Suffer for A Cause

Laura Bailey// 21// Huntress/Witch "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars,"

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery prided herself in being in control of her magic and emotions, but with Laura here and everything she was saying, she could feel the anger build. She took a deep breath trying to bring herself together.

"You should’ve never come back if that’s the case. You did nothing to protect me. I died. There was no explanation, no note, nothing… You better give up on me because I will never forgive you.”

She released the pent up energy and took it out on a chair in the corner of the room. “I hope you’re happy with where you’re at. You get to be strong without me.”

[lauraxbailey-blog]

"There are worse things Avery. Things I had to protect you from. You think I was in my right mind after this happened? That I had any other choice?," Laura's voice almost broke as she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

No. Stay strong. Weakness is for fools.

She swallowed back her tears.

"It was never about me being happy, that could never happen without you by my side. That was stripped away from me the moment I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," 

[blxckgoddess]

  "That is good— yeah, plants are still my thing. Classes are going okay, pretty boring though, if you ask me." He goes quiet for a few seconds and stares down at the ground. "It is good to have you back Laura."

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura bit her lip a bit, not one for small talk. Though if anyone was worth the effort it was Vin. She couldn't imagine him having a bad bone in his body. Too bad the Coven was just the right place to corrupt him.

"That's great, you always had the most beautiful ways with them," she said, not really a plant person herself but able to admire their enchanting qualities. 

"I'm sure they can't be too bad, don't you have any friends in your classes?" she asked smiling a bit. Laura remembered Vin's humble nature, it always made him seem bashful. She wondered if his face still showed that demeanour. 

"Thanks Vin, I'm glad you stopped in," She emptied her bag and tossed it on the side of her bed. "Feel free to sit down and hang out, it has been a while after all,"

[yitzhakromanowski]

  "Well, if you do need anything, you know where to find me. You can always send for me by message, of course." He waits one moment to see if she changes her mind before he leaves her alone.

[lauraxbailey-blog]

"Why do you offer all of a sudden?" she asks, calling out to him before he goes. She needed to know. She could trust no one, but would she really have to worry about Isaac so soon? 

Laura glances toward the doorway, attempting to make it seem like she is looking in his general direction. 

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery shook her head. She was far too deep. Her hunger for black magic was growing more by the day, and there was no way that she could extinguish that so easily. 

Camilla had warned her about this. Laura wouldn’t understand. She changed the moment that she left. Avery still loved her but she was not going to let the girl become her weakness.

"Don’t tell me what to do, Laura," she said sharply. "You know nothing about me or my life. And you didn’t lose me. You discarded me and tossed me to the side without even a second thought." Avery could feel the dark magic and anger rising within her. 

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura's stomach lurched as she felt the conversation getting worse by the second. And that's when she sensed it, a dark magic, not as powerful as the one from that night long ago, but similar. And growing. 

Laura took a step back bumping into a chair behind her.

"I'm not sorry I left Avery. I did what I had to do. To protect you and everyone else I cared about," she said raising her voice as she began to feel defensive. 

Who knows what Camila would have done to Avery if Laura had gone to the Elders with her claim of Camila's growing dark magic. 

"I won't give up on you Avery, I won't let you suffer," Laura could tell these words wouldn't be what Avery wanted to hear, and would possibly make her more mad but she had to say them.

"I'm still the Laura you knew, but I can't be weak anymore," 

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery dropped her hand as Laura spoke. How did she know? Avery hadn’t started practicing until Laura left, and even now, the girl was blind so there was no way for her to know. Or was there?

"Laura…" she said softly. "Things have changed. I’ve changed…” All she could do was repeat the words before. “You can’t ask that of me.”

Avery was far too deep into her practice to quit now. Before, she would’ve dropped everything for Laura. Things were different now, and there was a lot more of her consumed than people caught onto. 

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura felt her hands drop to her side as Avery's touch left her cheek. She tensed.

"Avery, please," she paused, "Please don't tell me you would start practicing that if given the chance," 

Laura had to find a way to keep her safe. If she got involved with dark magic she would be included in the hunters' plans.  She couldn't imagine strong Avery giving into such a thing. 

"You're strong enough to beat the temptation Avery. There are other ways to have power. Ways that won't break you and damage those around you,"

She put her own hand to her cheek were Avery's had been moments ago. "You can't take things like this back. When you loose something to dark magic like this you loose everything else," Laura paused, "The way I lost you." 

[yitzhakromanowski]

  Isaac, having observing for a few moments before making his presence known, looks at her with pity. “Would you like help?” He offers.

[lauraxbailey-blog]

"Help? Unpacking my things? I'd think anyone could manage that, thank you though," she said not looking towards the direction of his voice as she continued to unpack clothes onto her bed.

Did he know? The familiar voice of Isaac made her tense. It was filled with... pity.  Laura didn't know where he stood anymore. Had she ever? He was very powerful who knows what he already had figured out. 

[bradylemoire-blog]

  Great, it’ll be good to have you back. [He went to leave, but stopped and turned back.] Where did you go, by the way?

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura had many versions of this practiced. All were very open ended and left much to the imagination. This was the one she chose:

"Just to clear my head and take some time away," Laura said biting her lip shyly but smiling all the same. 

"But now I'm most definitely glad to be back," This was not entirely false. Some element of the Coven she had missed. And now she was back with a plan. Glad could be the word for it. 

[blxckgoddess]

  "I’m good, I’m good." He takes a few steps into her room and shifts between his right and left foot every few seconds. "How are you?"

[lauraxbailey-blog]

It sounded like he was walking around a lot, yet his voice stayed in the same place. Laura almost furrowed her brow in confusion. Was he shifting his feet? 

"Better. Now that I've got everything settled and decided to come back here," she says taking a deep breath. 

"How are classes going for you? You are still into plants and such right?" Laura asked, making small talk but at the same time remembering the beautiful pieces she used to see him making. The plants that seemed to just spring to life around him. 

[kaelin-vale-archive-blog]

  "Hey, man," said Kaelin, smiling bright. "Sorry for, like, intruding, or whatever. I heard this song playing and I was like ‘dude, this is amazing, I need to know it’, so I came here and — wow! I mean, I heard that you were back, but still. I haven’t seen you in, like, forever."

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura held her smile. Luckily, she seemed to be good at identifying people's voices. Though even Kaelin's vernacular was distinct and well known around the Coven. 

"You're free to check out the name on my music player. It's on the desk," she said not approaching it,fearing she may actually bump into something on the way. 

"Yeah, it has been a while. How have you been Kaelin?" Laura asked, taking a few things out of her bag and folding them onto her bed. 

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

Avery stopped dead in her tracks and turned around as soon as Laura admitted her weakness. “You’re blind?”

She couldn’t understand how this was possible. Laura was careful and she couldn’t imagine what the cause could be. Was this related to the reason why she left?

Avery approached Laura slowly and touched her face, her finger tracing nearby her eyelids. “Laura… you need to tell me what happened. Now.”

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura felt her breath hitch as Avery's fingers traced her face close to her eyes. Too close. She put a hand on Avery's arm gently. Not pulling her back and not realizing how much she had missed Avery's touch.

"Dark magic," she muttered softly. "It can't be controlled. "

She frowned. "Don't get involved with it Avery. I can't let anything happen to you too," You're still precious to me. You always will be. 

Laura held herself back from saying it. Though she could feel the thoughts burning in her mind, creating a hole in her heart. She couldn't let Avery be a vulnerability anymore. Not with the plans that were about to be set in motion. 

[bradylemoire-blog]

Of course I did. Actually I also wanted to say that if you were signing up for classes I still had openings in mine, if you wanted to get in.

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura raised an eyebrow. Classes with Professor Lemoire. Just like the old days before she left the Coven. He had been her favorite teacher after all. It would be a great cover and definitely convince people of her "normality". 

Or at least as normal as it could get at the Coven.

Smiling again she nodded.

"I'd love that Professor. Thanks for letting me know, you're always welcome."

[blxckgoddess]

  "Wow I— I didn’t think you were really back. It’s nice to see you again, Laura."

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura's smile softened. 

"Hey Vin," she let out a small laugh, "Yeah it's been a while hasn't it? How're you doing?" 

Just Vin. A nice guy. One of the few who had a good side here at the Coven. The tension in her shoulders seemed to relax. 

[bradylemoire-blog]

  So, it sounds the rumors of you being back were true. Welcome back.

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura recognized the voice instantly and held a smile.

"Thank you. Did you come all this way just to give me a warm welcome?"

She reached into the suitcase on the bed in front of her pulling out some clothes onto her bed. 

Act natural. Laura reminded herself. A professor was easy to get past. Much easier than her conversation from this morning. 

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura had music from her laptop on at a moderate volume as she attempted to relearn the landscape of her room. She only used the walking stick when necessary because she didn't like for people to obviously notice her disability. So, between unpacking her things and attempting to not bump into the same furniture for the up tenth time, Laura Bailey didn't notice the person standing in her open doorway until they knocked. 

Turning her head toward the assumed doorway she asked:

"Hey there, what's up?"

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery sighed frustrated with the situation. She wasn’t sure what was going on with Laura, but this was not the Laura she knew. Her Laura wouldn’t keep secrets from her. But that was a lifetime ago back when she cared. People changed and if anyone understood that, it was Avery.

She stood up from her seat and left the coffee down on the table. 

"That’s great. You’re back and you think things can just go back to the way they were. Well, they can’t. Things changed. I’ve changed. So thank you for this coffee, but I won’t be needing it anymore. I’ve got places to be."

[lauraxbailey-blog]

Laura sighed. She knew Avery wouldn't let her pull this crap for too long. Laura could here her turning away. 

"Avery," She called after her, voice raised a bit. "I'm blind."

Laura tried to look at her. She really tried. Where was her voice? If only she could see more than darkness. How many times would she have to say those two words today? Would it hurt this much?

"Nothing can go back to the way it was. Definitely not like this." Laura said her hand squeezing her other wrist. As if this could give her strength to tell Avery of all people these things. 

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery sat back in her seat, trying to remain un-phased by the girl’s return and took a sip of her coffee. “Well good for you. I’m not your keeper so there’s no sense in apologizing,” she said turning to look out the window. “You are your own person, so you’re free to do whatever the hell it is that you want to do.” She squinted her eyes and looked back to Laura. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you looking at me?”

[lauraxbailey-blog]

"I'm glad." Though her tone remained flat and her body tense. "I thought you'd at least like to know I'm back. For old times sake," 

Her lips came up into a small smile, "Besides I missed sharing coffee with you," Laura shrugged, "Old habits die hard?"

Shit. Her smile quickly faded.

In the midst of it all she had forgotten to at least attempt to look near Avery's voice. 

"I can't," She said her voice lowering. Laura swallowed again. Not sure how to tell this story to someone..... someone she used to trust with her deepest secrets but could do so no longer. 

[averythane-deactivated20141010]

  Avery looked up to see the source of the voice and the generous morning gift. Her disposition and facial expression immediately dropped as soon as she saw the face. “Laura…” she said softly. She shook it off quickly and masked her true feelings. “What are you doing back?”

[lauraxbailey-blog]

From the inflection in her voice Laura could tell Avery was not very happy to see her. Laura didn't blame her.  She swallowed, keeping a calm demeanor as she replied. 

"Finished my soul searching, missed campus, wayyyy behind on classes." she smiled politely, as if they were just old friends "Take your pick. Either way I am back, so I thought I may as well start off by apologizing,"

She bit her lip a bit. Laura had gotten used to being blind, but this was one of those rare moments when she wished she could see again. Avery. The person who used to make her smile effortlessly. 

Back before things changed.