All Around Me [Violet]

[Violet Schultz]

Aware as she was about Will's ancestry and his problems with the full moon, Violet jumped at the unexpected transition. She'd been pretty focused on the past, and it surprised her. The effects of the full moon weren't so drastic with her. It made her powers nearly thirty percent stronger, and it caused her eyes to glow, but that was all. It had been more of an issue when she'd been hiding her powers, but now that there was no need, the full moon was nothing more than an inconvenience. For Will, though, it was more of an issue because the changes and hormones were much more drastic.

"It's alright," she said softly, her pulsing lilac eyes watching him.

She listened to his deep rumbling voice, the tone relaxing in its own way, despite the reason for the change. She could feel the difference in his inner flame and in the link, which was leaning more toward feral than angel tonight. However, those observations were secondary, only noted in passing as she listened to his story. It seemed that his childhood, while certainly not normal by any standards, had still been a bit more standard than hers, considering that he'd had two parents and went to school like most others.

Still, she couldn't imagine having to grow up in a school setting with the empathetic powers that he did. He would probably have found out a great deal more than he wanted to, and to avoid having people find out about his powers, it would've added complications in socializations. She was glad that he had found someone to relate to, and she recognized the name Destiny from several encounters. The first, when they had met, and also when he had broken down during their first training session. He had said that she was dead, and she knew that that was where the story was headed.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to," Violet said, her voice still quiet. "I'm here for you either way."

She didn't want to put him through remembering if it was too painful for him. Already she hated Slade for what he kept putting Will through, and she knew that this was somehow part of it. Destiny had been his first love, and she had inferred a while ago that Slade was responsible for her death and Will's state when she had found him. As if she needed another reason to hate the man that was constantly trying to kill her and control him.

[William Talbot]

Will slowly opened his eyes and nodded, her words and her voice comforting in a way she likely would never fully understand, but that he was utterly thankful for at this moment in time, his emotions starting to quiver and shift uncomfortably at the memories that laid partly hidden and partly distorted…


“I… You… We both need me to go on… The memories get clearer every time I try, and talking helps but…” He looked to her with large sad eyes before he closed them and turned his face away while he gathered the guts to do this most painful thing.


“I had stayed late at school to help Olivia with some math homework, and Destiny went on ahead to my house, cause she loved to help my mom cook stuff and listen to my dad tell stories…” he smiled softly at that still pleasant memory; “Both the girls loved my parents, I guess because Olivia never really had any off her own, and because Destiny had to deal with a distracted and distant mother but… Anyway, Olivia said she would come over after she worked some at her new job, so we said our good-byes and promised to hang out that Saturday with Des and… Well, I went home, thinking I was pretty lucky to have such cool parents, and two great friends, well, a great friend and a pretty and kind girlfriend but…” he shook his head slightly and took a few deep breaths before continuing: “I was totally head in the clouds when I got home, and I just walked into the front door like always and took two steps in when I froze… Something was wrong, but at first I couldn’t understand what, and then, all at once it hit me, the scent of blood, the lack of thoughts or emotions, the stench of death…”

The tears now flowed freely, but silently down his cheeks and muzzle as he bowed his head lower and then whispered out hoarsely in his deep bassy rumble; “Mom had been run through the heart with something long and very sharp, then her throat was slashed from one side to the other, and dad… Dad was carved up like a turkey dinner, but the thing that totally pushed me over the edge was… Seeing Destiny, tied up, and hanging from the kitchen door-frame by a rope, her face blue and neck bruised, her eyes barely holding any spark at all…” Will shook his head and sniffed a few times before softly sobbing out; “I burned the rope and pulled her down as fast as I was able to and… And I pulled the gag from her mouth and held her, and kissed her as she died… I… I will never forget the feeling of her heart stopping, her lungs stopping, and of her growing so still and cold…” He at last opened his eyes and stared off as the tears flowed for a few moments longer then slowly subsided.


There, the hardest part was there out in the open, at last, and while there was still more, that was now the blurry part of his memory, that and everything following until he remembered meeting a girl and her buying him a meal at a diner, and then him falling in with those four girls that had since left the city, and of course, there was Violet…

Oh yeah, Violet was still there wasn’t she?

“That’s it… That’s all I can really remember… You know the rest, and now here we are, but now… Now what?”S he asked, at last at a total loss as to what to say, or do, and not liking the feeling of it at all…

[Violet Schultz]

"Now we decide," Violet said. "Does any of this change anything? In your case, it doesn't. You've not done anything wrong in your past. You were just a victim of the circumstances."

Her voice was soft and sad, since she was fully aware that her past was the more questionable one. She had lived her life running away from her past, and in a way she still was. She felt as if she would never be rid of it, and that it would someday catch up with her, but she didn't know how to say that. He kept saying that he didn't care about her past, but it profoundly affected her still. For one thing, it was well-known that gangs were considered "for life". When she was with the Titans, they wouldn't dare to try anything, but it was worth considering anyway. And Robin was the one protecting her from police action due to both illegal immigration and gang activity. And accidental manslaughter.

But she understood why his past was painful to him. He had so much power, so many abilities, and yet he had been unable to save them. Her own journey had been the opposite, that of having too much power, but it had ended just as badly. Just as she could remember the sensation of her mother being torn apart by her own flames, and see every bit of it, he could still remember the death of Destiny, and see their unmoving bodies. The images of death haunted them both, and they both blamed themselves for it. These deep hurts that they shared had scarred them both, but because of them, they could understand each other better.

She longed to embrace him, to help him forget, if only for a moment. But she didn't know if he still felt the same, and she couldn't understand how he could. She condemned herself for it, and nothing that anyone said could change it. She could move on, she could function, but she couldn't forgive herself for the mistakes that she'd made. She couldn't forgive the fact that she'd done nothing to make up for it, and nothing to pay for it.

"That's not the case with me," she said. "I can understand if it makes things different."

[William Talbot]

William sat there with his massive furry fingers laced together as he knelt there, his long bushy tail barely moving as he considered her words, then looked over at her for a moment, sensing the urge she had to hug him, but also the conflict that held her back, and after a moment of him letting her words ring in his ears, he shifted and turned, his long thick fur covered arm wrapping around her, almost just like they had in the mall during the attack, his body molding around hers in a protective embrace, mindful of the fact that he was indeed so much larger than her now, and that while she was hardly frail, he was bristling with enough untapped power to level a house...


*"Ce qui sera sera..." He muttered softly, the words coming to him from the meaning he was searching for, before he slowly pulled himself back and looked at her, their faces close as he whispered; "And you weren't? Violet, despite what you might think, you can't be held responsible for you're parents death, you had no clue that you could do what you did, much less how to control it, and everything else that you did, you did because you had no other alternative, and even in a bad situation, you tried to make the moral choice... I can't fault you for doing better than I did in a like situation, you at least only stole to feed people who couldn’t feed themselves, when you fought me last, I was stealing for the sake of it, because I had listened to liars and thieves rather than my heart…”

He bowed his head and let a soft sigh out, his paw like hands encased her shoulders and upper arms like large warm furry football shoulder pads, and his breath practically fogged the air around them as the wind carried a damp cold front in from the northern parts of the ocean across the bay, but again the cold did not bother him, and hew knew it didn’t bother her, unlike her past.

Well now it was time for him to put and end to that.

“Violet, I don’t hold anything against you, how can I? Even when you where on the wrong side of the law, you tried to be on the right side of justice, and of mercy, I think that with all you’ve gone through, you’ve paid for whatever sins you might have committed, and that this, here and now, is just what you need, a fresh start, a chance to make a difference, a chance to at last break free of the guilt you’ve been shackled to for so long… Take it…” Will huddled down so that they could be closer to eye level, which was no mean feet since he was an easy four feet taller than her, which is why he ended up sitting on one leg, his other hanging off the edge of the Tower as he looked at her and smiled softly; “My choice as to what I would do, was made for me the day I was born, but my choice as to who I would love… Is mine, and mine alone, and I choose you Violet, a darkened flower, fallen to the ground, only to rise again… Like a Phoenix…”

He gazed into her eyes and smiled softer, as he leaned in and then nuzzled her cheek gently as his large hands moved to her side and back so he could cradle her a bit closer, this incredible size difference suddenly making him feel very protective of her and rather cuddly minded, even as some no longer deeply buried parts of him tested the air, and then smiled at what they found as they pulled at their restraints, which now a part of him suddenly realized, where half of what they might otherwise be… But that more untamed part of him was still fighting to assert itself properly for the first time, and it still had much logic, reason, and good sense to fight past, and it lacked the momentum and knowledge to surpass the more angelic parts of him for now, however the Angelic parts where now shifting as well, and while the two teens might not know it just yet, some genetic code was kicking in thanks to simple biology, which was not so much a force of nature like they where, but was an extension of it…



* "What will be, will be."

[Violet Schultz]

"Thank you for choosing me," Violet said, looking at him again, a warm smile on her face.

She moved in closer to him, loving his warmth even while he was a bit furry at the time. Not only was his inner flame so nearby that it was difficult to separate from her own, but it also gave his skin a warmth that felt wonderful in contrast to the chill of the air. Cold only bothered her in conjunction with water, but warmth was always pleasurable to her, as she knew it was to him. Their body temperatures were well beyond those of normal humans, and they both were very fond of the heat that the other radiated.

Her fingers traced the musculature of his forearm, softly ruffling the thin layer of fur that had grown along it as she hummed a tune that her mother used to sing to her, her voice soft and lilting. Violet didn't sing often, but she had a very smooth and clear voice which made it pleasant to the ear. Really, Will was the only one to ever hear her sing, since it came from a deep part of her heart which she showed to no one else. She was feeling full contentment for the first time in years, sitting on that rooftop with Will, simply enjoying his warmth and his company, knowing that they loved each other.

Her lavender eyes were on the moon as they sat, and she could feel its effects in her system, bringing everything closer to the surface, pushing against the barriers she had in her mind to keep it in. It would be some hours before she could control the glow of her eyes, but it wasn't important at this point, since both of them were effected by the moon, and he was the one person she didn't have to worry about hurting because of the moon. It was so natural when they were together, a perfect fit, like two halves of the same soul. What had she ever done to deserve him?

[William Talbot]

Will bowed his head lightly and softly rumbled out a reply; "Thank you for having me..." his voice low, just above a whisper yet carrying such weight that he knew she could not doubt him, and why should she? He was being totally transparent with his emotions, something he hadn't done in a long time with anyone, and certainly not at this deep of a level...


No one had ever gotten all the way through to him, and understood him in such a way, other than his mother, and while he wouldn't admit it to anyone, well, at least not out loud, despite all the guilt he had suffered from under her worrying, she had been the one who had understood him the most, and been able to connect with him, in that way only a mother could, and then some thanks to her powers, which she had passed on to him, and now... Now Violet had somehow stepped into the roll of his special someone who just seemed to understand, even if not completely, then at least in spirit, and enough so as to sooth his fears and insecurities, as few and far in between as they where.


Smiling in that wolfish way he had to, due to his form, Will let her sit down, right on his lap as they looked at the moon and just savored the moment, Violet's airy soft humming and gentle touch entranced him, and spurred his own low lumpy hum, his voice gently intertwining with hers, the melody becoming their own, and for as long as they sat there, staring up into the moon, and some times into each others eyes, there was nothing but just the moon, and the warmth of the other, comforting each other.

Soon Will wiggled slightly, and then with a few pops and cracks, and slight slurping sound, he was himself again, sitting with Violet in his lap, leaning on his bare upper torso, his skin very nearly hot to the touch, but then at the moment so was hers, and not only that, but as he stared into her blue eyes, rimmed with a lavender glow, his own a glowing, faded steely blue, Will felt that he could never be happier, or closer to another person, then he was right now, and he wondered what turns of fate had seen fit to bring them together.


"I love you Violet..."
And so with a gentle brush of his fingers he pushed the loose locks of her long raven hair to the side, and smiled at her with a blush before he leaned in, and kissed her sweet cinnamon lips softly and held her closely, their warmth now from more than their powers, but also from the affection and love they had for each other...



{{{ We can end it here if you like }}}