A Wall Between Us (Ariel)

Ever since Hunter had gotten back to school, he'd been working at the Joke Shop in at least half of his free time. The year before, he only worked twice a week, because, well, he had a life. And he didn't want to be stuck at work all the time while his friends were off doing awesome things and having fun. But this term, being busy wasn't a hindrance anymore - it was a blessing. Because it meant that he had something to occupy his mind besides depressing thoughts and memories. So, when he'd arrived, he'd headed down to Zonko's to tell the boss that he could work extra hours. His job wasn't hard, but the shop was usually busy, so Hunter could focus on the mindless task of helping customers. It was actually great - almost refreshing - because none of his customers bothered him about what had happened. He could interact with people without having to worry about questions that he didn't want to answer.

It was a Saturday, and the shop was just as busy then as ever. Hunter and Ariel were both working, dashing around all over the place to help the crowds of customers that continued to file in the door. Honestly, most customers were more or less complete idiots. Hunter had just had to direct one girl to the love potion table when there was clearly a giant sign hanging overtop of it that said Love Potions. Hunter was tempted to ask her if she was blind, but didn't have a chance because the man behind him had accidentally gotten some fake mustache cream on his hands and then rubbed his eyes. "Well, you know, there's a reason that the bottles are sealed," Hunter told him. "Ariel, can you see if we have the antidote rub for this stuff in the back?!" he shouted across the room to her, holding up the bottle of fake mustache cream so that she could see what he was referring to.

Finally, after what felt like ages, the shop was starting to clear out. Which would normally be a good thing, because it meant that Hunter got to sit on the counter and eat bertie botts and hang out with Ariel. But that was before. It wasn't a good thing now, because Hunter wasn't in the mood to eat bertie botts. Or talk. Of course she knew - she'd been there. But Hunter had spent most of his first days back avoiding everyone, including her. Of everyone, Ariel would be able to relate to him most - hadn't she just lost her father the term before, after all? But it isn't the same, Hunter thought to himself, not even considering the selfishness of the thought. With a sigh, he retreated into one of the aisles instead of going to the front like they normally would and started straightening the fanged frisbee display. Avoiding Ariel wasn't easy, and it felt wrong - but Hunter didn't know what to say. Not even to her. And somewhere between finding Jack and now, he'd solidified his wall between himself and the world enough that he wasn't sure if even Ariel could break through it.

Working at Zonko's had become something completely unfamiliar to Ariel the last couple of weeks. Having just returned to Hogwarts, Ariel hadn't really worked more than four days or so, and the experience had been so weird. The customers were luckily many, as she mostly only worked fridays and saturdays, so she never really had time to stop for a break. When she did have a break, it was seperately from Hunter, so she never had the time to properly talk to him.

It was a Saturday now, and the customers just kept piling in. People were everywhere, and usually, Ariel really liked it. But now there was just too many. Hunter shouted something to her, and she couldn't hear it, but she looked at what he was holding, and the man standing next to him. She put a thumb up and walked into the backroom, finding the proper antidote easily. She used a bit more time than she really had to, though; she was working a headache. She took a long sip from her water bottle and walked out of the backroom. The man looked annoyed, but Ariel ignored that and just helped him out.

She continued helping people, getting more and more stressed, but she also found that she did enjoy it a lot. But she was relieved when she was standing in an almost empty shop, talking to the only customer in there, recommending a few stuff. She noticed in the corner of her eye that Hunter was standing remarkably still. Walking up to the counter and let the customer pay suddenly seemed dreadful. But she did so anyways, and took the money. "Have a good day," she said to them with a smile and watched, in silence, as they left the shop.

She stood completely still for a second, trying to figure out what to say. So silent. It was almost nice. But just so painful. What should she say? She knew what this felt like. And what had she wanted people to say? Nothing. So, should she just keep up this silence? Also, there was a small voice in the back of her head. This wasn't the same. It had hurt her a thousandsfold when her father died. It had been so painful, she could barely breathe. But she had been prepared. For half a year, the doctors and healers would tell them to prepare for the worst. And even though there was no such thing as being prepared to lose ones father, it hadn't been sprung upon her.

Finally, Ariel turned and looked at Hunter. Her gaze was blank, still unsure of what to say. Maybe she shouldn't say anything about the horrible thing gnawing at Hunter? "Well, that was busy," she finally managed, leaning against the counter, just looking at him. He looked exhausted. And tired. She quickly found that her words were stupid, and that she couldn't not ask him: she truly cared about him. It might piss him off, and he might hate it, but it wasn't good.

"Hunter," she started, softly, taking all possible precautions to not sound obnoxious or patronizing, "I talked to the boss yesterday, and he said you'd been working here almost every day since school began." She didn't say anything else. He could scoff it away if he felt like it. But she wasn't going to pretend as if she didn't care.

As Ariel tended to the last customer, Hunter found himself glancing at the entrance every few seconds, willing someone - anyone - to come through the door. Another customer - another distraction. Anything to keep at least one of them busy for a little while longer. Hunter took a breath as Ariel's voice rang across the shop, bidding the customer farewell, and then he was gone. The soft click of the door closing echoed in Hunter's ears, and then came the silence. Quiet wasn't good. It gave Hunter too much time to think. Which was why he'd thrown himself so aggressively into work. And when work wasn't an option, he'd even gone so far as to throw himself into school. Anyone who knew Hunter was aware that he never, ever studied. But this term, things were different. He needed to keep his mind occupied, and putting effort into his studies was one of the simplest ways to do just that. And of course, he was focusing, almost desperately, on the end result of the felix potion that was brewing in his room. Not that it could offer anything to him now.

Chaos was endurable. Quiet was bad. But the silence that stretched out between Hunter and Ariel was heavy and loud - so suffocating that it was almost painful. Because, no matter what they'd gone through in the past, there was never silence. Not silence like this. Of course they'd had quieter, peaceful moments in the past, enjoyed silence together. But this - this stemmed from hurt and confusion and misery, and it rose like an invisible barrier between them.

He saw Ariel lean back against the counter from the corner of his eye - he felt her eyes on him. His hands deftly stacked and straightened the boxes on the display in front of him, and he became aware that this was the first time they'd really been alone together since term had started. It was easy to keep from talking to people in the castle - he could slip through crowded corridors, get to class late and sit in the back, find places to hide, go straight to his dorm at night. He'd never had to avoid her at work before because Ariel hadn't worked with him much, and they'd been busy every time. But now, there was no way around it - no way to make it look like he was busy or hadn't seen her. He could either acknowledge her or not.

Her voice drifted across the room, breaking the silence. Her familiar tone caused his eyes to flick in her direction to show that he'd heard her, but he quickly looked away again. "Yeah, busy," he repeated, trying and possibly failing to keep his voice from sounding too monotone. "Did we have the antidote for that guy? Idiot pulled the seal off to try it and ended up rubbing his eyes." The words felt wrong as he said them - careful and forced. Not at all the easy, relaxed interaction that he usually had with her.

And then she said his name, her voice soft, and Hunter instantly felt himself tense. He looked up at her sharply, trying to silently warn her not to go on. Because he knew that tone. He'd heard it so many times since that day at Diagon Alley. That quiet, careful, caring tone that people used when they were going to say something serious or ask him if he was okay. But she kept going. It was strange, really, because Hunter drew some semblance of comfort from her voice, but he wished she would say something else. "I have extra time - they need the help," he told her, his tone becoming defensive. "Didn't realize I was supposed to ask your permission." The words left his mouth before he could stop them, and Hunter felt a bit of guilt edge into his mind. Because Ariel hadn't done anything - this wasn't her fault. But he knew where this was going, and he didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't.

When Hunter repeated her words, Ariel was struck for a moment. She didn't know how to respond, and it almost drove her to tears. Frustration was building up in her, and she tried her best to keep it under complete control. She couldn't start freaking out now. It wasn't right. She couldn't do that to him. But she felt like there was only so much silence she could take, so she clung onto his voice when he continued speaking, and she pretended like his voice was more amused than what it actually was. "Yeah, seriously, what was up with that?" she asked rhetorically, thinking of the douche. He'd been so rude as well. "He was so rude!" she said, voicing her thoughts, "As if it were our fault that he rubbed his eyes. No worries though, the antidote was easily located." And then a bit more silence.

Not looking directly at him, she hadn't noticed his eyes before the words were out of her mouth. And she quickly regretted them. Sure, his voice, though a bit sour, was all right first. And then he continued. Ariel felt a sharp pain stab her in her gut at his words. Her throat felt all mushed, and she had to swallow hard to keep the lump down. Not to mention that her eyes stung a bit, but she grit her teeth and blinked a couple of times. It had changed him. Of course it had, no one could walk away from that unscathed, but it had really changed him. She felt like running into the backroom, leaving him behind. She could barely stand in his presence. She was useless to him. Completely and utterly useless.

And then Ariel realized she was being pathetic. And he didn't want to talk about it. Fine. If he wanted to be distracted, she'd bloody well distract him. She grit her teeth again, and took a deep breath. And then she jumped onto the counter, grabbing a piece of random chocolate that was stacked there. "So fourth year is weird. Seriously, the first years are so small and annoying. And they're always so amazed by the food, which is the only reason for why I even TOLERATE them. They respect the food," she said pointedly. But the first years this time around were seriously annoying.

"No, but seriously, have you seen how they're running around? They really are just annoying. Much more so than usual. They're so loud and obnoxious and just too-" Ariel stopped, but managed to make it sound as if she was looking for the right word "-snotty." What she had intended to say was 'happy'. And that had was bad. It was a bad word. Happy wasn't horrible, really. It was horrible that Ariel thought it was horrible. Maybe Hunter wasn't the only one who had changed. Or maybe Hunter's change had changed Ariel. It was too hard for Ariel to think about. She just couldn't work it out, and her brain felt like popcorn.

"But on a funner note, I ran into a Hufflepuff. I don't remember her name. And she walked right into my trap. Which was hilarious. She was all bark and no bite. Literally. Barking. She was furious with me, though, but she didn't know it was me, of course. I'm subtle like that," she said with a grin. She then took a bite of the chocolate, giving her an excuse for a break. She was rambling, she knew. And for all she knew, it was just annoying Hunter, which wasn't really her goal. She just needed to test where her territory could be and how far was too far. If this was the new Hunter, she'd best start learning how to behave around him, because no way in hell was she ever giving him up as her best friend. Trying as it might be; no fucking way.

As the mess on the table in front of him dwindled down to almost nothing, Hunter began to arrange the boxes more slowly. But he knew that he would only get a few more minutes out of it, if that. He momentarily considered accidentally knocking the stack over so that he'd have to start over. Ariel took a moment to reply to his small talk, but eventually did. Hunter's reply was instantaneous - formed more from a sense of habit than an actual desire for conversation. "Most customers are rude. But luckily, not all of them are that stupid." Hunter sighed as he stacked the last box, and took his time making sure it was exactly straight. Then, his eyes began to scan the shop for something else to work on.

It wasn't Ariel's response to his slightly cruel words, but her lack of response, that caused Hunter to turn and look at her. And the moment he saw her face, he wished he hadn't. She looked shocked, and from his distance he couldn't tell, but she seemed like she might be on the verge of tears. You're a git. His expression softened considerably as he met her gaze, and though he wouldn't utter it aloud, his eyes expressed a silent, potentially unreadable, apology.

And then, they narrowed in confusion, because Ariel's demeanor had changed pretty suddenly. And as she hopped up onto the counter and started talking - or, more precisely, rambling - Hunter understood what she was trying to do. That she'd understood. And it was mostly out of a sense of duty to her that Hunter sighed and finally abandoned his search for busywork, closing the distance between them as he approached the counter. He leaned against the hard surface beside where she was perched, his arm coming to rest casually on her leg as he listened to her talk.

Her rambling didn't bother him - probably because he was listening to the sound of her voice far more than anything she was actually saying. Still feeling guilty for upsetting her, Hunter at least tried to act like he was listening, and chimed in with his own thoughts here and there. "They're annoying every year," he reminded her. But Hunter could agree that they were more annoying this year - but that was probably because everyone was more annoying this year. "You were a snotty first year once, too, you know," he tried to joke, but after he said it he worried that it might have come out sounding more like an insult, because his voice seemed incapable of implying anything better than disinterest.

But as she went on, Hunter couldn't help but become frustrated with her words. All of the things she was saying were normal - the kind of things they would talk about if everything were normal. But the more she went on, the more he could pick up on the forced sound of her voice. Of course it was forced - everything she was saying was entirely for his benefit. Just another way to fill the silence, and not genuine in the slightest. And just as she stopped to take a breath and eat a piece of chocolate, Hunter cut her off.

"Ariel," he said sharply, glancing up at her. "Just - stop, okay?" And even as he said it, he felt his self control slip a bit, and a bit of anger surfaced again. "I get it, alright? I'm not an idiot, I can see how people act around me." Taking a breath, he continued. "Nobody knows what to say to me - everyone's either too concerned or trying too hard to act normally." Everyone. With no exception except for Aoife, and even she was being much nicer than usual. "I deal with people talking to me like that all day, I don't need it from you, too." As he spoke, his voice raised slightly, and he was aware that it wasn't fair in the slightest. He'd gotten angry because she wanted to talk about Jack, and now he was angry because she was trying not to. So, in reality, there was no way for Ariel to win. And that wasn't fair.

While Ariel was talking, she almost stopped dead as Hunter finally gave up and walked over to her. She didn't stop though, not for a second, and simply continued on, feeling relieved and happy at his closer presence. She didn't really know what to think about it, though, because Hunter was still in pain, and this was most likely not at all helping him. Just for the moment, but when the moment had passed, it would all come crashing down on him. And she wouldn't be helpful anymore. She'd just be ... a bother. A nuisance. And she dreaded it, because Ariel wasn't stupid; Hunter had always turned to anger whenever he was sad. And it was stupid, but it was his reaction, and Ariel was prepared for it, she just knew it would hurt and she'd probably get angry herself, and she'd probably cry.

She was surprised that he responded to her at all, but clung onto it like a life source. Though his voice still sounded monotone, it wasn't as bad as it had been. And then he tried to crack a joke. Ariel snorted. Stupid joke. "Yeah, and you weren't? Don't think I haven't gotten Darcy to tell me of your little inability to look away from her," she shot back wickedly, her voice a thousand times more humorous. She quickly got back on track again, rambling, before he could really say anything else, and sort of regretted it. If that could've been made into a conversation, it might've been better than her continuous rambling, because as much as Ariel liked to ramble, she only had that much to ramble about. And that was dangerous.

And then he asked her to stop, and the chocolate in her mouth turned sour. Too soon. She'd hoped she could at least last the day without this coming at her. But she could take it. She had to. Not an idiot, huh? Ariel had to grind her teeth, because as stupid as it was, Ariel was getting angry too. Not to mention frustrated. Not an idiot? Too concerned? He didn't need it from her. Ariel looked down at him, meeting his eyes with an emotion she didn't really know what was. Probably a mixture of everything. Anger, sadness, frustration, love, concern. Idiot. "Then what do you want from me?" she asked, her voice slow, trying to keep her cool, making her sound cold.

She slid down from the counter, and threw the chocolate missing only one bite into the bin. She tried to keep her cool. She really did, but her words had pushed a button she didn't know what was. She rounded on him. "You want me to be honest with you? Because you obviously don't," she said, her voice still calm, but a tiny bit harsher. "You don't want me to talk about it, and then what should I talk about? Should I just shut up and just watch you rapture, is that preferrable?" Ariel was getting more and more frustrated by the second, and her voice wasn't calm anymore. Her eyes were stinging again, but this time she didn't bother to keep the tears back. She took a step closer to him. "Should I stay away from you and leave you alone?" she demanded, taking another step, her tears running slowly down her cheeks. "Well, shitface, if you really think that'll ever happen, then you are a fucking idiot!" she yelled at him, standing right up in his face now. Taller as he was, she was craning her neck, but it didn't bother her.

"This is a part of the deal, Hunter," she hissed, "You lose someone, people get concerned, and they have no idea of how to act around you. You might have more than enough reason to be selfish and rude, Hunter, but that doesn't mean you won't hurt them." Ariel's tears had stopped, and now she was just feeling empty. She took a step back and looked away. "So use your freaking friends, all right?" she said, her voice calmer now, but still harsh. She looked back at him and felt some of her previous frustration boil up again, but kept it under her control. "You can throw whatever you want at me. I won't budge. I'd get hurt, of course, but you honestly think I won't get over it? Seriously, you stop acting as if I'm a freaking doll that will break the moment you let out some steam!"

Ariel was almost breathless now, but she remained looking at him. He might be pissed with her now. Probably a good thing though. She could act holier-than-thou whenever she wanted to, and he'd freaking have to deal with it. It was his problem if it set him off. Ariel didn't care. Or, she did, she just hoped she was getting through to him. That was all that mattered.

For a moment, it almost felt like they were going to have a normal conversation. Almost. Ariel shot back a comment about Darcy, and Hunter was good-natured enough to roll his eyes at her. "That's Darcy's fault for being a Veela, not mine," he pointed out. But then, pretty quickly, the conversation became anything but normal. Honestly, Hunter wasn't sure how he thought Ariel was going to react to his accusation - but he certainly wasn't expecting it to go in the direction that it did. She didn't seem confused by it, and she didn't back off. She just deadpanned right back at him, and Hunter was thrown off. By her question. By the look she was giving him - which was enough to make him be the first to break his gaze. And for a moment, he was speechless.

What did he want from her? A sense of frustration washed over him as he realized instantly that he didn't know the answer. That there was no answer. That no matter what happened - no matter what she did or said - it wouldn't help. Nothing would help. Nothing would ever help. Hunter could feel more anger welling up inside of him - anger at the world, at Ariel, at himself. But despite it, he remained silent, because he had no idea what he could possibly say without admitting defeat. He glanced over as Ariel slid from the counter and felt a wave of relief mixed with some regret - she was leaving him. She'd had enough.

But as it turned out, Ariel actually had no intention of walking away. The moment her feet touched the ground, she spun around to face him, and Hunter was taken aback by the look on her face. Hunter knew Ariel. They'd been friends for years, and he thought that he'd seen every side of her that there was to see. But as he met her eyes, he was acutely aware that he'd never, ever seen her look so dangerous. She was angry. And then, she went off, and again, all Hunter could do was stare at her, confusion and anger and shock building up inside him, as Ariel's voice became more and more frustrated until finally, her eyes welled up with tears.

Any other time, it would have been enough. Enough to stop him - to make him feel guilty - to make him want to end whatever pain he was putting him through. But now, as they slid down her cheeks, it was Ariel's tears that doubled the anger inside of him. Because what right did she have to cry? She was unconsciously closing the distance between them with every word until she was only inches away. Hunter stood leaning against the counter, his arms crossed defiantly, and stared down at her as she screamed at him. He grit his teeth at her every word, fighting desperately to keep his frustration from spilling over - because he knew that once he reacted, there was no turning back. The shrill, hysterical tone that she'd taken on - and the words that Hunter was all to familiar with, but had never heard come before from Ariel's mouth - made him wince slightly as she brought her face as near to his as she could, given her height, and Hunter couldn't help himself any more.

Completely unmoving, his gaze even and furious, Hunter kept his tone low and controlled, still unwilling to lose himself completely. "This is why I've been avoiding you in the first place," he told her, his voice harsh. "I knew you'd be like this - But I don't want your help. I don't want anybody's help. You can't help, don't you fucking get it?!" Hunter's fingers were clenching into fists, his body tense. But he fought it - fought the urge to lash out completely - to scream and storm off. Because, as hurt and angry and frustrated as he was, all the time, this was still Ariel.

He momentarily wondered why, of all people, he was pushing Ariel away the most violently of all. She was his closest friend - the person he could trust with anything. But even as he thought it, Hunter already knew why. He couldn't handle closeness now - what had it ever done for him before? He was closer to Jack than he was to anybody, and now Jack was gone. And the aftermath was beyond difficult - it was impossible. Hunter couldn't go an hour without remembering - without drowning in memories of what he used to have, but didn't have anymore. Anyone could die. Anyone at anytime for any reason. Jack had proven that. And he couldn't imagine having to go through it again. No, it was easier to just push everyone away, starting with the next closest person to him. And that person was Ariel.

After everything that had just happened, and everything that was just said, Hunter was surprised that he'd managed to stay as calm as he had. And for a moment, he thought they might actually leave the shop that day with Ariel relatively unscathed from his words. But then, she kept going, and the very next thing she said was enough make Hunter lose control of himself completely. "Part of the deal?!" he repeated dangerously, his voice springing to life, rising instantly. "The deal? What deal, Ariel, what fucking deal?" he screamed, his fist coming to slam down on the counter in rage. "I didn't make a deal, Ariel! I didn't sign up for this! So there is no deal. There are no rules!"

Now that he started, he knew there was no stopping himself, even if he wanted to. And she was wrong. He would break her. "I know that you think that you understand, but you don't! Yeah, your dad died. But he was sick. And he was your dad, he wasn't your sister!" Hunter had never been so insensitive in his live. And he knew, deep down, that you couldn't just accuse someone else's loss of being less devastating than your own. But she didn't understand. "Imagine if it was Darcy, Ariel!" Hunter shouted, his voice rising, if possible, another few degrees. "What if you walked out of this shop and your sister was right there in front of you, dead in the fucking street?! You just saw her this morning - she was with you. Alive. And now she's gone forever."

With the last sentence, his voice lowered a few decibels, and he looked away, breathing heavily. "So stop trying to act like you understand, Ariel. You don't know anything."

Deal had been the wrong word, but it was true. Deals were a part of life, where you were made to survive everything except death. And when it happened, it was a deal in life to move on, or die trying. But Hunter was pissed. And Ariel was too tired, too annoyed to care. But more than anything, she was almost psychotically happy that he was shouting at her. At least for now. "Wake up, Hunter, look around! There are only rules!" she shouted back at him. Everything people did, every kind of behavior they displayed, it was all made up by people who had displayed them before. If people 40,000 years ago didn't find it sad to lose people they loved, then the people of today wouldn't either. Everything was a strategic mindgame where behavior had always been behaved before. And no one found them weird, because people expected them. But telling Hunter this would mean nothing. Besides, he was already raging on. About her father.

She looked at him. Really looked at him. He was pushing her away. For some reason, she had never thought that this would become a way out for him. But of course it was; according to him, caring was not an advantage anymore. Caring got him hurt. But she'd never in all her life thought he'd be bold enough to belittle her father's death. There were many ways to push Ariel away, but there was only one way that ensured she stayed away. And this was it. Ariel felt a new lump in her throat, but her pride would not be wounded. She could feel it. Feel how their friendship deminished into only pain. And it took every ounce of her body to keep the tears at bay. She felt her legs shaking, and she grabbed the counter, but didn't visibly lean on it. She was angry, hurt and pretty much destroyed.

She wondered briefly; what if it had been Darcy? She'd lose her sister, she'd lose her best friend, but she'd still have her rock. Her father had been her rock. Darcy was a good rock too, but she was also not supposed to be, and therefore, Ariel didn't dare lean too much. The thought of losing Darcy, however, sickened Ariel to the core, and she felt a feeling of anxiety and paranoia, almost having to look through the window to make sure she wasn't lying outside. But she shook it off. Hunter was partially right. He had the shock. A shock Ariel never wanted to experience, but their pain... Hunter had no right. He had absolutely no right to say her pain was less than his.

She finally let the tears go. She couldn't keep them in anymore. She just looked at him, as he stated she didn't know anything. The pain in her chest was weird. It wasn't like what she'd felt when her dad died. It wasn't like what it felt when she saw Hunter's brother dead. It was something else. Something completely different. He betrayed her. He left her because he was weak. It was a horrible feeling. And the worst part; she was weak too. Much weaker than she had ever expected her to be. Her father would be disappointed. But she couldn't stand this. She couldn't watch Hunter like this. He was despicable. She realized that her fondness of him was shifting into something slithering and coiling. And she didn't like it at all. She wasn't just angry at him anymore; in that moment, she hated Hunter and everything that was him.

She found that her legs had regained their strength, and she looked at him with the worst glare she could muster, her eyes burning red, her hair jet black. "You're weak," she hissed at him, her voice shaking with rage, "You're weak and pathetic, and congratulations-" Ariel took a deep breath and stormed past him, into the backroom, grabbing her cloak and bag, storming out again, and stopped to look at him. Her face was changing. She didn't know how; it didn't seem metamorphlike. But she somehow recalled her mother saying something about full-blood veelas changing their shape in anger, and that half-bloods couldn't change completely, but still had a terrifying and ugly change when they got truly mad. "-you won," she spat, her voice laced with sarcasm.

Ariel rushed to the door, tears falling like mad and threw it open. The wind blew her hair and she suddenly stopped. She looked back at him over her shoulder, feeling colder than any winter she'd ever lived through. "Did you know-" she said, her voice eery and calm "-that my father's name was Jack?" With that she slammed the door after her and rushed off, bumping into people in such a pace, that most of them stumbled and fell, and she didn't give a flying fuck. She just walked, her breathing coming harder and harder, but nothing mattered anymore. Nothing. The one thing she thought she'd always have was gone. The only person who wasn't bound by blood... As the realization hit her, she stopped short and her feet felt weak and scrawny again. She clung to a tree and sank down to the wet ground, burying her face as she cried, all small and pathetic and friendless.

How had it even come to this? How had they ended up here, screaming at each other from inches apart? Hunter glared down at her as he finished his piece, and as a moment of silence stretched between them, a bit of reality was able to break through his delusional wave of anger. And before he even saw it in her face, he knew what he had done. The reality of what he'd said hit him fully, and he knew that he had a small - miniscule - window of opportunity to take it back. And he knew that that window was closing fast, and in a few seconds, it would be slammed down and locked. And he would never be able to pry it open again. Now was the time. The time for Hunter to apologize, to say he didn't mean it, to wrap his arms around her and hold onto her and beg her to forget all of this. He could fix it - he could.

But he didn't.

He could see it in her eyes - the exact moment that she gave up on him. Like a door slammed in his face, a fire flickering out. In that moment, his light in the darkness disappeared completely. And Hunter let it. Because hadn't this been what he wanted? To push her away? To keep her out? It was why he'd said it in the first place. He knew. He knew Ariel, and he knew all too well how to hurt her. And without even thinking about it, he'd done it. And now, as the deepest look of betrayal took over her face, and tears began to spill from her eyes, Hunter felt the first stab of guilt. And holy shit, was that stab more painful than he'd expected. Because any trust that Ariel had ever had in him was gone, and he knew it.

And then, as she got over the shock of it, Hunter watched on as Ariel's features started to darken to the point that he could hardly recognize her - he wouldn't, if he hadn't seen her morph before his eyes. Her hair had turned pitch black, her eyes looked as though they'd been illuminated by fire. And then came the words that cut through him like knives. Weak, she said. Pathetic. Hunter just stared at her, unable to find his voice. There was nothing that he could say anyway. Because he had never heard a truer statement in his life.

Hunter just watched her as she stormed into the back to get her things, and the moment she disappeared, Hunter let his anger surface. With an angry sound, his arm swung out, sweeping the candy displays violently off of the counter. And then Ariel returned, and he felt his heart jump slightly at her appearance when she emerged. She wasn't Ariel anymore - not at all. He wasn't sure what she was, but it was one of the most disturbing things that Hunter had ever seen. And another sharp pang of guilt struck him, because he knew that it was him who had turned her into that.

The worst thing that he'd done the entire time wasn't pushing her away. It wasn't getting angry at her - it wasn't even his comment about her father. No, the worst thing that Hunter did was let her leave - remain silent while she decomposed into the person standing before him. Remain silent while she walked to the door. And remain silent when she uttered the words that would haunt him every single time he crossed her in the future. The words that would destroy the anger and frustration spilling out of him in one breath. My father's name was Jack. The words that would leave him standing there helplessly, feeling more lost than he'd ever been in his life.

And then she was gone, the door slamming behind her. Hunter just stared at the spot where she had been, regret filling his very being. She wouldn't hear it. But he had to say it - she deserved that much, even if she was already gone. His voice was as hollow as his chest when he uttered the words, and he found no solace in them whatsoever. "I'm sorry."