burn it out ''Elites''

[Steven Mathias]

A black, leather cap covered his thick, lengthened brown hair. A plain, dark grey, long sleeved shirt hugged his body tightly with a black leather jacket to top it off. Added, he was dressed in the darkest pair of black jeans but what made them rock out is that fate to light grey on the thighs of his pants which tied in his grey shirt to the overall look, and to mention, a pair of black sneakers and a scarf wrapped rightly around his neck. His freezing fingers were pushed into his jacket pockets and his shoulders were drawn up to his neck as he walked through the blizzard, headed for someplace vacant and quiet to chill while he waited out the snow storm. Honestly, when he left the prison...school...outside was overcast so he expected a few showers and he expected that, but when he saw a snowflake, a literal snow flake for the first time, he remembered he wasn't in Kansas anymore...so to speak. Back home, it just rained when the sky grew dark, here....he was just glad it wasn't hail or some shit. So he kept walking, looking for someplace cool and the stupid bitch found himself in a snow storm. It's like his day keeps getting better.

Fifteen minutes later and struck with the fear that his hands had frozen in his pockets, he found some place. He peeked in through the glass window and lit up at the sight of the fireplace and at how warm and cozy it appeared. He walked over to the door then stalled when he looked down at the door knob. There was no way in hell that he was going to take his hands out and touch that frozen thing...and he wasn't sure if his 'gift'...freak that, he was gonna do it, hopefully no one would see. He looked to his left, then over his right shoulder, then, with a breath he looked down at the knob. It shook for a second but when his mind had melded with it, it turned and he pushed his shoulder quickly against it, pushing it open and himself into the room. The toasty feeling of it was amazing compared to the harsh weather out there. The warmth and the fuzziness just rushed at him, defrosting his nearly frozen joints. Is this what arthritis feels like?

He looked about the quaint, wooden tavern. Yeah he had caught the name just before he had entered. Babe's tavern...so babes, but it'll do. He pried his hands from his pockets, unwrapped his scarf and pulled off his jacket, leaving them on the coat rack a she headed over to the fireplace which roared magnificently. Blessing him with God's precious heat. Never again would he wish to experience a cold climate. The tropics were enough. While heating up, he pulled out his phone and was about to send out some SOS text but he realized something...he didn't have anyone that would really come and get him, certainly not his roommate and he hadn't known the girls at the school that long for them to drive through a blizzard from him. He wouldn't drive through a blizzard for himself. He smirked to himself then he pushed his phone back into his pocket and just stood there, hands crossed over his chest, just...just getting warm. He glanced over to the window and sighed. He wasn't going anywhere.

[Marissa Peretti]

But heaven ain't close in a place like this
Anything goes but don't blink you might miss
Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this
I said that heaven ain't close in a place like this
Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight


_________________________

“What a gip!”

[/b]

Sparky pushed open the door to Babes, disgruntled and covered in snow. She shook out her blonde hair and unwrapped her wooly scarf with a huff. She’d been shopping which was evident from her body guard behind her carrying a shit load of packages. She patted his shoulder and he shuffled off to sit in the corner of the room with her bags. She pulled off her expensive black fuzzy cloak and hung it up on the coat rack. She was used to cold weather, after all it did snow in Italy and the snow there was pretty much worse than St. Louis. It was as if this place couldn’t’ decide, in the hundreds in the summer and in the negatives during winter. Shitty little town.

Sparky stomped her wooly black boots that covered her feet and ankles with more warmth than she could really handle, and stepped further in to the room. The glow of the fire cast a shadow across her body as she dusted the last of the snow from her powder blue baby doll tee that fed in to her skin tight black jeans, the frilly wrist cuffs of her shirt twisted somewhat as she fished her black diamond out of her pocket and shoved it up. If she knew anyone who’d rescue her from the winter blizzard it was Maia, she couldn’t drive but that wasn’t the rescuing Marissa needed, she needed Maia to let Reid know she wouldn’t be there for their little appointment. After all she’d snuck out and was now caught in a blizzard, she could only hope the good girl was actually in school.

Sparky snorted. Where the hell would she go? With another laugh she texted Chase canceling their cafeteria lunch date and telling him she was caught in a blizzard. Knowing Chase he’d take it as a personal challenge and probably run here and back forty or fifty times just to rub it in her face. She rolled her eyes and giggled to herself before shoving the phone back in to her pocket and walking over to the bar.

“Hey Chris, one hot chocolate and one warm bourbon please.”

Chris nodded and got to work blushing, she pretended not to notice. She was a regular here, her and Chase, after all once you get drunk you need a good 24/7 joint with great coffee and a warm welcoming diner with a plasma screen TV. She snagged the remote and changed the channel from ice skating to foot ball without a second glance. Anything was better than being reminded that it was fucking cold outside. She snerked then took the warm glasses he offered, the marshmallows bobbing just right in her hot chocolate, she walked over to her bodyguard and handed him the drink before stepping up and joining Steven at the fireplace.

She glanced at him then smiled and looked back at the fire sipping her hot cocoa. Her gun was somewhat visible at the small of her back, it was a small gun with a slender grip, a firestar, nothing that would be too noticeable unless you were checking out her ass, it served as a warning most of the time.

”Great weather today, huh?”



[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/color]

[Maia Celise]

Earlier that day Mai had been called to Dr. Sullivan's office. At first she had thought that he was going to try another treatment to help her control her power since she knew her proffesors would have reported that she had been slipping up more than usual over the last couple days and might be at risk for another attack. She knew this because at the end of basically every class, after making her classmates go through a whole range of emotions and behave strangely, she had been called up by the teacher and asked again and again and again: "Is everything okay, Mai?"

Though she repeated again and again and again that everything was okay and it was just catching up with work that had her distracted; Maia knew the real reason behind it all. It was hard to focus on controlling her power when her own emotions were in turmoil and even harder when everywhere she turned he was there trying to apologise and get her to believe that he hadn't meant to hurt her. Ris had been out of sight the last three days so at least she didn't have to deal with her too. Quite frankly she didn't want to talk to either of them. She still couldn't believe that she had been so stupid and let herself get hurt like that.

The young girl had been surprised but thankful when she found out that she was being sent off campus to escort one of the students back from the bus station. It was a wish granted, Chase would hopefully not break the rules for once and not follow her into the town and the likelihood of running into Ris was next to nothing.

It had taken her little over half hour to reach the bus station and after that it wasn't hard to spot a goth dressed kid flanked by a man in a black suit and tie that was a completely out of place in the small town. They were being looked at and whispered about my the few people who had braved the snow to come there.

The collection had been simple. She showed the guy her school I.D. and handed him the note from Dr. Sullivan and then he handed her a small remote and told her its appalling use. Throughout the entire thing the fragile looking boy that she had been informed was named Axel, remained completely quiet.

Even now as they walked out of the station and onto the slippery, iced - over streets he was silent as death. Mai had hoped that once they were away from the government associate that had given even her the creeps with the malice, deviousness and hate she had felt from him but he had ignored every attempt she made at starting a conversation.

The only thing Mai knew about the strange boy other than his name were his waring emotions and that he had a great poker face. His face was blank, betraying nothing but the truth was that he was bored but aggitated, nervous yet indifferent, shy but arrogant, calm as well as afraid, collected and at the same time hanging on by a thread. Mai had never felt anything quite like it.

As snow silently began to fall from the sky and the wind picked up suddenly, Mai looked up at the sky and saw the approaching menacingly dark clouds.

"We better hurry if we want to make it to the school before that hits." she told him as she increased her walking pace while trying not to slip and fall, "If I see a taxi we'll take that."

Movement became harder as the snow fell faster and thicker, slowly building up on the ground around them and soaking through her clothes. The wind howled fiercer, cutting at the exposed skin of her face like knives even though she had pulled up the hood of her jacket. She was kicking herself for not remembering mittens as hee hands felt frostbitten even though they were pushed deep into her pockets. Mai could barely see two feet in front of her but she could hear the deep rolling thunder. The dark clouds of the storm had reached them and the sky was as dark as night. Her hopes for a taxi did not come through. The streets were deserted, people had already taken refuge.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the now dark sky and Mai jumped a little at the sudden illumination of the eerie scene before her. There was no way that they could make it back to the school on foot through this, at least not healthy and alive.

"Look," she shouted at Axel so that he could hear her over the brewing storm, "we can't go through this. We're going to have wait it out here."

The boy just continued to stare at her blankly though she could feel that he was afraid and slightly frantic. Frustrated and frozen, she took one of her hands out of her pocket grabbed hold of one of his even though her hand felt like if it was on fire now that it was completely exposed; her only comfort was that his was gloved and provided her with a bit of protection from the cold as he grasped back her hand in response. She led him to the nearest building not even stopping to look at the sign. She was just happy that the stores had graciously left their doors open for anyone seeking shelter.

She looked at the frozen doorknob and sighed, she just couldn't catch a break today. Deciding to just get it over with, she released Axel's hand and opened the door though she felt like screaming when she touched the doorknob.

"C...co...come on." she told him as her teeth shattered, pushing Axel in before she entered herself.

It was an effort to reclose the door as the fierce wind blew in but after a few tries she managed to do it. Now that she was in the lit room she looked down at her hands after shrugging off her jacket and saw that they were literally blue.

"D...da...damnit." she said, her entire body was trembling. Mai couldn't remember ever being this cold in her life.

The warmth of the shop was emanating from a large fireplace as Mai soon realised and so she made a beeline for it taking Axel with her, not even bothering to ask him or tell him this time.

"Hi." she said to the two people who were already there as she took up a place in front of the blazing fire next to the boy.

She held her hands over the flames and looked over at the other two, finally seeing who they were. Steven she smiled at but when she lent over a little to see past him and saw Marissa the smile sled from her face to be replaced by a look of incredulity and disbelief.

'You have got to be kidding me.' she thought as she looked at Ris in shock. What were the odds?

[Axel Fox]

Can’t think of what to say
I can’t think of what to do
I just think I might be losing my mind
Can’t stop this agony
Cancel my therapy cause
I just thought of you
and now I feel fine


_________________________

Axel had stood quietly in the freezing bus station, his black leather gloves shoved in to his pockets, his torn black shirt somewhat hidden under a huge government jacket the man had thrown on him to hide the blood stains and the shredded state of his shirt that had once been whole. He stared in to the ice with eyes colder than even that and wondered which patsy Reid got to pick him up today, a small smirk of delight crossed his lips but he was quickly shocked and dropped to one knee his chest caving in as he lost all sense of breath and bodily functions. He rasped weakly a small cough that sounded even pathetic to him and before he could fully recover the large man in the suit grabbed his arm and jerked it roughly forcing him to stand, which increased the whispers about him exponentially.

’You know, if you let me out I could kill him.’

Axel ignored him, he knew exactly what would happen if he let Fox out, he MIGHT kill this guy and half the people in the station including the sucker that had been sent to pick him up, he’d made a lot of parents upset by killing the students that were sent to get him upon trying to escape. But the downside was when he woke up not only would he feel bad and probably be lost in St Louis with no money, no place to go and no way to get home but he’d have to deal with electric damage to his brain that had been proven to throw his powers out of whack for different periods of time depending on the voltage, oh yea that day of testing was fucking lovely.

So Axel settled for goading the big man in to taking the collar off, he didn’t have much time before the student came anyway. He glanced up at the big man whose blue eyes were hidden behind his huge blocker shades. Axel’s eyes narrowed and he stared deeper in to this man. Finally he looked away, swallowing; he’d seen many dead bodies, many horrible memories of this man killing people with his bare hands and with sinister weapons he thought only existed in Sci-Fi movies. He let out a shuddering breath and heard the mans low chuckle as he realized what had happened.

”Enjoy the show, punk?”

Axel opened his mouth to protest then gasped when a sharp shock send his body rigid and trembling for three minutes straight. He would have fallen if the man didn’t allow him to collapse against his meaty side and gape for breath like a fish out of water. A thin trickle of blood trickled maliciously down the side of his mouth and the man gingerly wiped it away and just for the fuck of it licked his finger clean. Axel scowled, disgusted with his own weakness and how disgusting this man was. He closed his eyes and worked through the pain like he always did, by picturing Connor’s face.

”Don’t fall asleep on me hunny the parties just getting started. Looky here looks like a cutie came to pick you up, think she has it in her to punish you? I want you to try and escape, it’ll be my pleasure to come looking for you kid.”

Axel glared and shoved roughly away from the man but he had enough presence of mind to become stoic once more before the girl pegged them from the crowd. Axel stared at her then his throat ran dry.

’Are you fucking kidding me?! He fucking sent Maia?? Reid must hate her guts…either that or she’s doing something wrong that he doesn’t like.’

Axel’s head was a mess but he managed to keep his head, keep his face cold, keep his emotions at their normal warring state but he was curious now. He watched the exchange mutely, still trying to figure out what she could have done. They were in the same chemistry class and the same art class, they’d spoken before but Axel wasn’t really a memorable presence and a few ‘hi’s and bye’s’ aren’t really a conversation, at least not one to be remembered but she’d never filled his head with horror stories, in fact he’d felt soothed around her in Art class, she just had that kind of aura.

He could have smiled at the thought but he was still confused as to why he would send her. Was she failing his class? Maybe she’d stopped turning up for treatments? His heart fluttered, it made him think of Ian, would he send Ian next? Did he really expect Axel to kill her? He hadn’t even realized when the blizzard had started to form until the lightening flashed and Maia had cried out. His gloved hand rapidly went to her freezing one as she pulled it out. He’d startled her he could see it in her eyes, he tightened his hold on her hand but remained impassive, mustn’t frighten her because you’re scared. He felt the heat from his leather warming up her hand as she pulled him in to babes, and even he winced at her grabbing the knob, he should have offered sooner.

He watched her walk over to the fireplace but he didn’t follow her, he knew what was about to happen because as soon as he stepped through the door an image of the girl he recognized as Marissa Peretti fucking Chase Sinclair, he narrowed his eyes and looked away, even he had heard the whispers of Maia and Chase maybe being a couple, but from what he gathered Marissa and Chase had been fucking for far longer than Maia had even known Chase. He glanced at Marissa, she was blinding herself to the fact that she had feelings for Chase but what startled him the most was that she knew she was doing it, not only that but she knew Maia wanted Chase and still she pursued his body without a care for her feelings.

He looked away, it was none of his business and he hated when people projected their emotions too hard, it always hit him hard. Quietly he walked to the counter and glanced at Chris who flashed him his best professional flirty smile. Axel couldn’t help but smile a touch at that.

”Hot chocolate, spike it for me will ya Chris?”

”Comin’ right up Axi anything for you, luv.”

Axel waited then received his drink and slipped in to the booth with his back facing the fire place, their little relationship spat wasn’t any of his business and truthfully he didn’t really care either way. He had his own fucking problems and as far as he could sense Marissa wasn’t getting ready for a cat fight, in fact she was plainly ignoring Maia’s very existence. It was obvious to him that she knew very well that Maia knew and she wasn’t apologizing for fucking a single man nor was she going to acknowledge Maia’s avoidance snit and make it more real. Strong woman was all Axel could think before he glanced at Steven, he got the regular memories that he usually got with calm people, the forefront of his memory was staggering in to here and wondering whom he should call before realizing that no one would probably brave the storm for him.

Axel looked away, mediocre people with their mediocre minds and here they were, the Elites. Go figure.

[Steven Mathias]

"Yeah...great." he said, his eyes shifting over to the blond, then to her bodyguard...shit he was huge. What? Did he drink steroids from breakfast, lunch and dinner or some shit? To think he was this bulked for his job...wonder if the bullet would stop at the first later or muscles...or his third? Gawd, compared to this guy, he was seriously scrawny and that was something given that he was on excellent shape...ok, good shape but he was working on that. His attention went back to the blond, checking her out for a bit but what was most appealing wasn't her ass in those jeans, it was that hot come of cocoa in her small hands. Gawd bet that would go down nicely, warming up every frozen part of him till he melted in comfort. His fantasy led his gaze over to the bar, but he was reluctant, he didn't want to leave the fire just yet. He glanced back at her, gave her a crooked smile and was about to turn and take the seat closest to the flames but his attention was drawn over to the door.

The minute it opened even a crack, the bitter cold wind preceded whoever came in afterwards and to his complete surprise in come Maia followed by some other guy. Strange, figured she'd be with Chase by now...wait...wasn't she and Chase a thing? He was sure he heard that somewhere like a couple dozen times so far. His eyes switched over to the guy she was with, yet another kid he didn't know but that wasn't really a big thing anymore, he knew like 1% of the student body at Sententia and he was feeling good...better than nothing right, plus, the fact that he was a jerk...no...jackass, to quite a few people, especially that blond from the Doc's class, wasn't really something you could qualify as a crowd pleaser. But he was turning this around, currently at 90 degrees but that was mostly thanks to that article he did with Felicity. That sure gave him a kind of status he didn't really want...and the fact that he was labelled an Elite? Was that just another word the administration gave to those with gifts so strong they were terrible or were they just being nice?

He came out of his train of thought when Maia walked right up to the fireplace, standing closer to him than the blond. He stood there, wondering if she'd notice that it was him, not that it was a necessity...they've only spoken a few times really, nothing life changing or anything like that; you can't exactly classify someone as a friend with just a few, short conversations to base it on. Not solid enough. And besides, he wasn't here to make friends...right? Just to go to classes like a good boy, get better at his gift and get the hell out of this place...after suing his parents for the shit they put him through. Reckless abandonment should stick like a leech if anything. Maybe he should throw in harmful neglect or some shit. Nah, he had time to search through. But what he knew was that he was going to take as much money as he could, take their huge house and life out his days as a bachelor, find someone and start a family where he would ten times the parent they were, if you could call them that. "Hey." He said, forcing a smile out amidst those thoughts. "Seem to be running into you a lot lately." He went on.

That moment his eyes went back to the dude that came in with her. He was so curious that the temptation to ask if they were a thing was flashing in his mind like a neon sign in bright green, a very annoying colour but then again, what if he was wrong, and then came the fact that it wasn't any of his business, but this guy...he couldn't remember seeing him around the school...maybe he was new or some shit? That'd certainly help take off the new-guy stigma that lingered around him whenever he left the dorm building. "Um...I'll be right back." He said, glancing over to the blond as he placed his hand on Maia's shoulder before he moved off toward the bar. He sat on a stool and looked over at the barkeep as he dried a few glasses while leaning against the counter. Their eyes met and the keep sauntered over and he had to do a bit of work to suppress a grin.
"Hey there, what's your name luv?" he asked, setting the streaked glass down, the dish rag swung over his shoulder.
"Erm...it's Steve."
"What can i get you 'Eve?" He asked, slightly leaning over the counter. A little too close for liking actually.
"Uh...it's Steve.""That's what I said...so what can I get you 'Eve?"
He eyed the guy curiously, then he recoiled at the wink he was given...then he got it. "I'll just have a hot chocolate, no marshmallows but loads of milk. Thanks."
"No problem 'Eve, coming right up. By the way, my name is Chris. If you need anything while you're here just call." He said, giving him a wink and a smirk before he went to fix up his order.

[Marissa Peretti]

The world was on fire no one would save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dream that i meet somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I loose somebody like you.

_________________________

Sparky snickered; it’d been a while since she’d seen Chris flirting so shamelessly. There must be something to this bajan that was more delicious than she was seeing. But then again her blue eyes were filled with a certain speedster and his tight ass, she’d never been so singularly focused and it was somewhat of a shocking nuisance to her. Groaning when the fire started to go low an electric spark flinging from her fingers set the blaze in to high gear casting an eerie glow over the room. Sighing heavily Marissa glanced over at Steve and wished he hadn’t moved, now she was faced with an irritable Maia, she didn’t need to be an empath to sense that one.

Finally with a glance she turned and smiled her best professional ‘come hither’ smile at Maia. It wasn’t her usually small sweet smile that she used for the girl she felt needed protecting from the evils of the world. Surprising how it’s the ones you care for the most that you end up hurting the most. Smoothing her fingers through her blonde hair she greeted Maia as she would usually and started babbling on and on about some test that was coming up. In the back of her head she was trying to get herself to shut up and walk away, she knew Maia wasn’t listening, didn’t care what she had to say about school; in fact the girl was probably waiting for an apology. With a defeated sigh Marissa rubbed the back of her head slightly and glared at the floor before lifting her head and staring defiantly at Maia.

”Look I’m not going to apologize ok? So you can get that out of your head right now, you’re not dating him and I’ve known him longer. It was just sex no need to be a bitch about it Maia.”

Turning away from her she snorted, she couldn’t believe Maia was letting this break their friendship up. Some friend she was. Sparky walked away and without really thinking about it slid in to the booth across from Axel and set her cup down. Without looking up she picked at her napkin, glaring harshly at her marshmallows until one of them popped in her cocoa and startled her. She glanced at Axel to find him looking at her and narrowed her eyes.

“Something you need? Or are you reading my mind?”

She sat up a little straighter when his lips twitched in to what appeared to be an agitated smile. It made her grimace and look away, she could still feel his gaze on her but she ignored it, she’d invited the staring when she’d taken the seat in front of him. She watched Steve’s, checking out his ass as he sat on the stool. Nice. For a guy after all. She watched Chris serve him and grinned at him as he squeezed Steve’s arm. She chuckled when Steve shot up out of the chair somewhat and watched him a little more, wondering if he’d go back to the fireplace or scoot in with them. After all there was a lot he needed to know about who and what he was now…he wasn’t just a student he was an Elite, he was the strongest in his division and one of the monitored students. She wondered if Reid had taken him to his secret lab yet, and a cold flickering of hatred crossed her eyes and Axel’s at the same moment, she stared in to his eyes and suppressed a gasp as one of them turned blood red. But he just nodded and mouthed ‘I know your pain’ and Sparky could do nothing but stare at him and finally smile bitterly back.

[Maia Celise]

"Hi." she responded to Steven, slightly distractedly, "You're right. The ball, class, then the restaurant now here. Its becoming almost routine for us to run into each other."

Mai still couldn't believe that Ris was there. I mean seriously, she had left the school with a blizzard approaching St. Louis and then walked through said blizzard that decided to hit the small town early, all of this so that she could at least escape having to deal with Chase's ongoing rant of apologies at least for a couple hours. So that she could get a little reprieve from the muttering and stares that followed her as the gossip spread around the school. But oh no, Mai was apparently not meant to have peace. Trust the controllers of fate to make it that even in the middle of a fierce blizzard, miles away from the school and in a randomly picked tavern out of the dozens shop in St. Louis; Mai would run into the second person that she really didn't want to see.

'You have really got to be kidding me.' she thought again in exasperation, 'Somebody somewhere must be getting a huge kick out of this.'

"Okay." she said as Steve brushed her shoulder slightly and then went over to the bar leaving her alone with Ris. The tension between them could have been cut with a knife.

A few seconds passed and then she turned her attention back to the fire noticing, that because of the icy draft she had let in, it was beginning to get low. She felt like groaning for she wasn't fully thawed yet. Her teeth had stopped chattering and she had stopped trembling at least but she still felt like if she was in a ice locker and her numb hands had only just begun to return to their normal color. She watched as a spark came from Ris' hands and hit the fire, bringing the flames back up to a full roar. It was a reflex when she turned to Ris, smiling in gratitude, momentarily forgetting her anger, but as soon as she saw the girl's face she saw an image of her and Chase together in the throes of passion and the smile slid off her face and she quickly returned her eyes to the fire.

Mai couldn't help but hear her when the girl began to speak after a few minutes though she tried to ignore her. Ris was talking as if it was any other day and everything was perfect and honky dorey and they were just exchanging their new of the day. Didn't she get it? Didn't she get that what she had done had really hurt Mai? Ris had warned her that Chase was something of a ladies' man and she had gotten that but she never thought that one of the ladies that she would have to watch out for would have been one of her closest friends. The fact that Ris had known that she liked Chase and had still gone ahead and bedded him anyway, one day after the three of them had had that group IM chat, was what really hurt. Maybe if Ris hadn't known Mai could understand her actions but Ris was the first person to realize that she had begun to develop feelings for Chase.

Ris' next words only confirmed what she already knew through her empathy. She didn't see anything wrong with what she had done and actually believed that it was Mai that was in the wrong. The girl refused to even acknowledge that she had hurt Mai deeply let alone apologize. Mai couldn't help but look up at Ris as she spoke her final words, a mixture of hurt and anger blazing in her chocolate brown eyes. It was taking all of her control not to let her empathy slip again.

Mai watched as Ris turned and walked away when she had finished before Mai could say anything in response though she probably wouldn't have anyway. She remained there for a few minutes staring after Ris, trembling again slightly but this time not from the cold. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palms as she tried to get a handle onto her emotions. When she felt that she had mastered herself, she turned and headed for the bar, taking the stool next to Steven.

"A large cocoa, please." she told the man behind the counter that was eying her with disdain. No doubt because he knew Ris and was automatically on her side. "With lots of marshmallows." she continued, ignoring his clear hostility.

The man grunted at her and then left to fill her order. As he walked away, Mai sighed and placed her head in her hands; she was developing a massive headache.

'Beginning of semester and everything is already a mess.' she thought.

[Axel Fox]

Why does it feel like night today?
Something in here's not right today.
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left
I don't know what stressed me first
Or how the pressure was fed
But I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head
_________________________

”Well if you weren’t projecting so hard…”

Axel said with a small grin, some of Fox’s personality was leaking out. It always did when it came to Marissa and before long blood red eyes stared at her through tousled dark brown locks. Fox felt an affinity with the feisty blonde, they were similar after all, not taking shit from anyone and not hesitating to ‘take care’ of the problems in their way. Before long Fox found his blood red eyes sliding away from Marissa too Maia; such a pitiful existence she was. It was no secret that Marissa had made Maia into the social larvae she was today, with a little more practice she could hold a conversation with anyone and it wouldn’t be a problem. Fox glanced at Marissa once more a wry smile on his chapped lips.

”You can’t really blame her for being upset Sparky, you fucked the boy she likes. Old flame or not sometimes you have to stand aside.”

He watched her stiffen her pale hands trembling around her cup; a snicker left his lips as he reached over and cupped one of her semi warm hands in his larger warmer gloved hand. Blue met with red and an understanding passed between the two. Oh when Fox was good, he was oh so good, but when he was bad he was a monster. Hardly anyone ever caught Fox’s good side; in fact there was only one person that had ever gotten it and that was Connor. Fox finally looked at Maia once more, then at Chris and he caught the tail end of Chris wondering if he should spit in her cup. Fox suppressed a laugh and called out to Chris.

”Nothing rash, barkeep just a cocoa.”

Chris glanced at him a faint blush on his cheeks before he added the whip cream and marshmallows to the untainted cup of cocoa. Fox watched him hand it to Maia with a little jerk that splashed a little hot cocoa on to her hand. Fox shifted until he could feel the vacant spot down his back where his boning knife usually lay. He missed the pressure of the hilt at the base of his neck and would have sliced off Chris’s hand for the pain he’d caused to Maia, the thought startled him and he had to laugh. Axel wanted to protect Maia, Axel found solace in Maia’s mind in class as he found it in bed with Ian and that was worth protecting in Axel’s head space.

’You would kill for her Axel?’

Fox could feel Axel grunt inside of him and he laughed inwardly. Of course Axel wouldn’t kill for Maia, Fox did all of Axel’s dirty work. Finally he turned bloody eyes back to Marissa whom had been staring at him awkwardly before quickly glancing at her cup; he swiped a marshmallow from her cup and popped it in to his mouth before leaning back. Axel wouldn’t be killing anyone right now; he’d continue to watch things play out.