*One shots

Why Can't I....With You?

Mare gasps. All these months, and her best friend doesn't know, he's still looking for her?

Harsh laughter interrupts her train of thought. "You really think that I have a chance? Don't come at me with your romantic crap, I don't think I'll fall in love, thank you very much." More incoherent noises. "Fine. But if you ask me, Mare should be your best man, and not dead." With that, he hangs up and turns toward her direction.

...

Cal was getting sick of it, but his best friend's sake, he put up with Kilorn's nagging to find Mare.

After he hung up, he turned to look at the girl cleaning his house. Truth be told, he wanted nothing more than to kill the little germ that dared to steal from his pocket. But something about what she said made him feel a sliver of sympathy for the girl. It quickly vanished when she escaped from his grasp.

To prove to himself it was a weakness to pity the struggling, he set out to murder her.

That, and the fact that Ptolemus said she witnessed him murder a helpless soul.

But when he caught up to her, her eyes.....so dull and lifeless, her body weak and her face puffy from crying, he struggled to pull the trigger.

So instead of ending her life, he pulled her into his car and kept her in his studio.

For days, he wished he could just take out the pistol and put a bullet through her head, but she reminded him of—Mavey.

Not a day went by with Cal forgetting the reason for being who he was now. Especially with the tiny being in his apartment, she looked just like Mavey was when he died.

In a way, Cal thought that keeping her alive (as sickly as he thought of it) was the best way to keep his little brother at rest.

But other than that, he said practically nothing to her. Only watched as she methodically washed the counters with a fuzzy feeling in his heart.

...

Mare appeared calm, but she was screaming internally.

What does he want with me? Why is he looking at me like that? Did he lose patience and wants to kill me now?

Scratch the last part. She wouldn't mind if he put an end to her life.

"You said you know a lot of people?"

Mare, out of curiosity and respect for the assassin, merely nodded her head.

"Do you happen to know a Mare Barrow?"

...

Cal watched the girl in expectancy. He faintly remembered her raving about knowing many people while he drove to his apartment holding a gun to her head.

Going back to the present, the girl nodded her head.

"Do you know where I can find her? I have a client that wants to do away with her."

The girl's body was shaking. She spoke timidly, "If you do away with her, who will keep the studio clean?"

Confusion clouded his face. Could she be...

"Mare?"

The girl—Mare, lowered her head. "Just do it," she whispered.

It seemed as if she didn't care anymore. She watched as Cal sighed and ran a hand down his face before speaking again. "But you can't, can you? The only thing keeping me alive is the fact that Maven—"

He pounced on her, holding her wrists above her head. "If you want to live, you wouldn't dare let his name escape your lips again," Cal seethed.

He watched as she gazed at him with those sad, dull brown eyes, then boldly whispered, "Maven."