~~~~~~~~~Gabe's POV~~~~~~~~~

I was only unconscious for what felt like a few minutes, but I wasn't sure if that was actually the case. I began to wake up when I felt a stinging sensation on my face, like some acid slowly burning into my skin.

Slowly, my eyes opened, my vision so blurry that I could only see blobs of paint around me, so I already knew I didn't have my glasses on me.

"You're awake..!" I heard Jade's voice speak. "How do you feel..?"

"Every part of me hurts.."

"That's not so good.." Fiona's voice replied, and then I felt more of that stinging sensation on my face, making me flinch back.

"Ow! Stop that!"

"Calm down, Jake's just putting some disinfectant on you." At Fi's explanation, I saw a blob of peach colors wave in front of my face, which I assumed to be Jake's hand.

"... s-sorry.."

Hearing someone sit beside me, I tilted my head over, heading Jade. "Gabe, what was that today..? I know it's not your first fight, but you've never taken things that far.."

Now that I had my thoughts recollected, I actually had no idea why I was so focused on beating him.

"... I think I was just tired of him treating everyone like crap that I just lost it.."

After that, there was silence, then soft footsteps walking over before someone kneeled down next to me, hearing Lara's voice. "Here, I fixed your glasses for you.."

I sat up, letting her place my glasses back on my face as I blinked a few times to focus my vision, seeing her green eyes staring right at me.

There was a weird feeling in my chest.. A strange warmth I had never felt before..

It wasn't bad, just new, and that frightened me a bit..

"Thanks.."

"No problem.." She gave me a warm smile, then pulled away so Jake could continue cleaning my wounds.

That's when I noticed we were at our treehouse, with me sitting on my sleeping bag as the others took care of me, standing around me. 

Cassie then offered a mug of hot chocolate to me, her expression worried, yet puzzled. "How come you healed him at the end..?"

I bit my lip, I had forgotten about that. "Well, Bill actually gave me another visit."

"What'd he says this time..?!" Jade's eyes widened at the mention.

But I simply shrugged. "He said I shouldn't go any further, and gave me another point of few."

Fiona brought over a chair, sitting down. "Did he say anything about the Danger?"

I shook my head. "He was already gone when I tried to ask."

However, my eyes soon widened as I realized the conversation topic, glancing over at Lara before looking at the others. "U-uh-!"

"She knows." Cassie answered his question before he had to answer.

"Huh..?"

"You've been asleep for two hours, and while we waited, Lara told us about an encounter she had last night.." Jade explained, looking over at Lara, his ears were flattened back.

She then looked at me. "I was home when it happened, some girl just appeared out of nowhere. She said her name was Courtney Harts, and that she new my father."

A chill ran down my spine at the mention of him. "What did she want?"

"She wanted my help to bring him back, but I refused, and then she disappeared. I noticed she had electric magic, so she must've teleported away."

"That's why we told her about the Danger Bill mentioned, maybe this chick is the one we should be worrying about." Fiona added.

Staring at Lara for a while, I tried to search for any sign of a lie, any thought or any nervous body language. But no, it was the honest truth, her thoughts said as much, we could trust her. At least, right now.

"Thanks for telling us, Lara, we'll look more into this when we get the change."

She gave me a small nod, a tiny smile on her face.

This was really worrisome, why would some random girl be looking for a Riverton?

And the fact she knew him just made it all even worse..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too far from them, but much deeper inside the forest, Wes's anger only grew more and more as he punched spruce tree with all of his strength, eyes burning with rage.

Gabe had become his worst enemy, or at least, that's what he made himself believe, imagining the tree as the guy who showed him pity.

Pity.

God how he hated that word.

"That little fucker thinks he can defeat me..? He thinks he's so high and mighty, petty little rich boy..!!"

He punched the tree once more, then twice, then three times. His knuckles were red with blood, but he couldn't feel the pain.

"I bet you think you're sooo perfect! Well, I swear to God, I will show you otherwise!! I won't let you look down on me, ever!!! I'll fuck you up, I'll make you pay for making me look like a damn fool!!!"

"Wow, that's a big promise!"

His shoulders tensed up, quickly looking around to whoever was there. Finally, his eyes landed on an unfamiliar girl with brown skin and blue hair, who giggled softly as she sat on a tree branch. "You're a tough one!"

"Who the hell are you."

"Oh, little ol' me?" She jumped down, landing on the ground with a bright smile. "Well since you ask, I'm Courtney Harts, nice to meet ya!"

At the moment, Wes had no intention of speaking to someone, so hiding a small growl, he started walking away. "I have no time for you."

"I can help you, ya know!"

"I don't need help."

"Not even to get revenge on Gabe?"

He stopped in his tracks, eyes widening a little before turning to look at the girl once more. "How'd you..?"

"You want to defeat Gabriel Anderson, right~..? Especially for how he just healed you because of how weak you were~.."

"I'm not weak!!!"

"Doesn't hurt to be a little stronger though, does it?"

"... what do you mean..?"

Grabbing his wrist, he pulled the boy closer, who was about to attack until his eyes began to glow a bright pink, Courtney whispering into his ear.

"I know what it's like to be ridiculed by everyone around you, to have no one by your side, not even your own parents.. And then some like Gabriel, who's got brains, brawn, and most importantly tons of money, just comes in and stomps all over you.."

A smirk grew on her face as she noticed the boy's fists tremble more with every word she let out, glaring daggers at whatever was in front of him. 

"But if we work together, we can show him what it's like to be thrown away like garbage on the streets.. We can make him and everyone who's hurt us suffer.."

She finally pulled away, the boy's eyes pulsing between his normal hazel eyes and the pink shade that now glossed on top of them, his breathing heavy.

"I-I.. want him.. to suffer.."

"Then do you agree, partner..?" She offered a hand to Wes, who stared at it for a few seconds before shaking it.

A pulse of energy was felt through the forest, eventually reaching the treehouse.

This time they knew, something bad had just happened..

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

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