Pirouette

Emerald awoke coughing, spluttering, and gasping for air. Sweet oxygen rushed into her lungs, it being soaked up by the fresh, new, human blood cells now running through her veins. The sensation of her muscles uncramping felt so good it was almost painful. When she opened her eyes, she could see clearly again and by the time she'd stopped gasping she was shaking with relief.

She'd dodged a bullet with that one. She had no doubt Thierry had kept her in there for as long as humanly possible on purpose. It was like was trying to kill her.

Emerald sat up—she was lying in a bed, in a room that looked like a bedroom—realizing that she was forgetting a more important question at the moment: Who had saved her? Who had given her blood?

Ice water ran through her veins. Could it have been one of her friends? Did they find out? What would they think about this war going on between Thierry and her? Emerald had tried and wanted to keep this between them. How would she handle having her friends involved? They'd want to help, surely, but there wasn't much they could really do. This was strictly between her and Thierry.

"Emerald?" I voice asked from the doorway. Not the voice she was expecting. In a way she was relieved, but this relief was overshadowed by hurt and in some part, anger.

"Storm," she addressed in a cordial tone, throwing her legs off the bed and standing up. He stayed in the doorway, leaning against the door. The way the light hit the room through the window covered his whole body and almost half of his face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked quietly. It was a disconcerting quiet, like the calm before a storm—no pun intended. The light effect wasn't helping.

Emerald swallowed hard, squaring her shoulders. "It was none of your business," she stated mater-of-factly.

Storm growled quietly, slamming his fist against the door, but stayed where he was. "When are you going to learn that asking for help isn't weak? Why do you always do this?" He stepped forward, then, his electric blue eyes flashing as if there were an actual lightning storm going on behind his eyes.

Emerald glared at him, indignant. "Oh, so now this is my fault!" she growled.

"That's not what I said," Storm rebuffed, lowering his voice again, taking a few steps toward her. "You know exactly what I mean, Emerald. Just stop it!"

Emerald's hands curled into tight fists and she walked toward Storm until they were just a few feet apart, furious. "Oh, like you're any better!" she hissed. "You broke our sacred promise. You lied to me."

"I was scared, Emerald!" Storm snapped, in the loudest voice he'd ever used with Emerald. It was so loud, Emerald took a step back in shock, the anger dropping from her features momentarily, replaced by surprise. "I kept getting these terrible nightmares about how if I stayed with you, you'd get hurt"—his voice broke before lowering to a whisper—"or worse…" He paused, closing his eyes and swallowing hard. "I was so afraid that I'd lose you, I-I didn't know what else to do. And I'm sorry. I'm… so sorry, Emerald.

"I know that won't do anything to take back what happened, and I know that won't do anything to repair what I've broken, but I am. If I could turn back the clock I would and I would do things right this time. But I can't, life doesn't work like that. So I've committed myself to making things right again. And I'm trying to do as you ask, to keep my distance, but I just… can't anymore, Emerald. Not after what happened with Thierry. Not after knowing what's happening between you and Thierry now.

"I still love you, God, I love you so much. I don't want you hurt, I don't want to lose you, I couldn't bear it if I lost you… and you almost died today—" Storm broke off and took a big breath. Emerald thought he was going to continue, but he didn't.

Tears pricked at her eyes, not overflowing yet.

She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears and took a deep breath of her own. She wasn't sure how she felt anymore. This was all so confusing. He'd never told her that before now, but he was right, that didn't negate the fact that he'd broken their promise and put her through unimaginable pain. How could she ever trust him again? On the other hand, what would she have done in his situation? Thinking about it now, surely she would've told him even though his life was allegedly in danger. But she would never know what he was feeling in those moments, having those nightmares every single night….

"You… you could've just told me," she finally whispered, focusing back in on Storm.

"I was scared," Storm whispered. "They said that if I told you, you'd still be in danger—you'd be in more danger. I didn't want to risk it."

They lapsed into a deafening silence and just when Emerald was about to respond, someone knocked on the door lightly before poking their head through.

"Is everything all right? Is she okay now?" they asked.

As soon as Emerald heard their voice, however, she stiffened, air racing up her throat and blowing through her clenched teeth in a menacing hiss. Her eyes flooded silver and her canines elongated. She took a step forward, her eyes locked onto her target, but Storm was there to meet her, blocking her with his arm.

"Whoa, Emerald, calm down," he said almost frantically. "It's okay."

Emerald turned her death gaze on Storm, who flinched but didn't back down. He'd known her for too long.

"Move. Out. Of. My. Way. Storm," she warned, pronouncing each word carefully and slowly.

Storm looked back at her confused and somewhat disturbed.

"Emerald, what…?" He looked back and forth between Emerald and Lucas, trying to figure out what he'd missed.

"Remove yourself, at once," she advised again. "I'm not afraid or against hurting you if you get in my way, Storm."

"You're talking like you have a score to settle, Emerald—I know your mad, but this isn't like you—" Storm started.

"I made a promise that the next time I saw him, I'd kill him. Unlike some people, I'm keeping that promise." She hissed.

Storm gave her a look at her comment before quickly saying, "He saved your life, Emerald. He gave you the blood that's flowing through your veins, right now."

That thought made her cringe, made her want to drink bleach and cleanse herself of anything remotely Lucas, because when it came down to it, he was just another one of Thierry's workers. He was one of his pawns who followed him loyally no matter the cost of the emotions of others.

"I don't owe him anything," she snapped. "Did he tell you the part where he drugged me and threw me into that cell with my father? Or did he conveniently forget to mention that? He played with emotions and then stabbed me in the back, twice. It's time he pay up."

Storm turned to look at Lucas over his shoulder, shocked.

"Is that true?" he asked, slowly dropping his arm, but putting himself slightly in front of Emerald. She wasn't sure if he was still trying to hold her back or if he was protecting her now, but she stayed put to see how this would turn out.

At Storm's question, Lucas's worried mask dropped, his face becoming blank, but his eyes flashing. He straightened up, his jaw locking, as he pushed the door open wider to reveal two of Thierry's workers behind him. He'd come with backup just in case. Well, at least he knew how much Emerald loathed him.

"So what if it is?" Lucas asked in a cold voice, something Emerald had never heard him use before. It was odd. Had she not been furious with him, she would've felt a prick of pain realizing that the Lucas she had known, the Lucas she had fallen in love with was gone. He had been lost to the Night World, as Storm had. As Emerald had. Maybe there was a reason Thierry called it the Night World, filled with darkness and shadows, the stuff of nightmarish legends—vampires, werewolves, witches. Maybe Thierry was losing himself in it, like so many others had.

"What are you going to do about it?" Lucas sneered, breaking Emerald from her thoughts. "Don't think Lord Thierry will let you stay much longer if you kill one of his workers, special snowflake or not."

Storm and Emerald growled in sync at his comment.

Lucas snorted. "Well, I'm glad you're finally awake now, Emerald. Lord Thierry's been waiting to speak with you."

"Tell him I said he can go to Hell," she spat.

"He'll love hearing that." Lucas scoffed. "Well, I'll be seeing you around, then." He started to head away with his bodyguards but before he could, Emerald spoke.

"I'm not the bad guy here," she said in a hard voice, meeting Lucas's eyes.

Lucas merely glared back at her before leaving without another word. Both Storm and Emerald relaxed when he was out of sight. Storm went to close the door.

"Is this your room," Emerald asked, looking around, almost as if nothing had happened in the last few minutes.

Storm sighed heavily, nearly on the verge of hysterical laughter. "Yes," he answered briefly. He wasn't going to let Emerald off the hook so easily. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked again.

Emerald looked at him sadly, "Because I can't trust you anymore, Storm. How do I know you're not like Lucas, reporting back to Thierry about what I'm up to?"

"How could you even think that?" Storm snarled, his anger returning, but only for a moment. It faded into something more somber and melancholy. "I know you said that you couldn't trust me anymore, but there are so few people you can trust right now and I'm telling you, Emerald, I'm on your side. You can trust me." His voice became a furtive whisper, suddenly, "You have to understand, please, I was scared of losing you, I didn't know what else to do, I was getting desperate. They looked like a light at the end of the tunnel. I…I couldn't think straight, I panicked. And I made the wrong decision, I admit that, I made a mistake.

"But you can trust me; I promise, you can trust me."

Emerald started to shake her head, making a face, "Storm—" she started.

"Emerald," he interrupted, going up to her and grasping her upper forearms. An electric current seemed to race through her, and she jumped, her heart pumping faster now. She tried not to let that cloud her judgment as she met Storm's frantic blue eyes. "You can't keep doing this. It's okay to ask for help from your friends." He repeated.

She pushed his hands off her arms, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. "This isn't your fight, though, Storm. This is between me and Thierry."

Storm snorted. "Could've fooled me," he muttered. "He clearly doesn't think the same or he wouldn't be recruiting Lucas and all his workers to protect his house from you. That's hardly fair, don't you think?"

"…It's not…. exactly like that," Emerald mumbled, looking away. "It's more complicated than that."

Storm sighed and rolled his eyes. "Isn't it always?"

"Why do you even care so much anyways?" Emerald burst looking back at Storm, not really thinking about her question, she really just wanted Storm to stop talking. She wanted this conversation to be over and to leave to go figure out what her next move would be. She didn't want to admit Storm had a point.

Storm gave her an incredulous look and let out an exasperated sigh. "Isn't it obvious?" he questioned. Emerald bit her lip, crossed her arms, and shifted from foot to foot at this. It was… but was she going to admit she'd asked a stupid question? She was much too prideful for that, unfortunately. "You're too stubborn for your own good," he continued. "I'm going to kiss now you to answer your question."

Emerald's arms dropped and she looked back at Storm, eyes as wide as a doe's. "What?" She asked right before Storm took her face into his hands and pressed his lips to hers. And for a time, she kissed him back. The feeling of his hands cradling her head, his warm lips moving and shaping around hers perfectly, was nothing like she remembered.

Had it really been only two months or so that they'd officially broken up? It had felt like an eternity. These feelings felt almost foreign. One things was for sure, though, these feelings, emotionally and physically, felt as strong as they had when Emerald first realized that she loved Storm and Storm loved her, when Emerald first found out she and Storm were soulmates.

Where he touched her skin burned, as if he'd lit a fire. Just being in contact with him sent wave after wave of exhilarating electricity that took her breath away. Her heart hammered against her chest so rapidly, she thought for sure it'd give out. Her hands shook as she reached up to knot them both in Storm's soft, silky hair. She pressed her body against his, fitting perfectly like a puzzle piece.

One of Storm's hands had moved to Emerald's hair, his free arm wrapped around her waist, pressing her even closer to him, never breaking the kiss. At one point, it wasn't just their bodies intertwining and connecting again, it was their souls, dancing and twisting around each other; uniting after such a long time was almost a relief, but almost painful, too.

Through all this, there was a nagging voice in the back of her head, telling her she was making a mistake. This was wrong. Storm had done nothing to prove that she could trust him again, to prove that she could love him again. She needed time to gain that back.

Steeling her emotions and controlling her impulses and squelching that burning desire, she broke away from him, putting a few inches between them before she slapped him. Still breathing hard, she turned around, putting her hands on her hips, one hand coming up and wiping a hand over her tingling lips.

Maybe… they could be friends, maybe… he could help her if she needed it, but that didn't mean she could trust him again. That didn't mean that she could love him fully and wholly again. Not yet.

Emerald finally turned back around to face Storm who was looking at her wearily, head still slightly turned from the slap.

"I appreciate that you gave me a warning," she started, "but don't ever do that again, if you value your life."

"You're right, and I apologize. I won't do it again." Storm conceded, looking down and away briefly.

"I don't need your help right now, if I do, you'll know." Emerald said carefully. Storm's eyes snapped back up to her. He looked like he wanted to object, but a look from Emerald kept his silent. "As for the rest of this, of us, I need time. If you care about me, if you love me, then you'll respect that. For as long as I need."

"Okay," Storm replied softly, nodding.

"Okay." Emerald repeated, nodding once. With that, and one last look, she exited, letting out a weary breath, as she headed down the hallway.

Emerald searched her room as soon as she returned and, as she suspected, Thierry had removed all hard copies she'd made of his papers. Though they'd been careful to try and keep everything in order, every little speck of dust, Emerald had taken to memorizing every single detail of the room she'd been given. She could see where things had been moved or disturbed ever so slightly, telling her they'd searched her whole room. She went straight to where she'd hid her flashdrive—gone. Not a surprise.

Had that been Thierry's only reason for throwing her in that cell? That and to dispose of Jonathan? To find all his papers and reclaim them?

Emerald sighed, sitting down on the pristinely made bed, putting her head in her hands tiredly. This war of theirs was starting to become exhausting. But she supposed, that's how wars went. As the vigor and energy ran out, all you were left with were empty shells of people, struggling to remind themselves what it all was for.

So what was this all for? Making a point? That seemed a bit drastic, even for Emerald. All this just to make a point that she wasn't going to let anyone play with her life?

Keeping herself alive? As Thierry had stated, that was pretty selfish. Not that she was denying it, it was extremely selfish of her. But at the cost of millions of lives…? Was she even right to claim that her friends would stand on her side?

Emerald's head snapped up and she shook herself. Of course she was, they were her friends after all.

There had to be another way to win the bigger war going on outside of Emerald and Thierry's little skirmish. There was the fourth Wild Power… but they were having trouble tracking whoever it was down. That was the only other option, though, the only other answer left, the last Wild Power.

She leaned on Thierry's desk, arms crossed, as she had when she'd first confronted him about the papers, waiting for him to arrive. When he did, he started but then sighed heavily, his shoulder's sagging.

"I should've known," Emerald heard him mutter as he closed the door and turned to face her, standing taller again, eyes cold, jaw set. "What now?"

"Lucas said you wanted to speak to me," Emerald replied coldly.

"What do you want?" Thierry asked through gritted teeth.

"Did you honestly think I'd let you get away with throwing me into a cell with my father?" Emerald asked bitterly.

"You don't have any leverage here, Emerald," Thierry stated acidically. "I wouldn't do anything too… risky if I were you."

Emerald smirked and snorted. "You underestimate me, Thierry," she said quietly, enjoying how his own arrogance dropped at her words. Slowly, she unfolded her arms and held up the backup flashdrive, dangling from a key ring around her finger. She closed her hand over it and crossed her arms again. "I'm not that stupid."

Thierry's hands fisted and he ground his teeth, glaring at Emerald.

"Have you just made it your personal goal to ruin my life? I'm trying to stop a war, in case you haven't forgotten. Our side is losing. If you love humans so much, make a sacrifice so you won't have to see them enslaved." He paused. "That is, unless you don't love humans as much as you say. What would Carter think about that, I wonder?"

Emerald tilted her head to one side slightly, gazing at him with piercing green eyes, watching Thierry shift uncomfortably.

"You ruined half of mine, I think it's only fair that I get to ruin half of yours," she finally responded. "Who should I give this to first?" She pretended to think. "Maybe… Hannah? I do wonder what she'd think of what you've been up to these past few months, Thierry."

"Don't you dare," Thierry warned, voice low.

Emerald pushed away from the desk and approached Thierry, pushing him back against the door, invading his personal space.

"Or you'll what?" she whispered. "Kill me? What would Hannah think, then? How would you save the world—" She was cut off when Thierry grabbed a fistful of her hair, spun her around and threw her against the wall next to the door.

"Don't threaten me, I've been alive longer than everyone here combined." He tightened his grip on her hair. "I have tricks up my sleeve that would send you reeling. I could topple your whole world with just a few words." His grip kept tightening. "Don't. Push. Me." His hold tightened with every word until he was practically ripping Emerald's hair out. Her free hand had come up to grasp his wrist.

Emerald smiled through her pain, much to Thierry's surprise. "This is a new side of Thierry I didn't think I'd see. Seems like Maya had a bigger influence on you than you'd like to admit. That would kill Hannah." Thierry's hand moved to Emerald's throat—she kept her hand around his wrist—and his eyes flooded silver, canines elongating. There was a sharp pain at her throat before she felt a warm substance pour down her neck in a thin trail.

"Go ahead," Emerald pushed. "Do it." She jerked her head forward, but Thierry pushed her back, slamming her head against the wall. She saw stars momentarily. When she blinked and he was suddenly right in her face, their noses practically touching.

"Careful, Emerald, I might." He growled softly, as the hand on her throat made another cut on her neck. His other hand went to the hand that was holding the flashdrive, but Emerald wasn't that oblivious either. She closed her fist and pulled her hand up.

"Nice try," she told him.

"Give it to me," he hissed, reaching up for it. Emerald held it higher, but Thierry had a longer reach and simply grabbed her wrist and pushed her arm against the wall. "You picked the wrong Night Person to mess with." He squeezed her wrist and pain flashed down her arm.

Emerald gritted her teeth and closed her eyes for a moment to hold back her screams.

"Let go of me, Thierry," she spat through her teeth.

"Or you'll what?" Thierry asked, tightening his grip. She heard the cracks as they split the bones in her wrist. Emerald let out a short yelp, reining the rest of her screams in, shifting uncomfortably underneath his grip. Broken bones was never a pleasant feeling.

To answer his question, though, she yanked his hand off her neck before head-butting him in the nose. He let out a cry of pain, letting go of Emerald's wrist and reeling back. Not giving her wrist time to heal, she grabbed Thierry's wrist, and spun, twisting his arm behind his back and slamming him up against the wall.

"You have two options, Thierry," she hissed in his ear as he struggled, but Emerald merely pulled his arm farther up his back. "We can continue this fight, or, you can hear me out." Thierry paused in his meager struggles, that catching his attention.

"I'm listening," Thierry finally muttered begrudgingly. Emerald waited a moment before letting his arm go and stepping back. Thierry turned around, rolling his shoulder, wincing at the movement. His nose had bled slightly from the impact of Emerald's forehead. He looked at her expectantly as he stopped rolling his arm.

She met his gaze evenly, "I want to make a deal."

Wow, so I actually somehow managed to get this to you on Sunday…? I'm going to try for Wednesday now, but my story has taken a dramatic turn and I now have a whole lot of planning to do, you might have to wait longer, a week at most.

An explanation for the title, because it is a bit out there: the phrase, "the tables have turned" came to mind when thinking about this chapter as a whole and since I use one word to name my chapters for these stories I plugged in "turned" into a thesaurus and on the list was pirouette. The connection is a bit flimsy, but it's unique, you have to admit.

Not much else to say other than I hope you enjoyed!

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight