I'm Not Okay (I Promise) | INVITE

It was almost funny how several hours could change something. That morning, Aria had felt stung, shocked, even. Now, her hurt was laced with betrayal and a twinge of anger. It didn't help that she felt drained and tired and frightened on top of that. Her magic hadn't been working right, she felt horrible, and her head had been aching slightly for the past several hours.

Aria was in no mood to talk to anyone, least of all Karma. Frankly, she just wanted to curl up in her bed and feel generally miserable until she fell asleep.

That wasn't about to happen, though. Not even close.

Karma walked into the common room, her eyes wary, but her stance determined. "Sis." She greeted, her voice neutral.

"We need to talk." She placed down her bag by the door and glanced at it, sending a muffliato in the direction of the dorms and the doorway. "About..." She frowned at the girl. "well... where do you want to start?"

Aria cursed. Mentally. It may have been in Russian, or some other language she managed to pick up. She wasn't really paying close attention. The girl gritted her teeth, however and attempted to make a detour around her sister.

"Now's not a good time," the blonde said, voice quiet, albeit rather taut. "Let's talk later."

Karma almost agreed, but Kama wouldn't let her. "We're talking now."

Her eyes flashed darker. "Alright. Fine. We'll start with you kissing my boyfriend." She snarled. "And end with what you really want to talk about." She wiggled her index finger, showing off the ring Ethon had given her. She smirked. "Then again, you probably don't want to know about that." She sat on the couch, her eyes on the fire.

Aria's head tilted to the side, making her look very much as though she was listening to something only she could hear. Slowly, she turned to face Karma, the fireplace behind her and to her left.

"How very interesting," she said, "that kissing doesn't mean anything until, oh, wait a minute, suddenly it does. Is that what this is about? A second's brushing of lips?" Aria sneered. "Is that why you've suddenly morphed into a vicious bitch today?"

Karma grinned. "I was always a bitch. Karma's a bitch, haven't you heard?" She stood, suddenly pacing. "It's alright though, the kiss, I mean, that's not what bothers me." She shook her head. "It's that you'd do this to Rhys." Karma shrunk away from the harsh words, but Kama continued, forcing the words out of her mouth. "As if he doesn't believe he cares for you. It's sick, what you're doing to him." She was confused. Was she talking about Aria? or...

"Then again, what would you know of compassion? You just discovered that Ice broke a few months ago." She shook her head again, not looking at the girl she called her sister. "What do you know of devotion? Of love?" She was no longer talking to Aria, no matter who was there to hear her. "Only someone soulless would take the one thing I love away from me." She smiled, almost happily, finally facing Aria. "I get it. Incapable of loving. That's the problem!" She decided.

Aria began to tremble, teeth clenching, anger building within until it was as if something inside the girl had snapped. Then she began to speak, and she found herself unable to stem the flood of words pouring from her mouth.

"What I am doing to Rhys?" Her words started out slowly, enunciated with cutting precision. "Oh, so he has a name, now, does he? After months of pretending you have no bloody idea who he is, he has a name again, is that it?" The blonde's voice increased in volume, her tone becoming more furious the more she spoke.

"First things first, shall we? Let's talk about Arsen, since that's clearly what this is really about. I notice you never once mentioned the fact that, not only did I follow the guy around all of last term, but anyone with eyes could see that my entire existence revolved around him. You're not stupid, sis -" The appellation came out mutated and ugly. "- you had to have known how I felt about him! Bloody hell, even I, looking back, can see how bloody one-track minded I was! So, what? 'Oh, Aria can't remember she was in love with the guy. Why bother saying a single, fucking word before I go ahead and hook up with him? I'm just sure when she gets her memories back, she won't mind. Why the hell would she even care, huh?'"

She scrubbed a stray tear from her cheek. "But, you know what? You're right. That's fine. I was literally made for the guy, but I'm over it. You know why? Because he never wanted me that way. So, you know what I did when I got my memories back and I remembered those feelings I once had? I resolved them. That's what that kiss was about - I was saying good bye to my first love!

"But you..." Aria shook her head, giving a derisive laugh. "You chose Arsen, and you broke Rhys' heart to do it!" Her tone rose to an angry shout. "But that wasn't enough, now, was it? You had to play some stupid mind game with him - act like you don't know he exists, twisting that knife a little deeper. And you have the audacity to ask what I know of devotion? What I know of love? You selfish hypocrite!"

"Mind games." Karma smiled. "That's what Slytherins known for, isn't it?" She grinned at Aria. "There was a reason I ignored him, you know. No, of course you don't. But obviously the workings of my mind aren't simple enough for you to understand."

She laughed. "Oh yes! That must be it!" She said gleefully, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My entire relationship with him must be to spite you! That makes perfect sense!" She nodded, raising her voice as well, though her voice held none of the anger Aria's did.

Yet.

"Why on earth would I possibly not tell Aria that the boy she adored was into me?" She asked. "Other than the fact that she was avoiding him, as if he didn't exist at all!" She smiled. "I got the idea from you you know, ignoring Rhys. It seemed to work on Arsen, so I figured, let's give this one a push in the right direction, the one away from me! But could that possibly have been for his own good? What's this? Karma Black looking out for people other than herself?! Unheard of! Rediculous!" Her voice was somewhere between sarcasm and sincerity, her eyes bright and dark, her face a mask of happiness.

"You should get your story straight, sister, before you make an even bigger fool of yourself." She flatly. "I broke up with Rhys for other reasons, reasons that do not at all involve Arsen." Her hands clenched into fists, the first sign that this was getting to her at all. "His addiction, for one thing. But he hasn't told you about that, has he? How my ignoring him helped him quit cold turkey? No he wouldn't have mentioned that. Not to fragile little Aria, not to the one who must always be protected."

She smiled a mean smile. "You may have lost your memories, but you still grew up and learned with us, here, protecting you. You've had better than I had, and better than Arsen, and better than Rhys. But no, I'm suddenly transformed into a bitch, because I stopped coddling you?!" She demanded. "News flash, Ree. This is the real world. If I were to tell you the truth, the whole truth, including the truth about this?!" She held up her hand, the ring gleaming. "Would you even stop for a moment and believe I wouldn't betray you?"

A steady whine had started somewhere, possibly all in Aria's own head. It was hard to tell. "Protected? Is that what you call it? Maybe once, I believed that, but after today? After you're suddenly wearing a bloody ring from the maniac who had a fire demon torture me? Oh, you loved the nasty little shock that gave me, didn't you? I saw it in your eyes, heard it in your tone.

"'Coddled'? I don't need to be coddled by you. I'm not some stray anima-"

A terrible sound tore from Aria's throat as a truly horrible thought occurred to her. She pressed her hand over her heart as an almost real (or maybe it was real) pain pierced her heart. "Merlin - is that what I am to you?!"

The lighting in the room shifted as the fire suddenly increased to double its size and plants from the lake abruptly plastered themselves against the windows. A plotted plant crashed to floor, pot shattering. It continued moving, seemingly dragging itself across the floor towards Aria. Something had happened to the girl's right eye, but that side of her face was now shadowed.

"Am I just some poor, pathetic little stray you took pity on?!"

It hurt. The thought that she had never once been considered anyone's family at all stung immensely.

"Well, you can stop taking pity on me!" Aria shrieked. Just as suddenly, the lake vegetation started to drift away from the glass, the leaves of the houseplant - now immobile - withering as the fire returned to its proper size.

Her right eye had turned crimson.

"I'm not a pet! I don't care what Djinn, or you, or anyone thinks about it!" the blonde had begun to sob desperately, clenching tighter at her chest. "I'm a person!"

There was more flickering, but it wasn't from the fire. The area along Aria's left collar bone had begun to glow, like the fading light of a dying ember - only when the light died away, rather than her skin returning to normal, it turned black. It wasn't the only area, either: the back of her right hand and wrist; a section of scalp and hair above and behind her right ear; other areas hidden by her attire; all flickering and glowing before one by one they died, like a fire burning out.

And she didn't seem to notice.

"I'm real!" Aria shouted. "And I'm allowed to feel angry and sad. I'm allowed to feel betrayed by those I care about. And I am allowed be jealous and hurt when I see other people have things that I can't even hope for because some stupid demon couldn't be bothered to make me so I would live -"

The rest of what she had to say was abruptly lost as the flickering spot on her head burnt out, the strand of hair turning black with the area along her scalp. It was as though the world had suddenly shut off.

Aria remained standing for a fleeting moment before her muscles went lax and, unconscious, she began to fall...

"God forbid there be another Ethon on the planet!" She shrieked. "What kind of fucking motive would I have for that?!" She growled, low in the back of her throat. "Will you calm the fuck down and listen to me for a second...."

"I didn't say you were a ...." she drew up short, watching Aria with narrowed eyes. She watched the girl with growing distress, "Sis....." she tried, several times.

"Djinn...?" She whispered, frowning. "What does Djinn have to do with anyth...."

"I NEVER SAID YOU WEREN'T!" She yelled. "WOULD YOU CALM THE FUCK....." she froze.

She was starting to get used to fire being used whenever someone around her got angry. She watched the plant, her eyes adjusting to the light.

She caught the girl of course. "Live?" She asked the unconcious girl softly, noticing for the first time that the blackness along her skin had not been a trick of the light. She picked up her sister easily, barely noting the use of superhuman speed and strength as she gently laid her on the couch. If not for the pulse she could hear coursing through the girl, she would have believed her dead.

"What's happening to you, sis?" She whispered. "What the hell is going on...?" She knew who would know.

"Arsen!" She yelled, suddenly in front of the fire. "I don't know where the hell you are, but I need you here!"

Iva had been sitting on her bed, listening to the argument with a gloomy perspective on the outcome, when something suddenly felt... off. At first, she thought she was being silly and was only thinking back to her family fights, but, when Zoya began to bark, she knew something was up.

Taking the stairs by twos, she hopped into the commonroom as Aria hit the ground. She gaped at Karma. "What did you do!?" she panicked, running over to the girl, "Do not get Arsen! Get the nurse!"

Karma turned on the small Russian, a panic rising in her gut and her hands curling into fists. "I did nothing to her!" She shrieked. "She just keeled over!" She looked around herself. "The nurse? What would that incompetant loser be able to do?! We need her to be healed, and Arsen would be faster!"

She thumbed the ring, pacing. "We'll have to wait. Go see if you can find Arsen." She noticed the wolf and nodded. "Send your familiar, and I'll send mine..." She paused. When was the last time she'd seen Nightmare? She shook her head. "We need him.

She looked down at the ring, contemplating it... but not yet. No. Arsen would fix it. Arsen could fix anything.

He'd been outside when he first saw the two creatures running towards him. Boia immediately stood protectively in front of him before he called him off and told him to calm down. "It's alright boy, it just means im wanted." He said returning to the castle at a casual jogging pace.

He knew it was Karma that wanted him, but right now he really wasn't interested so he didn't feel the need to run flat out. He followed the wolf and panther back to the common room and servayed the area. "What the hell did you do?" He asked moving over to kneel by Aria's side.

He took one of her hands in his and closed his eyes to concentrate better. Something wasn't right, he could sense that much. It was like fire was refusing to fuse together with earth but that meant Aria would die! He gritted his teeth and sent all his power into her forcing the fire to obey his command. It was going to listen to him, It had too!

Karma fisted her hands at her sides and continued pacing, her eyes squeezed shut as she passed back and forth before the fire. She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them, her distress causing her to unconciously start to speed up her pacing.

"I didn't do anything." She said softly. It hurt her that he'd assumed she'd just decided to attack her sister like that. She would never...

Would she? She'd killed Lacey when Cobalt had told her to. What was stopping her from just reaching out and...

Karma was almost at Vampire Speed velocity now.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Just heal her." She said, her voice small. "Just..." She shut herself up, knowing that he did not need her orders to help the girl.

Aria stirred, but made no conscious response to Arsen's effort to heal her.

Her elements, earth and fire, were indeed pulling apart, unraveling. They had been for weeks - months - though, the girl hadn't said anything. Even after she had realized she was dying, she had remained silent. She hadn't wished to be a bother - and surely, making an issue of that which was inevitable would be just that.

Aria was a Chocolate Frog. She'd never been meant to last.

The healing flames worked to mend the damage to the girl's body, but the elements would not be knitted together again. They had begun to repel one another. The fire passed into Aria's arm only to escape through the pores of her skin, the black portions remaining entirely unaffected.

He ignored her comment and continued to concentrate. "Will you stop pacing! You're distracting me!" He said never moving from his position, knelt down beside Aria. She had to get better, she just had too.

He growled and got to his feet when he found it wasn't working. "What do you think im trying to do Karma? Prey?" He said scooping Aria up carefully into his arms and heading over to the fire. He needed more power and he didn't seem to have enough on his own. "Come on Aria. Please don't go!" He said closing his eyes once more and turning the flames around them to hell fire. Maybe that's what it took and not normal fire.

Karma froze.

She stopped everything. She didn't move, she didn't breathe, she didn't blink, and if she could have, she would have stopped her heartbeat. She refused to do anything that would hinder Arsen's healing. Her eyes were focused on the wall directly in front of her, and she didn't move her eyes from it.

Her mind was whirring. She picked phrases from their argument, her mind kept coming back to the last thing Aria'd said.

So I would live-

She needed to do research. Tons and tons of it, so that she'd be able to help Aria.

She refused to believe her sister was dead.

Slowly, reluctantly, earth rejoined fire, though their union was not what it was before. It was only a matter of time - hours, maybe days - before they parted again. Areas of her skin remained black, damaged, but her complexion seemed to have lost some of its sickly pallor.

The girl suddenly drew in a deep, shuddering breath and her eyes fluttered open. Her right eye was still crimson. Aria gazed about, feeling disoriented. Why were they in the fire? Her fingers tangled into the cloth of the boy's shirt.

"What happened?" she asked, voice a whisper.

He smiled with relief when she finally came around. "I don't know but im going to find out!" He said getting to his feet so he could help her. "How do you feel?" He asked, not daring to turn the fire back to normal but the longer he kept the hell fire going the weaker he became and he'd already used a lot of energy to heal her.

He turned to look at Karma. "What were you doing before she passed out?" He asked.

Karma came closer to them, crossing her arms in a show of nerves. She was breathing though. That had to be a good sign.

"Sis... I..."

She shook her head at Arsen. "A slight misunderstanding." She was all she would say.

"Ree, try to remember. What were you saying about Djinn? You said he... he made you?" She looked from Aria to Arsen and back again. "Or did I misinterpret that?"

Aria gripped Arsen's arm for balance as he helped her upright, her right hand raising to gingerly rest against the side of her head. Colors seemed to have shifted ever-so-slightly and her head felt... she felt...

"Orange," she murmured quietly in response to the boy's query. The blonde gazed perplexedly around the room. What had she..? Hadn't she been..?

Mismatched gaze, blue and crimson, moved back to Karma. Aria blinked slowly, almost as though it was taking a while for the meaning of the words to get across. Then, her brow furrowed faintly.

"Couldn't open," she explained, expression vaguely guilty. "I was mean you, bearing that misapprehend true." Her frown deepened. Somehow, that hadn't quite come out the way she intended...