Nate pulled into the garage, all four friends now squished together in the driver's compartment of the truck. No one had spoken for almost the entirety of the journey home, each individual too consumed in their own thoughts to even consider speaking aloud. Upon finding themselves sprawled helplessly on the ground with no recollection of what the hell had just happened, the three boys had discovered something a little too alarming to discuss with one another. It was a sad, and disturbing truth that rattled them to the core in such a way that it was sure to have disastrous consequences. In other words, it had spooked them to the point of making really, really bad decisions. They couldn't beat Luke. At least, not by themselves. He was too good. Too organised. Too slick. He had freaking Fate on his side for the love of all things holy. They didn't stand a chance.

Eleanor stepped down from the truck, so preoccupied by her own troubling thoughts that she didn't even consider how much force she used to shut the car door. The heavy metal substance speeding through the air and connecting harshly with the frame of the vehicle - its large counterpart that shook slightly from the beating it had just received. Shaking on the sturdy structure of its four wheels. The sound bouncing around the building like a gunshot.

Neither of the four even flinched, walking away from the car in an almost military manner as they followed on from one another in a single-file line, Eleanor in the centre of the group as they interweaved their path between the neatly placed rows of expensive cars. Making their way towards the door that conjoined the garage to the rest of the house. Their hands didn't shake and their steps didn't once falter. The panic they felt was still too deeply rooted to bloom, the fear still festering in such a way that it was merely a stem, a seed that had yet to sprout the characteristics of flowers and leaves.

But it would.

In time.

After the disappearance of Fate, the fair had sprung back to life in the sort of manner that was almost haunting. Laughter and chatter filled the air once more. Music sprang back up off of pause. Twirling and dipping rides vaulted back into motion. People had returned and were walking around in the exact same positions that they had left. Completely clueless as to the metamorphic circumstances that had occurred only seconds before.

Brendan had been the first to leave, staring at Eleanor as she rushed over to the boys who were just about recovering consciousness, rolling and groaning on the ground as a certain number of profanities left their mouths. He had heard the panic in her voice just as well as he could see it in her frantic movements. Remembering the way his heart seemed about ready to leap out of his chest at the sight of her held captive. The way his breath had just stopped for a moment when he had first seen her in the school corridor. Death date hanging over her head as if it could somehow curl into a noose and wrap itself tightly around her neck. Smothering the light out of her. He recalled all this and set his jaw straight. Rolling his shoulders back. He was setting himself up for heartbreak. He just needed to walk away. Just like Fate had walked away from him.

And so he did.

Dragging Samantha and Oscar behind him when he really saw no purpose in bringing them along with him at all. There were only two people that he cared to keep by his side and one was about to die soon anyway. The other was so far out of reach that he didn't even know if he was worth fighting for anymore. Fate had made his choice and, knowing the guy, it was going to be a very difficult task trying to get him to change his mind. His best bet was to find his friend a way out of the treacherous deal he had set himself up with. Or, at least make sure he was there for him when he was forced to cope with the consequences of his choice.

The boys and Eleanor had made their way to the car a few minutes later, Flynn still not quite over seeing his sister quite literally walk off into the darkness with Death and the others all too caught up in their own problems to really offer any form of comfort or explanation to that revelation. Nate had blatantly pointed out that there was no way he was letting Eleanor go back to sleeping alone in her dorm room. She would be staying with them for as long as he saw fit. Until she was safe. And, despite something whispering in the back of her mind that she was just going to die anyway, she was too terrified to disagree. Just the thought of the silence suffocating her dorm room sent chills up her spine.

She didn't want to be alone any less than the boys wanted to keep her safe.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Eleanor asked Liam in a quiet voice once Nate had locked the door behind them and led them through to the main lobby. Flynn had mumbled something about going up to his room, really feeling the need to be alone after once again encountering the cold shoulder of one of the last family members he had left. Nate had skulked off to the kitchen with the faint excuse of conjuring up something for them all to eat when, in reality, he just needed to be away from Eleanor. He couldn't look her in the eye with the knowledge that he had let Luke get to her again.

"Uh...yeah, sure." Liam himself was feeling too helpless to deny any sort of request. His mind was still rapidly trying to catch up with itself, tripping over its own feet as it struggled to catch all of the pieces crumbling down around it. He couldn't explain the emotions he had felt when he woke up sprawled on the ground, completely and utterly useless as he felt his chin collide rather harshly with the earth. Blinking slowly as he stared at the beaten up face of his brother and trying to conjure up some kind of satisfaction. Some kind of happiness at finally seeing the bastard getting what he deserved. But he couldn't. He hadn't been able to then and he still couldn't now. Not even with the knowledge that he was trying to kill Eleanor. The minute he saw his brother's face seething in pain, all of the walls he had constructed came crashing down. How had he managed to hate him for so long? Seeing...seeing him like that. All...all shattered and broken with his expression contorted by his own blood, it...it...it got through to him. And now it was all he could see.

Eleanor led him through the lounge room, knowing for a fact that they were both going to need to sit down for this conversation. Or, at least, she knew she did. A lot of things had happened in the short time span of a few hours, a little too many things for her to handle. But she had been okay because...despite the crazed lunatic traumatising the hell out of her, she had come to terms with that. Somehow. She had somehow admitted to herself that she was going to die soon and that it was most likely going to happen at the hands of the psychotic ginger guy who had cornered her at her place of work. She wasn't happy with it. Nor even close to being mildly okay with it. But she had admitted it. Because, the boys obviously knew him and that had been enough. It gave her some sort of fathomable explanation as to why it was all happening. Hell, she had accepted that people had the ability to see the future. But...but Liam? Finding out that Liam was...could be...that didn't make sense. It was only a tiny pebble in the grand scheme of things but...when it was placed on top of the growing mountain resting on her shoulders? It crushed her to the point of losing the ability to stand.

She sat down opposite him.

"I..." She cut herself off, feeling her own words drifting into oblivion as she started to comprehend just how difficult this was going to be. Apart from the word of a person who was most likely some kind of psychopath, she really had no proof on the subject. She didn't even believe it herself. It made about as much sense as breathing without a heart. Or a heart pumping without blood. It was an idea so ridiculous that she had spent most of the ride back to the house coming up with ways to deny it. However, every time she would try to dismiss it through sheer lack of evidence, something would whisper at the back of her mind. Scratching. Why would Luke have said something if it wasn't true? What could he have possibly gained from that? It made even less sense than...than Liam somehow having...it was just pointless. So she had decided to just suck up some form of courage and ask him about it. Which was a lot easier said than done. "I...Luke said something weird to me and I...I just wanted to talk to you about it because...I...it kind of concerns you too." Kind of, she scoffed inside her head, yeah, sure, kind of, not like a confession of love or anything, Ellie.

Liam felt his lungs become empty, dry and unwatered as all of the wasted gases exited his lips at a leisurely pace, taking their time as they intertwined and swirled within one another, invisible to the human eye as they waltzed and traipsed inside the other's arms, somehow both apart and together at the same time. Bursting out into the atmosphere in such an explosion of nothingness that Liam forgot to intake another breath. The looming picture of his brother billowed like fabric caught in the wind, whisked away from his thoughts with a simple push of nature as his heart suddenly forgot how to beat. "W...what?" His voice was cracked. Not fully whole as the tune attempted to live off what little oxygen was left in his body. He knew exactly what she was talking about. And his resolve to just come out and tell the truth dwindled at the same rate as his decreasing oxygen.

He inhaled.

Eleanor spoke. "I...it's probably stupid."

"It isn't."

"How do you know that? You have no idea what I'm about to s-"

"I do."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because there's only one thing my brother would say to you that would have you looking at me like that." He let out a dry chuckle, starved of humour as he shook his head and looked down at his knees, twirling the family ring around his finger as he felt it rub painfully against his skin with every twist. He looked up to meet her gaze, seeing the way she looked at him, eyebrows drawn together and lips pressed tightly against one another in an emotion that was somehow indescribable. Confusion, disbelief, denial and honesty all at once. It almost made him want to laugh again. This time with so much ironic humour that it would probably send a sane man running for the hills. But he kept it in and, against all odds, he smiled at her. Properly. Looking at her right in the eye and feeling a sudden pull toward the truth. No matter how much he wanted to lie and run away from it all. Because, despite all the hell he had been through, this was the scariest thing. Throughout the past years, he had been struggling to pull his life back together and not many things had remained constant. Except her. His love for her had never faltered. Not Eleanor. And he didn't want to let go of that just yet. It was one of the only stable things he had left. But it was the reminder of this firm belief that had him realising something. He had gone all these years loving her. Getting nothing in return. And he had been fine with that. More than fine. Who was to say that rejection would stop him from loving her? It wasn't as if she could stop him.

"T...there is?"

He nodded, somehow smiling wider as he reached across the table, taking her hands in his and just relishing in the feeling of it. The softness of her hands in his rough ones, the way they were steady and firm much like the owner of them. Fearless and strong and beautiful just as she was. He thought of all the years he had watched from the background, tumbling further and further into her web that she didn't even know she had spun. He thought of how he had known he could never do this. That it could never happen for him. The surrealness now that he could. Now that he was. The chance of actually having the thing that he had been chasing for so long. The fear of losing her and the assurance of the memory of loving her to remember for the rest of his life. "Eleanor, Mae Clarke, I have been hopelessly in love with you for the past four years, and I am terribly sorry that I have such a crappy way of showing it to you."

"Huh?" Her lips had parted in a way that was much similar to the rest of her sanity, gently but surely leaving their resting position of a smile. She couldn't help the sudden increase in pulse, the way her whole brain just seemed to be put on hold, frozen in place as she continued to look into the deep brown eyes staring straight at her. She realised they had flecks of gold. It was one thing to hear it from someone else but to...to hear it from him and...and it was the truth and it wasn't...it was real and...the...the whole world had tipped on its side and all...all she could see was him. A him that she wasn't entirely sure that she had met before because...because he was smiling at her. Really smiling at her and he...he looked like a stranger. The most beautiful stranger she had ever seen.

He rubbed a thumb over the knuckles engraved into her hand, etching all of the rises and defeats into his mind as he felt the smooth skin stretched delicately over bone, all in even shapes as he suddenly felt them melt into his hand. She appeared to be unconsciously relaxing into his touch. Never taking his eyes off hers. "I know it may seem a little unbelievable at the moment and that's...that's okay. I...I have a reason for...for all of the horrible...awful things I've done and I...I'll tell you everything, I promise but I...from your dumbstruck expression I would say that you're not quite ready for that yet."

She snatched one of her hands from his grip and smacked him over the head, somehow mustering up a glare while still smiling at the same time. "I am not dumbstruck!"

He couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to look threatening, eyes narrowed into slits and mouth pressed into a grim line with the corners twitching up into something akin to a smile. It was too damn adorable for him to handle. He was only brought out of his laughter when she removed her other hand from his and started swatting at his shaking form as if he was some sort of persistent fly that kept pestering her. At first, it had made him laugh harder but at the threat of her screaming that he was in love with her to the whole household, he stopped. Those assholes may have been the best friends he had ever had, but he would never hear the end of their teasing jokes once they found out he had actually admitted it. It had been bad enough when he first told them and it was an experience that he did not want to relive. "Okay, okay, you're not dumbstruck. Just a little shocked but...I do mean it...I...I'm not going to throw it all on you at once, I'll give you time and I...I hope you know that I don't expect anything from you, like, at all. I'm pretty much happy as long as you know that I don't think I'll stop loving you any time soon."

And then he got up, placing slightly shaking hands in his pockets as he began to exit the room.

"Thank-you, Liam."

"For what?"

"For being honest with me."

Liam went to bed with a massive smile on his face that night because, against all odds, his love confession wasn't as much of a shambles as he thought it was going to be.