A/N So some people requested a new chapter so I happily obliged; this is Crystal's side of the story, so be warned there are some scenes of abuse in this and the very first scene has her contemplating suicide.
If I have offended anyone with how I have portrayed abuse here I am extremely sorry, that was not my intention.
You Were Always My Hero
You're so useless
The knife's steel blade felt so cold on Crystal's skin as she contemplated putting more pressure and ending it right there in the kitchen.
No one would care, she had no friends in her old school and she hadn't even met anyone yet then went to her knew school, her father would probably be ecstatic that he had one less mouth to feed.
She wouldn't have to worry about school work, or her father coming home drunk, or anything ever again.
If it hadn't been for you, your mother would still be here
Her grip on the knife's handle tightened as her father's words came back to her. Tears fell down her cheeks in sadness that she was hated by the one man who should have loved her most.
The radio blared "Thunder Man has saved the world."
Crystal paused in her attempt to put the knife down and shut the radio off. Her hands clasped over the sink as she contemplated what she should do.
She checked the time on the clock in the kitchen: 8:00 she had maybe half an hour to get to school if she hurried.
Her eyes landed on the knife once again. She sighed, cleaned it and put it back in it's holder.
The knife would still be there tonight. She reasoned to herself.
"Hey" Crystal looked up from her notebook to see the boy she had fallen on top of that morning.
She nodded her head at him. "Hi"
"Are you working on this project alone?" The boy asked. Crystal looked down and nodded.
"I don't have a partner; do you mind if we work together?" Crystal stared at the boy, very few people ever willingly worked with her and when they did she was the one who was always stuck with work. She stared at his face looking for the signs that she had seen in other people.
The only thing she could detect was kindness, mischievousness, and nervousness. Nothing to hint that he would be malicious toward her but the mischievousness she saw in his eyes was enough of a hint that she should be on her toes.
"Ok" She said. "But no pranks" She said sternly. Max looked at her wide eyed confused as to how she could have known that.
"I know that look in your eyes." She said having no idea where this burst of confidence came from but deciding to go with it anyway. "I'm simply asking that you wait until after the project before you embarrass me ok?"
Max's eyes seemed to dim in intensity as though she had just swiped the rug out from under his feet.
Crystal for some reason felt guilty but pushed it aside for later. "You already know my name I assume" She said (she had announced to the class before falling into his lap. "But I don't know yours."
"Max" The boy said holding out his hand for her to shake. "Max Thunderman."
Thunderman? No way that has GOT to be a coincidence. Crystal thought before taking his hand. "Nice to meet you Max." She told him.
As they worked on the project together she found that she actually liked him, he was funny, and made her laugh, and the best part of it all – he was kind.
For the first time in a long time their was someone out there who actually liked her and didn't want to hurt her, she found herself eager to see him again,
She never went near the knife that night.
Several weeks had gone by before Crystal had grown comfortable around him to actually hangout with him outside of class. They would stay behind after school and Max would tell her of the pranks he was planning to pull on his sister when he got home.
Crystal had started to learn the difference between him wanting to prank a teacher, an unsuspecting student, or his twin sister. He tended to look a lot more malicious when planning on pranking his sister then he ever did when pranking a teacher or a student.
"How do you know me so well?" Max had asked her one day during lunch after she had asked him what prank he was planning.
Crystal smiled at him and shrugged. "Your face is easy to read and right now you have a face that says 'I'm going to prank my sister" She told him.
"It could be another unsuspecting student"
"You wouldn't look nearly so malicious." Crystal told him.
She had also started to notice that whenever people were mean to her all of a sudden they started to trip over themselves.
A girl who had been jealous of the attention Max had given her had made the mistake of 'accidently' pouring hot coffee all over her shirt in front of Max the next day the girl had found every single article of clothing she had kept in her locker burned to hell.
"What did you do?" Crystal had asked Max. Not fooled for even a second.
Max had just shrugged. "Brought a blow torch in late last night and torched each individual article of clothing she kept inside her locker." He told her not even bothering to hide it.
"Why?" Crystal asked. Uh huh right how exactly did you get a blow torch in to the school unnoticed by anyone?
"She burned you" Max shrugged. "I thought it fitting I burn something important of hers."
Crystal's eyes softened at that before shaking her head and punching him in the arm(Something that would have been unthinkable several weeks before).
"Idiot" She hissed. "I'm not worth you getting in trouble for."
Max blinked at her. "Of course you are" He told her. "You're my friend."
Crystal shook her head and sighed. "Never again, ok?"
Max never answered her and instead changed the subject. "Want to help me prank my sister?" He asked her.
Crystal rolled her eyes but helping him come up with pranks had always been a fun release for her so she nodded.
Egging the teacher, she had always told him that pranking a teacher was not something she wanted to do, but when he looked at her with those eyes practically begging her to live a little, for once, she found herself unable to say no. She vaguely wondered if getting people to do what he wanted was another superpower he had, but soon found herself having too much fun egging the teacher to care.
That's when their relationship changed.
The teacher had just finished yelling at them warning them that their parents would be hearing about this. They were walking down the stairs with Crystal telling Max that she was never ever doing that again when she slipped on a puddle of water.
Max screamed at her his hands out stretched as though to grab her when she felt herself being lifted into the air.
Max just stared at her wide eyed, but Crystal was calm and happy; relieved that she had been saved.
Slowly Max placed her on the landing and he hurried down the stairs.
"Are you ok?" He asked her worriedly. "I didn't hurt you did I?"
"I knew you had powers" Crystal said happily.
Max stared at her in surprise. "You knew?"
Crystal nodded. "Of course, your last name was to much of a giveaway, that and half the stunts you've pulled this year could not possibly have been pulled with out at least some form of superpowers." She said with a shrug.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Crystal sighed and told him that she was afraid that they would wipe her memory if they found out, that she couldn't lose the only friend she ever had.
Max held her as tightly as he could and swore to her that he would protect her.
Crystal said nothing to that instead just enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her. They stayed like that for a while until a teacher found them and told them to go home.
"You, Stupid girl" Her father yelled slamming her into the ground. Doing just enough to damage the parts of her body that would be covered by clothes.
Crystal said nothing instead just stayed on the ground. She had spent enough time under her father's roof to know that standing when he wasn't done just increased the pain.
"How dare you do something like this" He growled at her kicking her hard in the stomach.
"I'm sorry" Crystal gasped.
"I told your mother to end the pregnancy" Her father shouted at her. "Why she gave her life for a sniveling little brat like you I'll never understand." He said kicking her again.
Crystal closed her eyes forcing her mind away from the moment as she thought of Max.
It was a habit she had come to do whenever her father's attacks got to painful. She would replay the day they had over and over and over.
It felt like hours later when he finally stopped hurting her.
She couldn't tell Max what she was going through, he would freak and do something completely stupid again.
The reminder of what he had done to that popular girl who had spilled hot coffee all over her blouse – which did hurt by the way- was still fresh in her mind.
Besides it wasn't like she didn't deserve this pain, she was a monster and a brat, just like her father had told her countless times before. She deserved this pain, she deserved to die, and a part of her hated herself for not being able to end it that day in the kitchen that day so long ago.
But then all she had to do was think of Max and remember his smiles, his eyes as they looked at her, his arms as they embraced her, his telekinesis wrapping around her as she flew high above the trees, making her feel both safer and freer than she ever felt before and the feeling of needing to die went away.
She stood and slowly walked to the bathroom she wouldn't have to worry about school; her father never hit her where she was sure to show skin.
She called Max on her cell phone. "Hi Max" She said to the boy when he picked up the phone. "I miss you."
"If you breathed on her just enough" Crystal was saying. "You'd be able to make her feel as though she was having a fever forcing her to have to go home."
Together Crystal and Max were trying to brainstorm ideas on how to get out of school for the day. So far that idea was the best they had come up with.
Max scrunched his nose. "If I stand far enough away" He mused "That could work."
Crystal had to bite her lip when the teacher started to look red and tired from suddenly feeling so hot.
To the teachers credit she lasted around ten minutes before having to head home because of a fever.
The rest of the class was dismissed early from school and Max and Crystal headed off to the field they liked to be in. It was incredibly deserted so there was a very slim chance at being caught.
See Crystal loved it when Max used his powers to enable her to fly. He never abused the ability and was always very gentle, he listened to her and they had devised ways of communicating when Crystal was to far up to be heard. By waving her arms in certain directions she could communicate up or down or left or right.
Crystal loved the feeling of flying, it gave her the very brief illusion of freedom, even though deep down she knew that in reality it was just Max holding her up, but for those brief moments of weightlessness she could truly fly.
In the air she could forget about her home life, her hatred of her father, the fact that she was the reason for her mother's death instead she could just focus on how small everything looked from above.
She looked down at Max and sighed and waved her arms in the proper motion that mean 'down'.
Once her feet were back on solid ground she ran to Max and hugged him.
"Thanks" She said. "That felt great."
Max blushed at her contact. "I'm glad you liked it."
Crystal stayed by her locker as she watched her best friends sister start to gather things from her locker.
It's now or never. Crystal sighed gathered her courage and walked up to the girl.
"Hey Phoebe" Crystal said.
Phoebe turned and smiled at the girl. "Oh hey Crystal, finally decide you're too good for my brother?" She asked jokingly.
Crystal held back a laugh. I'm too good for him? Please he's to good for me.
Crystal shook her head. "Actually Phoebe, I have a favor to ask."
Phoebe tilted her head confused.
"I need you to promise that if anything happens to me, you'll take care of Max" Crystal said. "You won't let him do something stupid."
Phoebe just stared at Crystal confused. "Are you expecting something to happen?"
Crystal shook her head her stomach twisting at the lie, the truth was her father had started to get a lot more aggressive in his attacks, and she knew that before long she wouldn't be waking up from them at all.
Crystal smiled. "No, it is just a precaution" She told Phoebe.
Crystal was furious as she stomped out of class that day. "That woman knows nothing," She hissed as she walked out of class. "She has absolutely no proof and yet blames me, for doing what the entire class was doing."
Max didn't say anything instead just watched her and walked beside her as she vented her rage.
"I mean what happened to her face was hilarious" Crystal said a small laugh escaping. "But I wasn't the only one laughing."
"You are the one who suggested it" Max offered. "Even if I'm the one who executed the idea"
Crystal stopped and closed her eyes and looked down the fight immediately take out of her.
"Yeah" She said her sudden calmness was so quick that Max found himself quite disoriented by the sudden change. "I guess your right."
Images of floating in the air past through her mind and she smiled.
"Can we go to the meadow today?" She asked him.
Max had never refused her before, and he didn't refuse her this time. "Always Crystal" He told her, smiling softly at her.
She held on for as long as she could. As blood seeped from her wound in those agonizing minutes as she waited for Max to come she couldn't help but go through all her special moments he had with her.
The first time they met, the times he took her flying, the first time he ever used his telekinesis on her, the feeling of happiness he gave her whenever he saw her, the feeling of safety she had come to associate with his embrace, every moment of happiness she had ever felt came back to her.
Max entered her room and stared at her with his eyes filled with horror before he pulled off his shirt and placed it on the gun shot wound in the hopes of stemming the bleeding.
Crystal was floating in and out of consciousness so she only barely heard Max call for an ambulance.
He looked at her holding her hand as tightly as he could.
"Who did this to you" He demanded to her.
Crystal stared at him anger, sadness, helplessness. Yet with all she knew she found herself unable to deny this simple request. "My father" She said. "Shot me. Please don't-" get revenge for this please, I couldn't bare it if you went down this dark path please.
She would have told him all that but by that point the paramedics had arrived and Max was forced to step aside and that was the last thing she knew before she lost consciousness.
She was in the darkness for a long time, not exactly sure what she was waiting for.
I'm sorry Max She thought to herself. I should have told you sooner.
She could feel herself being pulled away into the light but with every second she tried to stay for her best friend's sake another force twice as strong was tugging her away.
Eventually she was forced to let go.
I'm sorry Max, goodbye. She thought before succumbing to the pull of death.
Crystal watched as Max turned to the evil woman and made the deal.
"No" Crystal whispered. "Max, please, no"
She turned away from the scene she had witnessed. "You, stupid boy, I'm not worth that" She said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"That woman was wrong; you were always my hero." She said before breaking down crying.
A/n So yeah that was Crystal's POV of everything that happened. Hope you enjoyed reading it and please leave a review. I also apologize for the absolute destruction of several laws of science I might have made throughout the course of this chapter.
I also have a Phoebe POV chapter about everything that occurs in the three year gap between Crystal's death and Max visiting her grave three years later, it's not done yet, but give it about a week or two and it will-hopefully-be done.