It was silent, entirely so, Clover slowly opening her eyes which met her gaze with the ceiling. She could tell it was incredibly early in the morning, her mind having fogged considerably from what occurred just hours before.

"C-Charlie...Charlie!" Clover suddenly shrieked and abruptly sat up, knocking her head off of Mick's forehead.

"Fucking hell- Jesus Christ Clover, what's wrong with you?!" He raised his voice, rubbing the now throbbing pain on his forehead before Keith pushed him aside.

"Thank god you're awake, where the hell is Charlie?"

"Zephor- Barbara...she took him, oh my god I need to help him!" She spoke erratically, hardly able to string together a full sentence as she quickly stood but was just as quick to collapse right into Keith's arms.

"You aren't going anywhere, you're in no shape to-"

"I-I don't fucking care! I'm g-going to help h-him, with or without your help, so p-put me down." Clover almost hissed, Keith pausing for a moment before he swept his arms under her legs to pick her up properly.

"Where are we going?" He almost reluctantly asked, ignoring Mick of whom was now quite angry with him for going along with Clover's potentially psychotic ramblings.

"Barbara's apartment...I-I know you've b-been." The demon mumbled as her voice was lowered greatly, letting out a small groan as the pair rushed out to his car.

"Get the fuck back here you idiot!" Mick screeched out of anger, Keith outright ignoring him as he set the weakened figure in the passenger seat, sliding over into the drivers' side and starting it up. The squealing of the wheels hurt Clover's ears quite a bit, but she shook it off as they sped off right towards her apartment. Luckily for her, Keith had been there before to drop off her camera and remembered the way there.

Charlie had Barbara laying in his arms rather awkwardly, the girl allowing her finger to trace circles around his chest slowly. He didn't want to say anything out of worry for what could happen to him, more importantly, what would happen to Clover if he protested. For the time being, he just didn't talk, until she broke that silence.

"Charlie, darling...you don't love Brian more than me do you?" Barbara asked gently, almost expecting the answer but rather, she didn't get one immediately.

"Eh...no I wouldn't say that- experimenting and whatnot, dear." He tried his best to not sound in the least bit terrified, but it was tarnished when his voice quivered in the middle of his sentence. It visibly upset her, Charlie swallowing hard at the realization of what he'd done. He never expected for her to turn out like this, she'd been so shy and very sweet towards him but what he was seeing was devilish. Evil, conniving...sadistic.

"You know I just want what's best for for, darling. I thought you trusted me, being a couple is a partnership." The woman let out something of a growl, her hand now gripping firmly on his arm, too firmly.

"Barbs what the hell has gotten into you? You aren't acting like yourself." Charlie finally addressed the elephant in the room, but immediately regretted that decision as she got up with a loud scream, hands tugged at her short tresses of red hair.

"I'll kill her, I'm going to murder that stupid bitch, she knows better than to take something from me- she's not going to have you and I'm not going to let her." Zephor suddenly started to ramble, shaking her head as she paced back and forth as if to keep her from doing something to Charlie. He shifted to the edge of the couch he'd been placed on hours previous, trying to be as casual as possible as he stood up.

"I'm going to get you a glass of water, okay?" He more so stated rather than asked, walking into the kitchen to do just that. When he got in, Charlie gazed out the window to see a familiar car parked far down in the parking lot adjacent to the complex, it was enough to get his hopes up just a tad.

Keith had Clover's arm around him, holding her up as the were in the lift as the floor was too high up for Clover to walk. He didn't know what he was getting himself into, and he wasn't expecting someone to step in with them on the first and only stop aside from their destination. Bill, he'd gotten in when he didn't even live there, and he too seemed to be taken aback by their presence.

"Uh- what're you two doing here?" The dark haired man inquired but his question was shot down immediately by Keith, of whom asked the same thing.

"I should be asking you that, man, what the fuck are you doing here?!" He replied in a much more belligerent tone, Bill raising his hands in defense.

"Calm down will ya, Mick called me up and told me to go to Charlie's bird's place, yeah? Lay off."

"Well you shouldn't be here, this is a lot more confusing than you may think and I don't dig you potentially dying."

"Wow lookie here, Mr Richard has actually got a bit 'a feeling in him other than his undying love for Mick Jagger- oh you're going to make me blush!"

"Fuck off will ya! I'm trying to keep you safe, I'm not fucking messing about!"

"Jesus, fine, I will, what's up with Brian anyway?" Bill took a glance at Clover, getting a growl from her.

"D-Don't fucking call me that..." She lowly spoke, not willing to waste any of her power shooing him away. He didn't appreciate her hostility but he didn't bring it up. Once the doors opened, the pair stepped out and Bill did as well, simply out of curiosity.

"I'll just check her place out with you guys, then I'll go."

"You really don't listen do you?" Keith retorted as he helped Clover along to her door, Apartment 109. The plate that was screwed to the door was now hanging on the last bolt, just about to fall off. Abruptly, Clover kicked the door practically off the hinges, it swinging open and smashing a picture that had been hung up beside the entrance. Zephor expected this, as the moment Keith stepped in, she grabbed him by the hair and ripped him away from the other demon, slamming his face into the wall. 

Bill looked over with wide eyes, catching Clover before she fell and making a dash for the kitchen and knocking into someone. Charlie grabbed him by the shoulders with a hand clamping over his mouth, shushing him quickly. He took a few steps back before moving his hand away, looking at him. 

"What's going on?" 

"Barbara- she's gone insane, s-she's going to kill someone!" Bill was very obviously terrified, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked around. "I have a bad feeling, Charlie." 

"Don't go out there, stay here with Clover and I'll go out there." He whispered back to him, glancing over at the open entrance before a loud shriek left Keith. Once again, Bill decided not to listen, shoving Clover into Charlie's arms and dashing out back into the living room. It happened far to quick for the man to stop him, only managing to yell his name. 

A loud thud was heard, knocking a picture off the wall with how hard the impact was as well as the scraping of dry wall. Charlie became frantic as he quickly lifted up Clover, darting to the door frame and his eyes were met with something quite awful. Barbara had driven a switchblade right into Bill's abdomen, lodging it into the wall as his forehead rested on her shoulder. She very slowly pulled the knife away, the eldest giving way with blood now soaking the white carpet as he was slumped over, hardly alive. 

"B-Barbara, wha- what the fuck did you do?" Charlie's voice shook, looking behind her at Keith of whom had a similar wound on his shoulder. He swallowed back his terror and took a step towards her. "What do you want out of all this?" 

Barbara slowly turned her now wine tinted gaze to him, eyes narrowed as she pointed her bloodied knife in his direction yet not at him. 

"Give me her, I want Zora." Her voice was dark and doubled over, like two were speaking at once. Charlie took a deep breath, looking her in the eyes before Keith raised his own voice. 

"C-Charlie, don't h-hand him over...f-for God's sake!" He projected across the room, before a pained groan left him. 

"If you don't hand her over, I'll kill him." Zephor turned the knife back to Keith with a slight tilt of the head. 

"I hand her over, what're you going to do with her?" 

"Send her back home, back to our father where she can't come back here again." She spoke lowly, drawing the knife down slowly to her side. "I won't kill Brian, that much I can promise." 

Charlie's eyes widened at that, realizing he could indeed keep his friend- no, his best friend, alive. He looked down at Clover, lips tightly pursed as he took note of how sickly she looked. If he brought Brian back, what was he to know how long he'd live after that, his health had been gradually declining and he was sure that it would be irreversible. With a light touch, he pressed his fingertips to her paled, chilled skin before looking at Barbara. 

"No." 

Zephor didn't like that answer, rather she lunged right at him rather than go for Keith. Luckily for him, a large glass lamp came to smash over her head, knocking her out cleanly. 

"Guess I came at a good time." Mick nervously chuckled, turning his attention to Keith, completely ignoring the deceased friend on the other side of the room. Charlie started hyperventilating, trembling as he came so close to dying in such a short amount of time. He stepped a ways back, holding the demon close to him as she stirred, trying to get up. 

"C-Clover-"

"P-Put...m-me down..." She mumbled, Charlie only then hesitantly setting her on her feet. It shocked him to see her pull the knife out of Bill, seeing as he'd been dead for a little while now, looking down at her. "You s-stupid...c-conniving bitch."

"Wait, Bri-" 

Clover knelt above her, taking the knife and repeatedly driving it into her back then out again in the messiest way possible which splattered blood all over her. Charlie repulsed in horror at the sight, Keith actually having to turn away for a moment to avoid looking at it. It felt like ages until she was done, shakily standing and dropping the knife drenched in her sister's blood.

Mick had his eyes narrowed, a sudden flare of anger in him as she slowly looked at Charlie. He recalled everything she'd put them through, what she caused of which left Bill dead. It was all her fault.

"I-I want t-to go home C-Charlie." Clover weakly spoke, a look of defeat having washed over her face. The man walked over to a window, wrenching a window open before he turned to the woman, grabbing her by the hair. 

"Let's go on a little trip then." Mick lowly spoke as he tugged her roughly to the window, ignoring Charlie's yells of protest. 

"Mick don't you fucking dare!" He projected, quickly walking towards them but he didn't expect him to shove her out the window without a moment of hesitation. 

"Whoops." Mick flatly spoke, hearing the loud crash against the iron wrought fence far below. Charlie pushed him out of the way and looked down, tears not waiting a moment to pour from his eyes. 

A hand came to grip his arm tightly, as he shakily looked over his shoulder to meet Mick's gaze. 

"Wake up, Charlie." He gently spoke before he too, was shoved directly out the window. 

Rather than hitting the ground, he opened his eyes to a blurry whiteness surrounding him. Charlie let out a groan, as there was an elongated pain running up his spine. There was the noise of soft, gentle snoring from his left. Once his eyes had adjusted more, he made out contact with his left hand and a bit of pressure close to it. A deep breath was taken in, as his eyes had fully adjusted to the bright light.

A hospital room? He hadn't been to the hospital aside from the car accident, and he wasn't in the worst shape, it had been Keith and Brian who took the most damage. Brian had his lovely features scraped and doused in blood from the gashes from glass embedding into his flesh, and Keith had a concussion from hitting the dashboard, it knocked him right out. 

He pulled Brian out, he remembered it, but he lost his footing after he pulled Bill out and fainted for a little while. Hadn't he? 

The man stirred somewhat, shifting to a more upright position as heeled footsteps clicked down the hallway outside his room. When whoever it was came in, there was a loud, shocked gasp as Bill suddenly screamed that Charlie had woken up. 

"Oh my god Charlie, we'd thought we lost you!" He exclaimed in the happiest tone the other had heard in his life, a slight of a smile playing on his lips. 

"W-What...h-happened?" Charlie spoke in a strained voice, considering he hadn't spoken in almost two weeks. His gaze moved down to the sleeping form beside him, hand in hand with head on golden hair the only thing he could see. The other hand slowly moved to run his fingers through his soft locks, his smile growing wider as two other people entered. 

"Holy shit man, you're ok..." Keith laughed as if shocked at the revelation, walking closer with Mick trailing behind. 

"We were worried you wouldn't wake up, you four had quite the crash. Brian pulled you out the car despite having pretty bad head trauma." 

"S-Seriously?" 

"Yeah, he hasn't left since the hospital let him off." Keith explained, looking over at the man of whom was still asleep. Charlie looked back down at him, pulling his hand away. Drawing the other hand that was clasped with the other, he gently kissed the back of his hand. 

"I'm just h-happy what I imagined...w-wasn't real." 

____

The end! Ah man, this was a long time coming and I hope you all like the pleasant twist at the end, I hope it was good enough for you lot and I look forward to writing more for all of you! If you have any ideas, I encourage you to message them to me! Once again, thank you for sticking around to see this little story though, even though it took ages. Here's to more great stories, and feedback from all of you!