marry the night

Charlotte walked quietly through the Forbidden Forest, enjoying the fresh air and the silence. It had taken her a while to gather up the courage to go there at night, but she was glad she did it. Hogwarts was just too noisy, lately, and there was no place to think. Not even her dormitory was as quiet as it had been the earlier months, with most of the girl chatting all the time.

Not that she minded, just that, sometimes, everybody needed a little space. Distracted by her own thoughts, she didn't hear anything strange until she heard a branch snapping near her. Charlotte turned quickly, pulling her wand from her pocket and her eyes widened as she tried to find the source of the noise. She hadn't forgotten there was a reason for the name to be Forbidden Forest. She could've been overreacting, but there was nothing wrong with a little caution.

"Who's there?" she whispered.

Arsen stood in the middle of a pile of acromantula, his hands slightly ablaze. Hearing his uncle was back and siding with his father had been the last straw. He couldn't take it anymore and before he'd had chance to take it out on any poor human he'd ran straight for the forest.

His head snapped to the side as a voice broke his thoughts. "Oh you really shouldn't be out here." He said slowly stalking his way forward. His usual bright red eyes were now sparkling with specks of orange.

Charlotte let out a small gasp when someone appeared in front of her - an older boy she'd seen around school once or twice -, and couldn't help but look at his bright red eyes. Eyes like that, they. . . they weren't human, they couldn't be.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as he walked towards her, "I was really just about to go back to the castle."

Arsen laughed, it wasn't a real laugh. It sounded more hysterical than anything. Why did everyone always insist on leaving him? "Oh you can't leave now." He said moving to block her way, leaving a long line of flames behind him.

"We're just about to have some fun." He smirked, holding his hands out by his sides both of them lit on fire.

Charlotte's eyes widened and she jumped back when a line of flames appeared in front of her and the boy blocked her way. She tried to come up with a plan to get out of there but was stuck at nothing. They hadn't gotten around to learning the water spells yet, but she'd read about them in the book, and had practiced the wand movements, and was pretty sure she could do it, but even if she could, how would that help? She was just a stupid little first year against a fifth year who could make fire.

Great, just great. "What do you want from me?" she asked when he lit his hands on fire.

Arsen looked at her slowly tilting his head to the side. "From you? Nothing. Maybe a little fight back as i kill you. No one like a victim that just lies down and dies." He said slowly stalking forward until his orange eyes flickered red for the briefest of seconds causing an inner struggle as he stopped.

"Get out of here! Now!" He spat, before his eyes glazed back orange. "Arsen doesn't wanna play. Too bad i do." He said one side of hi mouth pulling up into a smirk.

Charlotte was speechless- really, what could you say when somebody told you then wanted to kill you? She took a step back, wondering why. She was far too innocent to understand that some people were just evil, simple as that.

"You won't do that," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, but she was surprised she managed to say anything at all, "And even if you do, do you think Professor Chaos or somebody would not notice a missing student?"

She saw a brief change in his eye color before he yelled at her to get out. Charlote's head was spinning. Some sort of. . . split personality? She didn't have much time to think, though, because his eyes had gone back to orange. The Ravenclaw nodded slowly and, carefully, took some steps back. She knew she shouldn't run, as it would only make things worse, but a part of her thought it would do well to listen to the boy and get out of there. And so, she took off running.

Without the slightest sound, Karma dropped in front of the boy, her back to the first year and her head bowed. She'd been in the trees since classes ended, worried over the fact that he hadn't reappeared after he'd stormed out of DADA. Perhaps she shouldn't have told him after all.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to come out and play." Karma said, raising her eyes to Pyro's orange ones. She widened her stance and crossed her arms crossed over her chest - a wall between him and the retreating figure of the running Ravenclaw. "How are you tonight,, Pyro darling? I'd think you'd be hunting bigger and better things than that one." Kama mused. "Must be getting rusty locked up there in Arsen's head." Her eyes were doing that thing again; where one was dark and one was light. No matter the reason, both of them knew that him killing the girl would not end well, not for Karma's future or Kama's plots. She raised both her hands in a show of mock surrender. "Not that I'm judging or anything. So you're into hunting easy kills, there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their...." She grinned, impishly. "Ticks."

She eyed the fire going on behind him, feigning disintrest in the boy before them. "Do you plan on burning the forest to the ground? If so, I really do need to get some of the things I've hidden in here. Dreadfully troublesome, but I suppose I can explain away a forest fire... They happen all the time..."

Slowly, she began pacing back and forth in front of him, thinking hard, one hand behind her back and the other at her lips. "Do you think Dementors burn?" She mused, purposely speaking over whatever he was trying to say, not giving him a chance to get a word in edgewise. "I was thinking the other day - I think they'd burn, not counting that cold soul-sucking thing. Lot of cloak. But the problem with that is, you know, Azkaban's surrounded by water. Even with your present it's a far way to swim, and I bet you haven't even been using it. Can you even swim?" She paused and looked at him, her eyes running over his familiar figure before she was pacing again. "Guess I'd have to get you. Darn. Totally had other things planned." She hummed softly, a soft lilting tune that helped her think - the song she'd sang him under the Quidditch Stands after getting hit by lightning, to be exact. "You'd better hope it's not storming, or you're stuck."

Nodding, she stopped directly in front of him and gazed up at him. "You know, I always expected that if you were to go down for killing someone, it'd be... you know, someone important. Someone to brag about. Not a firstie in the forest because one of you decided to throw a tantrum. Maybe the Headmaster. Or the Minister." She shrugged a shoulder. "But hey, you're the King. Do what you want." She stood aside, her two-colored gaze challanging. "Go on then. Prove the one of us that loves you wrong. Prove everyone who's ever hated either of you right."

"You don't even know me." He smiled in amusement. "There's not a lot i wouldn't do. So what if they do. I'll be long gone by then and you shall be nothing but ashes, there wont even be a body to find..." He said before he was cut off by Karma jumping out of a tree.

"Oh don't run!" He moaned. "Get out my way Karma. Its time for the grown ups to work." He snarled moving to side step her. He knew Arsen wasn't going to allow him to him to hurt her. He wasn't even that pleased about hurting the ravenclaw but his feelings for the Slytherin were too strong to fight so he'd avoid it.

He growled and a hand shot to her throat. "Shut up! You always were irritating, no idea why Arsen keeps you around. Probably because you make him look like a god with all your weaknesses. How does it feel to be the pathetic one?" He smirked angeling his head to get a better look at her.

"Im stronger than Arsen, always have been. I prefer the back seat so i can get a view of the world. I know what make things ticks. You for instance. You fear above all being alone, but you're alone aren't you Karma?"

He turned his eyes behind him to the fire and placed a finger to the flame, slowly sucking them in. "No, this is a good place for hunting. Not much fun without the trees."

"Everything burns. Dementors. Water." He shrugged. It would take a while to evapourate the entire ocean but he'd manage it somehow or at least until someone apparated him out of there. "We. Don't. Need. You!" He said through gritted teeth tightening his grip around her throat.

She hummed softly, a soft lilting tune that helped her think - the song she'd sang him under the Quidditch Stands after getting hit by lightning, to be exact. "You'd better hope it's not storming, or you're stuck."

The song she began to hum seemed to break something inside him. His hand seemed to lighten up a little and his eyes began to darken to their usual red. "You're not helping Karma!" He moaned as he continued to force Pyro back.For the first time in a while he was actually tired and he looked it too.

Karma barely reacted to being held at the throat. She merely raised an eyebrow at him as her breathing got labored. "I'm the pathetic one?" She asked. "Whoa there, Pyro. How did you know that? Are you psychic or something? Of course I'm the pathetic one! That's the point!" Her eyes sparkled with victory. Her goal hadn't been to calm him down, she didn't give two shits if he was angrier than Soulsnatcher on a rampage, The point was to get his focus off the Ravenclaw, and that had succeeded.

She had to bite back a laugh, her brown eyes glowing. "You think I'm scared of lonliness?" She tsked softly. She hadn't been afraid of that since... Well, since bigger and better fears had cropped up, and she wasn't talking about the lightning. "Lonliness? I grew up alone!" It was harder to hold in the laugh this time, she was turning into a nervous laugher - that, or she was going insane. Getting your soul ripped out seemed to have that effect. "Besides, We aren't alone." Kama piped. "We're the one with the-" she shut up abruptly, glancing to the side, obviously confurring with her other half. Then she was grinning, swinging her feet in a most unconcerned manner. "Right. We're the pathetic one, terrified of lonliness. when have you ever been wrong? Forget I said anything, your Grace."

"Right, of course not. You never needed us. You can easily evaporating the entire ocean in the rain sans sunlight surrouneded by dementors. I was only trying to be helpful." Her voice was completely sincere as she did as much of a shrug as she could from her position, eyeing the boy carefully.

"Sorry Hothead."Karma murmured softly her fingers moving to caress the arm holding her up. "I don't seem to be the most helpful of people." She took a deep breath as his fingers loosened, her eyes watching his darken. "Can barely control the voice in my own head, not to mention yours." She continued to hum softly, her eyes filling with worry. "You alright, Demonboy?"

He snorted and released her from his grip. "I'd probably score more points killing the girl than i would you. You aren't worth anything Karma. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"I know you are. Why else would you surround yourself with all these... pets? You call them pets right? You lead one sad pathetic life Karma, you really think people like you? It's your blood they're after. Your vampire side draws them in and then you feed them so they never want to leave. If you were human you'd be nothing!" He spat. "So get over yourself!"

"With what? An army? An army of humans pets, truly terrifying." He mocked. "Tell me, has Certh stopped claiming hits his snake has taken yet?" He asked.

"Don't you understand? I have a whole army beneath my feet that would be more than willing to follow my orders. I wouldn't need you to break me out of azkaban. What would you do anyway? Save me on a broom?" He sniggered.

"You don't say." He said through gritted teeth. "Do i look okay?" He snapped more harshly than intended but he couldn't help himself. It was taking everything he had just to hold Pyro at bay. "You're gonna have to... ouch! Weaken him! Stop it!" He growled to himself as he fell down to his hands and knees.

"That's where you're wrong." She said easily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Even human, I'm still the heir to the Most Noble House of Black, and the sole direct decendant of Merlin. I'm still one of the smartest, magically advanced students in our year, and I've still been adopted by Nolan Carde. I've done all this without my powers, should they fail me, and I'm doing just fine." She smirked, the motion slowly spreading across her face. "But since we're talking about humans, what about you Pyro?" She cocked her head to the side. "What if you were fully human? Would you even exist?"

Karma laughed, erupting into giggles as easily as if she was at a comedy show. "Right." She said, taking a step back. A bruise was forming where he'd held her, but she took no notice, breathing easily once more. She yawned. "Right right right. Of course. Yep." She agreed with everything he said without actually agreeing, glancing upward through the leaves toward the sky. "Why, thank you, Pyro, and God Bless You." She spun in an easy circle, her eyes returning to the boy before her. "Gooooooooood Bless Youuuu." She said. "Jesus loves you, you know. Says so in that book, the Bible. It's a good read. You should try picking it up sometime." She didn't think there was a time when she'd spewed so much... religious... stuff. "Repent, God bless, and Jesus loves all." Her voice adopted a southern American twang, and she grinned. "Loord almighty." She said, quite happily, the voice she used making her grin as she thought of a certain American werewolf. "Loooooooooooord Almighty." She met Arsen's eyes and winked. "Amen."

She sat beside him, crossing her legs beneath her and watching him. "Well, sorry for caring enough to ask." She said darkly, looking away for a moment before looking back at him. "Are you better yet? I have my lonely, useless, pathetic life to get back to, you know." She asked easily, her voice devoid of emotion. Her fingers tangled in the grass on the forest floor, tugging at it as boredom set in. As always, once the danger was gone - had it ever really been there - boredom took over, leaving her wanting to go somewhere else to do something else. She could be training, hunting, doing whatever else wasn't sitting here and pretending not to be insulted by her boyfriend's other half. Pyro was like that annoying older brother- suddenly finding herself blinking black tears, Karma bit her bottom lip, her focus back on the grass instead of stupid things like Pyro and family.

She began humming again, the song from before, hoping to help Arsen without looking at him. She didn't...

She glanced over at him again anyway, watching him as her fingers continued to uproot the grass.

"What you think because you have a name, money and some wanna be mafia father you have power? Get real Karma. I don't have any of that yet i have more than you could ever dream of." He smirked, he could get whatever he wanted regardless of money or name.

He smiled. "If we were fully human neither of us would exist. It take two to tango and neither can live without the other. He needs me." Without him Arsen would simple waste away into nothing. Pyro hissed gritting his teeth as his veins threatened to jumped to the surface of his skin. "Stop it!" He spat moving forward until he dropped to his knees in pain.

Blue veins were now sticking out from every inch of skin you could see, causing Arsen unbearable pain but at least it gave him back control. After a few minutes of kneeling a deep breaths he began to calm down and his veins began to return began to normal. With a sigh he rolled over onto his back and just laid there with his eyes closed. "He's getting far too strong." He moaned rolling his head to the side to look at her. "He didn't mean what he did said. He just says stuff to get under your skin, ignore him."

Kama yawned, completely bored with Pyro's rambling. What was it with this one? She supposed that when you had nothing to do but sit and watch people through your other half, you had a long time to generate insults that no one wanted to hear.

Karma glanced up at Arsen again, her light brown eyes full of worry. She waited silently for his pain to subside before moving closer to him, playing with his hair as he laid on the grass. She leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead. "He's awfully good at it." She noted. "Consider it ignored." She took some blades of the grass off the ground and sprinkled it over his forehead, watching as it weaved into his hair before combing her fingers through it, displacing the blades of grass all over again. She liked this. Being with him. It soothed her in ways nothing else did. She didn't know what she'd do without him.

"How are you going to fight him off if there's a next time, Hothead?" She asked softly, pressing another kiss to his forehead. "What if I'm not there?"

He closed his eyes and allowed her playing with his hair to calm him. That always seemed to hurt him most, but never as bad as being hit with water when on fire. Nothing compared to that pain.

"Thanks." He said shaking his head to get rid of the grass. He shrugged, he'd not really thought about it. "I don't know there's not a lot i can do that doesn't involve jumping into the lake. Even then i'll probably end up killing myself if i can even get Pyro to let me walk that far." He said pulling her down so she ended up laid down beside him.

Laying beside him now, Karma curled closer to Arsen, taking comfort - as always - in the familiar above-average body heat, and the scent of fire and him. She rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers going to play with the fabric of his shirt. It wasn't until she was here that she allowed herself to relax, to accept that the boy beside her was her Demonboy, not the other.

For all intents and purposes, Karma stopped breathing. It wasn't something she noticed - a reflex to the shock of such a statement, a way for her to deal with it - and it wasn't like she needed to. The thought of Arsen throwing himself in the lake... It did something to her. Froze her solid and left her that way, too cold to be reached by any flame, even hellfire. Her heartbeat accelerated of its own accord, and she wondered idly where it was finding the oxygen to pump through her veins.

A minute passed, and she was back from whatever mental hell she had unwittingly shoved herself into, blinking up at him. "Oh." She released the breath she'd been holding on that one word, relaxing again as if nothing had happened. "Well. Don't do that." She chided easily, snuggling into the boy. "I'm sure you'll find another way, one that doesn't end in your death." Her fingers resumed whatever they had been doing with his shirt, and she was her again.

"Or we'll just have to go with Plan B, and I'll never leave your side again." She grinned up at him. "How's that sound, Hothead?"

Arsen wrapped his arm around her keeping her close. He never expected to like being this close to someone but he had to admit he really did. "Well i'd rather not. Quoting the bible at me is pain second only to being soaked with water and that is bad enough." He moaned as his thumb drew circles on her arm.

"But if he ever comes to threaten you then ill have no choice. I won't just sit back and watch whilst he hurts you Karma." He frowned as he looked up into the sky and moved his spare arm up to cushion his head.

"That i could live with but you can't always calm me down in time to stop him taking over."

She hummed softly, but otherwise stayed silent, not liking the thought of his pain much more than she liked the thought of her own. Fingers still playing with his shirt, she snuggled closer, offering silent comfort in the only way she knew how.

"I could always make more plans." She offered softly. "I did have a few in place but..." She frowned and looked off into the forest as her mind wandered. "I don't particularly like any of them. Suppose it's worth it, to get you back... but..." She shook her head, the volume of her voice dropping until it was barely audible. "I'd rather not... hurt you. At all."

Arsen turned his head so he could look at her better. "What kind of plans?" He asked, but then thought better of it. "On second thoughts it's probably best i don't know. The less Pyro knows the better." Pyro seemed to be plugging into his mind more and more lately and that was scaring him more than anything because it meant he was getting stronger.

"Pain seems to be the only thing that pushes him back." He frowns. "I don't like it but if it's the only thing that gives me back control then i have no choice." He admitted wrapping his arm slightly tighter around her. "Im counting on you Karma to keep me in check, who knows what they'll do if Pyro takes over."