"Guys! He's awake!"

Is that Jerome? Mitch thought, letting out a groan. He could feel a bed underneath him, and a pillow smothering him underneath his face. He tried to turn onto his side, but he was met with a striking pain in his back and his wings. He let out a cry of pain, shutting his eyes even tighter. He felt someone pull him back onto his stomach again, and he heard a reassuring voice from behind him.

"Try not to move Mitch," he heard Jason say, with a tone of worry in his voice. "You'll just hurt yourself even more. Just relax..."

Mitch took a deep breath, before letting himself lay still again as he felt someone grab his hand. Jason's right Mitch, you just have to stay still, Mitch thought to himself, You're not in the storm anymore, you're all good...

...WAIT.

Mitch's eyes flew open, and he felt his heart skip a beat as his gaze wandered around the room. He could see both Jerome and Ian kneeling down beside the side of the bed, directly in front of where Mitch was facing. Jerome had tears rolling down his cheeks, and was clutching Mitch's limp hand tightly with both of his own.

Ian was giving Mitch a reassuring half-smile, and Mitch let out an inaudible gasp at the sight of blood soaking Ian's arms and chest. Both of them were soaking wet, though Mitch felt that "bone-soakingly drenched" would be better to describe Ian, whose soaked clothes and hair were dripping water onto the carpet.

Standing behind them was Jason, who was holding bandages and a small bottle of peroxide in his arms. He was wet as well, but not nearly as much as Ian or Jerome. He was looking at Mitch with an unreadable expression, a concerned frown on his face.

Mitch felt his breath hitch as he felt a sick feeling in his stomach as the realization came over him.

He knows...!

Mitch let out a gasp of confusion as he pushed himself up, and he jumped into a kneeling position on the bed as his wings instinctively flared up behind him. He yelled as he felt a shock of pain in one of his wings when he moved, while the other was flapping in a wild panic behind him.

"Mitch! Mitch calm down, it's all right!" Ian yelled, a worried expression on his face, and on Jason and Jerome's faces.

I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, I CAN'T DO THIS, NOT YET! I'M NOT READY!

Mitch, who had a flurry of thoughts running through his head, roared in pain and confusion before he spread his least injured wing and used all of his little remaining strength to launch himself off of the bed, the combination of his angel strength and his light weight allowing him to easily reach the open door with the single stride. Mitch promptly landed right in front of the door, and his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of Quentin, Ty, and Adam watching Mitch with wide eyes.

Mitch froze up for a moment, before he noticed Ian getting up and returning Mitch's frenzied and confused glare with one of worry. Mitch saw Ian take a step toward him, and that was all it took for Mitch to sprint out of the door.

Mitch ignored Ian and Jerome's calls for him as he ran up the stairs and toward his bedroom, ignoring the tears in his eyes and the pain in his back as he ran into his room, quickly slamming the door shut behind him. Mitch stood there for a moment before he was once again aware of the pain in his body, and he staggered over to his bed, sitting on the edge of it.

They know... they all know.... Mitch thought to himself as he felt himself begin to hyperventilate. Mitch looked at his door, seeing splatters of blood staining the carpet from the door to where Mitch was sitting. He noticed that some of his feathers were on the ground as well, a few of them with spots of blood staining them by the trail of blood.

Mitch shivered as he let his non-broken wing cover him like a cocoon, even if he couldn't move the other one, he at least felt sort of protected with only half of his "shield". Mitch sat like that for a moment as he let the tears fall down his face.

There was a sudden knock at Mitch's door, and he flinched, not wanting to talk to anybody, not wanting to face whatever came next. Mitch didn't respond to the knock, instead trying to calm his nerves and stop hyperventilating. Mitch also remained silent when he heard his door open, and when he heard two pairs of footsteps enter the room, the door clicking shut softly behind them.

"Mitch?" He heard Ian ask in a quiet voice. Mitch replied with an involuntary whimper, not moving his wing, which was the last thing separating Mitch from Ian and whoever had walked in with him.

"Mitch, please talk to me..." Ian said with both a calm tone in his voice.

Mitch didn't dare move when he felt Ian gently grab the edge of Mitch's wing and pull it away from his face. Mitch looked at Ian's smiling face through teary eyes, and before Ian could react, Mitch jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Ian's neck, burying his face in Ian's shoulder as he let his tears loose. Ian raised one hand and softly stroked Mitch's singed wing, not seeming to know how to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry," Mitch said weakly, "I shouldn't have flown tonight, I shouldn't have, I screwed everything up, they all know..."

"It's okay, just calm down dude." Ian said softly, no tone of anger or hostility in his voice.

"You know," a voice said from behind Ian, "I don't think friends are supposed to hug so lovingly like that."

Mitch gasped, pushing himself off of Ian, wiping any remaining tears from his eyes. Standing behind Ian was Jason, who had a frown on his face as he watched the two. "Jason?" Mitch asked, the weak tone in his voice fading as he continued. "You're not...?"

"Not what? Not confused? Not inwardly freaking about this all? Not questioning my sanity and wondering if this is some crazy dream? Not crazy worried about you? Because if so, I can one-hundred percent confirm that I am doing all of those things!" Jason snapped, followed by him making a frustrated groan.

"Okay, first of all, that was not a 'loving' hug," Ian said, making air quotations with his fingers, "It was comforting. Secondly, how about you slow your roll Jason! Mitch didn't do anything wrong!"

"Nothing wrong?" Jason echoed, anger creeping into his voice as his eyes narrowed. "How can you say that?!? You two have been making me, and everyone else in this house, worried sick! You would be worried too, if one of your best friends became secluded and quiet, and acting like we're all freaking strangers to him! But then, again, I guess you wouldn't, since obviously Mitch trusts you and Jerome more than the rest of us!"

Mitch flinched, never seeing such hostility from his usually calm and quiet friend. Has he been holding in all of this anger all of this time...? Mitch was about to reply when he was cut off by Ian, who was looking at Jason with a furious light in his eyes.

"You have no justification saying that Jason, you don't even know what Mitch has been through! You don't have even a sliver of an idea what Mitch is feeling, or what he thinks about this whole situation! Hell, I don't even completely know! He has been thinking about telling you guys ever since he got those wings! So how about you stop being so goddamn insensitive?!?!?"

Jason's eyes widened in disbelief, growling as he clenched his fists. "How can you call me insensitive when you three have been hiding things from me and the others like we wouldn't notice, even when you knew that we were suspecting something. Well despite what you think, I am not an idiot, and I knew that you guys were hiding something! You guys probably knew I did too! So you can call me insensitive when you guys are completely ignoring what we might thinking and feeling, and instead just... assuming?!?!? If you didn't want me to be even more suspicious, then maybe Mitch shouldn't have talked to me about Weiss like she is an old friend of his when she has been dead for four years. "

"Don't act like you wouldn't do the same thing in his situation Jason!" Ian yelled back, his fists clenched as well. Mitch was silent looking at his two friends with a shocked expression. He had never seen the two so angry before. Ian's deep blue eyes were filled with anger as he stared into Jason's icy blue eyes, which were burning with pure emotion. Both Ian and Jason were breathing heavily, and Jason looked like he was about to attack his friend, his eyes narrowed as he kept his gaze. They were both acting like Mitch wasn't even in the room.

"You are so clueless Jason, and I'm not saying it's your fault, but you don't need to be so... angry about it! You have no right to be!" Ian continued, his eyes narrowing as well. "You have no idea about why Mitch knows Weiss do you?!?!? You weren't there when he got hit by that truck! Only I was! Only Jerome and I saw Weiss across the street after Mitch pushed her out of harm's way! You didn't! It's about time you put aside that damn pride of yours and just realize that you didn't know your old 'best friend' as much as you thought Jason! In fact, if Weiss' ghost hadn't have been there looking for you, none of this wouldn't have happened! In a way, this is her fault!!!"

A heavy silence filled the room as Ian and Jason held each other's gaze, a look of rage and disbelief in Jason's expression. Mitch looked between them both silently, his mouth agape. He knew Ian had gone too far involving Weiss like that, even if Jason had went a bit too far as well. Mitch didn't know who to side with.

Jason growled, narrowing his eyes. "Take that back."

Ian clenched his fists, a look of spite in his eyes. "This is all her fault."

That did it.

Mitch didn't have time to react before Jason roared in anger, and swung his clenched fist at Ian, his punch making contact with Ian's nose as a loud cracking sound entered the air. Ian fell against the bed as his head jerked to the side, a few droplets of blood flying into the air as Ian covered his nose with his hand, bits of blood oozing out from in between his fingers. Mitch jumped up and kneeled by Ian, who had moved his hand away from his face, his nose crooked and red as blood streamed out of it.

Mitch turned to Jason, whose right hand had blood smeared by his knuckles. Jason's eyes were wide, and there were tears streaking down his cheeks as he clenched his teeth, a look of disbelief and pure sadness on his face. Mitch was going to say something, but by the time his mouth had opened, Jason had run out of the room.