Ace reached the ground and ran to Kiley, throwing her arms around her neck. Kiley slipped her arms around the girl's waist as she turned back to Knives. Something in her heart sank even lower as she anticipated what was to come.
"No." Ace's voice was loud and clear, demanding that she be listened to and not ignored.
Knives didn't even turn and look at her, but walked over to his pack and began tossing things in.
"No!" she repeated, to no further effect.
She let her hands fall from around Kiley's neck, soft, sweaty palms leaving trails of stress as she moved away. Running back to Knives, she tugged on his sleeve. "No. No. No." She repeated the word, each iteration getting a little softer, a little more forlorn. Big, sad eyes were turned on him, but to no avail.
Knives shook her off. "You seem to be under the delusion that you are in control here, child. She may coddle you; I will not."
Kiley got up from where she sat and sauntered casually over to where Knives was packing. She didn't care. She didn't. She was just going to offer to help him go.
"So, you're just going to run away now?"
He paused, hand clenching into a fist as it reached for a sock. He turned and looked up at her. "I am tired of your crap. Your whining, your demands, you."
"So is this it, then? You're packing up and leaving?"
"Exactly."
"Good."
"What?"
"Does this mean you're finally going to leave me alone? No more chasing me across half the planet in a futile bid to become more dangerous than you already are?"
"Yes," he said firmly. "Something rather exactly like that."
"There is a god," she said facetiously, then turned and walked back to sit by the pool.
"What? Aren't you going to try to convince me to stay?" He half-stood to go after her, but stopped and returned to his packing. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could be gone.
"If you assume I would want you around. Spoiled brat like you, I'm better off alone."
"Stubborn witch." His hands kept moving as his vision darkened.
"Pissy plant-boy."
"Freak."
"Right back atcha, babe."
He sniffed. The clasps on his bag were shut firmly, the harsh sound echoing in an area gone eerily silent.
"Come, Ace," he said, reaching out a hand.
"No," she said again, cringing back.
"You will come with me. I'm family. She is nothing."
Ace looked between the two. Kiley resolutely didn't meet her eyes, but only stared down at the water by her knees. If she wanted to stay, fine. But she wasn't going to coerce her at all. Like she knew how to raise a child, anyway. It would be best if she left, if they both left, left her alone. Quiet sobs began to fill the air. With a heartbreaking wail, Ace made her choice.
Knives.
Kiley told herself that she didn't care. That the look of triumph in Knives' eyes meant nothing to her. That she was glad that he was leaving, that they both were leaving. That she didn't need either of them. That she didn't want either of them. She didn't care about them, just like they didn't care about her. She just looked at the water, put her hands in the water, felt the water as she lifted her hands in and out. The water was fascinating. The water was everything. If she could just look at the water she wouldn't have to watch them go away, watch them leave her. Alone. Like she deserved.
A hand at the back of her neck pushed her face in the water. Hate exploded through her, hate and a frantic need to cause as much pain as possible.
Her hands scrambled back behind her, grabbing for some sort of purchase. She got one knee under her chest and used her leg muscles to force her head up out of the water, slowly moving into a crouching position. One hand raked across Knives' face. The pain caused his grip to slacken for an instant, and she used it to turn and grab him at the stomach and bring him down.
His hand tangled in her hair and pulled her neck back, but she fought on, her hands traveling up his body until they pressed around his neck. His off hand was freed from where it had been trapped under his body and pulled at hers. The grip on her neck loosened as he tried to shift his hand around to stop her windpipe, but she used the fraction of a second to tuck her chin down and deny him.
Instead, his hand went to hers at his throat and joined the other in prying her fingers off. She felt her grip slipping, so, with one quick push, forced his head back in the sand. The impact stunned him slightly. She used the split second that afforded her to place both hands over his heart.
She almost killed him right then, almost exploded his heart in his chest, but some niggling remainder of conscience finally managed to break through her rage. Horrified at what she had almost done, she stood off from him. Her eyes were wide enough to show whites all around the iris as she looked down at him, entirely heartbroken.
He had no such problems. After a second to reorient himself, he stood.
"You…" he rasped through his sore throat. He swallowed painfully, then continued. "You are not worth my time to kill." He raised his hand and threw a roundhouse punch at her head. He had a split second to recognize the dumb dismay in her eyes before he hit her. She crumpled to the ground and lay there, unmoving save for shallow breathing.
He panted, swaying slightly on his feet, and debated killing her. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, but he finally wheeled about and stalked back to where he had left Ace.
