The ride back was silent. I normally hated it, the defeating sound of nothing. But right now, I was so glad to just turn on the radio and then not even listen to it, just drive back to town. Philip was strangely quiet, a welcome quiet.

But it also irked me. Why wasn't he talking? Was he hopefully mad at me? Did he finally realize that I didn't like him and he wanted out of this car just as much as I did.

It was a longer drive back than expected so, when I finally pulled back into the school, I wasn't surprised to see everyone outside eating lunch.

Some familiar kids looked, but most couldn't care less, they just killed about their day with their own stress and problems.

I stepped out and slammed my door, walking away as quickly as possible, but the guy who, apparently had different ideas than I thought, walked next to me.

"So where to babe?" He threw his arm over my shoulder and I spun out from under him, irritated.

"Just leave me the hell alone!" I screamed at him.

He smirked at me, his eyes alight with joy. "Oh come on, you know you like me. Can't deny it."

I snorted loudly, aware of all the eyes on us. "Try that again, and you'll be missing some limbs." I threatened.

He didn't take me seriously. He leaned towards me and I went to punch his face but I didn't even have too.

"Touch her and you'll regret being born." Cor stood in front of me, his taller frame blocking the sun like a dark angel.

I couldn't help but want to frown and smile at the same time, like a dance on my lips of some sort.

To everyone's shock, I swear I heard a few cusses, Philip stood up to Cor. "Hit me. You won't. You're all bark no bi-"

I heard Cor scoff before he flung his fist out, punching Philip in the face without a second thought. I, knowing Cor, knew that he was in fact a German Shepard with a vicious bite and a harsh bark. But what I didn't understand, was Cor's change in attitude.

He was helping me, something I didn't think he'd ever do again. He dumped me, laughed about it, and refused to talk to me. Yet here he was, defending me.

Philip stumbled to the side, stood up and wiped his bloody mouth, glaring at Cor. "Who are you to hit me?" He spit a glob of red on the white pavement.

Cor shrugged. "Cor Reynolds." He snarled and Philip flipped him off, walking away, his metaphorical tail tucked between his legs.

Cor didn't give me another look as he started to walk away, but I wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. If he was showing a change in heart, I wanted to know why.

"Hey!" I yelled angrily, but he didn't turn around. "I'm talking to you!" I put my hand on his shoulder to spin him around, but I didn't have to force him.

He spun around on his own accord, his face red and angry like a freshly ripened apple. "Oh, so it's okay for you to harass someone but not him?"

I took a startled step back. "I'm not harassing you, I just-"

"Wanted to talk?" He offered.

I nodded. "Yeah..."

He looked sad and hurt, I could see it in his eyes. He was cold, even colder than usual. "Well I'm sorry... because I don't really want to talk to you." He replied, his feet carrying him away.

I did the thing any normal, sensible, person wouldn't do. I chased after him. "I know you're upset, what did I do? How can I make it up to you?"

"Don't you get it Gem!?" He seethed, breaking my heart from his anger. "There is nothing you can do."

"Well then can you at least tell me what I did!?" I screamed back. The school was quiet, either paying attention to us or heading to class.

He threw his hands up. "It's not you... it's me." He smirked sadly and turned around. "We're just two different people and you have- Leona?" Is was soft, too soft.

I looked around him and saw a tall, slender girl, with royal purple eyes, leaning against a black Mercedes Benz. Her hair was longer now, more beautiful and shiny, and it blew in the soft breeze.

I practically shoved Cor to the ground as I started running to her, I was possibly screaming out her name but I was moving too fast to notice and/or care.

"LEONA!" I yelled as she caught me near the road, her cold arms wrapped around me.

She cried into my shoulder and I smiled brightly, holding the friend that would always be there, in my arms.

"I missed you. Are you okay? What did they do to you? What happened?" I asked her a million questions at once, hoping to get machine gun answers.

But instead, she shuddered and winced, looking behind me. I turned and Leo was looking at her from a ways away. He quickly turned around and put his arm over Taria's shoulders, brushing the situation off as nothing.

"Leona?" A deep voice asked, and I took a step back to let Aris capture her in his arms. "Not that I'm not feeling like crying right now, but why are you... back?"

She sniffled as Aria strolled up, surprisingly giving her a short-lived hug.

"Can I... can I speak to Gem? Alone" Her voice was still smooth like honey.

They didn't seem to want to let her go, afraid she might blow away, but they did. She pulled me away, walking to wherever she wanted.

She looked more mature but at the same time she looked more frail and sad. Completely alone. She was different, not quite herself. Leona was always perfect without trying but now she seemed... fakely perfect.

"Leona... what happened?" I asked softly.

She ran a hand through her silky blonde hair and closed her eyes. "My dad is pulling cards, a lot of them." She nodded along to her words. "I'm already an Elder." She muttered, so quiet I almost didn't hear it.

I gasped and stopped walking, wanting to go tell Leo to run, to hide. "What about-"

"Leo? He's... well he can't know. And at the end of the week, he'll be gone." Some shed of a tear spilled down her cheek but that was the only sign that it bothered her.

I ran everything threw my head. It was real. It was a, "epiphany" moment. But it wasn't a good realization, it was a bad one. You know when you realize something is actually real, when the feeling finally sets in.

"Gem?"

I continued walking, but slower. "He's really... they're going to..."

After everything he's been through, after everything that he's felt and hidden. All his troubles. They're just going to end him.

"And I feel like an awful person, because as sad as I am, as hurt that I feel... I can't help but be relieved." She said quietly.

I looked up angrily at her. "Relieved?"

She shrunk into herself, not something I ever thought she'd do. "Are you telling me you aren't the least bit relieved that you know you're going to be an Elder?"

I nodded. "I am but that's different. Minley isn't dying because of me."

She shook her head. "You're taking this the wrong way. I'm relieved that he's dying. So he doesn't have to put up with this. The things you have to do as an Elder it's... its terrifying. Death is mercy."

Suddenly she wasn't my Leona. She wasn't the girl I grew up with. She wasn't my best friend. "You're wrong. Freedom is mercy."

She shook her head. "Then death is freedom."

That was definitely not something she would ever say. She hated talking about death. Her motto was always, 'live now because you don't have forever. Things get better with time but you can always speed up the process by seeing life with all its beauties.' and the fact that she is now on the side of death scared me.

"Can we please stop talking about this? I'd really like to gossip with my best friend and learn what I missed." She smiled brightly and poked my sides, looping her arm with mine.

I missed this, I missed her and everything she did to always make me feel instantly better. But that's the thing, isn't it? This wasn't her.

I caught the eyes of Cor who was staring sadly at me, and then he walked away. Philip was out of the school with a bunch of tissue paper and his eyes hardened at me.

Good. Be sad over me. Hate me. That's their problem. Right now, mine was my best friend and why she back, and what happened to her.

"Okay so first, there's new kids." I said and she nodded.

"The Ophiuchuses?" She asked, smirking. "Yeah. I know."

"How much do you know?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in a joking way.

"Everything about nothing, and nothing about everything, Gem." She winked at me, and I knew that deep down, under whatever they did to her, she was still the same.

I just had to break her down first.

***

"So you two are just OVER?" Leona screeched, her eyes softening but her face reddening. "Oooh, I'm going to actually punch his face."

I laughed, glad to have her back. "Yeah! He totally just ended it."

She glared at nothing in particular. She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "You seem okay though?"

I wasn't okay. I was... dealing with my problem in my own way. I would eventually be better, but right now everything reminded me of him. "Yeah... I'm fine. I already cried my eyes out."

Leona's face fell. "I'm sorry I wasn't here, Gem. I really am."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault you were gone. Actually, enough about me. What happened to you!?" I exclaimed, giving her a pointed look.

She shrugged, scoffing off my question. "I just kind of moped about? I didn't really have anything to do in Dad's house." She froze and I stopped walking too. "I don't even know why I'm back to be honest."

I had been meaning to ask her why she was back. Not that I wasn't ecstatic to have my best friend back, but something was off. Then again, everything these days were off. Somehow a bird could chirp and I felt wary of it.

"Did anyone say anything? Did you see any of the Elders?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. Not a single one. I was alone most of the time at my dad's house. He seemed to always be in a rush though, like something was happening. But then again, we already knew that didn't we?" She rolled her eyes.

I wrapped my arm around her. "So besides me and Cor, I found that Ancer and Seas are gay. Leo still... I think he still loves you."

"Oh that's nice." She said, uncaring. She didn't even wince.

"You don't seem shocked." I offered.

She chuckled. "I already knew. I'm an actual genius, Gem." She winked at me and I took a lazy step forward, the sun shining down on us in the cold weather.

"But... you didn't wince." I said calmly, hoping not to get her hurt.

She nodded. "Yeah I had a lot of time to think. And I came to a realization that I... I'm over Leo, ya know? And since I just don't love him that way, he doesn't hurt me anymore." She began skipping and I let her go, her blonde hair falling as she went forward.

That is not the Leona I know and love. The Leona I knew wouldn't just stop caring about someone. The Leona I knew would fight until her everlasting breath over the things she cared about.

I jogged to catch up to her. "Really? You're over him."

She made a disgusted noise. "Yes. I, Leona Osbourne am over Leo Orion." She said dramatically. "And it feels great."

I'm sure it did. I, however, was not over anyone. I was still upset and even though I didn't show it greatly, my heart was broken.

"So what else did you think about?" I asked, hoping to pinpoint exactly what was wrong with her. She just... didn't feel like my best friend.

She tapped her chin and pressed the cross-walk button. I don't know where we were headed, but that's kind of how my life was too so I let it roll.

"Well... I came to think that you made the wrong decision in permanently ending things with Arius." She said quietly, popping her fingers.

I took a surprised step back, glaring at her. "What!?" I shouted. "Why? Why now? You always thought I'd be better with Li or or or, alone."

She shrugged. "Sorry not sorry, Gem. Deep down you know I'm right." She said, smirking.

"Okay fine. But the rest of me is saying that you're not the Leona you were when you left." I responded, throwing it out in the open.

She widened her eyes and we crossed the street. "You're right. I've matured. I've come to understand that some High School relationship shouldn't control your life."

I followed her down the street, passing dead trees and dry grass.

"Says who? You? What about Aris? Leave him then if you think it doesn't matter!" I shouted, angry that she wasn't who I wanted her to be. She wasn't who she used to be and I hated it.

I hated that she wasn't my best friend.

She laughed at me. "I could. I could drop both of them." She threw her hands up. "Gem the world is changing, can't you feel it? I have to drop him. You know why? Because he's going to die! I've seen the list, Gem! I'VE SEEN IT!" She screamed and I stopped walking, the sun blocked from the tree above me.

I paused and took a collecting breath. "You've... seen it? Who's on it?" Did I even want to know?

She pursed her lips. "I can't tell you that. But I can say that life is going to be hard with these people gone. I have to drop Leo too. Because he's not on it. So you wanna know why I'm not me? Because I know that I won't be happy ever again. And I'm trying to help myself! I'm trying to prepare myself. I suggest you do the same."

I furrowed my brows. "What's that supposed to mean?" She started to walk away but I lunged towards her, grabbing her shoulder. "Leona! What's that supposed to mean?"

She turned around roughly. "He might die!" She screamed and I closed my eyes.

I've always hated when people yelled at me. Especially people I care about.

I didn't want to ask the next question, but I knew that if I didn't I'd be cursing myself with a knowledge plague. "Who?"

She seemed to be refusing to tell me. She shuffled her feet.

"Leona who?" I shouted back.

"COR! Cor okay! They might not choose him because he doesn't line up perfectly with all Scorpio traits." She threw her hands up. "And no amount of my dad's money could change that."

I felt tears fall down my face, practically freezing on my cheeks in liquid sadness. Blue pools of pain stuck on my skin like icicles.

"How strong are they on their opinion?" I asked, warning myself that I didn't want to hear the answer.

She looked at war with herself on whether or not she even wanted to tell me. "Pretty strong, Gem. Pretty strong. I'd warn him before it's too late. Just... Gem please be careful."

I wiped my eyes. "Is it still on schedule to happen in a week."

She sadly nodded. "Yeah, Gem. And the rest of the week guards are posted."

I ran and gave her a huge hug. "I love you, Leona."

She cried into my shoulder and slowly pushed me away. "I love you too, Gem. And I'm sorry for what I said, I just... I don't want you to be hurt. Go save him."

If he'd even talk to me. "I owe you one."

"No. This is what friends are for." She smiles at me.

I was glad to have her back, and now I knew why she was acting differently. Anyone would act weird if they had seen what she saw.

"I'm glad you're back." I said.

She pushed me again, lighter. "Me too. Now I'd like to continue this conversation later, after you save him."

I blew her a kiss.

I was going to save him.