In pieces

'Oh man, where the fuck have you been? What happened? Are you okay?'

'I'm fine. Not in the mood for all these questions...'

'That ain't gonna cut it. You just disappeared without tellin' anyone where you were goin' and now you finally crawl in at this time! And you're hurt!'

'I'm amazed anyone noticed I'd gone.'

'Are you kiddin'? Edward called me 'cuz you'd switched your phone off and he couldn't get through to you. I had to tell him I had no fuckin' clue where you were and now he's worried sick!'

'What? Why?'

'Because he cares about you! We all do! With everythin' that's been goin' on recently, we thought you might've gone and done somethin' stupid!'

'Well, that part's right.'

'You gonna enlighten me?'

'No. I'm off to go tell Edward to get a grip.'

'Aria!'

'See you later.'

*click*

'...Is that the front door?'

'Yes. I'll go.'

'Aria! Thank God!'

'It's not even been a day. A few hours. What's all this fuss about?'

'You didn't tell anyone where you were, and then you wouldn't answer your phone... that's why we were concerned. Is your eye hurt? What happened?'

'It's nothing.'

'Of course it's something! It looks like I was right to be worried! I thought... you might have gone to Midnight Hollow...'

'...'

'Ari...'

'You did, didn't you?'

'So what if I did?'

'You could've been seriously hurt, or killed! You've obviously been in some kind of fight! Aria, what were you thinking?'

'What was I thinking? What were you thinking when you did it?! Or is it okay for you to do stupid suicidal things and not me?'

'I know I was reckless to do it. Th-that doesn't mean you should have taken that risk too...'

'You're a fucking hypocrite. At least I do martial arts. You're no fighter, and if things had been different, you'd be fucking dead. But no, you carry on pretending to be outraged.'

'I'm not pretending...'

'Ari, we were really scared! For me it was just like last time, but even worse because we only suspected that's where you were, instead of knowing for certain.'

'I didn't wanna tell you because I knew none of you'd let me do it. Even though it's apparently okay for Edward to.'

'Forget about what I did. I accept that I was wrong to put you through that, but it's well in the past now. I'm sorry if I sound like a hypocrite. The simple fact is, none of us want that awful man taking anything else from us...'

'Tell us about it... what happened?'

'I went to try to kill him. I failed.'

'How were you going to do that?'

'I took a knife from his kitchen. When I got there, he wasn't in. Not long after I broke in, he and that Rikard came back. Rikard found me, I tried to charge him with the knife, but he was way too strong, and knocked me flying.'

'Oh my God...'

'Then Miles came in and made him back off. He wouldn't let him hurt me. Not even when he asked to.'

'So what, he protected you?'

'He said he didn't want me coming to any harm. They dragged me off to his living room for a "chat". Rikard put up this barrier so I couldn't get out. Not that I would've fled...'

'Did he say why he didn't want to hurt you?'

'Because I'm related to him. That's it. He'd sent me a letter a while back-'

'He sent you a letter? And you never said anything?!'

'No. You wouldn't have approved of my response.'

'Which was...?'

'Nothing but "GO FUCK YOURSELF" in block capital letters.'

'Oh, Aria...'

'Hey, he was trying to fucking recruit me. He said he wants to know me and he'd help me get back at Tate. I wasn't impressed.'

'The fucking nerve...'

'And he really expected you to agree?'

'Yeah. It was before he hurt Tristan. Even then, he still had the nerve to try again today. Tried to justify the shit he's done by saying it's all Tate's fault he ever acted that way. Said he'd do things differently in hindsight, but I don't believe him. '

'Ugh. So what was your reply?'

'I called Miles out on his bullshit. All of it. I know, I know, risky. But after he'd already said I wouldn't get hurt, I took his word for it and I used the opportunity to tell him exactly what I thought of him. Still... even if he hadn't, I would've said it regardless. It needed to be heard. I made it clear that I'd gone over to kill him. If he'd entered the kitchen before Rikard, he'd have had a knife embedded in his body. Multiple.'

'And how did he react...?'

'It was weird... he seemed sad. Like, genuinely upset. Not mad at me or anything, though once I made it clear I wouldn't be joining his side any time soon, he told me he wasn't prepared to become a victim again and to leave him alone.'

'Then...?'

'Then he got Rikard to teleport me back in front of my house.'

'That's a relief, at least...'

'We're really glad to see you back safely.'

'Yeah. Sorry I didn't accomplish anything.'

'It doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you're here now.'

'It's not up to you to go on a one woman crusade and kill him. It's way too dangerous... I know he needs to die, but you don't have to be the one to do it.'

'I feel like I should. The fact is, I got unreasonably pissed off at Anstine for not taking immediate action, when I myself was just sitting on my ass. So I thought I'd do something about it. I needed to at least try, otherwise I'd just be some bitch expecting people to do my dirty work for me.'

'It's not your dirty work!'

'Yeah, it is. Miles hurt my fucking family. This is very much my problem to solve.'

'Aria... we can all try to solve this together, but not now. Not when we've got a demon to contend with. This needs careful planning and consideration. That's why Anstine agreed to help.'

'Edward's right. You don't have to shoulder this entire burden on your own! When things like this happen, it affects all of us.'

'I just... thought I could finally be useful.'

'Ari... you are useful. You're brave, loyal, strong... You were prepared to put yourself in danger to try to fix things for all of us. That's amazing... even though you did give us a heart attack.'

'Oh darling... is this related to how you've been feeling recently? I know you've always been on the reckless side... and I know I did the exact same thing as you, but I was acting on my rage. You didn't do it in anger. You planned this...'

'...I told them to kill me.'

'Why?'

'Because if they did, I thought that'd finally be the catalyst for Anstine or someone taking them out for good. If I couldn't kill him, I thought being a sacrifice would be the next best thing.'

'Your life isn't worth that. I don't care if you dying resulted in the deaths of Miles, Rikard, Tate and Abraxas as well. We couldn't bear to lose you.'

'If only I could believe that.'

'But... we love you!'

'I don't, though, and I don't see why you do. I fucking hate myself. I find it hard to believe that I could be that important to you lot... sure, you might be sad for a while if I died, but you'd get over it. Life would go on as usual. It's not like I'd be leaving behind a partner or child.'

'People don't just "get over" the death of their loved ones. Especially not their children... Because that's what it'd be like for me. You're like my own daughter... For as long as I live, I'd never move on from losing you. And that's going to be a very long time.'

'Heh. You'll lose me anyway, one day. I'm human and you're a vampire... it's inevitable.'

'I'd be a lot happier if it were because you'd died happy at an old age, not because you'd given your life away like that...'

'I guess.'

'Let's talk about this properly tomorrow. Tonight, I'm taking you back to my place, and no arguments. I'm gonna look after you.'

'No, you're not-'

'Humour me. Please. You've been through an ordeal today and you need some care.'