The Huntress

Black for the Devil... or is it an angel?

"Yeah, you try that." He teased between laughter. Alison took a step towards him and he quickly sprung to his feet, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm going! I'm going!" He said with a chuckle before retreating out of the kitchen. She could hear him laughing as he made his way up the stairs.

Once she was sure that he was gone she smiled and shook her head. Her back was throbbing slightly where the projectile fruit had hit but it wasn't serious. She would never admit it, but it was things like that that made her feel at home among this family. She continued to make her breakfast with a smile upon her face.

"I believe you may be wanting this," A soothing voice called out making Alison jump in surprise. She hadn't heard anyone else enter the kitchen, but then why would she? She turned round and smiled at Maxwell who was standing before her with a grin, holding a spare jumper in his hands.

"Thank you," Alison said quietly, breaching the gap and taking it off of him. She'd just about finished tugging it over her head when his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him in a hug. She smiled and rested her head against his chest. "I heard you yesterday... I won't ask why and I won't tell anyone else, but I wanted to tell you that you're not alone." He whispered into her ear softly causing her to freeze in shock. He had heard her crying? If he had heard her then the others might have and she didn't want to have to explain to them all why. She pulled back from the hug and looked up into his green eyes with worry. "You won't tell them?" She asked, wanting to make sure that she was safe.

"I promise," he said, kissing her forehead gently. Maxwell pulled out of the hug as the others made their way into the kitchen. Alison resumed her seat at the table in order to finish her breakfast as the others lined up for their injection. She relished the look of discomfort on Phillip's face. Payback was sweet.

Charles looked up from preparing the serum to glance over at Alison. His face changed from serious into a smile when he saw the look on her face. "Right, who did something to Alison?" He demanded, turning to face his children whilst holding the needle up high in a threatening way. 

"Whatever it was. It wasn't me!" Amy declared rather quickly, smiling mischievously which only made her look guilty even though she wasn't. She had a thing about provoking and teasing. Claiming that it made her day much more fun. Alison rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut, curious as to whether Phillip would own up. 

"Why do you think one of us has done something?" Phillip asked whilst his voice was surprisingly controlled. If Alison hadn't know that he was the one to throw the fruit at her she wouldn't be able to tell from his speech. He showed no signs of guilt or weakness, he was causally formidable. 

"Maybe because she looks far to satisfied about you three getting injected for something to not have happened... obviously this," He waved the needle round causally, "is a good enough form of payback for her. So, what did you do? And who did it?" Charles responded, looking almost fed up with the questioning but Ali knew he was only asking to make sure that she was alright. Although she didn't see why that was needed, she was quite clearly both unharmed and content, well except from the possible bruise on her back but that was inconsequential. 

Charles stared at the three of them for a moment longer, waiting for someone to obviously avoid his eyes. If they looked into them directly then they would automatically give themselves up. Thus, whoever avoided his gaze would be the culprit. 

The silent tension in the kitchen grew and was left stagnant, hanging in the centre of the room like a bad odour for a while longer. No one saying a word, the only sound being Alison's shallow breaths. Eventually the ball of tension had swollen to such a size that it was unbearable yet the silence could not have extended for longer than a minute or two.