If you read the last chapter you may have noticed I'm including some off the script things. I will be including real world traits of the actors who play the cast (Kat Graham and her vocals and dancing man) and some things from the books. I just started looking them up and they seem interesting as hell so I might even consider reading them. Just a warning for future reference.

Now onto the story.

Chapter 7-

Sunday afternoon I left the girls to go home and relieve the nanny of her duties.

"Hey Windy Darling. I'm home!" I called out as soon as I opened the door. A speedy ball of poofy brown hair ran down the stairs straight towards me and wrapped its small arms around me.

"Michael!" She greets in glee. I cringe at the name for reasons unknown to her but it's my fault. I just had to let her watch Peter Pan and from then on, she was a darling and I was her brother Michael to make believe.

While she continued hugging me, I noticed how her hair was sparkling unnaturally. "You seem to be playing in a lot of pixie dust when I'm gone."

She looked up at me with her puppy dog eyes. "Peter said it was ok."

"It is but that means it's going to also be on me for weeks." I complained.

"Yay!" She exclaimed. 5-year-old's are so weird.

I picked her up and headed into the kitchen and caught Petra (not Peter Windy) putting away dishes. She saw me at the last minute and waved.

"So, you found the glitter ball?"

"Yeah. Thank you for that by the way. I totally love being sparkly in the middle of summer." The sarcasm was heavy.

"Ass."

"Something you wish you had more of?" I asked teasingly. She just laughed me off and finished her task. Petra did everything at such a human rate it was so easy to forget she was a vampire until you noticed her foxlike green eyes and unnatural grace. She also had auburn red hair that was in a severe bob to add a more grown-up look to her ever-present youthful features.

I looked down at the girl in my arms who was busy twisting her arm and watching the sparkles on it. "Windy I'm going to go walk Petra to the door really quick."

"Ok." Windy hopped out my arms and ran up the stairs.

"So, how was mom while I was gone?" I asked, walking her to the door.

She shrugged. "Quiet and depressed as usual. She doesn't leave her room but to shower and eat if she can. I noticed I haven't seen any liquor bottles or powder lately."

"Yeah, me too." That made me worry. "Ok. Thanks again for the nannying."

"You're welcome. I'll see you next weekend." She waved goodbye and sped off. Since it was about to be naptime, I fixed Windy a snack and put her down in her room when she started to doze off. I'd wash the glitter off her when she wakes up.

Once again, the house was silent, but my mind wasn't. I was looking out of my window and catching the sight of my favorite raven. I opened my window so that he knew he could come in. The little black bird flew in and perched himself on my windowsill, nudging my hand with his beak. I snorted and obliged him, gently rubbing on the top of his head.

"You miss me, Aiolos?" The raven chirped once. "I missed you too. I wanted to hurry back and tell you I was able to get rid of magic control." Los crowed but I from our connection I could tell it was in disbelief. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. You're really a great friend." I rolled my eyes.

The damn bird pecked me hard, so I flicked him on his beak. "That hurt Los." I told him, rubbing at my middle knuckle. Just before I could flick him again a weak knock on my door took us out of our little bubble.

"Come back later with your report." I whispered to him before he flew off and I closed my window.

"Come in." I answered after another weak knock, too weak for an energetic five-year-old.

My mother walked in, and it sickened me to look at her. She had lost almost all her weight from five years ago ever since I put that spell (curse) on her. At first, I enjoyed her failing miserably to feel numb after I spelled her but over time it was disgusting to see that she would keep trying to find it and ignored us. When she found that the alcohol didn't work, she did try for drugs, any drugs, but those didn't work either. I wasn't a fool back then either, the spell made it so nothing she used to escape would work.

She hadn't given up fast, but I noticed a decrease in drugs and alcohol in the house a few months ago and an almost elimination of them completely over the last few weeks.

My mother, a woman once so beautiful with gorgeous dark caramel skin and hair she would always keep done no matter what was a shell of that woman. Her skin was so dull and unhealthy and her hair was matted down in tight coils. She wore an old t-shirt that belonged to her brother and sweats that had seen better days. Jorrie was a pitiful sight but not enough for me to not be angry.

She wasn't pitiful enough to get rid of the memory of coming home when I was in the old realm and seeing Windy passed out drunk next to her. She didn't look sad enough for me to forget her leaving handprint bruises on my arms cause she wanted liquor more. The dark spots under her eyes only made me think of teh ones I had when I worked like a slave to take care of us because she had given up.

"What do you want Jorrie?" I gritted out. I was trying so badly not to lash out. I didn't want to be like that, I am better than that.

She looked down at the floor fiddling with the seams of her shirt. "c- e- talk?"

"Huh?" she spoke so quietly I couldn't hear.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "Can we talk?" She asked more firmly.

I was taken aback. "Ok?" She went to sit on the bed and I sat beside her.

"Um…"

"So…" I fiddled with my hands.

"Maverick, I'm so sorry." She said sincerely but she still couldn't look at me.

"Your apologies a little late Jorrie."

"But it still means something. It has to." She said more to herself. "I- back then when I had lost my brother I thought it should have been me. I wanted them to take me. I wished I could have traded places with him and took that bullet and I was already broken before they told me the news. I could feel it. I didn't know how to continue on." I looked over at my mother who had said more to me than I could ever remember. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"I thought that if I was just given time to grieve the way I wanted I would be able to come back. One week turned into a month which turned into another until I was just sorrows and spirits. I wasn't me without him. I was the chaos while he was the calm. I was the wild child while he was the responsible one. I didn't have my good traits without him and it hurt so much." She rubbed at her heart. "I still feel it. Right here, down to the last beat, to the last push and pull of the muscle. I still feel the grief and it still wont go away. I want it to go away so badly but I need help. I need to feel it but not to this extent. It's too raw." She cried.

And while she poured her heart out to me I was just in shock. I scuffed, so tired with her bullshit.

"That's how emotions are supposed to feel." I told her.

She glared at my uncaring tone. "Imagine if you lost Windy than you wouldn't be such a fucking demon child."

My blood started boiling. "I would never lose Windy." I swore.

"You say that now, but you can't always be there to protect her." She said condescendingly. "You're not exactly always here Maverick."

"...What?" My voice was covered in Ice. "Not here… Get out." I pointed to the door. "Get the fuck out of my room."

"Why? Because I'm just telling you the truth." She demanded.

"Because you come in here wanting to be all woe is me when that should be me saying that. I should be crying. I should be the one grieving. I SHOULD BE TELLING YOU WHY I'M SO FUCKING SAD ALL THE TIME!" I screamed. Angry tears poured from my eyes, but I didn't care. I didn't stop them. Words I had been holding in for years were spilling out of me.

"5 YEARS JORRIE! 5 years I spent taking care of Windy. I was there with a bottle, new change of clothes, first steps, first words and more! I'm the one who makes sure she gets an education and wants for nothing during the holidays! I'm the reason she has someone to take care of her when I'm not here! ME! I protect her! I love her enough for you both and you think you can come in here and tell me why you're so sad! Well guess what mom, I'm sad too! I'm sad that I never had someone there for parent night or to come to a school event. I'm sad that I never get a thank you for the sacrifices I make. You say you lost uncle Gorgie, well we lost something too.

YOU! You were supposed to be our protector, our first love, OUR MOTHER! And instead, all we got was a DRUNK BITCH WHO LIVES OFF OF HER DAUGHTER!" I yelled. I needed her to understand. She was a fountain of tears as I kept yelling at her and spitting facts. I beat her down with everything in me because she deserved it.

"I'M 13!" My voice cracked. "I deserve a life where I don't have to be a parent and you didn't give that to me. You ran away from us and that's not what mothers do. I needed a mother, and I didn't get that but Windy will. I gave you enough time to come to terms with the fact that you fucked up. I'm calling Petra and you will be going to rehab. So go pack your shit, the shit I BOUGHT, and get ready because you're gonna step up when you come back. Now get out." I commanded her. Like the weak woman she was she hid in herself and walked quietly out, closing the door behind her.

Finally my body broke down properly. I laid on my bed and cried over everything from before and now. I wanted the love of a parent, I was starved for it but I would never get it. That's what I grieved everyday and every night. No one would ever give me the love I deserve. I cried well into the evening ignoring Los' pecks on my window. Windy had come in after fixing herself a small dinner and crawled into bed with me, comforting me while I still let the tears fall. Even with her next to me there was too much space left for more love.

I wanted a love that was beyond humans. It wasn't obsessive but it encases your entire being. It was constant, strong, beautiful, delicate in some ways, soft in others. It would repair me and keep me together. It was a wishful love but just as it would be beyond humans it would always be beyond me.

My heart was too bruised.

I was past broken.

I exceeded being damaged.

I was parentless.

I was selfish.

And in this sea of friends and Windy,

I was still alone.

Yeah so, this was super fun at the end. I cried writing it and now am emotionally drained.

I didn't even know I was going to do that, but it felt like the time.

Hopefully to a brighter future- BigSmallWonder