"Stupid, fucking skirts."
Faye stood in front of a full length mirror, trying to stretch the material of the skirt she wore. It was a shimmering, jet black and the bottom was cut jagged so that it hung in strands. The shirt Sara had given her was similar to a corset, only with sleeves. The entire top was what Faye referred to as "Superman Blue" and the sleeves, which barely left her shoulders, were shear.
Seeing herself in the mirror sent Faye into another rant of muttered curses. She looked . . . petite. Strong and secy, she admitted, but petite. "This sucks."
A soft knocking could be heard coming from the door as Faye continued to stare at her reflection. "Come in!"
Faye did not pay much attention to the door or the person behind it until she heard the click of the door closing. Turning around slightly, Faye found Pogue leaning back against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. Giving him the briefest acknowledgement, Faye turned back to the mirror and continued to try to make her skirt longer.
Pogue could not help but smile slightly. "It's already torn. You don't have to keep trying."
Growling, she did not take her attention away from the skirt. "I didn't tare it. That's the style. I'm trying to make it go to my knees, not mid-thigh."
Continuing to smile, Pogue inspected the skirt. The bottom of each chunk already hit the top of her knees. It was only the slits that started mid-thigh but Pogue decided not asking would save more time.
"Caleb's mom really wants me to suffer."
"Wasn't Sara the one who picked the clothes?" Pogue chuckled softly.
Faye glared at the skirt in the mirror. "Oh, she is so dead."
"I don't think Caleb would be too pleased."
If looks and thoughts could kill, the skirt would be on fire and almost reduced to ashes. "Well, the day is looking up."
Faye went back to pulling at the skirt. Since her head was down, most of her hair hung off her shoulders, near her face. The back of her shirt went down to reveal most of the back of her shoulders. He could see the sickly green, yellow and purple colouring of bruises. They seemed to cover her entire back, at least what he could see of it. "He really hurt you, didn't he . . ."
"What can I say. I love to piss people off." With a heavy, frustrated sigh, Faye gave up. The skirt won. Damn thing just would not stretch.
Pogue could not help but see Reid in her response. His face became serious and calculating. "So you can Use?"
"Didn't we already go through this?"
Pogue smirked. "Pretend like I wasn't able to overcome my hate for your brother and wasn't listening all that well."
Faye returned his smirk with an amused smile. "Pretend?"
Pogue just looked at her. She sighed, "Fine. Yes, I can use but mine is different. It's not as powerful as yours but it's more . . . precise. I can't fly . . . or whatever you call it, like you guys can but that's probably because I'm afraid of falling."
Pogue watched her as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "Don't you mean heights?"
"No. The height won't kill you. Actually, it's not the fall that'll kill you, either . . . it's the ground."
"What about the consequences?" Pogue decided to let it go as his curiosity got the better of him.
A sad smile appeared on Faye's face. "I'm lucky, I don't age. It just exhausts me and I sleep for a day or so. Depends on how much I Use. I still don't like to Use, though."
Frowning in confusion, Pogue studied her. "How is that possible?"
"Don't know. Just is." Faye could not look at him. She knew that, compared to theirs, the consequences of using for her was barely there. However, Faye had almost put herself into a coma once. She had just found out that she could Use and got a little carried away. Alright, more like a lot carried away. After waking up a month later, she had gained a healthy fear of Using.
"Anything else?"
"Using sometimes causes . . . physical changes," Faye mumbled and Pogue barely caught what she was saying.
"What do you mean by physical changes?"
Faye gazed at him, not responding for a moment. A shiver ran down Pogue's spine as he looked into her eyes. There was a calculating coldness in that stare. Even Chase had never had that look. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
"Nothing noteworthy. Just . . . don't push me too far. You won't like me when I'm emotional."
"Isn't everyone emotional?"
Sighing, Faye raised a single eyebrow. "You know what? You're pretty frustrating. I meant when I can no longer control my emotions. But don't worry. I've had a lot of practice."
"So Tyler told us." Recalling the cold emptiness from Faye's earlier stare, Pogue shook his head. "Never mind. I won't try to force it out of you."
Pursing her lips, Faye nodded, "Thanks. So he told you guys everything?"
"Yeah."
They both sat there, looking at each other. Not another word was spoken and a peaceful silence seemed to hover over them.
Pogue reflected on the events that had occurred over the past few days. This girl had turned his entire belief system on its head. He figured that was the source of his hostility towards her . . . that and the fact that she was related to Chase. "Tyler's different when it comes to you. I guess you could say you gave him balls."
"Huh?"
"Tyler's always been the quiet one. He's the youngest and wasn't as strong as the rest of us. Because of that, he became the peacekeeper of the group. We've never seen him angry until you were in trouble. It reminded me of Reid and that is not like Tyler at all."
Faye nodded her head at Pogue, understanding where he was going. "Reid's anger is hot and instant. It stays at the same level and then slowly dissipates. Tyler's is different. His anger is cold, where he goes quiet and doesn't say a thing. It stays in, churning and increasing. It doesn't stop but stays bottled up. When that type of anger finally explodes, it's dangerous. Hot anger is a lot safer then cold anger."
It occurred to Pogue that she may be speaking from personal experience. He wondered if her anger was the hot type or the cold type.
Unaware of where Pogue's thoughts lay, Faye shrugged. "That's why it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for."
Neither spoke a word and they were left with another awkward silence. Faye looked at her feet while Pogue continued to watch her.
"How did you get rid of Chase . . ."
Pogue blinked a few times. Faye was still looking at her feet. "We couldn't hurt him at first but after this weird light, we could."
Looking up at him, Faye frowned. "Reid said I died. I couldn't have been clinically dead or you would've been able to hurt him."
"What?"
The frown remained on her face. "Chase was inside of me and if I was truly dead, he would have been free from me. He'd be solid again and able to be hurt. So that means that he is basically invincible during that point between death and clinical death."
"That doesn't really explain it to me." Pogue was now sitting with his legs on the floor, hands clasped between them, and he was leaning forward.
Faye sighed, "It's difficult to explain since I'm not completely sure myself. Alive, I have the ability to keep him real ro corporeal, whichever you want to call it. But once I died, I could no longer hold him back. There was still brain function so he was trapped but without me keeping him real, he had control."
"So . . . that means he's still inside of you?"
"That's what I don't get. He's gone," Faye inhaled deeply, "I can't feel him anymore. What happened when this light showed up?"
Leaning back and slouching a little, Pogue sighed in frustration. "You weren't breathing and while we dealt with Chase, Reid performed 'Mouth to Mouth.' He said you started breathing again just as the light appeared."
Faye leaned back on the bed, putting her weight on her elbows. :That explains it then. He was back in his cage . . . key word being was. Mind telling me what the light was?"
Pogue ran his hand through his hair. "Don't know. I was going to ask you."
"Got me."
0()0()0()0()0()0()0
A/N: I am SO sorry! I had this written back when I was into mid-terms but misplaced it. I just found it again. I didn't want to rewrite it because it was so hard to write in the first place. I know this chapter is short, dry and a lot of dialogue but it was necessary to get it out. Again, sorry for the wait. I know there is no real excuse. Let me know what you think of this chapter [my least favourite... except for the 'death to skirts' part.
I have some great ideas but not sure how to incorporate them. However, I have hit a massive writer's block on where I am going with this. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them. Maybe it will help me locate my missing muse.
I'm glad I didn't lose all my readers. Sadly, I did lose a good chunk of them. And after another long wait, probably the rest. So, on to the reviews.
Thanks to melodie568, HopelessRomantic44, -xAxsxHxlxExyx- (sorry it wasn't fast), and SabinaGirl.
Skye Mercer: Thank you for sticking with me. I hope you continue to do the same. And yes, poor Chase.
xmmmbopperx: Cool... Um, I mean... sorry for making you late? I believe that is what I'm suppose to say. Glad you were so intrigued. As for juggling.. remove social life and add work life and you got me pegged. God, I barely remember what a social life is. Lol. Sorry for the wait!
xBrokenDreamerx: Yeah! I still have regulars! I have a plan for them but am having issues putting all my thoughts together into one fic. My interests lately have been travelling between Harry Potter, Traveler [great little show,the Twilight novels and most recently, Dark Angel [again, Jensen Ackles is so funny. With all these different ideas acting like pinballs in my mind, I am having writer's block.
Bleeding Blue Kunoichi: Don't worry about reviewing every chapter, especially if you come into a story that already has many chapters.
Kelsey: I hope to continue having a non-teeny bopper-ish story. But I can't make promises... my inner teeny bopper tends to rear it's head when thinking of the yummy boys of the Covenant.
Draco's Secret Lover: Every 'Evil' has a 'Misunderstood' inside. I'm glad you like the last line. I always try to start and end a chapter with a decent line.
FatelessDreams: I'm glad you feel sad for him... it was what I was trying to do. I always feel that an 'evil' character needs to be real.
0()0()0()0()0()0()0
"Bits That Just Didn't Make It" (kinda like deleted scene... kinda)
Chapter Thirteen
"They both like you." (Pogue)
"Uh-huh." (Faye)
"I'm serious." (Pogue)
"Uh-huh." (Faye)
Chapter Thirteen
"You may want to watch out for Reid and Tyler." (Pogue)
"Why . . ." (suspicious Faye)
"You're wearing a skirt." (Pogue as he leaves)
(closing the door behind him)
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!" (Faye yells after Pogue)