Kind of random, but this chapter was inspired by the song Repeating Apologies by Of Mice and Men. Read/enjoy/review!

Battle of Love

Chapter 8

CLARE

Eli and I executed the first part of his plan perfectly. Tori is now being held captive under a crate that once held Wonder Bread. Fitz of course had to come in on his speaker system (the coward) and try to scare us, but Eli and I knew that that was a definite possibility when we were talking the plan over. Consequently, I didn't feel any worse than before we trapped Tori. I looked at Eli to see if he'd been affected by Fitz's ominous words. He was staring at the ground with an unreadable expression.

"Eli, are you alright?" I asked as I hesitantly lifted my hand to his cheek. He flinched a little, but then relaxed his face into my palm.

"Yeah I'll be fine," he said, then opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to say something more. He grabbed my hand from his cheek with both of his and held it gently.

"What is it?"

"Clare, I just... I want to apologize. For everything, you know? For the way things ended between us last year. For dragging you into this stupid feud between me and Fitz. For getting you almost killed in here. I could go on for days, but I won't unless you want me to. I just can't express to you in words how much I am sincerely sorry." his voice broke a tiny bit at the end.

I tilted his chin up with my free hand so I could look him straight in his emerald eyes and said, "Eli, you know I don't blame you for anything that happened between us before. You were sick and you needed help that I, as a fifteen year old girl, could not provide. But you seem to be much better now and I am proud that you got that help. I do not blame you for what happened in the past, what is happening right now, or for what may happen in the future. So you shouldn't blame yourself either. There is no reason for us to dwell on the negative things so much."

Eli gazed at me with such a soft expression, that I think he forgot where we were. He brought my hand up to his lips and pecked it lightly. My skin tingled at the site of the simple gesture.

"You're incredible, you know that?" he whispered.

"As are you Eli. But right now, we must finish what we've started." I reminded him, pulling my hand away and looking back to Tori. She was sitting on the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head in her hands. Sobs erupted from her small frame.

"You better talk to this one. I'll probably lose my cool." I muttered to Eli. He nodded in agreement and put on a determined face.

"Okay so here's the deal, Tori. I think that I can speak for both Clare and I when I say that we don't trust you anymore. In fact, we distrust you and Zig now. Besides being his cousin, why on Earth would you kill someone for Fitz? Did he threaten you or something?" he inquired.

Tori picked her head up to look at us as she spoke. "You...you have this all wrong."

"Explain then!" I snapped impatiently. Eli sighed and whispered in my ear, "Let me handle this." I nodded, slightly dazed from Eli's hot breath being on my neck. Eli smirked down at Tori and calmly said, "Yes, do tell."

"Oh fine. Fitz seems to hate me anyways so it's not like this can get much worse. You see, this whole thing was a prank on Eli..."

ADAM

Sav and I sat on the ground in Fitz's room, waiting for something to happen. Honestly, even though I knew that whatever Fitz had planned for us was going to be bad, waiting had to be the worst experience of all. It gives one the time to go through all of the possible outcomes and frankly scare the hell out of himself. I tried to occupy my active brain by looking for a way out of the room. I pushed the elevator button for the millionth time, but predictably, it didn't work. I hated to say that I was a bit impressed.

How does Fitz pull this stuff off?

I paced the perimeter of the room, pushing on the brick walls.

"Dude, what the heck are you doing?" Sav asked.

"Trying to get us the hell out of here. You know, since you didn't want to go to the cops or at least let me leave." I growled in annoyance.

"I told you I'm sorry. I don't know what I else I could do to show you that. And how is banging on the walls going to help us get out of here?"

I kept smacking the bricks, not bothering to answer his question. He laughed. "Just tell me; maybe I can help."

"Ugh, fine. You never know when there's going to be one of those secret lairs behind-" Just then, my hand came across a seemingly hollow part of the wall.

I hit it harder with my palm and it made a hollow thud sound. I gasped and turned to give Sav a grin.

"What? Did you find something?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm gonna need your help here, though." I motioned to the wall.

He nodded. "Let's just hope that this is an exit." I held my breath as he kicked in the wall in one swift movement.

"Boo yah!" I bumped his fist. We then looked at our surroundings. The room we'd broken into was exactly like Fitz's, except the walls were covered in movie posters and there was a recliner across from a television in one corner of the room. Beer cans scattered the floor, misting the already damp air with the scent of alcohol.

What did we just get ourselves into?

Sav looked at me like he was thinking the same thing, and just as we were turning to walk back to the familiarity of Fitz's room, a southern accent greeted us.

"Howdy chillins. There a reason you broke my humble abode?" Laying in the bed in one corner of the room was the guy who'd taken our admission into the laser tag place earlier. He had a really bad combover and wore a Hawaiian shirt over boxers. I cringed at the obvious creepiness of the guy and the situation we were in. Sav spoke up when I didn't.

"Sir! I'm really sorry about breaking down the wall, but we really need some help!"

"Woah, woah. Take a seat, rest your bones." he slurred, patting the recliner arm next to the bed. Sav went and sat down while I stood my ground. No way was I going to get closer to this weirdo. He chuckled at my awkward stance.

"Suit yourself, kiddo. You guys want a beer? I've got...hiccup...plenty." Sav declined and looked at me. I sighed in frustration.

"Listen, guy. We don't really have time for this. A kid named Fitz is trying to kill two of my best friends so can you like call the cops or let-"

"Fitz? You mean little Marky? Oh no, you boys must be the ones on the receiving end of my nephew's fun prank. I told him he could use the tunnels for it yesterday. Did he get around to the punch line yet? The punch line's always the best...the coolest part."

I was a tad confused at his slurred words; obviously the guy was blasted. I did get out that he was Fitz's uncle. Did that mean he was Tori's dad? I decided to find out.

"Wait; are you Tori's dad?"

"Oh, my little girl! How is she enjoying the show? Marky said it would keep her entertained for awhile. I just feel bad for leaving her and her mo-"

"Sir! Your daughter is in trouble. Marky is trying to kill her and two of my friends. He already killed three innocent kids in the tunnels. We need to call the cops!" I said, trying to make the drunk man understand the seriousness of the situation. He sat up slowly.

"Tori's in trouble?"

"Yes, a lot of trouble! Mark has gone insane! Please, we need to get help. At least let us out of here if you won't call the cops."

"Can't call the popo, sorry. I'm lying low right now, if you couldn't tell. So is Marky; that's why he's living with me. Such a stupid move if you ask me, getting arrested at that age. Oh well, the past is...the past. Now we focus on the present."

"Right...so are you going to help us save your daughter or what?" Sav asked.

The man looked at the two of us and grinned a cheeky grin. "What do y'all think?"

CLARE

Tori just finished telling us all about Fitz's prank. It sounds really stupid, and I don't know if she can be trusted. Still, I played along with her to see if I could find any truth to her words.

"So do you have any idea why he would do this?" I asked.

"He just said it would be funny. I don't really know him well enough to know why he targeted Eli and now you Clare. And I suppose that me and Zig can't be excluded from his list of targets anymore..."

"How is killing people funny!" Eli yelled. I jumped, startled from his outburst. He had been so quiet throughout Tori's explanation of the prank that I'd practically forgotten he was standing right next to me. I looked at him, but he was busy staring daggers at Tori.

This seems oddly familiar...

"Eli, I told you. They're tranquilizers. They just knock you out for a few hours." Tori eased.

"Then how can you explain my dead friends in the other room?"

"Not dead; sleeping." she said simply.

"We took their pulses; they had none! If you didn't know this Tori, no pulse means you're dead. Fucking dead, never to see the light of day one more time. Did Fitz tell you that the tranquilizers stop hearts? Cause if he said you could survive that then he was LYING. How could you be so naive?"

Suddenly, I recognized what was so familiar about the situation. This type of behavior with Eli had happened before...near the end of our relationship. This time, though, I wasn't going to run away like a weak little girl; I would help him through it. I confidently grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Sorry, sorry." he muttered to me.

"Eli, have you taken your medication recently?" I whispered.

"Uh yeah, of course. Sorry, I just got a little...worked-up." he said unconvincingly. I frowned.

"Eli, you know I know when you're lying. Do you at least have it with you?

"No, I don't so could we just stop talking about it? It kind of makes it harder when I think about it too much." He sounded miserable and I felt bad for bringing it up. I gave him a hug from the side as an apology.

"Whoa." he breathed.

"What did I do wrong?" I pulled away quickly, thinking I'd hurt him or something. Can I ever not be awkward?

"No, you did nothing wrong. Just the opposite, actually. I felt like, in control of myself when you hugged me." Warmth flooded my heart at his words. I actually made him feel good instead of bad. What a welcome change that was. "Thank you." he added.

"My pleasure." I replied honestly. Eli put his arm around my shoulders and we grinned at eachother.

"Aw, you guys are so totally adorbs! Clare, I thought you said you didn't like anyone!" Tori interjected.

I tried to hide my blushing face with my hair as Eli peeked down at me.

"Yes, Clare. Why don't you fill us in?" he said innocently, but I could tell he was holding in laughter. The boy really does know how to push my buttons. But God do I love it. I glared at him for a few seconds until he actually looked hurt.

I surrendered. "Ugh fine! Eli... I like you, and I've missed you. Is that what you guys wanted to hear?"

Tori 'aw'ed again and Eli tightened his grip on my waist. He leaned down to my ear and whispered, "Precisely." A shiver went down my spine that jolted me back to reality. I cleared my throat.

"As much as I love this moment, it's really irrelevant to what's happening. Like Eli was saying, Tori, the three kids who were shot did not have a pulse. How can that be written off as a tranquilizer?"

Tori opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Zig running into the room.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he yelled.

"Zig, just wait-" Tori began.

"NO!" he roared, "Fitz just told me that Eli took advantage of you and then put you in a cage! And it looks like it's true!"

Zig came over and shoved Eli roughly away from me and poked his gun against my head. I squeaked and looked to Eli for help.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" he yelled and aimed his own gun at Zig.

The metal barrel against my head and Zig's arms around my torso seemed to make everything happen in slow motion. The only thing I felt was absolute terror.

"No way! This is going to end here and now. You deserve everything that happens to you."

"I'll fucking shoot you where you stand if you don't let her go in five seconds." Eli warned menacingly. I gasped as Zig's gun pressed harder against my temple. The pain didn't even register at that moment.

"Okay, I'll count for your dumb ass. 5..." Eli began.

Tori was screeching out Zig's name over and over, and Zig finally seemed to take note of it. He turned his head towards Tori in the crate and said "What?"

"4..."

"Zig, Eli didn't do anything to me. You can't shoot Clare!"

"Why not? It's what we were planning to do anyways, may as well do it now."

"3..." I looked at Tori pleadingly. She nodded and talked more softly to Zig.

"Babe, Mark lied to us. He said that our guns shoot tranquilizers, but we know that's not true. The kids in the other room aren't sleeping- they're dead! And remember how he told us to do anything, even if it means we get shot?"

"He wants us dead, doesn't he?" Zig finished for her. She nodded and started to cry. Zig's constricting grip on my chest dropped along with the gun from my head. Eli saw this and rushed over to rip Zig's gun from his hand.

"I'll take this." he said. I just stood there in complete shock from the trauma of having a gun pressed to my head. Eli slung the gun over his shoulder and turned to me. "Are you okay Clare?" I slowly shook my head no. He came over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. The tears that I hadn't noticed in my eyes before were now streaming down my face and into Eli's tee shirt. "It was- oh Eli it was horrible." I sobbed. He rubbed my back soothingly.

"It's alright. I'm here now. I won't let you anyone hurt you. I swear I'll take a bullet for you if that's what it comes to. You'll be okay. You'll be okay," he repeated softly in my ear. I felt the raw emotion in his words and that alone made me want to hug him forever and never leave the spot we stood in. There was only one thing that could ruin a moment like this. And sure enough, it did.

"Aw look, my two favorite couples. Care if I join your game?"

Last cliffhanger, I promise. Actually, there are only like two more chapters left! What's going to happen? IDK.

Thank you again princess amy for reviewing. Only one lol, but that's fine with me. I still plan on finishing my story! Thanks for reading!

Until next time, Lindsey.