Closed A Fight

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava was enjoying being home. The change of scenery was always nice, and it was good to see her dad again. She had even met his girlfriend, Arthur's mom, and she was really nice. But today, today she meant to go see Vader. She had a new box of legos for them to build over the break and she was really excited about it. She had just gone to the store, intending to bribe him with snacks and drinks, even though she knew he would come over anyway. She was humming, skipping back towards Vaders house with her groceries in hand, when she heard them.

"Oi, look, bird brains back." She slowed, confused. Bird brain? Who were they talking about? She turned to look in time to see three older boys step in to surround her. "Hi?" She greeted uncertainly. "Ello to you too, birdy," One of the boys snickered. "How sweet of you, bringing us somethin to eat." Ava's eyes widened as he reached for her bags and she stepped away, trying to avoid him, only to have the one behind her snatch it from her instead. "Hey!" She spun, trying to get the muffins back. "Those aren't for you-" She tried, only for the boy to knock her over to the ground. "Don't be so rude, birdy. It's nice to share," The boy sneered. Ava looked up at him with wide eyes as the boys around her laughed meanly, passing around the snack she had just bought for Vader.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was waiting for Ava, they had organised to meet, but the boy felt tired. He’d spent the first few days near comatose, only getting up to eat the occasional thing and to use the bathroom, the rest of the time had been spent fast asleep. But that time had passed and Vader was now seemingly heading back to the low sleep. No where near as bad as it had for a time been, but definitely not good. He felt tired but really it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been, this was far closer to his usual level of sleep. As least from the most recent months. He was waiting for her, while being quite aware of the people in his area. It had been a while since they had given him any bother, they would make comments, give him an odd look before moving on with their lives, since at this point Vader was gone for so long that he didn’t factor to them. He knew Ava was maybe running a little late, he looked towards the direction she would be coming and heard the faint sound of someone calling out. The gryffindor got to his feet and began moving towards the sound, spotting quickly Ava and then the boys with all too familiar voices, deeper than they had once been but the same nonetheless. ​

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Vader spotted her being knocked to the ground, and he rushed over, ”Hey stop that!” he called out forcefully. Rushing into the situation and grabbing the closest boy that he could and pulling him away, he managed to pull the bully to ground, but the other boys just started laughing, the familiar taunts of his name, one of them was certainly singing that song. But it didn’t matter he just launched himself at them, throwing punches and kicks wherever he could. It was somewhat unmatched, the boys older and bigger, but Vader was so angry and so determined to just keep fighting. They could bother him all that they liked but not Ava. Not her. ”Don’t bother her again,” he seemed to shout as he continued to fight. It was a hard punch to the face and the spurting of blood from his nose that brought him to stop, bringing him down to his knees with a hand at his nose pointlessly trying to keep the blood from spilling out. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Avas eyes widened as Vader seemingly appeared out of nowhere, heart nearly stopping as he started to fight for her. No no no, he was going to get hurt. She scrambled back, scared and unsure of how to stop it. He managed to get one of the guys pretty good, but taking him out angered the other two. When Vader hit his knees Ava hit her feet. No one touched Vader. She swung the bag of legos as hard as she could, hitting the one boy in the face hard enough to knock him over. Before the other one could react she had turned and kicked him right between the legs. As he dropped she grabbed Vaders bloody hands and dragged him to his feet, keeping hold of his arm as they ran. She didnt stop until they were far away, though she had no clue where they were.

Out of breath, Ava turned to Vader, pulling rags out of her bag and trying to clean his hands and face. "What were you thinking?" She cried, shaking lightly. 'You were hurt, look at this blood, how could you- are you okay?" She fretted, doing her best to clean him up.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was a little preoccupied with the blood coming from his nose, he vaguely noticed that Ava was suddenly fighting them, but in a flash she grabbed his hands and was dragging him away. His body began reacting and he followed quickly behind her. He kept running and running with her, keeping a hold of her hand as she ran, knowing that he was leaving a small trail of blood as he ran. Eventually they drew to a stop and he just put his hand back up to his nose, the blood still pouring. He looked at her with a bleary expression he lowered his hands as she seemed to start to clean his face with a cloth. He kept her gaze on her as she cried at him, as she seemed to not get that they were bad, that he had to step in.​

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”How could I not Ava?! They could’ve really hurt you,” he replied as if it were obvious, which given the blood pouring out of his nose was rather obvious, but he also knew those kids, had known those kids from when they had used to pick on him. ”I’m fine. I’ve had worse, from those very people” he told her trying to assure her, ”Those kids wouldn’t have stopped Ava they’re the worst sort of people. I used to have to run away every single time they started on me, they wouldn’t have stopped,” the teen told her, stopping himself and sighing slightly when he realised what he had just told her. He’d mentioned in passing before that he’d had a rough time before school, but admitting in any great detail that he had been bullied by them was new. ”I couldn’t let them hurt you, you don't deserve that,” ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava's brow furrowed even more as Vader went on. Her jaw dropped and she smacked his chest at what he said. "You shouldn't have stepped in, especially knowing they would- Vader, look at you! They only wanted to steal the muffins I bought you, they were probably going to move on, I mean yeah they pushed me but they weren't being violent, you're bleeding how could you-" She shook her head, trying not to cry. "Look at you! Don't you ever step in like that again!" She ordered, terrified now that something really bad would happen if this was ever to repeat itself. Maybe next time it wouldn't be his nose, maybe next time he wouldn't get up again, a million terrible things flashed through her mind and she hated every one of them.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader wasn’t sure what her reaction would be but he certainly hadn’t thought it would be what it was, she seemed angry...at him? But he was right, he had to step in, so what if he was bleeding a little, that didn’t matter. He knew those boys, his pre Hogwarts memories were filled with those sorts of incidents, of blood, of anger, of that dumb song, of running away. ”It’s just a little blood Ava,” he seemingly tried to assure her, ”I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing on the off chance this is the day they decide to not be violent,” he replied unable to keep some of the frustration out of his tone. His nose wasn’t bleeding too much anymore, there would be some bruising, but he’d be fine, he’d had years of experiences with them, knowing how bad it could get and being entirely unwilling to let Ava even feel a fraction of it. ”Ava, I can’t let you get hurt, especially not by those guys. They can come after me all they want, they always have, but I won’t let them hurt you,” he hadn’t used much of the fighting that Goku had taught him, little bits and pieces but he wasn’t particularly good at it against so many and really watching Ava fall to the ground had just fuelled his angry and spurred him on, largely without thinking, finally getting back at the guys who’d made primary school as awful as it had been. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava shook her head as he said it was just a little bit of blood. "Just a bit of- Vader!" She smacked his chest lightly. "No! That is exactly the reason why you shouldn't have- I dont want you getting into fights for me, Vader, you cant get hurt over me, you just, you cant!" She shook her head quickly, trying to deny it. "I hate they've hurt you enough you think you need to- no, please, promise me you wont fight them again if they bother me, please," she pleaded, grabbing his hand. "Please, I can't see you hurt over me."

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was a little surprised when she continued to appear to be annoyed with him. He knew that he maybe shouldn’t have engaged with them, he should’ve just grabbed her and run, but he’d been angry, he had been frustrated, he had just wanted her to never experience that ever. The teen couldn’t understand why she didn’t get that just as she didn’t want to him to get hurt, he didn’t want her to get hurt. ”Ava it’s okay, it’s nothing,” Vader said to her, trying to get her to see that it wasn’t that big a deal. That she didn’t need to worry about him, ”I won’t promise that I won’t jump in if I see it again, I can’t let you get hurt Ava, I won’t,” he couldn’t protect himself, he couldn’t stop himself being picked on but he absolutely would try to step in for her, he was a bad enough friend as it was, he’d be even worse if he took and took from her and never did anything in response. He gaze down at his hand in hers and looked at the dried blood on his fingers. "Plus no one really picks on me anymore, you don't need to worry," Vader lied with a forced smile.​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava was frustrated, and not just because of Vader. She knew he was right, sort of, after all, she had done the same for him and would again. They were a team, they were supposed to protect each other, right? She sighed heavily and leaned her head against his chest, trying not to cry. She was just so tired, so emotionally drained, all she needed right now was him. She opened her mouth to apologize, to tell him everything that was going on at home, but then he spoke again. No, he lied again. And her wounded heart just couldn't take it.

Ava shoved Vader away and stepped back, tears filling her eyes as anger and hurt and betrayal took over her. "Stop lying to me!" She yelled. "I'm not stupid, I know you! I don't know why you have to lie, why does everyone keep lying!" She let out a sob and stepped farther away, shaking her head and clenching her fists. "You're always lying to me, no matter what I do," She glared at him, trembling from the pain and anger tearing through her. "Do you not trust me? Is that it? What do I need to do to make you understand," She shook her head, not giving him time to answer. "You know what, I can't, I can't do this anymore, I hate you! I hate you!" She screamed at him before she broke down sobbing.

She turned and ran, not looking back to see him, heart breaking more with every step. It wasn't his fault, she knew it wasn't, and while he might have been wrong to lie to her, she knew she wasn't really mad at him. Her own words rang in her ears and her pain seemed to double. She needed him, desperately, and she had just lost him, for always, he could never forgive her for what she'd done. Ava was out in the woods now, how she'd gotten there or how long she'd been running she didn't know. She crumpled to the ground. She had never cried so hard before. All she wanted was to pull herself together and go back, run to him, apologize, but she couldn't. She had lost her best friend and it was her own fault.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader wasn’t sure what he was expecting from Ava, what reaction he was holding out for, he knew she hated when he lied to her. He knew it and yet he always still did it. He knew it was the easiest way to get all of it to stop. It always ended with Ava annoyed at him, but he would apologise and it would be fine. It was why when she shoved him, he looked at her with a startled and now increasingly nervous expression. He knew that he was a bad friend for lying, that Ava deserved far better that him. All he did was drag her down, he made her look after him because he seemingly couldn’t do it himself. He didn’t want to tell her the truth because for some things he knew he wasn’t ready and for others he just didn’t want it to be a true. He watched her, with his hands increasingly shaking as she shouted at him, as she implored him to trust her. ”I do trust you,” he tried to say but the words were quiet, he fumbled over them, but it didn’t really matter, she screamed that she hated him, and he just looked at the ground. ​

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Vader could see the small drops of blood dripping from his nose. He deserved that. He deserved to get punched in the face when he treated his friend, his best friend like that. She was right to hate him, she was right to run away from him. She deserved better friends than him, friends who did trust her - though he did - and she deserved friends who didn’t lie and make their life worse. Vader looked to where she had headed off, brushing his sleeve quickly against his eyes, and sighed. He wasn’t sure why his hands seemed to be shaking more, why it felt like his heart hurt. He’d broken up with Isabelle and felt less. He loved Ava so much but she was right to walk away. Vader sniffed hard and winced as his nose reminded him of how they'd got to this point. He couldn’t yet head back home, not with those boy probably lingering, so instead he just shoved his hands into his pockets and found a place to sit. If he gave it an hour he could head home. He didn’t know how he’d explain any of those to his dad and he knew he wouldn’t sleep either. Especially not when the one thing he had to help him at home was Ava’s music box - unable to stop herself from thinking about how she'd given it to him. Vader sat down, and just stared forward, he deserved all of this. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

After what felt like a very, very, very long time, Ava pulled herself up off the ground and trudged back home. She crawled in her bedroom window, not wanting anyone to see her right now. She was covered in dirt and leaves from crying in the forest and her eyes red and swollen. It wasn't even her window she wanted to crawl into, but she knew that the one she wanted was going to be shut to her from now on. The thought brought more tears to her eyes. She shook her head, sniffling as she gathered everything from her room that even reminded her of Vader and shoved it under the bed. All her legos, the comic books, all of her art, by the time she had finished stuffing things in her closet and under her bed her room was... barren. She laid on top of her covers, curling up in a ball and crying. How was she supposed to do this without him? She didn't know.

The days dragged by. Her father might have noticed something was wrong but he didn't approach her. Or maybe he did, and Ava was too numb to notice. She had been home, sulking for nearly a week. Would she ever run out of tears? It was like she was missing her heart. She sat at the piano, idly playing a few keys before letting out a heavy sigh. She hit her head against the keys. She just laid there a moment when she felt someone sit next to her. She glanced up to see Arthur's mom sitting there. 'Oh, how did that go? Bum, bum, bum, ba ba bum ba ba bum,'

Ava shook her head. Why was Kami humming the imperial march? She turned her head, meaning to ignore her, but Kami just kept going, messing the song up worse the more she continued. Ava smacked her hands on the piano. "No, no, no, it's- it's- here," She set her hands to the keys and played it flawlessly, hardly noticing how quickly it seemed to fly by. She sat there a moment when it was finished, trying not to shake. Kami rubbed her shoulder. 'You seem to know that very well,'

Ava shook her head. "Before I knew he didn't like his name, I... I learned to play it. I thought he would like it, but then he didn't so I didn't," She shrugged, looking away and biting her lip to keep the tears from falling again. 'You miss him, don't you?' Kami rubbed small circles on her shoulder and Ava just nodded without saying a word. 'Whatever happened, I'm sure he misses you just as much. Your father said that your friends birthday is coming up... maybe it's time the two of you apologized and worked it out. If he's anywhere near as miserable as you are, I'm sure he would be eager to make amends...'

Ava couldn't help but cry a little bit. "But- but what if he doesn't want to be my friend anymore?" She asked, pitifully, sounding like a little girl. Kami pulled Ava against her side. 'Oh, sweetness, he adores you. Even I can see that. At least give it an honest try?"

Honestly, Ava didn't need much encouragement. She just nodded and stood, swiping at her tears. "I need to talk to his sisters," She decided, biting her lip to keep it from trembling before turning to rush out of the room.