Heheheheheheheheeeeeey!!! XD XD I'm so sorry to have not been updating. ::kicks computer:: I can't get online…right now I'm using my mom's computer and she barely lets me on it so I'm doing my best! :) So umm…yeah. I just wanted to say hi to all my duckies ((Saph, Glenn, Matt, Kazaa, Amber, Lea, Lady Charlotte, and Kitten…and everyone else- I love all of you, its not a popularity contest to be mentioned you know who you are ;) )) and I'll be back online as soon as I can. Hmph. It's sad, too, cause I have up to chapter 47 written. Hehe… ::cackles evilly::

Damn…you guys will hate me for this chapter ::giggles:: Here you are-

Chapter 41

Mark arrived back later that day with a suitcase full of my things. It struck me when I opened it and smelled Amber…I could smell her perfume and it killed me. I changed into clean clothes, sitting there and holding the blood stained shirt in my hands for a while. I didn't know how long I'd be in the hospital, and as morbid as it was, and as much as it pained me to think, it wasn't like they were going to get better…so I really didn't even know why I was there other than the fact that I had no intention of going back to my house.

I looked down into the suitcase, staring at the leather wrestling mask. It had been more than that…and now as more than that. I picked it up, feeling my heart quicken, my hands shaking a little as I reached around and put it on. It felt like I hadn't done this in such a long time…when in truth I'd put it on almost every night to wrestle…but that was just to wrestle. As for just then I really just wanted it to hide myself. It was something I hadn't done literally in a few years, but that seemed so much longer…

As I sat there I touched it with my hand, just sitting there, feeling the leather and feeling strangely comforted by it. The door opened just then and I looked up to see Raven. His face was pale and looked completely horrified, as did Saphrin. Neither Evan or Sugarbear were with them and I didn't bother to ask where they were as I didn't care to know just then. The moment I looked at them I began to cry again, the mask covering it. I loved my mask.

Saphrin came over and sat down next to me, holding me, though I knew that she had no idea what it was about, only she could tell that I was upset. Raven shifted.

"What happened?" he asked. His eyes were locked on the shirt which I'd discarded to the floor, the one with blood on it. He leaned against the wall. I cleared my throat and tried to breathe.

"I really don't…know how to tell you…" I said slowly, my voice cracking. I took a deep breath and held my head in my hands.

Saphrin rubbed my arm. "Just say it…"

"Alright…" I burst into tears, and Saphrin stared at me wide eyed. I sobbed, hugging myself and curling up again. When Saphrin was trying to comfort me I stood up abruptly. I looked at Mark. I could barely speak. "I can't…" I pushed past him and out of the room, staying outside the door and leaning against the wall. I slid down and sat there, hugging my knees, my head down and staring at the tiles. I could hear Mark's voice very softly flowing out of the room.

"I'm really sorry, I've never had to say something like this to someone before…but I have to. You see how Kane is, I can't just make him do this…you guys…" he took a long pause and a shaking breath. While it hurt me more, it comforted me just slightly to hear that he was also upset. "Amber is dead. So is Claudette…they were…murdered…"

Before anything else I heard Saphrin cry out. It was horrible, and caused my chest to tighten. And silence, complete silence from Raven. I took a moment before walking back into the room, nearly tackled by Saphrin as she rushed to me and threw her arms around me and cried onto my chest. I hugged her, and cried also, not some much vocally because I wanted to be strong for her. I looked up at Raven.

The back of his hand covered his mouth, and he seemed frozen in his place, eyes wide and staring at me with shock and horror and incredulity. Without blinking the tears just began to pour from his eyes, running down his cheeks, the tears bringing a vibrant gold from eyes which were normally deep brown. My heart was completely broken. His hand trembled, and he moved it away from him as if to speak, but no sound came from his moving lips. He came over to us and joined our tragic hug, Mark just slumping down onto the bed away from all of us and sobbing himself. It was so horrible.

"Kane…" Raven said weakly, his crying now going from silent to audible, gasping between sobs, trying to speak. "I…the feud…"

I frowned. I wiped the tears from my eyes in an attempt to focus my vision as I looked at him. He fell back now against the wall, falling to sit on the floor, arm covering his face. Saphrin pulled away from me to go sit with him, and I felt terribly cold without her. I wrapped my arms around myself and stumbled backward, leaning against the wall opposite them. Raven was absolutely hysterical, the way I had been the night before and that morning until I'd simply worn myself out. He was shaking, hands covering his face, voice all strung out between his wails and sounding like a child. Saphrin calmed herself only to hold him, on her knees, wrapping her arms around him and trying to soothe him and rock back and forth slowly, the whole while the tears streaming down her face. Mark looked at them with a somber and understanding regard, as if he knew what Raven had been about to say. I didn't doubt it because of his power, but Saphrin seemed to know as well.

My heart began to pound, slow and increasing, thudding in my ears. I shook as I looked at the three of them, knowing that they all knew something that I didn't.

"You…what is it that you aren't t-telling me?" I asked, my voice stuttering as it had when I was a child.  Saphrin, her eyes red, looked up at Mark, her face twisted into horrible misery.

"He doesn't know?" she asked, her voice riding on sobs. Mark shook his head slowly.

"No…she didn't get time to tell him I guess…" he said softly. He reached up and covered his eyes, his shoulders shaking. I knew his turn to break down was now. He wept bitterly, pulling at his hair and rocking back and forth. I looked to Raven to see that he was staring at me, the same silence coming over him again.

When he spoke I began to hyperventilate. I grabbed at my head and at my chest, Saphrin rushing back to me and holding me and telling me to calm down. Raven just looked on, miserable, and never had I seen anyone looking more hurt. Not even sweet Kitten that day that I'd come to her. He was completely shattered.

I saw spots, felt that horrible feeling you get right before you black out. I couldn't believe the words I'd just heard, the one's that had tormented Raven's face as he spoke:

"Kane…the feud we planned wasn't true, it was a trick, so that you wouldn't find out…" he paused, the latter part of the statement choking him. "She wanted you, for your anniversary, to know that she was pregnant…"