After "Old Friends"

Will sat alone in his room, thinking of what had happened the previous night. It still didn't seem real to him. Him and Cassie weren't a couple anymore, and it was all his fault. He's the one who lost control, he's the one who pushed Cassie and blocked her in. He still couldn't believe he attacked her. Yeah, she wasn't letting him get a word in and his mind was pounding with things that he wasn't telling anyone but that was no excuse, he attacked her. At the very least he wanted to apologize, but a regular apology wouldn't attone in the least for what he'd done.

Everything going through his mind, from Cassie breaking up with him to at his best never being able to make it into Heaven was beginning to overload him. "I...really...need to clear my head." He did this by playing his guitar, it always helped to soothe him. But this time it wasn't really helping too much, but it did give him an idea of how to apologize to Cassie. He'd sing a song for her, but since she might not want to see him right now he'd just drop it off in her room. While Will was still depressed, this was making him feel a little better, it was giving him hope. Not so much that they'd be getting back together, but that she'd know how he felt about they're relationship.

"I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you..."

Will put everything he had into singing and playing that song. You could say he put his heart in soul into it, as he was singing his mind would drift and wonder what Cassie was doing.

Click for the longer version here.

“I cry myself to sleep again tonight
'Cause I cannot hold you tight
I wish I could see you again tomorrow
To take all this sorrow, sorrow
I'm hollow
When I touch you
Can you feel it
When I need you
Can you give it
When I look in your eyes
Can you see me
When I fall, fall
Will you catch me, catch me, catch me
Misery is what I feel
When you're not around
So I can't heal
Misery is what I feel
These tears on my face
Are for you
I wish that I could hold you
Touch you, feel you
My heart is bleeding Can't you see
I wish that you could hold me
Touch me, feel me”

**That was The Moffatts!! And your listening to the NSRS-TM!! [No Such Radio Station. Trust Me.] Listening to that song makes me glad I haven’t just broken up with my boyfriend you know…this song goes out to all those slow dancing happy couples out there!!**

“So lately, I've been wonderin’
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone, you'll need love
To light the shadows on your face
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
And between the sand and stone
Could you make it on your own?“ —Click

Turning off the radio and putting music videos on Cassie hoped for some off-the-topic music.

“--Someone told me that love would all save us.
But how can that be?
Look what love gave us.
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling,
That world never ca--.” --flipped over the channel.

“—t, I'd go through hell for you and
I haven't been this scared in a long time
And I'm so unprepared so here's your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words, a simple melody
This world's and ugly place, but you're so beautiful to me--”

“--th every single letter, in every single word,
There will be a hidden message about a boy that loves a girl.
Do you care if I, don't know what to say?
Will you sleep tonight? Will you think of me?
Will I shake this off? Pretend its all okay?
That there's someone out there who feels just like me?
There is.--” --yet again

“-his is out of line,
She loves me not!!
Do you realize, I won't compromise!
She loves me not!!!”

By this time Cassie was getting kinda annoyed.

“Its over, its over now.
Move over, its my turn now.
Its over. The ga-” —and again

“How the hell did we wind up like this?
Why--”

“--I think of you
I don't know what to do”

“I wish you'd unclench your fists
And unpack your suitcase
Lately there's been too much of this
Don’t think its too late.”

“Stupid love songs!!” She said throwing Billy at the two Chinese fortunes on her notice board, causing several social invites to flutter to the floor. “I know I should go see him! Enough with the hinting already!” She grabbed her books and went to leave her room.
She came back after about a minute and silently picked Billy up from the floor and placed him back on her bed.

********

“Two families, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we set our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foe, a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”

Cissie finished reading aloud to the class. Sitting back next to her friend it was barely acknowledged, their English teacher had asked Cassie to stand and read but right now it was as if she didn’t know she was even in class. Cissie sounds like Cassie anyway.
Cassie seemed to be jumpy, looking around the room. It was because she was weary of the shadows but it was still attracting glances along with her puffy eyes and her inability to pay attention.

“So….where were we yesterday??” Miss English asked rhetorically “Ah yes.*ahem* Even though Romeo is a Montague, his family liable for many things, the deaths of many of the rival Capulet family, Juliet Capulet is drawn to him, even knowing what he has done In the past. Is this correct Cassie??”

Her name. Cassie looked up. “Yes?” Oh great, now she would be in trouble in class.

“Exactly. Even though Romeo is accused of killing Tybolt, Juliet’s cousin, she still stays beside him, she even goes to the point of killing herself in the end. Why is that?”
“……..” Because their soul mates?
“Cassie?”
“Because she loves him. And after he’s gone….she realises…. she’ll never have what she’s lost.”
“Well done. Now lets return to the chapter we were on…….Lucy could you begin please.”

By the time Will was finally satisfied with how the song sounded, he looked out the window and realized it was night. He'd actually been singing and playing for that same song for the entire day. Will then laid back, he wondered if he put so much into the song because he wanted it to be perfect when Cassie heard it, or because if he was putting his all into the song his mind wouldn't be on the fact that him and Cassie weren't together anymore. His stomach rumbled as he looked at the tape he recorded the song onto. Since he'd been practicing, he hadn't eaten anything all day.

Going downstairs, the Tower seemed pretty empty. It always was on the weekdays, everyone else had school or secret identidies to deal with. Opening the freezer, Will heated up some pizza in the microwave and as he ate he realized that even though he was starving, he was eating really slowly. He knew the reason, he was stalling. 'I spent the whole freakin day on this tape, and now I'm getting cold feet about sending it to her, I'm pathetic!' He thought to himself as he finished the pizza. Will dropped his eyes as the real reason came into his mind. 'No, I'm scared. The look on her face when she looked at me last night, the fear, the pain. I couldn't stand to see Cassie look at me like that again.'

As cowardly as it was, Will decided that he would just shadowport into Cassie's room and put the tape by her bed, no direct contact. He knew it was wrong, but he also knew he couldn't face her. All the demons, even Hell itself, none of it was as frightening as Cassie was to Will at the moment. Finally mustering up the courage, Will shadowported into Cassie's room at the Elias School, it was late, though she'd probably still be up, but he wasn't going to shadowport completely into the room, just enough to put down the tape and pray that Cassie didn't see him. But Will was suprised to find out how easily he could get into the room, it was like the entire room was a shadow.

It didn't take Will a long time to realize what was going on. From the corner of the room he could see that Cassie was awake, and sitting up on her bed, surrounded by the darkness. He knew she wasn't trying to give him easy access to her room, she was trying to keep him out. Only since shadows are in fact darkness, getting rid of all the light didn't help. But she was willing so just sit there in the darkness just to keep him out. Will let out a silent, heartbroken sigh as he let the tape fall to the floor and he shadowported back into his room. She didn't want him there, while he had kind of figured that she didn't want to see him, seeing the lengths she would go to was a different story. Sitting back on his bed he felt his frustration start to rise again. "I have to keep it under control. I have to keep it under control." He kept telling himself, though it seemed that his pain wasn't listening, in fact it was doubling just to spite him.

The rest of Cassie’s school classes passed like a blur, it was only the combined efforts of Cissie and Greta that kept her from detention that afternoon.
“Cassie, we need to talk.” Greta came up to her in their shared living room that evening, Cissie writing an essay across the room eavesdropping. “I know you and my brother have had a fight and you’re my friend and it’s so totally not my place to give advice on either side here.”
Cassie couldn’t help but plan to immediately discredit anything that Greta said, it wasn’t that she didn’t like her, or that she didn’t trust her advice. It was because it was her brother. Simple.
“Look Greta, I think it would be best if you didn’t get involved. Your only going to be tugged in two directions over this…..Have you talked to ….him??” Cassie raised her eyes to meet her friends.
“Not yet, but I wasn’t the reason he stayed good…you realise that don’t you? That if it wasn’t for your trust in him he planned to murder all the titans a few weeks after you found him?? You have to go see him Cassie.” Greta knew she was fighting for her brother, not knowing exactly what he had done. Plus Cassie was looking at her in an unsettling way.
“Why should I go and see him?! You don’t understand Greta! Stay out of my life!! Sorry isn’t just a word you can say that makes things better…how they were!!” Cassie shouted standing up.
“Cass, all Greta is saying is you need to work this out, just call him. Don’t be angry with her, she only wants to help.” Cissie threw her views in.
“You need to do something Cassie…. before he does something bad.” Greta said solemnly.
“I’m not going to see him! I’m not calling him! Trust me, he couldn’t do anything worse.” Cassie said as she went into her room, slamming the door.

Sitting on her bed in the dark Cassie went over the conversation again.
‘Yeah. That’s what they mean by misdirected rage. Now I’m going to have to say sorry to them after they’ve been all nice and looked out for me. I’m so glad tomorrow is Saturday.’

After a while Cassie really began to notice the silence and the darkness.
‘Sitting in the darks getting stupid, its not like he’ll even try to talk to me…I’m not going to see him. I’m not!!…He won’t come here to tal--’
She heard the tape drop on the floor.
“Hello?….Who’s there? Will!?! Is that…?? Damnit!” Cassie reached out and flipped the light on, revealing only the shadows and a tape lying on the floor.
Fighting her urge to yell and scream that he could get in her room regardless of the dark and the fact Will had actually gotten in her room and not even stayed to speak to her, Cassie got up and grabbed the tape.
“Stupid way too stealthy ninja.” Cassie mumbled, dropping the tape in her paperbin.
Flopping on her bed again Cassie cried herself to sleep once more.

A few hours later Cassie woke up, stumbling to the bathroom she knocked into the paperbin causing screwed up essay tries and Wills tape to topple out.
Picking up the paper she dropped it back in the bin…but the tape she slipped into her personal walkman.
After hearing the tape through once she had a huge smile on her face and was getting ready to go and see Will.
Re-playing the tape through again she played closer detail to the words she had missed at the start while marvelling at the fact Will was playing her a song he had wrote for her.

"I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go—“

‘”Before you go”?!! Calm down Cass, its just so it rhymes with the next line…..but what was it that Greta said?? “You need to do something before he does something bad.”??…….Oh My Holy Hera!!’
“WILL!!” Cassie yelled grabbing her coat and throwing it around her as she ripped off the blanket covering the window and taking off in the direction of Titan Tower.
“Please be ok. Please don’t have done something stupid because of me.”

Unaware that Cassie was coming, Will laid in his bed trying in vain to clear his head. "Ok, okay, maybe I can play something and it'll take my mind off of it." Normally playing his music soothed him but he was getting the feeling that it wasn't going to be the same case this time. But he at least had to try. He started strumming the first song that came to mind.

"Met a girl, thought she was grand
Fell in love, found out first hand
Went well for a week or two
Then it all came ungluuuued...-"

Will twitched, trying his best to control his emotions. Finally it happened. All the frustrations he'd been holding in since before the night of the breakup. Everything that happened during and after the breakup, all of it, came out. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Will's eyes turned black as he began smashing everything in the room. He picked up his bed, and while it was in midair turned his eyes red and blew it up. Breathing harder, he looked at all the flaming shards of the bed and the covers falling all around the room. His hands burned as he summoned more power and began shooting blasts everywhere. He didn't even feel the flames starting to burn him as well, lastly he turned his fist to the wall and realized he was aiming for the shirt Cassie'd gotten him on their unofficial date. He seemed to stare at the shirt for ages, even though it was barely seconds, finally he broke down and dropped to his knees, the tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

"I tried! I really did!" He slammed his fist into the floor. "I really did." He repeated, unaware of the fire slowly spreading in his room. As Will slowly lifted his head, he saw the fire spreading, and wondered if he should just get used to the flames and give up, go to Hell. With a sigh he knew, Cassie or no Cassie, that wasn't who he was anymore, but even at his best it wasn't good enough. "I can't do any better! I have connections to 4 demons and SATAN! THERE'S NOTHING MORE I CAN...do...." It suddenly occured to him, maybe it's not him whose evil, its the demonic connections. At first he was going to try and get rid of his connections but as soon as he saved Cassie with his powers, he gave it up, 'What if I need to save her again.' He thought. But it wasn't working out, there was one plan he hadn't tried. It was risky and if it wasn't done right it could kill him. Looking back at the shirt, he read the words again 'I'm not evil...I just don't like you.', Cassie was worth the risk.

Still in his kneeling position, he quickly picked up his head, his hair all flowing behind his head to show that his eyes were now white. Forcing himself to keep control, just like in the alley before, reality itself warped around Will as the energy swirled around him putting out the fire. Will's muscles tensed as they expanded, wings of energy formed on his his back, filling the whole room with bright light. With one flap of the wings the energy rippled once more, this time altering the room until it was back to it's previous state. He suddenly felt the reality altering power, the power of an Archangel coursing through his veins. "I don't see why I didn't try this sooner. I don't even have to take away my power. I could just go back in time to stop myself, or maybe make Cassie forget about it all. I could even make her like my dark side. I could even-...No." Regaining control of his mind, he kept his focus on the reason he let his power get to this point. That was why he never used this power for more than a fraction of a second, it's too much. Nobody can take that much power without being corrupted by it.

Will looked down at his hands as one dagger formed in each one. As soon as the daggers were formed, Will used all of him willpower to force the power back, it had completed it's purpose. Forcing the power back out of him took more out of Will than using the power itself. But it was done, now came the hard part. Will looked into the points of the blade as the light glistened off the metal. Taking a few deep breaths, Will mustered up enough of his courage to do what he needed to do. With one hard thrust he shoved the points of the daggers into his eyes. Will let out a yell of pain at the top of his lungs that echoed throught the whole tower, he barely felt the blood running down his face as all of the dark energy forced itself out of Will's body from his eyes into the daggers.

Cassie listened to Wills song over and over on the way to the tower, in all honesty she was completely worried but it had only been one day really. One long, painful day.
He wouldn’t have done anything just yet right?…right??

‘I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do.’

‘Ha, yeah, like the killing? Torturing? Trying to be the most evil person in history? Or is it for being such a jerk last night!?’ She mused over things in her mind as she flew over cities and open spaces alike on the way to an unknown confrontation. She was still trying to figure out her own feelings. Did she love him or hate him??

‘But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you.’

‘Even if you didn’t mean to Will you still did them, it still hurt me…hurts me. I’d have loved to help you learn to be good, help you practice, but…I just don’t know now.’ Cassie finally arrived at the tower, landing on the lawn. Hidden sensors scanned her form and identified her as Wonder Girl, deactivating the weaponry trained on her from 56 separate positions.

‘And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be.’

‘I thought you had changed, I really did. But then you lost it, the anger and the rage scared me Will. You may never know how much.
What’s wrong with me?! I’m rushing on my way to see him when I know I shouldn’t!! I even said I wouldn’t!! Is it just because of what Greta said? Or is that an excuse?’
Running to the front entrance she was bio-scanned yet again. “‘Cassie.’” She stated to the door, yet it refused to open. “Oh for the love of…...‘Wonder Girl’” She spoke quickly. The door opened with a ‘click’

‘I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday.’

‘I’m serious when I say he’s lucky I didn’t just drop kick him where he stood. No one has ever done that to me before…made me too scared to move, pushed me into a wall and yelled at me barefaced. There had better be a good explanation for that, and in a way I’m twistedly glad its something he’ll always remember doing….even if its only a reason that he’ll never do it again. I guess there might be more behind this than I know.’

‘And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away.’

‘Pain? Yeah, there was enough of that. Emotional and physical but I guess you mean the first. You cheated. You took away my wounds. Denied me the chance to feel so bad, taking away a reason to be mad with you but giving me one in turn. Sometimes you do confuse me Will.’
Flying into the entrance hall she realised she didn’t know were Wills room was. She noticed that she seemed to be the only one there at the moment aside from the guy she had come to see. Accessing the computer mainframe she was about to ask for his floor and number when she heard a commotion from an upper level. “Will?”

‘And be the one who catches all your tears
That’s why I need you to hear.’

‘To be honest I really have felt safe with him. Safer than with the Titans or when I was with Young Justice. That has to count for something right? And sometimes…all it takes …is to know your there for me…it makes everything….OK again.’
She ran pell-mell to the source of all the noise, it dropped into silence as soon as she hit the first flight of steps but she was pretty sure from where it came now.
Reaching Wills door she tried to open it, hearing a yell within she worked on gently forcing the door, finally ripping off the lock.

‘I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know.’

A side of you I fell in love with. The guy who’s afraid of cats. The guy who gave me his fortune. The guy who let me in to his lair, and took me to his special place. The guy who asked me to be his girlfriend and kissed me on the Ferris wheel.

She was taken aback for a moment. Will had wings. Beautiful energy wings.
He was talking to himself it seemed, she couldn’t hear what he was saying but she made out the words ‘Cassie’ and ‘my dark side’. Was this about her?
Taking a couple of steps to him she found her way blocked by the air itself.
“Will? What’s going on?…..Can you hear me?!! WILL!??” Cassie saw him form the daggers. Saw his intent as he looked at them. “NO!!” She screamed.

’A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you.’

“Will Please?! Please don’t! No!! WILL!!!” She was screaming even thought he couldn’t hear her. She could hear his yell though as the daggers drove in, the blood pouring down his face. Cassie fought to get to him, her fists beating on the nothingness of the impregnable force field. “Please Will!! You have to let me in!! I’m sorry!!! I really am!!” She broke into tears, exhausted. Sliding down the shimmering air, she whispered pleadingly “Please?? I’m sorry Will, its all my fault! I’m so so sorry……Please?”

While Cassie sobbed once again the next song began to play….

’Hands on the mirror, can't get much clearer,
Can't make this all go away.
Now that you're bleeding, you stare at the ceiling,
Watch as it all fades away.

From what you do, because of you,
You know I can't be there
Each time that you call.
I swore not to come, but I m here after all
I know by the look that I see in your eye
I won't stand around and I won't watch you die
From what you do, because of you

What you do, what you do
What's become of you?
What you do, what you do
What's become of...?

Now that you did this, you ask for forgiveness
You say you're mistaken, but look what you've taken….’

The pain Will was going through was indescribable, it almost rivalled the pain of going from our Realm into the Death Realm. The only difference was that all the pain wasn't going through his body, it was all concentrated on his eyes, it felt like his head was going to explode. The only thought keeping him sane, keeping his hands on the handles of the daggers, was the reason he was going through this emense pain. He was doing it for Cassie...for Greta...for himself. As his yells of pain seemed to echo even more, it sounded like another voice, but honestly, it didn't matter what he heard, all there was, was the pain and his thoughts. It was becoming harder to focus as the pain kept growing, more power being forced out of him.

Finally, Will was thrown across the room as the last of the energy was released. The daggers were sent flying out of his eyes and drove themselves into the floor. Will had no idea what was going on, though the last of the energy was slowly repairing his eyes, he wasn't sure if it going to be enough as the blood was still flowing down his face. After slamming against the wall, he slid down to the ground, slumping down motionless. The shock of all the pain had taken it's toll on Will's now completely human body. Two thoughts ran through Will's mind before he lost consciousness. One, he wondered if his eyes would heal completely so he could see Cassie again, and the second one, he said outloud, even though it was barely a whisper. "Now...now I know what Vittorio felt like."

When the last of the energy was released, the shockwave shattered the invisible field.
Cassie scrambled to her feet and rushed over to Will. “Will!!…… William?…. Harm??” She tried all his names, hoping for him to wake up as she clutched on to him, testing his wrist for a pulse. “Please don’t be dead! Please don’t be dead!” She repeated as Will’s blood was quickly covering her hands and her clothing.
Looking at the daggers she wondered what exactly Will had done. Where they were imbedded in the wood the floorboards had turned black. Maybe it was scorched from the energy? Or it could be something about them.

Cassie came to a decision. Will needed professional help. But first he needed real medical help and she was the only non-bleeding person in the tower it seemed.
Cassie grabbed the only unburnt piece of cloth and tightly bound Wills eyes to stem the bleeding. Taking Wills unconscious form in her arms she left by the window.

10 minutes later.

“Please!! You have to help!!” Cassie ran in the local A&E still carrying Will, his lack of consciousness really worrying her now, what if the knives had dug into his brain?
Although it was late the medistaff span into action, Will was taken from Cassie arms and placed onto a bed that seemed to appear from nowhere.
As Cassie ran along in the wake of the cluster of doctors and nurses her way was barred as they reached two swing doors. Seeing Will disappear in the hands of the doctors was almost more than she could take. “Where are they taking him??” She asked the nurse who had stopped her.
“They are about to assess him, work out what treatment he needs. Could you just answer some questions for me?” The brunette seemed to have a fixed smile, like if she continued to smile everyone would feel better. She was so wrong,
“Sure, like what?” Cassie asked nervously, still trying to see through the small plastic windows.
“Ok, My name is Nicole, could you tell me your name?”
“My name….?” Cassie suddenly realised it wasn’t going to be a good idea to tell the truth here, she wasn’t tagged to be Wonder girl just yet but that was possibly due to the blue jeans, princess top and pink zip-up. People don’t expect superheroes not to wear their costumes. She couldn’t give Wills name either. Slight fact that he was registered dead after he was murdered, death certificate and everything. She blurted out the first name that jumped in her head.
“My name is….Greta.” Okay, I wasn’t expecting that to be the first name to jump in my head’ “…Greta…. Amazon. I’m 17 and I just found him like that! Is he going to be ok? Can I see him??”
“He’s in good hands Greta. Once he’s been stabilised you can see him. Can you tell me his name please? We need to contact his next of Kin…just as a precautionary measure of course” Nicole added when she saw Cassie’s face.
“His name is…” ‘Okay, Think! Think!! Think!!! I can’t call him Will, or Harm…or anything…um….Think of Boyfriends! He’s a Teen…’ “Titan.…er Tai Konner And don’t worry. I’ll call his family, It will be better if it comes from me I guess.”
’Konner!!! Holy Hera I hope no-one ever knows about this ever!
“Ok, This is the relatives room, The phone is just there. I’ll come and tell you if anything changes with his condition...oh...One more thing. What is your relation to Tai??”
Cassie looked at the woman in the doorframe and answered without hesitation. “He’s my boyfriend.”

An hour later Cassie was woken by Nicole. “Greta?? I need you to wake up now.”
Cassie opened her eyes to the near blinding fake smile. After being left in the room she had tried to get as much blood from her stained hands as she could. There was nothing she could do about her clothes. It was ironic because Will had chose the clothes himself when they had gone shopping. Their first unofficial date.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes she looked around blearily, she hadn’t realised she was so tired but now she felt guilty for sleeping while Will could be….“Will?! Is he ok??”
“Tai has been stabilised. He’s still unconscious but his ocular wounds have been treated as best as we can given the circumstances…” The nurse looked at Cassie unsure. Wondy knew what the nurse was about to say and this sobered her immediately. “…I have to ask you, Did you know he was a meta?”
‘No Duh!’ “Really? A Meta? Wow!! I wonder why he never told me!…Is that a bad thing?” Cassie played the naive routine.
“I’m afraid we’ve had to call the police in. We have other patients to think of.” Nicole looked genuinely sorry for the whole thing but there was also something else there in her eyes. Fear.
“Oh….Can I at least see him before….they…” Cassie mumbled. “Take him from me?”

Although she wasn’t supposed to be doing it, Nicole had told Cassie, well, ‘Greta’, She could see Will… ‘Tai’ for two minutes.
Two minutes alone.
Two minutes to say goodbye.
Two minutes to just let him go.
Two minutes to decide.
And if Cassie planned on only having two minutes she wouldn’t have known what to say. What she needed him to hear was worth a lifetime.

As they both reached the door they saw the cops…Cassie was sure they would be stopped. Cassie was allowed to just slip inside while Nicole explained everything.

Cassie approached the bed. The white cotton sheets had a hospital feel ingrained on them. There was a medical tray with large amounts of blood soaked cottonwool, silver instruments and the t-shirt Cassie had used to stem the bloods flow lay in a bowl. Just visible beneath the blood were the words ‘I’m not evil’ The t-shirt she had given Will. As blood spattered as their relationship seemed to be. And Will?
“OH MY GOD!!” Due to the thin hospital walls the cops undoubtedly heard that.
Will was lying on the starched sheets seemingly lifeless. His eyes were now professionally bandaged up but it looked like the blood was already seeping through though the top layers remained bandage white.
She took his hand in hers and kissed his fingers. “I’m so sorry”

The first cop pushed open the door. “You take as long as you need Miss. Most people do crazy things when they find someone they trusted is a mutant.”
As the door clicked closed again Cassie couldn’t help feel sorry for the guy. He was so misinformed about Will and others like her.
She waited about 30 seconds more.
Then, like an Impulse rip-off in yellow and red, she grabbed one of the sterilised bags and emptied the bloodied cottonwool into it, the instruments, the shirt and eventually the sheets went into the bag. Anything that had blood on went into the bag.
Finally grabbing the charts from the end of the bed she thrust those in also.
She had information on any help he would need. She had left only fake names and memories with the nurse and cops, although she did feel bad for Nicole who had been nice to her. She hoped the girl wouldn’t get into any trouble.
Fixing the bag so it attached across her back she then took Will in her arms and burst through the window, back first, shielding him from the glass.

There’s no point going back to the tower, there’s no one there. But tomorrow, well, this morning, the tower will be full because its Saturday. Till then we need a place to rest. Elias is a bad idea. A teacher comes in…Cissie comes in....and we’re toast. Oh. And Greta wouldn’t be all that happy either. Then Cassie thought of the perfect place. Home.
She silently let herself in with the key that was kept under the second blue flowerpot on the right. It hadn’t taken long at all to get to Gateway city and as Cassie closed the door, dropping the bag, she wondered why she didn’t come home more often.
“Guess mom’s working late again…good thing or she might have woke up with all this noise.” She noticed the lack of coat and briefcase as she kicked off her shoes noisily.
She flew up the stairs and opened the door that said “Cassandra’s room.”
Laying Will on her bed she climbed on with him and held him close while she whispered to him. “Welcome to my world.”

Will slowly began to nod awake. At first he felt a slight bit of fear, he opened his eyes but he still couldn't see. But then he felt the bandages around his head. He still felt a little disoriented, but he put that to being because of the spell taking away his demonic connections. A huge sigh of relief came from Will's mouth as he unwrapped the bandages. His vision was a little blurry but it began to focus, he didn't recognize where he was, but he did recognize who was sleeping in the bed with him. "Cassie?" He whispered, still feeling woozy after the spell.

He then put it together, everything feels fuzzy and he's in a bed with Cassie sleeping. 'I have to be dreaming...though...' He looked down at Cassie, who was sleeping so peacefully '...it's one of the better ones I've had.' He lightly ran his fingers through Cassie's hair, never taking his eyes off her. It had only been a day and he missed her so much. Will laid back in the bed keeping his arms around her, whether he had his vision when he woke up or not, he knew he did the right thing even at the risk of his powers. At least he was alive, though his mind drifted back to the other screams he though he heard as he performed the ritual. He hadn't thought of what would happen if someone found him like that, but at least he knew it wasn't Cassie. Her solitude in darkness proved that seeing him was the last thing she wanted to do, which made this dream all the better, it gave him a chance talk to her one last time, even if she was just in his mind. "I'm so sorry, my angel."

Looking down at her beautiful face, Will smiled and softly kissed her forehead. He was still tired, but he wouldn't fall asleep without telling her something. Moving closer to her ear he whispered softly the words he didn't have the heart to tell her the night she broke up with him. "I love you Cass."

As Will drifted off back into slumber, Cassie smiled in her sleep.
“I love you too.” She murmured.
A few minutes later Cassie suddenly woke up. Whether it was from something in her dream or the cold chill of the imminent dawn she didn’t know.
For some reason the words ‘I love you’ were running through her mind but she was unsure if they had been said to her or if she had said them in her sleep.
She went over in her mind the night’s events as you do in the cold light of the morning, wishing to see things as differently as night and day. She looked across to Will; she had hoped it had all been just a nightmare. Their faces were as close as they had been that night when he had yelled at her. Slowly, she brushed his bangs from his face, marvelling at his repaired eyes. Truth be told she was really scared she’d never be able to look into his interchanging eyes and tell him how she felt, really felt about him.

Cassie shivered. Even though she had Wills arms wrapped around her she felt the cold morning chill. Disentangling herself from the guy who lay on her bed she slipped from his grasp and stumbled to her closet. As she pulled out her blanket a 4x6 piece of card fluttered to the floor. It was just a random picture of Kon, taken at the start of YJ, she put it back where it had fallen, it would be good for Will to see, but not something like that. Turning around while opening out the blanket she suddenly dropped it. Her walls were covered in Superboy posters. Kon-El posters! EX-BOYFRIEND POSTERS!! Attempting to be stealthy she took down the posters, pulling out the pushpins and avoiding playing with the blue-tack…it really is that damn addictive.
10 minutes later she pushed everything in her closet, sighing as she closed it.
She really did need to come home more often.

Crawling back onto her bed she laid beside Will once more, this time with her back against his chest, laying her head on his right arm as his left pulled her closer, regaining their previous hold. She smiled as she pulled the blanket around the both of them, it seemed he fitted just right to the shape of her body.

Slowly Will nodded awake to find that he was still sleeping with Cassie. Maybe it wasn't a dream, or maybe it's one of those dreams that continue from where it left off after you go to sleep again. Looking out the window at the Sun starting to rise, Will smiled as he looked down at Cassie. He was awake, he had no idea where he was or how he got here, but Cassie was with him so it didn't matter. 'I suppose I should wake her up to find out exactly what's going on.' Will thought to himself as he leaned in to Cassie's ear. "Wake up Cass." He whispered. Will let out a wider smile and a small chuckle as he heard her mumbled response. "Five more minutes huh? Whatever you say, my angel." He laid back and continued to hold her, Will didn't mind waiting the extra time. It just gave him more time for everything to be perfect, which he knew would probably end as soon as they started talking again. They'd have to talk about that night at some point.

5 minutes later

Will leaned in to whisper once more, "Cassie, wake uuup." She mumbled the same reply back. "Oooh no, come on Cass." He said shaking her a little. She groaned in protest, but still didn't budge. "Cassiiiiiie, wake up." Cassie groaned louder and flipped over, still sleeping. "Cass. Come on. Get up, get up, get up." He said shaking her a little more with each 'get up', only to get the same groan. Will couldn't help but to laugh. "You're a real pain to wake up, you know that?" He smiled as he looked upon her still sleeping peacefully despite his efforts, he then got a devious grin. "Okay, there's only one thing I haven't tried. You asked for it." With that said he leaned down and kissed Cassie full on the lips, as he opened his eyes he saw her response. "You awake now?"

Cassie was in that stage of asleep and awake where you could ask her anything and she would tell you but not remember at all when she fully woke. She would just wonder why you were laughing so damn hard. (You all know this is true!!)
When she was kissed her eyes flew open, fully awake.
She was sure her face looked weird, the type of face you get when you find you can breath again when you surface from water.
“No” She replied to his question, secretly hoping for another kiss… Suddenly remembering the past nights events and everything. She pushed him away roughly yet not harshly. “NO!! ……I mean, Yes, I am awake. How are your eyes doing? Did you sleep ok? I hope being in my room isn’t too weird” Truth be told he didn’t have the right to kiss her anymore, to just act like their break-up never happened, like that whole night have never happened.
Cassie explained to Will everything that had happened, from receiving the tape to going to see him and seeing the ritual “What was that whole knife thing about anyway??” To being at the hospital, slightly leaving out their escape, not mentioning the cops at all, finally explaining why she brought him to her room in the first place.
While she told him all of this she remained laying on the bed by his side, knowing that if she moved, even just sat up, she may never be in that position again.

Will smiled slightly as he heard Cassie say no, and moved in to kiss her again before she yelled no again and shoved him away slightly. Will tried his best not to let his sigh be heard. Cassie was staying close to him, but she was also keeping her distance. Will had to wonder if last night would have been the last time he'd be able to hold her again, not to mention whether the kiss he gave her this morning would be the last one they'd have, it then hit him hard how much he'd miss her.

"How are your eyes doing? Did you sleep ok? I hope being in my room isn?t too weird."

Will's smile returned as heard Cassie give him a barrage of questions. "My eyes..." He pauses as he looks at Cassie, even first thing in the morning she was beautiful. "My eyes are great. And I think I slept better last night...than I have in a long time. Thanks."

Will looked slightly disturbed as he Cass told him what had happened. She had seen the ritual, who knows what she was thinking. But she did take him to the hospital and to her house to make sure he was okay. So she really did still care about him. Too bad it seemed like that didn't really matter.

"What was that whole knife thing about anyway??"

Will opened his mouth to tell Cassie what the whole ritual was about when he was interrupted by her bedroom door suddenly swinging open.

"Cassie, I saw your shoes in the hall!" came the cheery tone of Cassie's mum as she ascended the stairs, "It's good to see you...though..." her words caught in her throat as she entered her daughters room to see more then one figure sprawled upon the bed.


There was her daughter, clasped in the arms of a boy, together, on the bed...

Instantly thoughts of teen sex ran through her mind as her lungs filled with air as she let out an enraged cry.

"Get out!!!" She creamed stalking forward and grabbing Cassie by the arm, pulling her daughter out of the boy's arms. She stared with a hate-filled gaze at the boy. "GET OUT!!!" She screamed at him, going so far as to grab one of Cassie's stuffed toys and belted Will hard about the head. "GET OUT YOU FOUL THING!!!"

Will's head recoiled with the blow from Cassie's mom. His first instinct of course was to hit back, but he didn't act on that in the slightest. Will gave one look to Cassie then to her mom, who was still screaming frantically for him to get out. He gave a slight sigh as one thought ran through his head. 'Perfect. Just...perfect.' Discusted with himself for getting Cassie in trouble he got out the bed and walked out the bedroom door. Normally he would have shadowported out, but he no longer had that ability. "Sorry Cass." He said sincerely as he walked out the front door.

It then hit him that he had no way to get home besides walking. Normally he would have had the device to call his car, but he left that in his room. Considering that Titans Tower was on an island he had no idea how he was going to get there without his instant mode of transportation. Will just looked back at Cassie's house sadly before he started on his way back to the Tower. He'd figure out, the other problems as they came, right now the only thing on his mind was that even in giving up his powers he still caused more harm than good.

He scared Cassie half to death, then got her in trouble with her mom. "What was I thinking? I guess I chose a good codename huh? I only harm those around me.." He then thought back to all the people he called his friends, were there any that he hadn't hurt as some point? No, maybe that was his purpose on Earth. To hurt everyone he gets close to, to be alone...

"Wha?"" Cassie yelled as she was dragged roughly from the warmth of her bed, from Will's protective embrace. She was barely able to maintain her balance when her feet hit the floor.
"Who the??! Oh God!! MOM!!?" Cassie looked up through her bed-head hair. "What the hell are you doing?! Let me go!" The thought of escaping her mothers grasp never even crossed her mind. She just reached out to Will as he apologised, as if that alone would stop him going. "Will!! Don't leave!! Please! You didn't do anything wrong!! WILL!!" But it was too late.

Cassie tried to twist out of her mothers grasp without hurting her with her super-strength only to find her mother was stronger. Her mom had taken her powers away.
No super-strength. No flight. And no Will. Great.

The sound of the door slamming was the soundtrack as Cassie turned on her mother.
"What? You think taking my power away will stop me going after him?! You cant control me like that!! And as my mom you shouldn't even try!! Why the hell did you do that?!" She questioned, following her moms gaze to the bed. She felt very naïve once she realised what her mom had thought. "Oh GOD!! You thought?.?!! Do you think I'm completely stupid??!! Do you not trust me or something?!! We didn't do ANYthing!! See, Our clothes are completely on!!" Cassie tugged at her blood-splattered top, attempting to explain. "All that happened is that he got hurt. Badly. In fact so badly hurt I had to take him to hospital!! This isn't my blood!! Did you even worry that it could be?!!" She took a breath to calm herself, if she was thinking right now she'd feel SO bad for talking to her mother like this. "I just brought him here because I thought it was the best place I could get help, the tower was empty and there was no way we could stay at the hospital once they worked out he was a meta!! I neede4d your help last night mom and you weren't here!! I'm totally not saying you should have been or that you have to be just in case I ever do need you but for the love of Hera did you have to overreact so much?!!? It just proves that you don't trust me not to do something like that!! All we did was we slept! That's IT!!"

Cassie was now by the door, having run about throwing things in her backpack as she berated her mother. "Now I have to go find him. I need to hear some stuff. I'll call you." Grabbing the medical bag she had ditched by the door the previous night she slammed the door?..only to reopen it and throw her arms around her mother in a hug.
"Least I know you care right? I'll call you sometime."
She then rushed out to find Will.

She had ran out into the new morning in the direction they had flown the night before. It wasn't long before she remembered her lack of power her stamina and endurance had already began to lag. She still had no power but it was too late to return home. She had to find Will now. She had to know what happened. ?.. she suddenly wondered why he had never shadowported out of her room.
Cassie ran round the next corner and saw Will's tussled-from-sleep black hair and the red of his blood soaked shirt she smiled slightly. He was safe enough.
"WILL!" She called out as she ran to him.

Her eyes flew open wide as she took in the blood splettered shirt that Cassie, her daughter wore, and couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief as cass explained that the blood did not belong to her.

She almost took a step back at the rush of words her distraught daughter was throwing at her, she hadn't meant to hurt her so much, but she had to understand that she was a teenage girl, and she would be dead in her grave before she tolarated her daughter sleeping in the same bed as boys under her roof!

So she did the only thing she could think of...the only punishment she could dish out that would truly hit its mark...

She took away Wonder girl's powers...she was cassandra Sandsmark now...

She watched in despair as cassie threw several of her belongings into her background, voicing her plan to go after the boy she had asulted with a stuffed toy.

And the next thing she knew her daughter was in her arms, saying her goodbye...

"Of course I care..." She whispered to her daughter who then ran from her arms. "Stay safe..." she whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks...she hadn't returned her powers...this wasn't a job for Wonder girl...this was a job for cassie...

Because...unless she was very much mistaken...she had seen the spark of love in her daughter's eyes...

Will had kept walking relatively slowly on his way back to the Tower. The main reason he was walking so slow was once more he had a lot of things on his mind. He was thinking of how he got to this point, of what was going through his mind when he pushed Cassie against the wall cementing the end of their relationship. As hard as he tried he couldn't think of one solid thought that was in his head at that time, the only thing that stuck out in his mind was the look of fear on Cassie's face, she'd never even looked at him like that when they first met, when he was evil.

"WILL!"

As Will looked back to see Cassie running towards him, he had two feelings at the same time. One, he was estatic that Cassie had come after him and two, he wondered why she didn't just leave him, he didn't deserve her. While he had both of these feelings only the second one showed on his face, but he still stopped so she could catch up. "It's okay Cass, you didn't have to come for me....but I am glad that you did." Will said, his depression coming out in his voice. When he looked at Cassie she seemed out of breath, he didn't know what had gone on with her and her mother but whatever happened she seemed worn out by it. Will looked over to his right and saw a bench. "You want to sit down?" He let Cassie sit down first before he took his seat, truth be told he was still a little tired himself he just hadn't realized it because of all the thoughts that were going through his head.

Not making eye contact with Cassie, Will could tell she was waiting for him to talk, he knew what she probably still had on her mind. "I never got a chance to tell you what the whole deal with the daggers was did I? Well, I guess to really understand it I have to tell you everything about what happened the other night. I can't change what I did, and for what it's worth I'm infinitely sorry, there was just a lot of things going on in my head. Lately I've been getting haunted more and more by the people I've killed, I guess the guilt's starting to kick in, but what scared me was that each time it happened I started caring less and less. This was really frustrating because I was trying so hard to be good and it seemed like I was getting worse, then the whole thing with that demon happened, honestly I never even bothered to hear his name. He simply pushed the wrong button at the wrong time. I'm not saying I was right, I'm only telling you what happened. Then the guilt set in that me blowing up at him helped to turn Duo back to being evil, as if I didn't have enough on my mind already.

Then Duo pushed the exact same button, just in a different way when she killed Super. To be honest I can't tell you what was going through my head then, I don't know. I think by that time I'd just about flipped, but I was able to gain enough control to send both of us to the Death Realm through one of my sponsors, that's where we went when we disappeared. It's a neutral zone that takes you to either Heaven or Hell, since there's nothing to influence you, you become who you truly are, good or evil. As you could tell Duo turned out to be good, but me on the other hand....I stayed the way I was...in between. In short, that means that no matter how hard I tried when I died I would have just stayed there floating in nothing for eternity. My choices weren't Good or Evil, they were Neutral and Evil. I tried so hard but in the end it didn't even matter. So that just compounded on the other things I had in my mind.

I was preoccupied with all these thoughts then you started yelling at me. Confirming that I'd never be good." Will laughed a little at the irony. "So I felt that I'd make that song for you just to let you know that I really am trying my best. When I got to your room I saw that you...didn't want me there so I just left. After that I couldn't take it anymore, I just overloaded, totally wrecked my room. Then I saw the shirt you got me, I couldn't destroy it, it meant too much to me. It then hit me, it's the demonic connections that kept me evil, before I kept them because they helped me to protect you. But what was the point in having the power to protect you if you...didn't want my protection?

Remember when I told you that one of my sponsors was a fallen Archangel? Well, I mostly use it's power to heal, but the actual power alters reality...and it's a lot...as you saw when you walked in on it. It actually started changing my mind a little when I summoned it to it's full potential, but I was able to gain control again an make the daggers. They were conduits for my demonic powers, I chose the form of daggers because my power is...my power was..concentrated in my eyes, that was the easiest way to get it out. There was a risk my eyes wouldn't heal completely or that the shock of all of it coming out would kill me, but I....." Will gave a slight glance to Cassie. "....thought the risk was worth it. The last of my powers was used to heal my eyes, and since as you can see their completely healed, I'm just a regular, powerless human right now. That's why I didn't shadowport out of your room, as you remember from when you were in my body, if I try to summon my powers without the connections I summon the actual sponsors instead of their power. That's about it..."

As soon as those words fell from his mouth it suddenly started raining. A long sigh left Will's lips as he had a somewhat humorous expression on his face that said 'Perfect, like my hair wasn't messed up enough as it is.'

It took at least ten minutes of flat out running to reach Will. She didn’t say anything when she reached him; she was too out of breath. She noticed Will sounded so down, like he didn’t really care about much anymore when he expressed he was glad she had followed him.
She let him lead her to a bench and as he sat next to her she looked at him intently, waiting for his explanation. The look on his face seemed to be a mirror image of what Cassie had thought the previous night in the dark. She had wondered herself why she should keep bothering after all the stuff they had been through, like when he was fighting her as part of Young Justice, him turning in hell, the whole thing with Vittorio, Oh, and the small fact that Harm had killed without mercy.
But she’d known what she was getting into. Maybe it was the fact he was so different from Kon-El. Not self-assured, confident and could on occasion by just a little egotistical with it. Well, maybe the last.
Will was more a neo-hero, more mysterious, way more dark and uninterested in getting validation from anyone. He didn’t care what anyone thought, plus he was really badass and had the whole wounded thing going on. Girls dig that.
She’d never really found a solid answer for why she should be with him aside from the obvious three words. She decided that was enough.

Will explained his side of what had happened over the past two days. Cassie remained silent through the whole thing, reacting slightly every now and then with little sighs or gasps. If Will had looked at her face he would have seen she still cared for him.
Once he had finished she just looked at him for a few minutes letting what Will had said sink in. Then she reached across in the rain and smoothed his hair back behind his ears, pulling his bangs from his eyes so she could fully see him. She gave a small half smile that seemed to say ‘Well it’s not great but it’s the best I can do without some styling jello’

She took a deep breath “Ok, firstly I think you need to tell someone about stuff that happens in your life. I’m not saying it has to be me but if you’d told someone about the guilt issue then you could have stayed calm when you met Vittorio. Plus I guess you have some anger issues you need to work out too.” She put her palm on her forehead. “Jeeze! This sounds so condescending. Like I really should be giving advice the way I’ve acted.”
She paused and sighed. “ Ok, basically I didn’t know what was going on that night, you’ve only just explained to me now. All I knew was I was called out at like, 3 in the morning, and a good friend of mine was pure evil and my boyfriend was acting like a malicious psycho! What was I supposed to think, I got my tushie kicked all over the place then you just took me away from Duo and allowed her to….” Once again she regained her control. “But almost losing you last night…..made everything pale. I cant even think about what could have been. How I would have dealt without you here…with me??”
She brushed away stray strands of her hair from her face.

“If what you said about that Death realm is true then there was absolutely nothing you could do about turning Duo evil or neutral then you had no chance.” Cassie looked pensive for a moment “Actually, I think who ever decided you could only be evil or in the middle was wrong. I always thought there was some good in you. And I still do, Will. I really do.”

“You know…when Marx died…Even though you had totally lost it you regained your composure enough to take Duo to that other realm, to be honest that’s what saved her. If you hadn’t have been there she would never have brought Marx back and I think I would have ended up far worse then I did before you healed me.”

Cassie reached out and took Wills hand.
“You know, your powers were never a reason I liked you. Yeah it was great we could do the superhero thing together but it was so you knew that side of me, like I liked seeing that side of you. I hide being Wonder Girl from the world so it was nice I could share all of me with the guy I lo..liked.” Cassie sighed. “But till I see my mom again that side is kind of out of action. Like you I’m 100% human.
Cassandra Helen Sandsmark through and through.”

Cassie looked away from Will for a moment. “Um…If you don’t want to talk to me after the things I said…I mean, if you don’t like me you don’t have to. But…promise me that….even if you don’t like me….you wont hate me?
I heard that people only end up hating those who have gotten really close to them.
I don’t think I could live with myself knowing you hated me.”

Will could only nod as Cassie told him that he had to learn to deal with his issues better and talk to people. Though to be honest there weren't a whole lot of people he'd feel comfortable talking about that sort of stuff around. There was Cassie, Greta, and Duo, and death was the last thing he wanted to talk to Greta about. After the events of the other night, things would be weird between him and Duo. And it wasn't like he could go to Robin and say 'Hey Timmy! I'm starting to care less about the people I've killed.' He'd be on his way to the APES before he reached the hallway. As far as who he really trusted with his life it'd have to be Cassie, he'd told her more about himself than he let his own sister know.

His expression brightened up slightly when she admitted that she missed him as much as he missed her. Then that she added to that by saying she felt that he really was good, and she still thinks that. That vote of confidence meant more to him than Cassie would ever know. The more Cassie talked the more it seemed like Will was a two edged sword. On one side if he hadn't been there that night Cassie might have been killed, then on the other hand if it wasn't for him she'd still have her powers. But as far as the powers went, he felt the same way, he fell in love with Cassie, not Wonder Girl, Will had no problem with her being plain Cassandra Sandsmark.

Then came the humorous part of the conversation. Well, it wasn't really funny, but Will found it funny even if it didn't show on his face. Cassie actually asked him not to hate her and he spoke up for the first time since she started talking as he put his hands on her face, moving her drenched hair behind her ears like she'd done for him. "Cassie, if I hated you I wouldn't have risked my life to try and be the kind of guy you deserve. If you betrayed me to Satan, I'd burn for eternity thinking about how much I love you." At this point, above all Will felt no need to hold back on his words, after all Cassie'd just said that she wanted him to be more honest with his feelings. What better time than now?

Though the two teens' tender moment wasn't meant to last too long as a cold, but familiar voice broke through the sound of the rain. "Awwww, this is so sweet. You two should just go ahead and get yourselves a soap opera." As attention turned to the source of the voice, the figure stepped out into plain view and revealed himself as the warder version of Harm, Secret. "So 'bro', you seem a lot...weaker today." Billy said cynically.

Will seemed slightly relieved when she told him she'd missed him, his expression grew less dark towards the end of the conversation, almost as if she was absolving some of his fears about their relationship

Cassie let Wills hands guide her up to his eye level away from the floor, although she couldn’t bring herself to look him directly in his dark eyes, moving in closer as he smoothed her hair.
She listened intently to his voice, her eyes flicking to his when he explained the extent of his feelings for her.
“Will, I would never…..could ever do that to you! You mean to far much to me, which is why I couldn’t stand it when you got so mad at me so I was mad at you…..Did you…just….say..??”
Cassie suddenly realised the end of the sentence.
In truth it was only then she realised the extent of Wills feelings for her and the length of her own feelings for Will.
“Oh Will! Awwww I love you too!! You don’t know how much I’ve tried to tell you that!!”
She leaned in to kiss him, his hands still on her face and hers creeping around his shoulders as she closed her eyes…..

And the mood was shattered by an icy voice cutting in.
Billy. And not the now good one.
“You ?! But…..this isn’t your reality!! See!! THIN!!!” Cassie yelled, thinking of the time she’d been changed into a Goddess with a penchant for food by Bedlam.
That’s when she realised that, although the two heroes had jumped to their feet at the same time, Cassie was slightly hiding behind Will as if she was a terrified little girl.
For the first time in a long time she actually was scared of a bad guy, no quip sprang to mind.
She was fighting on her own, no powers, no help
Cassie looked to Will, who loved her more than he cared for his own safely.
Cassie smiled. She wasn’t alone.

Will was extremely annoyed at the moment. He'd finally more or less made up with Cassie, she even said that she loved him too. And he didn't have time to reply to it because of Billy's interruption. "You...have really bad timing!" Will growled as he looked upon the warder version of himself. Secret looked at Will then then Cassie. "I gotta say. I definitely like you better thin, you didn't do too bad for yourself 'bro'." Will growled at Secret again. "What do you want?" Will asked. "Oh. It's simple really. I'm a bad guy, I sensed that you didn't have your powers anymore so now's the best time to kill you. Judging by the look on your girlfriend's eyes, I take it she's just as powerless as you." Secret said coldly giving an evil smirk.

Will then looked to see that Cassie was looking up at him with a hopeful expression on her face. Will then returned her smile and finished what she started in kissing her full on the lips to Billy's and probably even Cassie's suprise. Then moving to Cassie's ear Will whispered, "It's going to be okay my angel. Powers or not I'll always be here to watch over you." While Will sounded confident, he was full of doubts. He knew first hand that fighting a warder wasn't going to be easy, but now he had no regrets. "Enough of this!" Secret said in a discusted tone as he changed his hand into a much larger armored hand and punched Will away from Cassie. Harm felt the pain explode across his face as he went skidding across the ground. Secret then turned towards Cassie and chanced his hands into razor sharp claws. "Heh, do I get a kiss too?" Secret as cynically as he reared his hand back to slash her only have his arm grabbed by Will. "I know there's no point in asking this, but considering he's mainly after me, there's no way I could convince you to run away while I distract him is there?" Will asked Cassie, but before he could hear her reply the arm he was holding onto turned into smoke which made Will break into a coughing fit. Secret used this distration to lay yet another punch, this one knocking Will into the air. Secret then flew up and spiked Will like a volleyball through the bench they he and Cassie were sitting at merely a few minutes ago.

Will groaned as he struggled to regain consciousness. "Cassie...please...leave...me..." Will said pleadingly looking in Cassie's direction as he tried to stand up.

Cassie felt her eyes betray her as she looked at Will. Why did her mom have to act that way and take her powers?
She was scared for Will more than herself. It was crazy and she could see no reasoning behind it but it was true. She was willing to be reckless.

She was surprised by the kiss but it it helped reassure her, along with Wills words. She didn’t know what to do as the fight began and Will was torn from her. True she could fight and die but that didn’t appeal right there and then,
“Get off him!!”
She backed away as he turned on her, claws out, only to be saved by Will.
“Ohmygod!!” She breathed

"I know there's no point in asking this, but considering he's mainly after me, there's no way I could convince you to run away while I distract him is there?"

“There’s no way I’m leaving you!!!” Cassie felt so useless. If she tried to help him they would both get hurt. Will would try to protect her and be even more hurt.

Cassie wished she had her power of flight as Will was thrown into the air. She let out a high pitched scream even though it was completely pointless.

"Cassie...please...leave...me..."

Cassie looked at Will, bloodied and bruised on the floor. She took a step backwards. And another. Eventually tearing her streaming eyes away as she turned and ran.

“Well that was unexpected. I thought she was going to whine again. ‘Ohhh, I cant leave you!’“ Secret mocked Will. Giving a smirk he got closer. “You know, maybe I should follow her. I could make her scream like that again just for me then comeback and finish you off. What do you think?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “Come on, It’s a great plan! If I do that you get to live longer and hear about exactly what I do to your girlfriend.”

The end of his sentence was cut short by the sound of metal hitting warder, Secret was knocked to the side by a scaffolding pole in the hands of a determined Cassie. Hitting him twice more in the stomach and again over the head.

“That thing is so heavy!” She exclaimed dropping it onto the floor. “Don’t give me that look! I’m not leaving you! Got it!! Your as powerless as I am!!” She yelled helping Will to his feet. “Now lets run for it while he’s out.”

Will gave Cassie a mixed look, as he was disappointed that she didn't keep running, but was also touched she didn't leave him. Knowing that the blows Cassie delivered wouldn't keep Secret down for long Will ran with her. But he didn't feel right about it. One, he didn't like running away, powers or not, and second, as long as he was with Cassie she was as much of a target as he was. Part of him wanted to put Cassie somewhere and run as a distraction so at least she'd be safe, but as Secret had said himself, Cassie was a target now as well. The frustration was obvious on his face as a puff of smoke appeared before them and took human shape. "Come on. Did you two really think a pole was going to stop me?" Billy said menacingly, as he began to swirl around the teenagers, creating a wall of smoke around them. Then without warning Secret went into Will using his mist form through Will's mouth and nose.

Will staggered away from Cassie as he gasped for air, his eyes bulging. Despite the fact that he was suffocating, all Will could think about is how tramatic this had to be for Cassie to watch, and what Secret might do to her if he was unable to stop him. But Will's deturmination was useless as he fell motionless on the ground. Secret them came out of Will the same way he came in, through the mouth and nose with a huge evil smile on his face. Billy then looked down at his good counterpart. "Gotta love paralysis." He then knelt down and picked up Will's face. "Now you be a good boy and don't move while I mutilate your girlfriend. You'll have a front row seat." Secret then walks to Cassie grinning. "How about I try that again, using poison gas this time?" While Will was slowly starting to get his mobility back, he knew it wouldn't be fast enough to help Cassie, and at that point the only movement you could see was the stress and panic on Will's face as he struggled to keep his promise to watch out for her.

As Billy approached Cassie, his eyes filled with malice, all she could think of was Will laying helplessly on the pavement.
Her eyes never left his even as the evil alternate version of her boyfriend twisted his cold fingers around her throat. Cassie tried to back away, her fingernails scrabbling at his hands, clawing to get her airway free.
Billy lifted her from the floor, slowly squeezing her neck tighter as his twisted smile grew. “Now Wonder-less Girl, about that kiss…” He asked loud enough for Will to hear as he pulled Cassie closer.
She gasped for breath “Kiss me…and die…Jerk.” Cassie managed to get out.
“You know, that’s exactly what I had in mind for you.” He spoke softly, drawing her closer still. “No wonder he sees you as a girl to die for.”
Cassie’s face was now a deep red, her tears pouring down her cheeks.
Billy put his lips against Cassie’s, kissing her as Will had previously done, effectively stealing a kiss. As he kissed her hi slowly turned into smoke, forcing her way into his lungs. Eventually she stopped squirming around, her fists that had feebly been beating against him fell to her side. As her eyes fluttered closed she finally broke eye contact with Will.
Billy let Cassie slip to the floor as he reformed his face. She bleakly opened her tear sore eyes, too exhausted to move, gasping for breath.
“She might regain consciousness just in time to see you die, then we can have some real fun. If not I’ll give her an instant replay” He taunted Will, standing over him.

Will seemed expressionless as he eyes looked up at Billy. And it wasn't because of the paralysis because he could move his face, that was obvious from the expression on it when Secret kissed Cassie. She was in the situation because of him, because he wasn't strong enough to control his dark powers. And because she helped him after his ritual, Cassie no longer had her powers and might die, Will had no idea what he was going to do, fury alone wasn't going to kill Secret. But he knew that he wasn't going to let Cassie suffer because of him no matter the cost. "Awwww, are you gonna cry too?" Secret taunted as one of his fingers stretched out into a long claw. Will slowly sat up, not taking his eyes off of Secret. Not saying anything he slowly began getting back to his feet, Secret replied with a loud laugh. "I see the paralysis has worn off. I'm so scared now. You idiot I'm playing with you, if I wanted you and the girl over there dead, there's nothing you can do to stop me." Will's eyes went over to the still form of Cassie, then back to her attacker. Taking a step towards Secret, Will's eyes narrowed as the ground started to shake.

Secret stood his ground but looked around slightly nervous. 'Maybe I shouldn't have pissed him off' The warder thought as the ground began to shake more. "Nothing I can do huh?" Were the only words out of Will's mouth as the ground behind Secret broke open, screams of torment being heard from it's opening. Billy quickly turned his head around as he heard the screams, for the first time that night fear was visible on the warder's face as a huge black hand came out of the opening and dragged Secret who was litterally clawing and screaming into it. As soon as he was pulled in, the hole was closed. Will's scowling expression stayed on his face as he looked on the ground where the portal to Hell just was, finally unclenching his fists, to reveal the blood dripping from them. He'd been concentrating so hard that he'd actually cut himself clenching his fist, but he simply ignored the pain as he walked over to Cassie who still hadn't moved. Kneeling down and gently lifting her head he looked into her eyes, his expression softening. "Are you okay Cass? Please be okay." He asked, the despiration obvious in his voice and on his face.

Cassie saw everything that happened between Will and Secret from her position on the floor and for the first time she didn’t automatically think that what Will did was wrong or evil. They had been powerless victims not heroes this time.
She had seen the look on Wills face as he’d torn open the ground to send Billy to hell. In truth it scared her but she also felt safe knowing that he was there to protect her.
Looking into Wills eyes she gazed blankly for a second at him, the screams still racing through her mind and the glow still made her eyes sting.
Shaking herself out of her stupor, wincing with the movement, she sat up, coughing slightly.
“Yeah I’m fine” She smiled slightly at the desperation in his voice, talking his hand in hers. “Will, I really am ok.”
She then noticed the blood on her hand from his self-inflicted wounds, half-moon cuts.
“Are you alright??” She asked coyly, kissing his palms. “I thought you didn’t have any powers left after that whole…thing last night??”

Will couldn't help but to smile warmly as he saw that Cassie really was ok. He hadn't realized it but as he was asking if she was ok, he'd been holding his breath. Finally letting it go he actually felt the sting on his hands.

"Are you alright??" She asked coyly, kissing his palms. "I thought you didn't have any powers left after that whole...thing last night??"

"Yeah...I'm fine. Nothing I'm not used to right?" He said laughing a little trying to comfort Cassie but ended up wincing slightly at the injuries he'd received from getting thrown around by the warder. His expression turned a bit sad as he caught her second question. It then really sunk in what he just did, he couldn't beat an opponent so he just threw them in Hell. "Um, I guess that didn't really count as a power. Remember when we switched bodies? When I tried to call my old powers it opened up a portal to Hell, I guess that was because I didn't have the actual connection to call the demon's powers...I called the demon instead..."

Will then slowly turned to the spot where he'd opened up the portal with the solemn expression still on his face. "Cass...I gotta leave..." He said without looking at Cassie. He couldn't.

Her head flooded with questions when he said he no longer called on just the demons powers but on the actual demon itself.
“Does this mean you could call on the power and the actual demon would appear? And that demon could really hurt you in some way??” She asked quietly.

“Leave? Yeah, your right. So should we go to the tower or we could go back to my moms so I can get my powers” Cassie mused. “Then I could fly us back to… the… tower…” When Will didn’t turn round and wouldn’t look at her she realised she’d heard wrong.
“Wait…What do you mean you have to leave?? Where are you going?? Why are you leaving me? Is it something I did??” She asked rapidly, fear apparent in her voice and on her features.
She hugged him from behind, the side of her face against his back, her eyes closed.
“Are you going to come home again?”

"Does this mean you could call on the power and the actual demon would appear? And that demon could really hurt you in some way??"

Will paused a second after Cassie asked the question. "Let's just say...it's a good thing that portal closed when it did..."

"Wait...What do you mean you have to leave?? Where are you going?? Why are you leaving me? Is it something I did??" She asked rapidly, fear apparent in her voice and on her features. She hugged him from behind, the side of her face against his back, her eyes closed. "Are you going to come home again?"

"Cass, I can't stay. We both know we have enemies more powerful than Secret. And I can't just send them all to Hell when it gets bad. I gave up my dark powers so I could be with you, but when it came down to it, I just ended up using them in a different way." Will finally turned around to look Cassie in the eyes. "There's got to be another way for me to help out. I just have to find it. It's nothing that you did, if anything..." Will paused slightly as he softly touched Cassie's cheek. "..you're the one who motivates me. Remember what I said in the song, you're the reason I turned from the dark. And you'll be the reason I come back."

Leaning forward Will kissed Cassie on the lips, then whispered in her ear. "I love you Cassie, I'll always be here for you when you need me." Will knew that if anyone could convince him to stay it'd be Cassie, so he had to leave before she could get a chance. While her eyes were still closed, Will showed that he still had his stealth, silently seeming to disappear before her eyes were opened completly. Looking back at her one last time from the cover of the woods, Will knew he'd miss her. But looking at Cassie also reminded him why he was leaving. "I'll see you soon my angel." He said to Cassie's form, knowing she couldn't see him. Seemingly having a new purpose, Will ran off on his new journey.