Colin's posts

"Oh, I see." Lex responded.

"Well, smells good." he repeated.

"And okay." he then said.

He then left the room and sat down on one of the couches.

He was silent as he did so, and sighed.

'...maybe she's feeling better?' he thought.

'Or am I imagining things...?' he wondered.

"......" Lex was silent as he saw this.

"Madison?" he asked.

"Huh." he said.

"Been a while since you did anything in the kitchen." he commented.

"Smells good." he then said further.

"What are you making?" he asked her.

'...why is she here? What is she doing...?' he then wondered, genuinely confused.

"....well, let us know if you choose to." he told her.

"We'll need to make sure things are set up in case you are accepted." he said.

"Anyway, that's all." he told her.

"I'll leave you be." he went on.

"We'll call you when dinner's ready." he finished.

He realised that that would be pointless. She'd sit and pick at the food, eat the bare minimum. Like always.

"Just... give it a thought." he then added at the end, before turning and leaving the room.

Lex was silent for another moment.

"...if it would make you happy, then yes." he told her.

"All I want is for you to find enjoyment in life again." he said.

"We'll work something out with your school if you are accepted." he went on.

"This also came as a recommendation from Hollie, so it should be all right." he then told her.

"If you want to apply, feel free." he continued.

"Deadline's on the first page." he said further.

"...." he was then silent, not wanting to mention anything about how her attitude had changed suddenly, even if slightly. For all he knew, that was a trigger for her to relapse back into it.

Lex did his best to hide his heartbreak... but the concern in his eyes was unmistakable.

He then sighed, and made his way over towards her.

"Here." he said, handing her the papers.

"Aimee brought these home." he told her.

"Said you might be interested." he said further.

"Figured I'd bring them up to you." he continued.

"Feel free to disregard them if you're not."

"Right." Lex replied.

"I'll... do that now." he told her.

He then looked over towards Aimee and hugged her, holding it for a few seconds, before breaking the embrace and taking the papers upstairs. He made his way to Madison's room, and knocked on the slightly open door.

"Maddy?" he said.

"Maddy I have something here for you." he told her.

"May I come in?" he asked.

Alex was silent still, and looked at the papers.

He reached for them, and started to flip through them... before pausing and looking at Aimee.

"...this..." he said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Do... do you think she has a chance?" he asked her.

"Like... an honest chance?"

She felt her brother twitch a little when she said it was okay. She knew that that would have been a knee-jerk reaction to snap at her, or yell at her, or be bitingly sarcastic, but he stopped himself.

And he was silent for a moment.

"...how?" he then asked.

"How is this okay?" he asked her.

"Madison is still without her mana, everything has been a dead-end, she's withering away to nothing, and everything I've tried has just hit a stone wall." he said, his voice quivering now.

"...this isn't okay, Aimee..." he whispered.

"I'm failing her, Aimee..." he said further, tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

One evening, when Aimee came home, she found the house almost disconcertingly quiet.

However, a quick search revealed that Alex was in the den.

However, he wasn't asleep. He wasn't even laying down. He was on the couch, sitting down, legs forward, elbows on his knees, hands in his hair, head lowered to the point of facing the floor.

And he was silent and still.

That being said, she knew he wasn't calm. She could see it. His nerves were frazzled, his mind was in chaos, and his emotional state was... well, it wasn't good.

Ever since Madison had returned, he'd devoted every single free moment he had into trying to find a way to reverse the seal on her. But nothing worked. Nothing that could even have been called a START had been found.

Madison had shut down, and hadn't been responding to anything... and it was driving Lex to the point of being a nervous wreck. The frankly horrifying bags under his eyes could attest to THAT.

He hadn't even noticed that Aimee had returned.

Aly was silent again, before returning the embrace and kissing him back.

"Eke..." she said.

"Eke, you're... you can't be real." she told him.

"You're too perfect." she smiled.

"You're just... so amazing. You... I..." she went on, before sighing lightly.

"You've made this the best birthday." she whispered sincerely.

"...." Lex was silent again, before sitting down beside her on the bed.

"What to do?" he asked.

"What you've always done in the past when life got you down." he told her.

"Soldier on." he said, draping an arm over her shoulders.

"Forge a path forward somehow." he went on.

"I know. Easier said than done, and that's the understatement of the century." he said.

"But you're not alone. You have me and Aimee, at the very least."

"....I'm sorry." was all lex could say.

"Maddy, I... I just..." he stammered further, before sighing again.

"Do you want to be left alone?" he asked.

"To.. ponder this, I suppose?" he went on.

He had NO idea what to do here. What to say, anything.

This was something that made his heart hurt. He knew Maddy was hurting as well.

But there was nothing he could do about it right now.

"Gone?" Lex asked.

"No, no, no, it's not gone." he told her.

"It's just... um... locked away, I guess." he said.

"Your mana is still inside you, but you cannot access it." he continued.

"But Aimee and I will do everything we can to try and crack it. I promise." he then told her.

"We'll get your mana to be accessible again."

Lex was just silent, and held her close.

"I know." he said.

"You're home." he told her.

"You're home, you're safe, and I'm here." he went on.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there before." he continued.

"I'm sorry, Maddy..."