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[fixeswatches]

Gabriel had barely even wanted to go to school. He wanted to stay home and practice his telekinesis more. He hadn't mastered it yet, after all, and that was much more exciting than anything that was bound to happen at school. But he knew he had to go in order to not let his mother know anything was up. The last thing he wanted to do right now was make her suspicious. Not when they were going to be leaving soon anyways.

Which was why he was sitting in chemistry class now, listening to the instructions from his teacher over the experiment they were conducting. It wasn't really enjoyable, working with someone who hated his guts, but he didn't see any reason to go out of his way to switch partners. It would be a hassle. So he dealt with Jane and her death glares and just focused on his work.

But apparently, he was focusing a little too hard at one point, because the glass test tube Jane was holding over the flames shattered from his telekinesis and the liquid inside caused the flames to shoot up, lighting her hair on fire.

"Oh my god, what happened, my hair, my hair, someone get something for my hair," She screeched in a voice that could only be described as shrill. But before anyone could grab anything, the smoke reached the smoke detector, causing the fire alarm and sprinklers to go off, soaking everyone.

Jane wasn't hurt, luckily, but about half of her hair was burnt off now, and she'd probably have to cut the rest off to match. Gabriel was trying his best not to laugh as the teacher ushured them outside for regular fire procedures.

Comments

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"It depends," He answered carefully. He had never been one to agree with something before finding out what it was first. It just wasn't a good idea. "What do you want me to do?"

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

The line between her eyebrows creased--it shouldn't depend on anything, right? She would gladly do whatever he asked of her; she was pretty sure she would.

But she pressed her lips together, searching his guarded, curious eyes for a long, assessing moment. "I killed my father for you," she said simply, inelegantly, and stared up at him. It was a statement, but not at all, the words heavy and inflected, and left hanging with an unspoken question.

She hoped he wouldn't get mad. She thought she'd probably be mad if he'd asked her, too.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He froze as he listened to her. She couldn't be asking what he thought she was. But he looked down, and her eyes told him what he had already suspected. She wanted him to kill his mother.

His mother.

He pulled away from her, his eyes filling with anger. "I'm not going to do it."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

His words seared straight through her heart. But what truly hurt, burned, tore her to pieces was how easily he pulled away from her, the flashing disgust and hatred shining at her in his gaze.

She suddenly felt so cold, and she blinked at him, her feature blank, scarily calm before a flood of pain and paranoia swept over her.

"Don't you love me?" she asked, her voice a dark growl.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"I do," He snapped her anger. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to kill my mother just because you asked me to. There's no reason for me to do it."

His stomach turned and his fists formed at his sides. How could she ask him to do something like this?

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"You love her," she hissed. "It makes me sick." Something familiar and welcome burned her fingers, and she curled them into fists, letting the sparks answer her wrath with vicious, thrumming excitement. "It's not fair that I'll always have to share, and you don't. It's the only way."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"It's not my fault you killed your father," He snapped in anger. "I shouldn't suffer because of what you did. We're leaving her, you're not going to have to share anymore, that should be good enough."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"I killed him for you!" she exclaimed, and then gasped greedily for air, her eyes filling with tears. How dare he say it like that? As if it had nothing to do with him; as if she hadn't suffered, alone in that big house wondering if she'd killed her Daddy for nothing. Lied awake thinking about his hollow corpse, and the empty house, and all that ticking. She trembled. "He was going to take me away from you, and do god knows what to you. You're going to want to see her, Gabriel. Write her letters and call her, and you're going to do it. I don't have that luxury. All I want is you. It's not fair."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"I won't visit her, I won't write letters or call her, I'll never see her again, just don't ask me to do this, Elle." He snapped in anger, his heart beating in fear. Killing Brian for his power was one thing...but killing his Mother? He didn't think he could do it.

He didn't want to.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"No," she choked out hoarsely, cruelly, vindictively. Her whole body was humming with agony. He thought so little of what she'd done for him, didn't he? And it was all the more reason to lodge any sympathy, any understanding she had in her throat. "I want her dead," she growled through blurring tears, "and I want you to do it."

She was shaking so hard. It only occurred to her in a small, whispering voice that she was just trying to punish him now.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to kill her," He snapped, and his anger caused one of the branches of the tree behind them to snap off, falling to the ground. He still didn't have control over his telekinesis, and being so worked up was not helping.

Why was she asking him to do this? Wasn't it enough, what he was already giving her?

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Elle flinched, gasping at the sudden, violent display, her eyes falling back to him with painful revelation. "If you don't do it, I will," she hissed. Her chest felt like it was caving in, crushing everything inside of her. "If you try to stop me, I'll kill you too." Her stomach twisted; her eyes fluttered. The words felt all wrong, cottony and heavy like blatant lies, and when she blinked, tears fell, cascading down her cheeks. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

His chest twisted, and he was sure he had never felt so angry, so betrayed, so infuriated in his life. "Don't make me make this choice. I never would have asked you to." But his stomach turns with the truth. He never would have been okay with her choosing her father over him.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Her lips trembled, and it felt like something important, something she needed inside of her broke; all she wanted to do was reach for him as her eyes filled and shined with more tears. She couldn't stop them as they tumbled down her cheeks, no matter how much she tried. "I don't want to," she gasped, swiping angrily at her soaked face. "I just want us to be happy, and I can't--I don't think I can when she's alive."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"Well, then I guess you can just go on your own," He said firmly, looking down to hide the teers threatening his own eyes now. He felt like he was going to choke, like he might die, but how dare she try to make him make this sort of decision. "Because I'm not going to kill her, and I'm sure as hell not going to just let you do it. Do you really think that's going to make anything better? Why isn't it enough that I love you?"

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

The pain was so acute, so torturous that she gasped, her head bowing down and her vision swimming. Was she wrong to ask? Maybe. Stupid to hope--to even think he'd agree to do it for her? Maybe. Would it make things better, for her to do it out of spite, or to force him to do it? She knew the answer was no, and she didn't want either.

But her eyes suddenly dried anyway, and the pain dulled to something even more terrifying. A blank numbness that spread from her still heart down to her sparking fingers.

She was surprised to hear her voice; it sounded so emotionless, so flat. So far away. "Are you leaving me?"

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

His head swam at her question, and he could barely think. He grabbed onto a near by tree, placing his hand on it to steady himself, if only a little bit. He didn't know how to answer her, what to say. He never would have even thought about leaving her before. She was too important.

But was it worth sacrificing his mother for? Did she have the right to make him make this choice? He didn't force her to kill her father. It wasn't his fault. This was totally different. There was no need to kill his mother.

"I think so," Finally came his raspy response.

What else could he do?

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

It was deafening, the silence that followed. She couldn't feel her heart beating, the tips of her fingers. It was all... nothing. She felt... nothing.

Her eyes lifted, her vision unfocused, and it took her a moment to see him, to focus on him, living and breathing in front of her.

She promised, and that was her only thought as she lifted her hand, her fingers shaking as they brushed his damp sweater. Her heart fluttered and she gasped a little, her palm flattening on his chest.

Her eyes rose further; found his, his dark orbs framed by thick lashes. She was scared.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

His heart thumped against his chest wildly, and he wondered whether she'd go through with it or not. They had promised one another, after all. He'd almost be disappointed if she didn't live up to it.

Maybe it was inevitable that eventually, one of them would have to make good on the promise. He was about to tell her to do it, to just kill him when a voice spoke behind them.

"Mrs. Springhorn told me I would find you two here."

It was the principal.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

There was relief. Just a cool tumble of relief rolling over every inch of her broken body. And pain, regret. A flare of unmistakable anger. She let her hand fall to her side, her eyes to find Principal Levithan's beady ones boring holes into hers. She blinked and shifted.

She wanted to collapse, to cry. To die. To do anything but play pretend, for once in her life.

But Elle knew that was all the more reason to do it.

"I bet you're real mad at us," she chirped, bowing her head to the side with a shamed smile.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"You two have broken alot of rules today," their principal said in a solemn voice. He gave them both pointed looks before continuing. "Gabriel, we've contacted your mother and she's on her way to pick you up. You will be suspended for the next three days." He then turned to look to Elle. "You will be receiving the same punishment, although we could not get ahold of your father at the moment."

Gabriel just nodded numbly. He was almost disappointed she hadn't had the chance to go through with it. What did that say about him?

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"My chauffeur can pick me up. My Daddy works on Wall Street," she spouted off with a thin, apologetic smile, as if that explained everything. "We're really sorry about this, and it won't happen again," she said, her face twisted with mock embarrassment and guilt, and a thin crack fissured through her perfectly appropriate facade.

Of course it wouldn't happen again. Gabriel would never touch her again. Kiss her. Hold her. Make love to her. Each realization was worse than the last, twisting her all up inside until she was sure there was nothing inside of her that worked quite right.

Maybe after she killed him, she thought with painful finality, she'd kill herself.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

It won't happen again

Her words echoed in Gabriel's ears and he wondered if she was talking to the principal or him. Probably both. He would never hold her in his arms again, kiss her, make love to her until he wasn't sure where she stopped and he began. She had almost become the other half of him, and now that that was ripped away from him, he felt incomplete.

But what could he do? He couldn't just...kill his mother. He couldn't.

What could he do?

He finally gathered the will to speak again. "We're very sorry sir."

The principal nodded. "Come with me then, you two can wait in my office, where we can make sure you don't get up to anything else."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Elle wordlessly followed, her eyes suddenly burning. Her limbs ached and the strange, scary emptiness in the pit of her stomach started to spread.

Did he know? Could he feel it, too? Her fingers curled into fists, and she resisted to urge to cross her arms over the gaping wound in her chest. This was just his fault, wasn't it? He left her, and she wasn't quite sure if she believed it yet.

If he left her because of this, that meant Virginia was more important to him, right? All the stupid promises and declarations of love were lies. She should have seen this sooner, she realized. Should have expected it. How stupid she was, for believing someone could love her like that.

Her steps were calculated, slow as they walked slowly down the long hallway. She felt her heart harden, and that flare of anger simmered in her chest as she lifted her eyes to stare sidelong at him. He was just a liar.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He numbly followed the principle back into the building, occasionally glancing back to Elle. His heart twisting in pain each time.

He never thought it would come to this, that he would have to make this sort of choice. It wasn't fair. He hadn't wanted to chose to leave her, but what else could he do? He didn't want his mother to die. No matter what he chose, he was screwed now.