The Victim | INVITE

"Wait just stop a minute will you!" He said getting annoyed now. Why did people always expect something from him without telling him all the details. "Whats my father got to do with all this and who are you killing? Both of who?" He asked looking from Karma to Aria and then back again.

Karma stalled, gently placing the wreath back into the stone block and pushing it into the wall.

"Ethon and Djinn. That's who I'm going to kill." She said softly, sitting back on the bed. She laid across it, her eyes on the top of the fourposter. "I don't know what your father has to do with it, but he burned her, so he dies." She paused. "Ethon...." She stopped again and closed her eyes. "Ethon dies too because it was his idea."

"You're going to try to kill my father?" He asked. "Karma you can't kill what never lived. Besides how do you go about getting rid of a demon as strong as him? Because i don't know."

"And who's Ethon?" He asked, why did this thing seem so complicated?

Aria froze as Arsen's tone became sharper, annoyed. Angry. Her eyes widened fearfully. She didn't know; she didn't know anything.

The moment he looked away, so was in motion - dropping to the floor and sliding under the bed. Her logical mind knew that it wasn't really a safe place from a fire demon, but logic wasn't in control. Her fear was in control, and being under the bed made her feel safer.

Karma leveled her eyes at him. "I'm going to find a way to." She said simply, as if that were enough. "I'm going to find a way to kill them both."

"Ethon?" She asked back, biting her lip as she met his eyes. Karma was going to answer, she really was, probably, but she was distracted by Aria.

She sat up on the bed, her eyes following the girl. "Aria, honey. Come here..." Slowly, she laid on the floor between the beds on her stomach, as if she was going to fish Nightmare out of a hiding spot. "Come here."

He turned to watch Aria slide under the bed before looking back at Karma. "Karma who is he?" He asked getting to his feet, he was obviously someone she didn't want him to know about.

Aria shook her head adamantly. "No," she whispered firmly. "I've made him angry, again. Always make him angry... I don't mean to! I just... It's cos I'm a bother. Gah!" She fisted her hands into her hair on either side of her head, though, whether it was because her head suddenly hurt or just a response to her fear was uncertain.

Karma smiled a bit sheepishly. "Ethon is... an old boyfriend of mine, who apparently does not understand the word no." Or 'go away' she added mentally. "Guess this is what he meant by his threat from earlier." She yawned, trying to be nonchalant. "I guess I'd have had to kill him anyway."

She focused back on Aria. "Come on, sis. Come out." She lowered her voice as if she were cooing to a small child. "I won't let the big bad Demon Boy get you."

Biting her lip, Aria eyed Karma dubiously. Finally, she crawled forward and out into the room. Sitting on the floor, she gripped the bed frame with one hand, even as she reached out to hold one of Karma's. She felt so vulnerable. She hadn't felt this vulnerable since... since... But she couldn't recall.

Aria glanced cautiously up at Arsen. "I-I'll be fine," she said softly, redirecting her gaze. "You don't have to bother about me. I'll heal." Sure, the burns hurt, but they would heal. Eventually.

He narrowed his eyes at the mention of an old boyfriend. That seemed to bother him more than he would have liked it to. "Yeah thats right, cause thats all i am. The big bad demon boy that can only hurt people." He said moving to sit on the bed furthest away from them both.

"This far enough or would you prefer me to leave?" He asked, he was sick and tired of people judging him back of what he was or how he looked rather then who he was.

Aria bowed her head, stomach knotting. She was so confused - largely because she didn't know why she should be confused.

"Sorry. I... it just..." Aria began, pausing to suck in a deep breath. She squeezed her eyes shut; that seemed to make it easier to think. "You have his eyes. An-and when you're mad, your voice s-sounds a lot like his. And I just - fire isn't supposed to hurt me. It isn't, but I keep... I can still feel the flames." A sob caught in her throat.

Swallowing, she slowly opened her eyes again. "But I don't want to bother you," she rasped. "I'm always a bother - promised I wouldn't be."

Karma placed Aria gently on the bed. "It's alright, Aria." She promised. "It's alright." She looked at the girl, making sure she seemed okay. "Are you sure you don't want to be healed?"

She looked up at Arsen's words, her eyes narrowed. That wasn't what she meant! She was standing over him in a millisecond, her hands on her hips. "Will you cut it out?" She demanded, glaring at him. "This is not the time for my name calling to finally get to you!" She sighed, placing her hands gently on either side of his face and bringing them nose to nose. "Focus." She said softly, her eyes boring into his. Slowly, almost leisurely, she took his hand and dragged him to his feet, leading him to the bed across from hers. She pushed him towards it, a wordless plea for him to sit down in her eyes.

She sat down next to Aria, crossing her legs under her. "You aren't a bother, sweetie." She said softly, smoothing down Aria's hair. "Don't you remember? We're sisters. I'm supposed to worry about you."

He sighed. Of course he had his fathers eyes and voice, he didn't need telling that. He'd had to live with the consequences of that through 2 lives already and those two lives weren't exactly the best life you could wish for. He looked back into her eyes with every intention of saying something but instead he just found himself nodding. He didn't know what was wrong with him lately but he seemed to be more human than usual.


He nodded clenching his fists, fire wasn't supposed to hurt him either but he still remembered how the hells fire burned his hands. "I can try and stop the pain if you want? I can't make any promises though." He said from the bed he was placed on.

Aria was staring down at her fidgeting hands, though, she relaxed slightly as Karma ran a hand over her hair. She didn't quite believe that she wasn't a bother. She'd always been, hadn't she?

Mismatched eyes lifted slowly, only enough to glimpse the boy on the opposite bed before dropping again. Aria gave a tentative nod. "Please, try," she whispered.

He nodded and slowly made his way over to Aria and held his hand out. Every part of him screamed not to do it, but to hell with his father. He'd had enough of being told what to do but not being trusted enough to know whats going on.


"It may feel a little warm but it shouldn't hurt okay?" He said holding out his hand for her to take.

Karma's eyes went from one to the other, suddenly very uneasy. What would she do if one of them got hurt because of her again? She looked away from both of them, her eyes on the tapestry that her mother's wreath was hidden behind. They were all she had left.

"Get on with it, then." Karma said, her voice a bit harsh. She mentally backtracked, her nose wrinkling at the sound of her own voice. This was why Cobalt said she couldn't love. Everyone around her died. "...Sorry... I'm just..." She shook her head. Now her voice sounded weak. Dammit.

She turned away, running her tongue along her teeth and wondering if her fangs had gone away yet. They had. Good. That was one less thing to explain.

"Okay," Aria told Arsen.

Her gaze turned towards Karma. She gave a shaky smile. "It's okay," she said, though she could have been reassuring herself as easily as Karma.

Then, Aria reached out a hand and took Arsen's, heart stuttering in terror despite herself. He won't hurt me, she thought. Part of her was certain of it.

He turned his cold red eyes and looked at Karma. "I don't like being told what to do." He said before turning back to Aria. He realised she was just concerned about her sister but that didn't stop her snapping at him seem any better. He rubbed his hands together and gently taking Arias hand in his.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the burns, locating them on her skin. A white hot pain shot through him making him flinch back from her touch. He gasped in pain shaking his hands and taking a few steps back to set himself on fire; in the hope to cold the new pain.

"That was not supposed to happen." He said looking down at his hands to watch the black burn marks on his fingers slowly fade away along with the pain. "The pains gone now right?" He asked pushing the flames so only his hands were on fire now.

Karma grumbled something or another, she wasn't really paying attention to Arsen's whining anymore, her eyes on her sister.

Then he gasped. He was in pain. Her eyes widened and she had to stop herself from jumping to her feet. He was fine. He was fine. He was fine. He was...

On fire? She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes on the ground. He was always on fire. He was a fire demon after all.

Everyone around her ended up in pain. Then they died.

Karma looked up at his words. "Are you alright?" She asked him. She may have accidentally let some worry come into her voice. She was freaking out alright? She was...

Her eyes turned to Aria, expectantly. "Are you...?"

The physical pain had stopped, but Aria had only begun to feel relieved when suddenly Arsen was in flames. Aria froze.

"You can ask your friend why you're being treated this way."

She'd scrunched her eyes shut, avoiding a terrified whimper only because she had stopped breathing altogether. She was burning again, the agony searing through her body, cruel eyes glittering at her with malicious satisfaction.

Someone was speaking to her, asking about the pain. Pain... the pain was... That's right, the pain was gone. It was just a memory; a horrible, crystal clear memory. Forcing her eyes open again, Aria gave a nod, not trusting herself to open her mouth. She looked up at Arsen, trying not to look at his burning palms, and gave a wan smile.

Aria wanted to say thank you. Furthermore, she wanted to ask if he were okay. Instead, she leaned against Karma and hoped her nod and the gentle squeeze to the other girl's hand were response enough.

He nodded through the pain and continued to shake his hands. Which did nothing, seeing as the wind did nothing against the heat of his skin. He moved silently to sit in the corner away from them as the pain slowly subsided. Her pain was over and thats what Karma had wanted.

Karma bit her lip, watching Arsen, but decided that Aria was first priority, no matter how distracting Demon boy's pain was. She squeezed Aria's hand back before gently moving her to lay down on the bed instead of lean on her shoulder. Once she was free of the girl, and had gently put a strand of hair behind her ear, she was standing in front of Arsen.

"Are you....?" She glanced at his eyes before looking back at his hands. "I'm sorry.... I didn't think it would hurt you..." She reached for one, but hesitated, not sure. What if....? "I wish I could take your pain away." She said softly, she glanced up at him again, but this time kept eye contact. "But... I can't..."

He looked her in the eye before finding he could no longer do it. He didn't know why, maybe it was because he hated seeming weak. He could take anyone on the planet on and probably live but place him against his father and he was set for certain death.

"I would fight anyone for you two but not him. I wouldn't stand a chance. Im only alive now cause im useful to him. Who knows what he'll do once he finds out i've done this." He said looking down at his hands. He had only two fears in life. The first, his step father, was dead and the other being his demon father.

"It's fine, it'll stop soon." He said chancing a look at her.

Karma smiled softly. "Don't worry about it. You can't fight all of our battles." She shrugged. "I'll just have to kill Djinn. There. Done and done." It was simply put, and she touched his forearm before taking his hand. "I won't let him hurt either of you again."

She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his middle. "When it goes away... I'll be here." The words were loaded, meaning that she wouldn't leave. Ever. She hoped she got that, because there was no way she was saying it out loud.

His eyes widened in shock. "What? No you can't kill him. He's not alive, he has no soul for you to destroy. The worse you could do is send him to hell and even then he's strong enough to make it back out again." He said rubbing his eyes. He felt oddly tired but he knew sleep would never come.

"It's my job to protect you, not the other way around. What kind of man would i be if i hid behind you?" He asked. "Besides i've faced most pains so i could face them again." He shrugged. There wasn't much he hadn't faced when it came to pain.

He wrapped his arms around her, being careful not to place his hand on her. They were burning hot still and he'd hate to burn her. "I will always be there." He said leaning his cheek on the top of her head.