Only human [Zander]

[Deleted]

@zander

"SOPHIA!"

Sophia woke with a start, the sound of Mathieu's desperate cry of her name echoing through her mind. She expected to see him when her eyes shot open, to find him right there, looking down at her with a worried look. Instead she saw a dark ceiling and dim lighting. No windows. She stopped breathing for a moment as the pieces started to fit together. she'd been kidnapped. The realization made her hands tremble. Why? Why her? Her parents weren't rich. Or famous. Or even infamous. And she was average. As her eyes started to adjust to the dim lighting though she understood. She wasn't the only one. There were others. Other students. Okay, so it wasn't her. But ta didn't answer the question as to why they'd been kidnapped. She looked over each student, picking out those she knew..

There was Zander.

Sophia let out a startled and shaky breath. Quickly, she crawled over to him, shaking his shoulder. "Zander? Zander, wake up!" He looked terrible, with plenty of blood on his robes. His own by the look of it. But his breathing was fine, so.... nothing serious?

What had happened to him?

[Deleted]

Zander had been awake for a while.

People had stirred, talked to each other in panicked and hushed voices and already started trying to find a way out, and he just laid there. He just laid there, eyes closed and unmoving. No one had bothered him yet, which was just fine with him. He didn't want to move, breathe, talk... he didn't want to live.

Zander, the sweet badger who was always full of life and tried to teach others to feel the same, was dead. At least phsycologically. The girl of his dreams, the love of his life, was one of them. One of the clan of murderers, liars and villains. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to. He was afraid of what he would feel. So, he just stopped feeling.

Suddenly, a familiar voice broke through the barriers. It was Sophia. They had gotten her too? His best friend? He let her shake him, trying to decide if he was even going to reveal that he was alive. But he couldn't leave her like that, calling his name.

He rolled over, making eye contact with her and sitting up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm fine," he said, but there was no emotion behind his eyes or in his tone. He looked down at the blood on his robes, but there were no open wounds on his body, at least not that he could see. They must have healed him but left the blood and scars to settle. He turned back to Soph. "Did they hurt you?"

@sophia

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Sophia let out a sigh of relief when his eyes opened and he sat up. He looked okay now that he was moving. ”Good….. good.” she softly breathed. Only a moment later did she realize that he wasn’t fine. He sounded…. Off. Something was different, the way he’s spoken and that look in his eyes. Wait, not it wasn’t different it was…. Gone. Something was missing.

”I… don’t think so? I feel fine…” She responded, still trying to wrap her head around the way Zander was acting. Moving a little closer to him, she tried to smile, but it didn’t want to come. She was afraid. Where were they? Why were they here? How much time had passed? ”Are… are you okay?”

@zander

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He nodded, business like, as she said that she didn't think they had hurt her, that she had felt fine. As she moved closer to him he didn't even budge. He didn't reach out to her, like he normally would have. He didn't move closer as well. He didn't pull back. He just sat there, unmoving. Then she was asking him the question. The one that he really didn't want to answer. Zander wouldn't lie, hence why he didn't want to be asked it in the first place. But, he knew it was coming. He blinked, his eyes staring blankly into hers before shaking his head, just on little shake. "No," he finally said. He didn't elaborate yet, nor did he look away from her. He felt like his body was betraying him, like it didn't want him to be able to do anything but sit there, stare, and slowly break apart piece by piece.

Finally, he spoke again. "They should have killed me." not even a wince, flinch, or flutter happened at those words. Just plain delivery, stating a fact.

@sophia
(D: i'm sorry about him)

[Deleted]

No.

That was his response. Sophia's eyebrows raised and knitted together in worry. That tone. That look. Yeah, no wonder he said no. Something was definitely wrong. As he continued speaking though her eyes widened. "What?" She squeaked out in surprise, not believing what she'd just heard. She tried to convince herself she'd heard wrong, that he must have said something else. But she knew she hadn't. "No they shouldn't have!" she managed to finally blurt out. What was she supposed to do though? Zander looked... broken. Shattered. What had happened?

So, Sophia did what a best friend should do. She put her arms around him, as if to try and hold him together. To stop this... this breaking. She didn't look at him, instead resting her forehead on his shoulder. Sophia was silent for a moment.... then a minute. Before working up the nerve to speak once more. "Don't say that Zander.... Don't go somewhere I can't follow you..."

@zander
(..... You're breaking Sophia's heart!)

[Deleted]

Zander tried to ignore her by looking at the wall just past her instead of looking in her eyes. Her voice was piercing him, though, and he could hear every word. As she wrapped her arms around him he felt a small warmth start to burn inside him, but it was more painful than comforting. He almost gasped but he held it back. He stayed silent as she asked him not to go where she couldn't follow, but he lifted a hand to clasp her arm that was wrapped around him. He sat there in silence for a little longer before looking around the room, finally taking stock of who was there.

"There's... not everyone here is a pureblooded. And you... you're not... and a sixth year," he pulled back, looking at her with serious eyes. "How did you get mixed up in this?"

@sophia

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Purebloods? Seventh years?

Sophia looked confused as he pulled back, voicing his thoughts. Turning her head, she took in who was present. There were quite a few Seventh years, most of them to be exact. And most of them were purebloods. Only herself and a few others didn't fit into those guidelines. Looking back at him, both her eyebrows remained raised. Was that who those masked brutes had been targeting? "Do you think that's who they were after?" She asked. Zander himself fit the bill... But could it be something like that? If that was true, why was she taken?

Finally releasing him from the forced embrace, she thought, trying to remember everything that had happened. "I don't... know. I was trying to get to Matty-" She stopped, eyes widening. Matty! Was he alright? Was he safe? Another sweep of the room with her gaze verified he wasn't there. But was this all of them? What if there were more students somewhere else? She looked back at Zander, unable to hide that fear and worry she felt for the Slytherin boy. "Matty, have you seen him? You don't think he's here too, do you?" Being one of her closest friends in this world, Zander was privileged to information she shared with no one else. He'd known for years how Sophia felt about her other best friend.

@zander

[Deleted]

"I don't think, I know that's who they wanted. But... this doesn't make sense. So many of us aren't here," he shook his head, not being able to make heads or tails of it and mostly not even wanting to try. He was trying to try, but that seemed pointless. It seemed like there was no reason to fight this, to even bother trying to make a difference in here. Still, he couldn't help but wonder... where were Bay and Desirae?

Then she explained where she had been and her eyes started searching in a panic for Matty. Zander reached to place a hand on her arm, seeing that Sophia had already figured out that he wasn't there. He didn't put his hand on her arm then but just pulled it back into his lap. "I... I haven't seen him at all Soph. I'm sorry," his voice had returned to it's lifelessness again, that small spark of curiosity and motivation gone. Why? Because even the most innocent, sweetest person he knew had lost everything too. Sophia. So what hope was there for him? Or anyone else?

@sophia

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He knew? How did he know for sure? "How do you know..?" She asked quietly and cautiously. Did it have to do with why he seemed so... emotionless? Why there wasn't that familiar spark in his eyes, or goofy smile on his lips. It was as if her best friend were sitting right there... But it wasn't him at the same time. "Zander.... What's going on..?" She finally managed to ask, keeping her voice barely a whisper.

There was no sign of Mathieu. Maybe... Maybe it was a good sign. Maybe it meant they hadn't taken him too. No news, sometimes, was good news. But that still didn't answer where they were. Or why they had been taken. Heck, how long had they even been here? It looks like everyone had woken up recently, or still unconscious. Did that mean it'd only been a few hours? A few days? "How long do you think we've been here...?"

@zander

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"I heard them. They wanted seventh years of pure blood. They wanted to take their own too. Those that... were on their team..." his mind flashed back to that image of Bay, standing there telling him that she was one of them. That she had to do what they said to protect him. He turned away from Soph, eyes not landing on anywhere specific as he weighed that again in his mind. She was one of them.

Then Sophia spoke again, asking what was going on and how long they'd been there. Zander turned back to face her. "I don't know what's happened, Soph, but I do know I will get you out of this, okay? I will get you out of this."

@sophia (lol im actually not sure where else to take this o.O this thread is hard hahah)

[Deleted]

"On their... team..?" Sophia spoke slowly, unsure that she'd heard right. Was he saying that... that students had been involved in the attack? The longer she thought about it, the more it made sense. All the murders. Only a student could have pulled them off, right? But who had it been? Had others been helping them? How many were there? Sophia swallowed, looking away from Zander to look at the other students with them. Mostly purebloods, as he said. Except for a few odd ones like her. Had they any purpose for taking them? Or had it just been spur of the moment? If only she could remember what had happened after she was stunned! "Well... It doesn't look like they got everyone, unless there are others somewhere else..." A couple names came to mind that were missing. Potter, Longbottom, DeLisle. In fact, this was only a small handful of who they had to have been after. Had they failed that badly? Were there other groups of students that they couldn't see? Or were those missing part of... whatever this was? She didn't know. And she sort of didn't want too...

Sophia looked back at her best friend as he said he'd get her out, and smiled. She reached out to place a hand on his. "We'll all get out of this, Zander. I know I'm not much help but, I'll do whatever I can."

@zander
(Le end! Because this thread is so blasted hard!)