It's time to move on, Speedster [Closed]

Barry knocked on Magic and Lamia's dorm door, thoughts racing like they had been before the pyramid. He wasn't finally healing. He wasn't letting it go. He couldn't. He would never give up looking for Cadence and Graham, even if it meant dying in the process. He wasn't going to let them get away. He'd pretty much shunned everybody who had even shown him a spec of friendship. And he'd shunned Ed, which wasn't hard to do. After the incident with Rose, Barry and Ed hadn't talked at all. The only interaction they had with each other was awkward crossings in between classes. And he had barely spoken to Magic since they had drank together, and it seemed like forever since he had spoken to Lamia.

He semi-patiently waited for either of them to answer the door. Barry needed something to distract himself so he figured paying his best friends a visit would be good. He wondered what they had been up to lately. Did Magic do something stupid again? Did something happen to Lamia? Or perhaps they had finally made it official that they were together. It was hard to tell with those two what they had done since he had last seen them. He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. Barry wondered what was keeping them before he realized that all of these thoughts had raced through his head in less than a second. His powers were starting to get out of hand again, and he needed to re-learn all of things that had kept his speed in check.

Summer was known as the peak of youth, the time where everyone was bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Sunny lit and clear skies, getting together with friends to head out onto the beach where piles of sand were sprinkled throughout, patching the black floor with grains of pastel as water came in with an ebb and flow, washing onto the crystalline surface and cleansing it with a simple touch. The sharp, tangy scent of the ocean breeze and the salt dabbed in to create a harmonious mixture. If she closed her eyes a bit, she could imagine the children racing down the streets in their own competitions, tugging on thin invisible threads that snaked downward towards their owners, directing the tiny dots in the skies like a sailor navigating the great blue sea, or perhaps they were entertaining themselves with the local clown and magician with wide grins and bright laughs resonating joyously in the atmosphere, hand in hand. Another school year had come to a close and now that classes were dismissed, it seemed that many students were visiting home for a vacation or two.

For awhile, she flirted with the idea of going back herself, if not for a week or so, but the idea was thrown out the window almost immediately. It was enough that Callum came that one time for a few days. Heading home meant letting Kearn panic and her mother being struck with concern and grief, letting them worry over nothing. Besides, trying to go out now, regardless that the event happened almost a year ago, wasn't the most possible thing ever. Though she personally wouldn't mind taking the risk if the research conducted would help others, she had a promise to fulfill that wouldn't allow it to happen, so here she was, still at the academy and working whenever possible at the cafe. Business seemed to be booming now that students could visit Rosebury more frequently that taking extra shifts to help out was the only solution they could come up with, especially since Aspen left the campus and there weren't as many employees as before.

Closing hours approached as the golden half-disk sunk beneath the horizon, stars lighting up the sky in seemingly sporadic patterns that, what seemed to be chaos and disorder, brought a sort of ethereal beauty that couldn't be accomplished by anything else. The walk back at night was something she looked forward to after working, whenever she found herself doing so at later hours. As though it were a little reward, a special treat - in a way -, for something that she didn't really do. While nothing would match the sights that her eyes could gaze upon at home, Adeline couldn't deny that Beata was very scenic and picturesque, stealing the expression that photos spoke more than thousands of words without a hitch. She had to satisfy her quench by absorbing every little detail possible, as though each time she took the same route was the very last time she would ever step upon the stone-paved paths. In a sense, eventually that day would come, but trying to put too much thought into it now was not necessary.

As she approached the towering academy gates, she found herself instinctively looking at the forest and frowning a tiny bit. Though she never necessarily received an explanation on what happened after Magic left that day once he found out her little secret, it wasn't something that she could simply dismiss. He had come back, practically at the break of dawn, and the first thing she remembered hearing was 'I dislike your friend'. Callum was also rather quiet afterwards, a bit worse for wear than usual. Any time he found her glancing over to check if he was okay, he immediately waved it off and said that he was fine, that he was simply a little careless on his way to Rosebury and broke his wheelchair in the process. She wanted to pry further, to ask about it, but there was no need, especially if neither of them wanted to say anything. It would've been very rude to try and question it, so she simply didn't try to think about it any further.

Though, the pure glances of dislike the two tossed at one another whenever they were in the same vicinity was a little difficult to miss, as rare as they were. Sure, Callum was a bit... demeaning and hostile, but he wasn't a terrible person or anything. Magic was the same way, in a sense that they had trouble connecting with others, not that he was as mocking in a verbal manner, but more that he was a bit more physical and used force when necessary here and there. Or, well, something about that. They had peculiar methods of communicating or trying to voice themselves and such, but that didn't make them bad. Besides, it wasn't that anyone could blame them if they were bad. Not that they were, not at all, but in a very unlikely hypothetical, that was. And saying that there was a bad and good side was too much of a black and white morality; there wasn't any really any way to define evil or anything, so if they did some questionable things, they must have reasons for it.

Her head was swimming, but after a few moments, Adeline managed to regain her composure and after trudging through the academy, she reached the Winter building and entered the long, narrow corridor where the hallways were lined with doors in a methodical manner, 102 at the other end. With it being this late at night, she wasn't expecting anyone to be visiting now, so it was a surprise to see someone standing right in front of the entrance to her dorm. And it wasn't just any other person.

Brown hair, green eyes, slightly restless and waiting for the door to open with a rhythmic knock that was customary when there weren't any doorbells. Adeline blinked for a few moments, pausing in her steps, before immediately realizing that she should open the door for Barry as soon as she made it to the other side. With a bit of care, she reached into her bags - which were filled with profiles of new students that needed to be organized before they arrived at the academy later next week - and pulled out the hard thin key, the metal glimmering with the low-hanging lights within the corridor.

Why is he here? It was a rather peculiar time to be around after all. Perhaps Magic had invited him over so that the two of them could hang out for a bit, seeing that they were best friends after all, childhood best friends to boot. Or it could be about the Esper post that had come recently, the thought causing her lips to thin. How the local gossip blog managed to find out that her health was deteriorating was rather concerning, considering that it wasn't necessarily public knowledge and there wasn't anything to back it up, but that wasn't what bothered her. No, it was the comment that Barry had posted to respond to it. She really didn't mind what they wrote and if it meant that someone else didn't have to be involved, then that was even better. Barry almost took personal offense to it, and it wasn't fair. He didn't have to defend her or anything, there was no need to. And what they had written was right, in a way. It didn't bother her all that much. It was pretty clear that Magic would've had a girlfriend somewhere along the lines, so why did these poisonous thoughts of envy plague her?

She could worry about that later. With a smile, Adeline quickened her pace slightly as she closed the distance between her and Barry, steps light, and waved to him. She would've gave a proper greeting if she could, but it had been almost five months since she stopped being able to speak, so she simply came to accept that she couldn't utter a sound. Soon enough, she inserted the key into the keyhole, albeit a tiny bit clumsily, and the door gently creaked open before anyone on the other side could open it instead.

Hopefully Barry wouldn't question anything. Hopefully. There was no need for him to worry about her too. She was as fine as she could be, all things considered.

Magic wasn't sitting in his room like he normally would have been on days like this. Lately one of the people in his dorm hasn't been there at all so he assumed that the guy left to go home for the summer, and he hadn't seen much of Matthew. He knew Lamia worked until late so why not take the living room for himself? So here he was sitting on the couch, a few books and papers on the coffee table, and a book in his lap. A mechanical pencil sat in his mouth as his gray green eyes stared down the words in his book. The tv was on to provide some back ground noise for the winter, the complete sound of silence wasn't his thing even though there were other noises he could hear outside. Occasionally, to keep his mind occupied, he would go looking through various books he owned about science stuff and just do some research.

Seeing what had been going on lately, and this was how he was dealing with it and keeping himself from getting to frustrated with what had happened. He still hadn't forgiven himself for not paying attention. First the whole Adeline situation, and then he was told that something happened to Barry? Well.. He hadn't exactly seen Barry.. He could only guess the autumn was avoiding him. The winter let out a sigh realizing his thoughts were going off track once again. Grabbing the pencil from his mouth he scribbled some things into the margin of his book before replacing it back into his mouth.

He was distracted enough that he didn't hear anyone approach the door instead he finally heard it unlock and open. Removing the pencil from his mouth he looked over at the door, seeing a person who lived here, and a person who didn't. A person he didn't exactly expect to see. "Oh. Hey, ignore the mess." He placed his pencil in the middle of the book and closed it, placing it on top of the others. "Come in.. if you wanna." He said to the autumn, not knowing if he was here for a second or if he was here to hang out with them.

Barry waved distractedly at Adeline as she made her way through to unlock the door. He had no idea she wasn't home. But hearing the voice of Magic inside made him move into the dorm. He shoved his hands into his pockets as his hardened green eyes landed on his friend. "It's been awhile." he said, jaw tightening. He wasn't sure what to say. Everything that rushed through his head went by so fast he didn't have the chance to say them. He scanned the room with his gift, causing everything to slow down to him. Looking over to Lamia, he noticed that something was off. She had always been the quiet type, but this was unnaturally quiet, even for her. Turning back to Magic, he noticed that the Winter looked distracted, like he was trying to distract himself from something. It was a look he knew all too well.

He shook his head, causing his hair to shake everywhere. He needed to get a haircut. It was getting entirely too long. He just hadn't bothered to go anywhere to get it cut. His face had also become less filled out, with a hardened jaw line, and he looked even more like Ed than ever. His eyes were sunken in slightly, and they looked almost as hard as Magic's. Bottling up the anger inside was not the best decision on Barry's part. It was ruining his health, mentally and physically.

Time appeared to resume to normal, and it was like no time had passed at all. His hands twitched inside his pockets, he wasn't used to just standing around anymore. He waited for Magic to speak, somehow he knew that Adeline was going to remain silent through the whole visit. His eyes were constantly moving around the room, as if he was looking for something. Or someone. They danced from Magic to Lamia to the window to everything else. It was the only thing he could do to stop the impulse to move. He hoped neither of them would bring up how twitchy he seemed, but he knew they would. They always seemed to know what was going on with him. Maybe this time would be different. 'Doubtful.' he thought.

Once she had opened the door, Adeline turned her head over her shoulder to glance at Barry, silently inviting him to go in before her. Before, when there was a large gap between the two of them, she could only see that he was a bit fidgety, but he looked like the same person that they always knew, or somewhat. Ever since the haunted mansion from so long ago, it seemed as though he was having a difficult time recovering or keeping his spirits up. While he did manage to recover temporarily, it didn't exactly seem like it was the same way as before, and considering the fact that all she managed to do was steal glances towards him here and there after class or sometimes in the hallways, there wasn't much that necessarily seemed wrong. Barry seemed as though he was on his way towards a swift recovery around other friends and family, and for the most part, he had forgotten that she existed in those moments. There wasn't anything wrong with that - it was what she would prefer to happen.

But to say that she wasn't the slightest bit worried would be a lie. She felt awful, not thinking about checking up on him every once in awhile - not even once a month -, yet it was selfish of her to delude her thoughts into believing that it would be for the better not to say anything to him. All she would've done was be a hindrance, so to speak, and Barry didn't need anymore problems weighing down on his shoulders. The most she could do was help out from a distance, and even then, it wasn't as much as she had hoped. They never wound up speaking to one another for so long, and how long had it been now? Half a year? If she wanted to, she could consider tapping into her internal clock, the one that always absentmindedly ticked in her mind in rhythmic succession, and checking, but all that would do was make her feel even more guilty at her inabilities to be a good friend.

Looking at him close up now as he lingered awkwardly in the middle of the room, Barry seemed to be in worse condition than usual. His hair was shaggy and disheveled, as though he hadn't bothered to brush it or take care of it for the longest time. The usually lean and strong physique he held was replaced by a hollow figure, gaunt and bony, as though he had become an animated skeleton who could barely walk on his own two feet. Olive green eyes that she could recall were always so energetic and bursting with energy only appeared empty now, lacking the shine or life in them. Barry looked so... resigned. Defeated. And he couldn't get himself to stop flickering around everywhere, as though he were paranoid about something popping out of the shadows at any given moment and ensnare him with a burgeoning abyss.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Why didn't she check up on him sooner? Stupidstupidstupid. She should've figured it out sooner.

Her violet-blue gaze fell onto Magic, and she could see the way he was trying to keep himself distracted. It was written very plainly all over his face. Adeline suppressed a frown, concern filling her features. Magic also had been acting more standoff-ish and different ever since that time one month ago. What had the two of them been doing that night? She couldn't put her finger on it. He was probably mad that she never told him what was actually up with her gift, but if she had told him, there was no way he would let her do anything. Maybe she wasn't the best fighter and her health was very detrimental to the point where she was too fragile or delicate to efficiently do things on her own. It took her best effort not to be a burden to everyone else or becoming too dependent on them to assist her with some of the simplest tasks. But they didn't need to know that, and she had done a decent job concealing it for the longest time.

Exchanging a passing glance with her roommate, Adeline promptly switched over to Barry for a few moments, opening her mouth, as though she wanted to say something, before closing it. She wanted to ask if he was alright, if everything was well for him, if there was something that he wanted them to help him with. There were a lot of things that she wanted to say, but that was impossible now. After so long of being silent, she should've figured that it would become a habit not to try and speak anymore. But it wasn't. Maybe she was just being stupid again. With an involuntary sigh, she tore her eyes away and went to go set her bag on the kitchen counter-top. They were going to be staying up at night again, and from the way it seemed, Magic hadn't eaten yet.

It would be bad practice for the host not to provide some hospitality. Standing around and simply listening into the conversation would make it more awkward. Preparing something was the only thing she could do now and hope that everything went alright. Barry probably hadn't been eating very well either. She could join into the conversation when she really had to - anything else, and she'd simply be bothering those two.

Magic finally managed to clean up all the books he had, and placed them on the coffee table. One of the books was just a notebook overstuffed with paper of various types and with different things on them. He looked up at Barry knowing there was something wrong. He could easily tell from the first look he had of the other boy when he first showed up. The winter looked at his friend. He could feel his body tense up slightly, getting ready for anything. It looked like that Barry could honestly go off at any second, and from the looks of it, it could go in any direction. He would have to tread carefully with this.

"Yeah it has been a bit." He said standing up off the couch. His eyes natural scanning for anymore possible threats, though he wouldn't think Barry would lash out at them, but there was still a possibility of something happening. He could see his friend's eyes looking all over the room like something was going to pop out, which made him slightly paranoid too, but there was nothing to worry about. He was safe here.. Yeah.. Safe...

The winter just stood there. He wanted to shove his hands into his pockets but he could only guess that would give off a not caring attitude, couldn't cross his arms either cause that would mean he was closed off himself. "Are you alright?" He asked in a normal tone, trying to seem a little bit caring, but it probably wasn't working to well. He could only figure that Barry is either going to lie to him, or he was going to tell him the longer version of what Callum had told him a while ago.

His eyes had flicked over to Adeline as she passed to go do whatever it was. Though when he heard her to start pulling out stuff in their small kitchen area. He could only guess she was going to make something. He figured he would have to lie for her if Barry asked about why she was silent. Maybe just the simple she lost her voice would suffice, after all her getting sick wasn't uncommon. For now though his attention needed to remain on Barry. Adeline would rejoin this later. If his friend wanted to tell him he could, and he was hoping that would be the case, because Barry was doing exactly what Magic normally did. He was holding in his anger, though Magic could deal with it a little bit better than Barry, since bottling it up was a common thing for him since ages.

Barry thought about lying, but he knew it wouldn't work. He brought his hands to his face and sighed. "No, I'm not." he said tiredly, voice slightly muffled by his hands. "I can't sleep, I haven't eaten in days, I barely drink anything. I'm falling apart..." he said these things in a voice barely above a whisper. "I..." he started, going into a long explanation of what happened. The further he got into his explanation of the Pyramid, his voice began faltering more and more and tears formed at the edges of his eyes. His anger rose as well once he got to the part about Cadence and Graham. He explained his need for revenge. "...and Cass is gone. And it's my fault. I couldn't do enough. I should've done more. They will pay for this. I will make them suffer. I'll make them suffer more than anyone's ever suffered before. They'll wish for death before I'm done with them." His fists were clenched and tears had fallen by the time he finished his story. He didn't mean to launch into that big of a speech, but it all came tumbling out. He needed to tell someone. Magic and Lamia had just happened to be there when he finally dumped it all out. He took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean for that to come out.."

Once Barry began speaking, Adeline did her best to keep quiet as she went about in the kitchen, clasping onto various ingredients from the refrigerator while taking heed to not shut the door too loudly. Crimson red chilli with a neon sign practically screaming picante, a shock of coriander, some bunches of tomatoes, and mixed beans were all set off to the side as she ducked down, looking for the knives in the lower cabinets underneath the sink. An assortment of various blades were present within a fitting holder, the low-hanging lights bringing a malicious glint to the cold steel, as though beckoning for flesh to pierce through the sharpened edge and draw from within it a sticky scarlet liquid. Cautiously, her fingers wrapped around the blackened handle, glancing at it curiously for what felt like the longest time before she backed out of the cupboard, only to smack her head onto the top, the resounding knock being enough evidence for her, even with her vision suddenly falling back down in reference once again. Absentmindedly, she got up again with care to grab the cutting board and get back into the habit of preparing everything.

Slicing and dicing at the peppers, her work resonated with an almost reckless sort of speed to them, the echoes of a silenced thump following with each stroke. Both ears were lent towards hearing Barry's story as her mind gave it almost her full attention. The name Cassandra was a familiar one, and she remembered the younger girl from almost an entire year ago at Aspen's birthday party. Though they never formally talked and introduced themselves to one another, Adeline could remember her distinctive bed of cotton candy pink hair and bright blue eyes along with the way she held herself - a people pleaser. She seemed like such a nice and genuine person from first impressions, so it was soothing to know that she and Barry had gotten along very well. But the anecdote clearly didn't have a happy ending, especially now that he was here and attempting to compose himself, and while she kept it to herself, it was as transparent as thin air that he was doing poorly in several aspects.

By the time he started going into detail about a woman named Cadence and an unknown boy cloaked in sable, his voice derailing from its usual energy and confidence, the way he spoke blew out like a filament, everything about each sentence cracking. If she was certain, it was almost as though Barry was hiccuping his way through the tale, and she didn't need Magic's enhanced auditory senses to be sure of it. The corners of her lips pulled into a tiny frown, concern writing itself across her features as he continued over, amplifying his volume with the final portion. Revenge and making people pay for what they've done... Her eyes wandered towards Magic for a few terse seconds, and seeing the rubble and debris all over again and the screams. Nononono. That was her fault and what she had done had put Magic into a predicament where he wanted to settle a score that he didn't need to pay. The only one to blame was her.

It would only be a matter of time before she fulfilled the debt that she held, though. Hopefully Magic wouldn't try to stop it or get mad at himself for all of that. He'll be very angry. She wished he wouldn't be, if she had to be completely honest with herself.

But no matter, that wasn't the point now. That could be dealt with another time.

Right now, there was still Barry and--- out of the corner of her eyes, Adeline noticed blood on the blade of the knife and running from her index finger, pooling out close to the abnormally cubed peppers, threatening to stain them. Idiot, stupid, dumb...! She must've gotten carried away listening in and clumsily cut herself without paying attention. Her lips thinned as she pushed the remaining pieces of pepper away with her clean hand before reaching for a nearby napkin to wrap around and clamp the wound with what she had available around. Healing it wouldn't be worth it and she had to watch how much time she spent currently, not to mention how it wasn't necessary to use it for herself. As soon as she had the cloth wrapped semi-tightly - probably, she couldn't tell  -, she found herself awkwardly lingering somewhere between the kitchen counter-top and the living room space where her friends were.

A part of her wanted to go over there and place her hand on Barry's shoulder as a gesture of comfort of some sort, but the other one told her not to, that she could do something stupid and hurt him by accident. Weighing the pros and cons took moments of deliberation, but she went through with the motion in the end, giving him a small, gentle smile as she mouthed the words that wouldn't ever see the light of day, 'It's okay.' He had no reason to be sorry. It was only natural that everything came pouring out once it hit the limit and couldn't be sheltered in anymore. She could remember lashing out at Magic on multiple occasions, only because she couldn't keep it inside any longer, prime instances being in the gym, and the airport, and... No more of that now. Stop going off-track and being selfish. She concealed her bloodied finger by keeping it behind her as best as possible, keeping her face turned away from Magic. All she could really do now was offer silent support and that didn't seem enough to her.

As soon as Barry said he wasn't fine, Magic leaned back against the couch to listen to what he knew would be a long story. He already knew how this would end, for Callum had already told him. The love of his life died. The not sleeping, and eating kind of came with that. That is how Magic reacted after the airport incident. Well at least Barry wasn't dealing with the madness Magic had. Magic closed his eyes as Barry began his story. He would have kept his eyes open but he wanted to hear the tone fully, without his eyes distracting him.

He listened to the story, not really feeling too much anger. He didn't really know Cass.. he wasn't really affected by their taunts or their destruction, but he was angry that they would go after Barry like this. He was mad that he almost lost his best friend to some stupid space manipulator. He cracked an eye open to look back at Lamia as he heard a thud from her hitting her head, but he wasn't too concerned since she couldn't feel anything.. He didn't exactly tell her that he knew yet. Whatever that was for another time. He turned his attention back to Barry listening in on the story once more.

As the story was being finished up, Barry went into the guilt part. Well the guiltiness from him for not being able to do anything, but it didn't seem like he could. 'I couldn't do enough, I should have done more.' Yeah Magic knew what that was like. He said the same things to himself. Except for him it was opposite in meaning. While Barry wanted to do more and fight for his love, Magic wanted to do less in his situation. He wanted to control himself more, and if he had then nothing would have happened. He wouldn't be plagued by screams of the innocent. This wasn't about him though, this was about Barry. Though his friend scared him a bit with his threat for revenge.

"It was probably better to say it instead of ending up lashing out at someone later on." The winter said. "But that threat though. That sounds too much like me and that is kind of scary. What happened to you not wanting people getting into stupid fights?" From what it sounded like this Cadence person was tough. Space Manipulation? Even that was something Magic didn't want to run into at this point in time. "Even if you ran into these people again, you would have to train the way they do if you want to become as strong as them. The school doesn't train us that way." He didn't want his friend going on a search for these people and be unprepared. Hell he would rather his friend just stay here. Barry was another one of those people that should live their life instead of throwing it away on something.. Magic didn't have much left so, he could afford to risk his life a lot. At least that is how he saw it.

Barry barely even noticed Lamia standing there, mouthing "It's okay." He just looked up at Magic as he spoke, eyes scanning around for anything. What he said was almost true. Almost. "What makes you think it's a stupid fight? Cass literally died. And they killed her. Does that qualify as a stupid fight to you?" he responded. "And no, the school doesn't teach how to fight like they do. But I know who does. And you do too." His twin brother, Edward, was very skilled in fighting. The Autumn just hoped his twin would teach him. "I know that you know what wanting revenge is like. I know that it's not healthy. But you don't seem to give a fuck, so why should I?"

He looked over at the small girl that was standing off to the side. "You're remaining silent. Why? Even though I know you're quiet ninety-nine percent of the time, usually you have something to say, even if it comes out as a stutter." She was being abnormally quiet, even for her. 'Man, this group of friends I'm in has some major issues.' he thought. Maybe she had just lost her voice or something innocent like that. But he doubted it, nothing was ever so simple with the three of them.

Oh.

There were a lot of things going through her mind right then and there. First, as to why it seemed that one small minor phrase could spark something that could inevitably turn into a heated argument and discussion, one that left everything in chaos again. The next was how Barry made a point about Magic's desire for revenge, though, if she could remember correctly, he didn't know about the incident at Chicago and the airport. Did Magic tell him about it later on? Adeline wasn't really sure, and even then, it wasn't any of her business to question or intervene about anything along those lines. What they decided to tell each other didn't need to involve her anyway. It was better if that was the case under any circumstances. But the last part was what she wound up singling out, her lips thinning as she found her gaze dropping to the floor, alternating between standing on her heels and her toes.

If she had to be honest with herself for a few moments, it would've been a bit more satisfying if keeping the fact that she was mute a secret was ultimately easier than what it was now. With Magic, despite him being her roommate for the past number of months or so, they rarely had time to interact. He was always busy with something else, and she kept herself occupied with work at the cafe and managing prefect tasks; at night, they both had practically retreated tot heir room already. Not to mention that she purposefully avoided him so that he wouldn't find anything out, though that plan went down the drain when Callum appeared. Maybe if she wasn't such a ditz, nothing would've happened and it could all pass by without so much of an issue. She was sure that a higher-power was making that impossible for some reason, as though life itself had a vendetta against her. That wouldn't be so surprising, if that was the case, though that wasn't right in the slightest. There were many more people that were more unfortunate than the situation she was in now, but... It wasn't wrong to think that way, was it? Yes, it is. The voice in her head provided something more reasonable, and it was enough to snap her out of her stupor and focus on the actual conflict at hand. Right. This wasn't about her.

This was about Barry. Adeline didn't really want to lie to him about the whole thing, but having him know when he had so many problems already wouldn't be fair in the slightest. In a moment of deliberation, she considered trying to meet Magic's eyes or catch a glance or something along those lines, as though she could telepathically communicate to him and request the favor. He hadn't betrayed any of the things she kept hidden yet, even if he didn't necessarily agree with it all. But if he wanted to spill the smallest of beans, now would be the best time when she couldn't fight back. Magic wouldn't do that, though. She trusted him and knew that he wasn't that sort of person, let alone the kind to take back his words all because he could.

Was this checkmate?

Right now, if she could ask for anything in the world and only had one shot at it, it would be that that wasn't the case. Could they please ignore that issue? It was a stupid and silent plea and there was no way that either of them could ignore it now that Barry had thrown it out into the open out of left-field. Or maybe the ground could open up and swallow her whole into an infinite abyss with no end to it in sight. There wasn't any real problems with her after all, and helping Barry should be the main concern. He shouldn't have figured out that something was up with her, and so easily pointed it out. It wasn't a problem. It wasn't worth wasting time to discuss.

Magic gritted his teeth. "It classifies as a stupid fight when there is no chance of you winning." The winter said. "Or would you rather go throw you life away already because of one person's death?" His gray green eyes staring down his friend. He knew Ed could teach him, but he doubted Ed would. Seeing how Ed wouldn't even allow Barry to follow him on a mission against Argona's Force. "And why should you give a fuck? Is life really so bad with out this Cass person that you would rather die than keep living with good memories of her?" Magic clenched his fists tightly. "Unlike me, you still have plenty left to live for, and yet you want to waste all of those opportunities on someone you have no chance of winning against?" He said looking at his friend. He didn't need to waste his life on revenge.

"And you wanna know why I don't give a fuck? Because I'm a murderer. I killed hundreds of innocents, and after I did that I intentionally went out and killed some more. I have nothing left to live for. I can afford to throw my life away, Unlike you, you still have a future." Mason said not caring, he was going to be hated eventually anyway. He glanced over to Adeline. She would probably disagree with everything he just said, and say that she was the one that had nothing left to live for when that wasn't true.

"And she is sick. Can't you tell? The more frail looking appearance? Tired eyes? Or would you rather be suspicious at everyone for every little thing?" Leave her alone. Magic thought in his mind his fingers digging into his arm as he kept them crossed. If Barry should lash out at anyone it should be Magic. Adeline already had enough to deal with.

"It's not just about what they did to Cassandra! It's what they did to me! It's what they've done to others! It's what they're going to do!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, finally snapping. He couldn't think straight because he was so angry, but he still knew better than to throw a punch at the boy. The Autumn could literally outrun sound, but even with his speed, Magic could still beat him. "And I'd rather die than see them roaming free, doing whatever the fuck they want!" he added. The news that Magic had killed people didn't come as a shock. He knew that the Winter was unstable. He knew that he could've snapped at anytime. "You know, instead of fucking pitying yourself, you could, oh I don't know, attempt to better yourself!" He didn't care what he said at this point. "Besides, you'd do the same fucking thing if Lamia was Cass and you were me. I know you fucking would."

When the boy mentioned Adeline being sick, the speedster looked over at her and noticed that she did look more fragile and paler than usual. He turned back to Mason. "Sorry I don't spend my waking hours pining after her like you do! Don't even lie to me about this, I know it's true."

"Lamia, I'm so sorry.. I shouldn't have come." he muttered at a whisper, directed at the girl.

OOC: Sorry this is a little clunky and awkward. I can't write anger very consistently.

Magic flinched at how loud Barry was but it wasn't going to deter him. "Shut up." He growled. He sounded exactly like Adeline did. He would rather throw his life away than deal with one little incident. "You don't know a fucking thing do you?" His gray green eyes were narrowed into a glare. "People get away with bad things everyday. Welcome to the fuckin world. People kill, people torment, people steal, and you want to throw your life away because you were the unlucky fool that managed to get caught in that? In all honesty that just makes me want to laugh." Magic shrugged. "I guess you should go kill yourself cause you are looking at a person who gets away with whatever the fuck he wants." He wasn't any better than them. He killed because he felt like it, exactly what they did.

"Or you could stop being a fucking idiot, and realize the potential that would be lost in doing that, and you could realize that Cass would probably want you to live and continue on with your life, like the rest of us. But fine, go die, go fulfill your death wish. Take Cassandra's last moments with you, and put those to waste as well because you would be the only who would be able to say what her last moments were like. Do her that dishonor then." Magic didn't like being mean to his friend but he certainly needed some sense knocked into him. He didn't need Barry following in his footsteps in making the same mistakes he did. He was going to ignore the comment about Lamia. Of course Magic would attempt to do the same but nothing would be lost by him dying unlike Barry. Honestly the world would be a better place if Magic died. "And don't you think I have been fucking trying? The world isn't as nice to some people as it is to others."

Magic clenched his teeth tightly. He didn't go pining after Adeline. He hadn't even interacted with her that much in the past while. "Pining? Are you fucking serious? Sorry for noticing when someone is sick, and when they are looking sick. There is also the fact she is my roommate. Oh right I forgot, you aren't that observant. My apologies." He said the last part in a sarcastic manner. His fingers were still digging into his arm, causing some pain for him now. He didn't need this shit, he didn't need Barry dying. He was still trying to come to terms with Adeline dying. He didn't want to lose everyone and be the only one left alive. He couldn't go do things with his life like they could. He had a criminal record, he had been to jail a few times. Not to mention he was most likely wanted in some places. They didn't have to deal with anything like that, even if they did it was probably forgotten about. They had a whole lot more opportunities than he did, and he didn't want to see them waste their chance like they wanted to so badly. He heard his phone go off twice during all of his talking, but it wasn't as important as the conversation at hand. It was probably just Laine wanting to talk to him about some random stuff.

Even without amplified hearing, Magic wasn't the only one to recoil a tiny bit from Barry's sudden outburst. Adeline winced, eyes darting anxiously between the two of them before she found them returning to her feet, resisting the urge to let them flutter to a close. They were arguing over this instead of talking it out more calmly or without the toxic edge to their words. Couldn't this be done more peacefully or without any fighting? It wasn't like they couldn't understand each other or that it was their first time discussing something along these lines; then again, previous experiences that closely resembled this one didn't exactly end all that well, but that was under more dire circumstances. The whole point of Barry coming over in the first place was so that he could get rid of the burdening and agonizing feelings burgeoning inside of him, threatening to impale him when he least expected it. All that was happening now was insult after insult. Please stop... Why did they have to quarrel over this too?

And there they went off talking about how they'd rather die trying or killing themselves because of how the world worked. It was so upsetting hearing all of this when they were trying to throw everything they had away or that they couldn't bear with anything any longer. The People in Black weren't exactly the best kind of humans around, sure, but they weren't the prime example of mankind as a whole either. Besides, all of them obviously had their reasons for doing so, and they weren't all that bad. Nothing satisfying ever came out of revenge, and putting their lives at stake for it wasn't worth it in the slightest. It was careless, reckless, and didn't account for those who would miss having them around, thinking to themselves why they didn't manage to talk them out of it or constantly contemplating about what they did wrong and what they could've done to help. That wasn't right at all; they shouldn't be trying to throw their lives away.

Adeline drew her arms in close, hugging her sides as she kept listening, unable to do so much as attempt to intervene with words. She couldn't tell them to be quiet or stop or anything. Walking in between the two of them wouldn't do much either. Once Barry brought up that Magic would do the same for her if that was the case, she clenched her eyes shut. He shouldn't. He shouldn't. He shouldn't. But something in her mind told her that he would, because he had always tried to keep her safe and always seem horrified when he hurt her. There wasn't anything wrong with that, not at all, it was natural to regret what someone did if they injured someone, even severely; it was a natural component of humans, even if they didn't think they felt any remorse or guilt. What was wrong about it was that he would be willing to throw his life away because of her... That wasn't something she wanted. It's not worth that much. Her face turned slightly red at the idea of "pining for her", but that immediately contorted into a frown. There wasn't likely a chance that anyone thought of her in that way. Just... friends. She concluded that a long time ago. She wasn't anything special or unique, not anything that would be fit and proper to be put in that position.

When Barry actually directly addressed her, it caught her off-guard for a few moments. Nervously, the corners of her lips turned into a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. 'It's fine. You don't have to apologize.' was what she would've said if she could, but instead, Adeline simply shook her head.

Magic managed to get an edge on the discussion now. The real world wasn't that bad, and neither were the people who lived on it. They weren't terrible, and neither was Magic. What happened back in the airport still wasn't his fault. None of it was. Even if he was shooting down what Barry had decided to do and was being harsh about it, it wasn't like he was doing so just for the fun of it; there would be no way that Magic would get that angry if he didn't care for his friends in the slightest. He just had an odd way of expressing his concern and kindness. It was different than what one would expect, considering the behavior was almost what anyone could consider antonyms, but there was nothing wrong with that. A few times, a phone went off and she thought about answering it. That would be stupid of her, though. She couldn't speak and the current conversation was about very personal and confidential matters. It wouldn't be fair if others heard about it without Magic or Barry telling them first.

Hopefully whoever was calling could wait awhile longer...