Talking (Multi POV)

Belle POV

Belle barely knew why she was going with Elsa. She knew she’d be helpful, that much was obvious because she was good at fixing things.

She wasn’t sure what had made the decision for her though.

She supposed it probably had something to do with Mia’s anger. She’d seen Mia angry before, that night when she confronted Gemma about her failures as a leader.

Belle knew what that anger felt like. The righteous, seething hatred and rage at the people who had done you wrong.

It had to be channeled properly, productively, else one couldn’t deal with it. Not appropriately managed, it would destroy more than just yourself.

And so she marched on the same path as Elsa, trailing the footsteps of the air mage.

The young fateweaver looked back at her when she noticed Belle following, the surprise evident on her face.

As she caught up with Elsa, she decided to give a simple explanation. “I know what it’s like to be angry.” Belle said simply, and Elsa gave an understanding nod.

The two of them, united in their concern for Mia, walked quickly to catch up to her.

Mia had stopped, just inside the line of trees that marked where the forest began. She sat down, crossed her legs, and just stared at a random spot among the trees.

Elsa and Belle exchanged a look, before walking up to her.

Elsa sat down beside Mia, while Belle remained standing awkwardly, not entirely sure how to approach this situation.

Without looking at them, Mia started to speak.

“I’m gonna kill him. I don’t care if it’s wrong. I don’t care what the others say. Mathias and his goons can do what they want to me, but he’s done hurting the people I care about. I’m not gonna stop until I rip his heart out with my bare fucking hands!” Mia snarled.

Elsa recoiled slightly, a worried look on her face.

Belle took a step closer, knelt down and put a hand on Mia’s shoulder.

“Mia.” Belle said. “Don’t do this. I’ve been down the road you’re on. It does not end well.”

Mia scoffed. “That’s rich coming from you.” She said.

Belle felt anger rising in her body, but she did her best to suppress it. Getting mad wasn’t going to help in this situation, and she knew Mia was lashing out because she was upset

Belle swallowed her pride instead and tried again. “Yes, I’ve made mistakes too. That’s why I’m qualified to tell you that this isn’t going to end well if you let this consume you.” She said.

Mia rounded on her angrily. “Why should I spare that awful man? He does nothing but cause pain for me, for the people I care about and for everyone around here! He needs to die.” She ranted.

Belle held her hand up and shook her head. “Oh no, by all means, kill the bastard. He’s got in coming, I’m in full agreement with you there.”

Mia stopped the angry retort that was forming on her lips and looked at her, confused.

“But this anger, this hatred of him? That’s what I’m talking about. That’s not you. Don’t let it take over your mind, I promise you that all it’s going to do is hurt the people you care about even more than he ever could.” Belle said calmly.

Mia sighed and let her head drop.

“Come back to me.” Elsa said gently, a quiet plea for the girl she cared about.

Mia’s shoulders began to shake. “I’m sorry.” She said.

Elsa threw her arms around Mia and hugged her tightly.

Belle patted her shoulder awkwardly, having no idea how to comfort Mia, and feeling a little uncomfortable at the intimacy of the moment, but doing her best anyway.

They sat there, not saying a word while Mia sobbed quietly.

After a few minutes, Mia spoke. “Thank you. Both of you.” She said, hugging Elsa back.

Belle grimaced in response, while Elsa hugged her tighter.

“I told you: we stick together. We’ll figure this out.” Elsa said simply.

Mia smiled at that. Then she looked at Belle. “So you do care.” The air mage said.

Belle looked away and a soft smile touched the corners of her lips. “Kinda. Can’t have you going psychotic when the time comes, we gotta fight properly.” She said.

Mia snorted, clearly seeing through the deflection but for once, choosing not to call her on it.

Appreciating that, Belle changed the subject. “Like she said, we’ll figure this out. We’ll make sure your family is safe.” Belle said.

Mia smiled. “You’re nice to have around sometimes, you know that?” She said.

Belle didn’t reply, simply giving Mia a small nod, before leaving her and Elsa to talk about the more personal things. She’d done her job.

Paige POV

Paige put the phone down on her bed, shaking. She’d already gotten to her room by the time Mathias made the call to her.

She knew she was doing it again, but she couldn’t stop herself from isolating herself.

She needed to think. Her thoughts were in a frenzy, her mind racing a million miles an hour as she climbed the stairs to the bedroom she shared with the people she loved.

She opened the door, shut it just as fast and flung herself on the bed, burying her face in her pillow.

Why had Mathias offered her this deal? Her, out of all of the them?

He couldn’t know how traumatised she’d been from her experience meeting him and seeing Mia get hurt like that, could he? At this point, it almost seemed like Mathias was all knowing, so she wouldn’t be surprised if he did know all about that.

Then again, if he was all knowing, why had he asked her to give him so much information? He’d asked to know about their powers, what they were doing in time dilation and what they were planning to do on Saturday.

How much did he already know? Did he know that Gemma’s magic manifested as a game system? Did he know that she was able to make others more powerful as a part of it?

He said if she told the others, that he would know and the deal would be off. How would he know? Paige wasn’t sure about that part, but was she willing to take the chance that he wouldn’t find out? Would he hurt everybody worse if he found out?

On the flip side, was she comfortable lying to the people she loved, to potentially keep them safe? Was she comfortable betraying them for a guarantee of their safety? Could she even trust Mathias’ word when he said that he wouldn’t hurt them?

She knew that withholding the information wasn’t technically lying, it just wasn’t telling the whole truth, but that distinction mattered little. The idea still made her heart ache, and her very soul scream at her that it was wrong to do so.

Wasn’t it worth it to do something wrong though, if it meant the people she loved would be safe?

“Ugh!” Paige screamed into the pillow, an exclamation of disgust, frustration and uncertainty. She wished she was better at this. She wished she had Olivia or Belle’s decisiveness, or Gemma or Skylar’s ability to think through a situation logically.

But she didn’t, she wasn’t either of them, and she had no idea how to handle this.

She turned onto her back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the tears started to form in her eyes.

It wasn’t fair! She felt like she’d only just been able to somewhat pick herself up after that traumatic night where Mia had nearly gotten killed.

She’d only just started to be able to move forward, and now it felt like it had all been ripped away from her, with two simple phonecalls from a cruel man who was probably just trying to get inside their heads.

He probably was just trying to get inside their heads. Her head specifically. Why her? She still didn’t know.

Well, if that was his goal, it had worked.

A pit had formed in her stomach, threatening to swallow her up in another anxiety attack if she didn’t do something to calm herself down.

She grabbed one of the other pillows on the bed and held it tightly, too tightly, against herself, shifting position onto her side.

She felt paralysed. That was it, paralysed. Paralysed, yet again.

Tears streaked down her face at odd angles, owing to how she laid on her side on the bed.

The right thing to do was to tell her partners and friends what had happened. But she thought back to Mathias’ words, and she just couldn’t shake them.

If she told everyone, then she would lose the chance to guarantee their safety.

It made her head hurt to think about it all, and she was just going around in circles anyway.

If there was anything she’d learnt from the trauma she’d already been through, overthinking wasn’t going to help. She needed to make a decision and stick with it.

That’s what any one of the others would do.