change of heart

Sapphire got up in the middle of the night. She fell into the door frame. Something was wrong. When she made it to the bathroom her eyes were swirled with amber and blue. She was caught in the middle of an element battle within herself.

"Sapph..."

"What is happening to me? Why am I so weak? Shane it is time you start giving me answers." he looked at her, her skin was so dark, she had been pale only hours earlier.

"You are stuck at a crossroads. This time i can't help you." she mustered all the energy to slap him her hand flaming with fire when she did.

"This is all your fault!" she screamed holding onto the sink for support.

"You chose to love me." he said quietly.

"I did didn't I? Well this isn't fair! Take me to my mother! You owe me that much. I will accept both sides...I will be the middle man between our worlds." She was rambling, this was a good sigh.

"I can't take you now! Are you insane!? You could be killed!"

"I thought you were the one dying for me! Now take me! Now!" She put her fists on his chest.

"You are insane. No, I will take you when you can fight for yourself by my side." He turned from her and left her there while he went for a walk. Ashton met him not long after.

"She hit you." He laughed for a moment.

"Drop it Ashton! I am not in the mood for your schemes." Shane said as he kept walking.

"I have heard of men beating their women, but not the other way around."

"She slapped me, end of story, she had a right to." He said leaning against a building.

"What did you do?"

"I won't take her to see her mother until she is strong enough to fight. She will have to fight for her life there." They just stood there for a while in understanding silence. Shane flamed his hands in anger and pounded them into the wall causing singe marks. Ashton saw his brother through clear eyes for the first time in a long time.

reverse

Ashton broke into Sapphire's room. His eyes searched the room before finding them. She was laying in bed and he was sitting in a chair beside it. Little did Ashton know of their fight or that right after it she became ill. He watched the rise and fall of his brother's back with each breath.

"She is asleep, do not stress her now by waking her." A hand came on his shoulder. When he looked behind it was his father. "You took great risk in breaking from our prison. She is sick, and you are not going to disturb her." He pulled Ashton out of the room.

"You have met her?" He asked.

"No, not yet, I just felt you near your brother. Come my son, tell me why you have rejected me." Ashton sat in a chair.

"You try to kill her people! Do you think when she finds out about her mother she will stay with Shane? I mean..." His father flamed his hands.

"He told her!" The anger was clear in his voice.

"But..."

"He told her and she fell ill, most likely because of her internal struggle between Shane's world and her own." Aston crossed his arms.

"What do you want? You are being too nice to me." He questioned.

"Nothing, I truly want you to be home again, I miss my son." His words hit Ashton like a bomb.

teachings.....

Shane sat on the balcony smoking with a beer in his hand. Sapphire leaned on the door frame just watching him. Her eyes flashed toward the door of her apartment. With no resolve in her heart about leaving for a few days to get away she came to him wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"Who are you?" She whispered in his ear playing with the lighter she had taken from his hand.

"You know who I am" he replied.

"You still lie to me Shane." Her voice became cold as she pushed away from his warmth.

"If I told you, you would not love me, and I would have to hurt you, neither of which I want to happen." He disappeared then was in front of her taking her hands. His eyes were burning red.

"Leave me alone Shane!" She yelled dousing him with water.

"You wanna know me?!" She turned and walked away.

"I don't waste my breath on things Shane." She said slamming a cup on the counter.

"I am the son of the man who killed your mother! I am keeping you from him so he will not kill you and in the process I fell in love with you! I am still on their side, but I don't know where I stand anymore! I am your fiancé! I am the man who will die for you!" He shouted hearing the drop of the cup she had fixed tea in. It shattered into pieces. Her eyes were wide and she backed away from his angry and hurt frame.

"What?" Her eyes were changing from amber to blue again then back as she battled. His body was on fire as he stepped near her. She slipped on the glass but he caught he wrist meeting her eyes as he pulled her near. She became ice cold in an effort to keep her anger with him.

"I will not be made the enemy, my heart can't take a blow like that Sapphire." She made blue flame like things in her hands.

"Get away from me!" She screamed in tears shooting at him. "You are going to die?! You have made me love you and you are going to leave?! Forget my mother...she had her time here, you are going to leave?!" She questioned blowing an icey fire at him every step he took toward her.

"I may not die in saving you, but it is not out of my mind. And your mother, Ruth, isn't dead, she is just detained. My father has been keeping her. Let me near you!" He took her wrist and felt he body go limp when he held her out of exhaustion.

"My mom is alive?" She cried.

"Yes, now rest." He touched her forehead with his lips. "You will see her shortly." She did not fight him as he picked her up and set her on the couch. He made water from the sink come to him and he put it into a towel before putting it on her head.

.....

Sapphire sat up in her reading chair, one right by the window with her ipod in her ears. She turned her hand every which way to observe the shining thing on her finger. A smile crept onto her face.

"Come on...focus." she said to herself studying a page of a book she had gotten from Shane. It had strange words in it, his native language, or base language for whatever he did. She came across something about the body being sacred.

"It is late, why are you still up?" Shane came into the living area observing her. She waved him away. He approached her letting water sit in a bowl he was holding. "Come, let me teach you of myself." she set the book aside.

"What am I to do?" her amber eyes looked at his face.

"Close your eyes and focus on a lake. Focus on the gentle waves." she did so as he took her hand and placed it over the bowl and waited. Her brows were showing her concentration. Waves began coming to her after about ten minutes. "Open your eyes." he whispered gently. She did looking at what she was doing.

"I can control water too!?" her excitement made him smile as her own widened.

"You can control anything, as long as you have a mind to listen and learn."

"You sound like obi from star wars. Can i do it again?!" with her woords came a small laugh and nod from Shane.

"Okay...small waves...small waves." a loud crash outside broke her concentration and sent water flying onto Shane. With wide eyes she turned to him after looking at the window. "Did I do that?"

"Yes, you did. You must let nothing break your focus. That is enough, come to bed." she rose an eyebrow.

"I hope you mean my own bed, because acording to your little book there, you would loos yoour rights too have control of anything, even a woman if you broke the vow before marriage." she put her hands on her hips. He was laughing.

"Yes, your own bed love." she smiled throwing snoow in his face gently.

"Yes daddy dearest." she mocked. He flamed his hands and she sqealed running into the hall. Shane waited for the door to shut before sitting down.



Ashton woke up with a groan. His whole body hurt and his sister was smiling at him from the other side of the jail cell.

"Good morning dear brother, have a nice rest?"

"Where Is Shane?" he asked rubbing his head.

"My guess would be celebrating his and Sapphire's engagement. They make a lovely couple don't you think?" her smile was evil and dark.

"They WHAT?!" he shot up and reached through the bars.

"A sneaky little witch isn't she? Shane is perfect for her, he is training her well. So perfect he fell in love. Daddy told me he approved of the marriage. They are going to be the most powerful thing this world has ever seen! You thought that locking her away would stop him? You fool!" he hit the bars of the cell.

"So he does love her? That is why he has not brought her, to keep her away from Dad."

"Actually, he is keeping her to make her invencible, which, sorry to say, worked for pathetic little you. Idiot! Did you think Shane would be able to keep her memories away!? He gave them back the night she hit phase three, concidering it a...welcome home present." her voice got low and black before she walked away.

"Why?"

she's ready

Flair smiled at her brother.

"She is ready." He shook his head taking Sapphire by the arm.

"What did I tell you?!" He looked hurt and Sapphire became small.

"I'm sorry Shane." Her voice was small. Flair took Ashton's arm and disappeared. Shane took her hands. He heated them with fire thinking.

"This body is sacred." He made a circle with his finger creating a small flame. "You are a fire of your own, but you are to reckless, you let it blow up." He made it burst into an inferno. Her eyes were intent on what he was doing.

"I will get better Shane." She crossed her arms. He took her hands again.

"I am not finished!" He put water in her hands. "You are like a river, always moving." He made a stream of water in the air then let it settle. "You must settle down, and not let anger rule you. Or you will fail. And become barren." She bit her tongue.

"Forgive me, teach me..."

"Be with me..." He said opening his hand with a ring in it.

heart of stone

Ashton watched as Sapphire and Shane jogged across the street to the park. She was laughing as she wrapped her arms around him. He could see her whispering the words "I love you" to him. Anger raked his body and he wondered why Shane was waiting so long to take her to their father.

"I love you too." He heard as he rolled down the window of his car. Ashton's heart was breaking for her. She was supposed to be his! He was supposed to win!

"Take me to the movies Shane, something for our eight month anniversary." She gave her look of playful pleading.

"Whatever you want." He replied and they walked hand in hand toward the theater. Ashton didn't understand...the way Shane looked at her and smiled at her. Was he buying time with her because he really did 'love her too'.

Sapphire waited for Shane to go into the theater before running out toward the road waving someone down. A girl walked across the street and smiled at her...his sister. The more he saw the more he wished he was one of them again, maybe she would love him instead. His heart hardened toward them as he began burning the steering wheel. Curses flew as he swatted at the fire he had started.

He drove the her apartment and took her pictures hanging them around the apartment. When the group came in he was sitting in front of the collage. Sapphire walked past him with a glare. She touched the pictures observing them. When Shane came toward her the blew him back.

"Wait!" Ashton smiled at this but soon got hit upside the head. "Wipe that grin off your face before I do it for you!"

"He took your memories didn't he?"

"He did...but..."

"I knew it!" She shot hail at him for this.

"He gave them back you idiot! What did you think this would do?" She straddled his legs just to make him fidget. It worked. Her slender fingers ran her hands through his hair. "Did you think it would make me..." She put her lips to his. Shane went toward them but his sister pulled him back this time.

Next thing Shane knew she was standing with glowing eyes and a wicked smile.

"Sapphire..." She laughed watching Ashton fall over passed out.

"He should wake up on our side now...come on, get rid of him for me Shane." Her heart was cold toward Ashton and the way he had locked her away

final phase, what now?

Sapphire stood in the dark. Something didn't feel right. She turned at a noise and shot ice in the direction. Another noise and she threw ice at it too. Her door opened and she used two hands to hit whatever it was.

"Sapphire!" her chest heaving when Shane turned on the light holding his arm. Her eyes were wide and frightened. He walked near her and she back away scrambling onto her bed to get away from him.

"Get away!" she screamed.

"Come on...it is okay." he approached and she shot a force of wind at him. He was pushed back a ways.

"Don't hurt me!" she said flinching when he raised his arm to block the freezing air.

"I am not going to hurt you baby." she started choking him out of fear. Shane shot fire at her to break her concentration. He held his throat with one hand and created a heatwave with the other to stop her.

"You have hurt me!" she tried to create a defense but the ice was melting.

"How?" he asked.

"You are driving me crazy!" her eyes were flikering. Shane stopped his wave and came to her. She was going through phase three and it hurt him to see her in pain and confused.

"Look at me." she did and he felt her pain inside her. Her heart was hardening and soon she would be as heartless as he felt. "Shhhh....calm down...breathe. How are you feeling?" she starred at him and he heard a pleading voice. I want my memories back, I know you took them from me, I am with you, just let me remember." Shane was torn then her eyes went from orange to red and she tried to fight him off.

"My heart! My body! I am burning!" she screamed jumping up causing him to back into a door knob. He kept eye contact with her and he gave her memories back as she was calming down.

all smiles