YOU CAN'T HIDE.

[Sky]

Axel immediately transformed into his human form, his crimson hair slightly disheveled. He reached out for Alice and grabbed her arm.

"What took you so long?" He asked, his brows pushed together. "I was worried about you. I thought something happened!"

[potter_fan122]

"Something did happen," she replied softly, just watching him.  Her shining, crystal eyes scanned him.  Couldn't he tell?  Didn't he already know?  For some reason she thought he would just automatically sense it and--best-case scenerio--walk off angry, and she wouldn't have to deal with anything.

Yeah right.

"Seth was in the house when I got there, like I thought he might be, and... we got to talking about things..."  Well, they had started out talking, so she wasn't exactly lying.

[Sky]

Axel had this look on his face, like he was expecting more. But Alice had finished talking. He stood there for a minute and then he understood.

"Oh, so you two made up then?" Axel asked, trying to confirm what was being hidden. "Or are you going to keep going back and forth between guys?"

[potter_fan122]

Alice's gaze hardened as he spoke, instantly on guard.

"No!  You know I never meant for this to happen!  I never meant for any of this to happen!" She exclaimed, taking a half step back and pointing at him.  "It's your fault!  If you hadn't come back, everything would have been just fine!"

Now that wasn't exactly right, and it sure wasn't fair.  Axel deserved to be back around people he knew.  He deserved to live.  The things he had been through were things no one should ever experience.  But Alice wasn't in a caring mood right now.  Now she had to be right.  Making up with Seth had called for a compromise for both of them, but she didn't have any obligations to Axel.

"I'm sorry, okay?  Really sorry.  There's nothing else I can do or say.  I'm married Axel, and you are too.  So why don't you go and call for your girl, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to have you back."

[Sky]

"I'm not married, and now I have a good reason not to be!" Axel said, eyes flaring. "How can play me like that, Alice? How can you just tamper with my feelings like that? You said you were getting a divorce. We...I just don't even know. You know, you're right. It is my fault. I should have just died on that floor in that bar and you all can live happy lives. You and Seth wouldn't have these issues and Avalee would have a nice life with whoever that fricking professor is. I can't even go back to her now because of this mess we dragged ourselves in." Axel shook his head and turned away from her.

"Go back to your husband. I don't even want to speak to you."

[potter_fan122]

"Don't turn this on me!"  She replied, leaning forward on the balls of her feet like she was going to lunge at him.

"I didn't mean any of that, and you should know that.  I didn't want for things to turn out like this.  When I left the room this morning, I had every intention of getting my things and coming back to you.  I was about to drop everything in my life to run away with you.  I would have, but Seth made me see that I can't run away from him just because we had a few problems."  She stopped, inhaling sharply.  Her eyes dropped to the ground and the next time she spoke her voice was much softer.

"I didn't mean to hurt you.  I never mean to hurt anyone, but aparantly that's the only thing I'm good at."

She lifted her head to look him in the eye.  Her bangs were in her face, but she didn't care.  She didn't want him to see her anymore.  She didn't want him to see what a monster she was.

"You know, I'm just going to go now, because I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have."  Alice shook her head and turned, leaving him where he was.

[Sky]

"You can't hide." Axel muttered, as he walked around the little upstairs apartment above the bar. His eyes had shadows beneath them, and they looked...unusual. He stood by the window with a glass in his right hand, full of a golden liquid and ice. He stared angrily out the window, watching people flock around Hogsmead, chatting and shopping before the weekend was over and they had to get back to their jobs. He chugged the glass and threw it to the ground, shards of broken glass littering the floor.

"You can't escape the truth!" He was filled with anger and fury. His voice lowered to a whisper as he stood there, breathing heavily as he stared at the pieces of glass. "You're a disappointment. You only cause problems when you're around." Stepping onto the glass and grinding it into the ground with his shoes, he went on. "You should never have come back. Being dead was the best thing that ever happened to them." He walked over to the tiny beside table and grabbed the brown bottle on top, taking a huge swig.

"Why are you even living?"

In his drunken rage, he took another sip and then threw the bottle onto the floor, liquid spilling all over. He then shot a fireball at the liquid, causing flames to appear. Red, orange, and yellow flames danced all over the room. Taking his wand out of his pocket, he held the point towards him.

"Are you happy Alice? Avalee? Seth? Are you? I'm done tormenting your lives now!" He bellowed.

[potter_fan122]

"Axel."

Her voice was like a soft whisper in the air.  It was soft and filled with... something.  A hundred emotions were in his name--worry, love, surprise, anger... the list went on.  She stood in the doorway, eyes locked on him.  Her figure almost blended in with the dark corner;  she was wearing a black wool coat and her long black hair fell around her face in soft curls.  Only her face stood out from the shadows.

"What are you doing?"  She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.  She kept her eyes on him, but started to unbutton her coat, revealing a light blue blouse that almost matched her eyes.  On the outside she looked perfectly calm, but in her mind she was looking at the situation from every possible angle--just like any predator.  It was obvious what he was doing.  She could hear him talking since she walked into the bar.  Her senses were all on high-alert, and she was ready to lunge at him if she needed to.  Whatever he planned on doing, she refused to let him hurt himself.

[Sky]

Axel turned as the person entered the room, suddenly pointing his wand in her direction.

"I'm doing what should have been done awhile ago. I don't belong here. I'm the monster and I don't have to drink blood to prove it. I hurt people. People get hurt because of me. I'm done wasting everyone's time."

[potter_fan122]

Alice looked around the room, at the fire.  He was really going to do this.  If she had been just a minute later, what would she have found?  The alcohol bottles confirmed her thoughts, but that didn't help the fact that he was trying to kill himself.  With a sweep of her hand the flames went out and all of the broken glass was swept into a corner.  She pulled off her gloves next, setting them on top of her coat.

"Axel, you have never hurt anyone.  You are not a monster.  I've seen a lot more of the world than you and believe me, you are not bad.  I've been around the worst kind of people, and you are not one of them.  You aren't wasting anyone's time but your own now.  Please, give me your wand,"  she said calmly and softly.  She reachedher hand out, hoping he would give her his wand but knowing he wouldn't. 

As a vampire--or ex-vampire, whatever--she owned a wand but didn't usualy carry it on her.  She could work a little magic, but it was mostly elemental.  She wished now that she had it with her.

[Sky]

Axel shook his head.

"No." The way he said it, it was so dark and unlike him. This drunken Axel was not like the sober Axel. It was like flipping a switch and personalities were changed. He stepped forward, wand still pointed at Alice.

"You think just because you're a vampire, you can stop anything. You are this indestructible being made of steel. Let me tell you something. I can make you feel pain. I can kill you with a mere flick of my wand. And if you try to get in my way of what I am trying to do, I won't hesitate to kill you."

[potter_fan122]

Alice clenched her teeth and let her arm fall to her side.  Her eyes were locked on him.  She kept telling herself that he didn't mean what he was saying--that he was just angry and drunk.  He had every right to be.  What she had done to him, well, it wasn't thr right thing to do.  But he wouldn't really hurt her, would he?

"I know you can hurt me.  I am not invincible.  I can and will die some day.  You could kill me if you wanted to.  It wouldn't be that difficult, not with my human reflexes, but I don't think you will.  Because if you do... if you kill me, you'll be proving to yourself just how much of a monster you are.  Only monsters kill people, Axel, and you don't want to be a monster."  Her voice was even but it was obvious that she was trying to stay calm.  Her emotions were harder to control now, and that bothered her.  She would just have to do the best she could, because she would not let this end badly.

[Sky]

Axel just stared, hand shaking as he held the wand. Then he turned suddenly and walked over to the window.

"I don't belong here. I ruin people's lives." He lifted the wand back up towards him. "You, Seth, Avalee. You're all better without me." He turned back to Alice. "And you know what really sucks, Alice?! Avalee still wanted me and I turned her down. I turned her down because I thought maybe you loved me. I turned her down because I thought she'd have a future with that guy. And now I could never go back to her asking for her to have me back. I've dug myself in a hole so deep that I can't get out. I can't get out." He kept whispering the last sentence like he were in panic.

[potter_fan122]

It physically hurt for her to stand there and watch him.  Her eyes burned with tears she couldn't shed, and her mind screamed at her to turn away.  But she forced herself to stand there and watch.  If she didn't, who knew what would happen.  At least if she was watching she would know it was all her fault.

"Axel, you didn't ruin my life.  I am not better without you.  If you hadn't been there for me, I would be dead right now.  The real kind of dead.  You made me keep living, and I can never repay you for that," she answered softly.

"I don't know what you want me to say, and I don't know what you want me to do, but I'll do it.  I owe you my life.  Whatever you want, it's yours."

[Sky]

Axel closed his eyes and dropped the wand, which bounced before finally settling on the warm dusty floor. He felt his eyes sting with the threat of crying, something he didn't think he'd do. He dropped to his knees and his body became covered in the same flames that had danced across the floor moments ago. This was his process of eliminating the alcohol from his body. That, and letting his emotions come out of him.

Finally, when the flames subsided, he remained there gasping, tears falling to the ground and then steaming away back into the atmosphere.