(A/N - rated C for the trigger warnings in the second half of the chapter)

Three days passed. The longer we waited, the longer I knew Gus had to endure their torture because of me. Still, Eoin was right. My last plan was the reason he got caught. I was determined this time to have a good plan, a plan people would willingly follow. There was only one problem.

I was very distracted.

Braken wouldn't leave me alone. He always wanted to show me something, some scene he'd created with Gus's bear, some new trick he'd done with his skirt, some knick knack he'd found in the gutter - literally anything was good enough to show me. The first few times it happened, I humored him and let him show me whatever exciting thing it was this time, but after three days of constant pestering, I had had enough. It was driving me crazy.

"Braken, please, leave me alone for a minute, will you?" I snapped, unable to hold back. I was on the edge of something great, and I wasn't about to lose it now.

He flinched backward and immediately dropped his eyes, his hands quickly resting against his chest. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but of course, nothing came out but a tiny squeak. He moved to take my hand to write something, but I jerked away from his grip.

"No, Braken. I'm trying to figure this out, and you keep getting in the way!"

He flinched again at my anger, ducking his head and quickly apologizing, over and over. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I watched as his eyes filled with tears and he quickly tried to hide them, to no avail. He cringed as he glanced at me, and furiously rubbed his eyes with his hoodie sleeve, trying to hide his frustration.

"Braken ..." I said, my voice trailing off. I hated seeing him cry. He looked so small and helpless when he did. "Braken, I'm sorry." I reached my hand out, but he slapped me hard and I yelped in pain. "I didn't mean to sound like that," I said. "Do you need something?"

He signed something angrily and turned away from me, then paused and realized I didn't understand. He grabbed my wrist with surprising strength and forcefully wrote.

HAD A IDEA.

"You did? What is it?"

He shook his head, his mess of brown and blue hair covering his face.

"You're very stubborn, you know that?" I grumbled, and he stuck his tongue out at me. "And extremely immature," I added.

He just huffed and spun around, his skirt twirling almost dramatically.

"Sorry," I called after him, but he didn't look back.

Great. Now I had both of my Gifted friends mad at me. And Aaron was mad, too, especially once I'd told him I wanted to have everyone fight in some revolution to destroy the games. I shook my head. I couldn't let that stop me now. If I came up with a good enough plan, they'd be willing to join me, anyway.

We had to take it slow, first. Small, little things that wouldn't put anyone in immediate danger. But then it might take too long to get started, and Gus could be dead before we got to him.

We'd have to do something big, then, but still keep most of us out of danger. Something big. But what?

We couldn't flat out attack. That'd get us all killed or captured in no time. We could try a massive break out - destroy a wall in the back and get everyone out. But the close quarters would be a disadvantage for both sides, and since we were on enemy territory, that could make it worse for us.

I didn't want to hurt anyone. That was my problem. I never thought that'd be a problem. But I knew that none of these guys would want to fight if the risk was too great. They were perfectly comfortable living here.

What did the Enforcers rely on most? The Unnaturals' powers and the crowds' enthusiasm. I couldn't easily get rid of those.

So what did Refuge rely on? If I could convince them that the Enforcers were going to take it away, maybe they'd be willing. They relied mostly on each other. They were convinced that their security was impenetrable. It probably was - I couldn't hear or see Refuge at all outside of the camp, and I couldn't walk through the wall without a Gifted there to help me through. None of the Enforcers were Gifteds.

A strange, kind of terrifying thought entered my head. I could pretend one of them was kidnapped - lock them up somewhere for a couple days, get the others riled up, and then let the "kidnapped" go, and we'd all attack.

I blinked in surprise. That was a horrible idea. It made a little sense, but I wouldn't put anyone through that.

"That was weird," Aaron said from where he was sitting across the alley, writing in a notebook.

"What?" I asked.

"You're brighter than normal. And just a minute ago, you got really bright, but then went back down. What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I said quickly.

He gave me an odd look. "Okay," he said slowly. "You got a good plan, yet?"

"No, not yet." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I don't want to hurt anyone more than we have to. That's why I'm not getting anywhere."

"I think Brendan is playing something over in the corner. Maybe listening to some music will help clear your mind."

"Sure, whatever," I muttered, climbing to my feet. Music actually sounded quite nice right now. I wanted to hear Leo's voice again, but I knew he'd never sing for me.

Brendan, the blond with the guitar, was drumming on an odd assortment of objects when I found him in the corner, the "studio," he called it. There was another guy with him, humming some song. He wrote something down, and Brendan read it quickly, smiling. "Oh, yeah," he said. "That's way better than what I had. Fits the mood better."

The second one looked up as I approached. "Hey, it's the infamous Rogue. What's up?"

The infamous Rogue. "Just thinking," I said. "Aaron said there'd be some music back here."

Brendan thought for a moment. "Alright, Jonny. I think we can play him a rough draft."

"Only if it's okay with you," the other guy, Jonny, said. "I mean, it's your soul in the words, not mine."

"You don't have to play if it's too personal," I started.

"That's okay." Brendan shrugged and picked up his guitar, strumming a few chords. "It's not finished, anyway."

I leaned against the wall, relaxing a bit, and he started to play. Jonny tapped on the various objects around Brendan, taking over his drumming. It wasn't as elaborate as Brendan's, but it still kept time.

"Fourteen more hours away,
You thought I wasted the day.
I try to just get by, but I can't hide what's right in front of me.

High tide, got nothing to say.
Might drown, but I'll show up anyway.
I can't stay away."

The more Brendan played, the more he got lost in the music. His whole body moved with the beat, he had his eyes closed, and his smile widened as he got further into the song. I could hear the emotion in his words, leaving me to wonder what inspired a song like this.

"No matter how far I go,
It moves around me.
I found my place in the world,
Tell me you found me."

He suddenly paused and opened his eyes, glancing at the notebook Jonny had written in. "What's the next verse?"

"The one you changed like eight times," Jonny said.

"That's why I can't remember it, genius." Brendan chuckled and reached for the notebook.

"I really like it," I said, smiling.

"Thanks," they said at the same time.

"Someday, I'm gonna get a real studio," Brendan said, leaning back on the wall. "Then I'll record myself drumming and playing and singing and then Jon will help me get the cool sounds, the other stuff." He sighed softly. "I can't wait."

"And we'll have a cool alias, too," Jonny added. "I'll be Foria. He'll be Puppet."

"Why Puppet?" I asked.

"Long story," Brendan answered softly.

"Oh." I looked up at the cloudy sky and sighed, my mind drawn back to the problem at hand. I needed a plan. "Thanks for letting me listen," I said.

"No problem," Brendan said with a slight smile. "Glad you liked it."

Then I heard a massive crash and an all-too-familiar cry of despair. All three of us quickly looked over to a dark apartment, a few stories up, I could see a shadow run across the room through the screen door.

"What was that?" Jon asked.

"Braken," I muttered. "I gotta go. Thanks again."

Without waiting for a response, I ran toward the building and scaled the rickety ladder to the balcony. The room was very dark. I pulled the screen door open and waited a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then caught my breath as my gaze found a trail of blood on the floor. My eyes followed the trail up to the kitchen table where I noticed two people.

As my eyes adjusted more clearly, I noticed that Leo was slumped over, face down on the table, with his arms out and his palms up, and Braken was sitting next to him with a box of bandaids, gently putting them on his friend's wrists.

"Leo, what ..." I trailed off as I watched his shoulders tense up at the sound of my voice. I moved a little closer and caught my breath again.

Both of his wrists had jagged slashes more than half way up his arms. Most of them were bleeding, and a few were practically gushing. There was a small pocket knife on the floor, near the couch, and it was covered in blood.

"Leo, why ..." I swallowed hard. "Why did you do this?"

His voice was hard and broken when he spoke, muffled slightly as he kept his face against the table. "Get out, Joel."

"I just want to help," I said gently.

Braken put another bandaid over a few of the cuts, and Leo's fists clenched in pain. "I said, get out. I don't want to hear it."

"Leo -"

"Don't you Leo me." He shoved Braken out of the way and stood up, the fire in his eyes burning through me. "I've tried to let you help me. I've tried to be what you want me to be. But you're not helping. You're so quick to tell me everything I'm doing wrong, everything I can't do. All you do is sit there and make me feel like garbage. You're not helping. You never have and you never will."

"Leo, please, listen -" I said desperately.

"No, you listen to me." He took a step closer, and I stumbled back. "You shut up and listen to me for once in your life! How many times do I have to tell you? You have no idea what it feels like to be me! You keep trying to tell me that it'll be okay, that I'll get over it. Well, guess what, Joel? I'm not going to get over it. With your help, I'm not getting anywhere in life. You promised you'd be there, you promised you cared about me, but you lied. You don't care. All I am is some stupid game piece to fight for your enjoyment. All I am is some raw power for your own use. I'm not even a human being, am I? I never have been. You've been telling us that we are, but you don't believe it. You're a lying hypocrite, just like everyone else. Now get out and LEAVE ME ALONE!"

And then he just stood there, breathing hard, tears falling down his face and blood dripping onto the floor. I stared back at him, completely terrified. He was driving himself crazy, and nothing I could do would bring him back.

"If you keep doing this, you're going to kill yourself," I whispered.

"Maybe I should," he said, his voice cracking. "You wouldn't miss me, would you? You'd probably be glad I was gone, so you didn't have to worry about keeping me calm and contained. None of you would miss me." Braken touched his arm, but he slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me, Braken. You don't know what it's like, either. You'll just replace me, just like you replaced your mother."

Braken staggered back as if he'd been slapped in the face. He started to cry almost instantly, and tried to grab his friend in a hug, but Leo gave him a rough shove that sent him falling to the floor. The silent Gifted scrambled to his feet and ran to me, throwing his arms around me and crying into my shoulder.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Leo's voice was as hard as steel. "Look, you just did it. You just replaced me by running to that son of a -"

"I'd miss you," a soft, unfamiliar voice said behind me.

Leo's pale face went almost completely white. "S-Sky. What are you doing here?"

"I'd miss you," he repeated, entering the room almost hesitantly. His eyes stayed locked on the trail of blood, but he slowly made his way over to Leo. "I know we just met a few days ago, but ..." He looked up, and then ran to last few steps to his friend. Leo flinched backward, but Sky gathered him up in his arms and held him tightly. "I'd miss you," he whispered.

They stayed locked in their embrace for a quiet moment. "I'm sorry," Leo finally said, his voice cracking again.

"Don't leave me, okay?" Sky said. "Promise me you won't leave me."

"I promise."