Disclaimer: I don't own the Night World

Broken

Emerald sat on her bed in her suite, hugging a pillow and her knees to her chest tightly, her chin resting on the pillow. Her eyes staring blankly at a spot on the bed, her mind busier than her body language would show.

She was thinking about something she'd been thinking about all week: Why had Storm asked her to move out? It wasn't like she wasn't okay with moving back into her suite. Storm had a right to his suite and could ask her to move out any time he wanted. But it wasn't just that, she supposed. She hadn't seen Storm all week. She hadn't talked to him either. No phone calls, no bump-ins in the hallway or the lobby or on the street.

It wasn't like him to not speak to her at all. They'd been away from each other enough in those three years, and it had been decided by both of them that they'd spend as much time as possible with each other, because life was short and they didn't want to waste a single moment apart that they could be spending together. Of course they still had lives, hence the jobs and going to school, because even if life was short, you still had to plan ahead if you did manage to stay alive, right?

This was so sudden too. Who proposes and then asks said partner to move out? In Emerald's mind, it really should've been the opposite. Sure you might move in together before proposing but if you hadn't already, it just seemed like you'd want to move in together because, well, you were getting married.

This total radio silence wasn't sitting with Emerald very well, either. It was like he was deliberately avoiding and ignoring Emerald at all costs. She didn't even see him at all anymore and they lived in the same place.

And it's not like she tried texting, calling, or going over to his suite. He'd never answer any of her texts. Her calls always go to voicemail and she never got back to her. When she'd go over to his suite he never answered no matter how many times she knocked.

A cold stone had formed in the pit of Emerald's stomach as the week had passed and Storm continued to avoid her. It had been a worry at first, like a small prick or a sore bruise, now it become downright painful, and it never went away either, not even when she tried to sleep. She'd always have nightmares, and without Storm there to comfort her when she woke up, she was falling apart at the seams.

The phone rang and Emerald picked it up before it could even finish ringing the first time and held the receiver to her ear.

"You're six o'clock wake-up call, Miss Song." the man at the front desk informed.

"Thanks." Emerald muttered before promptly hanging up. She sat on her bed for another minute before slowly setting the pillow aside and stretching out her legs. As she slipped off the bed, she tried to ignore how her body ached and groaned at her sudden movement after sitting in that single position all night.

She slogged through the school day—TGIF—just trying to ignore that eternal ache in her chest. This was probably the one time she was grateful for not having made friends. She didn't have to talk to people, interact with people, smile and be happy. She always hated explaining why she was feeling crappy unless it was to a friend she trusted like Carter or Sky or her boyfriend-turned-fiancé, Storm. Other than that, it was just annoying. Emerald just wasn't exactly a people person, especially with the fact that she was a vampire and couldn't eat food. If she hung out with people, they were bound to notice some time or another.

Mercifully the school day ended almost as quickly as it had begun, her classes passing in a blur. And as she was heading home through the crowded streets of Manhattan she noticed the back of a familiar-looking full head of dark cherry-wood colored hair.

Her pulse quickened and she started a slight jog, weaving through the people.

"Storm!" she called almost sounded frantic. Emerald watched as his step faltered a bit before continuing his walk, only faster now. "Storm, wait!" she called after him, breaking out into a run now, gripping the strap of her messenger bag so it wouldn't flap around too much during her pursuit.

Storm continued to ignore her and quickened his pace even more.

Now she was starting to get angry. What was with him? Proposing, asking her to move out, ignoring her for a whole week, and now avoiding her calls on the street like he can't hear her when she knows he can.

She ran faster and finally caught up to him, grabbing his hand to stop to him asking, "Hey, wait a moment, will you?" as he turned and pulled his hand out of hers.

His eyes darted around, not meeting hers. "What do you want, Emerald?" he asked harshly.

Emerald was taken aback by his tone of voice. It was like he was flinging knives right into her heart. She flinched at this but tried to control her emotions, keeping her face, her eyes as blank as she possibly could.

"I-I haven't seen or spoken to you in a whole week." Her voice came out smaller than she had meant it to, which angered her. She was much stronger than this. She was stronger than sitting on the bed, curled up with a pillow, wondering why in the world Storm was pushing her away. But Storm always had a different affect on her than anyone or anything in her life.

Emerald took a deep breath before continuing, her voice a little louder and stronger than before, "I… just wanted to know—"

"Well, you know, I do have a life outside of you." he cut her off.

"Storm, we're getting married." she pointed out in a hard voice. "I mean, I know that you don't have to be around me twenty-four seven, but—"

"But, nothing, Emerald!" he snapped. Emerald physically took a step back at this, because he'd never been this angry at her before since… well, since the time he found out that she'd killed his mother—long story for another day, though.

Storm didn't fail to notice this and bit his tongue for a moment.

"Listen," he started his voice not any softer than before. "I… I just don't think this is working anymore." He met her eyes and Emerald could see just how distant he was becoming from her.

Emerald shook her head. "Storm, I don't—I don't… understand." Her voice was quiet compared to all the conversations going on in the street. If Storm wasn't a vampire, he wouldn't have caught what she said. Though how loud her voice was at the moment no longer mattered. What was he saying?

Before he even answered her, though, she felt him retreating and cutting off their connection almost completely. She couldn't get into his mind at all. And this left her feeling… hollow inside. That ache in her chest came back, full force, most nearly knocking out all the air from her lungs. Emerald fought to take controlled breaths and not start gasping.

"I just don't think we should be too close anymore." Storm told her his voice finally quieting, softening, meeting Emerald's eyes for a moment before sliding his gaze away.

A moment long enough to give Emerald time to see the sadness in his eyes, though she couldn't tell if that was because he didn't want to break up but was for some unknown reason or because he was guilty about breaking her heart like this, especially after proposing.

"You're… kidding aren't you?" she asked breathless, staring straight up at him, even though she knew he wasn't joking.

Storm's eyes blazed full of an emotion that Emerald couldn't decipher. "No, Emerald, I'm not." He shook his head. "We're through!" With that he turned and started expertly weaving through the crowd leaving a stunned, stricken Emerald standing there, spiraling as her world shattered and fell to little shards around her.

Had they just… had they just broken up? After all they'd been through? After he proposed? How could this be? It didn't even make any sense. Up until a week ago he hadn't shown any signs of being unhappy with Emerald. And it just seemed so sudden.

By the time Emerald found her brain all she could see was the back of Storm's head bobbing through the crowd.

"Storm!" she shrieked, sprinting after him, pushing and shoving her way through all the oncoming traffic not caring at all if she annoyed and upset the people she was pushing. "Storm!" she called again on the verge of having a mental breakdown. "Please, don't go! Don't leave me!" she cried, as he reached a crosswalk just as the little white man appeared. Storm flooded into the street with the rest of the pedestrians but Emerald was too far away and the red hand had already reappeared when she arrived at the crosswalk.

All she could do was watch over the passing cars as Storm disappeared from her sight, from her life.

She let out a harsh breath as he turned a corner and she could no longer see him. Now she felt weak, all her limbs felt like jell-o. Her heart thumped in her chest painfully, and, gasping, Emerald stumbled back toward the corner of a building before falling heavily against it, dropping to her knees. Pursuing him was pointless. he obviously wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Of course she wanted to know why, but the pain of this loss was too much. Maybe when she was feeling like she could handle looking at him, talking to him, her eyes meeting those amazing electric blue ones, just maybe she'd go over to his suite and talk to him.

Closing her eyes, wishing that this was just some nightmare of hers, she slowly sank to the ground, still leaning against the wall, her breath becoming shallow.

As Emerald sat there, she entered a state of almost unconsciousness. She wasn't quite asleep because she could still hear the footsteps of the people walking past her, but the sounds were dim and they'd fade in and out; she felt like she was floating, in water, maybe. She was in Stage 1 of sleep never actually falling asleep, but in too much pain to wake up fully. (Why her body didn't just let her sink into blissful unconsciousness was beyond Emerald.)

It was also a stage in which the pain reverberating throughout Emerald's body was almost nonexistent… at least enough that she could ignore it.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, like that, but suddenly through the water she heard what she thought was her name being called. At first she ignored it, thinking it was just her subconscious playing tricks on her or something, but this voice was resurfacing her. The burning and aching hit her full force and her eyes fluttered open as she repressed the yelp she wanted to let out.

Blinking as her eyes adjusted to all the lights around her, she looked around, gathering her bearings. The streets were dark with the lights of cars and cabs and trucks and buildings lighting up the street. The flow of people, maybe less heaver than usual, continued past her but now someone was kneeling in front of Emerald, her eyebrows furrowed together in concern.

It took a moment for Emerald to realize that this person was Carter.

"Emerald?" she asked uncertainly, a hand reaching out toward her. "Are you… are you okay?" Carter's hand had now reached her shoulder. She was warm.

Emerald wanted to answer her, to tell her all that had happened, to cry and sob about what had happened as Carter held her like a friend or a mother would. But she found she couldn't. Just thinking about what had happened brought on a whole new wave a pain. She wasn't ready to speak it out loud. If she did she was afraid it would become permanent.

"Emerald?" Carter asked again bringing Emerald out of her miseries for a moment.

Slowly, woodenly, Emerald reaches up and puts her hand on Carter's hand that's still resting on Emerald's shoulder, gently squeezing it; at the same time, giving Carter a small smile, hoping that she'll know that Emerald appreciates her company. She then lets her hand slide off of Carter's, her head fall to the side, and she closes her eyes to slip under the water once again this time falling into unconsciousness.

"Emerald!" Carter called her voice raising an octave. No response from Emerald. Carter stands abruptly, removing her hand, taking out her cell, and dialing Sky before she starts pacing. She knew vampires were unaffected by sickness and disease, but—Carter stopped pacing for a moment to look down at her friend—Emerald looked pretty sick right about now. Her hand had been as cold as death and had been shaking like a leaf. Her skin look pallid whenever the lights of a passing car shined on her and her breath was shallow like she had a fever.

Sky finally picked up. "Carter, hey—"

Carter stopped pacing again and interrupted him, "Sky! Oh my God! I need you come, right now. It's urgent."

"What is it?" Sky asked instant worry coloring his voice. "What's wrong?"

"It's Emerald… something's wrong. I don't know what—she won't tell me. But… I-I just need you to get over here really quickly." Carter tried to explain.

"Her suite?"

"No," Carter answered before giving him the street corner they were at.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Just… just be careful, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

Carter hung up and slipped her cell back into her pocket before she started pacing again, constantly checking her watch, looking at Emerald, chewing her lip, and looking around.

"Carter!" Sky exclaims stepping out of his private car. "What's the matter?" he asks putting his hands on Carter's shoulders. "Is Emerald—" His gaze wanders past her and he breaks off when she sees Emerald sitting with her legs underneath her, hands resting in her lap, leaning against of the building, as well as her head. Her eyes are closed; dark purple bruises are visible every now and again when a car passes.

Sky walks toward Emerald and kneels down in front of her.

"What happened?" Sky asks, looking over her shoulder at Carter.

She shakes her head. "I don't know. I just found her like this. I tried to get something out of her, but…" she shakes her head again, hair swinging. "It was like she couldn't speak. She had this… horrible look on her face, though." Carter's eyebrows furrowed together as she intently thinks about when she'd first found Emerald. "It was like she was being tortured and slowly dying inside. It was so scary." Carter shuddered.

It wasn't like the two hadn't heard what was going on between the two, but with the dynamic they had it was hard to tell sometimes if it was serious. There was no doubt that they loved each other, but there were a lot of obstacles that threatened to break them over the past three years.

It wasn't just the fact that she'd left Storm for two years to hunt down her father all by herself, but it was also the fact that she'd killed Storm's mother when he was fifteen. It wasn't like she'd really meant to. She was psychologically unstable after going through a year of torture from her father and needed stability in her life. The man who came and gave her that stability had convinced her that it would've been a good thing, that she as saving lives by killing Storm's mother.

Then there was also the fact that she was the most infamous vampire hunter in New York, The Vigilante, and that Storm was the most infamous for killing the most skilled vampire hunters, The Grim Reaper.

Their relationship was very complex and though it did seem a little odd, that after spending almost a year together, happily and without any complaints or troubles, Storm would ask her to move out so abruptly, but Sky and Carter had just figured that they were probably fighting about something and were going to let them work it out. It did no good to get involved in something that wasn't any of their business. But they assured both Storm and Emerald, way before this past week when everything seemed to have started, they wouldn't take sides and that they'd always be there for both of them for moral support if/when they needed it.

Looking at Emerald, now, though, sitting there looking for all the world she was dead, Sky and Carter knew that something was terribly wrong between her Storm.

Sky met Carter's eyes and a silent message passed between them. Guilt hitting both of them for not noticing sooner that this was more serious that they'd originally assumed.

"Come on," Sky sighed. "We should get her home."

Carter nodded without a word. Sky looked back at Emerald before stepping closer to her and gently picking her up into his arms. Carter has already slid into the car, still waiting at the curb. Sky ducks inside, maneuvering carefully so as to not have Emerald hit anything.

The drive was silent, neither Sky nor Carter able to think of anything to say. Emerald sat between them, still asleep, is what they assumed.

"You can head home now, Ricky." Sky told the driver as Carter slid out and Sky followed closely with Emerald in his arms again. "Have a good night." Sky turned toward Carter after closing the door. "I think it'd be best if we stayed with her tonight."

Carter nodded in agreement and they headed into the Marriott.

Hmm… not quite sure how I feel about this chapter just yet. I hope it was an okay read, though. I also hope you enjoyed, though it wasn't that enjoyable.

thank-you-for-everything

~ See you at the Millennium!