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FORTY FIVE;

UNHOSTED HEARTS

Sage was the first one to get to Scott's father, her pace reaching a run as she dropped down to her knees in front of the man, hands finding their way to his shoulder to apply pressure. Not five seconds after she fell to the ground was Melissa next to her, the two doing their best to help Agent McCall all while a battle was about to begin directly in front of them. In just the few seconds of the man being stabbed, blood was already beginning to coat Sage's hands as she moved to wipe her blonde hair from her face.

"Scott," Sage warned, her voice loud when she glanced up to see that the demonic figure had yet to move, the soulless eyes that were just black voidance staring at the alpha and Kira.

Before any of them could do anything, the front door of the McCall house went bursting open, giving Melissa and Sage enough of a hint that they needed to get Scott's father as far away from this as possible. The blonde wasn't her father, she didn't know if she would even be able to help Melissa, but she didn't know if she was going to be able to fire the gun either. So, while the two moved the agent into the narrow hallway, their eyes only glanced up for a split second to see who had broke through the door.

To catch sight of Derek hadn't been a surprise, Sage letting out a choked exhale when she realized that the beta was baring his canines at the demonic figures. The distraction had left Scott enough time to transition into a werewolf himself, a single growl falling from his mouth as he advanced on the things. That was when the blonde went to stand up, wanting to help the two as much as she could, only to have a hand reach out to stop her from leaving.

She turned to see Melissa staring up at her with wide eyes, and swallowed hard before dropping back down next to Scott's father. The gun was practically burning her back at this point, the weapon sitting there but so useless to the fight that was happening. Sage glanced up from the wounded agent's body to see that Scott had just avoided being slashed with the figure's blade, her bloody hands going towards her gun without a second thought when she noticed.

"Mom," Scott shouted, nearly going toppling into Sage's body as she went to stand next to him, gun outstretched and targeted directly at the figure's face. "The ash!"

Melissa seemed to realize that she needed to be the one to put up the barrier, quickly moving away from her ex-husband's body and around Sage, all while trying to avoid the fact that her son was fighting demonic warriors in her living room. While she did that, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized the extremity of the situation, the blonde that had been previously helping her turned around to see that another hooded demon had emerged from darkness, standing directly behind Kira.

Sage's eyes widened, and her gun was trained at the figure not a single second later, realizing that she was going to have to take the chance of firing the bullet and praying that her aim was just as good as before, because if it wasn't, then Kira could be the one caught in the crossfire. That was when she made the choice to stop being afraid, and took a deep inhale before her finger went to the trigger and she pushed.

Not a second later had the figure disappeared, evaporating into thin air as if Sage had actually managed to kill the thing. However, what she hadn't realized was that the same demonic figure that she put a bullet through was beginning to materialize directly behind her. Only when she noticed Kira's wide eyes did she finally put through and through together, but by then it would have been too late.

Before the hooded figure could do anything to her, the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the tense room, and to the right of Sage were two former alphas. The snarling growl that fell through their lips was enough for the demonic figure to realize that it had a bigger issue containing Aiden and Ethan than it did containing Sage. It's attention fell solely on them, giving Sage enough time to back away and turn to see how well Derek and Scott were doing.

"Outside," Sage screamed, trying to get her friends to listen as she lifted up her gun when one of the figures began to advance on her, feet backing up in the process towards one of the windows in the house. "We need to get them outside!"

When the thing began to pull the sharp, straight blade from it's chest, Sage allowed it to keep coming directly at her, didn't bother moving until her back was pressed up against the frame of the window. It was probably seconds before the sword would go through her body, piercing her skin like it had Agent McCall's, but she had a better option. Rather than shooting the thing, the blonde quickly fell to the ground, moving to the right so that she would have just enough space to kick the figure out of the window.

And, surprisingly, it had worked.

"Mom, now!" Scott screamed, just as Sage finally caught her breath in time to look over at see that Derek was still fighting with one of them, all of his footsteps leading the demonic warrior closer to the door and out of the house. "Do it now!"

After a single shove, the black hooded figure had been pushed outside, and Melissa didn't waste a single second before moving up from her crouch and running to the door. The jar of mountain ash that Deaton supplied the McCall's with had been thrown to the ground by the mother, the action feeling agonizingly slow as they waited for the line to form around the door, progressing until it covered the entire perimeter of the house.

When they noticed that the ninjas were stuck outside, all of them seemed to let out a small exhale in relief. Sage, who was still on the ground, let her head fall to the ground as she ran her hands through her hair just before remembering that they were coated in Agent McCall's blood. That was when everything became all too surreal for the teenage girl, who slowly lifted her body off the ground and grabbed the gun that she dropped on the ground to put it in the back of her jeans.

Her attention had went to Scott and Derek at first, the two going to lift up Agent McCall's body so they could get him upstairs, but when she noticed Kira slowly begin to move over to the back door, her feet seemed to lead her there. Aiden was already standing by it, having identified himself as the person who would stand guard, when he noticed that the brunette girl was coming closer to the barrier of mountain ash.

Sage stopped by the wall to lean against it, curious as to what Kira was planning on doing considering she couldn't get out of this place. Her eyebrows only raised when she noticed that the teenage girl lifted her hand up, finger slowly inching forward until they reached a bit too far, the barrier rippling as a reminder that all of the supernatural creatures were stuck inside.

Aiden seemed just as curious as Sage, wanting to know what exactly this girl was considering the only thing they knew was that she could turn into a human battery. "It's Kira, right? Are you going to tell us what you are?"

"What?" Kira asked, her eyebrows furring in feigned confusion, most likely assuming that all of the others had no idea about her being something besides human. "What do you mean?"

Aiden's hand reached out to grab her wrist, and not only had Sage stepped forward but Ethan did as well. The two of them were plenty aware of the impulsive decisions that the werewolf had, and they knew that his curiosity and dire need to understand things would lead him to these conclusions that Kira was bad; and, although Sage didn't necessarily like Kira, that didn't mean she was going to let the boy hurt her.

Her lips pursed tightly, bloody hands pushing her off the wall. "Aiden."

"Watch," he hissed, moving the brunette's hand so that she was touching the barrier once more for his brother to see. When the mountain ash rippled under her touch again, Ethan was taking large steps forward until he was next to his brother. "She can't go through it either. So, what are you?"

"She's a kitsune, you idiot," a voice interrupted, making all four heads turn around to face Derek Hale, the man walking into the room with a smug look on his face. "Use your eyes. You can see it all around her. The younger ones give off an aura. She just hasn't learned to conceal it yet. She probably doesn't know what kind she is, either."

Sage's mouth opened in realization, her eyes moving from Derek over to Kira. She hadn't once considered thinking about the teenage girl as a kitsune, mostly because the last time she ever even heard stories of the supernatural creature, or rather fox, had been when she was eight years old. Talia used to read children's books to herself, Cora, and Derek all of the time about the foxes and the different kinds of them that could possess a person.

"Tricksters," Sage muttered, making all eyes turn to her as she announced the word to herself, lifting her head up when she realized she should explain. "Kitsunes are trickster spirits, the books always said that they didn't know the difference between right and wrong."

Kira didn't seem pleased to know that everyone had found out her secret, her attention moving to Scott, who was coming down the stairs after having been to see his father. The teenage boy didn't look in any condition to fight, although no one could really blame him considering he just witnessed the man that he called his dad get stabbed with a sword that belonged to a group of demonic ninjas.

"Sage," Scott called out, making the blonde glance over at him as well. "My mom needs your help."

The blonde stared at him for a few seconds, trying to ignore the fact that they were all depending upon her to be there for Melissa, to help keep Agent McCall alive as long as possible. Without even considering the consequences, the blonde gave her friend a nod. However, on her way up the stairs, she passed by Kira and couldn't help but feel some sort of belittlement about the fact that she ended up saving the brunette's life and didn't even get a thank you.

"You're welcome," Sage muttered, walking past Kira with a tight posture as she maneuvered herself around Scott's body so that she could find her way up the stairs.

She didn't know how long they were going to be stuck in the house, nor did she know how long it would be before the sun came up. The only thing that she did know was that Scott's father was dying in his bedroom right now, and his blood was stained on her hands. She knew that she couldn't let Scott live without his father, because, no matter how many times the man has screwed up, and no matter how many times Scott wished his father would leave, he was still the man that helped create him.

Agent McCall might have made mistakes, but he was Scott's father. The absence of the man in her friend's life could never be made up, but she knew that there would come a time where Scott needed his father. There would come a time when it was a necessary plea, where his father would be the only person he could come to, and Sage wasn't going to deprive her best friend of that option by letting Agent McCall die.

She already lost her father. She wasn't going to let Scott lose his.

"Melissa," Sage muttered, noticing how the woman was kneeled over beside her ex-husband's body, feeling a lump form in her throat when she noticed how weak the woman looked. "What do you need me to do?"

The curly-haired mother glanced up, turning her head when she noticed the blonde. "I think he has a torn tendon, and that means if his arm stays rotated then he could have a collapsed lung. Do you see where my left hand is, right by his shoulder?"

"Yeah," Sage muttered, her eyes on the location of the woman's shoulder, trying to ignore the sight of all the blood that was around the man's wound.

"I need you to apply pressure the moment that I move my hand, alright? Your right hand is going to go right near his ribs. I've got to get more towels, but I need you to keep your hands right there, okay? Don't move them because his blood still hasn't clotted. He's losing way too much for him to stay conscious."

Sage nodded and went to kneel down besides the woman, quickly peeling off her jacket so that she was left in her white tee shirt. Her hands were outstretched a second later, Melissa moving her right hand first so that the blonde girl could replace it, and then her hand fell from the wound that was created by the demonic warriors. The older woman watched as the teenage girl quickly pressed her left hand on the wound, and took a deep breath before moving to go get more towels.

The blonde tried to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes as she kept her focus on the man's wounds rather than his face. "Come on, Agent McCall. You can't leave him again."

Scott's father let out a small groan, coming out of his unconscious state enough for him to cough a bit, blood falling from his lips. Sage ignored her racing heartbeat just as much as she tried to ignore the fact that the walls of the house were beginning to shake. Books that were placed on Scott's dresser fell to the ground in loud bangs, the cup of pens on his desk going colliding to the floor with a painfully harsh slam.

When Agent McCall rolled his head over, Sage saw him stare at her with a cold, lifeless expression. "I need... I need to speak to Scott."

"You're kidding, right?" Sage choked out, somewhat horrified at the idea of Scott being forced to see his father like this, knowing that if his father does end up dying than this image would haunt him for the rest of his life.

He looked at her and shook his head with what strength he had left. "Don't patronize me."

Sage tried to ignore her racing heart, glancing back to see that Melissa was coming back down the hallway, towels bundled up in her hands as she rushed into the room. The blonde felt her chest begin to constrict in pain, feeling as though she was becoming too invested in saving Agent McCall's life when she knew the actual statistics of it happening were slim.

"Melissa," Sage whispered, looking over at the woman with a weary expression, hands pressing even more firmly on the man's chest. "He wants to talk to Scott."

Agent McCall felt his eyes water as he stared at his ex-wife. "You know why. You know why I really came back, don't you?"

Melissa tried to ignore the pain she felt when the question came up, but nodded anyways. "Because, as usual, your timing sucks. You're not talking to him, not like this. So, you stay awake. Sage and I are going to get you out of here as fast as we can."

They didn't know what else to say to the man, knowing that their words could only do so much when he is bleeding out. Sage let Melissa take her place, the nurse much more equip to actually keep him alive instead of her. The only thing that she knew was what her father taught her before he passed away, and half of that had shed from her memory after all of those years. People were depending on her to be there but she couldn't do anything besides sit and watch.

"The shaking stopped," Sage muttered, giving Melissa a look.

The woman seemed to understand what the blonde was trying to infer, and her eyes flashed with worry about her son. "Do you think they broke through?"

"I don't kn—"

Sage hadn't been able to finish her sentence, feeling a cold sensation ripple through her body, enough to send her into a gasp as the feeling became all too familiar to her. Melissa seemed to shout her name, wanting to reach out for the blonde to see if she was okay, but knew that there was no way for her to without releasing her grip on her ex-husband's wound.

"Sage?" Melissa called out, watching as the blonde's head seemed to stir back and forth as if she were disoriented. "Sage, what happened?"

The teenage girl shook her pounding head, pushing off of the ground so that she could stumble her way down the stairs. She knew that she shouldn't have left Melissa alone, but the ringing in her ears was enough to send her into a panicked state as her body seemed to collide with every wall on the way down. Blood was being smeared everywhere— on the paint, on her white shirt, on her arms, on her face. By the time she made it down the stairs, still out of it, she turned into the kitchen of the house to see that everyone was crouched over two bodies. The moment that they heard her loud footsteps, heads shot up to see Sage leaning against the wall, crimson red staining her skin as her eyes focused on Scott and Kira.

Not a single one of them failed to notice the shattering image of Sage Connelly right then.

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It had been an hour since the attack of the Oni, the demonic warriors now being identified with a name rather than a title. Once Scott had recovered, thanks to the triggered werewolf senses by Aiden, he and his mother had quickly called the ambulance so that they could get Agent McCall to the hospital as quickly as possible. While that happened, Derek began to inform her of why the Oni had even been out to get them all in the first place. A Nogitsune, or dark kitsune, resided in the body of someone in Beacon Hills. The Oni were off to find out who was possessed by the Nogitsune, and that consisted of marking each and every single person that could potentially be under the captivity of it. Allison explained that the backwards five was a Japanese Kanji symbol meaning 'self,' as in everyone marked with it was themselves beneath their skin.

That led Sage to touch her own mark, the symbol branded into her skin as a reminder that she wasn't the one possessed by the Nogitsune, and for some reason, it made her feel sick to her stomach knowing that she was safe. Had she been possessed, had she been the one they were after, all of the haunting thoughts inside of her head would have been justified. All of the hallucinations of the Oni would have made sense. Now, she was just even more confused.

A knock on her bedroom door had the blonde glancing up from where she was sitting on her bed, noticing that a figure was leaning on her door frame with their arms crossed tightly over their chest. Rather than flinch like she normally would have done, the blonde just stared back at him with a blank expression, not even sure how to feel after what she experienced today. He blinked a couple of times, frowning deeply before he opened his mouth. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Sage raised her eyebrows at him before pushing herself off of her bed, standing next to it with her arms stretched wide for him to see. It was probably an idiotic action, especially considering she knew that he was asking more on the fact of her mental health instead of how she was physically, but she knew that there wasn't an answer that would leave her lips that would be true. Ever since she got home and had to rub the blood from her body, everything seemed to change in her.

"That's not what I meant," he muttered, moving into the room with his arms still crossed over his chest. "When I saw you back at Scott's house, you looked like you were about to lose your mind."

Sage pursed her lips at the boy before moving back to sit on her bed. "Who says I already haven't?"

Aiden seemed to hesitate at her words, understanding that there really wasn't much of a conversation left between them. His eyes traveled over her body, moving from her damp hair that the shower created over to the extra large shirt that she was wearing, noticing how it hung from her shoulder just enough for him to see the bruise still marked on her skin. For the most ironic of reasons, his eyes moved back to her and he found himself asking something he never thought he would allow to leave his lips. "Have you talked to Stiles lately?"

"No," Sage denied, shaking her head as she picked at her comforter. "Scott was going to see him at the hospital. Melissa says he went there to get himself checked out, but it was only from sleep deprivation. He should be fine in a few days. Why do you even care?"

Aiden seemed to question himself about that, not exactly sure why he did care so much about Stiles. Perhaps, it had to do with the fact that he knew how much she was worrying about him. Perhaps, it was because a part of him had come to the conclusion that the sleep-deprived boy meant a lot more to Sage that he enjoyed admitting. Ever since he saw her expression in the hallway the moment that Scott mentioned Stiles' name, her actions represented a concern for the boy no matter what situation they were in. He knew without having to explain too deeply to the blonde that a part of him was just asking because he knew that Stiles Stilinski was always going to be important to the girl he loved.

"I guess because you care," Aiden admitted, his eyebrows furring a bit at his own answer. He watched as Sage's lips tugged down, her arms curling around her legs as she stared at the ground rather than his eyes. Her disheveled appearance brought a twist to his stomach, a reaction that he wasn't expecting to have but came too often for his liking. He could see how she was struggling to put patches over her holes, seeking a cover beneath her skin that would protect her from her heart."You still love him, don't you?"

Sage's head quickly shot up, irises moving in his direction as she gave him a hard look. The green had darkened a shade, reflecting a ferocity he forgot lived inside of her. "You don't get to ask me that."

"Why?" he asked, his words stabling from their careful treading to look at her with raised eyebrows. She was guarded, but he still kept his body slack to show her that he wasn't even the slightest nervous about her harsh reaction. Aiden could tell by their body language that they were going to get into a fight; it always started that way. One of them spoke the truth and the other hated to hear it. "Because we both know that it's true? That you would do anything for him, that you love him, but your heart still beats a bit too fast around me?"

Sage's jaw noticeably clenched, a clear sign that she was about to cry or about to burst. He could hear, even without trying, that her pressure was racing the longer that he stood in front of her. She was angry. Angry that he believed he had the audacity to walk into her room, into her life, and tell her that she was falling into the stereotype of a person who fell for two boys. She was not in love with Aiden. For him to make the assumption that she still had feelings beyond a mild interest, a mild desire, was idiocy; he was not a good person, and that had been what started their mess of a relationship in the first place. He was trying to prove something, but she refused to be that weak girl that depended upon someone to tell her they loved her. She wouldn't be that person.

"I wanted you." Sage was surprised by how strong her words came out, her feet moving off the bed as she stood up to level with his height. She could practically feel thousands of sentences racing around in her head, each wanting to stand up and say something to the first boy that truly showed her what it felt like to be left behind. "I wanted you so badly that it hurt to be without you. I wanted you to be there for me when I was scared. I wanted you to be there for me when I was sad. I wanted you to be there for me so desperately that it physically made me sick to my stomach. I wanted you to fight for me, and all you did was leave me standing there wondering how I was supposed to protect myself. You pushed me away from everything, Aiden. You think that I'm going to just let you manipulate me all over again? Do you think I want to go back to being that useless girl that depends on her night and shining armor to save the day?"

Aiden's eyes flashed blue, and that her first warning that he was beginning to lose his temper. The second was how he pulled himself to stand straight, adding another inch in between them. Her words sparked something, that small ounce of rage that he had tried to dilute down when Jennifer had snapped his neck. "I want you to stop walking around, pretending like I'm just a stranger with no name in your life. I want you to stop being so selfish and admit that you feel the same way I do. I want you to tell me that it hurts you to be near me because your heart broke that day I left. I want you to feel everything I felt when I walked away from you."

Sage's mouth parted at his statement, her eyes widening as she stared at him, appalled that he actually had thought he deserved to call her selfish. Her whole life, she had been called many things, but selfish was never one of them. To here it come from him, a person that carried selfishness on his shoulders as though it were a second skin, infuriated her. Aiden noticed it, too. He wanted her to see that he was breaking just as much as she was, that it pained him to even stand near her without wanting to rip himself apart inside, and he wanted her to see that she was being selfish by not admitting to herself that she still felt something for him. All that he desperately wanted was to know that he wasn't pining over caring for a girl that didn't care about him. If that were the case, he was ready to walk out.

"You're calling me selfish for once in my life wanting someone that cares about me?" Sage all but snapped out through her teeth, chest rising and falling so intensity she thought it was going to stop all together. "For wanting someone that saw the good in me? For wanting someone that saw through everything I was, and everything I am, and still loved me? You're calling me selfish for wanting someone that wasn't you?"

Aiden felt his claws begin to extend, forcing him to curl his hands tightly until blood fell onto her bedroom floor. "No. I'm calling you selfish because I know that you do want me. I'm calling you selfish because you don't even know how it felt to try and be with other people and only see your face when I left you that day. I'm calling you selfish because you're like a drug to me, and I hate you for that. Even after everything, you still haunted me every day."

The blonde felt herself stumbling on words that wouldn't come out of her mouth, lip curling back as she realized he had been evaluating her ever since the moment he came back. Deucalion might have made her his person of interest, and the man might have sent Aiden to get close to Sage again, but it hadn't been necessary because she knew he would have found a way into her life whether those were his orders or not. No matter what happened between them in the past, no matter how many times they've snarled monstrous profanities at one another, no matter how many times he kissed Lydia and she kissed Stiles, they would always be each other's first love. They would always share a piece of one another, forever. Nothing was going to be able to take that kind of emotion away.

Sage kept her glossy eyes on the teenage boy, giving him a harsh look as she took a step forward, her hands immediately flying out to land blows to his chest. She didn't know what else to do, didn't know how else to feel, besides revert all of her anger and frustration into hitting Aiden. Her punches got harder, more agonizing to her own hands as she felt him grab a hold of her wrists to stop her from continuing. She knew that it would do no remote harm to him, but that still didn't suppress her anger in any way, shape, or form.

"Sage," Aiden hissed under his breath, his hands tightening to keep her from hitting him anymore. She all but fell into him when it happened, the grip that he kept on her enough to have her struggling to get away, or even to try and hit him again. She needed relief. She needed him to be gone. "Sage, stop hitting me."

She felt herself begin to crack, finally glancing up as she found her green ones meeting with his. From the first time in the longest of them, he saw tears building up in the blonde girl's irises and felt his whole world crash to the ground knowing that he was the one who made her cry. All of this attempts had been to let her know that he was tired of pretending he didn't matter to her, and instead, his ex-girlfriend ended up breaking in front of him. Sage didn't cry, or, at least, not from what he has been able to see. Being the shove that took that control away from her had a gutwrenching sensation hollowing out his insides and carving a sickening burn.

"You deserve it. You deserve everything. You can't just come back here and tell me you give a shit about me again. Do you even know how much you broke me that day? You changed me into this person, Aiden. It's all your fault. It's all..." Sage couldn't even continue anymore, her voice cracking as she realized there was nothing else she had to say. Her eyes just stared at him, feeling her body begin to tremble as she pulled her hands from his grip with little force. The blonde turned away after that, not wanting to be anywhere near the boy so that he wouldn't be able to see her cry, knowing that she promised herself she would never shed tears again after how much it happened last month.

Aiden didn't seem to give a shit about it, though, and took a few steps forward to grab a hold of her upper arm. "Sage, just look at me." The teenage girl didn't budge, and he let out a sigh before squeezing her arm a bit tighter. "Sage."

"What?" she snapped, turning around to look at him with watered eyes.

That moment that she was facing his direction, a pair of hands grabbed the base of her neck and pulled her closer to their body, so close that she swore their heartbeats could be felt through the thin fabric of their clothing. A single second hadn't been enough time for her to properly accept what was happening, an intense pressure falling on her lips before she could even blink. It had been so familiar to her, so foreign at the same time, that it seemed like her swollen mouth molded perfectly with his just as it had two years ago.

They kissed each other so feverishly as if it would take all of the pain away. Aiden's hands trailed up to her shirt without a second thought, hands falling under the clothing and to her bare skin as he squeezed on her hips with such a force and desire that she knew he wanted her to jump up. Her body guided her, hands tightening around his neck before she did as he hoped and connected her legs with his waist. The boy's feet let the two travel backwards at an alarmingly fast pace, the blonde in front of him crashing hard into the wall as her teeth tugged on his lower lip while his hands made their way to pulling up her shirt. Neither teenager acknowledged the broken mirror that managed to fall to the ground when they slammed against the wall, too occupied pressing their chests as close together as humanly possible to feel every shape and every piece of each other. Sage ended up knotting her hands in his hair, body pushed up against his once again to readjust herself before she let her lips travel from his mouth to his jaw. He let out a growl, much like he had at the black light party, but this time, there was no music to mute the action.

Instead, it rang through Sage's ears just as the boy managed to pull the large shirt from her body, leaving her with a laced bra and an exposed neck. His mouth quickly went to her collarbone, tracing his wet lips up until he met with her shoulder and bit down on the skin, just enough for her back to arch and her fingers to tighten in the fistfuls of hair that she grabbed. That was when the blonde took her turn at tugging on clothing, managing to get it off when he reluctantly disconnected his lips from her neck. Aiden grabbed her thighs to support her as the two stepped away from their articles of clothing, the werewolf carrying the blonde over to her bed where he laid her down, his lips connecting with hers for another time that night, leading them into the dark road that Sage hoped she would never have to go down again. Their hearts were hosted with nothing, and that only meant that the possibility of them being broken was becoming a greater chance the more their bruised lips connected.

And, as always, unhosted hearts will always carry the most pain.

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literally, the whole ending of this chapter was deleted and i cry because i had to rewrite it all. but watch this get flagged for being rated R. if it does, i'm going to be extremely pissed because it's not like i wrote an actual scene with all of the loverly parts being exposed. it was just a casual makeout between two hardheaded, ex-lovers that got into a fight before it happened. but, nonetheless, we finally got the saiden scene that i have been dying to write since i began the first chapter of sage.

i know that the stage shippers are going to be pissed, but please just remember that aiden does die. you can't seriously be pissed off when he is doing to diE. if you honestly hate saiden so much then just hold out for me until the finale of 3b. but, for now, you must endure scenes like this. and honestly, there really isn't going to be as much of it as you guys are probably thinking due to the whole losing your mind thing.

just hang in there. i love you guys. also, a HUGE thank you because book one, Sage, just hit 900K and it's absolutely insane to believe that all of you guys have supported me through that shit book and stuck with me through this one. i know that i make mistakes, that i can sometimes repeat words or overanalyze things, but i do honestly love writing with such a passion and knowing you guys love it too is such an amazing feeling.

so, i love you guys very, vERY much.