The big city.

Cora held her head in her hands in silence. Why...why would Carlisle think that she would leave him? It was the small things about him that she loved. She didn't mind his anger; it wasn't like she was perfect, either.
~!!~
Andrea nodded slowly. "Don't expect that again anytime soon," She mumbled simply, still trying to dry her eyes.

"That's not what I mean, I don't want to lose her like my father lost my mother." Carlisle said, "Even though Isaac loves her and she loves him they are dysfunctional because of all that happened in their marriage. I don't want to make her feel that way, I don't want to be my father." he finally admitted.

"I see." Blake. "No, I really don't, I never been married, so I wouldn't know." He said. He sat back down, and crossed his ankles. "You have a lot to change if you don;t want her to feel like that." He said. "I guess."

~!!~
"No." Isaac said. "I would feel like I was cheating on you if I expected that every time I saw you." He said.

Cora wanted to hit Blake. He wasn't helping anything! If anything at all, he was just making it worse. She wanted to go in and say something herself, but then they would have known that she had been listeing. So intsead, she held her tongue, still sitting outside the door.
~!!~
Andrea was unable to surpress a small laugh that escaped her lips. "I suppose so," She said quietly.

Carlisle frowned deeply, "Yeah... Thanks... I guess..." Carlisle muttered before walking out of the room. He looked down at Cora and smiled lightly, "Anything I can help you with, love?" he asked as he knelt down, "Or are you just comfortable?" he didn't seem angry with her I the least, and although he wished she hadn't been there he didn't know how to be angry with her.

Blake peeked his head out of the door, he frowned, then he smirked. "See Cora? We were bonding!" He said, leaning against the door frame.

~!!~
Isaac smiled for split second. "You are fine now?" He asked again.

"I'm fine," Andrea nodded, brushing herself off, as if to maintain her composure. "I'm fine," She repeated, more for herslef than for him.
~!!~
Cora jumped up, eyes wide. "I...uhm..." She shook her head, and then glared slightly at Blake, but said nothing.

Carlisle smiled more, "It's fine Cora." he muttered before standing back up, "Now, Im going to attempt to bandage this up before I bleed even more." he said. The white fabric around his hand was almost completely red by now.

Lance was in the study, doing homework. He sighed lightly. He was worried about Lulu, she seemed a little upset lately. He hadn't kissed her that day because he didn't want to push her. But did he do that already? With another sigh he dropped his pen. His handwriting was neat, and girly. He moved the paper to his English folder, and pulled his math text book in front of him. He normally didn't do all his homework all at once, but he needed to get his mind off this. Oh, but somehow Lulu could distract him without even being in the room. Suddenly he looked up, and looked around, as if to make sure she wasn't in the room,

~!!~
Jade was sitting on the counter in her kicthen. She had tripped coming up the stairs to her run down apartment, and now blood was rushing down her forehead. Phillip had a rag pressed to her forehead. He had brought her to her apartment, and sat her on the counter. "You need to learn to be careful." He said, pulling the rag away, and gazing at her forehead, just as she slipped off the counter, sitting like that made her feel like a child. "I am." She noted dryly. "You are?" He sounded amazed, and pressed the rag back. "Not bad enough to take you to the doctors." She only nodded.

~!!~
Blake was looking for Ava. He had been so worried about his sister lately that he hasn't spent much time with her in a while. That made him feel bad, and he wanted to make it up to her. Right now he was heading toward the meadow. She always seemed to be there, so that was were he would look for her first. He may of have been worried about Cora, but something seemed be bothering Ava lately. Was she still seeing what she thought was Nick? He shook his head and walked faster. He needed to find her. He wanted to see her face.

Laurinda was walking down the hallway, feeling lost and scared, like a little kid once again in her new home that turned out to be the place where all her nightmares lay. She knew Blake and Ava weren't here, and she was looking for Lance. She hated not seeing him during the day, and she still felt bad about coming here; she didn't want him to get in trouble. But she felt...drawn to him. He was her only friend, and she didn't want to let him go. Besides, she..

She pushed her thoughts away as she came to the door of the study, and pushed the door open just as Lance looked up.
~!!~
Raven was watching Jade with a concerned expression on her face. She felt like she was slowly breaking down. Sable was nowhere near normal, she couldn't even protect Jade, and she missed Aden terribly already. She felt useless, hopeless, like she could do nothing right. And Sable loved to make it worse.

Sable was watching with somewhat of a bored expression on his face.
~!!~
Ava was sitting in the meadow, her knees pulled up to her chest in silence. She was trying not to look around, for fear of what she might see, but not to close her eyes either, for the darkness frightened her, and he was there too. Nick. She saw him everywhere lately, and even now, sitting in the meadow, was no exception. A light shiver ran over her, and she pulled her knees closer to herself, tears in her eyes. She didn't know how much longer she could take this. It was dark out now, and she knew that if she wanted to go back she couldn't. Her muslces felt frozen with fear, and she kept hearing whispered voices in the darkness, ones that she knew weren't there in the back of her mind, but ones that still kept her rooted to the spot, shaking.
~!!~
Cora was still feeling bad about what she had thought the day before, but yet, she still felt it. She didn't want to see Carlisle get hurt, and part of her wanted Damon to take the punishment. And Andrea constantly yelling at Isaac wasn't hleping her, either. Right now she was sitting on the couch downstairs, a book open in her lap, but she obviously wasn't reading it.
~!!~
Andrea was sitting on the front porch, a light frown on her features. She hadn't broken down again, and she didn't plan to either. She hated that feeling, letting herself be so vulnerable. She refused to let it happen again; it hadn't in so long. It scared her; she wasn't used to it.
~!!~
Elliot looked like she had finally given up.

She was sitting in Jake's cavern, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt abandoned, lost. Tyler was gone, she had figured out by now, and didn't want to see her. She thought it was beause he didn't want her to take his insanity back, but a gnawing doubt was in the back of her mind, that she had driven him away by trying to do the right thing.

The normally happy, upbeat, optimistic girl was replaced by this shadow of her, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
~!!~
Melanie didn't know what to think anymore. She was sitting in the grass near a lake, or what used to be a lake. She remembered it from when she was sitll alive. By now it was dried up, the places where her and Warren's houses stood now housing apartments. She clung to this one thing that reminded her of days when things didn't seem so bad, but even that was now dried up.

She had no tears left to cry, it seemed. After all, how could you cry when you knew it was all your fault?
~!!~
Hymn was sitting in one of the many corridors of the underworld, staring intently at the wall across from her. She had her hood up over her face, which was bruised again. She just wanted to be left alone now.

Carlisle stood still in the bathroom as a disapproving Rose bandaged up his hand and wrist, "You have to stop doing this! It's not good for you or the things you punch!"

"I know..." he muttered as she roughly proceeding.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around to take care of your anger but you can't always rely on me. Here's something stellar, go to your wife! You know, the women you say you love!"

"I do love her... That's why I do these things." he muttered.

"That makes no sense..." Rose said as she finished and sat on the counter to listen.

"I punch things when it involves here. The cavern wall, bedroom wall, Damon's face." he said, "All because when she is unhappy I get angry."

"She wasn't angry in the cavern." Rose pointed out.

"I almost lost her to a demon... Can you please just give me a break there?"

"Yeah, yeah."

It was then that Ashley stuck her head in the room, "Ready, Rose?" she asked.

Rose nodded and got off the bathroom counter. "Bye Carlisle." she said as she disappeared with Ashley to go to the mall.

Lance smiled slightly at the girl. "Hey." He said, he looked happy to see her, but the tone in his voice showed he was holding something back. That something could be anything, resentment, or or a sense of love. Would Lulu be able to tell that it was the later? He smiled slightly. "Are you alright?" He asked, standing up, as he did so he knocked over his glass of water, it spilled over the desk, and the bottle of pain revilers feel to the floor. He had been having awful headaches lately, along with them came the sense of wrongness. He wasn't sure what to do, the pills weren't helping, and every time the headaches came he didn't feel completely like himself. Each time they came he felt as if a little more of him was lost. He had that feeling now, but he wouldn't tell Lulu, he didn't want to worry her. He let out a groan, and bent down, and picked up the bottle, and started to clean up his mess. "Did you need to something?" He asked, quietly.

~!!~
Phillip put the rag in the sink when he decide that it was ready to be left alone. He turned back and looked at Jade with a sad expression. He suddenly touched her cheek softly, pushing her black hair behind her ear. "It's like you are from another world." He whispered softly. Oh, if only he knew! "Wh- what do you mean?" She asked, sounding confused. Her blue eyes met his certain blue eyes. She didn't like where this was going. She knew she should step back, make him drop his hand, but she just didn't have the energy or the will to do so any longer.

He only smiled, and she was about to ask again, but her words died on her lips when his met hers. Her eyes widened, but she didn't step back, like she knew she should. She didn't love this man, she loved, and still did love, Sable. But it was like all her life had been drained from her. Like Sable had her heart and soul and while he was like this she was lost and void of life, like an empty shell just walking through life.

~!!~
Blake sat down next to her. He carefully wrapped his arm around her. "Av, are you okay?" He asked slowly, making her look at him. His face was full of worry. "Av?"

Laurinda smiled slightly at him, pulling the door closed behind her. "Hey," She said quietly, but she heard his tone, and it worried her. Was she intruding? She always felt like that lately, though perhaps she was just being paranoid. She jumped as the water knocked over, and then watched as he began to clean up. She walked closer, hesitating at his questoin. "Um, no, I just..." She didn't finish. She just wanted to see him, but maybe she shouldn't have. Her eyes fell on the bottle. "Headache?" SHe asked queitly.
~!!~
Raven's eyes widened, and she felt something then. A bitter sense of resentment, like her brother was being betrayed. But that was just it; he wasn't there to betray anymore. She had had him back, and then he had slipped through her fingers again before she could think of a thing to do about it. She knew he wasn't coming back, though perhaps he would soon. She had to keep that small sliver of hpoe, or else all was lost.

She turned her face away from Jade and Phillip, feeling almost as though she were intruding.
~!!~
Cora heard voices upstairs, and then it fell silent. She slowly walked up the stairs, and looked into the room, her eyes falling on Carlisle's hand. A brief flash of pain crossed her eyes, but was gone just as fast. "What'd you do?" She asked quietly.
~!!~
Ava jumped, and slowly relaxed when she saw it was Blake. She could barely see his face in the dark, but it gave her some comfort, a sense of security. But she didn't try to hide it, and instead shook her head. "N--No," She stammered.
~!!~
Brianna had been much, much quieter than usual lately. She was sitting on her bed with a book open on her lap, but she was hardly reading. Ivy was watching her silently. She hadn't done anything to her lately, though why was her own reasons.

"Still cut from yesterday, Rose was helping me wrap it up and repremanding me for it." Carlisle responded, "I have to get stuff to fix that hole in a bit..." he muttered, "And bleach the floor where blood dripped on to." he was going over a list in his head of what he had to do. "Oh, and most importantly, this." he said and he got closer and kissed her gently.

"Uh, yeah." Lance said, throwing the wet papers away. "It just won't go away." He said softly as he walked pass her and out into the hall where he opened the linen closet and grabbed a towel or two. He slowly walked back into the study, and dropped the towel on the water puddle.

~!!~
Jade finally stepped back. "You should go." She said softly looking down, her hands shaking. Phillip frowned. "Jade, we have some-"

"We have nothing." She cut him off. Her voice was quiet, as if she was scared. "I have a boyfriend." She said slowly, flinching slightly when she referred to sable.

"Where is he!?" Phillip demanded. "Where is he when you fall!? Where is he when you are ill!? Where is he when you are lost and confused!? Where is he when you are sad, when you are crying!? Where is he when are alone!?" There was an anger in his voice. "Jade!? He isn't here!"

"Please leave." She said, tears in her eyes. He was wrong, Sable was here, laughing at her pain.

~!!~
Blake frowned slightly. "Want to talk about it?" He asked quietly.

Cora kissed him back, closing her eyes. She pulled back after a moment, however. "I'm worried about you," She said suddenly, placing a hand over his. "I..I heard you talking to Blake, and.." She couldn't finish.
~!!~
Ava shook her head. "I just...I feel like such an idiot," She said quietly, turning her eyes away from him. The darkness consumed her vision and she looked back quickly, as if he were her only source of light. "I see him everywhere, Blake," She whispered. "Nick."
~!!~
Raven flinched at his yelling, though it wasn't directed at her. She had tears in her eyes, her heart going out to her brother, and to Jade. She wasn't worreid about herself, not now and not ever. She never had been. She turned to look at Sable, and he had a somewhat satisfied smirk on his face.
~!!~
Laurinda nodded slowly, and watched him go and then come back. She was silent, and glanced around nervously. "How...how's school?" She asked, thinking of nothing else to say. She didn't want to leave the room, leave him, though.

Blake hugged her. "Ava, maybe you should go to the circus realm." He said. "Maybe seeing that he is there, and not here will hurt." He said softly.

~!!~
"Fine." He said, and walked pass her. She just stood there frozen.

~!!~
Lance looked down. "It's fine." he said. "Are you lonely?" He suddenly asked.

Carlisle looked away for a moment to compose himself before looking back at her, "I know, Annabell talks in her sleep sometimes." he said in monotone. "What about it?" he asked stiffly.

"You can't really think...that I would ever..." Cora shook her head. "No matter what, I never could," She whispered. She hoped he would know what she was talking about, for she could not bring herself to say it.
~!!~
Laurinda blinked in surprise. "L--lonely?" She asked. "Of course not! I mean, I miss you when you're at school and everything, and I don't have much to do, but it was my choice to come here, and you let me stay and everything, so..." She stopped, not wanting to ramble on. She turned her face away from him, her cheeks a light pink.
~!!~
Raven took a step towards Jade in silence. Sable was watching Phillip, that amused look on his face that made Raven's blood boil.

"...Jade?" Raven asked softly, making herself visible only to her.
~!!~
Ava nodded slowly. "M--Maybe," She stammered. She couldn't close her eyes, but the darkness here was no better. She slowly wrapped her arms around him as well. "But I don't know how to get there. Sometimes I just...wake up there," She said quietly.

Carlisle softened, "Not entirely what I meant but that's a relief to hear." he said. He was silent for a moment his hand had begun to throb in pain and he tried not to wince, this was worse than the time he punched that cave wall. He briefly considered asking Carmen for help but decided against it. "I love you." he muttered.

Lance was laughing lightly. "You know you don't have to stay in the house, if you like Blake or Ava can show you the meadow." He said.

~!!~
Phillip didn't even look back as he walked out of the small apartment. Jade turned to her, tears running down her cheeks. "Raven." She cried.

~!!~
"Maybe you should look for one of the siblings." He said, softly, kissing her forehead softly.

Laurinda smiled slightly. "Maybe I will, that sounds nice," She said quietly. She stood up straight, brushing her clothes free of invisible particles. She wanted to say something else, what she had been worried about, but couldn't. She frowned, and stared at her feet now.
~!!~
Raven took a step forward, and wrapped her arms around Jade in silence. She felt closer to her, almost like a sister, like she felt about Sable as a brother. But he was gone. She fought back her own tears, trying only to comfort her.
~!!~
Ava nodded slowly, but didn't say that she had no idea where to find one. She was struggling not to burst into tears in front of him, show her weakness, but she felt that it was far too late for that.
~!!~
Cora smiled slightly. "I love you, too," She said quietly, and looked down at his hand. She almost flinched herself. "You shouldn't punch things," She said simply, as if it weren't already obvious.

Carlisle couldn't help but chuckle slightly, "I know, I never seem to learn it though." He told her, "Perhaps I should try harder...." he muttered.

"Lulu." He said quietly. "Is something the matter?" He asked, quietly.

~!!~
Jade hugged her back. "Raven." She cried. "I don't know what to do any more." She whispered.

~!!~
Blake kissed her forehead. "Will you be okay?" He asked.

"You know, if they find me here, you'll get in trouble," Laurinda said suddenly, lookig up at him. "I shouldn't be here, and I think it was stupid of me to pull you into my life again."
~!!~
Cora sighed, and kissed him on the cheek quickly. "Try not to worry about things too much," she said quietly.
~!!~
Ava nodded slowly. "I think so," She said quietly.
~!!~
Raven didn't let go. "Neither do I," She said quietly. "Just...just keep trying. Things will get better; they have to." A lie.