Fragility of the Mind

Ariel rolled her eyes.

"Of course, you figure everything out and I'll put in my two cents and make sure you don't get yourself killed," Ariel said sarcastically. "That's what I always do anyway."

"Elementary, my dear Watson."

Raine got up and tried walking, really tried, through all the stuff and examined everything. She wanted to see if anything was out of the ordinary.

"You know," she said nonchalantly, "Sherlock never actually said that phrase in any of the stories."

Ariel couldn't help chuckling.

"You read the books?" she asked as she watched Raine attempt to maneuver around the truck.

Holding the wall of the truck for support Raine nodded her head, not sure Ariel would see that in the dim light. She could barely see what she was doing so she sat back down near her friend. She played with the piercing she had on her collar bone and spoke quickly, as if trying to avoid the subject.

"Yeah, the friend I stayed with made me read the books. He loved them." She crossed her arms and placed them over her knees, rocking back and forth.

(btw, we're just gunna pretend Emir is with us ahaha : P)

Ariel stared straight ahead, thinking to herself.

"Hum, who's this friend you keep mentioning?" she asked. "You always make references to this person yet I haven't heard much about them." Ariel was curious now.

Raine stared at the wall, watching the small amount of light from between the doors flit across the space. She felt every bump as the drivers finally started to make their way toward their destination. Raine didn't know if she should tell Ariel about Jonathon but she had known Ariel for just over five years, she probably deserved to know.

She sighed, "Like, you remember how a couple months ago I was in super junkie mode and almost ODed, again, on morphine?" She stopped for a second, not wanting to remember how dead she felt, "Well, I was kinda doing as much bad stuff as I could so I could forget my friend... who I was living with..." she gulped, "who died."

Ariel froze for a moment. Then she turned towards Raine, a sad look in her eyes. She knew what it was like to lose a dear friend.

"I'm sorry, Raine..." Ariel murmured. In a rare gesture of affection, she put her arm around the girl's shoulders and held her close.

"You must have been pretty close to him, uh?"

Raine cracked a smile, nodded her head and patted Ariel on the head comically. Words then started pouring out of her mouth like water and she wasn't able to stop them. She didn't really want to either. Something inside her had been wanting to get out ever since that sharp-toothed guy had reminded her of Jon's death.

"I was, he was my savior, my angel, my sexy, off-limits protector and mentor," she laughed, gritting her teeth to keep herself from tearing up.

"Since I dropped out of highschool at 15 and ran away from home and stuff he found me on the streets. He took me in and cared for me, scolding me at first for being such a dumbass, but I could tell he was a good guy so I let him take care of me. He made decent money from his part-time job but his parents were also loaded, sending him money every two months. He was able to go to university and everything he learned there he taught me.

"He hated that I did drugs and he constantly told me that, ah-hah. I eventually stopped, after getting so sick from withdrawl... he stayed with me the whole time, risking days at school and his job. I thought he was going to get fired or something." She let out a shaky laugh, not caring at all anymore if Ariel was following. She just had to get this out.

"And we had lots of fun, and we went out lots... but, one night, we had hung out and just enjoyed each others company when we," she paused, stablizing her voice, "got into a car accident.

"For some fucked up reason, me, the waste of air and space drug addict, survived with only a light concussion and scrapes while Jon..." She finally said his name, hating the sound of it in her ears and the taste of it on her tongue. She could still remember everything clearly.

"H-he, his side of the car, it was crushed. Some asshole in a truck had run a red, trying to get to God knows where faster than he needed to... and Jon, he, the medics told me it was intstant death..." She trailed off, not saying anymore until Ariel had said anything.

(LOL, sorry, i seem to have a thing for gushy emotional posts :3)

Ariel listened intently, wanting to hear everything Raine had to say. She could tell that her friend had kept this in for a long time, and she was finally able to confide in someone about it. Ariel knew how she felt.

"Raine...I'm so sorry," she murmured. She held her friend tighter. Having listened to everything Raine said, it reminded her of...

"I don't know if this helps or not... But I know exactly how you feel," she started off slowly. It was difficult for her to find the words.

"Ever since I could remember, I had someone. In my head. You could say I was crazy hehe..." She swallowed. "I had a horrible past Raine... It's how I got these abilities. Life was hell, and having that other person inside my head made things bearable." Ariel smiled at the thought.

"She had her own personality you know. I used to be really shy and meek if you can believe it. She was the exact opposite. She was my friend... No, more than that. She was like my other half. She even found a name for herself." Ariel paused. "Leana..." It had been a long time since she said her name out loud. She swallowed.

"During a certain fight ten years ago, Leana was in control of the body. At the end of it she collapsed, and when I woke up her presence was gone. I couldn't hear her or feel her...nothing. I waited for her to come back but she never did. I waited a long time, and finally decided to do something about it. Nothing worked..." Ariel withdrew into herself as the pain in her heart came back, threatening to overwhelm her.

"Raine...losing her was like losing a piece of myself. A piece that I might never get back..." A tear slid down her cheek as she said that last sentence.

Raine listened and turned to look at Ariel. She frowned, putting her arm around her friend and squeezing her to her side. Raine wasn't exactly the most comforting person and she could never be as comforting as Jon but she had learned a thing or two from him.

"I didn't know... I'm sorry Ariel, I had no idea." She then smiled like her old self, "And yeah, you are super crazy, with or without your other half." Raine became all seriousness then, dropping her jokes in a heartbeat.

"You might still be about to get her back, after all, she's a part of you, she's in there somewhere." She poked her friend's head with a smirk.

"It's not like she's gone forever, like Jon..."

Ariel smiled weakly at her friend, thankful for the comforting words.

"Yeah...I guess I can keep trying," Ariel said softly. Then she pointed to Raine's chest, directly above her heart.

"Your friend, Jon, he's right there with you, you know. If you cared about him that much he'll always be with you." As corny as it sounded, it felt true.

Raine grinned and placed her hands over her heart. She nodded her head and the grin turned saucy in a second.

"Did those words taste as cheesy as they sounded?" she joked, looking upward at the ceiling this time. She sighed and her smile changed from playful to tight.

"On a slightly more serious note though, I do hate Jonathon for leaving, even though it wasn't his fault. For some reason I just feel he could've stopped that whole scene from happening and he'd still be here..." She stopped then, totally joking looked at Ariel.

"But that Leana, man, she better not come back when I'm around or I'll give her a piece of my mind for leaving such a wonderfully dull Chuckles such as yourself."

Ariel laughed quietly.

"Yeah, that was pretty cheesy huh?" she said with a slight smile. She was about to comment on Raine's last point, but then her head started to pound. A memory from ten years ago resurfaced and she heard that voice, her voice, again.

"Arrgghh!" Ariel cried, holding her head in her hands.

'This pain... It's so much stronger than before.'

Raine stopped smiling and grabbed her friends shoulders to keep her upright.

"Woah, don't tell me you're getting truck sick, that would definately be bad considering there's no where to up-chuck."

Ariel shook her head slightly, trying to make the pain go away. It didn't work, though it had dulled down a bit. She glanced at Raine, shaking slightly. Then her gaze shifted to the floor.

"I heard her voice," she whispered. "I remembered something from ten years ago...and I heard her voice."

Gabrielle couldn't hold it any longer. she was feeling sick before, but now she was panicking. "FAIS CHIER!" She grit her teeth together. She could've thought of better expletives than that, but the dreadfully familiar feeling was finally getting to her. She gripped Yiaraw's hand strong enough for her filed nails to pierce his skin.

Her hands were cold.

A prison of ice would form around El at this point, as well as a wall of ice in front of TK...Ryan becomes visible near El, his finger hovering over his wrist-pad, looking at the flaming giant