Mmmmm. I don't know about this one. Throw some more suggestions at me, guys.

Much love,

ReesesPieces2112 (:

She stood not three feet from him, but she held a blade to his throat. "You think you can save her?"

"I think she can save herself."

"She doesn't want to be saved." Twisting the sword against his throat, she nicked him. "She likes being powerful. No man, woman, or child could step on her. Certainly no Gecko can even come close to her anymore. I'm simply inhabiting her body. The hate she has for you is what makes me strong."

"Fuck you." He spat just before she lunged forward, thrusting the steel clear through his neck.

Kate gasped and sprung up from the bed, sweating, panting, and crying. Throwing the sheets off her body and swinging her legs over the edge, she stood and began pacing the room.

"Kate?" Seth called to her softly, sitting up from his spot beside her. "Hey, princess, what happened?"

"I killed you." She explained through shaky breaths. "I ran a sword through your throat. I felt your blood on my hands."

"Come here." He beckoned her, pulling her tight against him as soon as she was close enough. "Relax, Kate, I've got you. I'm here."

"It hurts. So much." Kate buried her tear stained face in his shirt. "Every part of me knows she's not here and yet there's little parts that scream for her. Why?"

"Because she possessed you." Seth ran his hands through her hair. "She took over your body and mind, Kate. She made you do things and then convinced you that it was something you truly wanted, you were just holding back. None of that was you."

"I felt everything. Every soul, every bit of flesh she ripped apart, and I just…I couldn't stop her."

"I know. But you tried, princess, and accomplished way more than any normal human could have. You fought and you showed her that you weren't weak."

"She could come back." Kate whispered, pulling back from his embrace. "She could come for me because I fought. I was her strongest vessel and she knows it. She will come back, Seth, and when-."

"If," Seth grit his teeth and cupped her face, "if she comes back, we will do what we've always done. We'll fight."

"Stop it." She pushed his hands away and wiped the tears pouring down her face. "You have to promise me, Seth, that when she comes for me that you will kill me."

"No!"

"Listen to me!" Kate sobbed, clutching onto his hands. "It's not safe. She'll kill you, and Richie, and Scott. She won't stop this time. You can't make that same decision you made the first time. If stopping her means killing me, then please, I beg you, do it."

"I can't, Kate." Seth growled, getting out of bed and creating some distance because he couldn't handle or even fathom what she was asking him to do. "There's another way, there's always another way. I lost you once and I for damn sure am not gonna lose you again."

"That's not your call to make." Kate stood as well, letting Seth's bed separate them. "If you won't do it, I'll ask Richie. I'll ask Scott. I'll even Santanico. Because my life is not more important than the rest of the world." She turned and made her way to his bedroom door. With her hand on the knob, she said, "I'm sorry, Seth, but this is one of those times you don't get to be selfish."

Seth held his breath and waited for the door to close behind her before letting out a mountain of profanities; Kate was right. As if she was ever wrong. He couldn't risk the lives of billions of people, including his brother, for her.

But she wasn't just any girl; she was Kate. She was light, his hope, his reason for wanting something better than robbing banks and running for the rest of his life.

"You two not talking?" Richard asked the pair the next morning as they sat around a table for breakfast.

"Apparently not." Kate picked at her plate of food, her appetite hadn't been the same since she, you know, died.

Seth snorted from his spot across the table. "Why don't you ask Little Red here what we argued about last night?"

Richard opened his mouth to direct that exact question at Kate, when she slammed her fork onto the table with a loud thump.

"I asked you to do the right thing."

"You asked me to put a bullet in your skull."

"You what?!" Scott stared at his sister in disbelief.

"Not directly!" She shot back at Seth. "I said if Amaru came back, there is no hesitation this time. You have to kill me."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm tired of trying to do the right thing, Kate." Seth scoffed at her. "It doesn't how much good we try to do, it always backfires on us. The Gecko brothers just weren't meant to do good."

"Then why did you try saving me in the first place? Why were you so desperate to bring me back? Why did you kiss me?"

Richard threw his hands up and immediately excused himself from the table, dragging Scott along with him. "C'mon, kid, adults are talking."

"No, hey, wait!" Scott struggled against the younger Gecko brother but he was no match.

"Because you were still there!" Seth kicked back his chair, slamming his hands on the wooden table and standing. "You were still in there, Kate, and I wasn't going to let that Xiabalban bitch work her way in to you! You think I didn't have every intention of shooting you that night in the junk yard?! You think I wasn't the one trying to convince Richie and Scott that you were gone?! Jesus fucking Christ, Kate, up until you showed me that you were still alive…I was the only one ready to kill you."

Kate watched him, studied him as his breathing became ragged, his muscles tightened, his jaw clenched, and his eyes bloodshot.

"Do you know how that felt? How knowing that I had to be the one to put you down because I knew Scott and Richie would never bring themselves to do it? Do you know what it was like, Kate, seeing you that night and realizing that…Richie and I caused all of it? We're to blame for what happened to you. You should have had a normal life and we took that chance from you."

Seth let out a pained laugh and shook his head. "This was our mess, and instead of cleaning it up, we got your brother turned into one of those…things. Your dad died, you got shot and you died. Fuckin' A, Kate…all because I saw some beautiful girl behind the wheel of an RV."

"You know I never blamed you for any of that."

"Yes you do, princess. You should."

"You made Scott stronger." Kate got up from her seat and slowly walked up to him. "Scott never felt like he belonged until he was a culebra. My father was never going to tell us the truth about our mother until you two came along. I was never going to be stronger than I am now without you and Richie. Seth," she reached up and cupped his face, "you were never the 'person who ruined my life'. Because you didn't. There's a reason for everything. You were my reason to keep fighting Amaru. You and Scott."

"Kate, I'm hurt." Richie's voice startled them and Kate jumped away from Seth.

"The hell, Richie?" Seth snarled at his brother.

"Kid wants to make a run into town." Richie dangled the keys to their car in his hand. "Need anything?"

"Um, I'll come with." Kate suggested, surprising the brothers as it was the first time she wanted to do something other than stay cooped up in her room.

"We'll all go." Seth grabbed the keys from Richie and stalked out to the car.

"After you, Katie-Cakes." Richie let her pass him with a smile and she, amazingly, gave him a genuine smile in return.