Scott...Scott....Scott!

Avi was internally pestering the tall boy all the way to the dining tent, determined not to let up until he got the answers he wanted. Who did Scott think he was? Hiding potentially life altering information from him, and not only that but having the audacity to get all excited and look at Avi with those eager eyes of his, only to then deny him from hearing anything his crazy ability had informed him of.

Yeah, Avi was pretty pissed off and had therefore been shouting the blond's name in his mind for the last couple of minutes, continuing to do so as they lined up for food; cow or frog or hippo or whatever insane bullshit the cooks decided to pass off as suitable animals for eating that evening.

Scott...Scott...Scott!

He was wearing him down, he could tell. The boy had been pointedly ignoring him but the small lines of stress on his forehead and the way he kept rubbing at his eyes was enough of a message to let Avi know he was beginning to aggravate him.

Sliding his tray down he scooped up what appeared to be meat...at least he was almost certain it was, however it was either charcoal black in color or just extremely overdone. He gave it a sniff just to be safe. It smelled fresh enough even if it did look like something the croc man might excrete. Blanching at his own imagination Avi quickly settled back to his mission of getting what he wanted answers wise.

Scott...Sco–

"I can't tell you."

Stopping and spinning so quickly Mitch, who was currently in between the two of them, walked straight into Scott's back, letting out an "umph" and glaring up at the older boy.

"Can't tell who what?" he asked, bouncing around on his tiptoes, the act of standing still for a matter of seconds apparently a humungous trial for him when food was so near. Not that he always waited. Sometimes Avi had seen the snake boy grab food with his hands straight from the hot plates, shoving it straight into his mouth, not even waiting to get to their table, like it was going to go anywhere. The amount of food Mitch could pack into him was also another wonder, with the boy often piling his plate sky-high with almost every available option, making Avi sick to his stomach while also drawing out wonder as to how on earth the other boy was not yet morbidly obese.

"He wants to know," Scott nodded over Mitch's head, meeting Avi's gaze in that unnervingly unnatural way of his. The lilac of his eyes was darker than usual, almost purple, or maybe it was just the light.

Mitch tipped his head all the way back and Avi averted his gaze as the boy's flexible neck allowed for him to pull off an owl-like manoeuvre, like some creepy doll in a horror movie. "Is that right kid?" he grinned manically, enjoying the fact that he was causing the older boy to squirm. "You wanting to expand your knowledge of this big ol' world?" He flipped himself around so he looked like a normal human being, only to then start belting out the song That's Life. "But I don't let it, let it get me down. 'Cause this fine old world it keeps spinnin' around!"

People around just smiled and shook their heads fondly, the random surges of showmanship from Mitch a regular occurring which some seemed to actually enjoy.

"He wants to know about the moon," Scott clarified, pulling his boyfriend along as he continued to sing and sway.

That delighted the teen to no extent. "Aww! Little Avi wants to know about the moon does he?" He teased the older boy who just let the comments bounce off him, now was not the time to be getting distracted by childish banter.

"Why can't you just tell me?" he stressed to Scott. "You say you understand and now you're hiding the truth."

To his surprise, the blond did grant him with a look of sympathy. "I'm sorry...I got excited, you see," he paused and chewed on the bottom of his lip nervously. "You can't know," he insisted. "It's not going to work out right if you don't find out for yourself."

Diplomatic he might have been trying to be, but knowing stuff about himself was being kept from him had never appealed to Avi. It was almost like he was back in one of the group foster homes, hearing the whisperings going around the other kids, tales about how he'd murdered his old family one night with an axe while they slept, or of how he'd apparently poisoned one of the boys in a previous home who picked a fight with him, or that he was supposedly possessed by the devil or any equally dumb shit.

Granted, a lot of those tales had been of Avi's own making, there'd been a time when he relished in the idea that he was feared, that he'd almost become a sort of figure head in the folk lore of foster kids. But this time the only whisperings to be heard were safely locked away in Scott's head, and the boy was not willing to share. He had never liked it when people refused to share with him.

You're all against me, even you. Just enjoy seeing me look like an idiot, don't you? Keeping me in the dark.

There it was again. A foreign entity that was part of him but also not him at all, creeping back into his conscious. Scary and strangely comforting at the same time, like he had some form of invisible back up. Except his back up was very angry, Avi could feel it, even more so than it had been before, and so what happened next was inevitable.

White knuckled from clenching his fists too hard, and gritting his teeth in an effort to remain silent, his hunched form exuded an animosity that was like acid - burning, slicing, potent. His face was red with suppressed rage, and when Scott reached out a hand, obviously trying to diffuse the anger he had sensed, he jerked away and mentally snapped.

Covering the gap between him and Scott in one threatening step, pushing snake boy aside as he allowed the other part to take over him, he took hold of the tall boy's shoulders "I'm trying to find out for myself by asking you, you fucker," he growled.

"No."

For once Scott did not act like an agitated animal, instead taking a stand against the older teen. Avi hesitated for a second. Damn he's not half intimidating when he uses his size to his full advantage. Perhaps if his brain had been fully engaged Avi would not have continued to argue, but he found it was becoming harder by the minute to maintain sole control over his actions. Someone else was here to play. Or something.

"Alright you blind dumbass, I'm only gonna ask one more time–"

He never got a chance to finish his threat however, because all of a sudden he was being slammed into the food counter, skinny fingers digging painfully into his chest like daggers.

"You say one more word and I'll rip that tongue right out of your slobbering mouth."

Mitch was positively shaking with barely restrained anger, glaring up at Avi with a deadly expression. It did nothing to dispel his anger, only elevating it even higher. He'd had enough of Mitch pushing him around.

"Out of my way you fag!" He resorted to returning back to the old childish insults that used to get flung around the foster homes, taking a swing at the small teen; but as usual the swipe was easily dodged and Mitch returned to his original spot with an even more violent glint in his eyes.

"You'll be lucky if you live to regret that," he hissed, lunging forward like an attacking viper, catching Avi and everyone around him off guard with a returning, and much more accurate, punch of his own.

Mitch threw his entire body weight behind the fist, which granted wasn't that much but at the speeds he was capable of it hit Avi's jaw with such force blood pooled into his mouth. Pain erupted from the point of impact and he had to spit out the coppery liquid onto the floor, a red stain forming from where it seeped into the dried grass.

He barely had time to register what had happened before he was watching the younger boy pull his fist back for round two, limbs lighting quick, Avi wouldn't have had time to blink yet alone move out of the way. However someone else was already there for him, grabbing onto Mitch's skinny wrist and holding him in place, two bodies frozen in time.

"Mitch...c'mon this isn't you. You're stronger than this Mitch," Kirstie was whispering from behind the younger teen, while a crowd slowly gathered around the commotion. Having momentarily halted the boy's attack, she took the opportunity to move around and place herself as a barrier between the two, looking at the younger teen head on. "Think about what's in here," she said softly, putting her hand against Mitch's chest. "What's in here doesn't want you to hurt anyone."

Quivering with all the ferocious energy of a big cat crouching near it's prey, it took Mitch all the mental strength he possessed to drag his dark eyes away from Avi and ever so slowly lower his fist to his side.

Kirstie let out a visible sigh of relief, clearly believing the worst of it was over. And why would she think any different? Avi was the weak one here. The new guy. The idiot.

You can take him, the voice whispered to him. You're quick enough, strong enough. More now than you were before. More than you ever have been.

Time moved in slow motion as that voice spoke to him. Kirstie slowly pulling Mitch away, Kevin walking over to check on him, for him they all moved at a fraction of their normal speed.

You can take him. You know what to do.

Avi thought about it. Yeah, he realised, I do.

Snake boy's super flexible bones and agility might make him hard to hurt, but right now, Avi knew he was the supreme fighter. He could feel it, a sensation tingling underneath his skin, begging to be let out, pleading to be given free reign, just this once, just for a little bit. It was a feeling impossible to ignore...and so he gave in.

There were no holes barred when Avi went in for the attack, leaping forward and snatching the younger teen away from Kirstie. He was a wild animal. Powerful, quick, savage. He felt capable of anything and he allowed himself to fully cave in to the insatiable need to cause damage. He was a flurry of ferocious limbs, scratching, biting, kicking and head-butting. With his own two hands he grasped Mitch's head in his hands and brought his knee cap up to his nose. There was a blunt crack that sounded so loud up close that Avi was left stunned for a second, releasing the dark haired head. Crimson leaked from both Mitch's nostrils and his nose was twisted right, most definitely broken.

The other one was pleased, and Avi was too. Not so smug looking now, are you? The sense of euphoria he felt for beating the teen reminded him of the days when he was feared by nearly every kid in the system. It appeared the legend wasn't completely dead yet.

Out of the two now, Mitch was most certainly looking worse for wear, the younger boy not only having a broken nose, but also multiple cuts and bruises from Avi's nails and teeth. They could leave it there, Avi could leave with the knowledge that he'd bettered the little runt and they would both face equal punishment for breaking the rules and engaging in a fistfight.

Avi wanted to...except the other one didn't. The other one had only just started to have fun, it's full strength not even utilised yet. He drew his fist back again and ploughed it into the boy's stomach, with such an impossible speed it was like a train had hit the smaller boy head on, sending him flying to the floor. In a flash Avi was on top of him, savagely pounding his fists into his abdomen, blood vessels bursting under the beatings. Then there was a raging, howling scream that emitted from deep within his chest, one that appeared to paralyze Mitch's thinking, shutting down any attempts to escape the onslaught and sending him into the fetal position to protect his vital organs and ride out the storm.

He was faintly aware of a bright light encasing them, cold but strong. People were trying to get to him, to get him to stop, but they couldn't; whenever someone got close, they were thrown away by some invisible force that had conjured itself up around the two, or maybe Avi had conjured it up, he had no idea. There were shouts and screams but they sounded distant, like the shield had blocked Mitch and Avi off from reality.

The boy's dark brown eyes were huge saucers in his face, expressing an emotion Avi had never seen in Mitch before.

He's scared! He screamed internally. Can't you see he's scared? Just stop!

But he, or it, he wasn't sure who was who anymore, simply responded to the fear with glee, punching Mitch in the jaw, multiple times, continuing to batter him until the teen's eyes rolled to the back of his head, his chest harshly rising and sinking with each and every shallow breath he drew in.

All the fight had left the younger boy, he wasn't even trying to protect himself anymore. There was no point in attacking him when he was literally immobile on the floor. Avi knew this, but still he couldn't stop.

"Avi!" Kirstie's screams pierced his ears. "Avi stop it!"

Her shouts were mixed up amongst dozens of others though, including Kevin. "Stop brother!" He didn't think he'd ever heard the older boy sound so terrified. None of them can get through to him however, the shield muffling them so he can't really take them in properly.

He wants to stop though, he really does. But he was no longer in control.

I don't know how to stop! He wanted to shout at them to help him but knew the only two people who could stop him were encased in the light.

Using all his willpower, Avi managed to halt himself for a few seconds, not strong enough to fully regain control of his actions but long enough for a voice to speak up. Avi knew it was Mitch but the voice was all wrong, like he was speaking while being choked.

"I th-think you're done...kid."

And only then did Avi stop, like the other entity has given itself permission to leave, knowing it had fulfilled it's purpose. In one shattered moment Avi's heart and breathing stopped, just stopped, as he took in the damage he had caused. The boy was a bloody mess, nose smashed and eyes almost shut with swelling. His arms were wrapped around his guts like he was holding them in and to be honest he was beaten so badly he could be. His right arm and leg were also facing the wrong angle, not in the way he sometimes liked to do on purpose as part of his little act, but due to forceful misplacement. Beaten to a pulp, he barely looked human anymore.

Avi stared in horror. Did I really do this?

And then another voice broke through the madness inside his head, scared and innocent.

"You hurt him." The blond is standing right where the light barrier had been, that particular mysterious force seemingly vanished, and Scott can't see a thing but Avi knows he is seeing everything, perhaps more than anyone else, the sounds, the smells and maybe most importantly the emotions of those around him, which seemed to give him a greater view on the world than anyone else could comprehend.

I didn't mean to Scott, he tried to tell him. Honestly I didn't mean to.

A cough brought his attention back to Mitch, blood pooling at the corners of the younger boy's mouth. I did this.

Time once again moved slowly, even as the urgent shouts started up again and the people rushed forward to attend to the wounded boy. Avi didn't move, instead he stared down, the violent red stained on his shaking hands horrifying him. The colour burned in his mind along with what he had just done. A sickness crawled within him as he tried desperately to wipe the stains off onto his shirt, but no matter what he did the stains stayed etched into his mind - an eternal reminder of the act he had committed.

He looked around at them all, the people who had acted so friendly towards him who now looked scared to even approach him. "I-I'm s-sorry," he stuttered, tears of pure anguish forming in his eyes for the first time in many years. Freak, freak, freak. That was what he was. "I...I–" he risked a glance towards Kirstie who was regarding him with an unreadable expression. He wanted to beg her to help him, to get them to all stop staring at him, but he was never given the chance.

Turning at the sound of heavy, rushing footsteps, all he caught a glimpse of was a giant form charging towards him, before there was a sharp and intense pain in the back of his head and his world went black.

See? I haven't forgotten about this book! XD