Betrayal*

He observed her as she fell into a dreamless slumber. Such a pathetic creature she chose to hide in. He waved his hand and the flames disappeared, the tendrils had let go of her. She would have fallen onto the ground if he hadn't caught her. He didn't want to catch her and yet he did…

He cradled her in his arms. It would have been so easy to just kill her now. He wanted to have the pleasure of making her suffer. To see the pain in her eyes. The blood that seeps from her skin. But there was that look in her eyes. The look of loneliness and despair. And the words she said of them having the same darkness. He knew that look all too well. It reminded him of her…

"Hand the girl over" He had his back turned away from the stranger, no... three strangers. He turned around to face them. It certainly wasn't strangers. A girl and two boys. This was a sight to see. All plain in their human skin.

"Or what?" He responded with a smirk. He knew them all too well, they were also hiding in their pathetic human skin, but they still had some power inside of them.

Devan scowled, if looks could kill, Dante would have been dead a long time ago. But he knew not to interfere. But he was blinded with rage.

"I will kill you!"

"Devan stop!" Claire's voice rang out as she tried to stop her brother from doing something he might regret.

With his weapon in his hand, he slashed the air, hurling an invisible force towards the mysterious boy. Though he did not waver, a shield of darkness appeared, shielding himself and the unconscious Serah.

Controlling the shield of darkness, he redirected the attack towards Devan. The sudden attack sent Devan back, colliding with Claire.

"That's enough, please stop!" She held Devan back.

"We can't do anything. We've protected her enough." She pleaded to her brother.

"This is not how it ends!" He was ready to strike, but Ryan stood in front of the two.

"She said enough Devan, listen to your sister," Ryan yelled at him and walked up to the mysterious boy.

"As I said, hand her over. You've already made her suffer enough."

He laughed, a maniacal laugh. The sight before him. These three nuisance thought that they had the upper hand. He could have killed them in a heartbeat. His laugh, made their skin crawl. He gave the three of them one last look before throwing Serah, like a rag doll towards Ryan. He caught her before she could hit the ground. The mysterious boy could then feel their rage swirl in the air.

"Don't you worry your little heads off now? She'll be dead in a few minutes and maybe by then, you could say that you have achieved your mission."

Leaving those words hanging in the air. With the blink of an eye, he was gone like the wind, vanishing with the darkness.

°°°

A few minutes had passed and Serah still laid unconscious, her body slowly dying. With the help of Claire, they were able to prolong the shell that she was in. But only for a couple more minutes. The rage that swirled in the air had now been replaced with sadness. They had brought her back to her home.

When they had thought this was the end of her, they were wrong. In her bed, she quietly stirred. Slowly she began to wake up, her body felt as if there were a thousand stabs. She was panting and in pain, her breaths were coming out short.

"Take it easy," Claire says as she helped her to sit upon the bed. She then handed her a glass of water, she was so thirsty, she gulped it down in seconds.

"Slow down, you could choke." Ryan's voice was full of concern. Her breathing was still uneven and her body continued to break inside of her. She scanned her surroundings and realized that she was in her room. Her clothes were removed and she was in her pajamas, which consisted of a tank top and shorts.

"Don't worry, I dressed your wounds and changed your clothes," Claire spoke breaking her out of her thoughts.

"H-how d-did I get here?" Serah's voice came out raspy, her throat was burning.

"Claire found you collapsed on the ground outside. You were badly hurt. That's when she called us." Ryan lied, quickly reminded everyone within the house that they had to remain in character.

But that couldn't be right... Something was wrong, She could sense it. Her memory felt like it was being blocked. Like a cloud that hung in her heart. Something bad happened to her tonight and they were hiding it. She looked at both of them. Claire sat beside her. Ryan was leaning on the wall by the window.

"W-where's Devan?" After she uttered those words, a crash was heard downstairs.

"That must be Devan rummaging through the fridge, I'll go make sure he doesn't finish all the food." Ryan chuckled and exited her room.

Serah could only try to remove the cloud that burdened her mind. Tonight they seemed different. Normally if she was hurt they would take her to the hospital and yet they brought her back home.

"C-claire please tell me the truth." Claire was busy braiding her hair, she froze at her words. At that moment Serah knew that they were hiding something.

"What do you mean? What truth?" She fidgeted with her clothes, quickly dashing away from her.

"You know who I am, don't you?" Serah whispered looking away from her.

"I'M GONNA MURDER HIM!" A scream and then, yelling could be heard downstairs.

That voice... it was Devan.

Claire ran out of her room.

Her curiosity got the better of Serah. Through painful movements, she finally got out of bed and staggered to the hallway. She held onto the railings and stared at them yelling at each other downstairs.

"HOW COULD HE DO THAT TO HER. HE HURT HER SO BADLY AND NOW SHE'S DYING!" Devan screamed as Claire tried to hold him down.

"I know this is painful, but what's done is done. We can't change the past." Claire whispered as she sobbed.

"Listen I know how you feel. I hate him for what he did to my sister. I want to get back at what he did. But Serah needs us right now. We have to keep her safe." Ryan yelled which made everyone stop what they were doing.

Serah's hands gripped the railings, the pain had now become numb. Her body was frozen as she heard them speak. Ryan... he said his sister... At that moment, the cloud in her heart had begun to disperse and the memories of that boy came flooding into her mind.

"Quiet down, Serah's gonna find out if you keep fighting," Claire whispered and put her arms around Devan trying to soothe him. He was shaking in anger. Serah couldn't take it anymore, her legs gave up and she fell to the floor still holding onto the railings.

"I think she already figured it out," Ryan says leaning against the wall, with a painful expression as he realized that Serah heard everything.

"That's impossible Ryan," Devan replied coming out of his sister's embrace. Ryan pointed to the stairs. Claire and Devan followed his gaze and they gasped. A sob escaped Serah and the tears began to fall.

'They betrayed me. They all pretended to be my friend.'

"Serah!?" She looked up to see Devan standing by the edge of the stairs.

"D-don't come any closer... All of you betrayed me... I thought you were my friends... You guys were the only family I had here... but you are just like them." She slowly got up and staggered into her room and locked the door.

Devan pounded onto the door. Screaming at her to open up. He begged and begged. She could hear the others pleading to let them in. They wanted to explain. But her heart and mind were torn in two. She knew she had to guard herself when she came here but this was a whole new level of betrayal to her.

Serah wanted to drown the noise away. With a stagger in her step, with the pain growing stronger in her chest, she climbed out the window and down the pipes. Every second was a stab to her body. She never would have expected that they would have found her any sooner, but they knew who she was all along.

She never could have run away. No matter where she went or who she pretended to be, they would find her and they would make her suffer. And in return... her darkness would return the favor.

°•°•°