~~~~~~~~~Iv's POV~~~~~~~~~

I regret it.

I regret this.

I regret all the lies I told.

I regret keeping this all to myself.

I knew it was wrong.

I always did.

But it was the only choice I had to protect them.

And yet it just made it all so much worse.

I'm sorry about it.

All of it.

But it doesn't matter now.

Because I'm going to set everything right.

I'm going to make everything go back to the way it used to be.

I'm going to fix it all.

I'm going to stop Ashley.

Even if it's the last thing I ever do.

So many thoughts zoomed through my head. I didn't know what I was going to say, or do, or how to react when I found Ashley.

I had casted a tracking spell, and managed to find her location. Which was actually a really familiar place...

The laboratory, the one we went to as kids. The one that caught Ashley and sent her to prison. I felt chills travel down my spine as flashbacks from that night came back to me.

How I hated this place.

I went inside, gulping down whatever fear had started to form inside me. Unlike many years ago, this place was now closed and broken down, as if a bomb had gone off and destroyed everything except the building itself.

It was empty, rusty, dirty. I was surprised I hadn't blown up in sneezes from all the dust.

I had formed an orb in my hand to light my way, making sure of my surroundings as I walked forward.

I soon entered a familiar room, the same room where Ashley nearly killed me all those years ago. It didn't have any of the tanks. Actually, it barely had anything.

I looked around, the atmosphere changing almost instantly. She knew I was here, didn't she? She sensed me from the start. I should know, we share most of our abilities.

The doors had slammed shut, which made me look over out of instinct, and it was then when I heard her humming.

I remember that lullaby, my aunt would sing it to us when we were very young. Though I could never memorize the lyrics.

"You're just in time, sweetheart!" I turned to see Ashley walking over to me with a wide smile. It looked innocent, but it was far from it at this point.

I glared at her. "Even after all these years, you still haven't grown up."

Her thumb passed over her nails, inspecting them. "There's no fun in letting things go. And besides..." She looked at me, a smile spread across her face. "It got your attention~"

I could see it now. It was psychotic. She lost her mind. To her, this was all just some game, and we were her pawns, she could move us around however she wanted.

All of this, it was too familiar.

She reminded me far too much of... Ryan.

Yeah, too much of him. It was unbearable.

"Now that you're here..." She said as she crashed my train of thought. "I'd like to get things settled."

I scoffed, forming a red orb in my hands. "With pleasure."

"No no, not with me. It's not our time yet." I grew confused at her statement, when another voice was heard from very close by.

"So this is her?" I turned to see a girl with medium length brown hair, her tips dyed purple, the same purple of her eyes, top, and heels, along with some white pants.

I could swear I'd seen her somewhere before, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Alexa, you know what to do." I heard Ashley say, but when I looked back at her she had already faded into a bunch of blue dust.

I then felt someone grab the end of my ponytail, making my flinch a little. "I will say you're pretty." I heard this 'Alexa' say before harshly pulling me back by my hair.

I acted in instincts, immediately grabbing her wrist, pulling her arm down in a direction it's not suppose to go, getting a small yell of pain from her as I stepped back a little.

She glared daggers at me, baring her teeth in anger. "You'll pay for what you've done, you slut!!!"

She launched an electric purple orb at me, gently high I managed to avoid with ease. "I haven't done anything to you, I don't even know you!!"

"Hah, don't recognize me?!?" I formed flames in front of me, which stopped the shocks she sent to me. "You stole him from me!!!"

I could only stare in confusion. Stole who?! Like, a boyfriend?! I'm single!!

Then it hit me.

Alexa. We did meet once before, back in that assassin place Ryan used to run. That's where Noah and Sage came from anyways.

Noah's talked about her. His first girlfriend, who traumatized him big time. He always goes to a dark place when he talks about her, or even just thinks about her.

He's afraid of her, she's not allowed to say that.

"You mean Noah?!?"

"Ah, so you do know who I am!!! Maybe you're not as dumb as you seem!!!"

I avoided a few more attacks as I threw fireballs at her as well. Hey, if I have to fight, I might as well give my all, even if it's Ashley who I'm after.

"You've done nothing but cause him pain, no way am I letting you anywhere near him!!"

She growled at me, though it was soon turned into a smirk. "You don't have to keep him away, he's already looking for you."

"What?!"

"Justin, keep her busy, I have something to take care of." Before I could stop her from leaving, someone harshly grabbed my arm.

I tried to fight them off, and I will admit it was hard, but I managed to do so, taking a good look at them. A guy with messy dirty blonde/chestnut hair and hazel eyes, glowing dark blue.

"Goddammit, I don't have time for any of you!" I said with a growl. I needed to find Ashley, now!

I formed a wall of fire in front of him, making sure he wouldn't follow. Yet when I turned to leave, he was already in front of me, holding a sword above me as he was about to bring it down.

I quickly formed one myself, blocking his attack which knocked us both to different ends of the room. I heard him let out a chuckle as I stood up. "Fast reflexes."

He looked at me, his eyes flickering. "Ashley's right about you, you're definitely a challenge."

"Yeah? Why don't you tell me where she is, then?" I asked, gripping my sword.

He laughed. "Where would be the fun in that?"

He was blocking the only exit, which made me growl in defeat. I needed to find a way out, and fast.

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

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