This is another Academy fanfic: "Zombies...Academy Style" by Academy-Angel. It's a half-finished one, but it's the most recent fanfic that I read.

WARNING: Rape, Depression, Mention of self-harm, death

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North

I don't usually sleep well in places I'm not used to. Normally, at my brothers' houses, I don't have a problem, but we never came to Owen's. It's the fault of my father's upbringing of me. We always moved with no permanent home, well until Uncle tracked me down. 

That's why when I heard movement in the hallways at 4 A.M., I was awake and already moving to see who it was. It might Owen because I know none of my other brothers would ever be awake at this hour. Or it could be Sang because after all she was an unknown.

In the case that it is Sang, I make a little bit more noise than I would usually. After seeing what happened to Luke when he tried to scare her, I rather not taking any chances. It is in fact Sang who is walking around. If I hadn't been on edge with this new environment, I wouldn't have heard her move. She's dressed in Owen's shirt, showing exactly what she was doing with him before.

I feel a slight spark of jealousy and then interest which I press both down. Sang is Owen's girlfriend, I have no right to touch that relationship. It has done our leader so much good that if it ends it might do that much more harm. 

I look up to be met with her eyes. Her eyes could bring a grown man to tears. Her green eyes are clouded over and it's clear that she isn't here. She's lost in her mind and if the look in her eyes mean anything, it's nowhere good.

I know that Sang notices my presence, yet she doesn't stop in her journey nor tells me off as I follow her. In the short time I've known her, I have never seen her so open, so let down, so broken. Her walls are down and you can see every crack in her armor.

She is a beautiful piece of broken pottery, put back together by her own hands. A critical world that I have the misfortune of being a part of judges her cracks while missing the beauty of how she made herself whole again. 

If I felt bad about my quick judgment about her when we first met, I now feel like a complete and utter asshole. I misjudged the girl and it hurt. I always have the tendency to over-react, but I see the self-loathing within Sang and I know my words did more harm than she let on.

Sang continues her journey and only stops at the foot of a weeping willow. It paints a beautiful, yet horrible picture. She sits down and leans her back against the trunk. The weeping willow has its' leaves and branches bent over, keeping her away from my view, until I step through the natural curtain.

Sang isn't looking at me, but she begins to speak, "You know that I still hear the voices of every person that I killed. Their faces haunt me, the family left behind yell at me. I'm never truly over any assignment. That's why I didn't kill Raven and Corey. I hadn't properly killed someone outside of training before. I didn't want their voices and faces to haunt me as well."

There is a pause and I take the moment to speak, "It wasn't your fault,you had no choice."

She let out a bitter laugh that shouldn't come from someone so young, "Didn't I? I had the choice to die, to lay down my weapons and stop killing. I sacrificed a life for a life. For once, I saved women and men from being slaves, on the other side, I killed."

"But you saved people!" I hated the self-loathing note in her voice. It's one I recognize too well from Gabriel and one of his bad days that never end well."

I take a step in her direction as she continues to talk, "I can't sleep without seeing them. I wake up in cold sweat even if I don't remember what I dreamt about. I'm a killer and that's all I will ever be. I showed that well with Mr. Buble, I nearly killed him for no other reason than my own survival. When did it stop being about everyone else and only about me? When did I stop caring, my heart stop beating, my emotions gone?"

I take a seat next to Sang, "The very fact that you remember every person shows that you are human and no monster."

She sighed, "As a child, I never imagined that all of the real monsters in the world would be humans. Nor that I would become one. Being human and being a monster can co-exist in the same body."

I put my arm around her shoulder as I see her shiver, "But you aren't one. You save people despite the ones you killed. No one expected you to die for them to live."

Her eyes close, "The youngest child I ever killed was only 5. I had refused to kill children for so long, so they set me up. They told me to blow up a building and that no one was in there. It was just to send a statement. I should have known they were lying. I learned the name of the boy afterwards, Jason McLean. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and the Boss was convinced he would say something. That day, four more kids died in that same explosion. Those were pure accidents by both me and the higher-uppers. They weren't supposed to be there, yet they're still dead. I could have stopped that."

I look up at the sky, "The people who they forced you to kill still would have died. Your Boss would have figured out a new way to kill them. If it wasn't you, there still would have been blood spilled."

Sang stands up out of my arm reach, "Not all of them. I killed every person at the headquarters. They didn't all need to die. Derrick and Jay were new. They were just kids. I killed them all to ensure my own survival. What about Anna? They forced me to kill her after they raped her due to my failure at a mission. Or Lauren? I killed her for practice. I threw knives at her until she bled out. She wouldn't have died. Or Keisha? I slit her throat for betraying me. She would still be alive if I had stopped killing."

I stand up and follow in her footsteps, "My mamá always told me something when she used to still be with us: 'The most beautiful amongst us all seem to be slightly broken. The ones worth knowing are beyond repair. She'll always be slightly off-centered. A clock, never set perfectly, but you knew could still sing beautifully. And fools we are for attempting to fix her. Just read her, learn her, love her. Don't try to make sense of her past, or dare predict her future. Who she was, isn't who she is, and is certainly not who she would be. You're not meant to understand her entirely. Because she's not sure who she is exactly. Let her sing her song. Watch her dance wildly to it. It's her time. Repairing that would only break her heart. And I'd rather be ripped apart from her, than rip a part from her.' I have to agree with her despite what my actions may have shown."

Sang giggled, "Smooth. Who would have known that North Taylor was such a poet?"

I smirk, "To be fair, I am pretty sure my mamá took it from so self-love book or something of the sort."

She waltzed around the tree, "I think that I might try dancing to my own song."

My smirk turns into a genuine smile reserved for few, "I think everyone should dance to their own tune."

Sang burst into laughter, "I'm just laughing that big, dark North dancing to a jazz song."

I relax as it seems that Sang is pushing the matter away, "I would have you know that between my mamá and Silas' mamá I do know how to dance."

She smirked, "Care to show me?"

I lean against the tree, "Not particularly."

Sang takes my hand and tries to pull me with her, "Είσαι σίγουρος?" (Are you sure?)

I roll my eyes, "Η ομιλία στα ελληνικά δεν θα αλλάξει γνώμη." (Speaking in Greek won't change my mind.)

She copied my movement and rolled her eyes, "Εντάξει, το North Star, είσαι γκρινιάρης" (Alright, North Star, be grumpy.)

"North Star?" I asked.

Sang shrugs, "You managed to lead me out of my nightmares like the North Star leads sailors."

I keep my smirk on my face, "Whatever you want to call me is fine, Sang Baby."

"Sang Baby?"

It's my turn to shrug, "Seems fitting."

A silence comes over us as we both stare up at the stars. If Sang wasn't with Owen, I could see something with her. I always wanted to settle down and I've never managed to find a woman who I would want that with. The irony in this situation is that I found a woman who I could want only to have her be taken. 

Her eyes held an endless kind of love for Owen and that's the way it should be. Out of our group of brothers, it's Owen who deserves a happy ending to his story. He's the one who became better than his father. I can see my father in myself every day and I won't ever put someone through what my father put me through.

I'll think I will stick around. I'm lucky to even be around a woman like Sang. People like her only come around once in a century. When Owen splits from us, he'll take Sang with him. It's obvious that even I can tell. Maybe, I'll head back to Greece or Germany. Those were my favorite places. 

Who knows what the future holds?

Sang made a chapter in my story. She brought Owen fully with us. He was always detached and now we were all equal. Despite knowing her a short time, Sang is the most beautiful person I know inside-out and will be the perfect match for Owen.

This is what she needs, but now it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself instead of simply stating a fact. Sang is perfect in every way even in her imperfections and she'll always be family. Even the stars have nothing on her.

Sang is the one who interrupted the silence, "The stars are beautiful tonight."

Vaguely aware that I am now staring at Sang, I answer, "Yes."

She didn't notice my attention to her, "I'm so excited for everyone to wake up."

"Oh," I say curious, "Why?"

"We're going to an amusement park!"

***

Word Count: 1906

This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but oh well! By the way, we have reached the half-way mark of the story. Since I'm lazy, this book will only have around 40 chapters. I finally got around to planning what will happen next. Usually, I just let it come. 

What do you think?