Hudson and Matt stared at me in confusion.

"How do you know?" Hudson asked, pulling himself into a standing position and then helping me up as well.

He staggered forward for a second, before rectifying himself. He let out a slow breath of air, clutching his stomach.

"Hudson, are you okay?" I asked, looking at the wound I had inflicted.

"Don't worry about it," he responded, shaking his head.

I looked at my own hands, they were covered in blood. I couldn't remember anything that happened the past few hours. What exactly had I done? I eyed Matt warily. Had I done all that to Matt? All those cuts that would surely leave scars?

My stomach felt sick, and it clenched uncomfortably. How could I have harmed people I loved?

That thought now brought a blush to my face. Hudson had confessed his love to me. Something I hadn't thought he'd ever do in my wildest dreams. But I still hadn't told him how I felt about him either...

"Willow?"

I pulled myself out of my little reverie. What was I thinking? The building was about to burn down and I was wallowing in self-pity in a way. I shook my head, clearing it of all thoughts.

"Let's go," I said, nodding towards the door. "If we go this way, it will lead us to the entrance hall."

"How do you know this?" Matt asked, wincing as he began walking in the direction of the door.

I frowned slightly. "I... I'm not sure," I responded honestly. "It's just a feeling."

I turned around to see Hudson hadn't moved from where he was standing. I looked at him curiously.

"I can't walk on my own," he muttered, casting his gaze to the ground.

Guilt washed through me and I walked over to him, grabbing his arm and putting it over my shoulder. He leaned on me, trying not to make me have all the support, but pretty much ended up doing so anyway.

I staggered slightly under his weight, but managed to go forwards. Matt smirked, looking smugly at Hudson.

"I'm in worse shape than you are, and I can still walk," he commented, taking a few steps to emphasize his point.

Hudson scoffed. "You weren't stabbed though."

I grimaced. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, it's okay."

"It's not okay!" I responded, glaring at him from the corner of my eye. "Even if I was under some weird mind control, stabbing people is not okay!"

Hudson's eyes widened for a moment, but then he broke out into a smirk. "Whatever you say, Willow."

"Emmery," I corrected him.

"Emmery, are you sure this place is on fire?" Matt asked, opening the door that led to the hall way. "I don't even smell a trace of smoke or burning material."

"I'm almost positive," I told him, though slightly doubting myself now.

Why had I gotten that feeling that the place was on fire? It had randomly popped into my head, and before I knew it, I had said it out loud. But there was no proof to justify my feeling.

"We still have to get out of here," Hudson said, grunting in pain as I accidentally knocked him into the doorway. "Careful, Willow. You're dealing with a fragile item here."

"Maybe the fragile item could lose some weight," I muttered, lugging him down the hallway.

"I heard that," Hudson responded sounding amused. "However I'm at a healthy weight for a guy my age right now, so I'll pass on the weight loss. You on the other hand--"

I jabbed one of my fingers just above the knife wound and he groaned, coughing once.

"Just kidding. I love you the way you are," he wheezed, squeezing my shoulder.

I blushed again. How could he use the word "love" so easily when he had confessed? I blinked at my ignorance. It was because he had confessed that he could use it so easily. So that meant if I confessed back, then I would be able to use it as easily as he did.

I snorted. Fat chance.

Matt glanced back with an amused look. "You two done with your lover spat?"

"On my side, yes," Hudson responded, giving Matt a grin.

"Since when did you two become buddy-buddy?" I asked, looking between the two with a frown.

"Eh? Why the frown?" Matt asked, a smirk slipping onto his face. "Could it be you're jealous that now Hudson and I are on good terms I won't have time for you?"

I scowled. "No. Why would I care? You tried to murder me, remember?"

Matt sniffed. "That's in the past. Besides, you're the one who trusted me right away, even though I tried to murder you, right?"

"We aren't buddy-buddy," Hudson broke in before I could respond. "We just got along because we had a common goal... well we also have a few common goals, so that's why we'll still get along."

Matt and Hudson sent each other a quick look, and I looked between them still confused. Matt simply smirked at me. I rolled my eyes back.

"Guess you're not going to explain, huh."

"Nope," the pair responded.

I heaved a sigh, letting it drop. "Okay, whatever, let's just get out of here before the Butterfly finds us..."

"Did you honestly think I didn't know where you were this whole time?"

I whipped my head around to see the Butterfly, standing a few feet behind me with his arms crossed. He smirked, tilting his head to the side.

"Unfortunately this side of the building won't be on fire for quite awhile... though I am impressed how you figured it out so quickly, Miss Willow."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're the one who put me under mind control."

The Butterfly nodded, and then hooked a thumb at Hudson. "And he's the one that messed it up."

"I can't say I'm sorry," Hudson responded dryly.

"Well, unfortunately I won't be able to use that trick anymore thanks to your antics," the Butterfly continued in an irritated voice. "I think a little punishment is deserved, no?"

"What?"

Before my question was answered, a loud crack resounded from above me. I shot a look at Hudson and Matt, both of whom returned my look with the same confused expression. I turned back to the Butterfly, who was now at the door that led to the ballroom.

"Good-bye," the Butterfly said, waving a hand.

The Butterfly disappeared through the door and I stared after him for a moment. A few things hit the top of my head lightly, and I frowned, reaching up to brush them out of my hair. I grabbed one of them and brought it to my face. In my hand was a little piece of ceiling plaster.

"Cover your head!" Matt suddenly shouted from a few feet behind me.

I immediately put my arms over my head, and not three seconds after I did something hard landed on my arms, knocking me off my feet. I felt Hudson release me and I fell forwards, the weight of the ceiling crushing me to the ground. I groaned as more of the ceiling fell onto my back and legs. I could hear the sound of the ceiling crashing down all around me, filling up my ears.

The whole ordeal lasted about five seconds. A silence settled in and I coughed violently, dust clogging up my throat. And having the weight of the ceiling against my back as well didn't really help. I placed my hands against the floor and tried to push myself up.

I grunted when I realized the ceiling was too heavy to move. If I get out of here alive, I'm going to work on my upper body strength, I added as a mental note.

"Willow?"

"Hudson?" I called, trying once again to push myself up.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," I groaned, my arms shaking from the effort I was putting in to trying to get up. "You?"

"I could be better," he joked.

"What about you, Matt?"

There was no response, and I immediately felt agitated. I let out a heavy groan, afraid my arms my break from under me. My left hand slipped, sending me to the floor again. I twisted a little bit, and to my surprise the ceiling on me cracked. I tried pushing myself up again, and managed to get one half to slide off me. I climbed to my hands and knees, and the other part fell off as well.

I pushed myself to my feet, feeling proud that I was able to get the ceiling off me without help, but that feeling was gone when I noticed Hudson. He was slowly staggering his way towards Matt, who was almost completely submerged in rubble from the ceiling. I rushed towards the pair, my heart in my throat.

Hudson dropped down next to Matt, beginning to lift the pieces of ceiling off him. I noticed that the place where I had stabbed him earlier was now dripping with fresh blood.

"Hudson, your wound," I gasped, staring at him in horror.

"I know," Hudson said through gritted teeth.

With one swift movement, Hudson tossed the piece of ceiling off Matt. He frowned and put his ear to Matt's mouth.

"Shit," he groaned.

"What?" I asked, swallowing hard.

"He's not breathing."

It felt like a freight train had rushed into my stomach. My eyes widened and my breath caught. I opened my mouth to speak, but found it completely dry. After a moment I was able to speak again.

"What? That's impossible!" I cried, dropping to my knees. "Matt! Wake up!"

"Willow, move!" Hudson ordered, roughly pushing me out of the way.

I obeyed as he quickly pressed his hands to Matt's chest. He started pumping, muttering numbers under his breath. It took me a second to realize what he was doing. After forty counts, Hudson pinched Matt's nose and lifted his head back. I watched as Hudson pressed his lips to Matt and gave him a breath of air.

Had this been a different situation, this would have been very amusing, but given that this was the situation at is, I couldn't help but continue to be sick with worry. Hudson went back to Matt's chest, pumping away.

"Willow, do the breaths," Hudson ordered, sounding out of breath already.

"I-I'm not trained in CPR," I admitted, shaking my head. "What if I mess up?"

Hudson looked at me, his face in a frown. "Please."

I nodded in understanding and went to Matt's side.

"First check to see if he's breathing yet. If he's not, pinch his nose so that no air can be let out through it," Hudson ordered. "After that lean his head back slightly, and make sure to cover his entire mouth when you breathe out. Do that twice. Can you do it?"

I nodded. "Tell me when."

"Now."

I put my ear to Matt's mouth, and after a moment of no breathing from him I pulled back and did as Hudson instructed me. I covered his mouth with mine, and gave him a breath of air, and then repeated.

"My woman's mouth on some other man's," Hudson commented with a snort.

I glared at him. "Who's 'your woman'?"

Hudson smirked, but turned his attention back to giving Matt compressions. After four sets, I put my ear to Matt's mouth, and felt air gently blow against it.

"He's breathing!" I cried, pulling away, and staring at Hudson. "Now what?"

Hudson frowned deeply, his eyebrows scrunching together. "We need to get him to the hospital... fast."

"You too," I commented, my eyes traveling back to the ever-growing red stain on his shirt.

Hudson shook his head. "Matt's more important. But it'll be impossible to get out of here with the Butterfly knowing our every move... we need to distract him."

I looked gazes with Hudson for a moment.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "You're not going. No. I won't let you."

Hudson sighed. "Willow, this is the only way. I'd rather have you and Matt safe."

"No!" I cried, staring at him. "You could die!"

Hudson smiled slightly. "Today is still June 17th. I am supposed to die."

I shook my head violently, tears springing to my face. "I won't let you, Hudson! We can figure this out... we can... I don't know, but we can do something!"

Hudson chuckled. "No, Willow."

"Yes!"

Hudson sighed, his gaze on the floor. "There's no way out of here unless we have a distraction."

"Then I'm going to be the distraction!"

Hudson's head snapped back up and his eyes piereced into mine. I stared back determinedly.

"No."

"Yes!" I argued, crossing my arms. "You're in no shape to be a distraction, Hudson!"

"You'd just be putting yourself in unnecessary danger!"

"At least I can actually walk!"

"I can walk fine!"

"Then you take Matt and you walk yourself out of here and get medical attention, and I'm not taking no for an answer, you got that?" I shouted, pushing myself to my feet.

Hudson looked at me for a moment taken aback.

"Listen," I started, softening my voice. "You're always saving me. Now it's my turn to save you."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You know. I just realized this story is coming to an end... after the whole Butterfly thing, that's it. The big bad guy is done (if that's how it ends. I might kill anyone and let the bad guys win...) and it'd be pointless to continue. I'm thinking 4-5 more chapters? Maybe?

Anyway... I was going to kill Matt. I was. But I couldn't handle it. It's SO fricking hard to kill a character! But who knows, the story isn't over yet.

Comment, comment, comment! Vote, vote, vote! Please, please, please ;D

I'm going to try and update every three days now, just because. But I said try, so don't count on it too much. Depends on my homework load. Remember I have three other stories besides this one :L

I started a new story called "Believe Me, I'm Lying"! Check it out! Here's the description:

Seventeen year old Harley has an interesting life. Her parents died leaving her with no relatives except for an uncle who is busy all the time, and her six year old brother, Elliot. Having no where to go, she drops out of high school and starts working full time in order to support her brother and self. However when Harley suddenly finds herself jobless, she needs a new job-- and quick. By some miracle her uncle comes to her house with a job offer.

For her to become a teacher at his school.

A school for delinquents.

Thanks! And see you in three days :D Facebook link in the right! make sure you do it up if you haven't :D