A/N: Okay, I lied. There's gonna be another chapter after this. I like to keep my chapters a fairly consistent length, and this one's fairly long as it is. 2175 words long, yay...

Anywho. There's a bit of a shock in this I didn't expect. I've lost control of my shtory again...but I'm taking it back over and ending it next chapter.

On with the story!

-Cali

Stanton let the rising sun begin to warm his body as its blinding light bounced off the water below him. He had taken off his jacket and vest some time ago, leaving himself wih merely a tuxedo shirt and pants. He lifted his head from his knees, where it had been for the past hour or so, and squinted against the sun's reflection on the water. He sighed, staring at nothing in particular. Cassandra would worry about him, he knew. Maybe he should go back...

He tried to get up, but something wouldn't let him move. He thought of Kieran, remembering the way she'd managed to hold him in place one day when he told her he had to go, and his eyes filled. "Kia," he whispered, just to see if he voice still worked, but the name sent fresh waves of sorrow through him, and he buried his face in his hands.

He didn't understand what was happening to him. He had been so incredibly stoic before. He'd never cried over or about Serena, and he'd thought he'd loved her...What was wrong with him? Kieran was just another girl.

No, a part of his mind chided, she wasn't just another girl. She'd still loved you when they killed her. At this realization, Stanton flinched as if he'd been hit. A wind blew in from the ocean and sent a chill through Stanton, causing him to straighten as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder. Through his tears, he hadn't heard a gasping breath from behind him.

Kieran now sat up carefully, but as soon as she lifted herself off the ground, she began to cough, making clouds in the air with her cold breath. Smoke from the fire had settled into her lungs and she was just now releasing it.

Her coughs alerted Stanton to her presence and state of being, and he whipped his head around, surprised and unsuspecting. "Stanton?" he heard that heavenly voice speak again, but the sound of her voice was quickly covered as she coughed.

Stanton, however, was too surprised to say anything. He simply scrambled up from the edge of the bluffs and raced over to her, nearly tripping over himself in the process. Wrapping an arm around her waist and shoulders, he helped her sit up. Helpless, he watched cold smoke escape her lungs in violent, hacking coughs. When they subsided a bit, Stanton brushed her long hair behind her ears, still unable to speak.

Tears streamed down Kieran's cheeks as she continued to try to breathe with a tightened and cold throat. When Stanton pulled her into his arms and held her tight, she relaxed a bit, though her arms were still folded over her stomach as she shivered. She couldn't believe how cold she was. "Sta-" she managed to say shakily before her coughing started up again.

Stanton held her silently, in shock, as she coughed and shook in his arms. "Kia," he whispered into her hair, stroking it gently. I thought you were...

Kieran flinched when he whispered in her mind, getting a headache from all her hacking, and tried to curl up further. "Shh," Stanton murmured, willing her to calm down and stop coughing. When he whispered to her, her coughs began to slow and calm, and eventually stopped.

The girl lay still curled up in Stanton's arms, shaking half from the cold and half from fear. "S-Stanton?" Kieran started, still shivering, but forced herself to speak through her chattering teeth. "I..."

Stanton looked down at her and sighed. He had to get her into the sunlight. Holding her closer to him, he shifted into shadow and flew down to the beach with her. When they materialized, she was still curled up in his arms. "Shh," he murmured to her, and held her until he felt her shivers subside about an hour later, and the sun had risen in the sky. "Are you all right, Kia?" he asked gently, stroking her hair.

Kieran breathed slowly, trying not to start her coughing up again and let her throat heal. "Y-yeah," she murmured quietly. "What happened?"

Stanton looked into her eyes and noticed that they had gone completely back to normal, no longer glowing. Her immortality had been destroyed. "Well...you were turned..." he sighed, closing his eyes against the terrible feeling he had. "I turned you. Cassandra stole your hope, but I turned you. I...I lost control. I'm sorry," he murmured. Kieran said nothing, watching him intently, so he continued with a sigh. "We took you out here, to the cold fire - it turns the chosen followers immortal. You were lecta, a chosen one. It turned you immortal quite easily. The Daughters of the Moon - Serena, Jimena, Vanessa, Catty, and Tianna, tried to save you...Ah, Vanessa turned you invisible with her and kind of dropped you back into the fire."

"What happened to me in there?" Kieran whispered nervously, hugging her knees to her chest, backing out of his arms.

"I'm not sure," Stanton admitted, looking down at the warming sand. He began drawing swirling lines in it as he spoke to her. "I think it...I think it nearly killed you because you were lecta. The chosen one is not supposed to be turned back, ever. The Atrox didn't want to let you go, so it tried to cling to you as well as it could...so while the fire was trying to burn off your immortality, the Atrox was trying to keep you the way you were. God, Kia, your arms..." he whispered, realizing her arms had slashes in them, as if someone had whipped her, or slashed at her with a knife.

Kieran frowned when he said that, and looked down at her arms. With a gasp, she touched her arms, staring at the gashes, some of which were too deep for her comfort.

Stanton couldn't bear it anymore. Helooked at her face as he spoke."Kia, I can't do this to you anymore. We've got to end it."

"What?" Kieran had spoken so suddenly that her voice had caught in her throat and made her start coughing again.

Stanton took advantage of her inability to argue with him, and kept talking. "I dragged you into this awful world, and you know everything. You've seen the cold, lothing side of the Atrox, and of me, too...I can't imagine you'd want to be with me after all that."

"Stanton," Kieran tried to interrupt, but Stanton held a hand up and kept talking.

"I mean, look at you. You were almost killed, your arms are covered in gashes - how are you going to explain those to your mother?" Stanton sighed. "No. It has to end. I can't keep doing this to you. What if the Atrox captures you again? What if I lose control of my powers and turn you again? What if - "

"What if I want to be with you anyway?" Kieran asked quietly, interrupting him and stunning him into silence. "I love you. I don't care if you're scared. I'm not," Kieran insisted.

"But I'm a terrible person - I'm...I've done terrible things, Kieran. I can't just - "

"I know who you are, and I know what you are. What do you not understand? I want to be with you. I love you. I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not letting you make the same stupid mistake twice, running away from someone who loves you just because you're scared of hurting her!" Kieran was yelling at this point. She coughed once and pressed her hand to her chest, against her aching lungs. "You hurt me already."

At this, Stanton flinched and opened his mouth, starting to apologize.

Kieran interrupted again. "Nothing you can do now will make me believe you don't love me."

Stanton shook his head. "You don't understand, Kieran. I do love you, but the Atrox would never allow it...It will know. We can't hide this from it."

"Then defy it. You said you were Prince of the Night, didn't you?" Kieran asked, tilting her head to the side. "Don't you have some immunity to its rules?"

Stanton shook his head vigorously and stood. "You don't get it, Kia. I can't do this to you anymore. It's over. That's it. No more. Stop fighting me," he snapped, and turned his back on her.

Kieran sat stunned for a few seconds, before realizing she was at the beach, nowhere near her house. "Stanton, wait!" she called, and he stopped, but didn't turn around. He knew if he turned and looked at her he'd just run back to her, and he couldn't do that, not after she'd almost been killed by getting entwined in his life.

"Yes?" he asked, his back still turned to her.

"Well, first of all, your jacket, vest and bowtie are all here," she told him, looking around and picking them up.

"Oh," Stanton said a little awkwardly and turned around, walking back over to her, avoiding her gaze as he picked up his bowtie and stuffed it into his pocket, then stuck his arms through the sleeves of his vest, and then through his jacket, even though it was quite warm out. He didn't want to leave anything. He had no intention of being here again. Well, at least not for awhile. "Thanks," he said awkwardly, and then turned back around, beginning to fade into shadow.

"Stanton," Kieran started, biting her lip. She didn't want to do this, but she had to. God, how she hated to feel incapable.

He solidified again and raised an eyebrow, his back turned to her. Kieran tested herself to see if she could stand, but her legs shook. She knew she would never be able to walk home at this rate. "Yes?" she heard him ask, and she sighed. "Stanton, I can't...I don't think..." she bit her lip and looked up at him when he turned to face her. "C-can you take me home?"

Stanton looked her over and she saw a pain in his eyes she wished she could kiss away. Wordlessly, he nodded, and walked over to her. With a smooth yanking motion, he pulled her to her feet, holding her up against him. She sighed when his arms enveloped her, and he leaned back into shadow, flying quickly across the ground, and before they knew it, they were back at Kieran's house. Stanton hesitated at her front porch, then decided to bring her up to her room.

The fact that he'd pushed her away didn't mean he wanted her to get in trouble. He sifted through the closed window and stopped in the middle of her room, where they solidified. Kieran was still clinging to him, trying to stand upright. Seeing this, Stanton picked her up easily and put her on her bed.

"Do you have a long sleeved shirt?" he asked her gently, thinking of the gashes on her arms and hoping they'd heal quickly. When she nodded and pointed him to it, he got it for her. At her request, he unzipped the outer layer of her dress and untied her corset.

When she began to slip the dress off, he turned and began to lean back. "Don't go," Kieran sad quietly.

"You need to change...I should leave," Stanton said awkwardly, facing the window with his back to her again.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before," Kieran reminded him, and began to strip off her dress. Stanton compromised by staying with his back turned to her. Kieran managed to change into her shirt with no problem, and thankfully her pajama pants were within reach. Grabbing them, she slipped them on, and Stanton, sensing she had finished, turned around.

"All right...Well, I'll..." his voice trailed off and his brows furrowed. He'd almost said he'd see her later, when that was exactly what he didn't plan on doing.

Kieran knew. He didn't need to finish his sentence, and she didn't need to be a follower to know what he'd almost said. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Stanton," she said at the same moment he said her name.

When they would've normally laughed a little awkwardly and continued talking, they both looked down, Kieran's eyes filling. "Sleep well," she heard him say, and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, feeling a large lump in her throat.

"Stanton," she choked out, and he turned back. Kieran felt tears leak from her eyes without her consent and looked down. She wanted to ask him a favor, but she wasn't sure if she could do it now. Now that he was looking at her with those glowing blue eyes..."I..." she hesitated.

Stanton caught her thought easily. She wanted one last kiss. He shook his head. "It'll just make everything harder, Kieran. I'm sorry. Sleep well," he said again. "Maybe we'll see each other again."

Kieran was shocked to hear a bit of a catch in his voice as well, but when she looked up, he had already disappeared.

A/N: Argh, WHYYYYY? Wahh! It makes me wanna smack Stanton, and then smack Kieran for not fighting him harder! RAWR! Stupid control-taking-over-characters...

Okay, at least one more chapter to follow.

Review if you love me!

:SIGH: Fiiiiiiiine, review if you love it or hate it - tell me how stupid I am, or how much of a genius I am (nothing in between :Grin: )...Yeah. Review!

-Cali