The sun was coming up and Caitlyn hadn't managed even a minute of sleep. She was sore all over, having had to spend nearly three hours sitting on the dirt while resting her back on a tree and her legs were cramped but she didn't want to move them just yet. Brandon was lying on the floor, his head on her lap and she couldn't tell if he was awake or not. She had a hand on his hair, patting him mechanically.

He had killed his parents. She knew he was gonna do it before he did it, but still, the reality of it actually happening was huge; she felt it like an ice cold blanket draped over her. She had liked his parents and the realization that she'd never see them again was heavy. But then again, the reason they had died was what they tried to make her do and that lessened the sadness of it a fair bit. They had roped her, a thirteen year old girl, into killing someone, and her boyfriend at that. Their son. They had seemed desperate, but still, good people don't do that, do they? Maybe they deserved it? She certainly didn't feel as sad as she would have imagined in such a situation, but maybe she would, when she was a little less angry at them. But still, the fact that they were gone, that Brandon was now an orphan, was dizzying. He was alone.

She sighed, her eyes fixed on the increasingly clear tree branches.

Wait no, he wasn't alone. Didn't he have an aunt? He'd probably be sent to live with her and her husband, and that meant that he'd be asked questions. Brandon wasn't a good liar at all, would he get caught? Maybe he would just run away and live alone, but what did it mean for her? Would he take her with him? Would she want to go? He'd suggested that very thing at the school, and she hadn't been ready then, but quite a few things had happened in the past day. No, she couldn't leave her mother just yet but she also knew that Brandon wouldn't leave her so what was gonna happen?

When the sun was finally above the horizon, Brandon stirred and slowly sat down. He looked away from her, probably so she wouldn't notice him wiping his eyes. That itself almost made her snort, it wasn't like her shirt wasn't still wet from his crying. As soon as he sat up, she stood and started moving her legs to get some sensation back on them.

He stood too or, more exactly, he slowly floated up until he was in a standing position, still looking away from her. That was unusual, while he liked using his powers, he still mostly acted normally unless he wanted to show off or, well, destroy things and people. She frowned, maybe he was just too shaken still. He was staring at the direction of where his house had been.

"We have to go back," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Yes," she agreed, looking at him. He looked at her with a frown, clearly not having expected her to simply agree. She sighed, "it's something I've been thinking all night. Does your ship still talk to you?"

"Yes, all the time," he answered, looking away.

"Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?" She asked.

"What?" He asked, still not looking at her.

"I've always hated that thing. Ever since you showed it to me, I just wanted to leave. It gives me the creeps, specially seeing what it does to you. It's not good. And I think it's no coincidence that it's also the only thing that can hurt you. Maybe it doesn't only hurt your body, it also attacks your mind, and its 'talking' is its way to do that," she explained.

He just kept looking away for a while, before he finally spoke. "You're probably right, that's why we have to go back."

"What?" She probably hadn't heard him correctly. "Where you thinking about the ship too?"

"Yes, nobody will use it to hurt me," he said, finally looking back at her, but there was something in his expression. His eyes were green, but he looked... broken, as if there was something behind his eyes that couldn't be fixed. Seeing him so hurt almost made her bawl her eyes out right then, but that was all the more reason why she had to be strong for him, so she settled on giving him a tight hug.

He, however, seemed to be all cried out because he disentangled himself from her and then picked her up bridal style. He didn't say a word, and was looking away from her again. Slowly, they flew towards the ruins of his house, but soon they heard voices. Of course, people had come to investigate the fire.

"Fuck," he whispered and left her on the floor.

She grabbed his hand before he could leave. "Please, don't hurt them, they didn't do anything to you. You can just scare them away."

He just looked at her with the same pained expression and took off, letting go of her hand. He flew quite high, until he was almost a speck in the sky, and then he shot beams towards the house's wreckage. She heard screaming and quickly walked behind a tree, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening. There were people running in the direction of the highway and she sighed in relief. For once, he had listened to her.

About five minutes later, she saw him descend at the edge of the forest and stand there unmoving. She blinked a couple of times; he usually picked her off regardless of the distance they had to actually move, but it wasn't like she couldn't walk this time so she did. As soon as she was a couple of steps from him, he started walking towards the barn. She frowned, something was definitely off with him but she really couldn't blame him. What do you even say to a person who just killed his parents after they tried to kill him? She simply hurried a bit and fell on step with him but he kept on looking straight ahead.

They found themselves in front of the ship, but he only stared at it. She looked between him and the ship a couple of times before she spoke, "well...?"

Her voice did seem to wake him up from a trance, for as soon as she talked he started using his heat vision on the ship. At first it seemed like the metal wasn't gonna give, but then the beams were piercing it and it was quickly split in half, and he kept using his eyes to continue dismantling it. After about half an hour, all that was left of the ship was big pieces of red hot scrap metal. After it cooled a bit, he flew away and came back a second later with rope. Moving so fast he was a blur, he tied all the pieces together, grabbed them and flew straight up, blowing a hole through the roof.

After fifteen minutes or so, he came back. Floating near the trapdoor, he spoke in a monotone, "let's go."

"What did you do with all that?" She asked while she climbed the wooden ladder.

"Threw it into space," he answered before walking away.

Once she was back on the barn's level floor, she asked, "why did you break it first? Couldn't you just throw it away and be done with it?"

"If I had let it continue speaking to me, I might not have been able to do it. And if for some reason I didn't throw it far enough to break earth's gravity, I didn't want anyone finding it in one piece. Also it's more likely for the destroyed pieces to disintegrate on reentry," he elaborated, still in a monotone. He stopped at the entrance of the barn.

"That could happen?" She asked when she was next to him again. "You should've thrown them with all your strength."

"I did," he answered, pointedly looking at the smoldering ruins. "I think they're reaching interplanetary space as we speak, but wanted to be sure."

"That's good," she said, and she couldn't help but smile a little, finally the thing was gone. He was still looking at the wreckage and, looking at it too, she whispered, "what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know."

"When they find you, they'll probably send you with your aunt and uncle," she said.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you want that?" She asked, looking at him.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Will you tell them? About, you know, your powers?" She asked.

"No," he stated.

"They'll have questions, though," she pointed out.

"I'll think of something," he said, his voice still inexpressive.

"Or you could just not answer," she offered. She didn't feel like telling him that he was a terrible liar, but didn't want him to lose another house. "They'll probably believe that you don't want to talk about it."

"Sure," he said.

"Do you... Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

He just kept looking at the ruins, not even giving indication of having heard her.

"Hey," she said. His refusal to look at her was getting annoying. "Are you there? Why won't you look at me?"

For what was worth, that did make him look at her but, while his face was still blank, his eyes were red.

"You tried to kill me," he said slowly.

"What?" She asked, her mouth dropping open.

"You had one of the pieces and were next to the bed," he said. "You tried to kill me."

"No!" She exclaimed. "I didn't! I couldn't do it!"

"But you still tried it, you didn't tell me what they asked you to do as soon as they asked you," he pointed out, lifting himself about a foot off the floor. Now he was looking down at her.

She went to grab his hand but he crossed his arms and floated a couple of feet away from her. Now she was crying to, "Brandon! I didn't! I wouldn't have been able to! I wasn't!"

"Why didn't you tell me? Since when was this planned?" He asked, his voice showing no emotion.

"It was last night!" She all but screamed. "When you and your father were out your mother told me!"

"So that's why they really invited you," he said, more to himself than to her. Even though his face was still a mask, his voice let out a bit of the pain and betrayal he was clearly feeling.

"I guess so," she whispered, wiping her tears.

"But still, you didn't tell me. You agreed to it," he stated, his eyes boring into hers.

"I... I didn't know what to say! Your mother, I tried to tell her no!" Caitlyn exclaimed, she could feel the coming panic attack but she had to fight it. The last thing she could have done right then was showing him fear, that would only have made him angrier. "But she wouldn't let it go! I knew she would keep insisting until I said yes! They were going to do it anyway! You saw your dad!"

"What do you mean 'they were going to do it anyway'?" He asked, his voice was a monotone again. "So are you saying that you tried to kill me to protect them?"

"NO!" She screamed and covered her face with her hand. She looked away from him, trying to see if her surroundings would inspire her. Finally, she said, "I just hoped that I could find a way to convince them not to! But I needed time to think!"

"DON'T!" He screamed back and the anger in his voice made her drop her hands. Now his face was very much showing an insane fury. "YOU WERE IN FRONT OF THE BED! YOU TRIED IT! DON'T LIE TO ME!"

She dropped to her knees, crying much like she had cried last night when she couldn't do it. "Brandon, please! Your mother! She told me that you could not be stopped! That it was the only way!"

Now that she was on her knees, he allowed himself to drop down to the floor and she looked back up at him. No, looking down on her wasn't the reason he'd stopped floating; his face was quickly shifting from anger to sadness. She had been wrong earlier, he still had some tears.

"And you wanted to stop me," he spoke at last, his voice a whisper.

She hiccuped a couple of times before she could talk again. "You know I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Except for me," he sentenced.

"No!" She screamed again. "I couldn't do it! I can't do it! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I tried it! I shouldn't have listened to her!"

He looked at her for a long while, before his face became again an emotionless mask and he said, "don't worry, Caitlyn, you succeeded in one thing."

"Wh... what?" She asked, bewildered.

"You wanted to get rid of me," he said. "And you will."

And he slowly floated up and away.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed while she jumped to her feet. He just picked up speed and soon he all but disappeared in the direction of the forest.

She ran after him, screaming his name over and over, but it was useless. He wasn't going to come back.