"Toxic...," she began, her eyes staring at me, wider then usual. She was afraid, and you didn't have to have hyper senses to notice it either. "Please don't go... after all this, can you really just walk away?"

I turned away, unable to look at those scared, sad eyes of her for even a second longer. Damn it, I swore I'd never make her look at me like that again. If not because it hurt her, then only to keep it from hurting me. Not her fault thought; she didn't want to make me suffer. She's not like that. "I'm sorry Sin... but this is," I stopped, struggling to find the words.

"Heavy?"

"Yeah, heavy.. damn it Sin, even now?"

I didn't have to look at her to smell her blush, to practically hear the sound of blood moving and tinting her cheeks that wonderful shade of red. It was one of the dozens, no hundreds of things I'd come to expect from her, that'd I'd come to love about her. "S-sorry."

"It's... it's fine, Cynthia. Look, the point is that this isn't just a hassle for me, it's putting you in danger. Look at last night. You nearly died."

Of course, that wasn't entirely true, but I sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that. Better to leave explanations to my bitch sister or her bubbly Cure.

"You're lying."

Now that... that was one thing I still couldn't ever get used to. Her bluntness. "What's that supposed to mean? You passed out with a quarter of your blood sprayed on the ground. That's about as close to death as you can get."

"Yeah, I know that much. And it explains my inability to move for half the day today and the killer headache." She let out a sigh, the prelude to a deep shudder down my spine.

A sigh from Cynthia Marks was like the calm before a storm... actually, no. It's really more of the opposite. She never yells, never rages. Unlike me, she can keep her emotions in check. Somehow, that terrifies me more then any amount of screaming ever could.

"But... it doesn't explain why you were beat to near unconsciousness yourself. It doesn't explain why we're alive, or why Otanashi and Cyanide were long gone when you came too."

Yeah, another thing about my Cure, about the little brat who'd stolen my heart; she has the unnerving ability to make people hang off her every word. With her voice so quiet, barely above a whisper, I have to strain just to hear her. "Yeah, about that... see, those two owe me one and-"

"Toxic, quit lying to me. You're really bad at it."

Another shiver, and this time I had to turn around, had to face her. Another silent command woven into an otherwise ordinary sentence. She wasn't looking at me anymore, but instead she hung her head, her gaze cemented on her shoes. "And I'll tell you why you're lying, Tox. When I woke up, I had defensive wounds. That means, at some point, I fought back. And I won, or at least won enough to make them cut their losses and run for it."

God damn it. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Hurricane Cynthia - she starts off slow, then rips through even the strongest walls like tissue paper. All without a single roar. What's worse, is I couldn't even answer her, or try and argue what she said. How could I?

"That's why you're leaving, right? Because you're scared...?"

Ice forms in my veins, and any words I'd attempted to form froze in my throat.

"Because of what I did, of whatever I'm changing into... that's why you're scared. You're scared of me."

Everything screamed out for me to move closer to her, to not run. Her voice held so much pain, and her small, frail frame began to shake.

"Well... Toxic... don't you think I'm scared? I'm terrified... first I'm a Cure. I'm not supposed to be able to age, and it's so damn hard for me to die now. I haven't felt human in a long time, Tox. And now this? I... you're the only reason I don't just break down and give i-"

I moved forward faster then I thought I could, given the circumstances. With icy blood and a heart both frozen and melted, I grabbed her and held her tight. I squeezed her head to my chest and wanted nothing more then to keep her like this forever. "I'm sorry, Sin.... god, I'm so, so sorry.."

Grasped so close to me, her shaking only grew in intensity, sobs wracking her body. But I couldn't let the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, that foreign feeling I still couldn't give a name for, stop me from saying what needed to be said.

"You hit the nail on the head, hon... I am scared. But... no, I am scared of you. Or, I guess I should say I was... now I'm scared for you. You're... powerful, Cynthia. More powerful then any cure I've ever met in all the time I've been alive."

The words stopped when I noticed her cries had stopped, but I didn't let it stop me for long. "I... I know what it means to have power, Sin. People will come for you, try to possess you, to take your power. So I wanted to run, to get away from all this heavy bullshit... but I can't. I just can't go Sin. Because...," I stopped again, pulling one balled up hand to my mouth to muffle a cough. "b-because it's my responsibility. It's 'cause of me that you have these powers, and if I just leave you high and dry, I'll never be able to forgive myself... so... how about instead of me running off and us being scared alone.... how about we be scared together?"


[The inspiration struck. Sorry it's crap, I'm still trying to find my writing style, one that works for me. Comment if you like, but I'm not really expecting any.]