Fade

Two people are fading, in two very different ways.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue it'll make me cry!

Pear Shaped Truths

It was a week before the camera crews and news stations finally vacated the farmland, leaving all kinds of litter and muddy tire tracks in the fields. Farmer Gonthier had a fit, was even trying to sue for damages to his property. Warren had laid low while the media hounds sniffed out any story they could, whether it was relevant or not. They had harrassed Sam mercilessly, shoved lenses in his face and invaded his life. Warren decided to avoid any such treatment; sure his relation to Baron Battle was still a well kept secret, but he wasn't going to be caught off guard by some sleuthing reporter. He stayed with Will and his parents again. He felt like he'd been pinging between the two homes; felt horrible for intruding on their right angle life but always for some reason being chased from his own house just as he was settling back in. There was a certain jovial tone in the home at the recent events. Warren did his best to abide the euphoric aura, but ignored Mrs. Stronghold's pleas for him to go back to school. He had relented enough to agree to take the final exams and finish the last week though.

Walking up the dusty boulevard snuck up on him. At first, he'd just gone from a walk, telling Will not to wait up. He didn't notice the suburbs blend into downtown and eventually fade into countryside. But here he was, two hours walk from home, travelling up the roadway toward the yellow barn in the distance. He hadn't been back since, he didn't know why his feet carried him this way. Maybe he was curious. Of what, he didn't know.

The landscape gave way to taller stalks of grass and a delapetated wooden fence began, lining the boundaries of the land. Further along, a lone figure was seated on the top spindly fence limb. Warren wondered if the wood would crack, but seeing who it was, so perilously perched, he hoped it would hold strong. The SUV was parked farther down, glinting in the sun that broke through the sparse cloud canopy. She didn't even hear him come up behind her. She nearly keeled over when he hopped the fencing to stand beside her.

"You scared the hell out of me!" She reprimanded, one hand raised to her chest. He grinned despite himself.

"Don't you know how dangerous it is out here for an unaccompanied lady?" He retorted. Annie rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the tip." She rubbed where her heart lay, trying to calm it from the scare. Or perhaps the heavy thud of it was a result of seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

"Sight seeing. What about you?"

"Technically? Visiting family friends up the road. I'm out getting soda. Can't you tell?" She deadpanned, then brushed a dead blade of grass from his shoulder. His eyes didn't leave her face. Realizing that what she had just done was a tender gesture, reserved for girlfriends and boyfriends, she recoiled and focused her attention on the landscape. Warren, however, having not seen her in what felt like months, let his eyes rake over her entirety, taking in every detail. Her loose white tank top, the ruffled blue skirt sitting just above her curved knees, the way her long, piano perfect fingers drummed by her side. Her hair tickled his shoulder, blowing in a sudden gust of wind, an unraveling gilded spool. He could have gone on but her voice piped up. "It's nice out here."

"If you like cows and escaped convicts."

"It was on the news for days and I still can't believe it." She said almost wistfully, pointing at the police tape that still flapped from the barn door. The rays from the sun became less bright as one of the seemingly placid clouds drifted into its path. The light sky remained, though now a few drops fell. They ignored it. "Even being here, this just doesn't seem real."

"Wait until your first fight with a supervillain. It's a trip."

"I tried calling you. All last week." He finally looked at her, sitting perched atop the rough wooden log. "But you never pick up your phone." He felt his stomach turn at the sound of her voice; like he'd rejected her and she didn't blame him.

"I was with the Strongholds a lot." He knew that didn't totally explain his absence. "And the prison. They wanted to talk to me. The parole board, I mean. Of course, I didn't get through the door before they told me they didn't need me." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and let him see her face more fully. It was then that he realized it had become more angular, her round cheeks noticably thinner. The guilty squirm twisted painfully.

"I heard, your father's being released."

"That's what they say."

"You haven't spoken to him?"

"For a minute." She saw his jaw tick before a self aware smile crossed briefly on his face. "Layla made me."

"Sure." The miniscule raindrops began to taper off.

"I was here before. I spoke with The Kook."

"Sam told me." This tidbit did surprise him. Warren's head dipped to the side, scanning her face for any perturbed emotion. He saw none, but she had noticed his gaze so she shrugged. "He told me everything. Last night." Warren knew it was stupid, but his old jealousy made a blip, even though Sam had confessed he never had any genuine interest in Annie.

"You don't care that he lied?" He was surprised he'd confessed to that much. It was a week overdue, but he supposed being the bearer of bad news to a soul like her was something that needed psyching up. She shrugged a second time. Raindrops sprinkled across the sea of green in front of them. The drops were so light they barely felt them on their own skin.

"I was a bit upset when he first told me. I guess..." She sighed. "He looked so upset, about his father..." Warren knew what she meant. He had, himself, felt pangs of guilt watching how Sam obediantly helped his father with his plan, even though it meant losing him forever. Here he had given up his father whom he loved, so that the shadow of Baron Battle would be returned to a stranger of a son. "He told me you two talked for close to an hour."

"It didn't feel that long." Warren answered nonchalantly. Annie looked surprised.

"You're dealing with all this remarkably well." She said, swinging her legs to wake them up. "When Sam came clean about everything, about how he was trying to spy on you, I was shocked he wasn't in a body cast." It was Warren's turn to shrug.

"I feel bad for him too. As strange as it sounds, The Kook wasn't what I thought he'd be like. In a warped way, I can see why Sam loves him." Warren kicked a stone out from under the fence. "He just had this voice and this way of talking to you... everything he said made me believe him, even if at first I didn't want to." Annie nodded, listening intently to this recount. Her left flip flop slipped from her foot, but the legs continued to swing. "When I was leaving, he stopped me. He said I was strong..."

"True."

"That I was a good man."

"Also true." Annie said, turning to look at his pensieve face with a miniature smile. They looked away simultaneously. The sun showers had ceased, but Warren looked to the east and saw more ominous clouds hang over a piece of Maxville. The dew and fresh light rain on the grassy fields in this country field smelled like the streets when mowed clippings were being collected. He wished feebly that the villainous clouds would stay away.

"I'm sorry." He was caught off guard by this impromptu apology.

"Why?"

"For the Sam thing. I mean, if I had known that he was using me to get to you for The Kook..." She shook her head, looking like she really did feel like an idiot. "I tried to remember... whenever I would talk about you, I can't remember if there was anything he did that would have tipped me off..." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't. I didn't know either." To be honest, it was a genius ruse. Use the girl to get to the guy, and everyone will think it's all about the girl. Simple but genius. Then he realized what she'd said and quirked an eyebrow. "Wait, you... talked about me with him?" Annie didn't look at all surprised by this question, merely smiled at his undaunted, mammoth ego.

"At first just because he asked who my ogre friend was." She teased lightly. "But... well, after that night..." He knew she meant the night he'd come to her door and Warren had scared him off. "...he called me after and said that he wanted to stay friends. I felt bad, blowing him off so I agreed."

"He kept asking about me."

"Nope, at that point, I pretty much gave the information up freely." She said giving him a sweet apologetic look. "Some superhero I'll make." She said with an eyeroll. "Dating The Kook's son and not even knowing it."

"It's the stuff great Batman comics are made of." He joked, trying to alleviate her guilt. She laughed loudly, which was enough. He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry too." Gold locks twirled as her head spun in his direction.

"For what?"

"For... you know. All the times I've hurt you. More times than I'd've liked." She seemed to squirm uncomfortably but didn't interrupt. Her legs began swinging again, the right flip flop joining its twin on the ground, but he was keenly aware of her gaze. "I know that I'm a little screwed up-" She opened her mouth angrily, prepared to resume their argument from weeks before, "-not the way I thought I was before. I know now that I was holding onto some baggage..." She now looked surprised at his insight. "I'm a miserable bastard sometimes, but everyone keeps saying that I deserve a little happiness and as much as I hate going with the group... I'm starting to believe it." She blinked.

"You... are?"

"It's not going to be overnight." He said realistically. "But I'm trying to get over this. I thought about it a lot the past few weeks. Who knows, maybe this happiness thing is worth taking a crack at..." Truth be told, the climactic epiphany had dawned on him whilst he was in the cab, speeding away from Sam and Karl. Karl's parting words; keeping people you love at bay, would it really appease anyone?

"When did this sink in?" She asked, still genuinely aghast at this revelation he'd had. He shrugged, nudging one of her sandals with the toe of his worn work boot.

"Maybe it was The Kook. Maybe Sam, maybe Will... you..." He met her eyes and the shock that blazed in them was so profound he felt a bit smug at having been the cause of it. "To be honest, I don't know the specifics. I'll just try it, see where it goes." She nodded, finally closing her mouth.

"Well, that's good, really, really good Warren." She said it in a strange voice that suggested there was more to what she was thinking besides her approval. She rubbed her arm, her hand bumping against her watch awkwardly. She looked at the time piece and bit her lip. "I... I better be getting back to the house. It's taking a long time to get that cola and Perry will be fitting if I leave him with that family too long alone." Warren smiled and nodded, staring at the ground. She hopped down from her perch and dusted off her bottom, for lack of anything to say.

"I guess I'll see you at school on Monday." He offered awkwardly, holding her elbow while she balanced to put her sandals back on. Her head rose and she blinked, as if noticing for the first time that they went to the same high school. She blushed but nodded.

"Yeah. One more week. Then grad." She said, beginning to walk toward where her car sat parked on the dirt road. He walked beside her. He didn't know if she minded.

"Grad? I'm more worried about Prom..." The freshman year joke hung tangible in the damp air, so she forced a chuckle.

"I'll take your word for it." A month ago, Annie had hoped they'd be at Prom together. She hadn't thought on it long, just long enough to envision him in a tux, her in a nondescript gown, the two of them happy. Well, at least now he would be. Just not with her.

"You're going to Italy with Ethan, right?" Warren's deep voice broke apart the dreamy visions of streamers and punch bowls. She tensed. Had she told him that? When could she have? Damn Layla and her big mouth.

"Yeah." Annie admitted quietly, hesitantly. He nodded but tried to keep the frown that he felt deep down from exposing itself.

"Well, be careful." He winked, trying to seem nonchalant. "Don't do anything I'd do."

She let out something between a 'hmmm' and a laugh. They walked the rest of the way in silence, the only interaction when he carried her across the ditch to the road. Again she blushed, looking embarrassed. He felt that gut rolling sickness give a tight tug and wondered what it would do come graduation, when he said goodbye for real.

"Thanks." She muttered, walking around the car to the driver's side. She cast him one more look over her shoulder, and Warren thought he saw something flash across her face, but before he could identify it she'd moved behind the tinted windows. She waved before driving away, but it left him empty. Everything about this meeting left him empty.

He took a last, fleeting look at the barn and farmhouse before beginning to walk parallel the road. He hopped the fence, but caught his sleeve on a splinter, ripping the sleeve, causing him to curse a blue streak. If possible, things were looking like they would continue downhill; the black wall of clouds was pushing into the country, and he really was not in the mood to be drenched while walking the two hours home. He felt the road's previous dust become more muddy, and wondered if anything could go smoothly for him that day. Or maybe it was fitting. He had just lost her, for good this time, effectively crushing that hint of hope he had at her forgiving him. Maybe this was the kind of weather a moment like that deserved. Had he told her wrong? Had the words not come out the right way? All the things he had said, he'd felt sure she'd be able to see that it was, essentially, all for her. But they'd just been awkward, even when he could see the shadow squirm within her that used to be that witty, quirky vixen he'd fallen so hard for. Annie, the thing he had finally come to terms with as the thing he wanted most in the world, was within reach, but when he'd cast out his hand, it fell short. He blamed his well known inability to verbally emote; sure he'd decided to change, but he had a long way to go before he'd become the poetry spitting Casanova she apparently needed him to be.

He looked to his right, saw the shortcut he'd taken through some empty fields and headed toward it. He pushed the gate of a rickety fence, but the diseased metal just snapped and he was left holding the piece of hinged metal. He looked at it incredulously before tossing it aside. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, grumbling as he walked on the squishing grass. He didn't hear the honking of a car behind him.

I finally decide to take her advice, and it's too late. Why should she believe me when I say I get it now? All the shit I put her through, I'm surprised she can even look at me. The Kook's words were steadily streaming through his conciousness: You're a good man. He didn't feel like a good man. How could he be, when he felt so incomplete?

"WARREN!" The high pitched call finally drew his attention outward, back into the world. He hadn't noticed the rain thundering down, making his clothes stick like a second skin, or that he had stopped travelling the path. Now, he barely had time to marvel at his absorbtion in his thoughts, not with Annie running break neck speed toward him in the pouring rain.

"Annie?" He breathed, more to himself, since there was no way she could hear him over the water pelting down from the opened heavens. She got within a few metres of him, they both faced each other, and he felt the emptiness evaporate.

"What you said," she yelled over the hammering of the rain, her voice almost out of breath, "did you mean it? Are you really going to cut out this ridiculous idea that you should never get what you want?" Her chest was heaving beneath her now sheer tank top, whether from the running or a rush of emotion was unreadable.

"Annie-"

"Because it doesn't have to be never. It's okay to sometimes be angry or moody. I know you're never going to stop brooding and I don't want you to. Just find whatever the hell it is that's going to finally make you happy and don't throw it-" She didn't have a chance to finish. Her words were trapped in her throat as he pushed her mouth firmly against his own, his hands grasping her shoulders tightly as he held her there. When he drew back, she could only sputter. His grip tightened so she could wrestle away. Not that she was trying to.

"It's you. You know it's you." At seeing the flash in her eyes, the admittance in them, his straight white teeth broke into a smile. "And I really did mean it. I do mean it. I can't go back now." He was speaking quickly, almost incoherent little fragments, but it passionate, totally consuming. "I'm done being an idiot, I swear." He said all this, as he pushed her drenched tangles out of her face. "I'm going to change, I'll do whatever it takes, if you'll just forgive me for being such a jerk." She had her eyes closed, but the feel of all the rain rushing over her face as his hands continued to try and smooth away her hair made her smile radiate over her whole face. She was nodding her head and he felt the waves of relief and pure joy run all over his bones. He pulled Annie closer so that he could kiss her forehead roughly and just feel her own thin arms encircle his middle. "I'll do better, if you let me. I'll never hurt you again, I promise. That's if... if you still want to..." She leaned away, fixing him with a comically exasperated look. He thought... she didn't...

"I thought you said you were done being an idiot." She asked in a gravelly voice. His eyebrows shot up. Then they both grinned widely before she launched herself into his arms again and sealed her lips over his rain soaked ones, feeling their slippery limbs entangle perfectly once more.

Just by admitting these things to her, he'd already changed. He was no longer that self-loathing thug, only Warren, still ornery and intimidating but with a great redeeming feature. He could let her care about him now.

"Warren." She murmured against his cheek when he had finally given her the chance to breathe. "I have something I wanted to show you." He nuzzled her forehead, her wet bangs clinging to his nose.

"Anything."

"Come with me."