Ash had had a late night last night, between flirting with a fledgeling vampire and waking up with a rather eye-catching werewolf, she had not made it back to the Institute until dawn broke over the city. If her mother caught her, she knew that she would be grounded for the rest of her life, so using all of the skills she possessed as a Nephilm, Ash slithered through the thorny rose bushes to the weighty front door, tip toeing to the elevator. She let out a sigh of relief when the elevator opened at the top floor and her mother was not waiting on the other side. Still cautious, though not nearly half as cautious as before, she stole into her room, expecting to see Nexus asleep, or at the very worst, waiting for her with a lecture. She was surprised to see that she was the first one back, or rather, the only one back.

"Ash wins this round!" She hopped victoriously in the air.

"Finally!" Nexus clapped a congratulatory clap for her friend, startling the younger girl with her sudden, silent arrival.

Spinning slowly on her heel, Ash critiqued Nexus' uncharacteristically haggard appearance. Her black, berry-themed hair was poking every which way as if she had stuck her finger in a light socket, her face was stained purple like she had eaten triple her weight in blackberries, one of her stockings was bunched over her boot, the other barely hanging on, a number of scratches and blotchy marks (most likely hickeys) scattering her skin, and her cute little shrug was missing. Ash's dark eyes narrowed suspiciously, the image of a dark, handsome stranger ravaging her friend bursting into her perverted mind.

"Dish," The Shadowhunter commanded her friend to spill the entire story, "I need details."

Nexus blushed, tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear, "Nothing too special..."

"Uh-huh, you do realize that you're obligated to confess everything to me, right? Girl-code." Ash plopped down on the bed and patted the empty space, kicking her heels off, "I won't bite... It looks like someone already beat me there."

Nexus frowned, "If I tell you, you have to swear that you won't tell another soul. Swear on the Angel."

Ash hated swearing to the Angel, but she did it quite often, "I swear by the Angel that made my kind and that made life possible to keep your secret, Daughter of Lilith, my best friend, Nexus Bane."

Satisfied, Nexus sat on the bed beside her friend and began to tell her everything that had happened. Ash listened, a smirk plastered on her face the entire time, "...And then he carried me back here."

"Aw, Princess Nessy." Ash squeezed her hands excitedly, "That kid really knows how to show a girl a good time, doesn't he?"

Nexus looked at her in confusion, not understanding what she meant, "I hope you mean as a pal."

"Of course I don't mean that! And who uses the word pal?" Ash laughed uncomfortably, "Didn't you know that we...? Oh, Nessy!"

Nexus stood up and walked to the door, "I knew that he's been intimate with other girls... But you two? I can't..."

Ash called out to her best friend, but Nexus ignored her and left the room, stomping to the garden. How could she never have told her before? Weren't they supposed to be friends? Didn't she realize how she felt about Ben? Why did she never tell her before? Upset by this revelation, Nexus sank down against the door separating the Institute from the garden, burying her head in her knees.

XxX You Think You Love Me XxX

Darkness and despair surrounded Nexus from all sides, swirls of ebony affliction and sable sorrow intertwining in a complicated dance of morbid agony. Forming in the center of the void, the woman from Nexus' nightmares stood alone before the frightened child, a shining beacon of love and affection in the nothingness, beaming at her beloved daughter, spindly arms wide open. Though still afraid of the woman, her mother, Nexus was so distraught over finding out about Ben and Ash, she ran into her mother's arms, bawling her lungs out. The woman stroked her daughter's back, tenderly rubbing it in a comforting, circular motion.

"There, there, Mummy's here." She whispered, her voice frail but full of power and concern, "She'll make it all better."

Nexus nodded, tears staining her mother's shimmering jacket, "I thought that they... Why was I the last to know? She was my best friend, and he..."

"No matter what agreements the Nephilm make with the Downworlders, they will never truly accept us... Just look at what that horrid little Shadowhunter girl did to you! She is nothing but trash wrapped in a shining glamor, making my sweet angel think that they were friends, just so she could hurt you! If she were really your friend, she would have known that you liked that boy, and she never would have touched him. But that boy is no better..." Devon's voice was sharp, even to Nexus' ears, and it was rife with unadulterated wrath.

She looked into her mother's gold eyes, pleading in her face, tightening in her throat, "No..."

Devon cooed in her child's ear, "Only for you, my love... But mark me, if they were really who you thought they were, you would have known about this sooner."

Her cracked voice echoed in Nexus' head, the emotionally wounded teen's eyes fluttering open as she woke up from her vivid dream. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, dazed and amazed that she had fallen asleep leaning against the garden door. How long had she been asleep? Wait... She was asleep, and her dreams, they had progressed... Or was that only becuase of her need of comfort? Or becuase it wasn't REM sleep? And why would her mother say such things? Alec and Isabelle had fallen in love with Downworlders, and Ben's parents... Ben. Her stomach clenched when she thought of him, of what he had done with Ash...

"Are you awake yet?" A grey sneaker tapped her foot and pulled her from her reverie, Ben being careful to not hit her head as he stretched his arms, "I came up here to get you for breakfast, but you were out like a rock, so I waited here for you to wake up..."

"You waited here for me? Did you ever wait for anyone else?" She tested him, giving him the chance to tell her about Ash, "Anyone at all? Like an old fling?"

He was clearly at a loss, "What are you talking about?"

"I know about you and Ash... I always thought that you two were at odds becuase of me, but... I know." Nexus sprung up, looking at the morning sun pouring onto the plants, "She told me that - "

Ben had his arms around her, holding her as she cried, "Ash was a mistake..."

"No!" She threw his arms off, "Don't touch me!"

"...Nex - " He reached out for her, but she cringed away from him, bolting from the room.


A/N:

Only a million tries, but I think that this chapter turned out alright... Well, it got my point across.