I think one of us is hiding something [Closed]

Murder? Yes that was his intention. He even said so many moments ago. He said that he wished for their deaths. And yes he was pretty far gone, but not past the fixable point. Of course Barry didn't know about the event that unfolded in Chicago which scrambled the winter's brain. It pushed him off the cliff. How many people had he killed hundreds? Thousands? He didn't quite know. The death count was hidden from him. He never bothered to look it up when they returned. He was trying to keep himself from going insane but eventually he had failed and here he was now.

When her fingers moved up to try and pry his hand off his grip tightened more. His grin grew then he finally heard their words. His grin faded, and the joy that was in his eyes from dealing the damage left. The boy blinked a couple times the light that was in his eyes faded to the dull color that he had a couple days before. He blinked a few more times. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking at until he felt the weight on his arm, and weak fingers digging at his own.

Mason's eyes widened in fear quickly he released his grip, letting the girl fall to the ground. He started backing away from her shaking his head. "No... no.. no.." He said softly. As he moved backwards he ended up tripping over Barry's leg falling to the ground. The sudden jolt, and the pain from the fall didn't stop him from backing up. Though he pushed himself using both of his hands and legs to move. Eventually he pressed himself up against a tree. He brought his knees to his chest, and grasped his head in his hands.

The boy shook in the realization of what he had done. He could clearly see that Barry's arm was broken, and he was about to kill Lamia.. the one person he didn't want to hurt.. If he hadn't stopped who knows what he would have done.. He truly was a monster.. and they all saw it now. They all knew it now.. He should have left sooner.. He knew it would have gotten to this point.. but he decided to fight it until he couldn't anymore.. which was a mistake on his part because this happened.. God he was such a fucking failure.. They probably hated him now..

Something about all of this seemed familiar to Barry. As if he had seen something like this before. Barry's childhood swam by his face and he shut his eyes tight, putting his good arm to his head. "No... No no no. I don't want this. I've done so much to cover this deep inside my mind. Why is it coming back?" he said. "Why why why? Edward..." he curled into a ball, similar to the position Magic was in. A blurry memory surfaced, of him and his friend when the Autumn was in about 5th grade. Barry looked vastly different. He had a buzz cut and wasn't anywhere near as skinny as he usually was. The boy, however, looked very familiar. The same black hair, and the same eyes, just slightly larger. It was Magic. Magic, the boy he defended. Magic, the boy he befriended. Magic, the fighter. His head rose slowly, his sunken eyes brightening for the first time in weeks. He turned to face his childhood friend. "M-M-Mason?" he managed to say.

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The sudden release caused her to slump over on the floor, a sharp intake of air filling her lungs in a cool breeze. A few coughs escaped, the airway only just opening up again after being squeezed tight. She brought one hand to her chest, the other clenching its wrist, trying to mentally count in her head to calm herself, to stop the thudding in her heart before it pushed its way out. She couldn't tell if everything was alright, she didn't know her limits, she couldn't feel it. Uneven bangs obscured her vision, and Lamia was half-tempted to stay where she was and not get up. Her body didn't listen to her as she slowly pushed onto her knees. That was an accomplishment in itself, right? Her hands trailed until they found something she could use to balance on, lurching onto her feet with more effort than she'd assumed. Keeping a hold so that she wouldn't fall face first, blank blue eyes scanned the area.

Barry's eyes had reached their livelihood again, energetic as always in the spontaneous manner she couldn't discern. What made him suddenly realize something? Did he figure something out? She didn't know. Lamia's lips thinned as she found Magic backed into a corner like a mouse fearing its life before the cat would impale it with sharp claws. No escape. No escape from what you've done. No escape from what you've dug yourself into. What should she say now? That it was alright? That she wasn't mad at him? That she didn't hate him? All of those answers seemed right, but it would be a lie. Even if she didn't know how much damage she had taken from there, he'd see right through her. See something was wrong. And he'd panic even more.

Instead, she giggled softly, sweet as a bell, the corners of her lips pulling into a tiny smile. That's all she could do. It was always to smile and prove that was nothing was wrong. It's something... sort of.

Magic didn't look up at either of them. Now Barry was calling him Mason.. Yeah it must have been bad. He was sure they both hated him. "I'm so sorry.. " He said in a shakey voice. His gray-green eyes were cast to the ground next to him. It was kind of hard to see his face. "I'm just a monster.." Just another failure to add to my book.. He thought. How many times had he failed now? He couldn't think of them all. It was bad.. He should have warned them.. or told them he was going away.. They wouldn't have ended up hurt.. and he wouldn't be here right now.. He could have prevented this.. He would have prevented this if he wasn't such a fuckin failure..

"Mason?" he said again, this time a little louder. He stood up, slowly, his broken arm still close to his body. He'd always been a fast healer, and he could almost feel his body begin its healing process. He stumbled over to the Winter Prefect, and knelt down in front of him. "Magic. It's me. I've known you longer than you remember. Longer than I remembered until very recently. How did we forget each other?" He said, a laugh escaping him.

Monster. Out of all the words he had to call himself out of all this, it had to be... that. He had been thrown into a furious rage back on the first day of Chicago just from hearing his mother say it. From calling Vince the same thing. He had stormed out of the room soon after, and there wasn't a fucking thing she could do about it then. She had screwed up and made it worse, the insults flying back and forth like a frisbee before it dropped dead on the floor. Why would he say that after everything? Leo had convinced them both back then, didn't he? That it was alright to have these gifts? No... even then, it wasn't enough to convince her. The word was dark, echoing in the back of her head, and she winced as she remembered hearing it from people she thought were her friends, her father, her own twin brother. Anxiously, she shuffled her feet where she was, leaning back onto the tree for support without heeding the cracks as they dug into her.

One hand came up, clutching the side as she closed her fingers and concealed the clock embedded in her flesh. Magic didn't need to see that now of all times. It would be better if she didn't get close now. Barry had it under control. Friends. Longer. Past. They knew each other before. Was that the friend that Magic would always talk about that helped him? How ironic that it was someone that had gone to Beata as well in the end. Like a story book. They always had some kind of happy ending in the end, all the plot devices that came in and aided them. It was timely, convenient, and made it that much easier for her to keep a secret. Let them reconcile and take their time.

Lamia's face had been obscured by her bangs, her expression dark, her features practically blanketed in a veil of black. Numbly, her legs snapped like lead and she slumped onto the floor, using the bark as a support with shallow breaths. Softly, she mumbled, "N-n-no one i-is..." Shaking her head, her fingers curled closer, almost crushing her right arm. "E-especially y-you." He wouldn't believe her, she had that feeling he wouldn't. After what happened back then... What she had said, who she wound up defending, what she had caused because of it all. Magic wouldn't listen to her. It was pathetic of her to try.

What the hell was Barry talking about? Magic was pretty sure he never knew the boy before coming to Beata.. It was honestly kind of confusing to think about.. Barry said they knew each other for a long time.. But how long? He never remembered the boy from his gang age.. Was it before that? Magic had to search his memory... He didn't really remember his childhood to well.. After all of the bullying.. almost killing a classmate defending his fried.. he wanted to forget.. The only thing he bothered remembering was the piano lessons with his grandmother.. Really the only good thing in his life..

Magic looked up from the ground his dull gray-green eyes looking up at Barry. The autumn bore a sort of half smile. Magic stared at for a moment.. Then he sort of remembered. His friend used to make the same face after failing at talking him out of a fight.. He looked so different now.."Bartholomew?" Magic asked. If that was Barry's real name then Barry was his friend from long ago.. but if that wasn't then.. Whoops.

His attention was taken away from the boy when he heard Lamia fall to the the ground completely. He looked over to her, and he could feel some tears trying to work their way out of his eyes. Instantly one of his hands went to the charm that was still wrapped around his neck. The charm Lamia had given him. He didn't deserve it after what he had done.. "I'm so sorry Lamia.. I failed again.. I hurt you again.. I don't deserve the necklace you gave me.." He couldn't stop the tears from welling up in his eyes. But he took a moment to clear them away..

"This is all my fault.. I should have controlled myself in Chicago.. If I had all of those people wouldn't have died.. I wouldn't be suffering from madness or lack of sleep.. nor would I have hurt you again.." He sniffed slightly and cleared his eyes again. "I should have gotten help.. I should have known I was going mad.. But instead I decided to take it on my own.. I'm such a fucking failure.."He looked away from the two of them again. He kept his hand on the charm he was tempted to yank it off and give it back to her.. He really didn't deserve it..

Barry nodded. "Yes, it's me." he said, involuntarily wincing at his full name. He never really liked his name. It sounded incredibly outdated in his opinion. The smile soon left his face when the Winter got up and started talking about himself. Barry stood up as well, and for the first time while he was here he finally fully registered that Lamia was here. He wasn't sure what else to say to either of the two Winter prefects. He stood there awkwardly, cradling his arm again, so he decided to talk about their past. "Hey, do you remember that time when I was getting picked on by like, four bullies, and you were the one to defend me? I'm surprised I still remember that. I've tried to shut out all of my childhood, to be honest." he said, trying to quickly change the subject, to distract Magic from his breakdown, and maybe cheer him up a bit. Death made him weird and when Magic mentioned the fact that he killed thousands of people, it made him want to change the subject even more.

Wait, the necklace? Lamia bit her lip. She still had to find her own version of it... Goddammit. The Evaluation had convinced her she had kept it, but whenever she reached towards her neck, it wasn't there. Maybe it was and she couldn't feel it. Who knew? But when he mentioned the airport, she turned away, trying to hide her face. No, it wasn't his fault back there. It was her's for being a stupid idiot and revealing her suicidal tendencies... or rather the fact that she was fine with throwing away her own life in light of someone else's - stranger or not. What the hell had she been thinking back then? Was it just in the spur of the moment? Maybe it was just a habit of hers to try and find that there was some good in everyone. No one was born purely evil. At least, that's what she wanted to believe. Warren wouldn't have done that without a decent reason. In the end, he didn't actually kill her, right? Shut up, it's going to be the same thing if you keep thinking like this. Lamia clenched her eyes closed, lowering her head. This wasn't the time to be self-centered.

The voices and screams of people echoed inside as the airport collapsed. Something she had wound up making because she had been a fucking idiot. She put people's lives in danger. She put Vince's life in danger. Magic's life. All of those people that died... That could've, would've, should've died. She was grateful that Barry had wound up changing the subject in her place, trying to bring up the past, but... the past was only depressing. Nothing good came from it. From what she heard from Magic, he didn't seem to like talking about it. Not that she could say anything about that herself - they knew nothing about her in the end.

Slowly, she blinked her eyes back open, unwilling to glance over at Magic. If she did, he'd only feel worse about the entire thing. If she did, she'd have to move and her secret was out. "I-It's f-f-fine... Y-you c-can k-k-keep it." Of course he could. It was one of the things that made her happiest, that he had accepted it instead of throwing it over the balcony like she thought. She would've taken it back if he worded it differently. But to say that he didn't deserve it was stupid. He deserved it more than anyone else... even if it was just measly effort in the end.

No it wasn't fine.. All of this was his fault. It wasn't Lamia's fault it was all his fault. Lamia didn't really have anything to do with it. Knowing her she probably thought this was her fault when it wasn't.. Magic should have controlled himself better. He never should have allowed himself to get so angry, but he did, and it was all on him. He ran a hand through his hair. He had to say it. "I know you are probably thinking this is your fault somehow.. But it isn't.. It's all on me.. All of it.. I should have had better control.. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get so mad.. I knew it was going to happen but I didn't react til it was too late.." The grip he had on his necklace tightened. He still had the urge to yank it off, but he didn't something told him to hold onto it besides Lamia.

Magic shook his head, he knew the winter was going to disagree with him in her head. He knew she wouldn't say it aloud.. The boy let out a sigh, and decided to reply to Barry now. "Yeah.. I remember the day.. That was the day I discovered my gift.. That was the day you gave me my nickname as well.." That day Magic couldn't really do anything about a four on one situation.. He ended up yelling at the group of four which ended up sending them flying away from Barry. But after that the bullying only got worse for Magic, and that was also when the threat of Magic needing to change schools started.

"Oh yeah! How could I forget?" The Autumn said. At this point, he decided that changing the subject wasn't going to happen. "None of this is your fault, Mason.. er.. Magic, Your past hasn't been the best. It's how you learned to cope." he said, trying to comfort the boy.

How the hell was it his fault? There was no way. He wouldn't have needed to control himself if she didn't say anything. He wouldn't have gotten angry if she had just kept her mouth shut and pretend like everything was fine the same way she had always been. It was one tiny fucking mistake on her part and look where that got them. The idea of messing up more than she had back then only seemed worse. That was one slip-up. What if it was something bigger then? What kind of disaster would've been caused if she had said something that he hated more? Lamia still couldn't catch onto it. Why the hell did he even care at all? Magic had his own problems to worry about - she could handle hers on her own while still trying to balance everyone else's on top of her shoulders. There wasn't much worth it about her in the end. She wanted to just scold him or tell him off for thinking at all that he was the one to blame back then, but it wouldn't be a good idea to say it now. Might as well figure it out on her own while those two catch up. Bottle it in, smile, pretend everything was alright.

Always everyone else before her own well-being, whether it meant sacrificing herself or not. The motivation that kept her going after everything that happened back then, what she learned to value. Maybe it wasn't the proper way to think about her own life, but it sure as hell beat being an egotistical jerk. Let people think she was weak and powerless and useless. In the end, she was. How much could she actually change in the end? Nothing. Fate played her on strings like a puppeteer putting on a humorous show for the audience while they laughed and mocked and were all the more satisfied.

Barry had always been the mediator in their group, and he certainly did a good job with it. She had no idea what to say - not that she ever did -, but somehow, every option only seemed to make the whole atmosphere worse and more tense. Just keep shut. Just stay silent. Stay calm. Don't panic. If she panicked, she'd wind up saying something they didn't need to know, and all that would just escalate into something they shouldn't have to talk about. Her hand shifted in its place, fingers opening up a tiny gap as she cast a glance over her shoulder to see the shining numbers sown onto her skin as they ticked down like a bomb. Not that much left. Kearn would kill her if she let it run out just like that... Maybe not kill, but there was no way she'd use someone or something for her own benefit.

Hopefully, before anyone saw anything, her fingers clamped back to a close, and she kept her hand covering the spot. The one day she decided to not bring an extra uniform jacket in her bag, this had to happen. Lie if they ask about it. Or dismiss it. Of course, that was her stupid answer to everything. Bring the conversation into a never-ending cycle until they got tired of it and stopped thinking about it; or rather, got sick of hearing her avoid everything. That's just how it had to be in the end. For the sake of everyone else, it'd be better if they didn't know... Right?

Gray-green eyes looked up at Lamia as she moved slightly, but she quickly put her hand back before he could see what she was looking at. She wasn't bleeding from that spot.. what was she hiding? Magic shook his head. He should probably leave soon. The others probably needed to get to the infirmary. Honestly at this point he just wanted to break down.. he wanted to be weak for once, in front of his friends.. but no.. he couldn't do that.. Something bad might happen again and neither of the two needed that. He felt like he should have explained things better, but.. there wasn't any point.. There was no way to cast the blame to something else. It was all on him.

It was how he learned to cope with things.. The answer was always to get violent. To respond with anger. He was sick of it all, sick of this hell he was living in. But no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he would always fail, and he knew that.. He was bound to fail, because he was a failure. He was looking to change something he could probably never change.. All while running from a past he would never get away from.. He made a mistake of muttering something he probably shouldn't have.. "I wanna give up.." He took a few breaths. "I will always fail if I try to change myself..."

"I think that the reason you haven't been able to change yourself is because you haven't truly let anyone into your life. You're always shoving Lamia out and don't get me wrong, she does it to you too, but in order to change, you need help. This isn't something you can do by yourself." Barry said. The Autumn, always the oblivious one, didn't notice Lamia's hand move at all.

Lamia didn't understand it. Why give up now, of all times? Didn't he see how much he had changed since then? Maybe it was just a small, tiny sample, but it was enough. She'd seen both sides of the story, and from what Laine and Vince had said, he was certainly different. Magic never jumped in and started fighting whenever he felt like it - he considered the safety of others and when it'd be worth it, and he knew when to restrain himself. There were just times where people couldn't control themselves... He wasn't to blame. It might not have been because of her back then, but it sure seemed like it. He wouldn't have had to-- Stop thinking about that. Her eyes clenched close momentarily as she took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind before they fluttered back open with Barry's input. Magic hadn't let anyone into his life? He did a much better job than she did.

Her lips thinned, and she opened her mouth to correct him, but immediately shut it. She couldn't blame him if he didn't know that they had visited Magic's hometown together. After all, they'd left with only telling the staff and she doubted either of them left a note or anything along those lines. Not that it mattered much on her part, since nobody actually paid attention to her presence something akin to right now. since it was so absolutely weak. The quiet ones were always considered bland and uninteresting, but Lamia took it to a completely different level. It'd be so much easier if she just had invisibility as her gift instead. She was lucky enough neither of them noticed the numbers on her shoulder that changed with each passing second. They'd ask if she didn't move it once they started heading back. What should she say?

The more she tried to reason with herself, the harder it seemed to hide. If it was an injury, then it'd put more problems and burdens on them. If she tried to lie her way out of it, they'd figure out she was hiding something or something was wrong. If anything, there wasn't any real option. The strap of her bag was too thin to conceal that part of her sleeve - it was too low. Could she bet that they'd forget about it? Shifting herself to get up, it was only then that she had remembered that she had been leaning on a splintered tree.

Some pieces of bark had sunk into her skin, the back of her uniform slightly drenched with blood - half from the impact before and half from letting it sit still for so long. Shit. She had just stood up without showing any signs of discomfort. Fuckfuckfuckfuck... Had she gotten up slowly enough that they'd just think it was because she was weakened? She had got up like everything was completely fine. Was there a small chance that either of them hadn't been paying attention? No.

Here's to hoping they didn't anyway. "U-uhm..." The words awkwardly rolled off her tongue, and she wasn't sure if it was because her throat might've been dry or because of the fact that she hadn't spoken up for a decent while. "Pl-please d-d-don't s-say th-that... Y-you've ch-changed a l-l-lot."