felt Val's eyes on me. "And…" I nodded. "Yeah. Me too."
"No." I said quickly, looking straight ahead. Fang gave me that look that said, "You're an idiot if you think that I believe you." Then he kept going. "I always thought they'd end up together. I mean, look at Mira and Shawn. They're best friends, and I feel like Mira and Val are twins sometimes."
Nice job, Max. Plan "Let's not link this in any way to Fang's and my situation" just went out the window…I waited for myself to blush, then remembered that I was dead. "That's not how that works. Mira and Val are different, and so are Shawn and Demon. Best friends don't always get together. Mira and Shawn were just a special case."
"The set-up was the same," Fang said, as if that ended the conversation. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head. "Years of being together, where neither of them would say that they liked the other in a "more- than- just- my- sibling" way. People get together like that all the time." God damnit, I hate it when he talks this much!
"Not everyone though," I muttered under my breath. I could practically hear Fang roll his eyes.
"Max, those two have been getting closer to making out each time they enter the room together for a while now. And that was before Demon turned. Plus, they have a kid that wants them to get together. It's going to happen." I chanced a glance at Fang from under my eyelashes and through my hair, and he had that obnoxious "I win" smirk on his face. My heart twisted in my chest- Damn it, aren't you supposed to have stopped moving, you useless organ?, and I knew that we weren't just talking about Demon and Val anymore. Curse words. Lots and lots of curse words…
I guess that Fang figured that he was done with the conversation since he stopped talking, and I rolled my neck to get the tension out. Fang let out a "huh" noise, and I turned reluctantly to face him. "What?"
He shrugged, smirking with that annoying sparkle still in his eyes. "I figured that you wouldn't bring it up. I was right." I feel as though I'm constantly saying that I want to punch you, Fang.
"Shut up," I gritted my teeth and managed to say without leaping over the side of the roof. It wasn't my fault that I hated bringing up any type of situation that led to my needing to express emotions. Fang let out a chuckle, and surprise- attack- kissed me on the cheek. I let out a shudder. Bad ideas. Bad thoughts. I shouldn't be out here with him after what happened the last time we were in the same room together.
"Sure." Fang looked annoyingly bright and happy for someone who was supposed to be dead. And emotionless. "We have the rest of eternity for you to figure this out."
He managed to close the door right before I yelled, "STOP WATCHING OPRAH, YOU FREAK!" I'm so happy that I don't blush anymore.
-Val POV-
Cool. So I'd been dry- sobbing for about an hour now against my will. And I still felt like crap. Awesome possum. Skye was staring absent- mindedly out the window, and stroking my hair. I had my head on Skye's lap, and now I was staring up at the ceiling.
"How did he die?" Those were the first words that I had heard out of Skye's mouth in an hour. I knew that she was talking about Marcus, and I could feel venom making its way back to my eyes again, so I shoved down the needs of my tear- ducts- Why the frick do we need tear ducts anyway?- and attempted to tell her as clearly as possible. "I couldn't kill him."
Skye looked down at me. "You come in here sobbing your eyes out, and then you tell me that Marcus isn't dead? Then where the frick is he?"
I interrupted her before she could keep going, turning onto my side. "Dead." God damnit, why can't my eyes stop burning?
"Then what the frick are you talking about?" I looked up directly at Skye, sitting up from her lap and looking straight at her. Skye didn't sound like Skye. At all. My eyebrows furrowed- Why does she sound so familiar?-, but I kept the conversation going anyway. "I helped kill him."
Skye blinked blankly at me, her face showing absolutely nothing. Freaky… "Explain."
I wanted to kick something. My foot twitched in response. "I lit the warehouse that he burned in on fire. He just walked into it and stayed there. If it weren't for me, then he wouldn't have…"
Skye kept looking down at me blankly. "You constantly forget that people think besides you, Val. Marcus made the conscious decision to walk into the warehouse and stay there. It's not your fault. He probably would have found a way to kill himself when you weren't there."
I rolled back to my back. "I helped along the process. He would have been here longer if I hadn't." I knew that whatever Skye said to me, I would still put the blame on myself. And that's exactly what Carlisle and the others would think, whether it was subconsciously or not, when I told them that Marcus was dead. There was going to be no denying that.
Skye narrowed her eyes, looking slightly annoyed. "Demon is a freaking saint. I need lessons from him on how to deal with you. Look, it's not always your fault that things turn out the way that they do."
I shrugged, rolling away from Skye and looking off at the far wall. She wasn't getting anywhere with that thought.
Skye pushed me off of her, and she got up and stretched. I followed her lead and got off the bed. I wiped my eyes one last time, because it seemed as though every tear that I probably should have cried in the past had decided to join the funfest that had taken place. I now realize that tears are the WORST representation of emotion ever. Jesus, I hope that I never cry again.
I stretched my arms over my head, hearing a satisfying crack, and started to plan out how the hell I was going to tell Carlisle about everything that had happened this morning. I cringed, and Skye looked at me sideways. Hmm. That doesn't seem too appealing right now. And I just stopped crying. –shudders again—I think that we'll just put that off until later. I looked over at Skye, and a small light bulb went off in my head.
I grabbed Skye's arm, which hung limply in my hand. I stared at it for a few seconds, then turned and pulled her out of the room. "Where are we going?"
I looked back at her, not exactly sure if she should hear at the time considering that she was still sort of "…meh" in terms of her emotions. But I figured that if I didn't fix all of this between Blaze and Skye as soon as possible, then I was going to probably have to confront Carlisle immediately. And he'd probably smell the venomous tears or something, and that would be a really messy thing to explain.
Yes, Demon. You were right. I am a very selfish person. But you will never hear those words come out of my mouth.
I bit my lip, then shoved her back in the room and said, "Wait here. I have to take care of something."
Closing the door on her, I sighed, and then took off in search of Blaze's soon- to- be- sorry ass.
Surprisingly, when I found him, he, Fang and Demon were having some sort of kumbayah party on the floor of one of the many rooms in this stupid apartment. As soon as I walked in, I walked back out. That scene was too much for my mind to take in. I collected myself in the hallway, and walked back in. It was silent as soon as I came back. I suppressed a shudder, because Fang looked much happier than I think that I had ever seen him. And looking at Demon was just plain uncomfortable. So I focused on my main victim.
Blaze looked confused, to say the least. And because I wasn't doing anything but leaning on the side of the doorway, glaring at him, his confusion was spreading past just his eyes. The room was silent for a while, and then Fang- What the frick is wrong with today?- muttered, "Jeez, you sure know how to pick 'em, Demon…"
My hands curled into fists, and I struggled to not go off topic and murder Fang. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I could see Demon shoot his brother a fierce glare. I turned all my attention back to Blaze. Gruffly, he bit out, "What?" That was just the paranoia talking.
I glared at him for a minute more, then I lunged at Blaze and punched him in the stomach. Fang leapt up and grabbed me, but I promptly bit him when he tried to get me in a headlock. He let me go, and I straightened my shirt, shooting him a glare. Damn, I need to change my clothes. Blaze stood up slowly, and I told him, "I need to talk to you for a second."
There was no obvious change in Blaze's slightly defensive emotionless stance, but his eyes now said, instead of their previous message of "Why the freak did you just punch me?", "You couldn't have just said that, instead of punching me in the stomach?" I stood up straight and shrugged. There was a lot more where that had come from, but I wasn't going to tell Blaze that.
Blaze raised an eyebrow, the rest of his face blank. "What about?"
My eyes narrowed, waiting for his reaction. "Skye."
Blaze's eyes dulled, his eyebrows narrowed a little, his shoulders dropped, and one of his hands twitched. I could see that he wanted to punch me for bringing up the topic of his ex. That was when I heard the door close, and I knew that Blaze and I were the only two in the room. How considerate.
"What about her?" Blaze asked lowly.
"How long do you—" In the middle of my sentence I punched him in the neck, wanting to give myself the element of surprise. I pride myself on my unpredictability. While Blaze was crumbling to the ground holding his neck, I calmly finished my question: "—plan on hurting Skye like this?"
Blaze coughed twice from the ground, and glared at me. I continued as though he were planting sunflowers in front of me. "She fell apart when you broke up. When are you going to just forgive her already? Because you know that one) you're hurting just as much as she is, and two) I can't deal with the entire "blocking off my emotions" thing that Skye's trying to pull to keep herself from falling apart." I mean, it's kind of funny, but that's just my sadism talking. "Plus, the entire thing was my idea. Skye had the foggy details of what she wanted to do to save the family; I came up with the legitimate plan. So you have really no reason to blame any of this on her; it was all just impeccable acting skills that you've seen in action before. So hurry up and get back together with her before I hand your sorry ass to you in a Chinese take-out box."
Blaze was silent, now sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. Yes. Feel the guilt. My eyes narrowed even more. "If you don't say something in the next ten seconds, Blaze, I will teach you what it feels like to be born a girl."
Five seconds past- Very brave kid- and as the ninth second past, Blaze said, "S'not that simple."
I fought the urge to deck him, but caved to the need to roll my eyes. "You've got to be frigging kidding me."
I sat on the edge of the bed beside Blaze, and he didn't show a hint of being even more paranoid that I was going to beat the dead out of him. For Skye's sake only. Not like I'm taking out all my anger that Marcus is dead on Blaze, or anything… "Blaze, it's simple. You walk into the room down the hall, apologize, ask her to forgive your incredibly stupid mistake, give her reasons that she should take you back (including, but not limited to, the fact that you were a stupid, stupid boy and believed that you were doing the right thing), and then Skye starts crying and says that she forgives you. The end."
"And you know this how?" Blaze asked, and I could distinctly hear the beginning of a growl in his throat. *You're* annoyed with *me*? HA, that's funny…
"Resident mind-reader, dumb-ass," I shot back at him. Blaze turned and started to glare at me. "So then what's the game plan with Demon, if this relationship thing is so fucking easy?"
I shot up, turning my head to glare at him. "We were talking about you and Skye, Blaze. This has nothing to do with Demon and me."
He snorted. "Skye and I have nothing to do with you either. So why don't we both just keep out of each other's business, then, huh?"
That one hurt a little, but like hell was I going to tell him that. So I scowled at him, getting up and walking out of the room. "Gladly." Sorry, Skye, but your ex is an evil bastard.
So after I'd told Blaze the way to get rid of some of the tension that was suffocating us all, he had shut me down. That was cool, obviously. I resisted the urge to scream out loud, and then pulled myself together. Screaming was not going to get me anywhere. But I had to talk to Carlisle, otherwise this entire guilt thing was going to eat me alive. God damnit, emotions suck ass.
I pulled in a deep breath, and walked further down the hallway, trying to catch Carlisle's scent. It smelled like everyone had gone out hunting, and the only people who were left in the house at the moment were Blaze, Kami, Fang, and Demon. Skye had probably slipped out after I left her in the bedroom, and Max was sitting thinking by herself on the roof. I guessed that it had to do with Fang, most likely, since Fang's mind was on the same wavelength as Max's. I decided that right now, in the middle of this breakdown, would be the perfect time to take a quick shower.
I took a 3 minute shower, seeing as my fear of being submerged in water still hadn't died down- Note to self, work on that…-, and changed into the yellow- and- gray- striped shirt and dark purple pants that I had stuffed into my backpack as my second outfit. I pulled my Converse and black V-neck hoodie on and braided my hair back into a ponytail. Luckily for me –or unluckily, depends on how you look at it…-, when I closed the door behind me, I heard the front door open. Voices floated down the hall, and I could smell some blood on people's clothes. Where does a vampire go veggie-hunting in California? I was able to pick out Carlisle's mind from the sudden flood of people, and I called out to him mentally. Carlisle? It's Val. Need to tell you something.
Soon enough, he was walking down the hallway, and I almost felt bad since he was looking sort of wary. I've seen that face on way too many doctors/ whitecoats.
It was obvious that not too many people trusted Skye and me anymore. I didn't blame them. We- well, actually, I was a sadistic, manipulative, cuddly, little monster. Skye was just cuddly and little, with monster status still pending. Either way, just because Carlisle was a good person, he decided to not let it affect him as openly as the others did.
I had this gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I attempted to swallow my guilt. Again.
"What's wrong?" I fought to keep a poker face, and be as blunt as I possibly could be. I turned, and walked into the kitchen, Carlisle following behind me. It was about as close to privacy as we were going to get. And plus, I was a pro at stalling.
I leaned against the counter, and Carlisle sat down. I decided that blunt was the way to go, and doubled my efforts to keep my poker face up. "Marcus is dead."
Of course, at that exact second, Kami strolled into the kitchen looking for something to eat. Of all the unlucky times in the world… One second later, Carlisle did that shocked whisper- yell thing. "What?"
I took a deep breath, and decided that I was going to keep going, since I was already ankle-deep in shit. "I went looking for him last night and he asked me to kill him. I set fire to the warehouse that we were standing by on the beach and he walked right in."
Kami had wandered over, looking up at me confused. "Mom? Who's dead?" For the love of Pete, I am NOT having this conversation with my kid.
Carlisle's head was in his hands for all of three seconds, and then he shot up out of his chair at vampire speed, and started pacing the floor. Kami let out a little squeak, but it didn't get through to Carlisle. I set my lips in a grim line, and swung Kami onto my hip. She shivered, distracted for a moment. "Mom, why are you so cold? And how did Grandpa move so fast?"
And then, because I was a beast at acting first and not thinking until the bomb had been constructed and had already gone off, I told her. "Sweetheart, it's because we're vampires."
Carlisle stopped, everyone stopped talking down the hallways, and I took in another deep breath. This was the final straw. I was tired, for some reason simmering, and probably not thinking as much as I should have. So I told her.
"We're all vampires, sweetheart. That's why we all look the exactly the same as when you were younger." I said softly. I didn't need my words echoing in the sudden complete silence. Carlisle was staring at me like a deer stuck in the headlights, and then I heard footsteps trailing their way up the hallways, which I knew was code for "I'm really angry, and I'm trying not to run into the room and make the situation even worse."
Kami's eyes were wide, and she was suddenly very quiet. "You drink blood?"
I looked her dead in the eyes. "Not from humans, love. From animals."
Funnily enough, it was Max who appeared in the doorway, looking pretty much ready to beat me upside the head. I raised an eyebrow in her direction, setting Kami down on the floor. Kissing her on the forehead, I said, "I'll be back in a little bit, sweetheart." Kami flinched backwards, and in turn I flinched. I didn't say anything, just walked past Max out of the kitchen. She trailed me, and I walked up to the roof, knowing that was where she wanted to go to yell at me like a crazy person.
"Are you freaking insane?" were Max's first words after I opened the door. "She's, what, SIX? She doesn't understand the ideas some crazy-sounding people that are supposed to be her family are spewing at her in hopes that she can understand that we don't mean to hurt her! According to her six-year-old brain, we're just some crazy people who drink blood! Are you freaking out of your mind!"
I shrugged, and I was not about to argue with Max about it. "No. I felt that she deserved to know what was happening. She's my kid, and I will choose what I want to tell her." I felt really tired. Way too tired to say anything more than I had to. So Max was going to have to just shut up and take whatever I was dishing out without arguing, otherwise I was going to explode a bit on the inside of my head. And she would have to clean it all up. Which would suck for all of us.
"And you didn't stop to think that maybe she wouldn't take it as well as Bella did, did you?" Max said, suddenly very calm about the entire thing. I saw the Fang pose that she automatically took, and I was getting ready to tackle her if I needed to.
"We will work that out when we get there," I said, and I was not letting this conversation go any farther than that. I walked back down the stairs and went into the kitchen where I had left Kami. The room was empty.
I followed her mind out of the kitchen and into one of the spare bedrooms. Kami was sitting on the bed by herself, curled up into a ball. Her back was turned away from me. I softly whispered, "Hey, sweetheart."
She didn't answer, and I felt a little pang in my chest.
"You want to talk?" I wasn't giving this up without a fight. Kami, on the other hand, had already made up her mind about this entire situation: I wasn't going to get anywhere with her, since she wasn't going to talk to me. She shook her head.
"You want me to wait here with you while you think about it?" Kami shook her head again. I thought of the only option that was open to me that would probably make Kami happy, and my heart broke a little more on the inside. Cool. Motherhood SUCKS.
"You want me to leave?" I asked quietly, and Kami hesitated for a second before she nodded. I clenched my teeth- You are not going to cry. I will beat you if you cry- and walked out of the room quietly. I pulled my hoodie back up onto my shoulders, and walked calmly out the front door.
I spread my wings out through the slits in my hoodie, and took off in the direction of wherever. As soon as I was above clouds, I flapped my wings harder, and dive-bombed my way out of the city limits. I swiped angrily at my eyes and flew for hours, trying to keep myself from exploding in mid-air. Yeah, that'd be a tough one to explain to anyone who saw.
"Hey, what's that? ZOMG, IT'S A METEOR SHOWER! Wait, why is it raining flaming clothes?"
I wasn't sure where I was when I eventually touched down. I pulled my hoodie back up over my shoulders, and decided to walk in a random direction in hopes that I would somehow figure out where the hell I was. And then somehow, probably some fluke of luck, I caught onto a smell that I hadn't smelt in a long time. Huh. With the crappy way that my day's been going, I never would have thought to smell that anytime soon…
I ran in the direction of the source, and that was when I smelt something else wrapped around the scent. Eww, tell me they didn't…
I was hearing voices way off in the distance now, and I slowed down. Stepping through the forest clearing, I nearly screamed.
"GOD DAMN IT, LEAH! I COME HERE READY TO POUR MY HEART OUT TO YOU AND JACOB HAS HIS HANDS UP YOUR SHIRT AND HAS CUT OFF YOUR AIR SUPPLY! YOU ARE SO INCONSIDERATE!"
They leapt apart, and I smirked sadly at the both of them. Leah was the first to recover, shoving Jacob farther away from her and pulling her shirt down. I could tell that she would be bright red if it were possible. "YOU BITCH!"
Yeah, I know.
So, there you go. It took me long enough, right? But don't dwell on that! You may or may not end up trying to kill me again, and that would suck. A lot.
This chapter is dedicated to . Clumsy. Carrie . , because she needs something to entertain her while she is... not all there upstairs. (Huzzah for euphemisms!) And also, thanks to her for reminding me that Vices and Virtues had come out. I edited this entire chapter to "Trade Mistakes". GO FORTH AND LISTEN TO PANIC! They're amazing.
NOW REVIEW!
Peace, love, and:
leshawnaseville15: Yeah, just skip episodes 4-8. You'll thank me later.
Me: But why can't I watch them?
leshawnaseville15: Because it's basically the same episode over and over. It's some wierd plot device.
Asprey: That's not a plot device. That's called budget cuts.
Skittles31, a.k.a. Ninja-Pudge
