Dove and Dart (Under Extreme Editing)

Pranks and Partners

Dart:

Dove lunged for me and embraced me before I knew what was happening. I was stunned still for a moment, trying to make sense of why anyone would want to hug me? 

But it hit me, she thought we were friends.

Not wanting to leave the little thing hanging, I awkwardly wrapped my arms around her back and she squeezed me tighter, sobbing harder on my new shirt.

After a few moments, I pushed her away from me, because I have a limit, and I held her at arms length. She stood there, hiccuping and sniffling while I looked at her.

This kid had been through some real hell, and she still manages to be so kind. She's freaken' Cinderella! All sweet and perfect despite all the cruelty of her Step-family members. The kid might be all heart and rainbows, but she was strong and brave, and she deserved much better than what life dealt her.

I reached down and plucked my knife out of her hand. "I'll be taking that." I stuck it in my belt and grabbed her wrist, quickly pulling her over to Ethan. "You killed his brother." She flinched at my words, but I continued on. "You killed his brother and messed with his mind and screwed up his life."

"Daniella? Where are going with this?" James cautioned.

"Shut up James!" I sighed and look back at Dove. "You did some bad stuff, and you had some bad stuff done to you, but here's the deal. You can sit here and cry and wish and whimper about how you wish it wasn't so, or," I paused and straightened out her shoulders. "You can move on and realize your past isn't who you are, it's who you were. You've got freaken' sunshine in your smile kid, and quite literally, air beneath your wings, so woman up and figure out who you are going to be."

Kris stared at me for a moment and then more tears flooded her eyes and she smiled. "Thank you."

I stared back at her, slightly weirded out at her sappy expression, and I inched backwards. "Whatever," I mumbled and began walking away before Ethan grabbed me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

Seriously, the guy had logs for arms and he just squashed me until my air supply was out.

"Aww." Dove cooed and yelled out, "group hug!"

'Oh, hell no!' I squirmed and tried to break free, but Adrian ran right up and sandwhiched me in a big huddle of man smell. Tom's hand found it's way to my shoulder and gave an awkward squeeze, and James kissed me cheek to which I groaned loudly, causing everyone else to laugh at how uncomfortable I was. "Ok! Ok! We are all some super hero family! Now get off!" I yelled out with my last bit of air, and everyone backed away.

They were all grinning like buffoons and I quickly teleported to the far corner of the cave, getting as much space between me and all other humanoid lifeforms as possible. 'Bunch of doughy, gooey, tree-huggers.' 

I watched them chat and laugh, probably fully okay with ignoring all our dark pasts and the recent events and just be happy. Dove was the only one standing a little off to the side from everyone. She was standing still and rubbing her arm and staring at the floor, her eyes hard as if she was trying to solve the world's problems in a day. 'All Doves are the same, wanting world peace and all that crap.'

Suddenly she looked up, her eyes blazing right into mine. I internally flinched at the look on her face, like some demon darker than anything we had faced before was haunting her. She searched my face, trying to place something as she looked over me.

"What's wrong Dove?" James interrupted. 

'Always the caring and concerned father-figure.' I rolled my eyes. 'Does that make me the bad mother with a gambling problem? I am okay with that. Means I get the money.'