Witch-Bitch

Disclaimer: Only the strangers herein are mine.

Author's Note: this is complete AU

Author's Note: I'm going to be adding more 1st POVs, so names will be used from now on.

Note on Fonts: please look at previous chapters.

Chapter 14: Pass or Fail

Tala's POV

"yes I know." I paused while I heard the same shit I had been told since I volunteered. "look, I'm doing everything I can, but it's not like I can have direct influence-" I was cut down again, and I could feel my anger suddenly reach boiling point. "that was your plan, you told me to act like that so that my earth-parents would plan that party!" I winced as my mentor took a swipe at my being.

"yes sir. Understood-" I felt my jaw drop at his command. And then a slow smile crept on my lips. "you serious? I get to do that?" I heard his consent. "I'll get right on it." My head was cleared of his presence, and I sat back in my chair, slowly savouring what had just been granted me.

Allowing this… this was the best thing since I turned Kai against Becky and she had ended up in hospital. It's not like I was playing for the evil side, the dark side.; let me clear that up. We were just the guys that had to test ALL the possibilities, whether good or bad. I specialized in testing the worst-case scenarios on the unions. Rei was a guardian angel: yeah, 'guardian' and 'angel' put together means something completely different to what he was . he was just a guide, a mentor. He could make things clear, options visible. He couldn't say anything directly, or take a direct stance. He just protected them, helped them out…

I was a tester. I got to see if there was a chance that the internal balance would be strengthened or threatened, so we would know what to plan next for the future- but that was still a fuzzy concept to me, I doubt that Rei would know either. But… thinking on him, I couldn't help but feel a wicked grin come onto my face at the knowledge that he HAD directly influenced Becky and Kai's union.

There was nothing in the rulebook about me not having a little fun.

Becky's POV

"but that was just a crush. I've stopped feeling that way-"

"have you? have you really?" Rei interrupted me. "you're strong, Becky; stronger that you were before you nearly killed yourself, so why do you let it still get to you?" I had a perfectly good answer for that, except that when I opened my mouth to answer… I lost it. Rei smiled at me.

"see? You can't object because you don't really believe it."

"but it doesn't make any sense! Yes, we kinda made up last night, but that doesn't absolve Kai or release him from all those years of pain! So why would I still have those feelings?" I exclaimed in frustration. Rei leaned back against the wall.

"love's a funny thing," he said casually.

"love?" I squeaked, my voice turning traitor. "we were talking about a crush just a second ago, and now it's love I'm supposed to be feeling?"

"I can't see it any other way."

"I am so not liking you right now."

"I know you don't, but I'm just laying out the facts for you to see." I looked back at him and scowled.

"emotions aren't facts," I tried to argue, but I knew it was weak. I couldn't argue what Rei was saying, because they were things running through my mind at that time and now, even as we talked. I admit, to myself only at this time, that what had happened was… amazing.

It had felt like a candle had just been relit. I don't deny that in those few, brief days before my whole life had turned around, that I had felt something. I had felt something happening, something coming together. He hadn't been the Kai of last week, he hadn't had this intent whenever he saw me to hurt me. He had been quiet. In those moments when he found me, he would sit and stay, and it felt like he was there for my presence. I didn't know what it was. To me, it was so strange and new. I didn't know what to do. Should I talk to him, ask him how it was going, what he was up to?

Mostly we talked about school, about class. Nothing specific. He had these rare moments when he would ask something so strange but exactly what I was thinking about, and then I would babble. This only happened three times, but it had really meant something to me when he listened, and really listened. Should I act on that? Could I really forgive him for pushing me to that…edge? What if it happened again? I shuddered thinking about it. Rei reached out and put his hand on my shoulder.

I had visited death and I wasn't ready to call again.

Rei's POV

I could see her struggling with her memories. I could hear them as she muddled around her words, trying to come to terms with it all and trying to understand what she was feeling now. my hand on her shoulder was nothing short of comfort to her, and torture to me. Tessa, or my mentor, whatever she was called, was right. She was special, and everyone knew it.

Only she couldn't be special for me. And that hurt, knowing that this was my only purpose in life, to bring them together. I could hear him too. He was pissed at me, at the way that she had so easily forgiven me and was avoiding him. he forgets that he wounded her so badly, that it took her three months before she would talk to anyone. And so long, so long, for her to let herself be touched by anyone else.

"then what do I do?" she said so quietly, I was sure she was talking to herself. I pulled myself upright, leaving me hand on her shoulder.

"what do you want to do?" I coaxed. She looked at me, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"I want… to go slowly. I just want to talk. I just want to listen. I just want him to hear me and act… right. He can't leave, he's stuck here for a while, and I don't want it to be awkward between us. But… I don't want to try that again… not just yet. Don't you just hate the word 'just'?" she asked out of the blue. Luckily, I knew what she meant, and I grinned at her, knowing that she had made a decision, and was sticking by it.

"it is a trifle irritating, isn't it?" I said lightly. She whacked me with her pillow, pouting comically.

"a 'trifle irritating'? where do you come with these phrases, good sir?" she teased, whacking me again.

"mercy, slave-warden!" I called out, holding my hands up in surrender; but then I grabbed her other pillow and thumped her good.

"I'm so going to get you for that! This means war!" she growled menacingly, aiming her pillow for my face. I ducked, wandering at her change of mood. She had always been tiring to follow: she zipped from each emotion with an uncanny speed once she made her mind up about something. I managed a good thump across her shoulder and she tumbled off her bed, giggling. I peered over the edge, and my heart froze me before I could act with the sudden intent that formed in her mind.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down, so that I had to hold myself up by bracing my hands on either side of her head. She looked at me, upside down; the back of my wrists touched the top of her shoulders.

"why?" she asked, suddenly serious again. "why not, Rei? It's not a natural course of action, but time that's put this chance before us. Why can't we take it? I really don't understand…" she tried to pull me down but I was stronger than her.

"I've told you Becky, there's someone better than me for you."

"what, like Kai?" I nearly lost my grip. "Who says that he's the better choice? If I remember correctly, he was the one that made me cut deeper, he made me try kill myself."

"but are you sure he wasn't himself? That maybe he was drunk, and didn't know what he was saying? That maybe he was threatened, and couldn't do anything but say those words?" she shook her head from side to side.

"how can another human do that to someone else?" she shook her head again, and tried to tug me down. My arms were shaking with the effort. "what if I don't want him? what if this 'someone else' is you? can't we try?"

"Becky, you don't understand-"

"then make me. Show me that you don't love me that way," she said pleadingly. She looked at me with eyes filled with questions, and demanding, and I couldn't answer her, not the way she wanted. But… just this one chance, maybe? Just a parting shot, so that she would know finally that I wasn't the one?

No Rei, stop convincing yourself of that! She doesn't know any better, she's never known- you'll be corrupting everything that their Union stands for, most likely damaging any chance of ever fixing this! I looked into her eyes and felt my resolve weakening, dying away like a snuffed flame. I wanted her. I loved her. it wasn't fair that things had turned out like this, it wasn't fair that I had to be denied.

I let her next tug draw me down, and our noses bumped into each-other. Her eyes sparkled as I braced my elbows by her ears. And then I lowered my head, until my lips touched her own, upside-down lips. Her fingers went into my hair, trailing the fuzz on the back of my neck. So unfair… I thought hazily as I opened my mouth.

Kai's POV

Why were they so quiet all of a sudden? I couldn't hear their chattering anymore, and I wondered… I suddenly felt hot all over, like someone had just lit a bonfire inside me. They couldn't… could they? I felt the muscles in my abdomen tighten with fury, with… fear. I'm too late. She's made her choice.

I felt completely lost by it. I was detached as my hands bundled up shoes, keys and my shades; while I walked robot-like down the stairs and grabbed the spare set of keys off the rack that Mr. Kristine had pointed out to me; while I checked the position of her cats; when I jumped over the fence, and then started running, running, running.

Why did you ever entertain any thought of her? she was never going to accept you, you hurt her, you betrayed her trust! Naturally she would go for Rei, he's been with her for longer, he's been there for her! I felt like screaming, like tearing something apart with my hands. I just wanted to get out of this place, where nothing made sense. she wasn't ever going to think of me that way, how could she? How could she ever learn to trust her heart to the boy that had tortured her for most of her young adult life? how could she ever go for someone like that?

I seriously doubted that I would go for me if I was her. but what did Rei have that I couldn't offer, that I couldn't try to give her? time. A fuckload of time to comfort her every time you made her cry, time to hold her when she broke down, time to talk with her about anything, everything.

"it isn't fair!" I screamed breathlessly into the empty sky. The empty street seemed to echo it back to me, warped. …it is…is fair…it is…is fair… no it wasn't! I wanted a chance with her too, I wanted to show her that I was sorry, that all I wanted to do was beg for her to forgive me for what I had done. Why couldn't I have a second chance with her, like Rei had?

Completely out of breath and my mouth dry as if caked with dust, I realized I was outside the gates of the mansion, leaning one hand against the cement pillar of the one gate. I inhaled deeply, swallowing a few times to work up the spit, and then pushed the button on the remote, and the gates quietly glided open. I shut the alarms down, and then entered the garage.

How did I get here so fast? I knew the drive was only fifteen minutes, and worked it out to be a half-hour walk as I almost drowned myself under the faucet of the outside bathroom. maybe my rage had powered my run. I didn't know. All I knew was the gleaming of my bike as I switched on the light, and it lit up like it was glad to see me. I touched its handlebars, grateful for the one friend I had in my life.

To be continued…

PO: what are you thinking Rei! You're messing up my whole plot!

Rei: I understand that you're a girl, but you look at her in your mind, and tell me why I wouldn't go for her.

PO: oh… but, well, come on! I'm the writer here!

Zicky: don't try fighting it, PO. They ain't just working yet.

PO: sigh… you're right. Come on people; review!