Arrows - Animo Sequel {Completed}

Chapter Eight: Sacrifice

Shit's about to go down. That's all I'm gonna say. :D

Chapter Eight: Sacrifice

Mo's P.O.V.

I was not a screamer. Honestly. I went and saw Maroon 5 in concert a few years back and only clapped really enthusiastically while everyone around me, my best friends Grace and Jenna included, screamed their lungs out. Grace and Jenna could hardly talk the next morning, a fact that I laughed about the whole drive home from the cities. I was the only one that could physically sing along to the radio and gush over the events of the night before. The other two could just nod and smile.

And when we would have horror movie marathons on Halloween, Grace always ducked under the blankets and Jenna screamed at every jump scare. Me? I laughed. The chair moving across the room? Totally fake. Maybe I'm too much of a realist and can't be bothered to fully immerse myself in the fictitious affairs of ghosts and vampires. Whatever the reason, I had really never been much of a screamer.

However, my mind forgot that little fact as soon as the pet name "Princess" slipped past Barton's lips, and I screamed so loudly my throat instantly began to feel raw. It was high-pitched and shrill, a sound totally unlike anything I could recall ever making, and I had no idea how actors in those same horror movies I scoffed at could consistently strain their vocal chords.

Barton reacted immediately, darting forward to clamp his hand over my mouth. "Shut up, or you'll regret it," he hissed, but the voice was starting to become distorted. This was not Barton. I'd had a suspicion when he'd first assaulted me when I got here, but now I knew. My Barton would never intentionally hurt one of his teammates. He would never threaten to harm any of us, and he would never need to be restrained by Stark and Rogers because he was being an ass.

His blue eyes were lighter than I remembered them being, the pupils much blacker. The curl of his lip coupled with the anger on his face made my eyes lower away from his. The fight went out of me and my heart sank down to my toes. My Barton would never confess his love for me, let alone kiss me, I thought, exhaling slowly against his palm.

The door to the room burst open, and in a flash of blonde hair and biceps, Barton's hand was ripped away from my face and he landed heavily on the ground. Stark was at my side in an instant, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and drawing me into his chest. "It's okay, Rogers has him," he said, tightening his hold on me when I tried to pull away.

"Rogers?" I asked aloud. Stark let me move back enough to see Rogers pinning Barton to the ground, his eyes darker and full of more fury than I had ever seen before. He had one hand on Barton's throat and the other raised in a fist over the other man's face. His knees were pinning Barton's arms to the floor. My jaw dropped open. "Holy shit, I thought it'd be Thor."

Stark chuckled, his chest vibrating against the side of my face. "Thor and the others are still in the conference room. Cap and I left them to go and look for you. We ran here as soon as we heard you screaming."

Rogers was summoning the other three through his com, his eyes narrowed into a glare at Barton, who was simply lying on the floor with an amused smile on his face. The captain took his finger away from his ear and looked over at me, some of the heat disappearing from his expression. "What happened?" he snapped.

I knew he wasn't angry with me, but his harsh tone made me flinch anyway. Stark held me a little tighter, like he was trying to be comforting. Really, though, it was doing the opposite. I felt like they were trying to restrain me from doing something out of hand when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die because Barton was so damn messed up in the head.

It's not really Barton...

The thought wasn't mine. It sounded like it was a man's voice, but it was too hushed for me to fully determine that. What the hell? I thought back, hoping maybe I'd get a response.