All Apologies

[Iƪƪia]

How long had it been? An hour? Two? Three? Maybe three hours since that. What was that? A confrontation of sorts. Maybe. Maybe he just hallucinated the whole thing... Nah, if he'd hallucinated it, both chicks would have been naked. Since he couldn't remember any naked lesbian wrestling he assumed that it was real.

Right. That girl, Amy - the one who wouldn't put out - she seemed to have gotten it into her head that they were a serious couple even though he had never agreed to such a thing. Because of that she got pretty upset upon seeing him with one of his other girls. Angry, actually. Really angry. As if it was his fault. Well, he tried to explain himself... Actually, no. No he didn't. He didn't do anything. No, but Ziza did. Then there was just a mass of fur and blood and maybe a scream or two before Amy got away. So after that... Awhile after that... After he'd finished up with Ziza and woken up, having slept most of his high off... Here he was, outside looking for her.

Yes, he was looking for Amy, but not for the reason you might think. Now that he was sober again he felt bad - maybe a little guilty? - about what had happened. Even from what he remembered it seemed as though he acted like a real douchebag, and even though it wasn't his fault, he still felt obligated to find her and make sure she wasn't hurt too badly at least. Physically that is. He was still kinda ****ed about the whole refusing to have sex with him deal.

Tripping over a rock, he cursed under his breath, steadying himself against a tree. He was close to the lake now and he hadn't caught any sight of her. Well, he figured if she wasn't here she might have gone back to her dorm. Or maybe the clinic. However, instinct continued to drive him forward. Let's see... If he were a frightened, lonely little girl whose entire world just came crashing down around her, where would he hide?

... He'd probably kill himself. Ah crap. The lake?

He stopped dead at the thought.

Could she have? He never meant for these things to happen. Suicide was a very sickening thought, and yet it always happened. Usually, he had moved on by that time, so it didn't affect him so much, but hey, he wasn't heartless! Sure, he'd even killed girls before, but that didn't- Actually, maybe he was heartless after all.

Shivering despite the fact that it wasn't cold out, he stepped over an exposed root, looking amidst the trees for any sign of life.

"... Amy?"

[Elle]

How long had she been walking? Amy had barely noticed the time pass at all, but now that she thought about it it must have been hours. It was already starting to get dark out. She should probably go back to her dorm soon. She should, but frankly she just didn't care. Perhaps she'd end up wandering around the forest all night. What did it matter? No one would care.

Her foot struck something hard, maybe a rock or a tree root, causing her to trip and fall hard onto her knees. She stared at the ground, unfeeling, for awhile, before she got up again. Or tried to get up at least. It was strange. She hadn't felt tired at all, but the moment she tried to pick herself up again, her legs gave out beneath her. She tried once more to stand, but to no avail, so she decided to simply sit there on the ground until she regained her strength.

However, as she sat there without the changing scenery to distract her, all the emotions that she had been trying to walk away from suddenly began to come to the surface. All the confusion, heartbreak, fear, and anger hit her so suddenly that she cried out, as if in pain, before falling into a fit of hysterical sobs.

Everything she had been so sure of... they were all lies. She thought that... she was actually important to him. She thought that all of her friends were actually ****ing human! What was going on? This wasn't her world- this couldn't be!

Just then, another feeling hit her. This time one of pure pain. Physical pain. Crying out, she clutched at her left hand. She could feel how it was slick with blood, and that made her stomach churn. Slowly, she removed her other hand so that she could get a good look at her wound. However, she had to quickly look away, wrapping up what was left of her hand in her shirt as she leaned against a tree, feeling very lightheaded.

For a moment, everything sounded so far away. Then she noticed something else. A sound breaking through the barrier. It was a voice. A voice she recognized. And they were calling her name.

At first, she was overjoyed that he had actually come looking for her. Then, with a shake of her head, she brought herself back down to reality. She wasn't about to forget what that bastard had done to her, and no amount of apologizing would change her mind.

She managed to get to her feet and stumble forward a little bit, but she didn't make it far before falling to the ground again. Giving up on trying to walk away, she pulled herself against a nearby tree and sat as still as she could. Hurriedly drying her eyes on her sleeve, she could only hope that he would just walk past her. She didn't want anyone to see her looking this pathetic.

[Iƪƪia]

When there came no response to his calls, he merely leaned against a tree, looking at his surrounding and sighing. Even if she was still out here it would take a long time to comb through all the trees and whatnot. Well, maybe not a long time, but more time than he was willing to put in.

However, before he could turn to leave, there was a sound in the distance, like something falling. Deciding it was worth a look, he headed off toward the source of the sound. As he got closer, he noticed something else. Blood. He couldn't see it, of course, but the smell was overpowering.

Grimacing at the disgusting scent, he gazed around, amidst the trees, still unable to locate the girl at all. Sight obviously wasn't working out for him, so he decided, as animal as it may seem, to go by scent instead. It shouldn't be too hard. Not only was she injured, but she was human. He didn't usually work well with scent either, but there were at least those two scents that he was accustomed to.

Edging forward slowly, as if he was afraid that something was going to jump out at him, he checked around every tree as he got closer to his target. Then it was almost as if he crashed into an invisible barrier. Even your average human should have been able to pick up on that scent.

Stepping around the last tree, he looked down at the young girl cowering against it. She... She looked like hell. Although that'd probably be true for anyone who had lost a fight with a psycho chimera and then spent the next few hours wandering through a forest. Well, it was probably best not to point out how awful she looked right now. Instead, he smiled at her as if nothing had happened.

"Amy! Finally... Do you know how long it took me to find you?"

It had really only been about 15 minutes since he actually started looking, but who was counting? Besides, he absolutely hated watches, so he didn't have one to alert him to the time, and it felt like he was out here for hours, so in his mind it could very well have been 2 or so hours that he was out looking. If he would ever spend 2 hours looking for anyone.

[Elle]

Apparently, it was too much to hope that she wouldn't be found. She just wanted to stay here, by herself. As long as she was by herself, she still existed in her world. Where everyone was human and your chances of being attacked by a giant shark-like dog were significantly lowered. As long as there were people around her, however, they would just drag her out of her fantasy world and force her to acknowledge the fact that she was surrounded by freaks,

When she noticed him close by her, she didn't look up immediately. Though when he began to speak, sounding as cheerful as ever, as if his girlfriend hadn't just mauled her, she glanced up, a scowl fixed on her face. She wanted to yell at him. She wanted to scream and whine and rant like she normally would if she was upset. However, she decided it wasn't worth it. It was all so confusing anyway, she didn't know what to do anymore.

"Nobody asked you to come looking for me," She mumbled.

Once again, she decided to try to get to her feet and once again, she stumbled and fell shorty after she got up. She was much closer to the lake now, so she half crawled, half pulled herself closer to the water's edge, where she then sat with her legs pulled underneath her, staring out across the water but not looking at anything in particular.

She wondered how many of her friends weren't entirely human. A few? Maybe all of them? Was she the only one who didn't know? What about Hendrix? He was probably one of them too. She always thought there had been something strange about him. In more than one way apparently. So was everyone a freak but her? That just wasn't fair! If she had to live in a world of freaks she should at least be allowed to be one of them!

[Iƪƪia]

For some strange reason, the girl seemed to still be upset with him. And you'd think that a few hours worth of wandering through a forest would cool a person down. And besides, how could anyone stay angry at him? He was just too nice, too good-looking, too awesome! If he didn't know better, he'd just assume that girl was blind.

Then again, almost being eaten might have had a strange effect on her. In a way, he could understand why she was so paranoid. After being assaulted and tortures within an inch of his life, he had to admit that he had been pretty suspicious of just about everyone for awhile afterwards.

He watched her stumble over to the water, then give up on walking and proceed to drag herself closer instead. It was kind of hard to watch. He actually felt sorry for the girl. And he had something to do with the sorry state she was in, didn't he? Well, at least he was nice enough to take the first step and come make sure she was okay, even if she didn't appreciate it.

"Amy," He sighed, wondering if there was something he should do or say. Was there anything he could do, anything that would make her feel better?

This was very strange for him. Usually, if he'd ended up hurting a girl like this he would have just ignored it and went on with his life, but now... Why the hell was he here right now? This wasn't the best time to start feeling sympathy. He hadn't even done anything with the girl, so why should he feel anything at all. It didn't make sense and yet here he was, and with nowhere to go but forward.

He took several cautious steps toward her, deciding he might as well take this more seriously. She was already ****ed, so why antagonize her further.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright?"

It sounded as though he was in a hurry to get this over with so he could move on and, well... He was. But hey, he apologized! That was what really mattered, right?

[Elle]

She didn't look back as he said her name, though it wasn't because she was trying to ignore him. Rather, she hated it when people saw her crying, and right now she looked absolutely horrible. Just about all she could do now was to steady her breath so she stopped shaking so badly and desperately wipe her eyes, although nothing was doing her much good.

His next words, however, nearly sent her over the edge.

What kind of an apology was that?! If he was going to act like he cared about her, he couldn't come up with something better to say? She gritted her teeth together, blinking back tears of pure hatred. In a rush of adrenaline, she pushed herself to her feet, though her legs still trembled, and she stormed up to him, standing as close as she dared to, as she tipped her head up to look him in the eyes.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for? For cheating on me? Or for not doing anything as your new girlfriend tried to kill me? Oh, or for not telling me that the entire school is full of psycho, shapeshifting freaks?!"

By the time she had finished speaking, she had been screaming at him. Her non-injured hand went up to her throat as she swallowed in an attempt to soothe the new pain. Then, she turned away from Hendrix and walked back to the water, not bothering to sit down gently, but more like falling to the ground. She hugged her legs close to her body and rested her head on her knees.

"Are you one of them too?" She asked quietly.

It wasn't as if she had forgiven him for anything, but she was curious. If he was really one of those freaks, maybe he had an excuse for- No. He didn't deserve to have excuses. He probably just wanted to get close enough to her so he could drain her life force, and then... Go after her family... Or something like that.

She sighed, looking down at the pebbles around her. She began to arrange and rearrange them into various designs, occasionally flicking one out across the lake, seeing how far she could get them. Strange as it may be, it actually calmed her down, allowing her to think about things rationally once more. At least as rationally as she had in the past.

"So why did you do that? You didn't need to lie. You could have just told me how you really felt. I'd have... Understood."

[Iƪƪia]

Whatever happened to the times when he could just smile and apologize and be instantly forgiven, then she would agree to go back to his place because obviously he had meant what he said and she had nothing to worry about because she had fallen completely in love. Maybe women were getting smarter? Or maybe he was losing something... No, couldn't be that. Must just be that the times had changed. This girl was much different than an 18th century street walker.

When she advanced toward him, he instinctively shrunk back, throwing up his hands for added protection. Damn, confrontational *****. He did not like people calling him out. Why did no one understand this? Why couldn't everyone just be civil when they argued? More importantly, why couldn't they just agree with him about everything?

Once she was finished, he began sorting through her words to find the proper response to give. Was there a proper response? It seemed like a trap.

"Um... All of that?"

As she walked away, he dropped his arms to his sides again, sighing. She just had to be so difficult. Maybe following her out here was a bad idea after all.

He walked around her slowly, trying to think of something else to say. Empty compliments, maybe? She didn't seem like she was willing to listen to any of that though.

She startled him by speaking first.

He frowned at this. Was he like them? No, of course not! He was nothing like those freaks... Hell, he even called them freaks too! But how did he explain that to her? Maybe he'd save the actual explanation for another time.

"Well... Not exactly like them, but I doubt that makes a difference to you."

He chuckled softly, sitting down next to her, leaning back and resting one hand atop his knee. He paused for a moment before speaking again.

"They're everywhere, you know. Not just in the school."

That came as a bit of a shock to him too. Where he came from there was only one dominant life form. Here there were hundreds, yet they all masqueraded as the weakest one of all. It had never made much sense to him, but he didn't complain. They all looked much more appealing as humans.

When she spoke again, he glanced over at her, but he quickly looked away. She still looked pretty upset. Best not to draw anymore attention to that.

Her voice, meanwhile, sounded rather sad. It was beginning to make him feel genuinely sorry about cheating on her. Or at least about getting caught.

He thought about a response for a few moments before deciding to give the truth a shot.

"I don't know... I know, that was probably the stupidest thing I could have done. I just... Wasn't sure what to do. You see, I'm- I don't do well in actual relationships."

Rape and casual, guilt-free sex was much easier to deal with than relationships with all their emotional baggage. He should know. There was no telling how many relationships for so many women that he'd ruined. He would hurt them and leave it up to the next guy to fix them. It was so much easier. For him, at least.

[Elle]

When he came to sit beside her, she resisted the urge to shy away. She hated him being so close to her, yet she didn't want to seem like just some frightened, little girl. Although she had every right to act like that. Not only was he a jerk, but he was probably dangerous too, like that other freak. She had no idea what he liked to do in his spare time. He might enjoy murdering children for all she knew.

She made a sound of disgust when he said that there were freaks everywhere; not just in the school. So no where was safe anymore. Actually, come to think of it, they had some pretty strange neighbors when she was younger. Now it all made sense! They were probably planning on eating her. And to think she'd actually been friends with their daughter. She must have just barely escaped with her life!

She continued arranging the pebbles as he gave her some excuse for what he had done. But that's all it was. An excuse. And he hadn't really even told her anything. She was willing to just leave it that he was a jerk. Whether they were humans or freaks, apparently all men were bastards.

"Why aren't you good with relationships?"

It had moved beyond an initial curiosity now. Now she just wanted to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible and, judging by the way he was stuttering, this was the best way to do it. Maybe she'd end up provoking him a little too far, but she honestly didn't give a **** anymore. As long as she got the opportunity to make him squirm, she was happy.

"It seems like it's make sense for you to limit yourself to one girl. Then you could keep her and **** her as many times as you wanted and not have to go out and catch new ones every day."

There was more venom in that statement than she had intended there to be. But hey, she was still pretty ****ed. Just because she wasn't yelling anymore didn't mean she wasn't still angry. She wanted to hear what he had to say; see if he had anymore lies left to tell, and she hoped he did. She'd love nothing more than to call the guy on another one of his lies.

[Iƪƪia]

As he sat down beside her, he had noticed her shifting ever so slightly. If it was only because she didn't want to be near him because she was still ****ed, then he would have been fine with it, but it almost seemed as if she was afraid of him. Now that hurt. Acting as if he was some sort of monster.

She... Didn't know anything. She didn't know the first thing about him. Who was she to judge? Maybe if she actually took the time to get to know him-

... No. No, that was the last thing he wanted. Didn't h just say he was no good with relationships? Well, it was the same with friendships, especially if they involved a girl. Then it was like having a girlfriend who you couldn't ****. It was the one thing worse than having a girlfriend.

He watched her and her strange habit of arranging the pebbles, appearing thoroughly disinterested, though he was really quite intrigued. He wondered what drove her to do that, as he'd never seen anyone do that before. That was... That was something he'd do.

For awhile, he stopped thinking at all and only watched her movements, completely fascinated, though he had no idea why he was so interested. It caused him to smile, if only slightly.

When she spoke again, he looked up, startled, only just realizing how he'd been staring. Blinking, he struggled to catch up with what she'd been saying.

Did she have to be so confrontational? He really didn't want to have to explain it all to her. Strangely enough, the thought of lying to her again hadn't even occurred to him.

"It's not that simple... It's not like I want to do this, I just... I have to."

He frowned at the ground beneath him, brushing a lock of hair behind his ear. It still sounded as if he was just giving her more pathetic excuses. What else could he say? Should he actually try to explain to her about his "condition"? Should he tell her about them?

... There was an interesting thought. Why not tell her about them?

What? Don't be stupid!

She wouldn't understand! None of them had ever understood!

None of them ever will.

"I need to," He continued, acting as if he hadn't heard them, "Because... They want me to."

He tapped the side of his head slowly, before dropping his hand to his side again. For a moment or two he remained, unmoving, looking out across the lake. Then he realized that he had just told some frightened human girl that for some reason he still thought he had a chance with that not only was he "one of those freaks", but he also heard voices.

Suddenly strangely nervous, he avoided her gaze and instead began to rearrange the pebbles near him, just like he would have done when he was younger to ignore the voices berating him.

[Elle]

While she was messing with the pebbles, she could feel his eyes on her, though she did her best to ignore it. It was an uncomfortable sensation, though it'd be a lie to say that some part of her didn't enjoy the attention. Not that she would consider forgiving him and throwing herself at him, but she was still a girl who liked to be appreciated every now and then.

Still, it did make her feel self-conscious. She stopped what she was doing and attempted to nonchalantly fix her hair. There wasn't much she could do to make herself appear more presentable, but she felt the need to try, at least. Not that he seemed to mind, considering the way he was staring at her. That really creepy way he was staring at her.

When he finally replied to her question, she only rolled her eyes, figuring he was just giving her more excuses instead of telling her the truth and genuinely apologizing. However, she wasn't quite ready for what he said next.

"They?"[/i] She repeated, not understanding what he meant.

Then, glancing toward him, she noticed the motion he made, which made her stop and stare. This time, she didn't attempt to hide how she edged away from him ever so slightly. It was no longer a matter of appearing tough, it was a matter of her own damn safety!

"You... Hear voices?" Although she asked it as if it were a question, it was really more of a statement.

She knew immediately that he wasn't lying this time. Why would he lie about being crazy. Even though it might help him get out of trouble, he seemed to care way too much about his image to go around telling lies like that. This brought another question to mind. Why hadn't he lied? And as much as she'd have liked to hear the answer to that one, there were a few more, slightly more important questions that she felt she needed to ask first.

"What do the voices tell you, Hendrix?"

She looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear, leaning away from him only slightly. She didn't have much experience with insane people, so the best she could do would be to be prepared to bolt at the first sign of trouble and hope that there was someone close enough to hear her scream. It wasn't a very optimistic thought, true, but she wasn't in a very optimistic mood.

[Iƪƪia]

He had expected her to move away from him. People usually felt uncomfortable in the presence of an “insane” person. He was prepared for that. What he wasn't prepared for was that strange, numbing sensation that spread through his chest as he watched her edge away. It was a strange feeling indeed. It felt almost as if he cared what she thought of him... Did he? Why the hell should he?!

Perhaps it was because he was actually trying to be a nice person here. He had been apologizing to her, trying to make amends, when he could have easily held her down and brutally raped her like he had wanted to in the very beginning. Then again, perhaps it was because he had actually been honest with her. He was telling her all about how screwed up he was, and bearing his ****ing soul to her when he barely even knew the girl. It made sense then, that he would be just a little upset with how she reacted, as understandable as it may be.

He continued to look away from her as she mentioned the voices. This was all too familiar. He had been in a position just like this once, a long time ago. He hadn't thought about any of that in decades, and the sudden wave of memories that came flooding startled him a little. Her next question startled him even more. It was... So familiar...

”What do the voices tell you, Hendrix?”

[/i][/color][/center]

His breathing quickened as he shook his head at the memories. He didn't like them at all, in fact, he'd spent the better half of his first century on this planet trying to forget them. Suddenly, however, it was as if he were a child again, fidgeting with his hair and regretting ever having brought this up.

He still didn't look at her as he responded.

"They tell me to hurt people."

Hadn't he responded similarly, such a long time ago? But he'd added something else back then. Something about how he could ignore them. How he never listened to them. He couldn't exactly say that now.

With that, he was overcome with another, different feeling: his natural instinct to flee. That was strange. There wasn't really anything to fear here. Only the girl, but why should he be afraid of her? It made no sense, and yet they were now telling him to obey that instinct and run. Perhaps they knew something he didn't?

Suddenly very paranoid, he glanced around behind them, though he couldn't see anything at first glance. Turning back around, he glanced over at Amy, though he quickly looked away as he jumped to his feet, unsure of what he was doing or where he was going, but muttering something that he thought was some poorly worded excuse for why he had to leave quickly.

However, as he turned to leave, he froze and, against their better judgement, turned back to face her. Perhaps he was in danger from some unknown assailant, but he had enough sense to know he couldn't exactly leave her here, injured.

"I... Would you like me to walk you back?" He asked, looking at the ground.

For some reason, it seemed as if he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He knew she'd just be cowering in fear of him anyway. Naturally, he didn't care what she did, but that didn't mean he wanted to watch her.

Yes, that did make sense to him.[/color]

[Elle]

Noticing his discomfort only made her move back even further, all the more frightened. Perhaps making him mad or upset wasn't the best idea she'd had. She had no idea what could set him off. It could be the slightest thing! Like right now, her question seemed to have greatly affected him in some way, though she had no idea why. He was the one who told her this. Why was her question so hard for him to answer now?

In a way, she expected the answer - it was hard not to - though that didn't make it anymore pleasant to hear.

She clutched her injured hand to her chest. So they told him to hurt people... and we was doing a damn fine job of it. All those voices in his head must be so proud right now. This thought made her blood pressure rise with her anger, though that disappeared as soon as another thought had replaced it. What if they weren't happy enough?

And she was injured, in a forest, and alone with the guy. That had to be, like, the ideal setup! She was too hurt and too tired to be able to run away fast enough, if she did manage to run she had no where to run to, and there probably wasn't anyone out walking around the forest at this time of day. So basically, she was screwed. Although he hadn't tried anything yet... If she was him, she'd have attacked her from behind while she was still wandering around instead of calling out to her and striking up a conversation.

What was he playing at?

Noticing a movement to her side, she instinctively flinched away, then watched as he only stood up, muttered something she had to listen carefully to understand - he had somewhere else to go? - and began to walk away. She began to relax a little at this. Until he stopped and turned back toward her. Ho offered to walk her back, and he was still strategically avoiding her gaze.

Maybe because he didn't like to look his victims in the eyes before he killed them?

Not wanting to spend another minute alone with him, she wasn't about to agree to walk with him. He could easily shove her weakened body up against a tree and do whatever the hell he wanted to with her. Then again, maybe declining would anger him? Still, it seemed safer than to agree to go with him. She could always just hope that he was feeling merciful today. Or hope that they were feeling merciful.

"Oh, no. No that's okay. I can walk back by myself later."

She turned away from him and back to the design she had been making with the pebbles. She hadn't really been paying attention before, but now she saw that they formed the shape of a heart. This brought a smile to her face as she searched for just the right pebbles to complete it. There were a bunch of holes inside the heart that she needed to fill, and hopefully forget about the insane guy standing over her in the process.

[Iƪƪia]

Everything was so confusing. Didn't he used to enjoy being feared? After all, that meant that people finally recognized him and acknowledged what he could do. Therefore, it only made sense that he should be glad that the girl recoiled in fear every time he moved. So why then, did it make him feel sick?

He continued to look at the ground until he was sure that she had looked away. Then he looked over at her, apparently putting just as much effort into avoiding him as he was of her. He soon looked away and instead focused on the design she was making. Only now did he realize that it was a heart. Well, that was something he'd never done. She was damn cute, though.

Smiling, he chuckled lightly, but he quickly caught himself. Whatever had gotten into him, he didn't like, and neither did they. Maybe he should leave and lay low for awhile. Maybe skip town. Not permanently, of course. For as many reasons as he had to leave nowadays, he also had a good amount of reasons to return.

That seemed like a good idea, actually. Out of all the **** that'd been happening to him recently... That was probably affecting him. That must be why he'd been acting so strangely. He probably just needed to get away from it all for awhile. Including her.

Without another thought, he turned and walked away. He had a new plan in mind and he didn't need to be slowed down because he was fretting over some *****y human girl who wasn't even interested in ****ing him.