Enchantress (Rewritten)

How Long

 I've never wanted to rip off my scar more than this moment.

 It itched uncontrollably, burning with pain, anger, frustration and every other emotion I was hurdling towards Chase. 

I pressed my hand to it, the skin around the scar was enflamed and red. Heat was radiating from it, warming my insides with conflicting thoughts and feelings. I leaned my back against the couch, my body still weak from exhausting all my energy beforehand. Xavier was gone and there was an uncomfortable silence in the room. 

Chase had blood dripping down his stupid face and he was giving me this stupid look like he was waiting for me to say something to him. Why should I be the one to break the silence?  

In defiance, I sat with my arms crossed in my lap and stared upwards at the ceiling trying to make sense of everything Xavier had said and trying to process whether any of it was true. 

Does Chase actually have feelings for me? Has he been acting this way so that he can protect me, or is this just another trick? Does he really love me, or is does he only love me because that's what the Elders want? What's real and what's fake? What's coming from the Elders and what's coming from the heart?

My scar began to hurt more and more with these thoughts racing through my mind.

"Cut it out." Chase finally muttered, reaching his hand underneath his shirt to scratch at his scar. 

"Oh I'm sorry," I rolled my eyes at him, my voice dripping with false-sincerity. "is your scar bothering you?" 

 "Yes." Chase said through his gritted teeth. "In fact, it's not just bothering me, it's infuriating me." 

"Infuriating?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction. "I didn't know you knew words that big." Chase rolled his eyes at me, huffing out an angry breath of air. "What are you going to do about it, Chase?" I challenged him. "Beat the crap out of me like you just did to Xavier?" I've never been more powerless, but I couldn't keep the words from spilling out of my mouth. I wanted to make him angry. I wanted Chase to yell at me. I wanted nothing more than for it to be easy to hate him. 

Chase said nothing. He continued to sit in silence, letting me say these things to him. I could tell his scar was hurting--mine was too--but he kept his lips sealed shut and so I continued to berate him. "Aren't you going to say something?" I asked. "Aren't you going to try and deny all those things Xavier said about you? About me?" My breath caught in my throat and my voice started to break. Chase stared directly in my eyes, revealing something deeper underneath. "Say something." I demanded, gritting my teeth together. "Goddamn it, say something!" I yelled, suddenly causing a surge of power to rush through my fingertips. The energy released from my body was unplanned and chaotic, causing the lights in the room to flicker on and off with incredible speed. I sucked in a deep breath of air, realizing that Chase wasn't going to answer and the lights returned back to normal. The pain in my scar receded. My breathing rate regulated itself to a normal pattern. My hands twitched at my sides so I placed them into my lap. "I need you right now." I said quietly, still staring at my hands. "I hate to admit it, but I need you. I feel like my entire world is falling apart. You and Xavier never seem to stop fighting, the Elders have taken one of my friends captive, there's a rogue Alpha on the lose turning teenagers into Lawless, and now I'm supposed to decide whether or not I'm going to leave with Jacob or run the risk of becoming some sort of freak experiment!" My face must've been bright red by the time I finished my rant. The room settled back into an uncomfortable silence, but I no longer felt like I needed to fill it. I had said everything I wanted to say. 

"I'm sorry." Chase finally spoke. The suddenness of his voice caused me to jump in my seat. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "I'm sorry for letting it get to this point. It's my job as your Protector to keep you from feeling this way and--" 

"You were my friend before you were my Protector." I cut Chase off before he could finish his sentence. "Can't things just go back to that? When we were friends and I could talk to you without you constantly yelling and belittling me?" I could feel water building up behind my eyes but I didn't care to stop it. "You have no idea how much I miss the person you used to be."

"I wish I could be that person for you, Val." Chase said softly. "I wish this Enchantress stuff never existed. I wish that your parents were still alive. I wish you never had to deal with any of this." 

"Then stop being such a jerk!" I couldn't help but laugh a little at the words coming out of my mouth. 

"I didn't mean those things I said to Xavier." Chase admitted. "That's not exactly true...I did mean some of those things, but I only said what I did because I'm afraid of repeating his mistakes." He inhaled deeply, and suddenly I realized that I was holding my breath. Chase's mouth was pursed open as he pondered over his words. "I-I-I-"Chase stuttered back and forth, unable to form the sentence in his mouth. 

My scar began to glow as a swarm of emotions began to build up within me. Did Chase love me? Did I love him back? Of course I did why was I even questioning that? Isn't that why my scar was glowing? Isn't that why it hurt me so much--physically and emotionally--to hurl anything negative towards him? My heart pounded so hard in my chest I thought it might burst from chest. How long had I loved Chase? How long had I been trying to deny that to myself?

"Why is it doing that?" Chase narrowed his eyes at my scar, forgetting about the words he was going to say--and the words I was hoping he'd say. The glow emitting from my scar receded back to normal. He stood up from his chair and nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "Jennifer was really nervous about you. I should leave so you two can talk a few things over." He spat the words out of his mouth so fast that he barely took the time to breathe. 

I didn't know what to say. The warmth that had been emitting from my scar just moments ago was gone and replaced by a cold emptiness. How could I be so naive to think that Chase actually loved me back? 

"Oh. Ok." I nodded, trying to regain my composure. 

Chase managed to avoid eye contact with me when he left.