Title: Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Chunk 17: Sections 81 thru 85
Fandom: The Tribe
Author: PinkTribeChick
Summary: I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me . . . Life goes on for the Mall Rats after the Chosen take over the city.
Extended Summary: Essentially, this is an Alternate Universe story for Series 3 and beyond of the Tribe. I won't say anything more than that, because I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who have never read this before
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Too many to name! But Bray-Amber, Lex-Zandra, Ryan-Salene, and Jack-Ellie, for starters. There will also be some Tribe-character with original character pairings.
Author's Notes: Again many thanks as always go to Brett The Mole, as he was the one who talked me into sharing this story with others when I first started writing it, and he was the one who kept bugging me to complete it. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you, Brett! And major thanks to Ariannya, Whit, and all the others who at various times read and proofed sections for me and gave me their invaluable feedback.
Enjoy, and please review! Feedback is much appreciated!
Disclaimer: All characters, situations, and song lyrics remain the property of their respective owners. Troy Wisneski belongs to the author Paula Boock, from her Tribe novel "Power and Chaos." Any original characters are sole property of me, PinkTribeChick.
Tribe 3: Wonderwall
Sections 81 thru 85
Ebony sat in her and Troy's room, brushing her hair out. She sat at a small, mirrored vanity, pulling out the knots that had developed in her hair overnight. Matthew walked quietly into the room.
"Hi," he said simply. She gasped loudly, turning to face him. Her face went pale, and she stood up, backing away.
"What do you want?" she asked, frightened by his presence.
"Just to talk. There's no need to be scared of me. I won't hurt you," he replied, giving her a strange look.
"Oh, yeah . . . and I should believe that? You and I both know who you are and what you're capable of," she responded. "I will never, never trust you."
"I realize that. But you really need to get used to me being around. I'm not going to go away," he said. "Look . . . I know I did some really demented things to you when we were together, and I never really treated you like you deserved to be treated. There's so many things that I haven't done right, and I'm trying to rectify them one-by-one, starting with you. I've already fixed things with Trudy, though it wasn't that hard. You . . . well, I get the feeling that fixing things with you might be a little more difficult, because I caused you a lot of emotional and mental damage."
"You most certainly did. You know, if anyone could break me, it was you. The only thing you couldn't break was my heart. Your brother did that one. But, c'est la vie. I'm stronger now, and I can take whatever crap you may dish out," she said.
"You always could take my crap. I don't think you ever realized how strong you were until I was gone. You and Troy both depended on me too much. But that's why I chose you as my two assistants, my fill-ins for when I couldn't be there. I knew you would carry on with things, that I could trust you with not only my life, but Trudy's and Bray's. I knew you both well enough to know that you would hurt other people, but you would never harm them. I also knew that you two would work well together, given the chance. Only, you jumped ship before he did, which was a smart move," Matthew said. He paused a moment, then spoke again.
"All that power and chaos stuff was a load of bull, though I didn't see it at the time. I don't think I really caught on to the harm I was causing and how evil I had become until I found out about Brady. The night I 'died' . . . I was ready to give it all up to be with Trudy and Brady, you know. I would have done anything for them. Still would. Which is why I'm staying put this time. I can't let them down again." He stopped for breath, giving Ebony a chance to respond.
"Okay . . . keep going," she said, moving back towards the vanity and sitting down.
"All I really want to say is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the times I hit you, all the times I talked rudely to you, for getting you involved with the Locos and the Chosen . . . and mostly for just being the worst possible friend and lover I could have been. And I'm really sorry about that. I'm hoping, someday, we can be friends again. I value your friendship more than you know," Matthew said. He could tell Ebony was trying not to smile.
"Is that it, Matthew?" she asked.
"Yeah. I've got to go. It's my turn to feed Brady," he answered. He turned to walk away, then stopped, turning back to face her. "By the way . . . from now on, you can call me Martin." This made Ebony smile. He smiled back, and then left the room.
"There you go," Ryan said, laying Kina in one of the cribs in the nursery. "It's nappy-time, my sweet angel." He kissed his daughter on the forehead and walked out of the room. Salene sat in a rocking chair feeding Jakob, opposite Zandra.
"You are so lucky, Salene," Zandra said, rocking Lexi to sleep. "Ryan's such a sweet guy. And he really loves you and the kids."
"Yeah, he does," Salene said, smiling. "For a while there, I wasn't sure that I loved him back. I mean, really loved him, the way he loved me. But that's in the past. I couldn't be happier now if I tried. I don't know what I'd do without him."
"You got one of the good guys, Sal. I got stuck with a rat," Zandra responded, getting up and putting Lexi to bed. "A big, smelly, old rat."
"You and Lex still having problems?" Salene asked, chuckling a little.
"Yeah . . . it's not that I don't love him. I do love him, very much. It's just . . . I feel like he's always ignoring Lexi and me. He's so busy with security around the mall and other things, he doesn't have time for us anymore. And every time I try to bring it up, he gets all defensive and accuses me of being possessive or something," Zandra replied.
"I've never really seen you as the extremely possessive type, unless Tai-San was making a move on him," Salene said, grinning. "It sounds to me like he's in denial. And that he's trying way too hard to stay busy, and there's got to be a reason why. You ought to try asking him if there's something bothering him. It might help."
"Maybe," Zandra said, as she watched Salene put Jakob in the crib beside his sister. She watched as Salene walked over to her and Ryan's room and put her arms around Ryan's waist, tickling him. She and Lex used to be like that, sort of. Well, maybe not entirely like that, but they were closer. Zandra sighed, placing Lexi's wet nappy in the garbage, and walked out of the room toward upstairs.
A couple of days later, Alice and some of the girls from the farm brought food. Ellie came along with them, standing awkwardly at the entrance, not making eye contact with anyone.
"Jack! Ellie's here!" Dal exclaimed, scrambling into the hardware shop, where Jack sat in front of the computer.
"Not funny, Dal. That joke is wearing really thin," Jack replied sarcastically.
"It's true! She's here, with Alice and the farm girls! They brought food! She's downstairs," Dal said excitedly. Jack realized he was serious and got up, running downstairs. He practically tripped twice, making those who were downstairs laugh lightly as they saw him. He slid the last yard or so of his way over to her.
"Ellie," he breathed. She looked incredible, as though he hadn't seen her in ages, even though he'd seen her just a few days before.
"Hi," she said softly, looking down at her feet.
"I've missed you," he said. Her eyes looked up at him, as she smiled a little.
"Me, too," she responded. They hugged, and she laid her head on his shoulder as he held her, tears falling down her cheeks. He knew she was crying, as he felt the tears wet the shoulder of her shirt and heard her sobbing softly.
"It's going to be okay. I promise. We'll be together again someday," he whispered comfortingly to her, running his fingers through her hair. "As Shakespeare said, 'And all these woes shall serve for sweet discourses in our times to come.' This is meant to be, I know it." His words only served to make her cry harder.
"I'm just so miserable out there without you, Jack. I don't know how I'm going to make it," she said, her voice muffled.
"Ell, I need you to be strong for me. For us. It's just as hard on me as it is on you. But we will survive, and we will be together someday," he said. "Come on. We'll go have some tea before you have to go. Okay?" She nodded, and he took her hand, leading her upstairs to the café like an innocent little child. Alice watched the entire scene from the sewer entrance, with Amber standing beside her.
"I'm still not sure I made the right decision, Amber," Alice said. "She sits around the house all day, doing nothing, not even bothering to get dressed or cleaned up most of the time. She barely eats, and she's starting to look really pale and sickly. I'm worried."
"She'll probably be okay. It's just going to take a little time for her to adjust. I'm not so sure bringing her here so soon after leaving was such a good idea, though. It might just make the problem worse," Amber said.
"Actually, I was hoping it would help her a little bit. She didn't really get to say goodbye to him. I'm hoping that once she gets the chance, she'll move on and start getting better. I don't know what I'm going to do with her if she doesn't," Alice responded.
"Bring her back here?" Amber suggested.
"I'm trying not to do that. She won't learn anything if I just give in that easily. She has to realize that she can't keep picking fights with him and not expect it to affect the rest of us. She needs to grow up a little bit," Alice replied.
"But do you really want to let her starve herself to death over this?" Amber said.
"No . . . but I'm going to stick to my instincts, unless she gets worse or something. Until then, if it comes to that, she's going to have to tough it out. I know she's strong enough. If she'll just let herself be. She has to stop depending on him so much, and he needs to stop depending on her," Alice said. "It's gotten so hard to tell where one of them ends and the other begins. They don't exist as separate people anymore. Someone's got to do something, and it's going to be me. Ma and Pa left me to take care of Ellie and raise her right. I plan to do just that."
"I admire your persistence. I would have given in by now. It may not seem like it, but I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I know how it feels to be where they are. I managed to survive a year without Bray, even losing Michael and all," Amber said. "At least with my situation, I had no control over it. I was held prisoner. Ellie and Jack don't see it that way. They don't understand why this is happening, and they may not entirely see your reasoning behind it. Ever."
"That's what bothers me. I don't want her resenting me for this later on," Alice said, sighing.
"I don't think she will. Someday, she'll understand that you were doing this for her own good. And Jack will see it, too," Amber said, patting Alice on the shoulder.
"Maybe . . . but Jack was right. Who am I to play God with people's lives?" Alice asked. "I'm going to go help the girls unload the rest of the stuff we brought. Talk to you later."
"Bye," Amber said as Alice walked off, a sad expression on her face. Poor girl. She was just trying to be a good sister to Ellie and a good friend to Jack, but her conscience just didn't feel right about it. She knew they belonged together.
Amber curled up on the bed after putting Michael down for his nap. She'd been feeling nauseous again all morning. It wasn't her idea of fun, but she was happy to be pregnant again, and even happier to be back in the mall with Bray and the others. She started to think back to before she and Zandra were kidnapped, and how panicked she had felt when she first found out she was pregnant with Michael. It hadn't been so much that she didn't want the baby or anything; she was just worried about how Bray would react. But she had made her mind up from the start. She was going to raise the baby with or without Bray. Bray wanting to be with her and Michael and be a family was just luck, and she knew that. But sometimes she wondered if it was really luck. He wanted to marry her even before he knew about Michael, and still wanted too once they had Michael back. She had heard Tai-San say so many times before that love could conquer anything. Maybe it was true. Her thoughts were interrupted when Bray walked into the room.
"Hi, sweetie," he said, kissing her on the head as he sat down beside her on the bed. "Feeling okay?" He took her hand in his.
"Yeah. I feel fine. Just a little morning sickness. It'll pass," she responded, linking her fingers through his. Bray smiled at her sympathetically.
"You should have seen Alice trying to pry Ellie and Jack apart when it was time for them to leave. I swear, I've never heard Ellie scream that loudly," Bray said, shaking his head.
"You're kidding me, right? She screamed?" Amber asked, sitting up.
"Screamed bloody murder. I'm surprised it didn't wake the babies up," he replied, chuckling. "I feel bad for them. Alice, too. This can't be easy for her, knowing that her sister is miserable, and it's her fault. Sure, she's doing it for Ellie and Jack's own individual good, but it's still difficult. True love is true love, no matter how much you try to tear it apart or break it down."
"Yeah . . . sort of like us, I imagine," Amber said, smiling.
"Yeah. That's how I know it will all work out in the end. I keep telling Jack that, trying to keep him hopeful about it all," Bray said.
"So have I," she said. "So, what do you want the baby to be?" Bray grinned, his eyes sparkling.
"I wouldn't mind having another boy. But whatever you decide is fine. I don't have much control over it," he said.
"Oh, and I do?" she said playfully, poking him in the ribs. "I'm hoping it's a girl. I like the name Catherine Anissa. We could call her Catey for short." Bray thought about it for a moment, rubbing his chin.
"I like it. We could call her Catey-Ann," he said. Amber made a face. "I'm just kidding. I like Catey. It's pretty. What if it's a boy?"
"I haven't thought of one yet." Amber shifted uncomfortably. "I don't feel so good." She turned a little green, putting her hand over her mouth and scrambling out of the room. Bray stood up and checked on the sleeping Michael, then wet a washrag and took it down to his wife in the sewers.
Ellie sat quietly in the bathroom at the farm. She opened the medicine cabinet and took out her father's old razor, taking the blade out. She carefully cleaned it with some rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. She stared at the glistening stainless steel as she thought of what she was about to do. Slowly, she rolled up her sleeve, revealing slash marks up and down her arm, some fresh from earlier that morning, some scabbing over and healing.
Putting the cold metal against her arm, she pushed, dragging it across the skin. She closed her eyes with the pain, as the blood trickled from the wound. The tears of relief rolled down her cheeks. The pain her heart had now subsided. She ran water over the blade and put it back in the razor, placing it in its spot in the cabinet. She wiped the cut with rubbing alcohol, biting her lip with the pain that the chemical brought, and then put a bandage over the laceration. She pulled her shirt sleeve over it and unlocked the bathroom door, calmly exiting the room.
She dried her eyes quickly as she made her way out to the barn to milk the cows. Some of the other girls were already in there working, and they didn't notice Ellie as she walked in. She got her cow, Marta, out of her pen and pulled her over to a stool beside Todd and his cow. Grabbing a clean bucket, Ellie sat down and started to milk the cow.
"You okay?" Todd asked, looking over at her, concern showing on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ellie replied, not looking up from the cow.
"I heard you went with Alice and the others to the mall today. That must have been really hard, seeing your ex-boyfriend and all again," he said sympathetically.
"Not really. We had tea and talked. Nothing more," Ellie responded curtly.
"Is Lysette okay? Alice mentioned that she would be staying at the mall permanently," Todd asked.
"She's doing okay. She's made friends quickly with everyone, and she really likes it there. Not that she doesn't miss the farm or anything; she just enjoys the change of scenery. But as far as I can tell, she seems to be fine and adjusting very well to things," Ellie answered. His questions were starting to annoy her. She felt as though he could see into her soul and could tell that something was wrong, and she wasn't in the mood to confess her soul to anyone.
"Are you enjoying the change of scenery, Ellie?" he inquired. Ellie sighed irritatedly.
"What do you think?" she said coldly as she finished milking Marta. With that said, she took the full bucket over to Alice and then put Marta back in her pen, walking out of the barn.
That's all for now, folks! Thanks again for reading, now please go and tell me what you thought of what you read! I love reviews – they keep me going! Toodles until later . . .