Afraid
Tate grabbed Mac's shoulder and turned him around. Like a werewolf transforming under a full moon, a worrisome alternate version of the boy he once knew growled and blinked his reddened eyes slowly, diverting the attention that would normally have focused on the black circles on his skin.
"We have to ta-"
"I have nothing to say," Mac interrupted.
He made an attempt to break away but Tate stopped him, clutching his strong hands onto his worn out shirt instead.
"Well I do."
Tate looked both ways to see if someone was coming, fortunately Cassie was stuck talking with Lauren inside the studio with the rest of the band and with Jon.
"And I won't let you leave until you tell me what is going on," he added, using a quieter voice to tone down the situation.
"There is nothing going on."
Mac ignored Tate's low voice and proceeded to talk normally, even a little bit louder to annoy Tate. Then, he ruffled his hair like a little whimsical kid would do after a scuffle on a playground.
"Oh yes! Nothing...yeah, I'm sure nothing is happening. Okay, I must be out of my mind then," Tate replied sarcastically.
"Everything you do is a lie, Tate. You are so full of it... you are so full of yourself."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing Tate...nothing."
"Stop saying that!"
Tate pushed him back trying to make him snap out of the annoying attitude stance he was taking. Mac's back hit the wall, transforming his face into a grimace of pain. Tate looked at his hands and put them into his jeans' pockets, afraid he might hurt his friend even more.
"Stop lying!"
"I have never lied to you."
Tate looked down again, realizing that was he'd just said wasn't true.
Mac crossed his arms on his chest and lowered his head to catch Tate's attention.
"Is that so...Icarus?"
Tate glared at him. He was speechless, how could he know? How did he find out? He took a step back, not knowing if he actually heard Mac right. His heart skipped a beat as fear took control of his body. Mac on the other hand, frowned. Tate's stunned reaction confirmed what Pete had revealed about him.
Tate was still in shock when he tried to reply, but he heard steps coming closer along with laughter after someone told a joke.
"Well," Philip placed an arm around Cassie's shoulders, "It wouldn't have been possible without our dancer!"
"Stop flirting with Tate's girl, dude."
Cassie laughed as Lip turned red before replying, "Can't you see, she's is not my type."
"Stop talking as if I weren't here, guys," Cassie said smiling.
"Oh, sorry, we didn't see you from up here."
"I thought jokes about my height were a thing of the..." Cassie looked at Tate and suddenly knew that something was wrong. His eyes were filled with terror as if he had seen a monster, making her hair stand up on the back of her neck. "...past."
Cassie and Tate locked looks as the world around them kept spinning. For that moment, they were both hypnotized by the other's silence, by the unsaid words pouring out of each other's eyes.
They all went walking down the hall to the studio entrance. Jon was in a hurry to leave because he had another video shoot. He waved goodbye with a smile and left them in the street.
"So where are you going now? Do you have rehearsal?"
"No, I have plans with Sam" said Chester. "See you later, folks!"
"Who the hell is Sam?" asked Lip, but as soon as Chester started walking he added, "okay, I don't care."
"Well, Mac, Tate, Cassie, Lauren...are we going to do something?" asked Lip.
"I have art class in about an hour, I have to leave like..." she looked down at her wrist as if she were wearing a watch, "right now."
Lauren kissed everyone on the cheek and left, happily prancing along as if she was a princess running through a magic forest.
"Mac?" the boy asked, hopeful he wouldn't be alone for the rest of the day.
"I have to go," Mac replied as if nothing had happened earlier. He turned around and left without a single word.
"So who's left?" Lip looked around, "Cassie...Tate...oh god," and thought to himself, I'm not going to be a third wheel.
Cassie and Tate both looked at Lip at the same time, but Cassie was the first to reply, "You can come if you want."
"Ah...no thanks, I'll get some ice cream on my own."
He hugged Cassie first. "Goodbye, blondie." Then he walked towards Tate to say something, but Tate wasn't looking at him so he whispered to Cassie, "Take care of him."
"I will."
She smiled and watched the blue-haired boy walk down the street. When she turned around, Tate was sitting on the door steps of Jon's studio, with both hands in fists covering his mouth.
"Hey you, sad boy," she said while perched on the floor next to him, "is everything alright?"
"He knows everything." Tate said, looking straight into her eyes. Her smile vanished when she realized what he was talking about.
"About...you?" Tate nodded, "how?"
"I--I don't know."
It was the first time Cassie saw Tate so afraid and confused. She held back her urge to hug him thinking Tate wouldn't like her treating him as if he were weak.
"So what are we going to do? I mean, do you understand the danger the mission is in if..."
"But you are not in charge of the mission anymore," Tate strongly reminded, then stood up.
"But I have to pretend I am, Tate," she said, standing up next to him, for a second thinking it was an act of defiance on his part. "The Guardians still don't know that I give up on it."
Tate sighed but still looked worried, "what will happen when they find out?"
"The deal is if I don't fulfill the mission it will be assigned to another guardian apprentice... I have no idea what would happen to me, though."
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Of what would happen?"
"If you die."
"Well, I've died before... the human part of me died when I became immortal a few weeks ago and it was...peaceful. So no, I'm not afraid. Plus, we don't know if I'd actually die on your birthday since I am immortal...there is a chance that I might survi-"
"Forget about it," Tate interrupted.
"Well...I can hope, can't I?"
"You can't base hope on a fairytale, Cassie, you know that surviving is impossible, right?"
Cassie frowned, she didn't understand why he was being so negative when only an hour ago they were both practically falling into each other's arms. It was clear that Mac knowing took him down.
She breathed deeply and straightened her back, "I know and I accept the future the Aesterdis give me... don't make me regret the choice that might bring me my death. I'm choosing you."
"Why?" Tate asked, unable to wrap his head around the whole nightmare. After all that Cassie went through to fight for her own destiny, she was risking it all by choosing to stay with him.
She shrugged.
"I guess I...it's just...I don't know, Tate, because... we are kind of together now?"
Tate didn't want to talk about it any more, so he changed the subject, "What will we do with Mac?"
Cassie looked down, hoping to see an answer in the tiles of the street. Suddenly, she got an idea.
"Maybe... I think there is a way... we can erase his mind..."
"Wait, what?" Tate looked at her, puzzled.
"Guardians, I mean, they can do anything, right?"
"...Right...," he replied, narrowing his eyes.
"Maybe they can move a few stars here and there and remove the last hours from the Aesterdis."
"Now you're talking crazy."
He shook his head from side to side, not believing the insane proposition he'd just heard.
"I would say risky but if we ask..."
"Okay," he took Cassie by her shoulders and boldly articulated every word he was about to speak, "there are two problems with your plan. First, Guardians wouldn't accept your request. Touching the Aesterdis is prohibited, and second, the Guardians would then proceed to tie me up in a chair and shoot me way more than four times."
"Still mad about that time I shot you, huh?"
"Kinda."
"Sorry."
"Regardless, there is no possible way to get past security at the Guardian's residence."
"I like challenges."
"If the guardians find out you did something they'll punish you, and gods know what will they do to you! And you don't even know how to manipulate the Aesterdis thing!"
"Yes I do, I learnt about it from Piero."
"Cassie, look, you can upset lots of things and people with even a small change in the Aesterdis."
"Then I'll make it worth it, the Aesterdis is not an object, it is alive and has the power to change both the past and future."
"But it can't change our destiny though," Tate said with a hint of bitterness.
"I'm going through with it."
"Why are you so stubborn?!" Tate shouted.
"Why do you want to stop me?!" Cassie replied with the same intensity.
"Because I don't want you to get hurt!"
Cassie opened her mouth, but no comeback. In a single sentence Tate had just demonstrated how much he cared for her. Maybe it wasn't that much but it was enough to make Cassie think twice about what she was going to do.
"I am going to do it," she said with finality.
"Cassie...no."
"Cassie...yes. I don't care what you think."
Tate sat down again, defeated. "I can see you're not going to listen to me...but I want to let you know I don't feel at all good about what you are about to do."
"Noted," Cassie nodded, "Now, will you let me go?"
"Now...already?"
"What do you think?! Every second counts!"
Cassie quoted what he said earlier that day and took off running down the street.
Tate smiled to himself, remembering she was taunting him with his own words, and shook his head slowly, covering his mouth while he watched her disappear into the void of her destiny.
When she was completely out of sight he sighed. "God...why do I like her so much?"