p class="Standard"He couldn't find the cookies and so he settled for ice-cream. When he goes back to check on Ethan, his friend was huddled up in the fetal position on the sofa, clutching a throw-pillow as if his life depended on it. Ethan was muttering again, his eyes glazed over as if he can't see anything around him either. Benny wonders if he just sees them as dead, or if he sees the world around them as dead too. Does it look like the apocalypse hit or something?/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Hey, Ethan, got us some ice-cream. Best stuff in town, full tub," Benny flashed two spoons along with a smile, the tub in his other hand as he hopes Ethan might glance up. He doesn't. Benny sets the ice-cream and spoons down and eyed Ethan's phone in his jacket pocket. Benny doesn't personally have Sarah's number, but Ethan does. The only problem is getting that phone from Ethan and figuring out what's his passcode. He feels like it was something cheap, like Sarah's birthday, but he wouldn't count too heavily on it./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Which is why its serendipitous that Sarah calls Ethan, the phone buzzing eagerly in the troubled teen's pocket. Benny smiled. Cautiously, he reached forward and deftly plucked the phone from Ethan's pocket. He doesn't appear to have noticed anything. Relieved, he answers the call./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Ethan?" Sarah asked from the other end, her voice tinted with worry./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Uh, 'fraid not—he's..." Benny glanced at Ethan, "well, he needs…uh..." Despite how easy it had sounded when his Gran said it, asking for your crush's crush to come pick up the pieces of emyour/em crush wasn't that simple./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah was silent for a moment, but she recovered quick enough. "Is he okay? He seemed...off?" She questioned, not sure how to offer that Ethan seemed crazy, which Benny was able to agree with easily./p
p class="Standard"br /"I don't know. We confronted Stern, and something went down—I don't remember—and now Ethan sees the world as if we're all dead and Gran says he needs someone he's really close to, to help bring him out of his fear daze," Benny rambled, letting his tongue loosen as his heart pounded. He was Benny. Not Inner-Benny. He was the Benny everyone was aware of and that Benny wouldn't hesitate to give a response./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Me..." Sarah murmured, "I...I don't know...I'll be over," she said, but didn't immediately hang up. "I wish the council hadn't even showed their fangs—they've given all of us trouble, especially Ethan, and now this?" She muttered./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny, despite his slight jealousy towards Sarah, had to agree. She was right. The council used Ethan, threatened him, or did both simultaneously with the goal of solving a problem that emthey—/emthe two teens and their three vamps—didn't create. After they got Lucy and kicked Stern down the rabbit hole, Benny was going to have some words with the council. Specifically, in Latin and probably dealing with fire and raging infernos. He was about to express this, but Sarah had hung up, likely flying over here./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Setting the phone down on the couch beside Ethan, he suddenly realized his friend was staring at him, wide eyes petrified, as if he saw a ghost behind Benny. Maybe that was the case. Benny turned around, but there was nothing there. Still, Ethan's eyes stared with abject horror at Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Ethan, buddy? You still with me?" He questioned, waving his hand in front of Benny's face./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan gripped the throw-pillow. "I saw how you died. When you were on the phone. It's all my fault, Benny we have to leave. We have to leave. We can't do this." Ethan said, his voice shaking. He was hyperventilating and was having a sure-fire panic attack and Benny couldn't even touch him, because he was "dead."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He bit his thumb, the nervous habit kicking in as he was about ready to join Ethan in that panic attack, not sure how to calm the situation down. There was a knock at his door and he was all too glad. Sarah. Glancing back at Ethan, he grabbed a blanket from the back of a chair and threw it over him. "No one's dead. No one's going to die. Just look at these bright pictures of kittens on the blanket and think of the new Alien Gut-Blaster 4 that comes out in two months."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny tore his eyes from his shaking best-friend and opened the door to a frenzied Sarah, her eyes glancing up at him in worry. He couldn't even offer her a polite smile. Benny could only step aside and let her in. He ended up chewing on the nail of his thumb again, holding his arms to himself as he tried to figure out what to do./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""He's...he's not getting better," Benny muttered as Sarah looked from him, to Ethan./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Oh my gosh," she whispered, "he looks..." She steeled herself and approached her boyfriend cautiously. "Ethan?" She said cautiously./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan moved the blanket, his eyes darting to her. "Sarah," he croaked, before he shook his head. He looked on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry you're dead."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah looked away from Ethan and to Benny, taking a deep breath. "What do we do?" she asked, Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emRight, toughen up Benny, you're a big strong magic man—get the solution going./em Benny lowered his arms, and glanced at his phone, where he saw his Gran had sent him a message. Despite there being no available spell to cure Ethan, she did suggest he use a potion to at least calm him. She sent him the page number of an easy calming potion./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBenny grabbed his spell book from his backpack and flipped it to that page. He scanned the ingredients and took a deep breath./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""We need to help him find a way to get over the fear," emand fast/em, "I have ingredients for a calming potion down in the basement. You try talking to him, tell his all the positives, about how you feel about him, and... that kind of thing," Benny said, drifting off as he wanted to say that's the last thing he wanted, but whatever it took to bring Ethan back, he'd do. Sarah nodded; her eyes downcast as she tried to absorb the situation./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""I never wanted to see him hurt," she admitted, "that's why I went on a date with him, yet it seems that it happens anyway," Sarah said. She eyed Benny nervously as she confessed, as if worried he would judge her. Benny didn't—and if he did, it was hardly a harsh feeling. He wanted to console her, but he was too worried about Ethan. He could tell Sarah was telling him this to get it off her chest, as they were the two people that weren't biologically related to Ethan that care about him the most. "Maybe Erica was right. Humans and vampires aren't made to be friends. Or more."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny felt bad, because part of him was relieved, and because Sarah would have been a nice girl for Ethan. She was witty, a slight geek, and a good person, but she didn't like Ethan like that. He did what the wingman always does—looks out for his best friend./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Don't give up on him. None of this is emour/em fault. Stern and the council are to blame," he stressed, glancing at Ethan. Offering her a hesitant grin, he said, "He likes you more than he likes computers, and he emloves/em computers." He lowered his voice, only a small whisper that he trusted Sarah could hear. "I know you...you don't feel the same," Sarah looked to the side guiltily, "but right now, he needs to feel like there's a chance. Something to hope for, because you might be the only thing rooting his sanity here," Benny offered, before mentally slapping himself. Even though what he said was probably true, pushing that all onto Sarah, probably made her feel like zipping it out of here and hiding out in the Bahamas./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""You're wrong," she whispered, and flashed him a toothy smile. "From what I've seen of the two of you, even though Ethan has more brains than you," Benny scowled, but it was half-hearted as he felt his chest-lighten, "he needs you just as much, if not more than he needs me." She looked at Ethan and then down at herself, gesturing to her figure, "He's known me for a few years and is in love, if I have to be honest, with the old me. And the old me, might have been able to give him a chance. You and Ethan have been friends for emyears/em, and he wouldn't be able to function without his best friend." She said and Benny's heart rose. If he wasn't so in love with Ethan he could have kissed her right now for that./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt gave him hope. Hope that he and Sarah could help Ethan. Hope that maybe after all this Lucy stuff was over, he could be the real Benny. Maybe it would have to be edged into, maybe he'd have to be the wingman-Benny who made his freshly dumped friend feel better and didn't jump on his emotional weakness, but it gave Benny plenty of hope to feed off./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Thank-you," he whispered, and he took a deep breath. A weight had been lifted from his chest. "I'll meet you up here as soon as I find all the supplies. Tell Ethan stories of all the times baby-sitting went wrong—if that doesn't make him crack up or dole out a sarcastic comment, I don't know what will," Benny said, and Sarah offered him a small smile before turning towards Ethan. Benny glanced in her direction, before moving away, taking the stairs two at time, putting his trust in Sarah to keep Ethan calm and telling himself that whatever happened, Sarah was right. They could both help Ethan out. Not just Sarah. And definitely not just Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny knew the ingredient supply cases like the back of his hand, or the cover of his math book. Considering he never opened the dang thing to read it. emFocus, Benny, focus!/em He gathered them up in his arms, minding the small vial or something or other's tears and brought them back upstairs. He laid them out on the kitchen counter as Sarah stepped away from Ethan to watch him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Got it all?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Yup," Benny said. He propped his spell book up against a basket of apples. The instructions weren't hard, and he could his Gran's own annotations in the margins. In absence of a cauldron, a cooking pot would work just as well. It noted to boil a few cups of water in it before adding the precise ingredients. "Like making tea," the note also said. Benny had never made tea./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Regardless, he put filled the pot with water and set it on the stove top. He busied himself with organizing the ingredients in order of use, but he could feel Sarah's eyes on him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""What?" he asked./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Nothing," she waved her hands. "I've just never seen you look so serious."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""When my best friend's life is at stake," Benny muttered, "I'll do what I need to to fix that." He measured out the mushrooms and put them to the side on a small dish. "No luck cracking jokes at him."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah sighed. She leaned her head into her hands. "He won't look at me Benny, much less speak to me."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny glanced over past Sarah in the direction of Ethan. Still an unmoving lumped buried under the kitten blanket. He glanced at the pot. The water was only starting to heat up. "Wish we could speed this up, but I don't think I'll try lighting the stovetop on fire."/p
p class="Standard"br /"Please, don't," Sarah snorted. She checked her phone and held it up. "Text from Erica, the vampire council is packing to leave—and run."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Figures," Benny muttered. "Leave it to us, the only people who care enough to stop it."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"The potion took forever to brew, but Benny was sure he made it right. He hadn't taken his eyes off the ingredients and measured everything out with practiced certainty. He brought the potion over to Ethan and blew on it to cool it off. He had poured it into a mug to make it look more like tea. "Hey, Ethan, got a nice calming potion for you."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan stared at him over the edge of the blanket. "No, I'm good," Ethan muttered./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Come on, don't be that way," Benny nudged him. Ethan flinched. As soon as Ethan met even Benny's dead eyes he looked guilty for flinching. He took the mug in both hands and sniffed it warily./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""It smells like dirt."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""There is grave-dirt in it," Benny reasoned./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""That is the opposite of calming."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shrugged. "Grave-dirt of a white witch or something like that. If you can read spells, feel free to double check me."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan sighed, despite his fear he seemed humored. Or at least Benny hoped that's what he was and wasn't genuinely questioning Benny's ability to read. Ethan took a sip and grimaced. "It also tastes like dirt."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""The potion is to ground you, get it?" Benny smirked and waited for Ethan to at least smile, but instead he took another sip, grimacing./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""How much do you want me to drink?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny held up a finger and walked over to the spell book. He ran his finger down the page until he was at the right part. "Uh…two cups worth."/p
p class="Standard"br /Ethan didn't bother replying and he looked over to Sarah who had her nose wrinkled, looking into the remainder of the pot. "Is it supposed to smell like dirt?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shrugged helplessly. "I'm a spellcaster, not a barista. I can't exactly add sugar and honey to it."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They both waited anxiously for the potion to take some effect. Benny refilled the mug and tried not to pace in front of Ethan. Instead, he took shelter in the kitchen and paced in front of Sarah. He realized pretty awfully despite all being friends, he and Sarah never really talked to each other. She was always just Ethan's crush, nothing more or less./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""So, Sarah…how are classes going?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"She grimaced. "Not the best, I slacked for a while, because you know—vampire life seemed a lot more exciting." She leaned against the kitchen counter. "Now I can't help but want to go to college, you know."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He shrugged. "Maybe? I don't really know. I mean, as great as spellcasting is, it still hasn't meant high-school is a no-go."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"She smiled. "No plans to travel the world vanquishing evil as a wizard?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""That's my night job," Benny said with a laugh. "Aren't you worried college will be tough—I mean, you guys don't age."/p
p class="Standard"Sarah shrugged, but then shook her head. "Not really. Erica got tips from some of the older vampires. If you want to go to college or be taken seriously, there's always make-up and different fashion."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Huh," Benny had to admit from his fair amount of pursuing babes for the hell of it, make-up was just as good as spell-casting at doing a pretty good job of changing someone's whole face./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Guys," came Ethan's muttered voice from the couch, "I think I have a plan."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They both exited the kitchen and stood in front of Ethan who was sitting up on the couch. Benny felt relieved—his potion must have worked. "Becoming the idea guy again, heh?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan ignored that. He stood up shakily and looked down at their chests. "I thought about it—I just have to find something stronger than the fear to pull through. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of you."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emStronger than fear—he doesn't mean?/em Ethan held out each of his hands and Benny and Sarah took one respectively. They glanced at each other and Ethan closed his eyes and Benny felt something course through him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"His magic tingled and it felt familiar. He could hear a bell, the school-bell to be exact, the sound of the video-games they played, the taste of pizza, Ethan's laugh, the smell of Ethan's deodorant and the lavender scent his mom always used for the laundry-detergent—it was all of what he loved about Ethan and he felt it in his chest, in his core./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Are we having a moment?" he asked, his heart rising in his throat. It was over too soon./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan released their hands. "I'm okay—as long as I don't let the fear through, we can do this."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He could nearly hear Sarah's relief. Benny could hear his heart gently returning to normal, the beat no longer hammering in his head. It felt good to not feel like he had to be the one to fix Ethan. The one who had to be on top of it. Ethan was always better at ideas and it felt far better not to have to worry for the both of them./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He was going to take back that idea that Ethan was better at ideas./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny could feel Sarah smiling at him, and he saw Ethan reach for his phone to text someone. Maybe his parents—his mom was probably pretty dang style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe didn't know whether Ethan needed a moment or not, but when Ethan put his phone back down he took a deep breath./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emSo, what now?/em/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Part of him was really wanting to linger on the most important part of that last exchange—how did Ethan love them? Clearly the opposite of fear was love. Not why—or how much—maybe how much, actually, but did Ethan love him only as a friend. Was that wrong that Benny would be disappointed? He loved Sarah—did he love her more than he loved Benny. Was it wrong to want to ask Sarah what she thought?/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shutdown the selfish thoughts with a mild self-reprimand. emNo, not right now Save those thoughts for after Stern is taken care of./em/p
p class="Standard""All-right, I invited someone over," Ethan said. "Don't freak out." Benny was internally freaking out. emIt isn't Rory? Who is it that he's telling me to not freak out—it isn't…/em "I thought it over, and this is our best shot." emIt's…don't tell me…/em/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Its Jesse. Sarah reacts first. Not immediately with anger, but shock, before she screws up her face and the fangs slide out. Even though he knows Mr. Vampire Jerk has been to therapy, he feels his anger rise at the sight of that jerk. "You bit my best friend!" he shouts, feeling his body tense. He had almost lost Ethan that day andem this/em is who they call on for help. The guy that almost ruined their lives?/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""And you made me suck the venom out knowing what it would do to me!" Sarah growls, and Benny can't help, but feel his expression darken./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Her reason is selfish. It isn't "You almost made my boyfriend suffer the curse of vampirism," or "how dare you do that to Ethan" its, "how dare you do that to me!" But Benny couldn't blame her. Their heart to heart earlier, still rang true. It wasn't that Sarah didn't care, but it was because she had loved and trusted Jesse, and for him to hurt her in the worst way possible, to change any possibility of her regaining her normal life, it scarred her so much worse./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny had to shake his head at today. While it was traumatic and all and they had a big mission, he was starting to feel as old as Merlin. Maybe the curse of being a Wizard was knowing and understanding other people's lives and being able to empathize, but not being able to express your own feelings. Maybe Merlin had a special guy in his life too./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Jesse isn't impressed. "And I'd emlove/em to be sorry about that, but you all know I've done much emmuch/em worse."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He isn't wrong there. Benny hears the reason. It makes some sense—I mean who else do they have? The Vampire Council has left them, so maybe Jesse coming back for what's starting to feel like a suicide mission is the best chance they have. And if that's the only chance they have…/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny grimaced. He trusted Ethan, and that was good enough for him./p
p class="Standard"strong /strong/p
p class="Standard"strong…/strong/p
p class="Standard"strong /strong/p
p class="Standard"They were doing it; emthey were doing it/em and it seemed so easy. Or...it was until he was mind controlled and all that business. Considering how much time had happened between his evil camera-self and now, he couldn't he have just replaced the shocking spell with the sleep spell. His whole body was aching. He couldn't even feel his toes. Ethan had patted his arm, gave him that small smirk and said, "You probably better sit this one out, B."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He had wanted to argue, but he was only able to groan as Ethan left him sprawled on the floor. He faintly heard Sarah's voice, "Is he going to be okay?" Before the three were gone from the room, continuing the plan without him. He groaned again to the empty air and decided that for every-time he had to groan because of something Ethan related he should put a dollar in a saving's account. His Gran kept getting onto him about starting one and he was sure with how much Ethan gave him trouble it would no doubt fill fast./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Testing his strength, he wiggled his toes. Then his feet, but above his ankle he was still frozen. His fingers could move, but not his hands. There was a counter-spell to this, and he should remember it, because heck if he was going to just wait a half-hour for this to wear off. His gut twanged painfully, Ethan could be in trouble, well—not yet likely. Surely, he should give Ethan more credit than that./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He could move the hands, Benny sighed in relief. Moving his jaw, up, down, and sideways, he wiggled his tongue. It felt numb and his throat felt sore, but he was sure that whatever force deemed a spellcaster of capable of casting a spell of a certain level or whatever was going to be nice to him. Right? His gran had told him faith was necessary when casting a spell so…/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He said the Latin, the ancient language sounding pitiful to his ears, but besides a groggy numb feeling, he could feel his arms and legs again. Benny was back in action. Stretching, he nearly doubled over in pain. Ouch. Nope. He crumpled, clutching his arms close to him. He was no longer paralyzed, but the pain was still there./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emCome on, Benny. For Ethan. For White Chapel. For some other things like video games, pizza and pranking Rory worse than all the things he done to us./em/p
p class="Standard"em /em/p
p class="Standard"Reluctantly, he rolled onto his stomach and did the third push-up he's done this year before staggering to his feet. Really staggering. His legs were numb, a prickling feeling shooting up and down them. His legs felt funny beneath him, and he had to lean on a wall to keep from falling over. He felt like one of those baby deer on the nature channel trying to walk for the first time. With one hand on the wall, he guided himself in the direction that his friends had gone, trying not to fall flat on his face and lose his lunch./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He reached the door and hesitated. What should he expect on the other-side? Hopefully, they were winning. If not, he guessed he was going out with them. Benny stumbled in. One, Stern was glowing, Two, he probably should have stayed in the hall. "What'd I miss?" he grumbled./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""You'll be just in time for the end if we don't move," Ethan said, ushering Sarah out. Benny wanted to groan. Really, he went through all this trouble to get up and move all the way over here, just to have to run? He stared at the orb, the brightness, and he couldn't help, but feel a migraine coming on. He thinks he had a concussion. He missed Ethan warning him to run, until his best friend grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him, forcing Benny out of his momentary trance./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They were Team Vamp, so what that means is something was going to go utterly wrong. Benny remembers it all too clearly. Sarah and Jesse were drained, only able to run at normal speed, like "mortal" bunch as Jesse would have deemed them. Benny remembers the shotgun like sound, penetrating their ears. Jesse fell first, covering his ears, and it was like watching someone be burned alive. The Lucifractor was faster than flame, however, and it was like Jesse was slowly destabilizing out of existence, his body turning to ash. Ethan was turning when the sound caught Sarah and Benny felt his feet still in horror. The same thing happened to her as what had happened to Jesse, but her eyes had been open. Terror flashing through them as they turned an ashy gray./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Sarah," he heard Ethan cry, and then with dawning horror, "Benny, move!" But Benny couldn't. He was still so numb from earlier, and as the wave reached him, he felt it./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Like a chill of going into the basement when no one was home, but him, the light at the bottom of the staircase not responding when he flipped the switch, or the chill of Ethan's icy glances the times when they had fought, and he would see the messages left on read, or the apologies he had come to expect from his father whenever he invited him to something Benny thought was important, and his father was too busy. He felt the chill, but then it was gone, and he felt Ethan's hand around his wrist, dragging him down the stairs. Ethan was crying, openly sobbing, but he kept running./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny could hardly keep up, his skin felt icy cold. When he glanced at his hands, he could see they were gray. Yet, no matter how fast Ethan ran, Benny could see the violet light surging, faster now and he felt it a second time, and crashed to his knees, bringing Ethan down with him. Ethan let go of his wrist, but the Seer couldn't move either. As Benny felt the cold grow stronger, he was trapped in Ethan's stare. The horror and utter disbelief and growing terror and Benny wanted to tell him that it probably wasn't that bad, but his vision, his reality, became the blinding light./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"And when it faded, there was only blackness./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"…/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Hey, Ethan, got us some ice-cream. Best stuff in town, full tub," Benny flashed two spoons along with a smile, the tub in his other hand as he hopes Ethan might glance up. He doesn't. Benny sets the ice-cream and spoons down and eyed Ethan's phone in his jacket pocket. Benny doesn't personally have Sarah's number, but Ethan does. The only problem is getting that phone from Ethan and figuring out what's his passcode. He feels like it was something cheap, like Sarah's birthday, but he wouldn't count too heavily on it./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Which is why its serendipitous that Sarah calls Ethan, the phone buzzing eagerly in the troubled teen's pocket. Benny smiled. Cautiously, he reached forward and deftly plucked the phone from Ethan's pocket. He doesn't appear to have noticed anything. Relieved, he answers the call./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Ethan?" Sarah asked from the other end, her voice tinted with worry./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Uh, 'fraid not—he's..." Benny glanced at Ethan, "well, he needs…uh..." Despite how easy it had sounded when his Gran said it, asking for your crush's crush to come pick up the pieces of emyour/em crush wasn't that simple./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah was silent for a moment, but she recovered quick enough. "Is he okay? He seemed...off?" She questioned, not sure how to offer that Ethan seemed crazy, which Benny was able to agree with easily./p
p class="Standard"br /"I don't know. We confronted Stern, and something went down—I don't remember—and now Ethan sees the world as if we're all dead and Gran says he needs someone he's really close to, to help bring him out of his fear daze," Benny rambled, letting his tongue loosen as his heart pounded. He was Benny. Not Inner-Benny. He was the Benny everyone was aware of and that Benny wouldn't hesitate to give a response./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Me..." Sarah murmured, "I...I don't know...I'll be over," she said, but didn't immediately hang up. "I wish the council hadn't even showed their fangs—they've given all of us trouble, especially Ethan, and now this?" She muttered./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny, despite his slight jealousy towards Sarah, had to agree. She was right. The council used Ethan, threatened him, or did both simultaneously with the goal of solving a problem that emthey—/emthe two teens and their three vamps—didn't create. After they got Lucy and kicked Stern down the rabbit hole, Benny was going to have some words with the council. Specifically, in Latin and probably dealing with fire and raging infernos. He was about to express this, but Sarah had hung up, likely flying over here./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Setting the phone down on the couch beside Ethan, he suddenly realized his friend was staring at him, wide eyes petrified, as if he saw a ghost behind Benny. Maybe that was the case. Benny turned around, but there was nothing there. Still, Ethan's eyes stared with abject horror at Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Ethan, buddy? You still with me?" He questioned, waving his hand in front of Benny's face./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan gripped the throw-pillow. "I saw how you died. When you were on the phone. It's all my fault, Benny we have to leave. We have to leave. We can't do this." Ethan said, his voice shaking. He was hyperventilating and was having a sure-fire panic attack and Benny couldn't even touch him, because he was "dead."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He bit his thumb, the nervous habit kicking in as he was about ready to join Ethan in that panic attack, not sure how to calm the situation down. There was a knock at his door and he was all too glad. Sarah. Glancing back at Ethan, he grabbed a blanket from the back of a chair and threw it over him. "No one's dead. No one's going to die. Just look at these bright pictures of kittens on the blanket and think of the new Alien Gut-Blaster 4 that comes out in two months."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny tore his eyes from his shaking best-friend and opened the door to a frenzied Sarah, her eyes glancing up at him in worry. He couldn't even offer her a polite smile. Benny could only step aside and let her in. He ended up chewing on the nail of his thumb again, holding his arms to himself as he tried to figure out what to do./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""He's...he's not getting better," Benny muttered as Sarah looked from him, to Ethan./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Oh my gosh," she whispered, "he looks..." She steeled herself and approached her boyfriend cautiously. "Ethan?" She said cautiously./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan moved the blanket, his eyes darting to her. "Sarah," he croaked, before he shook his head. He looked on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry you're dead."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah looked away from Ethan and to Benny, taking a deep breath. "What do we do?" she asked, Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emRight, toughen up Benny, you're a big strong magic man—get the solution going./em Benny lowered his arms, and glanced at his phone, where he saw his Gran had sent him a message. Despite there being no available spell to cure Ethan, she did suggest he use a potion to at least calm him. She sent him the page number of an easy calming potion./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBenny grabbed his spell book from his backpack and flipped it to that page. He scanned the ingredients and took a deep breath./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""We need to help him find a way to get over the fear," emand fast/em, "I have ingredients for a calming potion down in the basement. You try talking to him, tell his all the positives, about how you feel about him, and... that kind of thing," Benny said, drifting off as he wanted to say that's the last thing he wanted, but whatever it took to bring Ethan back, he'd do. Sarah nodded; her eyes downcast as she tried to absorb the situation./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""I never wanted to see him hurt," she admitted, "that's why I went on a date with him, yet it seems that it happens anyway," Sarah said. She eyed Benny nervously as she confessed, as if worried he would judge her. Benny didn't—and if he did, it was hardly a harsh feeling. He wanted to console her, but he was too worried about Ethan. He could tell Sarah was telling him this to get it off her chest, as they were the two people that weren't biologically related to Ethan that care about him the most. "Maybe Erica was right. Humans and vampires aren't made to be friends. Or more."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny felt bad, because part of him was relieved, and because Sarah would have been a nice girl for Ethan. She was witty, a slight geek, and a good person, but she didn't like Ethan like that. He did what the wingman always does—looks out for his best friend./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Don't give up on him. None of this is emour/em fault. Stern and the council are to blame," he stressed, glancing at Ethan. Offering her a hesitant grin, he said, "He likes you more than he likes computers, and he emloves/em computers." He lowered his voice, only a small whisper that he trusted Sarah could hear. "I know you...you don't feel the same," Sarah looked to the side guiltily, "but right now, he needs to feel like there's a chance. Something to hope for, because you might be the only thing rooting his sanity here," Benny offered, before mentally slapping himself. Even though what he said was probably true, pushing that all onto Sarah, probably made her feel like zipping it out of here and hiding out in the Bahamas./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""You're wrong," she whispered, and flashed him a toothy smile. "From what I've seen of the two of you, even though Ethan has more brains than you," Benny scowled, but it was half-hearted as he felt his chest-lighten, "he needs you just as much, if not more than he needs me." She looked at Ethan and then down at herself, gesturing to her figure, "He's known me for a few years and is in love, if I have to be honest, with the old me. And the old me, might have been able to give him a chance. You and Ethan have been friends for emyears/em, and he wouldn't be able to function without his best friend." She said and Benny's heart rose. If he wasn't so in love with Ethan he could have kissed her right now for that./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIt gave him hope. Hope that he and Sarah could help Ethan. Hope that maybe after all this Lucy stuff was over, he could be the real Benny. Maybe it would have to be edged into, maybe he'd have to be the wingman-Benny who made his freshly dumped friend feel better and didn't jump on his emotional weakness, but it gave Benny plenty of hope to feed off./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Thank-you," he whispered, and he took a deep breath. A weight had been lifted from his chest. "I'll meet you up here as soon as I find all the supplies. Tell Ethan stories of all the times baby-sitting went wrong—if that doesn't make him crack up or dole out a sarcastic comment, I don't know what will," Benny said, and Sarah offered him a small smile before turning towards Ethan. Benny glanced in her direction, before moving away, taking the stairs two at time, putting his trust in Sarah to keep Ethan calm and telling himself that whatever happened, Sarah was right. They could both help Ethan out. Not just Sarah. And definitely not just Benny./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny knew the ingredient supply cases like the back of his hand, or the cover of his math book. Considering he never opened the dang thing to read it. emFocus, Benny, focus!/em He gathered them up in his arms, minding the small vial or something or other's tears and brought them back upstairs. He laid them out on the kitchen counter as Sarah stepped away from Ethan to watch him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Got it all?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Yup," Benny said. He propped his spell book up against a basket of apples. The instructions weren't hard, and he could his Gran's own annotations in the margins. In absence of a cauldron, a cooking pot would work just as well. It noted to boil a few cups of water in it before adding the precise ingredients. "Like making tea," the note also said. Benny had never made tea./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Regardless, he put filled the pot with water and set it on the stove top. He busied himself with organizing the ingredients in order of use, but he could feel Sarah's eyes on him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""What?" he asked./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Nothing," she waved her hands. "I've just never seen you look so serious."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""When my best friend's life is at stake," Benny muttered, "I'll do what I need to to fix that." He measured out the mushrooms and put them to the side on a small dish. "No luck cracking jokes at him."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Sarah sighed. She leaned her head into her hands. "He won't look at me Benny, much less speak to me."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny glanced over past Sarah in the direction of Ethan. Still an unmoving lumped buried under the kitten blanket. He glanced at the pot. The water was only starting to heat up. "Wish we could speed this up, but I don't think I'll try lighting the stovetop on fire."/p
p class="Standard"br /"Please, don't," Sarah snorted. She checked her phone and held it up. "Text from Erica, the vampire council is packing to leave—and run."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Figures," Benny muttered. "Leave it to us, the only people who care enough to stop it."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"The potion took forever to brew, but Benny was sure he made it right. He hadn't taken his eyes off the ingredients and measured everything out with practiced certainty. He brought the potion over to Ethan and blew on it to cool it off. He had poured it into a mug to make it look more like tea. "Hey, Ethan, got a nice calming potion for you."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan stared at him over the edge of the blanket. "No, I'm good," Ethan muttered./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Come on, don't be that way," Benny nudged him. Ethan flinched. As soon as Ethan met even Benny's dead eyes he looked guilty for flinching. He took the mug in both hands and sniffed it warily./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""It smells like dirt."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""There is grave-dirt in it," Benny reasoned./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""That is the opposite of calming."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shrugged. "Grave-dirt of a white witch or something like that. If you can read spells, feel free to double check me."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan sighed, despite his fear he seemed humored. Or at least Benny hoped that's what he was and wasn't genuinely questioning Benny's ability to read. Ethan took a sip and grimaced. "It also tastes like dirt."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""The potion is to ground you, get it?" Benny smirked and waited for Ethan to at least smile, but instead he took another sip, grimacing./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""How much do you want me to drink?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny held up a finger and walked over to the spell book. He ran his finger down the page until he was at the right part. "Uh…two cups worth."/p
p class="Standard"br /Ethan didn't bother replying and he looked over to Sarah who had her nose wrinkled, looking into the remainder of the pot. "Is it supposed to smell like dirt?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shrugged helplessly. "I'm a spellcaster, not a barista. I can't exactly add sugar and honey to it."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They both waited anxiously for the potion to take some effect. Benny refilled the mug and tried not to pace in front of Ethan. Instead, he took shelter in the kitchen and paced in front of Sarah. He realized pretty awfully despite all being friends, he and Sarah never really talked to each other. She was always just Ethan's crush, nothing more or less./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""So, Sarah…how are classes going?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"She grimaced. "Not the best, I slacked for a while, because you know—vampire life seemed a lot more exciting." She leaned against the kitchen counter. "Now I can't help but want to go to college, you know."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He shrugged. "Maybe? I don't really know. I mean, as great as spellcasting is, it still hasn't meant high-school is a no-go."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"She smiled. "No plans to travel the world vanquishing evil as a wizard?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""That's my night job," Benny said with a laugh. "Aren't you worried college will be tough—I mean, you guys don't age."/p
p class="Standard"Sarah shrugged, but then shook her head. "Not really. Erica got tips from some of the older vampires. If you want to go to college or be taken seriously, there's always make-up and different fashion."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Huh," Benny had to admit from his fair amount of pursuing babes for the hell of it, make-up was just as good as spell-casting at doing a pretty good job of changing someone's whole face./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Guys," came Ethan's muttered voice from the couch, "I think I have a plan."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They both exited the kitchen and stood in front of Ethan who was sitting up on the couch. Benny felt relieved—his potion must have worked. "Becoming the idea guy again, heh?"/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan ignored that. He stood up shakily and looked down at their chests. "I thought about it—I just have to find something stronger than the fear to pull through. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of you."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emStronger than fear—he doesn't mean?/em Ethan held out each of his hands and Benny and Sarah took one respectively. They glanced at each other and Ethan closed his eyes and Benny felt something course through him./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"His magic tingled and it felt familiar. He could hear a bell, the school-bell to be exact, the sound of the video-games they played, the taste of pizza, Ethan's laugh, the smell of Ethan's deodorant and the lavender scent his mom always used for the laundry-detergent—it was all of what he loved about Ethan and he felt it in his chest, in his core./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Are we having a moment?" he asked, his heart rising in his throat. It was over too soon./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Ethan released their hands. "I'm okay—as long as I don't let the fear through, we can do this."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He could nearly hear Sarah's relief. Benny could hear his heart gently returning to normal, the beat no longer hammering in his head. It felt good to not feel like he had to be the one to fix Ethan. The one who had to be on top of it. Ethan was always better at ideas and it felt far better not to have to worry for the both of them./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He was going to take back that idea that Ethan was better at ideas./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny could feel Sarah smiling at him, and he saw Ethan reach for his phone to text someone. Maybe his parents—his mom was probably pretty dang style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe didn't know whether Ethan needed a moment or not, but when Ethan put his phone back down he took a deep breath./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emSo, what now?/em/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Part of him was really wanting to linger on the most important part of that last exchange—how did Ethan love them? Clearly the opposite of fear was love. Not why—or how much—maybe how much, actually, but did Ethan love him only as a friend. Was that wrong that Benny would be disappointed? He loved Sarah—did he love her more than he loved Benny. Was it wrong to want to ask Sarah what she thought?/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny shutdown the selfish thoughts with a mild self-reprimand. emNo, not right now Save those thoughts for after Stern is taken care of./em/p
p class="Standard""All-right, I invited someone over," Ethan said. "Don't freak out." Benny was internally freaking out. emIt isn't Rory? Who is it that he's telling me to not freak out—it isn't…/em "I thought it over, and this is our best shot." emIt's…don't tell me…/em/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Its Jesse. Sarah reacts first. Not immediately with anger, but shock, before she screws up her face and the fangs slide out. Even though he knows Mr. Vampire Jerk has been to therapy, he feels his anger rise at the sight of that jerk. "You bit my best friend!" he shouts, feeling his body tense. He had almost lost Ethan that day andem this/em is who they call on for help. The guy that almost ruined their lives?/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""And you made me suck the venom out knowing what it would do to me!" Sarah growls, and Benny can't help, but feel his expression darken./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Her reason is selfish. It isn't "You almost made my boyfriend suffer the curse of vampirism," or "how dare you do that to Ethan" its, "how dare you do that to me!" But Benny couldn't blame her. Their heart to heart earlier, still rang true. It wasn't that Sarah didn't care, but it was because she had loved and trusted Jesse, and for him to hurt her in the worst way possible, to change any possibility of her regaining her normal life, it scarred her so much worse./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny had to shake his head at today. While it was traumatic and all and they had a big mission, he was starting to feel as old as Merlin. Maybe the curse of being a Wizard was knowing and understanding other people's lives and being able to empathize, but not being able to express your own feelings. Maybe Merlin had a special guy in his life too./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Jesse isn't impressed. "And I'd emlove/em to be sorry about that, but you all know I've done much emmuch/em worse."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He isn't wrong there. Benny hears the reason. It makes some sense—I mean who else do they have? The Vampire Council has left them, so maybe Jesse coming back for what's starting to feel like a suicide mission is the best chance they have. And if that's the only chance they have…/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny grimaced. He trusted Ethan, and that was good enough for him./p
p class="Standard"strong /strong/p
p class="Standard"strong…/strong/p
p class="Standard"strong /strong/p
p class="Standard"They were doing it; emthey were doing it/em and it seemed so easy. Or...it was until he was mind controlled and all that business. Considering how much time had happened between his evil camera-self and now, he couldn't he have just replaced the shocking spell with the sleep spell. His whole body was aching. He couldn't even feel his toes. Ethan had patted his arm, gave him that small smirk and said, "You probably better sit this one out, B."/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He had wanted to argue, but he was only able to groan as Ethan left him sprawled on the floor. He faintly heard Sarah's voice, "Is he going to be okay?" Before the three were gone from the room, continuing the plan without him. He groaned again to the empty air and decided that for every-time he had to groan because of something Ethan related he should put a dollar in a saving's account. His Gran kept getting onto him about starting one and he was sure with how much Ethan gave him trouble it would no doubt fill fast./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Testing his strength, he wiggled his toes. Then his feet, but above his ankle he was still frozen. His fingers could move, but not his hands. There was a counter-spell to this, and he should remember it, because heck if he was going to just wait a half-hour for this to wear off. His gut twanged painfully, Ethan could be in trouble, well—not yet likely. Surely, he should give Ethan more credit than that./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He could move the hands, Benny sighed in relief. Moving his jaw, up, down, and sideways, he wiggled his tongue. It felt numb and his throat felt sore, but he was sure that whatever force deemed a spellcaster of capable of casting a spell of a certain level or whatever was going to be nice to him. Right? His gran had told him faith was necessary when casting a spell so…/p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He said the Latin, the ancient language sounding pitiful to his ears, but besides a groggy numb feeling, he could feel his arms and legs again. Benny was back in action. Stretching, he nearly doubled over in pain. Ouch. Nope. He crumpled, clutching his arms close to him. He was no longer paralyzed, but the pain was still there./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"emCome on, Benny. For Ethan. For White Chapel. For some other things like video games, pizza and pranking Rory worse than all the things he done to us./em/p
p class="Standard"em /em/p
p class="Standard"Reluctantly, he rolled onto his stomach and did the third push-up he's done this year before staggering to his feet. Really staggering. His legs were numb, a prickling feeling shooting up and down them. His legs felt funny beneath him, and he had to lean on a wall to keep from falling over. He felt like one of those baby deer on the nature channel trying to walk for the first time. With one hand on the wall, he guided himself in the direction that his friends had gone, trying not to fall flat on his face and lose his lunch./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"He reached the door and hesitated. What should he expect on the other-side? Hopefully, they were winning. If not, he guessed he was going out with them. Benny stumbled in. One, Stern was glowing, Two, he probably should have stayed in the hall. "What'd I miss?" he grumbled./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""You'll be just in time for the end if we don't move," Ethan said, ushering Sarah out. Benny wanted to groan. Really, he went through all this trouble to get up and move all the way over here, just to have to run? He stared at the orb, the brightness, and he couldn't help, but feel a migraine coming on. He thinks he had a concussion. He missed Ethan warning him to run, until his best friend grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him, forcing Benny out of his momentary trance./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"They were Team Vamp, so what that means is something was going to go utterly wrong. Benny remembers it all too clearly. Sarah and Jesse were drained, only able to run at normal speed, like "mortal" bunch as Jesse would have deemed them. Benny remembers the shotgun like sound, penetrating their ears. Jesse fell first, covering his ears, and it was like watching someone be burned alive. The Lucifractor was faster than flame, however, and it was like Jesse was slowly destabilizing out of existence, his body turning to ash. Ethan was turning when the sound caught Sarah and Benny felt his feet still in horror. The same thing happened to her as what had happened to Jesse, but her eyes had been open. Terror flashing through them as they turned an ashy gray./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard""Sarah," he heard Ethan cry, and then with dawning horror, "Benny, move!" But Benny couldn't. He was still so numb from earlier, and as the wave reached him, he felt it./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Like a chill of going into the basement when no one was home, but him, the light at the bottom of the staircase not responding when he flipped the switch, or the chill of Ethan's icy glances the times when they had fought, and he would see the messages left on read, or the apologies he had come to expect from his father whenever he invited him to something Benny thought was important, and his father was too busy. He felt the chill, but then it was gone, and he felt Ethan's hand around his wrist, dragging him down the stairs. Ethan was crying, openly sobbing, but he kept running./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"Benny could hardly keep up, his skin felt icy cold. When he glanced at his hands, he could see they were gray. Yet, no matter how fast Ethan ran, Benny could see the violet light surging, faster now and he felt it a second time, and crashed to his knees, bringing Ethan down with him. Ethan let go of his wrist, but the Seer couldn't move either. As Benny felt the cold grow stronger, he was trapped in Ethan's stare. The horror and utter disbelief and growing terror and Benny wanted to tell him that it probably wasn't that bad, but his vision, his reality, became the blinding light./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"And when it faded, there was only blackness./p
p class="Standard" /p
p class="Standard"…/p