Gray's POV

Petal and I continued to dance around the clearing, nothing mattering apart from us. The rest of the world fell away, and the only thing I saw were her blue eyes, warm light dancing in them. I felt myself falling further and further in love with her. Time was suspended amongst a frail thread, her and I weaving its magic with our careful steps.

All too soon, it was shattered, a telepathic message waking me up to the fact that reality had continued to exist around us. My uncle Yves had once told me that the stronger the gravitational pull of something, the slower time went for that object. I knew what he meant, but now it had taken on a whole new meaning – Petal's attraction pulling me in irrevocably, and slowing time for us.

Gray? Sweetheart we're about to start dinner, where are you two? Snapping out of it, I tugged Pet closer to me, hoping to be able to prolong the eternity we'd made in that one second.

We were just exchanging presents, we'll be back in ten minutes, don't worry. Cutting off the conversation before mum could chastise me about giving out presents before everyone else, I started the walk home with Pet. Along the way, we both stayed quiet, as if the magic would collapse over our heads if either of us spoke up.

So, a scrapbook holding my most precious memories in one hand and the most beautiful girl I'd ever met holding my other one, I marched straight back into the chaos.

"Oh good, you guys are here." Mum then fussed over us for a good minute, complaining about how cold both of us were. All the while, she kept shooting me looks, telling me with her gaze that she thought I'd already postponed telling everyone about my relationship a little too long. Being aware of that myself, I spoke up, getting everyone's attention quickly. Crystal was already bouncing on her heels and looking ridiculously happy, making it obvious to everyone around her what my announcement would be. Which was good – I didn't like surprising people. Gauging everyone's reactions to my aunt, I could already tell I was going to be avalanched by hugs.

"Um, I just wanted to tell you about Maisee," the name still tasted weird in my mouth, knowing that her own father was the reason for her having to hide behind it. "As you all know we've been dating for a quite a while. But that's not all. We're also… uh, soulfinders." And as predicted, an on slaughter of hugs followed my statement. All the women gave Pet hugs too, but the men –thankfully – stayed away, having been warned by my mum about her abhorrence to contact from the opposite sex.

Comments like 'I'm so happy for you' and 'I knew it, you two make the cutest couple' were thrown around, and I think even uncle Vic smiled. Which was odd, because he never did that unless his soulfinder (Auntie Mel) did something particularly endearing. It was all going a lot better than I expected. That is, before Blake decided to rush in and pick Petal off the ground in a brotherly hug.

It would've been perfectly ok had she seen it coming, or had she been more comfortable around my younger brother – but she wasn't. He'd sneaked up on her from behind and the minute his arms went around her, all hell broke loose. Pet started screaming as everyone turned to see what all the commotion was about, and all the while I could feel my jaw ticking, the urge to kill my brother much stronger than normal. He immediately dropped her, but the harm had been done.

"Wow, ok, calm the hell down, I was only giving you a hug. Jeez." He tried to blame it on her, but it was obvious that it was a lost attempt, it falling deaf on Pet's ears. She was close to having a panic attack, that much I could tell. Clutching her chest, her eyes were tearing up and it looked as if she was having difficulty breathing, even though Blake had let go of her already. Pushing my family out of the way, I walked up to her, warning her with my eyes that I was going to get closer than her panic-mode-defence-zone allowed for.

She didn't seem to notice it though, her frantic eyes bouncing around the room as if searching for a culprit that she'd never find. So deciding to risk it, I leaned down, drawing her to my chest. In this position I could feel her ragged breathing against my chest as she struggled to pull in a full breath. Knowing that my family weren't helping, I quickly took her out of the house, all the while cradling her in my arms. As if such a simple action could soothe her pain somehow.

Once we got outside, I did what I always did when trying to calm her down: I looked her straight in the eyes and went to say comforting words that would clear the panic. However, before I could get a single word out, I noticed the expression in her eyes. I'd gotten used to Pet having bursts of panic every once in a while, but she'd never looked as scared as she did now. It broke my heart to think that just one person could screw over another so badly that a simple hug caused them this much pain. So instead of saying what I'd meant to say, I communicated all of my feelings with that one look.

How terrified I was for her. How deep my hatred for her father ran. How much I wished that I could replace her broken heart with my own – because she deserved to live happily so much more than I did. She'd gone through so much pain. I hoped she understood with that single look that I'd give up my life for her without a second thought. And in that moment, I did. Delving into her mind, which was unprotected due to her not having knowledge of shields, I carefully dug through all her memories until I found the deep recess where she'd buried all the memories to do with her father.

And right there, using all of my remaining energy, I put up a shield. Placing shields in your own mind isn't all that difficult, but once you had to do it in someone else's mind, the process got a lot more difficult. Luckily, Pet's mind wasn't resisting, so at least I only had to fight my own exhaustion. I had to make sure that the shield didn't block her memories but rather just the pain from them, so I made it delicately. Imagining a tall tower made out of glass that shone in the sunlight, reflecting rainbows and rays of light every which way. I imagined the most beautiful image my mind could conjure.

So I imagined her. I made her see how I saw her, shining blue eyes and beautiful bright smile. I placed every good memory I had of her there, showing her how deep my love for her was. And just before I could finish sealing it with a kiss, I collapsed to my knees, Petal following me soon after.

"Oh my god. Gray, Gray was that you?" She had tears streaming down her face, but the fear had gone, her eyes no longer blighting with angst. So with a smile that took all I had left, I nodded once, allowing myself to fall unconscious.

Petal's POV

As Gray collapsed into my arms, all I could think of was that I didn't deserve someone so perfect. And the worst part was that he'd hurt himself to save me from my emotional pain – but his brother's hug hadn't even been what upset me. Just as Gray announced that we were soulfinders, I went to move my arms. And then I noticed that something was scraping against my thigh, causing me a bit of discomfort.

So reaching in, I'd found that I had a piece of paper slipped inside my dress, being held up by other stitching in the dress. Confused I'd opened it, but soon my blood had turned cold.

I found you. Did you miss me, Petal?

Those were the only words written in the letter, but I immediately knew who they belonged to. Who had carefully written them to cause me the most emotional pain possible. But not only that. Also to assure me that they were coming to get me, and this time, I wasn't getting away.

The monster.

Hi :)

I'm so sorry, but then again I'm really not :') I hope you guys liked that chapter, even if Petal did have to suffer quite a bit for it :/

Once again we passed our goal! You guys are too good, seriously. But anyhows, how about we try for 111? Touch wood, huh? It's completely optional though, as you know :)

Bye bye :)

(Btw TAHIRA (just putting it in caps to attract your attention xD) there was indeed a timeskip last chapter, sorry if I didn't make that clear enough :/ But yeah, it was a bonus chapter, so we're back to the present now :) I hope I didn't confuse you too much)