"Mind control?"

Emmery turned to face me. Her eyes had the black to them again. She smirked.

My eyes widened. Mind control? That was impossible! But what other reason could it be? And, after all, we were dealing with the Butterfly, who had the ability to disappear into thin air...

I watched Emmery carefully. She stood where she was, staring me down.

How could I pull her out of it? How did she get out before? Could I talk her out of it?

"Hey, Willow," I started, taking small steps closer to her. "Your under a mind control... wake up."

She didn't respond at all. She just kept giving me an emotionless look. I frowned.

"What do you want to do?"

"Kill you," she responded softly, her face emotionless.

"So you want to be a murderer, then?" Matt called, staggering towards us.

"You shouldn't walk," I warned him.

"I'll be fine," he responded simply.

Emmery's eyes slid to Matt for a split second, but they quickly returned to me. I scowled slightly.

"Snap out of it Emmery! You were just fine! What's wrong now?" I demanded, nearly shouted.

Emmery stayed quiet, staring at me.

I scowled in frustration. "Okay. If we can't wake you up by talking, I'm afraid we'll have to resort to some violence."

Matt looked at me in shock. "What?"

I gave him a flat look. "It's the only thing we can do..."

"But," Matt started, but I shook my head.

"I'll go easy on her," I told him.

Before I knew what was happening, Emmery was at Matt, slicing the knife down. Matt cried out, the knife slicing his arm. I opened my mouth to yell at her, when Matt's fist went flying into her face, making her fall back a few steps.

"Matt!"

"I thought you said we could resort to violence!" he panted, holding the profusely bleeding cut on his arm. "Damn it, I'm going to die of blood loss in about five minutes."

"Matt, move!" I shouted as Emmery moved in again to attack.

Matt brought out his leg, tripping Emmery. She fell forwards, holding the knife directly under her.

"She's going to stab herself!" I cried frantically, running towards the pair.

Matt groaned in frustration and caught Emmery before she could fall all the way. She swung her knife again, thankfully missing her target. Matt staggered backwards, trying to avoid Emmery's flying hand.

"Willow!" I called, stepping in between the two. "Stop it! What are you doing? Snap out of it!"

Emmery acted like she didn't hear me. She just gave me a flat look before bringing up her knife and slashing it down at me. I scowled in annoyance, grabbing her arm, and flipping her over me, so that she landed on her back on the ground.

I quickly stradled her, pinning her arms above her head. She squirmed violently, trying to get out of my grasp.

"Willow," I started, staring straight at her.

Her eyes made contact with me for a split second, but then she turned her head. I looked over at Matt, who was haunched over and breathing heavily. Blood was still pouring from his cuts. I clicked my tongue.

"Sorry," I muttered, before punching Willow in the jaw.

She immediately passed out. I took her head and turned it from side-to-side to make sure she was out of it completely. When I was sure I stood up and jogged over to Matt.

"Take off your jacket," I ordered.

Matt looked up at me. "I know I could be near the ending of my life, but I don't want my first time to be with a guy."

I rolled my eyes. "Just take off your jacket."

Matt complied, handing me the article of clothing. I began to rip it into long shreds.

"Hey," Matt protested, trying to take it back.

"We need to stop the blood," I responded, continuing to shred the jacket.

"Oh. I'll be fine."

"You can barely stand on your feet," I told him. "And you're really pale."

Matt frowned at me and I grabbed his arm. I took one of the shreds of clothing and wrapped it tightly around the freshest cut. Matt winced and tried to pull his arm away. I held it firmly.

"Don't be a baby."

"I'm not," he responded, turning his head.

I continued applying the make shift bandages to the bigger cuts on his body. Halfway through, he began to pant heavily, and staggered on his feet. I steadied him, watching him carefully.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he responded quietly.

I frowned, but quickly finished wrapping him up. When I was done, I pulled him towards the other side of the ball room and forced him to sit down on one of the chairs.

"Stay here. I'm going to go grab Emmery, and we'll get out of here."

"But what if she's still under mind control?" Matt responded.

"We can figure out a way to take her out of it somewhere else," I told him. "For now we've got to get you to a hospital."

"I don't need a hospital.

I stared flatly at Matt. "Yes you do."

"Who are you, my mother?"

"No."

"Why do you even care? I thought you hated me," Matt said, rolling his eyes.

"You're helping me try to save Willow. That's good enough in my book. Even if you tried to kill her before..."

"Sorry."

I shook my head. "There's no time to dwell in the past. It's all about the present. Now I'm going to go grab Will-"

"Hudson! Move!" Matt shouted, looking behind me with wide eyes.

I turned around to see Emmery coming at me with a knife. I groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me. Willow, give me a break!"

Emmery paused, her hand frozen in mid-air. I slowly began to step towards her.

"Don't move... be a good girl so I can knock you out again," I suggested, holding my hands up.

"Don't take another step closer," Emmery warned, placing the knife at her neck.

I froze, staring at her with wide eyes. "What are you doing?"

"If you come closer, I'll slit her throat."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Willow, what are you doing? Drop the knife."

Emmery laughed. "Stupid boy, this isn't Emmery anymore."

"Butterfly?"

"Bingo."

I took a step forward, and Emmery pressed the knife harder against her throat, the tip of it digging into skin the slightest bit. I immediately took my step back.

"I warned you."

"Don't hurt her," I warned, glaring angrily at Emmery. "I swear to God, if you hurt her..."

Emmery laughed. "Spare me. I'll do what I want."

"You bastard," I growled.

Emmery frowned at me. "Aw, is little Hudson all riled up because he can't do anything for poor Emmery?"

"Let her go," I demanded.

"No," he responded simply. "As soon as you're dead, this girl is going to die too."

I scowled. I had to get that knife away. But I needed a distraction. I quickly turned back to Matt. He wasn't there. I groaned in frustration and looked around the room. I located him on the far side, playing with some ropes. I shook my head.

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound from where he stood. Emmery looked behind her to see what the noise was. I took this as my chance.

I bolted forwards, hoping she didn't turn around before I made it to her. At first she didn't notice me moving at all. I grinned to myself. Thank you Matt.

I was a foot away when Emmery suddenly turned towards me. Her face was twisted into an amused smirk.

"You thought you could fool me?"

Suddenly there was a burning sensation in my gut. I groaned, slumping onto Emmery. Ignoring the pain in my gut, I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"What are you doing?" the Butterfly demanded, trying to get out of my hold.

"Emmery," I whispered. "Emmery, wake up."

"No! Let go! Stop!" the Butterfly screamed, Emmery's shrieks echoing in the ball room. "What are you doing?"

"Emmery! Come back!"

"No! Shit!"

"Emmery..."

I tightened my arms around her in frustration. How could I get her back? She still wasn't responding. Did nothing I say work?

"Emmery," I started, staring into her eyes. "Wake up, damn it! I don't want the girl I'm in love with to be an emotionless puppet for all my life!"

Emmery's eyes widened, and before I knew it, she was on the ground. I forced myself to stay up right, looking down at my gut. I held my breath and grabbed the handle of the knife, pulling it out of my skin. I hissed in pain, throwing the bloody knife to the side.

My knees gave out and I fell to the ground. I hovered over Emmery, bringing my head close to hers. She didn't move. Panicking slightly, I lowered my ear to her mouth. She was still breathing. Relief washed through me, and I chuckled.

"Well that's one way to react to a confession, I guess," I muttered, turning my head.

Her lips were only inches away from my own. I stared at them for a moment. Emmery was still out cold... I slowly lowered my head. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her. When I was about an inch away, Emmery's eyes suddenly shot open.

I pulled back immediately, fighting a blush that was threatening to appear on my face. Emmery looked at me her eyes filling with tears.

"Hudson," she started, raising her hands to my face. "I'm so sorry."

I stared at her in confusion. "For what?"

"I hurt you," she said, tears spilling out of her eyes.

"Don't worry about it," I told her. "It's only a small wound, I'll be okay. Well, unless it gets infected, because that was a pretty old knife. I might get really sick because you did stab me in the stomach. You could have punctured something... ugh."

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly, her eyes wide in fear. "Hudson?"

I smirked. "Just kidding."

She slammed her fist into my collar bone. "This isn't the time to be joking!"

I looked at her in surprise. "You're right, sorry..."

Suddenly she blushed. I raised an eyebrow.

"Did you mean it...?"

"Did I mean what?"

"You know... what you said... about... you know," she muttered, blushing madly now.

"I don't know what you mean...?"

"Do you love me?" she blurted out, staring straight at me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. I tried again, but I suddenly felt my mouth go dry. Emmery slowly started to frown.

"Oh... did you say that just to wake me up?"

I rolled my eyes in frustration. "I would never say that to you and not mean it, Willow!"

"You're calling me Willow again? Why? You called me Emmery just a few minutes ago! Can't you start calling me Emmery like normal people d--"

"Shut up and kiss me," I demanded, lowering my head to hers.

Emmery's eyes widened in shock when I placed my lips on hers. I smirked slightly, watching her face redden again. After a moment I pulled away.

"You're supposed to close your eyes."

"But you- and me- and, and," she stuttured, looking at me with a shocked expression.

"Let's try this again," I said with a sigh.

"Hold up, lovebirds," a new voice demanded.

I looked up to see Matt hovering over Emmery and myself. I scowled at him.

"What?"

"You need medical attention. So do I," he informed me. "We need to go."

"We can't just leave," I responded, rolling my eyes. "The Butterfly will definitely try to stop us."

"No," Emmery gasped, sitting up quickly, knocking her head on mine. "We've got to go! He set the building on fire!"

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