Chapter Text
The beating resonated in her ears; its tone was rhythmic, fleshy, and foretold of the five liters of vital fluid that rushed through the organ every minute. The more she focused in on the sound the more it pulled her into its all-consuming pulse...
"Blaze!" Finally, G-Man's voice cut through to her, pulling her back from her silent observation. She quickly pulled her eyes from his chest and met the concern that flowed from gray eyes. This was the third time during a game of Texas Hold 'Em that evening that she had zoned out. At the moment all eyes were on her, leading the girl to believe that they had attempted to pull her out of her spell for quite a while.
"Are you okay?" Blaze turned to find Troy standing at a respectful distance from her, his eyes full of intrigue but he was wise enough to keep his distance in fear of her swinging out at him. Their relationship over the past few weeks was still strained, but leagues better than what it originally was. She nodded firmly and gave a small smile as she went back to the game, trying to play off her embarrassment. Was she ever glad Terrance wasn't there to see her odd start. With the eyes of the group watching, Blaze revealed her with a grin knowing that she had beaten the best hand at the table.
"Royal Flush." She called eliciting a groan of disbelief from G-Man who held the second best hand, a straight flush, and gained laughter from everyone else.
"I just taught you this game, how in the world are you beating us?" The young teen growled playfully through clenched teeth as he ran his fingers through his thick, curly hair. He only gained a wicked smile from the female as she joyfully collected her large mound of junk food and retired to her 'room'. Once the door was closed and the privacy sheet was pulled down over the teller window, Blaze dropped everything and slid down the wall and tore greedily into her haul and within moments she had consumed everything and still wasn't satisfied. As she sat against the cool wall, a wonderful relief to the heat building within her body, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and tried her best to stop the trembling that had engulfed her since she had been pulled from her frozen state earlier.
She didn't know what was wrong with her; for the past few weeks, she had been plagued by an almost never-ending hunger which nearly threatened to wipe out their monthly food supply. After getting literally caught with her hand in a cookie jar with various other empty wrappers and containers around her, she resolved to deal with the hunger with copious amounts of water and if that didn't sate her, then sleep was her only other option. Blaze would rather spare herself the embarrassment and the boys any problems of having them see just exactly how weak she was.
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After many hours on his feet, Terrance finally managed to find his way back to his makeshift home in the wee hours of the morning. Hoping to not disturb his resting friends, the teen turned off his flashlight and used the low light of the lantern in Blaze's room to guide his way to bed. Once he landed quietly in bed, the boy quickly embraced the sweet embrace of sleep that began to seep further into his being and cloud the edges of his vision. However, no matter how tired he was, sleep kept eluding the youth. Soon, one minute turned into three, then into five. Something was nagging at him, like something in the back of his mind was telling him something was off around him, but he knew that the notion was ridiculous. Everyone was asleep and probably had been for hours, which was exactly what he wanted but couldn't seem to obtain as he turned to his side to face the ticket booth. The boy stubbornly squeezed his eyes closed, hoping against all hope that this wasn't another sleepless night and after another few minutes of resting with his subconscious nagging at him, the boy finally opened his eyes to stare blankly at the wall in front of him. After his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness of the room, Terrance noticed the small stream of light that flooded from Blaze's room.
I could have sworn that her door was closed when I arrived... the boy thought as he studied the unusual change. She never left the door open or ajar when she was in the room, her natural instinct to hear someone enter the tiny space rather than sneak up on her. Terrance shuttered at what they could have possibly have done to her to have made her that untrusting of people. Sitting up on his cot, the boy eventually convinced himself to check on the odd girl and finally close the door to finally drift to sleep. As he approached the door, he could see through the gap in the door to find Blaze's cot was empty or rather hadn't been laid in as the thick blanket over it hadn't been disturbed. With concern burning through him, the boy gently knocked on the door and called out for the girl quietly. When he didn't receive an answer he pushed the door open slowly as to not disturb her if she were simply huddled in a corner curled up with a book as she often times was at this late hour as she waited for him to come home.
"Blaze," He began as he stuck his head into the room to first check behind to door before entering, "are you still..." Terrance couldn't even finish his sentence as his eyes fell upon his friend. Seated comfortably underneath the teller counter, Blaze held an unconscious G-Man in her arms with her lips fastened to his neck. It took only seconds for him to recognize the dark liquid pooling around her lips was blood as it trailed down his brother's neck. A deafening roar escaped from the other brother before he became mentally aware that he was charging at the girl to free his injured brother from her grasp.
Blaze, being that she wasn't human to begin with, had absolutely no trouble keeping the young man back from her victim. A swift kick to the midsection caused Terrance to fly back into the door, the nearly deafening sound of him smashing into the metal caused all parties to wake with a start to find Terrance getting up again to pry his brother from the female. Having just returned to reality from the sweet embrace of sleep, the boys were terribly confused for a few seconds as to why Terrance was fighting with the most passive member of their group until Jerry bound for the door to pull Terrance away. After taking in the horrific scene and his shouts and efforts joining those of Terrance's, the black shroud that was used as a privacy curtain finally fell to reveal the animalistic girl and her prey. With a joined effort Jerry and Terrance managed to take back the dreadfully pale boy whom Jerry carried off quickly while both Terrance and Blazed focused their attention on one another.
To say that Terrance was livid would have been the understatement of his lifetime. As he took in the irate orange eyes and red grin of the young woman before him, he couldn't help but curse the day he ever found her in that laboratory, but in reality, he also couldn't help but hate himself for putting his brother in harm's way. Just the thought of allowing her to stay in their sanctuary, their home, and the fact that he allowed a creature with no humanity left in her to destroy the sanctity of their home...he launched himself at her again, this time, he was ready for her to kick out. After grabbing her leg mid kick, Terrance threw her as far and as hard as he could into the door. The girl didn't even seem fazed by his sudden show of strength and was back on her feet within seconds, ready to grab him by the shoulders as he moved to shove her out of the room. Using the momentum of his attack, Blaze used her superior strength and tossed him out instead, yet in his anger, Terrance quickly grabbed her and brought her down on top of him. As they continued to tussle on the platform, overturning the cots and anything else in their way, Jason was left completely frozen in horror at the violence. Troy, with his knowledge of first aid, had helped G-Man as much as he could in order to slow the bleeding before running out with Jerry to speed away toward the clinic completely leaving the three alone.
Jason's pulse and breathing were erratic as he witnessed the destruction to yet another home and nearly jumped out of his skin after watching Terrance drop kick Blaze into the food shelf, knocking her and it over with a loud crash. Yet again, he was completely helpless as the scene unfolded before him and on instinct, brought his knees to his chest and covered his ears in an attempt to block out what was happening...to stop the memories from flooding back from the time before the Invasion. Terrance's move seemed effective as it knocked the air from Blaze and took her a few moments to pull herself up, however, this time instead of the look of mirth she hard been wearing during their scuffle, murderous intent shown brightly in her eyes and with a shrill that seemed to rattle the walls, she launched at her attacker with a speed not even she knew she possessed and knocked Terrance flat on his back and slide him to the edge of the platform. She quickly pounced on her assailant, her legs landing painfully on the teen's arms effectively pinning them to his sides. His rough cry was what seemed to snap Jason from his trance finally bringing his attention to the fight that would soon meet its end as Blaze began to wrap her hands around Terrance's throat. Using the strength of her grip as motivation, Terrance was finally able to pull one of his arms free and made attempts to fend her off, but in her bloodlust, it only served to excite her more and strengthen her resolve to ring the life out of him. After failing to deter her, the boy grabbed at one of her hands to ease her grip on him. "Jason!" He cried out strongly, his flaming light brown eyes landed on the boy frozen no more than ten feet away from him. "You're- not helpless," he gasped as her hands tightened, his raspy breaths were now mingled with her chilling giggles. "You aren't- the helpless chil-d anymore." Jason only seemed even more turned off by the idea of moving to assist his friend, his face was drained of any color and cold sweat ran it's course down his face. His body trembled at the idea of stepping in, the idea of punishment made him sink back further into his cot. Even if he wanted to help, he was too caught up in watching his past unfold before him to move an inch. Again he felt like that small six-year old who sought refuge under the kitchen table.
As he watched his friend begin to lose his struggle to keep breathing, Terrance turned to him one more time and with the last bit of air he had left stated, "Do for me...what you couldn't...for your mother..." That seemed to have gotten Jason's full attention now as he continued to look on, his mind recalling how his mother's body fell lifeless under the body of her attacker as she has tried to protect him from his abusive stepfather. As he looked into Terrance's eyes as his head rolled to face Jason, he knew that could never again allow himself captured by that glassy glazed stare. He found a new strength inside him that took all the helplessness he felt at the moment of his mother's death and pushed him off the cot to grab the closest thing to him- an aluminum baseball bat- and with everything in him swung at Blaze's head just as she turned toward him. He hit her right above her right ear and with a sickening pop on impact, the force of his swing caused her to roll a few feet away from her victim, knocked unconscious by the terrified teen who let the bloody weapon slip from his grasp and he tried not to vomit from what he had just done.
As he stood there motionlessly taking in all that had transpired, he heard a deep gasp escape the once still body of his friend. Terrance having slipped into the blackness off asphyxiation began to fill his lungs with the sweet air his lung desperately needed. After a few seconds of deep, ragged breaths he began to take in his surroundings to find Jason had just called to his knees at his feet, tears streaming from his eyes as his guilt for breaking the pledge he had made so long ago began to eat at his mind. Sitting up, Terrance made the laborious struggle of standing, his body beginning to feel every punch, kick, and slap, and made his way toward the young man who had saved him...only to overlook the youth in favor of the bat next to him. Shuffling his way over to the unconscious girl, Terrance grabbed her roughly by the collar and dragged her to the edge of the platform only to drop her with her head slightly over the edge. In the hard silence of the tunnels, the young men could hear the light breathing of the young woman who should have been dead, but Terrance wasn't too bothered by the development as he took a few steps back and raised the bat over his head to finish what he had started. However, before he could finish his swing Jason had rushed him and kept his arm from lowering any further. "You can't do this; you can't kill her!" The young man pleaded even though he was vaguely aware of what she had done to the group. Terrance now turned his cold gaze to Jason who nearly dropped his hold on Terrance with the look of pure malice that radiated from his eyes, his face completely emotionless as he took on the blond. With very little effort, Terrance pulled out of Jason's tight grip to then ram the flat end of the handle into his stomach, winding Jason enough for him to fall unceremoniously to the concrete. Raising the bat again, Terrance nearly swung until Jason kicked him in the knee, nearly causing the youth to fall on the tracks below. With renewed anger, Terrance turned on Jason and attempted to kick him away when the teen caught his leg and tried to pull him down. "I swear to God if try that shit again, I will knock you out and take her with me!" His struggling, unfortunately, didn't truly affect Terrance as he kicked the youth off and punched him in the face twice to subdue the teen. As Jason's groaning form was dragged a few feet away, Terrance returned to his prey, raising the bat again knowing that he wouldn't face another interruption.
"You can take her corpse with you when you leave. " He said harshly as he swung through...only to pause just centimeters from her forehead. The wind of his swing blew her now chin length hair back from her face. He couldn't do it and he couldn't understand why. He couldn't kill her. Even as he lifted the bat again, he couldn't even move his arm as he continued to look at her face. Ever since he and G-Man were left to fend for themselves at such a young age, the young man had long ago consigned himself to do whatever it took to survive and lived by the code of a life for a life. So even as he imagined his brother, who was pale and motionless in his arms, bleeding death only twenty minutes ago, he couldn't bring himself to hurt the female. He felt nothing but anger and mentally hurt by what this young woman had done, but he couldn't bring himself to avenge his brother. He had never felt this hesitance before in his life and as he stood there, he continued to search within himself for the cause of his inability to act. Slowly, he lowered himself and reached forward taking the unconscious and rapidly healing girl by the chin. He turned her face toward him and studied her face. Long lashes dusted over discolored cheeks bruised from his punches to stop her, her once small, doll-like lips that curled into the most enchanting smiles were new swollen and split. Her forehead and dark brows were now stained with blood that leaked from her mending wound. Just as he was moving to brush her wild hair back from obstructing his inspection of her, Terrance's pocket began to vibrate and ring. He could only imagine that it was either Troy or Jerry calling to deliver the news that he had already anticipated, he almost neglected to answer the call in favor of moving his hand toward her neck...but quickly fought against it. Maybe the impending news would help make his decision much easier and after all, he was anything but a coward. After retrieving his phone from his pocket Terrance wordlessly answered the call, his heart beating at an even pace as he braced for the news.
"He's alive," he heard Jerry's deep tenor state with a sigh of relief.
"Why wouldn't I be?" He said nonchalantly.
"No, your brother is alive. We barely mad it in time to save him but fortunately, Jonas and Gina were prepped and ready by the time we got here. Gina just came and told us that he made it through surgery but the next few days will be rough. " Everything else after that had been lost to the teen as he took in the news. His gaze had once again fallen on Blaze.
"My brother needs me. How soon can you get back here to guard her?" The young man asked, cutting off the giant's report.
"Ten minutes if I gas it. She's still alive?"
"For the moment she is. Just get here." He disconnected the call. If he had listened any closer, he would have heard the sigh and tone of relief in his friend's voice. Looking over the female once again, he once again moved his hand over her neck, this time, he actually dared to ghost his fingers over it, his tips finding her pulse strong beneath them. After a few moments of consideration, the young man's hand moved upward to attempt to brush back the female's hair. He, however, stopped as he couldn't justify the intimate contact and settled on lifting her into his arms to return her to her room. This time, he removed every light source and the black fabric that covered the window then locked her in the room from the outside.
Terrance scoffed at what could have possibly made him hold off on taking her life, but by the time he was done with her she would come to regret that decision.