Bitter-Sweet Things [closed]

She wasn't exactly sure what made her wander into the Grand Hall that evening. It was no day different than any other. In fact, it was late Spring, or the beginning of Summer. The brunette should've been outside with the rest of the school, talking, hanging out, enjoying the sun; not walking aimlessly inside a large, old, dusty room. The young woman couldn't help but glance around, admiring how eerie the place was when you were alone. The curtains were drawn over the towering windows. Not a single light was left on, the chandelier on top the roof of the building seemed so dull. It was amazing how much this place changed so much at the end of the year, for the formal.

Alicia bit her lip. Yeah, maybe that's why she was here. She'd found that she'd wandered to the back of the room, running her hand gently on the old walls. She'd never been much for dancing, and goodness, she'd been such a bother then to her date. Probably, anyways. She would've been rather annoyed with herself, maybe, if the roles had been switched around.

The Hall seemed especially quiet in that moment, lost in her thoughts. What had ever happened to him? He just up and disappeared one day... She couldn't blame him, she supposed, or be upset any. People came and left from the school all the time. But still, it was always hard not to wonder, or wait for him to appear in the Summer dorms one of those days. She regretted not being a better friend then. Or a better... well... you know... Whatever they were...

She sighed.

She was lost. How she had gotten lost was beyond her, yet here she was, lost. Grace had decided to try and distract her unhappy and clouded mind by looking for where the school counselor was. She wasn't one hundred percent committed to talking to them yet, but she at least thought it might help to know where they were. And yet, despite knowing what room number it was, she had ended up getting horribly lost, enough to where she was near the Great Hall instead. At least, that's what it said by the doors. The young brunette looked at the words with a sigh of defeat. She couldn't be this scattered-brained, could she? With another sigh, she slowly walked past the doors and began walking off…

… And then she walked right back and did a double take. There was someone in the Grand Hall; only one person. Feeling a bit guilty for what may be construed as spying, Grace pressed her face up against the glass and peered inside, looking at the lone person in the room. With slowly-widening eyes, the looks of this particular girl began to grow more and more familiar. No, it can't be… It certainly looked like her, though, and for the first time since she'd gotten here, Grace felt something akin to a slowly-rising anger. Her eyes narrowed as she began staring daggers at the girl, though without true confirmation of who it was, her growing anger felt somewhat misplaced. How would she know, though? She couldn't just go up there and ask; that'd be awkward as heck, and probably lead to her saying - well, stuttering more likely - something she'd regret. Please don't be her.

The Summer suddenly seemed bent once again on trying to find out what happened, trying to think towards the future. If she concentrated on something - or someone - hard enough, sometimes she could predict their circumstances. It was something she tried nearly every time she thought of him. He tried to picture him, his name, his face; hoping her gift would give her some sort of clue of what happened to him, or what would happened to him, but just like every other time, it didn't seem to work.

Alicia looked frustrated with herself, rubbing the cold chill off her arms and turning back to leave the room. There really was no point in staying there...

She stared down at the ground as she started to walk back, heading closer to the door. It wasn't until she was several feet away from the door that she saw someone watching from the glass paneling... and Alicia really wasn't sure of how to react, watching back blankly for a moment. How long had she been standing there?

Not exactly sure of what to do, she threw a weak smile and a small wave back.

If this was the same girl, she sure seemed to be staring at nothing. Grace didn't know what she was doing, or why she was here, but it wasn't exactly comforting. Eventually though, she turned and started walking towards the door, head down. Grace's eyes widened when she realized that she'd be caught if she stood there any longer, but she felt frozen there, caught between two wild and prevailing emotions, neither one of them any good. By the time she finally took a step back the other girl was staring directly at her. Oh no...

It was her. It was unmistakingly her. A wave of unhappy feelings rose up in her stomach and crashed into her throat, but all she could offer was an equally weak wave, though no smile graced her lips. She was visibly shaking, though because of her now-natural shy tendencies or for another reason, she couldn't say. All she knew was that it was her, and she hated her. Not once in her life had she ever felt angry at someone, but there was a first time for everything. She hated this girl.

The more that she stood there and looked at the stranger, the more confused she had gotten. Just going by the way she looked simply, Alicia was almost positive that she'd never seen her before, though some eerie feeling in her gut told her that she should have. Maybe she should have foreseen this girl's arrival? If she was to a new student anyways. It wouldn't have been the first time something like that would have happened...

The girl on the other side of the glass seemed flustered though, scared even - at least from her point of view. The Summer in her felt that that simply wouldn't do. She couldn't leave her there alone without at least saying hello or offering some help... Even if her watching her in the hall had left her a bit uncomfortable.

Alicia opened the door and stepped into the regular halls to meet her. "Hello?" she greeted, offering another soft smile. "Is there something wrong? Are you lost?"

Grace let out a quiet yelp of surprise as she bolted back from the door, looking directly into the other girl's face. Alicia: she wouldn't forget that name, that face... But now that she was standing there, Grace had no clue what to do. Any words she may have wanted to say died instantly in her throat, and she just stared almost dumbfounded, too many emotions running through her eyes to pick one out specifically.

"N-no!" That was louder than she intended, and the brunette clasped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed as she heard the faint echoes of her response bounce off the walls. "I-I mean, I-I got t-t-turned around, I-I think." Do something! Say something, hurt her, right here. No, don't... yes, I don't know! Her mind had become a maelstrom of conflicting opinions, and at times she looked almost zoned out as she stared hard at the older girl before realizing how that must look and quickly averting her eyes. She still didn't know what to do.

"I-is... is your name Alicia?" She didn't look up, and a slight bitterness crept into her tone as she asked, her legs shaking a bit. This wouldn't end well, it couldn't possibly end well, but for some reason she just had to know, to be a hundred percent sure. Why hadn't she kept on walking?

"O-oh... Okay."

Alicia seemed almost as surprised as she was as the stranger gasped and stumbled back further a bit, even shouting and quickly covering her mouth after. Maybe she should've just left this girl alone in the first place? The Summer had been about to just not and say her goodbyes then, if she didn't need her help, but then she'd went and asked for her name.

That had seriously thrown her off, a faint frown showing on her face for a moment before Alicia had quickly shook it away. "Yes." She said simply, still looking a bit wary. "Have we met before?"

Grace froze up, gulping nervously as she thought of what to say next. That was really dumb of her to admit she knew the other girl's name; how would she explain that? "N-no, I just, I… uh…" She continued to shake due to her now-rattled nerves, her right hand clenching into a fist without her permission. Darkness begin to appear and dissipate around her fist, only staying around long enough to show that it existed.

"I-I've heard of… I know someone who kn-knew you," she finished lamely, going quiet as she looked up and made eye contact with the older girl. A wave of anger rose up within her, appearing within her eyes before mixing with her nervousness and causing a confusing mix of emotions to showcase itself on her face.

Alicia had started to take a somewhat uncomfortable step back before she recomposed herself, thinking she'd seen something appear the girl's fist... or had she really just been imagining things then? Her mind seemed stuck on the image before the girl spoke on, their eyes meeting. The conflicting looks on the strangers face were still throwing her off though, and it'd taken her a moment to realize what exactly she'd meant. 'No way.' She thought narrowing her eyes.

The Summer stepped closer, frowning and unflinching. "Pardon," she muttered. "But what is your name again?"

Now it was Grace's turn to take an uncomfortable step back. This wasn't good; she was bad at confrontation. Maybe it would better to leave; but this wouldn't be so easily forgotten. "G-Grace," she muttered in return, a bit softer even. She didn't like the changed demeanor in the other girl: it wasn't positive, but she seemed more resolute, and the way she spoke, the way she asked the question... it made Grace feel uneasy.

"I-I should..." Go. That was what she wanted to say, but that final, simple word wouldn't leave her tongue, and she just stood there looking increasingly more... well, it was tough to say. By now the emotional battle raging in her eyes had left two opponents: total distraught and unnatural anger. This girl... It was her fault, right? And she was right there, and no one else was in the hallway... Her body tensed up in an attempt to reject those thoughts, but they wouldn't be so easily vanquished.

Alicia took a few steps closer, the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach only growing by the moment. Her gaze locked firmly with this other girl's. "Alright then, Grace." She stood there for a mere moment, biting her lip and glancing down, looking for her words then. If she was going to speak, she was going to make every word count. Gingerly, the Summer folded her hands in front of her. "If you don't need my help and you already know my name..." Still, words seemed to escape her. She sighed, glancing back up at the girl. "What do you want with me? Why were you watching me?"

She was seriously tired of the creeps at this school.

Straight to the point, then. It seemed as if her newfound and easy ability to avoid eye contact with those she was speaking to had failed her, as her gaze was chained to Alicia's with no key to unlock it. This was it. It was now or never. Still she said nothing, eyes locked with only an errant blinking to lapse the connection. Under the older girl's intense gaze, she suddenly felt small, weak, like this wasn't her business to skulk around in. Her lip began to quiver as tears formed and then fell freely from her eyes, words forming and momentarily dying upon her lips. Finally, she reached out and grabbed Alicia by the neck. It wasn't a tight grip, but it was firm, and the darkness that ran unchecked upon her hand was thusly transferred onto Alicia's skin, forming upon her neck and shoulder and causing a very cold, very empty, and very familiar feeling to pass through her body.

"You hurt him..." Her words were no longer appropriated by stuttering, but they were now choked by intermittent sobs that began to wrack her body, a cascade of tears stinging her cheeks. "Crowe... My last name... You... You know who I am... don't you?" A fire burned in her eyes, emerald flames that sizzled through the tears, burning straight into Alicia's.

Her tough exterior immediately crumbled the moment that she saw the other girl begin to break down and start crying. God, no! That wasn't what she'd wanted at all. She was just used to putting up with people at Montare, and this girl had just seemed so, well - Like, she'd been watching her and already knew her name. That was reason to be a little weirded out wasn't it? This was what happened when she tried to play the tough girl for once. It didn't suit her much at all...
Or maybe it did? Before she could really do a thing besides freak out a little, she'd found Grace's hands clutching her around the neck.

Alicia had been shocked more than anything, her hands immediately moving to Grace's, feebly trying to undo her grasp - but she could only focus on the tears streaming out of the girl's eyes, and the icy, empty feeling that crept out from her touch, spreading over her body. Crowe. Her last name was Crowe. Of course it clicked for her in an instant.

"I... hurt him...?" She muttered, finding Grace's eyes again. What was she talking about? What had she ever done to him? After everything he'd done for her?

"Alicia…" The Summer could remember him saying what felt like ages ago.What had happened to him after all this time. This girl, who had to be his cousin, or his sister maybe? Whoever it was that shared his name and his power... He had to know, didn't she? "I promise I'll do my best for you." More memories came flooding in then: hanging around in the dorms, dancing together at the formal, when the dork took his shirt off just to give her something to wear...

She'd found that tears were gathering in her eyes as well. "Jacob..." The brunette started pulling her hands at Grace's again. "Where... Where is he?!"

She didn't want to answer. She didn't want to say anything. All she wanted to do was hold on until the entire girl's being was nothing but darkness, but it just wasn't in her. Her hand slipped off of Alicia's neck, dissipating the darkness as she completely broke down into tears. She hated this girl, but all she had wanted was for… whatever had happened, to never have happened. If they had still been together, then…

"I-I don't know!" She shouted out through her body-shaking sobs, the choked-out despair echoing down the hall. Without the ability to inflict pain to this girl, Grace instead wrapped her arms around her body, the fire doused from her eyes as she looked away, angry and distraught and confused. "H-he told me about you… I could tell he was happy. I could… I-I could just feel it i-in his letters. B-but then he stopped talking about you, a-and I knew something was wrong… A-and when he came home…" She couldn't continue, her angry tears obscuring her vision as the sobs barricaded her words from coming to fruition. With as much of her weak strength as she could muster, she began hitting Alicia; on her shoulder, in her stomach, but there was no power behind her violence, and soon she found herself crying on the older girl's shoulder, furious for not being able to exact any proper vengeance.

"Wh-what did you do to him?" She finally managed to ask, unable to continue looking at Alicia. "Wh-why d-didn't you… s-stop him from coming home? I-if you h-had done something, h-he would still be here, a-and I… I…" I'd be gone.

She breathed in a tiny gasp the moment that she had finally been let down, her hand going up to her neck where the shadows that had been not a few moments ago. Even as they had disappeared, the coldness that they'd brought had remained for several long moments. It took longer than she would've wished to get rid of the last of the chill. The Summer probably should've left then. That would've been the smart thing to do, but she couldn't help but stayed glued in that spot, watching the girl who shared his name break down into sobs. She looked completely broken.

And so Alicia just listened, taking the smallest hint of a step back once Grace walked closer, but she didn't go any further. "I'm... I - ..." There didn't seem to be any words she could find at that moment. She could only picture him and the letters that she'd seen him writing every now and then, the crumbles of paper that'd been left on his desk. The girl had never thought to ask about them, or who he was talking too. She'd regretted that from the day he'd disappeared. The only thing more heartbreaking were the feeble hits that Grace through her face, that did little more than nudge the brunette back a bit.

"I don't know - I'm sorry, I - ..." She thought about wrapping her arms around this girl, but was afraid something bad would come up it. She only dared to gently place a hand on Grace's back. "What happened to him? And you? I don't understand..."