"...Not an option, you see, I've discovered that the only way to really hurt you is through him. And the only way to hurt him is through you." And with that Chase grabbed Tyler's wrist and flung him towards Maddie. She yelped, and scooted out of the way in time, moments later Tyler hit the wall with a loud thump, and bits of plaster from the ceiling rained on his head. He groaned and stood shakily, his power might be temporarily weakened but his will and body were still stronger than average.

"Chase Collins I am going to fucking murder you…"

"No you wont. Because if you kill me… which you physically can't," He shoved the barrel of his gun roughly against the back of Madeline's head, making a painful sound and a trickle of red dripped onto the trigger. "Then lovely Maddie dies."

"I won't let you kill her."

"You don't have a choice, baby boy."

"I always have a choice." He said, almost out of breath. Chase smirked, and raised his other free hand. His eyes went black, and bits of plaster detached themselves from the already busted ceiling. Pieces as large as bricks then started hurling themselves at Tyler, who, unable to move, couldn't avoid them and was soon on the floor and bleeding heavily as the velocity of the projectiles increased.

Maddie, who Chase had lost interest in, was sitting in her corner, staring in horror, when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the movement from under a pile of plaster. She crawled over to Caleb, and started removing the plaster that he was buried under, until he was completely free and barely conscious.

"Caleb." She whispered. "I know you want to kill me, but please, forget about that for a minute so that you can save Tyler… please!" she begged him. Caleb blinked and looked around the room, a bit disoriented, and his gaze finally set on Tyler who was being beaten to death by flying chunks of pink plaster.

"I can try." He said hazily. He stood, walked clumsily towards Chase, and punched him in the side of the face. Chase flew back and hit the wall, and at the same time his eyes returned to normal and Tyler had stopped being beaten to death by flying objects.

Chase and Caleb forgot about their powers for a using and both of them began beating each other up, using fists and feet until Caleb, still groggy from his head injury, was flung to the floor and Chase laughed victoriously when he didn't get up again.

"Ty! Tyler!" Maddie shook Tyler's arm forcefully, hands clutched on the fabric of his jacket. She didn't do so for long however, as Chase waltzed over and picked her up by her collar again, this time not as gently.

His eyes were pitch black and he was grinning madly, drunk off the adrenaline from his win, and he shook her a bit hard. She gagged and placed her fingers in her collar to lessen the tightness.

"Lovely little Maddie why the fuck do you keep getting in my way?" he hissed, still grinning. "Its not going to help, you're just going to suffer more and die sooner…"

He stuck his other arm out and with it attracted a long piece of copper wire from who knows where. He clutched it in his fist and approached the sharpest end to Maddie's face. He ran it along her cheek, her neck, and more roughly down the side of her shirt where the fabric parted and ripped, showing some pale skin. Maddie squirmed and tried shying away from the makeshift weapon, but without success.

"Squirm all you want, fight all you want… but you're mine Madeline, and nothing in the world can ever change that…"

Just then Chase's attention seemed to weaken for just a moment, and that moment was long enough for Tyler to reach out, grab the gun that he had forgotten on the floor, and shoot Chase Collins twice in the side of the head.

Even with his using Chase wasn't able to stop the bullets from piercing the side of his skull, penetrating the softness of the inside of his head, and stop midway. His eyes widened upon impact and his face deformed itself a bit when they stopped, blood started trickling from his ears and the two dime-sized holes on his temple as Maddie stared in silent horror. His grip loosened, she dropped to the floor and scrambled away from what would soon be the corpse of Chase Collins.

Tyler staggered to his feet, dropped the gun, and stared down at Chase's body for a moment. He looked surprisingly weak, lying there with the pool of blood around his head. But Chase's post-mortem condition was the least of his worries.

"Maddie!"

He spun around and dropped to the floor again, right in front of her.

She was looking right in front of her, blankly, not really taking in anything, just, staring. Her shirt was ripped in several places, She had a large bruise decorated with a gash on her cheek and the long, thin, line that Chase had traced with the copper wire had started trickling blood. A splatter of Chase's darker blood was across her chest and a few drops on her face. She didn't look up at Tyler when he approached her.

A strand of blonde and bloody hair flew in front of her face. With his hand Tyler awkwardly repeated the gesture he had done not so long ago, brushing the strands out from in front of her and behind her ear, where they belonged. His fingers lingered at her cheek for a second too long and she closed her eyes tightly. Tyler pulled his hand away.

"Sorry." He whispered.

They just sat there, in the quiet of the bedroom that was slowly losing the appearance of a child's and returning to its original shape and décor. Caleb's deep, struggling breaths and the drip of Chase's blood made up the only noise.

Then, out of the blue, Maddie moved quickly and wrapped her arms around Tyler's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. More than just slightly shocked, Tyler didn't move for a minute, than, hesitantly, put his arms around her and pulled her closer.

She smelled like blood and vanilla, and her hair was incredibly soft. Tyler could feel her crying into his shoulder and her resistance to pulling away. He knew that whatever she was doing was causing her a great deal of pain.

Then it hit him.

"Aw shit." He whispered. Maddie didn't reply, and he buried his face in her blonde hair.

"This is hurting you isn't it?" he whispered eventually.

"Don't care." She replied in a muffled mumble.

Tyler carefully and reluctantly pulled away, disconnecting her arms from around him and placing them by her sides. When he looked back at her she was looking at him mournfully from puffy red eyes.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"You don't need to be sorry for anything, you didn't do a thing…"

"I did." She interrupted him. "I ruined your friendships. I nearly got you all killed. I lied to all of you."

Tyler frowned when she said she had lied.

"How?"

"When I met you. It wasn't because I didn't see you die." Tyler's eyes widened. Maddie smiled sadly. "It was because every time I go to bed at night and fall asleep I see myself die the same way, and every time you're always there." She said in a whisper.

"What? But-"

Maddie started crying again, tears trickling down her cheeks and mixing with the blood from her wounds. Tyler looked at her and the wounds on her hands from touching him. Before he could open his mouth she had.

"I would tell you. I really would. But it would haunt you for the rest of your life…"

Tyler understood what she meant a split-second too late, when he had noticed Chase behind her raising his disfigured head and his bloody hand that was clutching the gun and shakily pointed it at them. He tried to move in front of it but Maddie grabbed his hands tightly and stopped him.

With three bullets shot into her back Maddie's grip loosened and she delicately crumpled into Tyler's arms